THE LAST DAYS OF ROME

Whereas the seven bowls of plagues in chs. 15-16 gave a general outline of divine judgment, In chs. 17-18 John now begins a closer examination of the causes of Rome’s downfall (i.e. Babylon or the great whore as he called it.) The latter term refers directly to the three statues of the god Roma and assumes a relationship to the almost universal figure of a fertile Mother Goddess of Middle Eastern religious traditions.

In the Old Testament the Israelites met this same goddess in the fertility cults of the Canaanites in which prostitution played a dominant role. In John’s time, Rome’s supremacy over the ancient world and the required worship of the imperial cult could be similarly, although metaphorically described (15:2).

In vs. 4, John escaped into the desert in a trance, which was a place of security as the Exodus was for the Israelites. From there he could see the true bright colours of the seducer dressed in all her worldly glory. John may well have had a real appreciation of the grandeur of Rome. We still regard it as one of the great civilizations of the past. Then as now, faith is not easy in a seductive culture.

At the same time John also saw that it was full of obscenities and filth – i.e. its abominable idolatry and general immorality. The Greek word for obscenity is the same word sued in Daniel 9:27 and Mark 13:14 for the desecrating idol placed in the temple by earlier invaders of Jerusalem.

John had two counts against Rome: the idolatry diffused throughout the empire and the persecution of all who refused to participate in it (vss. 5-6). This figure in John’s vision is just the same old bewitching sorcerer in a new incarnation of supreme power to which we are all attracted.