Chapter 18
[Revelation 18:1] -- After these things, I saw another angel coming down from heaven, having great authority, etc. This strong angel illuminating the earth can also be understood as the Lord incarnate and the doctors of the Church; who, endowed with heavenly light, proclaim the fall of the world, saying: The kingdom of heaven is at hand (Matt. 3, 4).
[Revelation 18:2] -- Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, etc. Fear not, O Jerusalem, the power of the earthly city, which falls spiritually as it prevails over you with the infestation of wicked citizens. Isaiah also describes Babylon as inhabited by unclean monsters. For there is no city except that of the devil, which captures every unclean soul, in which all uncleanness resides throughout the world.
[Revelation 18:3] -- And the merchants of the earth have become rich through the power of her luxury. Those who are called rich in sins exchange their souls in an unhappy trade for temporal abundance. For the excess of luxury makes them poor rather than rich.
[Revelation 18:4] -- Come out of her, my people, etc. Likewise Isaiah: Depart from the midst of them, and touch no unclean thing. Be clean, you who bear the vessels of the Lord (Isa. 52). After predicting the fall of Babylon, he introduces the departure, which is the ruin of Babylon. For when Lot departed from Sodom, it was utterly destroyed.
[Revelation 18:6] -- Repay her as she has repaid you. For visible and invisible plagues come forth from the Church into the world.
[Revelation 18:6] -- And repay her double according to her works. So that she who enjoyed temporal pleasures may be tormented with eternal pains.
[Revelation 18:7] -- Because she says in her heart: I sit as queen, and I am no widow, etc. Because, delighted with present luxuries, she did not wish to avoid future retribution, she will be punished in a short time with both spiritual and bodily ruin. Conversely, the citizens of the heavenly homeland, who set Jerusalem at the height of their joy, do not wish to sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land (Psalm 137), that is, to receive in the present the joy owed to the future age.
[Revelation 18:9] -- And the kings of the earth will weep and lament for her, etc. The weeping of the kings, merchants, and sailors of Babylon can be understood in two ways: either in the day of judgment, when all the glory of the world perishes, and the wicked are left only with the memories of their past life, saying: What has our pride profited us? Or what advantage has the boast of riches brought us? All those things have passed away like a shadow (Wis. 5). Or in the present, when the abundance of things ceases, and the destruction of various nations ensues, the opportunity for the wicked to indulge in carnal delights is taken away.
[Revelation 18:9] -- When they see the smoke of her burning. That is, the sign of destruction, because smoke precedes fire. For what is this rampage and destruction of the world other than the smoke of impending hell?
[Revelation 18:10] -- Standing afar off for fear of her torment. Standing afar off not in body but in mind, while each one fears for himself what he sees another suffer through calumny and power.
[Revelation 18:10] -- Saying: Woe, woe, that great city Babylon, etc. The spirit names the city, but they mourn the world, intercepted by punishment in a very short time, and all their efforts stained with ruin.
[Revelation 18:11] -- And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, etc. They mourn the fall of all the world’s pomp, and those things which are either pleasant to the bodily senses or suitable for external uses. For precious metals pertain to sight, perfumes to smell, ointments to touch, wine, wheat, and oil to taste. Under the term of beasts and slaves, other human aids are also understood to perish. This is understood in two ways, as I said: either because these things fail with the dying world, or because the wretched survivors mourn the destruction of those who left the world’s joys through death as if they were mourning the ruins of their own city, and hence they are said to stand afar off, fearing similar punishment.
[Revelation 18:15] -- Those who became rich by her will stand afar off. Wherever the Spirit speaks of those made rich by her, it signifies the riches of sins. For lower down, where it is the voice of the unjust saying: Woe, woe, that great city, in which all who had ships at sea were made rich, the riches of things are understood. For they believe they have been made rich by the cleverness of their faction.
[Revelation 18:16] -- Which was clothed in fine linen and purple and scarlet. Is a city clothed in fine linen or purple, and not people? Thus, they mourn themselves, as they are stripped of the above-mentioned things.
[Revelation 18:17] -- And every shipmaster, and all the sailors stood afar off, etc. Can all who sail the sea be present to see the burning of the city? But he means all the worshipers and workers of the world fear for themselves, seeing the ruin of their hope.
[Revelation 18:18] -- Saying: Who is like this great city? That is, the world cannot be restored to its entirety.
[Revelation 18:19] -- And they threw dust on their heads. That is, reproaching the face of their leaders; by whom they were seduced and perished; or accusing the madness of their heart, which is the principal part of a man, with late repentance.
[Revelation 18:19] -- For in one hour she is made desolate. Note that each of the mourning persons not only bewails the loss of riches but also the sudden and unforeseen ruin of the deceitful world.
[Revelation 18:20] -- Rejoice over her, O heaven, and you holy apostles and prophets. Thus also the Lord in the Gospel, predicting the ruin of the world, added: When you see these things happening, look up and lift up your heads (Luke 21), that is, cheer your hearts.
[Revelation 18:20] -- For God has judged your judgment on her. This is what the souls of the saints were seeking with a great cry: How long, O Lord, holy and true, will you not judge and avenge our blood (Rev. 6)?
[Revelation 18:21] -- And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying: With this violence shall Babylon be thrown down. Or (as another edition says): Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon be cast down. The city of the world, due to the weight of sins and error, is compared to an unstable millstone. For the wicked walk in a circle. It is rightly absorbed by the waves of vengeance because it oppressed the citizens of Jerusalem with the waves of infidelity, while they, sitting by the rivers of Babylon, wept for the absence of heavenly Zion. For the Lord said that the authors of scandal should be punished with such a penalty. And indeed the Church is compared to a stone, but stable and firm, which scorns the assaults of storms. The millstone can also be understood as the crushing of punishments. For blessed Ignatius is said to have said when about to suffer: "I am the grain of God, ground by the teeth of beasts, that I may become pure bread."
[Revelation 18:22] -- The sound of harpists and musicians, etc. He had deferred the sound of those five senses, which he now says will be taken away from the world among other things. As if to say: What is beautiful to see, melodious to hear, smooth to touch, pleasant to smell, and delightful to taste will pass away from the world.
[Revelation 18:22] -- And no craftsman of any craft shall be found in you any more, etc. He says, all things that pertain to the use or pleasure of human life are taken away from the wicked. And he added the reason, saying:
[Revelation 18:23] -- For your merchants were the great men of the earth. That is, because in your life you received your good things (Luke 16).
[Revelation 18:24] -- And in her was found the blood of prophets and saints, etc. Did the same city kill the apostles, which also killed the prophets, or all the saints? But this is the city that Cain founded with the blood of his brother, and he named it after his son Enoch, that is, all his posterity. For the seven generations of Cain are described. In the building of this city, all the righteous blood is poured out from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah (Matt. 23), that is, of the people and the priest.