Welcome back! In our last post, we began our study on the apostle John’s vision of the “great whore of Babylon.” John described his vision as being a woman dressed in purple and scarlet clothing, decked out with gold and precious stones. She’s riding a scarlet colored beast that has seven heads and ten horns. Right away, when we see the seven heads and ten horns, we know right away that it is associated with the end times Antichrist beast. We saw that the whore of Babylon symbolized the city of Jerusalem because she was unfaithful to God by worshiping other gods. These other gods she worshiped were described as her “lovers.” In this post, we’re going to see who her other lovers actually were. So let’s get started.  

Chapter 17: The Whore of Babylon

Second in an Eight-Part Series
by Karen Thompson

The Vision of the Whore of Babylon Riding a Scarlet-Colored Beast

Rev. 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: 2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication. 3 So he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness: and I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. 4 And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication: 5 And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. 6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus: and when I saw her, I wondered with great admiration.

Who Are the Whore’s Lovers?

In our last post, we saw that the whore of Babylon symbolized the city of Jerusalem because she was unfaithful to God by worshiping other gods. These other gods she worshiped were described as her “lovers.” In this post, we’re going to ascertain the identity of the whore’s lovers. To start with, let’s look at the phrase “many waters” in the first two verses: “Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication… (Rev. 17:1–2).

The whore is seen sitting upon “many waters.” We know from Revelation 17:15 that the phrase “many waters” represents nations: “The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” It is with the various kings of the “many waters” the whore commits fornication. The Old Testament prophets repeatedly referred to the kings/nations that Jerusalem committed adultery with as Jerusalem’s lovers.

Let’s look at another portion of scripture where Ezekiel spoke about Jerusalem as a woman with many lovers. Ezekiel had a prophetic word to both the northern kingdom of Israel and the southern kingdom of Judah. The capital city of Israel was Samaria and the capital city of Judah was Jerusalem. In this prophecy, Samaria is called Aholah and Jerusalem, her “sister,” is called Aholibah. The name Aholah means “her own tent or temple.”¹ This is a reference to the fact that, against God’s will, the northern kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam’s rule established a rival temple to the temple in Jerusalem. The name Aholibah given to Jerusalem means “woman of the tent or temple.”² This is a reference to God’s temple in Jerusalem.

In Ezekiel chapter 23, we read that the lovers of Aholah (Samaria) were Assyria and Egypt: “And Aholah [Samaria] played the harlot when she was mine; and she doted on her lovers, on the Assyrians her neighbours … Thus she committed her whoredoms with them, with all them that were the chosen men of Assyria, and with all on whom she doted: with all their idols she defiled herself. Neither left she her whoredoms brought from Egypt: for in her youth they lay with her, and they bruised the breasts of her virginity, and poured their whoredom upon her” (Eze. 23:5–8).

Notice how Ezekiel used sexually explicit language to describe Samaria’s sin of apostasy. Ezekiel said the northern kingdom of Israel was unfaithful to God by worshiping the false gods of the neighboring countries of Assyria and Egypt: “with all their idols she defiled herself.”

Next, we read about Aholibah, which is Jerusalem. These verses tell us who her lovers were and why she was seduced by them: “And when her sister Aholibah [Jerusalem] saw this, she was more corrupt in her inordinate love than she, and in her whoredoms more than her sister in her whoredoms. She doted upon the Assyrians her neighbours, captains and rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men. Then I saw that she was defiled, that they took both one way, and that she increased her whoredoms: for when she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall, the images of the Chaldeans pourtrayed with vermilion, girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes to look to, after the manner of the Babylonians of Chaldea, the land of their nativity: and as soon as she saw them with her eyes, she doted upon them, and sent messengers unto them into Chaldea. And the Babylonians came to her into the bed of love, and they defiled her with their whoredom, and she was polluted with them, and her mind was alienated from them. So she discovered her whoredoms, and discovered her nakedness: then my [God] mind was alienated from her, like as my mind was alienated from her sister [Samaria]. Yet she multiplied her whoredoms, in calling to remembrance the days of her youth, wherein she had played the harlot in the land of Egypt. For she doted upon their paramours, whose flesh is as the flesh of asses, and whose issue is like the issue of horses. Thus thou calledst to remembrance the lewdness of thy youth, in bruising thy teats by the Egyptians for the paps of thy youth. Therefore, O Aholibah, thus saith the Lord God; Behold, I will raise up thy lovers against thee, from whom thy mind is alienated, and I will bring them against thee on every side; the Babylonians, and all the Chaldeans, Pekod, and Shoa, and Koa, and all the Assyrians…” (Eze. 23:11–23).

Ezekiel, again, used very graphic sexual language to illustrate Jerusalem’s betrayal. In this passage, we see Jerusalem’s lovers were the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Egyptians, the Pekod, Shoa, and Koa. (Pekod, Shoa, and Koa are all people groups residing within the borders of southern Mesopotamia which is modern-day Iraq.) Jerusalem was tempted and seduced when she saw their “rulers clothed most gorgeously, horsemen riding upon horses, all of them desirable young men,” and she was tempted even more when “she saw men pourtrayed upon the wall [they painted their gods on walls with bright colors], the images of the Chaldeans …girded with girdles upon their loins, exceeding in dyed attire upon their heads, all of them princes….” These verses show how the Jewish people were attracted to and seduced by the culture of their neighboring nations.

The Israelites in both the northern and southern kingdoms failed to heed God’s command that they have no other gods besides Him. God’s plan was to lift up Jerusalem before the nations. Jerusalem was to surpass her neighbors in every way. The other nations were to look at Jerusalem and be so in awe that it would draw them to want to worship the God of the Israelites. But the Israelites did the exact opposite of what they were supposed to do. Jerusalem was “smitten” and in awe of the nations around her. She was enticed by their culture and their gods. As a result, instead of Jerusalem being an influence on the nations around her, the nations around Jerusalem were an influence on her. This is what is meant when Jerusalem is referred to as an unfaithful whore that commits fornication with the kings of the earth. By being seduced by the culture and false gods of her neighbors, Jerusalem profaned the name of God among the nations. The prophet Daniel in his prayer of repentance said, “Jerusalem and Your people are a reproach to all those around us” (Dan. 9:16 NKJV).

Drunk Inhabitants

Let’s look at the last part of verse two: “and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” What exactly does this mean? How does Jerusalem’s sins of idolatry affect the inhabitants of earth in such a way that they are called drunk? If we look at a couple of Old Testament verses about being drunk, we can ascertain the meaning.

First, drunkenness is symbolism for certain behavior and thinking. A drunk person is said to be stupefied or in a stupor. If you’re in a stupor, your sensibilities are diminished. You’re not thinking clearly. Or as Jeremiah prophesied, the behavior of a drunk could be described as mad: “Babylon hath been a golden cup in the Lord’s hand, that made all the earth drunken: the nations have drunken of her wine; therefore the nations are mad” (Jer. 51:7).

Also, another common characteristic of a drunk is that his physical abilities are diminished. He becomes “stumbling drunk” as the saying goes. Physically, a drunk will experience sluggish inactivity or apathy. God makes this point when He says, “And I will tread down the people in mine anger, and make them drunk in my fury, and I will bring down their strength to the earth” (Isa. 63:6). Drunkenness affects people physically; it “brings down their strength.”

So we can ascertain from the phrase “the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication” to mean that because of Jerusalem’s apostasy and idolatry, the nations are in a stupor. With regard to God and spiritual matters, they’re not thinking or behaving right. The nation of Israel was to be a light to the nations, to draw them to God. Israel failed to be that light, resulting in the nations remaining in darkness. This is what is meant in Revelation chapter 14 when the second angel said, “Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication (v. 8).

In the next post, we’re going to look at the other clues that confirm the whore’s identity as being the city of Jerusalem.

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