Revelation 17:3; The Woman and the Beast

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Revelation 17:3 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. 

“O thou that dwellest upon many waters” (Jeremiah 51:13) indicates that the great whore rules and dominates the nations religiously, just as the beast upon which she rides rules politically. Representing a vast religious system, the woman has a following that is universal in scope. The great whore and the beast are companions in wickedness and apostasy. Combined, they represent ecclesiastical and governmental power.

Sitting “upon the beast” means that the harlot sits astride the beast. She not only exercises religious dominion over the multitudes, but she also is able to manage and guide the beast. All vassal kings and human rulers, especially within the revived Romans Empire, are under her sway. Civil and political powers are subservient to her rule and supremacy. And such thorough and complete subjugation over the vast imperial and apostate power headed up in the beast is already in the making.

Two contrasting ideas by the woman and the beast. We can express them this way:

  • The woman personifies corruption of truth; the beast personifies open defiance of God.
  • The woman embodies all that is licentious; the beast embodies all that is cruel and ruthless.

Thus, corruption and violence, which brought about the flood (Genesis 6:11) are to reach their climax in the woman and the beast.

Genesis 6:11 The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence. 

This position astride the beast is a prophecy that the apostate church will be carried and supported by the nations and will rule and reign with temporal power.

[Herbert Lockyer, Revelation – Drama of the Ages, Whitaker House, 2012, 263]

Her position atop the beast is quite fitting to picture the influence of the religious power over the secular leader.

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 285]