Revelation 17:6; The Woman Drunken With the Blood of the Saints

Revelation 17:6  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. 

The anti-Christian posture of the woman is visible in her treatment of the faith. Not only does she entices others to intoxication through the enticements of her lusts; she herself get drunk from the blood of the saints and martyrs or witnesses of Jesus.

The saints and the martyrs of Jesus are two names of the same person, the repetition being the emphasis, not to distinguish one from the other (Swete, Beckwith, Moffatt, Lenski).

The designation “saints” indicates they have kept themselves pure, and “martyrs” shows they have faithfully preached the gospel about Jesus (Kiddle). Christians should do both, and this is why the woman is against them (Lee).

This persecution and martyrdom of the faithful is the chief reason for God’s indictment of the woman (Beckwith). It is not just what she promotes; it is also what she opposes that makes her an object of judgment. Among the ancients, being drunk with blood spoke of a lust for violence, vastness of slaughter, and their maddening effect on one who was inclined to initiate savagery (Beckwith, Charles). This was the reaction of the earth-dwellers over the deaths of the two witnesses in Jerusalem (Revelation 11:10).

Revelation 11:10  And they that dwell upon the earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and shall send gifts one to another; because these two prophets tormented them that dwelt on the earth. 

The past has witnessed isolated examples of this degree of persecution, but nothing like what it will be in the future. The reign of the beast will create an environment in which the harlot will martyr saints and witnesses on a universal scale (cf. Revelation 13:5, 15) (Bullinger, Ladd).

Revelation 13:5  And there was given unto him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him to continue forty and two months. 

Revelation 13:15  And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. 

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 290-291]