Revelation 17:16; The Tens Horn Shall Hate the Whore

Revelation 17:16  And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 

Eventually, it is against such a dominant religious system that the ten horns and the beast will suddenly turn – And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire. 

False religion has used its hold on the beast to gain a greatness all her own, but suddenly the charm disappears and the attraction of the harlot turns to hatred toward her. Changes from love to bitter hatred are familiar enough in history (2 Samuel 13:15). (Swete)

2 Samuel 13:15  Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone. 

But that which throws light upon the doting fondness of David for his children, a fondness which caused him to set aside the clamant calls of duty, comes out in his failure to punish Amnon for his crime against Tamar, and his failure to punish Absalom for his murder of Amnon. What light is thrown upon this infirmity of David’s when, in connection with Adonijah’s rebellion, “his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so?” (1 Kings 1:6). Little wonder, then, that his own offspring were made a scourge to him.

Alas, he followed far too closely the evil example of Eli, the high priest of Israel, of whom it is written, “his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not” (1 Samuel 3:13).

Wisely did Thomas Scott say, “Children are always uncertain comforts, but indulged children surely prove trials to pious parents, whose foolish fondness induces them to neglect their duty to God”—who requires them to duly discipline their offspring.

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In the end, Satan’s kingdom will divide against itself, singling that its demise is near (cf. Mark 3:23-26). [Wilcock, Revelation, p. 165; Johnson, “Revelation,” 12:562]

Mark 3:23-26  And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that house cannot stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be divided, he cannot stand, but hath an end.

The future tense “shall hate” marks a return to pure prophecy by John’s angelic revealer (cf. v14). The revelation goes beyond anything seen by John in the vision (Alford). The angel does not tell the immediate cause of the hatred, but the world-city Babylon will become the object of enmity to those whom she formerly controlled (Ezekiel 16:37; 23:22) (Lee).

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 304]