Revelation 18:3; And the Merchants of the Earth are Waxed Rich Through the Abundance of her Delicacies

Posted on Posted in Devotions Tagged with , ,

Revelation 18:3  For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies. 

The fornication of all the nations and of the kings is of the nature set forth in the final clause of the verse. The city has promoted herself by instilling an unquestioning faith in her supposedly inexhaustible resources, thereby discouraging any sense of a deeper need for God (Caird). The word for merchants, comes from combining “in” and “journey”. A merchant is one on a journey to conduct business. The word occurs only once here, in Revelation 18:11, 15, 23, and in Matthew 13:45 in the New Testament.

Revelation 18:11  And the merchants of the earth shall weep and mourn over her; for no man buyeth their merchandise any more: 

Revelation 18:15  The merchants of these things, which were made rich by her, shall stand afar off for the fear of her torment, weeping and wailing, 

Revelation 18:23  And the light of a candle shall shine no more at all in thee; and the voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee: for thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. 

Matthew 13:45  Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:

The shade of meaning of “power” implies that the luxury of Bad nylon is actual power that has worked to enrich the traders (Beckwith). The idea of the term is that of insolent luxury, self-indulgence with accompanying arrogance and vicious exercise of strength, exuberance of strength which is the flower of pride, or the imprudence of wealth, wantonness, and unruliness arising from the fullness of bread (cf. 1 Timothy 5:11; Deuteronomy 32:15).

1 Timothy 5:11  But the younger widows refuse: for when they have begun to wax wanton against Christ, they will marry; 

Deuteronomy 32:15  But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation. 

Wantonness is closer to outrage than it is to lewdness. The connection of fornication and luxury in this verse indicates that Babylon’s fornication consists not only of idolatry, but also includes her pride in excessive wealth (Johnson). False religion often has gone hand in hand with the accumulation and abusive use of luxury.

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 318-319]