Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/5_200_p.lzh/5_275.TXT

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commanded reverence and respect, and whose weak-
nest and infirmities called for compassion; but nothing
of this kind was shewn; they were not spared because
of age, but had insupportable burdens laid upon them;
and if not they, then much less young men; see
Lain. v. I2.
Vet. 7. And thou saidst, ir shall 'be a lady for ever,.
&c.] That her monarchy would continue in a suc-
cession of kings, that should rule over all nations to
the end of the world. So mystical Babylon, when near
her ruin, will say, I sit a queen--and shall see no sor-
row, Rev. xviii. 7: so that thou didst not lay these
things to thy heart; neither the sins she had been
guilty of, particularly in acting the cruel part towards
the people of God; nor the evils foretold should come
upon her; these she did not consider of and think
upon, so as to repent of the one, and prevent the
other: neither didst remember the latter end of it; or,
thy latter end f; either her own latter end, the end of
her wickedness which she had committed, as Jarchi;
the end of her pride, that she should be humbled, as
Aben Ezra and Kimchi; or her ruin and destruction,
the end she should come to at last; this she never
thought of, but put this evil day far from her: or she
remembered not the latter end of Jerusalem, who,
though a lady too, fell by her own hand; which sense
Kimchi takes notice of: or she did not consider what
would befall the Jews in the latter day; that God
would put an end to their calamities, and deliver them
out of Babylon, as he had foretold.
Ver. 8. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given
to pleasures, &c.] To carnal lusts and pleasures; gra-
tifying her sensual appetite; indulging herself in every
thing that was agreeable to the senses; aboundlug in
delicacies, and living deliciously; as is said of mystical
Babylon, Rev. xviii. 4, 7. particularly given to venereal
pleasures. Curtins says {g}, "no city was more corrupt
· ' in its manners, or furnished to irritate or allure to
"immoderate pleasures. Parents and husbands suf-
· ' fered their children and wives to prostitute them-
" selves to strangers, so that they had but a price."
Yea, every woman was obliged by a law to do this
once in life, and that in a public manner, in the temple
of Venus; the impurities of which are at large de-
scribed by Herodotus h and Strabo {i}: that dwclleth care-
lessly; in great confidence and security, being fearless
of danger, and insensible of any: that sayest in thine
heart, I am, and none else besides me: sole monarch of
the world, empress of the whole universe; no compe-
tit, r with me, none that can rival me. These words
are sometimes used by the eternal and unchangeable
Jehovah of himself, and indeed they suit with none
but him; and it is the height of insolence and blas-
phemy in a creature to use them of itself; they fitly
express that sovereignty, supremacy, infallibility, and
even deity, which mystical Babylon assumes and
ascribes to her head: I shall not sit as a widow, neither
shah I know the loss of children; not be without a
head, king, or monarch, which is as a husband to the
state; nor without numerous subjects, which are as
children. The like mystical Babylon says, lsit a queen,
and am no widow, Hey. xviii. 7.
Ver. 9. But these two things shall come to thee in a
moment on one day, &c.] Suddenly, at once, at one
and the same time. The destruction of Babylon was
very sudden; the city was taken by surprise, before
the inhabitants were aware of it, while the king and
his nobles were regaling themselves at a feast; that
very night Belshazzar was slain, and Darius the Mede
took the kingdom, Dan. v. 30, 31. and so those two
things she boasted of would never be her lot came
upon her together and at once: the loss of children, and
widowhood; bereaved of her king, and the whole royal
family, and of her people in great numbers, who were
either slain, or carried captive; or, however, the king-
dom was transferred from them to another people.
When Babylon was taken by Cyrus, according to
Xenophon{k}, not only the king was slain, but those
that were about him; and orders were presently given
to the inhabitants to keep within doors, and to slay all
that were found without. Though Dr. Prideaux{l}
thinks this prophecy had its accomplishment when
Babylon was besieged by Darius, who, to save pro-
visions, slew all their own women, wives, sisters,
daughters, and all their children, reserving only one
wife and maid-servant to a man; and when it was
taken, Darius ordered three thousand of the principal
inhabitants to be crucified. And in much such lan-
guage is the destruction of mystical Babylon ex-
pressed, when God shall kill her children with death;
her plagues shall come in one day, death, and mourning,
and famine, Rev. ii. 23. and xviii. 8: they shah come
upon thee in their perfection; those evils and calamities
shall be fully accomplished, not in part only, but in
whole; she should have no king to govern, nor any
thing like one; should have no share of government;
and her children or sub. jects should be entirely de-
stroyed: for the multitude of thy sorecries, and .for the
great abundance of thine enchantments; which. the
Chaldeans were very famous for; this is another rea-
son given for their destruction; see Dan. ii. 2. or, in
the multitude of thy sorceries{m}, &c.; notwithstanding
these, her destruction should come upon her, which
her sorcerers and enchanters could neither foresee
nor prevent. Sorceries are ascribed to mystical Ba-
bylon, and as the cause of her ruin, Rev. ix. o_1. and
xviii. 23.
Ver. 10. For thou hast trusted in thy wickedness, &c.]
In wealth and power wickedly obtained; in political
schemes wickedly contrived; in her ambition and
pride, tyranny and cruelty; and especially in her
wicked arts of astrology, divination, and magic: thou
hast said, none seeth me; lay her schemes of policy,
which she thought so deeply laid, as not to be disco-
vered; perform her magic arts, which were secretly
done, and other her. wicked actions done in the dark;
but nothing can be hid from the omniscient God: thy
wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee: her

{f} \^htyrxa\^ novissimi tui, Vatablus; who observes a various reading.
In some copies it is \^Ktyrxa\^, thy latter end; which is followed by the
Vulgate Latin.
{g} Hist. I. 5. c. 1. sect. 1.
{h} Clio; sive I. 1. c. 199.
{i} Geograph. I, 16. p. 513.
{k} Cyropaedia, 1. 7 sect. 23.
{l} Connexion, &c. part 1. B. 3. p. 188, 189.
{m} \^Kypvk bwrb\^ in multitudine maleficiorum tuorum, Munster, Mon-
tanus; in multitudine praestigiarum, Cocceiuas.