Good grief. The whore of Babylon was Israel. The prophets were always scolding Israel for whoring after false gods.
Although the region (specifically Jerusalem) was scolded repeatedly in the Old Testament - both Israel (and Jerusalem) are redeemed almost as often as they are scolded. They are redeemed in the Book of Isaiah and are to be
finally redeemed with the coming of the Messiah.
When John wrote the book of Revelation, he was imprisoned on the island of Patmos. The entire book of Revelation is written in "code", because at the time, Christianity was essentially illegal and regarded as a "cult"; they could have been persecuted, imprisoned or killed if they wrote about anything that went against the Roman Empire. The book of Revelation is dated between 70-90 AD, depending on the source.
Although the Book of Revelation was written in a spiritual (eternal) sense, it was also written in correlation to the events of the time. In the spiritual (eternal) sense, the Whore of Babylon can be associated with capitol cities that "stray" from God's ways and adore "Earthly ways". So historically, Jerusalem could have been considered as such.
That said, in all likelihood, John was referring to the capitol city of Rome at the time:
First Peter (
1 Peter 5:13) implies the author is in "Babylon", which has been held to be a coded reference to Rome.
[8][9][10] Many Biblical scholars
[11][12] believe that "Babylon" is a metaphor for the pagan
Roman Empire at the time it
persecuted Christians, before the
Edict of Milan in 313. According to
Eusebius of Caesarea Babylon would be Rome or the Roman Empire:
And Peter makes mention of Mark in his first epistle which they say that he wrote in Rome itself, as is indicated by him, when he calls the city, by a figure, Babylon, as he does in the following words: «The church that is at Babylon, elected together with you, salutes you; and so does Marcus my son.»(1 Peter 5:13)"
[13]
Some biblical scholars recognize that "Babylon" is a cipher for Rome or the Roman Empire but believe Babylon is not limited to the Roman city of the first century. Craig Koester says outright that "the whore is Rome, yet more than Rome."
[14] It "is the Roman imperial world, which in turn represents the world alienated from God."
[15] Some
exegetes interpret the passage as a scathing critique of a servant people of Rome who do the Empire's bidding, interpreting that the author of Revelation was speaking of the
Herodians—a party of Jews friendly to Rome and open to its influence, like the
Hellenizers of centuries past—and later, corrupt
Hasmoneans, where the
ruler of Jerusalem or
Roman Judea exercised his power at the pleasure of the
Roman emperor, and was dependent on Roman influence, like
Herod the Great in the
Gospel of Luke.[
citation needed]
In
4 Ezra,
[16][17] 2 Baruch[18] and the
Sibylline Oracles,
[19] "Babylon" is a
cryptic name for Rome.
[20] In Revelation 17:9 it is said that she sits on "seven mountains",
[21] typically understood as the
seven hills of Rome.
[22][23][24][25][26] A Roman coin minted under the Emperor Vespasian (ca. 70 AD) depicts Rome as a woman sitting on seven hills.[27]
According to the
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, "The characteristics ascribed to this Babylon apply to Rome rather than to any other city of that age: (a) as ruling over the kings of the earth (Revelation 17:18); (b) as sitting on seven mountains (Revelation 17:9); (c) as the center of the world's merchandise (Revelation 18:3, 11–13); (d) as the corrupter of the nations (Revelation 17:2; 18:3; 19:2); (e) as the persecutor of the saints (Revelation 17:6)."
[28]
First Peter (
1 Peter 5:13) implies the author is in "Babylon", which has been held to be a coded reference to Rome.
[8][9][10] Many Biblical scholars
[11][12] believe that "Babylon" is a metaphor for the pagan
Roman Empire at the time it
persecuted Christians, before the
Edict of Milan in 313. According to
Eusebius of Caesarea Babylon would be Rome or the Roman Empire:
en.wikipedia.org
