Immanuel.at-Forum for Discussion Discourse 109: Babylon the Great

The Whore of Babylon of Revelation has been understood all over the world and on repeated occasions as a symbol of the Catholic church ‒ starting from Joachim of Flore (d. 1202) and continuing with the Franciscans, not to mention Dante, Luther, Calvin and (rather later) Bengel in 1752, and many other commentators. Although here at Immanuel.at we certainly have no occasion to defend the Catholic church in any way, Excursus 03, dating from the year 1995, demonstrated on the basis of scriptural analysis that this interpretation has to be incorrect, and why this is the case.

Since that time there has been no further discussion of the issue at Immanuel.at, for lack of clear indications in scripture ‒ with the exception of a visiting commentary by Barney Blankenship, whose understanding of the Whore as Jerusalem is admittedly no less dubious than the identification of the Whore with the Catholic church

Based on fresh insights, however, we would like now to make the attempt to interpret this exceedingly tricky biblical text ‒ with special reference to chapter 18 of Revelation, which reduces the interpretation of the Whore as the Catholic church to patent absurdity ‒ in a quite different, and above all more realistic context.

We aim to show here that former commentators have fallen far short in their interpretations. It is similar to the case of the seven kings of Rev 17,9, often incorrectly understood as being the seven Roman emperors ‒ which would have them documenting a time-bound historical horizon (see Excursus 03). These interpretations have completely failed to understand the true significance of the Babylon of the Bible, in their wanting to see her as a pseudo-Christian "Catholic" (Greek = universal) church that came into being at the time of the Roman Empire.

The Babel of antiquity

The origin of the Babylon of the Bible is the Babel of antiquity. After the Flood, the clans of the sons of Noah spread out across the earth (Gen 10:32). At that time the whole of humanity spoke one and the same language and used the same words. One of these peoples, coming from the east, settled on the plain of a country named Shinar ‒ the Iraq of today. In order to make a name for themselves as a people and to prevent further dispersal of the clan in the wide lands around, they resolved to build on this plain a city and a tower with a top reaching into heaven (Gen 11:1-4).

And God came down to see the city and the tower which the sons of men were building. And he was afraid that nothing would any longer be impossible to them, whatever they might attempt ‒that is to say, that the people would become arrogant and would not hesitate to perform anything they took it into their heads to do. And for this reason God confused their language, and scattered them over the face of the earth. And so the work on the city and the tower had perforce to be abandoned, because they could no longer understand one another (Gen 11:5-9).

Later, when work on the city at any rate had been continued and its building completed, it was actually given the name Babel for this very reason. The name (babilu in Semitic, or “God’s door”) is in its Hebrew version a play on words, meaning “prattle” or “bibble–babble”, and Babylon is the Greek form of Babel. The city was situated on the river Euphrates, approximately 300 km above its confluence with the Tigris. The Euphrates flowed through the middle of the city, dividing it into two roughly equal areas.

The mighty list of the kings of Babel/Babylon extends back as far as around 1900 BC, and includes such names as Amraphel (Gen 14:1, 9), a contemporary of Abraham’s (Gen 14:13-14), and perhaps the most famous of the kings of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the Chaldeans. The first king worldwide and ruler of Babel, however, was Nimrod (whom some identify with Amraphel), a descendant of Ham the son of Noah.

Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. The beginning of his kingdom was Babel

Gen 10,8 Now Cush became the father of Nimrod; he became a mighty one on the earth. 10,9 He was a mighty hunter before the LORD; therefore it is said, "Like Nimrod a mighty hunter before the LORD." 10,10 The beginning of his kingdom was Babel and Erech and Accad and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. 10,11 From that land he went forth into Assyria, and built Nineveh and Rehoboth-Ir and Calah, 10,12 and Resen between Nineveh and Calah; that is the great city. Gen 10, 8-12:

Babylon in world history

The six world empires

Egypt

In the further course of events we find repeated references to Babylon under the various world empires. Just recently a sensational discovery was made by Viennese archeologists digging in Egypt ‒ they found an ancient Babylonian seal dating probably from the time of king Hammurabi (1792-1750 BC). This proves that diplomatic relations between the courts of Egypt and Ancient Babylon had actually started 150 years earlier than was previously thought.

Assyria

Under the following global empire, that of Assyria, the kings Ashurnasirpal II (883-859 BC) and Shalmaneser III (858-824 BC) extended Assyrian power as far as Syria. After some setbacks and internal dissension, Tiglath-Pileser III (745-727 BC) succeeded in adding Babylon to his dominions as well as Phoenicia, Palestine and Israel.

Babylon

In the year 605 BC the remnants of the Assyrian army were defeated by Nebuchadnezzar II (604-562 BC), and Babylonia itself became a global empire. Nebuchadnezzar II conquered Syria and Palestine, and destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC. Southern Mesopotamia, including Babylon, was at this time the central commercial region of the Orient. The ruling caste in the kingdom was the priestly aristocracy, who after the death of Nebuchadnezzar II were unwilling to let a strong ruler curtail their power. Under the last king, Nabonid (555-538 BC), an open conflict developed between the throne and the priests.

Persia

The disunity between Nabonid and the priestly classes was exploited by the king of the Persians, Cyrus II (558-529 BC), who now conquered Babylonia. The priests opened the gates of Babylon to him in 539 BC, surrendering the city without a fight. On 22 October Cyrus II followed the priests in triumph and jubilation in the city. With that Persia became a world power.

Greece

The Greeks defeated the Persians at the battle of Marathon (490 BC). Alexander the Great met the Persian army in 331 BC in the course of expanding his empire, finally defeating them in the battles of Issos and Gaugamela. The Greeks tolerated Babylonian culture, supplementing it with the theatre and other accomplishments. After the death of Alexander the Great (he died in 323 BC in Babylon), the wars of his feuding generals (the diadochi) devastated the land. Plundering and destruction resulted in a general famine.

The Roman Empire

Rome conquered Greece in 200 BC, becoming the dominant power in the Mediterranean region and in Spain. In matters of overland transport, Palmyra played a crucial role. This was where several caravans every year, consisting of up to 100 camels, set out for Seleucia, Babylon, Vologesias and Spasinou Charax. On returning successfully from such a venture, the leaders were often honored with inscriptions and statues.

Babylon in Revelation

As we can read in the beginning of this document (Gen 10,8-12), Nimrod was the first mighty man or ruler, and the city he founded, Babel, was the very first city on earth. It was the mother of all cities. It was the center of the Babylonian world empire and the central trading region of the Orient. In the kingdom of Alexander the Great, Babylon was still the seat of power. And under other global empires as well, Babylon repeatedly features ‒ sometimes having economic, sometimes cultural significance. So the view of some commentators ‒ who presume that the Babylon of Revelation only appeared in the last of the former world empires, the Roman Empire, in the guise of the Catholic church ‒ is actually quite incomprehensible.

In view of the historical references mentioned above, we can surely recognize that Babel/Babylon was not just a city of antiquity. Right from the beginnings of human history, this city has accompanied the various changing cultures and powers of this world. It was conquered on several occasions, destroyed and rebuilt, but its final downfall was rather a quiet one. In fact it was so inconspicuous that historians are still arguing, right up to the present day, about the date when Babylon actually disappeared from world history. The region in Iraq where Babylon once stood has only a few ruins to show today, which are being excavated by the archeologists.

But if in the Babylonian period the city was the commercial center of the Orient, as characterized by John in Revelation it becomes the commercial center of the whole world in the Last Days. And based on the circumstance that Babylon in the Last Days is evidently a quite different sort of “city”, we can conclude that this Babylon represents first and foremost not a particular city, but rather an ideological force, a principle of action.

And in actual fact a power of this kind ‒ in parallel to Babylon ‒ has always dominated world history: namely Mammon, meaning the accumulation of riches and wealth. From the Pharaohs of Egypt through to the dictators and high finance of the present day, we find this principle of action: “increase your wealth and don’t worry about the consequences for other people.” Mammon is also referred to in the Bible as the archetypal symbol of unjust possessions and wealth (Mt 6:24; Lk 16:9,11,13).

I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns.

Rev 17,7 And the angel said to me, "Why do you wonder? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. 17,8 "The beast that you saw was, and is not, and is about to come up out of the abyss and go to destruction. And those who dwell on the earth, whose name has not been written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, will wonder when they see the beast, that he was and is not and will come. 17,9 "Here is the mind which has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains on which the woman sits, 17,10 and they are seven kings; five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; and when he comes, he must remain a little while. Rev 17, 7-10;

As has been demonstrated in the light of scriptural evidence in Excursus 03, the Beast of Rev 17 is Satan, and the seven mountains, always understood by past commentators as a reference to the Catholic church (based on Rome’s “seven hills”), stand for the seven world empires (Isa 41:15-16; Jer 51:24-26; Dan 2:34-35). The seven kings are seven princes of the angels, who obey Satan and direct the human rulers of these world empires. In this they are resisted by the angel princes of God, as we know from Daniel’s reports of the angel prince who is Gabriel. In Dan 10,13.20 the angel Gabriel tells Daniel ‒ in words somewhat astonishing to our ears ‒ that before appearing to Daniel, he, Gabriel, has had to battle with the “angel prince of the kingdom of Persia”, and that after this he must again go forth to do battle with the “angel prince of Greece” ‒ that is to say, the world empire that is to follow.

Dan 10,13 "But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia. Dan 10,13;

Dan 10,20 Then he said, "Do you understand why I came to you? But I shall now return to fight against the prince of Persia; so I am going forth, and behold, the prince of Greece is about to come. Dan 10,20;

So whereas the seven heads symbolize the seven world empires (the seven mountains) and the seven angel princes of Satan (the seven kings) who manipulate the rulers of these world empires, we are told above, in Rev 17,9, that the woman sits on these mountains ‒ the world empires, that is. And this now dovetails perfectly with the historical observation referred to earlier that Babylon is to be found in all world empires since the start of world history. But that, now, makes it clear that Babylon ‒ like the demonic angel princes of the world empires ‒ is an “executive organ” of Satan.

The human rulers of the world empires achieve power with the help of Satan’s demonic prompters. It is the latter, too, who direct the fates of this world through the politicians and the military, until they are withstood by the angel princes of God. Babylon, by contrast, is the other power in this world. As a result of her deceitful trading in commerce and finance, she achieves a fullness of power which appears bloodless on the surface, but is no less destructive in its effects than the power of politicians and generals. Of her we are told in Rev 18,3:

The kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality.

Rev 18,3 "For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality, and the kings of the earth have committed acts of immorality with her, and the merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality." Rev 18,3;

In Isa 23,17-18 we have a very similar description of the city of Tyre, which has become rich from its trading. Of this city we are told likewise that she has played the harlot with all the kingdoms of the earth, and her commercial gains are similarly characterized as harlot’s wages.

Isa 23,17 It will come about at the end of seventy years that the LORD will visit Tyre. Then she will go back to her harlot’s wages and will play the harlot with all the kingdoms on the face of the earth. 23,18 Her gain and her harlot’s wages will be set apart to the LORD; it will not be stored up or hoarded, but her gain will become sufficient food and choice attire for those who dwell in the presence of the LORD. Isa 23,17-18;

If we now look at the “kingdoms” or states of the present day, it will not take us long to recognize with whom they have committed, and continue to commit harlotry. In order to finance their lavish lifestyle, many states have gotten so far into debt with banks and credit institutes that they are no longer able to repay their borrowings. Consequently their creditworthiness in the eyes of the rating agencies has suffered a decline, and they are obliged to pay ever higher rates of interest. These debtor countries have not lost a war ‒ but even so, as we see in the case of Greece, a country facing bankruptcy, this is a situation where people take their own lives out of sheer desperation.

But even a “triple A” nation ‒ one not yet demoted in the creditworthiness stakes ‒ like tiny Austria pays a million euros of interest to its lending banks every hour(!). And as everyone knows, that doesn’t involve payment of a single cent of the original capital! Germany, another triple A state, is no better off: as its burden of debts, at ca. 2 trillion euros, is something like ten times as heavy as Austria’s, the German government pays 10 million euros of interest every hour(!) to the banks. And this is going on for 24 hours a day and on 365 days of the year. Just think what could be financed with all this money, if it didn’t have to be paid to the banks!

With its financial clout and Jewish-dominated American high finance, this second power that is "Babylon" is increasingly coming to dominate the nations of this world. What makes the USA, from our point of view today, particularly suspect is the fact that the central bank / issuing bank of the USA, the FED or Federal Reserve Bank, one of the most important financial institutions of the world and guardian of the currency of the world’s largest economy, has a massive influence on the American government, and so on the entire world.

Although the American issuing bank calls itself “federal” ‒ in other words, “national” ‒ in fact that is the last thing it is. In a phenomenon without parallel worldwide, the American central bank is not nationally but privately owned. The most important proprietors of the FED are a handful of Jewish banking families, including

- Rothschild Bank of London
- Rothschild Bank of Berlin
- Lazard Brothers of Paris
- Israel Moses Seif Banks of Italy
- Warburg Bank of Amsterdam
- Warburg Bank of Hamburg
- Lehman Brothers of New York
- Kuhn Loeb Bank of New York
- Goldman Sachs of New York
- Rockefeller Chase Manhattan Bank of New York
- JP Morgan Bank of New York
and others.

The mentality and the business practice of these people we can realize in a statement of the Rothschild Bank to US business partners:

"The few who understand the system will either be so interested in its profits, or so dependent on its favors, that there will be no opposition from that class. The great body of the people, mentally incapable of comprehending, will bear its burden without complaint, and perhaps without even suspecting that the system is inimical to their interests."
(Rothschild Brothers of London June 28, 1863, to US business partners.)

And this global finance lobby is becoming increasingly influential in our own times. Here’s what Monika Wagener of MONITOR (ARD ‒ Germany’s association of public broadcasting corporations) has to say about it:

It isn’t just German companies feeling queasy, it’s the Germans. And with good reason. We are witnessing on a daily basis the way in which an unfettered financial system puts the economy, standards of living and society at risk. Stock exchanges go crazy, markets get out of control, hedge funds bet against the euro. And the politicians? They just seem clueless and harassed. We should remember that in the wake of the bank crisis of 2008, politicians vied with one another in calling for radical measures to control the financial markets. But what has happened to those urgently needed reforms? Where are the regulations that would really restrict speculation? Nada. Stephan Stuchlik, Kim Otto and Andreas Orth set off to investigate why this is. What they found was lobbyists who had done a really good job.
(Die Finanzlobby [The finance lobby - in German])

And the economist Professor Eberhard Hamer (born 1932) also gives an excellent summary in his statement quoted below:

(Texts enclosed in a black frame are quoted from visitors to the site or other authors.)

The new form of financial domination / Professor Eberhard Hamer, economist, Mittelstandsinstitut Hannover [SME Institute of Hanover]

The new form of financial domination consists not in subjugating peoples by military might, but rather in offering them massive credits, so as to achieve financial and economic domination of the country on the basis of the interest payments (a practice known as interest servitude). In the euro crisis as well we recognize the same picture. Greece was actually already broke when it was dragged into the euro zone, with the help of balances and creditworthiness ratings cooked up by [the American bank] Goldman-Sachs. In this new network the international banks have continued to extend more credit to Greece with even fewer inhibitions than in the past, until Greece was not just over-indebted but actually incapable of repayment. Instead of allowing Greece to make a clean break by declaring national bankruptcy, the international banks claimed that there was “no alternative” to calling on the other euro countries to provide a “bailout fund”, supposedly for Greece but in reality for the banking debts, and this was what they got. So now the international banks no longer have just Greece as a debtor ‒ these individual debts have become the collective debt of all European countries and the EU has become a transfer union as part of the ESM (European Stability Mechanism ‒ the “bailout” package). So in the next 50 years Europe will be working not to create wealth for itself, but rather to pay the interest on the loans extended by high finance.

Quoted in TOPIC no. 10, October 2011

Examination in the light of the Bible

Let us now endeavor to examine the supposition expressed earlier, namely that “Babylon” may be a symbol of the financial industry, of the stock exchanges and banks of this world, in the light of the relevant scriptural passages.

Chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation are essentially concerned with three groups of persons, presented to us right away in the first two verses of chapter 17

The great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.

Rev 17,1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality." Rev 17, 1- 2;

Her reigning over the kings of the earth seems comparable with a kind of supreme authority, and it is just this kind of financial supremacy which is in fact exercised by the global banking system over many nations of this world. This can be seen in our own day, not least, in the way in which the banks’ rating agencies place ever greater burdens on the shoulders of the countries they judge unreliable, by demoting them in the creditworthiness stakes and so forcing them to pay higher interest (or tribute).

And the kings of the earth, who committed acts of immorality and lived sensuously with her. (Rev 17,2; 18,3: 18,9?

Here we can take it, without need of any lengthy explanation, that the “kings of the earth” stand for the governments of the individual nations of the world. The “immorality” they carry on with the global banking system is their taking money on loan, or on credit, which is not their own money, as it has not been acquired by the labor of its own citizens (is not part of the GDP, or Gross Domestic Product) or by the taxes levied on the latter ‒ instead, it is external capital which has to be paid for in the form of interest. This makes them comparable with married men for whom their spouse (the GDP) is not enough, so they go to a harlot (a bank) and pay her a harlot’s wages, namely the interest payments.

Finally we are told about a third group, “those who dwell on the earth”:

Those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality. (Rev 17,2; 18,3)

While these people need no interpretation ‒ clearly the population of the world is meant ‒ the statement that they have been “made drunk” is still a little puzzling. If we presume, as seems reasonable, that the “wine” of the immorality carried on by governments with the banking system can only be money, money which the banks then distribute to the population in hope of being re-elected, we can detect the heedlessness (overindulgence, drunkenness) of the population in dealing with money as revealed in their lifestyle and working habits.

And here, if we refer to the example of the current situation in Greece, we will find an exceedingly convincing demonstration. Although Greece is on the verge of bankruptcy, the Greeks are nonetheless able to afford the following “social services”:

o The employees of partially nationalized enterprises receive 17.5 annual salaries.

o If you are 35 years of age and unmarried, you receive a 15% markup on your basic salary.

o The start of your working day is not, as you might suppose, the time when you reach the office, but the time when you leave your house.

o The Greek government turns a blind eye to tax fraud amounting to 60 billion euros.

o More than 100,000 dead persons continue to receive pension payments, which are pocketed by their relatives.

o Greece has 134,000 soldiers ‒ in relation to the country’s 11 million inhabitants, this is the biggest army in Europe.

o At around 7 billion euros, or 4% of the Gross Domestic Product, the Greek military budget is three or four times as high as those of other EU states (1-1.5%).

o The Greek army is now planning to use the money from the “bailout fund” to acquire 400 M1A1 Abrams battle tanks from the USA, with overhaul costs of between 15 and 150 million euros.

Above all in times of crisis, such as we have been living through for some years in Europe now, this behavior on the part of the Greek government and the Greek population seems to betoken not just partial drunkenness but total intoxication.

But let us continue with our demonstration of proof.

We found it written in Rev 17,1 above:

Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.

And Rev 17,15 then promptly gives us a more detailed description of these “waters”:

The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues.

The global banking system does indeed sit on “many waters”. Probably there is no nation of this world where you would be unable to find a bank of some kind or other.

But now we also find there is a fourth, rather passive group of persons, featuring in these two chapters of Revelation. These are the merchants.

The merchants of the earth have become rich by the wealth of her sensuality. (Rev 18,3; 18,11; 18,15)
Your merchants were the great men of the earth. (Rev 18,23)

And this fits in seamlessly with our interpretation so far. If the nations and the population have so much money, they will proceed to spend it. On daily living, on trips, on goods and services. And so these “merchants” ‒ the international groups and industrial multinationals, whose owners and shareholders are of course in many cases drawn from the ranks of banking and high finance (“your merchants”, i.e. Babylon’s) ‒ will naturally become rich and go on getting richer.

But seeing that these products and goods do have to be conveyed to the end consumer, after all, of course the transport industry is going to do very well out of it. And that is just what we find now, in Rev 18,19:

As we are in a position to learn from daily reports in the media, “all who have ships at sea” do not just become rich by providing services ‒ the transport of goods ‒ but also as a result of their carelessness and lack of responsibility, as witnessed in the ever more frequent oil catastrophes on the seas of the world.

Rev 18,23 gives us a statement that is a little more difficult to interpret:

What kind of “sorcery” are we to imagine deceiving the nations? If we follow the relevant reports in the media, we can ascertain that the world’s 82 biggest economies are in debt to the tune of something like 41 trillion (41,000,000,000,000) euros ‒ including the US, which alone has debts amounting to 10 trillion. And we can further ascertain that the governments of these countries have no thought of retrenchment or of repaying their debts ‒ in fact, most of them continue to take out further loans, while throwing money in the form of interest payments in the insatiable gullets of the banks.

Any responsible private household, any company managed in accordance with the rules of good commercial practice, would come to its senses in a situation like this and try to do something about it. Not so the governments of most of these countries. Many of them continue to mark up budget deficits every year, and so increase the burden of the national debt.

As we can hardly suppose that the population of the world has elected complete idiots to public office, there must have been some kind of “sorcery” at work (Nah 3:4), to cloud the judgment of these politicians and somehow give them the impression that the situation really is not so problematic and it is easy to find a solution ‒ in the form, of course, of further loans, which will be pressed on them by banks all over the world.

But the politicians of some countries have now woken up from this deluding dream, and have realized that the banks and their rating agencies are just forcing them to pay ever higher rates of interest. These countries are wanting to get their finances under control again, and are demanding radical economies on the part of the population, willy nilly. Not only does this come as a surprise to their citizens, but the proposed measures are seriously life-threatening ‒ and so they have been met by protests and strikes. Which brings us to the reality of the present time, and the question now suggests itself where we can find all this in the prophecies about Babylon.

In fact it is not all that easy to find the indication we are looking for in chapters 17 and 18 of Revelation. But it is still there. It is to be found, somewhat concealed, in a passage dealing with the downfall of Babylon. Here we are told, in Rev 18,6:

Pay her back even as she has paid, and give back to her double according to her deeds; in the cup which she has mixed, mix twice as much for her.

She is to be paid back, then, “as she has paid”, and the cup which she has mixed is to be returned in double measure. This would mean that no mercy is to be expected from high finance, from the creditors of these countries, no compassion for the precarious situation of the population. This is “the cup which she has mixed”. Whether it is really going to turn out in this way will depend, in the first instance, on the negotiations about a “haircut” ‒ that is to say, a 50-60% remission of debts for afflicted countries on the part of the lending banks.

The next passages referring to Babylon herself are relatively easy to understand, if we stay focused on the global power of the financial industry, so we probably do not need any specific explanation at this point:

She says in her heart, ‘I sit as a queen and I am not a widow, and will never see mourning.’ (Rev 18,7)
She glorified herself and lived sensuously. (Rev 18,7)
She has in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality. (Rev 17,4)

But one statement in these two chapters of Revelation actually is quite hard to understand. This is the reference to the “saints, prophets and witnesses of Jesus” in Rev 17,6 and 18,24:

She was drunk with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.
And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all who have been slain on the earth.

Since both of these passages are concerned with martyrs, we might refer here to the characterization of the martyrs in Rev 6,9 and 20,4 and so understand the “prophets and saints” as the martyrs of the Old Covenant and the “saints and witnesses of Jesus” as the martyrs of the New Covenant. This would presumably support the view that Babylon persecuted the faithful even in Old Testament times. But the background information ‒ especially the question how the blood “of all who have been slain on earth” was to be found in her, and who these persons are ‒ is likely to remain a riddle for some time yet, and may only reveal its secrets at some future time (perhaps in the light of a persecution of Christians in the Last Days).

The last quotation, though, is again quite easy to interpret. In Rev 18,4 we find the invitation:

Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues;

This is a warning against the banks ‒ those share-cropping, loan-peddling sharks who persuade people to take up any amount of securities and speculation options (even worthless government bonds!) and so get finance for their own downfall. It should be made clear at this point that we are not called on to boycott banks and banking services altogether, when it comes to the management of our cash. Otherwise we would have to renounce money on the whole. Let us think of the apostles: Judas looked after the money of the group, and the Lord had nothing against it. The banks, like Judas, will certainly receive their punishment, but until that time comes, Christian believers can continue to avail themselves of their services, like the Lord and the apostles with Judas.

Finally we still have to answer the question why Babylon is referred to in Revelation as “the great city”. This undoubtedly goes back, first of all, to the original city of Babel mentioned earlier ‒ which in fact was the first city on the face of the earth. And in subsequent centuries, Babel/Babylon continued to be present as a city in the great world empires.

But in our day as well, and against the background of the interpretation of Babylon that has been advanced above as the global financial industry, we find that there is one city of this world ‒ leaving other cities out of account ‒ where the threads of industry and finance come together in a particular sense, and that is New York with its Wall Street. Just as in primeval times Babel was the first city of the world and the center of all its political and economic activities, so too New York is now the global center of high finance, and with its stock exchange constitutes the hinge and fulcrum of the global economy.

But there are still more similarities with Babel. If in Babel the construction of “a tower whose top will reach into heaven” (Gen 11,4) was prevented by the confusion of tongues, New York succeeded in 1931 in completing a tower of this kind, a “sky-scraper” as a world first. Like the tower of Babel, with its height of 443 meters (to the top of the aerial) the Empire State Building was the highest building on earth in its time, and still was until 1972. Now of course its record has long been superseded. The Burj Khalifa extends more than 800 meters into Dubai’s desert heavens, and almost all major cities of the world today can boast skyscrapers which would make the Tower of Babel resemble a lookout post.

And in much the same way as in Babel, after the confusion of tongues, a lot of languages continued to exist alongside one another, so too in New York there are quite a few “quarters” (Italian, Chinese, Spanish, German etc.) where the various nationalities speak their own language. And as in ancient Babel the river Euphrates flowed through the middle of the city and divided it into two approximately equal areas, so too the East River flows through New York and divides Manhattan from Brooklyn. But as suggested above, these prophecies undoubtedly have significance for the near and more distant future. And here it would not be at all out of the question if New York were actually to develop into the global capital ‒ in which case other prophecies in Revelation would also become a reality.

But above all in connection with these issues we should not omit to point out that what we have in the Bible frequently turns out to be a “foreshadowing”. This is an event with characteristics closely approximating to the biblical prophecies, but without actually being their fulfillment. So for example we can find in Antiochus IV Epiphanes (~215-164 BC), who occupied Jerusalem in 167 BC and made observation of the sabbath, circumcision, festivals, possession of the books of the Law and the daily sacrifice punishable by death, a precursor of the Antichrist.

Hitler too, who in the onset of his military aggression, starting in 1939, overran and occupied half of Europe and so like the first Antichrist “went out conquering and to conquer”, has some similarities with the Antichrist, especially in view of his persecution of the Jews and the fact that his military supremacy lasted for seven years ‒ but without having been the fulfillment of the prophecy.

And so this interpretation of Babylon in the light of contemporary events could turn out just the same ‒ as a time-bound understanding which comes very close to the biblical prophecies but still falls short of being their fulfillment.

Discourse 109 - Babylon the Great - the Global High Finance?