Babylon is not the World-Trading Empire!

8/14/2019 Babylon is not the World-Trading Empire!

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'BABYLON' in REVELATION is NOT theMODERN WORLD TRADING SYSTEM!

..from the free commentary which you can download athttp://sites.google.com/site/freecommentary(control+left click if left-click does nothing)

Summary:'Babylon' symbolises the temple in Jerusalem, and the temple was astorehouse where 'merchandise' was kept!Even Revelation itself says that 'Babylon' is 'where our Lord was crucified'.The holy tabernacle in the desert and the several temples in Jerusalem wereplaces where you would find all the 'trade' items mentioned in Revelation 18.The use of the word 'merchants' is a figure of speech telling us that the templerulers had become money-oriented, and made their temple into a place of merchandise, just as Jesus had once said:

' Joh 2:16 and to them that sold the doves he said, Take these thingshence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.'

In addition, Babylon slays the prophets . To say that the modern world tradingsystem is responsible for the murder of the prophets and saints is far-fetched.Instead Jesus showed that the temple's religious elite had a well-establishedrecord in killing the prophets Mat 23:31-34. The story of the fall of Babylon isthat it is the religious leaders who are being punished for persecuting the

saints. Any murderous religious authority who kills Christians fits the'merchants' better than the world's trading centres.

The import of this is that we should not follow the speculative and widespreadtheory about the end-times, that 'Babylon' is the modern world trading system.

Here is the passage which naturally leads people to think of capital trade... Rev 18:11-13 And the merchants of the earth weep and mourn over her,for no man buyeth their merchandise any more; 12 merchandise of gold,and silver, and precious stone, and pearls, and fine linen, and purple, and

silk, and scarlet; and all scented wood, and every vessel of ivory, and everyvessel made of most precious wood, and of brass, and iron, and marble;13 and cinnamon, and spice, and incense, and ointment, andfrankincense, and wine, and oil, and fine flour, and wheat, and cattle, andsheep; and merchandise of horses and chariots and slaves; and souls of men.

TEMPLE ITEMS

Most of the items that are listed in Rev 18:12 - 13 (a possible exception is the

human lives) could all have been readily found in a temple ... and used fortemple worship . The spices were used to make the anointing oil, the cloth tomake garments for priests, the precious stones to adorn the temple, the wood
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to make musical instruments for worship, the beasts for sacrifices etc. Storesof these items were kept in the temple. In the Old Testament there have beensufficient clues (see list below) for us to be able to confidently say 'This istalking of what happens in the temple '.

COSTLY ITEMS used in THE HOLY TENT

Exo 25:2-8 Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for me anoffering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take myoffering. 3 And this is the offering which ye shall take of them: gold, andsilver, and brass, 4 and blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine linen, andgoats' hair , 5 and rams' skins dyed red, and sealskins, and acacia wood,6 oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil, and for the sweet incense, 7onyx stones, and stones to be set, for the ephod, and for the breastplate.8 And let them make me a sanctuary , that I may dwell among them.

Exo 28:6 And they shall make the ephod of gold, of blue, and purple,scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of the skilful workman.

Exo 30:23 Take thou also unto thee the chief spices: of flowing myrrh fivehundred shekels , and of sweet cinnamon half so much, even two hundredand fifty, and of sweet calamus two hundred and fifty,... 26 And thou shaltanoint therewith the tent of meeting , and the ark of the testimony,

Exo 29:40 and with the one lamb a tenth part of an ephah of fine flourmingled with the fourth part of a hin of beaten oil, and the fourth part of a

hin of wine for a drink- offering .

Lev 2:2 and he shall bring it to Aaron's sons the priests; and he shall takethereout his handful of the fine flour thereof, and of the oil thereof, with allthe frankincense thereof; and the priest shall burn it as the memorialthereof upon the altar , an offering made by fire, of a sweet savor untoJehovah:Lev 6:15

Lev 14:21 And if he be poor, and cannot get so much, then he shall take

one he-lamb for a trespass-offering to be waved, to make atonement forhim, and one tenth part of an ephah of fine flour mingled with oil for ameal-offering , and a log of oil;

Other similar references: Exo 29:40, Lev 2:1, Lev 2:4-7, Lev 14:10

PRECIOUS GOODS used in SOLOMON'S TEMPLE

1Ch 9:29 Some of them also were appointed over the furniture, and overall the vessels of the sanctuary , and over the fine flour, and the wine, and

the oil, and the frankincense, and the spices.

1Ch 23:29 for the showbread also, and for the fine flour for a meal-


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offering, whether of unleavened wafers, or of that which is baked in thepan, or of that which is soaked, and for all manner of measure and size;

1Ki 7:30 And every base had four brazen wheels [[possibly wheels of achariot], and axles of brass; and the four feet thereof had undersetters:beneath the laver were the undersetters molten, with wreaths at the sideof each.

1Ch 29:2 Now I [David] have prepared with all my might for the house of my God the gold for the things of gold, and the silver for the things of silver, and the brass for the things of brass, the iron for the things of iron,and wood for the things of wood; onyx stones, and stones to be set, stonesfor inlaid work, and of divers colors, and all manner of precious stones, andmarble stones in abundance.

2Ch 3:6 And he garnished the house with precious stones for beauty: andthe gold was gold of Parvaim.

2Ch 31:5-6 And as soon as the commandment came abroad, the childrenof Israel gave in abundance the first-fruits of grain, new wine, and oil, andhoney, and of all the increase of the field; and the tithe of all thingsbrought they in abundantly. 6 And the children of Israel and Judah, thatdwelt in the cities of Judah, they also brought in the tithe of oxen andsheep, and the tithe of dedicated things which were consecrated untoJehovah their God, and laid them by heaps.

MORE MERCHANDISE in THE SECOND TEMPLE

Ezr 1:5-6 Then rose up the heads of fathers' houses of Judah andBenjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, even all whose spirit God hadstirred to go up to build the house of Jehovah which is in Jerusalem. 6And all they that were round about them strengthened their hands withvessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with preciousthings, besides all that was willingly offered.

Ezr 6:9 And that which they have need of, both young bullocks, and rams,

and lambs, for burnt-offerings to the God of heaven; also wheat, salt, wine,and oil, according to the word of the priests that are at Jerusalem, let it begiven them day by day without fail;

Ezr 7:16-18 and all the silver and gold that thou shalt find in all theprovince of Babylon, with the freewill-offering of the people, and of thepriests, offering willingly for the house of their God which is in Jerusalem;17 therefore thou shalt with all diligence buy with this money bullocks,rams, lambs, with their meal-offerings and their drink-offerings, and shaltoffer them upon the altar of the house of your God which is in Jerusalem.

18 And whatsoever shall seem good to thee and to thy brethren to do withthe rest of the silver and the gold, that do ye after the will of your God.


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Ezr 7:22-23 unto a hundred talents of silver, and to a hundred measuresof wheat, and to a hundred baths of wine, and to a hundred baths of oil,and salt without prescribing how much. 23 Whatsoever is commanded bythe God of heaven, let it be done exactly for the house of the God of heaven; for why should there be wrath against the realm of the king andhis sons?

Neh 13:4 Now before this, Eliashib the priest, who was appointed over thechambers of the house of our God , being allied unto Tobiah, 5 hadprepared for him a great chamber, where aforetime they laid the meal-offerings, the frankincense, and the vessels, and the tithes of the grain, thenew wine, and the oil, which were given by commandment to the Levites,and the singers, and the porters; and the heave-offerings for the priests.

HEROD'S TEMPLE

Joh 2:15-16 and he made a scourge of cords, and cast all out of thetemple, both the sheep and the oxen; and he poured out the changers'money, and overthrew their tables; 16 and to them that sold the doveshe said, Take these things hence; make not my Father's house a house of merchandise.

'BABYLON' SLAYS THE PROPHETS!

Before we get to Revelation 18 describing Babylon as a centre of merchandise,we have already been told that 'Babylon' slays the prophets...

Rev 17:5 and upon her forehead a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THEGREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OFTHE EARTH.Rev 17:6 And I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, andwith the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. And when I saw her, I wonderedwith a great wonder.

'The great city of Babylon' is an assumed name for the religious elite of Jerusalem, those in charge of the temple:

Rev 11:8 And their dead bodies lie in the street of the great city, whichspiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified.

Compare Jerusalem's well-established record in killing the prophets:Mat 23:31-34 Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of yourfathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the

judgment of hell? 34 Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, andwise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute

from city to city:

The 'house of merchandise' is a religious centre.

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Babylon is not the World-Trading Empire!