Revelation Chapter 17: Seven Heads and Ten Horns

[Hemidakota]

Part 3

The Mystery of the Beast (VV. 7-13)

7. And the angel said unto me, Wherefore didst thou marvel? I will tell thee the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carrieth her, which hath the seven heads and ten horns.
. 8. The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit, and go into perdition: and they that dwell on the earth shall wonder, whose names were not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.
9. And here is the mind which hath wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth.
10. And there are seven kings: five are fallen, and one is, and the other is not yet come; and when he cometh, he must continue a short space.
11. And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven, and goeth into perdition.
12. And the ten horns which thou sawest are ten kings, which have received no kingdom as yet; but receive power as kings one hour with the beast.
13. These have one mind, and shall give their power and strength unto the beast.

The greatness of the woman's power causes John to feel nothing short of consternation (see v. 6). The Greek word thaumaz, translated "admiration" in the KJV, means to be amazed, to wonder, to be astonished. The common element seems to be incredulous surprise. The context dictates the positive or negative sense of the word. Here the context suggests the translation "consternation," rather than "admiration" as used in the KJV. Seeing John's reaction, the angel asks, "Why didst thou marvel? I will tell thee of the mystery of the woman and of the beast" (v. 7, AT).

The messenger begins with the monster. It is the same beast John depicted in chapter thirteen. As noted there, the description shows that it is a counterfeit of the Lamb of God: "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not; and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit" (v. 8, KJV). As noted earlier, this statement stands in contrast to the description of the Savior as "the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come" (1:8, KJV). The Savior is the great Jehovah who exists from everlasting to everlasting (see D&C 20:17; 61:1). The beast is, at best, only a momentary reality. John's statement that he "is not" suggests his shadowy nature. He seems to have suffered death, but in reality he is but momentarily in the abyss, waiting to arise.

Again a backhanded parallel emerges. This satanically inspired power imitates the resurrecting power of the divine Lamb who died and came back to life. The beast returns to hurlitself in fury against the kingdom of God. This resiliency causes those who "dwell on the earth" to wonder "when they behold the beast that was, and is not, and yet is" (v. 8, KJV). John can see that the beast is neither dead nor gone, it is only hidden; it still pulls the strings and will do so until the day it emerges full force from the abyss.
The last of its descriptive phrases, "and yet is" (Greek kai parestai), has the same root as the Greek word parousia,a technical term used to describe the arrival of an emperor and used consistently for the second coming of the Lord. The word appears in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17 and 2 Thessalonians 2:1, where it is translated in the KJV with the phrase "the coming of the Lord." It is also used as a title for the Lord in Revelation 1:8. Here in 17:8 the angel connects it with the ascent of the beast out of the abyss. As the Savior will have his second coming, so too the monster will have its diabolical parousia. This will not be long lasting, for, from the moment it arises, it shall move relentlessly toward its final destiny-perdition.

The beast, as viewed in chapter seventeen, is thus not a particular political organization but a composite entity working from a common ideology that pits government against true religion. Mutual support therefore exists between the beast, its heads, and its horns. In this light John states, "These have one mind," which is the mind of the beast, and they "shall give their power and strength unto the beast" so that his perverse theology may be imposed upon all (v. 13, KJV).

John begins the interpretation of the heads and horns with an admonition, "Here is the mind which hath wisdom" (v. 9, KJV). John seems to be warning his reader that the reality behind the symbols is not obvious. The amount of scholarly generated speculation accentuates this. Unfortunately, Latter-day Saints have no better understanding than the rest of the world. No prophetic or scriptural commentary exists to help decipher this portion of John's revelation. Though Nephi seems to have seen the historical period covered in this part of Revelation, he focuses only on the great whore. He tells us nothing about the kings or other institutions that support and sustain her. Even so,there are a few generalities that can be said about her adherents.

John states that "the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sitteth" (v. 9, KJV). The allusion to seven hills best fits Rome, which was called the city of seven hills and certainly manifested the spirit of the great beast in John's day. However, Rome itself stands as a symbol of the archetypal Babylon. As the number for completeness, seven not only symbolizes the power exercised by Rome in John's day, but it also denotes the political powers of the latter days.

Associated with the hills are seven kings. More than likely they represent Roman rulers contemporary with John. A number of schemes have been created to identify these rulers. None, however, have found universal acceptance. John states that the beast "is the eighth, and is of the seven" (v. 11, KJV). It has been speculated at great length, due to a myth circulating among the Romans in the last half of the first century, that the eighth emperor represents Nero. In spite of knowledge of his death in a.d. 68, a rumor persisted that he had actually escaped toParthia in the east and would return to recapture the empire. Many feel that the beast represents this Nero redivivus. The problem isthat such a view leaves the prophecy of John unfulfilled. Others argue that the eighth is Domitian, who embodied the evil disposition of Nero against the Christians. Note that the monster is not one of the seven (the Greek reads kai ek ton hepta estin) but encapsulates all of them, for they all play the same role.

Affiliated with these are certain kings, probably representing institutions that would come into being after the period of Roman rule, for John states that they "have received no kingdom as yet" (v. 12, KJV). John uses the number ten to describe them, symbolically representing the whole of a part. As applied to the kings, it suggests that they represent all those kingdoms and rulers whom the great whore seduces and who, therefore, adopt her philosophy and manner. But they do not represent all kingdoms. The kingdom of God particularly, as John has shown, stands apart.

The beast is ever present but holds greatest hegemony in the latter days, the period of the ten kings. At that time, hewill be able to make many nations subservient to his will. Taking up his banner, the nations will war against the Messiah. But the time of their rule will be short, for they "receive power as kings one hour with the beast" (v. 12, KJV). Here, John also notes that their kingly authority is derived. Whoever gives the authority can set the limits and strength of the power. Once again, the Seer subtly shows that God controls all. The machinations of both the kings and the beast work God's will, to their total frustration. Indeed, the Lord will win, "for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings" (v. 14, KJV), unlike the rulers of the earth who are but pseudokings. John is perfectly consistent with the Bible and Jewish apocalyptic literature in applying the superlative title "Lord of lords and King of kings" to deity (see, e.g., Deut. 10:17).

[Hemidakota]

Part 4

The Fall of the Harlot (VV. 14-18)
14. These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.
15. And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.
16. And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire.
17. For God hath put in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree, and give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.
18. And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.

The beasts gather the Babylonian portion of mankind into a great war. The frogs of chapter sixteen efficiently spread their seductive propaganda (see v. 14). A great army forms in response and moves forth with one objective: destruction. Of this period, Ezekiel proclaimed:

After many days thou [Gog of Magog] shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shalldwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all thy bands, and many people with thee.

Thus saith the Lord God; It shall also come to pass, that at the same time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: and thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates, to take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land (Ezek. 38:8-12, KJV).

But things do not go as planned.

At the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord God, that my fury shall come up in my face. For in my jealousy and in the fire of my wrath have I spoken, Surely in that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; so that the fishes of the sea, and the fowls of the heaven, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep upon the earth, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at my presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.

And I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God: every man's sword shall be against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus will I magnify myself, and sanctify myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord (Ezek. 38:18-23, KJV).
Thus, a kind of civil war will erupt that brings down the whore with all her power. John makes it clear, despite the apparent chaos, that God designed the whole thing to happen this way. Nephi seems to have had this same period in mind when when he prophesied: "I beheld that the great mother of abominations did gather together multitudes upon the face of the earth, among all the nations of the Gentiles, to fight against the Lamb of God. And it came to pass that I, Nephi, beheld the power of the Lamb of God, that it descended upon the saints of the church of the Lamb, and upon the covenant people of the Lord, who were scattered upon all the face of the earth; and they were armed with righteousness and with the power of God in great glory" (1 Ne. 14:13-14). The enemy cannot win against the power of the Lamb. In frustration and rage, the nations will turn upon the whore who drove them to the fight and "shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire" (Rev. 17:16, KJV; cf. Ezek. 23:25-30). The attackers carry the seeds of their own destruction.

The task of the Saints is to rely on God and continue in the faith unto the end.

Apparently, the Saints do not fight though they are present. They do not need to: rather than physical, their weapons are spiritual, that is, being faithful and bearing witness. John identifies them as the "called, and chosen, and faithful" (Rev. 17:14, KJV). Though there is a Jewish tradition that the righteous take direct part in the destruction of the wicked, this is not an act of revenge but the fulfillment of righteous retribution.

Conclusion
The prominence of the whore in the drama of the latter days shows that when men cease to worship God, they do not cease to worship. They turn to a false form of religion to establish meaning and direction in life. The whore provides them with a "priestess" counter to God's true priests, with false rites in contrast to God's saving ordinances and with useless sacrifices in opposition to the Lord's effective ones. Both God and the beast demand a lot, but the beast renders nothing in return while the Lord blesses with everything.

The Seer casts the great evil of the last days in a double form. One is that of the seductive and shameless harlot, reveling in the slaughter of the righteous. The other is that of the great city Babylon, mother of abominations, dominating kings and kingdoms while crushing truth, virtue, and love. The image of the harlot and the city, taken together, represents theformation of a kind of state religion that is able to impose its will on the people. During this period the warning words of John hold true: "Here is the patience and faith of the Saints" (13:10, KJV; cf. 14:12). Indeed, this is the time-as with the Saints in John's own day, waiting, forbidden to take the offensive against the whore, concerned with doing nothing but good works-when the Saints need great faith and patience most. In the end, these attributes will prove to be the very tools of victory.

[Hemidakota]

Finally....the Footnotes. This is the important part.

Footnotes
1. Hailey, Revelation, 345.
2. Bock, Apocalypse, 165-66.
3. Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services As They Were at the Time of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975 reprint ed.), 312.
4. Ford, Revelation, 287.
5. Sir. 50:14-15 notes specifically that the cup of libation used by Simon the high priest was made of pure gold and filled with "the blood of grapes."
6. Ford, Revelation, 288.
7. For discussion, see Steven E. Robinson, "Early Christianity and 1 Nephi 13-14," in Monte S. Nyman and Charles D. Tate, Jr., eds., The Book of Mormon: First Nephi, The Doctrinal Foundation(Provo, Utah: Religious Studies Center, Brigham Young University,1988), 177-91.
8. For an excellent discussion of the great and abominable church in this guise, see Robinson, "Early Christianity," 182-84.
9. Bock, Apocalypse, 146.
10. Fiorenza, Revelation, 7.
11. Robinson, "Early Christianity," 180.
12. See Moulton, Vocabulary, s.v., thaumaz, forsuch usage.
13. The tense is future but the construction is paraphrastic (kai mellei anabainein ek ts abussou). The beast is about to come outof the abyss; its arising is close at hand.
14. Caird, Revelation, 215-16.
15. From the days of Servius Tullius, Rome's sixth king, the city was known as urbs septicollis, the city of seven hills. TheSeptimontium, a holiday in December, celebrated the enclosure of the seven hills with Rome's walls (see Suet Dom. 4). Latin literature abounds inreferences to the city of seven hills (see Verg. G. 2.535;Aen. 6.783; Hor. Carm. 7; Ov. Tr. 1.5, just as examples).
16. Mounce, Revelation, 315.
17. For a sampling, see Charles, Commentary, 2:71-72; and especially Ford, Revelation, 289-90.
18. See Charles, Commentary, 2:67, 70, 76-87.
19. Mounce, Revelation, 316-17.
20. See also 1 Enoch 9:4; 2 Maccabees 13:4. The title is old and can be traced back to early Babylonian times when the god Marduk was designated by this title. Further, Babylonian and Persian kings claimed the title, maintaining that they were rulers by divine right (see Ezra 7:12; Daniel 2:37). Thus, the title designates deity or one empowered by deity.
21. Cf. 1 Enoch 38:5; 90:19; 91:12. See Charles, Commentary,2:74.

(Richard D. Draper, Opening the Seven Seals: The Visions of John the Revelator, p.196-)

[PastorBob]

The seven heads represent Shabbathai, Tzedeq, Madim, Shemesh, Nogah, Kokav, Levanah.

The ten horns represent Malkuth, Yesod, Hod, Netzach, Tifareth, Geburah, Chesed, Binah, Chokmah, and Kether.

They are the basic constitutes of the physical and mental bodies of man.

It must be read in conjunction with the other chapters of revelations.

Revelations 13:

13 And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men,

14 And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

16 And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads:

17 And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.

18 Here is wisdom. Let him that hath understanding count the number of the beast: for it is the number of a man; and his number is Six hundred threescore and six.

To count the number of the beast, wisdom (a deep understanding of the Qabalah) is a mandatory prerequisite.

The Hebrew letter vau is used for the number 6, and it also means "nail."

Thus: vau vau vau = nail nail nail = 666. This is the number of the beast which was wounded to death and healed.

To take the mark (His number, name, or mark) in the right hand (actions) or forehead (beliefs) leads one to being cast into the lake of fire (animal life). Revelations 19:18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

The bible is an allegorical tale of the soul's descent into matter and it's eventual return to God. Genesis, or creation, tells of Adam, aleph, daleth, mem, literally "red earth", being cast from the Sun into the outer world, or space. Then the ark, or fetus, is loaded with animals (genetic materials) which then floats upon the flood, or amniotic fluid, which destroys the old world, or pre-birth memory, and is cast out upon mount Ararat, or the physical world.

The tower of babel is another good example, which is the built up theology, or reality tunnel, of the living person, which when shattered, leads to the confusion of tongues, or what to believe in.

Eventually, the person comes to find the Truth, directly, by earning it, not blind belief. Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the essence of things not seen.”

John 18:20 Jesus answered him, I spake openly to the world; I ever taught in the synagogue, and in the temple, whither the Jews always resort; and in secret have I said nothing.

In secret (a parable) have I spoken of Ain (infinite nothingness) which means the soul.

"The literal interpretation of the bible is for the vulgar only." -Albert Pike

[cofchristcousin]

Last weekend my denomination held a class on the book of revelation. In the opinion of our Theologian the 7 heads/10 horns represented 1st century ancient rome. The book Amazon.com: Breaking the Code: Understanding the Book of Revelation: Bruce M. Metzger: Books explains this in further detail. At wikipedia, many interpretations are listed. This particular view is called the historical-critical view.

The Historical-Critical view

The historical-critical method treats Revelation as a text and attempts to understand Revelation in its first century historical context within the genre of Jewish and Christian apocalyptic literature.

This approach considers the text as an address to seven historical communities in Asia Minor. Under this view, assertions that "the time is near" are to be taken literally by those communities. Consequently the work is viewed as a warning not to conform to contemporary Greco-Roman society which John "unveils" as beastly, demonic and subject to divine judgment. There is further information on these topics in the entries on higher criticism and apocalyptic literature.

The acceptance of Revelation into the canon is itself the result of a historical process, essentially no different from the career of other texts. The eventual exclusion of other contemporary apocalyptic literature from the canon may throw light on the unfolding historical processes of what was officially considered orthodox, what was heterodox, what was even heretical. Interpretation of meanings and imagery are anchored in what the historical author intended and what his contemporary audience inferred; a message to Christians not to assimilate into the Roman Imperial Culture was John's central message. Thus, his letter (written in the apocalyptic genre) is pastoral in nature, and the symbolism of Revelation is to be understood entirely within its historical, literary and social context. Critics study the conventions of apocalyptic literature and events of the 1st century to make sense of what the author may have intended.

During a discussion about Revelation on 23 August 2006, Pope Benedict XVI remarked: "The seer of Patmos, identified with the apostle, is granted a series of visions meant to reassure the Christians of Asia amid the persecutions and trials of the end of the first century."[30]