Revelation 18:7; How Much She Hath Glorified Herself
Revelation 18:7 How much she hath glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she saith in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
The angel continues his directions to the executioners in v7 by furnishing further insights into reasons why judgment is necessary. Because in her heart she says, “I sit a queen, and am not a widow, and shall see no sorrow.”
If the first sin of Babylon is self-glorification, the second one is that of finding satisfaction in luxury (Johnson). It denotes a luxurious lifestyle with the accompanying trappings of discourtesy, arrogance, self-indulgence, ruthless exercise of strength, and unruliness.
The scrutiniser of motives has detected a self-centredness that is tantamount to self-deification. Meditations of the heart are an open book to Him, so He know Babylon’s attitude that is essentially, “There is no other God but me.” This is extremity of wickedness.
Psalm 10:4 The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God: God is not in all his thoughts.
Psalm 10:11 He hath said in his heart, God hath forgotten: he hideth his face; he will never see it.
Psalm 10:13 Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? he hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it.
Psalm 14:1 To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.
Psalm 53:1 To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.
Ezekiel 28:2-9 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God: Behold, thou art wiser than Daniel; there is no secret that they can hide from thee: With thy wisdom and with thine understanding thou hast gotten thee riches, and hast gotten gold and silver into thy treasures: By thy great wisdom and by thy traffick hast thou increased thy riches, and thine heart is lifted up because of thy riches: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thou hast set thine heart as the heart of God; Behold, therefore I will bring strangers upon thee, the terrible of the nations: and they shall draw their swords against the beauty of thy wisdom, and they shall defile thy brightness. They shall bring thee down to the pit, and thou shalt die the deaths of them that are slain in the midst of the seas. Wilt thou yet say before him that slayeth thee, I am God? but thou shalt be a man, and no God, in the hand of him that slayeth thee.
For her to say to herself, “I sit as queen” puts her into the class of Babylon, Tyre, and Nineveh who were noted for such boasting in the Old Testament.
Isaiah 47:7-9 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children: But these two things shall come to thee in a moment in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments.
Ezekiel 27:3 And say unto Tyrus, O thou that art situate at the entry of the sea, which art a merchant of the people for many isles, Thus saith the Lord GOD; O Tyrus, thou hast said, I am of perfect beauty.
Ezekiel 28:2 Son of man, say unto the prince of Tyrus, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Because thine heart is lifted up, and thou hast said, I am a God, I sit in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas; yet thou art a man, and not God, though thou set thine heart as the heart of God:
Zephaniah 2:15 This is the rejoicing city that dwelt carelessly, that said in her heart, I am, and there is none beside me: how is she become a desolation, a place for beasts to lie down in! every one that passeth by her shall hiss, and wag his hand.
This, is the third sin of Babylon in v7, is a haughty self-confidence.
Isaiah 47:5 Sit thou silent, and get thee into darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms.
Isaiah 47:7-8 And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so that thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore hear now this, thou that art given to pleasures, that dwellest carelessly, that sayest in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:
It is a self-sufficiency that puts one beyond the reach of any punishment. Such an overweening presumption is bound to draw the wrath of heaven upon itself (Lee, Moffatt, Kiddle).
The fourth sin of Babylon in v7 is the avoidance of suffering (Johnson). She rejects the possibility of widowhood and sorrow – and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow. Two grammatical features accentuate her confident boast of security. The claim of self-sufficiency that shi claim climaxes is a vivid reminder of the attitude of the church in Laodicea.
Revelation 3:17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:
[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 An Exegetical Commentary, Moody Press, 1995, 324-326]