In Revelation 18 it is more than a mere possibility that “Babylon” actually stands for something other than a once grand, or even rebuilt, city located in the Middle East. As to exactly what it does stand for, that will be the subject of a subsequent posting.
The destruction of Babylon is actually mentioned several times in the book of Revelation, but the most elaborate description is found in Chapter 18, which deals with the effect that destruction had, has, or will have on the other people in the world who have had dealings with her. As part of that reaction, we have the response of the merchants of the world who bemoan her passing.
The litany of precious goods traded with Babylon is given in vv. 11-13. It is frequently stated that there are 29 such items listed there. However, it is more accurate to say that the two last items on the list both refer to the same thing – human slaves. That then leaves contains exactly 28 (i.e. 4x7) individual items, in keeping with the overwhelming emphasis in the book on the symbolic meaning of “7” as perfection or completion. Parenthetically, Ford identifies goods from India, North Africa, China, Mesopotamia, Arabia, Egypt, and Armenia – seven different geographical areas.
Bruce is in agreement with the number of items as only 28 when he states, “There is a slight change in construction in the Greek which suggests that 'souls (lives) of men' is in apposition [i.e. parallel] to 'bodies.'”
Mounce counts twenty-nine items but then admits that bodies and souls of men are generally agreed to apply to the same beings.
And Travis says concerning these slaves, “'Soul' (psyche) refers to physical life in Revelation 12:11. More commonly, it denotes the center of personality, the inner person in its capacity to direct one's life and relate to God (...Rev 18:14). It is therefore the object of salvation...In Revelation 18:13 both soma ['body'] and psyche refers to slaves as whole person (cf. Ezek 27:13).” Beasley-Murray adds: “Perhaps John employed both terms to express his abhorrence at so brutal a system that crushed men's bodies and souls alike.”
“Slaves is literally 'bodies', an eloquent commentary on the way slave-traders approached their subject. Souls of men also means slaves (as in the Hebrew of Ezk. xxvii. 13). It reminds us of another aspect of the evil that was Rome, namely its disrespect for persons. And in various ways all the world's great empires have had their traffic in 'the souls of men'.” (Morris)
“The concluding item is horses and chariots and bodies, even souls of human beings! These wicked people trade in bodies and souls of slaves as if they constituted merely articles of merchandise! ...Observe that to this catalogue of cargoes which belong to Babylon and which perish every department of existence makes its contribution: the mineral kingdom: gold, silver, etc; the plant kingdom: fine linen, silk, etc; the animal kingdom: ivory, cattle, sheep, etc; and even the kingdom of man: bodies and souls of men (slaves).” (Hendricksen)
Finally, “Bengel suggests that the bodies are slaves used for carrying goods and the souls of men are slaves considered as merchandise.”
This low reckoning of the value of life would be especially pertinent if Babylon refers to the Roman Empire since “Roman society was dependent on sixty million slaves, many whose life of slavery was largely due to conquest of their countries by Rome's armies...John the prophet refers to these in his doom-song over the fall of Babylon as he concludes his list of the trades of the city.” (Beasley-Murray)
Only about half of those trade-goods in Revelation are identical to those found in Ezekiel 27. This is explained by Beale: “Presumably the goods not listed in Ezekiel reflect the actual products of trade at John's time, and thus both here and there are not simply borrowed from Ezekiel but were also part of the Roman trade system. The trade goods listed were selected because they represented the kind of luxury products in which Rome overindulged in an extravagantly sinful and idolatrous manner.”
And confirming the similarity between the two lists is Mounce's observation: “The same three groups of mourners are all referred to in the Ezekiel passage, although their reactions to the fall of the cities differ somewhat – the mariners wail (vss. 29-30), the kings are afraid, and the merchants hiss (vs. 35).”
As to the order in which we see these items listed, there seems to be really little in common between the two lists, as you can see below. This is not unexpected since the order in Ezekiel is said to be determined by the countries traded with. “The extremes of west and east thus bound the list, and express vividly Tyre's worldwide connections.” (Block)
Ezekiel 27:12-24 Revelation 18:11-13
1. silver 2. silver
2. other metals 9. bronze, iron
3. slaves 19. slaves
4. bronze vessels 9. bronze
5. horses and mules 18. horses
6. ivory 7. ivory
7. ebony 6,8. costly wood
8. turquoise and coral 3. jewels and pearls
9. purple cloth 5. purple, scarlet
10. rubies 3. jewels
11. wheat 16. wheat
12. meal 15. flour
13. oil 14. oil
14. balm 12. myrrh, frankincense
15. wine 13. wine
16. wool and yarn 4. silk, linen
17. iron 9. iron
18. spices 10. spices
19. cloth 4. silk, linen
20. lambs, rams and goats 17. cattle and sheep
21. perfume 11. incense
22. precious stones 3. jewels and pearls
23. gold 1. gold
24. gorgeous cloth 4. silk, linen
There are several observations which can be made in comparing these two lists.
Both put silver high on their list.
The four agricultural goods (wine, oil, flour/meal, and wheat) appear in the opposite order.
Gold appears as the first item in Revelation, while it is next to last item in Ezekiel.
And most importantly, slaves are listed near the top of the Ezekiel list while they occur dead last in the one in Revelation.
Although the trade items in Ezekiel are stated to be given in some sort of geographical order, at the same time it appears that they are also listed in very approximate order of increasing worth, with slaves as one of the least important and gold as one of the highest value. By contrast, Revelation can be seen to have, for the most part, the opposite order from most value to that of least importance. This difference is confirmed in the observation above that the four agricultural goods from the plant world (wheat, meal, oil, and wine) appear in reverse order in the two listings. But if that is true, then we actually see good agreement between the OT and NT in that pagan cultures in both cases seem to value gold and precious stones highly while treating human beings as a much less desirable trade item. The very fact that people appear at all on a list of possessions to be bartered for is demeaning enough without that added insult.
Beale says, “All the trade products in the list in vv. 12-13 are good in and of themselves, but the telltale mark of their sinful use is the reference to slaves at the end of the list...That the phrase refers to slaves is apparent since it concludes a list of trade products and is confirmed by Ezek. 27:13, where among the various trade goods 'souls of humans' are mentioned and refer to slaves...Gundry sees the phrase in Rev. 18:13referring to slaves as 'solely physical entities' of merchandise; 'bodies' (somaton) reflects the Greek idiom for 'slaves;' and 'souls of humans'...echoes the Hebrew idiom for slaves (benephes adam), which together form a hendiadys [figure of speech in which one thing is represented by two descriptions]. Whereas in Ezek. 27:12-24 slaves come early in the list, in Rev. 18:12-13 they come 'at the end of a list which is in descending order of value, human souls in the category of livestock,'to issue 'an indictment of that world's values [quoting Sweet].'”
And unfortunately Tyre and “Babylon” were not alone in that assessment, as my wife and I were powerfully reminded in looking over the last will of some of her Southern ancestors in which their slaves, with their estimated value, were listed right beside household furniture, cows, and chickens.
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