But he knoweth not that the dead [are] there
In the house of this foolish and wicked woman, into which she
invites passengers to turn; the simple, that is persuaded by her,
does not consider that there are none there to be his companions,
but such who are dead in a moral or spiritual sense; that, though
they live in pleasure, they are dead while they live. Aben Ezra
refers this to "hell" in the next clause; where her guests are,
and where those that are slain by her have their everlasting
abode; and where the giants are, as the Vulgate Latin and Syriac
versions; or the mighty ones she has cast down there, as the
Targum; so the word "rephaim" sometimes signifies: and some think
that reference is had to the giants of the old world, that
corrupted their way on earth, and brought a deluge on it; see (
Proverbs
7:26 ) ;
[and that] her guests [are] in the depths of
hell;
not only in the way to it, and on the brink of it, but in the
very midst of it: there are many in hell she has invited into her
house, and persuaded to turn in there, and commit fornication
with her; and all that worship the beast, or commit spiritual
adultery with the whore of Rome, will go down to perdition with
her, and have their portion in hell fire, in the lake which burns
with fire and brimstone; which they do not consider that are
drawn into her idolatrous practices, ( Revelation
14:9-11 ) .
