Reward her even as she rewarded you
This is spoken to the people of God, who are before called out of
Babylon; and the chief of them are the seven angels with the
seven last plagues of the wrath of God, and the same with the ten
kings that will burn the whore with fire; these are called upon
to take vengeance, by way of retaliation, for what she had done
to them, in allusion to what is said of old Babylon, ( Jeremiah
1:15 ) ( Jeremiah
51:24 Jeremiah
51:35 ) and must be understood not of what she will have done
to them personally, but to their predecessors in the faith of
Christ in former ages; that as she had hated them, and made war
with them, so now they should hate her, and make war with her;
and as she had stripped them naked of their clothes, and spoiled
them of their worldly goods and substance, so now they should
strip her naked of her harlot's attire, of her gold, silver, and
precious stones, and make her and her territories desolate; and
as she has burnt many of the precious saints in the flames, as
here in England, and elsewhere, so now they shall utterly burn
her with fire; and as she has shed the blood of the righteous,
and drank it, and been drunk with it, they shall give her blood
to drink; and as she hath killed multitudes with the sword, so
now shall they kill her and her children; see ( Revelation
13:12 ) nor is this contrary to the doctrine of Christ and
his apostles, and the spirit of Christianity, which will not
admit of revenge, ( Matthew 5:38
Matthew
5:39 ) ( Romans 12:17
Romans
12:19-21 ) since this will not be private, but public
revenge, inflicted by Christian princes and magistrates, who are
ministers of God, and revengers to execute wrath on them that do
evil:
and double unto her double according to her
works:
the meaning is not to inflict upon her a punishment doubly
greater than her sins, for this would be contrary to the justice
of God; nor does ever God punish men in this life more, but less,
than their iniquities deserve; nor can any temporal punishment be
doubly greater than sin, which deserves eternal death; and with
this she will be punished hereafter, and therefore will not have
her full punishment now, and much less a greater than her sins
required; to which may be added, that this will be according to
her works, her wicked works, and therefore will not exceed the
demerit of her sins: but the sense is, that if it was possible to
be done, they should use her with double severity to that she had
used them with; seeing her sins deserved a severer treatment than
even they had had from her; the phrase signifies an abundant and
utter destruction, a punishment which was suitable and
sufficient; see ( Isaiah 40:2 ) (
Jeremiah
16:18 ) ( 17:18 ) and
it suggests that they should not spare her, nor pity her, but use
her with the greatest severity imaginable, it being not possible
to exceed her due deserts, or what her works required:
in the cup which he hath filled, fill to her
double:
not in the cup of her abominations, her errors, idolatries, and
wickedness; but in the cup of afflictions and trouble, which she
wrung out to the people of God, in that give her double portion:
the sense is the same as before.