Therefore shall her plagues come in one day
The seven last plagues, which will be in a very little time
executed upon her, very speedily and very quickly, one after
another, if not all together; and particularly the fifth vial may
be respected, as well as the plagues that follow; see ( Isaiah 47:9 )
death;
not the second death, which will not be till after the decisive
battle at Armageddon, when the beast will be taken, and cast
alive into the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is
the second death; but either the pestilence, which is called so,
( Revelation 6:8 ) or
rather death by the sword, war, which will be brought upon her,
and in which she and her children will be slain with the sword:
mourning;
for the loss of her children, the destruction of the city of Rome
itself, the seat of the beast, and for the darkness of his
kingdom, the inhabitants of which shall be in such pain, as to
gnaw their tongues for it:
famine;
which generally attends war, at least sieges; and it looks as if
Rome would be besieged awhile before it is destroyed, which will
produce a grievous famine in it; this is opposed to her living
deliciously, as well as the two former are to her notion of
sitting a queen for ever, and knowing no sorrow:
and she shall be utterly burnt with fire;
the burning of Rome has been attempted several times, by
different persons, and has been burnt in part, but not wholly,
(See Gill on
Revelation 17:16) but now it will be entirely destroyed
by fire; either by fire from heaven, as Sodom and Gomorrah were;
or by fire breaking out of the earth, it being very manifest that
there are volcanos, burning mountains, and subterraneous fires in
those parts, which seem to be so many preparations in nature for
the burning of that city; or rather by the ten kings, who will
set fire to it; and it may be by all these ways. The Jews have a
notion, that, at the coming of the Messiah, Rome will be burnt
F1, as Sodom has been; you will find,
say they {b}, that of Sodom and of that kingdom (Rome, of which
they are speaking, and which they afterwards call the fourth
kingdom), it is decreed concerning them both, that they "should
be burnt with fire"; of Sodom, ( Genesis
19:24 ) and of the fourth kingdom (Rome), ( Isaiah 34:9 ) .
for strong is the Lord God that judgeth her;
the Alexandrian copy reads, "that has judged": and so the Syriac
and Arabic versions; that is, has purposed and determined her
destruction, and therefore it is unavoidable; he that has
resolved upon it, and foretold it, and has condemned her to it,
is the Lord God Almighty; and he is able to execute the sentence
determined and pronounced, and it is impossible she should
escape: it may be understood of Christ the mighty God, the Judge
of quick and dead; see ( Jeremiah
50:34 ) .