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Chapter 17
Chapters 17 and 18 deal in very fanciful symbolism with the heyday and the downfall of Babylon. And we shall deal with these following excerpts from that chapter.
“So, he carried me away in the spirit, into the wilderness. And I saw a woman sit upon a scarlet colored beast full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet color, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication. And upon her forehead was a name written, Mystery Babylon, the Great, The Mother of Harlots, and the Abomination of the Earth.”
Babylon, the city, has almost the same metaphysical meaning as the character Jezebel. In our Metaphysical Bible Dictionary, we find that the word Babylon means, confusion, chaos, vanity, nothingness. And this very, very, closely parallels the metaphysical meaning of Jezebel, who stands for our negative emotions.
Notice that passages in this chapter 17, describe the city of Babylon as seductive, dangerous, harmful, and abominable, all in one. And is this not true of negative emotions, in general? The fornication’s mentioned as being committed by the kings of the earth, with her, refers to those times when in our human thinking, we put our thought of I am, into our negative emotions, fornication.
