Today’s Old Testament chronological reading is in Ezra 9 and 10.
The Psalms/ Proverbs reading is in Proverbs 23.
The New Testament reading is in Revelation 17.
Today’s notes.
The seventh bowl has been poured out, at the end of Revelation 16. What are we reading today? The description of that which the bowls have been poured upon, to bring about their destruction.
And I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast which was full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the filthiness of her fornication. And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. Rev 17:3b-5
But the angel said to me, “Why did you marvel? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. Rev 17:7
Mystery is in Greek, Strong’s G3466, mysterion:
μυστήριον mystḗrion, moos-tay’-ree-on; from a derivative of μύω mýō (to shut the mouth); a secret or “mystery,” through the idea of silence imposed by initiation into religious rites.
The contrast is plain. God tells the end from the beginning, and reveals mysteries. The name of the book is Revelation! The false ideology of which Babylon is the head of gold, hides facts and conceals mysteries. All the religions of the world, which have silence, secrets, and initiation rites by degrees as components, have the harlot as their mother.
The Septuagint translators translated the Aramaic Strong’s H7328 to mysterion, which occurs only nine times in the Hebrew Bible, and all of them in Daniel. Daniel set the prophetic precedent Revelation follows. In fact, eight of the occurrences are in Dan 2, which introduces Babylon as the head of gold of the kingdoms of this world.
H7328 רז raz, Aramaic, a concrete noun meaning “secret,” from an unused primitive root meaning, “to hide.”
Links to previous studies.
Ezra 9 and 10, Hebrew paragraph divisions, and thr repentance of the remnant
Proverbs 23, Hebrew paragraph divisions, chiastic structure, and the rod of correction, not of anger
Revelation 17, Mystery Babylon the Great
Revelation 17, Seven heads of the beast
Revelation 17, Ten horns of the beast
Revelation 17, Ten horns of the beast, part two
Revelation 17, Ten horns of the beast, part three
Revelation 17, Ten horns of the beast, part four
Revelation 17, Ten horns of the beast, part five
Revelation 17, Chiastic structures
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