The only material for trade that Judea provided was stone. The only other products could be gained from cattle, sheep, and the olive tree. Water had to be carefully monitored and brought into their cisterns by aqueducts, especially during seasons of drought. Jerusalem had one spring of any significance, the Shiloah in the south. Despite the fact that Jerusalem was unfavorable for trade, it was rich in trade because of its cultural importance. With a population of 25,000 in Jesus’ day, Jerusalem had raw materials imported to feed four of the most important sources of revenue. They were: (1) the temple received gifts, a fixed tax, sacrifices, redemption of vows, the wood offerings, and the produce of the land owned by the temple. (2) Foreign traffic from the pilgrim feasts gave a tenth from the produce of their land (the “second tithe”). (3) General Taxes collected when rulers lived in Jerusalem (4) Wholesalers, tax collectors, wealthy Jews from the Diaspora who settled in Jerusalem to take advantage of the religious traffic. Building tradesmen had employment to maintain the temple and its property.
The kings of the earth would look on as they saw the fall of the city as it smoldered from the smoke. They would recall the pleasures of her company with them and weep over her. Rather than demanding gifts from her lovers, the Great Harlot would give gifts to her lovers, the kings of the earth, to ensure their attention. The adultery under consideration is spiritual and the smoke of her burning is a reminder of God’s righteous judgment for each generation that follows (Rev. 19:3). The kings stood at a distance and said, “Woe, woe, the great city, Babylon, the strong city! for in one hour is thy judgment come.” Verse four tells us that the Lord’s people escaped the plagues of the city by leaving the city. Politically, Jerusalem’s lovers were devoted to her as long as it served their purposes. When the city called on them for help during their torment, they refused to give them aid. Parthians turned away from them by offering 40,000 cavalrymen to the Roman army. They had too much to risk to fight Rome at that time. They and all the nations would only stand at a distance and marvel how quickly a once great and beautiful city could fall in one hour.
The merchants of the earth also wept and mourned over her because the source of their wealth is gone. Merchandise of gold, silver, precious stone, pearls, the fine linen of purple, silk, and scarlet, all thyine wood, vessels made of wood and ivory, brass, iron, and marble would no longer be bought or sold in the city. The marketplaces are no longer active and flourishing. Only emptiness and desolation are seen. This attitude of the merchants was not abnormal but appears to have been the normal attitude of the world toward her destruction. The Gentiles had no fondness for the Jews or their city. The Hellenistic Jews preferred living at a distance from the traditions of their fathers and the seditious Jews who flocked within her walls at the last hour did not love her. Even the leading high priests had a greater interest in their own position of power and wealth than the city of God. Many of the items listed in verse 12 were associated with the temple that had been stored in the temple chambers at Jerusalem.
Also, spices, ointments, and incense were used on the altar of incense and sacrifices, cooking, and perfumes for the living and the dead (cf. John 19:39-40, 11:39, 12:7). Cinnamon was one of the ingredients of the anointing oil (Ex. 30:22-33). The merchants from afar would supply many of these spices. Olives and grapes were imported mostly from Judea, both of which were used in temple sacrifices. Fine flour from wheat and other grain crops was imported, mostly from the Transjordan. Some came from Samaria and Galilee.
Cattle, sheep, and other livestock were used for personal use and sacrificial purposes. There was a market for trade and for butchering to supply meat markets. That there was a flourishing trade in these animals is without question. Horses were imported from Egypt and Arabia.
Jerusalem also had a slave trade with nearby Tyre being a great source of slave import. Some of these slaves were displayed for auction in the city. Many of these are mentioned by Rabbinic literature and Josephus in connection with the court of Herod the Great.
All of these things and dainties are found no more. The merchants, who were made rich by her, stand afar for fear of her torment and weep not because of sympathy for her but because the source of their wealth was gone. They say, “Woe, woe, the great city, she that was arrayed in fine linen and purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearl for in one hour so great riches is made desolate.“
Also, the shipmasters and mariners stood afar off, looking at the smoke of her burning, and said, “What city is like the great city.” They cast dust on their heads, wearing and mourning, saying, “Woe, woe, the great city, wherein all that had their ships in the sea were made rich by reason of her costliness! For in one hour is she made desolate.” Josephus explains that Jerusalem had been taken five times before but A.D. 70 was the second desolation. Shishak of Egypt, Antiochus, Pompey, Sosius, and Herod took the city but each time preserved the city. But, before these, the king of Babylon had made it desolate 1,468 years and six months after it was built (Wars, VI, x,1). Rome was never made desolate and no capture corresponds to the desolation that occurs in one hour. Her desolation was a time of trouble that Daniel says had never happened before (Dan. 12:1, Matt. 24:15). Jesus said that this tribulation was so great that nothing compares to it in the past or any future event (Matt. 24:21; cf. Matt. 24:39-39).
A strong angel threw a millstone into the sea, saying, “Thus with a mightily fall shall Babylon, the great city, be cast down and shall be found no more at all” (18:21). The sounds of city life with parties, festivities of an open theatre, craftsmen at work, children playing outside, salesmen at an open market, the debates and teachings of the scribes and Pharisees are no longer heard. All is quiet because everyone is gone. Only the dead bodies that lie in heaps remain in the city, but this visual is hidden by the darkness of night (v. 23).
While this chapter describes the destruction of Jerusalem, it was also a time of rejoicing because the righteous dead (apostles, prophets, saints) were vindicated (18:20, 24). All of those who righteous who died from the creation of the world was required of that generation (Matt. 23:32-36).