The Harlot Motif and Babylon the Great — Part 1

By Mike Coldagelli

In studying Bible prophecy, I have observed many identifications for Babylon the Great of Revelation 17 and 18. The city of Rome, the Catholic Church and the Pope are the most popular, but Mecca, the Arabian peninsula, ancient Babylon and Jerusalem have also been suggested. Does the harlot-prostitute-adulteress motif in the Bible give us insight into the identity of Babylon the Great? When we look at Babylon in the Old Testament is she ever referred to as a prostitute? The description of Babylon the Great parallels Old Testament language of Babylon in various ways, but adultery is not associated with the name “Babylon” until Revelation 14.

There is another city, however, that is repeatedly associated with adultery, prostitution and harlotry. In Isaiah 1:21 the reader is introduced to a faithful city (Jerusalem) that becomes a harlot inhabited by murders.

See how the faithful city has become a harlot! She once was full of justice; righteousness used to dwell in her—but now murderers! (Isaiah 1:21)

But this harlot will become a faithful city again.

I will restore your judges as in days of old, your counselors as at the beginning. Afterward you will be called the City of Righteousness, the Faithful City. (Isaiah 1:26)

Biblical use of the word prostitute is usually in the sense of a wayward wife. In Revelation 17, 18 and 19, the great prostitute’s promiscuity is referred to as “adultery.” This implies unfaithfulness to a husband. Who could that husband be?

In Hosea 1:2 the LORD commands Hosea to take an adulterous wife. Hosea obeys God and marries Gomer (Hosea 1:3). Their second child, a daughter, receives a name from the LORD. The name, Lo-Ruhamah, means “not loved” or “not my loved one.” The reason for the name is that the LORD will no longer show love to the house of Israel.

Their third child, a son, is named Lo-Ammi by the LORD. The LORD’s reason for the name is that Israel is not His people and He is not their God (Hosea 1:9).

However, in the next verse it is said that “those who are not my people” will be called “sons of the living God.” A separation from God is indicated with a restoration to follow. Hosea 2:23 sums it up:

I will plant her for myself in the land; I will show my love to the one I called ‘Not my loved one.’ I will say to those called ‘Not my people,’ ‘You are my people’; and they will say, ‘You are my God.’” (Hosea 2:23)

God goes from calling Israel “Not my people” to calling them “You are my people.” This declaration by God (that Israel is His people and He is their God) is most important because of its repetition throughout scripture. Some other examples of this phraseology are Zechariah 8:8, Zechariah 13:9, Ezekiel 11:20, Ezekiel 14:11, Ezekiel 36:28, Ezekiel 37:23, 27, Jeremiah 24:7, Jeremiah 30:22, Jeremiah 31:33, Jeremiah 32:38, Hebrews 8:10 and Revelation 21:3. These words are always said referring to the time of fulfillment of the everlasting covenant with Israel. In Hosea 3 the LORD commands Hosea to show his love to his wife again even though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. The LORD in verse 1 commands:

Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes. (Hosea 3:1)

In verse 2 Hosea buys (redeems) his wife back. She is restored, but her harlotry cannot continue.

So I bought her for fifteen shekels of silver and about a homer and a lethek of barley. Then I told her, “You are to live with me many days; you must not be a prostitute or be intimate with any man, and I will live with you.” (Hosea 3:2-3)

Verses 4 and 5 give insight into the restoration God has in mind for Israel.

For the Israelites will live many days without king or prince, without sacrifice or sacred stones, without ephod or idol. Afterward the Israelites will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king. They will come trembling to the LORD and to his blessings in the last days. (Hosea 3:4-5)

God’s relationship with Israel is compared to a husband taking back an unfaithful wife. Do we see other instances of this restoration in scripture? Daniel 9:24 gives another view of the restoration without the harlot motif.

Seventy ‘sevens’ are decreed for your people and your holy city to finish transgression, to put an end to sin, to atone for wickedness, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy. (Daniel 9:24)

Daniel’s prophecy focuses on a time table of 490 years. The last seven years of this 490 will include a 42 month great tribulation, a time of trouble for Jacob (Jeremiah 30:7). And in Jeremiah 30:8-9 the restoration is described in terms of liberation of Israel from foreign enslavement so they might serve the LORD, their God.

How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it. “‘In that day,’ declares the LORD Almighty, ‘I will break the yoke off their necks and will tear off their bonds; no longer will foreigners enslave them. Instead, they will serve the LORD their God and David their king, whom I will raise up for them. (Jeremiah 30:7-9)

Note that in Hosea 3:5 Israel will “return and seek their God and David their king,” and in Jeremiah 30:9 “they will serve the LORD their God and David their king.” In Jeremiah 31:31-33 the LORD refers to himself as a husband of Israel. Though Israel has broken the LORD’s covenant, she will be restored with a new covenant.

“The time is coming,” declares the LORD, “when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt, because they broke my covenant, though I was a husband to them,” declares the LORD. “This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after that time,” declares the LORD. “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” (Jeremiah 31:31-33)

Notice that at the time of the new covenant the LORD declares, “I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Part 2 of this 8 part series, will further explore the marriage language between the LORD and his “chosen people,” Israel.