Revelation 18:13

chariots
Chariots is ῥεδῶν [hredōn] : “Chariot, carriage, wagon, a four-wheeled carriage for traveling.”¹

wine and oil
These two items were singled out for protection in the famine attending the opening of the third seal. See Revelation 6:6.

bodies and souls of men
Bodies and souls of men is σωμάτων καὶ ψυχὰς ἀνθρώπων [sōmatōn kai psychas anthrōpōn] . This undoubtedly refers to the age-old practice of slavery which will not be abolished until the Millennial Kingdom (Ex. Ex. 21:16; Deu. Deu. 24:7; Deu. 28:68; Ne. Ne. 5:4-8; 1Ti. 1Ti. 1:10).² “ ‘Bodies’ (sōmata ) is a Greek idiom for slaves (cf. LXX of Gen. Gen. 36:6), while ‘souls of men’ (psychas) means essentially the same as bodies (slaves). Thus the whole expression means ‘slaves, that is, human beings.’ ”³ “The καὶ [kai] separating the two expressions is ascensive, meaning ‘even,’ as frequently in this book, and the second expression is a restatement of sōmatōn.”⁴ Tyre had also traded in slaves: “Javan, Tubal, and Meshech were your traders. They bartered human lives and vessels of bronze for your merchandise” (Eze. Eze. 27:13). Such traffic could include related practices such as prostitution, where men and women “barter their bodies and souls for some trifle, something that at best can afford but a momentary satisfaction.”⁵

The international traffic in forced prostitution, both of men and women, is a tragic but financially lucrative business of modern times and will undoubtedly become even bigger in the evil days ahead. These vice barons are particularly venomous “great men” of the earth, not only amassing great wealth for themselves, but destroying both the “bodies and souls” of the hapless girls and boys who come under their control.⁶

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Notes

¹ Timothy Friberg, Barbara Friberg, and Neva F. Miller, Analytical Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2000), 342.

² Fausset attempts to find fulfillment in Roman Catholicism: “Popery has derived its greatest gains from the sale of masses for the souls of men after death, and of indulgences purchased from the Papal chancery by rich merchants in various countries, to be retailed at a profit [Mosheim, III, 95, 96].”—A. R. Fausset, “The Revelation of St. John the Divine,” in Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset, and David Brown, A Commentary, Critical and Explanatory, on the Old and New Testaments (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997, 1877), Rev. 18:13.

³ Alan F. Johnson, Revelation: The Expositor’s Bible Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1966), Rev. 18:9-19.

⁴ Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1995), Rev. 18:13.

⁵ Donald Grey Barnhouse, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 1971), 341.

⁶ Henry Morris, The Revelation Record (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House Publishers, 1983), Rev. 18:13.