Complacent City

John condemns harlot Babylon for her luxury. The Greek word is strenos, which is used only once in the LXX, to describe the “complacency” of Sennacherib (2 Kings 19:28). The Hebrew term behind it is sha’anan, which describe the women of Jerusalem (Isaiah 32:9, 11), those who are at ease in Zion (Amos 6:1), the nations that are at ease (Zechariah 1:15). Babylon offends God not only because of her porneia, but because of her arrogant sense of security (Revelation 18:7).

Complacency comes along with wealth, or presumed wealth, not only for Babylon but for the Laodiceans (Revelation 3:17-18). So long as Babylon stays wealthy, she thinks she’s utterly secure, a queen who will never see mourning.

This was the sin of the Bible’s first fallen city, Sodom (it’s no accident that harlot Babylon is also “Sodom,” Revelation 11:8). Sodom was a city of porneia, but also complacent wealth and lack of compassion for the poor (Ezekiel 16:49).

Babylon’s boast that she will never see mourning is taken from Isaiah 47, but it’s an ironic boast, because in Isaiah it is the boast of a Babylon that has been stripped and sits in the dust. Invulnerable as she looks, she is doomed. Complacent cities won’t stand for long.

Jerusalem is a different sort of city, characterized by compassion rather than complacency. Jerusalem is not only a faithful bride, but a nurturing mother, who feeds her children rather than devouring them.