<p>17:4 <i>And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and decked with gold and precious stone and pearls, having in her hand a golden cup full of abominations, even the unclean things of her fornication</i>- The materials listed here were all associated with the tabernacle, and we can understand how for first century Christians under Jewish persecution this would have encouraged them. The Judaist system, with all its wealth, based in Jerusalem, was nothing but a whore in God's eyes.</p><p>Whilst the purple may have had reference in its time to imperial Rome, let's note that &quot;The Canaanites... derived their name from the purple dye which was produced there and used for making an expensive cloth&quot; (R.E. Clements<i>, Exodus</i> (Cambridge: C.U.P., 1972) p. 21).</p><p>Babylon is given a cup of condemnation to drink (16:19); but here she is pictured holding such a cup and passing it to others in order to make them drunk as she is. The wine would refer to her teaching, whipping up those who drink it into a rage of anti-Jewish and anti-Christian madness. This is clearly appropriate to the effect of jihadist propaganda. Babylon is therefore living out her own condemnation; the cup of wine she offers to others is that of her and their condemnation. Babylon<i> is</i> a cup, so closely identified is she with her teachings and condemnation; and she has made all the nations of the earth / land promised to Abraham drunk with her madness against Israel, both natural and spiritual (Jer. 51:7). The teaching / wine she gives is not only propaganda; it is an invitation to fornicate with her, to closely and intimately associate with her personally.</p><p>We can observe that the description of the beast in Rev. 17 is very un-Islamic- in fact, the very opposite. The beast is ridden by a prostitute who is drunk- both abominations to radical Islam. The woman has a golden cup- drinking from golden cups is specifically forbidden to Moslems by the Quran. The cup is full of idolatry- and Sunni Islam particularly is passionately against any idolatry or worship of anything apart from God. An image is set up to the beast and worshipped- also abomination for Moslems. The false prophet does miracles- whereas Moslems claim that Mohammed did no miracles and the Quran itself is the one supreme miracle of Islam. The gaudy decoration of the beast and whore of Rev. 17 is far from the sobriety of jihadist Islam. Why the apparent contradictions? The similarities with what Islam is <i>not</i> are so pronounced that a point is surely being made. The beast of Revelation is how God views the Islamic State and radical Islam. From His perspective, they are the very and exact opposite of all they are claiming. And as has often been observed, the supposed 'religion of peace' is responsible for huge destruction and mass murder. Another possibility is that the more opulent descriptions of the beast actually match well with the Islamic conception of Paradise- as defined, e.g., in the <i>Encyclopaedia of Islam</i> (Article 'Jannah'): &quot;One day in paradise is considered equal to a thousand years on earth. Palaces are made from bricks of gold, silver, pearls, among other things. Traditions also note the presence of horses and camels of &quot;dazzling whiteness&quot;, along with other creatures. Large trees are described, mountains made of musk, between which rivers flow in valleys of pearl and ruby&quot;. It may be that the jihadists seek to portray their caliphate as paradise come on earth.</p><p>The image is clearly presented as an idol- this is how the word translated &quot;image&quot; is usually used in the Old Testament. The chief deity of Babylon was Marduk who was considered to be the &ldquo;god of gold&rdquo;. Herodotus described the image of Marduk as a golden statue seated upon a golden throne before a golden table and a golden altar. Pliny also notes that the robes of Marduk&rsquo;s priests were interlaced with gold. The word used for the breaking in pieces of the image (Dan. 2:34) is that used frequently about the breaking in pieces of idols (Ex. 32:20; Dt. 9:21; 2 Kings 23:6,15; 2 Chron. 34:4).&nbsp; The sequence of metals (gold, silver, brass and iron) is found again in Dan. 5:4,23 in describing the materials used by the Babylonian kings for their idols. It's as if they wanted to show that actually all the metals of the image were comprehended within their empire- and they would last for ever. The latter day entity will be distinctly religious, too. The jihadists are passionately against any idols or memorials, hence their destruction of any Shia shrines they take control of. But in a turn of irony which can only be Divine, their religious system is of itself an idol, which is to be destroyed by the Lord's second coming. The entity represented by the image of Daniel 2, which I suggest refers to an Islamic state established in the land promised to Abraham, is destroyed by the return of Christ as of a stone cut out without hands. But the Kaaba stone, the black stone of Mecca which is the central point of the grand mosque in Mecca towards which Moslems pray, is believed by Moslems to have been cut out without human hands and to have come to earth from Heaven, and will reappear at judgment day. And yet this stone, which serves as the focal point of Islam, will be shown to be but a parody of the ultimately true stone cut without hands, the Lord Jesus, who will return from Heaven as the stone to smash the image.</p>