7 Mountains & 3 Questions
Revelation 17:3,5,7,9 ... I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored animal, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns... 5 And on her forehead a name was written, "MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF THE PROSTITUTES AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." ... 7 The angel said to me... I will tell you the mystery of the woman, and of the beast that carries her, which has the seven heads and the ten horns. ... 9 Here is the mind that has wisdom. The seven heads are seven mountains, on which the woman sits.
It is commonly assumed that the "seven mountains" of Revelation 17 are literally real mountains, but are they really?
The woman, identified as BABYLON(Rev17:5) is riding on a "beast"(vs3) which has 7 heads(vs3,9) which are 7 mountains(vs9). If we stop reading here, it truly appears that the 7 mountains are literal, rather than symbolic. However, the Bible raises some problems with that theory. First, for more context, let's see what the beasts of Revelation chapters 12, 13, and 17 have in common =>
Revelation 12:3 ... a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns...
Revelation 13:1 ... I saw a beast ... having ten horns and seven heads.
Revelation 17:3 ... a scarlet-colored beast... having seven heads and ten horns.
Even though each of these 3 beasts have additional and unique descriptors, please note that all 3 have the same "seven heads" and "ten horns". We also know from Rev17:9 that "The seven heads are seven mountains". Now, I have 3 questions =>
1) Rev13:3 tells us that "one of his heads", which is a mountain(17:9), was "wounded to death; and his deadly wound was healed". So, I must ask the question, how could one of those literal mountains be wounded to death and later be healed?
2) let's consider Rev12:3 where we learn that each of the seven heads, which are mountains(17:9), has a crown upon it. So, how is it that the seven literal mountains each have a crown on it?
3) let's consider Rev17:9-10, where we learn that the seven heads, which are seven mountains really "are seven kings; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come..." We see here that these seven mountains(kings) are successive -- each following the previous. How could the seven literal mountains be successive?
If there is no reasonable answer for each(all) of these 3 questions, I find it impossible for the "seven mountains" to be literal.
Desiring to live by every word that comes from the mouth of Jehovah (Deut8:3; Matt4:4)
-Sid Nash: 02/03/2024. Latest version: http://sidnash.org/docs/7Mtns3Questions.html