Several years ago I noticed the allegorical use of the term "merchant" in the Book of Revelation to refer to religious leaders who use religion to satisfy their own quests for either the physical riches of the earth or to feed their vanity and egos on the souls of men.
Speaking of Babylon, the symbolic city of corrupted religion, John writes: " . . . thy merchants were the great men of the earth; for by thy sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth." 18:23-24 This interpretation of corrupt religious leaders as merchants is consistent, for example, with Jesus throwing the moneylenders out of the temple. Additionally, the idea of the fraudulent merchant is used elsewhere in scripture. One example is found in the Qur'an, Sura 83 (variously translated as "Those who stint", "Those who give short weight", "The defrauders", "The deceivers in measure"). The Sura begins: "Woe to those that deal in fraud-Those who, when they have to receive by measure, from men, exact full measure. But when they have to give by measure or weight to men, give less than due." This resonates with my view of many of today's religious hypocrites, and ties in with the Biblical view of the "merchant" of Babylon. In the New Testament Peter writes of false prophets: "And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you . . ." (2 Peter, 2:3) I think that these interpretations may add some light and depth to the term "merchandise" when Baha'u'llah recalls it in recalling the verse from the Qur'an. "If a man could know what lieth hid in this one verse, it would suffice him. Wherefore, in praise of such as these, He hath said: "Men whom neither merchandise nor traffic beguile from the remembrance of God...."[1] [1 Qur'án 24:37.]" (Baha'u'llah, The Four Valleys, p. 53) Any thoughts? Patti __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED]
