The scarcity of water in the ancient Near East meant that wine was necessarily part of daily life (Genesis 14:18; Genesis 27:25; Judges 19:19; Ruth 2:14). But instead of giving drink that sustains life, Babylon’s wine is spiked so that those who drink become participants in her angry rejection of God the Creator (Revelation 14:7) and the victorious Seed of the woman (Revelation 12:7–9). There is a cruel streak in her hospitality.
8 Another angel, a second, followed, saying, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, she who made all nations drink the wine of the passion of her sexual immorality.”