Apocalypse Revealed # 771
771. 18:11 "And the merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her, because no one buys their merchandise anymore." This symbolizes the lower in rank who serve and profit by that religion's sanctities - here their feelings of anguish that after Babylon's destruction their religious tenets are not acknowledged as sacred, but as adulterated and profaned goods and truths of the Word and so of the church, so that they cannot use them to make material gains as before.
The merchants mean the lower in rank in their Roman Catholic Church's hierarchy, because the kings of the earth, the subject before this, mean those higher in that order, as may be seen in no. 767 above. Thus the merchants of the earth mean those who serve and profit by that religion's sanctities. That they will weep and mourn symbolizes their feelings of anguish, as also in no. 767 above. Their merchandise symbolizes the sanctities or religious tenets by which they profit or make material gains. No one's buying these anymore symbolizes people's not wanting to have them, because they are not sacred, but are adulterated and profaned goods and truths of the Word and so of the church. To buy is to acquire for oneself (no. 606).
Regarding this we find in Jeremiah:
(O Babylon,) you who dwell by many waters, abundant in treasures, your end has come, the measure of your material gain. (Jeremiah 51:13)
Apocalypse Revealed # 607
607. 13:18 Here is wisdom. This symbolically means that from what we have said and explained in this chapter, it is the part of a wise person to see and understand the nature of the doctrine and faith among the clergy regarding God and salvation.
"Here," the verse says, because it means those things that we have said and explained in this chapter, particularly about the beast from the earth, which symbolizes the doctrine and consequent faith regarding God and salvation among the clergy (no. 594). For what this verse says has to do with that beast. And because it is the part of a wise person, or of wisdom, to see and understand the nature of that doctrine and consequent faith, the verse says, "Here is wisdom."
