and cried out as they saw the smoke of her burning, “What city was like the great city?”
Here we have, I. A doleful lamentation made by Babylon's friends for her fall; and here observe, 1. Who are the mourners, namely, those who had been bewitched by her fornication, those who had been sharers in her sensual pleasures, and those who had been gainers by her wealth and trade - the kings and the merchants of the earth: the kings of the earth...
Commenting on Revelation 18:9-24
And they cast dust on their heads,.... As the seafaring men on account of Tyre, Eze 27:30 this was a gesture used in mourning when persons were in afflicted and distressed circumstances, denoting disorder, confusion, and debasement; see Jos 7:6 and cried, weeping and wailing, saying, alas, alas!
Verse 18. And cried, etc. That is, as they had a deep interest in it, they would, on their own account, as well as hers, lift up the voice of lamentation. What city is like unto this great city? In her destruction. What calamity has ever come upon a city like this? (c) "What city"