And there are seven kings. Or, “and seven kings are they.” These “kings” are not in addition to the “heads” and the “mountains,” but, presumably, identified with them. How much distinction, if any, is intended between the “kings” and the “mountains” is not clear.
Five are fallen. The point of time at which it may be stated that five of the heads have “fallen,” that one “is,” and that the other has “not yet come” is not clearly indicated. Generally speaking, Adventist expositors hold one or another of three different views with respect to the point of time indicated here: (1) According to the pattern of interpretation making the seven heads representative of all powers that oppose God’s people and work on earth, irrespective of number, this statement would simply mean that a majority of the powers so represented had already passed off the stage of history. (2) Those who enumerate the first five heads as Babylon, Persia, Greece, Rome, and the papacy consider that these five had all fallen at the time the deadly wound was finally administered to the papal head of the beast in 1798 (see on ch. 13:3, 4). (3) Those who enumerate the first five heads as Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece consider that the point indicated by v. 10 is the time of John, when the vision was given. See on v. 9.
One is. According to the second view, France or the United States, after 1798, and according to the third view, the Roman Empire in John’s day (see above on “five are fallen”).
The other. According to the first view, the minority of political powers yet to play their part; according to the second, the United States or some world organization such as the League of Nations or the United Nations; according to the third, the papacy (see above on “five are fallen”). It may be noted that if the events foretold in ch. 17 are, in part, identical with those of ch. 13 (see on ch. 17:3, 8), it follows that the papal head is the one here designated “the other.”
A short space. Gr. oligos, used 34 times in the NT in the sense of “few,” “little,” “small,” to specify quantity, and 8 times in the sense of “short,” to specify time (see on ch. 12:12). The clause may be translated either, “It is necessary that he remain little,” or, “It is necessary that he continue briefly,” possibly in the sense of a “limited time” in contrast with an unlimited time. In ch. 12:12 oligos refers to the “short time” allotted to Satan after his defeat at the cross. Perhaps the angel here reassures John that Satan, and more particularly the power (or powers) represented by the seventh head, can never fully attain their objectives; or that their tenure has been strictly limited. Some here understand oligos literally, as indicating a short period of time.
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