The Revelation of St John : expounded for those who search the Scriptures

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LII3KARY

University of California.

Mrs. SARAH P. WALSWORTH.

Received October, i8g4.
fiAccassions No.^^'^^j^^ Class No.

^

X

CLARK^S

FOREIGN

THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY.

VOLUME XXII.

mmgstetriwrg on f^t lltlieIat(on of %t 99/lfn,
VOL. I.

EDINBURaH :
T. & T. CLARK, 88 GEORGE STREET;

LONDON : BBELBY AHD OO. ; WAKD AND CO. ; AMD JACKSON AND WALFORD.

DUBUN : JOBN ROBBKTgON. MBW YOBK : WILEY AND PUTNAM.

^ILADELPHIA : J. A. MOORE.

HDCCCLI.

PUIKTEDBY
H'COBH, PARK, AND DEWARH,

DUNDEE.

THE

REVELATION OF ST JOHN

EXPOUNDED FOB THOSE WHO SEABCH
THE SCRIPTURES.

E. W. HENGSTENBERG.

DOOTOB AHD PB0F1S80R OF THBOLOOT IV BBBLIN.

TRANSLATED FROM THE ORIGINAL, BY THE

REV. PATRICK FAIRBAIRN,

AUTHOB or ^ TTPOLOOT OF 80BIPTUBB," " SZBKXBL, AH BXPOSITIOH/'
*'JOHAH,"&0.

VOLUME FIRST.

EDINBURGH:
T. & T. CLARK, 38 GEORGE STREET.

LONDON : HAMILTON, ADAMS, ae CO. ; SIMPKIN, MABSHALL, h CO. ;

BEELBY & CO. ; WARD & CO. ; JACKSON & WALFORD, ETC,

DUBLIN: JOHN ROBERTSON.

MDCCCLI.

S&tJ^

7

3?

PREFACE.

The Beyelation of St John was for a long time a shnt book to
me. That it was necessary here to lay open a new path ; that
neither the coarse pursued in the older ecclesiastical, nor that of
the modem Rationalistic exposition was to be followed, I never
entertained a doubt. The constantly renewed attempts at fresh
inrestigationi^ resulted only in a better understanding of particu-
lar points, but accomplished nothing as to the main theme. I
was not the less persuaded, howeyer, that the blame of this ob-
scurity lay not in the book itself, with the dirine character of
which I was deeply impressed, but in its exposition ; and I did
not cease to long for the time when an insight might be granted
me into its wonderful depths. Several years ago, I was visited
with what was, in other respects, a\ heavy season of affliction,
which obliged me to discontinue for some months- my official
duties. I looked about for a rod and staff that might comfort
me, and soon lighted on the Revelation. Day and night I pon-
dered on it, and one difficulty vanished after another. At the
period of my recovery, there was scarcely a point of any moment
respecting which I did not think I had obtained light. I had
still, however, after becoming well, to finish my Commentary on
the Psalms. Then I went to. my task with the greatest eager-
ness. The sad times of March 1848 did not interrupt, but rather
expedited my labours.

It was my purpose to have issued the two volumes of the work
simultaneously. But I have now resolved to bring out the first
volume alone — because the Revelation has a very close relation
to the wants' of the present time, and I reckoned it my duty to
endeavour, according to the best of my ability, that the rich trea-
sury of counsel and comfort, which the Lord has provided for us
in this book, should as soon as possible be made accessible to
those who desire to possess it. Such as wish to obtain a glimpse

VI PREFACE.

of the whole of the exposition, may find what they desire in the
two treatises : The beast in the Apocalypse, Evang. Kirche-
Zeitung, 1847, and : The thousand years* reign. Do. 1848.

The title shows that this work is intended for all who search
the Scriptures. The remarks contain little of a grammatical
nature. The text will present no difficulties to cultivated readers,
even though not theologians, if they are only animated by an
earnest desire to become thoroughly acquainted with the contents
of the book.

Of the investigations which are usually brought into Introduc-
tions to the Apocalyse, that alone is presented here which respects
the historical starting-point of the book, as being the only one
which really has its proper place before the exposition. All be-
sides is reseryed for concluding treatises to be contained in the
second volume.

Many readers will think there are too frequent quotations from
the older Expositors, especially from Bengel. Such persons,
however, should remember that their wants are not the only ones
that require to be met. The experience I have already had in
connection with my Commentary on the Psalms, has specially
induced me not to be sparing in these quotations. Certainly the
greater number of readers will be more pleased with this than if I
had gone into greater length in stating and commenting on the
views of others, which would have been of less service in regard to
this book than almost any other in the Bible. The present times,
too, urgently demand that we should disburden the exposition of
sacred Scripture from all unprofitable matter, and instead of that
shonid present what properly accords with its design, as declared
in 2 Tim. iii. 16, and may constantly bring it to mind. That the
ascetical element should create no prejudice against the necessity
of scientific inquiries is taken for granted ; and I hope that no
reproach will in this respect be cast on me.

I am perfectly aware that this work is destined to meet with
much disfavour from many who are united with me in fnith. The
persons whose concurrence I should haye most highly prized, are
precisely those in whom the exposition of Bengel, to which also
I owe more than to any other for the explanation of particular
parts, has taken deepest root ; insomuch that an attack on it,
which has made the Revelation dear and precious to them, will

PRBFACE. Til

scarcely be regarded by them in any other light than as an attack
on the BeTelation itself. But I am still not without confidence,
that the method of exposition attempted here vill by and bye '
make way, especially among those who are disposed to look more
profoundly into the Old Testament, and in particalar into its
prophetical writings. For this is absolutely indispensable to a
proper understanding of the Beyelatlon. My confidence rests on
the conyiction, that I have not striven to foist in any thing, but
to the best of my ability hare sought merely to expound and en-
force what is written.

In conclusion, I commend this work, the deficiencies of which I
deeply feel, to Him who has giren me strength to execute it thus
far, and who has rendered it to myself a source of edification and
comfort.

ERRATA.

Pa|« 7, line llf/n* to the, rwad ud Uie.

„ 22, flnt noU, for Jaber raoil Jabet.

„ — , Use 4, fourth aote, <W«t« aea potiiu relucebat.

„ 81 , line 1 , note, far mnoraaiar, r^oA remonanur .

„ 22, line 3, note 2, >br coel, rtad coelo.

., 48, Uae U,>br HoL rc0d Hag.

,. M, line 9, >br mtditetiog, fad mediating.

„ 9i , Una 4 , note, for anti, raod ante.

„ — , lint 6, do., for praeaunta, rtad praeaumta.

„ M, line U,/or God'a, rtad good.

., 1«A, line ll,^r good, r«(M< food

„ 3S7. line SS,^ before, mitf upon.

^ ♦/

THl

REVELATION OF SAINT JOHN.

ON THB TIMS OF THE COMPOSITION OF THE BOOK.

The older theologians proceeded almost uniformly on the sop-
position, that the Book of Revelation was composed in the closing
period of Domitian's reign — an opinion that finds, in Vitringa
especially, an excellent though brief defence. On the whole,
however, little comparatively was done to establish this opinion
on solid and satisfactory grounds ; even Bengel did not go deeply
into the matter. The feeling for the genuine historical interpre-
tation of the Apocalypse was still not awakened, so that but little
weight could as yet be attached to this most important inquiry,
and it was passed hurriedly over. Tlie interest felt in it was less
on account of the exposition, than for the defence of the authority
of the old ecclesiastical tradition, which had declared in favour of
the composition under Domitian. But there being no right feel-
ing awakened for the true historical interpretation, the power
failed, in connection with that interest, to give a lucid exhibition
of the proof. This can only be found when one understands how
to obtain from many scattered indications a living image of the
existing condition of the Seer, which forms the proper starting*
point for the announcement of the future. Vitringa has some
excellent observations in this respect, but they are confined to
the seven epistles. In regard to the remainder of the Book, the
question as to the historical starting-point can scarcely be said to
be so much as mooted. With him, as with Bengel, and so many
unfortunately even to our own day, the prophecy swims, as it
were, in the air ; and nothing, consequently, could be derived
a

:» INTRODUCTION.

from it for determining the period of its composition. In more
recent times the position adranced originally by Grotius, Ham-
mond, Lightfoot, for the purpose of understanding certain passages
of the fate of Judaism, that the Book was composed before the
destruction of Jerusalem, has been pretty generally acquiesced in.
And on the authority especially of Ewald and Lticke the precise
opinion, that the Apocalypse was composed under Galba, has ob-
tained very general consent. By many it is uttered with a sort
of naive confidence, and most of all by those who hare brought
almost nothing of an independent inrestigation to bear upon the
subject.

We shall, first of all, examine the external testimonies that re-
late to the point at issue. From these we shall gather the result
that, what Lampe has said in his Comm. on John i. p. 62, " all
antiquity agrees in the opinion of Domitian's being the author of
John^s banishment," is no paradox, but the simple truth. For,
the deriations from this result are on the part only of such as do
not deserve to be heard and considered.

The series of testimonies for the composition under Domitian
is opened by Ireneeus. He says, B. V. c. 30, " For if it were
necessary at present to declare plainly his name (i.e, the name of
the person indicated by the number 666 in the Apocalypse xiii.
18), it might be done through him, who also saw the Apocalypse.
For it was seen not long ago, but almost in our generation, to-
ward the close of Domitian's reign.**^ Irenseus was in a position
for knowing the truth. According to the beginning of the chap-
ter, the numbers 666 (in opposition to the other reading 616) bear
testimony to having seen John in the face.'' He speaks not by
way of conjecture or on constructive reasons, but as of a matter
established beyond any possibility of doubt. He neither ex-
pressly refers, nor alludes to the passage, ch. i. 9, from which the
opponents of the composition under Domitian might so naturally
attempt to account for the testimonies of antiquity' to that era.
Nor does he announce it, as if communicating something that had
hitherto been unknown, but with another design altogether, he

1 Ei yap Idii dva^aM¥ rw vv» xaipm mipvrTtaBai ToCvofia airrov, il Ixtivov &»
ifipidij Tov Kal Tifv &iroKa\u}lfiv iupaKorm' ovM ydp irpo troWov xpovov itopddti$
aWA tr-xtddp iirl t^« iifitTipav yaptaVfWpdvruTiXti t^* Ao/ucriavov &pxn^»

9 JdapTvpovpTttp avTut¥ lKiluuvr»» frar' ^i^ivroir lmdvvfi» impaxormv.

TIME OP WRITING THE REVELATION. O

introdnces it as a thing then generally known and acknowledged.
This is eyident from the circamstance of his contenting himself
with only a brief indication, and his being quite silent regarding
the persecution of Domitian, and the apostle's exile to Patmos,
the occasion which gave rise to the composition of the Apocalypse
in the existing circumstances of the period—- confident that his
first readers would readily supply all this themsel?es.

Clement of Alexandria (in the work Quis dires § 42, and in
Ensebins III. 23) says : " For since he (John) after the death of
the tyrant returned to Ephesus from the isle Patmos,"* &c. The
manner in which he speaks of the matter shews that there is
implied a generally known tradition : the tyrant, the Boman
emperor of the first century, Domitian, who, as is well known,
pre-eminently deserves that name. It cannot be alleged that
Clemens spoke of the tyrant, and not of Domitian, because he
was ignorant of the name. He would in that case have chosen
a general designation, not such an one as pre-supposes that he
had in view a definite person.

Origen on Matth. xx. 22, 23, says : '* But the sons of Zebedee
have drunk the cup and been baptized with the baptism, since
Herod killed James the brother of John with the sword ; and
the king of the Bomans, as tradition testifies, condemned the
witnessing John on account of the word of truth to the isle Pat-
mos. But John himself instructs us regarding his martyrdom,
not saying indeed who had adjudged him to it, yet declaring in
the Apocalypse as follows : ' I, John, your brother and companion
in tribulation,' &c., and seems to have beheld the Bevelation on
the island.'*^ Here the king of the Bomans forms the contrast
to Herod the king of the Jews. Origen is silent respecting the
name, because he was generally known, and the blank was easily
supplied from the tradition, to which he refers. That the omis-
sion of the name is not, with Ltlcke p. 410, to be accounted for

1 Eircid^ yip tow rvpAiwov TtXtvr^vatrro^ i^rd t^« Uarfiov tiJs v^vov /iMTtjXdty
tU T^v 'Etptvov,

9 neir<»Ka<rt dk t6 iror^ptoy Koi td fi&nrricfia k^4ttrrlv9fi9a» ol tov Zt/9cdaJov viol,
iirtl'wtp 'HpAdrif fikv &iriicrtivt» ^IdKu^ourdv 'Ittavwv fiaxfitp(f : o dk Pco/iuxtcov j3a-
«rtXcd«y cov 4 'JreipAdoo'if dii&<rKU, xaTa^iicaat t6v lta&»vf\v uaprvpovura did *rd» t^v
4X«f6c/av \6yov cU Hdrfiov t^v inivov' iidavKH 8t ta irtpi tov, ftaprupiov aavrov !«»•
AmnjVf fi^ \iytt¥ r^t air^ir KortdUatrMf ^dvKmv i» rti iiroicaX^ii Taura* iycU
*lmavtnjt 6 Adt\<p69 iffi&v Kal <rvyKoi¥t0»6t iy r^ 9\£i^i( ic. t. X^ xal koiKt t^v Snro .
KoiXv^iv kv T$ w^vm Ta9iw/»ifKlvai.

a 2

4 INTKODUCTION.

by his not knowing it, is evident from the analogy in Clemens,
where more definitely, though still without the application of any
proper name, the term ** tyrant'* is used ; it is evident also, from
the analogy in Eusebius III. 20, where " the isle" is the well-
known traditional island Patmos ; and, finally, from a compari-
son of the other preservers of the tradition, in particular Irensus,
who expressly names Domitian. Had Origen not been well as-
sured regarding the name connected with the tradition — for which
not the semblance of a reason can be given, and which is a mere
refuge invented for the occasion — he would not have pointed so
unconditionally to tradition, without at least intimating that he
ascribed to it only a partial credibility.

The assertion, proceeding only from interested considerations,
that what the ancients knew of John's exile to Patmos was in-
ferred simply from the statement in ch. i. 9, is contradicted by
Origen as distinctly as he well could. He remarks expressly,
that he derived the fact of John's banishment to Patmos pri-
marily from a substantial tradition, of whose credibility he, the
cntic, suggests no doubt. He introduces the testimony of John
himself only as a confirmation, and remarks that it is less com-
plete than the tradition, since the latter alone, besides what was
common to the tradition and the Apocalypse, mentions who con*
demned the apostle. The tradition could not simply have been
drawn by Origen from IrensBus. For, ha refers to this far more
than is to be found in the merely indicative statement of Irenseus,
who says nothing, indeed, of the condemnation of John and his
banishment to Patmos. We have no right, with Liicke, to lay
the emphasis on, " he appears to have seen the Apocalypse on
the island," and thence conclude, that the composition of the
Apocalypse was only regarded by Origen as having probably
taken place in Patmos. It is only a modest expression, which
refers not so much to the execution of the particular work, as to
human knowledge in general, according to the adage, alrlijv Si
irptxea fikv lo'tun fiovvoi Beol^ ioiKvlav hi KaX avOpcoiroi (the cer-
tain cause is known only to the gods, and the probable to men).
More cannot justly be attributed to the " he appears," since the
tradition, to which Origen refers, on the part of its other vouchers
connects the composition of the Apocalypse with the banishment
to Patmos as an undoubted fact.

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 9

Ensebiiis, in B. III. ch. zyiii. of his Church History, says,
" Under him (Domitian) tradition relates, that the apostle and
eyangelist John, who was still alive, on account of his testimony
for the divine word, was condemned to reside in the isle Fatmos.^
In B. III. ch. xz. : " Then also that the apostle John returned
from his banishment on the island, and took up his dwelling again
at Ephesus, the tradition of our older men has delivered to us."'
Again, in B. III. ch. zxiii., " John governed there (in Asia) the
churches, afler his return from exile on the island, subsequent to
the death of Domitian."' Also in the Ghronicon under the four-
teenth year of Domitian, ** The apostle John» the theologian, he
banished to the isle Fatmos, where he saw the Apocalypse, as
IrensBus says."

Eusebius is quite consistent with himself in the several pas-
sages, and always speaks with the same confidence (comp. besides
Demonstr. III. 5). When in the Ghronicon he refers to Irenseus
as a sure voucher, it is so far of importance as it shews him to
have had no suspicion that that Father had formed it by merely
combining notices together. But it does not at all prove that
IrensBus was the only source of the tradition to Eusebius. The
contrary is manifest from the circumstance, that what Eusebius
gives as the testimony of tradition, contains more than what is
stated by Irenseus, and also, because in one of the passages he
refers to several depositaries of the tradition. Never once does
Eusebius point, by so much as a single syllable, to any other view
regarding the author of John's exile, and the time of the compo-
sition of the Apocalypse. So that there must then in this respect
have been perfect unanimity in the church. Finally, under the
name of Victorinus of Fetabio, who suffered martyrdom under
Diocletian in the year 303, we have a writing on the Apocalypse,
which is printed in the third volume of the Bibl. Fatr. Lugd., and

1 *E»TovTif KaTix*t. Xoyo« Toir airooTToXov xal ivayyt\nrrh» *Icoawii¥ IriTcji/Stcp
4vd(aTp//3ovTa, Ttjt «U tov Qiiov XoyopiytKBv fiaprvplast UaTtiop oIkiiv KaraliKav*
Qfjvat rijv vtj^ov. See in reference to tlie xarixti \6yov, which by no means marki
an nnanthorised, loose report, hut commonly tradition, Bothe's Aufange der Chriat.
Eirche, p. 359.

8 Ton ifi oiv ical r6» dwocroXov 'l»d»tnj» d'w6 t^? Karii rtiv vrjaov ipoyiiv riiv kirl
rn9 '£0i<rov iiarpifiiiv dirctXtj^ivat i r&v trap' hfiiv ^.pyiaiwv irapadii»4n Xoyot.

^ 'I«avin|« Tie aOroOi dutiriv iKKXri^lat itri rnt ^ard r^ vtiaov fitrd r^y ^ofic-
rfpov rtXivT^ ivavaXOi^ir ^yift .

6 INTRODUCTION.

which as to its sabstance is undoubtedly genuine, for it bears too
exactly the character of the style which Jerome ascribes to Vic-
torinus (see the collection of his expressions in the Bibl. Patr.,
and other reasons for its substantial genuineness, may be seen in
Liicke, p. 494). But in this work the composition of the Apoca-
lypse under Domitian, during the exile in Patmos, is spoken of
as a matter of undoubted certainty.^

These are all the testimonies on the time of the composition of
the Apocalypse belonging to the age of living tradition. They
declare with perfect unanimity that John was banished by Domi-
tian to Patmos, and there wrote the Apocalypse. Yariations be-
gin only to appear in the age of theology and learning. Epipha-
nius is the first, who puts forth another view. But even there the
tradition still has such sway, that all persons of any critical acu-
men, all who know how to distinguish between historically accre-
dited facts and conjectures and combinations, declare themselyes
on its side. At the head of these is Jerome, who did not reckon
it worth while eyen to notice the existence of a different account,
which must therefore be held to be every way improbable.^ The
matter stands precisely similar with the question regarding the
genuineness.

For the more correct appreciation of the other and differing
accounts we submit the following remarks.

1. It is only in writers of inferior rank that these accounts are
to be found. Epiphanins, who is the first in point of time, is
also by far the most important. But the judgment which Vi-
tringa expressed regarding him, ** that he was an extremely in-
credulous person, and in the mention of traditions or sayings of
the ancients much less exact than he seems to be," is now gene-

1 The main passage is at p. 410 : Oportat te iteram propheiare, inqait, populis et lin-
guia: hoc eat, quoniam quando boo vidit Jobannea, erat in inaola Patmoa, in metaUum
damnatoa a Domitiano CsBsare. Ibi ergo Tidit Apocalypain : et cum aenior jam pataret,
ae per paaaionem accepturum receptiouem, interrecto Domitiano omnia judioia ejua so-
lata aant, et Joaunea de metallo dimiasoa sio postea tradidit banc eandem quam ao-
oeperat a Domino ApocalypsiUi boc eat, oporiei te iierum propbetare. See alao p. 420.

^ E, g, de viris illnat 9 : Johannea quarto decimo anno secandam post Neronem per-
aecutionem movente Domitiano in Patmua inaulam relegatna scripsit Apocalypain. Alao
ad Jovin ii. l4, and in the Cbronicon. Tbe ancient and right account ia found also in
Sophorinoa (about 629), in tbe life of John, and in Tbeopbylact'a Commentary on the
four Gospels : Th9oapt9Kaii%Kart» Irti, divTcpov /uitm "Siptava ituy/iov Kitrnvirrot
Ao/JLtnayov ilt Tldr/iAoy ¥^iro¥ irgptopiodM irvWra^av oiro«c<iXv^iv, &c.

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 7

rally reeeiyed. To pitch him against Irenaens, and treat with
discredit the testimony of the latter, on the ground of what he
has said, would betray a palpable want of critical acumen/ The
late Syriac translator and Fseudodorotheus carry still less weight.
And Theophylact furnishes a test for the measurement of his
sagacity, in announcing, instead of the Apocalypse, that the Gos-
pel was composed at Patmos, without probably a single authority
to supiM>rt the statement.'

2. None of those who deviate from the tradition venture to
refer to it, while this is quite common with those who place the
exile of John to the writing of the Apocalypse under Domitian.

3. *' Only those (remarks Liicke) who place the exile under
Domitian, indicate the continuance in a definite way." All the
others speak in a vague manner, and do not venture to go into
more exact specifications : precisely as we should have expected^
on the supposition of the one class resting on historical tradition,
and the other following uncertain conjectures.

4. The deviators are quite at variance among themselves, while
the statement which places the composition under Domitian has
the fixed impress, that is the mark of truth. The Syriac trans-
lation makes the exile of John and the composition of the Apo-
calypse to have taken place under Nero, Epiphanius under Clau-
dius, and according to Fseudodorotheus he was banished to Patr
mos by Trajan.

5. The deviators shew also by their vacillation and wavering

1 Vitringa, liowerer, does him an injafttiee, when, foUowing Huefcios, be would dis-
cover a confusion of such a natare (in one important passage, sdT. haer. T. i. p. 434,
also in another, p. 456) as woold entunely destroy his title to be heard. Vitringa makes
him say there, that John was already upwards of ninety years old when he returned from
the island under Olandins. In that ease, Epiphanius had preserved unchanged the age
whioh John had attained at the time when, according to the tradition, he returned from
the island. Epiphanius relates that John " composed his Gospel at a great age, after the
ninetieth year of his life, after his return from Patmos, which took place under the em-
peror Claudius." But Lampe had already shewn, on John vol. i. p. 61, that Epiphanius
meant to say that John was " ninety years old and upwards when, after his return from
Patmos, and a considerable period more which he spent in Asia, he composed his Gos-
pel." By expressing himself, however, in so careless and loose a mauner, Epiphanius
has certainly laid himself ojien to misunderstanding.

9 P. 55^ : Aid Tuu lilo* t vayysX/ov, B xai o-vvlypa^cy h UdrfHf r^ vtivto cf op«r.
To« dtaTtX«Sv, iJitrdt. tpuueotrradito Irri r^c tov Xptrrov avaX.iii|r«wf« The deviation
from the tradition here attaches merely to the number. la this to be regarded as quite
certain?

8 INTRODUCTION.

that tbey hare no firm ground beneath their feet. Psendodoro-
thens, after he has placed the banishment of John to Patmos ander
Trajan, adds, '' Bat others say, he was banished to Patmos, not
under Trajan, bat nnder Domitian, the son of Vespasian.'*] Are-
thas, who at ch. 7ii. 1 — 8 places the composition of the Apocalypse
before the Jewish war, at ch. i. 6, makes it to have been written
nnder Domitian.

6. We can with tolerable certainty discoyer the extraneoos
grounds, which ha?e given rise to these departures from the his-
torical tradition, and through which they lose all their importance.
They ha?e no higher origin than the opinions of our modern
critics, who on the ground of the first plausible conjecture and
discovery on the internal field, disregard and tread under foot the
weightiest and most solid testimonies. Epiphanias ranks in the
same line with Ziillig.

It cannot but appear strange, that all those who depart from the
tradition, amid their other diversities agree in this, that they place
the composition of the Bevelation before tlt& era of Jerusalem's
overthrow. That what impelled them to this was the belief of cer-
tain passages in Revelation having respect to the Jewish catas-
trophe, seems probable alone from the analogy of later critics and
expositors, who from Grotius downwards have been chiefly influ-
enced by this consideration to disallow the composition of the
Apocalypse under Domitian. But it is raised to certainty by
expressions of Andreas and Arethas, who in reference to certain
passages expressly affirm that they were understood by some of
the Jewish war, who consequently could not do otherwise than
transfer the composition of the book to a time previous to that
war.^ But in proportion as the exposition of the Apocalypse was
then in a state of infancy, the less consideration can justly be at-
tributed to what has sprung from such a ground.

AVhy the Emperor Claudius should have been fixed on may be

1 Before Theophylaot on John : 'Yvo ik Tpaiavov fiaa^^\io»9 i^topiardij iV t^ w^cnf
TLiTfjue iia t6» \6you tov Kvpiov, . . Et<r2 6k ol \lyov<rtf fitj cV2 Tpalavov abrOM
l^(o/>iff0i}Vtft i» TldTfitpf &\\d kirl ^ofitTiavov, vlou Ouscrrao-tayou.

3 Andreas says on cb. ?!. 12: Kal tldov B-rt ffi^ot^c rhv atppaylia t?)v ttcrtiv, leal
attandt iityas kyivro, Kai 6 ^\lot iyiviro /liXav wt <r&KKot k. t. X. Km ravrd t»vi«
»U rriv i'rl Oit^airaaiauov ToktopKtav l^i\afio» dirarra TcSy tlptjfiipup Sicairrov xpo-
iroXoytSo-airriv. Alto on ob. vii. I : Kai Tavrd rtdriv 6w6 Vm/utlmv v<£Xai toTa 'Ioviaio%9
ytyw499ai ^(itXifv^at.

TIME OF WBITIKO THE REVELATION. 9

gathered from those who have latterly contended for the eompo*
fiition under his reign. Grotins, Hammond, and others derire
their chief argument in fayour of Claudius from Acts xTiii. 2»
and the [well-known passage of Suetonius (Claud, c. 25), which
speak of the expulsion of the Jews, and this is supposed to have
inrolred also John's banishment to Fatmos. Another argument
may still be found in the original passage Matt. xxiv. 7, *' And
there shall be famines and pestilences in yarious places,*' on
which Bey. yi. 5 — 8 rests ; for this has often been referred to the
times of Claudius, in whose reign a famine four times broke out
and a pestilence twice — comp. Acts xi. 28, the comm. on Sueton.
c. 18, Schott Comment, in Sermones de reditu, p. 27.

It was the more natural to think of Nero, when one once aban*
doned the ground of testimony and gaye way to conjectures, sincot
having been the first to begin the work of persecution against
Christians, and the person under whom the most distinguished of
the apostles, Peter and Paul, suffered martyrdom, he was regarded
in ancient times as distinctively the persecutor. Tertullian already
makes John, not indeed banished by Nero to Patmos, yet put
by him into a barrel of boiling oil.i

We are not, howeyer, to suppose that with the result we have
now attained, the inquiry respecting the composition of the Apo-
Qalypse is to be regarded as closed. External testimonies alone
cannot decide the matter. It is conceivable, that what was origi-
nally conjecture, may have clothed itself in the garb of tradition,
and under this form deceived even the most honest inquirers. But
we must put the matter in its fair and correct position — that we
have no longer to speak of two equally accredited views of anti-
quity ; that we must recognise upon the one side a well-supported
tradition, and on the other an uncertain conjecture ; that we
must proceed to the investigation of the internal grounds with the
consciousness of having already at the outset won a firm position,
from which we should not suffer ourselves to be driven by any uncer-
tain conjectures, but only by the most conclusive arguments. But
the more careful examination of the internal grounds, far from
invalidating the external testimonies, rather yields the result.

1 So At leMt Jerome already, ady. Joyin. o. i. e. 14, nnderetood hia expreaaioD, da
pnmtt, a. 80. Oomp. Lanpa on John Prolog, i a. 4, | a

8

10 INTRODUCTION.

that the Book conid hare been composed at do other time than
daring the reign of Domitian.

I. Let us first bring into ?iew the condition of the churches in
Lesser Asia, as that appears in the seyen epistles.

Dr Lticke himself is obliged to admit, p. 243, that the Beye-
lation supposes a condition of the churches, which, in contradis-
tinction from the earlier one of Paul's time, may be designated the
age of John. First of all, the seyen epistles presuppose a time,
when that word of the Lord, " But when the bridegroom tarried,
they all slumbered and slept," and that word, '^ Because ini-
quity shall abound, the loye of many shall wax cold," had already
passed into fulfilment. The blessed period of the first loye is
past, eyen there too, where it still relatiyely stood fast ; zeal has
relaxed and corruption make great inroads ; we feel ourselyes
eyery where transferred to the later times, " in which a grieyous
corruption, that not suddenly but by gradual adyances had sprung
up, and acquired new strength as it proceeded, had already be-
fallen those churches."

In Ephesus the loye which Paul, in ch. iii. 18 of his epistle,
had besought for the Ephesians, has become cooled. ** But I
haye somewhat against thee, that thou hast left thy first loye,"
(Bey. ii. 4.) Already it is a time, when that which still remained
is in danger of perishing. " Remember from whence thou hast
fallen (it is said in yer. 5), and repent and do the first works ; else
I will come unto thee quickly, and remoye thy candlestick out of
its place, except thou repent." Paul, in his farewell discourse to
the church at Ephesus, Acts xx., still makes no mention of any
blemishes among them, but only warns them against the snares of
the threatening foe* The Epistle to the Ephesians, written by
Paul (according to Wieseler in his Ghronol. of the Apost. age, p.
455) during the period of his first two years* imprisonment at
Rome, or in the year 61 or 62 (according to Earless about the
year 62), eyerywhere conyeys the impression of fresh life, of a
first loye. The apostle begins at the yery outset with an expres-
sion of thanksgiying to God for all the rich spiritual gifts which
h(3 had conferred on that church. He lauds in particular the love
of the Ephesians, their brotherly loye, which has its source and
foundation in the loye of God, ch. i. 15, 16, " Wherefore I also,
after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and loye unto all

TIME OF WRlTINa THE REVELATION. 11

the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of
you in my prayers."

\ The church of Sardis appears in a still sadder condition. " I
know thy works, that thou hast a name that thou liyest, and art
dead" — ^is the word to her, iii. 1— your light has already well-
nigh become extinct.

Laodicea had become lukewarm ; wretched and miserable, poor,
and blind, and naked. The condition of tlie Laodicean church
in Paul's time is partly to be estimated by that of the Ephesian,
according to Col. iy. 16, partly and more particularly by that of
the church of Colosse ; comp. Col. ii. 1, iy. 13, 15, 16. The
Epistle to the Colossians was written about the same time with
that to the Ephesians (see Wieseler), and not long before the
close of Paul's life, when suffering imprisonment at Rome. There,
just as in the Epistle to the Ephesians, he giyes thanks for what
he had heard of their faith and loye : '' We giye thanks to God
and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you,
since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and your loye to all
the saints," (Col. i. 3> 4.) According to ch. ii. 5, the apostle is
with them in spirit rejoicing and beholding their order and their
faith in Christ.

Dr Lucke thinks, p. 413, that the change in question can be ex-
plained, though a period of only ten years had interyened. But
eyen this short space is not secured. The date of the Apocalypse
is supposed by him to haye been separated from that of the
Epistles to Ephesus and Colosse by a period of somewhere about
six years. And then it is clear as day, that eyen a space of ten
years could not account for so radical a change. It bespeaks a
change of persons, the arriyal of a new generation : comp. Judg.
ii. 7, according to which the people seryed the Lord so long as
Joshua and the elders liyed, who had seen the mighty works of
the Lord, which he had done for Israel. In regard, especially, to
what concerns the Laodiceans it will not do merely to say : Tem-
pera mutantur et nos mutamur in illis. It were indeed a source
of despair, if such a change on the part of established Christians
could be explained from a change of times, and, God be thanked,
is without an example in the history of the Christian church.
The world can certainly become demoralized in a short time, but
Christians retain their anointing. And then in the decennium

12 INTEODUCTON.

immediately following^ the composition of the Epistles to the
Ephesians and Colossians, no change of times can be pointed ont,
which should hare brought such perils with it, endangering eveii
the elect. It came only at the period, to which the church tradi-
tion assigns the composition of the Apocalypse, under the reign
of Domitian. There all the premises are to be found, which are
required to explain the facts. We hare, in that case, an inter-
val of more than thirty years. During that period the apostles
had all, with the exception of John, gone to their rest, and so the
boundary set by the apostle Paul in 2 Thess. ii. 6 had been
crossed ; gone, too, were the Christian fathers, who had seen the
great deeds of the Lord, while a storm of persecution, such as the
Christian church had not yet seen, passed orer the less firmly
established new generation. Hence, the Seer writes, according
to ch. i. 9, to his companions in tribulation and in the patience
of Jesus Christ. Then did the word of the Lord in Matth.
xiii. 20, 21, find a mournful fulfilment : " But he that received
the seed into stony places, the same is he who heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it ; yet hath he not root in himself,
but dureth for a while; for when tribulation or persecution ariseth
because of the word, by and bye he is oflfended."

Farther, we find in the churches to which John wrote, the
errors of those, whom he designates by the symbolical names of
the Nicolaitans or Balaamites, deeply rooted and wide-spread.
According to ch. ii. 21, the Lord had already given ample time
to their operations : ** And I gave her space to repent of her forni-
cation ; and she repented not.'* How strong the pressure of the
Nicolaitans was upon the chntch at Ephesus, is manifest from its
being mentioned as a matter of high desert, that they hated the
deeds of these Nicolaitans. They must there have been already
excluded from the church. For in apostolic times this was the
form in which hatred manifested itself— comp. 1 Cor. v. — and it
could not otherwise have been a fact of a public character, as it
appears to have been. In the church at Fergamos the matter had
not been brought to such an exclusion, a proof how strong the
party there was. So also in the church at Thyatira. It must
there have found its way to the directorship ; as may be inferred
firom the Jesabel, the wife of the angel, the weaker half of the
party in office.

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. IS

The rise of the importance of this sect can only he explained
in connection with the influence which heathenism had preserved
in men's minds, by reason of persecntion, as a similar temptation
and inclination to apostacy to Judaism in consequence of Jewish
persecution meets us in the epistle to the Hebrews. And among
Israel also the heathenish tendencies were never stronger than in
the times of severe oppression on the part of the world, before the
conquest of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans, and under Antiochus
Epiphanes. Pergamos, which was a chief seat of this heresy, is
described as the throne of Satan, the main centre of the heathen-
ish persecution. Antipas, the faithful witness, had there suffered
martyrdom. The community had under the persecution main-
tained their faith, but they were not to come out of the conflict
without wounds. In Thyatira, the second seat of the heresy, the
promise given shews that the temptation to false doctrine sprung
from a terrible pressure on the part of heathenism. ** He that
overcometh and keepeth my words to the end, to him will I give
power over the nations . . . and I will give him the morning star
(a glorious supremacy)." If the church internally resists the
pressure of heathenism, does not allow itself to be drawn aside to
heathenish errors, it shall also gain externally the victory over it.
Therefore, the temptation had come in from '' the power of the
heathen." Whosoever withstands it, receives in turn " the power
of the heathen." Then, for the rise of this heresy out of the
heathen persecutions, there is the analogy of ch. xi. In conse-
quence of the overflowing of the heathen the fore-court of the
temple is there given up, such, namely, as had no deep root,
they are overcome through the heathen persecutions, and are
drawn over to the fellowship of those, who in their minds were
heathenish.

Accordingly, the getting the victory over this error implies
what could not have existed before the times of Domitian, when
for the first time a severe persecution, and one that threatened
the annihilation of the Christians, swept over the church, and
especially did not exist in the reign of Galba, during which there
was no proper persecution of the Christians.

In the epistles of Paul there still occurs no trace of such a
gross and wide-spread falling away into the region of heathenism.
The errors, with which Paul contends, were chiefly of Jewish

14 INTRODUCTION.

origin, as were also 4he troubles vhich then pressed apon the
Christians. Hymenens and Philetus, according to the second
epistle of Paal to Timothy, written at the yery close of the apos-
tle's life, succeeded with their refined philosophical error in torn-
ing only a few from the faith — dvarpiTrovai rifv riv&p 7rl<mv.
The farther spread of snch errors was expected only in the coming
future ; y. 17, comp. Acts xx. 29, 30.

The proper kernel of our heresy meets us, for the first time, in
the second epistle of Peter, which the apostle wrote, according to
ch. i. 13, 14, when he had death in immediate prospect. To the
name of the Nicolaitans here corresponds there the comparison
with Balaam, in ch. ii. 15, 16. The errors appear there chiefiy
to belong to the future ; although the liyeliness of the descrip-
tion, and the circumstance that the errors are sometimes spoken
of as present, show that the apostle had the first beginnings of
the eril already before his eyes. The occasion of its rise is indi*
cated in ch. iii. 4. Where, say the opposing party, is the promise
of his coming ? The desire for this must hare been awakened
by the violence of the persecution and the tribulations of the
world. What the Christians had latterly to suffer under Nero
was well fitted, particularly at Borne, to call forth the first work-
ings of the evil, and especially to open the eyes of the apostle in
respect to the magnitude in the future, when the persecution
should increase and widen, of the danger that should thence
threaten the church. We are conducted a step farther by the
epistle of Jude. The errors, which in the second epistle of Peter
appeared as still chiefly lying in the future, are here represented
as already present. " The errors (says Heydenrich in his defence
of the genuineness of the second epistle of Peter), which Peter
had announced as ready to appear, were now in actual being, and
strove to gain a footing in the church, with which Jude was more
immediately connected. How appropriate that he should repeat,
and call up to the recollection of his readers, what at an earlier
period Peter had so impressively and profoundly uttered for their
warning !" That what was future in Peter had now become
present, was the proper motive to Jude for writing his epistle .i

1 Decisive for the priority of the eeoond epistle of Peter, as oompared with that of
Jade, is Jade y. 17, 18, oomp. with 2 Pet iii. 3. We have here also an important testi-
monj for the genaineness of the seoond epistle of Peter. Bat see Heydenrich, p. 97,
also 103.

TIME OP WRITING THE REVELATION. 15

Bat even in Jade the error is Btill by no means so far advanced
and so fnlly disclosed to yiew, as in the Bevelation. There also
it is said only, that " certain men had crept in anawares." We
see ourselves here, therefore, brought into a quite isolated region,
the path to which only began to be indicated in the latest epistles
of the New Testament.

n. Of great importance for determining the time of composi-
tion is the passage ch. i. 9, " I John, yonr brother and companion
in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ,
was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and
for the testimony of Jesus Christ." From this passage various
proofs may be derived in confirmation of the view that the Book
must first have been composed under Domitian. First, the pro-
phet designates himself as the companion of Christians in Lesser
Asia, to whom he primarily wrote, in their tribulation, and indeed
in such a tribulation as kindled the desire after the kingdom of
Jesus Christ, the kingdom of glory. For, as the world then
sought to lay the church at its feet, the church needed to have
her faith quickened in regard to the coming glory, that she might
be able to bring fully into exercise the patience of faith. The
discourse here, therefore, must be of a Christian persecution in the
proper sense, and one that was of a general nature. But such a
perseAition first happened under Domitian. That which took
place in Nero's time was confined to Rome.

Then the Seer presents himself here to our view as one who
had suffered exile on account of his fidelity to the Christian testi-
mony. Such local deportations, beside punishments of a capital
nature, there is good evidence for believing were inflicted during
the persecution of Domitian. On the other hand, under Nero,
history knows only of capital executions at Rome, and never once
mentions anything like deportations from one place to another.

Finally, the Seer, John, was on the isle Patmos when he re-
ceived the Apocalypse. But it was under Domitian that tradition
affirms John to have been banished thither.

Now, every thing has been brought into requisition to dispose
especially of the second and third of these points. Lticke, in his
Introduction, p. 244, would fain have us to make no account of
the passage in determining the period of the composition. For
the exposition is doubtful regarding the exile to Patmos, and the

16 INTRODUCTION.

tradition of sach an exile of John is not harmonions — ^problema-
tical. We do not need to enter on the latter point here ; as the
snbject has already been discussed in the preceding inyestigations.
To remove the exile to Patmos from oar text in an exegeticai
way, Lticke has certainly bestowed great pains in the treatise on
the Reyelation of John i. 1, 2, and 9, in the Stndien and Eritiken
for the year 36, p. 654, ss. But we cannot avoid feeling our suspi-
cions awakened as to the results there obtained, when we see how
the main object in view comes out in the inquiry, for example in
the words p. 661 : '* If we have rightly interpreted the passage,
ch. i. 9, the exegeticai reason, at least, disappears for the tradition,
that John was ever banished to Patmos as a martyr ;" and a more
careful examination only serves to prove this suspicion to be well
grounded.

Lucke reasons thus : What may hinder us from determining
thus the phraseology of the Apocalypse, that " the testimony of
Jesus Christ," with " the word of God," may be understood
partly, as in ch. xx. 4, and xii. 17, of the gospel generally, so far
as it refers to the testimony of Jesus, partly in a more special
sense, if a particular prophetical word of God is meant, which was
to be given or communicated through Jesus? Ch. i. 9 stands too
near to ch. i. 2, not to be interpreted pre-eminently by it. If
there the special revelation of the future is meant, so also here.
Patmos is the place selected by God himself, where John must
receive that revelation. Dr Bleek confesses that he has arrived
at the same view, in the Evangelienkritik, p. 192 : *' The nearness
of the passage (ch. i. 2) renders it at least probable that we should
explain in a corresponding manner ch. i. 9, as indicative of the
design, on account of which the Seer had withdrawn himself to
the isle of Patmos, viz. that he might there receive the divine re«
velation which he unfolds in his Book."

From the first we feel compelled to think unfavourably of this
interpretation. The air of martyrdom swims all around us in the
Book of Revelation. Just as it can be rightly understood and
appreciated only by those who have experience of tribulations,^ so

I Bengel says in his Gnomon on ch. i. 9.: In tribulations maxime hie liber fidelibns
sapit. Afiiatica ecclesia, praesertim a floridissiino Constantini tempore, minus magni
aestimavit hune librum. Vlx Testigium reperias Apacalypseos a Constantinopolltanit
doetoribmi aUegatae: uU In Chryiostomi operibua eitator, boo ipsom alieai tno-

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 17

it could only hare been written by one who had himself drunk of
the bitter cup of martyrdom, had himself felt the force of its
temptations, and in experience had known the sweetness of that
consolation which he stretches forth to others. The persecution
on the part of the worldly power of heathendom is the starting-
point of the whole ; and that the author was himself affected by it
is erident from the prerailing tone of sadness, and the wrestling
character of faith : — comp. the " I wept much" in ch. y. 4, which
pervades the whole Book. The Book becomes a riddle, whenever
we lose sight of the truth that it was written by a martyr (as
such John is already designated by Polycrates of Ephesus, in
Euseb. V. 24) ; and we must proceed on this ground, even though
ch. i. 9 did not exist. Such passages as ch. vii. 9^—17 indispen-
sably require this key. So only would a partaker of the tribula-
tion of Jesus Christ administer consolation. We, therefore,
cannot feel disposed to abandon a mode of explanation which is in
such perfect harmony with the whole spirit of the Book, unless
constrained to do so by the most urgent necessity.

But so far from this being the case, the interpretation which
understands the passage of martyrdom is the only tenable one.
For, never and nowhere do the expressions " the word of God,"
and " the testimony of Jesus Christ," of themselves mark a pro-
phetical announcement. In ch. i. 2 they certainly have that import,
but only in connection with what precedes, and without prejudice
to their more general signification : '' The revelation of Jesus
Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things
which must shortly come to pass ; and he sent and signified it by
his angel unto his servant John, who (here also, as formerly in
the gospel and the epistles^), testified of the word of God, and

tatns indioinm esU AAricana ecclesia, craoi magiB obnozia, semper hanc libmm plarimi
fecit.

1 It ia true, certninly, that vcr. 2 doea not directly refer to the Ooepel of John, aa
many held formerly, but to the matter of the Revelation itaelf. But, on the otbei hand,
one cannot deny the connection with John'e goepeli in i. 14, six. 85. and eapeciaUy the
eonclasion, xxi. 24, aa alao with the first epistle of John ch. i. 1, as., and iv. 14, without
doing violence to that exegetical feeling, to which we moat make oorappeal^aa there are
no conoloaitre reasons here for establishing what will not be frankly conceded. This
connection of the beginning of the Revelation, especially with the chse of the gospel
and the beginning of tije epistle, presents itself dearly before us with the construction :
Who also here, as in the gospel and the epiatle testified of the word of God and the
testimony of Jesus Christ, and that in the form of an immediate vision. We have tbua

h

18 INTBODOCTION.

the testimony of Jesus Christ that he saw.'* In the passage he-
fore US, however, no such restriotire clauses have preceded, nor
is there to he found any such reason for the more general mode
of expression, as occurs ahoTe, in the allusion to the gospel and
the epistles ; here, therefore, the discourse can only he of the
word of God and the testimony of Jesus in general.

But were the phrase, " for the word of God and the testimony
of Jesus,'* douhtful in themselres, they would still receive from
the connection in two ways a more precise and definite import.
First, hy the preceding context : your companion in the tribula-
tion and the patience of Jesus Christ ; the words, " I was in the
isle that is called Patmos," etc., representing more definitely the
part which the Seer had in the tribulation and patience of Jesus
Christ. Then, by the sojourn on the island. This was fitted for
no other purpose than as a place of banishment. Not for the
preaching of the gospel, to which several in earlier times referred
the expression, ** on account of the word of God," etc. For, the
island, which, according to Pliny, H. N. iv. 12, was thirty thou-
sand paces in circuit, was too insignificant to draw toward it
the regard and labours of an apostle, or of any one occupying so
high a place as to have intrusted to him the oversight of the
churches in Asia. Nor had it any peculiar fitness as a place
where the Revelation was to be received. This might as well
have been imparted to the Seer in his own dwelling. The only
circumstance, which, with any appearance of probability, might
be alleged as a reason for the apostle undertaking a visit to
Patmos, in order to receive the Revelation there, is the nearness
of the sea — a circumstance which has actually been adduced by
ZuUig, in his Revelation of John Th. i. p. 233. One might point
with that view to ch. xiii. 1, " And I stood upon the sand of the

alBO an explanation of the otherwise strange generalness of expresaion, the want of any
direct reference to the prophetical matter. We mnat the less, too. think of refusing to
acknowledge this connection of the RcTelation with the gospel and epistle, as it goes
hand in hand with other references in the Revelation to the gospel. Comp. for example
ch. iii. 20, with the expression of the Lord in John xiv. 21, 23 ; ch. v. 6 with John xvi. 33 ;
ch. ▼. 6 with. John i. 29, 86; ch. vii. 16, with John vi. 35; ch. xi. 7 with John vii. 6, viii.
30 ; ch. xti. 9 with John xii. 31, 32; xix. 13, with the introduction to the gospel. The
facu now mentioned are also in so far of importance as they cTinoe the priority of the
Qospel and the Epistle to the Revelation, and so forbid us transferring the composition of
the Apocalypse to an early period. But as this argument is not of a palpable kind, we
satisfy ourselves witli merely indicating it

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 19

sea, and saw a beast rise up oat of the sea." Bat it were to
overlook the power of the Spirit, if we shoald sappose, that the
prophet mast, or eyen coald make a Toyage, in order to hare the
sea within view. Daniel, when far in the interior of the solid
land, saw the foar winds striving on the great sea. It was also
in the Spirit only that Daniel foand himself on the riyer Ulai, in
ch. yiii. 2. In the Beyelation we can the less think of any thing
else, as the Seer had before him constant examples of the use of
the sea as a symbol by the older men of God. Nor is there to
be foand a single case, in which a prophet andertook a joorney to
a distant place, that he might there receive a vision.

The argument from the manner of expression and the connec-
tion is still farther strengthened by a comparison of the passage,
ch. xiii. 10, which implies, that at the time when the Book was
composed, beside capital execations there were also banishments
to different places on accoant of the faith of Christ — a passage,
which entirely accords with the one before as in the sense we pat
on it. In regard also to the particular expressions, see the pas-
sages ch. vi. 9, ^* I saw ander the altar the seals of them that
were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they
held ;" xi. 11, '' And they overcame him by the blood of the
Lamb, and by the word of their testimony ;" xx. 4, " Those
that were beheaded for the testimony of Jesos and for the word
of God ;'' — in all which anqnestionably it is faithfulness in con-
fessing Christ in the midst of sufferings, which is denoted by
these expressions.

Finally, the reference of our passage to the martyrdom of John
is still farther confirmed by comparing it with Matth. xx. 22, 23,
Mark x. 38. There the Lord announced to James and John that
they should drink of his cup and be baptized with his baptism.
A literal fulfilment of this declaration is what, both from its own
nature and from the example of James, as well as the analogous
case of Peter, we naturally expect to find. At the same time,
we are not to overlook the circumstance, that in respect to John
it was tempered by another announcement in John xxi. 20 — 22,
according to which a martyrdom in the proper sense, as involving
the loss of life for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus
Christ, does not come into view. The exile to Patmos is the only
event in which the fulfilment can be sought. This was recog-

62

20 INTRODUCTION.

nized already by Origen in Matth. 0pp. iii. p. 719. To the like
effect Jerome, in his commentary on the passage in Matthew ;
who, besides, refers to the report of John having been put into a
barrel of boiling oil, — a report which had its rise in the feeling,
as if the banishment to Patmos did not seem sufficient to fulfil the
word of Christ. For the same reason, Victorinus of Petabio ag-
gravates the exile in Patmos, by describing it as a banishment
to the works in the mountains, and Theophylact (on the same
passage) still makes John, after the exile, be sent back to Patmos
by Trajan.

Exception has been taken against the reference of the passage
to the exile of John, because only the greater culprits were
doomed to this punishment ; criminals of an ordinary kind were
appointed instead to work in the mountains. But it is easy to
shew, that the fact on which this argument is based does not rest
on a solid foundation.^ There is at any rate no want of proof
that this punishment was especially suspended over those who
were accused of misdemeanour against the state religion of Rome.^

III. The persecution of the Christians, which proceeded from
the supreme magistrate himself, from the Boman state and its
rulers as such — this forms the historical starting-point of the Be-
velation. Such a persecution, being intended to repel the invasion
which the new religion made upon the staters sovereignty, its pre-
tended divinity, implied that the conflict between the deified
world-power, and the worship of the true God and his Son, had
already begun. The beast, the world-power, has, according to

1 That the panishment wan applied even to common criminals is certain alone from
Javenal i. 73 : Aade aliqnid brevibna Oyaris et caroere dignnm, si via case aliquid: pro-
bitas laudatur et alget. Comp. x. 169. Aocording to Suetonius, Tit. o. 8, the delatorea
of Titua w<>re banished in asperimas insulftruro. What Pliny says in the Ponegyr. c.
Si of the conduct of Trajan towards the delatorea, we shall give at length ; as it is well
fitted to supply us with an exact copy of the aituotion of the Seer: Gongesti sunt in na-
Tigia raptim conqnisiui ao tempeatatibus dediti. Abirent fugereotqae vaatatas delationi-
bus terras, ac si quern fluotns ac procellae acopulla reservasaent, hie nuda aaza et inhos-
pitale lituB incoleret, ageret duram et anxiam vitam. With this let the history of Flaccua,
in Philo, p. 967, A*, be compared: MtTd ik ttiv dipatpgaiv r^f ob<rlas Kanriyvtoirro
avToD 0vyfy, Koi if airdo-qt fiiv XaiivtTo t^v ^iratpov, to^' i<rrl fitv^ov Kat dfitivov
Tfiijiia Tnt oiKovfiivritf i^ dtriari^ dk vifiaov tS»v iif^aifiotnau,

3 Lampe, in hia Comm. on the Gospel of John L 66: Religionis ab idololatria Ro-
mana abhorrentis professioni ezilium pro poena deorevit Marcoaimperator: Modestinus
Juris conaultus lege xxx. digest, de poenis : Si quia aliquid feoerit, quo leves hom-
inum animi superstitione naminis terrentur : divas Marcus hujusmodi homines in insu-
lam relegare rracripaiu

TIME OP WRITING THE REVELATION. 21

ch. xiii. 1 (comp. xyii. 3), upon its heads the name of blasphemy.
Its adherents, according to ch. xiii. 4 (comp. xyiii. 8), ask in a
confident and insnlting tone, Who is like the beast 1 It opens its
mouth in blasphemy against God, to blaspheme His name, and
His tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven (xiii. 6). Accord-
ing to xiii. 8, it is worshipped by its adherents as a polemical
demonstration against the Lamb. According also to xiii. 12, the
false prophet directs to this worship, and according to ver. 15 he
has power to compass the death of those who do not worship the
image of the beast.

We have here an important proof that the Bevelation could
not be composed before Domitian's time. '^ Domitian," says
Beimarus, on Dio Cassius, p. 1112, " was the first, Caligula per-
haps excepted, who among the Bomans laid claim to the name of
God, and therefore nearly the whole odium connected with that
ought to rest upon him." Certain approaches, indeed, to this
claim are to be met with in the earlier C»sars, in particular in
Augustus. But in those cases it was the flattery of others which
prompted what was done, and the emperor himself rather exer-
cised a restraining influence.^ But here the emperor took the
initiative, and the claim was so extravagantly urged, that scarcely
any thing of a similar kind is to be met with among the later em-
perors, and on this very account Domitian is quite notorious in
antiquity. Philostratus, in the life of ApoUonius, B.'viii. c. 4, p.
324, makes ApoUonius defy the claim of Domitian, " who would
have himself regarded as the god of all men." According to Sue-
tonius, he began his letters thus, " Our Lord and God commands
that it should be done so and so ;'* and formally decreed that no one

1 Spanheim, de osu nnmismatain dissert. III. f. i. p. 141 : "No one will be surprised
that the fawning and idolatrons Greeks should have worshipped with divine honours and
titles the emperors themselves, as supreme lords of the world, or a kind of present Deity ;
and not such merely as had died, but those also who were still alive. Bespecting Au-
gustus, indeed, what is recorded by TrauquUlus is well known : " Templa, quamvis sciret
etiam Proconsulibus dectrui solere, in nulla tamen proviuoia, nisi communi suo Bo-
maeque nomine receipt: nam in, urbe quidem pertiiiacissime ahstinnit" (in Augusto, c.
52). Tacitus, however, reports the matter a little differently, when he mentions how
persons of a sober cast of miod reflected against Augustus, that nothing peculiar in^
divine honour was left to the gods, since he wished himself to be worshipped at temples
and statues by flamens and priests. This is confirmed also by Victor Schotti, and Horace
says in reference to it : Praesenti tibi maturos largimur honores, jurandasque tuas per
nomen ponimus aras." Suetonius also states, bebide what is quoted above by Spanheim :
Atque etiam argenteas staluas olim sibi positas conflavit omnes, exque iis aureas corti-
nas ApoUini dedicavit.

22 INTRODUCTION.

sboald address him otherwise either in writing or by word of
mouth. ^ According to DioCassius, Nerya caused the gold and silyer
images of Domitian, which were very numerous, to be melted.*
Pliny says, that he regarded any slight to his gladiators as an
act of impiety toward his divinity.* He states, that Trajan was
content with the place next to the gods, but that Domitian put him-
self on a footing of equality with them ; nay, raised himself above
them, and as if he alone almost had any claim to godhead, chose
for his statues the most hallowed sites in the temple, and caused
entire hosts of victims to be offered to himself.* In the downfal
of Domitian Pliny saw an irony in real life on his pretended
divinity.*

Hence, it is self-evident that under Domitian Christianity had
to enter on a struggle of life or death vrith the imperial power,
which always claimed, even in the hands of its most discreet pos*
sessors, more than Christians could yield. A sharp collision was
now, therefore, inevitable. It is true, we cannot produce distinct
historical statements to the effect that Domitian urged his im-
pious claim precisely against the servants of God and his Son,
and considered the honour given to these as a robbery of that due

1 Soeton. Domit c. 13 : Pari arrogantia, eum prvcoratorum suorum nomine foimalem
dictaret epiatolam, sio ccepit : Dominas et Deus noster hie fieri juber. Unde institutum
posthao, ut ne seripto quidem ac aermone cujiisqnam appellaretar aliter.

2 Dio Caaaiaa Nerra c. 1.: M/<rit 6k Aofxtnapov al lUovif airrov voWal fikp Stpyvp
OhiroWal a Kal xfiv<fo't o^oai avvtxt^vtvBfi^air Kai i^ avToiv fity6\a XP^f^<i'ra,av¥t'

\iyn.

S Pliniaa Panegyr. e. 38 : Demens ille yeriqae honoris ignams, qui crimina magistatis
in arena coUigebat, ac ae deapici et contemni, nisi eUam gladiatorea ejna veneraremor,
aibt maledioi in illia, auam diTinitatem, sunm nnmen Tiolari interpretabatar, cum se
idem quod deos, idem gladiatorea quod ae putaret.

* Panegyr. c. 62 : Tu delubra nonnisi adoraturua intras, tibimaximus honor excubare
pro templis, com vice cuatodia aut aatellitis statuae tuae ponnntur in yeatibnlia temp-
lomm, at non in ipsia, poatibusque praetexi (apponi) .... At paulo ante aditus omnea,
omnes gradus totaqne area, hinc auro, hinc argento relucebat, aeu potius relucebat, aeu
potiua polluebatur, cum incesti Prindpia atatuia permixta Deorum simulacra aorderent.
Bimili reverentia, Caeaar, non apud genium tuum boftitati tuae gratias agi, aed apud
nnmen JoTia optimi max. pateria ; illi debere noa quidquid tibi debeamua, illiua quod
bene facias muneria esse* qui te dedit Ante quidem ingentes hostiarum greges per
Capitolinum iter, magna aui parte velut interoepti, divertere via cogebantur, cum aae-
Tissimi domini atrociasma effigies, tanto victimarum cruore coleretur, quantum ipse
humani aanguinis proftindebat.

ft Ille tamen, quibua aibi parietibua et muris salutem suam tueri videbatur, dolum
Pfcum el insidias et ultorero scelerum deum inclusit. Dimovit perfregitque custodiaa

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 23

to himself. Bat this omission is easily explained from the decided
aversion of heathen authors to Christianity, who could not but
regard it as fatal to relate what would appear to gire Christians
the right side in the matter, and thereby awaken sympathy in
their fayour. Still, there are not wanting plain enough notices,
which, when properly explained, perfectly supply the defect of
particular accounts.

The chief passage here is that of Dio Cassins, B. Ivii. p. 1112,
Beim. : " In this same year Domitian put to death, beside many
others, the consul Flayius Clemens, although he was his uncle,
and had to wife Flavia Domitilla, who was also a relatiye of the
emperor. Both were accused of impiety, for which also many
others were condemned, haying gone astray after the cuistoms of
the Jews. But Domitilla was only banished to Pandatereia.*'^

That Clemens was a Christian, there can be no doubt. The
Christians were in the earlier periods of gospel, history classed
with the Jews, and as Beimarus remarks, " very few among the
Romans at that time went oyer to Judaism proper, especially
among the persons of note, but many to Christianity." So also
Tillemont : *' Situated as the Jews then were, it is quite impro-
bable that a consul, who was uncle to the emperor, should haye
espoused their religion.'* Besides, the sister's daughter of Fla-
yius Clemens is known to have been a distinguished Christian
(the Flayia Domatilla in Eusebius, Ch. Hist. iii. 18," and in Je-
rome's Chron.) and possibly it was to her that Flayius owed his
first religious impressions. Finally, Suetonius designates the
same Flayius as a man of " despicable inactiyity."* This was a

Poena, angnstosque per aditus et obetructos, non eecas ae per apertas forea et invitantia
limina prorupit ; lungeque tunc illi diTinitas sua.

1 Hal Tip airrtp irti aWow Tt iroWobt koi tdu ^Xdfitov K\i»/i«irra vTarivovra
Kalirtp ivtijndif Svra, Kai yvvauca icai abriiv auyytufj iavrov IfXafilav AofiiTlWav

Kai dWoi h rd tSiu 'lovdaicov fjBii ij^oKtWoirrtt iroWol icaTcdtfcd<r6»)<rair. Kal ol fiiv
&7rida»opf ol ik twit yovv obaiStv iimp^nvav' ri W AofLiTlWa inrtptopivQti p-ovov «i«
Viav^ariptiav.

2 *Ev It«« trtyrtKai^OKaTt^ AoficTiavov 4\a/3iair Aojutr/XXav, tf idtX^^s ytyo-
vvtoM 4>\a/3£ov KXii/ticrrov, kv6v rwv TYivixdit iirl *Fuffin9 inraTwVf Tij« «i« Xpivrdv
fiaprvpias tvtKtv i Is iniirov Tlovrlav icaTck TifAwptav itddcOai: We maat take care to
distingnish between the two Flaviaa DomatiUas, the one the wife, the other the niece of
Clemens. Without sufficient reason Scaliger has identified the two, and would correct
Eusebius from Dio.

^ Domit. c. 16: Flavium Clememum patruelem suum, contemptissimae ineriiae cujus

24 INTRODUCTION.

reproach which was frequently cast upon the Christians, because
they withdrew from the corrapt civil life as it existed in hea-
thendom, and thought more of their citizenship in heaven than in
the Boman commonwealth/ This reproach did not apply to the
Jews.

How the aocosation of " impiety*' is to be understood, is clear
from what immediately precede;^, where we learn that a person
who had been accused did homage to Domitian, and named him
frequently Lord and God^; — a title under which he had already
been addressed by others. It may farther be understood from
what is said at p. 1107 : " So much, however, was conceded to
him, that almost the whole world, as far as subject to his domi-
nion, was filled with his images and statues, both in silver and
gold ;" and from all that has been said of Domitian's self-deifica-
tion ; since he would scarcely allow any other god to stand be-
side himself, and the one divinity which had a place in his heart
was his own pretended one. To the same result we are conducted
by the passage quoted from Suetonius. According to this author
Clemens was put to death " on account of a very slender suspi-
cion." From the connection this suspicion could only be that of
resistance to authority. And the suspicion and the accusation of
impiety are seen to harmonise, the moment we suppose that Cle-
mens ventured to disavow the emperor as his lord and god, and
do homage to his statues, on the ground of fidelity to his heavenly
king.

That Domitian looked upon Christianity with a jealous eye,
may also be inferred from what Eusebins has related in his Church
History, iii. 19, 20, from Hegesippus, as to Domitian causing the
relatives of Christ to be sent for to Rome, because he was afraid
of the coming of Christ.

It is clear as day, then, that for all that respects the conflict
of the world-power with the kingdom of Christ, we obtain an ex-

filios etiamiium parvulos snccessores palam deBtinaverat, et abolito priore nomine alte-
ram Vespasianiim appellari juaerat, alteram Domitianam, repente ex tenniaaima anapi-
cione tantnm non ipao ejnft consalatn interemiu

I Pitisoua on Soeton. 1. c. : CoDtemptisaimte inertiae cum hnuc Flaviam Tocat noater,
eo ipso Christianum fuiaae demonatrat. Dehoc injuriae in Chriatianos titalo Tert. in apol.
c. 42 : Infractooai in negptiia dicimur.

'i Aa Martial in like manner aaid to Domitian : Hoc satis est, ipsi caetera mando
Deo. See Ifavercamp on Tertullian's Apol. p. 176.

TIME OF WRITING THE RFVELATION. 26

celleat historical starting-point, when we understand the Apoca-
lypse to hare been composed under Domitian, while snch is en-
tirely wanting on any other hypothesis.

The Be?elation supposes, that, at the- period of its composition,
the Antichristian action of the world-power was accompanied
by the Antichristian operation of the world-wisdom ; that this
last had already taken up a decided opinion against Christianity,
implying of course that it had now become a power in public life.
In proof of this see ch. xiii. 11, ss., according to which the false
prophet persuades to the worship of the beast, gives spirit to the
image of the beast, and effects that those who would not worship
the image should be killed. Here, again, we are left without any
definite accounts, and for the reasons already mentioned. We
find notices, howerer, which leave no reasonable doubt that
under Domitian the pretensions of the Boman emperor against
Christ obtained support in a species of false worldly wisdom,
which condescended to garnish those pretensions, and to give
them a dazzling appearance, more unquestionably from hatred to
Christ, than from avaricious flattery. The most remarkable no-
tice of the kind, and that which furnishes the key for understand-
ing others of a less definite nature, occurs in Philostratus' life of
ApoUonius, B. yii. 4. After relating how Domitian persecuted
the philosophers, he continues, *' But some also were led to dis-
course in a manner that was serviceable to the delinquencies,*'^
tending to vindicate the emperor's misconduct by giving a scien-
tific colour to his divine pretensions. He boasts of his hero, that
he had kept free from any such delinquency, for, " having taken
wisdom for his mistress, he was free from dependence on Domi-
tian, . . fearing nothing in respect to himself, but moved with
pity on account of what was fraught with destruction to others."^
There were, therefore, philosophers who, by their discourses in
respect to the emperor s claims, brought others into trouble ; and
who could these be but the Christians, the only persons that set
themselves with determined energy against such claims ] After
considering this passage, one can scarcely doubt, when it is else-

1 "Evioi d' in \6yovi Ainvix^vvai ^w/i/3otiXoi/s rwv ifiapTiifidruv,
k 2T4» vo^lav iiairoivav iriTon)iiiwn ^Xs(/6c/Jov tiv Trj9 Aofitrtavov <f>opa9, , . dtdititt
fikv oifiiv IdioVf & Sk iripovt dirooXXv iXawv.

2

26 INTRODUCTION.

where related how the Stoic Palfurins Sara under Domitian had
acted the part of a yery bitter delator, and was in consequence
condemned after the emperor'^ death, that this philosopher par-
sued the Tile business in his capacity as a philosopher, employing
his philosophy and eloquence for the persecution of Christianity,
and for garnishing the antichristian claims of the emperor.^ Dio
Cassius names, among many delators who were condemned to
death under Nerra, another philosopher, Seras.^ From all this
what Pliny says of Nerva's measures against the delators, ap-
pears in a new light.

IV. The Beyelation was composed at a time when there was
an organized bloody persecution, which extended oyer all Chris-
tendom. Ch. xiii. 7 is alone sufficient to proye this, according to
which the beast makes war with the saints and oyercomes them ;
and power is giyen him oyer all tribes, and peoples, and tongues,
and nations. Christians oyer the whole earth. It appears also
from xiii. 8, according to which all, that dwell on the earth, wor-
ship the beast ; ii. 13, which speaks of the martyr-crown being
won far from the centre of the Roman state, and under the direc-
tion of the magistracy, acting as Satan's instrument (xiii. 3) ; yi.
9, where the prophet sees under the altar the souls of those, who
had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which
they had ; xyii. 6, where he sees the woman drunk with the blood
of the saints, and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus ; xyi.
6, according to which they haye shed the blood of saints and
prophets ; xyiii. 20, in which God is said to ayenge upon the
new Babylon saints, and apostles, and prophets, while in yer. 24
the blood of saints and of prophets is declared to haye been found
in her. Finally, ch. xx. 4, where the souls of those who had been
beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God re-

1 Scfaol. ad Javenel. iv. 53. Palftirius Sura consularis in agone cum yirgine La
cedemonia sub Nerone luctatus eat. Post inde a Vespasiano senatu motus, transivit ad
stoicam sectaro, in qua cum praevaleret, et eloquentia et artis poedoae gloria, abusus
familiaritate Domitiani, acerbisslme partes delationis exercnit : quo interfecto senatu
accusants damnatus est '

3 Lib. 68| c. 1 : IloXXot ii xal t&v <xvKO<^avTt\<ravrmv Qavarov KaTiiiKaaQtivav, kv
olc Kal '^ipav fiv 6 <pik6<ro<po^.

9 After having praised Nerva for his energetic measures against the delators, he con-
tinues : Id hoc magis arduum fuit, quod imperator Nerva, te filio, te successore dignissi-
mus, perquam magna quaedam edicto Titi adstruxerat, nihilqne reliquisse nisi tibi '
videbatur, qui tarn multa exoogitasti, ut si ante te nihil esset inventum.

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 27

Tiye again, and those who had not worshipped the beast, nor his
image, nor had received his mark npon their forehead and their
hand. No doubt, the fatnre is in these passages represented as
present, but only in so far as it was to be a continuation of the
present. There is never found a trace of what for the time being
existed only within local boundaries, appearing afterwards as a
heavy tribulation or general persecution extending to the whole of
Christendom. Gomp. besides ch. vii. 14.

There is a onesidedness in Ihe representation given of Christ.
Throughout we see only the aspect he presents to the enemies of
his kingdom, and indeed specially the heathen enemies ; the Jews
appear only as insignificant opponents, as tails of smoking fire-
brands, that were briefly despatched in the epistles. And this
consideration, coupled with the longing desire that is manifested
toward the coming of Christ, and the lively faith in respect to the
nearness of his approach ; all lead to the conviction, that a gene-
ral conflict of heathenism and Christianity, a conflict of life and
death, had already entered.

Now, that such a bloody persecution existed under Domitian,
can certainly be proved, and nothing but the confusion of a Dod-
well could deny it.^ This is just what might have been expected
from the relation in which Christianity stood to the claim of
divinity put forth by Domitian, which he urged with unsparing
rigour. *' It was enough," says Suetonius, '' that any word or
deed against the majesty of the emperor was objected against
any one ;"^ and as majesty is here meant, the mere confession of
Christianity must have appeared as a capital ofience against it.
But we possess explicit testimonies even from heathen writers,
although, for the reasons already mentioned, these are cautious
and reserved in their words. In one of the passages formerly
quoted, Dio Cassius says that Domitian put to death '' many
others'* besides the Flavius Clemens, whose death itself inferred
the martyrdom of many companions ; for when the emperor con-

1 See against him, as maintaining in bia'Distfertatio de paucitate martyrnm that the
peneeution under Domitian never proceeded so far as to inflict tortures, to say nothing
of actual blood-shed, Pagi crit. i., p. 83, and Bninart in his Praefktio in Acta Marty.
mm iii,

3 Domit. c. 12: Satis erat objici qualecunqac factum dictumqne adrersus majestatem
principifl.

28 INTRODUCTION.

ducted himself in such a way toward his nearest relatives, how
should he hare spared others ? According to the same author,
Nerya punished many delators with death, who, we may be sure,
only suffered themselves what they had brought upon others; he
set free those who for high treason had been condemned, or were
under investigation ;^ and forbade accusations respecting that
crime and the Jewish manners to be any longer received. With that
prohibition, another (Nerva c. ii.) against setting up gold or
silver statues, went hand in hand ; for the claim of divinity in
Domitian, and the persecution of Christians, stood to each other
in the relation of cause and effect. Philostratus, in the passage
already quoted, complains, that under Domitian a certain class of
philosophers had become to others the occasion of death. The
notices of Christian authors lead to the same result. In the
account of the martyrdom of St Ignatius, in Buinart, p. 13, it is
said, that he with difficulty escaped the earlier storms of the
many persecutions that took place under Domitian ^ Eusebius,
in his Chronicon, under the year 2112, reports on the authority of
Brutius, that *' very many Christians suffered martyrdom under
Domitian.'* He relates in his Church History, iii. 19, 20, that
Domitian caused the relatives of Christ to be fetched from Pales-
tine to Borne.

Thus, therefore, we have an excellent historical starting-point
in this respect for the composition of the Apocalypse, if we refer
it to the time of Domitian. But none such can be found, if the
period of composition is transferred to the reign of Galba. For,
there was then no persecution of Christians, and the only bloody
persecution conducted under public authority, which had pre-
viously occurred, that under Nero, had both been of short con-
tinuance, and did not pass beyond the limits of Rome — not to
mention, that it had not been raised against Christians so directly
" for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus," as is here sup-
posed. The extension of this persecution beyond the limits of
Rome, is in itself not probable. And the Christians, according

1 Nerva c. i. : Kai b Nipovat rovv rt Kpivofiivov^ kir d<rtfiti<f a<f>TJKt koi touv ^eu-
yoirrac Kor^yayt. The Aci^ua, impictat, is the crimeD inajestatis, quia imperaton^s
paene pro diis colebantar, et Domitianus tantoa gerebat spiritus, ut divino fastigio
parem se putaret. Rcimarus.

2 TodvxetXci x«M^<'av M<^f c irapayay»v rStv iroWiav iiri Aofitrtayov dioayftwv.

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 29

to the credible report of Tacitus,i were not punished primarily
as Christians, but on the ground of having been the first to begin
the burning of the city,^ so also Eusebius in his Church History,
li. 25. The first person, who positively says, that the perse-
cution of Nero spread beyond Home, is Orosius, a late author,
and one who is the less to be regarded, as Tertullian knows
only of Borne.' In other things he merely copies Suetonius,
and introduces but this one circumstance from his own hand.*
If the reasons for and against the extension beyond the limits
of Rome were otherwise equal, we should still feel constrained
to decide for the latter, on the simple ground, that from Nero
being the first persecutor of the Christians, it was quite na-
tural in process of time to attribute to him more in this respect
than originally and properly belonged to him.

Against this view of the Neronian persecution as a merely
passing and local one, an argument might certainly be raised from
the first epistle of Peter, if it were indeed the case, first that this
epistle was written immediately after the outbreak of that perse-
cution, and then that it proceeds on the supposition of a general
persecution of the Christians. But both assumptions are unten-
able. That the epistle was written not after^ but before the
persecution of Nero, in which Feter won the crown of martyrdom,
has been proved by Wieseler (p. 564, ss.). And the persecutions,
which are discoursed of in the first epistle of Peter, and to exhort
to stedfastness under which is one object of the epistle, are es-
sentially different from those in the Bevelation. What in the
first epistle of Peter is only a subordinate aim, in the Apocalypse
is all-predominant : the persecutions referred to in the former
are only such as are inseparable from the existence of Chris-
tianity itself. No indication exists of a threatening martyrdom,

1 AnDal. XT. 44: Ergo abolendo rnmoii Nero subdidit reo6, et quaesitissimiB poBiufi
tffecit quos per flagitia iiiTisos ▼olgoi Christianoa appellabat.

3 "See on the connection of the burning and the Christian persecotion, Wieteler
Chrouol. des Apoat. Zeitaltcrs, p. 643, as.

S Adv. Gnoat e. 15 : Vitas CaBaarum legimus; orientem fidem Bomae primus Nero
cruentavit. Apol. c. 6: Consnlite commentarioa veatroa: illic reperietia primnm
Npronem in banc aeetam cum mazime Bomae orientem, Caeariano gladio ferooisae.

4 Sueton. in Kero. c. 16, aays : AfBioii snppliols Christiani, genua hominum aupersti-
tiouia novae et malefloae. Oroaiua, B. vii. o. 7, following him eo far, that he derives the
persecution from the burning, primus Bomae Cbriatlanos snpplicio et mortihns aifecit,
ac per omnes provinciat pari pertecutione excruciari imperavU.

30 INTRODUCTION.

none of persecation by the world-power as such, nor eyen any
certain marks of occasional judicial persecutions. Christians are
represented as suffering reproach among the heathen, being re-
viled as eyil-doers, ch. ii. 12 ; they hare much to suffer, especially
in the way of calumny, ii. 23, iii. 9, 16, iy. 14. The strongest
passage is ch. y. 8, 9, " Be sober, be vigilant, because your ad-
versary the Devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom
be may devour : whom resist, stedfast in the faith, knowing that
the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in
the world." But this passage simply indicates, that the heathen
mind was then beginning to become fully conscious of the an-
tagonism that existed between it and Christianity, and the dan-
ger which thence threatened its views and feelings ; it implies
nothing in regard to persecutions of blood in the proper sense,
nor to any interference on the part of the magistrate, nor to the
supposed fact, that the heathen state had already taken the mat-
ter into its own hand.

y. The Bevelation was written in the midst of persecutions,
during which not only executions, but also banishments, took
place. This is clear from ch. xiii. 10, '^ He that leadeth into
captivity shall go into captivity ; he that killeth with the sword
must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the
faith of the saints.'' In this passage, as the comparison with
Luke xxi. 24, Amos i. 6, Ps. Ixviii. 19, &c., shews, it is not
merely imprisonment, but also deportations and exiles that are
meant, which is also confirmed by ch. i. 9, where the Seer des-
cribes himself as being in the isle Patmos '" for the word of God
and the testimony of Jesus.*' Nothing of this sort is reported
concerning the Neronian persecution. All the sources, Tacitus
and Suetonius at their head, make mention only of capital punish-
ments, which were also the only appropriate ones for such a
charge. On the other hand, in the persecution under Domitian,
banishment, especially to desert islands, is often and expressly
referred to. According to Dio Cassins the wife of Flavius Cle-
mens was exiled to Pandatereia. According to him also, Nerva
recalled those who had been banished.^ And according to Euse-

1 See Zonans, p. 583, B. : Tocc 6ir' UbIvov i^i \adsto-t ioyiuvri ktravOSuif i ^$irc

TIME OP WRITING THE REVELATION. 31

biufl, both in his history and his Chronicon, the sister's daughter
of Flayins, Domatilla, was for her Christian confession banished
to the island Pontia.

VI. Domitifin, aboye almost eyery other, was a fit representa-
tiye of the terrible bloody beast, full of names of blasphemy, and
of the horrible woman drunk with the blood of saints and of the
witnesses of Jesus — comp. ch. xiii. 17. What Pliny says of Do-
mitian in his Panegyr. c. 18, not unfVequently reminds one of the
Reyelation, and suggests the thought, that to the author of the
latter Domitian sat for the picture of the beast. He describes
him as the '* most sayage monster,'* that sometimes gulped the
blood of relatiyes, sometimes employed himself in slaughtering
the most distinguished citizens, before whose gates fear and terror
watched. He was himself of frightftil aspect, pride on his fore-
head, fury in his eye, constantly seeking darkness and secrecy,
and neyer coming out of his solitude, excepting to make solitude.^
A similar description is giyen also by Tacitus in his Agricola.
In ch. xliy. he mentions it as a great consolation in respect to
Agricola's early death, that " he thus escaped that last period, in
which Domitian no longer at interyals and during yacant periods,
but constantly, and as with one stroke, made hayoc of the state.*'
How little the insipid Nero can in this respect be compared with
Domitian, is manifest from what is said of both by Philostratus,
B. yii. c. 4. Nero, says he, led the life of a player on the harp
and flute, and for such a life little yigour was required. Quite
otherwise with Domitian ; " he was a man of great bodily strength,
and despised the pleasures which music yields, and which tend to
soften the mind ; he found his enjoyment in the pains and la-
mentations of others, and thought that the king by night should
put an end to all other works, but giye a beginning to deeds of
murder."

*' He that leadeth into captiyity shall go into captiyity ; he that
killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is
the patience and the faith of the saints" (ch. xiii. 10). The yiew

1 'Nee lalutadoneB tnas Aigft et vistitas sequitur, remoramar, resistimus ut in com-
mani domo, quam noper mimaniasiina bellua plurimo terrore munierat. Cam velut
quodam apeou inclusa dudo propinquonim aaDgninem lamboret, nunc se ad clariasi-
moram ciyium stragm caedesque profeiret. Obaerrabantur foribus horror et minae et
par metas admissis et exclosis. Ad hoc> ipse occursu quoque visuque terribilis, saperbia
in fronte, etc.

32 INTRODUCTION.

given in this passage pervades the Apocalypse. We see in it
under the altar the souI& of those who were slain for the word of
God and for the testimony of Jesns ; we hear them crying with
one voice, and saying, *' How long, 0 Lord, holy and tme, dost
thou not jndge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth V* And as this cry is heard, we see how God does jadge
the blood of his servants that had been shed. It is worthy of re
mark, that even the antichristian heathen world had a suspicion
of the greatness of the guilt which Domitian had incurred by his
persecution of the Christians, and of the retribution to which he
had in consequence exposed himself. A proof how vigorously the
feeling had then been awakened respecting the retributive righte-
ousness of God in Christendom ! For only as a reverberation of
the powerful movement that had arisen there can we account for
what was then felt in the heathen world. It could not wholly
withstand the strong impression that flowed in upon it, but against
its own will and principles was drawn within the sweep of the
-movement. " The gods," says Philostratus, viii. 25, " drove Do-
mitian from his dominion over men ; for he had killed the consul
Clemens, to whom he had given his own sister (1)"^ " Especially
through this deed," says Suetonius, " he hastened his own down-
fal ;** and then proceeds to give a long series of pre-intimations
that announced beforehand the- coming catastrophe/'^

Having thus obtained the result, that the Revelation was writ-
ten under Domitian, it will not be diflScult to determine more
exactly the period to which it should be referred within this
circle, even apart from the tradition, which, according to IrensBus,
ascribes it to the closing period of Domitian's reign. Heathen
writers (see, besides those already quoted, Juvenal Sut. iv. v. 153)
agree in this, that the bloody persecution of the Christians, in
the midst of which the Revelation was written, was soon followed
by the death of Domitian. Accordingly, and in conformity also
with the statement of Brutius in Ensebius, and in the Chronicon

1 EcdOovv dk dtol AofxtTiavdif t^v Twy A^ponrw irpoedpia«* Itvx< fiky ydtp KX^-
fiivra chrtKTOvthv, Avipa fhrarov to t^v ditXtp^u t^v iavrov IMutKti,

3 Qno maxime faoto matorayit sibi exitiam. Oontiimis ooto menflibus tot fnlgun
facta nnntiataqne aunt, ut exdamaverit: feriat jam qoem volet (hoc ano teio Jupiter, q.
d. etiamai me percuten voluerit, Beroaldua). Tactnm de coel Capitolium templumque
Flaviae geotia, etc.

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 33

Paschale, under the fonrteenth year of Domitian, that many
Christians suffered martyrdom during that year, the Revelation
must have been composed shortly before the death of Domitian.
There can be no doubt that it was only this event which put a
stop to the persecution of the Christians, although Tertullian and
Hegesippus maintain the contrary, and represent Domitian as
himself putting a stop to all his persecuting measures. The mild
treatment which Domitian gave to the relatives of Jesus, and
which rests on good historical authority, furnished the occasion
for this representation, as in Eusebius it appears only as a report
attached to the latter. It looks from the first very unlike Domi-
tian that he should have come to a better mind ; and the closing of
the persecution suits much better to Nerva, who is called by Mar-
tial soft and good-natured, and who endeavoured to rectify every
thing that Domitian had put wrong. It was Nerva who, accord-
ing to Dio Cassius, set all at liberty that had been accused of
high treason, who recalled such as had been banished, and or-
dered that no farther accusations of the kind should be received.
It was Nerva who, according to Pliny, adopted the most strin-
gent measures against the delators. According also to Tacitus
and Philostratus, it was the death of Domitian which first put an
end to his Airy. And not till the tyrant had gone did John efi*ect
his return from the isle Patmos to Ephesus, as we learn from Cle-
mens of Alexandria, and Eusebius in his Church History (B.
III. 20, 23). ^

That the Apocalypse could not have been written so early as
the time of Galba, is evident from the absence of any, even the
most cursory, reference to the fall of Jerusalem, as an event nigh
at hand. Unquestionably, any reference to this event did not
properly enter into the plan of the author ; its starting-point is a
frightful rise of the hostile power of heathenism, its theme the
triumph of Christianity over heathendom. But since the fall of
Jerusalem occupies so prominent a place in the prophecies of our
Lord regarding the future development of His kingdom, which
form in a manner the text on which John comments, — since, also,
it was precisely in the time of Galba that the fate of Jerusalem
was preparing for its accomplishment, — it would have been unna-
tural had the author of the Apocalypse made no reference what-
ever to it. We should the rather have expected him to do so,
c

34 INTRODUCTION.

when eren in the epistles ve see how constantly respect is had to
the existing heathen oppression, which had then come forth into
the foreground, but which did not exclude some incidental refer-
ence to the subordinate Jewish persecution. See what is inti-
mated respecting the humiliations that were to oyertake the
Jewish persecutors in ch. iii. 9 ; where, howerer, not a single
word occurs respecting the fall of Jerusalem, which could scarcely
have been the cnse if that crushing catastrophe had still been
future. Further, since the prophet applies the name of Jerusa-
lem and of Zion to the church, it would have been very natural,
had the outward Jerusalem and Zion still existed in their former
dignity, to have given some indication that their pretensions were
soon to be laid in the dust. That these names should have been
simpliciter applied to the church, that the latter also should be
represented, without the slightest explanation, as the temple (ch.
xi. 1), is most easily explained, if there was but one thing to which
the terms now could refer. To the same conclusion points also
the analogy of Ezekiel, who receired the vision of the new temple
and the new city in the fourteenth year after the destruction of
the old ones. See ch. xl. 1.

In unison with its place in ihe Canon, the Beyelation must
form the key stone to the books of the New Testament, and be
separated in particular from the epistles of Paul by a considerable
space of time and by the epoch of Jerusalem's fall. This appears
from the doctrine, which is clearly and distinctly unfolded in it,
that the second coming of Christ and the resurrection were at a
great distance from the present time ; that in the middle lay a
period of a thousand years ; before, the oyerthrow of Rome by the
ten kings, the conquest of these kings by Christ, and the destruction
of the heathenish world-power ; afterward, the revival of hea-
thenism, its new conflict with the church, and the glorious vic-
tory of the latter. An easy transition to this manner of view-
ing things is to be found in 2 Pet. iii. 8, where the poesibility is
indicated of the Lord's coming being so long deferred, that it
would be regarded in a human aspect as very distant. There is
no room for an opposition with the earlier writers of the New
Testament, as these plainly declare, that they did not know the
time of the Lord's coming. But a decided advance is made in-
the knowledge, and an advance of such importance that it could

TIME OF WRITING THE REVELATION. 35

scarcely have been made so early as the period assigned by some
for the composition of the Book. It seems to require a basis of
new circnmstances and relations, and in particular that the ap-
pearance of the Lord to execute judgment on Jerusalem should
have already belonged to the past. So long as this event had not
taken place, it must haye been rery difficult to determine what in
our Lord's discourses referred to it, and what to the end of the
world. The assereration of our Lord, " Verily I say to you,
this generation shall not pass away till all is fulfilled,** in Matt,
xxiy. 34, must haye rendered doubtful the indication of a more
distant future by the end of all things, until history had entered
as an expositor — until the destruction of Jerusalem as an iso-
lated &ct, not connected with a general catastrophe for the world,
had shown that there was not an absolute and final, but only a
preparatory fulfilment to be looked for. It presented, so to
speak, a microscopic yiew of the judgment, where eyerything was
to be seen on a small scale, which at the actual end of the
world was to appear in its proper greatness. Hence, all that our
Lord in Matthew prophecies regarding his coming, refers imme*
diately both to the destruction of Jerusalem, and to the end of
the world, with all its manifold and recurring signs, preludes, pre-
parations, and warnings ; and it is a yain undertaking, which has
been latterly attempted again by Domer, to endeayour to distin-
guish mechanically and externally what should be referred to the
one eyent and what to the other. There is a pervading refer-
ence, as we have said, to both events, the destruction of Jeru-
salem being contemplated as the nearer, and that also which was
to be the exact image of the other, the final judgment of the
world. But as to the period of the latter, no definite marks occur
in our Lord's prediction. Till this historical commentary was
given, the matter must needs have been allowed to hang in sus-
pense, after the example of our Lord, and as appears to have been
actually done by the apostles. It was only when such a com-
mentary had been given that the ground was laid for imparting
the new explanations, which are unfolded in the Apocalypse, just
as of old when the seventy years of Jeremiah were on the point
of expiring, Daniel came forth with his prophecy of the seventy
weeks of years.

It is not necessary to do more than set opposite to these strong

c2

36 INTRODUCTION.

external and internal grounds for the composition of the Apoca-*
lypse under Domitian, a reference to those passages in it, which
are said imperatively to demand its composition before the de-
struction of Jerusalem. Zullig goes farthest in this direction,
He says in Th. i. p. 137, " The Book hears on it, not in one place,
but in many, nay in its whole structure, an undeniable proof of
having been written before the fall of Jerusalem.*' Others of the
same opinion speak in more moderate terms. According to
Lucke, and those who have followed him without any particular
inquiries of their own, ch. xi. bears testimony to the composition
before the fall of Jerusalem, and ch. xvii. 10, 11 determines the
period to be specially that of the reign of Galba. Bleek, in his
Beitragen, p. 81, thinks that it is quite plain Jerusalem must
still have been standing fVom ch. xi., and probably also from ch.
XX. 9, as compared with xxi. 10, ss. But these references-can
only impose upon such as are ignorant of the state which the
exegesis of the Revelation has now attained. He who takes this
properly into account, will in the' first instance at least assume
for his starting-point the period of Domitian, as that which has
so many solid grounds to support it, and will consider whether he
may not thence gain an insight into the whole by unbiassed and
earnest inquiry, and especially may find the passages in question
brought into their true light. The result will then be gained,
that these passages could not refer to the period before the de-
struction of Jerusalem, far less that they tniLet be referred to that
early period. But it is one of the fundamental defects of the theo-
logy of the present day, that criticism is brought into play before
exegesis has sufficiently done its part, and that the crudest thoughts
are proclaimed with naive confidence as *' the result of the more
exact and more perfect exegetical investigations, for which the
age is distinguished ;" whence the path is at once taken to the
region of criticism, and the most solid arguments both of an ex*
ternal and internal nature are unscrupulously set aside. This is
certainly not the scientific mode of proceeding, however commonly
it boasts of being so.

THE

REVELATION OF SAINT JOHN.

THE SUPERSCRIPTION.

The title in most copies is : Beyelation of John the Theologne
(or the Diyiue). But this title cannot hare been original ; it
belongs to a pretty late period. This is manifest eyen from the
fact, that other epithets also 0(ccar in the mannscripts. Vers.
1 — 3 occupy the place of a title, and it is not probable that John
gave a double title to his book. Nor would John have called
his book in one breath the Beyelation of John and the Beyela-
tion of Jesus Christ. The first name could only be applied to
the book by a pretty hard and easily misunderstood abbreyiation :
The Beyelation of Jesus Christ communicated through John ;
but the book would more fitly haye been denominated : The pro-
phecy or yision of John. The surname Theologne, which John
here bears, is founded on a consideration of the distinctiye cha-
racter of his Gospel, and is used in reference to a doubt, which
arose at a pretty late period, respecting the composition of the
Beyelation by the apostle and eyangelist John. In regard to the
explanation of this surname expositors differ. But the only right
one is that which refers it to the character of the Gospel of John
in relation to the three first gospels. Haying respect espe-
cially to the character of its eommencement as compared with
that of the other gospels, the ancients designated John*s Gospel
as the pre-eminently theological and spiritual one, Thus Cle-
mens of Alexandria says in Eusebius, B. VI. c. 14, with respect
to a tradition, which he had receiyed from the oldest presbyters :
'* Those gospels, which contain the genealogies, were the first to

38 THE PROLOGUE.

be pablislied. . . Bat John, last of all, perceiying that what
'had reference to the body had already in the gospel been suffi-
ciently detailed, and being enconraged by his intimate Mends
and mored by the Spirit, he wrote a spiritual gospel." Ense*
bins himself says in B. III. c. 24 : " John has, therefore, with
propriety passed by the genealogy of our Lord after the flesh,
because it had previously been written by Matthew and Luke,
but commenced with the theology (the doctrine of the diyinity),
which had been reserved for him by the divine Spirit as some-
thing better.'*! Thus understood the form of the superscription
before us corresponds to the others ; such as : The Revelation
of John the apostle and evangelist. The two have this in com-
mon, that they both alike mark the identity of John the seer and
John the evangelist. The same view is farther confirmed by the
fact, that the ecclesiastical writer, with whom John first bears the
name of the Theologue, Ensebius (in Fraep. xi. 18) applies it
also to Moses, B. YII. c. 9, and to Paul, B. XI. c. 19. This fact
abundantly shows, that the name must have been intended to
designate John only with respect to the three other evangelists,
and that it is to be referred neither to the doctrine of the divi-
nity of the Logos, nor (with Zlillig) to the prophetical inspira-
tion.s If it is asked, why should John have been designated thus
only in the superscription of the Apocalypse, the answer is, be-
cause it was designed thereby to intimate that this John is uo
other than the evangelist.

THE PEOLOGUE.

(Ch. i. 1—3.)
The original title, which at the same time serves as an intro-

1 Comp. Basilias in the Catena in John 1 : Tov tbayytXiKov KfipdyiiaTtK o mya-
Xofptoyorarof, koI trivtit flip imoTJ^ fitfXpwa, irdaris 8k iiavotat vtfUfOTtpa <pdty}^dfAw

S There is no proof that the oharch fathera named John the Theologue with special
reference to the Apocalypse. The epithet everywhere refers to the Gospel ; comp., be-
sides Ensebius, the passages quoted by Lampe in his Proleg. in Joh. B. I. c. 7, § 22.
With the supposition that the surname of Theologue refers to the prophetical inspiration,
it ill accords what the presbyter Gregory says in his life of Gregory of Nazianzen, fiowom
TovTov /JAird rdv tvayytXitrriiv *li0&vvnv BwXoyov &va<pavfi»ai. But Gregory of Na-
zianzen was certaiuly no prophet.

TiEV. I. 1—3. 39

dactioo, and the special object of which is to indicate the great
importance of the book, runs thus : The revelation of Jeaus
Christ, which Qod gave him to shew to his servantSy what miut
shortly come to pass ; and he signified it by his angel, whom he
sent, to his servant John. 2. Who has testified of the word of
Ood and the testimony of Jesus Christ, what he saw. 3. Blessed
is he who reads, and they that hear the words of the prophecy,
and keep what is written therein ; for the time is near. — The
book is called in rer. 1, The Revelation of Jesus Christ The
word revelation, or disclosing, apocalypsis, which in the New
Testament is chiefly nsed by Paul, stands in a near relation to the
word mystery or secret. Mysteries are the object of revelation,
and the territory of the latter extends as far as the territory of
mysteries. See Dan. ii. 19, Ephes. iii. 3, " By rerelation he has
made known to me the secret/' yer. 5, 9, Rom. xyi. 25. The con-
dition of the revelation, accordingly, is the inaccessibility of a
matter to the ordinary faculties of the mind. For, this is the
common idea of a mystery. Hence, the sphere of revelation com-
prehends also that, which has already been made objectively ma-
nifest, and has become the church's own, in so far as it may be
communicated to a particular individual. For, the Christian doc-
trine as such is super-rational ; and of the faith in Christ it con-
stantly holds, that flesh and blood cannot themselves produce and
exercise it, Matth. xi..25, ss., xvi. 17, John vi. 44. So we read
of a revelation in Eph. i. 17, where Paul designated as a product
of it the Christian wisdom, which he sought for the Ephesians.
But commonly the word is used to denote the new disclosure of
truths, which hitherto had lain beyond the reach of the mind.
Such can only be found in moments of holy consecration, when
the soul, as the chosen instniment of God, is raised above itself
and is brought into closest fellowship with God, the source of
truth. Hence, the revelations in 2 Cor. xii. 1 appear in immediate
connection with the visions ; and the state in which Paul received
the revelations is represented as that of ecstacy, during which he
was raised to the third heavens, and heard unutterable words.
So too in Acts x., it was in a state of ecstacy, and by vision, that
St Peter received the revelation concerning the reception of the
heathen to the blessings of salvation (ver. 10 and 17, comp. also
Eph. iii. 5).

40 THE PROLOGUE.

Revelation here and prophecy, irpo^nfrela^ in yer. 3 (comp. zxii.
18, 19) correspond with each other, jost as revelation and pro-
phecy in 1 Cor. xir. 6.^ The book is the revelation of JesoB
Christ and the prophecy of John. The object of the revelation
are the mysteries ; its product is the prophecy. No revelation
without prophecy and inversely. What viewed in respect to the
manner of receiving it is revelation, the same, when viewed in
respect to the manner of its delivery, is prophecy. Paul says in
the passage referred to above, " Now, brethren, if I come to yon
and speak with tongues, what shall I profit you except I shall
speak to you either by revelation or by knowledge, or by prophe-
sying, or by doctrine r* Here we have a double pair of corres-
ponding parts ; revelation and prophecy constitute the one,
knowledge and doctrine the other. " The speaker attains to his
knowing either by revelation, by a supernatural communication
imparted by the Spirit of God, and when he gives utterance to
this, he is a prophet. Or it may be by learning, meditation, in-
quiry in a merely human manner, and with the common help of
the Holy Spirit ; and then his knowing is a gnosis, a knowledge,
and the utterance of it, in a manner that should now be naturally
adapted to the mode of receiving it, will be a purely intelligent
one, working on the understanding." As the condition, in which
the revelation is received, differs from that in which the know-
ledge IS matured, so the mode of deliverance in the prophet differs
from that of common teaching. That which has been received
in ecstacy can only be delivered in an elevated state of mind; that
is, in so far as the delivery stands immediately connected with the
receiving, and the receiving has not, as was usually the case with
Paul, been already wrought into a sort of knowledge. All pro-
phecy, just because it haa revelation for its basis, is closely allied
to poetry, though it does not properly resolve itself into this :
its respect to the church, and the understanding of her members,
prevents it from doing so. It must not wing its flight higher than
where these can follow. The speech of the tongue may be de-
signated the embryo of revelation and of prophecy. Secrets are

1 In respect to the internal connection of revelation and prophecy, and the limitation
of the former by the latter, the passage 1 Cor. xiv. 29, 30, sboold also be compared, " Let
the prophets speak two or ihree, and let the others judge ; if any thing be revealed to
another that sitteth by, let the first hold his peace."

REV. I. 1—3. 41

the common object of both, but the speech of the toogae does not
rise aboTe a general connection with them, it does not reach even
to the clear knowledge of them, and is hence incapable of coming
forth to falfil the office of teaching in the church.

No solid reason exists for the assertion of Liicke, that the
word revelation^ besides its general import, has also the special
meaning of eschatological ]^>ocalyp8is, or revelation in respect to
the final development of the kingdom of God and the coming of
the Lord Jesus. By the word itself nothing is indicated here as
to the special object of the Revelation of Jesus Christ. But the
thing to be supplied is furnished by the circumstances which
occasioned the revelation. These determine the character of
every revelation and prophecy. None swims in the air, none is
entirely general. The object of the revelation given to the
prophets is uniformly such, as in the given circumstances was
adapted for counsel, for warning, or consolation. And if it is
certain, that the starting-point here was the oppression of the
church by the world-power, the object of the Revelation, of Christ
to the apostle can only be, what was fitted for the edification of
the church under such circumstances, the preservation of the
church amid the persecutions of the adversary, the destruction of
the latter, and the final complete triumph of the church. It is
a fundamental error in the older expositors^ that they did not
perceive how the object of the Revelation was more exactly de-
termined by the relations of the time, and that we have here to
do with a discovery of Jesus Christ, disclosing that after which every
one then inquired, and the darkness of which lay like an oppres-
sive night-mare upon all bosoms. They proceeded on the ground,
that the Apocalypse must spread itself over the entire range of
church history, and converted it into a simple compend of this.

Revelation, and the prophecy which springs out of it, are under
the New Testament closely joined with the apostleship, and belong
to its prerogatives. Acts x. relates an important revelation granted
to the apostle Peter. In regard to the revelations and prophetical
states of Paul, see 2 Cor. xii., Eph. iii. 3, Gal. i. 12, ii. 2. In
Eph. iii. 5, 6, *' Which in other ages was not made known to the
sons of men, as it is now revealed into the holy apostles and pro-
phets by the Spirit : that the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs,
and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by

42 THE PROLOGUE.

the gospel/' the prophets are personally identical with the
apostles. For it is a historical yerity, that by no other than the
apostles, namely, Peter and Fanl, was the tmth in question con-
Teyed to the minds of Christians in the way of snpernatnral rere-
lation. Paul says immediately before, " Through rerelation did
he make known to me this mystery/' Also in Be?, xriii. 20,
which points back to Eph. iii. 5, the apostles are not personally
separate from the prophets, '* Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and
ye holy apostles and prophets, for God hath avenged you on her."
This is manifest from the circumstance, that history knows no-
thing of persecutions by the Roman world-power against prophets,
except against the three among the apostles, Feter, Paul, and
John. Instead of the apostles and prophets in ch. xviii. 20, we
have in ch. xi. 18, merely prophets along with the saints ; so that
the apostles are comprehended under them. Were it otherwise,
had not prophecy culminated in them in like manner as the
apostleship, the names of the twelve apostles could not with
propriety have stood alone on the foundations of the New Jerusa-
lem, ch. xxi. 14 ; elsewhere the prophets are coupled with them
as occupying this position. The gift of prophecy is of all the
highest. New truths could only be communicated through it, so
as to obtain a place in the conscience of believers, and become
thereby more widely ^diffused as knowledge and doctrine. The
whole position of the apostles must have been changed, if this
gift had not been concentrated in them. According to the mea-
sure of prophetic gifts was the place that the apostles respectively
occupied ; so that it was not accidental, that precisely the three,
Peter, Paul, and John, who otherwise were so pre-eminent above
the rest, were also the most highly distinguished by these gifts.
Such as possessed no prophetical gifts might indeed have been faith-
All witnesses of Christ, but they could not fulfil the other design
of the apostleship, that of receiving the much that the Lord had
still to say to them, but which they were not able to bear during
his personal sojourn on earth, John xvi. 12. For, there is no
other organ for the recipiency of new truths, but the prophetical.
" The comfiroter" was also, according to John xvi. 13, etc., to
make known the future to the apostles. But instruction respect-
ing the future is only received by revelation, and communicated to
others by prophecy. What is written in the Acts of the mani-

3

REV. I. 1—3. 43

festations of other prophets, serTes to confirm what we have said
— ^see xi. 27, xiii. 1, xv. 32, xxi. 10. All there bears a subordi-
nate character. There is no trace of anything like a commnnica-
tion of new and important truths.

From what has been said, it is obyious what we are to make of
Bleek's assertion (Beitr. p. 191), *'When we consider what
special weight is attached in ch. xxi. 14 to the apostolic dignity,
it becomes the more improbable that the Seer should not have
been expressly designated as such in ch. i. 1, if the author really
belonged to the number of the apostles, or wished to be regarded
as of that class." The author has actually done what is here de-
sired ; he has in the most emphatic manner described himself as
an apostle. For, a prophecy of such a marked, and important
character as is contained in this book could only have pro-
ceeded from the circle of apostles; nay, more, could only hare
proceeded from one, who among the apostles themselves held
a leading place. He, who possessed the highest apostolical
gift in the highest degree, did not need to begin with assur-
ing us that he was an apostle. This was to be understood of
itself.

It admits of no doubt that the Revelation of Jesus Christ is the
revelation which has Jesus Christ for its author, or which was
communicated by him. This appears from the corresponding
testimony of Jesus Christ in ver. 2 ; from a comparison of the
passages i. 10, ss. iy. 1, xix. 10, xxii. 16, where in like manner
the matter of the Apocalypse is spoken of as derived from Christ ;
and from the obvious design of the prologue, which manifestly
intends to indicate the high importance of the book by the cir-
cumstance of its contents having been derived from God and
Christ. Entirely analogous is Gal. i. 12, " For, I have not re-
ceived it of man, nor was I taught it but by the Revelation of
Jesus Christ** Of course, the fact of the contents of this book
being derived from the Revelation of Jesus Christ does not exclude
a manifold human preparation, but rather demands it : especially
a zealous investigation and study of Scripture, a profound reflec-
tion on the divine purposes, and an energetic and earnest desire
to penetrate the divine secrets. Still, the remark of Bengel is
perfectly just : " What the apostles and evangelists have written
elsewhere they brought forth under the good hand of God from

44 THE PROLOGUE.

that treasury of wisdom and knowledge which they had constantly
beside them. For that, howerer, which John has written in this
book, he must haye been quit^ specially furnished. The Lord
Jesus Christ is himself the author, John only holds the pen.
Hence we may understand the peculiar distinction which belongs
to this book, and on account of which it ought to be. held espe-
cially precious. This consideration also explains how, while
John has so many endearing epithets in his epistles, " my little
children," " my brethren," " belored," none whatever are to be
met with in the whole of this book. He writes here not as of
himself, but in the name of Jesus Christ. — Of what appears in
Revelation much certainly is to be found also in the old prophe-
cies, to which reference is expressly made in ch. x. 7, but by no
means the whole. For how otherwise could it be said that God
had given the revelation to Jesus Christ ? But in no part does
the Revelation come into conflict with the Scriptures which were
formerly given by God ; it rather gives a summary representation
of all that in ancient prophecy still remained to be fulfilled after
the times of Christ and the apostles." Another remark of Ben-
gel we cannot so fully accord with : '* The Old Testament dispen-
sation was the time of promise, and hence there are so many
prophetical books among the Old Testament Scriptures. The
New Testament dispensation is the time of fulfilment, though not
without intimations of what belongs to a still coming future ; and
therefore the greater number of books in New Testament scrip-
ture are books of history and doctrine — one only avowedly pro-
phetical, and that in the full, clear, elevated style which befits
the new dispensation." This statement is grounded on the erro-
neous assumption, that the only design of prophecy was to dis-
close the future. It would be more correct to say that, under the
New Testament, Christ has appeared as the way, the truth, and
the life. The main source of higher and clearer views was thus
at once laid open to the church, so that knowledge and doctrinal
instruction came to occupy the foreground. Prophecy was re-
quired only for the new things that still remained to be de-
veloped.

Which Ood gave to him. Revelation is properly the act of
communication ; comp. Gal. i. 12. Here, however, it also in-
cludes its object, that which is disclosed, and to this refers the

2

REV. I. 1—3. 45

which. It is one of the per?ading characteristics of John^s Gos-
pel, that in reference to Christ it '' constantly alternates between
a respect to the position of dependance and the position of sub-
stantial identity" (Koestlin Lehrbe^. des John, p. 101), con-
stantly makes statements which imply, that the Son has every
thing that the Father has, and yet has nothing bnt what he has
of the Father. In this characteristic the Beyelation stands in
the closest affinity with the Gospel. In particular, two passages
of the Gospel should be compared with the one before us. The
first is ch. xii. 48, 49, " He that rejecteth me and receiyeth not
my words, hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have
spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have
not spoken of myself ; but the Father which sent me, he gave me
a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak."
This passage so far also coincides with ours, that it ascribes the
origin of Christ's word to God, in order to impress the idea of its
importance, an^ of the awful guilt of rejecting it. Then ch. xvi.
14, 16, " All that the Father hath is mine. Therefore, said I,
he will take of mine and shew it unto yon." He had said just
before, *' He will shew you things to come " As in the preceding
passage what Christ had spoken upon earth was ascribed to God, so
here is the same done in respect to what, after his departure, was
communicated through the Spirit to his apostles. — Therefore,
every one who approaches this book has to do with the Most
High God ; and the warning is virtually sounded at the outset :
Take off thy shoe, for the place is holy ground. A book which
has the Almighty for its original author, must be frightful in its
threatenings, and in its promises the object of unlimited confi-
dence. He whom it assures of salvation may well rejoice in hope
even in the midst of tribulation. For God is not a man, that he
should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent ; and for him
nothing is impossible.

To shew to his servants. The word shewing is never used in
the signification of making known, but always in that either of
causing to see, or of proving.^ As the latter is not suitable here,

1 In Mattfa. xvi 21, dtiKv^tiw is not, to give to know, bnt to prove, to make manifest
from tbe declarations of the Old Testament. The subject has respect, not to the fact
bat to tbe necessity for the foot, " From that time forth Jesus began to shew to his dis-
ciples how that he most go into Jerusalem, and suffer manj thiogs of the elders, and

46 THE PROLOGUE.

we must adhere to the former. That the shewing refers to the
presentation of the things commanicated to the internal vision, is
clear from the other passages in the book in which the yerb oc-
curs ; it is the word specially appropriated in a manner to this
act, comp. iy. 1, xyii. 1, xxii. 1, 6, 8. To the shewing, on the
part of God, corresponds the seeing, on the part of the prophet ;^
comp. Gen. xli. 22, " And I saw in the dream, and behold seyen
ears/' — If the import of the $hewing is tbns rightly determined,
by the servants of God we can only understand the prophets, for
to them alone belongs the seeing. By the current interpretation,
it is belieyers generally that are meant by these servants, who are
undoubtedly so called in ch. ii. 20, yii. 3, xxii. 3. But, for un-
derstanding the expression here of the prophets, who are also in
the Old Testament often named by way of eminence God's ser-
vants (Jer. yii. 25, xxvi. 5 ; Dan. ix. 6 ; Am. iii. 7 ; 2 Kings
xyii. 13, 23), for understanding it of them as the persons,
who had not merely for themselves to execute the will of
God, but to serve him in his kingdom, and so filled in this
respect the highest place,^ there are other considerations be-
sides those just mentioned. First, the connection. The Seer
descends from God to those who read and hear the book. With
these latter he first begins at ver. 3 ; and the chain would
be broken if here he already speaks of believers generally.
Then there is the confirmation yielded by ch. xix. 10, '^ I am thy
fellow-servant and of thy brethren, who have the testimony of
Jesus ;" and ch. xxii. 9, " I am thy fellow-servant and of thy
brethren the prophets." The comparison of these passages leaves
no doubt, that the servants are here also the species of prophets ;
John, the servant of God, the individual, who represents the
species. Equally decisive is ch. xxii. 6, " And the Lord God of
the spirits of the prophets sent his angel to shew unto his ser-
vants the things which must shortly come to pass." By the

chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and be raised the third day,** comp. xzvi. 64,
Lake xxiv. 44—46.

1 Comp. the ■^aK'^rt in Am. vii. 1 (LXX., oDt»« litil^i fiot icvpios 6 Occ^c), iv. 7, Jer.
zxiv. 1, *' And the Lord made me see, and behold two baskets of figs ;" LXX., JLdtiJ^i /loi
Kvptos duo KaKddov9 avKwv ; Mich. : idem est ae si diceret : monstravit mihi dominus in
▼isione daos, eto., £z. x1. 4.

3 Comp. John xv. 20. Matth. xxiv. 45, ss. xxv. I4, ss., and on ilie distinction between
servants of God in a general, and in a more special sense, see Keil on Joshna, p. 3.

REV. 1. 1—3. 47

serrants of God here can only be nnderstood the prophets, who
are represented in John. For, the sending of the angel appears
as the indication of the fact, that the Lord is the God of the
spirits of the prophets. And the expression to shewy points back
to ch. xvii. 1, xxi. 9, xxii. 1, where the angel shows to John the
Seer ; comp. also xxii. 8, " And I fell down to worship before the •
feet of the angel who shewed me these things." Finally, the ex-
pression to shew is again resumed by the subsequent words : he
has signified it.

What mu8t shortly come to pass. The fulfilment of what is
announced in the Berelation is here placed in the immediate
future. So also in other passages. According to ver. 3, and
ch. xpcii. 10, the time is near. " I come quickly," says the Lord
in xxii. 7, 12, 20, iii. 11, ii. 5, 16. These declarations are op-
posed to the view of those who would convert the entire book
into a history of the time of the end, and confirms the view, which
treats it as our companion through the whole course of history.
Neither do those do it justice who remark with Bengel, ** therefore
did the fulfilment begin immediately after the date of the book."
Not merely was the beginning in general ascribed to the imme-
diate future, but such a beginning as was to be the beginning of
the end. There is here a touchstone for the exposition of the
book, before which that of Bengel and the old Protestant one
cannot stand. For there the main burden*of the book refers to
relations, of which no notion could as yet be formed. " The
keeper of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps," " X am with you
always to the end of the world," — of these truths, the " shortly
eoming to pass," and the '' I come quickly" of this book, are the
necessary consequence. The boundless energy of the divine na-
ture admits here of no delay. There is nothing of quiescence or
indolent repose in God. His appearing often to linger is merely
on account of our short-sightedness. He is secretly working for
salvation and destruction, when he seems to us, perhaps, to be
standing aloof ; and only when by the execution of his judgment
we are called to enter into his salvation, do we learn consequen-
tially what is meant by the " shortly." At every period, when
the book acquires new significance by Satan stirring up new
wars against Christ and his church, the " shortly," and *' I come
quickly," also spring again into new life. Where the carcase is.

48 THE PROLOGUK.

there the eagles are constantly gathered together ; and where the
distress is the greatest, there the help is also nearest. God be
praised that we are never pointed to the far-distant future ; bnt
that the retributiye justice of God against sin, and his pity and
compassion toward the wretched, tread closely on each other's

heels.

It is nothing but a shift to say, as numbers do here, that the
measure of time we are to think of is not the human, but the
divine, with which a thousand years are as one day (Ps. xc. 4,
2 Pet. iii. 8). The remarks made respecting this in my Chris-
tology on Hos. ii. 6, " Yet once it is a little while, and I shake
the heavens and the earth, and the sea and the dry land," are
equally applicable here : " Whoever speaks to men, must speak
according to the human mode of viewing things, or give notice if
he does otherwise. It is for the purpose of consoling us, that the
prophet declares the shortness of the time. But for such a pur-
pose, that only was suitable which might appear short in the eyes
of men. Only in mockery or by deception could the prophet have
substituted that, which was short in the reckoning of God.*' We
have there shewn, that the shaking spoken of began to take effect
in the immediate future. The axe was already laid to the root
of the Persian kingdom (as in the time of John to that of the
Roman), and its subsequent visible fall was only the manifesta-
tion of a much earlier latent one. De Wette's remark, that the
shortness must not be taken too stringently, that it was used to
encourage the suffering and warn the impenitent, represents the
Seer's God and the Lord himself, who in Luke xviii. 8 likewise
promises a speedy deliverance to his faithful people, as acting
like the worthless physician who feeds his patients with false
hopes. That Luke xviii. 7 can only be quoted in support of such
a view on a wrong interpretation, is manifest. And in. refuta-
tion of it, as also against the notion of its being the divine mea-
surement of time that is to be understood, there is the circum-
stance that in the fundamental passage, Ezekiel xii., to which
the expression in ver. 3, '' the time is near," refers, the declara-
tion, " the days are near," in ver. 23, corresponds to " in your
days, ^e rebellious house, will I do it," in ver. 25} On the

1 The ivrdxn, it appears, was felt to be difficult so early as the time of Dionysius of
Alexandria. For, that in Eusebius, vii. 26, he should have omitted fi itX yevMai, can

REV. I. 1—3. 49

'' what must shortly come to pass,*' comp. iy. 1, xxii 6. The
best commentary is to be found in Isa. xiy. 27, " For the Lord
of Hosts hath purposed it, who will disannnl it 1 and his hand is
stretched out, who will tarn it back?" So also the miut in
Matth. xxir. 6 is to be understood of the necessity, which has its
foundation in the dirine purpose. On the other hand, in Matth.
xxvi. 54, the necessity rests primarily on the prophecies : it must
fall out so, because it has been so predicted. But the prophecies
are of weight only in so far as they manifest the ditine purpose,
so that the matter still returns back to this. Here a reference
to the prophecies, as the more remote one, would haVe been more
definitely marked.

And he signified (it) by his angel^ whom he sent^ to his ser-
vant John, We must not explain in this manner : he signified
it, the revelation ; but rather : he signified it, viz., what must
shortly come to pass. For the expression, '' he signified,** re-
sumes the former, '^ to show'* again. The Revelation is given to
Jesus Christ by God, that he may show to his servants what must
shortly be done, and he has accordingly signified it to his servant
John.i Instead of : by his angel, whom he sent, several explain
improperly : in that he sent a message by his angel.^ It is said

tearoely have b««o aoeidenta], bat was done for the porpoee of connectmg the h tUx**'
with dsifat. This way of dealing with the subject was quite aoeordant with the whole
character of the man, who in hi« artful way would set aside that which was not agreeable
to his own feelings.

1 The aiifiaiptiv occuri also in three passages of John's Gospel, and, as here, of the
discovery of Aitore things, zii. 88, xviii. 92, zxL 19. It is found besides only in the Acts
zi 28, zxv. 27. It means simply to si|^lfy, or inform of, and corresponds to yi-nn in
Ex. zviii. aO, and to Tsn in Esth. ii. 22. The ezpoeition of Bengel : *'The Lord has
indicated to you things, through various marks and images, whioh shall be understood
when they have been fully considered, and when one has been compared with another,"
is without any support from the usage. Acts zxv. 27 is against it. That the word in
New Testament Scripture is used predominantly of the announcement beforehand of
future things, is to be ezplained lh>m this, that it belongs to the higher and more ele-
vated style ; on which account it is also found chiefly among the Poets in elassieal
Greek. Still more objectionable ia the rendering of Ziillig : and whioh he made to be
understood. The word does not bear this meaning, nor would it be suitable here. The
angel must be a member of the chain, which begins with God, and ends with the hearer,
and it is not the explanation, but only the communication through the angel, which
comes into notice.

' These persons refer to some passages of the Old Testament, in which after verbs of

sending the aecusative, the message, is to be supplied ; Ex. vi 13, ** Send by whose hand

thou wilt send ;" 1 Kings ii. 26, 1 Sam. xvi 20. But in the New Testament turotrrik-

\tiv is never so used, and irliLir%iv only in a more than doubtftil reading of Laehmann's

d

50 THE PEOLOGUE.

here, as also at the close in ch. xxii. 6 — 16, that Christ through
the mediation of his angel commnnicated to his servant John the
knowledge of the futnre. We might with propriety explain :
through his angel, to whom he committed this business ; so that
the expression : by his angel, would yirtually be the same as :
by one of his angels. But as in the Old Testament, and especi-
ally in those prophets, with whom John has the closest affinity, a
particular angel is brought into notice, who stands beside the
angel of the Lord as the meditating agent of his revelations, we
are naturally led to think of such being understood here. Even
so early as at Ex. xxxii. 34 we find along with the highest revealer
of God, the angel of the Lord or the Logos, an angel placed in a
subordinate relation to him as his inseparable attendant. In
Daniel the angel of the Lord appears under the symbolical name
of Michael. But as he commonly manifests himself in overwhelm-
ing majesty, the angel Gabriel acts as mediator between him and
the prophet, comp. viii. 16, ix. 21. In Zechariah " the angel
who speaks with him" is a standing figure. It is this angelic
minister who conducts him from the common state to one of ec-
Stacy, awakens in him the spiritual sense to apprehend what was
presented in the vision, and explains it to him, so as to enable
him to break through the shell into the kernel. It is remarkable
that while here in the Prologue the agency of the angel in the bu-
siness of the revelation is set forth in a quite general way, nothing
is said in regard to the manner in which his agency more parti-
cularly displayed itself till we come to the two last groups, the
vision of the judgment on the three enemies of God's kingdom,
where he is introduced at the very commencement (ch. xvii. 1,
comp. V. 7 — 15, xix. 9), and the vision of the New Jerusalem.
There are two ways in which this difficulty may be solved. Several
suppose that the main subject of the book is concentrated in the

text in Matth. t\. 2, frifi^av dit\ tuh/ fiadijT&¥ avrov, t. iuo t&» fiaBtiTtev a^ov.
More to the purpose is the application of another and more coinmonX)ld Testament usage,
the omission of the person after verhs of sending. Comp. for example Gen. xxxi. 4 :
''And Jacob sent and called Leah;" xlL 8 : " And he sent and called the Ghartummin of
•^STP^t Kai iirovTtCkat ixaXtai travrav to6« i^iiy»rriiv 'Aiyu-wTow ; Jos. ii. 8; 1 Sam.
iv. 4 ; Job i. 5. With iir<Hml\at of the New Testament, where it is joined to a verb,
the aoottsatiTe of the person is always to be supplied, comp. Matth. ii. 16 ; Mark vi. 17 ;
Acts vii. 14. The only difference in regard to our passage is, that here the Awoa-
rtiKas follows ; but this arises from the lo-ii/iavi resuming the d«i£ai, and hence pro-
perly opening the sentence.

REV. I. 1 — 3. 51

two last gronps, to which the others served only as preparatory
visions, and that the mediation of the angel is here ascribed to the
whole from being so specially connected with the most important
part. One might also conceive that the prologue was added by
John after he had finished the whole» while the action of the angel
was still fresh in his mind. But we can hardly feel satisfied with
this, as the angel even at first seems to form a necessary link in
the chain ; and ^e may rather suppose that the agency which
belongs to the angel throughout the whole was employed so as in
the first instance to raise John from the common to an ecstatic
condition, and then at ch. xvii. to put forth another and more
special operation. If the spiritual sense in John was first opened
by the angel and kept awake, then he was the mediating agent
of the message for him. A revelation is of no use for one whose
mind is not prepared to receive it ; the indispensable condition is,
that the seer be in the Spirit, i. 10, iv. 2. It is in favour of this
supposition that the mediating angel in the two prophets, whom
John more especially followed, Daniel and Zechariah, is a pervad-
ing one, and that a leading characteristic intimation in each of
them is their announcing, that it was thus they were raised into
the ecstatic condition. In Dan. x. 16 Gabriel touches DanieUs
lips, and thereby inspires him with the powers of a higher life,
comp. ver. 10, viii. 17. On Zech. i. 9 1 have already remarked in
my Christology, *' that the words, / will make you see what
these are, refer to the opening of the spiritual eye and ear of
the prophet. Only when this had been done by the angelus
interpres, could the prophet apprehend the declaration of the an-
gel of the Lord, i^nd the report of the ministering angels." On ch.
iv. 1, where the angel is spoken of as awaking the prophet, like a
man out of sleep, it was also said, ^* Between this vision and the
preceding one we must suppose a pause to have ta'ken place. The
angel had withdrawn for a little from the prophet, and the latter
had returned from his ecstacy into the state of common life. The
common and the ecstatic condition stand related to each other as
sleeping and being awake." It is not as an apostle that John
is named here the servant of Christ, but as a prophet. This is
evident from the relation in which " to his servant John" stands
here to the preceding expression " to his servants." We are cer-
tainlv, however, conducted indirectly to the apostleship ; since re-

d2

52 THE PEOLOOUE.

yelations of such high importance as those contained here, were
not, as formerly stated, given beyond the limits of the apostle-
ship, and could not have been given without shaking the founda-
tion of the apostolic dignity. Then, only such a person as John
could be meant, as one whom all would naturally think of, and
who held a pre eminent place in the churches, for which the book
was primarily intended. Otherwise the special designation, which
is always designed in the prophetic writings to convey through the
authority of the instrument a pledge for the truth of the contents,
would have failed of its object. And history knows of no other
but the apostle John. — In his Oospel John has only in a gentle
way indicated his name by describing himself, with reference to
the import of his name (John, he to whom the Lord is gracious)
as the disciple whom Jesus loved. But here he gives his name
expressly. We find the same difference in the Old Testament
also between the historical and the prophetical writings of the
prophets. The history had its security in the joint knowledge of
contemporaries ; but in prophecy personality is of the greatest
moment, and the anonymous is excluded. Nameless prophecies
have no place in Old Testament Scripture.

In ver. 2, ** Who has testified of the word of God and the tes-
timony of Jesus Christ, what he saw," there is the same tendency
apparent as in ver. 1, to render manifest the high importance of
the book, and signalize it as deriving its matter through Gbxi&t
from the Supreme God. Hence everything of an independent
nature in the author is thrown into the shade, and he presents
himself throughout as merely occupying the place of a servant,
who faithfully announces his master's charges. John does not
speak from himself; he merely testifies of the word of God, as it
had been certified to him through the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Therefore in the threatenings, promises, and exhortations of the
book we are not to look at the person of the writer, but constantly
to remember, that it is the Most High God who speaks here. The
blessedness pronounced in ver. 3 on those who read and hear, thus
becomes most appropriate. The expression: who has testified,
not : who testifies, which has given rise to much misunderstand-
ing, was first placed by Bengel in its true light : '' It is the man-
ner of the ancients in their books and writings, that they often
frame their words not in respect to the time when they wrote, but

REV. I. 1—3. 63

to that when their writings should be read. " I Panl write it with
my hand,*' might hare been said at Philem. ver. 19, when Panl
wrote at Rome ; but as Philemon was to read the epistle in Asia,
he put instead ; " I hare written it** (comp. also Rom. xvi. 22).
In like manner when John wrote in Patmos, it might have been
said, he testifies ; but in respect to the book being read in Asia,
he preferred saying, he has testified. And in ver. 3 it is not
said, what is written, but what has been written.*' Compare also
what has been remarked at 7er. 9 on the expression, *' I was
on the isle Patmos."

By the word of Ood and the testimony of Jesus Christ is
never of itself denoted the prophetic communication. Here it is
used of this only on account of the connection with what precedes,
though without implying anything as to its general import, and
in reference to*the earlier and different record borne to the testi-
mony of Jesus Christ in the Gospel and Epistles of John. (See
the Introduction p. 17.) Bengel remarks : ** In this book the
things that concern Ood and the things that concern Jesus Christ,
are oflen conjoined together. Immediately before it was said,
God had given the revelation to Jesus Christ, and now John
bears record to the word of God, and along with that to the
testimony of Jesus Christ." In this connection, then, the tes-
timony of Jesus Christ can only be the testimony which Jesus
Christ delivers. For thus only could the object be gained,
of tracing up to the Most High God the subject-matter of
the book. Jesus Christ gives testimony to the word of God,
and John again gives testimony to the word of Christ, and so
far to the word of God. To the same result we are also led
by the connection of the testimony of Jesus Christ with the
word of God. As the word of God is the word which God
utters, so the testimony of Jesus Christ must be the testimony
which Jesus Christ delivers. Besides, more carefUl investigation
shews that the testimony of Jesus, who in ver. 5 is called the
faithful witness, and who manifests himself near the close, at ch.
zxii. 20, as the person who attests the contents of the book, is
uniformly in this book, not the testimony of Jesus, but the testi-
mony which Jesus delivers. It has this meaning also where the
testimony of Jesus stands alone, and is not coupled with the word
of God ; comp. ch. xii. 17. In the Gospel of John, likewise, ch.

54 THE PROLOGUE.

iii. 32, 33, the testimony of Jesns Christ is the testimoDj which
he delirers. The teaiifying, moreover, is a word of which John is
particularly fond, and is of frequent occurrence in all his writings.
Christ testifies of what he has heard and seen, and so also do his
disciples. John xr. 27 is in perfect unison with the " who has
testified'* in the passage hefore us.

The words : what (comp. the oca in John xxi. 25) he saw,
determine more precisely the word of God and the testimony of
Jesus Christ. They shew that the subject here is of those higher
communications which were received in vision by the internal eye.
Seeing is used thus of the prophetic vision in an entire series of
passages of this book, for example, i. 11, 12, 17, 19, 20, v. 1.
By the expression : what he saw, the feeling of his own mind,
the intermingling play of a luxuriant fancy, is quite excluded.
'* Inasmuch as ' he saw,' '* says Bengel, *' we have the strongest
assurance of the divine origin of this book. To see and to tes-
tify bear reference one to another. The matters successively
presented to hyn were partly seen and partly heard. But to see is
the more excellent. Hence, the prophets were anciently called
seers, and this book itself has the name of a revelation." Till
Bengel's time it was customary to refer the verse before us to the
composition of the Oospel by John. But Bengel deprived this
interpretation of its only support by the proper explanation of
the words : " who has testified," and understood the verse of the
apostle's '' obedience, diligence, and faithfulness in describing
this revelation." It is a matter of surprise that the reference to
the Gospel should still have found its defenders in the present
century. One does not see for what purpose John could here
refer to his Gospel. The relation in which he stood to those to
whom the book was more immediately sent, leaves no room to
doubt that he wished to make himself known, and so as that he
might be distinguished from others of the same name. His first
readers and hearers must have known what it was they were
directed to. But if John had really pointed to the Gospel, he
would certainly have expressed himself more plainly. He would
in that case assuredly not have omitted, " also formerly." But
the reference to the Gospel is absolutely excluded by the phrase,
" what he saw." This does not serve, according to the supposi-
tion in question, as an explanatory clause added to the '* word of

REV. 1. 1 — 3. 55

Grod and the testimony of Jesus Christ.'* This latter most refer
to the words of Christ, and the other, " what he saw," to lis
deeds. An and would then haye been indispensable, coupling
the two together.^ As an additional explanatory clause, the
words '' what he saw*' are only such discourses as have been seen
or receiyed in yision. Then there is the circumstance to which
Hoffmann has drawn attention, that the explanation would set
aside a link in the chain that cannot easily *be dispensed with.
At the close of yer. 1, the word of God is first represented as
coming into contact with John. But we expect, before a transi-
tion is made to the hearers and readers, to haye some account of
his own agency in reference to the matter. '* What Jesus had
shewn to John must be written down and published, before any
one can read what the prophet saw.'* In fine, the reference to
the Oospel would destroy the unity of the prologue, interrupt its
regular progression, and rob yer. 3 of its foundation, for which it
would need to look back to yer. 1.

The third yerse pronounces him blessed, '* who reads, and those
who hear the words of the prophecy, and keep what is written
therein." Blessed, it is said in xxii. 14, are they who keep his
commandments, that they may haye right to the tree of life, and
enter in by the gates into the city. Blessed, according to ch. xix.
9, are those who are called to the marriage-supper of the Lamb.
Blessed, it is once more said, ch. xx. 6, and holy is he who has
part in the first resurrection. Accordingly, the benediction here
refers mainly to what is to be found in another state of being, to
the participation first in the bliss of heayen, and afterwards in
the kingdom of glory upon earth. Still, we must not limit it to
these. In this book also another recompense of fidelity is often
discoursed of, which must not be excluded here, since the word
employed is comprehensive of all the good, which is obtained as
the reward of fidelity — the secret and wonderful preserration of
true believers from the plagues wliioh fall upon the world ; ch.
vii. 1 — 8, iii. 10. In the conclusion, which corresponds to the
beginning here, ch. xxii. 18, 19, a twofold threatening is held out
against those who, after the original passages in Deut. iy. 2» xii.

1 The apprehension of this diflElcultj has giyen rise to the reading bva ri in some cri-
tics} helps, sgainst which it is enough to say, that the light and airy ti is nerer found in
the Kevelation.

56 TUB PROLOGUE.

32, add to or take away from the book with the riew of getting
rid of the obligations of daty, viz. a participation in the plagnea
which are described in the book ; and exclosion from the tree of
life and the holy city. The contrast in regard to those who keep
what is written, requires that the blessing pronoonced on them
shonld also hare a donble reference — ^preseryation in the midst of
plagnes and etemar blessedness. — ^The description, ''He who
reads and they who hear," points, as the distinction of the sin-
gular and the plnral shews, not to the two classes of snch as conld,
and snch as conld not read, bnt the reading meant is like that
mentioned in Lnke iy. 16, the reading aloud in churches ; so that
the meaning is, he who reads in public and they who hear what
is read. In ch. xxii. 17, 18, it is implied that hearing is the
usual way of coming to the knowledge of the book. — The book
contains a word of prophecy ; whence we conclude that it is not
made up of mere citations from the Old Testament. These are
suitably found in calm argumentatiye discourses, but not in such
as are of a divinely raised and excited character, which carry
their own guarantee along with them In the latter the refer-
ences to the earlier portions of Qod's word must be of a more de-
licate nature, by allusion merely, or immediate appropriation.^
Such also is the relation of the prophecies of the Old Testament
to the books of Moses ; all peryaded and saturated with refer-
ences to them, but without any formal citations. The expression
of keeping the word, the command, the faith, etc. (in contrast to
the thoughtless forgetting of it in James i. 25), is one much liked
by the faithful and conseryative John ; comp. iii. 8, xiv. 12. That
the keeping is the thing principally in yiew, to which the blessing
belongs, and that the reading and hearing is only the preliminary
condition to this, is clear from ch. xxii. 7, where the keeping alone is
mentioned, " Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of
this book.*' The person who has got to the close of the book has
already fulfilled the condition. Gomp. Bom. ii. 13, Jas. i. 22, 23,

1 Bengel : " Prophecies certify theiDseWes by their own, and so by divine aatbority,
in particular the Apocalypse, which therefore does not mention the ancient prophecies,
except in the slump, and that only once, cb. x. 7. In other books of the New Testament,
ancient prophecies are quoted, for the purpose of shewing their fulfilment ; but not so in
the Apocalypse, Hence, while Sursnhusius could produce examples of quotations from
the Old Testament in each of the evangelists, the Acts of the Apostl«s, and the epistles^
he hsd none to produce from the Apocalypse."

THE SALUTATION, 1,4 — 6. 67

25. That every thing is placed id the keeping points to the
practical character, which continually attaches to Scripture pro-
J)hecy, nerer beipg intended to serve for the gratification of a fri-
volous and prying cariosity, but always for promoting the divine
life. The true prophet is a counsellor, comp. Numb. xziv. 14
(where see my Balaam), Isa. xli. 28. Bengel : *' According to
the diversity of the things, which are written in it, to the keep-
ing belongs repentance, faith, patience, obedience, prayer, watch-
ing, stedfastness.'' The hearing and reading of the book, how-
ever, though only as conditional to the keeping, must be held to
be a matter of high importance, especially for the times, in which
there is a return of the circumstances that called it forth. ''But
whence comes it,*' says Bengel, " that the book now-a-days is so
seldom read in the churches ? Throughout the whole ecclesias-
tical year we have not a single Sunday or festival day, for which
a text has been chosen out of Revelation. A wise householder
will consider how he may in some other way compensate for this
omission." The words, /or the time is near, provide a reason for
the call to keep, indirectly contained in the preceding ; the time
of the fulfilment is near, and consequently the time for rewarding
the faithful and punishing the slothful ; comp. 1 Pet iv. 7, " But
the end of all things is at hand, be ye therefore sober and watch
unto prayer," etc., Luke xxi. 34, Rom. xiii. 11.

THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

(Ch i. 4— iii. 22.)

Here we have first the salutation, ver. 4 — 6. According to the
common view this does not belong to the series of epistles merely,
but to the whole book. So Bengel : '* The inscription of this
book is in ver. 4 — 6, which gives to the whole book the na-
ture of an epistle, with which also the conclusion agrees."
But the following reason decides against this view. Both on the
one side and the other of ch. i. 4 — 6, and ch. xxii., we find our-
selves on the wide territory of the whole Christian church. Ch.
i. 3 pronounces all without distinction blessed, who hear the book
read and keep what is written in it. The conclusion is just as
general as the beginning. According to ch. xxii. 6, God had

58 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

sent his angel to show to his servants what must shortly come to
pass. In ver. 7 all are called blessed who keep the words of the
prophecy of this book. The book closes in rer. 21 with the
words: The grace *of Jesus Christ be with all saints. In the
middle portion also we everywhere meet with the entire body of
the church, and not the slightest trace occurs of a special respect
to the seven churches of Asia. In ch. vii. it is not. the elect in
Ephesus and the other Asiatic churches, but the servants of God
at large, who are sealed. The twelve tribes of the children of
Israel, and the 144,000 sealed ones, obviously represent the whole
church. So likewise do the multitudes, whom no one could num-
ber, of every people, and tribe, and nation, and tongue, in ver. 9.
In ch. xi. 1, the temple of God is a symbol of the church in its mili-
tant, as the New Jerusalem is of the same in its triumphant state .
The sure result from these particulars is, that the insoiription does
not belong to the book in general, but exclusively to the series
of the seven epistlei. Had it been otherwise, there could not
have failed to be some reference to them in the title and prologue
of the book, as also in the portions subsequent to ch. iii. It is
only the conclusion of the whole, indeed, which resembles an epistle,
that gives any countenance to the supposition, that the inscription
and the epistolary character extend to the entire contents. But
the words : with all the saints, not with you all (as in Paul's
epistles), shews that here we have only an imitation of the con-
clusion of an epistle. How certain it is, that the seven churches
in Asia were representative in their different states of the church
in general, it cannot be less certain, that what is written in the
epistles is only primarily addressed to them. This is clear from
the circumstance, that it has not the form of an accompaniment
to the book, but is an integral part of the book itself, a book that
is destined to the use of all God's servants. The special reason
for the individualizing here is to be found in the subject-matter.
The relation of this first series to the six following ones is gene-
rally this, that in the one is unfolded in detail the call, '* Kepent,*'
*^ Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a
high-way for our God," and in the other, "The glory of the
Lord shall be revealed" " The kingdom of heaven is at hand."
When great manifestations of the Lord for the deliverance of his
church, and for the execution of judgment on the world, are ready

3

THE SALUTATION, 1. 4 — 6. 59

to appear, there comes at the same time an urgent call on the
Lord's people to prepare themselves aright for such manifestations,
by purging out from among them the worldly elements, and hav-
ing all in readiness for the Lord's work. Throughout the whole
of this first series, the predominating element is the hortatory, or
the pressing of such practical exhortations as fitly arose out of
the near approach of the Lord. But in order that this might be
e£fectively done, it must necessarily go into the special circum-
stances of the churches. The more pointed and particular it was,
the more fully would it reach the general aim. The ample variety
of the circumstances and the foundation of the general applica-
bility of what was written, was indicated by the sevenfold num-
ber of the churches to which the epistles were addressed. But if
thus a special reference becomes necessary in a part of the book to
the churches of Asia, none could be more suitable than that
actually chosen. The example of Paul already pointed in that
direction, and it was due from John to his diocese as a compensa-
tion for his personal absence.

Ver. 4, John to the seven churches in Asia. Grace be to you
and peace from Him, who is, and who was, and who comes ;
and from the seven spirits, who are before his throne, 5.
And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, the first
bom of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. To
Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins by his blood ;
6, and made us a kingdom, priests to God and his Father : to
Him be honour and power for ever and ever. Amen, The
author of the epistles no farther indicates his person than by the
simple name of John. This alone marks it to be the apostle of
that name. It designates a John, who held such a high pre-
eminence among those who bore the name, that he would readily
occur to every one, for whom the epistles and the book generally
were more immediately destined. One, who stood merely in
" certain relations" to the churches in question, could not have
remained satisfied with so general a designation, and would cer-
tainly have added something more specific as his reason for ad-
dressing them. Let only the salutation be compared in the
Epistle to the Romans. There we find an extended description
of what ' the apostle's right and obligation to write tlie

epistl 'ion," remarks Philippi, " is more lengthened

60 THE SEVEN BPI8TLES.

than in the other epistles of Paul. For the apostle had first to
introduce himself to the church of the capital of the world, which
was neither founded nor had yet been visited by him." So and
still more would a certain John hare found it necessary to introduce
himself. The bare John must have been received with a sort of
smile.

We are also led to think of the apostle John by the seven
churches of Asia. It admits of no doubt, that the Asia meant here
is Proconsular Asia, and that the limitation, which some have
sought to establish in favour of a narrower territory, is arbitrary.
But in this region there were other churches besides the seven,
whiph are mentioned by name in this book. There was, for ex-
ample, the church at Colosse, that at Hierapolis (Col. iv. 13), that
at Tralles, which Cicero calls Gravis, locuples, ornata civitas, and
that at Magnesia, which was in a flourishing state when the Ig-
natian epistles were written, and must certainly have existed at
the date of the Apocalypse. Neither can we say that the more
important churches, those which belonged to the greater cities,
are the ones mentioned. For there is nothing in the description
to indicate this ; the cities named were not all of primary rank, .
especially Thyatira and Philadelphia ; and others, which are not
named, especially Tralles and Miletus, which last is called by
Strabo next to Ephesus ** the noblest and most distinguished city
in Ionia," and by Pliny " the chief of Ionia," and where without
doubt a church already existed. It is carefully to be noted
that John does not write to seven churches in Asia specified by
name ; had he done so, we should have been obliged to cast
about with Lucke for the reasons, on account of which these
should have been chosen out of a greater number. But he writes
simply to the churches of Asia. We have manifestly but one of
two alternatives here — either there were in Asia only seven
churches, or the address to precisely seven churches had its limi-
tation from the person of the writer, virtually importing to his
seven churches. In this case it would just be as if the presi-
dent of certain affiliated churches in Prussia should write to the
churches there ; it would at once be understood, that those only
were to be thought of, which belonged to that number. As the
first of those alternatives is against the history, we are shut up
to the latter. But this again obliges us to think only of the apostle

THE SALUTATION, I. 4 — 6. 61

John as the author. History testifies respecting him, that he
had a district in that particular part of Asia, which embraced
quite a circle of churches, named by Tertullian " John's nurs-
lings.'*^ Eusebius reports irom Origen, in B. III. c. 1, that when
the apostles were scattered into difi^erent countries, John receired
for his share Asia, and continued there till he died at Ephesns.
Clement of Alexandria relates, in Eusebius, B. III. c. 23, " When
after the death of the tyrant he returned to Ephesus from the
isle Fatmos, he went also, when requested, to the neighbouring
regions of the heathen ; in some to appoint bishops, in some to
institute entirely new churches, in others to appoint to the minis-
try some one of those that were pointed out by the Holy Ghost.*'
In the same chapter of Eusebius Irenaous says, that the church of
Ephesus had been founded by tskvl, but that John continued to
abide there till the times of Trajan. He elsewhere refers to " all
the elders who in Asia had conferred with John the disciple of
the Lord." Eusebius himself says, ^' he ruled the churches
there." Not only is such a relation testified of John respecting
those particular churches, testified of him alone, but from the very
nature of things such a relation toward a circle of churches could
only have subsisted with an apostle. It is not necessary, how-
ever, to suppose that the other churches in Asia besides those
seyen had rejected the apostolical authority of John, comp. 3 John
y. 9. He may not haye been able to extend his agency to them ;
though Clement expressly states, that after his return from Fat-
mos he organised new churches, and consequently brought them
within the field of his active operations. — The result which we
have thus obtained from the address : " John to the seven
churches," or from the fact that John here writes to the sev^n
churches under his superintendence, is confirmed by the way and
manner in which he writes to them. Liicke, p. 198, admits that

1 Ad-f. MantOD. iv. 5 : Habmnus et Jotnnis alumnas ecoleiias. Nam etsi Apocalypain
ejaa Marcion reapiiit, ordo tamen Episcoporum ad originem leoeneua in JoanDem atabit
aactorem. ** The meaning is : We too have such churches as are nurslings of John, and
which must be recognized as such by Marcion himself— those, namely, to whom he sent
the seven episUes in the Apocalypae. For though Marcion will not admit the fact of these
apocalyptic epistles being any proof of the connection between the churches and John,
becauae he will not own the Apocalypse to have been written by John, yet if we trace
the series of bishops in these churches up to its origin, we necesearily arrive at John a»
the founder of them." Rothe.

62 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

" the author conld not have ventured, without some-official posi-
tion in the region of those churches, to address them as he did."
It was such, indeed, as to require the whole fulness of the apos-
tolico-prophetical authority. Without this he could never, for
example, have written to Sardis, " I know thy works, that thou
hast a name, that thou livest and art dead ;" and to Laodicea,
'* Because thou art lukewarm, and art neither cold nor hot, I will
spue thee out of my mouth." And the commendations, not less
than the sharpness of the reproofs, must have been hurtful, if the
epistles had not proceeded from an ascertained servant of Jesus
Christ. It cannot justly he objected, that it is not John who
speaks in the seven epistles, but Christ. Unless the conviction
had been deeply rooted in the churches, that the John, who held
such communications with them, was the organ of Jesus Christ,
the authority of Christ would not have covered the author. The
question was sure to be asked, whether Christ had really author-
ized such messages to be sent, and the affirmative reply to this
question could not have been expected from the churches, if they
did not recognise the John, who was the medium of communica-
tion, to be the apostle. For such charges are not imparted by
the Lord simply to the person, who is abstractly the first or best.
They always rest upon an official basis. But the apostle John,
according to the testimony of history, stood entirely toward those
churches in that relation of unconditional authority, which these
epistles evidently imply. Of special importance in this respect
is Clement's account of the youth, quis dives T. II. p. 958, and in
Eusebius B. III. c. 23. John was called in by the churches when
matters of moment were' to be decided, for which the bishop was
not sufficient. As here to the angels of the seven churches, so
there to the bishop he gives instructions and reproofs, and shows
him, for his own justification, that the authority which he claimed
is an unconditional one ; he speaks as a person who has abso-
lute power and authority, and who judges by the most rigid
standard. When he gives up the young man to the bishop, he
says : '* This person I commend to thee with all earnestness, and
call Christ and the church to witness respecting it." On his latter
return he again says to the bishop, " Bestow what I and Christ
confided to thee in the presence of thy church." The bishop had
done everything, as it appeared, to the youth, which conld have

THE SALUTATION, CH. I. 4 — 6. 63

been expected of him. " He took him into his house, instructed
him, kept him in order, and shewed the greatest regard to him.*'
But before the jndgment- seat of Christ and his seryant John he
does not stand the test : John, when he understood what had
happened, '' tore his garment, stmck his head with loud lamen-
tations, and exclaimed, I have given up the soul of a brother to
a fine watchman.'* The narrative there also coincides with the
epistles here, in that the bishop in the one place, as the angel in
the other, is made responsible for all that was proceeding in the
church. Finally, it serves also to confirm the result, which we
have obtained from the words : John to the seven churches, that
the series of t)ie seven epistles begins precisely with that to the
church at Ephesus, the place where John usually resided accord-
ing to the uniform and well-established tradition.

This address of John, however, to the seven churches of Asia,
is not more important for the author of the Bevelation, than for
the time of its composition. It does not square with the suppo-
sition of that being in the reign of Galba. Before the martyr-
dom of Paul John had certainly not come to reside in Asia Mi-
nor,^ but in all probability did so on the occasion of the Jewish
war, and the interruption thereby given to the operations of John
in his native region. The Jewish war first began in the year 66.
If the Apocalypse had been written under Qalba, it would fall
into the year 68. But this would not have afibrded su£Scient
time to form the relation we find existing here. For the authority
of John appears as one firmly established throughout an extensive
district of churches, with the circumstances of which he was most
minutely acquainted. He must previously have adapted himself
to the Grecian culture, he must have visited the particular churches,
some of which stood pretty far apart from one another (Ephesus,
for example, being distant three days* journey from Sardis, ac-
cording to Herodotus and Xenophon), he must have resided for a

1 Lainpe,iD his Comm on John Proleg. B. i. c. 8, ^ 12, says .* " It is admitted thnt
before the ay nod at Jeniaalem he continued with the other apostles in Judea and its con-
fines. Nor after this could he have lived there till the period of Paul's first imprisonment
under Nero. The history of Paul's journeys, and the pains which he took in planting
the chureh at Ephesus, where he remained three years, evince the contrary. Nor after
the liberation of Paul (?) even to his death could John have been found at Ephesus, as
be could not have omitted sending a salutation to him in his two epistles to Timothy.
During the whole time that Paul traversed Asia no mention is made of John, and it is
certain that Paul appointed Timothy as pastor of the oliurch at Ephesus."

64 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

considerable time at each place in order to establish his author-
ity, and must also hare frequently returned to confirm it. No
easy accomplishment, as appears from 3 John yer. 9, and one that
as a whole could not hare been pressed through in a yery short
time without something of constraint. A series of years must ne-
cessarily haye elapsed before John could haye named the seyen
churches in Asia Jus, and written to them in the way he does here.
— Bengel remarks, ''From the circumstance alone of the Beyelation
being sent, not to Judea, but to Asia, there is good ground for
drawing the conclusion, that Jerusalem must already haye been
destroyed, as it does not appear that John remoyed before that
period from Judea to Asia, to say nothing of his having been
sent to Patmos.** But this conclusion is rather hasty. It would
only have been quite tenable if, as is still certainly supposed by
Ziillig, the fact of John's addressing the seven churches in Asia
affords proof of the pre-eminent place belonging to these, is a de-
claration that they formed the then centre of the church. But if
John wrote to them, because they constituted that portion of the
general church committed to his direction, which is c<Hifirmed by
the fact, that in the New Testament the limitations to a definite
circle of readers always have their ground in the personal relation
of the writer to that circle, taken along with the additional fact,
that according'to the testimony of history, John stood in a special
relation to these very churches — ^then the conclusion falls to the
ground. For such being the case, John might have written to
the seven churches in Asia, even though the church at Jerusalem
had still been in a flourishing condition. But it is another ques-
tion, whether he might have left the church at Jerusalem before
that catastrophe, and entered into a new relation to the churches
in Asia. And it is certainly not probable that John would have
left the theatre, to which his active energies had so long been de-
voted, without some call arising out of external circumstances.
Had he been inclined to do so, he would have done it long before.
Considering also the individual temperament of John, we shaU
scarcely deem it probable, that after the death of Paul he should
have transferred the seat of his agency to Ephesus on a mere so-
licitation, as Dr Neander supposes (Apost. Zeitalter II. p. 615).
The faithful retentive element is a fundamental feature in the
character of John. Profound ardent minds are firmly rooted in

THE SALUTATION, I. 4 — 6. 65

their Fatherland, and with difficalt j adjust themselves to new re-
lations.

Orace he to you and peace^ etc. Peace is always the opposite^
to strife and war, to hostile pressure, whether the hostility pro-
ceed from God (Rom. r. 10, 11), or from the creatures. The
great stress that is laid on peace in Scriptnre arises from this,
that the life of belieyers is threatened by so many and diverse
hostile powers. Here it is the less admissible to abandon the
only certain special signification for a general one, as a violent
ontbreak of hostility against the charch forms the starting-point,
and all else in the salutation itself has some reference to it. For
the same reason we must not think here of peace with God, but
only of a safe position in regard to the world. Emphasis must
be laid on the peace. For it was this that then drew around it
all the thoughts of believers, who lived in the midst of strife.
The grace, which in the Mosaic blessing also precedes peace, is the
source of all the benefits belonging to believers, but peace that
after which they then more especially sighed— comp. Ps. xziz.
11, *' The Lord will bless his people with peace." There c$in be
no doubt, that Paul's usual form of salutation is the foundation
of that employed here by John. It was quite natural that John,
when writing to churches, respecting which he had entered into
the place of Paul, should have connected himself closely with that
apostle by adopting his well-known and precious salutation-for-
mula. Compare only the introduction of the epistle to the Bo-
mans, *' Paul — to all that be at Bome, beloved of God — ^grace
be to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus
Christ.*' With this the salutation before us entirely coincides
in its leading features. The salutations of James and Jude are
quite different. Peter's salutation in his first epistle comes the
nearest to Paul's : ** Peter to the elect strangers of the dispersion
in Pontus, etc., grace and peace shall be multiplied unto you."
This approach in Peter to Paul's form of salutation is in unison
with the other resemblances to Paul, which occur elsewhere in
Peter, as Peter also in writing that first epistle entered into the
proper field of Paul's operations. Still, he wants what is uni-
formly found in Paul : firom God, etc. The conclusion of the
Apocalypse has also the greatest similarity to the epistles of
Paul. There it is : The grace of Jesus Christ be with you,

66 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

here : The grace of the Lord Jesas Christ be with all saints.
The deTiation was required by the general purport of the book.
' It cannot be objected, that Paul never, like John here, prefixes
his mere name, but always, eyen in his epistles to Timothy and
Titus, sets forth his dignity. For that has already been done in
yer. 1. And now a simple salutation, after the manner of Paul,
appears here, but somewhat amplified according to the demands
of the higher prophetic style, and in conformity with the necessi-
ties of the time, which were such as to call for a powerful conso-
lation. From the depths of the nature of God and Christ there
is brought forth what might strengthen an endangered faith,
and raise a bulwark against the entrance of despair.

From Him who w, and who was^ and who comes. These
words are a description of the name of Jehoyah. I have showed
in my Beitr. II. p 230, ss., that this name, properly Jahveh (for
the yowels belong to Adonai, which the Jews pronounce instead
of it) has the meaning of the Being, absolute existence.^ The
idea of pure, absolute, unchangeable existence, it was there re-
marked, as expressed of Jehoyah, is a quite practical one ; that
which God is comes into consideration only as conditioning what
he is for his people. This appears at once from Ex. iii. 13 — 16.
The people, in asking for his name, were to 6nd in that a pledge
and security for what was to be performed by God, for his won-
derful help in the most distressing circumstances, not what should
satisfy their metaphysical curiosity. The name Jehovah com-
prises in itself the iulness of all consolation, and the treasures
thereof are here brought up from their depths and placed before
the eyes of believers, the prophet's companions in tribulation.
On the rock of the pure, unchangeable, absolute Being of God
dash all the despairing thoughts of those who can call this God
their own, as also all the proud thoughts of the world which has
him for its enemy. " I am a worm and no man** can be said in

1 Aceord'mg to Delitzaob, in his Bibl. Propb. Tbeologie, p. 120, tbe name signifies
the becoming, or going to be (der W«rdende.) fint this view is at once dispr'sed of by
the passage befbre us, as it would oat off " tbe who is and who was," and leave only
"the who comes." So also by the original passage, Ex. iii. 8—16, since it cannot ex-
plain the Ehjeh ascher Ehjeh and point, out its essential identity with tbe mere Efyeh,
The name by this explanation is merely evacuated. Tbe becoming swims in the air, if
it does not rest for its basis on the being. The becoming of Ood, too, is a thought quite
foreign to the whole of Scripture, and has passed over into theology firom the modern
phUosophy. God comes, indeed, but he does not become.

THE SALUTATION, I. 4 — 6. 67

calm repose by saeh as can only look with an nntronbled soul
into this unfathomable mystery. As pure, and absolnte, and
nnchangeable Being, God is ; he exists in the fulness of that om-
nipotence which he makes subservient to the good of the church
at the present time ; he works, though in the depths of conceal-
ment, for her welfare, boweyer circumstances may seem to indi-
cate the contrary, and the world may triumph orer the church
lying in apparent helplessness on the ground, and bleeding with
a thousand wounds He was ; tor, he has giren eridence of his
being in the past by deeds of omnipotent love, as when he led the
children of Israel out of the Egyptian house of bondage. He
comes; for he will appear for the judgment of the world and for
the salvation of his church, when the two shall be made to change
places, — those ascending the throne who lay in the dust, and
those who formerly occupied the throne thrust down to the
ground. The stress should here be put upon the last clause,
" he who comes.'*^ In ch. it. 8 the four living creatures constantly
cry out, " Holy, holy, holy, is Ood, the Lord, the Almighty, who
was, and who is, and who comes ;" as much as to say, who, as by
giving matter-of-fact demonstration of his Being in the past and
present, he has proved himself to be the wets and ta, so will he
ako come to establish his kingdom over the whole earth. The
inversion there (who was and is, instead of, who is and was here)
shews that the expression " who is" here does not indicate the
whole nature of God, — does not express, like the name Jehovah,
his eternal, absolute Being, but is limited to the living efficacious
tokens of his Being at the present time, for which the manifesta-
tions of his Being during the past afford a pledge. To the same
result, also, we are led by the simple fact that along with the
" who is" we have here on either side the two expressions *^ who
was'* and ^'who comes.'* In the original it is literally: from
who is, and was, and comes. There was no room for flexion, be-
cause thereby the unconditional application of the three designa*

1 The proof that the h kpx^iuwot is not eynonymoas with h Mn%y09, as bat been
often afBrmed, and stIU again by De Wette, is to be fouDd In my Beitr., p. 838. I there
pointed to the relation of the former expreasion to the tpx*Tai /&ct^ tAv »t^tX&» in
Ter. 7, to the ifiX^iuii Tax^ in nrii* 7, 90, ii. 6, iii. 3, &o., where the Tiew of God'a anf-
fering and peraecuted people is directed to the ooming of Ood and Chriat. Also to the
dropping of the i c>x^M<vo« in ch. xi. 17, after the wa$ and i$, becanae the ftitore of Qod*a
kingdom had become preaent, the eoming had eoma.

e 2

68 THB SEVEN EPISTLES.

tions to the Lord would have been darkened, and also because
the 6reek has no participle preterite.

And from the seven Spirits which are before the throne. That
the Spirits are the Spirits of God, appears from ch. iv. 5. The
Spirit comes into consideration here, not according to his trans-
cendence, but according to his immanence — not according to his
internal relation to the Father and the Son, but according to his
mission. This is indicated by the words : before the throne, here
and in ch. iv. 5, and from ch. t. 6, where mention is made of the
seven Spirits of 6od, that are sent forth oyer the whole earth.
The designation of the Spirits as seven is not derived from Isa.
zi. 2, where the sabject discoursed of is not as here the active
powers of the Spirit, but his productions or the properties he calls
forth. It is taken from Zech. iy. 10, where the operations of the
Spirit of the Lord appear under the image of the seyen eyes of
the Lord, that run to and fro throughout the earth — comp. on ch.
iv. 5. The seyenfoldness does no violence to the unity, but
merely points to the fulness and variety of the powers, which are
enclosed in the unity, with reference to the manifold powers and
agencies on the part of Satan and the world, which threaten the
church with destruction (comp. xii. 3), as also with respect to the
church's manifold straits and necessities, and perhaps to the seven
number of the churches which constituted so many fields for the
Spirit's efficacious working. The allegation of Lticke, p. 386,
that there is here a contrariety to the Gospel of John, rests upon
a misunderstanding : '* While there all the difierent forms of the
manifestation of Godhead are comprehended in the divine Logos,
who diffuses himself as light and life in the world, and has become
man in Christ, and is exhibited as oneness, here the manifesta-
tion of God is set forth in its organic variety as a seyenfold Spirit."
That the sevenfold character of the Spirits is not fatal to the one-
ness of the Spirit, but rests upon the basis of this — that here re-
spect is had only to the manifold manifestations of one and the
same Spirit (comp. 1 Cor. xii. 4 — 7) appears from ch. ii. 11,
xxii. 17, where simply the Spirit is spoken of. And that this
Spirit, manifold in its unity, does not exist together with Christ,
so that what is here attributed to the Spirit proceeds from Christ,
is clear from this passage itself, as the seyen Spirits are repre-
sented as employed in the seryice of the church of Christ, and still

THE SALUTATION, I. 4—6. 69

more decisively from ch. iii. 1, according to which Christ has the
seven Spirits of God, and on this account is almighty to punish or
reward, and also from ch. v. 6, where the seven Spirits appear as
the seven Spirits of the Lamb.

The Spirit is not *' the Holy Spirit, who is the principle of all
knowledge and enlightenment," for there is nothing said about
that here. Both the starting-point and the connection lead us to
consider it as mentioned rather in respect to its physical, than its
moral operations. We are confirmed in this also by the parallel
passages v. 6 and iv. 5, where the seven torches, which are the
seven Spirits of Ood, make up, with the lightnings, voices, and
thunders, the number ten. The seven Spirits form here a mighty
bulwark against despair, a compact phalanx^ on which all the
assaults of the world-power against the church shall break to
pieces. The seven Spirits press into the service of the churchy
delivering and helping, overthrowing and destroying, even to the
remotest comer of the earth. No distress is so deep, no feeble-
ness so great, that it may not with them be rectified. Even in
Zech. iv. 6, 7, (where see the Christology), the Spirit of God ap-
pears as the power, which assists the feebleness of the church,
and removes all the hindrances which the world throws in her way.
The Spirit of God there carries the building of the temple to its
completion in spite of all adverse machinations. It is the same
Spirit that moved with creative energy on the waters of the
primeval world. Gen. i. 2, *' the source of life, from which creation
draws its renovating powers, and without which all flesh withers,
all life returns to dust. Job xxxiv. 14, Ps. civ. 29, 30." (Kahnis,
the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, I. p. 14.) It is that power, by
which, according to Isa. iv. 4, God executes his judgments upon
the earth. In the Gospel of John the Spirit is brought into
view chiefly in respect to his moral and religious operations, in
accordance with the evangelist s subject. And the same precisely
is done here also in ch. xix. 10, xxii. 17, i. 10. The Spirit ap-
pears here, not less than the God of nature and Christ, as the
well-spring of grace and peace. The threefold from : from him
who is, &c., and from the seven Spirits, and from Jesus Christ, is
deserving of notice in this respect, as it involves a position of
equality. This implies a certain independence of the Spirit, be-
side the Father and the Son. The derivation of grace and peace

70 TH£ SBVEN EPI8TLKS.

from the Spirit not less than the Father and the Son points to
the adorable Trinity, and establishes a close affinity here between
the Berelation and the G-ospel of John. With this affinity other
things concor. As here Christ is represented as baring the seven
Spirits of 6od, (ch. iii. 1, and t. 6), so in the Gospel the Son pos-
sesses not only the powers and properties of the Spirit (tmth,
life), bnt also the Spirit himself, (ztI. 14, 15, i. 33, iii. 84.) He
is plainly subordinate, as to the Father who sends him, so also to
the Son, since the latter also sends him, and since he does not
speak of himself, bnt only what he hears (see Eostlin, p. 109-10.)
There is a farther point of agreement abo in this, that the Spirit
is predominantly riewed in respect to his operations oatwards —
comp. especially John rii. 39, where it is said, there was still
no Holy Spirit, because Jesus was not yet glorified. Many of
the older expositors, especially those belonging to the Catholic
church, hold the seren Spirits here to be created angels, and
identify them with the seyen angels that stand before God, in
ch. riii. 2. But the usage in Ileyelation is against this opinion,
as there the angels are neyer called spirits ; also the passage, ch.
iy. 5, according to which the seyen Spirits are the Spirits of God,
ch. y. 6, where the Spirits appear as the seyen eyes of the Lamb,^
the fundamental passage in Zechariah, the impossibility of angels
being put on a footing of equality with the Father and the Son,'
and the circumstance, that Christ is first mentioned after the
seyen Spirits, which can only be explained on the supposition of
essential equality, and that Christ was to be spoken of more at
length. For otherwise the natural order would haye been : Fa-
ther, Son, and Spirit. Besides, there is no agreement with ch.
yiii. 2, excepting in the number seyen. The seyen angels etand
there before the throne as seryants ; here, on the other hand, the
seyen Spirits are before the throne.

And from Jesw Christ, who is the faithful untneas. A faith-

iVitriDga:— ''Oertainlythe fleven eyes of the Lamb an eomeihing in the Lamb
which oannot be separated from him, by which the Lamb sees and provides for his
ehurch, and which, as is there said, is immediately sent forth by the Lamb into the
earth* Bat that holds of the Holy Spirit, not of angels.**

9 Vitringa : " Who that propeily considers the matter can persoade himself that John
would solemnly implore grace to the churches from seren created Spirits, who could not
of themselves bestow any grace, and that he would neglect to ask it from the Holy
Spirit, who is the author and chief of all spirits, and verily has the power of bestowing
graee ; of whom mention is also made in ch. ii. 11 V

THE SALUTATION I. 4 — 6. 71

fill witness is a credible and reracioas one (comp. Isa. yiii. 2),
who speaks what he knows and testifies what he has seen, John
iii. 11. Christ is called a witness, because he does not teach at
his own hand, bat gires testimony to the trnth that is in God, to
whom all in the Bevelation as inHhe Gospel is traced np as to its
origin. (Comp. John iii. 32, 33). The fundamental passage is
Isa. Ix. 4, where it is said of Christ, " Behold for a witness of
the peoples I giro him, as a leader and lawgiver of the peoples."
There jost as here the witnessing is connected with the supre-
macy. The sphere of the witnessing, which of itself embraces
the whole compass of doctrine and revelation — John xviii. 37,
** For this end was I born and have come into the world, that I
might bear witness to the truth*' — is here limited by the circum-
stance that grace and peace are sought from Jesus Christ to the
church. Accordingly, the testimony of Christ comes here into
consideration only in so far as it has specially to do with grace
and peace. The same holds also from the connection of the two
other predicates, which declare concerning Christ what is fitted
to inspire the desponding church with courage in the presence of
the world. Bespect is had to the glorious promises, which Christ
imparted to his church even during his sojourn upon earth, and
some of which have been preserved by John in his last dis-
courses ; for example, " Be of good cheer, I have overcome the
world," '* I am with you alway even to the end of the world,"
" The gates of hell shall not prevail against my church." Such
promises are expanded in this book, which discloses the testi-
mony of Jesus Christ ; but only when much tribulation is expe-
rienced in the world will they make their due impression on the
mind.

And the first-born from the dead. The firstborn in the Old
Testament often occurs as another name for the first ; for exam-
ple in Isa. xiv. 30. That here the idea of priority in time and
precedence in rank is what is taken into account, as in Heb. xii.
23, appears from Col. i. 15 — 18. There the first-bom is ex-
plained by expressions, which are put as equivalent : who is be-
fore all, the head, the beginning, who has the pre-eminence.
Accordingly, precedence in time and dignity is what alone can
be understood to be indicated by the expression, and the figura-
tive term of " the first fniits of them that sleep," in 1 Cor. xv. 20,

72 THE SET EN EPISTLES.

is substantially of the same import. That the passage before ns
does actually rest on Col. i. 18, " And he is the head of the body,
who is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in all
things he might hare the pre-eminence/* is clear from the fol-
lowing reasons : 1. The rather strange expression, " the first-
born from the dead/* is there only brought in through the pre-
ceding expression, *' the first-bom of all creation." The prefixed
explanatory epithet, " the beginning," of itself intimates, that
the mode of expression was somewhat peculiar. 2. There it is
" from the dead," but here simply " of the dead" (the ix, which
is to be found in some critical helps, has only flowed from the
passage in Colossians). The from, out of, points to the fact,
that Christ was the first in moTing out of the state of the dead.
The simple, " of the dead," would scarcely have been used but
for that other explanatory passage, according to which it is to be
understood as meaning, the first among the dead, who hare at-
tained to life. Indeed, we hare also, in 1 Cor. xy. 20, '' the first
fruits of them that sleep." But the immediately preceding words
there, " but now is Christ risen from the dead," serves as a com-
mentary, and shews in what respect Christ was the first-fruits, or
the first among them that sleep. 3. The expression in ch. iii.
14, *' the beginning of the creation," points back to the same in
Col. i. 15 ; and indeed so, that *' the beginning," which there
comes into the place of the first-born, is derived from ver. 18.
This reference is the more remarkable, as it occurs precisely in
the epistle to the Laodiceans, who were very closely related to
the Colossians. — Those who were brought to life again under the
Old Testament and during the earthly ministry of Christ, were
not then invested with immortal life, but only rescued for a few
years from the domain of death. And even during that short
period death gave continual proof of his power over them ; they
died daily. — He who, after the lapse of four thousand years, first
actually attained to life, must have been possessed of an invinci-
ble divine power, which from him flows also to those who are
his. And as he was thereby proved to be the conqueror of bodily
death in the particular frame, that was united in corporeal mem-
bership with himself, so must he also be the conqueror of death
to his church ; this has with him for ever risen out of the grave.
For death to the church, since his resurrection, is only a passage

THE SALUTATION I. 4 — 6- 73

to life. This is what from the connection we are here to make
account of. John was not in rain in the spirit on the Lord's day.
To Christ's life ont of death he points the chnrch, again also at
yer. 18, as the pledge of her salration.

And the prince of the kings of the earth. The inndamental
passage is Ps. Ixxxix. 28, where it is said of the house of Dayid,
which had its culminating point in Christ, '* And I will make him
my first-hom, the highest among the kings of the earth." A
comparison with ch. xyii. 14, " These will fight with the Lamb,
and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is a Lord of lords and
a King of kings," shews that one is meant, who, notwithstanding
their opposition., their bitter contention, reigns over the kings of
the earth ; one who is master of their pride, and casts their op-
position to the ground. How he proves himself to be the prince
of the kings of the earth, is rendered manifest to our view by the
representation given of the overthrow of Bome, whose vassal king,
so proud and yet so impotent, ventures to his own destruction
into a foolish conflict with Him of life and death. It is still far-
ther exhibited by the description of the battle of the ten kings
and the victory over them in ch. xix. 11, ss., in which Christ
appears with the name written upon his vesture and his thigh,
** King of kings and Lord of lords." If Christ is the prince of the
kings of the earth, how foolish must it then be to tremble and
shake, whenever these kings make an assault against his church.
Their end must be destruction, but the church through the favour
of the prince of the kings of the earth shall certainly reach a con-
dition of peace. •* His princely title," says Bengel, " overtops
the majesty of all earthly monarchs. The world, indeed, does
not regard it ; the most insignificant person will often dis-
honour this incomparable heavenly majesty with oaths and curses,
with secure proud thoughts lessen and destroy it. But it will
by and bye display its power; and the longer it withholds, the
more terrible will it be to those, who would not submit them-
selves reverently to it."

" Now from this God, from this Spirit, from this Lord is grace
and peace imparted to us ; and in the glorious designations now
considered there is contained the cause why God both can and
will impart to us grace and peace."

There is now in the form of a doxology an indication given of

3

74 THE 8£VEN BPISTLE8.

three other sources of consolation in Christ, First, to him who
loves tM — his love to us, which renders it impossible, that he
should look with unconcern on our distress, and should not set
his omnipotence in motion to bring us help. To fear and tremble
in the midst of tribulation is to doubt of his lo?e, and so, to rob
him of his highest glory — ^to deny him what he has certified by
so great and costly a pledge. To belicTe in his Ioto, is to be sure of
his saWation. The reading : who has loyed us, ayair^avri^ which
Luther follows, is the least supported, and has only come from the
preceding : who has washed and made us. " Who loves us,** in-
cludes ^* who has lored us,'^ but at the same time expressly de-
clares, what the other excludes, that the lore waters the dry
land of the present and the future, as it has done also of the past.
Gomp. John iii. 35, '* The Father loves the Son, and has com-
mitted all into his hand ;** where the *' he loves** in like manner
expresses the abiding love, and comprehends the past, the present,
and the future ^

The second ground of consolation in Christ is the glorious proof
of his love, which he has already given believers to experience.
He who h€L8 washed ua from our sins with his blood, cannot suffer
us miserably to perish, and give us up to the hands of the uncir-
cnmcised. Those, whom he has made righteous, he will also
make glorious. ** He who has not spared his own Son, but given
him up for us all, how shall he not with him freely give us all
things !** The washing marks the taking away of our sins by for-
giveness, and the sanctifying power which has its root in this.
That we must not exclude the latter idea, is clear from such pas*
sages as John xiii. .8, 10 ; 2 Cor. vii. I ; and also from ch. vii. 14
here, where the garments^are said to have been made not pure
merely, but white. The less approved reading: who has re*
deemed Q^va-aprv) has arisen perhaps from mere accident, but also
perhaps from the prosaic mind of the scribe. The reading : who
has washed us, is supported by the poetical mode of contempla-
tion, by the parallel passages of the Old Testament, in which sins
appear under the image of impurity, their extirpation under that

1 Several eappose without foundation, tLat <* who loves ua'* is put here for, ** who
has loved us." If John had wished to express this meaning, it would have hcen nort
natural to put dyaw^vayrt in unison with the following Xouaavrt,

THB SALUTATION, I. 4 — 6. 75

of washing and sprinkling (see on yii. 14), and also by a compari-
sion of ch. rii. 14, and of John i. 7, '' The blood of Christ makes
us pure (eqoal to, washes us) from all sin."

And has made U8 a kingdom^ prieets to God and our Father
— this points out the third source of consolation.^ Instead of :
a kingdom, priests, several MSS. read : kings and priests {ficurCKeh
kcIa Upelfi.) Besides being better anthenticated, the other read-
ing is confirmed. 1. By the greater difficulty ; 2. the greater
resemblance to the original passage in Ex. ziz. 6 ; and 3., the
occurrence of '* kings and priests'* in ch. y. 10, whence it has eri-
dently been imported here. That we mre not to throw the two
expressions, ** a kingdom," " priests,'* into one, q, d., a kingdom
of priests, appears from the ** kings and priests," in the parallel
passage just referred to, which must be regarded as a commentary .
Yet, that the kingdom and the priests cannot mark a double
dignity, the one separate from the other, is shewn by the want
of the and ; on account of which the priests must be riewed as in
apposition with kingdom. It also appears from ch. r. 10, where the
words, "and they shall reign," /oZfot(/« the '' priests;"^ from which
it is clear, that the priestly dignity and the kingly are most closely
connected with each other. The corresponding word " kings" in
T. 10 shews farther, that the fiaa-iXeia^ kingdom, is used in a pas-
sire, not an active signification; that it is not the realm, but the
dominion, as in xvii. 12, John xviii. 36. The kingdom is likewise
employed in an active sense in the fundamental passage Ex. xix. 6,
where the people of Ood are represented as a kingdom of priests,
such a kingdom as is wielded by priests. The object of this
ruling is the world. The people of God are, in consequence of
their priestly dignity, appointed to govern the world. We have
a commentary in Dan. vii. 27, " And the kingdom and the domi-
nion, and the power over the kingdom under the whole heaven, is
given to the people of the saints of the Most High." The idea

1 In regard to the xal iiro[riv%¥ after two participles going before, there is weight in
what Delitzsoh remarks on Hah. p. 77, ** According to the remark of Ewald, all the
scattered shades of meaning in a verb resoWe themseWes again in the quiet progress of
a discourse into the two primary colours of the perfect and imperfect. So is it also wiih
the participle, through which the Terbal idea receives a relative colouring. It is a part
of the Sneness of the Hebrew diction to make verba flnita foUow the participle that has
the tone-mark, and these verbs, through the influence of the relative idea concentrated
in the participle, are'to be construed as couditional statements."

76 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

of this power oyer the world occurs also freqaently in the Books
of Moses ; comp. Gen. xlix. 10 ; Dent, zxxiii. 26 — 29, concluding
with the words, " And thine enemies shall feign to thee, and thou
shalt tread npon their high places.** In the prophecies of Balaam
also the ascendancy of the people of God, their absolute yicto-
rions power oyer the world, is the fdndamental thought ; comp.
Numb. xxiy. 8, " He will eat up the nations, his enemies, and
shall break their bones, and pierce them through with his arrows ;"
but especially xxiy. 17, ss., and my work on Balaam there.

Eyen the Old Testament knows of an ideal priesthood beside
the common one ; comp. besides Ex. xix. 6, especially Ps. xcix. 6
(where the obligations only of the ideal priesthood are brought
into notice, but the priyileges correspond to these), Jer. xxxiii.
18, 22. In the higher style those persons only would be called
priests who possessed the essential distinction of the common
priesthood, though without its external accompaniments. But
the heart and kernel of the priesthood is its close and immediate
connection with God. Whoeyer has attained to this, he has,
along with the priestly dignity, the spiritual priesthood, at the
same time acquired the kingly. The essential element in this is
the exercising of dominion. But if nearness of relationship to God
possesses dominion in God over eyery thing except God himself
as its necessary consequence, as certainly as God is the Almighty
and the faithful helper of his people, he cannot suflfer them to be
oyercome by the world. Comp. Is. Ixi. 6, where the priesthood
in relation to God, and the authority to rule in respect to the
world, appear as immediately and inseparably united, " But ye
shall be named the priests of the Lord, men shall call you the
ministers of our God ; and ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles,
and in their glory shall ye be established.*' — From these distinc-
tions the incorrectness of De Wette*s remark becomes manifest,
that the kingdoiQ here denotes " the empire of God, the perfected
holy blessed fellowship with God and Christ, in which all shall be
united.** Such a yiew, indeed, is annihilated the moment we
glance at ch. ii. 26, 27, " And he that oyercometh and keepeth
my words to the end, to him will I give power oyer the nations,
and he will rule them with a rod of iron,'* etc. ; or iii. 21, '* To
him that oyercometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne,
even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his

THE SALUTATION, I. 4—6. 77

throne ;'* or, t. 10, ** And hast made them to oar God kings and
priests, and they shall reign upon earth ;'* or also xx. 6, xxii. 5. '
Sach passages plainly shew, that the kingdom is an active one,
and possesses a polemical character. And they serve, at the
same time, completely to dispose of the remark of Ewald, that we
must not think of dominion orer others, but only of maintaining
the Christian life in a quiet and independent condition. But it
is not this, it is the supremacy of the world, which Christ has ac-
quired for his people. It is further evident, from the distinctions
drawn above, that Onkelos and Jonathan have not given pre-
cisely the right rendering at Ex. xix. 6 by : kings and priests ;
and also that the accusation raised by Ewald against John, of
having misunderstood that passage, recoils upon its author. A
kingdom of priests is a kingdom which is governed by priests as
such. Finally, in what has been said, we have an answer to the
question of the older expositors, how Peter should have happened,
in his first epistle, ch. ii. 9, to put the kingly priesthood in the
room of the priestly kingdom of Moses. For, we see there is no
essential difference between them. The priesthood involves the
kingdom^ and the kingdom the priesthood.-^Here, however, the
emphasis rests on the kingdom, and the priesthood comes under
consideration only as the necessary basts. The kingdom which
Christ has acquired for his people was what, in the circumstances
of the time, was fitted to console the dismayed minds of Christians.
This kingdom was even then manifesting itself. Every heathen
that was won over to the kingdom of Ood, every martyr who
maintained with success the conflict with the world, was a proof
of it. But, however important might be the conquests which
were then in process of being made on the territory of heathenism,
such were only a small pledge of the glorious realization, which
should not reach its climax till the whole heathen world lay at
their feet. A view of this royal priesthood and this priestly
kingdom, and a spirit of fresh, undaunted courage before the per-
secuting heathen world, ought now to fill their bosoms. The
more proudly the world lifted itself up, the nearer was it to its
destruction.

To him the honour and the power for ever and ever. Amen,
We can understand the words either as a wish (to him be these),
or as a declaration. The latter mode of understanding it is coun-

78 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

tenanced by the parallel passage 1 Pet. it. 11, ** throngh Jesns
Christ to whom is the honour and the power for ever and ever.*'
The Amen is not against^ this yiew ; for even in simple declara-
tions this is nsed as an asseyeration of the truthfulness of what
is said. But eren viewed as a wish the words can only be re-
garded as expressire of the destination to what is immoyeably
fixed. It is not a subjectiye wish, which would be properly in
place here, but an unquestionable fact, on which anxious minds
might erect and strengthen themselyes. The honour in connec-
tion with the power is not the ascription of praise, but the glory.
Christ's glory and might shall soon indeed pierce through the
thin cloud, which now conceals his face from his church. As an
antidote against pusillanimity and despair under suffering, Peter
also points, in ch. y. 11, to the honour and the person ot Christ.
The agreement there with the passage before us is a perfectly
literal one, extending eyen to avr^^ to him, which here was not
absolutely needed. And we can the less regard this as a matter
of accident, since a leaning on Peter in the close of the saluta-
tion, whose doxology is imitated also in Jude y. 25, with an en-
largement as here in ch. y. 13, corresponds to the leaning on Paul
at its beginning. Such a leaning here was the more significant,
as the epistle of Peter was also addressed to the churches in
Asia. The chain-like connection of the later writings of the
New Testament with the earlier, which is no more than the ex-
ample of the Old Testament might have led us to expect, has
hitherto receiyed too little attention, or has eyen been made use
of for false conclusions, as in regard to the first epistle of Peter
in relation to the epistles of Paul.

After the salutation, and before he comes to the main subject,
John still gives two weighty and appropriate utterances. With
two torches he sends a gleam of light beforehand into the dark
abyss of terror and dismay.

Yer. 7. Behold he comes tjuith cloudSy and all eyes shall
see him, and they that pierced him, and all the tribes of
the earth shall wail over him. Yea, Amen, John here looks
back especially to Matt. xxiv. 30, '* And then will appear
the sign of the Son of man in heaven, and then shall all the
tribes of the earth wail, and they shall see the Son of man
coming in the clouds of heayen with great power and gloiy."

THE SALUTATION I. 7. 79

And this declaration of onr Lord again rests npon the two
passages, Dan. vii. 13, " Behold one like the Son of Man came
in the clonds of heaven," and Zech. xii. 10, "And I ponr
out npon the house of David and the inhabitants of Jemsalem
the spirit of grace and of supplication, and they look npon me
whom they have pierced, and they wail over him, as the wail-
ing over an only one, and mourn over him, as the mourning
over a first bom." From the latter passage in particular is taken
the expression, " They shall wail," and also " They shall see."
That John had the declaration of our Lord more immediately in
view, is clear from this, that here, as there, the two passages of
Zechariah and of Daniel are united together. Still, John also
reverts to the fundamental passages, and more literally adheres
to them. Instead of : in the clouds of heaven, we have here,
with a more exact reference to Daniel : with the clouds ; and the
clause derived here from Zechariah, " and they who pierced him'*
is omitted by Matthew. While in the declaration of our Lord
both the fundamental passages are woven together, here the ter-
ritory of both is still preserved distinct. The clause, " Behold he
comes with the clouds," points to Daniel, the rest to Zechariah,
the clouds with which, or accompanied by which, the Lord comes,
are not " the symbol of glory, of elevation above all nature" (Ha-
vemick), but they are the shadow of the judgment. This even in
the Old Testament is the regular signification of the clouds, when
employed in such a connection. Isaiah says in ch. xix. 1, " be*
hold the Lord rideth upon a swift cloud, and cometh to Egypt ;
and the idols of Egypt are moved at his presence, and the heart
of Egypt melts in the midst of it." On which Michaelis remarks :
" This is to be understood of a dark stormy cloud, which is charged
with thunder and lightning. Swift clouds must be particularly
stormy." On Ps. xcrii. 2, " clouds and darkness are round about
him," I remarked in my commentary, " The Lord appears sur-
rounded by dark clouds, which announce his anger, and beget the
expectation of a tempest of thunder and lightning breaking forth."
Again onPs.xviii. 10, when the Lord is represented as coming down
from heaven, and having darkness under his feet, " The Lord ap-
proaches marching on the dark thunder clouds. These are to his ene-
mies a sign of his anger, and a proclamation of his judgment."
From these thick tempest-clouds break forth lightning, thunder,

80 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

and hail, yer. 11, ss. In Naham i. 3, it is said, ** Behold the
Lord, in storm and tempest is his way, and clouds are the dnst of
his feet."

The Lord does not come once merely with clonds at the end of
the world, but throngh all periods of the world's history. Where
the carcase is, there the eagles are gathered together. The truth,
that the Lord comes with clouds, renews itself with every oppres-
sion of the church by the world. The opinion, which would con-
fine the expression to an externally visible appearance of the
Lord, is already excluded by the fundamental passages of the
Old Testament. . But of special importance for the right under-
standing of it is Matth. zxvi. 64, where Jesus says to the high
priest, *^ But I say unto you, from henceforth ye shall see the Son
of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the
clonds of heaven." There the Lord comes upon the clouds to the
judgment of Jerusalem, as a manifest proof that we are not
to think merely of his coming at the last day, and that the words
do not point to a visible appearing. There also the Lord does
not come merely to the proper catastrophe on the clouds ; he
comes from henceforth ; so that his whole secret and concealed
agency towards the destruction of Jerusalem is comprehended
under his coming. But if there the coming on the clouds refers
to the judgment on Jerusalem, and here primarily to the judg-
ment on persecuting Bome, then we obtain the result, that thereby
the judicial activity of the Lord in its whole compass, according
to its different objects and manifestations, is indicated.^ — The
coming of the Lord with clouds is at once terrible to the world,
and joyful to the church ; it is the latter which here comes into
view. *' And when these things begin to come to pass, then look
up and lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh f'
it is written in Luke xxi. 28, after it had been said, " And then
shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and
great glory."
The fundamental passage of Zechariah treats properly of the

1 The^rightTiew wt» long since given by Vitringi: "Nor is it necessary that the
woids of John shoald be restricted to the last advent of Christ. For, Christ is said in
Scriptnra style to come in the clouds of heaven, as often as he displays his glory, and
shews himself as present to the ohareh. And there are varioos gradations of that ad-
vent of Christ, in which he is seen by his hardened enemies theipselves.with the greatest
angaish and lamentation.**

THE SALUTATION, T. 7. 81

penitential mourning of Jerusalem over the Messiah, who had
been slain by its guilt. In respect to the relation of the passage
before us, and of Matt. xxiy. 30, to that in Zechariah, it was re-
marked in my Christology : '* These passages are a kind of sacred
parody on that of Zechariah. They shew that, beside the salu-
tary repentance of which Zechariah speaks, there is another Judas-
like repentance of despair ; that besides the free looking to him
who was pierced, there is another not free, which it is impossible
for unbelief to escape." The awful sublimity of this allusion
must be felt by every one. Quite similar is Hab. ii. 14 in rela-
tion to Isa. xi. 9, " For full is the earth of the knowledge of the
Lord, as the water that covers the sea." In Isaiah the know-
ledge of the Lord is a free, loving, joyful one ; in Habbakuk it is
one of constraint, terror, and howling. Bengel : " They shall
wonder and be terrified, that this Jesus, formerly so despised,
and even in his glory not known, should appear in such a manner.
There are two kinds of looking to Christ, and wailing over him
and his pierced condition. The one is penitential and tender,
the other constrained and painful. They who in the day of grace
exercise the former, as the house of David and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, give themselves to sincere and heartfelt lamenta-
tions for sin, which caused the death of Christ ; and such shall
be the case, when all the tribes of the earth mourn. So that
.there is no one, who shall not have mourned over the sufferings
of Christ, either before the last day for his good, or at the last
day (more correctly, when the time of judgment has come) with
terror." — In place of " all the tribes of Israel" in the original
passage, we have here, as in the declaration of the Lord, " all
the tribes of the earth" — a clear proof that here, it is not, as De
Wette thinks, the punishment of the Jews that is spoken of, with
which also the church had little to do, when sighing under the
heathen persecutions.

The expression, '* who have pierced him," refers, according to
the parallel passage, John xix. 37,* to the piercing with the spear.

1 It is an important ground for the identity of the author of Revelation and of the
Gospel, that the latter also renders the original passage hy 6>lrovTai tit w kj^txiv
Tii<ra», while the LXX. put it quite differently, iiripXi^lfom-ai irpot /ii, Av6' &y Katrnp-
XntravTo. It was pointed out in the Christology, that they followed the oommon read-
ing, but attributed to the verb ^n a figurative meaning (to pierce = to despise),
because they regarded the common one as unsuitable. Inadmissible are the supposi-

/

82 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

" The piercing of the side," says Bengel, " was the last and most
noted injury, which the enemies of the Sayionr inflicted on his
sacred body." But this piercing is considered here, not simply
as the work of those, from whom in the first instance it proceeded.
It appears rather as the common deed of those who are united
with the proper doers of it by the common bond of a similar state
of feeling, and who manifest it by what they perpetrate against
Christ in his members. The immediate actors present themselyes
to the yiew of the prophet only as representatiyes of the multi-
tude, who haye feelings of enmity towards Christ. Over Aim, on
account of what they haye perpetrated against him, and what
they haye now in consequence to expect from him. The expres-
sion of affirmation in two words. Yea, Amen, seryes, according to
2 Cor. i. 20, to giye it additional strength. The double Amen
in the Hebrew and in John i. 52, is analogous. Such a liyeliness
of asseyeration was here perfectly in its place. For the visible
presented a strong objection against what was afSrmed. Bengel :
" This is just the state of the Christian, that, when he hears of
the coming of the Lord Jesus, he can look for him with joy, and
in delight call out yea, with all who loye his appearing and wait
for his manifestation."

There follows now in yer. 8 the second introductory statement
of what the prophet had to say for the consolation of the church in
its faint and distressed condition. I am the A Ipha and the Omega^
says the Lord God^ who is, and who was, and comes, the AU
mighty. — ^Luther follows here a double false reading. In a few
critical helps, after the Alpha and the Omega, there is introduced

tions, by which some have tried to get rid of the conseqaenceB, tliat arise from the trouble*
some facts. Ewald's allegation, that the LXX. had originally translated aa the others,
bat that the text had been corrupted, can only be regarded as the result of extreme ne-
cessity. The allegation, also, that the agreement might easily have been accidental, since
Aquila, Symmachus, and Theodotion , coincide with John here and with each other, is like-
wise quite untenable. For the coincidence is limited there simply and alone to the Ikkmw-
tI», while here the S^ofiai also is common ; the LXX. and Theodotion have iirt/3\i-
iro/uat. Theodotion, too, not uncommonly leans on Aquila, Symmachus on Aquila and
Theodotion— oomp. Montfaucon Praelim. in Origcnis Hex. p. 57. Aquila, however,
knew the saored books of the Christians, and was guided by polemical considerations in
respect to them— as, for example, at Isa. vii. 14 he intentionally shunned the word irap-
Oevov out of respect to Matth. i. 23, &c. But polemical considerations never stand alone.
They always draw in their train also certain agreements. According to Epiphanius
Aquila was for a long time a Chriatian ; and an agreement with John in the rare iir-
KiVTtiv could scaroely be accidental.

THE SALUTATION, I. 8. 83

from the parallel passages : the beginning and the end. In some
also Ood is wanting after the Lord ; a reading which has pro-
ceeded from the idea, that the person who speaks in the yerse
conld be no oth^r than Christ, to whom the title, the Lord 6od,
is not applied. — The Alpha as the first and the Omega as the
last letter in the Greek alphabet, denotes the beginning and the
end. Corresponding to this is *' the first and the last" in ch. i.
17, ii. 8. In ch. xxi. .6 the two expressions. Alpha and Omega,
beginning and end, occur together ; and in the full-toned con-
clusion at ch. xxii. 13, we have the whole three. Alpha and
Omega, first and last, beginning and end. The fact that the
beginning and the end neyer occur elsewhere but in connection
with Alpha and Omega, while the latter, and the other expres-
sion *also, the first and the last, are found alone, shews that " the
beginning and the end" is only to be regarded as an accompani-
ment of Alpha and Omega. And these words are appropriated
to this purpose, because they begin with the first and the last
letters of the Hebrew alphabet, and so fitly indicate in what
character the Alpha and Omega here come into consideration —
only in respect to their place in the alphabet. The speaker is
not Christ, but neither is it God the Father in contrast to Christ
(against this decides, besides the relation to rer. 7, the circum-
stance of the Alpha and the Omega being also attributed to
Christ), but God in the undivided oneness of his being, without
respect to the difiference of persons. It may now be asked, in
what respect God is here called the Alpha and the Omega ? We
are not to understand it of simple existence. For, then there
would be no truth in the thought, that the personal existence
preserves even the enemies by whom the church is brought into
distress ; and there could be derived from it nothing but a very
small degree of consolatory power. The great question which then
agitated the mindsof believers, was about the superiority — whether
the world would maintain the ascendancy, which it then claimed
and seemed to possess ; or whether it should belong to the God
of the Christians. This question is answered by the declaration,
I am the Alpha and the Omega. The emphasis is to be laid upon
the Omega. It is as much as : I am as the Alpha, therefore also
the Omega. The beginning is the surety, for the end. The un-
conditional supremacy of God over the world, which is placed be-

/2

84 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

fore onr eyes by the Beginning, since Gk>d made, heaven and earth,
since he spake and it was done, commanded and it stood fast, is
also brought again into notice by the end. If any one finds the
end a canse of vexation, let him only lose himself in-the beginning ;
let him dire into the word, " Before the mountains were brought
forth, etc.,'* and his anxiety will disappear. Let the world enlarge
itself in the middle as it may, the church knows from the be-
ginning, that the victory at the end must be 6od's. The designa-
tions of God serve the purpose of tracing up to a necessity in the
divine nature the declaration, that he will maintain his supremacy,
as at the beginning, so also at the end. The epithet. Lord God,
corresponds to the Old Testament combination, Jehovah Elohim,
i.e. Jehovah the only God, the sole possessor of Godhead, Jehovah
besides whom there is no God and no Saviour— comp. on Jeh6vah
Elohim my Betir. II. p. 311, ss. The words that follow in the
latter part of the verse unfold what is contained in the " Lord
God ;" and with a twofold respect corresponding to each : " Who
is, and who was, and who comes," the substance of the Lord ; and
''the Almighty,'* the substance of God. The Old Testament
Zabaoth,^ which corresponds to it, serves along with Elohim to
prevent all narrow views respecting Jehovah, all that would shut
him up into a limited sphere. It was such a God, that belonged,
to the beginning, and such also must necessarily belong to the
end ; and the church can smile at those who would put them-
selves in opposition to him.

The Introductory section is followed by a narrative, ver. 9 — ^20,
telling how John had received from Christ the commission to write
to the seven churches, and containing an extended representa-
tion of the appearance of Christ, which was admirably fitted to
prepare the minds of men for the contents of the epistles — to dis-

1 Bengal : In the books of Samoel and Kings, in Cbronides and Psalms, in Isaiah,
Jeremiah, and most of the minor prophets, before the Babylonish captivity and after it,
very frequent mention is made of the Lord God of hosts. The LXX. render the
epithet Tarioosly, but most commonly use iravTOKpdrwp, 6 irJpiov 6 Otdt 6 iratrro-
Kpdrtitv. The word is nowhere foand in the other books of the New Testament, ex*
cepting in 2 Cor. vi. 18, with an express reference te a passage in Isaiah. In the Apo-
calypse alone it frequently occurs. Such being the case, the Ilebr. Jehovah cannot
but answer to the third member, o &» xal 6 ^v kuI 6 ipxonwo^. For the epithet 6
fravT0Kp6iTtap is never put, without either Otot or Jehovah immediately preceding.

• THE SALUTATION, I. 9. 85

pose sinners to repentance, and to kindle hope in the bosoms of
the desponding.i It proclaims with emphasis at once, Fear, and
Fear not.

Ver. 9. I John J your brother and companion in tribulationy
and in the kingdom- and patience of Jems Christy was in the
isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testi-
mony of Jesm Christ, The ** I John" is in imitation of DanieFs
style, who alone among the prophets says, '*I Daniel," rii. 28,
viii. 1, ix. 2, x. 2. While John in this manner attaches himself
to Daniel, he presents himself as having a similar position to his,
and so indirectly designates himself as an apostle. For prophets
standing on a footing of equality with the canonical writers of the
Old Testament conld only be fonnd in the circle of the apostles.
It is not accidental, nor to be explained fi'om a mere sabjectire
predilection, that John attaches himself in so very peculiar a
manner to the last more eminent prophets of the Old Testament,
to Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah. This is rather to be considered
as having its ground in the serial character of the sacred writings
generally, and those of the prophets in particular. As certainly
as Scripture is no fortuitous assemblage, but an organic whole,
John had the double purpose in view of connecting wha)^ he wrote
at once with his New Testament predecessors, and with the last
prophets of the Old Testament, whom in a sense he immediately
followed as the author of the first and only prophetical book of
the New Testament. John speaks of himself as the brother
of those to whom he wrote. He might also hare called himself
their father, as in his epistles he addresses them as his children,
1 John ii. 1, 18, 28, 3 John yer. 4. But it was more fitting here
to bring out the point of similarity, which is made sensible to
the heart by nothing more readily than a common participation in
sufiering. Reference had already been made in ver. 1 to the
distinguished dignity of John. The afco, which many critical
authorities shove in, has arisen from a feeling of solicitude, as if
John must here have somehow indicated the distinction betwixt

1 The section partakes of the character of the whole first vision, which is thas de-
scribed by Vitrlnga: "The first vision exhibits the internal state of the universal -
church through all times under the emblem of the seven churches of Asia, from ver. 0 to
the beginning of oh. iv. Almost all the other visions have respect to the external state
of the church."

86 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

himself and his readers. — The tribalation could only consist in
persecution. For John, the companion in tribulation, is on the
island of Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of
Jesus. Besides, the " Jesus Christ" belongs not merely to the
patience, but to all the three, the tribulation, the kingdom, and
the patience. But the question may be asked, what is to be
understood by the tribulation of Jesus Christ 1 The answer is,
that here, as in the fundamental passage of Col. i. 24, *^ Now I
rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up in my body what is
still wanting (to me) in the tribulations of Christ," (John writes
to the same circle of readers, and the whole Terse before us is
full of references to Paul's epistles) : — in both alike, the tribula-
tion denotes what Christ suffered partly in person and partly in
his members, and what he still has to suffer. We must not with
Luther think merely of the first, the personal sufferings of Christ :
*' Paul calls his own sufferings the tribulations of Jesus Christ,
because they were the same sufferings as those by which Jesus
Christ was affected. John designates himself a companion of the
tribulations, which Christ had formerly suffered." In that case,
Paul could not have called his sufferings tribulations of Christ
without some farther explanation. And here the tribulation and
the patience, or stedfastness, are manifestly the personal tribula-
tion or stedfastness of John and of those to whom he wrote. A
companion {av^Kotvtovo^ only found in Paul and here in John) is
one, who partakes along with others. But one cannot partake of
the tribulation, which Christ himself has suffered. Had it been
Christ's personal sufferings merely that was meant, the natural
thing here would haye been a mere compassion, which would not
be suitable. The sufferings of Christ also in 1 Pet. i?. 13, are
not merely the sufferings which Christ personally indured.

When we have determined the tribulation of Christ, we can no
longer doubt what is ta be understood by the kingdom and
patience of Jesus Christ. Accordingly, the kingdom or empire of
Jesus Christ can only be that which belongs to him, partly in
person, partly in his members. In like manner, the patience of
Christ is that, which he has personally manifested, and manifested
in his members ; and of explanations, such as Ewald's, according
to' which the patience of Jesus Christ must be the patient hope
respecting Christ, require no further notice. Under the patience,

THE SALUTATION, I. 9. 87

according to the remark of Bengel, is to be understood, " not only
a good will, but a spiritual force and energy, whereby one is
fortified to endure something, and bears up under it.*' It is the
stedfast endurance of things contrary to the faith' and truth of
the gospel — comp. 2 Tim. ii. 12, where the patience stands in op-
position to the denying, and Luke yiii. 16, where those who bear
fruit in patience are contrasted with those, whobeUeye for a time,
and in the time of temptation fall away. The same three things
as here are united also together in Acts xiv. 22, where it is said
of Paul and Barnabas, that they confirmed the souls of the brethren,
exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that through much
tribulation they must enter into the kingdom of God ; comp.
also 2 Tim. ii. 12, Bom. riii. 17. In regard to the order here,
the tribulation, the state of humiliation, has placed in immediate
connection with it the kingdom, the state of exaltation ; and then
the patience will be thought of with an emphatic N. B , because
the contrast presented by it to the natural connection between
the tribulation and the kingdom of Christ has been torn asunder,
and the bitterly won fruits of the former reaped. The mention
of the patience is at the same time a reminiscence, and an indirect
though important admonition. Bengel : ** The things mentioned
are singularly woven together. The kingdom stands in the middle,
the tribulation before, and the patience after. This is the form
of Christianity in this life. Through the tribulation the kingdom
is pervaded with the patience of Christ, till the tribulation shall
have been overcome, and no more patience shall be required.
With carnal men, who have not entered into the kingdom of Christ,
tribulation brings no patience, but rather occasions impatience.
A raging wild beast, if it is not irritated, may be quiet as a lamb,
but when any thing has excited it, it breaks forth in its fury."^ .
From the words, '* I w<i8 in the isle Patmos," the conclusion has
often been drawn, that at the time John wrote the Revelation he was
no longer in Patmos. And certainly the / wcu^ if isolated, must
appear remarkable, and cannot be explained by what was stated
on ver. 2 in reference to the expression : who has testified. John

1 The reading h *Inirov has proceeded from those who could not understand the
genitive, which has been mnch tortured by expositors. Tlie fundamental passage it
against it, as also cb. iii. 10.

88 THB SBVEN EPISTLES.

could not take for granted that the sojourn in the isle Patmos,
at the time when his book was being read, had already come to a
close. But the abrupt beginning in Ter. 10 shews^ that we have
here a mere Hebrew sort of connection between the clanses,
which, with things that ran into each other in meaning, simply
pats them after one another : I was upon the isle Patmos, I was
in the Spirit, for, when I was upon the isle Patmos, or daring my
sojonm there, I was in the Spirit. Gomp. a quite similar syn*
chronical Imperfect in Jonah iii. 3. So that there remains only
the second I was to be explained. But the remark already made
at yer. 2 is perfectly applicable here. The state of ecstacy was
long since gone when the Book came to be read by the churches
of Asia. That the Beyelation in Patmos, besides, had not merely
been receiyed, but also written down, is eyident simply from the
send in yer. 11. Only an arbitrary disposition and want of sim-
plicity could haye sought to separate what are most intimately
associated together. How the writing was immediately joined to
the hearing and seeing, may be discovered from ch. x. 4, xxii. 7,
9, 10. — Instead of: on the isle, which is called Patmos, seyeral
haye merely : on the isle Patmos. But the omission was made by
those who had in yiew the renown which Patmos had acquired
throughout Christendom by this yery Beyelation of John. That
till then it was exceedingly obscure, is manifest, as Bengel has
justly remarked, not only from the clause '* which is called," but
eyen from the designation of the place as an island, while in Act«
xiii. 4, for example, we haye simply the name Cyprus. Fiction
would neyer have laid the scene in so obscure a corner. — The
proof that the words, *' for the word of 6od and the testimony of
Jesus Christ," refer to the martyr-sufferings of John, has already
been given in the Introduction. In regard to the testimony of
Jesus, comp. on ch. i. 2.

Ver. 10. I wa^ Cthere I was J in the Spirit on the Lord's day,
and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet. To be in
the Spirit means being in the element and state of the Spirit.
In a certain sense all Christians are in the Spirit, comp. Bom.

1 One might have expected Kal with the second iyMvofiriiff but it is the very omission
of this which serves to indicate the inseparable connection of the double lyiiroiiriv.
3 The iytvofxrty after the corresponding iyiv6firi» in ver. 9, not : I became, but I

THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 10. 89

yiii. d, 9, Gral. t. 25. Bat here by being in the Spirit is meant
being so in the highest sense, in a theopnenstic state, in which
the natural life is entirely orercome. Parallel is Paul's being in
a trance, Acts xxii. 17, comp. x. 10, xi. 5. Opposed is Peter's
being again in or with himself y€v6/jL€vo<; iv eatrr^, in Acts xii.
11, which is immediately prece<fed by : forthwith the angel de-
parted from him. In vain has Ziillig denied that being in the
Spirit conld stand for being in a state of ecstacy. His exposi-
tion : I was on the Lord's day in a kind of transport, is at once
put to flight by ch. iv. 2 : and immediately I was in the Spirit,
where he mast explain : presently was I there in a kind of trans-
port. John also is here not in the Spirit on the Lord's day, the
day of the fatare judgment, but he speaks throughout from the
stand-point of the actual present. — There can be no doubt that
the declaration, '' I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day," prima-
rily refers only to the first series, which is a whole by itself.
Hence at the beginning of the second series we have the corres-
ponding : I was in the Spirit, ch. iv. 2. It is naturally to be
supposed, however, that the contents of the whole book were com-
municated on the same day. For the day of the Lord is,
at least, quite as closely connected with the contents of the fol-
lowing visions. No other day is ever so much as hinted at.
The half-hour in ch. viii. 1 is a measure of time, serving to indi-
cate, that in the space of a limited period the whole was shut up.
Zechariah also receives the entire series of his visions, which are
formally independent of each other, in a single night. — The asser-
tion, I was in the Spirit, is turned into a lie, whenever one as-
sumes that the prophet had laboured long at his work. The
word : he spake and it was done, applies also here. It is affirmed,
that the book shews everywhere the marks of great art and care-
ful preparation. But this is partly to be explained from the con-
sideration, that in the state of ecstacy holy men were raised far
above themselves, and must not be judged by a measure which is
obtained from their ordinary condition. Then, much appears to us
art, or even unnatural conceit, which was quite natural and easy
to the sacred bards and seers, such as their arrangements accord-
ing to symbolical numbers. In any other respect, the supposi-
tion of art and laborious preparation rests upon the arbitrary
hypothesis of expositors, who have pressed their own conceits upon

90 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

the book, in particnlaT have snbstitated^ in place of a series of
risions, formally independent of each other, a single whole ar-
ranged after a regnlar plan. Finally, John*s being in the
Spirit was only the bursting forjbh for which a manifold and pro-
found preparation paved the way.

The key to the right understanding of the day of the Lord is
supplied by ver. 5, where Christ is called the first-begotten from
the dead, and by ver. 18, where likewise reference is made to the
resurrection as the pledge that he will quicken his people out of
death. These passages prove, 1, That the day of the Lord is the
day of the resurrection, as the day on which Christ was mani-
fested above all others as the Lord,comp. Bom. i. 4. 2. That it
was so named, not because of what the church should do on that
day, but because of what the Lord did on it, as a figure and
pledge of what he is still going to do on it.^ It follows, however,
from what the Lord has done on that day, that it is to be sancti-
fied by the church, and that John so responded to this call, so
yielded himself to the death-subduing power of Christ, as thereby
to make himself capable and worthy of receiving the Bevelation.
The only point regarding which a doubt can be entertained, is
whether, under the day of the Lord,3 the weekly or yearly cele-
bration of the resurrection is to be understood. Both were even
in the apostolic age singled out from the rest. The reasons for
the weekly celebration have recently been set forth by Weitzel in
his Christliche Passafeier der ersten drei Jahrhunderte. Even
on the very first weekly return of the resurrection-day we find the
apostles gathered together, in remembrance of that which had
taken place eight days before, if haply the Lord might again ap-
pear; and the day was distinguished anew by a manifestation of
the risen Lord, John xx. 24 — 29. Paul, in 1 Cor. xvi. 2, singles
out the first day of the week as that on which the Corinthians
were to lay past their contributions. On the first day of the
week we find the Christians met at Troas to celebrate the Supper,
Acts XX. 7. Exactly seven days before had Paul arrived there :
he would a second time observe the sacred day in the midst of

1 Aogastinus : Dominicus hie dies ideo dicitur, quia eo die dominus resurrexit; tcI ut
ipso nomine doceret, illam diem domino consecralnm esse debere.

3 The name was certainly in John's time not in common use, but was first introduced
]>y him; perimps, the Lord's day was formed after the Lord's Supper in 1 Cor. xi 20.

8

THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 10. 91

them. The proof that the annaal celebration of the day of the re-
sarrection was also' obserred in a solemn manner from the first age,
has likewise been produced by Weitzel. This follows, indeed, as
a matter of course : the celebration of the weekly festival is
hardly to be conceived without that of the yearly. Farther, from
the connection of the oldest churches with the Jewish synagogue,
there was only the choice left of keeping a Jewish or a Christian
holyday. And finally, from the fully accredited tradition of an
observance by John in regard to the Christian Passover, it ap-
pears on the most credible testimonies that the Passover-feast
peculiar to Lesser Asia was introduced there on the authority of
John. The knowledge possessed by the ancient church of the
internal connection between the resurrection of Christ and his
second coming, led to a particularly energetic celebration of that
yearly festival.^ Beyond doubt, Easter' day was a very suitable
one for receiving the Revelation, the fundamental idea of which
is that Christ will come to deliver his church from death. How-
ever, since it is certain that the weekly commemoration of the
resurrection had then begun, every one must naturally think of
that, when he hears of the day of the Lord, and the yearly festi-
val could not have been designated in this simple manner, but
must have had some mark of distinction, as it is called by the
Fathers the holy, the great, the splendid day of the Lord. '* On
the Sunday," says Bengel, *^ John received the Revelation, and a
spiritual meditation of this book is truly Sunday work.** It is
the proper Sunday-book. Every Sunday, if spent under its in-
fluence, will awaken in us the hope of the Maranatha, which is so
ftill of consolation especially for our times. — John hears behind
him a voice. This took place because he must first hear. Had
he immediately seen, he would not have been able to hear, but
with a '^ Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of un-
clean lips, and dwell among a people of unclean lips/* he would
have fallen prostrate on the ground ; comp. ver. 17. But here
the reference to the church must presently come forth. — The great

1 Jerome on Matt. xxv. : Dicamus alquid qaod fonitan lectori utile sit. Traditio Ja-
daeorum eat Cliriatain media noote ventaram in aimilitudine ^gyptli temporia, quando
Pascha celebratum eat extenniiiator venit. — Unde reor et traditionem Apostolicam per-
mansisae, nt in die vigiliarum Paachae anti noctis dimidiam populoa dimittere non liceat,
exi)ectaute8 adrentum Christi ; et poatquam illnd teropus trRnsierit, sectiritate praesunta
festnm cunctia agentibus diem.

92 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

Toice is as of a tnimpet. Allusion is made to the Old Testa-
ment use of the trumpet as the sign for calling the people
together, and intimating, that the Lord had something to
say to them; comp. Nnmb. x. 2, Ex. xix. 16 — 19, Joel ii. 1,
where in the immediate prospect of the day of the Lord Israel
is called by the sonnd of the trumpet before an angry God, ii. 15,
Matt.xxiy. 31, 1 Thess. iv. 16, where the trumpet calls the
members of the church before the Lord at his second coming. So
here also the yoice of the trumpet announces that the Lord has
important tidings to communicate to his church, and summons
rthem straight to his throne, that they may there reeeiye the
word of warning and consolation.

Ver. 11. Which said: What thou seest write in a book, and
send it to the churches in Asia, to Ephesus, and to Smyrna, and
to Pergamos, and to Thyatira, and to Sardis^ and to Philadel-
phia, and to Laodicea. Between spake and thou seest several
critical helps have introduced, '' I am the Alpha and the Omega, the
first and the last.*' But Bengel has conclusively shown in his Appar.
that these words have been derived from ver. 8 and 17. Ztillig
would still defend them as genuine ; but a glance at the begin-
ning of his defence, " These words are wanting indeed in the
best manuscripts," renders it quite unnecessary to follow him
farther. Where the external grounds are so decided, it is not
worth while going more deeply into the internal considerations,
which might be found to show the want of genuineness. We
shall make but one remark, that it is only at ver. 12 that John
turns round to look after the voice which spake with him, conse-
quently he could not yet know who the speaker was. The words
would weaken the impression of the appearance and the surprise
it occasioned. John must write what he sees, not what he may
yet see. The seeing has already begun ; for according to the
Biblical usage the hearing also is comprehended in the seeing in
the larger sense. On the words in a book Bengel remarks,
'* Therefore all here makes up but one book. Not only is the
address to each particular church to be sent to the angel of it,
but the whole book is also to be sent to them all." But this re-
mark would only be right, if we were to understand by the all
what is written to the end of ch. iii. For this portion alone be-
longed specially to the seven churches of Asia. Ewald's attempt

2

THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 11 . 93

to delete the " seyen/' on the groand of a few unimportant ^ifianu-
scripta omitting it, and indeed with little adrantage, since the
book still remains specially directed to the seven chtirebes of
Asia, whether they might be expressly said to be seven- or
not, only shows to what dilBcntties they rednce themselves who
understand by the book here the whole book, which from ch. iv.
to the end bears an entirely oecumenical character. The name of
the book (fiifiklovy properly, little book) affords no handle to this
mistake. For, in ch. v. 1, we find the book with the seven seals ;
in Matt. xix. 7 the same word signifies the writing of divorce ; in
2 Sam. zi. 14, 2 Kings xix. 14, it is used of letters (Suidas :
ficfikCop ^ iTTurroXi^), and in Mace. i. 44 of edicts. The corres-
ponding Hebrew ^qq denotes any sort of written declaration.
The law of the order of the seven churches, the seven, as is clear
from ch. ii. and iii., falling into three and four, may with certainty
be discovered. Ephesus, Smyrna, and Pergamos must stand to-
gether, and be separated from the rest. For, these three cities and
these alone contended for the primacy in Asia.^ The order in which
they are placed here is also not arbitrary. Ephesus must stand at
the head as the seat of John's labours, and as such forming the
centre of the whole circle. From Ephesus it proceeds northward
to Smyrna and Pergamos. Then from Pergamos as the most
northerly point it goes in a regular south-easterly direction down
by Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, to Laodicea, which lies almost
in the same parallel of south latitude with Ephesus, but consi-
derably farther east.^ The apostle in his spiritual visitation
takes the same course which he was wont to take in his actual
visits (comp. 2 John ver. 12, 3 John ver. 10.) When John wrote to
the seven churches, he had in his eye the example of the seven
Catholic and the fourteen Pauline epistles (including the epistle
to the Hebrews, which anyhow, even if not directly, flowed from
Paul as its source.) That John was instructed to send to the
churches, shows, notwithstanding the objections of LiLcke. p. 243,
that he vnrote out what he saw on the spot. That " the state of
the seven churches of Asia appears as immediately present in the

^ See the the Appendix in Spanheim, de usn et praeatanlia nnmismatum 1. p. 688, as.
2 In the Itmerarium Antonini the four oitiea follow each other in precisely the f
order, coiop. Oellarina Schwartz II. p. 113.

94 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

%

seven epistles/' indicates nothing to the contrary, for that helongs
to the territory of the Spirit.

Ver. 12. And I turned round to see the voice which spake with
me. And, when I turned, I saw seven golden lamps. The see-
ing is to be taken in the larger sense. He wished to learn more
exactly about the voice, namely from whom it proceeded. That his
desire lay especially upon the latter point, is evident from the
turning of his head. This does not need to have been a mere
visionary turning (Mark). The internal sense moves after the
form of the external. John sees first the churches and then
Christ. By this it is implied, that he beholds Christ here only
in a special respect, in his relation to the churches. That the
seven churches are indicated by the seven lamps, is expressly de-
clared in ver. 20. Among the furniture of the sanctuary there
was a candlestick with seven lamps, Ex. xxv. 37, which already
appears in Zech. iy. as an image of the church.^ It is not acci-
dental that here seven individual lamps are set before us. The
candlestick with the seven lamps could not have been admitted
here. For this since the time of Moses had been consecrated for
all times as a symbol of the whole. But here the discourse is not of
the whole church, but only of seven articular churches, in which
the church was reflected indeed, though they still did not constitute
the church — (comp. ver. 20, where the seven lamps are said to be

1 Comp. the Ghristol. on Zeoh. ir. We believe we must here repeat what was said in
the Beitr. III. p. 645 regarding the import of the candlestick : " As regards the candle-
stick, we have a sure starting-point in the oil. The oil throughout both Old and New
Testaments is the symbol of the Spirit of Qod. But when we have determined the oil,
we can easily determine also the candlestick ; as the bearer of the Spurit of Qod it can
only import the church, the covenant people. So also the light; it can only indicate
the operations of the Spirit of God, the spiritual light, which streams forth from the
Spirit-endowed community into the surrounding darkness. The symbol in the first in-
stance declares what the church of Ood is, in the event of its corresponding to its idea,
but along with this, at the same time, what it ought to be. The description carries in its
bosom a call. This comes distinctly out in the explanation of the symbol, which our
Lord himself gives. After saying in Matt. v. 14, " Te are the light of the world," he adds
in ver. 16, « Therefore let your light shine before men." Besides, the Saviour again has
respect to the candlestick in Luke xii. 35, and in the parable of the virgins. So also
Paul in Phil. ii. 15. The seven number of the lamps points to the covenant relation.
Seven is in Scripture, as the language itself bears evidence, the number of the oath,
and consequently of the covenant That the.candlestick was of gold denotes the glory of
the church of Qod The blossoms of flowers, which were added as ornaments, were em-
blematic of the church's joyful blossoming and prosperity.'*

THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 12. 95

the seven churches ; liot the church at large, but seven individual
churches selected from the whole. Without any proper right has
Hoffmann (Weiss, und ErfuUung, Th. II. p. 319) drawn from the
passage before us the conclusion, that the seven churches of Asia
must have had a symbolical character, a prophetical import, since
otherwise they could not have been represented through the sym-
bol of the whole church. But this is just what has not been
done. The seer has avoided that supposed identification of the
seven churches with the church at large, by not speaking of the
candlestick with the seven lamps, but of seven separate lamps.
But under the image of seven lamps even seven individual be-
lievers might have been represented, as may be seen from Phil,
ii. 15, and the parable of the ten virgins. Certainly the seven
churches constitute one whole, for they have Christ in their
midst, but only a whole of the kind described in the words,
" Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there
am I in the midst of them" — a separate section of the church,
which stood under the superintendence of John, not the whole of
the Christian church. Hoffmann has said, that any one who
would see the matter more fully proved, will find in Yitringa all
he can wish. But the reasons which have been advanced by the
latter are equally untenable. He rests, first of all, upon the ge-
neral contents of the entire book. According to ver. 1 it con-
tains what was shortly to come to pass. Whence the seven epis-
tles also must be out and out prophetical, which can only be the
case if the churches are understood to be types of the church of
the future in its varied conditions. But what holds of the book
in its general character and import, must not simpliciter be ap-
plied to every particular part. The first introductory and pre-
paratory series must, according to the express declaration of ver.
19, be occupied with " what is,'* as previous to and apart from
that " which was afterwards to come to pass" — with a prophetic
insight into the real state of matters in the churches of Asia,
which was known only in a superficial way to common observa-
tion, and still unperceived in its proper depth. In this, what is
said of the contents of the book in general, receives its limitation
so far as the first portion is concerned. " Must then," continues
Yitringa, " the churches alone of the Lydian Asia have lain upon
the heart of Christ, and not rather the churches of all Asia, nay

96 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

the chnrches of the whole world V For this reason he thinks
those chnrches of Asia mnst hare had a symbolical import T7n-
qnestionably, the seren epistles addressed to them form part of
a book, which is destined for the whole church. But . nothing
more follows from this, than that they also partake of the cha-
racter attributed in 2 Tim. iii. 16, 17, to the whole of the Scriptures
of the Old Testament, and without which indeed, holy Scripture
cannot be conceiyed to exist : " All Scripture giyen by inspiration
of God, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and
instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished for all God's works." But our epistles bear
this character, even if we giro up their prophetic import in the
narrower sense, and place them in the same rank with the other
apostolic epistles, which likewise refer originally and primarily
to special relations. In both cases alike it is the part of the
church by means of its theological expositions to extract from the
particular, the general, and again make application of this to the
particular. The seven churches are no more representatives of
all other churches, than were the churches to which the other
apostles wrote. " What then," asks Vitringa, " are the churches
amongst whom Christ the Lord walks ? Are they just those seven
churches of Asia, or are they not rather all churches of all times
and places?" But the walking of Christ among these seven
churches is to be taken positively, not exclusively. One might
just as well conclude, that the two or three, in the midst of whom
the Lord has promised to be, must represent the whole church.
When Thomas calls Christ his Lord and God, John xx. 28, or
when Paul says, that Christ lives in him. Gal. ii. 20, no one
surely will maintain, that they could only speak thus as types of
the church. Finally, Vitringa still lays stress on the point, that
the Lord concludes the epistles to the churches in Asia with a
call that is addressed to all churches : he that has an ear to h^ar,
let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. But this very
circumstance shews, that the churches in Asia do not represent
the whole church. Had they done so, the Spirit would simply
have needed to address tfiem That there was only a special ap-
plication and charge made to them of what, we are expressly told,
belonged to the whole church, was purposely designed to teach,
that they were only parts of this great whole. But against the

THE APPEARANCE OF CHKlST, I. 13. 97

strictly prophetical character of the seyen epistles, there is also
this yery decisiye fact, that they do not at all contain a full re-*
presentation, eyen in its main features, of the state of the entire
Christian church. It is especially to be noted in this respect, that
of the two grand hostile forces against which the Christian church
has constantly to contend, Judaism and Heathenism, standing
related to each other as a false slayery and a false freedom of
spirit, here it is only the latter which is brought into notice, and
simply because this alone had then power and influence in the
churches, to which the apostle wrote. Those persons, especially,
who like Vitringa descry in the seyen epistles a prophecy of the
seyen ages of the church,^ must by this consideration be reduced
to great straits. For, among these ages there are some, in which
the Judaistic element[has wrought the greatest deyastations in the
church. But tl^ose also, who perceiye in the epistles a pre-inti-
mation of the church s states in the last times, cannot easily dis-
pose of this argument. For, Judaism has a yery tenacious
existence, and will assuredly neyer altogether abandon the field
to heathenism.

Yer. 13. And in the midst of the seven lamps one who was
like a Son of man, who was clothed with a long robe^ and girt
about the breast with a golden girdle. Bengel : *' Just as Christ
in heayen has not in himself the actual form of a lamb, or of a
warrior on a white horse (yi. 2, xix. 11), so, though he has indeed
the human form, yet he has not that precise fashion of it, in which
he here presents himself with so much splendour as the head of
his church." The appearance here stands in the closest relation
to the matter in hand. It presents before our yiew those aspects
of Christ^s nature, which were adapted to the seyen churches, and
to all who are placed with them in similar states and circum-
stances, on the one hand to bring them to repentance, and on
the other to fill them with consolation and encouragement. What
he afterwards says to them in word, he prefigures to them in the
first instance through his appearance— the regular relation of ap*
pearance and word to each other in the sacred Scriptures — so that
the appearance bears throughout a onesided character. His glori-

1 In oppoBition to which Ihis alone is dtcisiTe, that, as already indicated, the order in
which the seven ohnrchea stand, was determined by local considerations and others of
a like oatward nature.

9

98 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

ons majesty, and his punitive righteonsness, these are the aspects
which here alone vere to come distinctly into view, and these
alone beam forth on ns from the following description. — Christ
appears in the midst of the seven lamps as the gnardian and the
judge of the church. The expression, ** like a Son of man,'* refers
to Dan. vii. 13, '* Behold upon the clouds of heaven came one like
a Son of man," and so, immediately suggests the most elevated
representations. For to that person was there given the dominion,
the honour, and the kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and
tongues serve him ; his dominion is air everlasting dominion,
which does not pass away, and his kingdom has no end. In the
expression itself there is involved a superhuman elevation. For,
if he was only like a Son of man, there must have been another
part of his Being, which far surpassed the human. The whole
succeeding description serves as an explanation of the likeness to
a Son of man, for every thing in it points to a superhuman
nature and glory. With Christ the designation of himself as the
Son of man had an apologetical import : be not offended at my
human lowliness of form, but remember that the Son of Ood in
Daniel had the appearance of a Son of man. Some, with ah un-
seasonable remembrance of the expression as uttered by our Lord
in the days of his flesh, understand by the Son of man precisely
Christ himself; and explain the like by supposing that] Christ
himself did not personally appear, but as Bossuet expresses it,
*' an angel under his form, and sent by his command." Exposi-
tors of the Reformed Church have made use of this exposition in
support of their party views.^ A personal appearance of Christ
here appeared to be dangerous to their doctrine of the Supper.
But it is decisive against such a view, that here, as in ch. xiv. 14,
it is not said, " like the," but " like a Son of man." — The robe,
or garment, flowing down even to the feet, was not the sign merely
of sacerdotal, but also of kingly dignity — comp. Isa. vi. 1, where
such a garment is represented as belonging even to king Jehovah,
the Lord of Hosts. The whole of the following description ex-
hibits Christ as king and judge, as was done also by the original
passage from which the expression, '' like a Son of man," was

1 Mark : Homo Ghristi lineamenta Johanni bene cognita referens. Neque enim
Christns ipse queiii coeloa eapere opoitet usqae ad judicii diem, descendit in terram, sed
•peoiem ani aimilem ezhibuit Johanni.

THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 14. 99

taken. " A king," says Bengel, " is more exalted than a priest."
Hence Scripture also, and in particular the Bevelation, speaks
much oftener of the kingdom, than of the priesthood of Christ,
even as he was not Aaron's, but David's Son." Both the long
robe and the golden girdle have respect to Daniel x. 5, where it
is said of Michael or of the Logos (see on ch. xii. 7), '' And I
lifted up mine eyes and saw, and behold there was a man clothed
in linen,! and his loins were girt about with pure gold." That
the girdle is called golden in regard to its buckle, is clear from
1 Mace. X. 89, xi. 58, xiy. 44, where the bearing of a golden
buckle on one's girdle, along with being clothed in purple, ap-
pears as the mark of royal state. In respect to the phrase :
about the breast, Bengel remarks, " One who is busy girds him-
self about the loins, Is. xi. 5. But he who girds himself about the
breast, must be in a state of dignified repose. Jesus by his suf-
ferings and death has overcome all, and so he now presents him-
self in his glory as one girt about the breast. What profound
reverence should fill our hearts before this incomparable majesty !"
Yet we can scarcely ascribe this meaning to the being girt about
the breast. It was hardly to be expected, that a material devia-
tion from Daniel should appear in the description. Christy besides,
appears here not in a state of rest, but of full activity. Accord-
ing to ch. ii. 1, he walks amid the seven lamps. The seven angels
also in ch. xv. 6, while employed in active service, are girt about
the breast.

Ver. 14. But his head and his hair were white as white wool,
as the snow^ and his eyes as aflame of fire. The mentioning
separately of the head and hair, while in Daniel mention is made
simply of the hair of the head, is to be explained from the con-
trast in respect to the feet in ver. 15 — comp. 2 Sam. xiv. 25,
where it is said of Absalom, that '^ from the sole of his foot even
to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him." In ver.
13 we have the clothing, in ver. 14 and 15 the uncovered parts.
The fundamental passage for the first half, is Dan. vii. 9, *' I be-
held till the thrones were placed, and the Ancient of days sat
down, whose garment was white as snow, and the hair of his head
as fine wool." The blinding whiteness of the hair (the addition.

1 The D'»Ta. plural, not linen clothing generally, bnt a long linen gannent.

9^

100 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

** as snow/' supplies the idea of glittering splendonr), denotes
not the untarnished purity of Christ, which would be out of
place here, where he appears to encourage and to frighten, but
his holiness, majesty, glory, to which also we are led by the
connection in which it stands with eyes like a flame of fire.
Gomp. upon whiteness as the colour of serene splendour, the
symbolical representation of glory ch. iy. 4. John xvii. 5,
" And glorify me, 0 Father, with thyself, with the glory which
I had with thee before the world was,** corresponds as to mean-
ing. The second half rests on Dan. x. 6, where it is said of
Michael, the Logos, ^* His body was as Tarsis, his countenance
like the lightning, and his eyes as torches of fire, and his urms
and his feet like burning brass.** According to this passage, by
the eyes like a flame of fire, is denoted neither the power of vi-
sion or the omniscience of Christ, nor his beauty, but only the
energetic character of his punitiye righteousness, in accordance
with the common symbolism of Scripture, which uniformly em-
ploys fire as the image of anger. For in that passage the eyes
as torches of fire appear in the midst of warlike accompaniments,
between the countenance like lightning, and the arms and feet
like burning brass, ready to destroy eyerything that comes in
their way. We are led also to the same result by a comparison
of the other passage in Daniel yii. 9 which forms the basis of the
first half. After the words already quoted, it follows there,
" His throne was pure flame of fire, and its wheels burned with
fire ;" comp. yer. 10, " A stream of fire went out from him.'* The
Lord appears there to execute judgment on the world. His holi-
ness and glory, shadowed forth under the colour of his clothing
and his hair, shews that no one can escape out of his hand. His
punitiye righteousness imaged by the flame of fire shews that he
possesses the energetic will to punish his adversaries. A similar
combination of holiness and anger represented under the image
of fire meets us in the descriptions given by Ezekiel, i. 27, viii. 2,
of the Lord when appearing for judgment. The parallel passages
also in the Revelation itself shew that the eye as a flame of fire is
the eye sparkling with indignation ; that from it streams forth the
fiery zeal, which sh<all consume the adversaries (Heb. x. 27) as
well within as without his church ; so that there comes forth the
admonition, Be afraid, and also. Be not afraid. In ch. xix. 12

THE APPEARANCE OF CHI^IST, I. 15. 101

the words, " and his eyes are as a flame of fire," are followed by,
*^ and in righteousness he judges and makes war ;** while in yer.
15 he is represented as *' having a sharp sword going out of his
mouth.'* In ch. ii. 18, eyes as of a flame of fire, and feet like
burning brass, are united together, and both appear as the ground
at once of threatening and of promise to those in Thyatira. Woe
to those who have against them him whose hair is white as wool
and as snow, and whose eyes are as a flame of fire. Happy they
who have him on their side. Though the whole world should be
leagued together against him, he can laugh them to scorn.

Ver. 15. And his feet like clear brass, as if they glowed in
an oven, and his voice as the sound of great waters. On the
first half Bengel says : '* This has respect to his great power,
with which he brings all under him, as with a bar of metal,
which at the same time is burning hot, one can give a very
poweriiil thrust. Oh, how will he tread down all his enemies !"
Clear brass, in the sense of heated brass, Ghalkolibanos, is an
enigmatical term, formed by John himself in a peculiar manner.
For which reason the words, " as if they glowed in an oven," are
added by way of explanation. And hence these words, being
merely of an explanatory character, are wanting in the second
passage, where the Ghalkolibanos occurs, ii. 18.^ After the de-

1 There can be no doubt that the Chalkolibaoos corresponds to the Nechoshet Kalal
of £z. i. 7, where it is said of the Cherabim : " And they sparkle (in the feet) as the
aspect of Nechoshet Kalal;'' and in Dan. z. 6 it is said of Michael : ** And his arms
and his feet like the aspect of Nechoshet Kalal." In this expositors agree, only several
sappose that Cbalkohbanos at the same time corresponds to the C haemal, ^nvn, in £z.
i. 27, while they quite improperly identify this with the Nechoshet Kalal ; see the proof
given of the complete difference at eh.iv. 3. If^ therefore, we would determine the sig-
nification of Ghalkolibanos, we must in the first instance settle that of Nechoshet Kalal.
This properly signifies clear or light brass. But in the two passages this is used not in
the sense of shining brass, bnt of brass in a glow-heat, as was perceived by the old trans-
lators, the LXX. H^aorpatTToaVf Vulg. aes candens, Chal. aes flammans, Peschito fnlgu*
rans. That we must think not of glittering brass, but of brass in a glow-heat, appears,
1, from what precedes in Daniel, ** and his face was as tbe appearance of lightning, and
his eyes as flames of fire." 2, By comparing the passages in EzekieJ, ch. i. 27, viii. 2,
" From the loins and under there wus seen as the appearance of fire/ 3, By the d^:is3
in FiZ. i.7, which signifies not glittering, but emitting sparks, scintillantes. With this
result, which we have obtained by a comparison of Nechoshet Kalal, agrees the expla-
natory clause, " as if they glowed in an oven ;" and also that other, '* his feet are as
pillars of fire," in ch. x 1. Having thus ascertained the sense, we shall not need to be
in doubt as to the derivation. The only legitimate derivation is that from xoKkov,
brass, and naaV, whiteness, here used of the whitish glitter of much heated brass. ^3i^,
according to Buxtorf, means albare, album, candens, ignitum reddere, candefacere ; i*a^

102 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

scription of the more important featares, there foUovs now what
else seemed worthy of notice in the appearance — the voice, what
he had in his right hand, and what proceeded ont of his mouth,
last of all his countenance like the sun, far transcending the splen-
dour of the stars in his right hand. The voice, from the connec-
tion is that with which he chides his enemies whether within or
without the church, and which for them utters the thundering
and destructive cry. Thus far, but no farther. " The voice as the
voice of many waters," is from Dan. x. 6, ** and the voice of his
words like a great clamour," coupled with Ez. xlii. 2, " And his
voice was the voice of many waters." Gomp. also Ps. xcii. 3, 4.
The world-power breaks forth like a tempestuous sea ; but more
glorious than the sea with its swelling waves is the Lord in the
height, and he loudly utters his voice.

y er. 16. And had seven stars in his right hand ; and out of
his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his face shone <is
the sun in its strength. In accordance with the uniform sym-
bolical usage of the Revelation, the stars denote rulers ; comp.
upon the stars as symbols of a ruler's greatness and glory, at ch.
vi. 13, xii. 4. By the explanation given in ver. 20 the seven
stars signify the overseers of the seven churches. The repre-
sentations of these under this symbol certainly accords ill with
the view of those, who maintain the democratic character of the
Christian polity. *' Pure society-officials, whose authority flowed
from no other source than that of the church itself," who '' were
simply the church's presidents and nothing more," could not possi-

metaJloram in igne candefactio. Examples of similar bastard-ivords are given .by Bo-
chart Hieroz. III. p. 900, Lips. The supposition of such a peculiar cumposition is here
attended with the less difficulty, as the fact of the words nowhere occurring except here
and in ch. ii 18, places it beyond a doabt that John had formed it, and as the appended
explanation also shows, that it was of an enigmatical description. Accordingly a quite
ordinary derivation, such as that of Hitzig, who has revived the old exploded opinion
that xaXffoX{/3avo« stands for x^^'^o'^X^^'stirov, has the presumption not for, but against
it. In the formation of xaX«co\/^ai/o« we arc presented with a small image of the inner-
most nature of the Apocalypse. The singular manner in which the Hebrew and the
Hellenic are fused together in it, proved anciently a stone uf stumbling to the existing
theology of the Greek church, on which many actually fell. Those whose calling it
is to reveal the secrets of God, delight sometimes to stamp on their productions, even in
the individual and the external, something of a mysterious, enigmatical character. In
Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zeohariah, not a little of this is to be found. Even the Gospel of
John, and it alone among the Gospels, presents something similar to this ; for example,
Sychar for Sychem in ch. iv. 6 : see my Beitr. II. p. 25.

THB APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 16. 103

bly have been represented under the symbol of stars. This quite
plainly betokens a power over the community^ as does also the
circumstance, that generally a double symbol is given for the
rulers and the spiritual community, which strangely disagrees
with the Tiew now so much cried up ; and still further, the strength
and greatness of the charges, which are given in the epistles to
the rulers, which necessarily imply the elevation of their oflSce.
For only to whom much is given, can much be required 6f them.
It is equally at variance with the view now currently entertained,
what Paul says, in Acts xx. 28, to the elders of the church of
Ephesus : " Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the
flock, over the which the Holy G^host hath made you overseers,
to feed the church of God," if only it is viewed with an unpreju-
diced eye, and not in the light of this present tipie, which is so
much averse to all restraints both of law and authority. That
Christ has the stars in his right hand, marks his unconditional
power over them. No one can deliver them out of his hand, when
he will punish ; but no one can pluck them out of his hand, if
they remain faithful. Gomp. John x. 28, 29, " And I give to
them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
one pluck them out of my hand. My Father who gave them me
is greater than all, and no one can pluck them out of my Father*a
hand.'* That we are not in a partial manner to lay stress merely
on the protection^ is clear from the two-fold respect in general
that the descriptions of Christ bear. In ch. ii. 1, the words,
** who holds the seven stars in his right hand," must lay the
foundation for the threatening in ver. 5 not less than for the
promise in ver. 7. But ch. iii. 1 is quite decisive, as there threat-
ening and judgment greatly preponderate. — Out of his mouth
goes a sharp two-edged sword. This is an image, not of the
saving efficacy, but of the destroying power of the word, which
proceeds from the Almighty. It denotes the resistless energy
of Christ's power in punishing his enemies, alike internal and
external. This is clear from ch. ii. 12, compared with ver. 16,
wher^ the two-edged sword is directed against the false seed
in the church, and from xix. 21, where it brings destruction
to the antichristian heathen power. The proper fundamental
passage is Isa. xlix. 2. There, the servant of the Lord Christ
says, "And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword,'* q. d.

104 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

he has inyested me with his omnipotence, so that my word,
like his, brings irresistible destmction to my enemies. Comp.
li. 16, where the Lord says to his servant, "I put my word
into thy mouth" (I endow thee with my almighty word), " that
thou mayest plant the heavens and lay the foundations of the
earth (mightest bring in an entirely new state of things, a total
revolution, mightest introduce a well-ordered instead 6f a disoi^
dered world), and say to Zion, Thou art my people" (mightest
raise the church from the dust of humiliation to a state of glory).
Besides this undoubted allusion to the Old Testament fundamen-
tal passages, there is also, as appears, a reference to Heb. iv. 12,
" For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than a
two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit, and joints and marrow, and is a judge of the thoughts
and intents of the heart."^ The word of God, by which he ex-
cludes sinners of the present day from salvation, and dooms them
to destruction, as he once did those of former ages (comp. 5) is
not a dead, impotent word, a mere threatening, but such an one
as immediately carries its fulfilment along with it ; according to
that, " He spake and it was done.** By the sword being repre-
sented as going out of the mouth of Christ, or by the destructive
power being attributed to his mere word, he appears as one pos-
sessing divine power. For it belongs to God to slay with the
word of his mouth, Hos. vi. 5 ; in the Wisdom of Solomon, Gods
almighty word is described as a sharp sword, which fills all with
death ; and the same subject is discoursed of in Heb. iv. 12.
Other expressions are used to describe Christ's participation in
this divine prerogative, in Isa. xi. 4, " And he smites the earth
with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he
slays the wicked,'* and in 2 Thess. ii. 8, which refers to that pas-
sage in Isaiah. Woe to the Seven Stars, if they have against
them Him out of whose mouth proceeds a sharp, two-edged
sword ! But happy if he stands on their side ! They shall
then no longer faint before the world, however formidable may be
the attitude it assumes against them ! A glance to the sharp,
two edged sword, and they are filled with consolation ! — ^The face

1 It is only in these two passages that the ex^nmion fi&xaH>a Hvro/iot ocean in the
New Testament Nor is there any passage of the Old Testament which is related in
thought, like Heb. iv. 12, to the one before as.

THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 17. 105

of Ghristi is as the sun shining in his strength, when no clouds,
vapour, or damps, yeil his splendour in the clear sky. On the
sun as a symbol of the glory of the Lord, see on ch. xii. 1. That
the visage is here first thought of, can only have lErisen from the
respect had to the stars, which pervades the whole description of
Christ's appearance. " There is one glory of the sun, and an-
other glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars,'' 1 Cor.
XV. 41 ; and as the splendour of the sun is to that of the stars, so
does the glory of Christ immensely transcend that of his servants
in his kingdom. In ch. xii. 1, also, the sun and a crown of stars
are put together. Bengel : " In the visible world there is no
brightness like the sun*s. A person born blind, who in other re-
spects was richly endowed, declared that he would be content to
be blind, if he could only see the sun for a little, as he had heard
such wonderful things of it. We are in the constant habit of
seeing this glorious body, but we cannot fail to regard it as pre-
eminently an image of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In
the days of humiliation and suffering, his face was spit upon,
struck, treacherously kissed ; but now it is full of brightness.
This King shall we sometime see in his beauty, and conse-
quently shall be like him."

Ver. 17. And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as one dead,
and he laid his right hand on me, and said : Fear not John
understands the twofold aspect of the appearance, recognizes that
the glory of the Lord and the energy of his righteousness have
the church as well as the world for the field of their operations,
and, forgetting his prophetical office, penetrated by the feeling of
his personal sinfulness, sinks overwhelmed to the ground. But
He, who once also in the days of his flesh, when he was trans-
figured before his disciples, and his countenance shone as the sun,
and they fell upon their fiice and were greatly afraid, had in so
gentle and powerful a manner touched them and said, *' Arise,
and be not afraid" (Matt. xvii. 6, 7), the same here also laid hold
of his servant. Bengel : ** Before the sufferings of Jesns, John
enjoyed such confidential intimacy with him, that he lay in his
bosom during the feast of the last Supper; and now, scarcely

1 That the 8\J/it is to be taken here in the sense of face, is plain from the parallel pas-
sage, ch. X. 1 : Ko2 t6 nrpocmrov dvrov «^« o HXiot, Tohn alone in the New Testament
uses 8\lf It, and both here and in the other passages, Qospel xi. 44, vii. 24, only in the
rare signification ot/kce.

106 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

sixty years after, was this elder, this aged apostle, so oyer-
whelmed with a look. What a brightness mast there haye been
in the appearance of the Lord !" How deep, we add, mnst the
conscience of daily sin also be in the very holiest ! That John,
when he saw Christ, fell down at his feet as one dead, forms a
practical commentary on his words, 1 John i. 8, " If we say, we
have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us."
That Christ laid his right hand upon him and said, " Fear not,*'
in this is found a proof of the truth declared in the words that
immediately follow, " If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just
to forgive our sins, and purifies us from all unrighteousness.*'
Had John not been free from reigning sin, and truly penitent in
regard to his sins of infirmity, he could not have received the
comfort of the address, bidding him not to fear. Under the Old
Testament, such immediate intercourse with heavenly beings,
even with angels (Dan. viii. 17, 18, Luke ii. 10), but most of all
with the Lord and his Bevealer, especially when he appeared in
his glorious Majesty, filled with a profound terror the minds even
of his holiest servants. The fervid appearance of the Lord's
glory which Isaiah saw, ch. vi. (comp. ver. 4, " And the house
was full of smokey from the fire on the golden altar), primarily had
respect, not to him, but to the ungodly people to whom he was
going to be sent as a messenger of wrath. Tet even he cried out
on beholding it, " Woe is me, for I am undone, for I am a man
of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips, and
mine eyes have seen Che King, the Lord of Hosts." Ezekiel, in
ch. i. 28, falls upon his face when the Lord appears to him in his
burning glory, although the indignation was kindled not against
him, but against incorrigible sinners, comp. iii. 23, xlii. 3. Da-
niel falls down, ch. viii. 17, 18, when Gabriel comes to him, in
utter impotence on the ground, but the angel touches him and
raises him up again, so that he is able to stand. But Dan. x, 7,
ss., comes nearest to the passage before us. Daniel falls on the
ground when he sees Michael, the angel of the Lord, in his burn-
ing glory, '' and lo I a hand touched me and set me on my knees,
and on my hands." In regard to the laying hold here with the
right hand, what Havernick has remarked on that passage of
Daniel is quite applicable : '* As the result and object of the
touching with the hand, we have not merely to think of the rais-

THE AFPEARANCB OF CHRIST, I. 18. 107

ing up of Daniel, which always presupposes a strengthening that
had already been experienced, but the entire agency of the angel
as manifesting itself in beneficent working toward Daniel (attactus
sanitatem et yires conferens, Geier), of which the outward touch
is to be regarded as the symbol." Bengel says : ** In former
times the Lord Jesus had healed mnch sickness, and strengthened
much weakness by the laying on of his hand, and in the same
manner he imparts here to John a plentiful supply of living
energy. How gently and graciously was this done to John I"

Ver. 18. I am the first and the last ; and the living, and I
was deady and behold I am alive for evermore^ and I have the
keys of hell and of death. After the fear had been remored
from the Seer, he is directed to the consolatory and elevated im-
port, which the appearance of the Lord of glory has for him and
for the church he represents, the care and burden of which he
bears upon his heart, whose microcosm he in a manner was.
Fear not, but rather hope, be confident and rejoice, for, etc.
Three glorious predicates meet us here, which are eacb fitted to
inspire a joyful hope, the first and the last, the living, the pos-
sessor of the keys of death and of hell. — The expression, " I am the
first and the last/' is used in Isaiah three times of Jehovah, xli.
4, xliv. 6, xlviii. 12 ; and three times also in this book of Christ,
comp. ii. 8, xxii. 13. That it expresses what is included in full
Godhead, appears from Isa. xliv. 6, '' I am the first and the last,
and besides me there is no God.'' That his being the first refers
to the creation of the world, is clear from Isa. xlviii. 13, where
the word is explained by '' I, my hand has founded the earth, and
my right hand has stretched out the heaven, I call to them and
they stand forth together." lam the first — for in the beginning
was the Word ; all things have been made by him, and without
him was nothing made that was made, John i. 1 — and so I also
am the last : all that has been made shall at the end lie at my
feet, and no one that abides in me needs to vex himself about it ;
comp. on ch. i. 8. — The living is also a peculiarly divine predicate,
and especially, he who lives for evermore. The latter is used in
ch. iv. 9, 10, X. 6, of the Most High God on the ground of Dent,
xxxii. 40. Purposely and intentionally, everything is in the
Revelation attributed to Christ which belongs to the Supreme
God, in order to exhibit the truth that he is equal to God in

3

1 08 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

power and glory. The living is at the same time the life-giying ;
comp. on ch. yii. 2. " If Christ lives, what can trouble me V
Christ himself said in John xiv. 19, *' I live and ye shall live also.'*
His life is the pledge to his church that she cannot remain
in death. — That Christ had been dead, so far from subvert-
ing the truth, that he is the living and the life-giving, is
rather a security for it. His life has the more gloriously mani-
fested itself by the victory over death in the resurrection. And
for his church it was through his death and his resurrection that
he first properly became the source of life. — Christ has the keys
of death and of hell. He opens and no one shuts, he shuts and
no one opens, according to ch. iii. 7, and Isa. xxii. 22, " And I
give the key of the house of David upon his shoulder, and he
opens nnd no one shuts, and he shuts and no one opens.*' By
virtue of his absolute power of the keys he shuts death and hell
for his people, that they may not go thither ; he opens them for
Satan and his servants, and thrusts these down thither, comp.
ch. XX. 1, ss. From the connection, only that kind of death can
be thought of which is a real evil, and the object of fear. But
this bodily death in itself is not according to the New Testament
point of view. We are led to the same result also by the con-
nection of death with hell, Hades. In the Revelation, and gener-
ally, Hades is brought into notice only in respect to de<id sinners ;
see on vi. 8. This renders it manifest, that natural death is here
to be thought of not simply in itself (since it may even be a great
good, a passage into life), but in so far only as it is the punish-
ment of sin and is associated with the second death. From this
Christ keeps his own by keeping them stedfast amid the trials
and persecutions which Satan and the world bring upon them, so
that they are not tempted above measure. — Bengel : " To these
descriptions, contained in ver. 13 — 18, the titles of our Lord in
the epistles to the seven churches refer, especially those in the
four first. Still, there is much in the description which is not ex-
pressly repeated in the titles, and much again in the titles, espe-
cially in the four last epistles, which is not to be found in the
description.**

Ver. 19. Write therefore what thou hast seen, and what is,
and what shall be done afterwards. The therefore, which is
wanting in Luther, is the connecting link with ver. 11 : Since

THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 19. 109

therefore thy fear has been remoTed, do what I now enjoin thee.
Bengel : " After John had been raised up, the command to write
was with emphasis repeated, and the discourse of oar Lord, which
had been interrupted, was continued.** The execution of that
command is to be understood as first taking place at the end of
ch. iii., after John had fully received the commission. Bengel
says : " When this was uttered, John immediately wrote what
with us forms the first chapter. The second and third chapters
were afterwards dictated to him.*' But according to this yiew
the description of what John saw would not be connected with
the salutation. John must first write what he saw. It is this
which we find written in ch. i. 11 — 18. He had seen the Lord
as light and as fire in his surpassing glory and in the glow of his
fiery indignation, rich in help for his own people, threatening
destruction to the world as hostile to God and Christ, and to the
unfaithful among his professing people — had seen also the seven
stars in his hand, and the seven golden candlesticks, in the midst
of which he walked. — He must further write what is. He must
unfold the internal state of the seven angels and the seven
churches, as is done in the seven epistles. This also is an im-
portant object of prophecy, with which the holy men of the Old
Testament occupied themselves as much as with the unveiling of
the future. The reality of things is not less concealed from the
natural eye than the future. Loadicea said, " I am rich and have
need of nothing, and knew not that she was wretched, and miser-
able, and poor, and blind, and naked.*' " If you all prophecy,
and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is
convinced of all, he is judged of all. And thus are the secrets
of his heart made manifest ; and so falling down on his face he
will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth'* (1
Cor. xiv. 24, 25.) — John, finally, must write what shall be done
afterwards. This is the second part of the contents of the seven
epistles. Along with discoveries of the real state of the churches^
these contain announcements of the coming of the Lord, threaten-
ings against the insincere, promises to those who should over-
come, all in close connection with the condition of the particular
angels and their several churches. — The explanations of the verse
that deviate from the one now given rest upon the supposition,
already proved to be erroneous, that we have here the introduc*

110 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

tion to the whole book. They all agree in conceiring the words
before us to contain the plan of the entire Apocalypse. But the
groundlessness of this supposition can be easily pointed out.
First, in ver. 11, it is said, " What thou seest, write in a book."
Here, on the other hand, " What thou sawest, and what is, and
what shall be afterwards." The command here is a resumption
of the command in yer. 11, as the therefore plainly shews. So
that all the three things named here must be comprehended under
the description there of " What thou seest." What was already
seen were the seren lamps with the Lord in their midst, and the
seren stars. The things described as being, and as going to be here-
after, cannot be referred to the indeterminate, but must be under-
stood of the object of the seeing, and through this reference must
receive their more immediate determination, and their inclusion in
the " what thou seest" of ver. 11. The word must point to the
present state of the lamps and stars in their relation to the Lord
and their future fate. Then^ it is only in the yiew now adopted
that yer. 20 fits properly in to the preceding context. It drags
behind in a quite unsuitable manner, if in the words, " what is
and what shall be done afterwards," the reference to the lamps
and to the stars is given up. To these considerations we may
still add the special reasons, which are furnished by the other
explanations. Bengel and others refer the things which John
saw to ch. i. 11 — 18 ; the " what is" to the seven epistles ; the
'^ what shall be hereafter," to ch. iv. 1 onwards to the end of the
book. But the " what is" would very imperfectly indicate the
contents of the epistles. These are taken up, in their promises
and threatenings, with that also which shall be hereafter. Be-
sides, the epistles represent *' what is" not generally, but only in
respect to the seven churches. But if we derive here the limi-
tation from the preceding context, then we must also limit the
import of " what shall be afterwards." Finally, it is against the
reference of this last clause to the portion iv. 1 to the end, that
we have there an entirely new beginning, new in respect to the
state of inspiration and new in respect to the scene. Still weaker
is another exposition : '^ what thou hast seen," ch. i. 11 — 18,
what (it) is, what is thereby signified, and " what shall be done
afterwards," ch. iv. 1 — 22, v. The necessity for shoving in an it
is alone a proof of the arbitrariness of this mode of expla-

THE APPEARANCE OF CHRIST, I. 20. Ill

nation; and then the contrast, what thou sawest, and what
it is, is a strange one. John had seen nothing else, than
^ritual lamps, and spiritual stars. The are suits well, comp.
yer. 20, hut not in the sense in which it is here taken. The
what is, and the what shall he done afterwards, also plainly form
a contrast — the present and the future that is yet to he deve-
loped out of it. Lastly, according to this exposition, the rery
thing would be passed over in silence, whidh comes out so pro-
minently in what follows, the reference to the present state of
the churches. The whole meaning of the epistles is destroyed
by it. These receire the character of a non-essential intercala-
tion, to which no respect is had in the plan.

Ver. 20. The mystery of the seven stars, which t7u>u sawest
in my right hand, and the seven golden lamps. The seven stars
are angels of th£ seven churches, and the seven lamps are seven
churches. John must write the mystery of the seven stars, and
what in respect to them is now and shall come to pass afterwards.
For only when this should have been written, would the mystery
of the seven stars be fnlly brought out. We should know little
of them if we merely learned what is said of them in the preced-
ing description. Ch. ii. 1, ss., is but a specializing of the com-
mand, which is given here generally ; not : and write further to
the angel, but : write therefore. The explanation : the seven
stars are, etc. by this view comes in quite naturally and easily.
The words " the mystery — ^golden lamps," are not put as if for the
purpose of attaching thereto the explanation, so that they perform
the service merely of a peg. They are necessary in order to de-
termine more exactly the sphere of the '' what thou sawest, what
is and shall be done afterwards," and cutting off for the at-
tentive every kind of false meaning. By knystery, secret is always
meant in the New Testament (see for example Matth. xiii. 11,
Eph. V. 32, and here ch. x. 7, xvii. 6, 7), " the great secrets
which only God's Spirit can unfold" — the things and doctrines
which are plainly inaccessible to the natural man, which cannot
be apprehended excepting by fellowship with the Triune God and
on the ground of his internal and external Revelation. It
belongs to the nature of a mystery, that even after its objec-
tive revelation it should remain beyond the apprehension of those,
who have not opened their heart to receive the Holy Spirit ;

112 THE SEVBN EPISTLES.

as, in spite of the revelations given by John, the fleshly and im-
penitent in the seven churches still continued to grope on in
darkness in regard to the stars and the lamps, entertaining con-
cerning them the most earthly and superficial views. The mys-
tery never consists of things, in which the difficulty is of a merely
formal nature, and capable of being removed by an explanation.
Such would be an enigma, but no secret. Accordingly, the mys-
tery of the seven stars, and of the seven lamps, was not described
or made known by the following explanation, but by the com-
munications, which are contained in ch. ii. and iii. — by the dis-
covery there given of the most concealed depths of the heart, and
the disclosure of the future, in regard to which mere natural
knowledge is involved in the strangest illusions. The formal ex-
planation of the stars and the lamps, which immediately follows,
is only to be regarded as a sort of hasty sketch, serving to intro-
duce and prepare the way for the more extended illustration of
the secret which is given in ch. ii. and iii. — In this formal ex-
planation the question first of all arises, whether the discourse is
of angels or of messengers of the seven churches. The 0776X09
of itself can signify both ; but there can be no doubt we must
render : the seven stars are angels of the seven churches. In
support of this there is, first of all, the fact that this word, which
so often occurs in the Revelation, is always found in the sense of
angel. Then the connection, in which in the Old Testament
stars and angels not rarely occur, as forming together the heavenly
hosts of God — comp. for example, Fs. ciii. 20, 21. Further, when
we explain here : the angels of the churches, we have no room to
doubt from whom the sending proceeds; the angels are God's
messengers, the angels of the churches could only be the angels
whom God had sent to the churches, and had intrasted with the
charge of them. Comp. Matth. xviii. 10, " See that ye despise
not one of these little ones, for I say to you, that their angels do
always behold the face of their Father in heaven ;** according to
which the angel of any one is the angel to whom the charge ot
him is intrusted ; Acts xii. 15. But, on the other hand, the
messengers of the churches could only be those whom the
churches themselves had sent or their commissioners. We must
then, with Yitringa and those who hare followed him, think of
an office in the Christian church, analogous to that which had

THE SALUTATION, I. 20. 113

existed in the Jewish, that of -^•^;25 *vrVu^> ^^^ deputies of the
church. Bengel was drawn into this opinion, and remarks,
" There was in each of the seren churches, which were doubtless
planted after the Israelitish stem, a single president, who was
named by the Hebrews the angel or deputy of the church, and
who by yirtue of his office represented the church." But this
opinion, into which Yitringa was betrayed by his zeal for making
out the parallel between the Christian and the Jewish constitution
of the church, appears on eyery account untenable. There is no
trace to be found elsewhere of such an office haying been trans-
ferred to the Christian church. The historically known presidents
of the early churches had nothing to do with the " deputy of the
churches." The place of the latter was quite a subordinate one,
that of a mere clerk to conduct the deyotions of the congregation.
The symbol of the stars, which indicates an authoritatiye power
oyer the churches, would haye been altogether unsuitable as a
designation of such a person. The angels or messengers of the
churches appear throughout the seyen epistles as the soul of these.
But this " the deputies of the churches" were not at all, at least
not as distinguished from the churches themselyes, which are here
indeed represented under a separate symbol, that of the lamps.
Contradistinguished from the churches, which were represented by
them, they had next to no importance. If, then, we must not
think of *• the deputies of the churches," but only of the messen-
gers of God to the churches, we must translate : the angels of the
churches. But the further question arises : Is the name of Gods
heavenly messengers merely transferred to his earthly ones, or
are real angels meant f Were we to adopt the former opinion,
then we could understand the object of the transference to be, to
bring clearly and prominently out the principle from dbove^ to re-
mind the president of the dignity of his office, of the responsibility
of his position, and the solemnity of his account. The idea of
such a transference may the more readily be adopted, as we find
also in the Old Testament undoubted examples and specimens of
it. In Eccl. y. 6, '' Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to
sin (by uttering a yow which thou hast not strength to fulfil) ; and
say not before the angel. It is an error (think not, that thou
canst undo the eyil by an easy. It is an error) ; wherefore should
God be angry at thy yoice, and destroy the work of thy hands V*
h

114 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.-

There the priesthood is denoted the angel, in order to mark his
high dignity and the impropriety of any thing like lerity in hia
presence. He stands as God's representative, comp. 2 Cor. t.
20, and the LXX. and the Syriac have precisely : before God.
We must not render: before the messenger, for one knows not
then, whose messenger. The angel, implies that the sending is
of God. In Mai. iii. 1, " Behold I send my messenger before
thee,'* it is better on acconnt of the reference there to Ex. xxiii
20, to translate, " Behold I send my angel," than " Behold I send
my messenger." From the subject it is impossible that any thing
but an earthly messenger can be meant, the prophet, the whole
band of divine messengers who should prepare the way for the ap-
pearance of the Saviour, and herald the approach of the kingdom of
grace (see Christology on Mai. iii. 1.) But the nameof the heavenly
messenger was employed to designate the earthly, that the grace
of God, the supernatural origin of the provisions connected with
salvation, and the dread responsibility of rejecting what was to
be provided, might be more distinctly brought into view. If we
must, therefore, translate, '* my angel," which is also justified
by the relation of the angel there to the angel of the covenant in
what immediately follows, then we must understand of the angel
of the Lord what is said in ch. ii. 7, 8, " For the priest's lips
must keep knowledge, and they should seek the law at his mouth ;
for he is the angel (commonly, the messenger) of the Lord of
Hosts." For, the two passages stand closely related to each
other. And if in these three passages the messenger must give
way to the angel, so in Isa. xlii. 19, we should also translate,
*' Who is blind but my servant, and deaf as the angel, whom I
send?" in Isa. xliv. 26, " Who fulfils the word of his servant,
and executes the counsel of his angel ;" in Hag. i. 13, '' And he
spake to Haggai, the angel of the Lord, in a message of the
Lord to the people" — the rather so as ^^'to, in so far as it
is used of divine messengers, elsewhere always denotes only
angels.

The other opinion, that in the passage before us real angels
are meant, has recently been defended by ZuUig and De Wette.
The angel must be the guardian angel of the community, '' as in
Daniel every nation has its ruling angel, and according to the
Rabbins an angel is placed over every people." " Btit always,"

THB SALUTATION, 1. 20. 116

remarks Ziillig, '' are these angels in the mind of the poet him-
self nothing more than imaginary existences, and prosaically con-
sidered they are simply the personified communities themselves."
And De Wette also thinks that as to meaning the angel is the
spiritual community, or the spiritual substance of the community^
" so that one may say with Arethas, the angel is just the com-
munity or church itself." We must, howeyer, decide entirely for
the first view, for the transference of the mere name of the angel
to the overseers of the several churches. Against the view, which
would understand it of real angels, and of these as figurative per-
sonifications of the churches, important considerations have been
urged by Bothe (Th. I. p. 423) : '' There would therefore be one
image or symbol used to express another, and the stars would be
the symbol of a symbol. Besides, the angels and the churches
would stand immediately beside each other> and of both it would
be spoken in one and the same sentence, that they are to be un-
derstood under the symbols of the stars and the lamps ; yet of
these two symbolized objects must one only be a reality, and the
other a mere symbol ! And not only so, but this symbol be the
symbol of the reality placed in immediate juxtaposition with it !'*
We add, still another consideration. No valid objection can be
urged against the supposition of angels as purely ideal forms.
Such ideal beings unquestionably occur in this book itself, in ch.
xvi. 5, where mention is made of the angel of the waters in a
figurative sense ; in ch. xiv. 8, where the angel who has power over
fire is spoken of; in ch, xxi. 12, where the idea of the Lord's
protecting guardianship over the new Jerusalem is viewed as em-
bodied in the twelve angels that stand at its gates. To these
passages may be added ch. v. 4 of John's Gospel, which has
proved so great a stumbling block to prosaic copyists and exposi-
tors, in which the symbolical mode of contemplation breaks forth
in the midst of the simple narrative of facts, such as could only
be expected with the Seer among the evangelists. But if the Seer
introduced here such purely ideal angelic forms, it could only have
been as embodiments and personifications of the power of God as
exercised in behalf of the churches. Angels, however, as they are
here considered beings of a higher sphere, to whom epistles are
addressed, who are partly rich and partly poor, partly stedfast, partly

A2

116 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

Inkewarm, partly admonished to be faithfol, and to repent, who have
a local habitation (ch. ii. 13), who, as the admonition to be faith-
fill unto death presupposes, could die — such are a nonentity for
which not the least analogy is to be found in Scripture. Against
the supposition that angels are personifications of the churches,
it may further be stated, that the symbol of the stars is alone de-
cisive, a symbol which does not fitly apply to the churches, but
only to the presidents ; as also the praise which is bestowed on
the angel of the church of Ephesus on accoupt of his contendings
against false teachers — a feature which only suits those who had
the charge and orersight. There are other things also tending
in the same direction, such as the wife of the angel in Thyatira,
Jezebel, which will come under consideration when we reach the
particular parts.

There is still a third question, whether under the angels of the
churches single individuals are to be understood, bishops accord-
ing to a wide-spread opinion, or rather the directorship in these,
so that the angel, though in each case formally but one, still de-
noted in reality a number of persons. We must here decide for
the latter view. It has on its side the passages already quoted
from the Old* Testament, in which, by the ideal person of an
angel, the whole body of priests and prophets is denoted. But
still more decisive is the argument that, by referring it to a single
indiyidual, the bishop, one cannot be right as to the grounds on
which several expositors, from Salmasius downwards, hare sought
to shew, that between the angels and the churches no material
difference could exist. The position of an individual, however im-
portant it may be, is still not of such a kind that through his per-
son the community might be so immediately addressed, that he
might so unconditionally be considered as its soul, and their re-
pentance or their fidelity be regarded as so dependent on his.
If, on ^ the other hand, we understand by the angels the whole
church officers, all without distinction who were set apart to the
service of the church, this difficulty entirely disappears. Let it
only be considered how John, in the narrative formerly given,
makes the bishop responsible for individual souls, how Paul, in
Acts XX. 28, regarded the elders of Ephesus as those on whom
the spiritual state of the church entirely depended, how he calls

THE SALUTATION, I. 20. 117

them to lay to heart the high responsibility of their office, so that
only if they watched, tended, admonished every one day and night
with tears, could they be pore from the blood of all men. Let
the language also be compared, in which Peter in his first epistle,
ch. T. 1 — 5, writes to the elders as " ensamples of the flock." We
must not, howeyer, stand merely at the college of the elders^ the
presbytery of I Tim. iy. 14, as Polycarp begins his epistle to the
Philippians : " Polycarp and the elders that are with him, to the
church of God which dwells at Philippi," but, on the ground of
what is indicated in ch. ii. 19, we must also add the deaconship,
as Ignatius, in the superscription of his epistle to the Philadel-
phians, says, " especially if you are at one with the bishop, and
the presbyters and deacons that are with him." If the angels
are considered thus, the passage ch. ii. 5 can easily be understood,
" Bepent ; else I will come to thee quickly, and remove thy lamp
out of it^s place." If all that hold office in an organized church
have become degenerate, the church itself must have sunk into a
low condition, and every thing be ripe for judgment. — As to the
question regarding the age of episcopacy, nothing certain can be
obtained from what is said here of the angels. Whether we have
to think of the state, which presents itself to us in Acts xx., as
still continuing, — a college of presbyters on a footing of equality,
or whether a bishop with more or less of superior power already
stood at the head, we have no sufficient data for determining. —
In conclusion, we must throw some light upon the view which has
been set forth by Bothe, I. p. 425, " We have here, in fact, al-
ready the idea of an individual personality, in which the maui^
foldness of the church comes forth as in its true common ezpres^-
sion and life-organ, as in its proper concrete oneness, and attains
to its united consciousness ; in short, we have the idea of the
bishop though this idea had not yet found its realization — the
bishop was still only a purely ideal person." On the other hand
we remark, that this Connection of an idea and of a real exist*
ence, lamps or churches, would certainly be of a very rare de-
scription. Christ must then have had seven ideas in his hand.
By snatching at this idea the real church officials would be left
out of account. And then what was said against the actual
bishop must equally hold against the ideal one : the identification
of the angel with the community would be inexplicable, if by the

118 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

former a single indiridual were meant. Between a particular in-
dividaal and the whole of the community many differences, and
even entire contrasts, most exist as to praise and blame.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

Now follow the seven epistles, for which all after the three
first verses has been only of an introductory and preparatory na-
ture. The blessed Paul marks it in I Cor. xiv. 25 as one of the
most important purposes of prophecy to make manifest the secrets
of the heart. Scripture declares salvation only to those who form
the true church of the Lord, who live in the Spirit. But along
with the promise the admonition always goes hand in hand, and
always the more disposed the false seed are to appropriate
to themselves what belongs only to the true. To Isaias,
for example, the commission was given in the second part of his
prophecies to comfort the people of God, by announcing the ap-
proaching manifestation of the Lord. But with the announce-
ment of salvation the call to repent, and the admonition to be
faithful, is constantly combined ; comp. for example, ch. Ivi. 1,
" Thus saith the Lord, Keep ye judgment and do justice, for my
salvation is near to come, and my righteoasness to be revealed ;"
ch. Iviii. 1, ** Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trum-
pet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of
Jacob their sin." In the New Testament also, the proclamation
of Ood's judgment on the world, and his glorification of the
church, goes hand in hand with urgent admonitions to the mem-
bers of the latter to get themselves ready for the Lord's coming,
so that it may prove to them a blessing and not a curse. *^ Watch
ye therefore, and pray always,*' says our Lord in Luke xxi. 36,
'' that ye. may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that
shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." And
Peter in his second epistle, ch. iii. 11 , says, " Seeing that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be
in all holy conversation and godliness." So also John, speaking
of the Christian hope, declares that whoever has it, '* purifies
himself even as Christ is pure." Here, John is going to show to
the servants of Christ what must shortly come to pass, ch. i. 1,

INTRODUCTION. 119

he is going to rereal to them the salvation that Christ has pur-
posed to bring to his suffering church, avenging her of her ene-
mies, and raising her from the dust to sit upon the throne of his
glory. But before he is equipped by Christ for the fulfilment of
this calling, which he accomplishes from the beginning of ch. iy.
to the end of the book, he must prepare those committed to him
for the purpose of Christ — ^not, as Bengel thinks, for receiving
the Revelation, but for the great events of the future themselves.
He must dissipate the idea, that the name of Christians forms
the wall of separation between them and the world, call forth the
spiritual state of things which alone can render the coming of the
Lord salutary, awaken the slothful and unfaithful to repentance,
admonish the faithful and diligent to a steady perseverance and
continuance to the end ; comp. ii. 5, 10, 16, 25 ; iii. 11, 19.

In respect to the plan of the epistles Bengel gives a series of
excellent remarks, which we deem it right to communicate in his
own words. ** The conception of the seyen epistles is throughout
similar. For in each one there is, 1. A command to write to an
angel of a church. 2. A glorious title of Jesus Christ. 3. An
address to the angel of the church ; wherein is contained (1) a
testimony regarding its present mixed, or good, or bad condition ;
(2) an admonition to repentance or to stedfastness ; (3) an an-
nouncement of what is to take place, for the most part of the
coming of the Lord. 4. A promise to those that overcome, to-
gether with the awakening words, He that hath an ear, let him
hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.

'* The address in each epistle is couched in plainer language,
while in the promise Christ speaks more in a flowery style. In
the address the Lord Jesus Christ speaks primarily and imme-
diately to'the churches in Asia then existing, and more especially
to the angels of them ; the promise speaks in the third person of
those who then and also in future times should overcome.

" Of the seyen angels of the seven churches there were two,
those at Ephesus and Fergamos, in a mixed state, and two, those
at Sardis and Laodicea, in a very corrupt one. Not only those
whose state was bad, but also those with whom there was a lack,
are exhorted to repent, as are likewise the followers of Jezebel at
Thyatira, since she herself would not repent, and the angel there
did not need for himself to repent. Two, those at Smyrna and

120 ■ THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

Philadelphia, were in a very healthfal condition, and on that ac-
count were not called to exercise repentance, but were only ad-
monished to be stedfast. There is no mixed, or good, or bad
state, of which we hare not here a pattern, and profitable, salu-
tary instruction provided for it. Whether one may be so dead
as the angel of the church at Sardis, or may stand so well as that
at Philadelphia, and the aged apostle John himself, this book is
still fitted to be serviceable to him, and the Lord Jesus has some-
thing in it to say to him.

" In the seven epistles there are twelve promises. In the
third, fourth, and sixth, there is a double promise, and in the
fifth a threefold one, which are distinguished from each other
by a special word : I will give, I will not blot out, I will con-
fess, I will write. — In the promise for those that overcome, some-
times the enjoyment of the highest good, sometimes freedom from
the greatest troubles is held forth. The one is included in the
other, and when some one part of blessedness and glory is ex-
pressed, the whole is thereby to be understood (ch. xxi. 7.) That
part is particularly expressed which has reference to the virtues
and deeds mentioned in the preceding address. In these promises
notice is taken of various things, which are not again referred to
in the Revelation, as the manna, the confession of the name, the
inscribed name of the New Jerusalem, the sitting upon the throne.
Some things carry a resemblance to what is afterwards found in
the representations given of Christ, in particular, the secret name,
ch. xix. 12, the heritage of the nations, ch. xix. 15, the morning
star, ch. xxii. 16. Other things, again, occur afterwards in their
own place, as the tree of life, ch. xxii. 2, freedom from the second
death, ch. xx. 6, the name in the book of life, ch. xx. 12, xxi. 27,
remaining in the temple of Ood, ch. vii. 15, the name of Ood and
of the Lamb on the righteous, ch. xiv. 1, xxii. 4/'

What is said of the churches in praise or blame is completed
in the number three. The Refrain : *' Who has ears to hear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches,*' has ten words,
divided by three and seven, and the latter again by the three and
four. The seven number of the epistles is divided by the three
and four. For, in the three first, the call '* Who has an ear,*'
Ac, stands before the closing promise, while in the four last it
follows after the other. Then, in the four last epistles; the clos-

EPHESUS, CU. II. 1. 121

ing promise itself has a pecnliar constrnclion : He that oTercomes
I give to hiin.i This division most hare a quite definite ground,
and has already been noticed under i. 11. Elsewhere also, in
the seals, the trampets, and the vials, the seven is divided by the
four and three.

In his latter days Bengel strongly recommended to those about
him the careful meditation of the apocalyptic epistles. He said,
" There was scarcely any thing that was so much fitted to affect
and purify us."

THE EPISTLE TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN EPHESUS,

II. 1—7.

The servants of Christ in the church at Ephesus, in yhich Paul
had laboured for a longer period than at any other place, and
which he afterwards committed to the charge of Timothy (1 Tim.
i. 3), had not fully responded to the exhortation of Paul : ^' There-
fore watch, and remember, that by the space of three years I
ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." They
had displayed great zeal in contending against dangerous heretics,
who had appeared among them, '^ the grievous wolves" of whom
the apostle had forewarned them ; but with this zeal, whicL is
first of all acknowledged, they had forgotten their first love.
Hence they are impressively called to repentance.

Ver. 1. To the angel of the church in Ephe8U8 write: These
things saith he who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who
walks amid the seven golden lamps. It is not accidental that
exactly in this epistle, which begins the series, predicates are at-
tributed to Christ, which mark his unrestricted power over the
seven churches^ and their angels (and hence also over the church
in Ephesus and its angel.) These predicates, at the same time,
form here the foundation of the threatening in ver. 5, and of the
promise in ver. 7. The first is taken from ch. i. 16. The hold-
ing, however, here is stronger than the having there ; the dis-
tinction between the two is plainly indicated in ver. 26 ; Christ

1 Bengel: " In the four latter promises 6 vucmv, as if it bad the distinctiTe Hebr. ac-
cent, is marked with the greatest emphasis ; in the three former xai viKSavri (as an
equiralent for which in the second we have 6 vik&» without oSroc) there is a closer union
with the following verb."

122 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

holds them &st, so that no one can plack them ont of his hand,
whether he is minded to protect or to destroy them. The second
predicate is from ch. i. 12. There Christ is in the midst of the
seren golden lamps, here he walks in the midst of them. The
walking points to the circamstance, that the being of Christ in
the' midst of his chorch is one of continued actiyity, that he is
everywhere at hand whether the occasion may require him to
chastise or^to help her. A glance at him who walks in the midst
of the seven golden candlesticks is the best antidote against a
false security as well as despair.

Ver. 2. / know thy works^ and thy labour, and thy patience,
and how thou canst not bear them that are evil, and hast tried
those who say they are apostles and are not, and hast found
them liars. We have here, and in ver. 3, a threefold three of ac-
knowledgments before us, which the generous love of Jesus made
to take precedence of the blame, that there might be obtained for
this a more favourable ear and a more hopeful consideration. The
middle three throws light upon the first and the third, and sup^
plies a more limited application to what is there said in a generad
way. Accordingly, the works, the labour, the patience or sted-
fastness there refer to the zeal that had been shewn against false
teachers. If this is not perceived, then the reproach in ver. 4 of
their having lost their first love, will be incomprehensible. For,
where the first love has ceased, there a praiseworthy zeal in some
particular line may for a considerable period easily be found, the
love that still remains concentrating itself in that direction (a
dead orthodoxy, however zealous, would certainly not have re-
ceived such praise from the Lord) ; but it is in the nature of
things impossible that Christian works, labour, and stedfastness
generally could have been found there deserving of praise. With
the cause the efiect also is sure to cease. In like manner the
patiently borne sufferings in ver. 3 are such as were encountered
in their zeal against the false teachers. In ver. 6 all the praise,
which in ver. 2 and 3 had been conferred on the angel at
Ephesus, is collected into the one point, that he hated the
deeds of the Nicolaitans. There is great danger when the
church is called by the pressure of circumstances to give special
heed to some one important matter, that all her vigour shall be
concentrated there; and also great danger that the accusations

EPHESUS, CH. II. 2. 123

of e(m8cience regarding the neglect of other things shall then
be silenced byfianng the eye exclusively upon the exertions made
in the one department. It vas in that extremely perilonB eon*
dition that the angel of the church at Ephesus now stood. And
when in snch a condition, if the call to repent is resisted, yerj
soon also will all that is properly Christian in the one remaining
yirtue be imperilled. All onesidedness ends in the loss eyen of
the one side itself. It is dying life only that surviyes in a single
organ. When the other members haye become cold, the heart
will not continne long to beat.

The expression, " I know," occurs seven times ; " I know thy
works," four times according to the genuine text ; and, ac-
cording to the right division of the seven, mention is made
thrice of another object of knowing, *^ I know thy tribula-
tion," ii. 9, " I know where thou dwellest/* ii. 13, " I know
thy love," ii. 19. Regarding the works with the labour and
patience as forming the first three, it is certain that here the
discourse can only be of good works, or more definitely of Chris-
tian exploits against the teachers of erroneous tenets. We must
not conclude from the circumstance of the expression, " I know
thy works," occurring also there, where they were only the object
of blame, that works are used indifferently, and that only the di-
vine omniscience in general is brought into view. From its con-
nection alone with the labour and the patience the knowledge in-
dicated respecting the works, though in itself indefinite, receives a
more specific determination. The labour against the heretics did
not belong to the whole community, but to those that were in
ojfice ; comp. I Tim. v. 17, "Let the elders that rule well be counted
worthy of double honour, especially they who labour in the word
and doctrine." T\i^ patience in connection with the labour and
the not being able to bear the evil can only be active patience,
stedfastness. In this way alone do we get rid of the otherwise
troublesome repetition in ver. 3. The badness of those who were
evil consisted precisely in this, that they maintained they were apos-
tles and were not, but lied. Bengel remarks on the words," and
canst not bear them that are evil," as follows: " Many would regard
the pastor as a keen and contentious man, and cry out against him
as one who would not keep terms with others that were still not
to be rejected. But the Lord praises him. There was in him a
pure and tender regard for the truth. In his patience there was

124 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

a landable impatience. To be able, with a cold anconcern about
the good, to bear those who are sank in imparities, is not good.
It is not only said, Cleave to that which is good, bat also, Hate
and shnn that which is evil. Here one mast not be indifferent.
What is meant is not a self-willed intolerance, bat a jast hatred
against the evil, feeling the existence of such characters to be a bar-
den. For, where there is love to God, and something of an adverse
kind comes in the way, zeal will doabtless be awakened thereby. —
Paul had testified beforehand, that after his departare pernicioas
wolves woald come in, and from among themselves perverse teachers
woald arise ; in dealing with these the angel of the charch had
enoagh to do and to saffer." — The trying stands opposed to a su-
perficial enthusiasm, which at once takes all for gold that glitters.
It corresponds to the proving (BoKifid^eiv, comp. John vi. 6,
2 Cor. xiii. 5) in 1 John iv. 1 — 3. These passages are through-
out strongly analogous. The angel at Ephesus is here com-
mended for having done what the apostle there enjoined his
readers to do. — That the false teachers here are identical with
those in ver. 6 is clear, for the simple reason, that otherwise no
more specific description of these would be given,' which still could
not be wanting, since this epistle is not destined merely for the
Ephesians, but forms an integral part of the entire book, which
belongs to the church at large. How little the book itself con-
tains of definite marks for distinguishing the heretical teachers,
is manifest from the vacillating to and fro and want of unanimity
on the part of those who confine themselves to it. Further, ver.
6 obviously points back to what had already been said in vers. 2
and 3. What belonged as matter of praise to the angel at
Ephesus is fully declared in vers. 2 and 3 ; and, after the sharp re-
proof has been administered, the commendation is only once again
resumed for the purpose of pouring balm into the wounds, and to
prevent the painful sense of sin they might feel from generating
a mistaken view of their excellencies. If in ver. 6 a new subject
had been introduced, something more particular would have been
said regarding it, than simply " this thou hast." It would rather
have been, *' Besides what I have already acknowledged, thou
hast so and so ;" in which case, however, it would have been in-
troduced in a very unsuitable way. A third reason is, that only
when by the false teachers here we understand those who sought
to bring Christianity and heathenism nearer to each other, con-

EPHESUS, CH. II. 2. 125

seqnently the Nicolaitans, in yer. 6, do we find a proper expla-
nation of yer. 3, where the Ephesians are commended for their
patience under sufferings, which befel them precisely on account
of their decided resistance against eyery attempt to confound the
boundary-lines between Christianity and heathenism. ISTow,
whenever it is understood that the false teachers are identical with
those in yer. 6, not merely does this verse itself receive a more
definite sense, but the epistles also to the angels in Pergamos
and Thyatira afford supplementary aid, and the image of the false
teachers presents itself to us in clear outline from the scattered
traits, as was quite necessary, if the epistles were to answer their
destination as sources of instruction and warning for all times.
For in that case they behoved to provide the means for ascer-
taining with certainty what might afterwards arise of a similar
kind. But if we indeed have here before us, not Judaizing here-
tics, but the same ethnicizing seducers, whom we afterwards also
meet with, then it is unquestionable that in the 'whole seven
epistles we have escaped in respect to false teaching from the terri-
tory of St Paul's time. Paul had always to do chiefly with Juda-
izing heretics, the ordinary and the philosophical. That the
latter in particular had exercised a considerable influence in the
churches of Asia, is manifest from the epistle to the Colossians,
and, as regards the church at Ephesus in particular, from the
first epistle to Timothy — comp. Neander's Apost. Zeitalter, I. p.
465, Baumgarten jEchtheit der Pastoralbr. p. 171, ss. This
fact, that the power of the Jewish form of error appears as en-
tirely broken among the Oentile churches and gone (with which
it is quite compatible that Justin should haye known particular
Oentile Christians who could plead for the observance of the Mo*
saic law), presupposes that at the time when the Revelation was
composed Jerusalem already lay in ruins. On the powerful in-
fluence which this must have exerted on the formation of the
Christian church, Bothe has made some excellent remarks in his
Anfange der Christlichen Kirche, Th. I. p. 341, ss. '* The Chris-
tian churches stood now perfectly independent. And, indeed, it
was the Most High himself who had made them independent,
since by the lightning*stroke of his Omnipotence he had torn
asunder the sacred bond by which they had been entwined with
the institntions of the Old Covenant. — Therefore now, when once

126 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

the sanctuary of tbe Old Covenant was laid in the dust, the Jew-
ish Christians most have been set more free from their Judaism,
and felt more drawn toward their fellow Christians of the Gentiles.
The divine judgment inflicted on Israel was God's solemn rejection
of Israel and their religious institutions. From that time Juda*
ism everywhere lost its real power and importance. With the
fall of the temple at Jerusalem fell also the wall of separation,
which had divided the people of Ood firom the nations of the
earth, and from the nature of things the Pauline universalism
must rise to the ascendant, with which at first the Jewish par-
ticularism, supported by the authority of Peter and James, had so
earnestly contended." From that period other dangers and temp-
tations threatened the Christian church, which sprung from hea-
thenism, and which even in PauFs age had begun to operate, but
were then only of subordinate importance (Hymenaeus and Philetus
turned only some persons from the faith) ; the danger it threat-
ened was chiefly in respect to the future. In the Apocalypse the
Christian church appears quite escaped from the influence of Ju-
daism. All tendency in that direction, such as everywhere meets
ns in the times of Paul, has entirely ceased. The Christian
church stands opposed to Judaism as the synagogue of Satan,
which internally possessed no longer any power over her, and by
which she was externally assailed, only that the heathens might
be stirred \ip against her. — The apostles, who are named without
any notification of the person who sent them, could only be pre-
tended apostles of God and Christ ; and a reference to the sup-
posed sending of the church at Jerusalem would require to have
been indicated, even if Judaizing heretics had been the class of
persons alluded to. Bengel remarks : *' So it was still the apos-
tolic age, otherwise there could no longer have been false apostles
in the field. Among the properties belonging to an apostle it
was one, that he should have seen the Lord Jesus Christ. So
that false apostles were persons, who not only broached false
doctrine, but ako set this forth with an apostolical air, as if they
might have seen Christ, or perhaps falsely pretended to have done
so." But we are only led by this to conclude, that the apostoli-
cal age had not yet entirely come to an end, as the heretics still
did not come forth in the name and the systematic style and form
of science, like the later Gnostics, bnt under a pretended call to

EPIIESUS, CH. II 3, 4. 127

a higher mission and enlightenment ; comp. 1 John iv. 1, '* Be-
loved, believe not eyery spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they
are of God ; for many false prophets hare gone out into the
worid." That in this sense the apostleship was laid claim to by
these heretics, appears from yer. 20, where Jezebel, the repre-
sentative of such, calls herself a prophetess. The property made
so much of by Bengel did not belong to the apostle Paul, to
whom these false teachers constantly appealed, as the Bationalists
to Luther. He had not seen the Lord in the flesh.

Ver. 3. And hast patience, and hast home for my name sake^
and hast not fainted} In the conflict of Christianity with the
world, there is always a temptation to form a bridge between it
and Christ for the purpose of getting rid of its assaults. The
angel at Ephesus had yaliantly withstood this temptation, and
with unwearied patience had borne the hatred, which was the
. consequence of uncompromising fidelity. The patience here
meant is, as very commonly, patience under suflTering, as contra-
distinguished from the active patience of ver. 2. The bearing
denotes the willing endurance of suffering ; comp. 2 Kings xviii.
14, ** What thou layest on me, I will bear ;" Luke xiv. 27, " And
he who beareth not his cross, and followeth me, cannot be my
disciple," and the example of Christ in John xix. 17. (KoTruiai,
commonly to labour ; here and in John iv. 6 to be faint, comp.
Matth. xi. 28.)

Ver. 4. But I have against thee that thou hast left thy first
love. Bengel : " I haye against thee. This is thrice said in
the way of exception against those, who along with their good
were chargeable with shortcoming, yer. 14, 20. We have a
similar form of speech in Matth. y. 23. If we must make it up
with a brother, how much more with the Lord, and that without
delay." That in the place of the first loye we must not put the
earlier, appears from ver. 19, where the last works are set oyer
against the first ; also from 1 Tim. v. 12, and especially the ori-
ginal passage Jer. ii. 2, '^ I remember the holiness of thy youth,
the loye of thine espousals, thy walking after me in the wilder-
ness, in a land not sown." That first love we see still flourishing
so long as Paul's connection with the Ephesians lasts. Nothing

1 Luther foUowB here in his translation the cormpt reading: Kat ifidaraaat, Hal

128 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

in the context leads to a limitation of the loye, as for example in
Eph. i, 15, Col. i. 4, where the subject discoarsed of is love to
all the saints ; so that we most take it in its largest compass, as
at Matth. xxiy. 12, and the more so with John, as it is one of his
characteristics to combine together the lore of God, the lore of
our neighbour, and brotherly lore ; comp. 1 John ir. 16. That
the lore here is not the mere love of feeling, but active love, is
clear not only from ver. 5, where the first works are spoken of,
but also from ver. 19, where those of.Thyatira are commended
for that in which the Ephesians here are blamed. There the
most unwearied application to active service is mentioned as the
great proof of love. Still these are but the particular mani-
festations, and the grand point always is, that the living source
actually exists within; for where this fails, the works that are done
are only outwardly and seemingly good. — The misunderstanding
of ver. 2 could not fail to give rise to false views also of the verse
before us. Thus Vitringa supposes, that in ver. 2 and 3 the
earlier state of the church was described, and here the present
one. But against this is the, *' Thou canst not" in ver. 2, and
the ''Thou hast" in ver. 3; and so also in ver. 6. Others, after
the example of Orotius, would restrict the love to deeds of kind-
ness toward the poor, a view that is opposed by what has been
already advanced, by the fundamental passage in Jeremiah, and
by a comparison of the Epistle to the Ephesians, comp. ch. iii.
18. Also according to ver. 5, the shortcoming is not of a special
nature ; it concerns the ground-work of Christianity. The root
itself was dying away.

Ver. 5. Remember therefore from whence thou hast fallen^
and rqpent and do the first works. But ifnoty I will come to
thee (shortly)^ and remove thy lamp out of its place, if thou
repent not. Bengel : *' After a backsliding it is needful and
salutary to repent," ch. iii. 3. That irom which the angel had
fallen, is the earlier glorious state, the engaging time of youthful
love. Allusion is made, as appears, to Isa. xiv. 12, '' How art
thou fallen from heaven, thou fine morning-star !" The shortly
is wanting in several MSS., and has probably been pressed into
the text from the parallel passages, ver. 16, iii. 11, xxii. 7, 12,
20. The shortly is perhaps too strong here. If the lamp is re-
moved from its place, the church vanishes from the number of the

EPHESUS, CH. II. 6. 129

churches of Christ. The promises, which are given to the whole
of Christ's church, grant no charter to indiyidual churches to
become lukewarm and to fall away ; as, notwithstanding the glori-
ous privileges and promises of Israel, the greater part of them
were cast out of the kingdom of God and given over to perdition ;
Matth. xxi. 43, comp. xxii. 11, where our Lord declares, that the
same thing should be repeated oi^ the Christian field. Bossuet :
'* If the life of the gospel goes out in some one region, it is not
therefore extinguished, but is only removed elsewhere, and trans-
ferred to another people."

Ver. 6. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the works of the
Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Where there is room for re-
proaching any one for the want of love, it too readily happens,
that he thinks he should love, where the word and spirit of Ood
command him to hate. Therefore, the commendation given in
the earlier part is here again expressly resumed. But it is well
to notice, that the recognition has respect to hatred against the
works of heretics. This does not exclude love to their persons,
and desire for their salvation ; comp. 2 Tim. ii. 24 — 26. The more
lively the hatred is against the works, the more powerfully will
love prompt to do what is possible for their personal deliverance
from perdition. That the subject discoursed of is not the doctrine
of the ISTicolaitans, but their works, is to be explained from the
circumstance, that their doctrine had a practical issue and aim,
viz., fleshly freedom, unrestricted liberty as to all authority and
all law. It was the moral strength of Christianity at which they
especially took ofience. Their doctrines themselves were works,
deeds, as still all antichristian errors are ; and works immediately
proceeded from them, such as the eating of meat offered to idols,
fornication, and a heathenish mode of life. Then in the works the
seductive acts of the false teachers are also comprehended, their
attempts to spread their pernicious doctrines. The hatred is to
be taken in its full force. Disapproval in such matters is not
enough. Strong abhorrence is demanded, comp. Ps. cxxxix. 21,
22, " Do not I hate, 0 Lord, those who hate thee, and abhor those
that rise up against thee ? I hate them in right earnest, they
are enemies to me." We have a commentary on the hating in
2 John ver. 1, *' If there come any unto you, and bring not this doc-
trine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God

130 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

speed ; for he that biddeth him God speed, is partaker of his
evil deeds." The name of the Nicolaitans is an enigmatical one.
the solution of which is given in yer. 14 and 15. According to
this the ISTicolaitans are those who hold the doctrine of Balaam.
The name of Balaam signifies. Destroyer of the people.^ As such
Balaam shewed himself especially in the transaction recorded by
Moses in Numb, xxv., comp. with xxxi. 16, the sedaction of the
Israelites through the women of Moab and Midian to licentious-
ness and participation in the service of idolatry. The Moabit'es
and Midianites had directed their attack against the strong side
of the relation, and had been obliged to withdraw with shame and
disgrace ; Balaam betrayed to them the weak side, and how cun-
ningly his plan was derised appeared in the great success with
which it was at first attended. Nicolaus signifies, conqueror of
the people. The choice precisely of this name, rather than one
that should have literally corresponded to Balaam, was occasioned
by the name Nicolaus being one in current use among the Greeks.
The point of comparison, by which the prophet was led to name
false teachers of that time Nicolaitan9, that is Balaamites, ap-
pears from Ter. 14. It was the smuggling of heathenism into the
church of God to the corruption of the latter : " who taught Balak
to throw a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat
things sacrificed to idols, and to commit fornication." Balaam
and Jezebel were the Old Testament representatives of this un-
godly tendency, which reyived anew in the false teachers of the
time. Ch. ii. 26 serves also as an explanation, " And he that
overcomes, to him will I give power over the heathen," in oppo-
sition to the power of the heathen over God's people, which they
experienced through the Balaam that had risen up anew in Greek
clothing. The reasons against a historical explanation of the
name of Nicolaitans, and its derivation from a sectarian of the
name of Nicolaus, which led some of the ancients to think of the

1 The grounds for the derivation of Balaam from y^a devonring, and D9 people,
have heen given in my work on Balaam, p. 20, as. Against Hoffmann, who after Ewald
explains the nsme as a formation oi y?a with d as D^aK, it is enough to adduce the
one consideration, that the city of the same name, 1 Chron. vi. 06, elsewhere occurs un-
der the name of Jibleam. Josh. zvii. II, Judges i. 27, 2 Kings iz. 27, compounded of the
fat. ofyh^ and ay. But proper names with ^y sometimes before and sometimes after
are very common ; comp. Ewald, { 270, for example, Behoboam and Jeroboam, people*
rich and people-increased.

EPHESUS, CH. II. 6. 131

blameless JSTicoIans in Acts yi. 5, the only person of that name
mentioned in New Testament history, hare been considered in
my treatise on Balaam already referred to. Against the opinion
is, 1. The style of the Apocalypse, which constantly rises abore
the lower territory, and, with the qnite necessary exception of the
author's own name, employs not historical, but only symbolical
names. 2. The analogy of the woman Jezebel in ch. ii. 20. 3.
Had the leader of a party been understood, Nicolans, the author
would haye spoken of him at ch. ii. 15, and not of the Nicolaitans,
as his name would have been the proper parallel to Balaam's.
But he seems to know nothing of a Nicolaus, but only of the Ni-
colaitans. So also in ver. 2 he speaks not of a false apostle, but
of false apostles. There is no weight in the objection, that the
name stands here, where it occurs for the first time, without any
explanation, and must therefore hare been a common one, quite
intelligible of itself to the readers of the book. It was perfectly
natural that the mystical, enigmatical name should here for the
first time have been used by itself, and that afterwards, in what
follows, an insight should hare been given into its import, for the
purpose of confirming or of justifying what had already occurred
to the mind of each. — If we gather up the scattered particulars,
we arrive at the following deliverance regarding the false pro-
phets. The mystical names of the Nicolaitans or Baalamites, and
of Jezebel, point to the heathenisk origin of the heresy, as do also
the fornication and the eating of flesh sacrificed to idols, in ver.
14, 20, and the promise of the authority to rule over the heathen
in yer. 26. The false teachers pretended to have been favoured
with higher revelations, ver. 2 and 20, and promised to bring
people acquainted with profound knowledge and secrets, ver. 14,
17, and to raise them to a glorious state, ver: 28. Allusion is
made to the name of the Gnostics in ver. 24, and also to their
antinomianism and their false, delusive show of liberty. So also
to their sensuous indulgences in ver. 7, 17. — The first small
kernel of these aberrations we find in the church at Corinth.
They appear in a more developed form in the two epistles to Ti-
mothy. There certain heretical teachers are discoursed of,
** wliose perverse course is thrice described in the same words
(<< they have made shipwreck of faith, have erred concerning the
truth, faith," 1 Tim. i. 19, 20, vi. 20, and 2 Tim. ii. 16—18,

12

132 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

25), and of whom we learn, that, they professed a gnosis falsely
so called, and maintained it with Tain talk and insolent opposi-
tion to the apostle, so that they even poshed their heresy to blas-
phemous lengths, and were cast out of the church by Paul. Of the
principles of their gnosis we are informed only in respect to one
point, that held by Hy^nenasns and Philetus as to the resurrec-
tion being past already — meaning, that it is to bd understood
only in a spiritualistic sense, that there is to be no resurrection
but that whichChristians have in their souls undergone" (Thiersch,
Versuch, p. 237.) Peter and Jude in their epistles combated
the error of the ungodly (2 Pet. ii. 16), who in abuse of St Paul's
doctrine turned the. grace of God into lasciyiousness (iii. 16),
promised freedom, while they themselres were still the servants
of corruption (Jude ver. 4, 2 Pet. ii. 19), walked after the flesh,
and thought themselves raised above all constituted authorities,
as well as delivered from the law, nay even denied the Lord Jesus
Christ himself (2 Pet. ii. 10, Jude ver. 4.)— The identity of the
false teachers, whom John contends against in his epistles, and
the Nicolaitans, cannot be mistaken. There also every trace fails
of any reference to Judaizing errors ; the power that was im-
perilling Christianity was heathenism vailing itself in a Christian
dress. The conclusion of the first epistle, '^ Little children, keep
yourselves from idols," serves as a sort of key. There, too, an
entire abandonment of the Christian basis and principles is in
question, 2 John ii. 19 ; while the false theories that were pro-
pagated carried along with them a bad practice, a walking in the
lusts of the flesh ; comp. in regard to the intimate connection
between the two especially, 2 John ver. 6, 7. Fleshly indulgence
is common to the Apocalypse with the epistles. In a theoretical
respect there is a distinction so far, that the denial combated in
the epistles of the reality of Christ's life, work and sufferings, is
not noticed here. That heresy, however, stands in the closest
connection with the antinomianism, which is here also brought
into view. The common root of both was the disposition to set
one's self free from a power that should controul the life, in order
to indulge the flesh and walk after its carnal lusts. With this
view the law was decried as a Pharisaical yoke, comp. ii. 24, and
Christ changed into a shadow. It is worthy of remark, in uni-
son with ch. ii. 24 here, how extremely common is the use of

EPHSSU8, CH. II. 7. 133

yawaica in the epistles, id opposition to the Gnostics, who had it
constantly in their lips. In contrast to their false gnosis John
pnts the true, comp. 1 John ii. 4, iii. 6.

Yer. 7. He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit Bays
to the churcttes : He that avereomesy to bim will I give to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the paradise of my Ood, Bengel :
" There is a remarkable difiference between the address and the
promise. The address has immediate respect to the seren
churches in Asia and their angels, and consequently also to all
churches and pastors, who might be similarly circumstanced with
them in good and eyil, in all times and places ; the promise, on
the other hand, is given forth to all spiritual conquerors, though
not excluding such in Asia." In this promise, as the close of the
epistle, the churches must be reminded, that they came into con-
sideration only as a part of the whole, that they were but churches,
and must not imagine themselres to be the church, notwithstand-
ing that the last of the apostles stood in a peculiar relation to
them. — The words, ^* He that has an ear let him hear," form a
' striking point of connection between the Apocalypse and the
three first gospels, more especially the first of the three. There,
in the discourses of our Lord, who also speaks here, the words
'* He that has an ear to hear let him hear," and '^ He that reads
let him understand" (comp. also the quite corresponding expres-
sion, ** He that can hold, let him hold," in Matth. xix. 12), are
not a mere call to attention, but they also intimate, that to the
apprehension of what had been deliyered, more was necessary
than the outward ear ; it was a demand for the deeper spiritual
understanding (see the proof in my Beitrtige I. p. 261.) In this
sense the call here stands very suitably in connection with promises
made to the church, which were in themselres mysterious, and
required a spiritual exposition. — ^In place of the ears in Matth.
xi. 15, xiii. 9, 43, we have here, and again in ch. xiii. 9, the ear.
The spiritual sense of the mind can be denoted by the singular,
because it is only one, and by the plural, because of the corres-
ponding bodily organ. And in repetitions of this sort such a
change is perhaps occasionally introduced to show, that the ap-
propriation of the language is fresh and independent. — That the
expression, '* What the Spirit says," is as much as, what I through
the Spirit say to you, is clear from this, that in what follows the

134 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

address is spoken from the person of Christ : I will give ; and
then : which is in the paradise of my Ood. (The omission of the
my in some critical helps, which Lather follows, arose from people
considering the address of Christ and of the Spirit as standing in
contrast). John was in the Spirit, ch. i. 9, and only through the
medium of the Spirit could Christ after his departure communicate
himself, and his admonitions and promises. In the Gospel of
John " the Spirit is promised as a new principle, which was to
go between Jesus and the church*' (Kostlin, p. 198.) The Lord
had spoken of the Holy Spirit to his disciples as of one that
should teach them all things, John xir. 26 — Of the victory
John speaks very frequently in his Gospel, his Epistles, and
the Apocalypse. The victory must be won against all oppo-
nents, of whom there are many, and in particular against the
Nicolaitans, whose desire of sensual enjoyment is met by the
promise of eating spiritual, heavenly food. The angel of Ephesus
still wanted a good deal to obtain the true victory over these. The
victory hitherto won was in good part only an apparent one, since
it was purchased with the heavy loss of the first love. By the
construction : *' he that overcomes, to him," the overcoming being
detached from any immediate connection with the following words,
comes prominently out, and appears as an indispensable condi-
tion to participation[in the promise. Bengel : " A Christian must
overcome as Jesus Christ has overcome, ch. iii. 21, v. 5. He that
overcomes is found in all the seven epistles, and afterwards is only
repeated once, ch. xxi. 7." The prosaic expression for, '' I will
give him to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of
my God,*' we have in 1 John li. 25, " And this is the pro-^
mise, which he has given us, eternal life." For, that here a
participation in eternal life, eternal blessedness, eternal sidvation
is what is promised, is evident alone from the analogy of the
other promises. The figurative expression alludes to Gen. ii. 9,
iii. 22, according to which in the primeval world the tree of life
stood in the midst of paradise, the fruit of which was designed to
secure to man the possession of eternal life, if he continued faith-
ful to God. '^ The first thing promised," says Bengel, '' in the
seven epistles, is the last and highest in the fulfilment, ch. xxii. 2,
14, 19." No precise locality is denoted by the paradise. Accord-
ing to ch. xxii. the tree of life belongs to the glorified earth. In

SMYRNA, CH. II. 8. 135

ch. yii. 17 it is already said of the proyisional heavenly blessed-
ness of the elect, '^ And he will lead them to fountains of waters
of life.*' According to Ez. xlyii. 6, ss. (where on both sides of a
stream of life many trees grew, which bore their fttiit every
month, and the fmit of which served for food, and their leaves for
medicine), and according to ch. xiii. the tree of life is inseparable
from the waters of life. We everywhere find the image of the
earthly paradise, where the blessedness is spoken of that belongs
to the elect of God when actually enjoyed by them. Three times
mention is made of paradise in the New Testament, Luke xxiii.
43, 2 Cor. xii. 4, and here. " Of my God," says Jesus Christ here
and in ch. iii. 2, 12, but elsewhere he calls him in these promises
his Father. Both are a very glorious designation, John xx. 17.**
Bengel.

THE KPISTLB TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN SMYRNA.

Ch. ii. 8—11.

Bengel : '' The angel of the church at Smyrna was in a good
state. No such great things, indeed, are recorded of him as of
that at Ephesus ; but still the angel at Ephesus, with all that
was spoken in his commendation, had to repent, while the angel
at Smyrna, though such great things are not said of him, is yet
spared the call to repent. It is only said to him. Fear not, be
faithflil. Nothing even is mentioned about great works, but only
about fidelity.*'

Ver. 8. And to the angel of the church at Smyrna write:
These ihmgs saith the first and the last, he that was dead and is
alive again. The predicates which are attributed to Christ, are
from ch. i. 18. They bear altogether a consolatory character. If
Christ is the first and the last, then shall his true people also at
last conquer with him, triumph and reign ; and they must not suffer
themselves to be cast down, if they are now for a little season
depressed. He has been dead and has again risen to life ; there-
fore his people must not shun to be faithAil even unto death.
And since he has risen from the dead, and because he has done
so, death can only be for them also a transition to life. Bengel :

136 THB SBYEN EPISTLES.

" Christ was the life before his death, therefore death could in-
flict bat a short sting in him ; his power of life Was not thereby
in the least injured ; but when he was put to death after the
flesh, the hidden power of the Spirit from the moment of his
death broke forth with the more freedom, as if it had reached the
hearens.*' It is in a high degree probable, that by the time this
epistle was written, Polycarp stood at the head of the church in
Smyrna. On that supposition the whole character of the epistle
readily explains itself. The objections to this rest merely upon
the false idea, that the Apocalypse was composed under Oalba
instead of under Domitian. The martyrdom of Polycarp took place
under Marcus Aurelius Verus, about the year 168. He had serred
Christ eighty and six years, as he himself says in Eusebius IV . 15.
If the Apocalypse was written about the year 96, there would
remain a number of years from his conyersion to his entrance on
office. Polycarp, the Joshua of John, must from his whole cha-
racter hare lired a considerable period with him, and in the
closest fellowship. Iren»us in Euseb. V . 20 relates, that he had in
his youth learned from Polycarp^ what he was wont to '* com-
municate of his familiar intercourse with John and those who had
seen the Lord ; how also he used to relate their discourses, and
what he had heard of them concerning the Lord.'' Eusebius
says in B. III. c. 36, " About this time (under Trajan, there-
fore somewhere about the time of the composition of the Apo-
calypse) flourished in Asia Polycarp, a scholar of the apostles,
who receired the episcopate of the church at Smyrna, from the
serrants and eye-witnesses of the Lord himself." About the
year 108 he was found by Ignatius bishop of Smyrna. The ac
count of the church of Smyrna respecting his martyrdom also
styles him ^' an apostolical teacher.** According to Iransus in
Euseb. IV. 14, ^' Polycarp had not merely been instructed by the
apostles, and enjoyed familiar intercourse with many who had
seen Christ, but had also been appointed bishop by the apostles
of the church at Smyrna in Asia.*' '< We saw him,'* says
Iren80us, " when we still were yery young. For he lived very
long, and ended his life in an extreme age by a glorious and
splendid martyrdom, after baring continually taught what he had
learned from the apostles.'* Tertullian expressly testifies that
Polycarp was settled by John as bishop of Smyrna (De Praesc.

SMYRNA, CH. II. 11. 137

haeret. c. 32), and the others most hare had the same apostle
more especially in their eye, when they speak of the apostles.
So also Jerome (catal. scrip. Eccles.)

Ver. 9. I knew iky trihulation and thy poverty (Jbut thou art
rioK)y and {he blasphemy ofihose, who say they are Jews and
are not, but are of the school of Satan, Lather has : I know
thy works and thy tribulation, etc. But the words : / know thy
works and have certainly arisen from the efforts of the copyists
to produce nniformity. They are wanting in the best manu-
scripts, and internal reasons also concur in strengthening the
external ones. Works do not suit here. For they could only
be mentioned if good or bad works had been found in the context,
to giro a definite meaning to the term. But there the discourse
is only of sufferings. Farther, the number three, on which what
follows the *' I know" always completes itself, would thereby be
destroyed. Bengel : " The description given respecting this angel
is only of what he suffered, not of what he did. Suffering tends
much to purify, and it had been experienced by. this angel of
yarious kinds : he had suffered tribulation from Jews and hea-
thens, and also poverty. But thou art rich, says the Lord,
namely, in heavenly treasures. The pastor would not think highly
of himself because he was described in such glowing terms, but
the Lord used such language respecting him, because in his hu-
mility he could bear it." That the poverty (to this sense of the
word we must adhere for the sake of the contrast mihriches) must
bear respect to the persecutions suffered for the cause of Christ
is clear from the circumstance, that it stands between the tribu-
lation and the blasphemy. Now several consider the poverty as
arising out of the persecution — comp. Heb. x. 34. But in that
case the word spoiling would rather have been used. James ii«
5 — 7 serves as a commentary, '' Has not Ood chosen the poor of
this world, rich in faith 1 Do not the rich oppress you, and draw
you before the judgment-seats ? Do not they blaspheme that
worthy name by the which ye are called V We can scarcely
doubt that allusion is made to this passage. It has in common
with the one before ns, poverty, riches in God, blasphemy. Now,
according to it, poverty comes into consideration in so far as it
rendered the Christians helpless and oppressed. The Jews
brought against the Christians false accusations before the hea-

138 THE SKV£N EPISTLES.

then magistrates (blasphemy), and as they had ample peconiary
means ready to support their accosations against the Christians
(poverty), the Christians were thrown into great straits, were in
a state of oppression corresponding in James to the drawing be-
fore the jndgment-seats. The rieJies, which the angel possessed
in the midst of his poverty, refers to riches in hearenly goods
and rewards, treasures in heaven, Matt. vi. 20, xix. 21, comp.
Luke xii. 21, which in due time wonld be conferred on him. This
is manifest from James ii. 5, where the persecuted poor are spoken
of as '' heirs of tll^ kingdom, which God has promised to those
that love him." Allusion is made, as appears, to the name
Polycarpus, rich in fruits ; comp. the remarks on the name An-
tipas in ch. ii. 13. With the hlaaphemy the Jewish adversaries
must be content; the persecution could only come fi^m the heathen.
Even at the martyrdom of Polycarp the Jews inflamed the malice
of the heathens, Euseb. IV. 15), and sought to prevent his corpse
from being given to the Christians. The Jews were proud of
their name, Jews and children of the kingdom, members of the
Lord's flock. Numb. xxxi. 16, were all one in their account. In
this sense there was a pretension in the name they took to them-
selves. There were no other real Jews than such as possessed the
true and internal marks of fellowship in the kingdom of 6od ;
and these were no other than true Christians ; 'Comp. Bom. ii. 28,
29, ix. 6. — The school of Satan (properly, community, synagogue,
what in Jas. ii. 2 is used of the society of Christians, acquired on
account of the passage before us a bad secondary meaning ; people
were accustomed to place the synagogue of the Jews in opposi-
tion to the church of the Christians), was an epithet applied to
the Jews on account of their hatred to the true church. Satan
appears in this book pre-eminently as the persecutor of the righ-
teous, according to the character which he acquired even in the
most ancient times, since he instigated wicked Cain to murder
righteous Abel, John viii. 44. This is certainly to be regarded
as the^ndamental passage.

Yer. 10. Fear not what thou wilt suffer. Behold the devil
will oast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried, and ye
shall have tribulation ten days. Be thou faithful unto death,
and I will give thee a crown of life. " As foreseen evils hurt
and terrify less, it is a proof of our Lord's fidelity that he shews

3

SMYRNA, CH. II. 10. 139

the rod before the Bmiting took place, Luke iz. 23, John xri. 1,
33.'* The annonncemeDt of the suffering suggests a twofold
source of consolation — first, the persecution will be shortened,
and then those who suffer in it will attain to blessedness. It is
in itself of general import : times of persecution are always fol-
lowed by times of reyiyal ; GFod's protecting hand, which defends
the church, makes itself known by causing the persecution always
to come by fits and starts. What would haye become of the
church, if all the persecutions of heathen Borne had followed one
another in immediate succession 1 And to those who are faith-
iul unto death, God in every age gives the crown of life. But
that this general truth should have been applied precisely to the
angel of the church in Smyrna, in this certainly lies an indication
of the particular fate that awaited him, or rather the man who
formed the soul of those who bore rule in that community. Poly-
carp was faithful even to the death, and was therefore " crowned
with the crown of martyrdom,'* as was said in the church's report
of his martyrdom, doubtless with allusion to what was written
here. And with his death the t^n days* persecution came to an
end : the report says, that Polycarp had by his martyrdom, as it
were, given the seal to the persecution, and finished it (Euseb.
IV. 15.) — In the preceding verse Satan was the subject of dis-
course ; here the author of the persecution is called the devil. Bid-
/3oXo9, properly the Calumniator. Ziillig : " This adversary was
quite properly called a calumniator by the LXX. in reference to
the part he acted in the book of Job, and Zech. iii. In the rela-
tion of the Jewish adversaries of Jesus towards his followers, the
designation of Satanism (antagonism), as a calumniating, diabo-
lical one, was the more suitable, as their malice could only vent
itself in calumniating their opponents before the heathen magis-
trates." Also in ch. xii. 10, where Satan and the devil are like-
wise connected together, respect is had to the internal difference
of the two names. If we understand here by the devil the calum-
niator, a closer connection will be found to exist between this
verse and the preceding one, where the blasphemies or venomous
slanders of the synagogue of Satan are spoken of. In a series
of passages, Justin, in his conversations with Tryphon, describes
the Jews as the chief authors of the calumnies against the Chris-
tians, which in his time were still current. " How little,'* re-

140 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

marks Hoffmann justly, " this woald suit the time when the Jew-
ish war made the whole Jewish people be suspected of a rebellions
disposition, is self-evident ;" and the Apocalypse must have been
composed during that war, if it belonged, according to the modern
supposition, to the reign of Galba. — " Trial," says Bengel, ** is on
the deviFs part of an evil and dangerous nature ; but on the part
of the Lord it is good and salutary. An old, well-tried warrior
is worth far more than one who is new-fledged and without expe-
rience."— Ten daysy among short periods a long one ; comp. 1
Sam. xxy. 38, Dan. i. 12, Gen. xxiy. 55, where the ten days are
beyond doubt, as here also, used as a round period. There is an
indication of shortness in the employment of days^ and a certain
length also in the shortness, neither yery great nor yery small, in
coupling with the days, not an unit or an hundred, but a ten. —
By the death we are to understand from the connection a riolent
one. The till has respect, not to the continuance, but to the high
degree of the required fidelity. The angel must follow the ex-
ample of Christ, who, according to Phil. ii. 8, was obedient unto
death, eyen the death of the cross ; comp. ch. xii. 11. — The croum
is here, as in ch. iy. 4, yi. 2, ix. 7, xiy. 14, not the crown of
yictory, but the badge of royal dignity. We are not on this
account, howeyer, to suppose with Ztillig, that the subject of dis-
course is the kingdom of the conqueror. The kingly crown here
is brought into yiew rather as something of a yery rich and glori-
ous nature — " the crown of life,** as much as, life, eternal blessed-
ness; comp. on the idea of life at yii. 17, which is so glorious a
possession, that the splendour of all kings' crowns pales before it.
So, as the image of the glorious the crown is not unfrequently used
in the Old Testament ; for example, in Isa. Ixii. 3, " And thou
art a glorious crown in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem
in the hand of thy God ;** xxyiii. 3, where the crown of Ephraim
is but another name for his glory.^ Death is not to be feared,
where it is the passage to a glorious life. In a wonderful man-
ner does the Apocalypse here discoyer itself as the closing book
of the New Testament. It makes allusion to the declarations ot
Paul, Peter, and James, in which a crown of glory is promised as

1 Geeeniui Tbes. s. v. n^uy : coronn aatem imagine designator quidquid alicai orna.
meuto eat et diguitali, Job xix. 9 ; coronam detraxit de capita meo, Prov. xii. 4, xi?.
24, etc.

SMYRNA, CH. II. 11. . 141

a reward to faithfalness. Paul speaks of '* a crown of righteoiis-;
nes8» which the Lord will giye to him» and to all those who lbv«
his appearing," 2 Tim. iy. 8 ; and Peter comforts faithfal elders
with the incorruptible crown of glory, which they shall receife,
at the time of the good Shepherd's appearance, 1 Pet. y. 4.
James speaks of God (i. 12) as haying promised the crown of life
to those who loye him. John here had specially in his eye this
passage of James : "Blessed is the man who endnres temptation ;
for when he is tried, he shall receiye the crown of life, which the
Lord has promised to those that loye him." For here also a pre-
ceding temptation is spoken of, and the expression, the crown of
life, is common to the two passages, and to these only. In yer.
9 an undoubted allusion is again made to the epistle of James •
and the one reference confirms the other. There is neyer any
reason for thinking of the crown of yictory, unless perhaps in 1
Cor. ix. 25. In Peter nothing is said in the context of the con-
flict and the crown. Images from heathen life (and such an one
is the crown of yictory), must not be resorted to without necessity,
least of all in the Apocalypse, which clings so fast to holy
ground.^

Ver. 11. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
aays to the churches : He that overcomes, shall not he hurt by
the second death. He that oyercomes, not only obtains a glorious
good, but he also escapes a dreadful eyil. Let him ponder well,
when a choice is set before him between the bodily death, as it is
usually called, and the second death, or eternal damnation, which
they haye to expect who are not faithful unto death. Matth.
X. 28, '' Fear not those who kill the body," etc. coincides in
thought. The second death is explained in ch. xx. 14, xxi. 8, by
the lake of fire, hell. The expression is confined in Scripture
to this book, in which it occurs four times. But before John's
time it was not unusual in Jewish theology.^ Our Lord fre-

1 The author would he quite an aliua a ee ipeo, if Ewa1d*s lupposition were right :
Inprimia hie respicitor ad lados Olympioos, ab Hercole institutes, in quibus Tiotores
publiee donati sunt comona.

2 Vitrioga: It donbtless arose in the school of the holy men, who after the rstom from
Babylon explained the faith and the hopes of the oharch. It is in frequent use in the
Cbald. Paraphrase of tbe books of the Old Testament : for example, DeuL xxxiii. 0,
ViTat BubeUi et ne moriatur morte seounda.

142 THE SEVBN EPISTLES.

qaently uses for tbe same things the word Gehenna, Matth. y. 29,
30, X. 28, Luke xii. 6.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN PERGAMOS.

Ch.ii. 12—17.

Zdllig : '' More praise than blame ; only a little not quite as
it should be. The church is characterised as faithful, amid the
difficult relations in which it liyed. Howeyer, there was there
also the mischief of the Balaamites, in regard to which a warning
is addressed to it and a threatening appended."

Ver. 12. And to the angel of the church at Pergamos write:
These things saith he who has the sharp two-edged sword* The
sharp two-edged sword is from ch. i. 16. " The sharpness,'* says
Bengel, " of this slaughter weapon must be experienced by the
impenitent, yer. 16, xix. 21. The angel at Pergamos had, accord-
ing to the tenor of his future conduct, either to be afraid of this
sword on account of his people, or to comfort himself regarding it
as assuring him of yictory oyer the enemies." The first aspect is
expressly indicated in yer. 16.

Ver. 13. I know where thou dwellest, where Satan's throne
is, and thou holdesifast my namcy and hast not denied my faiths
even in the days, in which Antipas (was J myfaiihful witness^
who was slain among you, where Satan dwelleih. Copyists
bent on uniformity haye here also shoyed in '* thy works and,'
after '' I know.*' Besides the external grounds, there are also
internal ones against the insertion. For what immediately follows
is no work, and the threefoldness of the points noticed is made up
without it. There can be no doubt that Pergamos is called the
throne of Satan from being a principal seat of persecution against
the Christians, or rather the principal seat in Asia. For, in yer.
10, Satan had also been mentioned as the author of persecution, '
and in a similar respect the throne of Satan is brought into notice
in ch. xiii. 2. But how the persecuting malice should haye con-
centrated itself exactly in Pergamos, cannot with certainty be
determined. The circumstance of its being the seat of a higher

PERGAMOS, CH, II. 11. 143

court of judicature has been thought of as a reason.^ But this is
not a sufficient reason, as the other leading cities of Asia had
such courts also. It has been supposed that Pergamos was in-
ordinately deyoted to the serrice of idolatry above all cities in
Asia. But there is no proof of this, though Pergamos is known
to haye had a famous temple to ^sculapius. The reason is most
probably to be sought in individual persons, who wer^ peculiarly
animated by heathenish fanaticism, as the reason also of the in-
temal differences that subsisted among the churches of Asia is
to be sought in the existence, or the absence of leading persons
more fully penetrated by the Spirit of Christ. The faith of Christ
not unfreqnently stands for faith in Christ, comp. Eph. iii. 12.
We must not expound : True and faith toward me. For tt/ota^,
as fidelity, never occurs in the New Testament, and the expression,
" Thou hast not denied my name," in ch. iii. 8, corresponds.
After : in which Antipas, my faithful witness, is simply to be
supplied : proved himself to be such, delivered his testimony. In
this Hebraistic abbreviation (a similar one occurs, for example in
Gen. xiv. 1,2), many copyists have lost themselves ; and hence,
they have either left out, " in which," or, " who." Luther adop^
the latter reading : even in the days, in which Antipas my faith-
ful witness was slain by you. Bengel remarks on the expression,
" even in the days," " the great trial is sometimes experienced
both in the evil and the good. He who despises, as Esau did
with his birth-right, is in danger of suffering an irreparable in-
jury ; he who walks uprightly, as Abraham did in the offering up
of Isaac, as Phinehas with his spear, as Joshua and Caleb, to him
will it be reckoned for a perpetual blessing. In this manner a
preceding valorous conduct is placed to the account of the angel
of this church. Dear reader, when special circumstances befal
you, consider well with yourself. In peaceixil times it is easy to
confess the name of Christ ; but it is another thing in times that
endanger the very life, and where a hard conflict has to be main-
tained, to deny not Christ but one's self." — According to the com-

1 Pliny, H. N. L. v.c. 33: LongequeelariBsimumAtriaePergamniii.— Pergfamenavo-
catur ejua tractns jariedictio. Ad earn conveniunt Tbyatireni, Mygdones, Moayni, etc.,
flliaeqne in bonorae civitates. Comp. Strabo, L. xiii. p. 623 : '£x>t ^^ irtva vytfioviav
irpdi TO7C0V9 ToOrovt t6 Tlipyafiov, iiri<t>a»r}s ir6\i9 Kal 'woX^v crvtftvrvx^<yava
Xpovov TOi« 'ArraXiKotf /SaaiXfCo-i.

144 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

men opinion, Antipas is the proper name of a man who suffered
death in the persecution of the time. But there are strong rea-
sons for deciding otherwise. All other names in the Apocalypse
are of a symbolical character. No historical Antipas is to be
found, unless the name is to be regarded as such here. We find
in the epistles the symbolical names of the Nicolaitans and of
Jezebel. Farther, in a period of general bloody persecution, only
such a person could be specially noticed as occupied an important
position in the church — one who enjoyed an apostolical, or almost
apostolical dignity. But it must appear extraordinary that no
mention is made in history of an Antipas. For that the notices
which we possess regarding him of yery late origin, are pure in-
yentions, is as clear as day. Tertnllian ady. Gnos. c. 12, drew
his knowledge of Antipas merely from this passage. There has
been no want of expositors, who haye yiewed the name as a sym-
bolical one. Saskerides, an expositor of the Reformed church,
explains it as meaning one who is against all. There can be no
doubt of the justness of this deriyation. Antipas is formed pre-
cisely as Antichrist, and probably in imitation of it. A com-
mentary on the Antipas, as similar to Antikosmos, is giyen by
Jer. XX. 10, xy. 10, *' Ah ! my mother, that thou hast borne me,
a man of strife and a man of contention to the whole land.*' If
we haye been followed thus far, it will not be reckoned too bold
if we should hazard the supposition, that Timothy was the person
here designated Antipas. The two names '* Fear God," and
'' Against all,'' are closely connected with each other. One can-
not truly fear God without standing forth against the world,
which lies in wickedness, and haying it also standing against
us — comp. Jas. iy. 4, Acts iy. 19, y. 29. Elsewhere also in the
New Testament we find stress laid on the name, as in Acts iy.
36, and particularly in John's Gospel, ch. ix. 7. He puts his
own name also in connection with the loye of Jesus toward him,
ch. xiii. 23. Allusion is probably made here in ch. ii. 9 to the
name of Polycarp ; and in ch. iii. 1 a similar allusion to the name
has with great probability been supposed to be made. The mar-
tyrdom of Timothy (comp. Tillemont mem. II. 1, p. 266), places
his death in the year 97, when John was still at Patmos, and re-
presents it as following on an affair, in which he truly showed the
spirit of an Antipas : on a public solemnity he must set himself in

PEKGAMOS, CH. II. 14. 145

strenaoQB opposition to heathenish disorder. The circnmstance
of the scene being transferred to Ephesns, is easily explained
from the influence of the New Testament reports. It is not im-
probable that Timothy, when John took up his abode at Ephesns,
removed to one of the two other chief cities in Asia, in order
there to undertake the immediate oversight of the church, as
being both important in itself and endangered by the prevalence,
of false teachers.

Ver. 14. But I have a little against thee, that thou hast there
those that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught for Balak
to cast a stumbling-block before the children of Israel, to eat
things offered to idols and to commit fornication, Bengel: " By
this it is indicated, that if the angel of the church had done his
part, the vexatious Balaamites would either not have come up, or
would have been again put down. Oh ! if a pastor in the pre-
sent day considers what sort of people he has to do with, he must
be appalled !** The blame is represented as a little thing. It
shows that the angel himself was pure and free from any partici-
pation in the dangerous heresies, only that his resistance of these
should have been more energetic. Such a representation could
not have been given of the angel of the church at Ephesns ; he
had himself fallen from his first love. Instead of, for Balak, Lu-
ther has, through Balak, following an incorrect reading : iv r^
BaTidK. It properly means, who taught to Balak. According to
the common opinion, this must be a Hebraistic expression for Balak.
But in ver. 20 we find the verb to teach construed quite regularly
with the accusative ; and this is done also in the Hebrew with
the solitary exception of Job xxi. 22. We must rather suppose,
that to ** Balak" is as much as, in the interest of Balak^ or for
pleasing Balak. Bengel even in his day drew attention to the
fact, that this Dativus commodi occurs very often in the history
of Balaam : curse to me this people, etc. The history is quite
silent about Balaam's teaching Balak. It is said in Numb. xxxi.
16, as a reason why Moses reproved the army sent forth against
the Midianite host for neglect of duty in sparing the women, " Lo,
it was these, who at the word of Balaam taught the children of
Israel unfaithfulness toward the Lord in the matter of Peor, and
judgment came forth upon the congregation of the Lord." It
was, therefore, the women whom Balaam taught. Here it is not
k

146 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

expressly said, whom he taught, but there is to be supplied from
the connectioD : Balak's people. According to Numb. xxiy. 25,
indeed, Balaam no more met with Balak — see my work on Ba*
laam. The last look of Balaam was directed toward Balak ;
expecting to obtain from him the reward, when the stratagem
succeeded. But he did not venture to apply directly to him. The
charge here undoubtedly has respect to existing relations. As
remarked by Bengel, " The Balaamites at Pergamos also courted
the favour of heathens in high rank." The same trait, which ap-
pears in these false teachers, of seeking to win the favour of eth-
nicizing heathens (as indeed the breaking down of the limits
between the church and the world is in all ages the consequence
of such designs), discovers itself even in the epistles of Peter and
Jude. In 2 Peter ii. 15, it is said, " They follow after the way of
Balaam, who loved the wages of unrighteousness.'* And in Jude
ver. 16, " Their mouth speaks proud words, and they have respect
of persons for the sake of profit.** To cast .a stumbling-block
before the children of Israel, was to employ a temptation by
which they might be made to fall, or be broug;ht to destruction ;
comp. Isa. viii. 15. In reference to the expressions of " eating
things offered to idols and committing fornication," Herder re-
marks : the temptation they occasioned did not consist in a
literal eating of things offered to idols but licentiousness ; for this
is only a symbol drawn from the history of Balaam. In what-
ever manner they caused stumbling and defiled the sanctuary
with heathenish pollutions, they were Balaamites ; that is, they
were seducers, idolators, whoremongers." But this is only so
far right, as among the different kinds of participation in hea-
thenish ways those are here brought specially into notice, which
made their appearance even in primitive times. It admits of
historical proof, that these very forms of corruption were cur-
rently practised by the heretics, whom John has in view, nay
that with such they occupied the foreground. To eat things
offered to idols or not to eat them, was even in St Paul's time
the Shibboleth between the lax and the stricter party at Corinth
(1 Cor. X.) At that time, those who ate stood upon the ground
of being permitted to do so, from the insight they had obtained
into the nothingness of idolatry, and from their Christian liberty.
But at a later period, the eating of such offerings was defended

PERGAMOS, CH. II. 14. 147

by the Gnostics, on the groand of that free and mighty spirit
they possessed, which nothing could defile, which might handle
and taste every thing, nay must do so, in order to give proof of
its inyincible power ; and on the ground also of a false spiritual-
ism, which held eyerything corporeal to be indifferent. The Jew
Trypho in Justin throws it out as a reproach against the Chris-
tians, that many of them ate things offered to idols, under the
pretext that it did them no harm (Dial. Try p. 35.) Justin's re-
ply is, that they who did so, Marcianites, Valentin! anians, &c.,
were only Christian in name, and had no proper connection with
Christ and his church. The latter, therefore, could not be an-
dwerable for what they did. In Eusebius IV. 7 it is stated, as
matter of reproach against Basilid^s, that ho had taught it was
an indifferent action, if in times of persecution one should taste
what had been offered to idols, or had unwarily abjured the faith.
And that the Gnostics did not stand even at this, that without
any plea of necessity they participated in the heathen festivals
and idol offerings, is clear from Irenseus I. 6, '' They eat without
hesitation the idol-offerings, because they do not reckon them^
selves to be thereby defiled. And at every festive diversion of
the heathen, which they observe in honour of their gods, they are
the first to assemble." Foniication also appears in the resolution
of the council at Jerusalem (Acts xv. 20), in connection with the
idolatrous feasts, as something which the Christians might easily
be supposed to fall into from their contact with heathenism.
From the licentious character of the heathen festivals it went
hand in hand with the eating of things offered to idols. Iren»us,
in the passage already referred to, reproaches the Gnostics, after
having mentioned their eating of what was offered to idols, with
giving full satisfaction to the lusts of the flesh, and proceeds to
speak of their licentiousness. According to Eusebius, B. IV.
c. 7, those who went farthest even taught " that the basest deeds
should be perpetrated by those who would attain to a perfect
insight into their secret doctrine." " Those people availed them-
selves of the wicked spirit as a helper, in order to make such as
were deceived by him the miserable slaves of corruption ; whilst
to the unbelieving heathen they gave great occasion to slander
the true religion, as the ill report proceeding from them imparted
a bad odour to Christianity at large."

k2

148 THE BBVEN EPISTLES.

Yer. 15. So hast thou also those who hold the doctrine of
the Nicolaitans likewise. The sense is, So and in like manner
as Balaam formerly taught and his disciples foand, hast thon also
those who hold fast by the doctrine of the Balaamites of the pre-
sent time. The likewise (which many copyists did not nnder*
stand, and hence out of 6fioia><; made h fiur& ; Luther : which I
hate, as for a similar reason some expositors would connect it
with the following verse), corresponds to the «o, and it is added
for the purpose of rendering prominent the abnormal, the sur-
prising and frightful nature of the fact, that now again an eril
should have become rife, which had formerly and for all times
been so decisively marked with the divine judgment. According
to some expositors the angel must here be reproved for having,
beside the Balaamites, a second class of heretics, the Nicolaitans,
in his church. They explain so, by just as well as the Balaamites,
and thou hast also, by not less than the angel at Ephesus. But
this exposition is on every account untenable. What sort of
writing would it be : So (as the Balaamites) hast thou also (as the
angel at Ephesus), and then again the likewise, which must refer
back to the Balaamites ! The so and the likewise would be a
mere Pleonasm, if the Balaamites and the Nicolaitans were dif-
ferent. The reference of the also to the angel at Ephesus is in-
admissible. For not to mention, that the epistle to the angel of
the church at Smyrna comes between, the angel at Ephesus had
no Nicolaitans, but had driven them out of his community, and
nothing more remained for him to do in this respect, he is charged
with no blame, nor is any call addressed to him to repent. Ac-
cording to the view in question, we should know only the doctrine
of the Balaamites, only the name of the Nicolaitans, which can-
not possibly be supposed. The next verse too decides against it.
The with them there shews, that in ver. 14 and 15 it must be the
same enemies of the truth that are spoken of. For, it would be
quite unsuitable to have two different parties abruptly thrown
together, and one of them thrown out again. The sword men-
tioned there has reference to the fate of Balaam, and loses its
significance if the intervening Nicolaitans are different from the
Balaamites : the Balaamite doom shall follow the Balaamite guilt.
So that it is quite plain, from the whole passage, that the Nico-
laitans are those who hold by the doctrine of Balaam, and conse-

PJ£RGAMOS» CU. II. 16. 149

quently that we are right in the explanation we formerly gave of
the name.

Ver. 16. Repenty therefore ; hut if not^ I will come to thee
quickly^ and will fight with them by the sword of my mouth.
The therefore^ which rests on the best authorities (comp. yer. 5,
iii. 3, 19), 18 omitted by Luther. The quickly Bengel wonld
remove without sufficient external proof, perhaps, in fayour of a
pre-established opinion. He says also, " If men, especially pas-
tors, rebuke the eyil, the Lord Jesus will spare them, so as not
to visit them with rebuke ; but if they are careless and negligent,
he will come the more sharply against them." K the angel
listening to the admonition exercised repentance, and showed
greater zeal, many of the heretics, or, at least, of those who had
been deceived by them, would still be delivered. But in that
case the Lord would not have come to him, so as to have rendered
the appearance, which was intended for the properly guilty party,
a subject of terror also to him. Bengel : '^ Neither here nor
elsewhere does the Lord add what he would himself do to the
angel of the church. But the conflict with the Balaamites would
bring punishment to him also. Till now the angel could not say
with Paul, ** Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am
pure from the blood of all men'* (Acts xx. 26) ; and so he must
tremble, when he thought of Ez. iii. 17, ss., to which Paul alludes,
at the words : I will fight with them. If he did his duty, the
backsliders would either be reclaimed to the truth, or they would
be expelled from the church. The expression : '' I come to thee
quickly, and will fight with them," to one not acquainted with
the language of Scripture, might seem to indicate a visible ap-
pearance of the Lord, and a palpable execution of judgment by
him. But the Lord often, and indeed usually, exercises his
power secretly ; and it is the method of Scripture to designate
by such strong expressions even that concealed action, in order
to rouse fleshly security out of its indolent slumber.-^The fight-
ing with the sword of the Lord*s mouth, as we have said, refers
to the history of Balaam. '' Like sin, like punishment." In
Numb. xxxi. 8, it is said, '^ And the kings of Midian they slew
upon their dead, Evi, etc., the five kings of Midian ; and Balaam,
the son of Beor, they killed with the sword." In Josh. xiii. 22,
'' And Balaam, the son of Beor, the enchanter, did the children

150 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

of Israel kill with the sword, to their slain." The author of the se-
ductive plan and the seducers alike fell by the sword of the Israel-
ites. That behind this was concealed the avenging sword of God
and of his Logos, appears from Numb. xxii. 23, '' And the ass saw
the angel of the Lord in the way, and his drawn sword in his hand.*'
Numb. xxxi. 8 stands related to this as the fulfilment to the
threatening.!

Ver. 17. He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith to the churches : He that overcomes, to him will I give to
eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a white stone, and
upon the stone a new nafne written, which no one knows but he
that receives it. The words : to him will I give to eat, makes
allusion to the eating of the idol-ofi^erijigs. '' On this heavenly
bread," says Bengel, " they must lose their relish for the things
offered to idols. In the world men are in many ways guilty of
imprudence in their desires to make trial of this and that ; but
whosoever yields himself up in the denial of self and of fleshly
delights, he will come to experience much in spiritual, heavenly,
supernatural things, of which others must be deprived." In John
vi. Christ represents himself as the true manna, which his people
partake of, and obtain thereby life everlasting. Here, the manna
is the life itself, consisting, however, in nothing else than close
fellowship with Christ. Such free allusions indicate still more
clearly the identity of the author than the most explicit agree*
ments. For, in the latter there is the possibility of a borrowing.
Manna was the wilderness-food of the Israelites, which ceased
when they reached Canaan (comp. John vi. 31) ; and according
to the typology of Scripture, the wilderness corresponds to this
life, and the possession of Canaan to the next. Accordingly,
some expositors refer this first promise to what the Lord imparts
to his people in this life, and the second to the future recom-
pense ; as also, indeed, in 1 John iii 1, 2, we find set beside
each other what Christians have now Q' that we are the children
of God"), and what they shall receive hereafter (" we shall be
like him, for we shall see him as he is.") So Bossuet : " Manna
is nourishment in the wilderness, and the secret consolation with
which God supports his children during the pilgrimage of this

I Al Numb. xxxi. 8 the Sept. vtrBion has, not /uaxai^a, but, as liere, po/Kpaia.

PKKGAMOS, CH. U. 17. 151

life." But against this view is the condition, ** he who over-
comes," which can only refer to the completed victory, and is ex-
plained in ver. 26 by the additional words, '* and keeps my works
to the end." So also the analogy of the other concluding pro-
mises, which all have respect to the life to come. Hence we must
suppose, that the character of the manna as food for the wilder-
ness is here left out of view, and only its character as heavenly
food taken into account (comp. Ps. Ixxviii. 24, cv. 40, John vi.
32), in contrast to the poor enjoyments which the earth yields for
the satisfaction of the flesh. Still, the promise does not on this
account lose its reference to the present life. Scripture knows
nothing of an absolute contrast between the present and the fu-
ture. According to its mode of contemplation, there is only a
completing there of whatever has been begun here, and he only
that already has, shall have given to him hereafter — comp. John
iv. 14, V. 24. — The manna is represented as hidden. This pre-
dicate has not respect to the natural manna, which is rather the
manifest, the palpable, but only to the spiritual, to the blessed
life in fellowship with Christ, '' the sweetness of which the world
knoweth not, and no one knoweth saving he that tasteth it.** We
may compare the hidden treasure in the field, Matt. xiii. 44, and
Col. iii. 3, " Our life is hid with Christ in God.** The foretaste
of this hidden manna is given to the faithftil in this present life.
What the Lord said to his still inexperienced disciples, '^ I have
a bread to eat which ye know not** (John iv. 32), they may repeat
before the world. As the eating of the manna, so this designa-
tion of the manna itself as the hidden is employed with reference
to the Nicolaitans ; and in such a manner, that what in this first
promise forms only a subordinate point, becomes the main one in
the second, and that the predicate which is here attributed to the
manna is the link of connection between the two promises. The
Gnostics wished to introduce something of the heathen mysteries
into Christianity ; they boasted, in the spirit that has ever cha-
racterised wocldly wisdom, of possessing what was hidden and
known to none but themselves, and thereby drew many after
them. As heavenly stand opposed to their sensual enjoyments,
so do the true and important secrets to their false and miserable
ones. And the connection of both references with each other is
the merer natural, as with the Gnostics there existed a combina-

152 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

tion of sensnal lust and trafBcking in mysteries, and their pre-
tended discoyeries especially had fleshly-indnlgence for their
object.

The words, / will give hhn a white stone; are isolated by many
expositors, and regarded as a premise apart by itself. But this
is entirely unsuitable. The promise can be only a double one
here, else were the number twelre destroyed. If the white atone
is supposed to haye been named only as writing material, the
promises of the yerse are united together by the bond of the se-
cretness belonging to both. But if, on the other hand, an inde-
pendent yalue is attached to the white stone, the promises fall
asunder. The new name is written on the white stone. But the
white stone cannot first haye a separate worth of its own, and
then again serye as means to an end. If this last cannot be de-
nied, then the first must be abandoned. Further, if we ascribe
to the words an independent yalue, they would contain a refer-
ence to a heathenish custom, as all are agreed who do so. The
supposition of such a reference, howeyer, we must be extremely
cautious of admitting generally into the Reyelation ; and the more
so here, as this supposed second promise in any case is closely
intertwined with the third, which bears a genuine Israelitish
stamp. (Ewald eyen could not ayoid remarking : More Graeco
mire cum Hebraeo mixto.) Then, the reference to the heathenish
custom here would want the necessary clearness and explicitness,
as appears alone from the diversity of opinions adopted by the
expositors as to what custom was really in the eye of the prophet.
Finally, we obtain from this view no satisfactory meaning.
What would most readily occur are the judicial stones ; but the
objection to this is, that the white or exculpatory stones of the
judges were not given to the accused, but cast into an urn. In
that case too, it would be acquittal before the diyine tribunal that
would be marked. But this, firom the connection, would be too
small a boon, and wants, besides, the reference to the Nicolai-
tans, which undeniably exists in what precedes and follows, and
which is also continually found in the promises made to the
churches that were infested by these heretics. — We must, then,
connect the words closely with what follows. The antiquarian
element that comes here into consideration is simply the fact,
that in ancient times they were wont to write much on small

PERQAMOS, CH. II. 17 153

stones. To the new glorions name corresponds the white
stone. The XevKo^, white, is not, as used in the Apoca-
lypse, the simple white, the colonr of innocence, but the shin-
ing white ; com p. on ch. iv. 4. *' The word new," says
Bengel, ** is a truly apocalyptic word : new name, new song,
new heavens, new earth, new Jerusalem, all new, ch. xiy. 3,
iii. 12, xxi. 2." The word has a sweet sound for those, by whom
the old has been felt burdensome and oppressive. It is derived
from Isa. Ixii. 2, *' And the heathen see thy righteousness and all
kings thy glory ; and thou art called by a new name, which the
mouth of the Lord hath spoken ;*' comp. ch. Ixv. 15, '' And he
will give to his servants another name.*' Neither here, nor in
the fundamental passages, is any particular name meant ; other-
wise, it would certainly have been mentioned. It is enough, that
the name is a new one, that it is much more glorious than the
old one, that the state which it indicates has nothing in common
with the earlier one, so full of tribulation, hunger, thirst, heat,
and tears. Parallel is ch. iii. 12, '^ And I will write upon him
the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the
new Jerusalem — and my name the new.*' There, to whom the
conqueror in the new state of things belongs, here, the new name
which he himself receives. In 1 John iii. 2 the new state which
is expressed by the new name, is described by the words, '* But
we know that, when he appears, we shall be like him, for we shall
see him as he is." No one knows the new name but he who re-
ceives it. It is a secret unspeakably more precious than the
secrets of the Nicolaitans, so much praised and yet so worthless.
The name of Christ in ch. xix. 12 corresponds, as being one
which no one knows but himself. Also, according to 1 John
iii. 1, 2, the blessed state of Christians, what now belongs to
them, and much more than that, what they shall possess here-
after, is one that the world cannot understand — one that, with
all its boasted knowledge, it so little understands, as still to be
ignorant of God, and Christ, and those who believe upon his name
(John XV. 21, xvi. 3.)

154 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN TUYATlRA.
(Ch. ii. 18—29.)

One of the roads formed by the Romans from Pergamos to
Sardis led by Thyatira, which the apostle conld not but have
trayelled in his earlier yisitation-ronnds, and which he now again
walked in the Spirit. It lay fifty-eight miles from Pergamos
toward the soath-east, and from Sardis thirty-six miles toward
the north-west. Thyatira, according to Strabo, was a colony of
Macedonians, and, on that account, from {he constant intercourse
it gave rise to with the mother conntry, it is perhaps to be ex-
plained, that we find Lydia the seller of purple from Thyatira at
Philippi, Acts xvi. 14. From this Lydia, whose heart the Lord
opened, that she attended to the things spoken by Paol, probably
arose the first beginnings of the church at Thyatira. She is
named in the Acts a seller of purple of the city of Thyatira, not
from the city, and was therefore still at Thyatira ; and if as a
traveller she formed with her house a centre (Acts xvi. 40), it
was the more to be expected, that she would afterwards at her
proper home labour with zeal and success. We might, perhaps,
regard the woman Jezebel as her Satanic counterpart. The
Nicolaitans in the church at Thyatira had attained to greater
power and importance than at £phesus and at Pergamos. '' Here,"
remarks Ziillig, " much sharper and stronger threatenings are
uttered against those adversaries of the good cause than in the
preceding epistle." This is explained from the character of the
angel of this church. The angel at Thyatira formed a contrast
to that at Ephesus. As the spiritual life of the latter had spent
itself too partially in the defence of orthodoxy, the vindication of
pure and sound doctrine, so the angel of Thyatira, in accordance
with the female origin of the church, exhausted his energy in
works of love, and showed himself weak in those duties of his
office, in which the angel at Ephesus had shown himself strong.
Bengel : " The one could not bear the evil and hated the works
of the Nicolaitans, but left his first love and his first works ; but
the other was rich in love and had always abundance of works,
though he did not resist the evil doers with becoming vigour.

3

THYATIRA, CH. 11. 18, 19. 355

The former, not the latter, is upbraided as having fallen, and
commanded to repent ; bat the Lord has something against
both."

Ver. 18. And to the angel of the church at Thyaiira^ write :
These things saith the Son of God^ who has eyes as a flame of
fire^andhis feet like to clear brass. The three predicates form the
ground at once of the threatening and of the promise. The pro-
phet shows those, who from fear of the power of heathenism were
weak towards the Nicolaitans or eyen inclined to go along with
them, one whom they ought much more to fear, and who can give
both victory and glory. The first predicate itself exhibits a ter-
rible character. For in the passage, which forms the foundation
for this name of Christ, he appears as one who smites the heathen
with an iron sceptre and dashes them in pieces as a potter s ves-
sel. Bengel : *' The glorious name. Son of God, has been most
fully disclosed in the second Psalm, and to that Psalm reference
is also made in ver. 27 of this epistle." The verse before us
forms a commentary on the name. The eyes as a flame of fire,
and the clear brass, are from ch. i. 14. The flame of fire does not
bring to light, as Bengel falsely interprets here, but consumes.
Bengel remarks on the feet as of clear brass: '^ It threatens secure
persons who think they can do what they please, and when im-
piety in them rises to the highest pitch, they tread the Son of
God under foot. But he will himself tread his enemies under his
feet, and will make them as the mire of the street.'*

Ver. 19. / know thy love and thy faith ; and thy service and
thy patience ; and thy last works more than the first. Here
also the senseless desire after uniformity has introduced, after '' I
know," " thy works and." Then, the desire for brevity has
thought that the service must be omitted together with the love.
These corruptions, which are discovered to be such by strong
external grounds, have been admitted into Luther's translation.
We have here a threefold pair before us — love and faith, service
and patience, the first and the last works. If we do not keep by
this pair-like arrangement, the faith separates in an improper

1 The Cod. Alex, has merely t<u kv QuaTtipont to the angel that is in Thyatira.
That the reading arose from a desire of abbreviation, appears from Tertallian Scorp. }2:
ad an{;elum ( cclesiae Thyaiirenoruin, comp. with de pudicilia c. 19': ad angelani Thya-
tireuorum.

156 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

way the loye and its manifestatioD, the service or deaconship-
agency from each other, and the patience remains indeterminate
and swims in the air. Love forms the prominent feature. There-
fore it stands first. Faith is only paired with love, since this,
wherever it is worthy of the name, springs from faith as its root
■ — comp. 1 Tim. i. 5. The love here also is not to be limited
(comp. on ver. 4.) Still the second pair shows how it exercised
itself. The deaconship-service, the Christian ministration of help
to the members of the church (comp. 1 Cor. xvi. 15), was much
attended to amid the various discharge of official duties in Thya-
tira, " so much so, indeed, that the other official members of the
church wrought into the hands of those commonly called deacons
(since in Acts vi.), whose place in this church we have to think of
as standing very high. That the patience here, as in ver. 2, is
active patience, is evident, from its connection with the deaconship.
And this same connection shows that here also, as in ver. 2, the
discourse is of perseverance in a definite sphere. By the works,
according to the connection, are to be understood pre-eminently
works of love. A reference is here made to 2 Pet. ii. 20, " For,
if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the
knowledge of the Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again
entangled therein and overcome, the latter end is worse with them
than the first." The close of the verse before us stands in literal
agreement with these last words, excepting that instead of ;^€^i/a,
worse, there is irTielova^ very similar in sound, though directly
opposite in sense. The allusion can the less be regarded as
accidental, as in St Peter also the subject of discourse has respect
to the Nicolaitans, and to these the prophet comes in what im-
mediately follows ; q. d. that does not hold of thee, which is true
of the Nicolaitans. If thou hast unfortunately left them too much
freedom, if thou hast sinned in not opposing them with sufficient
vigour, they still cannot deprive thee of thy glory. The passage
in Peter again rests on Matth. xii. 45.

Ver. 20. But I have against thee, that thou sufferest thy wife
Jezebelf who says she is a prophetess, and she teaches and se-
duces my servants to commit fornication and to eat things of-
fered to idols. After, '* I have against thee,*' some codices have
introduced "little,** (Luther: "I have a small thing against
thee**), and others '* much ;** but the most and best have neither

THYATIRA, CH. II. 20. 157

the one nor the other. The origin of both readings is explained
from ver. 14, even that of the latter. The feeling, that the style
here is . sharper than in the preceding epistle, gave rise to the
opinion, that a contrast to the small there, was here in its proper
place. Other departures from the genaine reading haye been .
occasioned by the harsh and nnclassical character of the con-»
struction.^ In particular, people could not understand, the " thou
sufierest*' (namely, to teach and seduce), and '* she teaches;''
comp. ch. xi. 3, " And I shall give my two witnesses (to pro-
phecy) and they shall prophecy.'* But the most important devia-
tion has been, that frequently for *' thy wife," is substituted " the
woman," which Luther also has adopted. That the external rea-
sons in support of the first*reading greatly preponderate, is clear
alone from its admission into the text of Lachmann. How the
omission of the thy took place, may be learned from De Wette,
who rejects it as " unsuitable." How should any one have
thought of thrusting in this thy, the cross of expositors, into the
text, if it had not originally existed ? It is enough, that it still
remains untouched in so many and such important critical helps.
Bengel remarks on the expression, thou sufferest : " There are
people, who have a hearty love for the good, and occupy them-
selves with all that is lovely, delight in it and rejoice in the Lord
Jesus Christ as their portion. But the evil may still for them
have its progress." Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal, the king
of Zidon, the wife of Ahab of Israel, who as a murderer of the
prophets, introduced the worship of idols into Israel, is after
Balaam the second chief representative in Old Testament times
of the heathenish seduction that found its way into the church of
the Lord. There can be no manner of doubt, that it is not some
particular seductive woman, who is designated by the name of
Jezebel, as manifesting somewhat of her nature in the church at
Thyatira ; but that the Jezebel was a symbolical person, the
personified heresy and heathenish false doctrine ; so that 1 John
iv. 1, " Many false prophets have gone out into the world," as to
meaning exactly corresponds. To this conclusion, first, the whole
character of the seven epistles points ; for to this it would be

1 The received text : "Ot» «at t»|v yvvalKa 'IsJa/S^X tiJi^ \iyovoav iavriiv irp>0^-
Tt|ir, dtd&aictiv Kal irXavavdai ifioi^t dovKow, at first sight betrays this to have been its
origin.

158 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

quite foreign to introduce such minute particulars, as a reference
here would be to a " certain woman." Certainly, " it has no-
thing against it, to suppose that there was a woman at Thyatira,"
et«. ; bat it has a great deal against it. that John should hare
assigned so important a place to such a woman in a book conse-
.crated to the church of all times. Farther, the analogy of Balaam
leads in the same direction, as to this corresponded not a single
individual in the prophet's own time, but a whole class of false
teachers. Then, the mention of adulteries and children in ver.
22 and 23, with which even those who defend the reference to a
" certain influential woman," have no patience ; De Wette, for
example, who remarks, that '' her children, can scarcely be taken
in the natural sense, but must mean scholars, followers." But it
is quite decisive, that here the discourse is not indefinitely of a
woman, but of the wife of the angel. If it is a fixed point,
that the angel is an ideal person, or a collective, then under the
woman we cannot understand a single individual. We must
rather understand by it the weaker half (1 Pet. iii. 7), that part
of the governing body who were infected with the heresy, whether
it might be, that there were such among those, who actually held
ofilce, or that these, represented by the angel, had false teachers
beside them, who exercised a considerable influence on the church,
and in point of fact had a share in the direction. Jezebel is re-
presented as one, who said, that she was a prophetess. We have
already drawn attention to the false pretensions to inspiration,
which were put forth by the Gnostics at the first. Yitringa has
shewn, that in a certain sense the Old Jezebel assumed the cha-
racter of a false prophetess. To this especially points the enchant-
ments attributed to her, 2 Kings ix. 22, the enthusiaitical con-
duct of the servants of the Baal-worship which she introduced
with fanatical zeal, and the fact, that her father, according to a
fragment of Menander's translation from the Tynan annals in
Josephus, was originally high-priest of Astarte. Little as we
can think of identifying the angel with the church, we are still
farther prevented from doing so by the circumstance, that the
wife also of the angel calls herself a prophetess, teaches and se-
duces, and the laity, who adhere to the false doctrine, are dis-
tinguished from her. That the committing of fornication forms
the commencement here otherwise than in ver. 14, is to be ex-

THYATIRA, CH. II. 21, 22. 159

plained from the circumstance, that in reference to the Old Jeze-
bel the history makes express mention only of adultery ; whereas
in reference to Balaam the seducing also to eat of things offered
to idols is mentioned. In 2 Kings ix. 22, Jehu's answer to the
question of Joram, " Is there peace, Jehu?" was, " What peace,
so long as the whoredoms of thy mother Jezebel, and her witch-
crafts continue 1** There it is primarily spiritual fornication that
is meant ; but this went hand in hand with the bodily, especially
in the worship of demoniacal excitement, like that which was
promoted by Jezebel ; and 2 Kings ix. 30, compared with Jer.
iy. 30 shews, that in Jezebel's case also this connection existed.
The fornication here, too, bears this double meaning. If this is
not kept in mind both here and in ver. 21, the transition in ver.
22, where the discourse comes to be of spiritual adultery, will be
too sharp.

Ver. 21. And I have given her time to repent^ and she will
not repent of her fornication. The destination to punishment
is regarded as a seal of her impenitence, which God sets upon
her bad conduct. John lays open another point of yiew. Bengel :
'' The adulteress was hardened, her deceiyed followers were ex-
pressly called to repentance : the spiritual oyerseer will then him-
self, with his abiding good sense, come right.**

Ver. 22. Behold I throw her into a hed\ and those who com-
mit fornication with her into great tribulation, if they do not
repent of their works. Ver. 23. And her children will I put
to death ; and all churches shall know, that I am he who
searcheth the reins and hearts ; and I will give to every one
among you according to your works, " From the bed of in-
famy they shall be brought to a sick-bed of pain," Bengel. The
following expression : into great tribulation, seryes as an ex-
planation. On the words : they who commit adultery with her,
comp. Ez. xxiii. 37, " with their idols they haye committed adul-
tery." Any one that grew familiar with these antichrists, broke
the coyenant which had been made with God in Christ. Seyeral
expositors would distinguish between the adulterers and the
children, understanding by the first the assistants, by the others
the scholars. But it is better to understand by the adulterers
and children, the followers and children. As the goyerning body

160 THB SEVEN EPISTLES.

only had teachers formed by the woman, the distinction is too
fine a one, the difference too impalpable. In the Old Testament
the children stand for the recipients of false doctrine generally ;
comp. Isa. Irii. 3, ** Ye sons of the sorceress, the seed of the
adulterer and the whore," a passage to which special reference is
probably made here. Through the poetical representations of the
Old Testament such figuratiye expressions had become so natu-
ralized, that eyen in prose they occur in the New Testament.
John calls the belieyers of his diocese his children, 3 John 4,
as Peter also names Mark his son. In ^is second epistle John
personifies a church as a woman (so also Peter in I Pet. y. 13),
comp. 3 John 9, the associated church as a sister, and its members as
children, comp. yer. 13, ** The children of thine elect sister greet
thee."' — Instead of: I will put to death, it is literally, I will kill
with death. Many expositors would here understand by death
the pestilence. But this is neyer designated so (comp. on ch. yi.
8), and such a meaning does not properly suit here with the eyes
of flaming fire, and the feet as of glowing brass, nor to what is
said in the. Old Testament of the death of the literal Jezebel.
The appended expression, " with death,*' must be regarded as
showing the earnestness there was in the threatening, just as one
says, to burn with fire, in order to place yiyidly before the eye
the scorching heat of the fire.^ — The word, and shall knowy must
be regarded as emphatic. It forms an irony on their gnosUj
comp. the " haye known'' in yer. 24, and the common use of know-
ing in the first epistle of John. This would be a profitable
gnosis, instead of that unprofitable sort, which they lauded. They
should help all churches in Christendom to the right gnosis, and
must do so, though in a yery different manner from what they
wished to haye done. For, apart from the judgment of God in
their personal experience, the Lord has made an end of their error,
while the simple diyine truth constantly blooms forth anew. The
object of that profitable gnosis is, that Christ " searches the reins
and hearts." The original passage is Ps. yii. 9, *' Let the

1 Allusion is made to the Mosaic formola nni^ nitt. which is partieularly used in re-
ference to adultery, comp. Lev. xx. 10, ** The man that commiuetli adultery with an-
other man's wife, he shall die the death, hoth adulterer and adulteress." The phrase h
Bavdrtf serves the same purpose as there the prefixed infin. LXX.: Oavdrw Oara-

THYATIRA, C«. II. 24, 25. 161

wickedness of the wicked come to an end ; and establish thon the
righteous, and prover of the hearts and reins art thon, 0 righteous
God." " It is God," remarks Bengel, " who, as is also testified
in the Old Testament, searches the hearts and reins, and this
divine property the Lord Jesus Christ here ascribes to himself."
The proving in the original passage, and here also the searching
comes into yiew, not as an indication of the divine omniscience,
but of the divine righteousness. The words point to God's
righteousness, according to which he doe^ not keep himself in a
state of indifference toward good and evil, but constantly exer-
cises the divine energy, which can penetrate into the very inmost
heart, in order to discern both the one and the other, and to visit
it accordingly with blessing or with punishment. Gomp. Jer.
xvii. 10, XX. 12. The practical character of the searching of the
hearts and reins shows itself here in the giving to each according
to his works. Perhaps here also there is some reference to Gnos-
ticism. The Gnostics expressed themselves with great contempt
of common Christians, as persons who stood merely at superfi-
cial attainments, while they themselves penetrated into the
innermost nature of things — comp. ver. 24. Now, however, they
must have to do with one, who can penetrate into their inmost
being, and how shall they tremble before him, since even their
exterior presents so many spots and blemishes ! On the words,
" I will give — according to your works," Bengel remarks, " We
shall not easily find a saying that more frequently occurs in Scrip-
ture than this ; Ps. Ixii. 13, Matt. xvi. 27, Rom. ii. 6." It is
especially appropriate in the presence of the lawless, 2 Pet.
iii. 17, who think that they can do what they please.

Ver. 24. But to you I say, the others that are at ThyaUra^
who have not such doctrine, and who have not known the depths
of Satan, as they speak ; I will not throw upon you another
burden, Ver. 25. But what you have received hold fast till I
come. Instead of, ''to you the others," Luther follows the
reading, " you and the others." According to this there would
come forth, behind the ideal oneness of the angel, the concealed
real manifoldness : to you, my true servants in the church and
the members of it. But the shoving in of the and has too little
of external support to justify its adoption. The others are,
therefore, those who have kept themselves free from the teaching

162 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

of Jezebel. " The bad state of matters at Thyatira, " remarks
Bengel," is ascribed not to them, but only to the oTerseer, as also
at Ephesns and at Pergamos the Lord holds the overseers respon-
sible for the evil." The Gnostics, probably taking occasion from
1 Cor. ii. 10, were constantly keeping the depths in their month,
perpetually talking about going into the depths with Satan, not
less than with Gtoi.^ But only in respect to Satan did they in a
certain measure attain to this. While they set forth the prin-
ciple that one must, in order to know the depths of Satan, become
familiar with everything shameful, they at least succeeded practi-
cally in getting an intimate acquaintance with Satan. The nature
of these Satanic studies of the older Gnosticism is made plain to us
by what is said in Eusebius,!!. 13, of the Simonians, '* those deeper
secrets, of which they say that he who hears them for the first
time would be astonished and confounded, are in truth full of
things, at which one must be astonished, full of folly and mad-
ness. They are of such a nature that a discreet person cannot
write of them, nor open his lips about them on account of their
horrid filthiness and obscenity." This was the theoretical result
of their practical inquiries. According to the current explana-
tion the expression, '* as they speak,^ must only refer to the
depihsy and John puts Satan in the place of God. So Bengel :
''The false teachers said, that what they taught were deep
things. This the Lord admits, but with the addition, that they
were not divine but Satanic depths — just as he had conceded to
the Jews the name of a synagogue, but a synagogue of Satan, ver.
9." But it is arbitrary and without example to refer the words,
" as they speak,'* which are also wanting at the synagogue of
Satan, merely to the depths. Nor is the thought thus obtained
at all suitable, as the heretics did not confine themselves in their
knowledge to the depths of God, but rather stretched their Gnosis
over all points of Christian doctrine, and even to Satan himself.
The chief point must lie in the haring hnown^ which the here-
tics took in an exalted and laudable s^nse, but which the

1 Gomp. Tertallian adv. Valent. c. 1.: Si bona fide quaeraa, eoncreto vnltu, sttspenao
supercilio, aUum eat aiunt. Iren. I. 1 : Kal tavra %\»ai td /uydka xal davfiarrd xal
Avoliptrra fiuvTiipia. II. 88: Vere caecutienlis, qui profunda By tla adinTenisse se
dicont C.30 : Proftandadei adinyineaae se dicentes. c. 48: Irrationabiliter aatem inflati
audaciter dei mystaria acire ?08 dicitis.

THYATIRA, CH. II. 24, 25. 163

apostle used in & low and scandalons one. That their knowledge
only of the depths of Satan is here mentioned, was owing to the cir-
enmstance, that here the horse-foot in them became particularly
manifest. — By the other burden most expositors understand a
new snfferiig. Bengel : " He who is plagued in one part, will
on this account haye something withheld from him in other re-
spects. Christ will not let too heavy a burden come upon any of
his own." But in opposition to this yiew, there is the circum-
stance, that in the preceding context nothing had been said of a
burden in this sense, which the Christians at Thyatira had already
borne, or were yet to bear. Against BengeFs remark, that they
"had a. sufficient burden in Jezebel and her followers/' it is
enough to say, that the existence of heretics in the church had
been represented in the preceding context as a matter of guilt.
Reference has been made to the patience in ver. 19, but only by
a false style of exposition. The threatening has respect simply
to the apostate party, not to the true. The other burden, which
was not to be laid upon them, must therefore form the contrast to
what they now had and should hold fast. Our Lord says in
Matt, xxiii. 4 of the Pharisees, " They bind heayy and intolerable
burdens, and lay them upon the necks of men." In Acts xy. 10,
Peter says to the Judaizers, ** Wherefore, then, do you tempt
6od by laying on the necks of the disciples a yoke which neither
our fathers nor we were able to bear.*' Now, it was an artifice
of the lawless party, that by an abuse of St Paul's doctrine of
liberty (comp. 2 Pet. ii. 19 with iii. 16) they were constantly
ready with the charge of Judaism and Pharisaism ; that they ap-
plied to the moral law what bore respect only to the ceremonial
law. (Mark : Cantilena scil. perpetua impuri gregis erat Chris-
tiana libertas, quam praedicabant et praetexebant suis impurita-
tibus.) In opposition to them Christ says : They are always
speaking of burdens which one seeks to lay upon you. I will lay
upon you no other burden ; but one is indispensable, that ye hold
by the command whjch ye haye receiyed from the beginning.
This does not admit of your flying off with the lawless under the
pretext of Christian liberty ; for whosoeyer releases himself arbi-
trarily from this " burden," he will haye occasion to repent of it
bitterly at my appearance for judgment. Receiying to yoursehes
such a burden, you shall lose salyation. — There is a striking re«

12

164 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

ference to the decree of the apostolic conncil at Jerusalem, in
which also Paul had a part, Acts xr. 28, 29, " It seemed good
to the Holy Ohost and to us, to lay upon you none other burden
(fidposi), but only these necessary things, that ye keep yourselves
iVom things offered to idols, and from blood, and from strangled,
and from fornication, firom which, if ye keep yourselves, ye do
well.'* There, among other things, the eating of things offered to
idols, and fornication, were interdicted, which the lawless party
gaye out for an unprofitable burden. — ^On yer. 25 comp. 1 John
ii. 24, " Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard fVom
the beginning ; if that which ye haye heard firom the beginning
shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the
Father.'*

Ver. 26. And he that overcomes and keeps my works to the
end, to him unll I give power over the heathen. In regard to
the first and, which is wanting in some copies, Bengel remarks :
*' With this little word the present alone begins of all the seyen
promises ; whence we may conclude that this addition has a pe-
culiar connection with the preceding address." To the and at
the beginning corresponds the expression : and keeps my works
to the end, as a resumption of what had been said previously
about keeping what they had till the Lord came. The keeping
forms the contrast to the self-willed or thoughtless forgetting ;
comp. i. 3. The : to keep the command, the word, or such like, is
a form of expression of which John is particularly fond. Bengel :
'' My works. In these I have gone before him with my example,
and in doing them he, as my servant, obeys my commands.
These works may be learned from the opposite things in ch. xxii.
15. Elsewhere it is said simply, '* He that overcomes ;" but
here there is subjoined, '* and keeps my works to the end." So
long as a man still lives on the earth, however far he may have
attained, he cannot say, I have overcome." For each individual
the end is the period of his death, when the Lord comes for him.
For the church at large it takes place in the fullest sense at the
Lord's advent and appearance for judgment. The end, however,
and the Lord's appearance for judgment, often takes place before-
hand in a provisional manner, at the close of every dispensation or
epoch, such, for example, as the judgment on Jerusalem—- comp.
Matt. X. 22 ; and the judgment likewise on heathen Rome bore

THYATIRA, CH. II. 27, 28. 165

a similar character. — The promise given to conquering fidelity, is
power oyer the heathen. By an abase of 1 Cor. viii. 9, yi. 12,
the Gnostics continually had in their month the power or do-
minion oyer the world, and under the pretence of this they led
the Christians, who adhered to them, into the service of corrup-
tion (2 Pet. ii. 19), of heathenism. '^ Only a small pool of water
(they said, a^ording to Porphyry in Neander's Church History,
ii. p. 665), can he defiled by anything filthy being thrown into
it, not the ocean which receiyes everything, because it knows its
own greatness. So, it is only the little man that is overcome by
good ; but he who is an ocean of power, receives every thing into
himself,* and is not defiled." ** If we (they said, according to the
same passage of Porphyry) fiy from food, then we are in bondage
to the sense of fear ; but all must be in subjection to us." " We
must/* so spake these valiant spirits, according to Clemens of
Alexandria, in Neander, p. 664, ** through the gratification of
lust overcome lust. For, there is nothing great in restraining
lust, if one has not tried it ; but the greatness lies in not being
overcome by lust, when one has experience of it." In opposition
to these false and destructive sentiments, the Lord declares that
he who stoutly resists them, and abides stedfast by the law, which
they mock and nullify, shall come to the possession of a glorious
power, to the ascendancy over heathenism and the heathen world.
This promise has been gloriously fulfilled. The Christian church,
because it conquered and kept, overcame heathenism, while in so
far as it imbibed the principles of Gnosticism, and sought power
in the way of a false freedom, instead of doing so in the way of
obedience, soon disappeared, without leaving a trace of its exist-
ence.

Ver. 27. And he will tend them with a rod of iron, and as
a potter's vessels will he dash them in pieces^ as I also have re-
ceived of my Father, On the tending of the heathen with a
rod of iron, comp. on ch. xii. 5, xix. 15.

Yer. 28. And I will give him the morrdng-star. De Wette
thinks, it is difficult to say why the promise here should have
been made so exceedingly strong, as the victory was still not
to be looked upon as one so peculiarly hard and extraordinary.
But that the Nicolaitan seduction was exceedingly formidable in
Thyatira, follows as a certain consequence from the richness of

166 THE SKVEN EPISTLES.

the promise, and is confirmed by the length and earnestness
with which the heretics are treated of in the precedinjr context,
and also by JezebeFs being named the wife of the angel. That
the words, " as I also have receired of my Father," mast be sup-
plied here too, is evident from ch. xxii. 16, where Christ is desig-
nated " the bright morning-star.'* It is but a s^ght difference,
that there Christ receives the designation on accon)it of his glo-
rious dominion, and here the glorious dominion itself is so desig-
nated. That the morning-star is here the image of a glorious
dominion, admits of no doubt, as star in the Revelation is con-
stantly employed in the sense of dominion ; as the star here
occurs in connection with the rod or sceptre, and in the prophecy
of Balaam, in Num xxiv. 17, '' A star comes out of Jacob, and
a sceptre rises out of Israel and shatters," &c., the star likewise
denotes dominion over the heathen. So also in the original
passage, Isa. xiv 12, the bearer of the world-power, the king of
Babylon, on account of his glorious dominion is named the bright
morning-star. When the church of Christ remains stedfast, the
world must change places with it. With every other explanation
of the morning-star, the oneness of the promise is also destroyed.
For, the dominion over the heathen is the subject discoursed of
in what precedes ; and again in ch. xxii. 16, Christ is called the
morning-star in connection with other descriptions of his royal
supremacy. That he was to be ruler of the heathen was an-
nounced at the first by the star of the Magi — as I have shewn in
my work on Balaam, p. 177. — It appears that here also allusion
is made to the delusive pretensions of the Nicolaitans. These
persons promised to their hearers a new light, the dawn (one may
just remember J. Bohme*s Autora), or the morning-star of know-
ledge ; and they also called themselves shining stars, destined to
dispel the darkness of the Christian church. Instead of this
wretched morning-star the true one is promised to the faithful.
A similar allusion is made, as appears in the epistle of Jude, in
ver« 13 (comp. 2 Pet. ii. 17), where the false teachers are des-
cribed as " wandering stars," '' for whom is reserved the black-
ness of darkness for ever." They called themselves shining stars.
But now, since they had the predicate of '^ wandering" applied
to them, the most fearfnl darkness is announced to them, with a
reference to Isa. xiv. ] 2, 15, precisely as if one should call the

SARDIS, CH. 111. 1. 167

*' Friends of light** by the name of " Friends of the ignU fa-
tuusr

THE £PISTL£ TO THE ANGKL OF THE CHURCH IN SARDIS.

Ch. iii. 1—6.

The angel at Sardis has a name, that he lives, and is dead.
After being solemnly called to repent, the Lord addresses him-
self to the few liying Christians, who still remained there. Those
who in such circumstances were sorely tried, are exhorted to be
faithful, in consideration of the glorious recompense which awaited
them.

Ver. 1. And to the angel of the church at Sardia write :
These things eaith he who has the seven Spirits of Qod, and
the seven stars : I know thy works, that thou hast a name
that thou liuest, and art dead. In regard to the sey^en Spirits
of God, or the powers of the Spirit working in creation, see on
ch. i. 4. In the description giyen of the person of Christ in
ch. i., from which usually the predicates in the beginning of the
epistles are borrowed, the seyen Spirits are not expressly men-
tioned. But from the feeling, that eyery thing which is the
Father's is also Christ's, with which John shews himself to haye
been so deeply penetrated in the Apocalypse as well as in the
Gospel, there might haye been a recurring to ch. i. 4 ; comp. ch.
y. 6. According to the parallel passage, the seyen Spirits are
not mentioned in respect to the communicating of the spiritual
powers of life (Bengel), nor in respect to omniscient and heart-
searching knowledge (Vitringa, ZuUig, De Wette), but in respect
to the unconditional and unlimited power to punish and reward.
The predicate : who has the seyen Spirits of God, forms the
foundation for what is said in yer. 3, '* I will come upon you."
Just because Christ has the seyen Spirits of God, he has also the
seyen star^. No one can deliyer the rulers of the church, imaged
by them, out of his hand, if they should fall under his displeasure,
as is the case here ; nor can any one hurt them, if they are the
objects of his loye. From the mouth of such an one, the words,
" I know thy works," must convey a dreadful sound ; for the

168 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

roar of words must be followed by the destrnctiye lightning of
deeds. The seven stars, which were already mentioned in ch.
ii. 1, could only return here in a subordinate relation to the seven
Spirits of God; as the possessor of the latter, Christ could only be
designated once in the commencement of the epistles. Bengel :
** These seven stars have already been repeated from the first
chapter in ch. ii. 1 ; and since nothing else is repeated a second
time from the first chapter in the second and third, this is an in-
dication, that the seven stars are here introduced only incidentally*
as they are subordinate to the seven Spirits of God." — " The
description of this overseer," remarks Bengel, "is short and abrupt,
but in a single little word much that is' of an unpleasant nature
is comprised.'* The name is here, not the accidental proper
name, but the significant name of office ; as appears alone from
the circumstance, that by the angel not a single individual is de-
noted, but the whole presiding body of the church. Such a body
in the church of Christ has by its very position a name that it
lives ; for Christ has already called them to become alive, and
much more is the name of life inseparable from the pastoral office
in a Christian church. Yet it is with ^ome probability that
Bengel, after the example of Hip. a Lapide, supposed some allu-
sion to be here made to the proper name of the person, who formed
the centre of the presiding body at Sardis : " There are in Greek
and in other languages also many names, which are derived from
life, such as Zosinus, Vitalis, etc. Very likely the angel of this
church had a fine name of this sort, and from it* the Lord takes
occasion to adomish him of the opposite nature of his condition."
But anyhow this passage is admirably fitted to awaken in us a
sacred shudder at what is merely nominal. As Bengel remarks,
*' In Scripture a name, which is unaccompanied by deed, is often
disowned and laid aside, Ruth i. 20, Jer. xx. 3. And it is re-
markable, that the Revelation suffers no false names, ch. ii. 2, 9.
The Lord everywhere in it looks to the bottom of things, and be-
fore his eyes all that is mere appearance, falsehood, and conceit
must vanish away." — To be dead, says Cocceius justly, is to be
devoid of faith and love. For these are the principles and the
manifestations of spiritual life. In the symbolical character of
the Old Testament, defilement through dead bodies appears as
the worst, because death is the wages of sin ; whence also it is

SARDIS, CH. III. 2. 169

the most exact image of the God-cleserted state — see my work on
Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 184. On this account onr
Lord himself speaks in Matth. viii. 22 of the spiritnally dead ; and
his making some alive from the state of death had respect to the
same thing. It was an image ^of what he was going to do on the
spiritnally dead. Paul especially speaks often of spiritual death,
Rom. Yi. 13, Eph. ii. 1, 6, 1 Tim. v. 6, Hebr. ri. 1, ix. 14.
Spiritual death is to Christ, who is life itself, an object of horror.
We must not, however, suppose that it had fully taken possession
of the angel at Sardis. In the words " thou art dead," it is only
intimated, that death had already got the ascendant of the life.
According to the more exact account in ver. 2, the ange^ and a
great part of the church was near death — otherwise, the punish-
ment and the admonition to repent would be unsuitable. For, it
is impossible that those who have sunk into the condition of spi-
ritual death, after having been alive, can be renewed again to
repentance, Hebr. vi. 6. And in that case there should no
longer have been any church and any angel at all.

Ver. 2. Be wakeful^ and strengthen the rest that is ready to
die ; for I have not found thy works complete before my Ood,
" Death and sleep,*' remarks Bengel, '* are in natural things like
one another, and in spiritual they are almost one. It is the com-
mencement of true salvation to a soul when it i& awakened from
its sleep of death." In Eph. also, v. 14, sleep and death are con-
joined with each other. The ** be wakeful*' here implies more
than the " awake" there. It calls them to be awake, and to re-
main awake. The jfyrfyopeXv is not to awake, but to keep awake,
to watch, the opposite of a state of sleeping, 1 Thess. v. 10.
'* Watch, therefore, because ye know not at what hour your Lord
comes," the Lord had said to his disciples (Matt. xxiv. 42, xxv.
13.) " Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation," he
had also said to John and the two other disciples who stood
nearest to him (Matt. xxvi. 41 ) That John here, as Peter in
1 Pet. V. 8, refers to that word, is clear from ver. 3. The rest,
besides the angel or the overseers, are the members of the church,
or the laity, who not less than the overseers were in danger of
death. Allusion is made to Ez. xxxiv. 4, " The weak have ye
not strengthened, and the sick have ye not healed ; the wounded
have ye not bound, the wandering have ye not fetched, and the

170 TIJE SEVEN EPISTLES.

lost ye have not sought." There, too, it is the rulers of the
church who are addressed. Their careless keeping of the Lord's
flock is complained of. A testimony is furnished by this also,
that the overseers of the church are to be understood by the'
angel, and that these are to be carefully distinguished from the
church itself. Through the special allusion, here made to £ze-
kiel, the whole lamentation raised by him over the bad shepherds
is applied to the angel. Intentionally the verb is taken from the
first member of the representation, primarily applicable to the
neglect of the shepherds, and the object from the last.^ In this
manner is the entire representation approprii^ted. From the ori-
ginal passage also has the neuter been adopted : the rest. There
the feminine is used, referring to the sheep. The LXX. also
have rendered the feminines by neuters. — The worJcs^ by which
at last every thing is to be determined. Matt. vii. 21, John xiv.
21. The complete, full (comp. made full in John xvii. 13, 1
John i. 4, 2 John 12), forms the contrast to the deficiency, under
which the works laboured, though more in respect to their soul,
the impelling motives, than to their external appearance. The
expression : before my Ood, implies that they were still not jus-
tified, however they might appear pure before the eyes of men,
and their own slumbering consciences.

Ver. 3. Remember, therefore, how tfiou hast received and
heard, and keep it and repent. If thou wilt not therefore watch,
I will come as a thief, and thou wilt not know at what hour I
shall come on thee, Bemember therefore, since the case is so
bad with thee. You must not merely theoretically remember
what you have received, but you must lay it to heart, and seri-
ously consider in what opposition your life has stood to the pure
doctrine delivered to yon, which requires living faith and cordial
love. The how refers not to the manner of receiving and hear-
ing, but to what has been received and heard ; q.d, what is the
nature or tendency of what ye have received. Of the simple man-
ner of delivery we cannot think with Vitringa, as it is not the
delivery, but the receiving and hearing that is spoken of. The
passages 1 Tim. vi. 20, 2 Tim i. 14, Col. ii. 6, *' As therefore ye
have received the Lord Jesus, so walk in him,'' refer to the same

1 The o ifitWov airodavtlv does not, rs Vitringa supposes, correspond to nVjha but to
man.

SARDIS, CH. HI. 4. 171

subject. John appears to have had distinctly in yiew the pas-
sage last quoted. There, as here, it is pressed that the walk
should be in unison with what had been received from Christ. In
regard to the feeepin^, comp. on ii. 26. — The second therefore
(which is wanting in Luther, while he has upon thee too much)
joins to the exhortation, Bepent : If thou, therefore, since thou
so greatly needest repentance or a change of mind. There un-
doubtedly exists a reference to the declaration of our Lord, Matt,
xxiy. 42, 43, " Watch, therefore, for ye know not at what hour
your Lord comes ; but know this, that if the goodman of the
house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would
have watched."" How deep an impression this word of our Lord
had made upon the minds of his disciples, is manifest from the
allusions made to it elsewhere, 2 Pet. iii. 10, 1 Thess. y. 2, 4^
where the coming of the day of the Lord as a thief in the night
is described a.sa thing which was already quite well known to
the Thessalonians. The passage before us, and that in ch. xvi.
15, so far come nearer to the original one than the others, as in
these two the coming of the Lord himself is compared to the
coming of a thief, while in the other passages it is to the coming
of the day of the Lord.

Ver. 4. But thou hast a few names in Sardie, who have not
defiled their garments ; and they shall walk with me in white
garments^ for they are worthy. On the expression, " thou hast,'*
Bengel says, " These, from being so very few, had not withdrawn
themselves, otherwise they would not have belonged to the angel
of the church. Tet they did not owe it to him, that they had
not defiled their garments, but it was a matter of blame to him
that there were so few of them." According to the passages.
Numb. i. 2, 18, 20, iii. 40, 43, xxvi. 53, Acts i. 15, Rev. xi. 13,
it might be thought, that by the names here simply persons were
meant. But, 1. This mode of speech is found elsewhere only in
numberings and lists, in which persons are taken account of only
in respect to their names. 2. It is a natural supposition, that
the names here have respect to the declaration : thou hast a
name that thou livest, and art dead, in ver. 1. It is better,
therefore, to suppose, that the few names, which had not defiled
their garments, the few in whom the name had its foundation in
the reality (for to be a Christian is, at the same time, to keep

8

172 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

one's self unspotted firom the world), stand here in reference to
the great nnmber of those who might adopt the saying, Nos nn-
merns snmas. Names enough ! but only a few among them, of
which the bearers did honour to their names ; whereas there
should haye been as many true Christians as there were names
in their church. The defiling perhaps alludes to the name Sar-
dis : Sardes has become Sordes. " These are they who haye not
defiled themselves with women," in ch. xiv. 4, corresponds as to
the meaning. For there women are figuratively used as a name
for sin. Upon the garments as a symbol of the state, see on ch.
vii. 14, where it is said of true Christians, " They have washed
their robes and made them whit-e in the blood of the Lamb.*'
Hence with the early Christians the pure state of the baptized
was represented outwardly by the white garments they wore.
Because the saints have not defiled their garments, but washed
them and made ^hem white, therefore they are to receive white
garments for a reward, ch. vi. 11, vii. 9. The appropriation of
forgiveness and life in sanctification is followed by blessedness
and glory. On the words, " for they are worthy," Bengel re-
marks, " Oh how much more blessed is this worthiness, than
that which is spoken of in ch. xvi. 6 !" Comp. 2 Thess. i. 5. —
Vitringa is disposed to conclude from this verse, that at Sardis
also the heresy of the Nicolaitans had obtained a footing, which
is also probable on this account, that they had made such devas-
tations in the neighbouring churches. But neither here, nor at
Laodicea, is there the least reference to the Nicolaitans. The
reproach of very extensive sinful defilement, which id brought
against the church at Sardis, cannot be regarded as such. It is
not to be overlooked, that what was sinful in Gnosticism pro-
ceeded from the general corruption that pervaded heathen life ;
and that this could not fail to press into the Christian church
under different forms, wherever Gnosticism was in process of for-
mation, and the love of the world or the service of Mammon had
obtained a footing. It is very remarkable, that precisely the two
churches, which are represented as the most debased, the most
complete contrasts to faithful Smyrna and Philadelphia, Sardis
and Laodicea, had no Nicolaitans in them. A warning lies con-
cealed here, that amid the dangers arising from speculative errors,
we 'should not overlook those which are still greater. In specu-

SARDIS, CH. III. 5. 173

latire errors there still is always a spiritual element, howerer
nnspiritnal or counter-spiritual it may be. The conflict with it
quickens, while common "worldliness and indifferentism naturally
exerts a deadening influence. For the followers of false doctrine
itself the spiritual excitement not rarely forms a transition to
spiritual life.

Ver. 6. He that overcomes^ the same shall he invested with
white garments ; and I will not blot out his name out of the
hook of life ; and I will confess his name hefore my Father
and hefore his angels The promise here is threefold. The few
names that had not defiled their garments in the midst of a
merely nominaUGhristian society, whose corrupting influence
flowed in upon tUem from eyery side, needed a particularly strong
encouragement. The whole of the three promises run into that
of 2 Thess. i. 5, he will be deemed worthy of the kingdom of God,
for which he has suffered, or of Acts xiii. 48, he shall be of the
number of those who are ordained to eternal life. The second
promise rests upon Ps. Ixix. 28, " They shall be blotted out of
the book of life, and shall not be written with the Tighteous ; on
which I remarked in my commentary, '' To be blotted out of the
book of liTe, of which mention is made for the first time in Ex.
xxzii. 32, is as much as to be deroted to death, with reference to
the untimely and sudden death threatened against the wicked
in the law. As here, in regard to a temporal existence, so in the
New Testament with regard to an eternal one, we read of the
book of life, Phil. ir. 3, Rev. xx. 15. To be written with the
righteous is a parallel expression. For it is just in the book of .
life that the righteous are written, they are ordained to life."
According to ch. xx. 15, those who are not found written in the
book of li^e shall be thrown into the lake of fire. The third
promise has the faithfulness of the few chosen ones in confessing
the truth for its foundation, whose light shone all the brighter on
account of the surrounding unfaithfulness that inseparably attends
lukewarmness and worldly-mindedness. It rests especially on
Matt. X. 32, 33, " Whosoeyer confesses me before men, him will
I confess before my Father in heaven ; but whosoever denies me
before men, him will I also deny before my Father in heaven ;"
and Luke xii. 8, 9, '* Whosoever confesses me before men, him
will also the Son of man confess before the angels of God. But

174 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

whosoever denies me before men, he shall be denied before the
angels of God." Matthew mentions only the Father in heaven,
Lnke only the angels, but here both are found. We shall the less
think of ascribing this to accident, if we keep in view the unde-
niable reference to the words of Christ in ver. 2 and 3. Herder
already remarks, " The whole epistle is in the words of Christ,
which he spake while yet upon the earth."^

Ver. 6. He that has an ear to hear^ let him hear what the
Spirit says to the churches.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN
PHILADELPHIA.

Ch. ill. 7—13.

Justin in his discourse with the Jew Tryphon, § 17, thus re-
proaches the Jews : *' Other nations have not so much guilt in
their unrighteous dealings toward us and Christ as you, who are
also the authors of the bad prejudice which they raise a|;ainst the
Holy One and us, who are sprung of him." (Comp. § 133 and the
first apology, § 31.) From this bitter feeling of hostility on the
part of the Jews the feeble community at Philadelphia — ^feeble in
a worldly respect — had much to suffer. But the Lord calls out
to them : Faint not thou little weakling, and lays open to her
the wellspring of rich consolation. No Jew shall be able to rob
you of the kingdom of God, ye to whom it belongs, ver. 8. On
the contrary, many of that nation, who now in proud infatuation
give themselves out for the only true people of God, shall one day
humbly sue for reception into the calumniated church of Christ,
as the only church of God and the one region of safety, ver. 9.
Tour stedfastness in persecutions irom the world secures your
preservation in the judgment, which is soon to take place, ver.
10, 11. And at the end of your course eternal blessedness shall

1 There is an allusion also to the same declaration of Christ in John xii. 42, bearing
respect to the failareof its object; so also, perhaps, in John i. 20, where there is the
same contrast between confessing and not denying. The ofioXoytty is here used with
the accusative of that, to which one confesses, as in John ix. 22 ; Matt, and Luke
have iy.

PHILADELPHIA, CH. ITT. 7. 175

barst upon your view, ver. 12 Whoever has an ear for such
glorious promises, he will not faint, bat fight with vigour, ver. 13.
Ver. 1. And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia
write : These things saiih the Holy, the True, he that has
the key of David, who opens and no one shuts, who shuts
and no one opens. Absolute holiness is an unconditional and
exclusive predicate of God ; comp. on the divine holiness, the ab-
solute exaltation of God above all created beings, on ch. iv. 8.
The angels are holy, raised above the world, above the earth, the
3tate of vanity, but the name of the Holy belongs only to one.
The Holy — by this word the Lord is exalted above all the
calumnies and blasphemies of the Jews, who in the Lord
of glory saw only the crucified. (Tryphon in Justin, § 32,
says : ^' This Christ of yours was without honour and glory
so that he fell under the severest curse of the law of God,
for he was crucified "). And so it places his church upon an im-
moveable rock, on which the billows of the world must break
in pieces. He that has the Holy for his friend, for him the
hostile Jews are no more than puny dwarfs. The True is also an
exclusively divine predicate. It is a word much liked by John,
and more frequently used by him than by other writers of the New
Testament ; for in a world of shew and appearance, he ever longed
after the true Being. To limit it here to mere truthfulness in
promising would be quite arbitrary ; as there is nothing in the
' context pointing to that, and the connection with holiness is
against it. For truthfulness in promising is not properly fitted
to stand as a contrast to the assaults of the Jews, to which every
thing here has respect. TJiese were directed to the object of
shewing, not only that there was a disagreement in Christ be-
tween word and deed, but also a contrariety between appearance
and essence, between faith and reality. Trypho reproaches
Christians with being deceived by lying speeches, and following
worthless men. " Yon have," says he, " lent your faith to idle re-
ports, and imagine to yourselves a Christ, for love to whom ye
foolishly perish." It is not a simple opposition to a Fseudo-
Messias that we ought to find here. For the subject of discourse
is not concerning a true Christ, but concerning the true in the
fullest sense. In 1 'John v. 20 this is simply identified with the
true God : Christ is there first named the true, and then imme-

176 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

diately afterwards is designated the true God and eternal life. In
this book itself, ch. vi. 10, the predicates of the Holy and the
True are attributed to the supreme God. The absolutely true
being is only the divine, all other being is overlaid with the
seeming and the untrue. On account merely of his essential one-
ness with the Father, could Christ call himself the Truth in John
xiv. 6, and be designated here and in 1 John y. 20 as the True.
When the church directs her eye upon the True, she can look
down with a holy irony upon the blasphemies of the Jews, and is
filled with a holy boldness. For, if her Saviour is the True, he is
also the Omnipotent ; feebleness exists only where there is un-
truthfulness, false appearance, lies ; and from unconditional Truth
of Being truthfulness of word is also inseparable. — Justin in his
discourse with Tryphon, § 123, reproaches the Jews with deceiv-
ing themselves, as if they alone were Israel, and cursing the
blessed people of God. They felt that to allow the claim of
Christians, was to overthrow their own claim to be the children
of God. These Jewish pretensions pass for nothing with us.
The death, which has reigned for eighteen centuries in the Syna-
gogue, and the life that has belonged to the church, render them
of no avail with us. We laugh at them. But it was otherwise
at the close of the first century. Then the minds of Christians
had to give earnest heed, lest they should be imposed upon
by such pretensions. They had a plausible appearance about
them. But by the words, " Who has the key of David," etc.,
they are annihilated as by a single stroke. If the Jews have in
their scale the external succession, the uninterrupted chain of
outward church fellowship, Christ is in the scale of the Christians,
and secures that the other shall kick the beam. It is as much as
to say. Be not at all concerned, that the Jews boast of possessing
the key of the kingdom of heaven. Look to the person who
really possesses it, Christ, and rejoice and be glad, if he but opens
the gate for you. The key of David is the key, by which he
opens his house — comp. Isa. xxii. 22, " And I give the key of
the house of Darid upon his shoulder, and he opens and no one
shuts, and he shuts and no one opens.'* Allusion is made here
to that passage. Still the reference must not be pressed too
closely. Remarks such as this, ** who, like Eliakim in Isa. xxii.
22, is the chief steward over the kingdom of God,*' tread far too

PHILADELPHIA, CH. III. 7. 177

closely on the dignity of Christ, and John himself would have
shuddered at them. Christ does not stand for Eliakim, but those
are in a similar position to his, whom Christ has entrusted with
the key of government — comp. Matt. xvi. 19. This itself meets
the misunderstanding, that here the subject discoursed of is not, as
in Isaiah, the key of the house of Darid, but, with a manifestly
intentional deyiation, the key of David, who is perpetuated in
Christ, for his house. On the King s castle on Zion (comp. 2
Sam. V. 9), in Neh. iii. 25, called the upper house of the king, in
Jer. xxxii. 2, the house of the king of Judah, in Ps. ci. 2, 7, the
house of David, see the Christology III., p. 273. The tower of
this royal castle, called in the Song iv. 4, David's tower, Micah
considers in ch. iv. 8, as the symbol of the dominion of David's
race. In this house of David dwelt all his servants along with
him, whether or not they might have there a proper habitation,
just as in the house of the Lord all his servants spiritually dwell
with him. In Ps. ci., which was sung by David from the soul of
his whole race, it is said, " Mine eyes look after the faithful in
the land, that they may dwell with me ; he that walks in a blame-
less way, he shall serve me. He that uses deceit shall not dwell
in my house, he that speaks lies shall not serve me." So that
the house of David is the symbol of the kingdom of David, and the
kingdom of Christ is continually regarded in Scripture as the con-
tinuation and completion of this — see in reference to the culminat-
ing of the Davidic stem in Christ, my Commentary on the Psalms,
vol. iii. p. 79, Trans. ; Luke i. 32. Christ the root and the offspring
of David (comp. v. 5, xxii. 16), has as such the key of David. The
house or kingdom of David is in meaning identical with the king-
dom of God. For, David was set by God as king over his whole
people and for all times ; and since 2 Sam. vii. it has become im-
possible to serve God aright without at the sametime Serving David.
So that the key of David is all one with the key of the kingdom of
heaven in Matth. xvi. 19. There is an undoubted connection be-
tween this passage and ch. 1. 18, where Christ is described as
having the key of death and of hell ; and it must be regarded
as a touchstone for the correct explanation of the words before
us, if it accords with this connection. For, the predicates of
Christ in the introduction of the epistles are, according to the
rule, derived from the description in ch. i. A reference to that

178 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

part of the description mnst the rather be supposed here, as it
forms the close of the description of Christ, while here also the
allusion to the description is brought to an end with this predi-
cate ; and that part of the description itself, as well as this verse,
rests upon Isa. xxii. 22. According to this view, then, the de-
sired connection comes immediately out. The key of David cor-
responds to the key of death and of hell. To whomsoever he
opens with the key of David, for him he shuts death and hell ;
f€fr, he that is in David's house, or in the kingdom of God, is
secure against death and hell ; but if Christ shuts for any one
with the key of David, he opens for him death and hell. Ac-
cording to Bengel, the opening indicates the call to do good works,
the shutting the putting away of all that is contrary. But it
admits of no doubt, that the opening refers to the reception of
the persons, and the shutting to their exclusion. For in ch. i. 18
the key opens and shuts for persons, as also in Matth. xvi. 19,
where the holder of the key retains and forgives sins, and so
exercises an administrative power in regard to membership in
God's kingdom — comp. John xx. 23. In Isaiah xxii. 22, Eliakim
also receives the key of the house of David, so that it belongs
to him to determine, who was to be admitted into the house, or
excluded from it

Ver. 8. I know thy works. Behold I have given before thee
an open door, and no one can shut it ; for thou hast a little
strength^ and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.
Here also we have three points of commendation : the works, the
keeping of Christ*s word with a little strength, and the not deny-
ing of his name. But the specializing of the works is entwined
with a declaration going before, which establishes the connection
with the predicates that were attributed to Christ in ver. 7. We
are not to inclose that declaration in brackets, although certainly
as to the meaning the works are more nearly described in the
words : thou hast a little strength, &e. If it is certain, that the
opening and shutting in ver. 7 refers to personal membership in
the kingdom of God, then the opened door, which no one can
shut, which serves to the Philadelphians themselves for an en-
trance into the kingdom of God, is spoken of in the same respect,
and as a ground of consolation to them before the Jews, who
would deny them any share in the kingdom of God ; the Lord

PHILADELPHIA, CH. III. 9. 179

himself had received them into his kingdom, and no Jew could
prevail to exclude them from it. By the open door is usually
understood ** a free scope for proclaiming the gospel, or for active
exertions to bring men to the faith," with reference to 1 Cor.
xvi. 9, 2 Cor. ii. 12, where the opened door is the door of active
operations. But here the door is more exactly determined by
the connection with ver. 7 as an entrance into the house of David
or the kingdom of God. Then, the view in question is opposed
by, " I have given," in contradistinction to, ** I give," in ver. 9.
A space for active labour had still not been given to the angel at
Philadelphia ; otherwise his strength would not have been small.
But the preterite does not suit with a prophetical view of the
words. On the contrary argues the progression from the pre-
terite to the future through the present, accompanied by the
thrice-repeated Behold. By the Utile strength is meant not
small official grace, but, as appears from ii. 9, the weak begin-
nings and depressed circumstances of the church, which made it
easy to match them on account of the wealth of their Je'wish
adversaries.

Ver. 9. Behold, I give out of Satan's school of those that say,
they are Jews and are not, hut lie. Behold I tuill make them,
that they shall come and supplicate before thy feet, and know
that I have loved thee. To that which God has already given,
and which no one can cause to return again, there is here sub-
joined what he gives : to the proper participation of Christians in
the kingdom of God, a humble and express recognition of the
church of Christ, as the true and only church of the Lord, on the
part of those who proudly raised themselves above it, and denied
it any part in the Lord. From this respect in the " I give," to
the *' I have given," it is clear that here also the discourse is of
a gift of the Lord : Behold I give (to thee ; or to the Christian
church, and so to thee also) some of Satan's school/ &c. ; tliat the
giving does not stand in the sense of making, so that " I will
make," might be considered as a resumption of the ** I give."
The kind of giving is certainly determined more accurately by
what follows. It is clear from this, that they were in so far to be
given to the church as their hostility was to be changed into re-

1 See, in reference to the common omission of the tome before the p, in Heb., Ge-
senius's Tbes., p. 800.

m2

180 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

yerential love. It is carefully to be observed, tbat it is not said :
I gi?e the synagogue of Satan, but that it is only members of
this that are spoken of — those in it who should give to the Lord
a seeing eye and a hearing ear, recognising the vanity of their
own pretensions and the worth of that salvation which was pre-
sented to them in the church. This serves as a limitation of
what Paul says regarding the conversion of " all Israel," Rom. xi.
26 ; shews that thereby the remaining of a sediment behind, the
continuance of a synagogue of Satan even to the last, is not ex-
cluded. Nor indeed could it be otherwise, unless one were to
give up human freedom, and fall into the unscriptural doctrine of
the restoration. — Just as the present : I give, connecting itself
with the time then being, refers to a purpose presently fulfilled,
so : I will make, points to the execution as what was to take
place in the future. That we are not to overlook the distinction
of the three tenses, is obvious from the corresponding thrice
Behold. This second half of the verse rests upon Isa. Ix. 14,
" And there come bending to thee the sons of thy oppressors, and
all thy despisers throw themselves down at the soles of thy feet ;
and they call thee the city of the Lord, Zion of the holy Israel."
The reason of such lowly prostration there^ and hence also here,
may be learned, not only from the name by which they called her,
but also from ch. xlv. 14, '' And they shall throw themselves down
before thee, shall supplicate to thee : only in thee is God, and
there is no God besides." They prostrate themselves before the
church, because they acknowledge that the Lord is in the midst
of her, that in her is the only source of salvation, and in connec-
tion with her the only true blessing. We are led here also to the
same result by the words, ** and know that I have loved thee,"
and hence that only in fellowship with thee there is salvation for
those who now think thee excluded from the kingdom of God.
The Jews were wont to refer those old promises to the synagogue ;
but a good part of them, as many as were ordained to salvation,
would acknowledge that they belonged to the church. They shall
therefore renounce the claim of homage from others, and come
themselves willingly and cheerfully to do homage. But why
should we be troubled at the scornful pride of those of whom we
know that they are soon to be found lying at our feet ? — We must
not complain, that in regard to the fulfilment of the prophecy we

PHILADELPUIA, C«. HI. 10. 181

are left without the light of history. As most of the blessings of
Jacob in Gen. xlix. and of Moses in Dent, xxxiii., which have
respect to the particular tribes only in so far as they were part of
the whole people, so what is written here is only an application of
what belongs to the whole Christian church, to a particular sec-
tion of it. The fulfilment would hare taken place, eyen if in
Philadelphia itself there had been no remarkable transition from
Judaism to Christianity. What belongs to the whole is shared
in also by the part. That the church of Christ is the true
church of the Lord, has been proved to be the case by the
attractive power she has exerted oyer the members of the syna-
gogue, while Judaism has lost all attractive influence since the
period of Christ's appearance. We are to regard the thought,
As surely as I am the holy, I am also the true, as pervading the
whole verse. On this solid foundation the promise is raised.
^ Ver. 10. Because thou hast kept the word of my patience^ I
will also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall
come upon all the world, to tempt those that dwell upon the earth.
Bengel : " This is spoken to the heart ! So can the Lord Jesus
single out his own. When it goes hardest with the world, it shall
be the best with them. Noah in his ark was borne softly through
the waters, when all the world besides were engulphed around and
beneath him." The word of Christ's patience, according to the
common view, must be the whole range of Christian doctrine. So
De Wette, " The word, which partly from its subject and spirit,
and partly on account of the duty of confessing and obeying it,
demands stedfastness such as is peculiar to me and my people."
But the unnaturalness of this exposition is written on its very
front. The word, which among many other things requires also
patience, cannot be simply described as the word of patience.
Far more natural is the explanation, which refers it to certain
declarations of Christ, which enjoin patience and stedfastness.
This is the rather to be adopted, as in other parts also of these
epistles references occur to particular words of Christ contained
in the Gospels, and which is the more natural, as it is Christ here
also who himself speaks. For this explanation there are special
reasons. As, first, that patience is frequently enjoined in the
discourses of Christ, and is strongly inculcated, Luke xxi. 19,
viii. 15, and especially the kernel -declaration, ** He that continues

182 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

(has patience) to the end, shall be saved,*' Matt. x. 22, xziv. 13.
Then, again, both here, and in those original passages, patience
is described as a presenratire against participation in the judg-
ments that threaten the world. He that remains stedfast in his
internal separation from the world, and makes no concessions to
it, he shall also be separated from it externally, he shall not
suffer with it. My patience^ that of Christ— comp. " the patience
of Jesus Christ*' in ch. i. 9.^ In the passages alluded to the sub-
ject discoursed of is specifically Christian patience. In Luke
xxi. 19, for example, the patience meant is stedfastness in bear-
ing hatred and persecution for the name of Christ This is what
shall secure delirerance from the judgments which shall come
upon an ungodly world. In the keeping or preserring the idea
of deliverance is included. And from this is explained the : I
will keep thee (exempting or delivering thee) out of, etc' What
is more exactly intended by the keeping is to be understood from
ver. 7. According to the fuller explication there given it is of a
double sort — consisting in the protection whkh the Lord causes
to be extended to his faithful people amid the plagues that fall
upon the earth, after the example of the preservation given to
Israel amid the plagues that desolated Egypt ; and in the enjoy-
ment of the future inheritance of glory. Scripture usually speaks
of temptations only in respect to believers, because only in their
case can there be found a proper proving, so that the matter may
turn out either one way or another ; whereas in respect to the
world, which has but one impelling principle, the result is certain
from the first. Yet the idea of temptation is not on this account
to be understood as having no reference whatever to the world.
For it is of importance that even what may be understood of
itself should be brought clearly to view, because so many are dis-
posed to deceive themselves in regard to it, and suppose that stiU
some other result may be attained than what is grounded in the
nature of things. In Deut. iv. 34 the Egyptian plagues are des-

i The iiov here serves to confirm the reading there 'Irivov KpiaTout and shows the
iv 'Inrou to be a gloss.

2 The Tfipity with U only here and John xwii, 15, where, on account of the pre-
ceding cir, we can hardly translate the i/c hj/rom. An explanation is given by John
xii. 27 : n<iTcp, autaov fit ix <r^« &pat Tavrfjf • The TifpiXv is used in the Gospel of
John atouce of the conservative activity of believerSi and of what corresponds thereto,
the conservative activity of God and Christ.

PHILADELPHIA, CH. Ill 11. 183

cribed as temptations. So also in ch. yii. 19, zxix. 3. (Mi-
chaelis : Dens enim experiri roluit plagis snis, rellentne per-
sistere in impietate necne.) The result of this trial stands written
in ch. ix. 20, xvi. 11 — 21 ; they did not repent of their deeds,
they blasphemed God on account of the plagues, etc. While
with believers the proving renders manifest their faith and love, it
only serves with worldly people to bring to light their impeni-
tence and hardness of heart, and the whole abyss of their perdition
becomes naked and open to view. The *' whole world," and '*the in-
habitants of the earth,'* do not of themselves indicate the non-Chris-
tian part of its people, but only in the present connection, since
the Christians are to be kept out of the temptation.- For we have
not here a separate promise for Philadelphia, but, as is shown by
ch. vii., and also by ver. 9, only an individual application of what
is of force throughout the whole Christian church ; rendered
prominent here, because the church of Philadelphia had to suffer
very much for the sake of Christ, and stood especially in need of
consolation. Christ sets before his people the alternative, either
to suffer from the world, or to suffer with the world. Whosoever
would have himself exempted from the one, he must certainly
fall under the other. But he that willingly and cheerfully under-
goes the former, has a refuge from the latter. The heart and
centre of the whole world at that time was formed of the Boman
empire, of which we must mainly (though not at all exclusively)
think, on this account alone, because Irom it primarily proceeded
the transgression, which had to be visited by the temptation ;
and also because it was there the Christian church, which was to
be delivered from the temptation, had its seat. — Some expositors
entirely fail, under the temptation, to think of a Christian perse-
.cution.

Ver. 11. Behold I come quickly. Hold what thou hast^ that
no one take thy crown. Bengel : " For this overseer a crown
was prepared and exhibited, as if it was said : This crown be-
longs to N., the angel of the church at Philadelphia, and if he but
perseveres, no one can take it from him. If we only are careful
in respect to that which God has intrusted to us, we need not be
solicitous about that which remains for us with him. Whoever
has anything let him think on this word, Hold what thou hast.*'
The Lord comes primarily in the judgments that are executed on

184 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

this world, which in ver. 10 were aiftiounced in the plan (it is
from its connection with ver. 10 that the " I come quickly^' here
receives* its more precise determination), and more at large in the
vision of the seven seals — comp. ch. vi. 2. The word : I come
qaickly, is applicable to all times. Where sin is, and hostility
toward the chnrch of the Lord, there also the Lord is near. On
the expression, '' Hold what thou hast," comp. ch. ii. 25, " Hold
what ye have, till I come." — The crown is the crown of life in
ch. ii. 10, the eternal blessedness, which the chosen already
possess in faith, and which God faithfully keeps for them, that
he may bring it forth to them in his time. This crown is not
actaally bestowed on them before the coming of the Lord, but it
may before that period at any time be lost. Jews and heathen
may rob us of it, if we are not on our guard. But, oh ! who
would be afraid of these, and out of regard to them deny his faith,
when he knows how soon their day is coming I The more diffictdt
they make it for us, the nearer the day is, and the more foolish
would it be to yield to them, in order first to be judged with
them, and then to be despoiled of our crown. The mention of
the crown naturally leads to the concluding promise.

Ver. 12. He that overcomes, him will I make a pillar in the
temple of my God, and he shall not go out any more. And I
will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the
New Jerusalem, the city of my God, that comes doum from
heaven from my God, and my name the new. On the temple
as a figurative designation of the church, comp. in ch. xi. 1.
Here the temple can only be the church triumphant. For, the
concluding promises to the churches refer always to that future
existence, and here in the second promise it is^the New Jerusa-
lem that is discoursed of, in contrast to the Old Jerusalem, the
militant church . That we are not to think alone of the regenera-
tion, Matth. xix. 28, the chnrch on the glorified earth, that it
rather points to the state of final blessedness in heaven, appears
from ch. vii. 15. This alone might be understood, with Bengel,
according to ch. xxi. 22. However, it is more simple to say,
that the discourse there is of a common material temple, and
only this is denied to have a place in the new Jerusalem. For the
temple here is manifestly contemplated as one perpetually abid-
ing, and must consequently denote the triumphant Christian

PHILADELPHIA, CH. III. 13. 185

church in its two states of existence,^ which in the Apocalypse
are constantly represented as an internally united whole. That
by the pillar only 0Q,e thing is brought into view, the unchange-
able stability, is made perfectly plain by the explanatory clause,
which excludes all doubt, " and shall no more go out.'* Those
who have sought to find more in the ijnage, have not considered,
that it is spoken not of some peculiarly distinguished Christians,
but of Christians generally (for to be a conqueror and to be a
Christian is the same thing) ; also^ that in the second promise a
simple participation in the kingdom of glory is what is certified ;
and that the concluding promises generally unfold only what is
common to all Christians, eternal blessedness. Substantially
what is said in John yiii. 35, coincides with the promise before
us, " The serrant does not remain in the house for ever (the
spiritual house, the church), the Son remains for ever." The
expression, " my God," occurs in the verse four times, no doubt
intentionally — perhaps, with a respect to the four letters in the
name Jehovah, which must now be disclosed in its whole depth
to the elect. — Upon him, upon the conqueror, not upon the pillar.
For the latter was no longer the subject of discourse in the im-
mediately preceding context ; the not going out, only suits the
conqueror, not at all the pillar ; and in ch. xiv. 1 the chosen
have the name of Christ and the name of the Father written on
their foreheads. That the chosen are distinguished by the name
of the Father, points to this, that the most high God is over
them, that they dwell as his dear property, ch. vii. 15. That
they bear the name of the New Jerusalem (comp. on ch. xxi. 2),
characterizes them as its citizens. That Christ's new name is
also written on them, which, according to ch. xix. 16, runs,
" King of kings and Lord of lords," imports that they must be
received into fellowship with the new state, which is marked by
the new name, that they shall ** reign with him for ever," xxii. 5.
Ver. 13. He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit
says to the churches.

186 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ANGEL OF THE CHURCH IN LAODICEA.

Ch. ill. 14—22.

The angel of the church at Laodicea, and this church itself,
for which Paul had fought a great fight (Col. ii. 1, \y. 15, ss.),
had become lukewarm, blind and naked. In their own imagi*
nation they were the foremost, but in reality they were the far-
thest from salvation. Instead of what they vainly conceived
themselves to be, there must be repentance. Thus alone can
they find life and full satisfaction here by intimate fellowship
with Christ, and hereafter participate in the glory, which awaits
the true confessor. Woidd they but have a healing hear for the
great secrets, which only God's Spirit can disclose, and out of
regard to these suffer themselves to be drawn to repentance !

Ver. 14. And to the angel of the church at Laodicea write :
These things says Amen^ the true and faithful witness^ the he-
ginning of the creation of God. The Hebrew Amen Is every
where used adverbially, even in Isa. Ixv. 16, where the God of
the Verily is the God whose words and deeds have always the
verily impressed on them. So it is also here. The verily is he,
who in all he says, in disclosing the concealed depths of the heart,
in threatening and promising, can always add with the fullest
right the verily ; while in regard to every thing that a short-
sighted man speaks, there constantly goes along with it a mark
of interrogation, and the more so indeed the more confidently he
speaks. This note of distinction comes out in connection with
the verily so frequently occurring in the discourses of our Lord,
and occurring more frequently in the Gospel of John than the
others. In this Gospel also it is often reduplicated.' For, this,
just as the predicate here, points to the fulness of truth that
dwells in him as the True — comp. on iii. 7. — Christ was already
in the Introduction designated the true witness, ch. i. 5. There,
for the consolation (as appears from the connection) of those who
were ready to despair in the presence of a seemingly almighty

1 Lampe on John i. 5d throws out the question, qui ftictum sit, ut reliqui Evangel istce
constanter Jesum introducant serael tantum Amen pronunciautem, Joannes vero
aeque constanter commemoret, quod earn ingeminaverit.

LAODICEA, CH. III. 14. 187

world, the eye of faith is pointed to the certainty of his promises.
Here, according to what follows, we hare mainly to think of the
certainty of his threatening and rebuking testimony : Think not
that ye have to do with a short-sighted man, who may easily be
deceived, who may judge falsely of your spiritual condition, and
dream of imaginary dangers ; in the presence of the true and
faithfiil witness repent, so that ye may not be consumed by his
coming wrath. Still, we are not to think alone of threatening
and rebuke. For, the promise also in ver. 20 and 21 has the
predicates of Christ here as its foundation. The condemnatory
judgment of the true and faithful witness must no one gainsay,
however deep it may wound, his threatening must no one despise,
his promise must all confide in. — When it is said of God and
Christ that he is the beginning (comp. on ch. i. 8), it is the living
beginning that is meant — that wherein the beginning has its
root, the source of being ; as also God and Christ are named the
end, from the end being ruled by them, or haying its root in
them. Now, the same that is the beginning alone, is the be-
ginning of the creation of God. For, it is in relation to the
creatures that God and Christ are named the beginning. As the
beginning of these creatures of God, as the one in whom we all
live and move and have our being, Christ is omniscient in the
knowledge of the works (" there is no creature that is not mani-
fest before him ; all is naked and open to his eyes,*' Heb. iv. 13),
almighty in his power to punish and reward them. — In the fact
also of God's being called the beginning, is the inadmissibility
discovered of the Arian exposition, according to which Christ is
here called the beginning of the creation, as himself the first
creature. It would, besides, be quite extraordinary if He, who
everywhere goes forth for the purpose of exhibiting the most per-
fect unity of being between the Father and the Son, should here
for once fix a terrible gulph betwixt tbem. Here too, in particular,
where it was of importance to set Christ as high as possible, in
order to secure attention to the address that follows by pointing
to his omniscience and his almightiness ! Against the Arian ex-
position also decides the original passage, Col. i. 15 — 18, comp.
on ch. i. 5. That there Christ is spoken of as the author of crea-
tion, not as the first of created beings, has been shewn recently by
Huther. And as the author of creation Christ also appears else-

188 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

where in this book; comp. on ch. v. 13. — Perhaps in this predicate
of Christ : the arehe of the ktisis of God there is an allusion to
the name of Archippos, who in Col. iv. 17 (comp. Philem. rer. 2)
appears as the most influential overseer in Laodicea : " And say
to Archippus, Take heed to the office, which thou hast received
in the Lord, that thou fulfil it."^ And in the Apostolical Consti-
tutions VIII. 46 he is called the first bishop of the Laodiceans,
and is said to have been ordained by the apostles. The admoni-
tion sent to him by Paul already sounds somewhat suspicious.

Ver. 15. / know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor
hot. I would that thou wert cold or hot I Coldness here is
the love produced by self, heat that which is kindled by the
fire of the Holy Spirit — comp. Luke xii. 49, Acts ii. 2 — 4, Rom.
V. 6. The latter is called in the Song the flame of the Lord, viii.
6, " Its glow is fiery and a flame of the Lord, so that even many
waters cannot quench love, nor can the floods drown it." It may
seem extraordinary that the coldness is here placed higher than
what stands mid-way between it and the being hot, lukewarmness.
According to the common threefold division of the praise and blame,
the not being cold appears also as a reproach. And what is still
more, it is the wish that the angel at Laodicea would be either
cold or hot, which is expressed. With the common remarks,
" thou shouldst then be more easily brought right,** or that the
" I would" should not be taken too stringently, etc., we plainly
cannot be satisfied. One always conceives a considerable amount
of one-sidedness to cleave to the matter when so represented.
Out of the coldness, apart from fellowship with Christ, one may,
on applying himself generally to Christ, become a lukewarm per-
son. The lukewarm in the church of the Old Testament were
the Pharisees. But the Lord could never have given utterance
to the wish that the Pharisees would become Sadducees. There
is only one solution of the difficulty. The Lord speaks here only
of the condition of those who stand in a relation to hhnself In
regard to others the word in 1 Cor. v. 12 holds good. So that we

1 Whether Archippus was at Golosse, or at Laodicea, certainly cannot with absolute
certainty be determined from the passage referred to. But the latter is favoured by the
Say ; which seems to presuppose that Archippus did not belong to the persons to whom
the epistle was immediately addressed. From Philem. ver. 2, comp. with Col. ir. 9, it
could only be concluded that Archippus dwelt at Colosse, if there did not exist a close
connection between the churches.

8

T.AODTCEA, CH III. 16. 189

can only think of being cold in such a manner, as has connected
with it the painful consciousness that one is cold, a hearty desire
to become hot. To the saying : Blessed are they who are poor in
spirit, this : Blessed are they wl\p in their own feeling are cold in
spirit, goes hand in hand. In order to become warm, one must
first have been cold ; and eyen if one has become warm, the being
cold still does not lose its signification ; every advance is condi-
tioned by the being cold, and proceeds in exact proportion to it.
In a manner similar to the being cold here, the being blind occurs
in John ix. 41, " Were ye blind (q,d. did ye but feel yourselves
blind) ye should have no sin ; but now ye say. We see, therefore
your sin remains." Accordingly, the being cold is an absolutely
preferable state to the being lukewarm. The latter is also not to
be tolerated as a transition-state. It does not, like the being
cold, lie on the path of a healthful development, but is degene-
racy, sickness, in many cases a sickness to death. Where the
work of salvation proceeds, there a direct transition to warmth is
never experienced, but the first stage is always that of coldness.
Would that thou wert cold, the Lord is also saying to our Laodi-
cean age ! Were it but come to that, the warmth would soon
appear of itself.

Ver. 16. But because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold
nor hot, 1 will spue thee out of my mouth. Lukewarm water
provokes to spuing. There is nothing more common than for
lukewarmness to be cast as n reproach against others by those
who are lukewarm in the truth themselves. How many of the
orthodox in the seventeenth century acted so ! But it not rarely
happens with anxious minds, that they regard themselves as luke-
warm without actually being so. *' One must not always," Ben-
gel remarks, '^ estimate what they have' of the heat of life by
their own feelings. A person in a state of bodily health may
have a lively heat or warmth in his body, and be himself uncon-
scious of it, while another, who takes him by the hand, readily
perceives it. iSo in spiritual things one, who is accustomed to
spiritual ardour, may be without much sensibility, such as may
appear somewhat strange and wonderful to another of little ex-
perience in the divine life. It belongs also to the fiindapiental
constitution of the soul, that when it bums with a fervent zeal
for God, the fire within shall never say : It is enough.''

190 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

Ver 17. Because thou sayest, I am rich and have enriched
myself and need nothing ; and knoweet not, that thou art
wretched and miaerahlCy poor J blind, and naked. The accnsar;
tion of lakewarmness has its gronnd here. We are not to take
this verse as a premiss, and yer. 18 as a conclusion : Becanse
thoa sayest, etc., therefore I advise thee. For so long a premiss
does not snit the excited character, which belongs to the dis-
course here. And the kind of periodical diction in question is
ill-suited in general to the Hebraistic style of the Apocalypse.
A view is given here of lukewarmness, which is full of consolation
for humble and vexed souls. The severe judgment of the Lord
against it has not respect to wants and weaknesses in themselves,
toward which the Lord manifests infinite compassion ; it has re-
spect to them only in connection with a high-minded conceit, a
state of self-satisfaction, the want of any sensible convictions of
sin, or of earnest desires after pardon and sanctification. The
palpable contrast between imaginary riches and actual poverty
requires, that the riches should lie on the same territory that the
poverty does, that it must be spiritual riches which are meant —
comp. 1 Cor. i. 5, iv. 8, 2 Cor. viii. 9. The comparison of the
original passage, Hos. xii. 8, " Ephraim says, I have become rich,
and have found substance,*' shews, that there is no substantial
difference between the two expressions. " I have become rich"
and " I have enriched myself." Only by varying the words the
idea of great wealth is expressed. It is possible, that the Laodi-
ceans had low ideas of the calling of Christians, and so regarded
the most miserable attainments as splendid riches. But it is
also possible (and this is much more probable from the existing
position of the Christian church), that they could point to showy
virtues. How one can have and do everything, and still be luke-
warm, appears from the example of the Pharisees, to whose " I
thank thee, etc.," the Laodiceans responded, and received also
along with them the condemnation of heaven, " Te are they who
justify yourselves before men, but God knows your heart ;" see
also 1 Cor. xiii. 1, ss. The three actual wants correspond to the
three imaginary distinctions. But beforehand the whole condi-
tion qf the Laodiceans is condensed into the, par excellence,
" wretched and miserable." The reproach of blindness, comp.
Matth. XV. 14, xxiii. 26, shews, that the Laodiceans were dis-

LAODICEA, CH. III. 18. 191

posed to pride themselyes also on their knowledge. But while
they undertook to search the depths of Godhead, and dreamt of
the treasures of knowledge, as it appears also from the epistle to
the Colossians, that a tendency existed at a very early period
among the Christians in that region to pretend to a higher know-
ledge, they could not see what lay immediately before their eyes,
did not at all know themselres, imagined themselves to be super-
latively rich, though they actually were in a state of beggary.

Ver. 18. / counsel thee, to buy of me gold^ that has been
purified in the fire, that thou mayeet be rich ; and white cloth-
ing, that thou mayest put on, and that the shame of thy naked-
ness may not appear ; and eye-salve, to anoint thine eyes,
that thou mayest see. The buying is from Isa. It. 1. The mer-
chandise consists in giving up the imagination of their own
excellence, of the already accomplished aim, which had not at-
tained to a knowledge of the coldness, and therefore could not
come to a possession of the warmth, in having a heartfelt desire,
zealous endeavours, fighting and striving, and all with the con-
viction, that in one's own strength nothing is done. The gold,
which is purified with fire, signifies tried faith. This is also in
1 Pet. i. 7 compared with gold, that has been purified in the fire ;
and the former explanation is to be obtained by viewing it in
connection with that passage — comp also Jas. i. 3, where like-
wise faith appears as an object for trial and purification. We
are not to think of the riches, which may be found in the service
of the Redeemer, nor generally upon any objective spiritual good ;
for that the discourse is of a subjective property is plain from the
expression : purified in the fire. It was in faith, too, that the
Laodiceans placed the chief part of their imaginary wealth. But
their faith was not of such a kind, as that it could go through a
period of trial. It was rather a faith of the fancy than a heart-
faith. The white garments are the Christian virtues, which can
only be found in fellowship with Christ — comp on iii. 4. The
third thing is true spiritual knowledge, as contrasted with a su-
perficial show-knowledge. The eye-salve is the illuminating
grace of the floly Spirit.

Ver. 19. Whomsoever I love, them I rebuke and chasten : be
zealous, therefore, and repent. In these words, says Bengel,
*' the penetrating force of the preceding address is represented.

192 THE SEVEN episi;les.

yet not quite immediately, only after it had wrought its neces-
sary effect." The contrast between the former and the preseilt
times is shown by the remark of De Wette, " The blame and
the threatening are not meant in so bad a sense, as is evident
from the loving affectionate exhortation;*' whereas the older ex-
positors point with one consent to the greatness of the long- suf-
fering and goodness of God and Christ that here displays itself
toward sinners. They speak of these being manifested now under
the New Testament, just as formerly they had waited in the
days of Noah (1 Pet. iii. 20), if by any means a better feeling
might be awakened in the minds of sinners ; while still they un-
fold the truth that it is just love, which holds out in prospect a
terrible condemnation for those who will not be brought to re-
pentance through the reformatory discipline. It may certainly
be gathered from the " whom I love," that Laodicea had still not
reached the last step.^ But this indeed is presupposed by the
fact, that its candlestick had not yet been removed from its
place. Allusion is made to Prov. iii. 11, 12, " My son, despise
not the chastening of the Lord, and be not impatient of his cor-
rection ; for whom the Lord loves he corrects, and as a father the
son, in whom he delights." This passage is also quoted in Heb.
xii. 5, 6. Wo can the less regard the coincidence with it here
as accidental, as in what immediately follows there is also a re-
ference to the writings of Solomon. The words: Be zealous and
repent, are not placed in a sort of reverse order. For repentance
is not a mere insight into one s poverty and nakedness, but a
change of mind, a transition from lukewarmness through coldness
to the fervent zeal of love. The call to repent, added to the ex-
hortation to be zealous, implies that Laodicea could attain to
true zeal only by undergoing an entire change of mind.

Ver. 20. Behold I stand at the door and knock. If any
one hfiar my voice and open the door, I will go into him, and
8up with him, and he with me. The first part of the verse
alludes to the Song v. 2, '' I sleep, but my heart wakes. There is
the voice of my beloved who knocks : Open to me my beloved,
my sister, my dove, my undefiled." The reference does not lie
merely in the particular words. The spiritual state of the person

1 YiiriDjca : '* Tbat ohorch was therefore still in Bome respect loved by ibe Lord. He
desired to preserte it as loTed, not to destroy it as reprobate,*' etc.

LAODICEA, CH. IIT. 20. 193

addressed is the same in both passages. The bride is between
sleeping and waking, incertnm vigilans (comp. iii. 2), corres-
ponding to the state of lukewarmness here : she cannot at first
oyercome her slumbering inactivity, and delays to let the bride-
groom in. This mere allusion to the commencement calls up
before the trembling soul all that follows ; how repentance seizes
her, and she would then open to the bridegroom, while he mean-
while has gone away : " I sought him but I found him not, I
called, but he answered not ;" how she hied after him, and was
beaten by the watchmen. The grief of a soul, that has driven
the Lord from it, could not be more graphically exhibited than it
is 'there. The second member of the verse, as well as the first,
points to the Song. There the supper is spoken of which the Lord
will hold with the soul and it with him. Immediately before the
passage of Canticles just referred to, in ch. ir. 17, the bride
speaks to the bridegroom, '^ Let my beloved come into his garden,
and eat his pleasant fruits ;'* and the bridegroom says in ch. v. 1,
'* I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse ; I break my
myrrh together with roots ; I eat my honey with my comb ; I
drink my wine with my milk." This is the foundation for the
saying here, " I will sup with him." In the Song, ch. ii. 3, the
bride says, " As the apple tree among the trees of the wood, so
is my beloved among the sons. I sit under his shadow, which I
desired, and his fruit is sweet to my taste.** This is the founda-
tion for the other clause, " and he with me." In what the supper
consists, which the bride prepares for the bridegroom, and he
again for her, is rendered plain by the Epiphonem of the sacred
bard, with which the whole piece concludes, that ch. iv. 17 belongs
to, and after which we find the commencement of a new part at
ch. V. 2, presenting Sulamith to our view in another and less joy-
ful situation : ''Eat, 0 friends, and drink, and be drunk of love,'*
It is love, to the enjoyment of which the bride invites the bride-
groom, and which she enjoys again of him. We have substan*
tially the same thing as this mutual supping between Christ and
the believer in John xiv. 21, " He that loveth me, shall be loved
of my Father, and I will love him, and manifest myself to him."
This passage and that of ver. 23, '* He that loveth me, will keep
my works, and my Father will love him, and we will come to
him, and make our abode with him," stand in the closest relation
n

194 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

to the one before us, though of such a kind, that we cannot think
of imitation. They, too, in their tender sympathy, in their
sweet and affectionate tone, point back to the Song. Arersion to
that portion of Scripture, however, has led some to deny that
there is here any reference to it. The objection is urged, that
no references are anywhere else to be found in the New Testa-
ment to Canticles. But it is enough to point in reply to John
vii. 38, ** He that believeth on me, as the Scripture says, out of
his belly shall flow rivers of living water." The reference is to
Canticles iv. 1&, where the bride is called " a garden- spring, a
well of living waters, and they flow from Lebanon ;' comp. ver.
12, where she is called " a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."
The belly, which has respect to an Old Testament mode of re-
presenting the relation between the Lord and his church, only to
be found in Canticles, is from ch. vii. 3, combined with ch. iv. 15.
Accordingly, whenever we meet with the bride there, we are to
think of believers. The formula, with which the Lord quotes the
passage, '' as the Scripture says," should be heard as the cry,
" Put ofi^ your shoes, for it is holy ground," by those who are yet
incapable of understanding the book, or even abuse it to improper
purposes. To that Song our Lord farther refers in Matt. ix. 15,
when he compares himself to the bridegroom ; and likewise in the
parable of the bridegroom and the ten virgins. John the Baptist
points to it in John iii. 29, and Paul in 2 Cor. xi. 1, Eph. v.
27, comp. with Song iv. 7, " Thou art altogether beautiful, my
beloved, and there is no blemish in thee." There are other parts
of this book also, which refer to the Song ; the bride in ch. xxii.
17, xxi. 2, 9, the marriage supper of the Lamb in ch. xix. And
it confirms the reference to the Song here, that the passage, ch.
iv. 15, which is quoted by our Lord in the Gospel of John, that of
ch. iv. 17, which forms the ground for ** I will sup with him," and
ch. V. 2, on which the clause, " Behold, I stand at the door and
knock," rests, are all quite contiguous to each other. The Lord
stands at the door for every one who belongs to the number of
his people, and has not yet committed the sin against the Holy
Ghost ; he did so even for Judas the traitor up to the moment
when Satan entered into him, so that there is no occasion for the
remark of De Wette, *' If he still stood so near to them, their
state could not have been so very perilous.*' The more perilous

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 1 — VUI. 1. 195

the state was (if only it was not absolutely hopeless), the more
mnst the Lord have stood at the door, and knocked the more
loudly. The knocking, with which we are to associate calling,
because this among the ancients was commonly connected with
knocking, unless we may take the knocking itself as a symbolical
calling, which, perhaps, is the simpler way : — This knocking is
accomplished in various ways, by the word of God, and by the
providences which stir emotions in the soul. Here it is done
more immediately by this epistle. In the promise respect is not
had to what may be experienced in a future state of being, which
is first brought into view in the following verse ; but, as appears
also from the parallel passages of the Gospel, to a relation to
Christ, which may exist even in this troublous world, and with
all true believers is found to be as a heaven upon earth, and that
a light illuminates their darkness.

Ver. 21. He that overcomeSy to him mill I give to sit with
me on my throne ; as 1 have overcome and have sitten down
with my Father on his throne ; ver. 2. He that has an ear let
him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. When Christ's
people have continued stedfast in the conflict against all tempta-
tions, he will receive them at last into the participation of his
dominion, and triumph over all hostile powers, and they shall see
lying prostrate under their feet all that afflicted them with pain
and trouble during the course of their present life. Comp.on ch.
i. 9, ii. 26 — 28 ; and in regard to the words, " as I have over-
come," etc., ch. V. 6, vii. 17, xxii. 1, Phil. ii. 9, Heb. xii. 2.

THE SEVEN SEALS.

Ch. iv. 1 — viii. 1.

The seer is snatched up to heaven, and sees there a holy assem-
blage, in which all points to the judgment, which, for the benefit of
his sorely oppressed church, the Lord is going to execute upon the
ungodly world, ch. iv. What the whole scene was of itself fitted
to suggest is then brought clearly out in ch. v., where a book with
seven seals is delivered to Christ for the purpose of being opened,
containing the judgments to be inflicted on the world. This

n2

196 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

opening follows, and the judgments one after another become
manifest in ch. yi. and in ch. yiii. 1. Ch. vii. forms an interme-
diate episode, in which is represented the preservation of the
faithful in the midst of the judgments which alight on the world.
Ch. iv. 1. After this I saw, and behold a door was opened in
heaven ; and the first voice, which I had heard speaking with
me as a trumpet, saying, come up hither, and I will shew thee
what must he done after these things. After this, Bengel,
" After I had written the seven epistles from the Lord's mouth."
The result of the call to go up to heaven through the opfen door,
is that John, ver. 2, is in the Spirit ; so that the command : Go up,
is as much as, Be in the Spirit. The original passage is Ez. i. I,
*' And it came to pass in the (in my, comp. Numb. iv. 2Z- — 30)
tliirtieth year, in the fourth month, on the fifth day, as I was
among the captives by the river Chebar, that the heaven was
opened, and I saw visions of God." What is said there in ver.
3, *' The word of the Lord came to Ezekiel . . and the hand
of the Lord was there upon him,*' is parallel. The words point
to the misery of our natural condition, to which we are here bom,
and in which the heavens have no door open for us. Since the
]tlessiah*s time, the heaven has been opened (Matt. iii. 16, and
especially John i. 52) ; and the power also has been given to his
servants of ascending into heaven, and learning there the secrets
of God. The words pre-suppose, that between this vision and
the preceding one there was an interval, during which John was
not in heaven or in the Spirit. For, in the last verse of the
apocalyptic epistles the Spirit still speaks through him to the
churches ; so that he must then have been in the Spirit (comp. i.
10), or in heaven. That John here, before he received the revela-
tion of the future, saw a door opened in heaven, furnishes Vitringa
with the just conclusion, *' that no one can easily attain to the un-
derstanding of these sacred emblems, excepting such as, freed
from earthly cares and fleshly desires, have their mind loosed .as it
were from their body, and give themselves wholly up to heavenly
things.*' And Bengel remarks, " It is not in our own will and
power to handle divine things as we would ; the measure, the
nature, and the time, together with the thing itself, is entirely in
the power of the Lord Jesus Christ. What is shut to man, he
cannot of himself discover ; but where we find anything opened

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 2. 197

to ns, we mast there make nse of our eyes. To seek to ascend by
one's own might, is the part of Lucifer ; but when one has a call
and a pull, as John had here, when the word was addressed to him
* come up hither/ then it is right to proceed, 0 may our minds -
be filled with such holy admiration, that we shall indeed withdraw
ourselves from what is earthly and holds us in bondage, and shall
direct our thoughts heavenwards to apprehend that, which Thou
shewedst to thy servant, so that we may truly be improved and
edified by it. Amen !" The words: the first voice, which I had
heard speak with me as a trumpet, refer to ch. i. 10, " I was in
the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice
as of a trumpet." The voice there, and therefore also here, be-
longed to Christ, who alone has power to raise above the earthly,
to introduce into heaven, and especially to disclose the future in
such an elevated state of mind. Bossuet : '' Let it be observed,
that it is always Jesus Christ who unfolds everything to the
prophets, so that it is always the revelation and prophecy of Jesus
Christ himself, as was said at the beginning.'* John is to be
shewn what is to be done after these things. Accordingly, we
are to expect even in ver. 2, ss., not a description of what per-
petually is, but a symbolical shadowing forth of the future.

Ver. 2. And immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold a
throne lay in heaven, and upon the throne one eat. The expres-
sion : I was in the Spirit, is purposely a literal agreement with
ch. i. 10, in order to intimate, that here the second vision begins.
Bengel : '' He was at once lifted above all that is natural and
placed amid divine things, had his whole soul filled, illuminated,
and occupied by these." By his being in the Spirit, is marked
his complete entrance upon the state of ecstacy. Without some
previous partial experience of this state, John could not have seen
the door that was opened in heaven. Zullig's exposition : ** And
presently I was [there, in heaven] in a sort of ecstacy, my spirit
was snatched up thither, while my body remained upon earth,"
deserves no refutation. Bengel improperly remarks on being in
the Spirit, " this extends to all the seals, trumpets, and vials."
This vision does not extend beyond the seven seals. A quite new
series begins with ch. viii. 2. — We have here not a representation
of the usual heavenly state, but an assembly of counsel and judg-
ment, in which a decision is come to regarding the ungodly

198 THE SKVEN EPISTLES.

world. To this view we are led by ch. t., according to which
all turns on the opening of the book with the seyen seals, which
has respect to the punishment of the world, for its enmity to
•God. To the same conclusion points also the representation
given in this chapter of the scene itself; all the traits have at
once a threatening and a consolatory character, are adapted to
frighten the persecutors, to raise the persecuted to a joyful hope ;
they perfectly accord with the humour of John, as one who was
in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and testi-
mony of Jesus Christ, and of the companions in tribulation for
whom he wrote. Representations of similar councils of judgment
are to be found in 1 Kings xxii. 19, Isa. vi., Dan. vii. 9, ss.,
where the thrones were first set. It is not said elsewhere : a
throne lay in heaven. The throne did not stand upon the earth,
but it rested on the cherubim, which, according to ver. 6, were
in the midst of the throne.^ On the words : upon the throne one
sat, Bengel remarks, " That it is the Father, whose majesty here
shines foilh on the throne, is sufficiently clear from this consider-
ation, that here as elsewhere, he is distinguished from the Lamb,
and from the seven Spirits, as we read in ver. 5 of this chapter,
and in ch. v. 13. The kingdom is originally the Father's, and
remains his. For, Christ sits on the Father's throne, ch. iii. 21,
on the right hand of the Almighty Father.'' It is otherwise in
Ezekiel. There one sat upon the throne, who resembled the Son
of man. He does not distinguish between the Father and the
Son, or the Father makes himself known in the Son. But Dan.
vii. 13 is similar, as there one like the Son of man comes to the
Ancient of days in the clouds of heaven. That the name of the
person sitting is not given, is not to be explained with Herder,
from his glory being such as to transcend all description (^' the
soul has no image to name him, language no word*'), but simply
because here only what was seen is described. In Ezekiel too,
in ch. i. 4-27, for a like reason no name is given. Both hearer
and reader must supply it.

Ver. 3. And he that sat was to look upon like a jcuper and
sardius stone ; and a rainbow wa9 round about the throne in

I That to lay is used here simply for sUDding, caunot be proved from Jer. xxiv. 1,
LXX., John ii. 6, xix. '^9. For wliat bolils of baskets and ressels does not bold of a throne
with fert.

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 3. 199

sight like to an emerald. It is God's infinite glory that is here
displayed, his grace toward the chnrch, his pnnitiye righteousness ;
all properties, which at the present stage come forth into action,
and are fitted to inspire with conrage the fainting souls of believers.
The punitive righteousness presages destraction to the enemies
of the church ; the compassionate grace promises deliverance
to the church ; the holiness takes from those who stand under
grace, all despondency, all hope from those who stand under
wrath. As in the rainbow the colour of the precious stone was
doubtless indicated, so is it also in respect to the jasper and the
sardins. And according to the fundamental and parallel pnssages,
aflerwards to be noticed, which have this also in common with
the one before us, that they describe an appearing of the Lord
for judgment, we may reasonably expect that the two precious
stones represent two different properties of God. Now the jasper
is of diverse colours. But what sort the seer had in view is plain
from the addition, " clear as ciystaF* in the later passage, ch.
xxi. 11. According to ver. 23 of that chapter, the light of the
city, which by ver. 11 was like a crystal-clear jasper, " the most
precious stone," {the first foundation stone in ver. 19 is a jasper),
is the glory of the Lord^ his essential nature, the kernel of his
personality, which, according to ch. iv. 8, is his holiness, not in the
doctrinal, but the scriptural sense. Comp. also ch. xxii. 5. It
is this which is represented here by the jasper. By cdpSios the
LXX. render the Hebr. otm» *^® etymology of which already
points to the red colour. The sardius, or carneliau, is " red, as red
flesh, dark-red, tile-red, clay-red." Orpheus, de lapid. xvi. 5,
speaks of the '' blood- coloured sardius ;" and Epiphanius says, '' it
is of a fiery red appearance and blood-like," {iarl Be irvfxoTro^
r& i£u KoX alfjuaroeiSris:). That the sardius is here employed to
represent the punitive righteousness of God, his anger, cannot be
doubted when we look at the fundamental and parallel passages.
The red colour, according to Meyer in his Hesperides, is " the
light in its internal expansion, light in warmth, light in love or
its opposite, anger. It most be stimulated by an object in order
to appear so, and its appearance is its conquering." One might
take the red here as tha colour of blood, in the shedding of
which the punitive righteousness of God manifests its energy,
comp. vi. 4, xii. 3, xvii. 3, Isa. Ixiii. 1, 2. But it is better to

200 . THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

take it as the colour of fire. For the fire of the diyine anger
suits admirably to the radiating light of the^ divine holiness ;
and then fire is quite a standing image in Scripture of the
divine anger, and as such is employed particularly in the ori-
ginal passages of Ezekiel and the parallel passages of the Penta-
' teuch. These passages we must come to consider more closely.
In Ez. i. 4 it is said, in the description there given of the threat-
ening and judgment-looking appearance of the Lord: **And I-
looked, and behold a whirlwind came from the north, a great
cloud, and complicated fire and brightness to it (the cloud ) round
aboat (from the fire shining through), and out of the midst of it
to look upon as chasnial, out of the midst of the fire/' The
chasmal denotes here the kernel of the personality, the holiness.
That it betokens something of the brightest splendour there can
be no doubt from the ^^^^ light-lustre, which is put by the
prophet as parallel to it in ch. viii« 2. The LXX. render it by
electrum, a metal distinguished by its brightness, and composed
of gold mixed with a fifth part of silver.^ In Ez. i. 27 it is said :
'' And I beheld, and it was as chasmal, as the look of fire, that
was enclosed round about (comp. Gen. xv. 17, like devouring fire) ;
from the loins upwards (he was like chasmal) and from the loins
downwards I saw as the appearance of fire." At ch. viii. 2,
*♦ And I beheld, and lo ! there was the appearance as fire, from
his loins downwards he was of the appearance of fire, and from
his loins upwards he was to look upon as light-splendour, as the
look of chasmal/* The meaning of the last passage is excellently
given by Ziillig, " Below, toward the earth, the person on the
throne appeared to me in the glowing ire .of his function as judge
and avenger, above in the pure splendour of his calm, untroubled,
heavenly majesty." The fire is placed in the front of the de-
scription, because the main object was to present an image of
God's anger toward Jerusalem; comp. Deut. iv. 24, "For the
Lord thy God is a consuming fire, a jealous God," ix. 3, and the
remarks on fire as a symbol of the anger of God on Fs. 1. 3. In
Daniel vii. 9, 10, the garments of the Ancient of days were

1 Tiiia Chasmal is ditfereot from Neboschet Kalal. The three times it is used it is
applied to the persou who was throued upon the cherubim. It is on oo account to' be
stippobed that the ftet of the beasts were so exhibited as if they were au immediate
imago of lite person who was enthroned on the cherubim.

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 3. 201

white as snow, and the hair of his head as pure wool ; his throne
was a flame of fire, and his wheels burning fire, a stream of fire
went forth from him. The majesty and holiness there indicated
by the clear brightness is not less appalling to the guilty than
fire. It takes from the enemies of the church all hope of escap-
ing the fire. In the Apoc. i. 14 we find the head and hair white
as white wool, as snow, but the eyes like flames of fire, and the
feet like burning metal. In Rev. x. 1 the countenance is like the
sun, the feet like pillars of fire. From these original and parallel
passages it is also to be supposed that the colours ^of the two
precious stones did not intermingle with each other through the
whole appearance, but that they respectively belonged to dif-
ferent parts of it. The rainbow round about the throne — ^in re-
spect to which Bengel says, " Not the head merely of him who
sat upon the throne, but the throne itself, in its whole height and
breadth, was surrounded by it — indicates that the judgment was
to be an act of grace for the church. The "round about the
throne" is not said without meaning in respect to the rainbow
and the seats of the four and twenty elders. These, the symbol
of the church, are to be understood as enclosed in the circle, so
that the church is represented as the object of the tender grace of
Ood. The fundamental passage for this here and ch. x. 1, where
the rainbow appears on the head of the angel, is £z. i. 27^28.
There, around about the manifestation, which was radiant with
the glowing brightness of fire, was a splendour ; " as the appear-
ance of the rainbow which is in the cloud in the day of rain, so
is the appearance of the brightness round about." The truth
symbolized is given thus by Grotius, " However strict the divine
judgment may be, it still will not destroy the remembrance of the
covenant made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Isa. liv. 10
may serve as a commentary, " For the mountains shall depart and
the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart from thee,
neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the
Lord that hath mercy on thee." But the rainbow is not the
symbol of grace generally ; it is the symbol of grace returning
after wrath. This is indicated in Ezekiel by the cloud ; comp.
the " great cloud" in ver. 4 and Rev. x. 1. Lange, in his Ver-
mischten Schr. i. p. 5, says excellently, " The rainbow is the
coloured reflection of the sun breaking forth upon the dark cloud

202 THE SEVEN EPISTLES. -

as it withdraws, the triumph of the sun oyer the floods ; the bright-
ness of the sun, of fire, of light, imprinted, as it were, on the
cloud itself in token of its subjection." Accordingly, we are to
suppose that the colour of the emerald, the green, is here named,
not as the only one, but as that which predominated. This is
even self-evident. For a simply green rainbow would be no rain-
bow at all. Bengel remarks, '* Green is of all colours the most
agreeable. If other things have made the eyes weak and
tender, we find them refreshed by turning them on the green.
The colours of white and red affect the vision much more, and if
we hold long before us anything of a fiery red or a shining white,
the sight is soon injured ; but the green colour is intermediate be-
tween the two, and of a chaster description. When God repre-
sents himself as the jasper and sardius, he exhibits himself in
his holiness and glory, in which respect he is frightful to men.
But the green rainbow is a mark of the divine condescension,
placability, and forbearance, which prevent us from being in-
jured or consumed by those attributes of God, which are
terrible to men. . . We are not able to fix our eyes

on the divine majesty and holiness, they frighten us away;
but the friendliness of God allures us and inspires us with an
assured confidence. We must present God to our view, not only
as he shews himself in some one aspect, but in all that be makes
known to us ; there will still remain much behind of his infinite
perfection. The testimonies which he has disclosed to us respect-
ing himself, we must carefully put together, that we may attain
to a complete knowledge, adoration, and service. If we look, for
example, to grace alone, we shall soon obtain confidence ; but
this confidence may speedily in hearts like ours break forth into
impiety. But if we have respect also to the majesty and holiness
of God, we shall continue in a profound reverence, and our confi-
dence in grace itself shall thereby be increased." Excellent
observations in themselves, but too much overlooking the con-
crete reference of the vision ; not taking into account the circum-
stance, that everything in it is directed to revive the church's
confidence after having been deluged by the world. To him, for
whom the rainbow is adapted, the jasper and sardius are also
consolatory ; but, on the other hand, the emerald also is terrible
to him, for whom it is not. — Ziillig is inclined to explain " the

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 4. .203

image of a single- coloured green rainbow as an unnatural one.
There should at least have been also yellow and red. For, green,
yellow, and red, these are the fundamental colours, out of which
are formed the seven well-known shades of the rainbow. But
observe, it is precisely these two other colours that we have already
found in the jasper and the sardius of the main figure. There
can be no doubt, also; that these colours are combined together,
and form with each other a composite arch, in such a manner that
the green is not to be thought of as divided by a certain space from
the main figure, but only as its outermost radiation." The whole
image, then, must consist of a rainbow ! The two inner colours
give to the seer his image of Jehovah, the outer one the lustrous
glory connected with it. But that we are not to think of a one-
coloured green rainbow, that only the chief colour is rendered
prominent, while the others are still supposed to exist, we have
remarked already. But a singular image the rainbow, of him
who sits upon the throne ! The person sitting there is manifest,
and according also to the fundamental passages in Ezekiel and
Daniel, he is a person, from whom there issues so bright a splen-
dour, white and red, that only this splendour can be seen. The
significance of the rainbow is also overlooked by such a view ; it
can never be .a lustrous glory. Since Gen. ix. it has been
unalterably consecrated as a symbol of grace returning after
wrath.

Ver. 4. And round about the throne four and twenty thrones;
and Bitting on the thrones four and twenty elders, clothed with
while garments, and on their heads golden crowns* Bengel :
" Here now we have a description of those who are about the
Lord. We must here represent to ourselves not a half, but an
entirely circular ring. Beside the chief throne, then, four and
twenty other thrones with so many elders are appropriately added ;
but elsewhere the four beasts are nearer than the four and twenty
elders, and both nearer than the many angels, ch. v. 11." The
elders sit round about the throne, within the span of the rainbow.
They are mentioned before the fuller description of the throne
and of the cherubim, to indicate that the whole assembly has
respect to the affairs of the church. Where the representatives
of this sit in judgment with God, there only a favourable decision
for them can be expected. The beasts are inseparable from the

3

204. THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

throne itself, which rests upon them ; they are not merely round
the throne, but also under the throne, according to ch. vi. — That
the elders are representatives of the church, there can be no
question ; is quite plain from ch. y. 8 — 10, where they hold in
their hands golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of
saints, and sing a new song and say, *' Thou art worthy to take
the book and to open its seals, for thou wert slain, and hast re-
deemed us to God by thy blood out of all kindreds and tongues
and peoples and nations*' — a passage which shews that we cannot
think of angels. That the four and twenty come into considera-
tion as the double twelve, is rendered probable alone by ch. vii.
4, ss., where the twelve appears as the signature of the church
generally, and according to which the twelve tribes of Israel are
perpetuated in the church of the New Testament. Now, if we
should seek for each of these tribes a double head, in accordance
with the two oeconomies, there will very naturally present them-
selves the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles. The same
four and twenty we find again in ch. xxi. At the gates of the
New Jerusalem there stand, according to ver. 12, twelve angels,
to which it is added, ^' and names written, which are the twelve
tribes of the children of Israel," the ideal representatives of the
twelve tribes, the shadowy forms, as it were, of the twelve pa-
triarchs. On the twelve foundations of the walls are the names
of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. We meet with the first
twelve also in ch. xii. 1 : the woman, the church, has before the
birth of Christ a crown of twelve rulers. The second twelve, the
twelve apostles, who were manifestly chosen by Christ as the New
Testament counterpart to the twelve patriarchs, we obtain from
the undeniable reference of Christ to the declaration of our
XiOrd in Matthew, ch. xix. 28, comp. Luke xxii. 30, " Then
shall ye also sit upon twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes
of Israel ;'' and from Rev. xx. 4, where a still more mani-
fest reference to these passages is found, " And I saw thrones,
and they sat upon them, and judgment was given to them."
The right view was given by Bossuet, ** It is the totality of
the saints of the Old and the New Testament, who are here
represented by their chiefs and their leaders. Those of the Old
appeared in the twelve patriarchs, and those of the new in the
twelve apostles. The same totality of saints is represented

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 4. 205

afterwards in the twelve gates of the holy city, on which were
written the names of the twelve tribes ; and in the twelve foun-
dations of that city, on which were written the names of the *
twelve apostles, xxi. 12, 14. In a word, one sees in these twenty-
four elders the whole church represented in its leaders." If the
apostles formed the one-half of the heavenly senate of the church,
the Apocalypse can only have been composed at the close of the
apostolic age. According to the common supposition, the num-
ber four and twenty here must allude to the four and twenty
classes of priests formed by David : the elders must be as it were
the family-heads of the heavenly priesthood. But in addition to
the separation this would make of the passage from ch. xii. 1,
and xxi. 12, 14, and the want of any other point of connection
in the book, there are strong reasons against the supposition. It
is in itself not probable, that the author of the Apocalypse would
refer to that purely human arrangement, t^hich never received
any special divine sanction. The remark of Ziillig, that '* the
book hardly ever alludes to anything not biblical," has a wide
application. Farther, although the elders were also priests, yet,
appearing as they do here in a judicial scene, in the introduction
to the seven seals, which God, in fellowship with his high council,
suspends over the world for the good of his church, they are not
employed in their proper character, but in a kingly capacity. Tp
this latter points also the sitting on thrones, the bearing of gol-
den crowns, and, as is clear from subsequent statements, the being
clothed with white garments, which have been falsely regarded as
a mark of the priestly character. In this connection also, where
a sitting in judgment is the matter in question, the name elder
designates only the governing character, the civic dignity ; the
elders correspond to the princes, who stood nearest to the throne
of the earthly king in Israel, comp. Ez. viii. 11. Another con-
jecture, that the twelve number was doubled with respect to the
admission of the heathen, must be wrong even on this account,
that without any sure foundation it has proceeded from a doubt-
ful suggestion, and runs counter, besides, to a fundamental view
of the New Testament, and in particular of the Apocalypse, ac-
cording to which believers from heathenism do not constitute a
second party to those from Israel, but that there is only one
Israel, which perpetuates itself in the Christian church, and into

2061 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

which believing heathens were inserted — comp. on ch. vii. 4.
Here, therefore, a modem representation has been violently

' pressed on Scripture.

There are two original passages in the Old Testament for the
form of representation here adopted. First, Isa. xxiy. 23, " And
the sun blashes and the moon is ashamed, for the Lord reigns,
the Lord of hosts, upon Mount Zion, and at Jernsalem, and before
his elders (to whom he will impart of his own glory) is honour.''
The elders appear there as the ideal representatives of the church
in the time of salvation. The difference which Ewald was the
first to suggest, that in Isaiah the elders appear on earth, here
in heayen, is of little moment. For here also the abode of the
elders is onlj provisionally in heaven. Then, Dan. vii. 9, 10.
There, around the throne of the Ancient of days thrones are
placed, the judgment sits, and the books are opened. Commonly
it is the angels, who are thought of as being there the assessors
of the divine judgment. So still HHyemick, " The great throne
of God is surrounded by a multitude of elevated seats for the
higher servants of God, the hosts of the elect ones that are round
about him, Isa. vi.. Job i., Bev. iy.'' But everywhere else the
angels appear as servants in accordance with their name, and
their designation as ^' ministering spirits sent forth to minister,'*
in Heb. i. 14 ; but never ks judges. The passages, Dan. iv. 10, 14,
to which Maldanat has referred, must not be compared, for they
belong to the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, who intermingled his
heathenish modes of thought with what was giyen of God. In Da-
niel's explanation nothing is said of the angels.*^ The right view,
that the representatives of the covenant people, as assessors in the
judgment held upon the ungodly world, is the idea represented,
was recognised even by the ancient Jews.'' That the crowns are

. crowns of kings, is plain, especially from ver. 10, where they cast
their crowns before the throne — the kings humble tbemselyes be-
fore the King of kings — ^and also from the connection with the
thrones ; comp. Matt. xix. 28, where the apostles sit upon twelve

1 Ode, de angelis, p. 735 : Ilaiic errorem correzisse videtur, Dan. v. 21, ubi illud non
vocaiur decretum vigiluiu, sed Excelsi, sc. Eei.

2 Tancbuma, fol. 62 : Rubbini nostri dicunt : quid hoc edt : sellae positae sunt ? Res
pondetur: tempore futuro Deus S. B. sedebit, et angeli dabunt sellas Diagnatibus
iHraelis, et illi sedent. £t Deus S. B. sedet cum senioribus Uuquam y^t n->a sk, priii-
cepfl senalus, et judioabuiu gentiles.

THE SRVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 4. 207

thrones, judging the twelre tribes of Israel. So also as an in-
signe of royal dignity the crowns occur in ch. vi. 2, ix. 7, xiv.
14 ; comp. Matt, xxvii. 29, John xix. 12. White in the Revela-
tion, as in Scriptare generally, is the coloar of bright splendour,
the symbolical shadow of glory. One might say with perfect
tmth : white is like holy, bat holy only in the sense of Scriptare,
not that of the current doctrinal theology. We are not to think
of simple white, but of a glittering white^he white of light and
snow; comp. Matt. xvii. 2, *'And he was transfigured before
them, and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was wbite
as the light ;'* Mark ix. 3, *' And his raiment became shining,
exceeding white as snow ; so as no fuller on earth can white
them;" Luke ix. 29, ''And as he prayed the fashion of his
countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glisten-
ing/' XsvKo^i i^aarpdwrcDv, Besides, Matt, xxviii. 3, Luke xxir.
4, Acts i. 10, comp. with x. 30. In the Apocalypse, see ch. i. 14,
** His head and his hair were white as white wool, as snow," and
i;he interchange between white and glittering in ch. xix. 8, and
XY. 6, comp. with xix. 14. As the symbolical representation of
glory, white is the predominant colour in the manifestation of
Christ, i. 14, yi. 2, xix. 11, the coloar of the throne of God, xx. 11,
of the angels as the holy ones in the scriptural sense, the exalted
and the glorious. We must further take into account the colour
of the righteous, especially of the perfect, who shine forth in the
splendour of their virtues, iii. 18, xix. 8, vii. 14, and of the glory
of God imparted to them, in imitation of that which was imaged
forth at the glorification of Christ, and in fulfilment of the saying
of Christ, *' Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the
kingdom of the Father," comp. iii. 4, 5. In the passage before
us, it is best to regard both as united, as also in yii. 9. The con-
nection, however, with the thrones and crowns shews that at sdl
events the latter, which are ascribed only to the perfectly righte-
ous, and do not at all belong to persons in this life, decidedly pre-
dominates. As the colour of innocence white is never used in
Scripture. The purified high-priest receives, in Zech. ch. iii., in-
stead of his filthy garments, not white but clean ones. In ch.
vii. 14 of this book a distinction is made between washing and
« making white. The four and twenty elders appear also in ch.
xi. 16, as CO' regents with God : ** the four and twenty elders who

208 THE SEVEN EPISTLES.

sit before God on their thrones." 'But they are invested with this
dignity as the representatires and the highest concentration of
the whole church of believers. For of this, as a whole, it is said
in ch. iii. 21, '' He that overcomes will I give to sit with me in
my throne, as I have overcome, and have sitten down with my
Father in his throne." And in ch. ii. 26, ** He that overcomes
and keeps my works to the end, to him will I give power over the
heathen, -. . as I have received of my Father." Where there
has come to be a hearty concurrence of will with that of the So-
vereign Ruler, there one is received into the partnership of his
government of the world, his judgments, his victories. It is the
precious privilege of the Christian, that nothing comes to pass
which he does not will, every thing that he does will — ^that he
triumphs in God over all hostile powers, and with him rides upon
the high places of the earth, and sees the whole world lying under
his feet.

Ver. 5. And from the throne proceed lightnings, and voices,
and thunders ; and seven torches of fire burn before the throne,
which are the seven Spirits of God, The lightnings, voices,
and thunders are pre-intimations of judgment. That this is to be
exercised for the good of the church, is clear from the connection
with ver 3, 4. Bengel : " To the saints on earth light and pro-
tection are thereby imparted, but to the enemies terror and de-
struction. The king's children should not be afraid of what he
has in his arsenal." They are still not the judgment itself, but
the matter-of-fact or symbolical announcement of it ; as in Ex.
xix. 16, voices, and lightnings, and thunders were seen and heard
on the mount, as an indication beforehand of the awful judgment
of God that was sure to overtake the transgressors of the law, in-
somuch that the people trembled in the camp. So also, in Ps.
xcvii. 2, 3, before the scene of judgment itself begins, clouds and
darkness are round about the Lord, and glowing fire issues from
before him ; and in Ps. 1. 3, a fire devours before him, and all is
tempestuous round about him (comp. also Ps. xviii. 8, and my
commentary on these passages.) The seven seals are the embodi-
ment of the judgments prefigured here and exhibited to view. In
the same annnnciatory character are lightnings mentioned in ch.
viii. 5; and in ch. xi. 19, xvi. 18, they serve as a designation of.
the judgments actually inflicted. But the lightnings, etc., are

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 5. 209

everywhere the precursors of the divine judgment, or this itself;
never is " the praise of the Almighty in heaven '* sounded hy
them, as Bengel supposes. Nor will the Old Testament funda-
mental passages suffer us to think of such a meaning. There
thunders and lightnings are the standing symbol of God's mani-
festations of anger. The voices are constantly put in immediate
connection with the thunders, and so indeed as to precede the other.
In John vi. 1, xiv. 2, mention is made of the voice of thunder, and
here in ch. x. 3 the seyen thunders utter their voices. All this, to-
gether with the Old Testament usage, shews that we must not
separate the voices from the thunders, and that we are not with
Ziillig to understand by them the inarticulate thunder-claps as
contrasted with the audible sounds from heaven. It is best to
regard the thunders as the kind, and the voices as the species,
which here come more particularly into view. Bengel remarks ex-
cellently, " Whoeyer gives attention to what precedes in the wea-
ther, he knows, that thunder sometimes spreads itself far in the
clouds, and continues for a considerable time (like the hollow roar
of the sea), while sometimes there is a quick, sharp crack, which
may more especially be considered as a voice, that merely peals
on the ear. Thunder, however, in the proper sense is accom-
panied also with a shaking. These things are of a frightful na-
ture, and yet at the same time agreeable. Frightful in respect
to enemies, agreeable for such as are at one with God, and stand
in his grace." John xii. 28-30 may be compared. — That the
seven torches of fire, which are the seven Spirits of God, are
connected as to the things indicated with the lightnings, voices,
and thunders, might be inferred alone from the circumstance that
the seven in them with the three of the latter together make up
ten. They do not mean the Spirit of God in himself. Against
that is, not only the plural, but also the expression '* before the
throne,'* here and in i. 4, where the Seer wishes grace and peace
to the church from him who is, and who was, and who comes, and
from the seven Spirits which are before his throne. The state-
ment also in ch. v. 6, that *' they are sent upon the whole earth,"
is against the view in question. What we are to understand are
the operations of God's Spirit, which is at the same time the
Spirit of Christ (ch. v. 6), and which is united to the Father by
essential oneness of being ; his operations ad extra, and here

210 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 6.

indeed more especially as bringing chastisement and destruction.
This is indicated by the irvpo^, shewing that the discourse is of
torches of fire, and fire being in the Apocalypse the standing
symbol of God's anger and judgment, comp. for example i. 14, ii.
18, xix. 12, X. 1, XX. 10, xxi. 8, xir. 10. In the Old Testament
also torches of fire are only mentioned where respect is had to
consuming and burning, Zech. xii. 6 ; Judges xv. 4, 5 ; Dan. x. 6.
Comp. Rev. viii. 10, where mention is made of a great star burn-
ing like a torch. This is confirmed by the juxtaposition with
lightning and thunder, and the context generally, where every
thing bears a frightful character to the world, and hence a con-
solatory one to the church of God. Thoughts like the following,
*' They mark the multifariousness of the gifts which are bestowed
on the church of the New Testament," (Vitringa) ; or, " They
stand before the throne, that at the nod of their Master they may
communicate jthemselyes to any human spirit,*' (Ziillig) ; or, '* God
himself makes all clear about him through his Spirit," (Hofi-
mann), do not at all suit the connection What follows also leads
to the same result. The sea of glass, according to ch. xv. 2. mixed
with fire, is the product as it were of the seven burning torches
of fire, which are the seven Spirits of God. Even Isaiah in ch.
iv. 4, speaks of the Spirit of judgment and of burning, of the
Spirit of God which judges and burns — comp. Mai. iii. 3.

Ver. 6, And before the throne as a sea of glass ^ like crystal.
And in the midst of the throne and round about the throne four
beasts, full of eyes before and behind, Bengel says, " Mention
is made of the seven lamps of fire and of the sea together ; and
it is said, as respecting that, so also respecting this, very empha-
tically, before the throne. — Afterwards, at ch. xv. 2, there is again
the appearance as of a sea of glass ; and instead of the seven
torches of fire being brought into connection with it, the sea it-
self is mingled with fire." We have already remarked that the
distinct connection of the torches of fire and the sea together is
to be explained from the latter being the product of the former.
God by his Spirit brings about the execution of what is right.
The import of the sea we apprehend from the song, which in ch.
XV. was sung by those who stood on it, and which forms a com-
mentary on the symbol, after the manner of Scripture generally,
in which sign and word go together. Accordingly, it denotes the

. THE SEVEN SEALS, CU. IV. 6. 211

great and wonderfril works of Grod, his righteous and holy ways,
his just deeds become manifest. The sea of glass appears there
as an antitype to the Red Sea, in which the Seer beheld an image
of the great judgment of God. The original passage for the one
before ns, and for ch. xv. 2, is Ps. xxxvi. 7, ** Thy judgments are
a great flood." The judgments there are the judicial acts through
which God destroys the wicked and aids his people. The com-
parison with the sea denotes, according to the connection, mea-
surelessness. Against the flood of human wickedness stands the
great flood, the broad ocean of the divine judgment (Gen. vii. 11,
the only other passage where the expression great flood, Q'lnn
ni*i9 occurs.) The great flood has reference to the deluge, in
which the judgment of God appears as in reality a great flood.
Twice had the sea served as an embodiment of God's judgments,
which are here described as immeasurable under its image, — at
the deluge, to which the fundamental passage refers, and when
the Egyptians were drowned in the Bed Sea, to which reference
is made in ch. xv. The words, '* before the throne," rest on Ps.
Ixxxix. 15, xcTii. 2, " righteousness and judgment are the foun-
dation of thy throne," that is, God's dominion maintains itself on
the territory of what is just and righteous. These two passages
in the Psalms again, rest on Ex. xxiv. 10, " And they beheld the
God of Israel, and under his feet there was like the work of
white (clear glittering, comp. on ver. 4) sapphire, and like the
heaven itself in purity." They giTe an explanation of the sym-
bol there. Upon the fundamental passage and the two passages
in the Psalms again rests, Ez. i. 22, " And there was on the
heads of the beasts something like a cloud, like the look of crys-
tal, terrible (Michaelis : the splendour of which is so great that
it blinded the eyes of the spectator), expanded over their heads
above." Above this cloud stands the throne of God, according
to ver. 26. From this passage we see the import of the crystal
here in Ezekiel. It signifies the terribleness (comp. Hab« iii. 2«
" Lord, I heard thy doing, I was afraid"), the awe-inspiring
greatness and glory of the divine executions of judgment. Also
according to ch. xxii. 1, " And he shewed me a stream of water
of life, clear as crystal,^' it is not the transparency, but the shin-
ing clearness of crystal that is brought into consideration (comp.
xxi. 11.) The glase is different from the crystal. That desig-

o2

212 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 6.

nates the rectitude and purity of the divine judgments — comp.
ch. xxi. 21, " as transparent glass,'* and ch. xxi. 18, ^^ like pure
glass.*' In Ex. xxiv. 10 too there is found a double point, the
clear splendour and its purity. To the purity of glass, as indica-
tive of righteousness and truth, corresponds in ch. xv. 3 the
" righteous and true are thy ways, thou king of saints." And to
the clear and blinding glitter of crystal, as indicative of the
Rightfulness and glory of the di?ine acts of judgment, corresponds
the " Great and wonderful are thy works. Lord God Almighty.
Who would not fear thee, 0 Lord, and glorify thy name !'* It is
this also to which respect is had in the present symbol : the
measureless character of the divine judgments, their absolute rec-
titude, their terrible glory — a view, if dreadful to the world, most
consolatory to the church, which cannot look enough into this
glorious mirror, and in the depths of this sea should lose all its
cares, and sorrow, and pain — whose eye should be delivered from
its tears, the moment the cloud vanishes which conceals this sea
from its view — and whose highest problem it is to keep the eye
shut in regard to the sea of the nations, and have it open for this
holy sea before the throne of God. (Bossuet : " The sea com-
monly signifies in Scripture agitation and trouble ; but here the
idea is changed, and changed by the transparence and the like-
ness of crystal," )

In the midst of the throne, that is, under it, and round about
the throne — since the throne does not quite cover them, and their
heads appear from below it^ — ^the Seer perceives four beasts ; or,
more exactly, living creatures, full of eyes behind and before.'
These are the Cherubim, which meet us in the Old Testament,
especially in the symbolical forms of the law and in Ezekiel. The
signification of this symbol discovers itself from the name here
given to the Cherubim. They are called (fcda, living beings,
corresponding to the jivil ^^ Ezekiel. Consequently they are the
representation of living beings, of all that is living on the earth.
God appears as enthroned above the Cherubim, in order to impress

1 That the Cherabim here do not, as ZaUig suppoaes, aland merely beeide the tbrone,
ia dear, not only from the Iv fiiaa which is violently rendered by him, but alao from
the Ikcito in yer. 2.

S Bengel : *' Z«oy and ^np^of eBSentlalty differ, tpCernu l^wmv fcal dvfioift Bripiwv, Sap.
vii. 90.'

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV, 6. 213

on the minds of those, who stand in awe of him, his absolute su-
premacy oyer all that is earthly. When the earthly creature of
the church of the Old Covenant became alarmed, it had only to
direct its eye to him, who sat enthroned on the Cherubim, and its
fear vanished. To this representation of God corresponds the
epithet, God of Hosts, Zebaoth, pointing quite as exclusively to
the dominion of God over the heavenly powers, as the other to
his dominion over the earthly. The God — exclaims here to the
Seer and to the church the sight of the Cherubim under the
throne — who is preparing to judge the world, is the God of the
whole earth, whom all that lives and moves on it obeys, and who
can turn all it contains into weapons of vengeance against the
apostate. Woe to him, who has this God for his enemy, happy '
he who has him for his friend ! The same object is served in the
main by the appearance of God above the Cherubim in Ezekiel,
ch. i. and 10, where God comes to execute judgment on apostate
Israel. There, beside the living beings, which are more imme-
diately denoted by the Cherubim, the powers of nature are also
symbolized by the wheels beside the Churubim, the import of
which is partly explained by ch. x. 13, *^ the wheels, they were
called the whirlwind in my ears," (comp. Ps. xviii. 10, where the
wind is connected with the cherub, ''He rode upon the cherub
and did fly, and floated on the wings of the wind," God comes in
the full glory of his being, as the Lord of the beings and powers
of nature) ; and partly also from ch. x. 6, where the fire that was
to burn the wicked city Jerusalem, is taken from the midst of the
wheels. To the wheels in Ezekiel corresponds in Ps. cxlviii. 8,
" Fire and hail, snow and vapour, stormy wind, that fulfils his
word." For the refutation of those, who would understand by
the Cherubim superior angels, what was advanced by Vitringa is
quite sufficient : " These four creatures are throughout this vision
connected with the assembly of elders, and are distinguished, not
only from the angels, but also from all angels, as is done in ch.
vii. 11. In ch. v. the whole heavenly assembly that was before
the throne, is divided into two choruses or classes. The beasts
and the elders formed the one chorus, ver. 8, and the angels the
other, ver. 11." Everywhere we find the territory of the Cheru-
bim pnt in marked separation from that of the angels. The
Cherubim never do the service of the malakim or messengerSi

214 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 6.

never do the part of ministerins: spirits sent forth to minister.
Their business is only that of being, first, under the throne of
God (of a material supporting we are not to think either here or
in Ezekiel), then of symbolizing the truth, that God is the God
of the whole earth, the God of the spirits of all flesh, or of prais-
ing and glorifying God. This was done, not only here, but also
in Ezekiel, when the prophet, ch. iii. 12, heard a loud voice say-
ing, " Praised be the glory of the Lord (who now rises up)
from his place." For their existence was a matter-of-fact cele-
bration of God's praise (comp. the call made on all in heaven and
earth to praise God, as bearing on it the marks of God's glory, in
Fs. cxlyiii., and the poetical change from the matter-of-fact praise
into a verbal one ifi Fs. xix. 2, ciii. 21), and he was farther en-
titled to it for the benefits conferred by him on his creatures upon
earth. Finally, in addition to these two functions of the cheru-
bim, they have a part to do in prefiguring the judgments, which
are to fall upon the earth, as at the opening of the seals in ch. vi.
1, ss., they call out to the Seer, *' Come and see," and in ch. xv.
7, they stretch out the seven vials to the seven angels. They
come forth here as representatiyes of the earth, which is to be
afiected by the divine judgments. That the Cherubim are merely
symbolical figures, is manifest from their whole bearing. They
have always but a few words to utter. From these functions of
the Cherubim, and especially from the circumstance of their be-
ing under the throne of God, the God who sits enthroned upon
the Cherubim, all such notions are exploded, as that they are the
four evangelists, the most eminent teachers of the church (so
Vitringa, who labours in vain to dispose of the troublesome fact,
that the beasts are nearer the throne than the elders), the office-
bearers of the church, etc. These notions, besides being unten-
able in themselves, are quite unsuitable here, where the object
was to impart consolation in the presence of a seemingly omnipo-
tent world, and pledge the certainty of a victory being gained
over it; and equally so in Ezekiel, where the object is to dispel
the illusions of those, who dreamt they could escape the venge*
ance of an angry God. So that it were entirely out of date to
attempt any revival of them now. — That the Cherubim were four,
arises from four being the signature of the earth. Bengel al-
ready remarks, ^' Scripture often describes visible nature by the

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 7. 215

four quarters of the world, Fs. Ixxxix. 13, and in Revelation also
mention is frequently made of the four comers of the earth, ch.
rii. 1, xxi. 13." In Fs. cxlriii., of those who must praise the
Lord on the land, there are four times four, and four in particular
of living creatures, because four is the signature of the earth. We
find the same four of living creatures in Gen. vii. 21, 23. In
Ezekiel the number four has still greater play : the four beasts
have each four faces and four wings, i. 6. The beasts are full of
eyes before and behind In the first description of the Cherubim,
Ezekiel merely says in ch. i. 18, that the felloes of the wheels
connected with the cherub were full of eyes, while in the second
description, ch. x. 12, he says in perfect unison with John, '' And
their whole flesh, and their backs, and their hands and their
wings, were full of eyes round about." The meaning of the eyes
we learn from Bev. v. 6, according to which the Lamb has seven
eyes, " which are the seven Spirits of God that are sent forth
upon the whole earth" — comp. Zech. iv. 10, where the operations
of the Lord*s Spirit are set forth under the image of the seven
eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro in the whole earth. The
eye is the organ, and, as such, the corporeal image of the Spirit,
The Cherubim being full of eyes indicates, that the whole living
creation is inspirited. According to the doctrine of Scripture, all
life, not merely the intellectual and spiritaal, but the physical
also, is of God, the source of life, the God of the spirits of all
flesh. Numb. xvi. 22, xxvii. 16 ; Hebr. xii. 9 ; comp. Gen. i. 2,
ii. 7 ; Eccl. xii. 7, " The spirit returns to God who gave it ;" Fs.
civ. 29, " When thou hidest thy face, they are frightened, when
thou gatherest their breath, they vanish and return to their dust."
The eyes of the Cherubim, considered as symbolical of the powers
of God working in creation, contribute to the matter in hand ;
they serve as an encouragement to the pious, as a source of
terror to the wicked. So understood, we can also under-
stand how in ver. 8 there should be a repeated allusion to
the eyes in connection with the song of praise by the Cheru-
bim : this song forms a commentary on their being full of eyes,
round about and within. The exposition of Bengel and others,
by which the eyes denote wisdom and knowledge, is quite er-
roneous.

Ver. 7. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second

216 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 7.

beast was like a calfy and the third beast had a faee as a man^
and the fourth beast was like afiying eagle. It is certainly not
accidental that the lion and the eagle should begin and close the
0eries, the less so as the order here is different from what we find
in Ezekiel. These are the most warlike among the fonr beasts,
therefore the strongest matter-of-fact prophecies of that destruc-
tion which was impending over the world ; the fittest represen-
tatiyes of that power of God, which here especially comes into
view. He who made the lion and the eagle, will also unfold his
power of judgment, and rebuke in his dispenisations towards his
people — comp. in regard to the lion Isa. xxi. 8, 9, in regard to
the eagle here ch. viii. 13. — It is worthy of remark, that in the
second place, it is not the ox that is mentioned, but the calf, as
was the case also in Ez. i. 7} This shows, that where the ox is
mentioned in the descriptions of the Cherubim, it is employed
only as a representative of cattle generally. Hence the old
Jewish saying (Schoettgen, p. 1108), " There are four which take .
the first place in this world : man among the creatures, the
eagle among birds, the ox among cattle, and the lion among wild
beasts ;" and Bengel's homologous remark, ** The lion is the
first among wild beasts, among those that are tame the ox, among
all creatures that have a living body man, and the eagle among
birds." Right against those, who instead of considering the in-
dividual living beings as representatives merely of their several
classes, take them as symbols of the particular manifestations of
the fulness of life that is in Ood (as the ox, for example, accord-
ing to Bahr in his Symbolik, I. p. 343, the symbol of creative, or
productive power.) In that case the calf or young ox could not
possibly have been used instead of the ox. This shows, that in
the other places also where the ox is put, we are not to think of
its productive power. Such a view, besides, loses itself in the
territory of mere opinion, while it admits of no doubt that the
lion holds the first place in the forest, the eagle among birds
(comp. Job xxxix. 27, ss.), the ox or calf among tame animals.
To this result we are also led by the designation of *' flying*' be-
ing attached to the eagle. This must ^efer not to the act of

1 That the fiooxo* here denotee the calf, is clear alone from the fundamental paaaage
of Esekiel, where Vtf ia the oorresponding word. Comp. Pa. Ixviii. 80, where the bulls
of the priuces are set againat the ealVes of the people.

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 8. 217

flying, bat only to the power of flight, and shows that the eagle
appears here as the representative of all winged creatures. — *' In
the third beast," says Bengel, '* a peculiar mode of expression is
used : it had the face as of a man ; whence we may infer, that this
beast had the resemblance of a man, not throughout, but only in
the face." But the fact is plainly not given correctly here ; the
right conclusion, as Vitringa perceived, is, that the other beasts
were not throughout, but only in the visage, unlike man. Each
of the beasts had his peculiar visage, and the third that of a
man's countenance ; but the human form belonged to them all.
This is implied in its being said of the third, not that it was like
a man, but that it had the face as of a man. The likeness of a
Hon, an eagle, and a calf, in the others, is confined by this to
the face. In Ez. i. 5 it is expressly said, ** And this is their
appearance, they have the form of a man." They have there a
man's erect gait and his hands. In Rev. v. 8, xix. 4, the beasts
fall down with the elders before the Lamb and worship, which had
been incongruous, if two of them had been quadrupeds. From
the whole position, which was given to man in the Mosaic history
of the creation among the living creatures, there could not be a
simple co-ordination of his form along with the forms of the other
and inferior parts of the animal creation. The human type must
predominate in the personification of all living, and the rest be
content with a representation in the countenance alone. — In re-
gard to the point, in what does the description given of the
Cherubim in the Revelation really differ from that in Ezekiel
(as distinguished from the false differences in Ziillig), we simply
quote the just remarks of Vitringa, '' The Cherubim of Ezekiel
have each the four faces of these beasts. But this as to the
substance is not of essential moment. For these beasts, most
intimately connected together, form, as it were, one beast-exist-
ence, which Ezekiel calls prnn* ^^^ living (i. 20, 21, 22), and it
is a matter of indifference, whether all the properties are repre-
l^ented as belonging to each of the four, or singly in each."

Yer. 8. And each of the four beasts has sia unngsy and round
about and within they are full of eyes, and have no rest day
and night, and they say : Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God,
the Almighty, who was, and who is, and who comes. The
Cherubim here have not four wings, like those in Ezekiel, but

218 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 8.

«izr, like the Seraphim in Isaiah, ch. ri. The wings also in this
connection most serve for the glorification of God, as a terror to
those who are enemies to him, a consolation to those who are
friends ; and this is confirmed by a comparison of the fundamental
passages, from which the wings are borrowed, and from which,
since this borrowing cannot possibly be without meaning, we
must also adopt what is there said regarding their import and
design. Bengel remarks briefly, '* The chief virtues are thereby
indicated, in the exercise of which' the heavenly watchers gi?e
honour to the divine holiness, namely, fear or respect, since they
do not look boldly, humility, since they veil themselves before
that splendour, and alacrity in obeying the divine commands/'
And again more particularly : " By the three pairs of wings and
their diverse use, is indicated the chief excellences in a holy
creature, which has either not erred through sin, or has been
again purified from it, and becomingly serves the great God.
These excellences are respect, humility, and the spirit of obedi-
ence. The Seraphim cover their faces, so that they may not
boldly look upon the divine Majesty, but with the profoundest
reverence ; as they also do not say, holy art thou, but speaking
one to another of the divine Majesty, holy is he. They cover
their feet, that they may in some measure be concealed from
God*s sight, though free from all sin, yet still in a feeling of pro-
per creaturely abasement. They fly and move about in full ac-
tivity, praising the Lord and executing his will." But all this
serves not for the glorifying of the Seraphim and the Cherubim,
but of God. How glorious must he be, how rich in supplies of
help for his people, how mighty for the destruction of his enemies,
before whom the concentration of created life so profoundly hum-
bles itself, and with deepest reverence obeys ! Thus understood,
the wings of the Cherubim are found to be on the same line with
their eyes, and their thrice exclamation of '* holy." The clause
'' they are full of eyes round about (in front) and within (in the
back parts)/* would be a needless repetition, if it did not stand in
close connection with what follows ; and because they are wholly
penetrated by the powers of God, therefore, etc. The words,
*' they have no rest day and night, saying,** alludes to Fs. xix. 3,
** Day unto day utters speech, and night unto night shows know-
ledge." The simple thought is, that the heavens with their starry

]

THE SEVKN SEALS, CH. IV. 8. 219

host unceasingly show forth Gods glory ; while by day the son
shines, by night there are the moon and the stars. As the hea-
yens withont ceasing declare the glory of God, the God of hosts,
so also do the Chembim or the creatures npon earth. The " holy,
holy, holy," which is taken from Isa. yi., and is found also in Fs.
xcix., is at the same time a threefold woe to the world which has
this God for its enemy (comp yiii. 13), and a threefold " Lift up
your heads" to the church, which stands under his protection.
Holy, holy, holy, according to his glory as manifesting itself in our
state of being. That we must supply thus, is clear from the con-
nection with the words : they are round about and within full of
eyes ; and also from what follows in yer. 9, according to which
the beasts not only giye honour and glory to God, but also
thanks, which they could only do if they celebrated God's holi-
ness on the ground of their own existence. That holiness is not
merely the highest purity in God, that it rather denotes the in-
finite exaltation of God aboye all that is created and finite (see
what is said in my Comm. on Fs. xxii. 3), is clear alone from the
reference the Cherubim make to their own existence, and also
from the epithet, " the Almighty," which has respect to holiness
as its ground : holy, beqause all-ruling and almighty. The right
view was giyen by Bengel. Among other things he says, *'Holy,
in Hebrew, Greek, Latin, German, is as much as separated ; and
when God is called Holy, his quite separate, his pecaliar ex-
cellence is thereby indicated — that, natdely, which is com-
posed of his diyine properties, throwing by their splendour
eyerything else into the shade, since he is incomparably and
indescribably remoyed, not only from all that is impure, but also
from all that is creaturely. God stands apart from all : he is,
and he works by himself, from himself, in himself, through him-
self, for himself. See 1 Tim. yi. 16, 16. Therefore he is the first
and the last, the one and eternal, liying and blessed, infinite and
unchangeable, almighty, all-seeing, wise and true, righteous and
faithful, gracious and compassionate. Hence it comes to pass
that holy and holiness are of much the same import as God and
Godhead ; and as one says of a king : his Majesty, so the Scrip-
ture says of God : his Holiness, Hebr. xili. 10. The Holy Spirit
is God's Spirit. The holy is often used as a name, when God is
spoken of, Isa. xl. 25 ; 1 Sam. ii. 2; Ex. xy. 11. And as God

4

220 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 9, 10, 11.

swears by his name and by his soul, so he also swears by
his holiness, that is by himself. He is sanctified when he is known
and worshipped as the tme God. This holiness is often named
the glory ; often are his holiness and glory celebrated together,
Lev. X. 3; Isa. vi. 3." Bengel further remarks on " the Almighty,"
&c., *' This is the description of him to whom the epithet, Holy,
was applied, and at the same time the reason why it was applied.
The beasts say : God the Almighty, for which the elders say : our
God, ver. 11. The Almighty ! he is very often so ns^med in the
Bevelation, because he there peculiarly shows himself in his power
over all — in his glory over all that is visible and invisible." The
expression : who comes, refers, according to the parallel passages
(see in ch. i. 4), to the future developments and triumphs of the
kingdom of God, who, as he has shown in the past and present
what he was aqd is by displays of his glory and almightiness, so
he will also come to introduce the kingdom over the whole earth —
comp. ch. xi. 17, " We thank thee. Lord God Almighty, that thou
hast taken thy great power and reignest." On the ground of the
declaration, " Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God the Almighty,"
prophecy may be said to be based. He that has preserved his
holiness will also come, without any one being able to prevent his
arrival. " His work can no one hinder, his work will no one
neglect, if he will do what is for the good of his children." So
that all that is in the verse, the wings of the Cherubim, their eyes,
their ceaseless holy, holy, holy, serves the purpose of reviving the
languishing spirits of the church, in the presence of a persecuting
and apparently omnipotent world, and to lay a foundation for
what is announced in detail, in the following vision of the seven
seals. Whoever has for his support Him who sits upon the
Cherubim, can find nothing in a whole world of opposition which
should make the giant shrink into a dwarf.

Ver. 9. And when the beasts give^ glory and honour and thanks
to him^ who sits on the throne^ who lives for ever and ever, ver. 10,
the four and twenty elders fall down before him who sits on the
ihrone, and worship him who lives for ever and ever, and east
their crowns before the throne, and say, ver. 11, Lord, thou art

1 Th«> future denotes here, after the Hebrew usage, that which repeats itself, continaed
action, that which regularly and continuousiy exists— comp. tlie ^»}<rcTai in Malth. iv. 4,
the 6iKaiu>9ii in Horn. iii. 30, and divvaTihvu in Luke i. 07.

8

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 9, 10, 11. -321

0

worthy to receive the glory and the honour and the might; fqfr ,
thou hast made all things^ and through thy will they were and'
are created. In the Old Testament style, glory, strength, gre^-'
ness, &€., are given to the Lord, in the sense of being ascribed to
him— eomp. Dent, xxxii. 3, ^* Give greatness to onr God ;*' Ps.
xxix. 1, " Give to the Lord, ^e sons of God, give to the Lord glory
and power ;" Ps. xcvi. 7. So, here glory and honour are given in
the acknowledgment of God and ascription of thanks to him, as
they are also received in ver. 11.^ According to this usage, glory
and hononr, which refer to what is peculiarly God*8, might pro-
perly be joined with the thanks, which proceed from the Cherubim ;
the former are given in the acknowledgment of God, the latter in
the offering of praise. In the elders' song of praise, likewise,
power might be put in the room of thanks. The Cherubim, in whose
formation divine power has unfolded itself, give thanks for this
unfolding, the elders satisfy themselves with a simple ascription
of praise on account of it. — In regard to the words, " they cast
their crowns before the throne," Vitringa remarks, " This refers to
the Oriental custom. For eastern monarchs, as they love to rule
over kings, and to be styled kings of kings, doubtless did not ad-
mit these to testify their homage, and hold intercourse with
them, unless they lai^ aside their crowns. This is in itself pro-
bable, and the Boman emperorS' also desired such honour to be
given to them.^ But it is not to be overlooked, that here it is
not said, the elders laid aside their crowns, but that they cast
them down ; shewing, that it was in a manner heavy and burden-
some for them to wear their crowns in the presence of God. So
lively was the feeling in them of their own littleness and unwor-
thiness ; so profound their reverence toward the divine Majesty.
— It is peculiar to all, who truly reign with God and Christ in
the church, that, conscious of their own unworthiness, they vener-
ate with the deepest reverence the majesty of God and Christ ;
and wish to arrogate no glory or honour to themselves in the

1 On the \a/3<ty there, we are not to compare ch. xi. 17, bat ch. v. 12. This is evident
from the article alone.

2 ** Au example is given in Tiridates, king of the Partbiana in Tacitus, Annal. 1. xiv. o.
29 : Prngresaus ille ad sedem, qaae pffigiem Neronis piistinebat, caesis ex more victim is,
suhlatam capite diadema imagini subjecli. Another is friven by Josephus in Herod, when
going to supplicate Aiignatus, Ant. I. xv. c. 10: Koircid^ Ka-riirXtvvtv itt r^v irAiv
lifpiiptiTO ftiv tA diddqfia k.t.X "

222 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 9, 10, 11.

church/* Bengel remarks, "The four beasts do not precisely
say, thou art holy, etc., but they turn away a little out of pro-
found reverence, and say : * Holy, holy, holy is the Lord.' But
when the four and twenty elders fall down, they venture to ex-
claim : * Worthy art thou.' " — The adoration of the Cherubim turns
on 6od*s almighty power as manifested in creation ; and so does
that also of the elders. That the doxology of the elders has re-
spect to the same fact as that of the Cherubim is indicated by the
article, the glory, etc., shewing that they simply respond to the
doxology of the Cherubim. There is also a reference in the back-
ground to the glorious completion of his kingdom, which God
must as certainly bring about as he made the world The adora-
tion is given to him as sitting on the throne, and addressing him-
self to the execution of the world's judgment. In a like respect
has the creation already been mentioned in the New Testament,
beng " the foundation and basis of all other displays of goodness,
which are in a manner the continuation of it,'* (Vitringa.) So
in Ps. civ. the celebration of God's praise from the works of crea-
tion is intended to awaken confidence in the church in regard to
the final victory of the righteous over the wicked, of the church
over the world, which had the ascendancy at the time the Psalm
was composed. In Jer. x. 11 it is said, '' The gods that have not
made the heavens and the earth, these shall perish from the
earth and from under heaven." Comp. also Isa. xliii. 1 ; Acts iv.
24. In the Revelation itself, the creation appears as a pledge
for the completion of the kingdom of God, in ch. x. 6, " And he
swore by him that lives for ever and ever, who ma(}e the heavens
and what is therein, and the earth, and what is therein, that
henceforth there should be no more delay ;" and ch. xiv. 7, " Fear
God, and give him the glory, for the time of his judgment is come,
and worship him who made heaven, and earth, and sea, and the
rivers of water." The Creator must necessarily be the Redeemer
of his people, and the judge of the apostate. If any one holds
fast by the article of the creation, he will be assailed by no doubts
regarding the completion of God's kingdom. — The expression :
Thou hast made, marks the creative energy of God. As this was
accomplished by a mere word, it was quite appropriate to bring
out the result by the express words, which have been found a dif-
ficulty by many expositors, " They were and are created." In

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. IV. 9, 10, 11. 223

Oen. i. 7 also it is said, " And God made the fiimament, and di-
vided between the waters nnder the firmament and above the
firmament, and it was done so^ See besides, Ps. cxix. 90,
'* Thon hast established the earth, and it stood ;*' Ps. xxxiii. 9.
— The general predominance of the number three in ver. 8 — 11 is
noticeable: Holy, holy, holy; the Lord, God, Almighty ; who
was, who is, and who comes ; glory, honour, thanks ; they fall
down, they worship, they cast ; thon hast created, they were, and
are created. We qnote BengeVs remarks at the close of his ex-
position of this chapter : '' Such is the prophet's description of
the divine holiness and glory, and the manner in which these are
celebrated by those who are so near him, and yet look upon us
as their companions. Now, if we only consider in what a filthy
world we are situated, what an abyss of sin, what a bog and pool
it is, how can we aToid feeling the greatest disgust ! Isaias ex-
claimed in such circumstances, Woe is me, I am undone, for I am
a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean
lips. But on this very account we must strive after the true pu-
rification, and keep ourselves unspotted from the world. The
representation there given of God's holiness would be a frightful
thing to us, if we had to do with him alone, without a mediator.
We should have to say, who among us can dwell with a consum-
ing fire? who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?
But the Son of God has provided a way of access for us. Still,
before so great a God we must maintain a becoming reverence
and respect, and his holiness and glory ought to make a profound
impression on us, so that his word may lead to such blessed fruits
in our experience as it yields in obedient spirits. With many,
indeed, there is the want of any right knowledge of God. Could
we lay open souls, as we do a corpse or a fruit- tree, oh ! what a
sad state should we often have disclosed to us ! Had people such
thoughts of divine things as accorded with the truth., they would
not so readily lose themselves in the concerns of time, be swal-
lowed up of the flesh, and be so regardless of salvation. One
cannot properly express how meanly many conceive of the great

^ Thai the ^vaif and irUvdrivav refer to the preservation (Bengel), is opposed bj
the ftindameuta] passage, Ps. cxlviii. 5, " He commanded, and they were made." Ewald*s
predilection for the ill-supported reading ovk ^av, com non erant creata sunt, destroys
the three number.

224 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 1.

God. They imagine to themselves a mighty Lord in heaven,
whom they must regard on account of their bodily nourishment,
so that he may send to them good weather and the like, and who
deem it matter of praise if they say a good word for him from
time to time, and sometimes keep themselves pious and retired.
For the rest, there is no need of being so exact, he will be satis-
fied with what has been done. Then they think that, when they
can no longer remain upon the earth, they shall still have time
to lay hold of his grace, as he will not deal with them in severity.
Ah ! it is another thing to meet God aright ! He is a holy God
with whom we have to do. If the beings who dwell so near about
his throne act so reverentially toward him, how much more
humbly does it behove us to conduct ourselves who dwell in cot-
tages of clay ! Were our hearts but penetrated with a just dread
of him, we should also come to posses an assurance of his favour,
confidence in him, desire after him, delight in him, and a more
zealous endeavour to do what is pleasing in his sight."

Chap. V. Yitringa thus indicates the contents of this chapter :
" First the presentation of a book, sealed with seven seals, which
is delivered to the Lamb, that is, Jesus Christ, to be opened, ver.
1 — 7 ; then, the celebration of Jesus Christ as the Lamb who
was slain and must open the book with the seven seals, consist-
ing of doxologies and songs of the heavenly hosts, ver. 8 — 14.
The doxologies belong partly to the beasts and the elders, ver.
8, 9, 10, partly to the angels, ver. 11^ 12, and partly to all
creatures, ver. 13. The sequel to this solemn glorification is
the response of the beasts, and the worship of the elders, ver.
14." It would be more correct to say that ver. 9 — 12 contain
the celebration of the Lamb's praise by the four beasts, the
elders and the angels, and that in ver 13, 14 the Father and the
Son are glorified by all creatures, through the concurring voices
of their representatives, the elders and the beasts.

Ver. 1. And I saw on the right hand of him who eat upon
the throne^ a book written within and without^ sealed with
seven seals, Schottgen : " That book records the sentence,
which is given by the judge and his councillors against the ene-
mies of the church. But the vast number of the divine sentences
of condemnation is indicated, these being supposed to exist in
such a multitude, that the parchment was written within and

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 1. 226

without/' We hare the prototype of this book in Ezek. ch. ii.
9, 10 (a passage which again rests on Jer. xy. 16), " and I looked
and lo ! a hand was stretched ont to me, and behold in it a
book-roll. And he spread it oat before me, and it was written
before and behind, and in it was written lamentation, and mourn-
ing, and woe." The book contained the divine word, which Eze-
kiel had to announce, and was the archetype of the book of his
prophecies. The book here likewise is the archetype of the book
or section of the seven seals in the Revelation. Besides the pas-
sage before us, ch. x. 2, also rests on that of Ezekiel, and indeed
still more closely. For there, as in Ezekiel, (1) the subject dis-
coursed of is an open book (^' he spread it out before me ;") (2)
that book also respects the fate of a degenerate church, has to do
with the world in the church, while the book here contains the
judgment upon the world by itself; (3) and that book, like the
one of Ezekiel, was eaten by the prophet. The question now
arises, whether this book, which Bengel describes as '* a con-
cealed sevenfold order of very copious and manifold contents,"
*' one in accordance with the dignity of the theatre disclosed to
our view in the preceding chapter, and with the solemnity of all
that we are to see and hear in this chapter,'' whether it is the ar-
chetype of the whole of the Bevelation from chap, vi., or only of
the section of the seven seals, ch. vi. — viii. 1. The former opinion
is most commonly embraced, but the latter is the only correct one.
It becomes perfectly established, whenever it is understood, what
is elsewhere to be proved, that the seven seals, with which the
book alone has to do, .come entirely to an end at ch. viii. 1, that
the Revelation is composed of a series of independent portions,
and that an entirely new series begins at ch. viii. 2. If this book
were to be regarded as the archetype of the whole Apocalypse,
we should have nothing new to begin that second book with at
ch. X. Its being written within and without — pointing to the
rich and varied contents of the book — cannot be pressed against
the limitation to ch. vi. 1 — viii. 1. We have only the sketch in
what the prophet communicates to us of the contents of the book.
There is a great deal to be read between the lines. The judg-
ments which he marks in rough outlines, consist each of a vast
-assemblage of many single calamities, which were fully noted in
the original. It may still be urged, however, that ch. iv. and v.
P

226 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 1.

appear to be too large and majestic as an introdaction for a
single series : the building seems too little for sach a porch. Bat
it is to be borne in mind that this series is the very first after the
preliminary portions, and sabstantially the introdaction belongs
to the whole. — There is this further objection also against the
reference of the book to the whole, that the whole runs out into
an extended description of the New Jerusalem. But this could
not have existed in the book with seven seals ; it could be occu-
pied with nothing of a minute and extended nature but what res-
pects the enemies of the church. •* Not merely," saysZiillig, " is
it much, but it is also frightful ; for this is implied in the re-
verse side being also written, because such was done in the
exemplar referred to in Ezekiel, where there was nothing but la-
mentation, and mourning, and woe." It has appeared, that the
whole of the preparatory vision in ch. iv. bears a threatening
character, that it suspends nothing but judgments over the ene-
mies of the church. — The book was written within and without;
properly, within and behind. Book-rolls were usually written
only within. Only when from the fulness of matter the inner side
did not suffice, the exterior was also brought into use. — ^The book
was in the right hand of him who sat upon the throne^ ; indicat-
ing that the book had not its settled place there, but that only
for this action was it found in the hand of him who sat on the
throne. The Seer beholds it still in motion, as it were, to this
place. — The expression : out of the right hand, in ver. 7, corres-
ponds to : in the right hand, here. Accordingly, the right hand
comes into view simply as that to which any thing is presented.
If it were understood with Bengel, as " the overruling might of
God," we should still not be able even then to say with him,
'' This indicates the divine power, since the great God has every
thing visible and invisible in liis power, as the Creator and Go-
vernor of all, and shews his unspeakable majesty in all his
works ;'' but the idea would simply be, that God alone absolutely
possesses the knowledge of future things. — That the book was in
the right hand of him, who sat on the throne, shews, that its
subject was of a judicial nature, as is clear also from the entire

1 Properly, toward the right band ; comp. the cirt likewise in cb. iii. 20^ xv, 2, xz. 1 ;
Miittb. xx^ii. 29, where the other readings tv tt; dc^ta is only to be taken as explana-
tory.

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 1. 227

contents of ch. iv. That the judgment affects the enemies of the
church, was plainly intimated by ch. iv. 4. " We would mean-
while," writes Vitringa, " with the utmost confidence draw from
this remarkable image the conclusion, that nothing takes place
in the world and the church, which has not been determined in
God's counsel and judgment. This may well administer the
greatest consolation to the church in times of trouble."

The book appears as sealed with seven seals. The signifi-
cation of this sealing is well given by Vitringa, as meaning that
*'the divine decrees before they are carried into execution, or
have by God been antecedently disclosed, are discoverable by no
one of the immortal angels or of mortal men ; they are shut and
concealed from all." The figurative representation rests upon
several passages in the Old Testament, in which a shut and
sealed prophecy is all one with the dark and incomprehensible —
Isa. xxix. 11 ; Dan. viii. 26, xii. 4, 9 (see my Beitr. Th. I., p.
215, ss.) The seven seals denote, not ** the carefulness, firm-
ness, and holiness of the. sealing" (Ziillig), but that thedarkness>
which rests upon the future, was not a partial, but a complete
one : the book-roll was sealed above, below, and all over in the
middle. This is clear from the single fact, that whenever a seal
was removed, a portion of the contents became known. The
seven seals are, so to speak, not the material, but the theological
cause of the inaccessible character of the book. Whenever a
seal was taken away, a portion of the contents became known.
It is to be observed, that it is not the reading which is spoken
of in regard to particular seals, but merely 4hat by opening each
seal a new part of the book-roll was disclosed to view, another
and another portion of God's decrees or his judgments upon the
world were made manifest. A too material view here has in-
volved interpreters in great difiiculties, and led them into unten-
able propositions. A book sealed with seven seals appears to
have become accessible only when the whole seven seals were re-
moved ; but here a portion of the contents is disclosed with the
removal of each particular seal. Grotius, Vitringa, and their
followers, hence suppose, that the book was composed of seven
leaves, each of which had its particular ^eal. But this extra-
ordinary circumstance would have required to be mentioned, and

p2

228 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 1.

John also wonld not hare been able to speak of baying from the
first seen seven seals. The book had witbont doubt the common
form : a roll, on which outside seven seals were impressed. Others
think, that what was communicated at the opening of the parti-
cular seals, had not formed a constituent part of its contents. The
part that became manifest only with the opening of the last seal,
must alone be '^ the secret of the future world.*' But according
to this view we should properly learn nothing regarding the con-
tents of the book within the series itself. As certainly as this
series stands by itself, so certainly must what was seen at the
opening of each seal indicate the contents of it. With the mere
fact that the opening was an object of great desire with John,
the church, which was sighing under the persecutions, ** Lord,
how long," was no way benefited. According to ch. i. 1, God
gives to Jesus Christ the revelation of the future, that he might
show to his servants what should come to pass. Nor can we per-
ceive what relation the things reported at the opening of each
seal stand in to the book, if they do not constitute its contents.
And for any other contents we shall search elsewhere in vain for
the least trace. That the book alone contained the final con-
summation, is but an arbitrary supposition. That it was pro-
fessedly occupied simply with what is reported at the opening of
each particular seal, namely, with 6od*s judgments on the enemies
of his church, is clear alone from the preparatory vision in ch.
iv. — The book, according to many expositors, was publicly pre-
sented, '' not merely that it might be made publicly known, but
also that the things written in it might be executed.*' At the
opening, such expositors remark, there is put forth the perfor-
mance of this act, the realization of what the book contains.
But there is not the least ground to support this notion. The
fundamental passages in the Old Testament respecting a shut or
sealed book, or prophecy, refer only to its darkness, or the difii-
culty of understanding it In ver. 3 and 4 the opening of the
book is brought into notice only as the condition of the seeing.
And merely the insight into the future, not the actual accom-
plishment of the things belonging to it, could possibly have been
represented in the manner here employed. The whole book is the
Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to shew to his

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 2, 3. 229

servants, what must shortly come to pass. In it, therefore, what
we have to expect is, not the executing, bnt only the making
known of God's decrees.

Ver. 2, And I saw a strong angel proclaim with a loud
voice: Who is worthy to take the hook and to break its seals f
The strength, does not indicate the angel as one of higher rank
(ZuUig), which was not required for this pnrpose ; but a strong
angel was chosen for it, because of the loud voice, which was
to be heard in the heavens above, in the earth, and even under
the earth ; hence in all regions of being, and also in a powerful
manner. Bengel : '* The voice of a strong man is heard farther
than that of a child ; and by the strong angel's voice those, who
heard it, would be the more speedily forced to think of their im-
potence." By Ewald's groundless hypothesis, that the call was
not directly addressed to the creatures in the different depart-
ments of creation, but to the assembled representatives or angels
around God's throne, the strong angel with a loud voice is ren-
dered superfluous.

Ver. Q, And no one in heaven, nor on the earth, nor under
the earth, could take the hook and look therein. The inhabi-
tants of the three kingdoms of creation are, in like manner,
united together in Phil. ii. 10, '' that at the name of Jesus every
knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on the earth,
and under the earth ;" and also with the same design of showing
the subordination of all to Christ ; so that it is quite natural to
suppose the Seer might have the passage in his eye. — The book
contains the decrees of God. To know these one's self, and with
perfect clearness and certainty, pre-supposes th6 closest intimacy
with the being of God, from whom these decrees proceed, such
as can belong to no created being, but only to Christ, the Word,
who was in the beginning with the Father. In perfect agree-
ment with the mode of representation here adopted, in the con-
viction that all essential knowledge of a religious kind can only
be attained through fellowship with Christ, who in this respect
also is the one mediator, John says in his Gospel, in ch. i. 18,
*' No man hath seen God at any time ; the only begotten Son,
who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." And
that this conviction has grown out of the doctrine of Christ, is
clear from what the Lord says to Nicodemus in John iii. 11 — 13 :

230 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 4.

he alone could ^ve certain intelligence concerning heavenly
things, because he sprung from heaven, and is in heaven, and
even in his state of humiliation was still, as to his divine nature,
in the closest fellowship with God. Likewise Matth. xi. 27,
where the Lord says, '' All things are committed to me of my
Father. And no man knows the Son but the Father, and no
man knows the Father but the Son, and he to whomsoever the
Son will reveal him ;" one of those numerous declarations in the
first Gospel, which were quite suited to John's profound vein of
thought.

Ver. 4. And I wept much, that no one was found worthy to
take the book^ nor to look therein. The tears of John arose
from no such unsatisfied curiosity, as is represented by many of
the older interpreters, who kept their eye too much upon the
pre-intimation of particular circumstances, which goes hand in
hand with the desire to get at the corresponding facts in history.
The tears proceeded from the same cause as those of Mary, in
John XX. 11, ss., " They have taken away my Lord, and I know
not where they have laid him ;' and with the grief of the dis-
ciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke xxiv. 21), '* But we hoped
that it had been he, who should have redeemed Israel ; and be-
sides all this, to- day is the third day since these things were
done ;" to whom the Lord spake, " Oh fools, 'and slow of heart
to believe all that the prophets have spoken," and beginning at
Moses, and going through all the prophets, he expounded to
them what had been written of him in the Scriptures. The
whole terrible power of the Boman empire had thrown itself upon
the church, and threatened to crush It ; comp. ch. xiii. 7, ** And
it was given to him to war with the saints, and to overcome them ;
and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and
nations." John himself, who here represents the church, found
himself in solitary banishment. It seemed as if matters were
coming to an end with the kingdom of Christ ; the present was
despaired of ; the future was dark ; no answer could be found to
the anxious question, ** What shall be the end thereof?" — The
weeping of John implied the weakness of his faith. — Without
that he would not have wept at the inability of all creatures to
open the seals, but would have turned with joy to Christ. With-
out it; also, the book of the future, after all that the prophets of

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 5. 231

the Old Testament had written, and our Lord had said, wonld
not hare been entirely a shut one. It went with him, in regard
to his earlier acquired knowledge, precisely as it had done with
the disciples in Luke xxir. He might haye said, I have indeed
heard the words, but my faith in them has failed. The Lord had«
taken from him all that he formerly possessed, in order to pene-
trate him more thoroughly with the conviction, that he had no-
thing but what was given to him, given to him by Christ alone
through undeserved grace, that he might more gloriously experi-
ence the power of divine consolation. The Bevelation is a book
of consolation, but the consolation takes for granted the grief of
those who were to receive it. — According to the Apocalypse there
is still also to be much weeping Christ must constantly perform
to his servants anew, what he here performed for the Seer and
the church. Scripture alone cannot do it. It must itself be
shut up by Christ, and opened again with living power. The
word, "'I wept much," can only be understood by those who have
lived in great catastrophes of the church, and entered with the
fullest sympathy into her sufferings, and thus from their own
experience have become acquainted with the heights and the
depths of the life of faith. Not a weeping, but only an indif-
ferent weakness of faith, is unbecoming toward a holy Ood. —
" Without tears," says Bengel, " the Bevelation was not written,
neither can it without tears be understood." Itself the answer
to the heartfelt and painful longing of the Seer, it will only be
apprehended aright by those who participate in the same longing.
. Whoever goes to it merely as an interesting production of the
apostolic age, he will everywhere stumble in darkness. — Only if
we take this view of the weeping shall we get rid of the idea,
that detailed disclosures of the future are given in the seven
seals ; and shall come to regard them as given rather for the
more general purpose of inspiring the soul with confidence re-
specting God's judgments on the world, and the victory of faith.

Ver. 5. And one of the elders spake to me : Weep not ; he-
hold the lion, who is of the tribe of Jvdah^ the root of Davidy
has overcome to take the book, and to break its seven seals.
The presbyter represents the whole church of the completely
righteous. From the testimony yielded by this to Christ, out of
rich experience consolation first comes to the fainting Seer, and

232 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 5.

a faiDtiDg church on earth, and then also from the action of Christ
himself. The overcoming is taken here by some in the weaker sense
of getting, or attaining} But that the idea of orercoming, of a
Tictory, mnst be retained, maybe inferred eyen from the designation
of Christ as " the lion of the tribe of Jndah." For, this is in itself
a warlike image ; and in the fandamental passages Jndah appears
as a warrior and a conqueror under the image of a lion. Darid
also was a hero and a conqueror. The -comparison also of yer. 9
confirms the view ; for there the being slain, etc., corresponds to
the conquering here. And, finally, John xvi. 33, and generally
the standing use of viKovj conquering, in the writings of John,
where it occurs more flrequently than in any others, giyes farther
confirmation. But the conquering cannot be understood here di-
rectly of Christ's yictory over sin, the deyil, and the world. The
connection is against this, as the conquering is immediately
joined to the opening : he has overcome to open, or in opening.*
Hence, by the overcoming here can only be meant the overcom-
ing of the difficulties which stood against the opening of the
book. For this, it was necessary to tread a long and arduous
path, requiring the exercise of gigantic power. An indispensable
condition was the victory over sin and Satan, through death and
blood. For by this alone was Christ worthy to open the book.
The enemies that were first to be conquered, before the book
could be opened, are indicated in ver 9. The opening of the
book is, therefore, a reward for having finished redemption. - So
that this victory has that for its foundation of which John has
written in his Gospel. — The designation of Christ as '* the lion of
the tribe of Jndah*' rests on Gen. xlix. 9. There Judah himself
appears as a lion, on account of his warlike and victorious energy.
But, according to that word of the dying patriarch, Judah must
one day find his culmination in the Messiah. Typically he had
once already culminated in David, in whom the lion- nature of the

1 Vitiinga : " The Hebrew word rot, in the later times of the Hebrew oonmonweelth»
was most frequently used in the sense of deserving, being worthy, or being reckoned
such ; nay, even simply to obtain, to get a province, or an office to be administered. —
This suits weU here. For the elder wished to signify to John, that there was one who
was counted worthy of administering that work, for which John wept that none was
equal to."

'i See on the Infl. as used to determine more closely the meaning of a verb, the so-
called infin. epexegeticus, Matthiai*, $ 5S2, and Winer, f 45.

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 6. . 233

tribe became strikingly manifest. Ingenious, though not suffi-
ciently grounded, is the opinion of some expositors, that the pa-
triarch Jacob is.the elder who said to John, " Weep not," etc. —
The second designation of Christ, as " the root of Darid,'* is in
perfect accordance with the preceding one. In Christ the race of
David, as the hero and conqueror, liyed anew — that Dayid who
boldly said, " By thee can I dash in pieces the warlike people,
and by my God I leap orer walls. I pursue after mine enemies,
and overtake them, and turn not again till I have consumed
them" (Fs. xriii.) This might be said with still greater truth by
Christ, to whom David himself also there points, in whom he saw
the highest perfection of his being and his race ; see my Comm.
on the Psalm xviii. The root here, and in ch. xxii. 16, where
the Lord says, " I am the root of David,'* marks the product of
the root, that through which the root makes itself seen, its shoot,
as seedy is very often used for the product of the seed. This ap-
pears by comparing the original passage, Isa. xi. 10, where the
Messiah is designated the " root of Jesse" (comp. liii. 2), with
ver. 1 of the same chapter, where he is more fully called, *' a shoot
out of his roots.'* In what sense the Messiah is named, in Isa.
xi. 10, the root of Jesse, as the one in whom the family of David,
that had sunk into the lowest condition, again flourished, is ren-
dered manifest by the parallel passages, ch. xi. 1, and liii. 2,
where, under the likeness of the shoot of a plant, reference is
made to the origin of the Messiah as sprung from a family which
had once resembled a proud and stately tree, but now had become
one of the lowest. The designation : the root of David, here and
in ch. xxii. 16, takes for granted all that is said in the Gospels
of the genealogy of Jesus in connection with the house of David,
and the humble condition of his parents.

Ver. 6. And I saw (and lo !) in the midst of the throne and
of the four leasts, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb stand-
ing, as if it had been slain; and it had seven horns, and seven
eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent into all lands.
Vitringa : " What the elder had announced to John is now in fact
and reality exhibited to him." The Seer beholds Christ in the
midst of the throne, with the four beasts, and in the midst of the
elders. The form of expression is Hebraistic ; see Ewald's 6r.
§ 217, q. The meaning is, that Christ stood in the space be-

3

234 THE S£V£N SEALS, CH. V. 6.

tween the throne with the four beasts, and the elders. *^ In the
innermost part of the circle," remarks Bengel, " was the throne
with the holy creatures (inseparable from it),jAnd in -a wider
circle were the elders. Bat the lamb was between, as the Me-
diator between God and man. The elders are a selection, and re-
present in a sense the whole of mankind f * more properly, the whole
church. Ewald : " In the fittest place which the Messiah could oc-
cupy, standing close to God, and elevated far aboye the elders."
— John saw Christ in the form, of a little lamb, Bengel : " He
appeared to John under the aspect of a small tender lamb.
Lovely image ! What this appears to derogate i^om the majesty
of Christ, is at the beginning once for all ascribed to him under
the image of " the lion out of the tribe of Judah." Patience and
strength meet in him. — The elder had pointed John to a lion, and
yet John beholds only a little lamb. The Lord Jesus is named
only once in this prophecy a lion, and this precisely at the begin-
ning before he is called a lamb. Whence it appears that, as
often as we think of him as a lamb, we should also regard him as
the lion of the tribe of Judah. — He is not called simply a lamb,
but properly a little Iamb, and this with an especial respect to
the elders. The elders are beyond doubt, in part at least, the
patriarchs. These, especially the first (?) among them had at-
tained to some, nay many (?) hundred years of age ; but the Lord
Jesus, on the contrary, was slain in his thirty-third year. Under
the Old Testament, Iambs were., for the most part, taken when a
year old for sacrifice ; and the age of the Lord Jesus may be re-
garded as that of a year-old lamb in respect to those fathers."
Beference is also made in ch. xii. 6 to the tender age and the
untimely removal of the Saviour. The image of a lamb is
found only with John among the Evangelists ; and according
to him it was first used by the Baptist. He represented Christ
to his disciples as the Lamb of God, who was to take away
the sins of the world, John i. 29, 36. The contemplation of Christ
as the Lamb of God took such hold of the Evangelist, that in ch.
xix. 36 he transfers to Christ, without farther remark, what was
written in the Old Testament of the Paschal Iamb. Even the
word little lamb {apvlov dimin. from dpi]v^ Bock) is common to the
Evangelist and the passage before us. It occurs only once besides
in the whole of the New Testament, John xxi. 15. That Christ

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. T. 6. 235

appears here in the form of a slain lamb, was done oat of respect
to the occasion : his appearance imaged that through which he
had conquered to open the book, his sufferings as the God-man,
by which he had made reconciliation. The lamb comes here into
consideration primarily as a beast for sacrifice. But of all the
beasts used for sacrifice the one was chosen which most fitly
represented the glorious properties of Christ, his innocence and
righteousness (1 Pet. i. 19), and especially the eminent graces
which he manifested under his sufferings, his quiet patience and
meekness. Comp. the fundamental passage Isa. liii 7, according
to which the servant of God is led as a lamb to the slaughter, and
as a sheep that is dumb before the shearers, and opening not his
mouth, Acts viii. 32. The prophet sees the lamb standing as if
it were slain. Bengel : " This lamb was now no more dead, but
living, and yet stood so that one could see it had once been slain.
The marks appeared of the slaughter, comp. i. 7. Just because
the lamb had been slain, was it worthy to open the book (^Phil.
ii. 8, 9), and that for the joy of his people, for the terror of his
enemies. Our Lord Jesus, after his resurrection, had still on his
hands and feet the wounds he had received in his crucifixion, and
the opening that had been made in his side by the spear was still
such that Thomas could put his hand into it. It is a matter of
renown rather than otherwise for a warrior to have his body marked
with wounds and scars. So it is a great glory to the Lord Jesus that
he shows himself as a slain lamb ; and to those who follow him it is
a perpetual admonition to them to do what he has done for them.
The lamb was slain, Luther translates, erwurget (c}ioked), an ex-
pression he also uses frequently for such as had perished by the
sword. The word slain, however, is much better, and agrees both
with the kind of death Christ underwent, and with his designation
as a lamb. To b^ choked oi strangled implies that the blood remains
in the suffocated body ; while by slaying, the blood was separated
trom the body; and when the Jews killed their sacrifices, the
bodies were drained of their blood." — The lamb has seven horns
and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God. The latter
clause, beginning with oicuxi, whether viewed grammatically or in
regard to the sense, can only be referred to the eyes, but not to the
horns. As the lion precedes the lamb, so here again allusion is
made to the entire fulness of divine power and strength with

236 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 6.

which Christ is famished for the destruction of his enemies and
for the deliyerance of his people. The horns are a standing symbol
in the Old Testament for yictorioos power — comp. Ps. cxlviii. 14,
and the passages there referred to in my Commentary. The number
of the horns being seren, shows that this strength was combined
in him with the greatest fulness. On the eyes as a symbol of the
powers of God put forth in creation, see on ch. ir. 6.. The reference
of the eyes to his wisdom or omniscience tears this passage asunder
from that, and from the fundamental passages of the Old Testa-
ment, and is also disproved by the declaration : which are the
seven Spirits of God ; for the Spirits of -God cannot possibly be
limited to wisdom and omniscience. That the lamb has the seven
Spirits of God (comp. ch. i. 4, where these Spirits are represented
as the medium through which God gives grace and peace ; and
ch. iii. 1, where the Saviour is said to have the seven Spirits of
God, as well as the seven stars), has respect to this, that the
Spirit of the Father is also the Spirit of the Son ; that all divine
powers stand in him; that he is furnished with the whole plenitude
of divine omnipotence. Bengel : '* This Spirit is also the Son's
Spirit, of whose divine glory we have even here a strong testimony,
for our joy and assurance of our faith in him. It has been already
shown, that the naming of the seven Spirits of God does not refer
to the nature of the Spirit of God. For in that respect there is
but one Spirit, as is expressly said in Eph. iv. 4 ; and therefore
the seven point to gifts and operations. Here, therefore, we are
told that all power in heaven and on earth is given to Christ, as
he testified himself before ascending to heaven. As he also said
before his return : All that the Father hath is mine ; so it can in
particular be said, that the seven Spirits of God, namely, of our
Heavenly Father, are also the eyes of the Lamb. The Spirit of
the Father is also the Spirit of the Son ; and this manitlests the
divine glory of our dear Redeemer." — The seven Spirits are
described as being sent over all the earth. On this Bengel
remarks : " The seven Spirits are frequently mentioned, but this
is the only passage where such a message is ascribed to them.*'
This notification, resting on Zcch. iv. 10, puts it out of doubt that
it is not the spirit of God in himself that is here discoursed of,
not that Spirit in the oneness of his being, but in the multi-
fariousness of his operations. It forms a mighty bulwark against

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 7. 237

despair in the chnrch on account of th^ threatening power of the
world. Should eren the whole earth rise against her, Christ, her
head, has the seyen Spirits of God, that are sent oyer the whole
earth, and whose secret, often deeply concealed, yet irresistible
influence, nothing on the earth can resist, however loftily it may
exalt itself.

Ver. 7. Andhe came and took the hook out of the right hand of
Mm that sat on the throne. The secrets of the future could never
in themselves be concealed from him, who has the seven Spirits of
Ood. The Word, who in the begining was with Ood, has part
in everything that is God's. He did not need to acquire through
blood and death an insight into the secrets of God ; not as the
lamb that was slain did he first receive it. But here another point
is under consideration, the communication of that knowledge of
God's secrets to the chnrch, and the awakening of a joyful confi-
dence in her eternal continuance, in spite of all the persecutions
that may threaten her destruction. The lamb takes the book out
of the right hand of him that sits upon the throne, to open it and
impart its contents to his servant John, and through him to the
whole church. But all these hang on the atonement effected by
Christ, this is the foundation of every gift and endowment con-
ferred on the church of the New Testament. The Spirit, who
among other things imparts to the church "whatever insight she has
into the future, and dispels the mists that envelope it, was first
poured down after Christ had ascended to the right hand of the
Father. In John vii. 39, it is said, "But this spake he of the
Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive ; for the
Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glori-
fied." Further, in ch. xvi., " Nevertheless I tell you the truth,
it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I do not go away,
the Comforter will notxome unto you ; but if I depart I will send
him unto you. But when he, the Sprit of truth is come, he will
lead you into all truth ; for he shall not speak of himself, but
what he hears that will he speak, and he will show you things to
come.*' The proof can still be made every day. Only if any
one is truly in Christ, and, in so far as he is so, he has a clear
look into the ftiture. And so John^ who represented the faint
ing church of his time, being for the moment not in Christ, was

238 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 8.

80 oppressed by the heavy burden of sufferings and persecutions,
that he wept as if no one were able to open the book.

Ver. 8. And when he took the hook, the four beasts and the
four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb ; having every
one harps and golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers
of saints, Bengel : '' Hereupon were heard many and various
songs of praise, by the description of which the narrative of the
taking of the book and the opening of the seals is interrupted.
These songs of praise, of which this chapter is full, proceeded
along with that, which the Lamb did with the book. As we
have then to note it as a leading point, that in this prophecy two
things are written that were done simultaneously, so the one is
divided, the one half being written first and the other last, while
that which took place at the same time is put in the middle.
Here now, in such wise, along with that which the lamb did;
when he took the book and opened the seals, proceeds the
heavenly music.** But that the songs of praise and the opening
of the seals went on together, is not once indicated here, and
there is no collateral reason for supposing it to have taken place.
The order therefore should rather be : first the taking of the
book, then the solemn ascription of praise, finally the opening.
It has been thought extraordinary that the four beasts should
here fall down. Zullig sees in this a confirmation of one of his
untenable hypotheses, ** We have remarked above, that in the
Apocalypse the Cherubim do not, as in Ezekiel, themselves bear
the throne, but only as mutes (!) stand around it. That such
was actually the case, is perfectly obvious here, since otherwise
they could not have fallen down without the throne also falling."
But the falling down of the beasts will lose its extraordinary as-
pect, if it is considered that the Cherubim never in the proper
sense bear the throne, not even in Exekiel : how could they in
that case fly with it % That the throne moves above them so as
to admit of its being said in a certain way to be borne by them,
only images the truth, that the Lord is the absolute ruler of the
earthly creation. The words : and having every one, &c., refer
immediately to the elders only, not to the Cherubim. For the
harps, human instruments, are found elsewhere in the Apocalypse
only in the hands of members of the church (comp. ch. xiv. 2, 3,

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 8. 239

XT. 2) ; the golden Tials fall of incense, which are the prayers of
saints, are only suitable in the hands of the heavenly representa-
tives of the chnrch ; a celebration of the deeds of Christ so copious
is nowhere else found in the mouths of the Cherubim, and does
not appear to suit them, rather indeed opposes their nature and
signification, and their own peculiar song of praise is addressed
only to God as the almighty Creator, iv. 8 ; finally, all doubt is
taken away by the words in ver. 9, " Thou hast redeemed us,
&c.," which are not suitable in the mouth of the beasts, and
oblige those, who defend their participation in the songs of praise,
to resort to a change in the text. Bat, on the other hand, we
must not exclude the four beasts from any participation in what
follows, after their being said to fall down, along with the elders,
before the lamb. Though the falling down does not justify us in
supposing, with many expositors, that the Cherubim had a full
participation with the elders, yet a sort of counterpoise might
have been given in what follows, by its being expressly remarked
that the elders alone had part in it. Farther, a merely dumb pros-
tration, where all besides, not excepting the angels, sing praise,
appears unsatisfactory. The natural supposition is, that the
elders came forth as the speakers of the chorus, which was formed
of them and the four beasts. Both are connected together by an
internal bond. The elders represent the church, which is re^
deemed from the earth, *' out of every kindred, and tongue, and
people, afld nation." They are the bloom of the earthly creatures
represented by the Cherubim, specially of the human race. So
that both the two is natural — that the Cherubim should have also
come forth, and that they should have allowed the elders to speak,
who were more immediately partakers of the grace bestowed on
the earthly creatures, the human race. The benefit respects pri-
marily the earth, and more especially the church. Hence the
four beasts and the elders come forth first, before the angels,
with their song of adoration and praise. The elders have each
harps and golden vials full of frankincense, the prayers of saints.
The difficulty has here been raised : *' The instrament-player,
who requires both hands for the purpose, could not at the same
time hold the vessel of incense.'* And to solve it the elders
have been supposed to hold the harps and the vials alternately in
their hands, or else to have given the vials to tlie Cherubim. But

240 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 8.

aU such questions are oat of place in the Apocalypse. We haye
to do in it, not with gross matorial forms, but with airy images,
circumstances of a light and etherial nature. The gently indi-
cated yials float softly on the hands, as do also the harps. The
harps and the golden rials full of incense go together. The
harps accompany the new songs, the prayers proceed on this,
that occasion had been given to them. Even till now the
church has in the one hand a harp, and in the other a vial. With-
out vials no harps. Without prayer no occasion for thanks.
Without harps no vials. Only where one can pray, can one
also give thanks. The harps here take precedence, because
the subject has mainly to do with adoration and praise, be-
cause the new song, mentioned in ver. 9, must be accompanied
with the harp. — Smoking sweet- smelling frankincense is in Scrip-
ture the common symbol of believing prayer, which is precious
in God's sight ; comp. Fs. cxli. 2, " Let my prayer be acceptable
before thee as the incense-offering;" £z. viii. 11 : '* every one
his censer in his hand, and the prayer of the cloud of incense
went up," Rev. viii. 3; Luke i. 10; also my Beitr. Th. Ill , p.
645. — The words : which are the prayers of saints, can be gram-
matically referred only to the vials, not as Vitringa thinks, to
the incense. But the vials are brought into notice in connection
with their use. — Prayer is here, not prayer in the most general
sense, but supplicatory prayer, nSsil* ^^^ great object x>f the
prayers of the saints, is, according to the historical starting-point
of the book and the parallel-passage, ch. viii. 3, 4, the support of
the church in the midst of persecution, its completion, and the
execution of judgment upon the enemies ; comp. ch. vi. 10, xi.
18, xviii. 20. In the time of the Revelation this was the busi-
ness which engaged all minds. The cry : " Hear the prayer of
our distress, went incessantly up. — By the saints are primarily
to be understood the saints on earth — comp. ch. xiii. 7, 10 — who
sighed under the hardships of persecution, and were members of
the militant church. Still, there is no reason for excluding the
saints in glory— comp. ch. xi. 18, xviii. 20. These look down
upon the sufferings and conflicts of their brethren, who are still in
the flesh, and entreat God to accomplish their redemption and
perfect his church. Bengel : ** Whether the saints were those
in heaven or those on earth, is not specified. The text makes no

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 9, 10. 241

distinction, and we also make none. The saints in both regions
are brethren. The saints in heaven are now entirely without sin,
and if the saints on earth are still in this miserable tabernacle,
they yet have forgiveness of sin, and so are accepted before God
as well as the others. Now, prayer rises as a precious incense.
It gives a sweet savour before God, and draws great power along
with it." — The elders as representatives of the church only pre-
sent their prayers before Christ. Bengel : " The elders are not
mediators ^ for there is but one God and one Mediator between
God and man, here as also the Lamb, that had been slain, is him-
self worshipped by the elders as Mediator." They fall down with
the Cherubim before the Lamb, extol him by their songs on their
harps, direct to him their prayers for redemption : all a proof of
the true and essential Godhead of him, to whom has been given a
name above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee
might bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under
the earth.

Ver. 9. And they sing a new song, saying : Thou art worthy
to take the booh, and to open its seals ; for thou wast slain,
and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred,
and tongue, and people, and nation, Ver. 10. And hast made
us kings and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the
earth. The elders sing a new song. Bengel : ** new work, new
song, Isa. xlii. 9, 10, xliii. 18, 19 ; and in the Psalms once and
again (Ps. xxxiii. 3, xl. 4, xcvi. 1, xcviii. 1.) So also Rev.
xiv. 3." The subject of the new song is not the blessing of re-
demption already old, but the opening of the book, the new act
of grace, which has been bestowed on the church for the revivi-
cation of her hope and confidence, at a time when her way was
hedged in, and her right appeared to have been forgotten by her
God, when she bitterly wept because no one could open the book
and break its seals. — The elders say : Thou art worthy (and able)
to open the book and break its seals, because thou wast slain and
hast redeemed us. They speak in the name of the church which
they represent — comp. the they in the next verse, where the
change intentionally points to this, that the elders appear not as
individuals, but as representatives of the church ; and also ch. i.
6. The reading airrovs, them, for fi^a^, us, corresponds to the
i7/L6a9, us, and the ^aaiXevarofiev, we shall reign, in the following

242 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 9, 10.

verse. It has been thought, either that the twhere must be con-
formed to the them there, or that the the}/ in the next verse :
they shall reign, must be conformed to the us here, because
the relation of the elders to the church was not perceived.
— The kindreds, tongues, and peoples, point to the tables
in Gen. x. — comp. there ver. 5, 20, 31, 32. This shows that
, the spiritual territory is co-extensive with the natural one,
excludes all partiality, marks the oecumenical character of the
work of Christ, and of the church of Christ, in contrast to the
kingdom of God under the Old Testament In the same direc-
tion points also the number four, which was also intentionally
used by Moses in Gen. x. — comp. ver. 6, 20, 31, being the signa-
ture of the earth .^ That by the kindreds we are not, with Ben-
gel, to understand the tribes of Israel, is clear by comparing Gen.
X. 5, 18, xii. 3 in the Sept. translation. The tone of the Reve-
lation is one so thoroughly oecumenical, that so much of a special
respect to the Jews would be quite unsuitable to its character.
On ver. 10 Bengel remarks : ** They do not say : Thou hast made
us thereto, and we shall reign, although they themselves must be
understood in what is said. Thou hast made them, namely the
redeemed, a kingdom and priests by virtue of this very redemp-
tion." Bengel preferred the reading, a kingdom, to that of kings,
on the ground that it was unseemly for those, who were in the
presence of the great King, to call themselves kings, as they also
cast their crowns before him. But the reading : kings, is best
supported, and there are no internal considerations against it :
they confess here also that they hold their crowns only in fief ;
they wonder that Christ has conferred such honour on such per-
sons, with the same humility that David praises the grace of God,
in Fs. yiii., in granting royal dignity to his poor creature, man.
But if the elders, as representatives of the church, in ch. iv. 4,
bear golden crowns on their heads. Christians might here also be
called kings. We may compare also the diversity in the two
readings at ch. i. 6. — Zullig remarks on kings falsely : such as
shall one day be such, comp. on ch. i. 6. We must rather ex-

1 Bengel compares viii. 9, xi. 9, siii. 7, xiv. 6, x. 11, xvii. 16, and remarks : In tbese
passages tonguet, nations^ peoples, are always mentioned ; but in place of tpvX&v, ^x^<"
once, kingi once. The number /our is therefore always preserved, having respect fo the
four quarters of the earth.

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 11. 243

plain : kings eyen now, but kings still more glorioasly in the fa-
ture, when the meek shall inherit the earth. The kingdon) of the
saints has its stages, as that of the Lord, comp. ch. xi. 17. — That
the words : and they shall reign, follows the designation priests^
shews, that the priestly and the royal dignity are most closely
conjoined together ; on the spiritual territory he who is priest is
also king; nearness of relationship to God has dominion in God
oyer all that is ontof God as its necessary consequence. — On the
words : they shall reign, Vitringa remarks : '* If we take into ac-
count the feeble beginnings of Christianity, and the circumstances
of the times, this must have appeared quite incredible and beyond
all hope. The saints, however, taught by the Word of God, an-
ticipated with their hope that great revolution of things, which at
last began to take effect under Constantino, and sought especially
to learn this out of the book before us." — The fundamental pas-
sage is in Dan. vii. 27, *' And the kingdom, and the dominion,
and the power over the kingdoms under the whole heaven is given
to the people of the saints of the Most High." We can either
explain : they shall reign over the earth, by comparing ch. ii. 26,
Matt. ii. 22 ; or : on the earth. Even if we follow the latter
meaning, according to ver. 13, we need not exclude ch. xx. 6, ac*
cording to which the already completed number of the saints shall
reign in heaven with Christ for a thousand years. For its being
said to be on the earth does not necessarily require the seat of
the kingdom to be on the earth ; this only is implied, that the
earth is the sphere of their government, their domain. But ch.
xxii. 5 points to the final consummation.

Ver. 11. And I saw, and heard a voice of many angels
round about the throne, and about the beasts and the elders,
and their number was ten thoiisand of ten thousands and
tJiousandtt of thousands, Bengel : " The many angels make a
circle ; this circle surrounds the throne, and the beasts, and the
elders. The holy beasts are like a part of the throne itself, al«
though they are no carved inanimate figures, but living. The
elders, however, are nearer the throne than the angels. It is a
question, on account of the comparison between angels and men,
which form of the two orders of creation is the more excellent in
its nature. The angels, because they are spirits, so far agree
more with the nature of God than ours. But because the Son of

q2

244 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 12.

God has become man, men also have an honour which the angels
have not; and one might almost say, that an angel might wish to
be a man, so that he might be like the Son of God in his humanity.
There can be no doubt, then, that there is at least somewhat of
man nearer to God than the angels." But the elders here are
nearer to the throne, because the mailer in hand concerns the
church on earth. The question of rank, therefore, has nothing
to do here. But that the angels encompass not merely the throne
of God with the beasts, but also the elders on every side, arises
from this, that they are the servants, not merely of God, but also
of the church, or God's servants for the good of the kingdom of his
annointed upon earth — comp. Ps. xxxiv. 8; John i. 62; Heb. i.
14. — The original passage is Dan. rii. 10, ** Thousand of thou-
sands served him, and myriads of myriads stood before him." —
That here the thousands stand after the ten thousands, while
we would have expected the opposite order, is to be explaintid
from the consideration, that in enormous multitudes distinctions
vanish. Bengel's supposition, that the smaller numbers being
added to the greater is a proof that the former must be
taken exactly, is quite too little. AfLer the myriads stand also
the thousands in Fs. Ixyiii. 18, where in like manner reference is
made to the angelic hosts as agents iji the administration of God's
kingdom on earth.

Ver. 12. And they speak with a loud voice: The Lamb that
was slain is worthy to receive the power, and riches, and wis-
dom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing. We
must supply : and so to open the book. For, it is in regard to the
opening of the book, that the praise of Christ is here celebrated.
Bcngel : ** In ver. 9 it is said : Thou art worthy, and now : The
Lamb is worthy. And so again in ver. 13. The songs more imme-
diately belong to the Lamb." Here, the mode of representation
is more an objective one, there the direct address carries more of
feeling. The encomiums mentioned are seven, corresponding to
the same number of God in ch. vii. 12, and the ten number of
encomiums in regard to God in 1 Chron. xxix. 11, 12.^ Bengel :

1 Vitringa: " The fonnnla approaelies nearest to that used bj Dayid in 1 Chron. xxix.
11, 12, where be pabliclj praised God before an assembly of the Israelites. Which is it-
self a proof, that the personage, ^vhose praise is celebrated here, is not merelj illustrious,
bnt a partaker of true Godhead." Schbtlgcn : *' But those who are unwilling to concede

THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 13. 245

" We should prononnce these seven encomiums as if they were
but one word, because they all stand together under a single
article." The Lamb is worthy to ,toA:« or receive the power, etc.,
they ascribe to him, in the acknowledgment and celebration of
it — comp. on ch. iv. 9. — Mention is made also in Eph. iii. 8 of
*' the unsearchable riches" of Christ. On account of these riches
he possesses glorious gifts, which are discoursed of in ver. 9 and
10, and can impart them to our poverty. Comp. John i. 16, 17,
*' And of his fulness have we all received grace for grace. For
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ." — The ^Z^^dn^ denotes in an objective sense manifold bles-
sings, for example Rom. xv. 29, where the blessing of the gospel
is spoken of. But that it is used here in the sense of an enco-
mium, appears from the corresponding thanks in ch. iv. 9, and the
connection in which it stands with the thanksgiving in ch. vii.
12. The word is intentionally placed here at the end, and in
ver. 13 at the commencement of the whole enumeration. It
points to this, in what sense the power, etc., are taken, in the
acknowledgment.

Ver. 13. And every creature, that is in heaven^ and on the
earthy and under the earthy and in the sea, and what is in them,
heard I all saying : To him that sits upon the throne, and to
the Lamb, be blessing, and honour, and glory, and power for
'ever and ever, Ziillig, following Bossuet, says, " In ch. iv. there
were two songs in honour of Jehovah, in ch. v. two also in honour
of the Lamb ; and this concluding song of all creatures has respect
to both together, therefore combines both adorations into one,
and accordingly rounds off the whole scene. The praise itself is
of four parts, so that it possesses a doxological roundness of parts,
and just the four, indeed, of the universe that here speaks." —
The original passage is Ps. cxlviii. There everything in heaven
and earth that bears traces of God^s glory, is summoned to praise
him. It begins in heaven with the angels, and through the inter-
mediate region of the stars passes to the clouds. The lifeless
there praise God by their simple being, as also in Ps. ciii. 21,

divine properties to Christ's baman nature, can be most easily refuted from tbis passage.
For, Sepliirotb, or properties, which belong only to God, which neither the Jews nor any
of the sacred writers ever ascribe to any but God, are here ascribed to the Lamb, yrhick
without doubt is Christ.''

246 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. V. 13,

xix. 1, the proclamation of God*s glory is attributed to the stars,
as being a matter-of-fact celebration of it. From these analogies the
praiiie of the Lamb can here also be ascribed to all the different
parts and orders of creation, only in so far as he participated in
the creation of the world. It is thns in unison with John i. 3,
'' All things were made by him, and without him was nothing
made that is made ;*' ver. 10, " The world was made by him ;"
comp. John xyii. 6, " And now, 0 Father, glorify me with thy-
self, with that glory, which I had with thee before the world
was ;" also 1 John i. 1, and Hebr. i. 2, " By whom also he made
the worlds," ver. 3, ** He upholds all things by his mighty word,*'
Col. i. 15 — 17. In this book itself Christ appears as the first
and the last, i. 17, the beginning of the creation of God, iii. 14.
Those, who will not accede to this yiew, according to which even
those under the earth, the deyil and the lost must praise Christ
— for their existence and the gifts with which they are furnished,
are a speaking proof of his greatness and love — have only to re-
sort to a poetical figure without any profound substantial mean-
ing.^ Here there is no more mention of the opening of the book,
but the whole scene runs out into the general praise of God and
the Lamb. Bengel : *' There are many creatures on the earth,
many in the i^ea, rational and irrational, blessed and cursed. Each
has its proper dwelling and abode. And now all, that are in the
four great regions, are summoned together, even though they
should be in hell. All must honour the Son, as they honour the
Father. The great regions are four, and Vae encomiums are also
four." The addition : and is in them, points to this, that we are not
to think merely of the great parts of creation — for example of the
earth in its mountains and valleys, but also in its smaller things,
which have their abode in^t. — The all, irdvra*;^ not everything,2
is used on account of the personification. The Messing, which
ends ver. 12, forms the beginning here.

1 De Wette's remark, tou ligbt for a solemn subject, '* To him upon the throne aud to
the Lamb—therefore no Trinitarian representation,** is disposed of by what has been
said. The apparent separation of the sitter on the throne and of the Lamb is by
John himself again resoWed into unity, when in ch. yii. 17 be speaks of the Lamb in
the midst of the throne.

3 Bengel in his Apparatus : " The reading icat t6. h avroU, irdvrat 1iKov<ra \iyo»-
rat, is supported by the greater number of codices. A few turn irAvrav, or even \iyo¥'
ratf into ihe neuter.'*

%

THE SEVEN SEALS, ClI. V. 14. 247

Ver. 14. And the four becuts said. Amen. And the four and
twenty elders fell down and worshipped. Bengel : ** This Amen
was said by them to all that was contained in the adoration of
the whole creation. They took it up, affirmed it to be good, ex-
pressed their satisfaction with it, and so it went back again
from the outermost circle to the throne. Within the circle the
four holy beasts and the elders had begun the celebration of
praise, from them it went forth, came to the circle which was
formed by the multitude of angels, and then to all creation. And
now when the whole has ceased, the four holy beasts say, Amen ;
that is. Let it be so, it should and it shall be so to all eternity.**
— The saying of Amen and worshipping is the inferior position.
Vitringa : " In the temple and the synagogue it was customary
in public services for the whole assembly to say Amen to the
prayers and the doxologies, which were read by the priests, or
the minister of the synagogue. This custom passed oyer from
the synagogue to the church, and remained there for a long time ;
comp. 1 Cor. xiy. 16, and the second Apology of Justin Martyr,
p. 98, where it is said, ' And the president, according to his abi-
lity, pours out prayers and thanksgivings, and the people respond,
saying Amen.* " This humble position the four beasts and the
elders could not occupy generally and from the first, but only
after the chief business, in which they played the first part, had
been already finished. When those had come forth, who stood
in the most general relation to God and the Lamb, and performed
also their part, then the four beasts and the elders took up the
subordinate position of respondents. The concluding theme of
praise returns back to the fundamental fact, the creation, upon
which every other rests, and with the celebration of which a be-
ginning was made in ch. iv. Here too those, who in the adora-
tion of ver. 8 — 12 had to remain silent, could take a part. The
response of the four beasts to their song of praise is first men-
tioned, because they are the representatives of an important part
of creation, the living creatures upon earth. In ver. 8 they had
stood along with the elders, because the living earthly creation
represented by them is the natural basis of the church ; here they
respond to the acclaim of the whole creation. The addition : him
who lives for ever and ever, which is found in Luther, has but a
very feeble support from the eodices, and has been derived from

248 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 1.

ch. iv. 9, 10, without attending to the essential difference between
this passage and that. There the praise is ascribed to the Father
alone, here it is ascribed to him that sits on the throne and the
Lamb ; so that such an addition would be unsuitable. (So already
Bengel in his Apparatus.)

Chap. yi. Bengel in his " Erbaulichen Reden" gives utterance
to a sentiment, which is of importance forjudging in regard to the
hiatorixing mode of interpreting the Revelation adopted by him
in common with many others : " Thus far we have considered five
chapters, and have not met with much of human history, although
it was the substance and design of the book to shew what was to
come to pass. But now such things come. And from the quality
of the persons here present, it is not possible to say much re-
specting them." Bengel thus felt that the Revelation, in respect
to its main subject, could not through his exposition be enjoyed
by the vast majority of Christians, and remained dark in spite of
all disclosures. This should have led him to subject that mode
of interpretation to a severe ordeal. For, it is scarcely at the
outset to be imagined, that a book, which is so decidedly eccle-
siastical in its contents, should have been intended for the nar-
row circle of the learned. And if we consider more closely, it
would not thus be really fitted to serve the interests and necessi-
ties ot that class. For what renders a book unintelligible to the
unlettered Christian, also renders it unedifyiag to the leamed.i
Even the resourses and rare unction of a Bengel have not suc-
ceeded in preventing many parts of his exposition from being
no farther edifying, than as an antiquated compend of universal
history.

Ver. 1. And I saw thaU the Lamb opened one of the seven
seals. And I heard one of the four beasts say as with a voice

1 There are not wanting expressions in Beugel wliicb show that he himself felt this ;
as at ch. ix. 1, sa., *' The preceding context might indeed he regarded, as if little ediflca-
tiou was contained in it for us, since a woe is therein described, which is already long
since past," &c.

9 It is properly: And I saw when, that is, I was a beholder when. It is better to ex-
plain thus tlian with several: And I beheld, when the Lamb bad opened one of the
seven seals, then I heard. The hearing can certainly be comprehended under the see-
ing, in a more genertU sense. But where, as here, there is merely something to be
heard, and nothing properly to be seen, the : I saw, could scarcely be so employed. But
the opening of the first seal was of itself, and apart from its contents, of such moment,
that it was pruper for the Seer to say in regaid to it, that he saw.

THE FIRST SEAL, CH. VI. 1. 249

of thunder : Come and see. Bengel : " The four first seals hare
apparently a special resemblance to each other and a close con-
nection, as have also the three last. In the four first the four
sacred beasts exclaim after each other to John : Come ; and on
each occasion John saw a horse of a certain colour, and a certain
power that either belonged, or was now given to him that sat on
it. But in the three last seals the four sacred beasts are not
mentioned, and neither is there any horse." — Expositors for the
most part remark, that one of the four beasts may be as much
as the first, and that this, according to ch. i?. 7, may be the lion.
But in harmony with only one of the four beasts and not the first
being here named, is the circumstance, that there is no evidence
whatever of the particular beasts being taken into account. — But
why generally should such appearances of the beasts have been
announced ? The answer is : because they are the representatives
of the earth, on which the judgments were to be inflicted, or
rather of all living beings on the earth. To the same conclusion
points also the expression in ver. 6 : in the midst of the four
beasts. — The words : as with a voice of thunder, are used only
of the first in the series, and as to the meaning also appear
to belong only to this. For, this distinction corresponds with the
surpassing elevatioA of the object. With a voice of thunder was
he announced, whose voice, accordingtp ch. i. 15, ''is like a voice
of many waters," of whom it is said in ch. x. 3, ** And he cried
with a loud voice as a lion roars, and when he cried the seven
thunders uttered their voices." The voice of thunder is a suitable
announcement of the God-man conqueror, who, with ^invincible
might, carries everything before him. Especially in the third of
the series the thunders would have been unsuitable. They are
elsewhere found also only in connection with the greatest transac-
tions.— The second thing peculiar to the preparation for the first
appearance is the " Gome and see^' (in the following seals, it is
merely : Come), which is spoken here to John as the representa-
tive of the whole church, which must be instructed through him
regarding future events. This also points to the higher dignity
of the first appearance, to the *' great sight" (Ex. iii.3 ; Acts vii.
31), which was presented in it. Bengel falsely : " This word see
is put only at the first seal and its joyful contents. In the three
following seals it is merely said come. They are of mournful im-

250 THE SEVEN SEALS, CU. VI. 2.

port." In this respect there is no difference between the first
seal and the others, according to the right exposition. The
appearances' are all joyful for the church, all terrible for the
world. — There exists here a wonderfully close resemblance be-
tween the Revelation and Gospel of John. The " come and see,"
which rests as to its ground on Fs. Ixvi. 5, '' come and see the
deeds of God," and often occurs in the Talmudic and Cabbalistic
books as an invitation to the attentive consideration of some im-
portant matter (see Schottgen) is found also in John's Gospel
with reference to Christ. According to ch. i. 40 the " come and
see" was the second word which was heard from Jesus by John
along with his companion Andrew (see the proof for John's being
the unnamed disciple of the Baptist, who on his testimony followed
Jesus with Andrew, in Lampe Proleg. i. c. 2, § 2.) That word
had indelibly impressed itself on the thoughtful mind of the
apostle. Through him probably had it come to Philip, and here
it is once more sounded forth again.

Yer. 2. And I saw, and behold a white horse, and he that sat
on him had a bow, and a crown was given him, and he drew out
conquering, and that he might conquer. Bengel remarks :
*' Much such another, one quite peculiar and incomparable rider
upon a white horse, is to be seen in ch. xix. 11 ; but this one in
the first seal had to be exhibited in some proportion with the
riders in the secqud, third, and fourth seals, that there might be
only some distinguishing traits in him as compared with the
others." The desired " proportion" must, no doubt, be found, but
there is no proof of its needing to stand in the circumstances in-
dicated by Bengel. Even if we understand by the rider on the
white horse here, in accordance with ch. xix. 11, Christ, there
still exists between this seal and the others both a formal
agreement and a matter-of-fact one also, in so far as the appear-
ance here, as well as the others, threatens destruction to the anti-
christian world, and brings it. This essential and indispensable
point of unity is entirely left out of view by Bengel. According

I The want of the «rai lit in sereral important manuscripts, which l^as led some re
cent critics to omit them in the text, has no weight. For, we can perceive the reason
of the omission to be» that in other codices the words are added at the second, third, and
fourth seals. People sought in Tarious ways to bring the seals into agreement with each
other. For the originality of the nnl lit there is the parallel mark of distinction in the
first seal of the Toice of thunder, Rnd the agreement with John i. 47.

THE FIRST SEAL, VI. 2. 251

to him it was the appearance of the reign of Trajan that was re-
presented, and so the ehurch, instead of getting an answer to her
anxious and sorrowful question, " Lord, how long V gets only a
bald proof of the omniscience of God : '* Trajan's reign could
have been guessed by no human sagacity, and yet the things
which were to take place under it shortly after the vision of John
in Fatmos, were so clearly announced beforehand." That by
such an interpretation the connection is quite broken between this
appearance and what follows in the other seals, is clear as day.
But for the identity of the rider on the white horse here with
that in ch. xix. 11, " And 1 saw the heaven opened, and behold
a white horse, and he that sat upon him is called true and faithful,
and he judges and makes war in righteousness,*' there are the
following reasons. 1. The agreement with ch. xix. 11 is of the
greater moment as the efii\d of Christ's war and victory there cor-
responds with the beginning here. 2. That the rider here is no
other than Christ is clear from the unmistakeable reference of
this passage to the Messianic Fs. xlv., which is distinctly referred
to Christ in Heb. i. 8. The royal dignity, the sitting upon a
horse, the bearing of a bow, the going forth to fight, the fulness
of victory, all, excepting only the white colour of the horse, pre-
sents itself there again. 3. The original passage for the whole
first four seals is Zech. ch. i. 7 — 17. (where see the Christology.)
The starting-point there, too, is the prosperity of the world, the
distress of the church ; and the subject is the announcement of
the impending judgment on the world. That judgment the
prophet there also incorporates under an equestrian figure. He
sees a proud rider on a red horse in the myrtle bush of a deep
valley, surrounded by red, bay, and white horses. He recognises
in the rider at the head the angel of the Lord, and in his atten-
dants the angels that serve him. In that portraiture also the
angel of the Lord, the Logos, appears at the head. 4. Only if
Christ here appears at the head will the design and import of the
following appearances become clear. They then present them-
selves as means for accomplishing the victory of Christ, which
they must necessarily be from the starting-point of the whole
book and from the connection of the introductory chapters, in
which everything serves as a preparation for an exhibition of the
victory of Christ over the world. In the second, third, and fourth

252 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 2.

horses by themselves there is only a fact set forth which can be
contemplated from several points of view. We take the right
one only when we refer yer. 2 to Christ. In Zechariah also the
signification of the symbol would hare been doubtful if the angel
of the Lord had not been at the head, whose appearance as such
announced the salvation of the church, the destruction of the
world. — Comp. John xvir. 9. 5. The difference, along with the
agreement, between the first appearance and those that follow,
discovers itself in the ** voice of thunder," the " Come and see,"
and '' there went out another horse," in ver. 4, which is said in
respect to the second horse only from its relation to the first, and
must, therefore, point to a diversity. 6. The crown is not the
victor's crown, but the badge of royal dignity. This shows that
the first rider cannot, according to Ztillig's opinion, be like the
rest, " a plague-spirit," and points to Christ, who, according to
ch. xix. 16, has a name written upon his garments and upon his
thigh : " King of kings and Lord of lords.*' That the discourse
here cannot be of a victor's crown is evident alone from the consi-
deration that he receives it before he goes out to fight, and in ch.
xiv. 14 also he appears having a golden crown on his head. —
The white^ XevKo^Sy luceo, to enlighten, shine, is throughout the
Bevelation the colour of lucid splendour, the symbolical image of
glory. — Comp. on ch. iv. 4, and hence the prevailing colour in the
appearances of Christ ; comp. ch. i. 14, '' But his head and his
hair white as wool." The white horse has respect to the glory at
once of his person and of his operations. Yitringa distinguishes
unnecessarily between things that are most essentially limited.
That the latter could not be excluded is plain from the analogy of
the other horses, the colours of which foreshadow what was to be
done by the riders, as also from the analogy of the horses in
Zechariah in the passage already referred to, and in ch. vi. 1 — 8.
— The crown is ffiven to the rider, materially, that he may bear
it in his warlike and victorious march. The king wears the royal
crown only when he is engaged in kingly actions.^We must not
interpret': conquering and so that he conquered ; but only : con-
quering and that he might conquer. Victory and nothing but
victory ! The expression : and that he might conquer, is a sub-
stitute for the annexed infinitive absol. in Hebr., which *' describes
vividly unceasing progress." Ewald, § 280, b. It might also

THE SECOND SEAL, VI. 3, 4. 253

have stood : conquering and conquering, or, so that he conquered
and conquered. — The object of the victory can only be the world
as hostile to Christ. Viewed in regard to it, the affirmation,
" This is no image of terror but of joy," must be changed into the
opposite. We must not, also, determine the relation of this
horse to the following ones, so as to imply that this brings vic-
tory and these three misfortune. The description of a court of
judgment opens the whole group. The book with the seven seals
is the book of the judgment which God suspends over an ungodly
world for the deliverance of his people. This character of it must
necessarily come out to view in the first vision. Then in support
of this view is the analogy of ch. xix. 11, where also the appearance
of him who sits upon the white horse is terrible and appalling to
the enemies. Finally, if we were to regard this first appearance
as one altogether cheering and joyful, we must destroy its connec-
tion with the three following, and overlook the fact that the three
last riders form the sequel to the first, are the instruments of his
victory. (Bossuet : " In his train march the three scourges of the
wrath of God, as they were presented to David, 2 Sam. xxiv. 13,
war, famine, and pestilence.") Behind the punishment there is
salvation also for the world, if they submit to the punishment,
and the case referred to in ch. ix. 20, andxyi. 11, does not enter,
of salvation being hid. The book is priinarily a booh of con-
solation for the church. This in all its feebleness and tribu-
lation shall be revived by having the image of its heavenly
King placed before its eyeSy as he goes forth with invincible
might to win a sure and glorious victory.

Ver. 3. And when he opened the second seal, I heard the se-
cond beast say : Come} Ver. 4. And there went forth? another
horse, which was red, and it was given to him that sat thereon
to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one an-
other ; and there was given him a great sword. The supposi-
tion of Vitringa, that here the rage of the heathen emperor against

1 The words : and see, wbicb Luther here, and in ver. G and 7, baa added, have no
critical support of any importance, and are taken from ver. 1, without regard to the dif-
ference between the first appearance and the others.

1 Several expositors : and there drew oat, with reference to the tj^rjXBi in ver. 2. But
we can scarcely say of a horse what can be said of a rider. We must, tberefore, under-
stand the word here of the going forth, the in scenam prodire, as opposed to its being
hitherto enclosed in the sealed book.

254 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 5, 6.

the innocent confessors of the truth, with their bloody martyrdom,
is here represented, proceeds on an entire disregard of the connec-
tion. Here, in the contemplated judgments, which under the
leadership of Christ, God suspends over the world, as opposed to
Christ and his church, war takes only a subordinate place. The
seven trumpets are occupied fully and at large with this. But
the object of the passage before us, is a threatening of bloody
discord ; it is one of the chief punishments which alight upon an
^ ungodly world ; one of the chief means of Christ's victory. It
breaks the might, the confidence, the security, the arrogance and
fury of the antichristian world ; it disposes the princes of the
world to peace. Therefore the Christian should not be frightened
if he sees this judgment realizing itself anew and still proceeding.
It should be to him a harbinger of the victory of his Lord. When
wars nnd terrors overspread the earth, he should see in them the
dawn of the church's triumph. — On red as the colour of blood, see
on ch. xii. 3. To this view the whole points, and in particular
the words : there was given him a great sword ; so that Hoff-
mann's remark : it means shedding of blood and huming, is to
be rejected. Only such a colour is here naturally indicated as
agrees with the natural colour of the horse. The redness of the
fox-coloured horse suffices for the representation of blood redness.
Ver. 6. And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third
beast say : Come, And I saw, and behold a black horse ; and
he that sat thereon had a pair of balances in hia hand. Ver. 6.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say : A
measure of wheat for a denarius, and three measures of barley
for a denarius ; and do not hurt the oil and the wine. The
blackness of the horse indicates, not as Bengel and others sup-
pose, " black hunger as the Greek and Latin poets called it ;"
but it is employed simply as the colour of mourning. This ap-
pears from the analogy of the black horse in Zechariah, ch. vi. It
appears also from the fact that it is not hunger which is discoursed
of, but only scardiy. This judgment forms only the stepping-
stone to the fourth, where hunger in the proper sense enters, in
fulfilment of Matt. xxiv. 7. The balances are mentioned here
only as a symbol of scarcity. For, according to what follows, the
corn is not weighed but measured. " Where there is a super-
fluity, there people count and miss not (Gen. xli. 49), but where

THE THIRD SEAL, CH. VI. 5, 6. 255

they weigh anything, it is a sign there is not too mach.'* Origi-
nal passages are £z. iy. 10, ** And thy food which thou shalt eat
(thon mnst eat) by weight, twenty shekels a day," and-yer. 16,
" And he said to me. Thou son of man. Behold I break the staff
of bread in Jerosalem, and they eat bread by weight and in sor-
row," which passages again rest on Ley. zxyi. 26. In regard to
the yoice heard, the only question is, what it proclaimed, not
whence or by whom. It is hence unprofitable to seek to deter-
mine this. The sound came from *' the midst of the four beasts,'*
the midst of the representatiyes of the liying beings on the earth,
because the report concerns these. Those who take up wrong
yiews of the Cherubim, who, for example, understand by them the
eyangelists, or the leading men in the church, or the four offices,
know not what to make of " the midst of the four beasts." A
measure, choenix, of wheat is stated by Suidas to be the daily sup-
port of a man (^fiepi^aiof; rpoi^ri), Herodotus makes a reckoning
in B. VII. c. 187, how much com was needed for the Persian
army, if eyery one received a choenix of wheat per day and no
more, showing that this was the necessary daily allowance. A
denarius was the usual day*s wages, according to Matt. xx. 2.
The price of the com is therefore certainly a high one, but still it
cannot be a case of absolute famine. If barley bread were to be
eaten, the common food of the poorer sort of people (John yi. 9,
13), which is three times cheaper than wheaten bread, a family
could still be brought through with difficulty. On the words :
" and the oil and the wine hurt not," Bengel remarks, " Barley
and wheat are earlier than oil and wine. Here the discourse is
of a time which is better for oil and wine than for barley and
wheat. This, along with the other, points to a moderate scarcity :
take heed, since the deficiency in the one kind can be made good
by fulness in the other. Wheat and barley, oil and wine, are the
most common and necessary means of life. The use of oil is con-
siderably more common both in oriental and southern countries
than with us.'' Ewald thinks that the wine and oil are here not
hurt by a sort of irony. " The greater the want there is of com,
the most necessary of all the means of support, the more pain-
fully we feel a superfluity in a kind of provision, not profitable to
us, such as oil." But in this it is overlooked, that in oil
and wine countries these productions haye a quite different

258 THE SEVEN SEALS, ClI. VI. 7, 8.

more to follow. The second seal corresponds to the wars and
rumours of wars in ver. 6, and also the third ; as the scattered
wars appear like heralds of the universal warfare, so the scarcity
is like the herald of the famine. The pale^ horse images wan
death. As the rider under the fourth seal has the name of death,
the second is personified war, the third personified scarcity. In
the train of death hell appears ; Greek, Hades Bengel : *' The
four seals turn upon living men ; and so death, by which they are
carried ofi^, is most prominently represented, but hell, only in so
far as he receives those who have been cut off by death, acting
as death's hearse, on which account no separate horse is assigned
him." He further remarks : " By the German word HoUe (hell),
two Greek words are expressed, which are widely different. The
one is Gehenna, and means in particular the place of fire and tor-
ment ; the other is Hades, and corresponds to the Hebrew Scheol.
Here it is the word Hades that is employed, which generally sig-
nifies the state of the dead, whether the soul may have gone to
peace or may be under wrath." This remark cannot be held to
be just. The word Hades is used in the New Testament only in
reference to dead sinners — see my Commentary on the Psalms, vol.
III. p. Ixxxvi. (Eng. Trans.), and especially Luke xvi. 23, where
to be in Hades and in torment are inseparably connected together.
This usage prevails especially in the Revelation (comp. ch. i. 18,
XX. 13) ; in the latter of the passages referred to it is the ungodly
alone that are spoken of; Hades appears as their temporary re-
ceptacle after they leave the world. Now in the passage before
us, there is no reason why we should take Hades in the Old Tes-
tament meaning. The subject of discourse is the judgments to
be executed upon the ungodly world as opposed to the kingdom
of Christ. For snch to die and to go into hell is all one. Of the
elect no account is made here. How it was to fare with them in
the midst of these judgments, first appears in ch. vii.^ If Hades

.1 X\ft)p<(f. properly ^rMn, -is used even by Homer in the sense of pale, II. Tii. 47d,
where x^^P^'^ ^«^« i" P<^1« ^^^r ; comp. Artemidoros i. 77. ConsUntias, the father of
Consuntine rbe Great, according to Zonaras, was called Chloros, on aocount of the pale*
•ness of his countenance.

2 It is from misapprehending the proper import and position of this seventh chapter,
that Bengel makes the following lemark here : ** Whether and how far the servants of
God were to be spared from the judgment, is not mentioned ,* for these are secured by
Jilie sealing in ch. vii., not from what is spoken of here, but from what follows under the

THE FOURTH SEAL, CH. VI. 7, 8. 259

vere used here in the Old Testament sense, there would have been
no occasion for specially mentioning him after death. It is ap-
propriate only as the place of torment, and is fitted to deepen the
impression of terror. The fourth part of the earth is the fourth
part of the human race. The judgment is a frightful one, espe^
cially when it is considered that where so many are carried away
by death, untold sorrows must also be experienced by the rest.
Even yet, however, it is not the end of all things. That only
the fourth part is destroyed points to this, that fearful judgments
were still to come, as we have yet but the first four of the seven
seals of that book, which was filled with terrors. — The instru-
ments of death are comprised in the number four. They stand
in a certain relation to each other. Famine and pestilence not
rarely break out in the train of war, and in the lands which have
suffered depopulation by such causes ravenous wild beasts take
possession, and become formidable to the people that are left (2
Kings xvii. 25.) The original passage is Ezek. xiv. 21, *' My
four sore judgments, the sword, and famine, and the noisome
beast, and pestilence, I send against Jerusalem, that I may cut
off from it man and beast," (comp. what is said more at length
regarding them in ver. 12 — 20.) The result here is exactly the
same as in Ezekiel, only that the noxious beasts, which were
threatened so early as in Lev. xxvi. 22, take here the last place,
because relatively they produce the smallest devastations. Hun-
ger, war, pestilence, appear as the three great judgments of God
in 2 Sam. xxiv. 11, ss. — By death here the pestilence must be
understood, according to many expositors. Nor can there be
any doubt that pestilence must be chiefly meant, by comparing
the original passage in Ezekiel, and others, in which the pestii-
lence is named as a main instrument of judgment. Still, since
death is employed and not pestilence, \ot/^9, which might so na-
turally have occurred from the discourses of our Lord, also be-
cause of the parallel passage ch. xviii. 8 (comp. besides ch. ii.
23), and because in the classical authors no trace is to be found

trampetB." Ewald still more dUtinetly goes against the connection, when he represents
tiie plagues mentioned here as affecting the Chris(ians not less than others, and even
specially intended to put their faith to the prooC The analogy of the Egyptian plagnet
should have kept commentators from such irrelevant remarks, which would substitute
the judgments on the Church for that of the world, for which fUone preparation w^f
made in oh. iv. and v.

r'4

260 THE SEVEN SEALS. CH. VI. 7, 8.

of the supposed special signification of the word death, nor does
the Sept. version, when more narrowly examined, afiford any proof
of it,^ the word death must be taken as a comprehensive expres-
sion, which besides pestilence includes other things that tend to
produce a general desolation. So already Bengel, " Death pro-
perly means pestilence, and yet we can also understand by it
earthquakes, destruction by fire and water, inasmuch as muiti-
tudes of men are violently killed by these." There are not want-
ing examples in Scripture of the general being thus mentioned in
the midst of the particular. Perfectly analogous is Gen. i. 26,
" Have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of
heaven, and over the cattle, and over the whole earthy and over
every creeping thing that creepeth on the earth." The expres-
sion : over the whole earth, is put in the room of: over the wild
beasts of the earth, but at the same time includes in itself what-
ever might be on the earth besides the things specially named.
Then also Gen. xv. 21, where the mention of the Canaanites has
led to the groundless supposition of there being a separate race
with that name, from the manner of Scripture in this respect not
being attended to. The general term introduced in such cases
among others of a special nature, shews that the different kinds
named are only to be regarded as representatives of the whole
species. — All the judgments mentioned here are directed to the
one point of chastising and breaking the pride and insolence of
the world, restraining its persecuting zeal, and converting out of
it what is to be converted, and laying it at the feet of Christ the
conqueror. The fulfilment pervades all history, and is ever re-
newing itself before our eyes : as often as the world^s hatred
against Christ and his church breaks forth anew, the commission
is also again given to him who sits upon the pale horse, and
whose name is dearth. It is a spectacle of fearful magnificence
to see him riding on through centuries. Bengel : '* We know
not what sorrows may come upon the earth even in our days, and
much yet remains to run its course. 0, how needful is it for us
to make sure indeed of the love of the Lamb and his gracious pro-

1 When the LXX. render, as they often do, "^ai by d^mrrov, it was not becaaae they
employed the latter simply in the sense of pestilence, but because they took the Heb.
word in a general sense, as the word itself indeed properly means destruction in general,
and is only to be taken fn the more special sense of pestilence when the connection
clearly determines it to be so used.

THE FIFTH SEAL, CH. VI. 9, 10, 11. 261

lection ! Come what may, there shall assuredly be safety and
blessing to his true people."

Ver. 9. And when the fifth seal was opened, I saw under the
altar the souls of those who were slain for the word of God and
for the testimony which they had, Ver. 10. And they cried with
a loud voice and said : How long, Lord, thou holy and true,
dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell
on the earth ! Ver. 11. And there was given to every one of
them a white garment, and it was said to them that they should
rest yet for a time, until their fellow servants and their brethren,
who should also be killed as they were, should fulfil. The
book is the book of the Lord s judgments against a hostile world
and for his church. With every particular seal that is opened,
a part of its contents, a phase of the judgment must be laid open.
At the head of the whole we see Christ marching forth as con-
queror. All that follows must connect itself properly with this vic-
torious emblem ; nothing can happen which does not disclose
Christ as a conqueror. We hare not to do here with the signs
of Christ*s coming in general. Agreeably to the starting-point,
the oppression of the church through the world-power, and the
despairing thoughts this gave rise to in believers, the judgments
that belong to this portion are the preliminary ones, that give
indication of the end, in which the whole is to be consummated.
Now, all the rest really bears this character. Only the seal
before us forms an apparent exception, which yet cannot be
suffered, without interrupting the symmetry of the whole, and
imputing to the holy Seer a kind of thoughtlessness. If we
should, for example, suppose with Hoffmann, that there is
here set forth '' the persecution of those who keep and maintain
God's word and the testimony of the Lamb,'* as a sign of the end
(which, however, is opposed by the circumstance of the persecu-
tion not being described, but pre-supposed as done, and only the
question raised, when the time of recompense was to come), we
should then place this seal out of the compass of the introductory
vision in ch. iv., in which all announces the judgments of God
on the ungodly world. The same may be said also of Ewald's
view : " It is intimated that those plagues shall be especially
destructive to the Christians, and that already many martyrs
have fallen under them ;" by which, also, the import of the preced-

262 THE SEVEN SEALS, CU. VI. 9, 10, 11.

ing seals is wholly misapprehended. The plagues of the four first
seals have respect merely to the world ; under them the blood of
the martyrs is not shed ; but they are the beginning of rerenges
for that blood. The difQculty vanishes whenever it is perceived,
that the question, '* How long dost thou not judge and avenge
our blood T* which was spoken at a determinate period of time,
had its occasion in the circumstances of the time, and inasmuch
as it presupposes these to come into consideration here. The im-
pending provisional judgrnents are so frightful, more frightful
even than those described in the first four seals, that they impel
the mind to think of the approaching final judgment. In the
fourth seal only the fourth part was carried away ; with all its
terribleness it bears only a partial, provisional character. But
here a general judgment begins to come forth on the inhabitants
of the earth. The shaking of the foundations of the ungodly
power appears to announce its final overthrow. Yet an indica-
tion is given, that, notwithstanding present appearances, this was
not to take place quite immediately ; and so the prayer of this
seal has a definitive relation to the sixth, and prepares the way
for it. What here begins to be vigorously entered on, is accom-
plished afterwards under the seventh seal, after the premonitory
signs have under the sixth assumed an extensively threaten-
ing character. The cry of the martyrs, therefore, stands in a
similar relation to the circumstances of the time, as Daniel's
prayer, in ch. ix., occasioned by the overthrow of Babylon, that
the Lord would fully execute his promises. The substance, in
short, of the fifth seal is, su^h catastrophes as bring to view the
final judgment on the world, and in connection with thai the
glorification of the church. Here, as in the preceding con-
text, the Seer has primarily in view the Boman world, for it Was
this which in his time shed the blood of martyrs ; it was this
which primarily had led him, for his own interest and that of his
companions in tribulation, to place himself on his watchtower,
and look forth for what God might speak to him, and what he
should answer to his complaint (Hab. ii. 1.) Great shakings of
the Boman empire were what the cry of the martyrs, " how long,'*
immediately called forth for the inquiring and expecting prophet.
But the prophecy does not reach its end with the immediate
fulfilment. It comes to life again, so soon as a new antichristian

THE FIFTH SEAL, CH. VI. 9, 10, 11. 263

power, which the Seer himself indicates in ch. xx. 7, ss., though
certainly in a very general manner, treads in the footsteps of the
old Roman power, and provides consolation for the church that
shall then groan under its persecutions. It is quite characteristic of
the groups of the seven seals and the seven trumpets, that every
thing in them bears a general and comprehensive character, no-
things refers specially or at all exclusively to the Roman empire.
The special references to this belong to the later groups. — Ac-
cording to Lticke, a rebuke is given{to the martyrs for their im-
patience, as seeking not to gratify their revenge, but to call down
the judgment of God from heaven. But there is no symptom of
a rebuke. The idea is, that the judgment, which through its
surpassing fHghtfulness seemed to bring the end immediately
into view, still did not carry this import, but only of a presage,
that the final judgment was only to come when the world, through
the continued persecution of the church, had filled up the measure
.of their sins ; comp. Matt. xxiv. 6, " But ye shall hear of wars and
rumours of wars ; see that ye be not troubled ; for all these things
must come to pass, but the end is not yet.'* Whenever it is per-
ceived that the introduction of the martyrs is of a purely poetical
character, it becomes manifest that there can be nothing of im-
patience and rebuke. — These souls had already cried for ven-
geance, and it was the hearing of their cry thut is reported in
the four first seals. But that was still not the vengeance itself,
which could be satisfied with nothing short of the entire over-
throw of the adversaries, but only a prelude of it. Now, however,
the circumstances have entered, which place the full vengeance
distinctly in view.

The souls of the martyrs in ver. 9 are not the souls in the in-
termediate state, as expositors commonly suppose ; the souls are
meant of which it is said in the Old Testament, that they are in
the blood — the aninial souls (see, for example, Gen. ix. 5) ; they
are murdered souls ; but the blood itself might as well have stood,
and in ver. 10 indeed is actually put instead of the souls here.
This is plain from comparing the original passage. Gen. iv. 10, '
where the blood of Abel cries to God from the ground. ^ (Zdllig :
'^ Only a dramatizing of the thought : your blood demands ven^
geance, according to Gen. iv. 10, ix. 5, etc.") It is in accordance
with the phraseology of the Old and New Testament, in which

264 THE SEVEN SEALS, CU. VI. 9, 10, 11.

everywhere the spirits only, not the souls of the departed are
spoken of — see my Commentary on the Psalms, vol. III. p. Ixxxvii.
Trans, It is shown by a comparison of the parallel passage, ch.
XX. 4, where the discourse is of :he souls of those- who had been
beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God,
and where the prophet sees them li?e again. It is plain, finally,
from the faet, that the souls were seen under the altar, in refer-
ence to Lev. iv. 7 (comp v. 9), ** And the whole blood of the
bullock shall he pour out at the bottom of the altar of burnt-
offering, which is before the tabernacle of the congregation.**
Accordingly, since the place under tlie altar has nothing to do
with souls in the higher sense, we can only understand by the
souls the animal souls, which perish with the body. The intro-
duction of the souls of the martyrs here, therefore, is a purely
poetical one. They are in reality as little living, as the blood
of Abel in reality cried to God from the earth. Life is only lent
to them here, that they might utter what the thought of them,
combined with the relations of the time, tended to as a result. —
The altar is that of the heavenly sanctuary. For heaven is the
stage on which all here proceeds— comp. ch. iv. 1. Two altars
occur in the Revelation, namely, the golden altar of incense,
and the altar of burnt-offering, which is not said to be golden.
That is treated of in ch. viii. 3, 4, ix. 13 ; this in ch. xiv. 18,
xvi. 7. Here it can only be the altar of burnt-offering that
is meant. For this, as being the more public of the two,
accessible, and open to the view of all, is always the one in-
tended in Scripture, and especially in the Revelation, when
the altar simply is mentioned, and without any further addition
(comp. ch. xvi. 7.) And here we can the less think of any other
than it, as on it alone were bloody offerings presented, and only
under it could the blood be found, or the souls of those that had
been slain. — Why does John see the souls of the martyrs under
the altar ? The answer is furnished by what has been already
remarked. By this is already disposed of the view of those who
consider the spot under the altar as the place '* where they could
best be kept under the view of God, to whom their obedience in
their death had been a sweet smelling savour,** as '' a fine keeping
place,** as the first stage of that blebsedness to which others
afterwards succeed ; so that some are even inclined to understand

THE FIFTH SEAL, CH. VI. 9, 10, 11. 265

by the altar Christ (Gerhard, Calov, &c.,) ** under whose protection
and shade the sonls of the martyrs are preserved free from all perils
and eyils till the day of judgment." Such a view must at once give
way as soon as it is established, that it is not the spirits but the
animal souls of the martyrs that are here spoken of. It with-
draws from the vengeance-cry of the martyrs, in ver. 10, the
foundation which is here provided for it» and which rests on the
circumstance, that their murdered souls lie upon the ground. For
the spirits of the departed, too, the place under the altar, by
which it is qaite arbitrary to understand Christ, is a rare sort of
keeping place ! Then, such a*view of the subject here brings it
into conflict with what is elsewhere said of the state of the
departed righteous, especially in this series itself; and in ch.
vii. 9 ss., according to which the departed righteous stand before
the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white garments
and palms in their hands, and this even partly during the tribu-
lation which passes over the world. BengeFs supposition of
different stages rests upon a misapprehension as to the relation
of ch. vii. to ch. vi., and the regressive character which belongs
to the latter. The whole of the sacrificial system is an allegory.
The sacrifice of beasts symbolised that of men. The presentation
of the burnt- ofiering in particular symbolised the consecration of
the persons by whom and for whom they were brought, primarily
indeed, their spiritual consecration, but this also in the external,
in martyrdom, formed the chief and fundamental element. Hence,
it was very natural to consider those who had yielded up their
life for the cause of God and Christ, as having been sacrificed on
the altar of the heavenly sanctuary ; the more so, as from Isaiah
liii. the death of Christ was wont to be considered as a sacrificial
death, and to be set forth under sacrificial terms, not preventing,
but prefiguring the death of his people for the truth (comp. ch.
xii. 11.) The blood of the slain victims, which were offered on
the material altar of burnt-offering, according to Lev. iv. 7, was
to be poured out at the bottom of the altar. Accordingly it was
natural to assign the murdered souls of the martyrs a place under
the altar. There they lie, and complain of their murder, so long
as it still remains unavenged. From this passage has arisen the
custom of preserving the relics of the martyrs in the altars. —
Beugel remarks, " who killed them? Babylon (ch. xviii. 24, and

266 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 9, 10, 11.

in her, in the spiritual Babylon, that is Rome, was found the
blood of prophets and saints, and of all those that were killed
upon the earth.) When Babylon is reckoned with, the blood
that cries here' is found in her, ch. xix. 2. Now, since the
Boman martyrs in the fifth seal still cry for Tengeance, it may be
perceiyed that the plagues in the fourth seal do not particularly
point to Borne, for that city remains yet unavenged. — When John
received the vision, many Christians had already been executed ;
the persecution was past which had been raised by the savage
Nero in Rome itself, in which Peter was crucified, and Paul was
put to death by the sword." It is true that the Seer had pri-
marily in his eye the Roman martyrs. Still, these only occupied
the foreground — as surely as the contents of this fifth seal could
not find merely a single fulfilment. But in so far as the Roman
persecution is kept in view, we are not merely to think of the
souls of those who were slain under Nero and onwards till the
time of Domitian ; but we are to regard the Seer as beholding
along with these all such as, up to the period of the fifth seal,
were destined to suffer amid the approaching catastrophes of the
Roman dominion. He that saw through the causes of the bloody
commencement could have no doubt as to the bloody progress.
But from this Bengel quite erroneously concludes, that the Roman
martyrs still cry for vengeance, and that the plagues in the first four
seals do not especially respect Rome. The revenge which is sought
here is the definitive, the final one. As certainly as the Roman
persecution forms the starting-point, must the plagues in the first
four seals primarily have respect to Rome (though still neither
specially, nor exclusively so), and an exposition which does not
recognise this, bears error on its very front. For the word of
Ood and for the testimony which they had, therefore, for the
very same reason that had occasioned John's banishment to
Patmos, as stated in ch. i. 9. The testimony, according to this
parallel passage, is the testimony of Jesus; and the addition, "of
the Lamb," or " of Jesus Christ," which is found in some critical
authorities, is right in substance. The expression : which they
^ had, appears at first sight singular. We wduld have expected
something, that more distinctly marked their activity. But ac-
cording to the kind of representation adopted in the Apocalypse,
the witnessing properly belongs to Christ, who is the true and faith-

THE FIFTH SEAL, ClI. VI. 9, 11. 267

ful witness— ch. i. 5, iii. 14. The martyrs, as they are commonly
called, are but the depositaries of this testimony ; those that are
Christ's have but to abide tme to the testimony they have re-^
ceived, to keep that which has been given them, ch. xi. 3, to hold
what they have. Jesns witnessed concerning the truth during
his walk on earth, and continually bears witness through the
Spirit of the Father, which he sends — comp. John xv. 26, 27.
The testimony also of Jesus, which is deposited in this book, be-
longs originally not to him, through whom it was communicated
to the church, but Jesus testifies in it of himself, and John merely
has the testimony of Jesus according to ch. xix. 10, comp. ch.
xii. 17.; where *' having the testimony of Jesus'' also occurs.

In ver. 10 it is not the souls that are the subject (for these
could not speak of their blood), but the slain. The address, as
it seems, is directed to Christ ; for it is he who opens the fifth
seal. The fundamental passage is Ps. Ixxix. 10, '' Make known
to the heathen the revenging of the blood of thy servants, which
has been shed." This again points back to the words of Moses,
** for the blood of his servants will he avenge," which form the
conclusion of the Song in Deut. xxxii. 43. The sad and wistful,
but still believing (for faith alone wonders that God should be so
long in executing revenge) how long, is very common in the Old
Testament, and especially in the Psalms; for example, Ps.
xxxT. 17, " 0 Lord, how long wilt thou look on ?" Ps. xciv. 3,
" How long. Lord, how long shall the wicked triumph V The
address, '* 0 Lord," corresponds to the mention of the servants
in the Psalms. Compare the expression '' their fellow-servants,"
in ver. 11. The Lord must himself undertake for his servants
and avenge them As it belongs to them to serve him truly, and
as they have done this even to the sacrificing of tHeir life, so it
rests with him to afford them true protection and avenge them.
In the Psalms the prayer for help and vengeance is commonly
founded on the circumstance of the Psalmist's being the Lord's
servant. Bengel : " In the Greek here there is a word 6 Se-
<7TroTi79, which nowhere else occurs ip the Revelation, and pro-
perly signifies a landlord, or head of a house. The martyrs cried
to God as their own proper lord. Innocent blood, if shed without
any charge of crime, and guiltless only in a common respect, cries ;
but much more does the blood of those cry, who have shed it for

3

268 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 9, 10, 11.

the truth of heaven'* — the servants of God and Christ, who had
sacrificed their lives in their service. The New Testament con-
stantly uses the word SccrTrony?, lord or householder, in denoting
the relation of any one to servants — comp. 1 Pet. ii. 9, " Let
servants be subject to their masters with all fear." Luke ii. 29,
" Now, Lord, lettest thou thy servant depart in peace," Acts iv.
28, 29 ; 1 Tim. vi. 1 ; Tit.ii. 9 ; 3 Pet. i. 1 ; Jude ver. 1 , 4. The
holiness denotes God's absolute separation from the world, in its
impotence and transitoriness ; comp. on ch. iv. 8. In reference
to the trutii, see on ch. iii. 7. The divine truthfulness in keep-
ing promise is only a particular element of the truth, and the
idea of the truth is weakened, if it is wholly confined to that.
The martyrs sought for revenge as such, so that the nature of
their God might manifest itself therein, which would otherwise
be at fault ; for if revenge was wanting God could not be
God ; as certainly as he is the holy and the true, he must exe-
cute it. But they also desired revenge, as appears from ver. 11,
because it is the necessary condition of the church's glorification,
and peculiar to it. If with Wolf we take away the former, one does
not see how provisionally atid as an earnest white clothing could
be given them. The fulfilment of what is here prayed for is dis-
closed in ch. xix. 2, where, in the words of Bengel, " the desire of
the martyrs, with a very remarkable repetition of their words, is
transformed into a song of praise." God is there praised by
great hosts in the heavenly world, '* because his judgments are
true and righteous, because he has judged the great wh^re, who
corrupted the earth with her fornication, and has avenged the blood
of his servants at her hand." Comp. ch. xviii. 20. As the groups,
however, are each complete in themselves, the fulfilment must be
indicated even in this group itself; and such an indication is ac-
tually found under the sixth and seventh seals, which disclose
the full vengeance of God on the persecutors of the church. —
That there can be nothing here of a revengeful spirit on the part
of the martyrs, is clear from what has been remarked on the im-
port of the whole scene, according to which also conclusions such
as those of Bossuet are to be rejected: that pious souls know
that God has still not avenged their blood, wherefore they must
be cognizant of all that is going on upon earth* We have shewn,
that the introduction of the souls of the slain is of a purely poeti-

4

THE FIFTH SEAL, CH. VI. 9, 10, 11. 269

cal character. But the thought, that Ood avenges the blood of
his people o]i their persecutors is an entirely scriptural one, and
one thoroughly in accordance with the mind of the Sayiour. The
general law, which receives here a special application, was uttered
by our Lord in Matth. yii. 1, 2. He himself applies it to the
yery case before us in Matth. xxiii. 35, o6, '* So that upon yon
may come all the righteous blood, that has been shed on the
earth from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zecharias,
son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the
altar.'' And in Luke xviii. 7, 8, '' Shall not God avenge his
elect, who cry to him day and night ] I tell you, he will avenge
them and that speedily." The last passage shews, that not only
is the revenge agreeable to the nature of God, but also that the
wish for the revenge is acceptable, whenever it proceeds from the
right affection, a desire for the glorification of the divine nature,
and the exaltation of his church on earth. This, indeed, might
be understood of itself; for what God does from the necessity of
his nature, this may, and even should be wished for by believers ;
see my remarks on the Vindictive Psalms, in the dissertations ap-
pended to my Commentary. — The inhabitants of the earth appear
here as the persecutors. The small flock that have been re-
deemed from the earth are not formally mentioned as an exception
to the worldly mass ; com p. the words of our Lord in Matth. xxiv.
9, ** Ye shall be hated of all nations for my name sake."

According to ver. 11 there was given provisionally a white
garment to each of the suppliant martyrs, in answer to their
prayer, as this could not at present receive a complete fulfilment.
What has been said on the white as the colour of lucid splendour,
the symbolical image of glory, at ch. vi. 2, iv. 4, may be com-
pared. According to ch. iii. 4, 5, and vii. 14, a white garment
is the clothing of the blessed generally, and their clothing as
such : without any exception they go from this life immediately
into glory. Hence the expression here, '* there was given," can
only be referred to the consciousness of the Seer, as a thing con-
nected with the fifth seal, not to the actual fact ; for long before
this had martyrs finished their testimony, Antipas for example,
who had died before the seals began at all to be opened. For
John's sake and that of the church there was given to them what
they already in fact possessed. The thought can only be this.

270 THE SBVKN SEALS, CH. VI. 9, 10, 11.

that they must be satisfied meanwhile with the heavenly glory,
till the time should come when the kingdom of glory wonld be set
up on the earth. Had the slain martyrs presented themselves to
the Seer at once in their white garments, their cry would have
made little impression on him. fiengel's view of the giving of
the white garments as an extraordinary reward and distinction
('' In fact something was given to these souls, which in their
blessedness they did not possess. White Stolso, or white long
robes, are an excellent ornament and high honour") cannot be
maintained in accordance with the parallel passages. As little
can the view .of Yitringa, who thinks that the giving of the white
garments must symbolize the fact, '* that those martyrs shall be
openly justified in the church, and they shall be acknowledged
and honoured as partakers in the glory and kingdom of Christ,
while their case for a long time appeared in a doubtful light.*'
According to the parallel passages, the white garments denote,
not the acknowledgment of the martyrs on the earth, but the
heavenly glory conferred on them. Bossuet*s remark : '' A white
garment — ^this is the glory of pious souls in expectation of the
resurrection/* is fitted to create a misunderstanding unless it were
defined in some such way as this : the white garment, in itself a
mark of glory generally, signifies here from the connection the
contrast to the completed glory, etc. — The resting, avairavetr-
Oat (comp. Mark vi. 31, xiv. 41 ; Luke xii. 19 ; Matt. xi. 29) is
carefully to be distinguished from simple resting and ceasing, ko-
rairaveadcu. Hence we are not to think, with Bengel, of a rest-
ing of the souls from their cry. The ere alone is against this,
since it presupposes, that they had even till now been resting, and
intimates, .that they must still continue to enjoy their rest, till
the period when they should be admitted to their full inheritance.
We can only think of a resting and refreshing of themselves from
the sufierings and troubles of this life. Comp. ch. xiv. 13,
''Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord . . . that they
may rest from their labours,** iva avairavatovrai ix r&v kotto^v
avTcbv. As there the resting corresponds to the blessed, so does
it here to the white garments. The blessedness and glory before
the resurrection consist especially in the resting — as also in ch.
vii., in the representation of the state of the blessed before the
resurrection the negative element is the predominating one : they

THE FIFTH SEAL, CH. VI. 9, 10, 11. 271

shall hunger no more, nor thirst any more, neither shall the sun
light on them, nor any heat, and God will wipe away all tears
from their eyes. Besting from the troubles and annoyances of
the earthly pilgrimage — this is a blessed earnest that God will
certainly give to his people a rest in most intimate fellowship with
Christ ; for otherwise dying could be no gain to them, Phil. i. 21.
See on the state of the departed till the resurrection, Nitzsch's
excellent remarks in his System, § 215. — For : a time, some cri-
tical helps haye : a little time, ')(p6vov fit/cpov. But the attribute
is evidently borrowed from ch. xx. 3. The simple : a time, is
found elsewhere also, where it was not wished to define the period
more exactly, Acts xix. 22 ; comp. Isa. xxvii. 11, Sept., Tob. xiv.
4, and Neh. xiii. 6 in the Hebrew. In ch. x. 6, 7 : '' And he
swore — that henceforth there should be no time more. But in
the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall sound,
the mystery of God shall be finished, as he has declared to his
servants the prophets," it is intimated, that the delay fixed here
had come near its close. From that passage we are here to sup-
ply : then shall the mystery of God, which he declares to his ser-
vants, the prophets, be finished, and consequently in the place of
the resting the complete glory promised by them shall enter along
with its necessary ground- work, the completed revenge on the
enemies of the kingdom of God. — In the expression : till they
should complete or fulfil (TrkrfpaxTmai), we must supply: their
course or their work. To complete, fulfil one^s course, work, the
gospel, that is, the service connected with it, is a mode of speech
of which St Paul was peculiarly fond ; see especially Acts xx.
22 — 24, " And now, behold, I go bound in the Spirit to Jerusa-
lem, not knowing the things that shall befal me there ; save thai
the Holy Ghost witnesseth in every city, saying that bonds and
afflictions await me there. But none of these things move me,
neither count I my life dear to me, that I may complete my
course with joy, and the ministry which I have received from the
Lord Jesus, to testify of the gospel of the grace of God." Also
2 Tim. iv. 6 — 8, " For I am now ready to be offered, and the
time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I
have finished my course, I have kept the faith. Henceforth there
is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
righteous judge, will give me at that day ; and not to me only,

272 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 10.

but to all them also, who love his appearing." (See, besides.
Bom. XY. 19 ; Luke ix 3L ; Acts xiii. 35, xii. 25, xiv. 26.) From
a reference to these passages, in which ju^t as here the comple-
tion of the course is put in connection with martyrdom, we can
explain the elliptical mode of expression. It must have respect
to this very reference. The different variations in the text have
arisen from the oversight of this ellipsis.^ — So far as the idea is
concerned, there is a close resemblance in Heb. xi. 39, 40, '' And
these all (the faithful witnesses of the Old Testament) having
obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise ;
God having provided some better thing for ns, that they without
us should not be made perfect/' If the completion were preci-
pitately hurried on, the precious opportunity would be denied
those who come after us, of saying with St Paul, " I have finished
my course," etc. — The naming of the brethren, still more than
that of the fellow-servants, points to this, that we must not lay
hold of anything that is disadvantageous to them. Because these
are their fellow-servants, Ood must not have a partial respect to
them ; because they are their brethren, they must not desire that
any such respect should be had. They must be satisfied with
the white clothing, and the rest after their labour, until oppor-
tunity has also been given those to deserve the crown of righteous-'
ness, who should fight the good fight, and love not their lives
unto death, during the further persecutions that should be car-
ried on by the beast, under the Boman dominion, under the ten
kings, and lastly under the assault of Oog and Magog. One must
be very much captivated by Jewish representations, if by the
fellow-servants one understands the future martyrs from the
heathen, and by the brethren those that should come from the
house of Israel. The Apocalypse knows nothing of such a dis-
tinction. It would need in such a case Xo have been first of all
expressly stated, that by the slain for the word of Ood only mar-
tyrs from among the Jews were to be understood.

1 Of these the reading ir\npco0w<ri has the greatest support in MSS., while -rXtipm-
oovrai, which is vindicated by Ewald, has little or none, as was long a?o sui&ciently
shown by Bengal. But the fonner also, when more narrowly examined, yieMs hardly
any satisfactory meaning. The common rendering: till they have been completed, for
till their nnmber has been made iip. is hard. So also is that of Vftringa : till the whole
meuanre of the sufferings ap|)ointed to litem might be full. No parallel passages can be
produced for either.

THE SIXTH SEAL, CH. VI. 12 — 17. 273

The siooth seal follows now in vers. 12 — 17. First, in vers.
12 — 14, the plague is described which alights upon the ungodly
world. This description is completed in the number seven,
divided by the four and three; the earthquake, the sun becom-
ing black, the bloody moon, the falling stars of heaven — the
disappearing heavens, the mountains and islands moved out of
their places. Then in vers, 15 — 17 the impression is delineated^
which these facts produced upon those who were affected by
them, the indescribahle anguish by which they were seized. —
This seal has had a false interpretation put on it in two different
ways. First, by those who suppose (as recently Hoffmann), that
the snbject here discoursed of is the end of all, the day of judg-
ment. What this yiew has to support it, rests on mere appear-
ance. That the things, which in yers. 12 — 14 appear to carry
one oyer the boundaries of the present world, only belong to the
figuratiye style of the representation, is evident from vers. 15 —
17, in which we find ourselves in the existing state of things.
Only by adhering to the figuratiye style also does it become clear,
why precisely the heavens, and the mountains, and the islands
are brought together. But the most important, and of itself
alone quite decisive ground against the interpretation in question,
is the circumstance, that we are here still only at the sixth seal,
and another, the seventh, follows. The final judgment must first
enter with this seventh seal. For, according to the starting-point
of this group, and the whole contents of the book, the seals cannot
reach farther than the judgment. Then, the judgment, which
meets us under this seal, does not at all bear the character of the
final judgment. We behold here kings of the earth, the nobles, etc.,
certainly in great trouble and despair ; but the deadly blow is still
not struck against them even at the close. Of what really does
characterise the final judgment — the resurrection of the dead and
their appearance before the tribunal of Christ — there is not a
word said. Finally, that this judgment with all its terrors is
still but a preparatory one, appears from the original passages of
the Old Testament, and likewise from the declaration of our
Lord in Matt. xxiv. 29, which is to be regarded as the text on
which the Seer comments. That the last judgment cannot be
meant there, that the passage is to be understood figuratively of
times of great tribulation and uproar, is clear from what follows.

274 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 12 — 17.

in which men stilly appear to be living after the catastrophe has
taken place ; and the manifestation of Christ, corresponding here
to the seventh seal, only appears afterwards. — While the signifi-
cation of this seal is over-valued by this class of expositors, by
another it it rated too low. It is so by those who, not perceiv-
ing that the Revelation ^IIs into a series of independent groups,
think that the seventh seal comprehends the whole of the rest
of the book. So great and lengthened a course of things conld
not possibly have followed the sixth seal if this were taken in its
natural import, and hence the attempt most be made to rob it of
this ; as was done by Bengel, for example, when he set forth the
singular view that the end of the world is here merely exhibited
beforehand to the unrighteous dead. If we do not stand here
exactly at the final end, we yet stand at the beginning of the
end. " The great day of his wrath*' is immediately before the
door, is already as good as come ; and ch. vii. can only come in
as an episode between ch. vi. 17 and ch. viii. 1, where the dawn
of that day is announced. The two verses are very closely con-
nected together, and in ch. vii. we have only a repetition of what
belongs to an earlier period. — The historical realization of the
section before us is to be found, first, in the times of complete up-
roar and begun destruction in respect to that world-power, whose
persecution of the church was the primary occasion of the compo-
sition of this book, and whose approaching overthrow must there-
fore have been peculiarly comforting to the church — the Roman.
The impending terrible convulsion of this power also appears in
ch. xvi. 18, under the symbol of a mighty earthquake. What in
this respect is marked here in its general features, is more fully
detailed in the following groups. But the prophecy does not come
to an end with this first realization. It continually revives anew,
whenever a new persecuting world-power steps into the place of
the Roman. As another of this kind 6og and Magog are named
in this very book. The original passage also, Matt. xxiv. 29,
has had more than one fulfilment : — the first a provisional one,
which our Seer already saw behind him in the overthrow of Jeru-
salem, a more general one in the breaking up of the Roman
state ; the most extensive one is still future, and may already be
descried in its beginnings. — The mistake of several of the older
expositors, who refer the darkening of the sun, etc., to the fates

tUE SIXTH SEAL, CH. VI. 12. 275

of the chnrch instead of the jadgments on the world, against
which the elect are fully secured by the sealing vision in ch. ?ii.,
has been well exposed by Vitringa.

Ver. 12. And I $aw when he opened the sixth seal, and there
was a great earthquake^ and the sun was hlack as sackloth of
hair, and the whole moon was like blood. — In place of the earth-
quake, Ziillig puts a commotion generally, on the ground that
the heavens and the sea were also affected by it. But the word
when standing alone is always used of the earthquake. So in par-
ticular in Revelation, ch. viii. 6, xi. 13, 19, xvi. 18. And Zullig*s
reason is disposed of by the remark that the heavens and the sea
are spoken of in a figurative sense, and in point of fact the whole
catastrophe is confined to the earth. '' Storms, earthquakes, are
not images of God's omnipotence in general ; they are the natural
symbols of the destroying omnipotence of God, and were re-
garded as such by the nations of antiquity. Earthquakes were
viewed as precursors of approaching ruin; comp., for example,
the remarkable passage of Herodian, VI. 98, from which it ap-
pears that he himself, participating in the general belief, held
them to be such ; also lY. 28 ; Thuc. II. 8 ; Justin. XL. 2. As
the manifestation of the destroying power of God in inanimate
nature calls forth, even in the rudest minds, the anticipation that
the same destroying power shall also manifest itself in the rela-
tions of men ; as in eyery storm, in every earthquake, we behold
a sort of prophecy in act concerning God's judgments on men ;
so, on the other hand, where these judgments are experienced,
where mournful disorder and distress on all sides prevail, even
external nature seems, to the troubled and anxious mind, to be
dissolved ; it feels as if heaven and earth were convulsed together.
And this explains how the manifestations of the destroying power
of God in nature — how storms and earthquakes should be so
frequently used in Scripture as images of similar manifestations
of the same power in the affairs of man. Hence, for example,
the description of the storm in Fs. xviii., to denote the fearful
ruin which God was ready to bring on the enemies of the Psalmist.
Hence, too, Isa. xiii. 13, where the contemplation of the destruc-
tion that overhung Babylon is extended so as to embrace a
judgment over the whole earth, of which it was a prelude, an
execution in part, and at the same time a matter-of-fact prophecy,

«2

276 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 12.

'' Therefore will I make the heaven to tremble, and the earth
shall qnake from its place, through the anger of the Lord of Hosts,
and in the day when his anger barns." So also Fs. Ix. 3, where
sore calamities of the covenant people appear under the image of
an earthquake, by which great breaches of the earth had been
occasioned. Even in the poetical prose of the first book of the
Maccabees, ch. i. 28, the terrible sufferings by which the covenant
people had been visited, appears directly as an earthquake."
(Christology on Hag. ii. 6.) In Ps. xlvi. 6, " th« nations roared,
the kingdoms were moved," is parallel ; and " he utters his voice,
the earth melts.*' The tumultuous roaring of the nations, the
moving of the kingdoms, appears as a spiritual earthquake sent
among them by God ; so also in ver. 2. In Hag. ii. 6 the words,
'* I shake the heaven and the earth and the sea and the dry
land,'* are explained by those in ver. 7, "and I shake all
heathen." If it is established, that by the latter is meant the
causing of the foundations of empire among the heathen to shake,
the dissolving of their power, then the shaking of heaven and
earth must be referred to the same. In Hag. ii. 22 likewise, by
the words, " I shake heaven and earth," great revolutions are
indicated, through which the condition of things on earth was to
be so changed that the highest should become lowest. This
is manifest from ver. 23, which serves as an explanation, " and
I overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I destroy the strength
of the kingdoms of the heathen, and I overthrow the chariots of
war and their warriors, and the horses and the riders come down,
every one by the sword of his brother." From this commentary
we perceive that the shaking of heaven and earth denotes great
revolutions, which God by his almighty power brings about in the
8t4kte of nations — bloody wars, by which he precipitates from their
seat of power those who proudly lifted themselves up against him.
It is this that is denoted by the words : and there was a great
earthquake, which we can the more readily understand, as we
have now the beginning of such an earthquake before our eyes,
and which always takes place where the earth rises up in rebellion
against its Creator and Redeemer. The shining of the heavenly
lights is the symbol and the visible reflection of the grace of God.
Hence its extinguishment by the sun and moon becoming dark
in Etorms and earthquakes, &c., is regarded as a prelude of severe

TUB SIXTH SEAL, CH. VI. 12. 277

judgments. Comp. Joel iii. 4, "^ the sun shall be changed into
darkness and the moon into blood before the great and dreadful
day of the Lord comes/* and the Ghristology on the passage. The
main point in such representations was not the sign itself, but the
state of mind it indicated, the consciousness of guilt, which filled
the soul with thoughts of an avenging Gk>d, and the posture of
affairs which brought him strikingly into view. Hence we find
an explanation, why in the Old Testament the darkening of the
sun and moon usually appears as an image of troublous and
distressing times. When such really come, the lights of hearen
appear to be extinguished. The sun seems to shine only for the
prosperous. Isaiah, after haying described heavy troubles that
were going to break in upon the land for its ungodliness, says, in
ch. Y. 30, " There was darkness in its heayen.*' Jeremiah, when
describing the judgment thai was impending oyer Judah, says, in
ch. iy. 23, '' and I saw the earth, and behold ! it was waste and
desolate, and the heayen and it had no lights." And in ch. xy.
9, ** her sun went down while it was yet day." In EzekieU ch.
xxxii. 7, 8, we meet with the extinguishing of the heavenly
lights in his delineation of the overthrow of Pharaoh the king of
Egypt, to indicate such unutterable evils as it would be impos-
sible to escape from. In Amos, ch. viii. 9, 10, it is said,,
" and it comes to pass in that day, saith the Lord Jehovah,
that I make the sun to go down at mid-day, and give dark-
ness to the land in clear day. And I turn your feasts into
mourning, and all your songs into lamentations; and I bring
upon all loins sackloth, and upon every head baldness ; and I
make it as the mourning for a first-born, and its end as a bitter
day." Michaelis : '' I make the sun to go down, that is, I make
all that is mournful suddenly rush in." In Mic. iii. 6 it is said, -
'' And the sun goes down for the prophets, and the day becomes
dark for them," meaning, " that everything of a dismal kind was
ready to overtake them." Comp. besides Isa. xiii. 10 ; Zech.
xiv. 6 ; Joel iii. 15. — Since there is such a regular figurative use
in Old Testament Scripture of the darkening of the sun and moon»
we shall not think of anything else in the declaration of our Lord,
which forms the immediate basis of the passage before us, "But
soon after the tribulation of those days the sun shall be darkened
and the moon shall not give her light;" we shall only find in it a

278 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 13.

description of the most dismal andraonrnfal times — ^sncli times as
existed immediately before the destnietion of Jerusalem, and as
are now again beginning to appear, when the lights of heaven are
as good as extingnished for the miserable, because these are no
longer sensible of the enlivening rays they emit. This view also
is rendered necessary by the falling of the stars from heaven that
immediately follows, which most be figuratively understood, both
from the parallel passages in the Old Testament, and because the
stars falling from heaven, if understood otherwise, would crush
and destroy all, while in the following verses the tribes of men
are spoken of as being still in existence. — The comparison of the
sun with sackloth of hair (sackloth as the mourning-garb again in
ch. xi. 3, comp. Matt. xi. 21) is not to be referred to the black"
ness — ^for hair-cloth was usually made of cameFs hair, Matt. iii.
4 — but to the want of all bright and shining colour. No stronger
contrast to the glittering splendour of the sun could be found
than the sackloth of hair worn by mourners, the natural hateful-
ness of which is still further heightened by its symbolical use. —
On the expression : the whole moon, Ziillig remarks, ''as she ap-
pears only when at full moon, so that the sight would be still
more terrible." The whole, however, is wanting in many manu-
scripts ; and is also rendered somewhat suspicious by never occur-
ring in the fundamental passages of the Old Testament.

Ver. 13. And the stars of heaven fall to the earth, as the fig-
tree casts its unripe fruit, when shaken by a strong wind. Every
thing mighty is in Scripture transferred to heaven ; see on ch. xii.
9. But the stars of heaven, in particular, are so natural an
image and symbol of the greatness and splendour of worldly
rulers, that the employment of them in this sense is found among
almost all nations, and pervades also nearly all Scripture, from
Num. xxiv. 17 onwards (see my work on Balaam there.) In ch.
xxxiv. 4, 5, Isaiah says in words, from which those here are prin-
cipally taken, to which also those of our Lord in Matt. xxiv. 29
refer, '' And all the host of heaven is dissolved, and the heavens
are rolled together as a scroll ; and all their host falls down, as a
leaf falls from off the vine, and as that which is withered from the
fig-tree. For my sword is bathed in heaven, behold it comes
down on Idumea." It is the same thing in meaning that is ex-
pressed in ver. 12, "Their nobles! there is none whom one calls

THE SIXTH SEAL, CU. VI. 13. 279

to the kingdom, and all their princes have come to nothing.*'
The heayen is the princea-Jieaven, the entire order of kings and
nobles. The stars are individual princes and nobles. The " in
heayen" of yer. 5 pats this beyond a doabt, as heaven stands
there for the region where the sword rages, which could not be
said of heaven in the proper sense. Michaelis remarks, *' That
this prophecy cannot be understood immediately of the last day,
is clear from the circumstance, that the desolation of many re-
gions follows this rolling up of the heavens." In Isa. zxiv. 21,
" And it comes to pass on that day, that the Lord will visit the
host of the height in the height, and the kings of the earth on
the earth," the second member is explanatory of the first. No
trace is to be found anywhere else in the Old Testament of a pu-
nishment of " the bad heavenly powers." The whole chapter has
to do only with judgments on the earth. The height occurs in
rer. 4, xxvi. 5, in undoubted reference to the heights of the earth.
In Isa. xiv. 12, the now fallen and prostrate king of Babylon ap-
pears under the image of the morning-star falling from heaven.
In this book itself, ch. xii. 4, in imitation of Dan. viii. 10, mighty
kings appear as the stars of heaven, and their overthrow is re-
presented as the falling down of these to the earth. In ch. viii.
10 a great star of heaven denotes a mighty ruler. — In regard to
the image of the fig-tree we may apply what Bengel says of the
book in the next verse, '' Wheti Scripture compares something
very great to what is very small, the majesty and omnipotence of
God, before which the great is as the small, is thereby magnified.
Job xxxviii. 9." To the " strong wind," corresponds the mighty
storm of the divine judgments ; comp. ch. vii. 1. — In the verse be-
fore us, therefore, we are told, that those who have been the
leaders in the conflict with the kingdom of God, in the persecu-
tion of his church, shall first experience his avenging hand ; that
the abuse of their power must draw after it the shaking and the
absolute loss of that power : an announcement, the truth of which
is realizing itself anew. With devout wonder we see before our
eyes, how the stars of heaven are falling to the earth, precisely
as a fig-tree, when violently shaken by the wind, casts off its
unripe fruit. But the immediate fulfilment was the overthrow
of the possessor of the old Roman power, the bright morning-star,
that shone in heayen at the time the Apocalypse was composed.

280 THE SKVJiN SEALS, CH. VI. l4.

Ver. 14. And the heaven departed (ze a scroll when it is rolled
together, and every mountain and island were moved &ut of
their places. That the heaven is the heaven of the princes is
clear from what has been already remarked in the two preceding
verses. The heaven is used so not merely in Isaiah, bat also in
Haggai. Vitringa has remarked, " The image of the heaven
rolled together denotes the annihilation of the whole ciyil and ec-
clesiastical-system of the empire, here under consideration. For,
in the prophetic style the whole body of the rulers of a people
have the designation of heaven applied to it ; but the people that
are subject to the rulers, are represented as the earth." A book
rolled together is in a manner vanished, since nothing can any
longer be seen and read in it. The figure of the sea as a desig-
nation of the world and the nations was found already in use by
the Seer ; see on this figure my Commentary on Ps. cvii. 23, and
the passages there referred to ; and with himself it is quite com-
mon, see at yii. 1, yiii. 8, x. 2, xii. 18, xvi. 3, xx. 13. It is a
farther extension of this image, when particular kingdoms are
denoted by the islands, along with the current designation by
mountains. So, besides this passage, in ch. xvi. 20. But here
also the Seer connects himself with the Old Testament. Isaiah
makes very frequent mention of the islands, more frequently than
might have been expected, had he followed the common phrase-
ology. In ch. xli 1, xlix. l,li. 5, he places the islands and the
nations together. In ch. xi. 11 he puts '^the islands of the sea" as
a compound expression after the enumeration of a series of parti-
cular kingdoms. Also in ch. xxiv. 15, under the islands of the
sea are most suitably understood the kingdoms of the earth.
Likewise in ch. xlii. 4, '' And on his law shall the islands wait,"
where the LXX. and Matthew in ch. xii. 21 have nations instead
of islands. '' To the islands will he repay their gifts," it is said
in ch. lix. 18. Before, the prophet had been speaking of the
adversaries and opponents of the Lord. But the islands in the
common sense were not specially leagued in the impious resist-
ance to the Lord. The same figurative use of the islands also
occurs in Zephaniah, ch. ii. 11. The islands of the heathen there
could only mean their countries in general. For, in the parallel
clause are the gods of the earth, and the inland territories of
the Ammonites and Moabites belong to the islands. These are

TUii SIXTH SEAL, CH. VI. 16, 16, 17. 281

the pajrticalar, while nnder the name of islands a rise is made to
the general. It is a similar expansion of the image of the sea,
when in Ps. crii. 23 — 32, and Isa. xlii. 10, the inhabitants of the
world appear as sea-farers, and when, in Be?, yiii. 9, men are
spoken of as creatures in the sea, and their habitations, villages,
and cities as ships.

Ver. 15. And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and
the captains, and the rich and the strong, and every bondman
and every freeman hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks
of the mountains. Ver. 16 And say to the mountains and to
the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him, who sits on
the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb. Ver. 17. For the
great day of his wrath is come, and who is able to stand / In
the kings and other magnates we have the explanation of the stars
in ver. 13, of the heaven in ver. 14, and see that by these was
meant all that is brilliant, great, and mighty. In vers. 12 — 14
we had what w(zs done towards them, but here it is, how they
were thereby affected. Bengel remarks, "The very people who
were least afraid on earth, who were themselves most feared, and
in this soaght their great glory and joy, stand foremost." The
classes named number sefoen altogether, divided by the three and
the four — the three the governing party, with the king at their
head, then the possessors of dignity in ciyil and military life.
Along with the seven nomber there is the fonr, as the signature
of the earth, the king and three pairs, beside *' the possessors of
dignity in civil and military life," the '* notables also, whether
through wealth or power, and the people, bond and free.** With
the enumeration here we may compare that in Mark vi. 21 :
Herod gave on his birth-day a feast to his great men, and cap-
tains, and principal men of Galilee. The principal men there
{irpmot) are here the rich and the strong. Bengel : '' The great
are those who have most to say in matters of policy, sit at the
helm of the state, execute important commissions and other
things of moment. - In Spain they bear precisely the name of
grandees, elsewhere of magnates, senators, members of Parlia-
ment, etc., and often indeed exercise more power than the
kings themselves, and rule over kings. The rich and the strong
arc often self-willed and insolent persons, who are full of confi-
dence in themselves, and ask nothing after God the Almighty.

282 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 15, 16, 17.

Then come at last all bondmen and free, consequently all men,
even those who have no peculiar distinction. Every individual is
either a bond person or free, though servitude and freedom have
different stages among the higher and lower ranks of society.
They know not whither to betake themselves. What in times
of outward security were the most frightful places, those they
now flee to for refuge, and that in vain. . . . Sometimes in
summer, when a heavy storm, charged with lightning, thunder,
and wind, breaks forth, how frequently will men, even those who
are naturally courageous, and in fields of slaughter and other
warlike encounters are undismayed, be seized with a fear and
trembling, even creeping into vaults and such like places, because
God now causes something to appear of his majesty, although it
is still the time of his forbearance ! How shall it then be,
when the Almighty in full earnest strikes terror into his ene-
n^ies ! How insupportable must it be to the wicked !" The
kings, according to the more exact import given by the con-
nection, are sach as breathe hostility to God and Christ. For,
we have here a phase of God's judgment on the ungodly world. —
The bondmen^ according to ch. xiii. 16, a)so receive the mark of
the beast. There, and in ch. xix. 18, it is " f^ee and bond,*' but
here '' bond and free,'* that the whole might not find its ter-
mination with the bondmen, who can here occupy but a subordi-
nate position. Here respect is had mainly to those who stood in
the more prominent places. Slaves were not the object of dread
on the part of those for whom John prophecied ; these had to suf-
fer especially from kings and men of power ; and if persons in a
state of bondage became afraid and found themselves in a miser-
able condition, such was less to be wondered at, and not so strik-
ing a proof of the power of the Lamb. — Julian s exclamation : 0
Galilean, thou hast conquered, was a fulfilment of our prophecy.
But the course of history furnishes many that must unite in this
confession, and at the present time especially it is again extorted.
Those who shortly ago lifted themselves proudly up against him
who sits on the throne and against the Lamb, the advocates of
Rationalism, who robbed God and Christ of their honour, the
persecutors of the true church, are fain now to hide themselves in
caves and clefts of the rocks. In what form the wrath of the Lamb
manifested itself in regard to the immediate object of the prophecy

THE SIXTH SEAL, CH. VI. 16, 16, 17. 283

against the all-dominant Soman power of St John's time, will
be found in ch. xyii. in connection with the ten kings, whom he
armed against Borne. But to stand simply at that would be no
better than if one should confine the declarations of Christ re-
garding his coming for judgment to Jerusalem, which, as being
the hostile power at the time, was more immediately respected in
them. — The words, " they hid themselves in the caves and in the
rocks of the mountains,'* refer to Isa. ii. 19, '' And they (those
who during the time of forbearance were such proud enemies of
God) go into the holes of the rocks and into the caves of the
earth for fear of the Lord and for the glory of his majesty, when
he ariseth to shake terribly the earth." The next clause, " And
they say to the mountains and to the rocks. Fall on us and hide
us,'* points ta Hos. x. 8, where it is said in regard to the apostate
ten tribes, ** The high places of Aven, the sin of Israel shall be
destroyed ; the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their
altars ; and they say to the mountains. Cover us, and to the hills.
Fall on us." This word had already been transferred by our
Lord from the Old to the New Covenant, Luke xxiii. 30, where
he says, after announcing great tribulations on Jerusalem, '* Then
shall they begin to say to the mountains. Fall on us, and to the
hills, Cover us." The carrying of the Old Testament prophecies,
which had primarily another object, over to the New, is a mani-
fest proof how inadmissible it is to confine the prophecies of the
New Testament to their more immediate object, and provides us
with a kind of finger-post for the right understanding of them. —
We are not, with Ztillig, to suppose that there was properly a
first and second thought : *^ Their first thoughts, therefore, must
have been to withdraw themselves there, in the most secret and
inaccessible hiding-places, from the judgment of the approaching
avenger ; but afterwards, when they saw that he could also reach
them there, they sought in the anguish of despair rather to be
buried under the precipitated mountain-rocks than to suffer the re-
compense due to their misdeeds." We should rather take the two
together : They concealed themselves there indeed, but the mi-
sery of their existence and the distress which accompanied them
there, gave birth to the wish that they might be buried under
the rocks. It seemed better to them to die at once than to con-
tinue in being. Zullig remarks on their call to the rocks to fall

3

284 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VI. 15, 16, 17.

on them, '* They wished it, but it did not take place, at least not
here, because in this preparatory vision there was still no actual
infliction of judgment ;*' more correctly, because we are here still
at the sixth seal and not the seventh, where the judgment comes
finally to an end. Gh. ix. 6 is parallel as to the meaning ; it is
said there at the first woe, the fifth trumpet, the locust plague,
'' And in those days shall men seek death and not find it, they
shall desire to die and death will flee from them.'* — On the ex-
pression : before the face, Bengel remarks, ** which is set against
evil-doers," Ps. xxxiv. 16 ; Rev. xi. 18 ; Ps. ii. 5. — It has been
affirmed without the least reason that the name of the Lamb
suits better in the mouth of followers than of adversaries. Here
it is quite in its place. It points to the quiet patience and meek-
ness of Christ (see on ch. v. 6), which had encouraged them to
set themselves against him, instead of allowing themselves to be
thereby drawn to repentance. Now they must feel to their hor-
ror that the Lamb is also the Lion. As much as: him whom
we thought we could venture to despise on account of his
mildness and leniency, but who to our dismay manifests the other
side of his character. — In ver. 17 the expression, ''it is come,"
indicates the assured conviction : it is already as good as present.
For, in reality the day was still not come, since they could not
in that case have continued in life ; and as certainly as we are
here only at the sixth seal, it cannot be till the seventh, that the
judgment of the world actually arrives. But at the beginning of
the end they feel as if the end itself were present. The same
anticipatory character belongs to the, " it is come," in ch. xi. IS.
— The great day is from Joel ii. 11, " Great is the day of the
Lord and very terrible, and who can bear it 1" We find " the
who can stand," also in Mai. iii. 2, '* And who shall abide the
day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears," comp.
Luke xxi. 36. — The standing is in contrast to the sinking down
together of the guilty out of distress and fearful apprehension of
what was coming. That these could not stand appears too well
from the preceding verses, in which their misery and despair are
delineated. Bengel remarks on this part, '* Now many treat it
quite lightly. But it is no joke. It is a fearful thing to fall ,
into the hands of the living God, and to seek, yet without being
able to find, a refuge from the Almighty as an enemy, when

3

THE SEALING VISION, CIl. VIT. 285

heaven and earth are convulsed together. On the other hand,
for those who have passed from wrath to grace, it is a matter of
great joy that things cannot always continue as they are with
the world, bnt that all shall be broken up, and a new order of
things arise.'*

Chap. vii. — We have an episode before us in this chapter.
The painful solicitude, which could scarcely fail to arise even in
the faithful, on account of the judgments that threaten the world,
as these were developed in a lengthened series under the first six
seals, from which, as themselves also living in the world, it might
seem as if they could hardly escape, is here met by a double con-
solation : first, that God holds over them his protecting hand,
while war and terrors of every kind overspread the world, vii.
1 — 8 ; and then, that there is opened up a riew into that celes-
tial glory, which awaits the chosen after the short tribulation of
the present time, vers. 9 — 17.

First, in regard to the portion, vers. 1 — 8, we have to inquire
what precisely is the place of this scene ? The answer is at once
furnished by ver. 1. According to it the winds have still not
moved, the judgments on the world have not yet begun to take
effect. But these begin with the very first seal, and not merely
with the sixth. So that it is here represented, what is to take
place before the accomplishment of that, which is announced in
the opening of the sixth seal. Those who think that the faithful
are here placed in security against the tribulation, that is spoken
. of in what follows,^ have — apart from the consideration that we are
not justified in going out of the group of the seven seals, which
stops at ch. viii. 1 — ^this against them, that here no trace is to be
found of judgments that have already preceded ; up till this time
there is only guilt in the world, but not punishment. And this
also serves as a refutation of those, who refer the security only to
the judgment of the sixth seal. This last opinion has also against
it the consideration, that the four number of the angels and the
winds points to a variety and fulness in the divine judgments,
such as are found to exist only when we take into account the
sixth seal. In regard to the regressive character of this portion,

1 Bengel : " This already points to the trampcts. God's servants are secured by the
sealing against the plagaes nnder the trompets, and espeoially under the trumpets of the
foar first angels."

286 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 1.

which has proved a stambling-block to so many expositors, Hoff-
mann remarks well : *' It should not stumble us, that the earth
here appears still unhurt. Since these two parts, the world's
destruction and the church's preservation, are co-ordinate to each
other, it might happen without disadvantage to the intended re-
sult and the knowledge to be obtained of it, that the theatre,
which was comprehended in the general dissolution that was
spoken of as taking place in the world's destruction, presents
itself anew as still unhurt, when a representation comes to be
made of the foresight that was to be exercised in the church's
preservation.'* — To a church fainting under the bloody perse-
cutions of the world the Seer had announced the great judgments,
through which God was going to avenge the blood of his servants
on the world, and break its rebelliousness, humble its pride.
But out of the consolation itself a new fear arises. The church
is still in the world, and must therefore, as it seems, be herself
invol?ed in a participation of those frightful judgments. Especially
was the representation of the fifth seal fitted to awaken this fear.
If all should be convulsed, if the proud trees must fall, under whose
shelter men dwell upon earth, there appears no hope of safety
even for the elect. A new consolation is brought in here to meet
this new temptation. God's protecting hand will be stretched
out over his own children even during these frightful plagues,
as in former times he delivered Lot from the midst of destruction,
as he slew Egypt and spared Goshen ; as he gave to Zerubabel
the comforting promise, that amid the terrible shakings of the '
world he would make him as a seal-ring ;^ as in Zech. ix. 8, after
a representation of the great judgments with which all the countries
around Judah should be visited, and the kingdom brought to
nought under whose dominion it then stood (Persia), it is said,
** and I make for my house a camp against the invading enemy ;

1 Cb. Ti. bere stands in the same relation to ch. rii. that Hag. ii. 21, 22 (*' I shake the
heayens and the earth, and overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and destroy the strength
of the kingdoms of the heatheni" &o.) does to Ter. 28, '* in that day, saith the Lord of
Hosts, I will take thee Zerubabel son of Shealtiel, and will make thee as a seal.ring, for
I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of Hosts." The remarks made in the Cbristology
there are equally applicable here : " The fundamental idea is Ood's affectionate guardian-
ship of his people amid all the mighty changes brought by him upon the world, which,
just because they are not accidental, but designed by his guidance to exalt his people
and kingdom, cannot be ii^urious to them; so that his people can look with peace and
comfort upon the earth's desolations, assured that these are but the way to a better world.*'

THE SEALING VISION, CH. \\l. 1. 287

no oppressor shall pass through them any more ; for now I see
with mine eyes." Jesns Christ had already, daring his sojourn on
earth, not only guaranteed safety to his disciples under the perse-
cutions they were to experience in the world, but also in the midst
of the judgments by which the world was to be yisited, Matth.
xxiv. 22.

Gh. yii. 1. And after tJtese things I saw four angels standing
on the four comers of the earth, holding the four winds of the
earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the
sea nor on any tree, — The winds in Scripture are the symbol of
diyine judgments, the storms of suffering and temptation which
are appointed by God. In ch. ri. 13, '* as a fig-tree casts its
unripe fruit, when shaken by a strong wind," the divine judgment
was already compared to a strong wind. And from that there
was but a step to the representation here, where it appears under
the image of the wind. In Job ix. 17, it is said, " he breaketh
me in a tempest, and multiplieth my wounds without cause.'' In
1 Kings xix. 11, ''the great and strong wind, rending the
mountains and breaking in pieces the rocks before the Lord,"
denotes the storm of assaults and tribulations which befel the
church and her representatives, the prophets. The powerful
storm out of the north, in Ezekiel, ch. i. 4, symbolises the judg-
ment that was to break in upon Judea out of Babylon. In
Jeremiah also, ch. xxii. 22, the judgment of God is represented
under the image of the wind. But there are three passages in
particular of the Old Testament which serve as a foundation for
the one before us. In Jer. xlix. 36, the divine judgments rushing
in upon all sides appear as the four winds, " and I bring against
Elam the four winds from the four ends of the heaven, and I
scatter tbem toward all the four winds." The winds are intro-
duced here, not as Zlillig thinks, for the immediate purpose of
scattering, but for that of destroying : the scattering to the four
winds is only the consequence of the powerful activity of the
winds, as appears plainly from ver. 32, where the ** I bring their
calamity from all sides" corresponds as to the matter ; and also
because it is not said, ** and the four winds scatter them,"
but, " I scatter them to all the four winds." So here also
the circumstance of the four angels standing with the four
winds on the four comers of the earth, indicates that the storms

288 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 1.

of the divine judgments were to break in from all sides, and so,
in accordance with what was said in the sixth sea), brings out the
mnltifarions nature of the divine judgments, presupposing the
greatness of the guilt they were sent to chastise. The second
passage is Dan. vii. 2. There the four winds of heaven are let
loose upon the great sea, as a description of the divine judgments
which were to be executed by the conquerors of the world. The
third and last passage is Zech. vi. 1, ss. The prophet sees four
chariots. The interpreting angel instructs him regarding the
meaning of these in ver. 5, *' These are the four winds of heaven,
which go forth, after they have appeared ministering before the
Lord of the whole earth." The four winds of heaven are used to
symbolize the divine judgments. It is on account of their perso-
nification that chariots are ascribed to them, and that the. chariots
in which we must suppose the winds to be carried are afterwards
identified with the winds. — The four winds are called the four
winds of the earth. The earth is wanting in some critical helps,
and Bengel would omit it ; but, improperly ; for, in the funda-
mental passages, it is not simply the four winds, but the four
winds of heaven, that are mentioned ; and the omission of heaven
here is to be accounted for from the earth preceding and follow-
ing, the threefold mention of which is certainly not accidental,
but emphatically points to the theatre of the divine judgments. —
The four winds are held by four angels. Their chief mission is
to let the winds go (comp. on ver. 2), whence it is given to them
to hurt the earth and the sea. But along with this they had the
charge of restraining the winds for some time longer, till the
saints were placed in security, as the angels in Sodom were at
once commissioned to destroy the city and to deliver Lot. And
this is the only point made prominent here, because it i^ the only
thing of present importance. That the angels are not, as Zullig
conceives, the angels of the four winds, but that they are here
employed on a special business, is clear from this, that the dis-
course is not of the four angels, but quite indefinitely of four
angels, while it is of the four winds. We are not to think, with
Bengel, of bad angels. With such the mission would not suit, either
to hold the winds for the preservation of the righteous, or to let
them loose for the destruction of the wicked. Both belong, ac-
cording to the doctrine of Scripture, to the good angels — see in

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 1. 289

regard to the latter my commentary on Ps. Ixxriii. 49.) Accord*
ing to Ex. xii. 13, 23, the slaying of the first-born of Egypt was
accomplished by the destroyer, the angel of the Lord with his
attendants. According also to ver. 3 of this chapter, the fonr
angels take part in the sealing of the elect.^ In the angels who
hold and let go the winds, the thought that the salvation of the
chosen and the destmction of the wicked comes only from God,
is clothed, as it were, with flesh and blood'^ — comp. the similar
symbolical representation in ch. ix. 14, 15. — The fonr angels with
the fonr winds make up with the earth, the sea, and the trees, the
number seven : in the first group the spoilers, in the second those
that were to be spoiled, the agena and the patiens of the desola-
tion.— The «6a, according to Dan. vii. 2, can only be the sea of
the nations. Of the sea in the literal sense, besides, we cannot
think, because that could not be hurt by the winds, as stated in
ver. 2. Finally, that the sea and the trees are used figuratively
is clear from the position of the trees, which are separated from
the earth, to which the natural trees belong, and are placed after
the sea. — The trees here correspond to the kings, magnates, etc.,
in ch. yi. 15. Trees and grass in ch. viii. 7, ix. 4, denote the
high and the low, princes and subjects. In the Old Testament
trees are the common symbol of the great. In Isa. x. 18, 19, the
trees of Ashur, in contrast to his brushwood, are his great ones.
But especially has this symbol a frequent place in those prophets,
with whom St John most closely connected himself, Daniel and
Ezekiel. In Dan. iv. Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon ap-
pears under the image of a lofty tree : *' Thou, 0 king, art that
tree," yer 19. In Ezekiel, ch. xxxi. 3, ss., Assyria is repre-
sented as a cedar on Lebanon, beautifully foliaged, its top reach-
ing to the very clouds ; in its branches nestled all the fowls of
heaven, the beasts of the field bore under its boughs, and many
tribes of the earth dwelt beneath its shade. In ch. xvii. also the
house of David appears as a high cedar on Lebanon ; the trees of the

1 Bengel remarks : '* They are bad angels ; for good angels, thoagh they do harm, stiU
do no injustice." Bnt dStKuv is used in the sense of doing barm, giving pain, often in
the Apocalypse itself, ch. vi. 6. ix. 4. In that sense it must at any rate be taken here,
since, even ifthe angels were bad, the work done by them has nothing in it of injustice;
they were certainly instruments of deserved punishment.

3 Vitringa: Qnadietionis formula innuitur, nullos iu, orbe terraniro motus cieri ma*
jores, qui non pendeanta dei cousUio.
t

290 THE SEVEN REALS, CH. VII. 2, 3.

field (Michaelis: ''all princes and potentates of this world^') saw
its wonderfnl growth, and perceived from it that it is the Lord who
exalts or depresses all trees. The trees of the field, too, in ch
xxxi. 4, 5, 15, are the princes of the earth. Gomp. besides Jer.
xxi. 14, xlvi. 22, 23. — The angels hold the winds that the wind
might not blow upon any tree, literally, every tree. And as
Ziillig remarks, the word all or.every is not used in vain in the
Apocalypse For the present the winds must blow upon no tree ;
by and bye they must blow upon all trees. The hurting of the
trees brings injury to those who dwell under their branches ; Ez.
xxxi. 6, 17, xvii. 23; Matt. xiii. 3i, 32. If but a single tree
had been hurt before the sealing, the promise which the Lord has
given to his people would be broken. For without his protecting
grace the fall of that tree would be hurtful to them. Precious
privilege of Christians, that they are preserved from the destruc-
tion which the fall of the tree brings along with it !
' Ver. 2. And I saw another angel ascend from the rising of
the sun, who had the seal of the living God^ and cried with a loud
voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth
and the sea, saying, Ver. 3. Hurt not the earth, nor the sea,
nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in
their foreheads. — On the expression " another angel," Bengel re-
marks : '' This was a holy, but a created angel. To such an one
alone is the word suitable, which he utters in ver. 3.*' But this
other angel is rather Christ, sent by God the Father as the Sa-
viour and the Comforter of his afflicted church. The " our God"
is no objection to that, as Bengel supposes. For Christ also calls
God his God, John xx. 17 ; and in Bom. xv. 6, Paul speaks of
the God of our Lord Jesus Christ.^ Nor does the epithet angel
speak against its being Christ. For this denotes not the nature
but the mission, which he has in common with the inferior angels.
Through the whole of the Old Testament the Logos constantly
appears as the angel of the Lord. Christ represents himself as
an angel also, in ch. x. 1, and xviii. 1. The reference to Christ
is favoured by the absolute authority which this angel exercises
over the other angels, and the fundamental passage of Ez. ix.,
where the righteous are marked by the angel of the Lord, the

1 Bee on the connection between the full equality of nature and the dependanee in
Christ, Schmeider iiber das hobenpriesterliche Gebet, p. 20.

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 2, 3. 291

heayenly mediator between God and his people, who presents
himself in the garb of the earthly mediator — comp. Lev. xyi. 4,
23. But more especially, and sufficient of itself, indeed, is the
proof that is afforded by the circumstance that the angel here
ascends from the rising of the sun.^ Ztillig calls it " a circum-
stance very enigmatical." But it suits only Christ. The sun-
rising marks the heavenly region. In the east, where the visible
sun goes forth, there was given to the Seer a glorious spectacle,
there the spiritual sun ascends the heavens — that is, Christ, as
possessor of the glory of God, as which he is also elsewhere in the
Berelation and in other parts of Scripture compared to the sun
— comp. X, 1, i. 16, John i. 9, where Christ appears as the true
light, which enlightens every man, Matt. xvii. 2, and on the sun
as a symbol of the glory of the Lord, see on ch. xii. 1. As the
rising sun, or the sun going forth in the height, Christ was spoken
of by 2echarias in Luke i. 78. The wonderful mercy of God cele-
brated by him, " through which the rising from on high has vi-
sited us, and he has appeared to those who sit in darkness and
the shadow of death," makes itself known here anew by a visita-
tion, which he accomplishes for his people in the immediate pros-
pect of the troubles that threatened them. The sun is brought
into view here as the source of vivifying and refreshing power,
Christ as the Saviour and helper of his people. The angel, who
ascends as the spiritual sun, forms a contrast to the angelb with
the four winds. As these announce storms of sufferings and tri-
bulations, so the lovely image of the sun promises salvation and
refreshment to those who stand under his grace. The original
passage for the representation here (as also for Luke i. 78, where
it is combined with Isa. ix. 1), is Mai. iii. 20, " And to you that
fear my name, the Sun of Righteousness shall arise, and salvation
is under his wings.*' The sun there is primarily righteousness
itself, or salvation as a matter-of-fact justification and manifesta-
tion of righteousness. But He, through whom the righteousness
was to be imparted to the Lord's people, with whose appearance
righteousness was to arise on them as the sun, is, according to
ch. iii. 1, the angel of the Lord, the heavenly mediator of the co-
venant, who makes good his threatenings and promises. So that

1 Bengel : " Elsewhere the ougels come down from heaven, eh. z. 1, xviii. 1, xx. 1.
Bat here an angel goes forth from the horizon, as the san in his oonrse."

t2

292 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VIT. 2, 3.

the view of the chnrch, which understands Christ by the sun, is
perfectly correct in the main, as he also is in reality the light that
arises on those who dwell in the land of darkness like the shadow
of death. (See the Christology on the passage.) Amid the
anxieties and fears which are apt to be occasioned by the thought
of the heavy judgments that God brings on a guilty world, let us
never lose sight of this comforting image of the angel that ascends
from the rising of the sun. — The angel has the seal of the liring
God that he might seal with it the servants of God in their
foreheads. The original passage is Ez. ix. 4, where the Lord
says to the person clothed in linen, " Thou shalt set a mark upon
the foreheads of the men, who sigh and cry over all the abomina-
tions which are done in the midst of them.*' In the midst of the
six angels, who were sent for judgment against the ungodly Jeru-
salem, or the world in the church, a man appeared clothed in linen,
with an inkhorn on his thigh, the angel of the Lord (see Christo-
logy on the passage for the proof), who receives from God a charge
to go through the city, and mark the elect. It was a symbolical
representation of the truth, most consolatory to the true people of
God, ready to faint under the thought of God's impending judg-
ments, that in the midst of these the protecting hand of his
grace would be upon them, that they should not be swept away
for the iniquities of the city, and that, just as he knew how to
reserve the wicked to the day of judgment, so also did he know
how to deliver the godly out of temptation (2 Pet. ii. 10.) This
assurance of an actual preservation was verified, for example, in
the deliverance of Jeremiah, and in that of Ebed-Melech, to whom
the Lord said by Jeremiah, ch. xxxix. 16 — 18, " Behold I will
bring my words upon this city for evil and not for good, and thou
shalt see it in that day. But I will deliver thee in that day,
saith the Lord, and thou shalt not be given into the hand of the
men of whom thou art afraid. For, I will surely deliver thee, and
thou shalt not fall by the sword, but thy life shall be for a prey
unto thee : because thou hast put thy trust in me, saith the Lord."
To the iiikhom in Ezekiel corresponds the seal of God here, and
to the mark in the one place, the impress of the seal in the other.
— In common life things are sealed for a double purpose — either
to make them inaccessible and lay them under seal. Matt, xxvii.
66, or to confirm them. And accordingly in Scripture there is a
double import in the figurative and symbolical use of sealing.

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 2, 3. 293

The latter of the two kinds is referred to in the passages, John
iii. 33, vi. 27 ; Born. iy. 11 ; 1 Cor. ix. 2 ; 2 Cor. i. 22 ; Eph. i.
13. Here the sense of confinning is the more suitable, as it was
not by the sealing that persons coald be first made servants of
Ood ; they could only be recognised and outwardly represented as
such ; whence also the seal was to be impressed on their fore-
heads, the place where it could be most easily seen. He that is
sealed is confirmed in his position as the servant of God, and is
thereby made secure against the calamities, which can only alight
on the children of this world. God gives them in respect to the
matter a letter and seal, that they are his servants. Bengel un-
derstands the sealing otherwise : ** Where there is any thing that
belonga to a prince's establishment, where the royal arms are im-
printed on plate, or where a seal of that sort is impressed on a
writing, there must no one lay hold of the object. Now, what
belongs to the great God, that remains untouched. If any one
would appropriate it to himself, he must again be deprived of it.'*
Harless gives the same view of the sealing on Eph. i. 13, '' The
impress of the seal marks the certainty, that what is stamped
with it belongs in some respect to the possessor of the seal. In
what particular respect the seal does not indicate.'' But the use
of sealing as a mark of property is without any certain example
in Scripture. — According to the opinion of many expositors, the
name of Jehovah must have been on the seal. They rest on ch.
xiv. 1, where the elect are said to have the name of God on their
foreheads. But that name there denotes their character as ser-
vants of God, which belonged to them before the sealing here, and
which was the foundation of the sealing. Nor must we lay stress
on the circumstance, that in the East the seal commonly bears the
name of its possessor. For, the custom is still not so common
there, that it might be understood of itself, and in that case it
would have required here to be expressly mentioned. But it is
carefully to be noted, that even in Ezekiel a mark is spoken of
quite generally, without any more immediate description of the
sort of mark. For that reason alone we must here not go beyond
what is expressly written. Nothing depends on what might bo,
on the seal, but simply, that it was the seal of God. — The seal is
described as that of the living God. The same thing is implied
here as in the original passage, Fs. xlii. 2, " My soul thirsts for
God, for the living God," where I remarked in my Commentary,

294 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 2, 3.

" the Psalmist's God is not a phantom, which, itself dead, is also
incapable of imparting life ; he is the living, and consequently the
life-giving; comp. the corresponding phrase, * the God of my life
in ver. 8, rich in salvation for his people.' " See on ch. i. 18. —
The lond voice proclaims the determined and absolute will ; comp.
John xi. 43, where Jesns cried with a loud voice, " Lazams come
forth." Bengel interprets differently : " The loud cry indicates,
Hhat the four angels were already about to make a commencement
of the work of desolation. If something is ready to be done, and
we would fain arrest it, we then raise our voice." — Instead of:
until we have sealed, Luther has : until we seal, following the not
sufficiently established reading of a-Kppar^l^cD/iev. Since no others
are mentioned as being present in the scene, the we is most
simply explained by : / and you. This mode of explaining it can
only be objected to, if by the four angels bad angels are under-
stood. *' Bad angels," Bengel says on this false supposition,
" are also indeed in the power of God the Almighty ; but no one
of them can say. My God ; and neither could any good angel say
in fellowship with the bad. Our God." We may be the less sur-
prised to find the four angels here represented as taking part in
the work of sealing, since not only was it given to them in ver. 2
to hurt the earth and the sea, but also, according to ver. 1, for
the sake of the elect to hold the four winds of the earth. The
analogy, too, of the fundamental passage is in favour of this view.
In Ez. ix. we find no appearance of any one beside the six an-
gels, who were sent to execute God's judgments, and the person
in linen clothing who was to mark the elect. The last, however,
is the leader of the whole party, as appears from this, that thus
only is the number seven completed, and that he stands in the
midst, while the others follow him. That the person clothed in
linen appears also at the (desecrated) altar, indicates that he too
had a part in the execution of judgment ; comp. viii. 5, Am. ix. 1.
We are not, however, to conclude from the we with Zullig : " Hence
these others also must hare had the seal of the living God, not the
person alone who spake." But it is against this, that only one seal
of the living God is named ; and also the analogy of £zekiel, ac-
cording to whom the marking was performed merely by the per-
son who was clothed in linen. The works of judgment and pre-
servation were so distributed, that the first was executed by the

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 4. ' 295

four angels, and the second by the other angel. The two, however,
still formed a common work. The four angels so far took part
in the sealing, that they held the winds till it was completed, and
gave to it their cordial concurrence and joyful assistance. And
the judgment again was executed under the auspices of the other
angel ; the four angels were but the instruments of the wrath of
the Lamb, ch. vi. 16. — Bengel remarks : " The hurting lasts for
a long time, and so also does the work of sealing, which is per-
petually in progress. Whenever a paroxysm of hurting breaks
forth, the servants of God also are preserved, for whom it then
becomes necessary, until they are placed in perfect security on
Mount Zion, ch. xiv. 1." But in this it is not properly distin-
guished between the symbol and the fact indicated thereby ; and
what belongs only to the latter is transferred to the former.
The sealing as a symbolical act was accomplished in a single
period of time ; it was done once for all before the commence-
ment of the plagues, by which the ungodly world was to be judged.
But the simple idea is, that amid all the judgments which befal
the world for its sins, God protects his own people. — The sealing
refers to the entire duration of the Christian church, even to its
final completion ; to the entire duration of the world, even to its
final destruction. Therefore, it has not yet lost its significance.
And for the present time in particular it is fUl of consolation,
as the sixth seal is beginning to be realized auaw in a manner
never seen before.

Ver. 4. And I heated the number of those who were sealed^
an hundred and forty and four thousand, that were sealed out
of all the tribes of the children of Israel, The act of sealing
is not expressly reported to have been brought to a close, but
the Seer passes on abruptly to what presupposes it to have been
actually finished. The " I heard'* is particularly to be noted.
Znllig : '* The number is too great for the Seer to have ascer-
tained it by his own reckoning, and yet it must be a quite de*
finite number. Hence he aptly feigns (!) that he heard it an-
nounced.'* The " I heard" here coincides with the great multi-
tude, which no one could number," in ver. 9, and disproves the
opinion of those who, because a determinate number is mentioned
here, while there the (relative) innumerableness is spoken of,
would conclude that in the latter passage a difierent company is

296 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 4.

meant. — That the unmber 144,000 has not a statistical, but a
purely theological value, is evident from the way it is made up.
A great multitude of believers, that no one can number, could
not be more appropriately indicated than by this number. Twelve
is the signature of the church (see my Commentary on Balaam,
p. 72), and as such is often used in this book itself — comp. ch.
xii. 1, where the woman, who represents the church, has a crown
of twelve stars, xxi. 12, where the city has twelve gates, xxi. 14,
where the walls of the city have twelve foundations, xxi. 16, 17,
the four and twenty elders. In its simplest and most elementary
form, this number presents itself in the twelve patriarchs and the
twelve apostles, the two sources of the stream of the church.
The idea of '* the great multitude^ of believers is expressed thus :
the fundamental number is multiplied by itself, as in xxi. 17, and
then by thousands, as in xxi. 16. While Bengel is here at great
pains to rescue the definite number, because with the recognition
of the truth here light falls also upon other numbers of the Reve-
lation— those numbers, which lie at the bottom of his castle in
the air, his apocalyptic chronology — Bossuet clearly perceived the
right view, and distinctly announced it. He says, " This passage
alone ought to make it manifest, how greatly they deceive them-
selves, who would always apprehend an exact and definite num-
ber in the numbers of the Apocalypse. For, can it be imagined,
that there was precisely in each tribe twelve thousand elect, nei-
ther more nor less, to make up this total number of 144,000 t
It is not by such minutiae, nor with such scrupulous littleness of
spirit, that the sacred oracles should be explained. It is neces-
sary to understand in the numbers of the Apocalypse a certain
mystical reason, to which the Holy Spirit seeks to draw our at-
tention. The mystery, which we are to learn here, is, that the
number twelve, sacred in the synagogue and in the church, be-
cause of the twelve patriarchs and the twelve apostles, is multi-
plied by itself, in order to make twelve thousand in each tribe,
and twelve times twelve thousand in all the tribes together, that
we might perceive the faith of patriarchs and of apostles multi-
plied in their successors ; and in the solidity of a number so
perfectly square, the eternal immutability of the truth of God
and of his apostles.*' If the number is rightly understood, all
such questions, as whether the 144,000 are so many individual

THE SEALING VISION, CH, VII. 4. 297

fiouls, or whether so many men belong to them, fall entirely into
abeyance. — The same 144,000, whose preservation amid the
plagues that were to come npon the earth is here represented,
meet us again in ch. xiv. 1, 3, in their state of heavenly glory ;
substantially also here in the same state, in ver. 9, ss., only that
the number is not expressly repeated. Both the preservation
and the glory are at the same time pledged to the -true members
of the church, and besides these a third, citizenship in the New
Jerusalem. — The sealed are out of all the tribes of the children
of Israel It is no contradiction to this, that Dan is not named
in the following enumeration ; the omission merely shows, that
according to the Seer's point of view Dan was excluded from the
number of the tribes of Israel. But this very omission of the
tribe of Dan is a proof that the Seer spake of the tribes of the
children of Israel, not in a Jewish, but in an Israelitish-Christian
sense. In the sacred books of the Old Testament the wicked
appear, in spite of their fleshly descent from Jacob, as cut off
from their people. But, on the other hand, native heathens, under
certain restrictions, were on account of their faith naturalized in
Israel ; and the prophets announced, that one day these restric-
tions were to be abolished, and the naturaAzation of believing hea-
then, going hand in hand with the exclusion of the false seed, shall
proceed with great rapidity. So, for example, Isaiah in ch. Ivi.
6, 7« and Ezekiel in ch. xlvii. 22, 23, " And it shall come to
pass, that ye shall divide it (the land) by lot for an inheritance
among you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, who
shall beget children among you ; and they shall be unto you as
bom in the country among the children of Israel ; they shall
have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel. And it
shall come to pass, that in what tribe the stranger sojourneth,
there shall ye give him his inheritance, saith the Lord God."
Michaelis : " The distinction of races which existed under the
Old Covenant shall be abolished ;" see also HcLvernick on the
passage. Now that Israel and his tribes are mentioned here in
this sense, that the Christian church is what is meant by them,
as being the legitimate continuation of ancient Israel, not only
appears from the omission already referred to of the tribe of
Dan, and from the equality of the numbers in the small and the
great tribes, but will also be still farther proved at ch. xi. from

298 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 4.

the effacing there of all tribe-distinctions. Those who with Bcngel
hold stiffly to the point, that Israel is here spoken of in the
natural sense, entangle themselves in the difficulty, that the
Jewish Christians, to whom by their view the promise exclusively
belongs, cannot possibly be separated from the others. Bengel
himself says : ** With the Jews, who for so long a period have
assumed, whether willingly or by constraint, the Christian name,
circumcision has been renounced, and the multitudes of their
descendants have become intermingled with the heathen, so that
it is impossible for us to know who among us may have derived
our descent from Jews or heathen ; as, on the otiier hand, a Jew
does not know whether he may not have partly sprung from a
proselyte.** Besides, the following argument is irresistible : the
plagues, against which the sealing brings security, pass over the
whole earth, threaten alike all who, according to ch. v. 9, 10,
have been redeemed by the blood of Christ out of every kindred
and tongue, people and nation, and made kings and priests to
their God ; not a word being said as to any separate division of
Jewish Christians. But how unlikely is it that the Seer should
have obtained consolation only for a part of those that were in
danger ! What should fill <ill with anxiety required to be met with
consolation for all ; and so, according to ver. 3, the servants of
God generally must be sealed. To understand by these simply
the Jewish Christians, is the greatest arbitrariness. Bengel says :
" As certainly as the tribe of Judah is that from which the
victorious Lion, the Lamb, sprung (ch v. 5), so certainly are all
the tribes here to be literally understood.** But the question is
not whether literally or non-literally ; but whether with the
inclusion or the exclusion of the adopted children, who through
faith have become incorporated ? And the former has on its side
the analogy among Israel of the excision of the false seed, the entire
omission of Dan, and the circumstance that in the rest it is not
the whole tribes that are sealed, but only a limited number out
of each. Besides, though the tribes were to be understood
literally, the enumeration of the particular tribes could still have
only an ideal import. They serve merely to embody the thought
that the preservation shall extend alike to all parts of the church.
This results simply from the consideration that at the time the
Apocalypse was composed, the distinction of tribes had already

4

THE SEALING VISION, OH. VII. 5—8. 299

in great part vanished, then from the omission of one whole tribe,
which could never have taken place if a real numbering had been
meant, further from the absolute equality of the numbers obtained
from the small and the great alike, &c. — Ewald admits that it is
not Jewish Christians specially who are spoken of, but the whole
Christian church ; in the transference, however, of the name of
Israel to Christians, he conceives he finds a proof of the Judaizing
disposition of the author. But if a fault were really to be dis-
covered in this, it must necessarily be a quite common one (Ewald
would ascribe it to the author of the Revelation in contrast to
Paul and John) ; since the Saviour himself took the lead in desig-
nating his church by the name of Israel, Matth. xix. 28, and chose
his apostles with a respect to the number of the tribes of Israel ;
comp. the introductory investigations to ch. xi. The name arose
out of a consideration of the continuity of the church, which
doubtless cannot but look very strange to an age that has been
so much accustomed to tear asunder the Old and New Testa-
ments from each other.

Ver. 5. Of the tribe ofJvdah were sealed twelve thousand ; of
the tribe of Reuben were sealed twelve thousand ; of the tribe of
Gad were sealed twelve thousand. Ver. 6. Of the tribe of Asher
were sealed twelve thousand ; of the tribe of Naphthali were
sealed twelve thoiuand ; of the tribe of Manasseh were sealed
twelve thousand, Ver. 7. Of the tribe of Simeon were sealed
twelve tJu>usand ; of the tribe of Levi were sealed twelve thou-
sand; of the tribe of Issachar were sealed twelve thousand,
Ver. 8. Of the tribe of Zebulon were sealed twelve thousand ;
of the tribe of Joseph were sealed twelve thousand ; of the tribe
of Benjamin were sealed twelve thousand. — The tribes are
united in pairs together. Bengel : ** It was after Luther's death
that the Bible was divided into verses as we now find it, and
there in each verse we have three tribes, which does not make a
suitable arrangement.*' In regard to the reason for the pair-like
arrangement, Zullig remarks : " The birth determines the order
in the eight last, four closely related brotherly pairs after their
mothers. It only required the two leaders Judah and Beuben to
be placed beside each other, and then with Simeon and Levi, who
were in other respects closely connected (comp. Gen. xlix. 6 — 7,
where they stand in juxtaposition), there just remained one pair

300 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 6—8.

more.*' Precisely as the tribes here, the apostles are arranged
in pairs. Matt. x. 2, ss., and for similar reasons ; at the head
stand two pairs of brothers, and with an express reference to this
relationship. The other points which this list presents for notice
are the following : — 1. The tribe Dan is omitted. Several, in-
deed, have tried to save themselves the trouble of explaining this
omission by getting rid of the fact. Thus Zullig remarks: *' In all
manuscripts and editions Manasseh stands instead of Dan. And
Irenaens in his early age knew no variation. But even if the
author himself may have written it so, we must hold him to have
written wrong, and affirm it ought to have been Dan ; so overwhelm-
ing here are the considerations of the higher criticism/' But
such a procedure condemns itself ; in no book are we less war-
ranted in employing a superficial, *' It must be so,** in order to
change the text. Nor must the reason of the peculiarity be sought
in the difficulty, which presented itself to the Seer, in his being
obliged not to overstep the number twelve, because this was the
signature of the church, while the tribes were thirteen To meet
this no heroic effort was needed. The prophet only required to
comprehend the two tribes Ephraim and Manasseh, under the
name of Joseph, which might the more readily have occurred, as
Ezekiel, ch. xlviii. 32, had already By this means reduced the
number to twelve. He must, therefore, have had an important
special reason for leaving out the tribe of Dan ; and this could
only be a theological one. We find the key in such passages as
ch. xiv. 4, where it is said of the hundred, forty, and four thou-
sand, who had been redeemed from the earth, from the twelve
tribes of the children of Israel, " These are they who hare not
defiled themselves with women {i.€, sins), for they are virgins ;"
ch. xxi. 27, *' And nothing that is common shall enter therein,
and that worketh abomination and lies,*' ch. xxii. 14. Almost
the only remarkable fact which is to be found in the history of the
Danites is, that after having got possession of the land, they in-
troduced into their territory a false worship (Judges xviii.). which
continued through centuries. On this account did Ezekiel, ch.
xlviii., in determining the respective positions of the tribes, as-
sign the most remote place on the north to Dan, at the farthest
distance from the sanctuary, to which Judah immediately ad-
joined. John only proceeds a step farther, and excludes Dan al-

THE SEALING VISION, CH. Vll. 5 — 8. 301

together. There he stands in the limits of the world, here his
place is not fonnd in it at all. This explanation of the fact is
also confirmed by the analogy of the substitution of the name of
Joseph for Ephraim, and by the corresponding fact in the history
of the apostles, from which the name of Judas Iscariot was dropt
out because of his apostacy. 2. Instead of Ephraim stands Jo-
seph, after Manasseh, the other son of Joseph, had been named.
This, too, must have a deep ground. For it is without example
elsewhere to find one of the two tribes, that sprung from him,
designated by his name in contradistinction to the other. Numb,
xiii. 11 cannot be referred to as in point. For, there it is said,
'' Of the tribe of Joseph (as a second deputy, beside that of Eph-
raim) of the tribe of Manasseh." But here Joseph is exactly
substituted for Ephraim. We shall perceive the reason of the
fact if we take a glance at the history. The Ephraimite Micah
had first, according to Judges xrii., set up the false worship, which
afterwards passed over to the Danites. Through the whole pe-
riod of the Judges the sons of Ephraim had shown themselves to
be "deceitful bowmen, who turned back in the day of battle," Fs.
Ixxviii. 9 (see my Commentary) ; they afterwards set themselves
against the sanctuary in Zion, and against the dominion of David's
house and line ; they were the authors of the lamentable division
which inflicted on the people of Israel a deadly wound. By all
which they had rendered their name an offence. In its room,
therefore, that of Joseph is put, the sacred remembrance of which
was a security, that the tribe of Ephraim should not, like the
tribe of Dan, suffer the fate of an entire extinction. 3. Judah,
who, according to the order of birth, was the fourth among the
sons of Leah, stands here at the head, and has precedence of Reu-
ben, the first' bom. The reason of this is given in Heb. vii. 14,
" For it is manifest that our Lord sprang from Judah ;'* and may
also be learnt from this book, where Christ is called the lion of the
tribe of Judah. Even under the Old Testament this tribe was dis-
tinguished, by the promises he obtained with reference to this, from
the lips of Jacob, Gen. xlix. 10, and from the prophet Nathan,
who announced to David the perpetual dominion of his line, and
consequently that of Judah. 4. Levi, who had in the blessing of
Moses been so nobly distinguished with privilege, and placed im-
mediately after Judah, here again descends from the elevation he
had already reached. He is mixed up with the others without the

302 THE SEVEN SEALS, OH. VIF. 5—8.

appearance of any superiority. Bengel : '' After the Leritical
ceremonies were abolished, Levi found himself again on a level
with his brethren. All now are priests, all haye access, not one
through another, but one with another. Levi was chosen of old
for the public ministrations of the sanctuary, and the priesthood
in particular was given to Aaron and his posterity ; but in the
New Testament such shadow-work is passed away, and Levi hence
became as one of the other tribes.'* This entire assimilation of
Levi to the rest, shows that the precedence of Judah rested on
nothing but its relation to Christ, that whatever else distin-
guished it does not come into notice here, and also shows how
far they are from the mind of John, who suppose him to have
given the pre-eminence to Jewish Christians. What this pre-
supposed, belonged to the same line as the prerogatives of Levi.
We cannot at once take away the old distinctions within Judaism,
and still retain the boundaries between Jewish and heathenish
origin. Has Levi no peculiar place, then the word '' there is
neither Jew, nor Greek, nor Gentile," has assuredly entered. 6.
The foundation of the arrangement of the tribes stands in the
order of the birth of the sons of Jacob. But there is a series of
departures from this, which as a whole are ruled by one principle
— namely this, that in the kingdom of Christ difference of birth,
external privilege avails nothing ; the same principle, on which
the doctrine of Paul in Eph. iii. 6 rests, " That the Gentiles
should be fellow-heirs and of the same body, and partakers of his
promise in Christ by his Gospel.'* To facilitate a survey of the
matter, we shall set down here (after ZuUig) the order of birth,
and that of the Apocalypse after each other.

Order of Birth:
Of Leah : Beuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah.
OfBilhah: Dan, Napthali.
Of Zilpah : Gad, Asher.
Of Leah again : Issachar, Zebulon.
Of Bachel : Joseph, Benjamin.

Order of the Apocalypse :
Of Leah : Judah, Beuben.
Of Zilpah : Gad, Asher.
Of Bilhah and Bachel : Naphthali, Manasseh.

i^BlVi

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 5—8. 303

Of Leah again from her earlier sons : Simeon, Leyi.
Of Leah the two last-born : Issachar, Zebulon.
Of Rachel : Joseph, Benjamin. ^

". Whoever," remarks Ztillig, " has but a moderate acquaint-
ance with the spirit of order that prevailed with the author of the
Apocalypse, he can have no doubt that these transpositions were
not arbitrary, but were well weighed ; consequently, that under
this apparent want of order a real order, though probably of a
very artificial kind, lay hidden." On nearer consideration this
order cannot escape us. There is found a complete intermingling
of the sons of the different women, and in particular of the sons
of the maids with those of the proper wives. Of the four first
sons of Leah two are separated, Simeon and Levi, and in the
middle, between them and the other two — Judah and Reuben —
are placed the sons of the concubines. But thus only the sons of
the one wife were placed on a level with the sons of the concu-
bines. And the same thing was effected in regard to the sons
also of Rachel, by putting Manasseh, who was descended from
Rachel, in the room of Dan, and combining him into a pair with
Naphthali. (It does not stand : Manasseh, Naphthali, as it
would have been Dan, Naphthli ; because Manasseh, and not
Naphthali is the name shoved in ; Manasseh was assigned as an
accompaniment to Naphthali.) By this method also the aim is
accomplished of placing the sons of Rachel, the humanly beloved,
on a footing of equality with the sons of Leah, who was hated.
Manasseh stands in the middle of the sons of Leah.^ It only
further remains to be asked, why the order of the sons of Bilhah
and Zilpah should have been reversed. The answer is, because
the equalization with the sons of Leah, who open the series, must
first be attained, and one of the sons of Bilhah is extruded,, in
order to make room for the son of Rachel.

If there could be any doubt as to the correctness of the solution
now given, it would be removed by comparing the parallel pas-
sages in Ezekiel. In the two enumerations also of the sons of
Jacob, which are given by him in ch. xlviii., the whole arrange-

l If any donbt might still exist as to the genuineness of the reading Manasseh, it
would be completely remoyed by this coUooation.

304 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 6 — 8.

ment is theologically constructed, and pervaded by the same prin-
ciple. There is found an intentional intermingling of the sons of
the maid-servants and the wives, and of the latter again among
each other, in ch. xlviii. 31 — 34. Thus Dan stands in the
middle between Benjamin, the son of Rachel, and Simeon,
the son of Leah. The latter is separated from his natu-
ral companion Levi, and is brought in after the sons of Bachel,
and after Dan. Three sons of Leah take the lead, three re-
ceive the third place, and the conclusion is formed by three
sons of the bond-maids. In the second place are two sons
of Bachel, and a son of a bond-maid. So that all birth-pre-
rogatives are broked through. Naphthali must conclude the
whole, and give precedence to the sons of Zilpah, because
Bilhah's posterity had already attained to honour through the
advancement of Dan. In ch. xlviii. 1 — 7 and 23 — 29, the tribes
are divided into two groups, the one of seven, and the other of
five, a division of the twelve, which we often meet with in the
arrangements of the Psalms. In the middle of the two groups
is the sanctuary. The first group is closed by Judah, the second
commenced by Benjamin, so that the nearest to the sanctuary
are the two tribes, which remained true after the apostacy of
Israel — (Benjamin certainly but in part.) Three pairs precede
Judah, two follow Benjamin. First, a son of Bilhah and one of
Zilpah are paired, Dan and Asher. Then a son of Bilhah and
one of Bachel, Naphthali, Manasseh (just as here.) Next a son
of Bachel and one of Leah, Ephraim and Beuben. Finally, a
son of Leah and Zilpath, Zebulon and Gad. Only one pair of
sons of one mother is to be found, Simeon and Issachar ; which
could not be avoided, because the number of the sons of Leah
was a preponderating one. But the object was already fully
accomplished. — We close the exposition of this section with the
words of Bengel : " The Lord knows them that are his. Oh ! it
is good to serve the Lord. In peaceful times, when matters go
well, and there is a fair wind, one is not so deeply sensible of
this, nor is a special preservation so needAiI. But when bad
angels step forth (or rather, times of tribulation and chastise-
ment arise), then does the divine election form a blessed feature
in the condition of those who are under the protection of the
Almighty."

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 9. 305

Vers. 9 — 17. In the midst of the plagues, which are destined
to befal the world, the elect were assured of safety in the preced-
ing context. But this can still only preserve them from the
worst. It is impossible to be happy amid the desolations of a
falling world. That the execution of judgment on the world
must bring heavy troubles on the Lord's people, in the first in-
stance in the catastrophe of Judea, which John saw lying behind
him, was plainly implied in the words of our Lord in Matth.
xxiv. 19 — 22. And how, indeed, can it be otherwise, since the
guilt of the world is nothing absolutely foreign to them, since
they hare themselves to struggle with the sin which reigns in
the world, and since they also so far need ^the sufferings, which
fall with a destructive severity on the world, that through these
they are tried and purified, and withdrawn from an undue love
to the world. So, then, a new consolation is still required for be-
lievers, and this is furnished in the section before us. The good
reaches its end. Those who were before assured of preservation
amid the judgments that are decreed against the world, are here
presented before us in that heavenly glofy which awaited them.
If they have in many respects to suffer here with the world, what
boots it ? since the white garments, and the palms, and the
waters of life, are sure to them.

Ver. 9. After these things J saw, and behold/ a great multi-
tude, which no one could number, of every nation, and tribes,
and peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before
the Lamb, clothed with white robes and palms in their hands.
The multitude that no one could number is a characteristic
description of Israel, or the church — comp. Gen. xiii. 16, xv.
5; Num. xxiii. 10. Such a description alone shows that it is
not simply heathen Christians who are here spoken of, in contra-
distinction to the Jewish ones, of whom mention was made in vers.
1—8. The note here that they could not be numbered is equi-
valent to the express designation as Israel there. It is to be
observed that it is not the absolute, but only the relative innumer-
ableness that is affirmed : a great multitude, which no one can
number ; as also in ver. 4, the Seer hears the number of the
sealed, because he himself could not number them. Bengel remarks
that " the sealed were a great number, and the number of angels
in ch. V. 11 was still greater, and of the horsemen in ch. ix. 16,
u

306 THB SBVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 9.

where there were hnndreda of millions ; still these companies were
capable of being numbereds bat the one before us could neither
John nor any one number.** This overlooking, howeyer, of what
has been stated above, and magnifying the numbers here to some-
thing beyond all bounds, proceeds on the error of departing from
the scriptural mode of contemplating the conditions of blessedness,
and adopting that of the world, which would have all to be blessed.
Bengel refutes himself, when he remarks, " it is elsewhere stated
in Scripture that those who pass through the wide gate into
destruction are many, but few comparatively who find the strait
gate and enter by the narrow way into life.**— In respect to the
words: out of every /lation, &c., see on ch. v. 9.^ — On the white
robes as the symbol of glory, see on ch. vi. 11. The angel also, in
Mark xvi. 5, was arrayed in white clothing, and possibly the literal
agreement of the expression was not accidental, and was intended
to intimate, that believers when made perfect shall be " like the
angels in heaven," Matth. xxii. 30. Their standing designation,
the saints, that is, the exalted, the glorious, expresses the sub-
stance of what is symbolically indicated by the white clothing.*
The palms in the hands of the elect are, in the opinion of many,
palms of victory. But when one reads in Ewald, " After having
patiently endured they bear palms like conquerors in the Olympic
games,** we can scarcely fail to feel distrustful of such an exposi-
tion. A reference to the Olympic games is something quite out of
place ; nor is there in the whole of Revelation a single well cer-

l Bengel noticed ae remarkable the singolar iOvovt in connection with the following
plurals, bat was not fortonate in the eiplanation of it. In the use of fOyov the plural
was avoided, becaase both in the New Testament generally and in the Apocalypse (comp.
ii. 26, zi. 2, 18) it is usually employed as a designation of the heathen. But here the
nations generally must be meant. It differs so far from Xadv that it is the lowest name,
and designates the i>eoples merely as masses, corresponding to the Hebr. "^si, whereas
Xa^s denotes them ailer the organism which unites them together. Because tliis organism >
in so fiar as it arises in a natural way, is of a very imperfect kind, so there is, till Chritt's
coming, strictly speaking, bat one people— that of God; comp. DeuL xxxii.21, where
the heathen are marked as no- people, lay kVi with iv. 7, 8, " what nation is there so great,
who hath Ood so nigh unto them as the Lord our God ?** &c.

S In regard to the reading Bengel remarks : *' Mtrd ravrd eldoy, xal Idob 8x\<n ir»-
\vt — Jo-TceTcfi — frtpifiefiKrjfiivovtf a middle reading, whtnce some reduce the whole
period to the nominative, others to the accusative. The mixture of cases displeases
Wolf, as frequently, indeed, happens in this book." The accusative 'wapipefikiifitvovt
is governed by tUov, which comes forth here from behind the IM^ as also in ch. iv. 4
the ancuBative depends on the omitted »ldov»

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 9. 307

tified example of such a transition to the territory of heathen
symbols. Bat, besides, the palms as signs of victory accord ill
at Ter. 10, where the subject of discourse is not of what the elect
had donej nor generally, indeed, throughout the section, but only
of what they had been. The discourse that follows speaks not of
victory, but of salvation. The palms as symbolical of victory
would ascribe to the redeemed an activity, which is out of place
here, where all is designed to celebrate the surpassing grace of a
redeeming God. Finally, if the palms were those of victory, the
white robes would not alone be mentioned in ver. 13. This
shows that the palms have not, like the white garments, an ob-
jective meaning. The palms are beyond doubt those of the feast
of tabernacles. According to Lev. .xxiii. 40, the children of
Israel at this festival were to bring green branches of palms, and
take other trees, and rejoice before the Lord seven days. The
latter words point to the import of the rite. It was an expression
o^ joy) the feast of tabernacles being pre-eminently a feast of
joy — comp. Dent. xyi. 14, 15. The immediate occasion of this
joy was the prosperously concluded harvest ; comp. Isa. ix. 2,
where the joy of harvest is spoken of as joy of the highest kind.
In ver. 39 it is said before, ** when ye have gathered in the pro-
duce of the land.*' This object of the joy was represented
through the fruits, which were to be used along with the green
branches, and which are named before them. " As these stood
related in the Mosaic law to the green branches, so here the
white robes ; and in this we have an explanation of the
circumstance, that the latter alone are mentioned in ver. 13.
The meaning of the green branches remains the same, whe-
ther we suppose with the Jewish tradition, that during the
feast they were borne in the hand, or with B'shr (Symbolik
II. p. 626), and others, that the Israelites adorned their ta-
bernacles with them. This last is certainly what was done
with them in the time of Nehemiah (ch. viii. 15 — ^from which
passage, however, it cannot be proved that the branches were
not, at the same time, carried in the hand.) The green twigs of
trees, which have the freshest and thickest foliage, are always an
expression of joy. Such we must maintain to be the case,
unless we would tear asunder the passage before us from that
of John xii. 12, 13, which is very closely connected with it ;

u2

308 THE SEVEN SEALS, CII. VII. 9.

'* On the next day mach people that were come to the fiast, when
they heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem, took branches of
palm trees and went forth to meet him, and cried : Hosanna 1
Blessed is the king of Israel that cometh in the name of the
Lord." If by the palms we understand the palms of joy, the sym-
bolical acknowledgment of the salvation which is certified by the
name Jesus, the two passages agree harmoniously together. As
the people formerly expressed through this symbol their salvation-
joy, when Jesns, the Saviour, rode into the earthly Jerusalem, so
now do the elect, when they are in the heavenly Zion with Christ,
comp. ch. xiv. 1.^ The green branches cannot be regarded as
means simply for the construction of the booths (the materials for
which are left quite indefinite), because they are mentioned in the
law of Moses without any respect to the booths, which only come
to be noticed at a later period, and also because of the connection
in which the feast stood with the people's rejoicing". But the truth
is, that nothing precisely is determined in the Mosaic law as to
the application of the green branches. The main thing was that
they were there. They were merely ordered to be taken. But
the order prescribed in the law rendered it very natural for the
people not to satisfy themselves with a simple employment of the
branches about the booths. Their independent signification
would in that case have readily fallen into the shatie. That the
custom df bearing the palms in the hand had at any rate become
common before the period at which the Apocalypse was written
is certain from 2 Mace. x. 7, where it is said of the celebration
of the feast of tabernacles after the temple had been consecrated,
*^ And they bare branches and fair boughs, and palms also, and
sang psalms unto him that had given them good success in cleans-
ing his place,*' where, also, the bearing of the palm branches was
an expression of joy for the deliverance that had been obtained.
It is further evident from Jos. Ant. B. XIII. 13, § 5, and from
the passage before us itself, as soon as it is admitted that the
palms are the palms of the feast of tabernacles.. And that they
really were so we can the less doubt, as several of the traits also

1 The word <po[»uu9 occurs no where else in the New Testament bat in these two
pessages (Mark xi. 8 naes aroifidiat fur tA fiaXa t&v tpoivlxwr.) Bat we can per-
ceive here also the difference between the historical and the poetical style. lu the
Gospel John speaks of palm-branches, here of palms.

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 9. 309

in what follows point to a heavenly celebration of the feast of
tabernacles ; comp. ver. 15, where allusion is made to the booths ;
ver. 16, where the notes given of the misery from which the re-
deemed had been taken, are derived from the leading features of
the distressed condition that belonged to Israel in the literal wil-
derness ; ver. 17, where there seems to be a reference to the rite
of pouring out water at the feast of tabernacles. The expression :
and palms in their hands, cannot but remind one of the Jewish
tradition, according to which every Israelite carried a bunch of
green branches in his right hand and an apple in the left. — From
the preceding remarks we have before us a celebration of the feast
of tabernacles in heaven. There is the less reason for contro-
verting such a view, as an ideal keeping oC the feast of taber-
nacles occurs even in the Old Testament. Zechariah, in ch. xiy.
16, makes the converted heathen in Messiah's time repair to Je-
rusalem to celebrate the feast of tabernacles in gratitude to God
for his having graciously led them through the wilderness, and for
the blessings of salvation conferred upon them (see Ghristology on
the passage.) The feast of tabernacles, according to its double
signification, the historical and the natural, was admirably fitted
for serving as a type of this heavenly solemnity. As regards the
first, the feast was, according to Lev. xxiii. 43, a feast of thanks-
giving for the Lord's gracious preservation experienced by Israel
during their wanderings in the wilderness, which alone prevented
the people from being destroyed by the dangers that surrounded
them, and purified them for the possession of the land of Gannan.
The antitype of the festival in this respect is kept by those who,
after having escaped the troubles and dangers of their pilgrimage
through the wilderness of life, have reached the heavenly Canaan,
the place of their rest, where they shall never hunger any more
nor thirst any more, and the sun shall not light on them or any
heat. In regard to the natural signification of the symbol, B^r
remarks, " With the feast of tabernacles all field-labour ceased,
and winter, the period of rest, began. Every one saw himself re-
compensed for the labours of the year, his cares were gone, the
whole fulness of the divine blessing was in the hands of all. TSo
time of the year was so apjhropriate for joy and rejoicing." "The
application to the heavenly harvest-feast, when the elect rest
from their labours and their works follow them, when they shall

310 V THE SeVeN seals, CH. VII. 10.

be accredited for what they have here wrought in the sweat of
their brow, and what God's blessing conferred on them, is clear
as day. What Bahr also says, p. 658, on the connection between
the two aspects of the feast, the natural and the historical,
equally applies to the an ti typical festival : *^ After having gathered
in the whole produce of the field, the agricultural people found
themselves at the end of their annual labours and occupations,
were in possession of the promised and expected blessing, felt
rewarded for all the trouble and the faith with which they had
sown their seed in hope, and could now enjoy their rest. No
time, certainly, could be more appropriate than that to remind
them of the finished toil connected with their wanderings in the
wilderness, of the time when their fidelity was proved, of the
great act of divine beneficence in giving them possession of the
promised land, where also they found rest from battle." The
Israelite in his pains and labour on the earth, which the Lord
has cursed, consoled himself by a glance toward the joyful day,
when before the earthly sanctuary he should bear palms in his
hands. May we find consolation during our time of pilgrimage
upon earth, by casting our eye on the heavenly palms.

Yer. 10. And they cried with a loud voice and said : The sal-
vation to our God, who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb !
In the words of the thanksgiving of the redeemed, there is an
allusion to Ps. iii. 8, " Salvation is the Lord's," q,d., he is the
possessor and sole dispenser of it ; ''over thy people thy bless-
ing." What there forms the foundation of the prayer is turned
here into a thanksgiving. Luther has rendered improperly : Sal-
vation be to, etc., instead of: the salvation. Bengel : ** That they
had been delivered out of all danger and distress, and were now in
the enjoyment of blessing, for this they gave thanks aloud to God
and to the Lamb. Our God, said they, who sits upon the throne,
has given us salvation, and we have to thank his love entirely
for it, and that for ever. The Lamb has purchased for us the
salvation, and bestows it on us. Christ Jesus is our salvation
(Joshua) : therefore do we praise his inconceiyably great and
wonderful love for ever. — Salvation or blessedness is something
precious. The word properly signifies deb'verance and freedom
from all mischief and adversity : but along with this there is also
an overflowing of joy and glory. Both are expressed together,

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 11, 12. 311

2 Tim. ii. 10 — Now, when a soul passing from this world is
introduced into that other, this is in a manner the first cry that
it raises there : the salvation be to our God and the Lamb.**
The salvation forms the contrast to the great tribulation, out of
which, according to ver. 14, they have been taken. Allusion is
made to the name of Jesus, as also in Matth. xxi. 9, where the
multitudes exclaim at the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem^ ** Ho-
sanna to the Son of David ;** let his name, Jesus, be verified, let
there be salvation to him, and through him, to us. Here the
redeemed give thanks for the keeping of the name, for the ac-
complishment of the salvation. There also He, who sits upon
the throne, appears as the ultimate author of salvation : Hosanna
in the highest, help us, thou who art enthroned in heaven,
through him in whom thou hast laid up the treasures of salva-
tion. The hosanna is now changed into a hallelujah. It had
even then a hallelujah in the background. For the cry for help
rests on the confidence that he will help. An allusion to the
common hosanna- cry at the feast of tabernacles is more doubtful.
But at any rate, Fs. cxviii. 25, the place whence that cry was
borrowed, and which was wont to be repeated at the feast of
tabernacles, " Save now, I beseech thee, 0 Lord ; 0 Lord, I
beseech thee, send now prosperity,** has finally passed into fulfil-
ment in the case of these redeemed ones. — To the Lamh^ at
whose wrath the world trembles, ch. vi. 16. Why they call
Christ the Lamb is evident from ver. 14. His holy atoning
blood is the source of their salvation ; see on ch. v. 6.

Ver. 11. And all the angeh stood round about the ihronef
and about the elders, and the four beasts, and fell down before
the throne on their face, and worshipped Ood, Ver. 12. So}/-
ing, Amen, the blessing, and the glory, and the wisdom, and
the thanksgiving^ and the honour, and the power, and the
strength, be to our Ood for ever and ever. Amen I — The angels
are our patterns in the adoration of G-od, whose glory is pre-
sented to our apprehension through their songs of praise, comp.
Ps. xxix. 1, 2, Ixxxix. 6, 7, ciii. 20. But the glory of God has
most singularly manifested itself in the leading of his church
through the wilderness of the world to the heavenly Canaan and
Zion, so that the angels could not remain unconcerned in the
matter. They would otherwise have been untrue to their high

312 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 11 12.

calling and their delightful obligation. Their voice was heard
at the birth of Christ, comp. Luke ii. 13, 14, " And suddenly
there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host prais-
ing G-od, and saying, Glory to Ood in the highest, and on earth
peace, good will toward men.** So now they could not be silent,
when the holy work, which had its unpromising commencement
in the birth of Christ, has reached its close. There is joy before
the angels of God over one sinner that repents (Luke xv. 10.)
If they rejoice over the glory of God, which manifests itself in
the conversion of a single sinner, how can they refrain from tes-
tifying their joy at the manifestation of God*s glory in the final
safety and well-being of his whole church 1 The worship is not
addressed to God in contradistinction to Christ, but to God in
Christ (the Lamb, according to ver. 17, is in the midst of the
throne.) But that Christ is not expressly named, is to be ex-
plained on the ground, that essentially the same doxology had
already been uttered in respect to him, in ch. v. 12. The con-
nection between the two passages is marked by the two last
words there being intentionally made the first here. Intentionally
also are the same words repeated here, with a slight alteration
(thanksgiving here instead of riches there), enough as a mark of
independence.^ The first Amen expressed an accord to the praise
of the redeemed, and so marks the sphere in which the glory of
the Lord has unfolded itself. The omission of the second Amen
in several critical helps is to be explained from this signification
of the first Amen not being understood. It is the less to be
regarded, as in some copies even the first Amen has been omitted
on the same account. — In the encomiums the seven are better
divided into the three and four (as also in vi. 15, Isa. xi. 2),
than into the four and three. For, by the first division, the
thanksgiving a^^^eeixs at the head of the second group, and serves,
like the blessing in the first, as an explanation of the following
epithets — shows, that God must receive the honour, etc., in the
commendation given of them. On the other hand, in ch. v. 12^

1 Bengel remarks : *' But why is it said herej that all the angela worshipped God,
and not also the Lamb, since it is admitted elsewhere, that all the angels of God
worship also the Son? The answer is, that the angels are in an especial manner
under God's oversight and dominion, as the faithful, in the New Testament, stand p(%
culiarly under the Lamb." But this explanation of the faet is immediately dispened by
ch. V. la.

THE SEALING VISION, CH. Vll. 13, 14. 313

the seven is divided by the four and the three : power and riches,
wisdom and strength, honour and glory, blessing. The reverse
order was naturally to have been expected, as the beginning here
connects itself with the end there. Power and riches then stand
together, as riches and strength in ch. vi. 15, wisdom and strength,
as counsel and strength in Isa. xi. 2. The twin pair, honour and
glory, remain together. Finally, in that case blessing stands
alone, and the internal is also externally represented.

Ver. 13. And one of the elders answered and said to m^:
Who are these clothed with white robes ? And whence came
they ? Expositors for the most part remark here superficially,
that answer stands for, commenced to speak. Bengel, however,
gave the correct view : " John had not indeed asked, but cer-
tainly desired to know, who the persons in white robes were.
And this desire of his was met by the elder.*' A question can
be asked otherwise than by a word. John's whole conduct be-
trayed that he burned with desire to get an exact account of the
attractive appearance of the persons in white clothing. The
answer to the silent question is thrown into the form of a verbal
question, with the view simply of calling forth John's express re-
quest for information, and the confession of his own inability.
Bengel : '* It not only requires one who knows something to ask,
but there must also be a fit opportunity for one who would com-
municate any thing to another, if he commences with a question,
as was the case with our Lord in his wise procedure toward his
disciples, the Samaritan woman, and others. In such a manner
one can often get at the heart, and loose a man's tongue, who
could not find his way to it before, so that he is glad at the cir-
cumstance." The who and whence art thou, was in ancient times
the regular question to friends on their arrival.^ The questions
are afterwards answered in the reverse order, first the whence,
then the who.

Ver. 14. And I said to him : My Lord, thou knowest it And
he said to me : these are they, who come out of the great trihur
lation^ and have washed their robes and made their robes bright
in the blood of the Lamb. In the speech of John there is a dis-

1 See, for ezainple, Homer, Od. V. 104: ^tlvf t6 fiiv o-e irpwTov iytiiif tlpv^ofiai
avTt) Tiv ; iroBtv elv duipin»\ ▼oOi rot iroXtv ^^e tom^cv. Other passages may be seen
in Wolfs Curae.

314 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 14.

creet request for information. Tbou knowest it, says he.; thou
hast been longer here than I have been ; I do not know. If thou
wouldst tell me, I shall receive it with thankfulness. — John ad-
dresses the elder as his lord. Bengel : " Before an elder, the
title of Lord was not so common as it is now ; and that John
should have said to the elder. Lord, nay, my Lord, has much sig-
nificance in it. John saw great and glorious things, and the
elders were there in the midst of them. He found himself in a
state of holy wonder, and said to the elder. My Lord. Still
greater things were disclosed to him there, and in his transport
he forgot himself so far as to attempt even twice to worship the
angel. To say. My Lord, as John did, and to worship, is not far
different ; nay, it is a step to the other.'* John said. My Lord,
in the presence of the glory of the Lord, which shines upon the
blessed, so that the expression of veneration at last returns to the
Lord himself. So Lot in Gen. xix. 18 addressed the angels by
the name Adonai, which properly belongs only to God ; and in
Isa. xlv. 14, the Gentiles who desire salvation fall down before
the church of the Lord, and supplicate to her, because God is
only in her, and there is no God besides. To take the ** My
Lord'' in a feebler sense, is the less suitable, as we have here be-
fore us a vision, and the territory of appearance and mere courtesy
is far away. Elsewhere also in the New Testament this address
always occurs as an expression of veneration and dependence.
The Greeks, in John xii. 21, address Philip thus, and certainly
on no other account ('' Lord, we would see Jesus''), because they
transferred the glory of the master to the disciple. In John xx.
15, Mary takes Jesus for the gardener, but she doubtless would
not have styled him Lord, if she had sought only common things
of him, if she had not believed herself to be dependent on him in
regard to her beloved. The address here, therefore, in unison
with the following : Thou knowest it, points to the vast distance
between what is here and what shall be hereafter ; so that the
most advanced, who still dwell here in flesh and faith, can only
look up to the perfectly righteous. There is a very striking
agreement between the '^ thou knowest it," and Peter's reply to
our Lord in John xxi. 16, 16. — On the words, " These are they
who come," Ziillig remarks, *' The present in the signification of
the future renders it manifest that it is only a vision, when John

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 14. 315

says he already saw them above, at the time he wrote ; fbr they
were certainly then still below on the earth, and conld only be
translated to heaven a considerable time afterwards, when they
had borne their share in the tribnlation spoken of." — It may be
asked what we are to understand by " the great tribulation/*
According to BengeK, it must indicate generally the troubles of
human life. " What else is this great tribulation than all men's
pains and labour on the earth, which God has cursed, and the col-
lected sorrows which have been brought on ibe human fiunily by
the fall of Adam ? This is clear from the following contrast.
The partakers of salvation shall hpnger and thirst no more, be
free henceforth from sweat and tears. The great tribulation,
therefore, consists in hunger, thirst, heat, tears, &o. To this tri-
bulation all men, not excepting the elect, have been subjected
since the fall, in this vale of tears and sorrows. It is a plague,
which one meets with every day ; troubles may certainly be
counted on. Respect is not had here to any particular tribula-
tion, which some might have to suffer for the word of God ; but it
is this earthly sorrowful life itself, such as Adam doubtless expe-
rienced beyond any of his descendants. Before, he could walk up
and down in Paradise, and eat of the fruit of its trees, one only
excepted, without any toil on his part. But after the fall he had
the burden of a laborious and troublesome cultivation laid on him.
It was said, In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread ; words
that briefly express hunger, thirst, heat, and tears.** But this
exposition seeks in vain for support from ver. 16 ; the distresses
mentioned there are not those generally of this life, but those of
the wilderness. But what disproves it is, that by it the starting-
point, the fainting of believers in prospect of the judgments which
were going to be inflicted on the world, is overlooked, and so the
connection is destroyed between ver. 9 — 17 and ver. 1 — 8. The
same reason is also decisive against those who would understand
by the great tribulation the persecution of Christians. The con-
solation for those Christian;}, who sighed under the persecutions
of the world, has been given earlier, and finds its completion in
ch. viii. 1. It lies in the contents of the seventh seal. The de-
finite article alone, which implies the distress to be known from
the preceding context, leads to the conclusion, that by the great
tribulation the plagues of the world are to be understood, which

316 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 14.

bring with them troubles also for the elect. To the same result
we are also led by the original passage, Matt. zziy. 21, *^ For
there shall then be great tribulation, such as has not been from
the beginning of the world till now, nor shall be.** The subject of
discourse there, too, is the judgments to be brought on the world,
which necessarily involye the elect in sufferings along with others.
Finally, this explanation is confirmed by comparing ch. iii. 10, where
the hour of temptation is spoken of which shall come upon the whole
world, to tempt those who dwell upon the earth. The subject of dis-
course there cannot be persecution, for the temptation appears as
a future one, while the persecution raged at that very time. But
here we can the less think of perseoution, as there is not a syllable
found in regard to what in that case would have been of such vast
moment — fidelity and stedfastness. Only the general marks of
believers are given. The washing and making bright are to be
carefully distinguished. The washing denotes the obtaining of
pardon of sin through the blood of Christ ; the making bright
sanctification which springs out of reconciliation. In the sym-
bolical rites of the law, and in the explanation of it in Ezekiel,
ch. xxxvi. 25, " and I sprinkle clean water upon yon, and ye
shall be clean from all your impurities, and firom all your filthiness
will I purify you,*' the washing and sprinkling with water appears
as an image of the forgiveness of sins (see Christol. there.) Filthy
garments (the clothing being regarded as a symbol of the state^)
were, in the Old Testament, borne by sinners, clean ones by the
justified, Isa. Ixiv. 5, Zech. ch. iii. 4, " and he answered and said
to those who stood before him : Take away from him the filthy
garments ; and he said to Joshua, behold, I take away from thee
thy sins, and they will clothe thee with festive garments.** Here
instead of the wat^r the blood of Christ is put, to indicate that it
is not simply forgiveness, but forgiveness as rooting itself in the
atonement which is spoken of. We have a commentary in 1 John
i. 7, "The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin;" ver. 6,
'' This is he who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not
by water only (forgiveness without satisfaction), but by water and
blood ;'* John xix. 34, " One of the soldiers pierced his side with

1 Vitrioga: *'Tfae itola (robe) is a aymbol of the condition or slate in which any one
is. Among the Orientals, as weU as the Romans and other people of the west, the custom
was saoh that from the robe, tnnic, or gown, the state and dignity of any one could be
CRiiily perceived."

THE SEALING VISION, CH. VII. 15. 317

a spear, and immediately there came out water and blood.'* The
great importance which is laid npon this in ver. 35, is to be
explained from the apostle seeing a symbolical meaning in the
procedure, from his perceiving in the water and the blood the
forgiveness that has its root in the atonement of Christ. The point
of connection here between the Bevelation and the other writings
of John is a very -delicate and deep one. — To the making of the
garments bright corresponds in the passage of Ezekiel referred
to, ver. 26, the ** giring of a new heart and a new spirit" (after
the purging away of their sins) ; and in John, the " walking in
the light,^' 1 John i. 7, " not sinning," ii. 1, iii. 6, 9, " keeping
one's self," v. 18, " doing the will of God," ii. 17, " doing what
is well-pleasing before him," iii. 22, *' keeping his command-
ments," V. 3. The courageous witness-bearing, which, according
to ch. xii. 11, springs from the sense of forgiveness as obtained
through the blood of the Lamb, is only a particular manifestation
of the sanctified life which is denoted by the bright garments. On
the white or bright as the colour of clear splendour, the symbolical
image of glory, comp. on ch. iii. 4. Here the white is the colour
of the righteous, which streams forth in the splendour of their
Tirtues — comp. iii. 18, 19, xix. 8. For, that the doing, and not
the reward of holiness, is what is here spoken of (whence the
white garment differs here from that in v. 9 and vi. 11), appears
first from the active, " they have made them white ;" then, and
more especially, from ^ reward on this account being announced
in V. 15 ; and still farther from the white clothing which is said
to have been given to believers (vi. 11), never having like this
been unclean. That there is an internal connection between white
clothing in the one sense and in the other, or between sanctifica-
tion and glory, it is scarcely necessary to remark.

Ver. 15. Therefore are they before the throne of Ood, and
serve him day and night in his temple, and he who sits upon the
throne shall tabernacle before them. Therefore, because, as
Bengel says, '' they have been fitly prepared for it by the blood
of the Lamb." — The delineation of the blessedness is completed
in a threefold three : they are before the throne, they serve, they
are tented; — ^they hunger not, they thirst not, they suffer no heat ;
— the Lamb feeds them, leads them, wipes them. The foundation
for this lies in the three number of the Mosaic blessing on the

320 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VII. 16.

marked as a more interDal one than in ch. v. 6, where the Lamb
stands between the throne with the four beasts, and the elders,
as the exalted mediator between God and his people. The ex-
pression, " In the midst of the throne,*' has respect also to Christ
as sitting on the right hand of God. It declares him' to be equal
in might and glory with the Father ; and in the Revelation stands
in unison with such things, as his haying the seven Spirits of
God, receiving divine worship, having applied to him directly
what in the Old Testament is written of God. It accords also
with what in the Gospel of John is written of the Word of God
(comp. here xix. 13), who in the beginning was with God and was
God, of the oneness of Christ with the Father, of his being in the
Father, and of the Father being in him, in ch. xiv. 10, 11: The
bringing out of the full Godhead of Christ is suitable here, be-
cause only from this point of view could Christ have been substi-
tuted for God in the original passages, and because Christ could
no otherwise bestow the highest good on his people than as the
possessor of essential Godhead. 2. Instead of simple " water-
' springs," in the original passages, we have here *' lifefonntsAuB
of water." This addition indicates, that spiritual fountains of
water are meant. The well-springs of life here correspond to the
wells of salvation in Isa. xii. 3, " And ye draw water with joy
out of the wells of salvation.*' Comp. Fs. Ixxxvii. 7, where also
the springs are the springs of salvation, which refresh the thirsty
soul and the parched land,. Ps. Ixxxiv. 6. Life with John is "that
life, which really is such, the direct antithesis of death ; as the
Logos is .called the life — ^that is, life in full vigour disturbed in its
flow by no check, nothing painful or unpleasant, but blessed life,
as God the primeval source of life gives it, a life that is raised above
all creaturely evanescence and weakness" (Kostlin, Lehrbegr. des
Johannes, p. 235.) Life is consequently another term for salva-
tion, which is also indicated by Ezekiel in ch. xlvii. by the fountain,
which issues from the sanctuary in Zion, and flows into the Dead
Sea, refreshing and fructifying the wilderness on its way. Also
in Rev. xxi. 6, xxii. 1 — 17 the water of life is descriptive of sal-
vation. That by the introduction of this single word, Isa. xii. 3
is combined with the original passage into one whole, appears the
more suitable, as the figure of that passage was at the feast of
tabernacles embodied in the symbolical action of pouring out

TUB SEALING VISION, CH. VU. 16. 321

water. That an allasion to this should have been made here
was the more nataral, as the palms and the tabernacles had
already preceded (ver. 15.) The salvation or life, which through
that rite is designated as the privilege and the hope of the people
of God, is in the fullest measure secured to them here by him,
who as the Lamb is at the same time the true shepherd. They
now receive in truth what was only imaged by the literal waters
of the wilderness. For, these were a type of the well-springs of
salvation, which the Lord opens in all ages for his people in the
wilderness of trouble, and most gloriously when the period of their
pilgrimage is over — see my Gomm. on Ps. crii. 35.^ It is to be
carefully noted that it is precisely in the gospel of John that the
passages occur, in which the blessings of salvation, which the
Lord gives even in this life to his people, are denoted by not
hungering, not thirsting, the true bread and the living water —
comp. ch. iv. 14, 16, vi. 35, vii. 38. These passages are the
more analogous to the one before us, as in them also respect is
had to what the Lord formerly did for his people in the wilder-
ness. This starting-point is distinctly marked in ch. vi. 30, 31,
*' Then said they to him, what sign showest thou then, that we
may see and believe on thee ? What dost thou work ? Our
fathers did eat manna in the desert, as it is written, he gave
them bread from heaven to eat." From what has been remarked
we see that hunger, thirst, the heat of the sun, are mentioned as
the leading and more manifest forms of the annoyances that were
experienced in the march through the wilderness. Viewed in
regard to the substance, hunger and thirst indicate the unsatis-
fied need for salvation, the sun the glow of tribulations — com{>.
ch. xvi. 8, 9. The conclusion of ver.' 17: and 6od shall
wipe away, etc., is taken from Isa. xzv. 8. These words return
again, not without reason, in ch. xxi. 4, with a slight, and

1 The reading ^tioav for j^co^t is by much the wont snpported of the two. It has only .
ariien from the copyisto stumbling at the double genitiTe. All the parallel passages in
the Apoealypse speak for ^M^v.ch. xxi. 6, xxii. 1, 17. Of liTiog fountains we nowhere
else read, hot always of living uKUe9», tfnd ihis has a solid gronndinthe circamstanee that
fountains are always liTing. For the addition to the original passages there must
have been a definite reason, as in the substitution of the Lamb in the midst of the throne,
for, him that has mercy. The l^waat does not contain such an one, for it does not
arise from ihe image. In the ^coijt also alone do we perceive ^a reason for the word,
that has been introdncrd, being plucf d first. It lies in the reference to Isa. xii. 8, where
also it is the springs (not tlie waters) of salTation that are discoursed of.
X

322 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VIII. 1.

as to the meaning unimportant, yet still intentional variation.
For instead of, " out of the eyes," it is there *'from the eyes."
(Such small differences almost constantly occur in the borrowings
and repetitions of Scripture. They serve to prevent the appear*
ance of a lifeless adoption.) In ch. xzi. 4 the subject of dis-
course is the " regeneration,** the. kingdom of glory upon earth,
to which the words in the original passages refer, and in which
they are to find their only complete and ultimate fulfilment.

Gh. viii. 1. And when he opened the seventh seal, there was
silence in heaven for an half hour. That these words are to be
connected with the close of ch. vi. is clear from what was for-
merly remarked. The more customary it has been for expositors
here to surrender themselves to mere conjecture, it is the more
necessary to lay a sure foundation for our exposition. And first,
as certainly as all the seals contain scenes of judgment, so cer-
tainly must the silence here denote the dumb astonishment of
the raging enemies of Christ and his church. It is this that the
connection establishes. Another means, by which we shall
get above the uncertainty of conjecture, is furnished by the
fundamental passages in the Old Testament. That there
must be some of this description, may be regarded at the out-
set as matter of undoubted certainty. For, otherwise the Seer
would have spoken out more plainly. The silence must some-
how have been definitely fixed as to its meaning, and for this,
besides the connection, we are thrown upon the writings of
the Old Testament. Now, we have actually three prophetic
passages, in which silence is found in a similar connection as
here. First, the proper fundamental passage, on which the
two others are dependent, Hab. ii. 20, " And the Lord is in his
holy temple, be silent before him all the earth." These words
form there the emphatic close of the threatened judgment
on Babylon, the representative of the ungodly world. The Lord
will appear from the dwelling-place of the Almighty in resistless
power to exercise judgment on the impotent ; deep silence reigns
on earth, recently so uproarious ; wickedness shuts its mouth ;
the raging of the people, the blasphemy of the heathen ceases at
once on the day when the Lord alone is exalted. Then Zeph, i.
7, after the representation of a frightful judgment of the Lord
upon the earth : '' Be silent before the Lord, for near is the day

THE SEVENTH SEAL, CH. VIII. 1. 323

of the Lord." Finally, Zech. ii. 13, '* Be silent. O all flesh be-
fore the Lord, for he is raised np out of his holy habitation." The
annonncement of a glorious manifestation of God precedes, by
which he was to humble the heathen world, and especially proud
Babylon, vers. 12, 13, and raise his people out of the dust of
abasement. So that the meaning is, then indeed shall all flesh,
in itself helpless and confounded, which hitherto has raged so
loud against the Lord and his church, be brought to silence.^
From these fundamental passages we can haye no doubt as to the
import of the silence here. It is a silence like that of Pharaoh
when he sank with his host into the Bed Sea. It forms the con-
trast to what we read in ch. ziii. 5, 6, " And there was given to
him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies. And he
opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his
name and his tabernacle, and them that dwell in heaven." Once
80 loud and now so silent ! The word : And there was a silence,
is unspeakably comforting amid the tumults of the world. * The
jobilee of the truth runs parallel with the. silence of revolt. — In
the earlier " Bevelation of Jesus Christ," in regard to his coming
for judgment, there is a corresponding declaration in Matt. xxiv.
30, '* And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven.
And then shall the tribes of the earth howl, and they shall see the
Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with great power and
glory." The howling of the ungodly world there corresponds to
the silence here. Both imply absolute annihilation ; and both
the silence and the howling alike come into play at intervals
through the whole of history, but at the end alone reach their
perfection. As often as a power manifests itself in opposition to
God and Christ and the church, a whole series of preparatory
divine judgments begins to be developed (the six first seals), and
then at last descends the fatal blow. The whole process terminates
in the dead silence and dreadful howling of the creature that had
presumed to revolt against its Creator and Bedeemer. — The heaven
here comes into notice only as the visible theatre — comp. ch. iv. 1,
xii. 1. In reality the silence belongs to the earth. — The half
hour likewise is not the time of the actual accomplishment, but

1 M ichaelis : Est impentiTus majestaticuB idemqae propheticus, ut Hab. ii. 20, Zepb.
i. 7. Silentium efficaoiter imperat, tX ao ipso dom iapeimt fbtumm praediciL Ion : Dia*
pereant omnea impii.

ai2

324 THE SEVEN SEALS, CH. VIII. 1.

the time of the symholical representation. If this is considered,
it will be seen that the half honr, in harmony with the high
import of this seal, as the one that brings the final decision, is a
long time. The first seals followed quickly on one another, and
had probably each occupied but a single moment. The period
occnpied in receiving the whole Bevelation was probably limited
to the space of a day (comp. on ch. i. 10), as also the prophet
Zechariah had imparted to him in one night the whole series of
visions, which together present a complete image of the fdtnre
fate of the people of God, ch i. 7 — vi 15. The entire cycle, too,
of the prophecies in Ezekiel contained in ch. xxxiii. — xxzix.
belong to a single day, which is more exactly described in ch.
xxxiii. 21, 22. — If we have correctly made ont the meaning of
this verse, it follows that here there can follow no continuation,
but only a new beginning. The oppression of the church by the
world-power is the starting-point and the pole of the whole Reve-
lation. But that power we see here lying shattered and broken
on the ground. New scenes may possibly be disclosed, in which
other aspects of the great conflict between God and the world shall
be made known. Such indeed rmist be expected ; for here every-
thing still wears very much of a general character, and we should lay
down the book with an unsatisfactory feeling, if we found ourselves
here at the close. In particular, the final catastrophe is but very
imperfectly described by the thought, which is here rendered
prominent — the profound silence of the lately so noisy world.
All bears the impress of a prelude of a general plan, which is
afterwards to be followed up by the further development--one
that shall go more thoroughly into the history of that world-
power, whose persecutions formed the immediate occasion of the
Revelation of Jesus Christ. But the action cannot possibly be
continued farther on the same scene.

THE SKVEN TRUMPETS, CU. VIll. 2 — XI. 19. 325

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS.

Ch. viii. 2— xi. 19.
Introductory Remarks,

The distribution of this groap is as follows. Ver. 2. '' And I
saw the seven angels, who stand before God, and to them were
given seven trumpets,'* supplies, as it were, the place of a super-
scription. It presents immediately before our eyes, those from
whom all action proceeds in the great drama that follows. Next
c<mies in the vision of the incense-offering angel, a kind of pre-
lude, ver. 3 — 5. Then begins the work of the seven angels.
The plagues of the four first, vers. 6 — 12, alight upon the earthy
the «ea, the rivers^ the heavens^ and thus compose together one
whole, inasmuch as they embrace the entire territory of creation.
The three last trumpets are likewise bound up together. After
the four first have been brought to a close, they are announced
in ch. viii. 13 by an eagle, which proclaims a threefold woe on
the inhabitants of the earth. The fifth trumpet and the first
woe is contained in ch. ix. 1 — 12 ; the sixth trumpet and the
second woe in vers. 13—21, on which follows an episode in ch.
X. 1 — ^xi. 13, so that the concluding formula is only given in ch.
xi. 14. Then comes at the close of the whole the seventh trum-
pet and the third woe, in ch. xi. 15—19.

The three last trumpets, by being designated as the three last
woes, are represented relatively to the four first, as greatly the
more important and frightful ; and in accordance with this is
the much more lengthened description that is given of them.
The fifth trumpet, or the first woe, takes up almost twice as
much space as is devoted to the whole of the first four together.
Only in the third woe, the seventh trumpet, do we find a less
extended description than might have been expected ; the reason
of which shall afterwards be considered.

Again, on the first six trumpets in relation to the seventh —
leaving out of view the point of some of them belonging to the
woes — there is impressed the character of the half and incom-
plete. Tn the first four trumpets the third part of the sphere on

326 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 2— XI. 19.

which the injary alight is uniformly mentioned. The locusts
under the fifth trumpet torment, according to cb. ix. 5, 10^ five
months, the five being the signature of the half and incomplete,
in contrast to the last trumpet and the last woe, when the mys-
tery of God is finished, which he has revealed to his servants,
the prophets, ch. x, 7. In the sixth trumpet the third part of
men is again killed.

The following remarks may serve for defining the circle within
which the seven trumpets move. The historical starting-point
of the whole book comes first into consideration. The Revela-
tion of Jesus Christ, which John imparts, was occasioned by a
severe oppression of the Christian church through the heathen
world-power. Accordingly, we expect such a revelation as will
bring destruction to this hostile power, but salvation to the
church. Then, the introductory vision of the angel with frank-
incense, in th. viii. 3 — 5, is to be taken into account. The fun-
damental thought here is, that God will hear the fervent prayers
of his struggling and afflicted church, and cause his judgments to
go forth against the world. Hence, only such things can be suit-
able here as are salutary to the church, destructive to the world ;
and the expositions, which discover in the group persecutions of
Christians, heresies (that of Arius, for example, whom many un-
derstand most strangely under the falling star in ch. viii. 10),
mendicant friars, etc., are at the outset excluded. Finally, the
whole in the seven trumpets runs out into the fact, that the king-
dom of the world has become the Lord's and his anointed, ch. xi.
15. But the six first trumpets are already even outwardly
marked as preparatory to the seventh. They could, therefore,
only indicate approaches of the dominion of the Lord and his
anointed, precursory manifestations of power on their part in re-
spect to it — as Bengel justly remarks, though unfortunately with-
out afterwards abiding by the right view : " Beforehand, however,
there falls on the kingdom of the world one stroke and calamity
after another.'* Yitringa, also, had a correct apprehension of the
general import, and only departed from this in his interpretation
of the particular parts ; for he says, " The plagues were designed
to punish and extirpate the enemies of God's people, so that that
large and glorious kingdom might be prepared for Christ and his
saint^."

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 2 — XI. 19. 327

There can be do doubt that this group bears an independent
character, that it stands by itself separate and complete. This
is manifest especially from a comparison of ch. yiii. 5 with ch. xi.
19. In the former passage we have the prophecy, in the latter
the complete fnlfilment. Further, at the close of the visio.n we
stand at the last end (see Introd. to ch. xii.), so that the' scene
cannot be prolonged farther in this line. At the beffinninfff again,
of the vision, we stand at the first commencement, and it cannot
possibly be imagined that we have here a description of the
things that were to follow immediately on what is announced in
ch. viii. 1. (See, in regard to the notion of every thing to the
end of ch. xi. still belonging to the territory of the seven seals,
the Introd. to ch. xii.) In ch. viii. 1, at the opening of the
seventh seal, we see the world-power lying shattered and pros-
trate on the ground. Here, on the other hand, we hare another
series of catastrophes, which bear the signature of the half and
incofnplete^ and only when we reach the seventh trumpet do we
find ourselves again at the same point at which we were when
the seventh seal was disclosed. In the sixth seal even, where
erery thing appeared already in dreadful convulsion and imme-
diately approaching its end, it was impossible that such catas-
trophes should follow, as are indicated here in the first four trum-
pets. The result is, that the world-catastrophes represented here
could only run parallel to those described in the earlier group.
But the independence maintained by us is that only of but one
group^ not that of a separate writing^ which has been only acci-
dentally and externally united into one whole with another.
There exists, first, a near connection between this group and the
preceding one. If we had here an independent writing before us, the
beginning : And I saw the seven angels, would be unsuitable.
The intrt>ductory vision of the angel with incense would then also
have formally stood at the head, without being connected by any
sort of bridge with what goes before. But now, since the seven
angels with the trumpets are formally linked together with the
seven angels, they must also be materially associated with them.
In an independent writing also the theatre would have required
to be more particularly described. Here, it is presupposed as a
thing known from the preceding context (ch. iv. 1) : John still
finds himself in heayen. But this group likewise points forward

328 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 2 — XI. 19.

to what is to follow ; as appears in a double respect. First, the
final catastrophe, to which all the others are preparatory, the ob-
ject of all the fervent longings of the people of God, is delineated
here with greater brevity than the other preliminary ones. The
description of it is properly confined to ch. xi. 19. This can only
be explained on the ground, that the more extended representa*
tioa of the final catastrophe was reserved for a later opportunity.
The supposition is the more probable, as the brevity is an enig-
matical one, pointing to a commentary afterwards to be given.
Further, the Bevelation was seen in the midst of the Roman
persecution. According to the analogy of the earlier prophets,
that, for example, of Isaiah's prophecy in ch. xiii., we expect on
the general ground of the representation of judgments to be in-
flicted on the world, a special disclosure of the fate of this un-
godly world-power in particular. But this is as little found here
as in the group of the seven seals. All the judgments befal the
inhabitants of the earth, under whom the Romans are certainly
comprehended, but never solely intended. Yitringa, who re-
marks, *' The seven trumpet-blasts indicate the evils which are
decreed against the Roman kingdom on account of its hostility to'
the church of Christ, and which shall end with the entire subjec-
tion of this kingdom,** resorts to an arbitrary limitation of the
sphere of the divine judgments. But this group, like the pre-
ceding one, for the most part retains a kind of general character,
which was admirably in place in the introduction to the closing
prophetical book of Scripture, though it could not possibly con-
tinue to stand at that. We should have laid down the book with
an unsatisfactory feeling, if it had merely been distinguished by
the vividness with which it represented the avenging righteous-
ness and redeeming love of God, and had not presented the
leading features of the later development of things in the
history of the church and the world, more especially in that
direction, which accords with the historical starting-point of
the Revelation. We could not otherwise have been able to
get rid of the thought, that the introduction in ch. i. 1 — 3
makes too high pretensions. None of the great prophets of the
Old Testament, though they still had the mission first of all of
instilling general truths into the minds of the people, while John
found this already done to his hand, remained thus at mere general

TtlE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. Vill. 5— XI. 19. 329

enunciations, such as, that sin is the destruction of a people, that
God punishes all the enemies of his church, etc. With all of them,
indeed, the special rests on the general as its foundation ; only it
does not stand there. There is, besides, in Beyelation a two-
fold special reference to the contents of the later groups. The
voices of the seven thunders in ch. ,x. 4, which John (in the
meantime) was not to write, but to seal up, point to a later
group, in which it is going to be reported concerning the time of
the mystery of 6od, as he has announced it to his servants the
prophets. And the beast which ascends from the abyss, which
suddenly meets us in ch. xi. 7, is a riddle that finds no solution
within this group, though it is impossible but that a solution
should be given. These indications pointing forwards to the fol-
lowing groups correspond to the not less intended allusion to the
group of the seven seals in ch. ix. 4.

We may endeavour to determine more exactly the relation of
this group to the preceding one. The commonest and most
frightful scourge tlirough which the vengeance of heaven dis-
charges itself on the apostate earth is war. The other plagues,
such as hunger and pestilence, commonly appear only in its train.
In the preceding group also war has broken out. But it appears
there only as on a like footing with the other plagues. This se-
cond introductory group, however, is entirely devoted to it. To
the last trumpet, that of the final victory, all here is only an ex-
pansion of the words of our Lord, '* Nation shall rise up against
nation, and kingdom against kingdom,'* Matt. xxiv. 7.

We have now only further to endeavour to explain the symbol
of the trumpets. In Scripture trumpets are always employed on
account of their piercing, loud sound. What may be more
exactly meant, must in each case be determined by the connec-
tion. The sound of the trumpet has no intrinsic worth in itself.

That the loud stirring noise of the trumpet is the essential
characteristic is evident from the circumstance that the sound of
the trumpet is itself described as a cry, n^niH' ^^^ example in
Lev. XXV. 9, and that the loud cry goes along with it as a fitting
accompaniment ; comp. Josh. vi. 5, where th<j people were to raise
a great shout at the blowing of the trumpets, Zeph. i. 16. Then
it appears from such passages as Isa. Iviii. 1, '* Raise thy voice

like a trumpet," Hos. viii. 1, *' Put the trumpet to thy mouth and

a

I
330 THE* SEVEN TEUMPETS, CH. VUI. 2 — XI. 39.

say, He comes upon the house of the Lord like an eagle/* where
the hud tone is plainly indicated hy that of the trampet. Finally,
it appears from the use of trumpets in the sacred music. In my
Commentary on the Psalms, it was remarked in reference to this :
" Other instruments (besides harps and psalteries) are mentioned
only in festival and national songs of praise ; as trumpets at the
thanksgiving for Jehoshaphat's victory, Ps. xlvii. 5, at the pas-
chal feast in Ps. Ixxxi. 3, at the consecration of the walls of the
city in Nehemiah*s time, in Ps. cl. In the historical books
trumpets are mentioned at the bringing in of the ark of the cove-
nant, 1 Chron. xv. 24, " And the priests trumpeted with trumpets
before the ark of the Lord" (comp. 2 Sam. vi. 15, *' And David
and all Israel brought up the ark with a shout and the sound of
trumpets") — at the consecration of the temple, 2 Chron. v. 12, 13
— at the solemn restoration of the worship under Hezekiah, 2
Chron. xxix. 26, 27 ; finally, in Ezra iii. 10, Neh. xii. 35. They
are always mentioned in connection with other very noisy instru-
ments. In 2 Chron. xxx. 21 it is said of the passover under
Hezekiah, that " they praised the Lord with instruments of
strength, which were to Jehovah,*' Michaelis: musical instru-
ments being employed of such a kind as gave forth a strong
sound ; Jarchi : with trumpets, having respect to xxix. 26, 27.
(Psalms, vol. III. p. xvi., Eng. Trans.) Accordingly, the loud
stirring noice was the characteristic. This use of the trumpets
in sacred music entirely accords with Numb. x. 10, ^' And on
your feast-days, and on your high festivals, and on your new
moons, ye shall blow with trumpets." Hence, festivals and
trumpets were inseparably connected together. As the festival-
day was related to other days, so the sound of the trumpet to
other sounds.

B^r in his Symbolik (Th. II., p. 594), has laboured in vain to
give to the sound of the trumpet a definite meaning, especially to
bring it into connection with the Sabbath-idea. But it is against
this, that in the Sabbatical year there was no sounding of trumpets,
nor at the Sabbath of weeks. Then, it must be altogether denied
that on the first day of the seventh month pre-eminently the trum-
pets were blown, so as that it should be known by this, and in this
alone should be found the peculiarity of the festival. The day is
called in Lev. xxiii. 24, Numb. xxix. 1, not the day, but a day of

4

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VlII. 2 — XI. 19. 331

blowing of trumpets, not less than the great festivals, at which
this was to be understood, as a matter of course, to be done. The
sound of the trumpet was not more peculiar to it than the cessa-
tion from work, the calling of a sacred conyocatioli, the presenta-
tion of sacrifices. Still less indeed, for it was common to this
feast not merely with the great feasts, but even with all the new
moons, according to Numb. x. 10. We must not separate the
blowing of the trumpets on the first day of the seyenth month,
as to its meaning, from that on the other new moons, and gener-
ally on the public festiyals. As the sacrifices on this day possessed
no partial character, but represented all spheres of the religious
life, so we must not giye to the sound of the trumpets a partial
meaning. It points to the more excited character of the reli-
gious feeling, which is peculiar to festive occasions generally, of
the •* Lord, have mercy on us," not less than of the " Lord, we
give thee thanks," and in particular to those feasts which marked
the commencement of a new period of time. Besides, the sound '
of the trumpet being put for the mark or signal in Ley. xxiii.
24, shows that the blowing of the trumpets on that day had only
a subjective character, that it merely served to bring the Lord
to the remembrance of the congregation, comp. Numb. x. 9,
*' And ye shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and it shall be
remembered to you before the Lord your God, ver. 10, and it
shall serve to you for a remembrance before your God." Bahr's
supposition, of its being indicated by the sound of the trumpet,
that Israel was brought into remembrance before Jehovah, is
against this passage. According to it the blowing with trumpets
is a call of the congregation^ and not an announcement on the
part of God. Else, the blowing with trumpets must have been
committed to the priests, and not to the people. Nor in Numb,
xxix. 1, could it have appeared among the obligations of the
church at large, along with the calling of sacred convocations,
and the cessation from all work. Finally, the hypothesis of Bahr
finds no support in the circumstance, that by the prescription of
the law the trumpets must be sounded throughout the land in
the year of jubilee on the day of atonement. By this it was
merely intimated, through the strong, far-resounding sound of
the trumpet, that an important time for the land had come in.
The 50th year was thereby consecrated. Lev. xxv. 10, set apart

332 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 2— XI. 19.

from the nnmber of the rest. The more definite purpose is inti-
mated in the proclamation of liberty throughout the whole laud
for all its inhabitants, mentioned in that passage. Only in this
connection did the loud sound become at the same time a joyful
one.

We must distinguish, whether the trumpets must denote what
God has to say to the church or the world, or what the church
has to say to God. This distinction was already made in the
Mosaic law. Of the use of the trumpets for what the Lord has
to say to the church, it is treated in the classic passage on the
trumpets. Numb. x. 2 — 8 ; where, however, only two occasions
are mentioned, the assembling of the congregation and decamp-
ing. And of their use in what the church had to say to God, in
times of distress or on festival days, it is treated in ver. 9, 10.

In the former case, the sound of the trumpet might with per-
fect indifference be employed to announce a joyful subject, a
great salvation ; as, for example, the falling of the walls of
Jericho ; or to give notice of great tribulation, as in Joel ii. I ,
where the day of judgment is announced by trumpets, '^ Blow
with trumpets on Zion, and sound upon my holy mount, let all
inhabitants of the earth tremble, for the day of the Lord comes,
ana is near." But it can only be in respect to important trans-
actions, such as were of general significance, of deep pervasive
power, that they are used ; either great catastrophes are an-
nounced by trumpets, or important tidings, which the Lord has
to communicate to his people. As the Lord will never summon
his people for trifling matters to his throne, the sound of the
trumpet might certainly be taken for the common note of a sum-
moning before the Lord.

In the latter case the blowing of the trumpets might serve
equally well to denote an animated '^ Lord, in distress to thee
we call," and an animated and solemn, Te I^eum laudamus.
The characteristic is merely the rising of the state of feeling
above the common measure.

The question ; Why should the blowing qf trumpets have been
a matter properly belonging to the priests by the law of Moses 1
is simply to be answered thus : because the trumpets '* had of all
instruments the loudest, strongest, most powerful tone," and on
this account were used, where the Lord had to say something of

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIll 1— XI. 19. 333

importance to his church, or where the church came before him
in a particularly lively and excited state of feeling. The trumpets
stand related to the other instruments, as the Lord's servants to
the ordinary members of the church, as the feast-day to the other
days.

Let us turn now more especially to the section before us. The
more immediate import of the trumpet-sound is determined by
the starting-point of the book. The occasion of this was the op-
pression of the church by the heathen world-power. Accordingly
by the trumpets only great catastrophes can be denoted, through
which destruction should be brought to the world, and salvation
be first prepared for the church, and then actually brought in.
The trumpets here are eauAting for bM— joyfully exciting for the
church, frightfully exciting for the world.

Such generally is the signification of the trumpets here. With
a certain degree of truth, however, three special references may
still be supposed.

By combining the seven number with* the trumpets we are not
unnaturally reminded of the conquest of Jericho. For seven days
must Israel, according to Jos. vi., march round the city at the
Lord's command in solemn procession, with the ark of the cove-
nant and seven priests blowing with trumpets-— each day once —
but on the seventh day, seven times. And at the last round the
walls fell down. In the book of Joshua Jericho has a kind of
symbolical meaning. What was done at the fortress, which
guarded the entrance into the territory of the Canaanites, pre-
sented an image of what should be done in general respecting the
Canaanitish power. Faith saw in the last trumpet-blast at the
walls of Jericho, along with these, the whole state of the Ca-
naanites, apparently so strong and invincible, falling to the
ground. If Jericho, then, in the book of Joshua forms an image
of the Canaanitish power, it is admirably fitted to stand as a
type of the world-power generally, the overthrow of which ensues
on the blowing of the seventh trumpet, in which all the preceding
ones culminate.

The Old Testament presents a second case of the combination
of trumpets with the seven, and one that stands in an easy and
natural connection with the subject before us. After seven times

334 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 2.

seven years it was ordained in the Mosaic law, that the year of
jubilee should be proclaimed by trumpets — the year, when the
Lord announced himself as proprietor — the year, when every one
returned to his possession (Lev. xxv. 13) — the year of freedom
and of restoration for all the distressed, who looked for it with
anxious longing. This year appears even in the Old Testament,
in Isa. Ixi. 1, 2, as a type of the redemption from the slavery of
the world, the year of the Lord's grace and the day of the ven-
geance of our God, to comfort all that mourn. Such consolation
breaks in here at the sounding of the seventh trumpet.

Finally, the trumpet stands in a close relation to the excited
character of war, and is peculiarly the warlike instrument-— comp.
Zeph. i. 16 ; Jer. iv. 19, xlii. 14 ; Ezek. vii. 14. Hence also,
among the catastrophes to be inflicted by the Lord, which were
denoted in general by the blowing of the trumpets, it was espe-
cially suited for announcing the tribulations of war that were im-
pending from the Lord. Bengel : " In the prophecy is described
God's war against the enemies of his kingdom, on account of
which the trumpets are here peculiarly appropriate.*'

Gh. viii. 2. And I saw the seven angels, who stand before
Ood, and to them were given seven trumpets, Luther translates
improperly : And I saw seven angels (leaving out the article),
who entered before God. The expression : who stand before
God, appears here as the characteristic mark of the s^ven angels;
q. d. those seven angels, who stand before God. To go at season-
able times before God, to execute his commands, is peculiar to all
angels— comp. Job i. 6.^ But here it is a constant standing
before God that is spoken of, which belongs only to the elect
angels — ^those among them, who have a similar position to the
seven princes among the servants of the kings of Persia,
'' who saw the king's face, and sat the first in the kingdom,"
Esther i. 14 ; comp. Ezra vii. 14. To stand before God is of like
import with " beholding the face of the Father in heaven" (Matth.
xviii. 10), and the entering in before the glory of the Holy One,
which, in Tob. xii. 15, is affirmed of the seven most distin-

1 VitringB : *' It is the part of all, who are employed in the temple before God, to
stand before him ; that is, to denote and yield their serricee to him with the greatest
promptitade of mind. In the temple of the Lord of Hosts it is the part of no one to
sU, excepting Jehovah himself.'* ,

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 2. 336

gaisbed angels.^ The important office waB committed to the
most eminent of 6od*s servants. Hovr glorious the dignity of the
church, since the most exalted of the angels are employed in her
service ! — The distinction of angelic orders is involved in the very
being of angels. For God's creations are no democratic chaos.
They everywhere form organisms, in which a gradual rise takes
place from the lower to the higher. What the apostle says in
1 Cor. XV. 41 respecting the material department of the heavenly
bodies, '^ there is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon,
another glory of the stars ; for one star differs from another in
glory,*' must prevail also in the spiritual. The position, too, which
Satan took up is incomprehensible on any other supposition than
that he was furnished before his fall with powers or prerogatives
that ennobled him above the other angels, and invested him with
an exalted dignity. In the Old Testament the seraphim in Isa.
V). point to a distinction of rank among the angels, appearing as
they do to stand immediately before the throne of Grod, and whose
name, the nobles, the principes, alone indicates their elevated
place ; so also do the angel-princes in Dan. x. 13.^ A distinction
in rank is recognised by our Lord himself in the New Testament,
when in Matth. xviii. 10, out of the circle of angels he makes
mention of those, who always behddthe face of his father in heaven.
In Luke i 19 Gabriel describes himself as one who stands before
God, as one of the most distinguished angels. In the enumeration
of " ihrones, dominions, principalities, powers," in the epistles of
Paul, Col. i. 16, ii. 10, comp. Kom. viii. 88, Eph. i. 20, ss., iii.
10, vi. 11, ss., we cannot but perceive a recognition of different
ranks in the angelic world, while it is true that St Paul main*
tains a reserve as to any more specific distinctions, and opposes
the prying curiosity that would seek for such. In 1 Pet. iii. 22
also, beside the general name of angels, principalities and powers
are mentioned ; and in Jude ver. 8 (comp. 2 Pet. ii. 10) dominions
and majesties are spoken of among the angels. The only thing
peculiar to the passage before us is the seven number of angels in

1 That passage in which Raphael is represented as calling himself one of the seven
angels, who present the prayers of the saints and go in before God's glory, serves to
confirm what we have said on the article in the passage before us. In both alike the
seven angels are spoken of who have sach access to God.

3 See in regard to the distinction of higher and lower angels in the Old Testament
my Beitr. I. p. 163.

336 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 3.

the first rank. No othei'passage of Scripture teaches this. Even
in the Apocrypha it occurs only in a poetical way in the book
Tobias.^ But the variance is only an apparent one ; for the limitii
between the diflferent angelic orders will always be more or less
of a fluctuating sort, and that precisely seven should here be men-
tioned arises from the seven trumpets which were required for the
scenic representation. It is manifestly the seven number of the
trumpets which determined the seven number of the angels, and
not the reverse. Had ten trumpets been needed, there would
also, beyond doubt, have been ten angels spoken of as standing
before God.

Yer. 3. And another angel came and stood beside the allar,
and had a golden censer ; and much incense was given him, that
he might give it to the prayers of all saints on the golden altar
before the throne. In the times of the first persecutions, as
Bengel remarks, the Christians prayed with great earnestness and
stedfast perseverance. But under the form of the fact there is
here, at the same time, couched an admonition : if ye would gain
the victory oyer the world, and see its completion, continue instant
in prayer ; for, '* the prayer of the righteous availeth much when
it is earnest. Elias was a man like as we are, and prayed a
prayer that it should not rain, and it rained not upon the earth
for three years and six months," J as. v. 16, 17. Many of the
older expositors would understand Christ by the other angeL But
this view is inadmissible, not for the reasons assigned by Bengel,
that Christ is never represented as an angel in the New Testa-
ment, and that another angel could only mean one who had
likewise been created. In opposition to this see ch. vii. 2, x. 1,
xviii. 1, where by the other angel is undoubtedly meant Christ.
The reason why he cannot be understood here is, that there is no
distinguishing predicate, nor is there anything in what the angel
accomplishes, which raises him above the rank of ordinary angels.
It is not his coming forth that renders the prayers of the saints
acceptable ; but he has simply the position of a messenger and a
bearer —a heavenly representatiye. Only by misapprehending the
position here occupied by the angel, by supposing that it was

1 Nitzsch., System, §00:*' On the foundation now laid of doctrinal iratli, there may
ngain often be produced a free poetical application and use of what is recorded"

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CU. VIII. 3. 337

through his mediation the •prayers of the saints were first ren-
dered tmly acceptable, have men come, on the ground of no pro-
perly mediatorial agency being ascribed to angels in Scripture,
to adopt the conclusion that the angel here can be no other than
Christ.^ The angel in this case is only a symbolical figure ; his
agency belongs merely to the character of the vision, which must
give to all a visible shape, not to the substance itself— although in
this respect the internal harmony between the heavenly hosts and
the church on earth certainly lies at the foundation . The angel could
not otherwise have had even this place in the vision assigned to him.
If prayer embodied itself in frankincense, there must be a hea-
venly representative of believers above who should present the
frankincense. If the veil of the frankincense is a thin and trans-
parent one, so also is that of the angel. That the angel does not
necessarily belong to the substance is clear from ch. v. 8, where
the twenty-four elders as representatives of the church have
golden vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints. Ben-
gel's remark : " In no book of Scripture are angels so frequently
spoken of as this,'' itself betokens that much here must belong
only to the form of the representation. By the altar must be
understood here, according to many expositors, the altar of burnt-
offering. From this the fire was wont to be taken to kindle the
frankincense on the golden altar. Undoubtedly, the altar of
burnt-offering is frequently mentioned in Revelation — comp ch.
vi. 9. But here it cannot be thought of. For the altar here
receives its more immediate determination from the mention of
the incense. On this account alone, unless we should arbitrarily
change the incense -pan into one merely of coals, we can under-
stand only the altar of incense to be meant. But even if his
having a golden censer did not supply the more exact definition
— a circumstance quite overlooked by those who speak of the
" indefiniteness," " that the word golden is only found after-
wards"— ^it still could not be the altar of burnt-offering that is
mentioned. For, though the altar of burnt-offering might other-
wise have been fitly enough understood, yet this is quite unsuit-
able here, since necessarily, if the ftltar of burnt-offering had

I Tbe origin oftbis exposition was correctly pointed out by Bossaet: '* Tbe Protes-
tants, offended at seeing angelic intercession so clearly established in this passage
would have the angel here to be Jesns Christ himself."

y

338 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 3.

been meant, a more exact descriptioiwwonld have been needed to
prevent it from being identified with the altar of incense men-
tioned immediately afterwards. The archaeological considera-
tion, however, which has led to the idea of the altar of burnt-
offering being meant, is an entirely groundless one. Even in
Lev. xvi. 12, " And he shall take a censer full of burning coals
of fire from off the altar, which stands before the Lord^ and his
hands full of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the
veil, and he shall put the incense upon the fire before the Lord,"
the incense-pan was filled with coals from off the in<?ense-altar.
The implement with which the angel comes forth, places his
work immediately before us. Bengel : " A golden censer, this
was a sign and instrument of what the angel had to do."
Much incense was given to the angel. Bengel : '' A mighty
power was to be formed, whence again was to arise a jnighty
operation, and a movement extending far and wide." The
object of the prayers of the saints is more exactly defined
here by the connection, by the starting-point and the result.
Accordingly, by the prayers are to be understood such as
those in Joel ii. 17, " Spare thy people, O Lord, and give
not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule
over them ;" in Ps. ix. 19, ** Arise, O Lord, let not man pre-
vail; let the heathen be judged in thy sight;" in Ps. Ixxix.
11, 12, '' Let the sighing of the prisoner come before thee, ac-
cording to the greatness of thy power preserve thou those that are
appointed to die. And render unto our neighbours sevenfold
into their bosom their reproach, wherewith they have reproached
thee, 0 Lord." According to ch. v. 8 frankincense is prayer ;
so here also by ver. 4. Hence everything beside the frankincense
and the prayers is to be avoided here. That suits well to the
earthly, but not to the heavenly sanctuary. The frankincense
should be regarded not as an addition to the prayers, but we
should explain : frankincense, importing the prayers which are
offered in and along with it. When the explanation is given :
which was required for their behoof, so that the prayers might be
accepted, then the collateral and unsuitable idea is introduced,
that the angel had then merely the frankincense, and to the
saints belonged the prayers. We should also have to separate
the prayers here from those in ver. 4 ; and the angel should

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 3. 339

have an abnormal agency ascribed to him. For, that the
prayers of the saints required a presentation at the hands of the
angel, is an nnscriptural representation. It is opposed even
by ch. v. 8, where no mention is made of an angel. Bnt the
explanation, that he contributed somewhat to the prayers of the
saints, is still more objectionable. It is not an addition, but a
gift that is spoken of. Instead of: to the prayers, it might also
have been, the prayers, tA? Trpoo-ei^^a?. Only there would then
have been a complete overlooking of the embodiment of prayer as
frankincense, and in the place of the symbol there would have
stood the figure. — Bengel : " We have remarked of the saints at
ch. V. 8, that by this name are denoted alike the saints on earth
and in heaven. And because it is said expressly here, ' of all
saints,' we understand both to be meant, especially since what
was prayed for concerns the saints both on earth and in heaven.
There would also be a gap between the angel and the saints in
heaven, if the saints in heayen were excluded.'* From the cir-
cumstance of the angel acting in behalf of the saints, one might
conclude with some reason, that respect was not had to the hea-
Yenly portion of them ; if these had been taken into account, they
could, without the mediation of an angel, have represented them-
selves and the saints upon earth. It is, however, to be observed,
that the position of the angel here is a double-sided one, that he
not merely causes the incense of the prayers of the saints to
ascend, but also the fire of God's wrath to come down. This
combined agency is suited only to an angel. — The golden altar is
represented as itanding before the throne. That the yeil is to
be understood as also existing here, appears from ch. xi. 19, xv.
6. It shall only be uplifted, when the glory of the Lord will
shew itself through great catastrophes in unveiled splendour.
Even under the New Testament, and after the work of reconcilia-
tion has been efifected, the infinite distance still remains between
the Creator and the creature, 9od remains the unapproachable
and the holy. — There is no reason for supposing that only the altar
of incense, and not the whole of the heavenly sanctuary, was dis-
closed to the Seer ; according to his point of view, which fashioned
itself after the personal eye-sight of the temple at Jerusalem,
there was certainly present to his mind an undivided whole. In-
deed, it is said expressly here, that the altar was before the

y2

340 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 4, 5.

thfone. Therefore, beside the sanctuary, in which was the altar
of incense, there must also haye been the Most Holy Place.

Ver. 4. And the smoke of the incense went up to the prayers
of the saints from the hand of the angel before Ood, To the
prayers, importing these, which were presented in and with the
frankincense.i

Ver. 5. And the angel took the censer and filled it with fire
from the altar, and poured it out upon the earth. And there
were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and earthquakes.
Bengel : " Frankincense and prayer draw a great deal after it : it
is acceptable, it will be heard ; God then causes his righteous
judgments to go forth, for a terror to the world, for the discomfi-
ture of his enemies, and for the adyancement of his kingdom.**
The angel exercises the function of a days-man, tp^^, Job
xxxiii. 23. In ver. 3 and 4 he represented the church, and
brought its petitions before God. Here he fulfils the second part
of his office. He is the medium of communication in respect to
God's answer to the requests of the church. In fulfilment of his
commission, he throws God*s fire down upon the earth. Accord-
ing to John i. 52, " From henceforth ye shall see heaven opened,
and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of
man" (comp. Gen. xxyiii. 12), the angels first ascend up from
Christ in his state of humiliation, and hence also from his militant
church, bringing their petitions and prayers before the throne of
God ; and then they descend down and bring the answer and the
help and the yengeance on the enemies. — The internal connection
between the fiery prayer, and the fiery indignation which is to
consume the adyersaries (Heb. x. 27), is shadowed forth by the
circumstance, that of the same fire of the altar, with which the
frankincense was kindled, there was taken and thrown upon the
earth. By the first use of the fire in kindling the frankincense,
it was in a manner consecrated for the second. Fire is here, as
usually in the Apocalypse (comp. on iy. 5), the symbol of the
holy wrath and judgment of God.^ — The fire, the yoices, Ac, have

1 The Tatt irpovivxatt are related to the Bvfuafiartov, exactly ae DS'^nvta^, iu Gen-
iz. 5, to tiVQi, your blood to your souls, importing or being as good as these — ^yonr
blood, that is. your souls.

s Ezek. X. 2, ss., is noc, with Vitringa, to be compared. The fire, which the man
clothed in linen there takes out of the midst of the wheels of the Cherubim, is not, as
here, a symbolical representabioivof the wrotli of God, but it is the elementary fire* For

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIIi: 6, 7. 341

here only a typical, a prophetical character. The fulfihnent of
the propliecy begins with the first trumpet and closes with the
last ; comp. ch. xi. 19. In ch. iy. 5 the voices, lightnings, and
thunders are likewise, not the judgment itself, bat the matter-of-
fact or symbolical announcement of it. The seven seals are the
realization of that announcement. See what is said there re-
specting the voices, lightnings, and thunders. Here the earth-
quake is besides named, as the pre-intimation of great approach-
ing revolutions — corap. on ch. vi. 12.

Ver, 6. And the seven angeb with the seven trumpets pre-
pared themselves, to sound, Bengel : " To the angels, who
had the seven vials given them, it is said : Go your ways, xvi. 1,
2. But the angels with the trumpets do not go away ; and con-
sequently they remain in their state of preparation, and even when
they sound, still stand before God." The prayers of the saints
are a necessary pre-existing condition of their preparing them-
selves.— The angels do not inflict the punishment, they merely an-
nounce it. Only at the sixth plague there is found, by way of
exception, an active angelic agency. The angel first blows, then
he looses the four angels that were bound by the great river
Euphrates. Even there, however, the angel with the trumpet is
not God's proper instrument for inflicting punishment, but the
four angels are so.

Ver. 7. And the first (angel J sounded. And there was a
hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the
earth. And the third part of the earih was burnt, and the
third part of the trees was burnt, and all gretn grass was
burnt. John beholds concentrated in a great and fiery hail-storm
the desolations of the war, which through the course of centuries
constantly bursts forth anew against the world that is at enmity
with God. The prototype was the seventh plague, that fell upon
Pharaoh, the malignant enemy of the people of God, whom God
raised up, that he might shew his power, and have his name pro-
claimed throughout the earth — the first type of the world-power,
on which God's avenging might manifested itself, as a prelude to

the settiag on fire and burning of .ihe city must there be indicated. The wheels of the
Cherabim denote the powers of nature, primarily the wind (eomp. ch. x. 13), but then
also the fire. The Chemb supplies the Are : the earth presents heaven with the material
for its judgments.

342 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH VIII. 7.

all the Bucceeding judgments, which he should hereafter execute
for the benefit of his kingdom. " And the Lord," it is said in
Ex. ix., " caused it to rain hail over the land of Egypt, And
there was hail and fire mingled with the hail. . . . And the
hail smote all the grass of the field, and brake all the trees of the
field." — The fire is here, according to ver. 8 and 9, not the ex-
pression of the wrath of God, but the fire of wrath and war, which
was certainly kindled by the anger of God. — The " mingled with
blood" gives for both the hail and the fire the more specific de-
termination— shews, that the storm of hail and the fire are em-
blems of war in its desolating and consuming property.^ DiflFerent
plagues could not, as Vitringa supposes, be denoted by hail, fire,
and blood. He conceives the hail to indicate famine, the fire
pestilence, the blood war. In that case we should be thrown upon
conjecture in the two first. Then, in the representation of the
effects, it could not be simply the being burnt that would be men-
tioned. It is a further objection, that all the other plagues in
this group bear a simple character, and that they have generally
to do with war ; and so, indeed, that the difference in the parti-
cular trumpets only consists in the diversity of the symbols. The
same matter is represented in a series of manifold, frightful
images, which should fill the mind and fancy with holy dread
before the Lord, as going to manifest himself in the approaching
war of the world. — This prophecy is not more definite than that
of our Lord, " Te shall hear of wars and rumours of wars," and
" nation shall rise against nation."^ Viewed as a special predic-
tion, it would be very defective, and would fail in its end. As it
has respect to the whole earth, this shews that we are not to
limit it to any single war, but^hat we have, so to speak, a species
before us personified as an individual. All wars bear a parti-
cular character. A limitation exists only in the starting-point
of the book. According to this, the scourge of war comes into

1 Bossaet : " The desolation is vividly represented by the comparison of a beautiful
and rich country, which is laid waste by hail." Bengal : " A mighty, compact, wide-
spreati, sadden irruption and calamity." Made: ** John has mingled blood contrary to
nature, that he might indicate how the whole of this image points to slaughter."

^ Vitringa was upon the right track when he remarked: " It is perhaps not improper
to suppose, that this trumpet does not unfold to us some divine judgment upon the
Roman empire of one period, but a certain species of divine judgment, lo be expected at
various periods after the times of John.**

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 7. 343

consideratioii only in so far as it respects the opposition of the
heathen world to the kingdom of Christ, with which ch. ix. 20
agrees. Hence the eyent, to which Bengel refers this prophecy
as a special prediction, the Jewish war under Trajan and Hadrian,
does not at all come within it. The compass of this judgment
reaches as far as the opposition of the earth to heaven, which
always calls forth a reaction on the part of the ]atter-*-as far
as the opposition of the heathen world to the kingdom of
God. But since * this in the sequel does not continue within
the limits of the Roman empire, since afterwards the ten kings
trod in this respect in its footsteps, and still again after the
thousand years of Christ's dominion, the great party of Gog
and Magog, it would be arbitrary here to confine the represen-
tation of punishment to the Roman empire. This, howeyer, is
to step beyond the circle of this group, which, like the preceding
one, still knows nothing except the Roman empire. — As hail,
fire, and blood, are employed to represent the judgment, the effect
may be described by a single verb, which has immediate respect
to the image of fire. The object of the judgment is the whole
earth ; but only a third part of the earth is destroyed by it, be-
cause it is still not the final judgment. — The clause : and the
third part of the earth was burnt, which is wanting in Luther, is
necessary on this account alone, because the third part of the
earth here forms the contrast to the third part of the sea, the
rivers, the sun in what follows. The threefold division of the
destroyed corresponds to the threefold division of the instru-
ments of destruction. The following context describes more
exactly what on the earth was affected by the burning. The
omission in a few manuscripts, and these not important, has been
occasioned merely by the resemblance of the three sentences. —
By the trees are denoted the high and mighty. In the Old
Testament the image had become quite an established one. The
grass indicates the people, according to Isa. xl. 7, ^' Surely the
people is grass." Trees and grass occur also in ch. ix. 4, as a
designation of the high and low, princes and subjects. It is
better to refer the predicate green to the cheerful bloom and
prosperity, which was to continue till the very moment of the
plague's bursting forth (comp. Job v. 25 ; Fs. Ixxii. 16), than to
the freshness of youth. With the grass also the third part only

344 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 8, 9.

is to be understood as being burnt. In the same way, with a
limitation determined by the context, the all is frequently found
in the aceount given of the Egyptian plagues.

Yer. 8. And the second angel sounded. And like a great
mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea. And the
third part of the sea became blood. Ver. 9. And the third
part of the living creatures in the sea died, and the third part
of the ships was burnt The person who throws is God, who
visits the sins of an apostate and antichristian world. The ex-
pression : like a great mountain, indicates that we are not to
stand at the outward appearance, are not to think of a natural
mountain. " Thus I saw the horses in the vision,^^ in ch. ix. 17,
corresponds. In the Old Testament mountains had come to be
used as a common symbol of kingdoms ; see, for example, Ps.
Ixxvi. 4, ^' Thou art more glorious and excellent than the plunder-
mountains,*' mighty peoples that are set on plunder, despoiling
kingdoms, Ixviii. 16, Ixv. 6. In Zech. iv. 7 the great mountain
before Zerubbabel was the Persian kingdom, which set itself
against the building of the temple. In ch. xvii. 9 of this book
the seven mountains are seven kingdoms. The symbolical
action in ch. xviii. 21, also rests upon the symbolical significa-
tion of a mountain, and there, as in the original passage, Jer. li.
63, 64 (comp. also Dan. ii. 35), the mountain, the symbol of the
mighty kingdom, is represented by the great stone, and the sea
of the peoples, out of which Babylon had risen up with great
power in the time of prosperity, but into which she now again
sunk down, by the Euphrates. — The great mountain bums with
fire. The fire is the fire of wrath, the lust of war and conquest.
Allusion is made to Jer. li. 25, where it is said in reference to
the Chaldean empire, " Behold, I am against thee, 0 destroying
mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth : I will
stretch out my hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the
rocks, and will make of thee a burnt mountain.** Out of the
burning mountain there is made in just recompense a burnt
mountain, according to the word, '^ As he has done, so shall it
be done to him." — The great mountain burning with fire is cast
into the sea. The sea, in Scripture, generally and specially in
the Apocalypse, is the common symbol of the world and the na-
tions— comp. on ch. vi. 14, xiii. 1, xyii. 15. Mountain and sea

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 8, 9. 346

are connected together, as here, in Ps. xlvi. 2, 3, '* Therefore we
are not afraid, though the earth be changed, and mountains
shake in the heart of the sea, (though) its waters rage, foam,
mountains tremble through its loftiness," comp. Ps. Ixy. 6, 7,
Matth. xxi. 21. The meaning, therefore, of the symbolical re-
presentation is this : The apostate world shall be punished by
war and conquest, a kingdom greedy of plunder shall be itself
plundered. Bengel remarks : " Here, therefore, the invasion of
the Broman empire by foreign nations, and the barbarians, as
they were called, is indicated. About the year 260 the warlike
Goths made an expedition into the Roman dominions, and from
that time the roving incursions and inroads of such tribes never
ceased, till they had, as it were, incorporated themselves with
the BrOman empire." The only fault in . this exposition is,
that the fulfilment is sought in an event, which can only be
regarded as a particular fulfilment, instead of perceiving that
in reality we have here an entire species of divine judgments
before us, and that the fulfilment of this prophecy is to be con-
sidered as still in progress That we have here to do not spe-
cially and exclnsively with the Roman empire, to which un-
doubtedly the truth in the prophecy more immediately bore res-
pect, is evident alone from the symbol of the sea. The waters,
according to the explanation given by the Seer himself in ch. xvii.
16, are ''peoples and multitudes, and nations and tongues." — In
consequence of the sinking of the mountain in the sea the third
part of the sea becomes blood. In the first Egyptian plague,
Ex. vii. 20, 21, it is said, *' And all the water that was in the
Nile was changed into blood, and the fish that were in the Nile
died." And that we have here a reference to that plague, which
was a symbolical pre-intimation of the last, the killing of the
first-born in Egypt, is plain from the circumstance of the blood
and the dying of the fish being in both places alike connected to-
gether. The third part of the living creatures that were in the
sea died. In the further extension of the symbol of the sea men
appear also in the Old Testament under the image of the living
creatures in the sea. What in Ps. civ. 26 is said of the natural
sea, " Here is the great and wide sea, wherein are creeping things
innumerable, small beasts with great," is poetically regarded as
an image of what is to be found in the sea of the world. Isaiah

346 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 8, 9.

in ch. xxvii. 1 denotes the possessor of the world-power as the
dragon that is in the sea. In Hab- ii. 14 — 17, the men who were
inyolved in destra«tion by the Chaldean thirst for conquest ap-
pear as fish in the sea, which the spoiler canght in his net. In
Ezek. xxix. 3, 4, Pharaoh the king of Egypt presents himself to
the prophet under the image of fish, sticking to his scales. In
ch. xlvii. 9, there are in the dead sea, the symbol of the world,
very many fish, after it has been quickened by the river of life
that flows into it. In the New Testament this symbolical repre-
sentation is carried still farther. Matt. iy. 18, 19 rests on it,
where the Lord said to Peter and Andrew, ^' I will make yon
fishers of men," implying that the fish in the sea stand for the
world of living men. On it also rests Peter's wonderful draught of
fish before the resurrection (Luke, ch. v.), which the Lord applies
by telling him that from henceforth he was to catch men ; and his
wonderful draught after the resurrection (John xxi.) Our Lord's
similitude of a net cast into the sea, and gathering fish of all sorts.
Matt. xiii. 47, is of the same description. In the passage before us
there is a special reference to Ezek. xlvii. 8, 9, '' And they (the
waters of life) come into the sea, and when they come into the
sea the waters of it are made whole. And it comes to pass that
every thing that lives, that moves, whithersoever the double-
stream comes,^ shall live and shall have very many fish ; and all
shall be whole and shall live whither this stream comes." The
healing and life-difiusing* stream there forms the contrast to the
burning and death-bringing mountain here, much as the saving
net of Christ stands opposed to the destructive net of the Chal-
deans, or the healing tree which Moses put into the water, to the
great star, burning like a torch, which makes the waters bitter.
There is set before mankind a dreadful altematire. Those who
refuse admission to restoring grace are doomed to judgment; such
as will not hare Jesus for their Saviour must be given up to the de-
stroyer. It is the same person who directs the quickening and
refreshing stream into- the sea, and throws into it the burning
mountain. The energy of love, which is announced by the first,
cannot exist without a corresponding energy in righteousness. He

1 The doable stream is the strong stream, as in Jer. 1. 21, D'*r\'^)3, the double aposucy,
in the time of the Judges, Cushan-Rishathaim, the double wickedness, for the great
wickedness. The great monntain here corresponds to the double stream there.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VUI. 10, 11. 347

does not abandon the sea and the fish to themselres. Blessing
or €ursing they must receive from him. — The third part of the
^q>8 is destroyed. In Ps. ciy. 26 we find immediately aftor the
words quoted above, " There go the ships." In symbolic lan-
guage possessions in common are indicated by ships, as in these
many persons are together, having one aim, risk, profit and loss.
In the symbolical action in Mark iv. 36, ss., Matt. viii. 23, Luke
viii. 22, the ship is the church. Here, where only worldly pos-
sessions in common can be spoken of, we are rather to think of
cities and villages than states ; since for the latter in the Apoca-
lypse there is employed another symbolical term, and one taken
from the same category of things — that of islands,

Ver. 10. And the third angel sounded. And there fell a
great star from heaven, which burned like a torch, and fell
upon the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of
waters. Ver. 11. And the name of the star is called Worm-
wood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood.
And many men died of the waters, because they had become bitter.
The symbol of the star has, without exception in the Apocalypse,
the meaning of ruler — comp. on ch. vi. 13, i. 16, ii. 1, 28, iii. 1,
ix. 1, xii. 1, 4. The star falls /rom Tieaven, whence comes down
every good and perfect gift, and likewise also every destructive
result ; for the earth is dependent on heaven both as to salvation
and perdition. By the falling from heaven here, and again in ch.
ix. 1, is denoted the sudden and unexpected nature of the occur-
rence ; comp. also in ver. 8 the expression, he was thrown. The
falling here is a different one from that mentioned in ch. vi. 13,
and is similar to that of Matth. xxi. 44, '* On whomsoever he falls
he will grind him to powder." The fire with which the great star
bums is the fire of wrath, war« and plunder. As the sea is the
image of masses of people, so is the water of rivers an image of
affluence, prosperity, and success ; see my work on Balaam, at
Numb. xxiv. 6, 7, and my Commentary on Ps. cvii. 33—35, the
substance of which is : God causes the waters, of the world's
commerce and prosperity to dry up, but those of his church to
flow copiously ; or, Babylon shall be parched, the land of the Lord
well watered ; see also Ps. Ixviii. 6, " The rebellious dwell in a
dry land." The fountains beside the rivers denote the sources of
the prosperity. By another turn of the image the effect might,

348 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. VIII. 12.

instead of an inibittering of the waters, have been described as a
drying up of the fountains and springs, and a dying of men from
thirst ; comp. Isa. I. 2, " Behold at my rebuke I dry up the sea,
I make the riyers a wilderness ; their fish stink, because there is
no water, and die for thirst." Here, however, there is also an
allusion to Ex. xv. 23 — ^26, *^ And when they came to Harali
they could not drink of the waters of Harah, for they were bitter:
therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people mur-
mured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink? And he
cried unto the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree which, when
he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet. And
the Lord said, if thou wilt diligently hearken unto the voice of the
Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, &c., I
will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon
the Egyptians ; for I am the Lord that healeth thee." (This
implies that the partaking of the bitter water had already brought
sickness upon them.) The star, burning like a torch and named
Wormwood, forms here a contrast to the wood with which Moses,
as a type of Jesus the Saviour, made the bitter water sweet, just
as in ver. 8, 9, the great mountain burning with fire forms the
contrast to the mighty life-stream of Ezekiel. For his own
people God makes the bitter waters sweet, for the world he makes
the sweet waters bitt«r. Through means of his servants, and by
the manifestation of his glory, he shows to his own a healing tree,
which, when put into the waters, makes them good; but in
righteous judgment to the world, because they would not behold
this tree, he throws a great star burning like a torch into the
waters, by which they are made bitter. — Several expositors would
put poison in place of the bitterness, because bitterness does not
kill. But even in nature bitter water produces sickness, according
to Ex. XV., and the bitterness of water in a spiritual sense cer-
tainly occasions death.

Ver, 12. And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part
of the 8un was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the
third part of the stars, so that their third part was darkened, and
the day did not appear for the third part of it, and the night in like
manner. On the shining of the lights of heaven as a symbol of
the grace of God and of salvation, and on their darkening as a
symbol of troublous and distressing times, see on ch. vi. 12. The

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. Till. 12. 349

more exact meaning is determined here by the connection. Before
and after the subject disconrsed of are the sore tribulations of war,
and with these the whole group is occupied. So here we can only
think of the alarming and distressing times of war. The fifth seal
in like manner receiyes from the context its more precise meaning.
Bengel : ^' If great persons think that such affairs may be com>
mitted to them, they shall still find that the judgments of the
Almighty are thereby executed and his words fulfilled. Gome
and behoM the works of the Lord, what desolations he has wrought
upon the earth. All such things must be considered thus, as they
belong to the rast administration of Ood throughout eyery region
and place of the world. They are no mere news, but they
happen under the trumpets of the holy angels, for the glory
of the Almighty, through whose righteous judgment it has ever
and anon been effected, that the world in its opposition to
his kingdom has neyer been able to succeed. God has always
controlled matters so, that space should be obtained at the pro-
per time for his kingdom." — The being smitten of Ood is the
cause, the darkening is the effect. That a third part of the sun,
moon, and stars is smitten, denotes long periods of time, during
which distressing times should alternate with better ones. In
the seventh trumpet the sun, moon, and stars are wholly smitten.
Here a third part as it were each time coyers the watches, or in-
terferes with the function of shining. Two bright sections are
followed by a dark one. The yery circumstance that this is not
applicable to natural things, shews, that we are placed here upon
the territory of the symbolical, in which the glittering splendour
of the sun, moon, and stars represents a prosperous and happy
state, and the darkening of these trouble and distress. By
pressing too closely, the rule of the natural sun, etc., commenta-
tors haye been led into difficulties and constrained significations.
Thus, according to Bengel and Ziillig, not the third part of the
length of the day and of the night must be meant, but the third
part of the degree of brightness, which the day and the night haye
more or less. This exposition cannot stand with the words. The
taking away of a third part of the brightness were considerably
too small, and would not comport with the heayy tribulations
before and after. In the prototype also of the Egyptian plague,
Ex. X. 21 — 23, which is the more nearly related to the passage

350 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS. CH. VIII. 13.

before us, as in it the external darkness was but an image of the
night of distress, which rested upon Egypt, there were three days
of total darkness.

Ver. 13. And I saw, and heard an eagle flying through the
midst of heaven, and saying with a loud voice : Woe, woe to
those who dwell upon the earth before the other voices of the
trumpets of the three angels, which are yet to sound ! Bengel :
" The trumpets of the four first angels were not previously an-
nounced with their contents, but in regard to the three last there
is now made an anticipatory proclamation. Under the former
severe tribulations had already happened ; yet they were not
called woes. But now great lamentations come one after an-
other, and it is declared, that although the trumpets of the four
first angels have reached to all the four ends of the earth, still
three woes under the truippets of the three last must be endured
(must pass by — for the trumpets are salutary to the church),
ere the kingdom of God shines forth under the trumpet of
the seventh angel.*' — The eagle, according to an entire series
of passages in the Old Testament, is excellently fitted as a
symbol and messenger of the di vine judgment, especially of such
as consists in hostile oppression. " The Lord will bring against,
thee," it is said in the original passage, Deut. xxriii. 49, " a
people from afar, iVom the end of the earth, as the eagle flies."
In Hos. viii. 1, it is said, '* The trumpet to thy mouth ! As an
eagle (will the enemy come) upon the house of the Lord, because
they have trampled upon my covenant, and have done wickedly
against my law." This passage is the more remarkable, as the
eagle appears in it, as here, in connection with the trumpet. In
Hab. i. 8, '* His (the Chaldean's) horsemen come from afar, they
fly as an eagle hastens to his prey." In Jer. xlviii. 40 it is said
of Nebuchadnezzar, " Behold as an eagle will he fly, and spread
out his wings against Moab." In Ezek. xvii. 3 the king of Ba-
bylon appears as a great eagle. With these passages of the Old
Testament the declaration of our Lord connects itself in Matth.
xxiv. 28, '* Where the carcase is, there the eagles gather them-
selves together. Instead of an eagle, seyeral critical helps, which
Luther follows, have an angel. But this reading has merely ori-
ginated in the vicious realism of the exposition, which appears
also in the remark of several, who retain an eagle, that by this

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 1. 351

eagle is to be understood here an angel like to an eagle. For
the eagle there is a decided preponderance of external authorities,
and eyen were the evidence on the other side equal, we should
still hold the eagle to be the proper word. Bengel expressed his
surprise, that angel should not have been found in more copies.
Among prosaic copyists and critics no one certainly would have
thought of eagle, unless it had originally stood in the text.. But,
on the other hand, how natural it was to displace the eagle, may
appear from the remark of Zullig : " We could very well dispense
with the marrellous speaking eagle.*' If an angel had been the
subject, he would have been mentioned as another angel ; comp.
yiii. 3, rii. 2, xir. 6, 8, 9. Not less stumbling than the speaking
eagle must be the roice^from the four horns of the altar, in ch. ix.
13, to the realistic mode of exposition, and the song of praise
from all the creatures in ch. y. It is quite fitting that such hard
stumbling-blocks should be thrown in the way of such a style of
exposition. It should teach men to be less opposed elsewhere to
the ideal interpretation, where matters do not lie so much on the
surface — to perceive, for example, that the angels themselves also
in the Apocalypse are often but the substratum for the kind of
repvesentatiou given, as in viii. 3, ix. 14. The flying is not de-
cisive for either of the two readings It is used of the eagle in
ch. iv. 7, and of the angel in ch. xiv. 6. The eagle here forms a
contrast to the dove in John i. 32. Those cannot have had the
dove coming down upon them, to whom the eagle is sent. — John
sees the eagle flying in the midst of heaven. The space in the
midst of heaven is here and in ch. xiv. 6 quite suitable for a mes-
sage which must be heard by the whole earth. In ch. xix. 17
also it is equally suitable. There an angel stands in the sun,
doubtless because that is the loftiest position and radiates in all
directions, and calls to all birds flying in the midst of heaven,
round where he himself stands.^ — ^Whether the oio/, woe, should
remind one of the croaking of the raven, as Hofmann thinks, we
leave undecided.

Ch. ix. — We have in ch. ix, 1 — 12 the fifth trumpet, the first
woe. A new frightful image of war, as the awfal scourge with

1 These are the three paBsages in the ReTelation where the fiM<rovp6inifia occurs.
Ewald's exposition of the space hetween heaven and earth is against the usage. Mc-
oovpiivlu always signifies in medio s. umbilico coeli sum, see Stephani Thes. ed. Paris.

352 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 1.

which God chastises the apostate world : A^star faUen from hea*
yen with locusts. First there is the appearance of the locusts ;
then the injury they occasion, rer. 3 — 6. After this we have a
description of them, ver. 7 — 10, which again at the close con-
nects itself with what is the chief point in them, the injury they
occasion. And the close of the whole leads back to the first be-
ginning, the leader of the locusts, rer. 11. There is only added
farther in ver. 12 a short sentence placing a boundary-line be-
tween this trumpet and the next. The absence of all indiyidual
traits shews that here also we have not the prediction of a parti-
cular historical erent, but a lively and vivid image of the tribula-
tions of war generally.

Yer. 1. And the fifth angel sounded And I saw a star
fallen from heaven upon the earthy and to him was given the
hey of the pit of the ahyss. The star here, as throughout the
Apocalypse, denotes a ruler — ^see on ch. viii. 10. If by this star
an angel were at once denoted (Ewald), the pains, that might be
connected with the exposition of a book written with so much
regularity, would be in vain. But the ruler is here no single
historical person ; as appears from the want of all individual
traits and the whole general and introductory character of the
groups of the seven seals and the seven trumpets, in which
there is to be found no special reference to those phases of the
world-power, by which the church was then oppressed. The
ruler is an ideal person, who appears in history in a whole
series of real individuals. The last great embodiment of this
star was Napoleon. But he shall not remain the last. How
adverse the historising mode of exposition is to the profitable
understanding of the passage is clear from the words with which
Bengel introduces his thoughts upon this section. '* The text
before us may indeed be regarded as having little edification for us,
because a woe is described in it which is already long since past ;
and if the prophecy plainly treated of such things, we should not
expect to derive great profit from the consideration of it.*' In
regard to the falling of the star from heaven, what has been
already remarked at ch. viii. 10 is quite applicable : it is a non-
essential distinction that there the Seer beholds the star as he
falls, here after he has fallen. It is a falling like that of the
stone which was cut out without hands, and which struck the

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 1. 353

image on its feet, and ground them to pieces, Dan. ii. 34. What
the Lord says of his kingdom, that it is not of this world, is tme
in a certain sense of all, even of those of barbaric plunderers.
All come down from heaven upon earth ; as, indeed, heaven and
hell generally have a signification of which the superficial race
of the present time little dream. It is a different sort of falling
from that of Satan from heaven, Luke x. 18 (comp. here ch. xii.),
a passage that is here unseasonably compared by Yitringa, and so
separates, what ought to have been indissolubly joined, the pas-
sage before us and that of ch. viii. 10. That the key was given
to the star shows that the appearance of a star was intermingled
with that of the human form. The abyss, properly the bottom-
less deep, is a strong poetical designation of hell, identical with
Hades, by which in the New Testament, and especially in the
Apocalypse, only hell is meant ; comp. on ch. vi. 8.^ The
abyss appears in the New Testament as the receptacle of demons,
Luke viii. 31, and of Satan, Bev. xx. 2 (for there Satan is only
cohfined in his proper place of abode), the source and centre of
demoniacal influence upon the earth, ch. xi. 7, xvii. 8, and here
ver. 1 — 11. How frightful when the powers of darkness, which
dwell in that horrid abyss, issue forth upon this upper world !
But the well-pit of the abyss is the communication through which
the lower world is connected with the earth and opens out toward
the earth. Such a communication is poetically referred to in Ps.
Iv. 23, " And thou, 0 Lord, wilt throw them into the well-pit of
the grave.'* There the wicked are sunk down through the
medium of the well-pit into hell, as in ancient times suck a well-
pit of hell disclosed itself to swallow up Eorah (to which that pas-
sage in the Psalm refers) ; here, through the medium of the well-
pit opened by the star from heaven, who, according to ver. 11, is
also the angel of the abyss, the evil spirit ascends from hell to
the earth.^ If through men's guilt the connection between heaven
and earth is dissolved — if the earth shnts itself out from heaven
by proclaiming its ungodliness, in righteous judgment hell shall

I To the abyss eorrecponds in the Old Testament "v^n, grave, as a poetical designation
of Scbeol, comp. Ps. zxviii. 1, xxx. 3, Ixxxviii. 4 ; Isa. xiv. 16.

'^ This passage at any rate must not be separated from Ps. It. 23. If we should there,
less properly, understand by the well-pit of the grave Scheol itself, deep as a well-pit,
we must also understand the same by it here. The opening, the orifice, cannot, how.
ever, be marked by <pp(ap, which corresponds to the Heb. "wa.
Z

354 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 2.

be opened by heaven, and in the place of human wickedness and
for its punishment there shall come that of demons. This is
brought in by particular Satanic individuals, angels or messen-
gers from hell. These are set by Ood in the fitting positions
where they hare the opportunity of spreading through a wide
circle the hellish spirit. As heaven, so also hell is opened by
particular personages, who are, as it were, an incarnation of the
hellish spirit. Bossuet : *' Hell does not open of itself ; it is al-
ways some false teacher that sets it open." Here^ however, it is
a different incarnation of the hellish principle that comes primarily
into consideration.^

Ver. 2. And he opened the well-pit of the abyss. And there
arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great oven ; and
the 87m and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the
pit. The smoke denotes the hellish spirit which penetrates to
the earth — comp. xvi. 13— especially the Gainite spirit of bro-
therly hatred. For the smoke is the product of fire, as Bengel
has remarked, '' Where there is smoke, there also is fire, with
flames or without them. And of what sort the fire is, of the
same sort is the smoke, good or bad, salutary or hurtful." Bat
the fire denotes rage and hatred, the thirst of destruction. — The
smoke is described as very thick. As Bengel says, ''Dense
masses issue forth one after another, which spread themselves far
and wide, and again intermingle with each other, so that the
darkness always becomes greater." The smoke like that of an
oven is from Gen. xix. 28, Ex. xix. 18, " The mountain was alto-
gether on a smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire ; and
the smoke thereof went up like the smoke of an oven." This is
a quite different smoke from the smoke of the frankincense, which
is the prayers of saints, and which rises from earth to heaven ;
comp. ch. viii. 4. But where this smoke fails, or where it ascends
against any one, there constantly bursts forth that hellish smoke.
— The darkening of the sun and the firmament here also denotes
the sad and distressing times, which come upon the earth in con-

1 The aberrations of the older polemical exegesis meet us here in a y^rj palpable
manner. Bellarmin referred the star to Lather,— ihe locnsts to the Lniherans.
8cherzei onderatood by the star the Papacy, by the locasts the Jesuits. Another
Lutheran expositor, Affelmann, thought he oonld recognise the Papacy in the star, and in
the loeusts the CaWinists.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 3. 355

sequeDce of the power given to the hellish Gainite spirit. Comp.
ch. viii. 12.

Ver. 3. And out of the smoke came locusts upon the earth.
And to them was given power ^ as the scorpions of the earth have
power. The locnsts do not come from hell, but they proceed out
of the smoke. The hellish wrath spirit sends desolating hordes
over the earth. The body, as it were, or the material for the
locnsts, was previously in existence. But from hell comes the
qaickening spirit, by which they are first made locusts, with an
insatiable thirst for destruction. These locusts do not merely
come after the smoke, as Vitringa supposes, but in the strictest
sense out of the smoke ; the smoke is what makes them locusts.
Often are invading hosts compared to locusts, which overspread
the land. The point of comparison is first the multitude, from
which locusts in Hebrew derive their name ; then the sudden inroad
and the desolation. In Judg. vi. 5, comp. vii. 12, it is said of the
hosts of the Midianites, Amalekites, and the children of the east,
" And they came like the locusts for multitude, and came to lay
waste the land." In Jer. xl?i. 23 we read of the hostile armies that
fall upon Egypt, " They are more than the locnsts, and they have
no number." In Jer. li. 27, " Cause the horses to come upon
them (Babylon), like the horrible lickers," a poetical description
of the locusts on account of their desolations; comp. Ps. cv. 34,
35, " He spake, there came locusts and lickers without number ;
and they ate all the grass in the land, and ate the fruit of their
field." In Judith ii. 20, it is said, "And Holofernes went forth
with the whole host . . which covered the ground like
locusts." In these passages there is found an explictly stated
comparison. From them there is but a step to another, in which
a hostile irruption should be simply represented under the sym-
bol of the plague of locusts. These representations have a special
starting-point in the locust-devastation in Egypt, Ex. x. The
Egyptian plagues were justly considered as prophecies in action,
and men delighted to represent the analogous future under the
image of the past, in which it had its pledge. Amos in ch. vii. 1 — 3
beheld the approaching divine judgment, which was to consist of a
hostile invasion, under the image of a swarm of locusts, as he does
in ver. 4 under the image of a fire, and in ver. 7 under that of a
plumb line. Substantially the whole three convey one meaning.

z2

356 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 3.

This is announced in ver. 9 by the words, " and the high places
of Isaac shall be desolate, and the sanctuaries of Israel shall be
laid waste ; and I will rise against the house of Jeroboam with
the sword." But this symbolical representation is to be found
at the greatest length in Joel i. 1 — ii. 18, where see the Christo-
logy. Ifow, that in the passage before us literal locusts cannot
be understood, is clear as day. These would form a very strange
exception in a quite symbolical connection, along with stars and
smoke.^ But if the description must be understood symbolically,
the only admissible reference is to a hostile devastation. For, 1.
throughout Scripture, wherever locusts are spoken of in a figurative
manner, a hostile devastation is denoted by them. The locusts
never stand as a designation of " indeterminate frightful punish-
ments and plagues/^ Under the related image also of swarms of
flies and bees hordes of enemies are denoted in Scripture, comp.
Isa. vii. 18 ; Dent. i. 44 ; Ps, cxviii. 12. 2. We stand here in
the midst of a warlike connection. The four preceding trumpets
announce hostile devastations, as do also those that follow. A
ruler and conqueror is indicated by the star fallen from heaven,
who. opens hell and sends forth the smoke, out of which the
locusts proceed, identical with the angel of the abyss in ver. 11,
who is called the king of the locusts. 3. The succeeding trum-
pets present such important and intentional agreements with this,
that the subject in each must beHhe same ; that if in these we
admit the reference to be to hostile devastations, we cannot deny
it to be so here also. To the horses prepared for war here in
ver. 7 correspond in ver. 16 the myriads of horsemen, to the
lions teeth in ver. 8, the heads of lions in ver. 17 ; coats of
mail are mentioned alike in ver. 9 and ver. 17 ; and the
tails like scorpions in ver. 10 have their correspondence in
the tails like those of serpents in ver. 19. 4. The natural
locusts are destructive to plants and trees — comp. Ex. x. 15.
In this respect a preparation was made for the figurative re-
presentation here by the employment, in ch. viii. 7, of the

1 Vitringa: ** He deecribefl them by such attributes as do oot belon^f to actual locusts ;
A9, that they were produced by smoke, issniog not out of some sort of pool but otit of an
abyss; that they had tails with stings, like scorpions; that they hurt men ; that they
had golden crowns on their heads; that they had a human face and a woman's hair; and
at last had a leader set over them, the angel of the abyss/'

THB SEVEN TRUMPETS, CII. IX. 4. 357

green grass and the trees in a figuratiye sense, as a designa-
tion of the people and persons of distinction. Farther, the point
of comparison between the locnsts and the invading hordes of
enemies is only that which has now been described. Neither
here, nor in the fundamental passages of the Old Testament, is
there the least trace of any resemblance in form between the
horses and the locnsts being taken into account. Several exposi-
tors, like Ewald, by their arbitrary suppositions, impute in this
respect, to the prophet, a sort of playful trifling, unworthy of a
man of God. The image of the locusts is not sufficiently compre-
hensiye and marked for the prophet. In particular, the idea of
malice was not strongly enough represented by the symbol. He,
therefore, adds to it that of scorpions, which both in the Old and
the New Testament are ill reported of.^ When it is said that power
was given to them, as the scorpions of the earth have power, the
mode of representation is based on the truth, that even in nature
everything destructive has its mission from God, and only in con-
sequence and by virtue of this is its pernicious energy developed
— comp. Gen. iii. 17, where the earth is cursed for man's sin, and
Isa. ch. xi., according to which in the " regeneration'* of the earth,
when righteousness dwells on it, everything violent and destruc-
tive shall vanish from it. The scorpions of the earth form the
contrast to these scorpion-like locnsts sent forth from hell. If we
had, not a holy seer, but a natural philosopher before us, we might
have supposed that land scorpions are here spoken of, as contra-
distinguished from the (rather obscure) water scorpions, the ex-
istence of which was probably unknown to John. Scripture
everywhere knows only of land scorpions. It was quite pardon-
able in the great author of the work on the beasts of Scripture
(Bochart), to suffer himself to be here carried away by his leanings
to natural history; but expositors should have exercised more
foresight.

Ver. 4. And it was said to them, that they should not hurt
the grass on the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, save
only the men who had not the seal of God on their foreheads.
The trees correspond in ch. vii. 1, 3, to the kings, nobles, etc.,
in ch. vi. 15. Trees and grass denote in ch. viii. 7, the high and

1 The venomous tail of scorpions is, according to Pliny, L. vi. c. 28, semper in ictn,
nulloqne morocnto nieditari crssat ne qnando desit occasioni.

358- THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 5.

the low, princes and subjects. It does not mean the fnen, bnt the
men ; for men are also denoted by the grass and the trees. Bj
these are not meant, as Vitringa supposes, belieyers, but men
generally. The reference to believers is first given by the limi-
tation that follows. The human family falls into the two great
divisions of the sealed, and those who have not the seal of God
on their foreheads. That all excepting the sealed appear here as
the object of the divine judgment, shews plainly that the sealed
out of the tribes of Israel, in ch. vii., comprehend all believers.
How it is to be understood that believers are here exempted
from the plagues which alight upon the whole world, we have al-
ready considered at ch. vii. St Paul says, '' All things work
together for good to those that love God ;" and Paul Gerhardt
sings in respect to the thirty years' war, that '' as faithful mothers
in severe storms upon earth anxiously guard and keep their little
ones, so also does God, when tribulation and distress arise, press
his children to his bosom." By the common interpretation, the
grass, etc., here, must be understood of things in nature, which
are preyed upon by locusts. But such a limitation in respect to
the natural locust, is rather cold, as the whole representation
plainly enough shews, that these are not to be brought into view.
Further, since trees and grass occur so shortly before in the
figurative sense, it was the more necessary to indicate by the
choice of some particle expressing the opposite, that the figurative
sense was here to be excluded. Instead of: save only, besides
(comp. Ex. ix. 26, " only in the land of Goshen, where the children
of Israel dwelt, there was no hail*'), there should then rather have
been a hut, which Luther certainly has.

Ver. 5. Arid it was given to them, that they Bhould not kill
them, but that they should be tormented j/ive months ; and their
torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it strikes a man.
The not killing is not to be understood as if none were to be
killed ; but those who are not killed alone draw attention, because
their number is much the greater and their lot the harder, ver. 6.
The signification of the five months may here be certainly deter-
mined from the circumstance, that in the four first trumpets, and
likewise in the sixth, the third part of men are mentioned as the
object of the plagues, but here not so. Hence the fifth here must
have the same design of stamping this trumpet as incomplete in

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 6, 7. 359

its character as compared with the seyenth. For this purpose
the fifth nnmber was well adapted. For it is throughout the sig-
nature of the half, the incomplete, as the broken ten. Fiye'months
are named, because only the five in relation to the twelve months
of the year, produces the idea of a proportionately long continu-
ance and frightfulness, which was the thing more immediately to
be rendered palpable. It was necessary to denote a very long
period, and still not the longest. Against the reference of the
five months to the 150 days of the flood. Gen. yii. 24, Mark has
already objected that the waters were much longer upon the earth.
The '* five months of the existence of the natural locust" have no
place in natural history, and all searching into the natural history
of locusts must here be regarded as out of place. Finally, in re-
spect to Hofmann's supposition of a reference to the fire sins in
yer. xx. 21, we reply, that there five sins are not named, but first a
tenfold sin against the first table, and then four against the second.
They themselves resembled scorpions in their malicious disposi-
tion to torment men (comp. £z. ii. 6, *' Thou dwellest among
scorpions"), and, therefore, by a righteous judgment of heaven,
their torment becomes like the torment inflicted by a scorpion.

Ver. 6. And in those days shall men seek death and not find
it ; they shall desire to die, and death will flee from them. With
what earnestness the word is spoken appears from its repetition
a second time. Gh. vi. 16, in the vision of the seals is parallel,
and the original passage is Jer. viii. 3, ** And death shall be
chosen rather than life by all the residue of them that remain of
this evil family, which remain in all the places whither I have
driven them, saith the Lord."

Ver. 7. And the locusts are like horses, which are prepared
for wary and upon their heads as crowns^ like gold,^ and their
faces like the face of men. The first clause is literally : And
the likenesses of the locusts are like. This is put for : as regards
their likeness or resemblance, they are like. The prefixing '* the
likeness" shows, that the Seer now passes on to this point ; he
leaves other things concerning them, in order to describe their

1 loslead of the reading Hfioioi ypvo'tS, which we have followed with Lother, others
have xpv^oi. Bat this reading has probably arisen Arom a feeling of antaitableness in
the repetition of the simple likeness t overlooking how common also in Ezekiel are such
accamulated indications of difference between the vision and the reality.

360 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 7-

likeness. Four yerses are devoted to this. First we have their
likeness in regard to their appearance as a whole, then only par-
ticular features. The horses are to be understood as occupied by
their riders, so that they correspond to the horsemen in ver. 16'
Only when the riders sit upon them, are they prepared for war ;
and in the fundamental passage also, Joel ii. 4, *' The appearance
of them is as the appearance of horses, and as horsemen so shall
they run," the horse from the parallelism is not to be thought of
without, but with his rider. The cavalry force is among barbar-
ous people the most important, and always is that which, in ap-
pearance, is the most frightful, hence the fittest for representing
the whole war-like force. In the Old Testament representations
also of impending divine judgments by means of hostile annies^
the cavalry plays a prominent part ; comp., for example, Hab. i.
8, " Their horses are swifter than the leopards, and more fierce
than the evening wolves ; and their horsemen shall spread them-
selves, their horsemen come from far ; they fly as the eagle that
hastes to eat.*' We have here an express statement from the
Seer as to what we should understand by the locusts. That only
the likeness is spoken of is to, be explained from the desire of
throwing over the whole the veil of the locust-symbol. This veil
is a transparent one. Behind the slender covering the real nature
of the thing meant appears, yet so that there always remains an
infusion of the symbol and the reality into each other. They ap-
pear like locusts, and yet also like a frightful mass of horses and
horsemen. — The crown in Revelation is always the mark of royal
dignity, dominion— comp. ii. 10, iii. 1 1, iv. 4, vi. 2, xii. 1, xiv. 14.
From their having crowns upon their head, they are marked out as
the sovereign people. The crowns refer to the relation in which the
party represented stood to strangers, much as in the Old and the
New Testament Israel is designated as a royal people on account
of its dominion — comp. on ch. i. 6. To the crowns correspond
the designation of their leader as the star, that has fallen from
heaven to the earth. In Ms dominion their's also is involved, as
in the kingly dignity of Christ that also of believers. For he is
the head, they are the members. In respect to the inhabitants
of the plundered countries they have the feeling of kings, while
those feel as subjects. — Their faces resemble those of men, since,
dreadful to behold, the fierce countenance of a man looks through

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 8, 9. 361

the Tisage of the locnst. In reality they were human counte-
nances.

Ver. 8. And they had hair as the hair of women, and their
teeth were as those of lions. Among the Greeks and Romans it
was the nsual practice to cnt the hair. (It was certainly other-
wise in half-barharotts times, comp. Horn. II. ii. 11.) Plutarch
says in the Quaest. Bom. : *' Custom requires men to cut the
hair, but with the women to let it grow."^ How deeply-rooted
this custom was, appears from 1 Cor. xi. 14, 15. Ampii|^.tbe
ciyilised Egyptians the wearing of long hair was reckgmd'4* cha-
racteristic mark of barbarism — see my work on Egipi jj^d'^tl^^^
books of Moses, p. 28. That among the Israelites thte i^lihg^of
the hair belonged to social life, is evident from the cultt?ath)o «f
the hair in the Nazarites being appointed as a mark 6f theit*
separation from the world ; and on the same ground the Egy^
tians allowed the beard to grow in times of mourning. The bar-
barous Parthians wore long hair.'' Hair like women's in length,
but kept without order, would present a fVightful spectacle. Any
one that lets eyery thing on his body grow as it will, virtually
makes himself known as one who gives free scope to his lusts and
passions, thinks only of suffering no hindrance to his natural de-
sires. Among us also, again, long hair has become a symbol of
savage wildness ! — The teeth resembling those of lions, is from
Joel i. 6. The comparison suits well the spiritual locusts, raging
enemies, but not the natural ones. For the lion cannot possibly
be put as a symbol of mere voracity.

Ver. 9. And they had coats of mail like iron coats of unaily
and the rustling of their wings as the rustling of chariots of
many horses, running to battle. The iron coats of mail indicate
how difScult it would be to get at these horsemen.^ The horses
here also, as in ver. 7, are to be thought of as occupied by their
riders, partly sitting on their saddles, partly on light chariots of

1 See Perizonius on iElian, Var. Hist. ix. 4.

2 Soestoniua Vespas. c. 23: Cam inter prodigia oaetera Mansoleam Ciesariim derepente
patuisset, et Stella in oobIo crinita apparaisset: alteram ad Junium Calvinam e gente
Augasti pertiiiere diceiMt: alteram ad Panhorum regem, qui capillatus esset. Aorelius
Victor also: Istad, inqoit,ad regem Persarum pertinet, cui capillus effusior.

3 Amm. Marcellinus says of the Persians in B. xix. c. 1: Ferreus eqoitatus campos
opplevit; again in B. xxv. c. 1: Erant autem omnes catervae feiTatae. And before:
Ubi vero primam dies iudarait, radiantes lorice limbls circumdatse ferreis, et corrusci
tlioraces longe prospecti adesse regis eopias sigQificabnnt.

362 THE BETEN Tllt6M7ETS, CH. IX. 10, 11.

war. The chariots appear as an appurtenance of the cayalry. They
were so reckoned in the books of Moses. The combatants on the
very small and light Egyptian war-chariots are there described as
horsemen, precisely as we are wont to speak of the riding-post,
notwithstanding that letter-carriers often nse gigs. Comp. Isa.
xxi. 7, 9, where riders on chariots are mentioned among the
Medo-Fersian armies. We must not translate : of many horse-
chariots, but only : of the chariots of many horses. The nnmer-
ousness of the chariots is only to be conclnded from the nnmer-
ousness of the horses. In Joel ii. 5 also the noise of the locusts
is compared to the noise of chariots.^

Ver. 10. And they have tails like scorpions^ and there are
stings in their tails ; and their power is to hurt men for five
months. This yerse reverts to yer. 3 — 6, from the description of the
locusts to what they were to accomplish. Bengel : ** The tails of
the locusts are not only like the tails of scorpions, but like the
scorpions themselyes, as the tails of the horses in yer. 19 with
their heads are not only like the tails of serpents, but like the
serpents themselyes.*'

Ver. 11. They have over them as king the angel of the abyss ;
whose name in -Hebrew is Abaddon^ and in Greek he has the
name Apollyon. Bengel : " Elsewhere locusts haye no king,
Proy. XXX. 27, but these have one." The star in yer. 1, accord-
ing to the uniform usage of the Beyelation, corresponds to the
king. If another king were here meant, then two kings would
be ascribed to the locusts. And in that case the respective ter-
ritories of each would require to be bounded. But we can the
less doubt respecting the identity of the king and the star, as the
retrogressive movement begins even in ver. 10. As there in
connection with the tails of the locusts the subject of ver. 3 — 6
is resumed, so this verse looks back to ver. 1, 2. We become
lost, too, in inexplicable difficulty, whenever we deny the identity
of the king and the angel. We cannot think of Satan himself.
For Satan has his angels (ch. xii. 7, Matth. xxv. 11), but he is

1 Ewald would delete the ^irirwv, De Wetle the dpfi&ruv. But such arbitrariness
can no longer pass among ns. Both the horses and the chariots occur in the original
passage, Joel ii. 1, 5. The chariots cannot be dispensed with, because their rattling
agrees better with the whirring noise of the locusts than the prancing of horses;
nor can the horses, because the multitude of the horsemen and not of the chariots is the
proper counterpart to the locusts ; comp« on ver. 7.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 11. 363

not himself called an angeL And no trace whateyer exists of
any other infernal king, who could be simply designated as the
angel of the abyss. — The article, which is wanting in Luther,
denotes either this angel of the abyss, an ideal person, who be-
comes manifest in a multitude of real personages, as already
known from what had gone before, or as the angel par excellence
— comp. ch. iii. 17. — According to the uniform usage of the
Apocalypse it is not the messengers, but the angel of the abyss,
that is here spoken of, as in Matth. xxt. 41, and here xii. 7, 2
Cor. xii. 7, we read of the angels of the devil, who, according to
2 Pet. li. 4, Jude ver. 6, reside in the darkness of hell. The name
of the higher messengers of hell is transferred to the lower, in
order to create a salutary dread of them, as we speak of a corpo-
real Satan — comp. Matth. xvi. 23. The transference of the name
of the heavenly messengers to the earthly in ch. i. 20, is quite
analogous. The king has on one side, according to ver. 1, a
divine mission^ But the hellish one, alone rendered prominent
here, was also indicated in ver. 1, 2. For, if he opens the well-
pit of hell, and lets out the smoke, he certainly does, apart from
the divine mission, a devilish work, what betokens a Satanic dis-
position, and a hellish employ. Abaddon properly means de-
struction, and occurs in the Old Testament in connection with
death and the grave. Here it appears as a name of him, who
has become a kind of personal, embodied destruction, synonymous
with Apollyon, the destroyer. Expositors have with reason re-
marked that the names of Abaddon and Apollyon, the destroyer
(certainly the resemblance is striking between this name and
Napoleon, who was one of the many incarnations of Apollyon),
stand related to the name Jesus. Bengel : *' The name of Anti-
christ stands directly opposed to the name of Christ ; and not less
directly opposed to the name of Jesus or.Saviour is that of Abad-
don the destroyer." On those, who despise Jesus, the Saviour,
inevitably comes the destroyer. The world has to make its choice
between Jesus and Apollyon. If they refuse the one, they must
fall into the hands of the other. Bengel says, " Great is the
glory of the'Son of God, who restrains so many and such diverse
enemies, numerous and powerful agents in the kingdom of dark-
ness, lets them loose, and again sets a limit to them. Blessed is
the state of those, who stand under the power of Christ. How

364 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 12, 13, 14.

needful is it for as to betake for refuge to Christ, and seek oar
safety under his wings 1 They who do so, haye no need to be
afraid either of Abaddon, or of Satan himself and his angels.
The evil inflicted under the first woe takes effect on the men, who
haye not the seal of God ; but they, on the other hand, are always
in safe keeping, who, as his seryants, haye the seal and mark of
God upon them. Howeyer sharp the conflict may be, the Lord
wiU assuredly protect his chosen ones, on whom he has set his
mark, and who are sprinkled with the blood of the Lamb.*'

Ver. 12. One woe is past ; behold ! there come two woes more
after it. In ch. ix. 13 — ^21, we haye the sixth trumpet, the
second woe. Four angels, till now bound in the Euphrates, are
set loose, that they may execute the work of God's yengeance.
They oyerspread the earth with an incredible number of horse-
men. The third part of men are destroyed. But the world con-
tinues still in its impenitence. Since, therefore, they will not
turn back to him, who smites them, and seek the Lord of Hosts,
they must expect that the word shall again be yerified, '' For all
this his anger is not turned away, but his hand is stretched out
still.'' The world calls aloud for the seyenth trumpet, the last
woe. For, it is not to be imagined, that God s righteousness
shall proye less energetic than men's sinfulness.

Ver: 13. And the sixth angel sounded. And I heard a voice
from the four^ horns of the golden altar, before God^ yer. 14,
which spake to the sixth angel, that had the trumpet. Loose the
four angels, bound by the great river Euphrates. There is not
sufScient proof for the yiew of Bahr (Symbolik des Mos. Gultns I.
p. 472), that the horns of the altar haye a separate symbolical
meaning, and that the altar by means of its four comers is ren-
dered " a manifestation of diyine power and blessing." For, that
the horn occurs in a series of passages as an image of power and
strength, with reference to those animals, whose strength lies in
their horns, is not enough for the point in question. There is

1 The reason of the omisaioo of rtvtrapwv even in some important aiitLoritips (it is
omitted in Lacbmann and Tiscbendorf), was given byBengel: "Ir might easily be
omitted before KipaTwvy since botb words have the same number of syllables and nearly
the same leiters." It may be added, that in the Mosaic law the horns of the alur of
incense might justly be taken as four in number, though that is not expressly said as in
the case of the altar of burnt-offprinjr. This circumstance at least shows, that the
Tftrtrnpwv would not bp lightly shoved in.

3

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 13, 14. 365

nothing to be found in Scripture indicating that this symbolical
import was specially ascribed to the horns of the altar. Luke
i. 69 does not refer to the horns of the altar, but to Fs. xyiii.
2. But Ex. XXX. 10 (comp. Jer. xyii. 1) is against Bahr s view,
as there it is enjoined that the altar be purified once every
year. This shews, that we must not refer the horns of the altar
in a one-sided manner to thai which God imparted, but that
rather what was presented on the altar, was what primarily cul-
minated in the horns. Many impurities were mingled with the
devotions, (comp. Job xvi. 17, Isa. i. 15,) which stood in need of
atonement and forgiveness. We may rather suppose, that the
horna of the altar come into consideration as that, in which itself
runs out — in which all its signification culmniates, as the horn
of an animal is its strength and ornament ; the head^ in a
manner, of the altar. With this view accords £x. xxvii. 2,
xxxviii. 2, according to which the horns were to be of one piece
with the altar, to indicate that they had not a separate meaning
of their own, but that the altar only culminated in them. Hence
also, it may naturally be explained, how the sacrificial blood
should have been sprinkled on the horns, how the slayer of blood
should have laid hold of the horns, and in them of the whole
altar, and here likewise, how the voice should have proceeded out
of the four horns. — The voice is that of the altar itself, and nothing
but a vicious realism here, as in the case of the eagle in ch. viii.
13, could have thought of an actual existence. The voice does
not come merely out of the region, it comes out of the four horns
of the altar itself In what respect the altar comes into notice
here, may be understood from ch. viii. 3. It is the place of " the
prayers of saints." It is these which desire the loosing of the
four angels bound at the Euphrates, and obtain it. As the
angels generally prepared themselves to sound in consequence of
the much incense which was presented on the golden altar that
is before God, so here, in consequence of the voice out of the
altar, the angel looses the four angels bound by the great river
Euphrates. — The voice proceeds, not from one horn merely, but
from all the horns together, because they together formed the
head of the altar. At the same time the four number of the
horns appear to be not without some respect to the four angels
in ver. 14, and the four number of sins iti ver. 21. The sins, the

366 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 18, 14.

desire of the church, the punishment, all bear the impress of
comprehensiyeness and intensity. The four number of the sins
constitutes the foundation, the four number of the horns and the
angels stand related to these as the effect to its cause. But
comprehensiye as the judgment is, it still bears, like the preced-
ing trumpets, a provisional character in relation to the seventh.
Angels^ without any additional predicate, are always good angels.
Of such alone can we think here, from the very nature of the
case. For, in Scripture it is uniformly the good angels that are
employed in punishing the wicked. The reference to them also
is confirmed by the analogy of the four angels with the four
winds in ch. vii. 1. — That the angels were bound, points to the
long-suffering of God, which, up to this time, restrained the
punishment, and still gave space for repentance. The significa-
tion of the binding was correctly given by Bossuet : *' What
binds the angels, are the sovereign commands of God." We
perceive the truth of this from ver. 15. Their work must have
its commencement at a particular moment. — The four number of
the angels bears respect to the four ends of the earth. It
denotes the universality, the oecumenical character of the divine
judgment. This number alone shows, that we are not to think
of the angels of particular nations, and the same appears by a
comparison of ch. vii. 1. — The Euphrates here, and in ch. xvi. 12,
is mentioned as the river, from the regions on the further side of
which, during the times of the Old Testament, and through the
course of centuries, the scourge of God came forth upon the
nearer districts of Asia. It was so, according to Gen. xiv., even
in the most ancient times, and afterwards during the ascendancy
of the Assyrians, the Chaldeans, and the Persians. In Isa. vii.
20, the king of Assyria is described as a razor, hired by God in
the district beyond the Euphrates. The word spoken by Jere-
miah in ch. xlvi. 10, must come anew into fulfilment. " And
this day shall be to Jehovah the Lord of Hosts, a day of revenge,
that he may avenge him of his adversaries, and the sword shall
devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood.
For the Lord God of Hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country
by the river Euphrates." The epithet greats the great river
Euphrates, itself points to the Old Testament — comp. Gen. xv.
18; Dent. i. 7; Josh. i. 4. The local designation is hence a merely

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 16. 367

apparent one. Not less than the four bound angels does the
Euphrates belong to the vision, which ever loves to find the sub-
stratum of its representations in events of a similar nature in the
past — comp. for example, Isa. xi. 15, 16 ; Zech. x. 11. All
hist-orizing interpreters, such, for example, as conceive the Eu-
phrates to be mentioned from being the limits of the Boman
empire, or from the dangers with which the Parthians threatened
the Romans, apart from the misapprehension implied regarding
the trumpets generally, is excluded by the enormous numbers in
ver. 16. The subject of discourse in vers. 15, 16 is not the
Romans, but men at large. — The angels are to be regarded as
the leaders of the great hosts, who assemble under their banners
in the regions beyond the Euphrates, the seat, as it were, of
God's hosts of war ; as in Isa. xiii. 5, Jehovah himself marches
forth at the head of his instruments of vengeance to lay waste the
whole earth. In the angels the truth is embodied, that those
warlike hosts do nothing, but what they are commissioned to
execute. The heavenly agency so strongly engages the attention
of the Seer, that at first he does not even think of the earthly
instruments. In the preceding vision the same thought is
rendered manifest by the falling of the star from heaven, which
leads on the locusts. — We may understand from the beginning in
ver. 13 who they are, against whom the four angels are loosed ;
they are the persons against whom the prayers of the church,
they had persecuted, have gone up. We may also learn it from
the conclusion in vers. 20, 21, according to which it is the world
sunk in idolatry and the love of sin, which on this account could
not but assume a hostile attitude towards the church and
believers : for " he who doeth evil hateth the light, and cometh
not to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved," John iii. 20.
Ver. 15. And the four angels were loosed, who were pr^ared
for the hour, and day, and month, and year, that they might
kill the third part of men. The preparation proceeds only from
God. The thought of such a preparation on the part of God may
well encourage the church to bear what she has to suffer from the
world. Whenever the set time comes, there will be a changing
of places ! — The article applies alike to all the four words. The
definite period is meant, in which the loosing of the angels was to
take effect (Luther has inaproperly: an hour.) They were al-

368 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 16, 17.

ready in preparation for that, and when it arrived, after the wicked-
ness of the world had become full, the loosing took place, aod
they were to begin their work. — An ascent is made from the
lower to the higher. When I know, that something has hap-
pened abont nine o'clock, I know less than if the year had been
mentioned to me. In Numb, i 1, Zech. i. 7, Hag. i. 15, also the
rise is made from the day to the month, and from this again to
the year. Bossnet : " The time being so precisely marked by
the prophet, lets us see how exactly God determines the periods.'*

Ver. 16. And the number of the army of the horsemen was
twice ten thousand times ten thousand^ ; I heard the number of
them. The subject of discourse is the enormous multitude of
caralry. As cavalry produce a very imposing impression, the
whole of the plundering hordes is here, as in the preceding trum-
pet, represented under this image, although in reality foot soldiers
must be understood to be also included. — ^The four hundred mil-
lions exclude all idea of a particular war, and shew that we have
here to do only with a personified species. The fundamental
passage is Ps. Ixviii. 17, " The chariots of God are two myriads,
thousands of repetition;" q.d. thousands multiplied by thou-
sands, a thousand times a thousand. There it is the invisible
war-chariots of Jehovah that are spoken of, which we may ima-
gine to be drawn by hosts of angels. But the difference is not
an essential one. For, these earthly hosts are as completely de-
pendant on every nod of God, as those heavenly ones. They, too,
are led by angels. In both places alike the hosts of God are
employed in his service against the world. — He heard their num-
ber, because it was so great a one, that no one could number it —
comp. ch. vii 9.

Ver. 17. And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them
that sat on them, having coats of mail of fire and hyacinth and
brimstone ; and the heads of the horses were as the heads of
lions, and out of their mouths went forth fire, and smoke, and
sulphur. Thus, viz., as follows : The horses are here, as also
in ver. 7, to be thought of as provided with riders. The de-
scription begins with the horsemen and then passes over to their

1 Some MSS. have merely fiupiait* fivpidduv, as in eta. ▼. I!* Vitringasays justly:
" TLa Holy Spirit elsewhere also uses this expression to denote the greatest possible
number, Ps. liviii. 17."

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. TX. 18.

horses. And them that sat on them, for : namely, them that sat
on them. The vision is framed so as to impress on us, what
might hare been understood of itself, though it is still even to our
day not understood by many expositors, that we must distinguish
between the substance and the form, under which it appears in
the yision. In this everything was seen — the internal had to im-
print itself on the external, the spiritual receive a body. The
wild exasperation, the thirst for murder, the desire of rapine and
desolation, are pictorially exhibited in the colours of the coats of
mail on the horsemen, and especially in the fire, and smoke, and
sulphur which came out of the mouth of their horses : the exter-
nal representation of their beastly appetite was transferred to the
beast part of the host. Even apart from the warning-note, from
the kind of invisible N.B. given in the expression, " in the
vision,*' it is scarcely possible to understand, how one should so
far misapprehend the nature of the representation, as to con-
clude, from it, that warlike hosts are not meant here. The affir-
mation, that nothing like actual war is seen here, may be met,
as soon as we can distinguish between the reality and the cloth-
i^Sr ^J ^^^ counter affirmation, that every thing does so. And
were it not for the multifariousness of the forms employed in the
representation, the six trumpets might be all compressed into
one. — The signification of the colours of the coats of mail is en-
tirely to be determined by what proceeds out of the mouth of the
horses : to the coats of mail of fire corresponds the fire, which
must therefore be imaged by them, to the hyacinth-coloured
(what is meant is the deep blue hyacinth), the smoke, to the
brimstone-like, the sulphur. Bengel : *' There is no mixture of
a white, clear, peaceful colour." — The lion-heads, fearful and ap-
palling.— The fire is the fire of wrath, the smoke is the insepar-
able accompaniment of the fire — comp. Ps. xviii. 8, where also, as
here, the fire-wrath goes out of the mouth — the (burning) brim-
stone points to the unpleasant character of this fire : the fire of
hell is a fire of brimstone, ch. xiv. 10, xix. 20, xxi. 8. If fire
and smoke alone had been mentioned, an honourable wrath might
have been indicated, as is plain from Ps. xviii. So that the in-
gredient of the sulphur here is quite necessary to a complete
characteristic.

Ver. 18. By these three plagues was the third part of men
2 a

370 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 19.

killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, andby the brimstone, which
issued out of their moutK The these refers to the things that
* had first been named. Without a figure : by their wild spirit of
ferocity and murder. The limitation of Bengel is arbitrary, in
understanding by the men, " such as lived in those lands, whi-
ther the warlike host went." The third part of men upon the
whole earth are ^specified. We have here no gradation in rela-
tion to the fifth trumpet For, the not being killed, is there to
be limited to the majority, who here also remain in life ; and in
ver. 6 there, it is represented, not as the better, but as the worse
lot. Here also, remarks Ziillig, '' by the perishing are to be un-
derstood those who have not the seal of God spoken of in ver. 4.*'
And Bengel says : *' In the present day there is a great corrup-
tion among unbelievers and nominal Christians, in all parts of
Christendom, among high and low, and in all conditions of men ;
but if we could see what in former times has been taken away,
we should find that the great Ood has continually saved out of
the corrupt mass a good portion to remain for a seed. Those
portions that have been extirpated have for the most part been a
bad commodity. In plants one always leaves the best, the largest,
and most perfect for seed, so that a good kind may be preserved.
What would it come to, if God should leave men to act as they
pleased, since with so much to restrain them, they are still so
averse to improve ? It is, therefore, necessary for the holy angels
to blow with their trumpets, that men may learn to fear the Lord,
and not be ever contending against him 'i Lord, when I reflect
how thou hast executed judgment in the world, my desire is in-
creased to give thee glory in a truly reverential and submissive
spirit."

Ver. 19. For, the power of the horses is in their mouths and
in their tails, for their tails are like serpents, and they have
heads, and with these they do hurt The clause, stating the
power to be in their mouth, serves only as a connecting link with
what is still to be said of their tails. The injurious and dreadfully
destructive tendency had not been sufficiently represented by
what proceeds out of the mouth of the horses. It still farther
embodies itself in the symbol of the serpent-tails. Serpents are
mentioned here, as in ch. xii. 9, where the devil is called the old
serpent, on account oftheir cunning, malicious wickedness, as op-

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 20. 371

posed in some sense to the lions in ver. 17 ; and agreeing also in
this, that the serpents are behind, where one snspects no danger.
Bengel's remark is rather little : " Whether they make a fnrions
onset, or turn the back, and feign a retreat, they still do hurt/'
There is no reason for supposing here, with some, a reference to a
peculiar sort of serpent, '- one that has a short tail, like a head,
which the creature uses both for creeping and for discharging
renom, as if it had two heads." It is not said of the tails of the
serpents, that they had heads, but of the tails of the horses. These
resemble serpents, which hare grown to the tails, and hare the
head free for biting.

Ver. 20. And the rest of the men, who were not hilled hy
these plagues, repented not of the works of their hands that
they should worship demons, and idols of gold, and silver, and
brass, and wood, and stone, which can neither see, nor hear, nor
walk. Dreadful hardness of the human heart ! Bather let all
be destroyed than be converted ! We may compare in the Old
Testament the history of Pharaoh, whose servants said to him in
vain, '* Dost thou not see, that Egypt is destroyed ;" and Isa.
ix. 12, " And the people return qot to him that smites them,
and the Lord of Hosts they seek not." A similar spirit of im-
penitence under divine judgments is given in ch. xvi. 9, 11, 21.
The opposite, however, in the degenerate church, ch. xi. 13.^
Mark says : " It is to be understood of itself, that when it is said
of the rest, they did not repent, the statement is to be confined
to the apostates, and is not to be extended to those, whom the
Lord has reserved for himself in secret." The proper limitation,
however, is rather this, that along side the world, which here is
the subject of discourse, the church exists, and is also, indeed,
much tainted by the worldly spirit, but by the judgments of the
Lord it is awakened to repentance ; see ch. xi. We have here a
tenfold description of idols, divided by the seven and the three,
and the first again by two and five. — That by the works of their
hands, it is not actions that are denoted, as some conceive, re-
ferring to ch. ii. 22, xvi. 11 (where, however, actions are not
spoken of), but works generally, is clear from Deut. iv. 28, " And

I The figrawiiv unifonnlj corresponds in the Apocalypse to a^D. That it sboald
be found ten times in this book, and not once in the other writings of John, is a parti,
cular proof of the Old Testament character of the Apocalypse.

2 a2

372 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. IX. 20.

ye shall there serve idols, the works of men's hands, wood aod
stone, which see not, and hear not, and eat not, and smell not/*
Ps. cxv. 4 — 7, " Their god&are silver and gold, the work of men s
hands," cxxxv. 16 — 17. Further, in the service of idolatry, which
those expositors understand to be meant by the works of the
hands, the hands are not peonliarly employed. The worship is
performed by the whole body. Finally, the repetition of the
statement, ^* they repented not," in ver. 21, is more easily ex-
plained, if by the works of the hands the idols are understood.
The certainly somewhat hard expression : Bepent of the works,
is softened by what follows immediately after. According to this
it is as much as, repent of their worshipping the works of their
hands, demons and idols. — By the demons we can only understand
evil spirits, according to the usage of the New Testament. There
is no proof of lifeless images being ever meant by the demons.
The second passages also, where demons are mentioned in the
Apocalypse, ch. xvi. 14, indicates real existences, as there the
spirits of demons are spoken of. The worship of idolatry may be
viewed in two aspects. In the one it is a rude image-worship.
The several heathen gods have no existence beside the material
one in their statutes, the work of men's hands. But in the other
aspect, the idolatrous service has a demoniacal background. The
allurement to give honour to those Elilim, those nonentities, pro-
ceeds from the powers of darkness, and since they constitute the
spiritual background in the matter, the worship may be regarded
as in a measure performed to them. Only a passing notice, how-
ever, is taken here of this aspect, and in what follows, the Seer im-
mediately reverts again to the other. All profound investiga-
tions into the nature of idol-worship leads to this result. The
fearful power, which it wields over the minds oi men, is inex-
plicable without this spiritual background, which is first disclosed
to our view in the New Testament, going, as it usually does, more
to the bottom of things, while the Old Testament rests more
in the material appearance. The apostles, who lived in the
midst of heathen objects and relations, were thereby rendered,
humanly considered, more competent for this, than those who
know of heathenism only from books. The demoniacal character,
the infernal origin of the evil, in * all the more inveterate aberra-
tions of the human mind, impresses itself on all who have it im-

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, OH. IX. 21. 373

mediately before their eyes, and are capable of profound in-
quiries into the subject. Howeyer, the demoniacal nature of
the Berolution and the rage for freedom has opened many eyes
in our days, that were hitherto shut, to perceive the existence
of a kingdom of darkness. It is quite similar in respect to the
worship of idolatry. Airy phantoms, nonentities, were what
came into immediate contact with men*s consciences, but be*
hind these a real pow«er lay concealed, and one of terrible energy.
— The demoniacal background continues through all ages, eren
to the end of the world. But in regard to " the works of
men*s hands," &c., changes take place in the course of time, yet
not such as materially to affect the nature of things. The world
is continually fabricating to itself new schemes, which it idolizes
and worships. The Seer here makes acconnt only of that form
which was prevalent in his time, without meaning, however, to
ascribe more to this than the rest. — It is not without reason that
the works of the hands are set first. For, the subject is not
about a direct and conscious worshipping of demons. — On the
words, " that neither see," &c., comp. Dan. y. 23, ''But the God,
in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast
thou not glorified."

Ver. 21. And they repented not of their murders, nor of their
sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts. On the
transgressions of the first table there follow now those of the se-
cond. The former were completed in the number ten, and these
latter are comprised in four. The four, on account of the four
quarters of heaven, is next to the ten, the signature of the com-
prehensive, the complete. The two first sins are against the
fifth command, according to Luther's reckoning, the sixth by the
original text, or the first of the second table ; the two last are
against the sixth and seventh, or the seventh and eighth respec*
tively. Sorcery (mentioned also ch. xviii. 23, and Gal. v. 20)
appears here among the transgressions, of the second table, in
connection with open murders, and is therefore viewed not in its
religious aspect, but as one of the means by which a neighbour
might be secretly injured, and injured in respect to his life. For-
nication is the spirit of licentiousness, whence proceeds the trans-
gression of the precept : Thou shalt not commit adultery.

374 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 1 — XI. 13.

THE INTERLUDE IN CH. X. 1— XI. 13.

The seyen angels with the seyen trampets form a prophetic
pictare in itself complete, bringing matters fully to an end, as was
the case also with the preceding group of the six seals ; and after
it an entirely new beginning follows, the vision of the three ene-
mies of the kingdom of Ood. In this section ch. x. 1 — xi. 13
forms a sort of episode ; and ch. xi. 14 connects itself with ix.
21.

The prophet sees a strong angel descending from heaven, ver. 1.
First by a symbolical action — namely, having his right foot
planted on the sea, the left on the earth — and then by an express
word, coupled with an oath, this angel announces, that under the
trumpet of the seventh angel the full and perfect realization of
all the promises made to the church concerning her final victory
over the world and the kingdom of glory should be accomplished,
ver. 2—7. Then he gives to the prophet a little book of painful
contents, which should enable him and the church to bear that
first business with a courageous spirit.^ He swallows, the little
book, and is thereby put in a capacity for uttering the prophecy
which follows in ch. xi. 1 — 13, and by which the contents of the
little book are made' known. The church — ^alas ! that it should
be so — has become subject to the power of the world, not only
externally, but partly also internally, connected with it and
leagued together for the persecution of the true confessors of the
faith. The kernel, however, remains unhurt, and the elect abide
stedfast under the trial. Those only who stand in a loose rela-
tion to the church shall fall under it. Whoever in the church
has, to him it shall then be given, and only from him who has not
shall be taken away what he has. Through the whole course of
the external and internal pressure of the world on the church, the
work of witnessing proceeds by the operation of the grace of God.

1 The cmreot view of this connection between the flnt basiness of the angel and Uie
second is found in Vitringa: *' This vision is of a consolatory kind, as iu it the Holy
Spirit soaght to fit and prepare John, and in him the church, for the new revelation, con-
tained in the little book, concerning some new and very severe calamity tliat was to
bttfal the chnrch, and of which moch is said in the subseqnent part of this prophecy ; so
tbal what was to come might be borne with a patient and composed mind, and with the
rxperience of nni«'h consolation."

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CU. X. 1 — XI. 13 375

And the reformation of the church, prepared by this, has been
ever and anon brought about by means of God's visitations of
judgment. By these it is effected, that the blessed seed scat-
tered by the faithful germinates, and grows and brings forth
fruit.

The interlude here between the sixth and seventh trumpets
has its correspondence in the vision of the seven seals, which is
united with this into a pair, and in common with it is of a prepa-
ratory and introductory character, in the episode between the
sixth and seventh seals, vii. There, too, the look is turned from
the world, with the fates of which, according to the historical
starting-point of the book, its chief scenes have alone to do, to
the church ; as is the case also here. How does it go with the
church of God during the frightful judgments which come upon
the world ? This question is answered in the whole of the
seventh chapter. But, while there the discourse is of the state
of the church under the plagues which desolate the world, the
question that is answered here, having imipediate reference to the
two last verses of ch. ix., is : How does the church stand related
to the corruption of the world that lies in wickedness, and which
proves itself to be irremediable even under the severest judgments
of God ? To this question the answer is of a less joyful kind
than to the first. There the bright side of the church's future is
presented to our view ; but here it is the dark side ; though still
even in the night the stars appear shining. It goes otherwise in
the church of the Lord, in consequence of the strong pressure of
the world on it, than could well have been imagined by those who
have not known from their own experience the weakness of the
flesh as to its dread of suffering, and the deceitiulness of the
heart ; who have not obtained any deep insight into the mystery
of sin. For, even in the church much apostacy and corruption
discover themselves, and there too is the agency of God to be dis-
played in executing judgment. But the pain this was fitted
to occasion is softened, a balsam is prepared for the wound
at the very first by the appearance of the rainbow around
the strong angel's head in ch. x. 1 ; and not only so, but
against the apostacy a reaction takes place in the midst of the
church, which is strengthened by God, and brought to glory,
thongh not without sad reverses ; so that the judgment is not a

3 76 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH X. 1.

consuming one, but only prepares the way for the operations of
grace. When this manifests itself, then the distinction between
the world and the charch properly appears. The powers that lay
bound in the latter are by the judgment of God set free. Of the
world it is said in ch. ix. 20, 21, the two verses that form the
transition to this interlude, " And the rest of the men that were
not killed by these plagues, repented not of the works of their
hands, that they should not worship demons,'* etc. Here, on the
other hand, it is said with manifest reference to that starting-
point of the whole, " And the rest were frightened, and gave glory
to the God of heaven." Thus we obtain a firm foundation for
the consolatory announcement of the strong angel, that the com-
pletion of the mystery of God infallibly approaches, and which
was fitly made to precede the representation of the facts, that
were so much fitted to beget despair in respect to that comple-
tion. For how could a church that had become so much identi-
fied with the world, obtain a final victory over the world ! It is
announced in reply, first, that the worldly admixture is not a
total one, reaching to the innermost source of life, and then, that
the judgment of God shall purge it out.

Ch. X. 1. And I saw another strong angel come doumfrom
heaven, clothed with a cloudy and the rainbow upon his head ;
and his face like the sun^ and his feet like pillars of fire. The
other angel (understood most easily in relation to the angels
who blew the trumpets), can only be Christ. For everything that
is said to characterize this other angel applies only to God, who
can be no angel, and to the reflection of his glory, Christ, We
cannot suppose with Ziillig, that Jehovah had communicated to
the angel his proper insignia, for these are not communicable.
It would, indeed, have been contrary to the divine word, " I will
not give my glory to another" — a breaking down of the limits
between the Creator and his creature, for which no analogy is to be
found in the whole of Scripture. It must, at any rate, have been
very carefully and expressly pointed out, that the glory was altoge-
ther of a borrowed kind. But there is no trace whatever of this.
Further, the operations of the angel belong only to Christ. The
planting of the right foot on the sea, and of the left on the earth,
as certainly belongs to Christ, as it is to him and not to an angel
that God has put in subjection the future world (Hebr. ii. 5), as

TUE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 1. 377

certainly as the dominion of the world mnst be possessed by the
Lord and his Christ (ch. xi. 15.) It would hare been presump-
tion for a created angel to come forth thus. Nothing but the
oath of God, or of one connected with him by oneness of nature,
can secure for the church, what requires here to be secured for
her. Scripture never attributes to angels such depth of insight
into the divine decrees, that their authority could be a perfectly
secure one for the church-:-comp. 1 Pet. i. 12, and Rev. v. 3. It
would have been somewhat different if the angel had made the
oath merely in the name of Ood, or had related it as having been
made by God ; as in Gen. zxii. 16. And eren there it is not an
angel that speaks, but the angel of the Lord : " By myself have
I sworn, saith the Lord.^^ Here, too, the suitableness of the re-
sult is founded on the person swearing ; the angel swears in his
name ; and of such an oath, made by a created, angel, Scripture
furnishes no example.^ Then, in the original passage, Dan. xii. 7,
it is not a created angel, but Michael, the Logos, who stands
upon the waters of Tigris, as the angel here upon the sea and
earth, and swears. Finally, the reference to Christ has on its
side the analogy of ch. vii. 2, where he appears likewise under
the name of another angel. There he comes forth for the conso-
lation of his church, which was troubled at the prospect of the
judgments which were to pass over the world ; here he meets the
disquieting doubts regarding the completion of the kingdom of
God and its final victory over the world, which were a^wakened
by the thought of the worldly spirit having gained so much in the
church itself. There he consoles the church, when ready to faint
on account of her participation in the world's plagues, and here,
in like manner, when ready to faint on account of her participa-
tion in the world's sins. What seems to be against this angel
being Christ, has already nearly all been met at ch. yii. 2,
comp. also ch. xviii. 1, where Christ is designated in a similar

1 Vitringa: '* Does the hupe of the chareh rest on the oath of a created angel i Is
it the part of a created angi*! to swear, tliac Che words of prophecy and the promises giTen
to the church shall be falfilled? ABBnred]y,if the hope of the church shall stand un-
moved, it cannot be sustained excepting by the faithfulness and oath of that very person,
to whose nature failure is not incident, and which of itself is able to perform whatever
it swears to— and this can be said only of Ood. Wherefore Ood swears by himself (Heb.
vi. 7). when his object was to confirm the faith of his people regarding what he had pro-
mised in the Old Testament, and shew the unchangeableness of his council."

378 TUE SEVEN TRUMPETS, Cll. X. 1.

uianner. The conclasion : " The -angel swears here by the
Creator, therefore he is himself a creature/' is a very hasty one.
The mere circumstance of Christ appearing here as an angel pre-
cluded his swearing by himself, and required that he should
swear by him who had sent him and who was represented by him.
Were such reasoning sound, from how much of what Christ spake
in his state of humiliation (with which his appearance here is on
a line) might conclusions be drawn against his true Godhead !
But why should Christ not have been expressly named ? why is
he so vaguely designated ? Because the Seer will only relate
what he saw, and deliver to his reader the sacred riddle, which
had been presented to himself, and which he had himself solved.
He acted quite similarly at the appearance of Christ in ch. i. —
Christ did not need to come down from heaven, on account of
what he had to say to John, for John was in heaven. But the
reason for the coming down is given in ver. 2. He comes down
to plant his foot upon the sea and the earth, and by this act to
indicate his approaching possession of both. This was the proper
position for the uttering of the oath. For the oath delivers a
commentary on that symbolical action, and discloses its mean-
ing. There is no necessity for supposing that John looked
down from heaven upon earth. The most natural view is, that
from out of the earth he saw the strong angel coming down.
John's being in heaven is to be understood positively and not ex-
clusively.. According to John iii. 3, Christ also was at once
in heaven and on the earth. Where the earth presents anything
to be seen, there John was on the earth, as in ch. xii. 18, he
stands on the sand of the sea, and in ch. xvii 3, he finds himself
in the wilderness. But where, again, anything was to be seen in
heaven, he is in heaven. Such a double-sided existence, in a
certain degree, belongs to all believers ; their citizenship is in
heaven, Phil. iii. 20, and still they behold the doings of God upon
the earth, Ps. xlvi. 9. The mind is in a sickly state when the
eye is shut in regard to the operations of God upon the earth.
The being in heaven, with John, existed only potentially. — On
the cloud, as a foreshadowing of judgment, see on ch. i. 7 Re-
marks like this, '' By the cloud the brightness of the angel was
not only indicated, but also in a fitting manner veiled,'* or this,
*' covered with a cloud on account of the extreme splendour,

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, Cll. X. 1. 379

which blinds the eyes,** are alien to the scriptural mode of repre-
sentation, in which the symbol of the cloud has but one well-
established nieaning. The object of the judgment foreshadowed
by the cloud is primarily the world. To it more immediately
belongs the tlireatening symbolically announced in the cloud.
On it first of all does this cloud, big with furious storms, dis-
charge what it contains. For the completion of the judgment on
the world is in vers. 2 — 7 set before the view of the church,
whose completion is inseparably bound up with that. Still, we
must not stand simply at this. The appearance is prefigurative
of the whole contents of the interlude, as Bengel remarks : '' In
such appearances we must keep the attire of the person who ap-
pears, and the word spoken by him in connection with each other.
Thus the attire of Christ in ch. i., and what he presently after-
wards caused John to write to the churches, throw light mutually
on each other." All that occurs in the interlude of judicial agency
must stand in connection with the cloud. But in ch. xi. 13 we
read of a great judgment, which alights on the degenerate church.
We must therefore contemplate the cloud, charged with lightning,
thunder, and hail, with mingled feelings. It is at once a call to
joy, and an occasion for awakening fear and trembling, exciting
the cry, Woe is me, and Lord have mercy on us. — But the wound
which the cloud makes is healed by the rainbow (Luther, follow-
ing a false reading : a rainbow ; there is only one spiritual rain-
bow, as there' is only one whose head the rainbow can adorn) —
the symbol of divine grace returning after wrath— of the church
to which alone belong the declarations, " I kill and I make alive,*'
and '* he wounds and he binds up, he smites and his hands heal.*'
Such things belong exclusively to the church, while the cloud is
common to it with the world. Even when there is much sin with
us, there is much more grace with God, which brings forth the
lovely symbol of the rainbow to clieer the church when terrified
by the frightful cloud, and ready to faint under a sense of sin.
The rainbow on the head of the angel at the outset pledges to
the church the completion of Ood*s mystery, as is expressly pro-
mised in ver. 7 ; pledges to her what is promised in ch. xi. I — 13,
the stedfastness of the faithful, in the time of temptation, the
salutary, and not, as in the world, destructive operation of the
divine judgments. — The face like the sun marks the angel as the

3

380 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 1.

possessor of the glory of the Lord — comp. on ch. i. 16 ; Hebr. i.
3 ; 2 Cor. iv. 6. The face like the sun calls aloud to the church :
'* Beware of him, and obey his roice, provoke him not ; for he
wilt not pardon your transgressions, because my name is in him.
But if thou wilt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak,
then will I be an enemy to thine enemies, and an adversary to
thine adversaries,*' (Ex. xxiii. 21, 22.) The preservation of the
divine glory, as it was imaged by the foce like the sun, is the
completion of God's judgment on the world, and also the judg-
ment on the church, and the manifestation of grace toward her.
For in the forgiveness of sins the glory and holiness of God, his
absolute being, shine forth in the clearest and purest manner, ac-
cording to Hosea xi. 9, '* I will not execute the fierceness of mine
anger, I will not again destroy Ephraim (as formerly Sodom), for
I am God and not a inan, I am the Holy in thy midst, and do
not go into the city*' — am no son of man, like those who walk
upon the earth, and go out and in at the gates of the city. The
moderation of the judicial punishments inflicted on those who are
called after God's name appears there as a manifestation of
the holiness of God. He whose face beams like the sun, the
Holy, is free from all human passions, which always keep the eye
stiffly directed to only one side. — Two things are said of the feet,
their pHlar-like and their fiery appearance. As the latter cha-
racteristic is manifestly of a polemical nature— ^comp. what was
said on the corresponding phrase, '* like clear brass," in ch. i. 15,
ii; 18 — so the other also, the pillar-like appearance, must be un-
derstood in a polemical sense. It may be that as the fire images
the consuming character of God's punitive righteousness, so the
designation as pillars brings out the massive character, which
renders it so crushing to all upon whom it is exercised. But the
view of Bengel appears preferable, " to hold to his post in an in-
vincible manner where he plants his feet," " the immoveable
stedfastness of the heavenly conqueror against all the resistance
of his enemies." The post-like standing suits quite well in ver.
2, and at ch. iii. 12, where also unchangeable stedfastness is in-
dicated by the pillars. — The dark cloud, threatening fire, forms
the beginning, fire itself the close. In the pillar of cloud and
fire also we have the two combined together, Ex. xiii. 21. The
two there also have a threatening character, and symbolize -the

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 2. 381

Lord*s judgments npon his enemies. The symbol of the Lord's
presence exhibited a'bright character for Israel only while they
continued faithfbl. *

Ver. 2. And he Jiad in his hand a little book open; and he
set his right foot on the sea, and the left upon the earth. That
the angel has here the open book in his hand, shews plainly that
we are not to separate the interlnde into two parts independent
of each other, ch. x, 1 — 7, and ch. x. 8 — 11, 13, If the little
book were without meaning as to the first action, the angel could
not have appeared with it so early in his hand — as Ziillig con-
ceives : '' The little book belongs to the description of his ap-
pearance, although it has nothing to do with what immediately
follows." The impression made would then be a very disturbing
one. But the correct view is rather this : yer. 2 — 7 meet the
doubt and disquietude, which the partly distressing contents of
the little book were fitted to raise. In this it is represented how
the worldly spirit was to press hard upon the church, and to some
extent also press into her. Should such a church, so deeply
tainted by the world, be held worthy of attaining to a complete
victory over the world 'i Must not the accomplishment of God's
mystery, which he had announced to his servants the prophets, be
staid in the middle of its course 1 Could there be anything more
than half faith kept in regard to the whole salvation ? The con-
sideration of the sinfulness of the chosen of the entire church —
this is the dangerous rock on which the hope of a completed work
of salvation threatens to be shipwrecked. Without the supposi-
tion of such a separate occasion and reference, vers. 2 — 7 is scarcely
intelligible. Apart from this, what need were there for the solemn
asseveration by an oath, that after the preliminary judgments
the final ones should follow, and the '' regeneration'' therewith
connected ? That, apart from the one mighty stumblingblock, is
the most natural in the world for the believing mind. — The little
book here manifestly looks back to the book in ch. v. 1. But
the remark of Bengel is quite erroneous, that '* this little book
forms the remnant or the filling up of that book ; in that this also
was contained and sealed along with it." The contents of the
book have already been fully communicated. The book contains
the judgments on the world, the little book the destinies of the

382 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 2.

charch. With the distinction of the book^ from the little book —
fonnded on the circumstance that the sins and pnnishments of the
world constitute matter of a much more comprehensive nature than
those of the church — the circumstance goes hand in hand of the
book being written on both sides ; for this indicated the fdlness
of its matter.— ^The book was sealed with seven seals, and no one
could open it but Christ, who did open it, after John had wept
much that no one could open it and look into it. The subject in
hand there was the victory of the church over the world. But
here, on the other hand, the little book is opened. The subject
of which it treats is the injuries sustained by the church from the
pernicious influence exercised over it by the world. They lie
also upon the surface, and irresistibly force themselves upon one's
notice. Here the word holds : " Lord, my sins are ever before
me." — The planting of the foot on anything is a symbol of taking^
possession and maintaining with invincible power. In Dan. xii.
6, Michael appears as standing on the waters of the Tigris, as a
sign that he has power over the might of heathendom, and conse-
quently could bring it under his dominion. Comp., besides, Ps.
viii. 7, where to put under the feet and to have dominion are
parallel ; Ps. ex. 1, Jos. x. 24. A commentary on the symbolical
action is given here, as in Daniel, by the oath, which proceeds upon
an unconditional subjection of the earth and the sea. — That the
sea here, as commonly in the Revelation, is used of the sea of
the nations (see on ch. viii. 8), is clear from this alone, that
the literal sea has nothing properly to do with the matter in
hand : it was not comprehended in the revolt against 6od and
his kingdom, and the placing it under subjection, as announced
by the symbolical action, would have been without meaning. The
feet which were placed on the sea and the earth are, according to
ver. 1, like pillars of fire ; they fix themselves fast like posts
wherever they are placed, and consume those who oppose them*
selves. Where these feet are placed, there revolt against God
must have existed. To this result we are led by the considera-
tion that the sea here, and likewise in vers. 5 and 8, is named
before the earth, and also by the right foot being placed on it.

1 The fit^Kiov is in form a diminutiTe, but in use is scarcely distinguished from

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, OH. X. 8. 383

And in the next gronp it is not on^^ of the literal sea, but out of
the sea of the nations, that the beast arises.

Ver. 3. And he cried with a loudvoiee^ as a lion roars ; and
when he cried the seven thunders uttered their voices. The
hostile character of the loud voice is made manifest by comparing
it with the roar of the lion. This, in a series of passages of the
Old Testament, has already been consecrated as an expression of
the wrath of God against his enemies—comp. Hos. xi. 10, where
the Lord roars like a lion for his church against the world; Joel
iii. 16, '* The Lord shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from
Jerusalem ; and the heavens and the earth shall shake ; and
the Lord shall be the hope of his people, and the strength of the
children of Israel ;" also the passages resting on that of Joel, Am.
i. 2, Jer. xxv. 30. Christ had already been designated the lion
of the tribe of Judah, on account of his terribleness to his enemies.
Whom the threatening respects is manifest from ver. 2, where
the strong angel plants his foot upon the sea and the earth. To
them there is called out a frightful, " Thus far and no farther ;"
to them is announced the complete discomfiture, which brings for
ever to an end their opposition to heaven. We afterwards see the
first beast rising out of the sea — ^the ungodly world-power, and
out of the earth the second beast — ^the ungodly spirit of earthly
wisdom ; by which the conflict between Ood and the world, that
had hitherto been indicated only in general features, is to be more
pointedly delineated. The strong voice like the roaring of a lion
itself intimates that the matter is not to be very greatly pro-
tracted. Jesus formerly exclaimed with a loud voice when on the
cross, *' It is finished." And the loud voice here announces that
this last word of his upon earth shall be kept in the final victory
of the church, and the subjection of the world, which have their
foundation in the work accomplished by Christ upon the cross.^ —
' What was uttered by the angel in a brief and sharp word of
threatening is continued and carried forward by the seven thun-
ders. This connection with the lionV roar alone shews that the

1 Through the fivKaaQai, properly mugire, the roar of the lion is here fitly designated,
because a stronger and more palpable expression than the iapv^cdai of 1 Pet. t. 8. It is
too far-fetched to think of the resemhlance which the voice of the lion is said to have to
that of cattle, when he has got his prey; Plutarch remarks concerning it, de animal.-:
Kov X&punruft oTiouvt dvaKaXovvrai (calling on their young) ^6<rxov fJLUKVfiuTt rd
fipuyrifia irotovvTiv bfioiov.

384 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 3.

seven trumpets mnst possess a threatening character. Thunders
in the^ Apocalypse, too, always carry a polemical aspect, always
stand in respect to the frightful judgments of God, whether
they may only be threatened, or may be actually executed —
comp. on ch. iv. 5, viii. 5, xi. 19, xvi. 18. Finally, there
can be no doubt that the seven, trumpets here point to Ps.
xxix. There the voice of the Lord is mentioned seven times,
which cannot be regarded as accidental, on account of the cor>
responding seven number of the verses. But in Ps. xxix. the
thunder bears a frightful character ('* the voice of the Lord cleayes
with flames of fire," ver. 7) ; it appears as a symbolical threaten-
ing to the world, and hence also as a symbolical promise to the
church, which is borne down by the world. From these remarks
it will be seen with what justice it is still maintained, that *' be-
cause thunder speaks, the subject cannot necessarily be a matter
of terror." The not is here plainly too much. Nor are we to
give force to the article, so as to suppose there should be actually
seven peals of thunder ; these are no more to be understood
really, than the seven Spirits of God in ch. i. 4. . This belongs
only to the vision, and has its root in Ps. xxix. — It is remarkable
that in the writings of the New Testament there is next to no
mention of thunder, excepting in those of John. It occurs in
the gospel, ch. xii. 29, where a commentary is given in ver. 31 ;
so that there also the thunder has a polemical character; it
announces that the name of Jesus shall be glorified by the exe-
cution of judgment on this world. Then it occurs in a long series
of passages in the Apocalypse. Once only is it found in Mark,
ch. iii. 17, and with reference to John, to whom, along with his .
brother James, we are told, the Lord gave the name of Boanerges,
sons of thunder. This passage supplies us with a key for the
frequent occurrence of thunder in the Revelation, as was re-
marked by Bengel, " A son of thunder is a fit person for hearing '
voices of thunder." The name Boanerges is held by Ration-
alism to be a name of reproach, but it is not less a name of hon-
our, and significative of a diyine mission, than the name Peter,
with which it is very closely connected. In the application of
that name the Lord described the Apocalypse long before it was
written, so that it may be said to be depriyed of its signification,
whenever the Apocalypse is ascribed to another than John. It

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 4. 385

rests upon a'twofold supposition ; first, a vivid sense of the judi-
cial righteousness of God in respect to those against whom it is
directed (to the strength of which in James, his roughness^ as
the world would say, he probably owed his early martyrdom),
and an aptness for the symbolical language of nature. Another
point of connexion as to the past for the frequent occurrence of
thunder in the Apocalypse, is furnished by Luke ix. 51. John
and James would have had fire immediately called down from
heaven on those who would not receive Jesus ; in which we have
not merely to think of their strong sense of the divine righteous-
ness, which then certainly was mingled with dross, and required
to be purified by the fire of the Holy Spirit, but also of the pe-
culiar cast of mind, which should have led them to seek for the
exercise of the divine righteousness in this particular form.

Ver. 4. And when the seven thunders had uttered ("their
' voices J, I was going to write C them J ; and I heard a voice from
heaven saying : Seal what the seven thunders have uttered^ and
write it not, A speech of definite meaning is attributed to the
thunders, to each its separate import. For, otherwise, it would
have been impossible to write what they had spoken. There is
here a remarkable coincidence with John xii. 28, where also we
have a voice of thunder with a definite meaning. We must not
compare here the unutterable words of Paul in 2 Cor. xii. 4.
For that the discourse here is not of impenetrable secrets, as it
is there, is plain from the circumstance that John was going to
write the words. The means of a more exact explanation in re-
gard to this demand are furnished by the fundamental passages of
the Old Testameqt, Dan. viii. 26, '* Shut up the vision, for it is
for a long time*' — where the words that follow, ** I was astonished
at the vision, and no one understood it/* plainly show what is
meant by the shutting up ; Dan. xii. 4, where Daniel is enjoined
to fold up the roll, which contained the prophecy that had been
imparted to him, and to seal it till the time of the fulfilment —
meaning, that the prophecy wacs for the present as good as closed
up and sealed, the church of the future should alone be able to
make a right use of it ; Dan. xii. 9, where the angel answered
to the prayer of Daniel, for more explicit information regarding
the prophecy, that he could not impart this, for the prophecy
was to be shut up and sealed till the last time. From these
. 2ft

386 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 4,

fundamental passages, it follows, 1. That here it is only a tem-
porary keeping secret that is spoken of. From the first indeed
ve could expect no other than such ; for we haTe here the Reve^
lation of Jesus Christ. Accordingly, we are not to think of an
absolute and perpetual secrecy. Substantially, the sequel most
disclose what is here shut up. The book with seren seals also
in ch. y. was only proTisionally sealed. In common life it is not
what is nerer to be read, but only what is not to be read in the
meantime, that is sealed. 2. That the ground of this prelimi-
nary keeping secret is to be sought in this, that the basis for
the understanding of it meanwhile was wanting. With this abo
agrees ch. xxii. 10. The injunction not to seal is there founded
on the consideration, that the fulfilment should soon throw light
on the prophecy. The general truth, that the seven thunders
announced the destruction of the ungodly power, was plain enough.
But for the particular points involved, there was still want-
ing the necessary foundation to a proper understanding, and it
would have been needful to trespass on the territory of the fol-
lowing groups. In these we are to expect, according to this
passage, detailed explanations regarding the overthrow of the
powers that are opposed to the kingdom of God. The next group
itself greats of the three enemies of God's kingdom ; the sixth re-
lates the destruction of these three enemies ; in ch. ix. 7, ss., the
assault and overthrow of Gog and Magog are depicted. What is
thus delineated in later portions of the overthrow of the enemies
of God's kingdom, and of the final victory of the latter, must be
essentially identical with that, which is here meanwhile shut up
in secrecy. — In regard to the voice of the angel Bengel remarks,
** From the commencement of the book the Lord Jesus himself
has so often told John to write, that it is doubtless his voice also,
which in other passages commands John to write, and here in-
terdicts his writing, while it commands him to take the little
book." If we can suppose, that it was Christ who appeared in
the character of the strong angel, we can appropriately under-
stand by the voice from heaven, the voice of Christ. For, his
appearing as the strong angel does not interfere with his sitting
on the right hand of the Father. In the days of his flesh, also,
he was not merely on the earth, but constantly in heaven too— -
comp. John iii. 13. But that the voice does not proceed from

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 5, 6, 7. 387

the angel bnt from hearen arises from this, that the angel has
here a special mission, within the compass of which there lay no
control oyer the composition of the Apocalypse.

Ver. 5. And the angel whom I saw stand upon the sea and
the earth lifted up his right hand to heaven, Ver. 6. And
swore by him that liveth for ever and ever^ who has made
heaven and what is therein, and the earth and what is therein^
and the sea and what is therein, that henceforth no time more
should he. Ver. 7. But in the days of the voice of the seventh
angel, when he shall sound, then the mystery of Ood is finished,
as he has declared to his servants the prophets. The statement :
whom I saw stand, is not merely a personal description. The
oath forms a commentary on the placing of the foot on the sea
and the earth. The original passage is l)an. xii. 7, '' And I
heard the man clothed in linen, who was npon the waters of the
riyer, when he held up his right hand and his left hand to heaven,
and sware by him that liveth for ever, that in a time, two times,
and an half time ... all €hese things shall be finished.**
There the angel raises both hands to heaven, here only the right
hand ; for in the one hand (known to be the left from what is
here said of the right) he holds the. book. The passage of
Daniel, again, points back to Dent, xxxii. 40, 41, where Jehoyah
swears that he will avenge his oppressed *chuTch on her persecu-
tors : *' For I lift my hand to heayen, and say, As truly as I liye
for eyer I whet my glittering sword, and my hand lays hold on
judgment," etc. The strong angel swears by him who lives for
ever, and eyer, who has made heaven, etc. He who liyes for ever
will reign for ever, ch. xi. 15. He must act over again the
past, as it perpetually springs up afresh. Eternal, like himself,
must his protection also be oyer his people. He can never sur-
render them to destruction, bnt must conduct them to the con-
summation of glory — comp. Ps. cii. 24, and Deut. xxxii. 40,
where Jehftyah gives his eternity as a pledge that he will execute
vengeance for his people. He who has made heayen and the
other regions of created beings cannot be satisfied with a partial
dominion ; the end must belong to him equally with the begin-
ning (see on ch. i. 8), the kingdom of the world must be uncon-
ditionally his ; there can.be nothing in the heaven, on the earth,
and in the sea, whether literal or that of the nations, which for a

262

388 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 5, 6, 7/

continnance can raise against him a suceessful opposition ; all in
heayen, sea, and earth, must at last giye way and yanisb, that is
contrary to their original destination (ch. xxi. 1.) See on ch.
iv. 11 in regard to the creation as a pledge of the completion of
the kingdom of God. The object of the oath is that no time more
shall be. Time, here, is as much as, delay — comp. ii. 21, yi. 11,
where time occurs in a similar sense, Isa. xiii. 22, Hab. ii. 3.
The more exact import is giyen in yer. 7. From that we learn
that a delay is here meant, which might intenrene between the
seyenth trumpet and the completion of the mystery of God. To
the earlier trumpets a delay had entered in regard to the coming
of the kingdom of God in its completion. The church, ready to
faint under a sense of sin, is afn^id that matters shall go under
the seyenth trumpet as they haye done before, that they shall
continue to stand at the suspension of a particular judgment. The
doubt has respect, not to the entering of the seyenth trumpet, but
to the nature and extent of it. The church dreads lest her sins
may deprive her of the good to be brought by it. Because she
has not answered her destination and calling, she thinks that
she can look for no full salvation, no perfect victory. The com-
pletion has recejjed from her to an invisible distance. This is
the temptation that the oath meets. The supposition of some
expositors, that an absolute ceasing of time is what is here spoken
of, introduces a modern thought into the passage ; for, according
to the scriptural point of view, eternity is not the antithesis to
time, but measureless time, and is dispersed by yer. 7, where the
discourse is not, as by this supposition we should have expected,
of the entrance of eternity. I pass oyer in silence the still more
arbitrary exposition of Bengel. The mystery of Ood^ which shall
be finished in the days of the seventh trumpet, must be entirely
of a joyful nature. For it is said literally, "as he has evangelised
his servants the prophets," as he has giyen to them concerning it
Vk joyful message. By the connection, the mystery haff respect to
the dominion of Christ oyer the sea and the earth. For, the
symbolical action that expresses this, forms the starting-point of
the oath. But we recognize more exactly the contents of the
mystery of God from ch. xi. 15, 18, where the things concealed
here from the church actually appear. We learn there, that it
affects the Lord's dominion oyer the world, the judgment of the

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 8. 389

world, and the full establishment of the servants of Ood in their
inheritance. It was by pointing to this glorious end, that the
prophets of the Old Testament consoled belieyers during the long
and dismal ages of the world's ascendancy and power. The
reality of this consolation must be made good at the trumpet of
the seventh angel. '* Ood's children sow, indeed, sorrowfully and
in tears, but at last, and notwithstanding their sins, the period
comes for which they longed. The harvest time comes when they
gather their sheaves. Then shall all their bitter sorrow be turned
into joy and laughter." The joyful message of the completion is
marked as a mystery. The idea of mystery is that of absolute
inaccessibility to ordjnary sense and discernment — comp. on ch.
i. 1. This is fast bound within the circle of the present. Be-
cause it knows not the power of God, Matth. xxii. 29, it cannot
realize the thought of such a radical change of state, as would b«
implied in the coming of a new heavens and a Hew earth, and the
sea being no more found. It thinks that the church is constantly
to lie on the ground, the world always to triumph. Because it
knows not the invincible grace of God, it casts a glance on the
sins of the church, and feels as if these were sui&cient to throw
an insuperable obstacle in the way of the completion of God's
kingdom. The expression : then is finished,^ stands with realiz-
ing confidence for: then shall be finished- comp. the "it is
done," in ch. xi. 15, and in ver. 17, " Thou hast taken."

Ver. 8. And ike voice, which I heard from heaven, Bpake
again with me and said. Go away, take the open little hook in
the hand of the angel, who stands upon the sea and the earth.
After John, and with him the church, has been furnished with
heavenly consolation, the little book with its painful contents was
presented to him. Here also there is not a mere personal des-
cription, when the book is spoken of as being in the hand of the
angel, who stands on the sea and the earth. The pain, which the
little book naturally occasioned, was healed by a glance at Him
in whose hand it was. Notwithstanding the little book, the
charch*s victory over the sea and the earth remains certain. The
contents of the little book are already by anticipation deter-

1 Literally : And it is flnisLed, in the Ilebr. style ; comp. the Kai it) the Apod. Jas. iv.
16. Tli6 various readings bave arisen from people failing to enter into tbe teinpus pro-
pbeticum.

390 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CU. X. 9.

mined by the analogy of the book in the passage of Ezekiel here
referred to, ch. ii. 8, ss. From this we expect, 1. That the little
book should be of a mournful character ; 2. That it should haye
respect, not to the fates of the world, but to those of the church ;
for that little book has to do with the sins of a degenerate church,
and with the judgments which the Lord was going to inflict on
account of them. The subject of it is still farther determined
by yer. 9, 10, according to which it is a painful one to the Seer.
And the result thus obtained is confirmed by the representation
given of the c6ntents of the book in ch. xi. 1 — 13. It treats of
the falling away of the church, and the divine yisitations sent in
chastisement for this. As the rainbow provides consolation in
respect to the cloud, so the angel's standing upon the sea and the
earth, provides consolation in respect to the little book, which
must produce despair, unless it were found in such a hand.

Yer. 9. And I went away to the angel and spake to him, that
he should give me the little book. And he said to me, Take and
eat it, and it shall make thy belly bitter, but in thy mouth it shall
be sweet as honey. The Seer must not merely eat the little book ;
he must swallow it, so that it might go down into his body. Ch.
iii. 3 of Ezekiel corresponds *' Thou shalt make thy body (not
merely thy mouth) eat this book, and fill thy bowels with it."
The substantial import of the swallowing is given by Ezekiel, cb.
iii. 10, in the words, *' All my words, which I speak to thee, do
thou take into thy heart." The man of God must take the divine
truth into his inmost being, and convert it into juice and blood
(comp. Ps xl. 9, " Thy law is in my heart," properly in mine en-
trails.) Thus alone does he become qualified to appear as God^s
spokesman, to prop Aecy — comp. £z. iii. 1, where the speaking
and prophecying appear as the end and consequence of the eating,
*' Thou son of man, eat what thou findest (not, what thou likest),
eat this roll, and go, speak to the house of Israel.'' Imme-
diately after he has swallowed the roll, which is the heavenly
exemplar of the existing book of his prophecies, precisely as the
little book of John comes- again into view in ch. xi. 1 — 13, it is
said in ver. 4, '^ And he said to me, Thou son of man, go to the
house of Israel, and speak to them my words." That the sweet-
ness in the mouth does not proceed from the partly agreeable
contents, is clear from the passage in Ezekiel. The book, which

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 9. 391

he found to be' like honey in his mouth for sweetness, contai ned
nothing bat what was grieyons, it was written throughout with la-
mentation, mourning, and woe. That the sweetness^ too, is ascribed
to the mouth, and the bitterness to the bellj, shews, that we are
not to think of contents partly sweet, and partly bitter. The real
cause of the sweetness we learn from the passage, on which, again,
that of Ezekiel rests, J^r. xt. 16, ** I found thy words and ate them
(rcceired them into my inmost being), and thy words were to me
the joy and rejoicing of my hearty for thy name is named upon
me, Jehovah, God of Hosts." It is unspeakably sweet and de-
lectable to be the organ and the spokesman of the Most High.
Then also the matter of the words themselves comes into con-
sideration,— comp. Ps. xix. 11, where the commands of the Lord
are described as sweeter than honey and the honey-comb. Even
the most pungent divine truths have for a spiritually minded man
a joyful and refreshing side.i The bitterness, which the spiritual
food occasioned in the body of the Seer (literally, *' it shall make
thee bitter in the body"), denotes the sharp pain, produced by the
special contents of the word, that was committed to him. It is
not so direct as the sweetness of the mouth derived from the
original passage in Ezekieli But Jer. xv. 17 substantially cor-
responds. The prophet there, speaking of the mournful part of
his work, says, " I sat not in the assembly of the mockers nor
rejoiced, I sat alone because of thy hand (Michaelis : 'brooding
over the misfortunes of my people, which I must predict accord-
ing to thy command'), for with indignation thou fillest me." We
must connect with this the passage in Ezek. ch. ii. 10, which de-
clares the book-roll to have been filled with lamentation, mourn-
ing, and woe. In Ezek. iii. 14, *^ And I went embittered in the
heat of my spirit," there is found, not merely the substance of the
figurative representation before us, but also in the embittered, in
the feeling of vexatious sadness and holy indignation, a personal
application of it. — Sweetness is attributed to the mouth, because
this is the organ of God's orator, the prophet as such, — comp.

1 Vitringa;: •• The prophets, carried out of themselves, pass entirely over, as it were,
into the room of God, and, divesting themselves of carnal aflfection, rising inio the
region of pure and spiritual contemplation, whatever they saw they could do for the
glory .of God, and for manifesting his righteousness as well as his grace, they approved

of in their own mind."

«

392 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X. 10, 11.

Isa. yi. 5, 7, lix. 21. Bat to the prophet, as sach, the divine
revelation vas sweet. All was agreeable to him, that came from
the clear and pure well-spring of God. In contrast to the moath
the body distinguishes the Seer as an individual, as a member of
the church. — What is said here to the prophet : take it and eat
it, is in substance applicable to all believers, and especially to
the teachers of the church in relation to holy writ. Their place
in the kingdom of God will be measured by their fidelity in com-
plying with this prescription. We, too, must eat and even
swallow it ; not some choice portion of it, but the whole — not
that alone which is agreeable to us, like those who separate the
gospel from the law, but that also, which may occasion ns the
deepest pain. The twofold effect is' still also renewing itself —
on the one hand, joy in the whole word of God and cordial appro-
bation, and on the other deep pain, in so far as the individnal
himself and the church are thereby condemned, and in so far as
the hand of God, which is stretched out for punishment, comes
there into contact with them. — The view, whichregards the book
as containing '^ the secret of the new world,'* tears it away in a
violent manner from the prophecy in ver. 11, which, according to
the original passage in Ezekiel, can only be regarded as the
product of the swallowed book, and throws the whole, indeed, into
confusion. Nor can it give anything but a very constrained ex-
planation of the bitterness. What refers to the judgments of
God upon a sinful world, and the final completion of God s mystery,
ver. 7, is sweet both for the mouth and for the body. For the
Christian, for the man of God, it is through and through a joyful
message, a gospel — according to ver. 7, comp. Luke xxi. 28.

Ver. 10. And I took the little book from the hand of the
angel and swallowed it ; and it was sweet in my mouth like
honey ; and when I had eaten it, it griped, me in the belly.
The order is a reverse one, first sweetness, then bitterness. The
change is intentional. It indicates, that the two sharply contend
for the priority. The pain was first named before the joy, be-
cause it was here so deep, that it was soon to overcome the joy.
Then the joy was mentioned before the pain, because such must
be the order connected with the ways of God and uprightness.

Ver. 11. And he said to me, Thou must again prophecy upon
peoples, and nations, and tongues, and many kings. Bengel

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CU. X. 11. 393

says on the : thou must^ '' He, who has not receiyed and eaten
the little book, cannot prophecy, but he, who has received and
eaten it, must do so. So Paul also must testify, Acts xxiii. 11."
Under the prophecying the symbolical action also in'^ch. xi. 1, 2, is
comprehended. For, the symbolical action, especially an action
that takes place merely internally, like the one mentioned there, is
only one of the manifold forms of prophecy, separated from the
simple figure by a fluctuating boundary. — Again^ as in the vision
of the seven seals, and in the six first trumpets.^ But in another
point of view differently. There, as the peoples, etc., were visited
by the Lord with severe judgments ; here, as they overflowed the
church, seduced her into apostacy, and drew down upon her the
judgments of the Lord. That it can be prophecied only in this re-
spect upon the peoples and nations, is manifest from what was
formerly remarked on the contents of the little book, which here
again comes to light, (for little book and prophecy stand related
to each other here precisely as in ch. i. 1 , 3, revelation and pro-
phecy.) And it is further manifest from that, which the prophet
in ch. xi. 1 — 13 announces in fulfilment of the command to pro-
phecy upon the peoples and nations. There, in ver. 2, the outer
court is given to the Gentiles, and they tread the holy city ; the
beast out of the abyss, the ungodly power, carries on the war with
the two witnesses, overcomes and kill them, ver. 7 ; those of the
peoples, and tribes, and tongues, and nations, see their corpses
three days and a half, and sufier not their corpses to be buried,
ver. 9 ; they that dwell upon the earth rejoice over them, ver.
10. The translation of Luther has, through an important over-
sight, "to the peoples," instead of "upon the peoples."' The
four number of the peoples, &c., the signature of the earth, points
to the oecumenical character of this assault upon the church
— comp. the corresponding expression, "who dwell upon the'
earth,^' in ch. xi. 10 — and forbids our confining the prophecy to
any single event in history. By the mention oi many kings we

1 Falsely Bengel : "la respect to the old prophets, to whose prophecies this very
angel had referred." The reference to the earlier prophecies of the prophet himself is
demanded by the indefinite designation of the object, which can only be explained by
supposing what is common to the earlier and the later prophecying to be here marked.

2 The iv\ is fonnd quite similarly used in John xii. 16. T6it ifi»na6riaavoTi ravra
^v iir* aifTu ytypapifiiva. The trfio^nirtvfiv with ivl of what the prophecy has for its
object, correspoiids to the Hebr. KSSrn with hy : romp. 1 Kings xxii. 8, 18.

394 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 1, 2.

are taken out of the relations of the Seer's own time, in which the
Christian chnrch had to do with only one king, the Roman em-
peror. It shews, that he stood upon a high watch-tower, fronci
which he looked abroad npon the whole history of the church and
the world. That the kings were heathenish in their minds is
shewn, not only by ch. xi., but also by the connection with the
heathen here—comp. on ch. Tii. 9. £wald*s supposition, that
the kings are the leaders of armies, is only a proof of embarrass-
ment. The kings here return again afterwards in the ten kings,
who were in the serrice of the beast, ch. xvii. 12 ; in the kings of
the earth, who, after the overthrow of Rome, warred against
Christ under the auspices of the beast, ch. xix. 19 ; and in the
kings of the whole earth, whom the wicked spirits in ch. xvi. 14
actuated in the conflict against Christ.

To the command to prophecy corresponds the prophet as des-
cribed in the section ch. xi. 1 — 13. This falls into two dirisions.
The first, yer. 1 and 2, gives the promise, that the faith of the
Qlect shall not expire ; the second, ver. 3 — 13, certifies the unin-
terrupted continuance of the office of witnessing.

Ch. xi. 1. And there was given to me a reed like a siieh, say^
inff, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and
them that worship therein, Yer. 2. But the court, which is unth-
out the temple, throw out and measure it not, for it is given to
the heathen, and the holy city shall they tread down forty and
two months. In the words of our Lord, as recorded in Matth.
xxiy. 9 — 13, we are presented with the naked thoughts of this
passage, ** Then shall they deliver you up to be afflicted, and
shall kill you ; and ye shall be hated of all nations for my name's
sake. And then shall many be offended, and shall betray one
another, and shall hate one another, and many false prophets
shall arise and shall deceive many. And because iniquity shall
abound, the love of many shall wax cold. But he that shall en-
dure unto the end, the same shall be saved." The fundamental
truth also is found in the parable of the sower, where the outer
court here had its correspondence in him who " heareth the word,
and anon with joy receiveth it ; yet hath he not root in himself,
but dureth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth
because of the word, by and bye he is offended." Now, this
thought has here, agreeably to the nature of vision, which lends

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 1, 2. 396

form to what is spiritnal, flesh and blood imparted to it. The
chnrch appears under the symbol of the temple, which for so
many centuries was the seat and external representation of the
kingdom of God, and hence occurs, otherwise than in vision,
in a series of passages in the New Testament as the designa-
tion of the chnrch, John ii. 19 ; Mark xir. 58 ; Eph. ii. 21 ;
22 ; 1 Tim. iii. 15 ; 2 Cor. vi. 16 ; 2 Thess. ii, 4 ; Heb. iii.
6. The temple proper denotes those, who are deeply filled
and penetrated by the spirit of the church, the outer court
those, who are only superficially affected. The rising up forms
the contrast to the sitting. But both the sitting and the ris-
ing belong only to the yisioh. In the reality, it is the transi-
tion from rest to activity, which is denoted by the rising.
The import of the measuring is determined by the opposite
throwing out It is measured as far as the preservation is to go.
Where the measuring ceases, there the line of abandoning begins.
The figurative representation here rests upon Ezekiel, by whom
in ch. xl. the restored temple was measured. The symbolical
action here has respect to the preserving of the object represented.
Beside the temple proper, which in the material building at
Jerusalem consisted of the Most Holy Place, the residence of
God, and the sanctuary, as the ideal abode of believers, the altar
also is measured or preserved ; and by this we can only under-
stand the altar of burnt-ofiering — comp. on ch. vi. 9. It is here
transferred to the temple itself, for the therein can only refer to
the temple : measure the temple of God, and the altar (in it),
and them that worship in it. This shows that we are here en-
tirely on an ideal territory. In the temple of Jernsalem the altar
of burnt-ofiering stood in the real place of resort to the people,
in the outer court ; but here it is transferred to their ideal dwell-
ing-place, to the temple itself. The meaning of the altar, we
learn from ch. vi. 9 — 11 : under the constraining power of love
believers present themselves there as a free-will sacrifice to him
who has redeemed them with his blood. Therefore, however hard
the world may press, how great soever may be the desolations
which it effects in the outworks, still the church remains in
existence; the spirit of joyful sacrifice is preserved ; true believers
continually abide. The court in ver. 2, as contrasted with the
temple proper, must not be limited to the outer court, but de-

396 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 1, 2.

notes whatever belonged to the sanctuary beside the temple
proper : the tirithout the temple forms a manifest contrast to the
within. To designate by the court without those who have not
in their souls been penetrated by the spirit of the church, was the
more natural, since, according to the phraseology even of the Old
Testament, true believers dwell in the house of Ood, and come
into his sanctuary, while the multitude, who are but externally
related to the church, only tread the courts — see Isa. i. 12. That
the court should be thrown away, and given up to the heathen,
stands related to the treading down of the city, as an effect to its
cause. The overflowing of the church by the world brings it to
pass, that from many, who have not, shall be taken away even
that which they hare. Nothing but the strong mound of a firm
faith can resist their powerful billows. — The two and forty months
contain only an apparent determination of time ; as, indeed, all
numbers in the Apocalypse have only an ideal signification ;
they belong not so properly to the chronological, as to the sym-
bolical forum. The common signature of the dominion of the
world over the church in the Revelation, resting on the pro-
phecies of Daniel, (comp. at ch. xii. 6, xiii. 5), is the three and
a half, in which we have only to think of the broken seven,
the signature of the church. So that the meaning is here
conveyed, that however the world may lift itself up, however it
may proudly triumph, it can never attain to anything complete ~
and lasting. These three and a half years return again in
different forms : a time, two times, and an half time, ch. xii. 14,
forty and two months, here and in ch. xiii. 5, 1260 days in ch.
xii. 6. In the number of the beast also in ch. xiii. 18, the same
thing substantially holds as in these numbers. We have here
before us a representation, which does not bring jnto view some
particular period of time in the world's history, but the whole
course of it, only that towards the end every thing realizes itself
in a more perfect manner. Wherever the world is found over-
flowing-the church, from that of which John himself saw the
commencement, to the last in ch. xx. 7 — 9, of which we have
now the beginning before our eyes, there the substance of the
prophecy always verifies itself anew« there the obligation still
remains to those who are affected by the evil, to take it as the
ground of consolation and warning to their hearts. At the same

TrfB SEVEN TRUMPETS, XT. 3, 4. 397

time, it is interesting and rich in consolation and warning to
trace in history the particular exemplifications of onr prophecy.
Let any one read, for example, what Eusebins has written at the
beginning of his eight book on the Diocletian persecution. A
great degeneracy in the Christian church preceded it, many were
shaken by it, many more made entire shipwreck ; yet true be-
lievers remained stedfast, and the church was built up, through
the noble constancy of the martyrs.^ The thought in this pro-
phecy was in other respects quite correctly apprehended by the
older expositors. Thus on the expression, " the holy city shall
be trodden down," Bossuet remarks, '' Christians shall be under
the sway of the unbelievers ; but though the weak shall fall, the
church shall continue in strength. This is the first point which
St John apprehends in the persecutions : the church continually
abiding."

In the second part of the section, ver. 3 — 13, the church ob-
tains the consolatory assurance, that even in the times of the
most profound darkness and of the greatest worldly intermixture,
the witnessing ofiice and the possession of the gifts of the Spirit
shall be perpetuated in her.

Ver. 3. And I ivill give to my two witnesses, and they shall
prophecy a thovsand two hundred and sixty days^ clothed in
sackcloth, Ver. 4. These are the two olive-trees and the two
lamps, which stand before the Lord of the earths For all who feel
that they are in themselves impotent, and that nothing is done
. by their own strength, there is much consolation in the word, ** I
will give to my two witnesses.*' But, at the same time, it points
to the heayy responsibility which they draw upon themselves, who
will not let it be given, who by their softness and indolence close
up the way to the grace for witnessing, so that they cannot
attain to it. The declaration, I will give to my witnesses, cuts
off all excuse. The object of the giving is simply to be supplied
from the following words : And they shall prophecy — comp. on
. ch. ii. 20. The speaker is the strong angel, who gives to John

1 Vitringa : " DonbtleBB with grief and sorrow of mind did trae ChristianB see great
numbers among those who had professed faith in Christ suffering themselves, through
fear of infamy and torture, to be pr«yailed upon to blaspheme the name of Christ and do
homage tu idols. God at that time measured the church by the plumb line of judgment,
as it is in the yision of Amos, and publicly detected many hypocrites and others waver-
ing iu the faith.**

398 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 3, 4.

the little book, Christ. The two witnesses are ideal persons^
who appear in a multitude of real ones — personifications of the
work of witnessing. The two number was primarily chosen on
account of the pattern given in Moses (comp. with ver. 6, Ex. yii.
15 — 25 and ch. yiii.-^xi. ; it was Moses who in ancient times
changed the water into blood and smote the earth with many
plagues), and Elias (who in the days of his prophecy shut np
heayen, that it should not rain, and whose enemies were con-
sumed by fire, comp. with yer. 5 and 6, 1 Kings xix. 17, xvii. 1.)
It was precisely these two persons, also, who appeared on the
mount of transfiguration, where John was present, as representa-
tives of the witnessing that belonged to the Old Testament. As
such they were types of that of the New Testament. The num-
ber two also is of consolatory import. It indicates that the true
witness never stands isolated, that he always finds some with
whom he can join hand to hand and heart to heart, in whose
strength he can invigorate his weakness, and whose weakness he
can again change through his own strength into power, and so
derive fresh encouragement to himself. '* In the midst of all tri-
bulation,'' says a true witness, '* it is an encouraging thing if one
has at least one help, who stands side by side with him. Our
Lord always sent forth his disciples by two together ; and in
earlier times there were Moses and Aaron, Joshua and Caleb,
Zernbabel and Joshua, Haggai and Zechariah, as on the opposite
side Jannes and Jambres. One servant of Christ is able to sup-
port another, they mutually invigorate and strengthen each other ;
if they make a firm stand, they shall have both a common
struggle, and a common victory and reward.'* — The two witnesses
prophesy clothed in eackclotk ; that is, they wore mourning gar-
ments of hair-cloth, after the example of Elias and John the Bap-
tist, Matt. iii. 4. Mourning over the lamentable state of the
holy city, pain at the desolation of the church, the earnest se-
verity of repentance and of the call to repentance — these have in
all times been, and still are, the marks of the Lord's true ser-
vants, and by the degree of this pain is recognised the degree of
the spiritual demand made, and the amount of spiritual energy to
be brought into action. They who have no eye and no heart for
the backsliding of the church, will never be able to promote its
revival and edification. Nature much dislikes being clothed

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 5, 6. 399

with sackcloth ; they who follow it are not grieyed at the afflic-
tion of Joseph, bnt play on the psaltery, and compose songs,
and drink wine in bowls, and anoint themselyes with balsam ;
it constantly strives to substitute in the room of the reality
as it is a dream of its own ; and while it often makes a
very promising beginning, knows at least how to veil itself
in a spiritaal appearance, yet they who surrender themselves
to it, shall one day be obliged to put on the garments of
mourning, when the true witnesses put on their festive attire.
— The two witnesses are designated in ver. 4 as the two oUve-
trees and the two lamps, which stand before the Lord of the
whole earth, alluding to Zech. iv., according to which they
bear the name of lamps and of olive-trees, as the concentration of
the light, which belongs to the church of God, and an instrument
of divine grace for her. What the two witnesses accomplish in
behalf of the faithful, we learn partly from this, and partly from
ver. 1. For, manifestly it is owing pre-eminently to their ser-
vices, that the temple of God, with those who worship in it, are
preserved in being. But what is said of these should serve not
merely for our consolation, but also for our admonition. Espe-
cially for all the ministering servants of the church it should act
like a burning fire in their bones. Woe to them, if they do not
perform what is here ascribed to the two witnesses — if either no
application, or a very poor one, can be made to them of the
word, " These are the two olive trees and the two lights*' — ^if they
are not channels of grace to the church, and give forth to her no
light. " Ye are the light of the world. A city which is set on
a hill, cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it
under a bushel, but on a candlestick, and it giveth light to all
* that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that
they may see your good works and glorify your Father that is in
heaven." " Teachers," says Bengel, *^ must not be cold and dry,
but filled with oil ; and the church, through all her members,
must appropriate the oil, so as to exhibit in their walk a lovely
brightness and an attractive beauty." The face of the witnesses
turned upon the wicked, flashes on us in ver. 5 and 6.

Ver, 5. And if any one will hurt them, fire goes out of their
mouth and devours their enemies ; and if any one will hurt
them, he must in this manner be hilled, Ver. 6. These have

400 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 5, 6.

power to shut up heaven^ that it rain not in the days of their
prophecy y andhave power over water, to turn it into bloody and
to smite the earth with all plagues, as often as they will. The
form in which the wrath and power of the witnesses here shews
itself, as already remarked, is derived from the past. Bengel :
" What Moses and what Elias had done separately, that is said
to be done by the two witnesses at once. It reaches to all risible
nature, heaven or the firmament, the waters and the earth." It
is the method of prophecy, to represent what is like in na^nre
and in origin nnder like forms of manifestation, while still these
are not specially meant, nor is anything more than the nature
indicated. That is here, that the Lord gloribasly arms his ser-
vants against their and his enemies. As the Lamb that was
slain is at the same time the lion of the tribe of Jndah, so also
are those, whom he sends forth as sheep in the midst of wolves,
at the same time lions, who have an invincible strength and power
residing in them. Where the oil is, there also is fire. It is the
strength of one and the same spirit, which manifests itself in the
witnesses for the salvation of the good, and for vengeance on the
wicked. The Lord has put his word in their month, which re-
sembles a hammer, that breaks the rock in pieces ; which is living
and powerful, and sharper than a two-edged sword, and pierces
to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and joints and marrow,
and is a discemer of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
Whoever, taking to his aid the powers of darkness, steels and
hardens his heart against this internally judging power of the
witnesses of God, he still cannot escape the e^r^emaZ judgments,
which they threaten and pronounce upon him in the name of the
Lord and in their own name (for God's will is also theirs ; what
by the eternal laws of the divine nature is necessary is at the *
same time written on the tablets of their hearts.) He mnst feel,
both in time and in eternity, that he has had to do with God's
witness-bearers on earth. At the word of Elias fire came down
from heaven and consumed his adversaries ; and the mockery with
which the infatuated people heard the word of Jeremiah (ch. v.
14, "Behold I make my word in thy mouth 'for fire and this
people for wood, and thou devourest them") changed into bitter
lamentations, when these words assumed flesh and blood in the
Chaldeans, and besieged the city, and distressed it till they left

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 7. 401

not one istone npon another. The word, " Be not deceiyed, God
is not mocked," holds aboye all in respect to God as manifesting
himself in his servants, and the testimony he puts into their
month. " God," says Bengel, '* is pnre love ; and his lore has a
holy order. He is good above all ; therefore does he love him-
self above all with the holiest love, and then those creatures who
stand in his love. Whatever, therefore, strikes against him (and
his witnesses) in a hostile manner, shall be destroyed by him in
vengeance as by a consuming fire.'* To know this, is most con-
solatory for those, whom the Lord has called to the office of bear-
ing witness, especially in a time like the present, which so con-
fidently imagines that in them it has to do only with feeble men.
At the same time, it is well fitted to humble them in the dnst,
and to fill them with holy zeal for their divine calling. Who are
they ! and how does it become them to feel and act, in whose
hands God has placed such power ! — He must in this manner be
killed, in the same manner as he has hurt them, and in righteous
judgment because of it— comp. ch. xviii. 6.

Ver 7. And when they shall have finished their testimony, the
beast that ascends out of the abyss shall make war with them,
and shall overcome them, and shall kill them. The indifference
is remarkable, with which the words, '* and shall overcome them,"
are here uttered. But it is explained by what precedes and what
follows. They shall only be overcome when they have finished
their testimony, when God has no further need for their service,
when their death can produce more fruit than their life. And
OD their overthrow and their death follows their glorification, and
springs out of it. They die only to rise again and go to heaven.
Their overthrow is but a concealed victory, like the corn of
wheat, which dies in the earth in order to bring forth much fruit.
If this were considered aright, how would it banish the fear,
which makes so many in our day inclined to timid concessions,
which smites the shepherds, and causes the sheep to be scat-
tered ! To escape imaginary dangers, these persons fall into real
ones. For, only one danger is really to be feared, namely, that
our heart be overcome,, that faith, which is the innermost life of
our souls, should be slain. What is said here of the witnesses of
Christ, was exemplified in Christ himself. The world hated him,
and yet the enemies could accomplish nothing against him, till
2c

402 THE SEVEN TRUMPCTS, CH. XI. 8, 9, 10.

their hoar eame and the power of dafkness. Then only did the
darknesB receive power, when he had finished his testimony, and
when it was good for the church that he should go away ; and his
death was followed by his resurrection and ascension to heaven,
as is represented here in ver. 11, 12, in respect to the true wit-
nesses. " In all circumstances God still has his glory ; and if it
should appear that the evil gains the mastery over the good, the
evil 18 still very limited ; it cannot break forth sooner than its
time, nor rise higher and last longer than God permits it. Begin
but rightly with Ood, and the result shall not fail." The beast
that ascends out of the abyss (comp. on ch. ix. 1), is mentioned
here incidentally and by anticipation. The more extended des-
cription is given us by the Seer in the foCirth group : the three
enemies of God's kingdom, ch. xii. — xiv. ; and in the sixth, the
judgment on the three enemies, ch. xvii. — xx. That it should
be brought into notice here plainly shews that we have not in the
Revelation, as Bengel thought, a regularly progressive anticipa-
tory history. The beast denotes the ungodly heathen state. By
it here is meant the reviving of the ungodly heathen power at the
close of the thousand years' reign, or, the whole of the ungodl j .
power is here denoted by the most prominent part, which the
Seer had already before him in his own day. The brutal charac-
ter of the ungodly power, which he denotes by this expression,
discovers itself more and more manifestly in the present age. —
Bengel says, " These are two excellent instruments, and when
they shall have accomplished their task so stedfastly, such is the
recompense they are to receive for it from the world ; they are to
find tribulation, pain, mockery, and death ; so that these are not
bad marks.*' No, assuredly not, in a church whose Lord has been
crucified, and who has said, '* If they have called the master of
the house Beelzebub, how much more will they call those of
the household ! They shall cast you out of the synagogue. Nay,
the time shall come when he that killeth you shall think that he
doeth God service."

Ver. 8. And their corpse shall lie upon the street of the great
dty^ which is called spiritually Sodom and Egypt, where also
their^ Lord was crucified. Ver. 9. And they of the peoples^

1 leather bas : Our Lord, from the reading hfiav.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 8, 9, 10. 403

and kindreds, and tongues, and nations, shall see their dead
corpse three days and an half, and shall not suffer their corpses
to he laid in the grave. Ver. 10. And they that dwell on the
earth shall rejoice over them, and make merry, and send gifts
one to another ^ because these two prophets tormented them that
dwell on the earth. The great city is Jerosalem. Bat the
houourable name is purposely not osed. It is reserved for a better
occasion. So we also, in oar times of apostacy, can only speak
with trembling lips of a church. We are here, however, not to
think- of the literal Jerusalem ; but Jerusalem denotes the church
as degenerate on accoant of the ascendancy of the world, and filled
with offences, as the new Jerusalem is the purified and glorified
church. The spiritually is also to be supplied to the expression :
where our Lord was crucified. Outwardly the Lord was crucified
in the city called Jerusalem, but spiritually in the degenerate
church. The spiritual Jerusalem is compared to Egypt on ac*
count of the religious corruption with which it infected Israel in
the early period of Israelitish history — comp. Ez. xxiii. 3, 8, 27,
** Thou shalt not remember Egypt any more ;" and ver. 19,
*' She called to remembrance the days of her youth, when she
played the harlot in the land of Egypt,** that is, embraced her
idolatry. By Sodom, on the other hand, in the original passages
of the Old Testament, the morals are constantlj referred to —
comp. Dent, xxxii. 32 ; Isa. i. 10 ; Ezek. xvi. 46, 48 ; Jer.
xxiii. 14.' The great city itself, the degenerate church, has its
share in the guilt of killing the witnesses, as formerly it had a
part in the death of our Lord, whose treatment is only repeated
over again in the history of his servants ; according to the word :
the servant is not greater than his master. When the church is
overrun by the world, then seeming faith, half faith, and false
faith, play the part of giving up the true witnesses of the Lord to
unbelief for crucifixion. By its faithlessness the world is ren-
dered bold. Then it imagines it has done a good work, when it
has persecuted the true servants of God, and abandons itself to
extravagant joy, when it has got their fearless mouth shut from
uttering any more its testimony. But the judgment of this

L Vitringa iaeorrectlj by the fundamental paasagee : '* Egypt, on account of the op-
pression, which it exercised on the people of God, but Sodom on accoant of the univer-
sal corruption that prevailed in it«

, 2 c2

404 THE SfiVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 11, 12.

world when clothed a3 the church, of the world in the chnrch,
shall be frightful, far more frightful than the judgment on the
world, t}iat appears simply as the world. We peroeiYe this in
the fate of the literal Jerusalem. — The three days and an half
are in one respect an imitation of the history of the Lord, whom his
servants must follow, and in another they point, like the three and
an half years, to the seven as the signature of the kingdom of God,
on which account the half day is added. The victory of the world
is always but a transitory one. — Very characteristic is the expres-
sion that these prophets tormented those that dwell upon the earth.
The members and servants of Christ are but a little flock, they
stand in a small minority in respect to the world and the half-
faith party. They have no other weapons than the word. Why,
then, should men not leave them in silent contempt to pursue
their course ? why hate and persecute them ? For no other rea-
son, than because their word, so weak and contemptible in itself,
has an ally in the hearts and consciences of those against whom
it is directed. It is this that makes their word, and their whole
existence, indeed, a source of torment to those who dwell upon
the earth. However freely they may laugh and mock, they must
still gnash their teeth. Their very hatred gives evidence against
them. If the witnesses had not these allies in the hearts of the
world and of the false seed in the church, it would be a piece of
great folly for them to open their mouth any more. But the
declaration : These two prophets tormented, is a touch-stone,
by which every one may learn, whether he fulfils his ofSce in the
right spirit and with proper zeal. So long as all speak well of
us, or even let us go on unmolested, we may be perfectly certun,
that we are still not in the right state, and consequently can
look for no proper fruits from our operations. For he who tor-
ments not, also blesses not The ground must first be pierced
by the plough before the seed can be sown in it. But those
only can rejoice in the tormenting power of the prophets, and
console themselves under the pain, who are prepared with a feeling
heart to be the-object of hatred, who find it a torment to them-
selves that they must torment, and can apply to themselves what
has been said of Christ, " He burns and cuts, but not as a tyrant ;
he does it as a true, and wise, and tender physician."

Ver. 11. And after the three days and an half the Spirit of

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 11 — 13. 405

lift entered into them from Gody and they stood upon their feet,
and a great fear fell upon those who saw them. Ver. 12.
And they heard)- a great voice from heaven saying unto them,
Come up hither. And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and
their enemies saw it. The form in which the triumph of the
witnesses is here described after their apparent defeat, is taken
from the history of Christ, whose ascension to hearen, though
not related by John in his Gospel, yet attested here,* prefignred
the destiny of his people, and possesses for them the character
of a matter-of-fact prophecy. The ascent to heaven following on
the crucifixion realizes itself in the true witnesses in various ways.
First, in the perpetually recurring victory of the cause for which
they sacrificed their lives, and which seemed to go down with
their overthrow. Nothing can be more unreasonable than to
faint, if this cause appears once more to be on the decline. For
six thousand years a reviying has constantly succeeded to the
death, so that we may well say, in spite of the laughter of the
Jews, " Weep not, it is not dead, but sleepeth'* — and, " Its
spirit will come again, and it will presently stand on its feet."
It appears also in the reviving of their memory on the earth. Is it
not remarkable, that the names of all those who in their life -time
have borne reproach, that an Athanasius, a Spener, a Franke, a
Zinzendorf, bear even in the world a good report, while the names
of its own prophets are covered with contempt ? • Finally, it is
again realized in the heavenly glory, which they are given to
inherit. '' The teachers,*' says Scripture, " shall shine as the
brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many to right-
eousness as the stars for ever and ever.** The enemies of the
true witnesses cannot but see how they are raised to heaven.
*' Though wickedness may rage and carry itself insolently for a
time, it must still be frightened and give way. What escapes
from' the enemies and rises to heaven, can no longer be touched
by it, though it should put all its artillery in motion.'*

Ver. 13. And at the same hour there was a great earthquake,
and the tenth part of the city fell; and in the earthquake seven

1 The reading fiKovvat I heard, is less supported, and against John v. 28. The
ttuddoA introduction of the Seer also has something strange in it.

3 Comp. here ver. 8, Luke xziv. 01, Acts L 9, Mark xvi. 9 ; also on the words : and a
great fear fell on those who saw, Matth. xxvii. 54; and on : at the same hour there was
a great earthquake, Matth. xxvii. 61, 64, zxviii. 2.

406 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

thousand names of menS were hilled ; and the rest were af-
frighted^ and gave glory to the God of heaven. It is the g^reat
privilege of the church, that while the Lord may indeed chastise
her, he does not give her over to death ; that his judgments,
besides their destroying, haye always at the sametime a healing
character. Hence she can be joyful in the prospect of them,
or eren when she actually experiences them. For, howerer
frightful they may look, and may even really be, the result
still is, that her true members give glory to the Ood of heaven ;
and from their own experience are ever ready to repeat the
song, *' Praise the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endnreth
for ever." But this also lies clearly before us here, that the
matter does not pass off without heavy judgments, not in the
world merely, but also in the church. So great is the depth of
human corruption. The simple preaching of repentance and faith
will not do it ; but to bring things into a right state, Ood most
first tear up the field by the plough of his visitations. '* Now,'*
says Bengel, " we are in a low state. But if the still advancing
and horrible wickedness of men shall lead us astray, we most
consider that the time is always coming nearer for Ood the Al-
mighty putting every thing in order. What an astounding
change will that make ! How shall men then give up their
boldness, impiety, and confidence !" If we lay it properly to
heart, that the spirit of repentance can only be produced by
divine judgments on the church, we shall feel that there is no
longer any reason for crying peace, peace, with such as prophecy
out of their own hearts, where no peace is, in order to make the
day of wrath and of the righteous judgment of Ood appear as a
phantom, when we may see the signs of it already gathering in the
heavens. We shall rather take the prophet Habakkuk for our
pattern, who begins his prophecy with a prayer to the God of the
Regenerate church, that he would appear for judgment against
it — that he would again revive in it the dead spirit of right-
eousness and holiness — and shall only pray with him, '^ In wrath
remember mercy."- -The witnesses stand before the Lord of the
earthy and he to whom the glory is given is called the Ood of
heaven. This is the foundation of all witnessing for the truth,

1 Seo in regai'd to liie 6»6fiaTa on ch. iii. 4.

THE S£V£N TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13. 408

all joy in one's calling, all hope of a blessed result, that the Lord
of the church is the Lord of heayen and of earth. He is at once
the Alpha and the Omega, at once the beginning and the end,
he who comes, as well as he who was. In firm faith should we
commend the cause of the church to him, before whom all enemies
upon earth are too feeble to render any effectual opposition.

We shall now take a glance at the yiews which have been
adopted of the preceding section, different from oars.

According to some the temple and the holy city must not be
the symbol of the church ; but the yision must refer to the ex-
ternal temple, and the literal Jerusalem ; and, indeed, to the fates
of the restored temple and the Jerusalem of the last times. But
no trace whatever is to be found here of Jerusalem and the temple
being in ruins at the time of the vision '} nor any trace of a

1 Dr Hofmarn, in bis WeiBsagung und ibre ErfiilluDg, Tb. II., p. 802, dihCOTere in
ver. 8 a reference to the prostrate state of Jerusalem : '* Jerusalem is so called, because it
has experienced an overthrow like Sodom, and a judgment like Egypt." But that the
designations Sodom and Egypt refer to the sunk religious and moral condition, and not
to the outward state, appeai-s from the following considerations. 1. Tlie expression,
" where also their Lord was crucified," implies a participation on tbe part of the great
city in tbe guilt of slaying tbe two witnesses, as pr^TiousIy in that of Christ's death, who
was surrendered by a degenerate church to tbe world. 2. Tbe words, '* which spiritually
is called tSodom and Egypt," indicates that the point of comparison belongs to the spiri-
tuai territory, that the comparison goes upon tbe analogous state of the spiritual life.
Vitrij^a: ** But the spiritual import is what we call the intellectual, wuich is derived
from a more inward, profound, and intellectual^view of the things under consideration ;
it is what the Hebrews are wont to call allegorical, inward, intellectual, occult, secret and
hidden." When the point of comparison li^s merely in externals, there no place exists
for the activity of the irvtufia, there the comparison does not belong to the territory of
the spirit. 8. Egypt does not elsewhere occur as a distinguished example of the punitive
righteousness of God, so that it might be sufScient to name it, in order immediately to
suggest that, nor could It be so used. But in regard to the state of complete spiritual
corruption and profligacy, both Egypt and Sodom had become alike proverbial ; and a
comparison of the degenerate church of God with them was tlie morH natural, as Egypt
had in ancient times infected it with iu pollution (comp. Ezek. xxiii. 3, 8, 27), and
Sodom stood for centuries as a frightful example before the eyes of the covenant people.
4. That tbe great city is not without a share in the guilt of killing the two witnesses,
that the dead bodies of these lay on its street, that they also cried to God against it for
vengeance, and not merely against the heathen who trod upon the holy city ; this is clear
from the judgment which, accordiug to ver 13, fell upon the city in oonsequeuce of the
death of the witnesses, and was only what might be expected from ver. 2, according
to which the court of the temple was lo be thrown out and given to the heathen.
Apostates, too, are always the bitterest enemies and persecutors of the true witnesses
and faithful confessors of Jesus Christ. For all these reasons, Sodom and Egypt are
quite iu their place as designations of a spiritual state, and as such are also strongly
confirmed by the passages of Old Testament Scripture formerly quoted.

408 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

rebuilding to take place in the ftitnre, either here or in any other
part of the book. Bat prophecy can never so entirely separate
itself from the ground of the present, to influence which is always
its more immediate object, and to which, therefore, it must
constantly raise a bridge: On this also rests all certainty of
exposition as to the future. And that the means should be
provided for such certainty is a necessary consequence of tbe
divine nature of prophecy. A truly divine prophecy cannot pos-
sibly swim in the air ; nor can the church be left to mere guess-
work in the exposition of Scripture, which has been given to her
amidst the darkness. Then, this literal method of exposition
belongs to an entire chain of representations in regard to the
kingdom of God, which has recently indeed, and especially in
England, obtained extensive support, where in particular the
society for the conversion of the Jews is pervaded by it. We can-
not, however, regard it as agreeable to Scripture. It is a kind of
revival of the Jewish-Christian tendency in the ancient church —
the idea that the converted Jews in it are to form a sort of
spiritual nobility in the church, and that for them as a separate,
distinguished, and most illustrious part of it, there are destined
quite peculiar honours and wonderful performances. We may
almost say that this view is the worm in the noble fruit of the
Jewish mission, the success of which is now rather poor. It
nourishes in the converted the natural pride, the extirpation of
which should be one of the first objects of a true spiritual activity.
It misleads the converted to form a sort of peculiar brotherhood
among themselves, and prevents them from properly incorporating
themselves with the general society of the Christian church, in
which alone the means of recovery can be found for so many
wounds as they have necessarily brought along with them from
the corrupt social life of their nation. Let us here also look back
to the soundness of the older church, not out of reverence to it,
but because it has Scripture rightly understood on its side, and
cease to change Jewish Christians into Christian Jews. The
result of a free and enlightened investigation of Scripture in re-
ference to this point is expressed by the excellent Vitringa in
these words : '* This distinction is entirely taken away dnder the
new economy. For, as the heathen, who were converted to Christ,
were gratfed in to the Jewish olive-tree, and have taken on them.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13. 409

as it were, the person and form of the Jews ; so shall the Jews,
who in the latter days shall be converted to Christ, be graffed into
that church of the heathen, or rather become incorporated with
the mystical and spiritual Jews, and without any diflference pos-
sess along with them the same condition in the kingdom of
Christ. An are one in Christ/' He remarks also specially in
respect to the Bevelation, '* I would particularly draw attention
to this, that throughout the whole of this book no separate men-
tion is made of the Jewish as distinguished from the Gentile
Christians, and this on the clear and obvious ground, that under
the new ceconomy all distinction of races in matters of religion is
taken away. Never in any part of the Apocalypse do prophecies
occur in respect to the Jews, in so far as these are opposed in
matters of religion to the heathen." Since one cannot forbear
to assent to what Vitringa says in regard to the Revelation, the
view sustains on this ground aloae a heavy blow. For, we are
thus driven generally out of the territory of the New Testament,
there being scarcely any passages elsewhere which one could even
attempt to bring in support of the view in question. The declara-
tions in the epistle to the Romans are rather unfavourable to this
view. They speak much of the blessing, which the conversion of
the Jews shall bring to the church of the future, but nothing
whatever of a new church from the Jews, of the restoration of
Jerusalem, the rebuilding of the temple, nor generally of a return
of the old beggarly elements, which have been completely swept
away by Christ and his blood, placing all nations on a footing.
The question is thus thrown entirely back upon the Old Testa-
ment, and so, the position maintained on the other side becomes
a very difficult, or rather a quite hopeless one. We must leave
it to the Jews, to draw from the Old Testament alone articles of
faith and expectations of the future. We Christians apply in the
first instance to the New Testament, and if we find anything in
the Old Testament, which seems to oppose it, or to go beyond it,
this only serves to indicate our want of a proper understanding.
What appears there to favour the modern Judaistic view, rests
merely on this want as to its foundation. If any one is ready to
conclude, that wherever Israel is spoken of, the Jews are meant,
he can certainly prove much ; but little good will be done by such
alight and superficial mode of expounding the Old Testament,

410 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

Scriptures. What the Spirit has spoken most be spiritually un-
derstood, 'as the sayings everywhere apply : He that hath ears to
hear, let him hear ; he that reads, let him understand ; here is
the mind that hath wisdom. Even the promises given to the
patriarchs do not respect the children of Israel as opposed to
believers from among the heathen ; but comprehend along with
them sach as might be ingra^ed into the olive tree, Rom. xi. 17,
24. (See the investigations on the promises made to the patri-
archs in the Christol. III. p. 50, ss.) An olive tree, a people of
Ood stands from first to last — an Israel out of which the false seed
is excluded, and into which believers from among the heathen
were adopted.

According to another view, which we may call the Rationalistic,
although unfortunately it is not supported merely by Rationalists,
the temple is the second temple of the Jews, the holy city, the
Jerusalem still not laid in destlation by the Romans. In this
prophecy they find the most undoubted proofs that the Revela-
tion was composed before the taking of Jerusalem, and therefore
not, according to the ecclesiastical tradition, under Domitian.
The patriotism of the author of the book could not embrace the
idea of a complete destruction of the temple and city, though he
descries an approaching judgment, but he lightens the matter as
much as possible ; of the temple he gives up only the outer
court, and of the holy city and its inhabitants only the tenth
part.^

This view must be regarded as one of the most singular proofs
of the modern subjective tendency, which judges of every thing
by itself. On the territory of sacred Scripture that pseudo-
patriotism, that blind partiality for one's own people, is hever in
place. Our Seer would stand quite alone with it. As the pro-
phets, before the Chaldean desolation, with one voice predicted
this, as it was then held to be a mark of a deceiver, of a prophet
speaking out of his own heart, when any one denied, that the fall

1 These expoaitors, in opposition to their own canon, that it is against the custom of
the prophets to give definite predictions, hold that here there is really a very exact and
precise aunounoement of what was to come: the court shall be taken possession of, but
the holy city nut. That Ewald was not without a sense ol this difficulty, is c?id«u( from
the words he has shoved in: Si forte ixtenut lemplum hostium lubido iuvadet. This
also shews the inadmissibility of the literal view, that in the actual temple, in tlie t«mple
proper, in which we are here placed, there were no worshippers.

2

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CU. XI. 13. 411

measure of sin was to be followed b j the fiill measare of punish-
ment ; so precisely in our day do those brand themseWes in the
eyes of believers with the stamp of false teachers, who say peace,
peace, where there is no peace, who on the very eve of judgment
are doting about a glorious era for Germany. The prophets after
the Babylonish captivity likewise announced with one voice, a
coming second total desolation, which was to break in as soon as
the sin, which had begun again in their day to germinate, should
have reached its maturity and brought forth fruit — that, namely,
which was to be effected by the Romans, and whose internal con-
nection with the Chaldean was made palpable by divine providence
ordering it to take place on the very same day that the other
had done. Our Lord rests on these prophecies of the Old Tes-
tament, when he says in Luke, ch. zxi. 22, " For these are the
days of vengeance, when all that is written shall be fulfilled;"
and in Matt. xxiv. 15, where he distinctly alludes to the properly
classical prophecy, that in Dan. ix. 24 — 27, which was usually
referred by the Jews, before the catastrophe by the Romans, to
a future destruction of the city and temple. (See the proofs in
my Beitr. I. p. 265, Christol. II. p. 576.) If the abomination of
desolation on the holy city announced by Daniel stands ; that is,
if the abomination, which, according to the eternal law of recom-
pense, according to the principle, '* I will sanctify myself on them
that draw near to me," has desolation for its inseparable conse*
quence, then deliverance is only to be found in the curse ; because by
the faithful word of Ood, uttered by Daniel, all was to go to ruin.
What Daniel declared, when the city and temple still lay in
ashes, pointing to a second desolation lying on the farther side of
the approaching restoration announced by him, was also intimated
by Zechariah shortly after the return of the people, and the city
and temple had begun to be rebuilt. God's righteousness is not
less energetic than men's sinfulness; a new, severe, and destructive
judgment shall break in, according to ch. v. 1 — 4, a new cap>
tivity, a long exile, ver. 5 — 11, another entire desolation of the
land by an enemy coming out of the north. The prophecy of the
last among the prophets, Malachi, is entirely of a threatening
character. "Behold," it said in ch. iv., ** the day comes burning
like an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly,
shall be stubble ; and the day that comes shall bum them up.

412 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

saith the Lord of hosts, who shall not leaye them root or branch.'*
His prophecy, and with that the whole yolume of Old Testament
prophecy, runs out into the threatening, that the Lord will come
and smite the land with a curse. First — ^such is the conclusion
of Malachi's prophecy — Elias the prophet comes and endeayours
to restore all (Reformation), then the Lord himself appears, and
smites the land with a curse. The messenger makes a last at-
tempt to sanctify the Lord in his people. Then the Lord sanc-
tifies himself upon those, with whom this attempt has proyed
fruitless. The Old Testament prophecy reyiyes once more in
John the Baptist. He threatens with the baptism of fire, de-
clares that the axe is laid to the root of the trees, and points
to a day of coming wrath. Christ, our Lord, was certainly a
patriot ; he wept oyer Jerusalem ; but the approaching destruc*
tion of the city and temple stands as clearly before his soul as if
it were actually present — a pattern to us, whose eyes aretto much
riyetted to the yisible, whose knowledge «nd hatred of sin are so
dull, whose apprehension of the ayenging righteousness of God is
so languid, and who are so apt to think that the storm, which
appears in the far distance, shall somehow blow past. He says
of Jerusalem in Luke xix. 43, 44, " The days shall come upon
thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and com-
pass thee round, and keep thee in on eyery side. And shall lay
thee eyen with the ground, and thy children within thee ; and
they shall not leaye in thee one stone upon another, because thou -
knowest not thcf time of thy yisitation." He says of the temple
in Matthew, ch. xxiv. 2, " See ye not all these things ? There
shall not be left here one stone upon another that shall not be
thrown down.'*^ As by the word of his mouth our Lord thus an-
nounced the approaching destruction, so did he also by the sym-
bolical actions of the cursing of the fig-tree, and the purification
of the temple.

Now, it seems quite incredible that a Seer, who was educated
with such pains, who, as his yisions shew, had receiyed into his

1 Comp. Mark xiii. 2, Luke xxi. 5, and in regard to the city still farther, Lake
XXL 10, 88. ; in regard to the temple, John ii. 19, and Matt, xxiii. 38,** Behold jonr
house is led onto you desolate"— a passage which also indirectly refers to the elty. The
temple comes into notice as the seat of the whole nation. If its former inhabitants
were thrown out, they must lose their right to the holy city, which is to be regarded as
au appendage of the temple, and this mast be deroted to destroetion.

3

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CJI. XI. 13. 4l3

soul the prophecies of the Old Testament, shoald altogether re-
nounce the earnest spirit of prophecy, should know his people
after the flesh, and in a foolish patriotism conjure up illusions re-
specting the future ; — incredible, that one, who ererywhere makes
himself known as a decided follower of Christ, who was filled with
such profound reverence toward him, that when he saw him he ^
fell down before him as one dead, who regarded it as the most
honourable title to be called Christ's servant, should yet have
acted contrary to him in a point so important, so variously treated,
and so distinctly and prominently brought forward. An exposi*
tion, which yields such a result, bears on its front the stamp of
reprobation.

The force of this argument, in so far as it respects the con-
trast presented to the declarations of Christ, has been felt by the
defenders of this exposition themselves. But the diversified at-
tem^pts which they have made to justify themselves, only serve to
discover more clearly with what weight it presses upon them.

Ewald thinks that, when one looks into the matter more closely,
Christ never speaks of the desolation of the city, but always only
of the desolation of the temple. Were it so, the difficulty would
only be lessened, not removed ; for, the prophecy announces not
merely the preservation of the city, but also of the temple, with
the exception only of the court. But the assertion itself, as a
single glance shews, is a mere fancy ; the desolation of the city
was foretold by our Lord as distinctly and repeatedly as that of
the temple ; and, according to the whole style of scriptural repre-
sentation, the fates of both are inseparably bound up together ;
the temple could not fall without the city. For, the desolation of
the temple is the sign of reprobation and rejection ; and this must
also disclose itself in the overthrow of the city.

Lucke hesitates about ranking John in the number of patriotic
dreamers. " The prophet," he says in his Apocalyptic Studies,
*' as a truly inspired Christian, could not less hate an antichristian,
persecuting Judaism, than an antichristian, persecuting heathen-
ism." He seeks to get rid of the opposition to the declarations
of Christ by making the apostle prophesy, not of the preservation,
but of the desolation of the city and temple. He says, " The
temple of Jerusalem, as the' centre of Judaism, was to be deso-
lated, only the Most Holy Place preserved. But the destruction

414 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

of the earthly tewplA encloses the destruction of the holy city as
snch in itself." The tntth» howerer, is, that the temple is pre-
served, and only the court giren up, and consequently Lticke's
own words respecting the inseparable connection between the city
and the temple turn against himself: the non-desolation of the
temple includes in itself the non-desolation of the city. That
this id to be thought of as not destroyed, is eyident besides from
yer. 13, according to which only the tenth part of the city falls,
only seren thousand men, who are hence to be understood to be
the tenth part of the inhabitants of the city, are killed ; the rest
give God the glory, and consequently are preserred — a proportion
perfectly analogous to that between the temple and its court —
while the prophet, in ch. xTiii., cannot find words enough to des-
cribe the full and entire overthrow of Babylon.

Finally Baur, on the Kanon. Evangelien, p. 605, would in his
usual way cut the knot, which Ewald and Lucke have tried in vain
to loose. He remarks, '• How could the Apocalyptist have over-
looked the destruction of Jerusalem — ^how must he not rather have
taken it for a main point of his Apocalyptic representations, if
Jesus had really prophesied concerning it, as he is reported to
have done in the Gospel of Matthew 1 In Rev. ch. xi. the Apo-
calyptist only prophesies, that the holy city should be trodden
down by the heathen for three years and an half ; yet the temple,
along with the inner court (?) was to be preserved." Baur is
here, as very commonly, in the right as regards those with whom
he has immediately to do; it is more scientific to get rid with vio-
lence of the contrariety between the disciple and the master, than
innocently to ignore it, or by an arbitrary exposition conceal it ;
but the method is still too heroic to be generally followed. That
our Lord announced the destruction of the city and the temple is
unanimously testified by all the Evangelists. The declarations
are so often repeated, so extended, so entwined with the history,
that to give them up would be virtually to surrender the historical
character of all the Gospels. They have an important foundation
in the prophecies of the Old Testament, on which they lean.
That they had also made their way to those without, appears from
Mark, ch. xiv. 58. They formed a. leading point in the charges
brought against the Lord.

But now let it be farther observed, that in the prophet the

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XT. 13. 415

ground shews itself to have absolutely no existence, in which such
a vicious Jewish patriotism could take root, as is here supposed
to have wrought with the frightful energy of leading the Seer to
contradict his Master to his face. He who is truly in Christ can
no longer know any one after the flesh ; he to whom Christ is
what he was to the author of this book, the Alpha and the Omega,
the first and the last, the Prince of the kings of the earth, who
has loved us and washed us from our sins in his blood, and has
made us kings and priests to God and his Father — such a person
is raised entirely above the territory of mere Jewish sympathies.
These are to be found out of Judaism only among half Christians,
with those who, in their meagre acquaintance with the glory of
Christ, have never attained to the full knowledge of the difference
between Judaism and Christianity.

Not merely, however, from the Apocalyptic Seer's relation to
Christ, but also from his express and pointed polemical declara*
tions against Judaism, we could shew how very far such a vi-
cious Jewish patriotism lay from him. In the epistle to the angel
of the church of Smyrna the Lord says, " I know the blasphemy
of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are of the syna-
gogue of Satan.'' In the epistle to the angel of the church of
Philadelphia it is said, '' Behold I will giro out of Satan's syna-
gogue of those who say they are Jews and are not, but do lie.
Behold, I will cause them to come and worship before thy feet,
and to know that I have loved thee." The position which the
Seer in these declarations takes up toward the unbelieving Jews,
is as strong and offensive as it could well be. They are plainly
characterized as persons unworthy of the name of Jews, and be-
longing to the community of Satan. That it is not single indi-
viduals of improper character that are discoursed of, but the whole
fraternity as such, is evident from the expression : Satan's syna-
gogue, " a parody of the title, JehoTah's congregation (Numb. xvi.
3, &c.,) with which they flattered their vanity" (Zullig.) These
declarations coincide with the peculiarly strong things that are
recorded in the Gospel of John against the Jews, ch. viii. 44,
" Te are of your father the devil," spoken in reply to the preten-
sion of the Jews in ver. 41, ** We have one father, God."^ On

1 Dr Bleek would co Delude from thene declarations, tbat the position of the Apoca-
lypse against Judaism is a different one from tbat of the gospel : "While tbe gospel uses

416 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

the other hand, there was always a bridge between Jadaizing
Christians and nnconyerted Jews. Whoever has broken with
these as completely as onr Seer has .done, to him the temple at
Jerusalem can be nothing else than a den of robbers,^ as onr Lord
himself called it in Matth. xxi. 13. He mast therefore have
denied it the name of the temple. As he recognises none to be
Jews but the Christians, so he can own no other temple but the
Christian chnrch. When Bleek understands by those who, in
ch. xi., worship in the temple, " the pious servants of God among
the inhabitants of Jerusalem," '* together with the Christians such
also as, without belonging to the Christian church, worshipped
their God in purity of conscience," he speaks, indeed, good
Schleiermacheran, but bad Apocalyptic doctrine. The crisis by
that time was quite past ; the nobler elements had long ago been
absorbed by the Christian church ; the synagogue of Satan
retained only the scum. Such illusions of a superficial fleshly

the designation the Jews as alone indicating the higher class among the Jewish people in
their character of opposition to the troth, and decided hostility to the Redeemer, this name
is a very honounble one with the Apocalyptist ; insomuch that he calls the Jews, who ob-
stinately opposed the gospel, or wickedly persecuted it, not properly Jews, but regards
them as falsely taking to themselves that name." In reality the representation is the
same in both, differing only in the form, according to the different kinds of writing in
the two cases. The historian employs the usual name ; the prophet, on the other hand,
who rises above the common reality and its empty names, denies to those Jews, who
wanted the substance, also the name. How little such diversities infer a difference in
the authorship, is plain from the fact of our Lord, in John viii. 97, 30 ('* I know that ye
are the seed of Abraham," and again, ** If ye were Abraham's chUdren, ye would do the
deeds of Abraham")> employing almost in one breath both the real and tlie ideal manner
of designation

1 And at what period did the temple more deserve this name than shortly before the
destroction of Jerusalem, to which the composition of the Apocalypse is transferred by
those who understand by the temple in ch xi. the temple at Jerasalem ? Even Jose-
phus describes that temple quite similarly, as a place in which latterly all manner of
abominations became concentrated. And this sink of abominations must the author of
the Apocalypse, less enlightened than Josephus, have taken for the true sanctuary of
the Lord, and sought to preserve from destruction ? The untenableness of the position,
which the modern theology ascribes to the Apocalypse, discovers itself also here. Any
one that regarded the temple at Jerusalem so, could have obtained neither a canonical
nor a deuterocanioal place for bis book. Hofmann has justly said in his Weifis. und
Erf. II. p. 801, ** When Galba was emperor, Eleazar's zealots bad possession of the
temple, from whence they robbed and murdered in the city ; in the temple itself they
despatched the blameless Zeoharias, and practised horrors which the tongue trembles to
utter. Must the author of the Apocalypse have been so very Jewisbly inclined, that he
should have wished to preserve the theatre of these barbarities ? Are those zealots to be
now regarded as the worshipping company of the Apocalypse ? or shall the two witnesses
be discovered in Eleasar and John of Oishola ?"

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XT. 13. 417

beneyolence, are qnite remote Arom the author of the Apocalypse,
against whom Banr, and with some right from his point of riew,
brings the charge, on account of the epistle to the Laodiceans, of
being a gross fanatic : " who would allow nothing lukewarm,
hence also nothing of an ordinary and middle character ; he has
always in his eye sharp contrasts.** Whoever regards Judaism as
the author of the Apocalypse did, he could the less mean by the
temple that at Jerusalem, as here the discourse is simply of the
temple, not of a place of worship to the Lord, but, without any
qualifying term, of his sanctuary on earth, while yet of this our
Lord said to the woman of Samaria, *' Woman, believe me, the
hour cometh, and now is, when neither in Jerusalem nor in this
mountain shall men worship the Father." ^ No one viewing Ju-
daism as our author did, could possibly think of it as having
such noble powers of life slumbering in it, as that so compara-
tively mild a judgment should have sufficed to set them free —
that the fall of the tenth part of the city and the death of the
tenth part of the inhabitants should have had the effect of ** ter-
rifying the rest, and leading them to giye glory to the God of
heaven.'* Such powers of life, according to the yiew taken in the
Apocalypse, grow only out of Christ's blood and redemption. For
Satan's synagogue tribulation is as fruitless as for the heathen,
and even more so. It can only produce rage in such characters,
the dark zealot-spirit.

If we allow to these cardinal passages on the relation of the
Apocalypse to Judaism their full weight, we shall have no hesi-
tation from the outset what to make of the proofs for the Judais-
ing spirit of the author, which some haye been at pains to bring
forward. We may, however, look at them somewhat closely.
After the example of Liicke, Baur presses the fact of the author
speaking only of twelve apostles at ch. xxi. 14. as having their
names on the foundations of the new Jerusalem ; so that he must
have excluded the apostle Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles.
Bleek has justly remarked in opposition to this, that the Jews
were wont to speak of their twelve tribes, without thereby exclud-
ing any portion of the people from their community. The same
thing is done also here, immediately before, in ver. 12 ; and if
the apostle would not depart from what had been so long conse-
crated as a symbol of the church, the number twelve, he must
2d

418 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

likewise adhere to it in the corresponding nnmber of the apostles.
The twelre number of the apostles, which certainly had no acci-
dental origin, was regarded as so inyiolable, that eyen Paul, in
1 Cor. XY. 5, says that Christ was seen of the twelre, after Judas
had been parted from them. How much less could it be imagined,
that the author of the Apocalypse was to speak of thirteen
apostles — he who throughout lays such great stress upon the
numbers ? Only if one were to understand really what was meant
ideally, could one have desired him in such a way to do violence
to the consecrated signature of the church, and render it unintel-
ligible. And we can the less think of any intentional exclusion
of Paul, as that very passage alludes to a declaration of his in
£ph. ii. 20, and the more to be regarded as there are also in
other parts of the Apocalypse a great number of allusions to the
epistles of Paul.^

Baur remarks farther, '* What a great contrast exists between
the stand-point of the Apocalypse, by which the kingdom of God
has its genuine, its truly be1ie?ing and blessed members only out
of Judaism, and that of the gospel, which sees in Judaism only the
kingdom of unbelief." On the contrary, we maintain that the
Revelation knows of no prerogatives belonging peculiarly to the
Jews in the kingdom of God ; Gentile Christians have perfectly
equal rights imputed to them with the Jewish brethren ; so much
so, that the Seer makes no account of any distinction between
Jewish and Gentile believers, he knows only of one holy Catholic
church. And from this fact we draw the conclusion that the
exposition of this section, which regards it as containing Jewish
patriotic phantasies, cannot possibly be right. Which of the two
opposite views is the correct one, must be determined by an ex-
amination of the particular passages.

1 Especially remarkable and nndeniable are the references to Col. L 16—18. On the
irpitfTOTOKov ifc TMv vtKpuiu in ver. 18, comp. in BeT. i. 6, nrptaroroKo^ t&v vtxpmp.
This peculiar expression occurs nowhere else in the New Testament, and wai manifestly
framed by Paul, as may be seen from the relation to vrr. 15. The ipx6 in ver. 18 of CoL
is found also in Rev. xxii. 13 and iii. 14. The apxh 'rm icrlattov there points to the
irpoaToroKot iraffijc «cTto-ccov In ver. 15. A word is substituted for irpwroTOKot in ver. 18,
by which it is explained. It i& to be observed that this reference occurs in the epistle to
the Laodiceans, for whom, according to Col. iv. 16, the epistle to the Ephesians was |dso
intended. Comp. besides Rev. i. 4, with PauPs form of salutation, i. 9, with 2 Tiro. ii.
2, 12 ; ii. 10 with Phil. ii. 8 ; xix. 8 wiih 2 Cor. xl. 2, &o.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13. 419

The first passage that demands attention is ch. V. 8, 10. *' Then
the foar beasts and the four and twenty elders fell down before
the lamb, having every one of them harps and golden vials full of
odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new
song, saying, thou art worthy to take the book and to open its
seals, for thou wert slain and hast redeemed ns^ to God by thy
blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.9
And hast made them (the persons so redeemed) kings and priests
to our God, and they shall reign upon the earth.** This passage
is quite plain and clear : in the kingdom of God there is neither
Jew nor Greek, it brings its members out of all peoples of the earth
to the possession of the same rights, to be -kings and priests,
which is the highest dignity that can be conceived in the king-
dom of God. And this enlarged oecumenical mode of representa-
tion is not like a thing that swims in the air, so that it might be
regarded as a kind of isolated ray of light ; it has its foundation
in the worth that is here ascribed to Christ's blood — comp. on
ch. xii. 11, " They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb."
All Judaism has its root in defective views of the great work of
redemption. He who perceives in Christ the Lamb of God, that
takes away the sins of the world, is thereby raised quite above
the contracted and partial Jewish spirit.

The second passage is ch. vii. 1 — 8. Here we have repre-
sented, in an episode between the sixth and seventh seals, the
safe preservation of the members of the church amid the great
plagues which befal the unbelieving and apostate world. The
grace of God manifested toward them and protecting them, ap«
pears under the image of a seal, which is imprinted on them, be-

1 Ewald and Bleek woald expunge hfiav^ ** as it cannot be tbonght ihat the author of
the Apocalypse would have it to be understood that not merely the four and twenty
elders in heaven, but also the Cherubim, represent themselves as those who have been
redeemed out of all nations by the blood of the Lamb, and who shall again reign on the
earth.'' Bat to the four beasts, the ideal representatives of the living earthly creation,
belongs, as was shown incur exposition, only the falling down; the ixovrtv has imme-
diate respect only to the four and twenty elders, and of these only does the nalure of
things permit us to think: the Cherubim cannot be conceived as doing the part of
harpers. But the elders do not act in their own name ; they do so as representatives of
the saints : they have vials full of incense, which are the prayers of saints — comp. also
ch. xiv. 2, XV. 2, where tho saints themselves have harps.

2 Isaiah had already said, in ch. Ixvi. 18, " And I— their works and thought". A time
comes for gathering all heathen and tongues"— the Jewish people are rejected, the
heathen world called.

2d2

420 THE SEVBN TRUMPETS, GH. XI. 13.

fore the wind blows upon the earth ; that is, before the storm of
tribulations breaks in upon the world with its desolating and des-
tmctive fury. To a superficial view the precedence of the Jews
has here certainly some appearance of support. It is not only
the children of Israel in general that are spoken of, but particular
Jewish tribes also are singled out from the rest, as those to whom
the sealed belong. But no one that is a little advanced in the
inrestigation of Scripture will allow himself to be at once carried
away by appearances of this sort. By a mode of contemplation
in Scripture deeply rooted and widely diffused, Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob are the fathers of all belierers ; from the very begin-
ning of the arrangements respecting salvation to the end of the
world, there is but one people of God, the sons of Abraham and
of Israel, from the number of whom they are excluded, who
give way to a spirit of unbelief and backsliding, even though they
have been born among them, according to the oft-repeated ex-
pression, " that soul is cut off from among his people f while, on
the other hand, those who have faith, wherever they may have
been bom, attain to equal rights with the native members. It is
from this point of view that our Lord, for example, speaks to his
disciples in Matt. xix. 28, " Verily I say to you, that ye who
have followed me, in the regeneration, when the Son of man shall
sit upon the throne of his glory, shall also sit upon twelve thrones,
judging the twelve tribes of Israel." That the twelve tribes of
Israel are here used not in the ordinary Jewish sense, that they
rather denote the whole church of God, is as certain as the calling
of the apostles had respect, not to Israel in the narrower sense,
but to all nations, Matth. xxviii. 19. Indeed, in the calling
of the apostles themselves our Lord was guided by this mode of
viewing things — as certainly as the twelve number of the apostles
has respect to the twelve tribes of Israel. The same mode is fol-
lowed also by James, when he addresses his epistle to the
'^ twelve tribes scattered abroad," to the Israel out of Palestine,
in the dispersion ; and by Peter, when he writes to the *' elect
strangers scattered abroad in Fontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia,
and Bithynia." Both of them certainly did not wish to exclude
the Gentile Christians, who, as appears from the Acts of the
•Apostles and the epistles of Paul, were then united with Jewish
Christians in those regions into one Christian body ; nor did they

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13. 421

mean to include the nnchristiaii Jews. They addressed both the
geoiUDe original sons, and the sons by adoption. This manner
of contemplation is followed also by the author of the Apocalypse
himself, in ch. xxi. 12, according to which the city, that symbo-
lizes the church in the kingdom of glory, the city in whose light
the Gentiles walk, ch. xxi. 24, into which all without distinction
of nation are received, who have overcome, ch. xxi. 7, and from
which all are excluded without distinction of nation, who hare
done -abomination and lies, ver. 27, has names written on its gates
which are the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. The ques-
tion, therefore, arises. Does the Seer here speak of Israel and its
tribes in this sense, or in the ordinary Jewish one ? If in the
former, there is nothing to im'ply an undue ascendancy of the
Jews over others. For, the honour of being the kernel and trunk
of the people of God, even under the New Testament, is accorded
to them in all Scripture, and nowhere more decidedly than in the
writings of the apostle Paul (Bom. ix. and xi.) ; nor can it be de-
nied them, without falling out with history, which declares the
communication of the gospel to the heathen to have been made by
means of believing Jews ; without finding the conduct of Christ
incomprehensible in confining the preaching of salvation prima-
rily to the Jews ; and without destroying the continuity of the
kingdom of God, which unfortunately is very much lost sight of
by the style of thought now preralent, as also by orthodox theolo-
gians, to the great detriment not only of theology, but also of a
living faith. For, if we tear asunder the two testaments, we leave
the Old to be regarded as primarily destined for the Jews, and
retain only the New for Christians ; and thus rob the first of a
great part of its edifying character for the Christian church,
and receive only some disjecta membra of the writings of Scrip-
ture, as fitted now to exercise a direct and proper influence.
Those who have not the Old Testament, possess the New also in
a very imperfect manner.

If we turn now to answer the proposed question, there can be
no doubt that the prophet speaks here of Israel and his tribes in
the spiritual or Christian sense. We could prove this without
calling to our aid ch. xiy., where the 144,000 again appear, and
where they quite undeniably represent the whole company of
Christians. In the chapter before us itself, those, whose preser-

422 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

yation from the plagues that were to alight on the wicked is de-
picted in ver. 1 — 8, for their consolation in the time of trial, are
presented to our riew in the possession of that final glory which
awaited them. They are spoken of there as being taken out of
all nations, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues, and hoQce from
these also must the 144,000 have been formed.^ That we must
not stick to the letter, is clear also from the omission of the tribe
of Dan, for a purely theological reason, in order not to exceed the
number twelve i* from the number being the same in the small

1 TLe supposition of Hofmann is qaite inadmissible, that the namberless multitude
out of all kindreds and nations, in ver. 9, is placed over against the 144,000 out of Ju-
daism. There would then have been promised to the Jewish believers only preservation
upon earth, and to those from among the Gentiles only heavenly felicity. — The objec-
tions which Bleek has raised against the identification of the 144,000 with the number-
less multitude can very easily be disposed of. He says, first, it is not probable that, if
the entire number was given at 144,000, they should immediately after be described as a
multitude which no one could number. But in ch. xiv. 1, 2, the voices of the 144^000
are also compared with the noise of many waters, and of loud thunder. Numerable
usually stands in Hebrew for what can easily be numbered ; compare, for example, Isa.
z. 19. Any one looking at a multitude of 144,000 would at once lose all thought of
numbering. Balaam says, in Num. zxiii. 10, *' Who can determine the dust of Jacob,
and the number of the fourth part of Israel ?" already, therefore, the fourth part of Israel
was held to be innumerable, and yet the whole was twice numbered during the march,
and in that very book, in which such an explanation is given of Israel's being innu*
merable, the precise numbers are recorded ; whereas here only a round number, of a
thoroughly ideal import, is given, and such as only expresses in another form the idea of
an innumerable multitude. For that the number has no real signification is manifest
alone from its relation to the twelve as the signature of the covenant-people. Again, it
is objected by Bleek that the 144,000 are in ver. 4 expressly described as sealed out of aU
the tribesof Israel— an expression that could scarcely have been chosen if it was meant
as the entire sum of the members of these tribes, end not as an announcement of be-
lievers sealed out of the entire number of members in these tribes. But this reason can
only tell against Bleek 's earlier hypothesis, according to which the twelve tribes must
be divisions in the New Testament kingdom of God itself. The twelve tribes are the
twelve Jewish tribes (for in the whole of Scripture there is but one Israel, and the dis*
tinction made in the older theology of a corporeal and a spiritual Israel, the Christian
church, has no foundation), but the false seed are excluded, and the sons of adoption are
brought in. As, therefore, a sediment, a sentina remains behind, the expression, ** out
of all the tribes of Israel," is quite suitable.

9 Hoflnann improperly refers to the omission of Simeon in the blessing of Moses.
The reason for that omission was, that Simeon received no separate territory, but dwelt
under Judah, hence was blessed along with him, and obtained no peculiar blessing of
his own. But in rpspeot to the Messianic blessing, Dan had not an independent exist-
ence, and must not have fliiled, if the whole enumeration was to be taken in a realistic
sense. The reason for the exclusion alone of Dan out of the number twelve, is, as
already shewn, that the only narrative of the Old Testament, in which Dan played a
part, is that respecting the worship of idols among the Danites, in the book of Judges.
So that the sentiment " without are the idolatrous," in ch. xxii. 16, is here symbolioaliy
represented by the omission of Dan.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13. 423

and the large tribes ; and from the fact that the tribal distinc-
tions were then lost.

The third passage is ch. xiv. 1 — 5. Here it is a piece of pal-
pable caprice in Credner, Ztlllig, Banr, to understand by the
144,000 who stand around the Lamb on Mount Zion, Jewish
Christians, and nothing but the most imperatiye necessity, or the
giving np also of the preceding passages, could warrant us in
adopting such a view. It has, however, nothing to support it ;
and there are the following reasons against it : — 1. All the marks
throughout the passage point to Christians in general : they have
the name of Christ and the name of his Father written on their
foreheads ; they have been redeemed from the earth, from among
men, they sing a new song before the throne and the four beasts,
who represent the living creatures over all the earth ; they have
not defiled themselves with women, i.e., sins (comp. Gen. iv. 7,
where sin appears under the image of a woman, with iii. 16 ;
Zech. V. 7, 8 ; Rev. ii. 20, 22), they follow the Lamb wherever he
goes, in their mouth was found no guile, for they are without
blame. These are all clear marks for distinguishing a true
Christian in any age. With Jewish Christians, on the other hand,
the first distinguishing mark was circumcision, which would have
made an anomalous appearance in such a society. 2. Identical
beyond doubt with the 144,000, who here stand on Mount Zion
and sing the new song, are those who, in ch. xv. 2—4, stand on
the sea of glass, and sing the song of Moses, the servant of God,
and the song of the Lamb. These are described as the per-
sons who have gotten the victory over the beast and his image.
But according to ch . xiii. 7, the beast has power given to it over
every tribe, and people, and tongue, and nation, that is, over the
believers irom among them. These, too, are the persons who
here sing the song of the Lamb, and in ch. xiv., the new song.
3. The whole fourteenth chapter, the conclusion of the group,
which treats of the three enemies of the kingdom of God, and
their formidable war against it, ch. xii. — xiv., forms the antidote
to the pain, which might be occasioned by the contents of ch.
xiii., the representation of the great oppression caused by the
beast. A glance is here first given, in ch. xiv. 1 — 5, into the
heavenly blessedness of the elect. Now, if the song is of an
oecumenical character, if it concerns the saints of all tongues and

424 THB SETEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

nations, then the field embraced in the consolation can be no
straitened one, it cannot possibly be limited to the Jewish terri-
tory.

Thns we have arrired at the result, that the Rationalistic ex-
position of onr section is altogether untenable, because the sup-
position on which it rests, that the anthor of the Revelation had
only one foot in Christianity, and another still in Judaism, is an
utterly groundless one. On the contrary, it everywhere appears
that he had taken for his motto, '* Christ alone and all," and in
the blood of the Lamb had been washed, as well from his Jewish
sympathies, as from the other stains and imperfections of his old
man.

But there is also another line of argument by which we can
gain the same result. We perpeive that everywhere else the
things of Judaism serve only as the forms and symbols under
which he represents the Christian ; and all these analogies lead
to the conclusion that he cannot possibly mean by the temple
here the temple at Jerusalem — that he must intend by it what
corresponds to it on the Christian territory^ the Christian church.
That by Israel the author does not denote those whom he thought
worthy of the name on account of their corporeal descent from
Jacob, but the entire body of true Christians, we have already
seen. In like manner he holds no other to be Jews but true
Christians (Vitringa on ch. ii. 9, *' Jew in this book denotes one
who is a Jew in secret, circumcised in heart, a true confessor of
the faith.") Bold as it may seem, he must also deny to the
temple at Jerusalem the name of the temple. The priests of the
Revelation, who must of course have a temple corresponding to
them, are not the Levitical, but all Christ's faithful people, who
have been made priests to God, and his Father," i. 6, v. 10, xx.
6. Nay, the temple itself also occurs elsewhere in the Revela-
tion in a spiritual sense, as a designation of the church of Christ.
And this is the more decisive, as in each place alike the discourse
is not of a temple, but precisely of the temple of God. Even in
the first group, that of the epistles, it is said, ch. iii. 12, ^' He
that overcomes, him will I make a pillar in the temple of our
God, and he shall go no more out." On that passage it is well
remarked by Vitringa, " That their position may be firm and
immoveable in the heavenly temple, which is the symbol as well

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13. 425

of beliererd upon earth, as of the saints made perfect in glory.
For nnder the new dispensation there is a honse of God, tp which
all the saints hare access, Heb. xii. 22." The going no more
ont here, forms the contrast to the throwing ont in ch. xi. 2.
Yitringa, ** It must be understood passively, as if it had been
written, He shall not be cast ont. The Lord by his grace and
providence would take care, that those among the Fhiladelphians,
who, with a sincere spirit and a pure affection, had confessed the
truth, should never be deprived of their state and dignity." In
ch. xiii. 6, the tabernacle of God is a designation of his church,
in connection with those, who dwell in heaven, believers in
heaven and on earth, for the citizenship of the latter also is in
heaven (Phil. iii. 20), the saints, as they are presently after
named by way of explanation.^ Further, the temple of the Lord
in heaven, with the ark of the covenant, vii. 15, xi. 19, xiv. 15,
17, XV. 5, as the heavenly symbol of the church, implies, that the
church upon earth also presented itself to the prophet under the
same symbol. As it stands in regard to the temple, so does it
also in regard to Jerusalem. Whenever it occurs besides In the
Bevelation, it never denotes the city so named in the vulgar
sense, but always the church ; and we should, therefore, need to
isolate the section before us from all the rest of the book, were we
to think here of the literal Jerusalem and the temple of Herod.
By the *' beloved city," which, according to ch. xx. 9, is to be
encompassed and besieged by a revived heathenism at the close
of the thousand years, Lucke himself understands '* the society
of believers upon earth," in other words, the Christian church;
and yet there can be no Soubt, that this beloved city is Jeru-
salem, so that £wald is perfectly right in identifying the city
here (in ch. xi.) and there. Vitringa remarks, ''Allusion is
made as well to Ps. Ixxxvii. 2, ' The Lord loves the gates of
Zion,* as to the vision in the next prophecy, xxi. 1 — 10, which
represents the church under the image of Jerusalem, the holy
city, beloved of God." How also could the prophet, in ch. iii.

1 Besides these parallel passages, it is in favour of the temple being regarded as the
symboL of the church, that the prophecy of Ezekiel, ch. zI.—xlviiL, to which an allu-
sion in yer. 1 undoubtedly is made, unquestionably refers not to an external building,
but to Uie spiritual temple of God's kingdom, as is STident in particular from eh. xWii.
As Ezekiel beheld the restoration of the church under the image of the temple given to
be measured, so John beheld its preservation.

426 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

12, xxi. 2, 10, represent the church of the future world under the
name of the new Jerusalem, unless he had already recognised the
true Jerusalem in the church of the present ? It was the new
Jerusalem in contrast, not to that old material one, but to the
spiritual beloved city in its imperfect condition here, from which
this section itself tells us, how much it needs a renewal, with how
many deficiencies and evils it is still beset. Finally, the heavenly
Zion, with it^s 144,000 perfected saints, who sing there the new
song before the throne, ch. xiv 1 — ^5, presupposes the existence
of an earthly Zion, in which belieyers have been prepared for it
by much tribulation. Those who stick to the letter, ought, as a
necessary consequence, to abide here also by the literal Zion.
If the triumphant church takes the name of Zion, the name must
also be proper for the church militant. For, it cannot be ap-
plied to the church as triumphing, but only in so far as it is
a church.^

With these facts before us, to attempt to interpret the sec-
tion under consideration, according to the letter, would be a mere
act of caprice ; the more so, as the spiritual use of the language
is very extensiyely employed also in the other books of the New
Testament, even in some where it could far less be expected than
in the Revelation. The passages in which the temple occurs as a
designation of the Christian church, have already been adduced ;
in regard to Jerusalem ; Oal. iy. 26, Hebr. xii. 22, are especially
to be compared.

There are besides, however, many other reasons against the re-
ference to the Jewish temple and the literal Jerusalem, and for
the reference to the temple and the Jerusalem of the Christian
church.

According to the seven epistles, which everywhere contain only
individual applications of what is exhibited as a general delinea^
tion in the prophetical part, we could not but expect that the
Seer, in the main delineation, would direct his eye upon the inter-
nal state of the church of the future. The preserving and re-
jecting agency of God in regard to the church, is the point that

1 Poljcrates of Ephesus says, in his third episde to the Roman bishop Victor, in
Euseb. V. 24, of St John, "Ov iyavifOi) Upci&s to ircraXov irtipopnKw, certainly in the
manner of John himself. In a spiritoal nnderstandingof the high-priesthood, be makes
its nature to consist in the closest relationship to the Lord.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13, 427

comes most prominently ont in the epistles. The command, for
example, *' Measure the temple of God and the altar, and them
that worship therein," connects itself closely with, ''Be thoa
faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life,*' ch. ii.
10, " Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I will
also keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come
npon the whole earth," ch. iii. 10. In like manner, the throw-
ing out of the temple-court and not measuring it, is very
nearly allied to such passages as the following, " If not, I
will come to thee, and will remore thy candlestick ont of its
place,*' and, " I will spue thee ont of my mouth," etc. That
the church in the future was to undergo a great siftinff, that
it was never wholly to perish, but that many branches of the
vine should become withered and useless, is a subject frequently
unfolded in the epistles. But this agreement between our sec-
tion and the epistles is destroyed, whenever we refer the former
to Judaism, instead of to the Christian church. In its place,
indeed, there comes a palpable discord. For the Judaism, whose
preservation should in that case be announced here, is what is
called the synagogue of Satan in the epistles.

One does not see, how a prediction respecting the future fates
of the literal Jerusalem and the Jewish temple should have been
introduced exactly here, pressed in between the sixth and seventh
trumpets, the second and third woe, which have to do only with
the world-power. On the other hand, by the spiritual interpre-
tation, which refers it to the Christian church, the prophetical
announcement is quite in its place. The judgments alight upon
the world-power on account of the hostile attitude it has assumed
against the church, and for the salvation of the latter. And it is
well, in the meantime to see, what effect has been wrought in the
church itself by the very dangerous encroachment upon it through
the world-power — whether it has not been internally reduced to
a level with the world ; the more so, since if such were the case,
the whole of the treatment to be inflicted on the world-power
would lose its propriety. It has the preservation of the temple
of God, and of those who worship in it, for its foundation.

The appearance of the angel of the Lord, which is described in
the episode, ch. x. 1 — xi. 13, has the double aim of first solemnly
announcing, that the completion of the judgmentupon the world,

428 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13.

and tbe glorifying of the church therewith connected, should cer-
tainly take place, and then of declaring how dreadfully the tem-
ple and Jerusalem would be imperilled by the encroachments of
the world, though they should still be preseryed. The two parts
of the mission of the angel lose all internal connection^ whenerer
by the temple we understand the Jewish one. But adopt the
spiritual meaning, and that immediately becomes manifest. The
danger brought to the temple and the city by the worldly inter-
mixture in the church could not but awaken a doubt as to the
final victory of the church, and her glorification, which was met
by the solemn assurance given respecting the consummation.
The final glorification of the church has for its basis the preser-
vation of the church amid the temptations threatening it ; without
the patience of Christ, no participation in his kingdom.

The position of the two witnesses becomes incomprehensible, if
ver. 1 and 2 are not referred to the Christian church. They are
equally hated by the world-power — the beast which rises out of
the abyss — and by the degenerate holy city, '' which spiritually
is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified ;"
they were brought to death through the persecuting hatred of the
degenerate community. On the degenerate holy city, according to
ver. 13, the judgment alights, and that because of the despite it
had done to their testimony. Between the world-power and the
Jews, however, there existed no internal connection. But there
did between the world-power and the Christian church, which
through the encroaching pressure of the former was to become to
a large extent leavened with the spirit of the world.

The beast, from which, according to ver. 7, proceeds the per-
secution of the two witnesses, has to do, according to ch. xiii.
7, 8, not with the literal Jerusalem, but with the saints, whose
name is written in the book of the Lamb that had been slain.
The whole war of the Dragon, which the beast serves (comp.
xiii. 2) is waged against those, who have been redeemed by the
blood of the Lamb ; comp. xii. 11.

The literal Jerusalem, at the time the Apocalypse was written,
even taking the earliest date to which that has been ascribed,
was no longer the theatre for the two witnesses. That Jerusalem
had then ceased to be the seat and centre of the church— a dig-
nity it lost at the moment of Christ's death, Matt, xxiii. 38— is

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 13. 421

manifest alone from the seven epistles, which proclaim the com-
plete separation of the church from Jerusalem and its temple.
^ But the witnessing generally has its proper territory only in
the church of God, though possibly degenerate, and that here also
this is to be regarded as the sphere of action, is evident from the
prototypes Hoses and Elias, who came forth in the midst of God's
church, and from the designation of the witnesses as the two
olive-trees and the two lamps, which determine the region of
their agency to be that of the Spirit and grace of God.

The result we have obtained is of importance in more than
one point of view. First, the rejection of the ecclesiastical tra-
dition respecting the composition of the Apocalypse under Do-
mitian is thus deprived of one of its chief supports, and thereby
an important vantage-ground is won for the correct exposition of
the Apocalypse. But we have gained more than a mere fence.
If here no judicial punishment is announced upon the Jews, in
the only passage of the whole book where with some appearance
of truth it might have been sought, that punishment must then be
regarded as past, and the Revelation must consequently have
been composed, not under Galba, but under Domitian. For, it
is clear, thlit if Judaism had been already overthrown, the author
could not have failed to announce its overthrow ; he could not
have occupied himself exclusively with the fall of heathenism, the
less so as he had before his eyes the example of the Lord, from
whom the overthrow of Jerusalem received so prominent a
place.

Farther, it has now again been shewn how, what from the
first is felt by a simple faith in the written word, that we have
here holy ground, on which no patriotic imaginations and no
products of common and impure human feeling are to be found, is
fully confirmed by a careful and thorough investigation.

Finally, which is the point of greatest moment, it has become
certain to us from the whole contents of the section, that the
comforting assurance is there given us of the preservation of the
church amid all temptations, the comforting assurance of our
own preservation, if only we do not loiter about the court, but
with the zeal which does violence to the kingdom, press into the
temple itself.

430 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 14, 15.

Ch. zi. 14. The second woe is past; behold^ the third woe
comes quickly.

We have now in chap. zi. 15—19 the serenth trampet, the
third woe. The trampet of the seventh angel sounds, and the
hlessed in hearen triumph, that now the nniyersal dominion of
their God and his Christ appears immediately in prospect, yer. 15.
The heavenly representatives of the church, the four and twenty
elders, give thanks to the Lord, that he now comes in his king*
dom to ezecute judgment on the ungodly world, as also on the
dead (raised to life again), and to reward the righteous, ver*
16 — 18. The catastrophe follows ; the confidence of the blessed
and of the elders is not put to shame ; the strong angel, who in
ch. z. 6, 7, had declared, that at the sounding of the seventh
trumpet the completion of the mystery of God should take place
without delay, keeps his word, ver. 19. — The conclusion of the
vision of the seven trumpets points back to its beginning. In
ch. viii. 3, 4, the prayers of the saints call for the judgment of
God on the world ; here the saints give thanks that the wrath
of the Lord has come. In ch. viii. 5 voices, and lightnings, and
thunders, and earthquakes, come forth as a symbolical an-
nouncement, that the world's judgment is approaching ; in ver.
19 this symbolical announcement goes into complete fulfilment :
amid lightnings, and voices, and thunders, and earthquakes, and
great hail, the ungodly world is brought to ruin.

Ver. 15. And the seventh trumpet sounded. And there were
great voices in heaven, saying. The kingdom of the world has
become our hordes and Ms anointecCs^'and he will reign for
ever and ever. That we are to regard the great voices in hea-
ven as chiefly at least proceeding from the great multitude, which
no man could number, clothed with white robes and with' palms
in their hands, the saints made perfect, arises from the nature
of things. For these are that portion of the heavenly inhabi-
tants who are specially interested in this event ; they are called
to reign with their Lord and his anointed, ch. v. 10 ; his entrance
on the government is also theirs ; they, the servants, now receive
from their Lord the reward, ver. 18. It is evident' also from
the correspondence, in which the ezpression, *' to his servants*'
there, stands to " our Lord" here. It farther appears from a
comparison of the parallel passages. Those that have the closest
connection with the one before us — much more close than ch. v.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI, 15. 431

11, 12, to which alone reference is commonly made — ^are ch. xii.
10, where " the great voice" in heaven, which celebrates the com-
pleted redemption of Christ and his right to rale over the world,
springing ont of that, is the voice of the chnrch ; and ch. xix.
1 — 8, where the great multitude in heaven, that proclaims with
a loud voice on the fall of Bome, " Hallelujah, for the Lord our
God, the Almighty reigns,'* consists of saints, and apostles, and
prophets — comp. ch. xviii. 20 — those who fear God, great and
small. The agreement with ch. viii. 3 also serves to determine
** the great voices." If there the prayers of the saints cause the
appearance of the angels with the seven trumpets, it can be no
other than the saints who here triumph and give thanks, when
the work of the seven angels was completed. Hence, thongh we
may regard the angels generally as interested, as is shewn by
ch. vii. 11, we should conceive of them as being so only in a
subordinate' manner, and by way of concurrence. First, the
whole host of the saints made perfect step forth, and celebrate
in a short speech the victory of their Lord and his anointed.
Then, the heavenly representatives of the church, its elite as it
were, take up the discourse, and bring fully out what the others
only indicate ; precisely as in ch. xix., first the multitude of be-
lievers step forth, and then the elders. Accordingly, the bearers
of the great voices mentioned at the beginning, are given at the
close. They are no others than the servants of God, and the
saints, and those who fear his name, the small and the great, ver.
18. They are those, who also in ch. xv. 2 — 4, before the enter-
ing of the seven last plagues of God, celebrate his glorious deeds
and his approaching final victory over the world, and who sing in
cb. xiv. 3 the new song before the throne. — The kingdom, ^curir
Xeia^ signifies here the kingdom, not in the passive, but in the
active sense — the dominion ; comp. on ch. i. 6. In ch. xii. 6, xvii.
18, also, the kingdom occurs so. It is from not apprehending this
import, that the explanatory reading followed by Luther, iyivovro
ai ^aa-iXelai, has arisen : the kingdoms of the world have become.
Therefore, by the kingdom having become, etc., is meant : The
government is (now) possessed by our Lord and his anointed ;
and so it suits excellently with what follows : And he shall reign
for ever and ever. He has now come to the government, and
shall continue to exercise it for ever. The time t^f the world's

432 THK SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. X[. 16.

supremacy, of the oppression of the church, has at length come
to a final end. — The kingdom has become. The result is first
actually attained in ver. 19. But since the angel has already
sounded, and it is fixed, that the world's catastrophe follows im-
mediately on the trumpet, the consequence is anticipated. Such
a rejoicing in prospect of the immediately approaching victory
presents itself also under the old covenant. Thus Ps. Ixxv. is a
song of triumph before the victory. Here, as there, the con-
fidence with which the coming deliverance is anticipated, rests
upon the divine promise. It was guaranteed to the church by
the oath of the strong angel in ch. x. 6, 7, that under the trum-
pet of the seventh angel the mystery of Ood should be finished
without delay, and the object of this was the dominion of the
Lord and his anointed over the world. — The fact, which is here
celebrated, has its proper root in the redemption accomplished
by Christ — comp. xii. 10 ; but here for the first time does the
necessary consequence of that work come iully into reality. To
the thanksgiving of the saints for their heavenly felicity, in cb.
vii. 10, corresponds here the expression of their joy on account
of the final victory over the world. Bengel remarks : " As soon
as the seventh angel sounds, the kingdom of the world becomes
the Lord's and his Christ's, for ever. It is only in heaven, how-
ever, that this takes place so immediately, and in heaven alone
is it celebrated with joy ; for dreadful things still intervene on
earth." But this view is only a result of the embarrassment in
which they are involved, who, instead of perceiving that the
seventh trumpet is comprised in ch. xi. 16 — 19, bring within its
compass all that follows to the end of the book. The scene can-
not, from the very nature of things, belong to heaven ; and it
makes nothing for this, that it is spoken of heaven. Decisive
against such a view, is ch. x. 6, 7, according to which the sound
of the seventh trumpet and the finishing of Ood's mystery, which
can find its completion nowhere but on earth, for it concerns the
dominion of Christ over the earth, are immediately united to-
gether. Ver. 19 also decides against it, if only it is rightly
interpreted. But with perfect truth Bengel remarks on the
expression : it has become, " Everything, and consequently also
the kingdom of the world, is God's at all times. But in things
visible and iavisible, Satan nnd the world have set up their kings

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 15. 433

and lords against tbe Lord and his anointed. Sach an impious
rebellion is brought to an end by Ood, and he maintains his
right. — That royal word of the suffering Jesus, * My kingdom is
not of this world,* has been greatly abused. His kingdom is
not worldly, but the kingdom of the world is holy and Christian.
This province, which has been long enough in the enemy's hands,
has at last been finally recovered ; it is possessed by the Lord
, and his anointed.** The kingdom of the world is the LortTsand
his anointed's — the Son*s, into whose hands all things have been
committed by the Father, John iii. 35, and in particular all judg-
ment, John V. 22. There is the same connection here between
the Lord and his anointed, as in Acts iv. 26, in both places from
Ps. ii. 2, '* The kings of the earth rise up, and the princes sit
in counsel against the Lord and his anointed.** The conflict de-
picted there finds here at last an end. From the allusion to that
fundamental passage it is clear, that anointed here is equivalent
to king. The anointing, as was remarked in my commentary on
the second Psalm, whether viewed as a real symbolical action, or
spoken of in a merely figurative manner, is constantly regarded
in the Old Testament as denoting the gifts of the Holy Spirit,
as they were imparted to all the servants of God in his kingdom,
which is characteristically distinguished from the kingdoms of
this world by the very possession of these gifts. This significa-
tion comes very plainly out in the account given of the anointing
of Saul, 1 Sam. x. 1, and of David, xvi. 13, 14. Kings were called
by way of distinction the anointed, because they received a singu-
larly rich supply of divine grace for their important ofBce. The
expression was on this account peculiarly appropriated to the
king ; he was the individual in whom the idea of the kingdom
must be fully realized.^

The future dominion of the Lord over the world, resting on the
solid foundation, that he is still Lord in the midst of the world's
revolt (Ps. xxii. 28, xxiv. 1), was predicted in a long series of
passages of Old Testament Scripture. It was the strong con-

I Bengel: " Elisha the prophet was anointed, 1 Kings xix. 16; priests were anointed,
F.x. xxviii. 41 ; but most of all kings; and therefore tbe term anointed, when us^d abso-
lutely, denotea only the king. He was woot to be called the Lord's anointed, oot the
anointed king. In the whole gospel history tbe name of Christ is never explained by
the word priest, but very often by the name of king. And so, as often as Messiah is
spoken of in Scriptnre, respeet is had to his kingdom."

2e

434 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 16, 17, 18.

solation which bore up the church of the Lord for many cetaturies^
during which the world made her afraid. The most exact agree-
ment is with Obadiah, ver. 21, ^' And the kingdom shall be the
Lord's." Gomp. Zech. xir. 9, " And the Lord will be king oyer
the whole earth," Dan. ii. 44. The world-supremacy of Christ,
beside that of the Lord, is announced in Dan. rii. 13, 14. as well
as in Ps. ii., " And behold there came one with the clouds of
heaven like a Son of man, and came to the Ancient of days, and
he was brought before him. And there was given him dominion,
and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues,
serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which does
not pass away, and his kingdom has no end." Comp. ver. 18,
27, where the dominion of the Lord and of his anointed appears
at the same time as the dominion of the people of the saints of
the Most High, precisely as in the passage before us. — Our Lord,
so the saints say with tender affection, instead of simply, the
Lord, as used in the original passage ; indicating also, that with
his dominion theirs was inseparably connected ; for the glory of the
Lord passes over also upon the servants, comp. at ch. ix. 7. Bengel
would delete the our, on very slender external authority, because he
does not perceive its true import. A glance at ver. 18 shews, that it
was necessary here. What the elders there fully express must
here be indicated, at least, in the utterance of the saints. It is
a mournful retrogression to seek, as many now do, to have states
emancipated from the dominion of Christ. If they are severed
from the end, which they are bound perpetually to promote, there
will only be substituted for the dominion of grace, the dominion
of judgment. But those who contend for a Christian state in
opposition to wanton despisers, have here a rich consolation, and
may quietly laugh at the world, while it deems their cause to be
lost. The more decided the unchristianity of a state, the nearer
is its absolute Christianity.

Ver. 16. And the four and twenty elders, who sit on their
thrones before Ood, fell upon their faces and worshipped Ood,
Ver. 17. Saying^ We give thee thanks, 0 Lord Ood, the Al-
mighty, who art and wast ; because thou hast taken thy great
power and dost reign, Ver. 18. And the nations were angry,
and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead to be judged,
and to give reward to thy servants, the prophets, and the saints.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 16, 17, 18. 435

and to those that fear thy name, small and great, and to destroy
those who destroy the earth. The four and twenty elders who
sit before God on their thrones (they constantly sit there during
the whole assembly ofcounsel and judgment that was held to
decide upon the fates of the church and the world, ch. iv. 2), have
respect to ch. iv. 4. Their worship to ch. iv. 10. There they
adore and praise him, who prepares himself to judge the world.
Here they celebrate the judgment as executed, the final victory
over the world. According to ch. v. 10, they are the representa-
tives of those, who shall reign upon the earth. In the assump-
tion of dominion over the world by the Lord and his anointed,
this dignity has now come to be fully enjoyed, and consequently
it calls forth their thanksgivings. Bengel : " What the voices
in heaven generally have spoken, is now more circumstantially
unfolded in the thanksgiving of the elders. At other times they
sit before the throne of God, but here they fall down, and that,
not ^nly upon their knees, but even upon their faces, and give
to God the most profound worship. This worship consists in the
fullest thanksgiving. Often as the elders are mentioned, they
are never represented, as here, to have fallen prostrate on their
faces. The greater the revelation is of divine grace and glory,
the deeper always is the humiliation of the creatures, especially
of those, who are the nearest to him." — In ver. 17, the address
is directed to God in the unity of his being, without respect to
difference of persons — comp. on ch. i. 8. There should be
a point after God; "the Almighty" unfolds what is contained
in ** God ;" the, " who is and was,*' explains the import of
" Lord," equal to Jehovah— comp. on ch. i. 8. There it is
said, " I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God
who is, and* who was, and who comes, the Almighty." The
designations of God here agree exactly with those there ; except-
ing that "who comes" is awanting. The designations there
serve to carry up the declaration that God will preserve his so-
premacy as at the beginning, so also at the end, to its necessity
in the divine nature. Here, in view of the perfect keeping of the
assurance there given, they point to the source, out of which it
flows. The same designations of God occur also in ch. iv. 8.
The clause added by Luther : and is to come, is to be deleted.
It is one of the most important deviations in the translation of

2e2

436 THE SEVBN TRUMPETS, CH. X[. 16, 17, 18.

Lather from the correct text of the Bevelation. ExtemaUy, it
has a very meagre support ; the best authorities all speak for its
omission ; it has originated with those who thought they mast
supply from ch. i. 4, 5, iv. 8 ; and so thoaght, because they did
not perceive that the subject has here reached another stage than
at those parallel passages. Here the discourse can no longer be
of a coming of the Lord, because he has already come. Bengel :
" When it is said, We thank thee that thou hast taken thy great
power, it is as much as to say, We thank thee that thou hast
come. And when the wrath of God has come, as the elders say,
in yer. 18, then God himself has also come." The ungenuine-
ness of the words : and art to couie, is clear also from this, that
the simple '^ thou art and wast," in ch. xvi. 5, the only passage
where it occurs besides this, can only be explained if it has been
preceded by ours — see on the passage. The elders not merely
praise the Lord, they give him thanks, because they are par-
takers of the great power which God takes, and of the dom^pion
which he enters on. The power is the means by which the king-
dom has been won. And great must be the power which can
subdue an ungodly world. Eph. vi. 12. The taking forms the
contrast to the learing alone. He always possessed the power,
but hitherto he had not exercised it. To reign is here, as much
as to enter on the government. This is shewn here, and in ch.
xix. 6, by the tense ; properly : thou hast reigned, thou hast en-
tered on the government. The original passage for the words,
'* Thou hast taken thy great power and reignest,*' is Ps. xciii. 1,
*' The Lord reigns, he is clothed with majesty, the Lord clothes
and girds himself about with power.'' The world-power there
threatens to shake the earth, and with it the kingdom of God.
But the Psalmist sets against its revolt the Lord, whom he sees
coming in his kingdom, clothed with majesty, and girt about with
power. It was remarked there in my commentary that the ex-
pression : the Lord reigns, " alludes to the form used at the pro-
clamation of earthly kings*' — comp. 2 Sam. xv 10 ; 1 Kings i.
11, 13 ; 2 Kings ix. 13. This allusion itself shews that it is
not the existing government of the Lord which is here spoken of,
but a new and glorious revelation of his supremacy, as it were a
new ascension of the throne. We are led to the same result also
by the parallel passages, Ps. xcvi. 10, xcvii. 1, xcix. 1, where

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 16, 17, 18. 437

the same form of expression occurs. In all of them it is
the coming of the Lord in his kingdom that is referred to.
In the face of the high-sounding pretensions of the world-
power, asserting its dominion orer the earth, that it has now
gained the ascendancy over the kingdoni of God ; in the face
of the proclamation : Assyria or Babylon reigns, the Psalmist
exclaims : The Lord reigns ; he announces that the dominion
of the Lord, far from being destroyed by such feeble as-
saults, is now going to manifest itself in its full glory.** What
faith had there anticipated, that is now without delay to
be brought to its full realization. The verbal allusion to the
Psalms implies, that what the church now has immediately in
prospect is the same that had long ago been prophesied ; the
hopes and expectations of the fathers were now to be gloriously
realized. Along with the passages referred to in the Psalms, the
three first petitions in the Lord's Prayer also, which, from their
indications of the Lord's will, may likewise be regarded as pro-
phecies, receive their complete fulfilment. (Yitringa : '^ This is
that kingdom, whose coming Jesus Christ has taught us to ex-
pect and ask in prayer from God ; it was then, indeed, begun,
but now it reaches its consummation.'*) The Lord s taking his
great power here, has its prefiguration in the overthrow of parti-
cular phases of the ungodly power, in a manifold series of provi-
sioiial judgments on it ; comp. ch. xix. 6, where the '' Hallelujah,
for the Lord our God, the Almighty reigns," is uttered on the
occasion of the overthrow of Home. But these preliminary ful-
filments point forward to the final one, to the time when not
merely a particular phase of the ungodly power, but this power
itself, lies stricken under the judgments of God. — In ver. 18,
words are put into the mouth of the elders, which serve more de-
finitely to characterize the seventh trumpet, in the proper descrip-
tion of which the prophet expresses himself with enigmatical
brevity, to indicate, that a more lengthened delineation of the
matter is to be given afterwards.^ The wrath of the heathen is
the time of provocation for the wrath of God. It pervades the
whole of history, and then at the end of history it finds its full

1 Vitringa: "The things are spokea here indirectly, which would have been spoken
directly aitd explicitly, if it had not been in the mind of the Spirit to disclose more fully
in the subsequent parts of this prophecy the evils of the seventh trumpet."

438 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 16, 17, 18.

recompense, after many a prelude of the final issue has been g^yen
during the course of God's providential dealings. The wrath of the
heathen is called forth by the adrancement of the hated kingdom
of God and Christ, as it began to take place after the Word was
made flesh. Such wrafti, says Bengel, " continues still to shew
itself. When God 'with his kingdom, when Christ with his truth,
comes near to men, the hatred breaks forth against the light.
And it will yet gather still more wind, and burst forth into a
violent flame." In consequence of this wrath of the heathen,
rooted in the wrath of Satan (comp. ch. xii. 17), they have shed
the blood of saints and prophets ; comp. ch. xvi. 6, xviii. 24.
The chief phases of the wrath of the heathen are, according to
the subsequent visions, the wrath of Rome, of the ten kings, of
Gog and Magog, ch. xx. 7 — 9.^ The wrath of God is come,
because it is already as good as present ; it breaks forth imme-
diately in ver. 19, comp. ch. vi. 16, 17, where the expression is
employed with equal prominence. Till now, the wrath of God
has been the coming, or the future — comp. Matth. iii. 7, 1 Thess.
i. 10. — The time of the dead to be judged, is as much as the time
when the dead shall be judged. That the subject of discourse
here is the final judgment on the dead previously raised to life
again (in opposition to Vitringa, who understands by the judg-
ment on the dead, God*s espousing the cause of the dead martyrs,
and bringing them into honourable remembrance), is manifest
especially from ch. xx. 12, 13, where what is here indicated
finds its fuller expansion : there the dead stand before the
throne, the books are opened, and the dead are judged according
to what is written in the books, according to their works — comp.
John V. 28, 29, " The hour cometh, in which all that are in their
graves shall hear his voice, and shall come forth, those who have
done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done
evil to the resurrection of damnation." In ch. xx. 12, 13, the

1 The allusion is to Ps. xcix. J , ** The Lord reigns, the peoples tremble." The words
there have a twofold import, tan signifies, not merely to tremble, but also to be angry,
comp. Ps. iv. 4, and this signification stands here in the back-ground This was per^
eeived by the LXX., who translate : 'O Kvpitn ifiaviXtwiv, '6pyil^iv0t»va¥ \aoi, the
Lord has entered on his kingdom, let the peoples be angry. Quite similar is the irei-
fiavii in ch. ii. 27. There too a concealed back-ground is brought into view. That
allusion is made to the passage in the Psalm here can the less be doubted, as i^ol'
\tva-at immediately preceded. Besides, also, Ps, ii. treats of tlie wrath of God and the
wrath of the heathen.

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 16, 17, 18. 439

dead that are judged, are only the bad. The books are only the
records of guilt. The book of life is opened merely to shew,
that they are not written in it. They are all condemned to the
second death. Accordingly, we must here also understand by
the judgment the judgment of condemnation, that which is the
product of the wrath of God, in harmony with the resurrection
of judgment in John ?. 29, and John y. 24, " Verily, verily I
say to you, whosoever hears my word, and believes on him that
sent me, he has eternal life, and does not come into judgment,
but is passed from death to life"— comp. John iii. 17, where to
be judged forms the contrast to be saved. Rev. xviii. 8, xix. 2 ;
1 Pet. iv. 6 ; 1 Cor. xi. 31, 32. Otherwise it might be supposed,
that by the time of the dead to be judged was meant the general
judgment, and that in what follows the dead would fall into
their two divisions. But in opposition to this, it is not said :
those who have corrupted, but those who corrupt the earth.
Besides the dead the living also are judged. But it was unne-
cessary to make mention of them expressly, because it was to
be understood of itself, that when the dead sinners were judged,
the living also should be so ; whereas during the six preceding
trumpets only the living were judged, and not the dead. Still,
the living are not mentioned, even at the close of the verse.

The Lord himself has spoken of the reward to be given to his
own, Matth. v. 12, 46, x. 41, 42. We have not here the^ two
things existing alongside of each other, the wrath, judgment,
destruction — and the distribution of reward ; but the execution
of judgment brings redemption along with it. If this is not
perceived, the clause : and to destroy, trails in an unseemly
manner. The reward of the faithful consists in this, that the
earth has been cleared of its persecutors and oppressors, and
now the meek possess it, Matth. v. 6. In regard to the per-
sons who receive the reward, Bengel remarks, " There are three
kinds of servants of God. There are the prophets, who have
brought the will of God to men, and for the most part suffered
death. There are the saints, who have given themselves wholly
up to obey the will of God, although they may not have been
called to deliver any particular oral testimony. These two kinds
pre-eminently bear the honourable name of the servants of God.
But there are also those who fear his name, small and great.

440 THB SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 16, 17, 18.

These are the inferior common class of such as receive a reward
from God, and escape destruction. For one who is absolutely
godless never properly fears God, Luke xxiii. 40." , But the right
view IS rather that here two general and comprehensive designa-
tions are put, servants of the Lord and those who fear his name,
and that each of the two classes comprises two subdivisions under
it — the first, prophets and saints ; the second, in reverse order,
the small and the great. The servants of the Lord here are not
the prophets and saints ; comp. ch. xix. 5, where to the servants
of God correspond those who fear him : Praise our God all his
servants and those who fear him, the small and the great. Be-
lievers generally are also called God^s servants in ch. ii. 20, vii.
3, xxii. 3, see on the title at ch. i. 1. By the prophets here the
teachers, who also in Daniel have attained to a dignity of their
own, ch. xii. 3, are represented as by their head ; much as in ch.
xi. 3 the whole work of witness-bearing is represented by that of
prophecying. There is no reason for supposing that the prophets
are here to be understood in the larger sense ; they represent
here, as also in ch. xi., the species, as being the most distinguished
part. The saints never mean peculiarly destinguished Christians.
By the name of saints all Israelites were designated in the Old
Testament, the whole people of the covenant as the set apart,
the chosen, those whom God had taken out of the territory of
the profane world, behind whose glitter and display, miseiry and
deep degradation ever lie concealed, and had elevated into the
condition of his people — see my Commentary on Ps. xvi. 2. And
so in the New Testament, and especially in the Apocalypse, it is
a common designation of all Christians — comp. xiii. 7, 10, xiv.
12, xvii. 6, xviii. 20, xx. 9. The saints, as distinguished from the
prophets here, are the other holy persons, for prophets also were
such; as we read of Judah and (the rest of) Israel, Jerusalem and
(the rest ot) Judah, in ch. ix. 3, the men who bore the seal of
God on their foreheads, and the grass and trees of the earth,
meaning by these the rest of men. By those that fear the Lord
was very commonly denoted in the Old Testament the entire
multitude of believers— comp. for example Ps. cxii. 1, xxii. 23,
where those th^t fear God form the parallelism to the seed of
Jacob. Here it is not said simply, fear thee, but fear thy name.
The name of God is the product of his doings. That he has

THK SEVEN TRUMPETS, CU. XI. 16, 17, 18. 441

a name distinguishes the Ood of Bevetation from an anony-
mous deity, such as Deism and Rationalism would set up for
God. By the small and the gfeat only such distinctions can
be denoted as are similar to prophets and other saints, dis-
tinctions existing within the same territory, hence not such
as are formed by riches, worldly position, or relatire age. The
small occurs thus in Matt. x. 42, xviii. 6, 10, 14 ; comp. Luke
ix. 46, where the disciples contended among themselves who
among them should be the greater, in regard to the place they
might occupy in the kingdom of God. The saints and the small
are to be regarded as emphatic. The design of giving so ex-
tended a description is to meet the misgivings of those, who can
scarcely venture to appropriate to themselves any share in the
reward, because they feel themselves so little and weak and
wretched. — That we have understood correctly who are meant by
the receivers of the reward, is clear from the fundamental and
parallel passages. In Fs. cxv. 10, 11, we find set over against
the house of Aaron, ^'and (all the rest) who fear the Lord.'* In
ver. 12, 13, of the same Fsalm it is said, " He shall bless the
house of Israel, bless the house of Aaron. He shall bless those
that fear the Lord, the small and the great.** By the great there
the priests more especially are understood, though including
along with them all who occupy a prominent place in the king-
dom of God, as here also the great is not to be absolutely con-
fined to the prophets — comp. chap. xiii. 16, xix. 18, xx. 12, fVom
which it is clear, that the distinction is of a wider compass. In
Ps. oxviii. 2 — 4 we find Israel, the house of Aaron, those who
fear the Lord — the latter the connecting link between the house
of Aaron and (the rest of) Israel. To the distinction of saints and
prophets here corresponds in Matt. x. 4, the distinction of pro-
phets and (the rest of) the righteous. Finally, in Be v. xviii. 20,
two divisions are made — saints, and apostles and prophets. The
reward of the saints consists in this, that their persecutors are
brought to' destruction. So that the ''and to destroy,** &c.,
comes in quite naturally. Allusion is made to Gen. vi. 11 — 13,
'' And the earth was corrupt before God, and the earth was full
of violence. And God saw the earth and behold it was corrupt,
for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God
said to Noah, the end of all flesh is come before me, for the earth

442 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 19.

is fall of violence by them, and behold I corrnpt (destroy) them
with the earth." As the sins of ancient times had revived, so
also mnst their punishment. Wioae who destroy (corrupt) the
earth, not at all mainly by idolatry, but, according to the ori-
ginal passage and ch. xix. 2, mainly by violence, and in particular
by persecuting the church — comp. the (heathen) nations were
angry, with which the verse begins. As the reward is distri-
buted to the great and the small, so the judgment also falls upon
all the destroyers without distinction, the deceivers and the de-
ceived, the ringleaders in mischief, and their instruments. Ben-
gel : " If those who have destroyed the earth, are destroyed, it
is then good for the earth, and on account of it thanks are here
rendered by those who are now to bear sway on the earth."

Ver. 19. And the temple of God was opened in heaven^ and
the ark of his testimony was seen in his temple ; and there were
lightnings^ and voices, and thunderings, and a great hail. By
i/ao9 here is denoted the whole heavenly temple (comp. iii. 12,
vii. 15), in the narrower sense, as consisting of the sanctuary
and the Most Holy Place. But the temple is x)nly then opened
fully when the veil is quite removed, which separated the sanc-
tuary from the Holiest, in which the ark stood. This ark had
a double name. It is called the ark of testimony^ as containing
the law which testified against sin— comp. Ex. xxv. 16, 22, xxvi.
33. But this designation is quite a partial one ; it needs the
other, the ark of the covenant (Dent x. 8, xxxi. 9, 25, 26 ;
Josh. iii. 6, iv. 9) for its complement. The ark also had be-
longing to it as an integral part, the capporeth^ the symbol of
atonement, on which the covenant was founded ; see my Beitr.
III. p. 641, ss. : " The indispensable condition of God's connec-
tion with men, the foundation of his dwelling among them, is the
atoning divine compassion. This was symbolized by the cappo-
reth. As externally the capporeth covered the ark with its tes-
timony, so spiritually did the divine compassion the sins of the
people." The choice between these two designations is usually
to be determined by the respect under which the sacred ark is
brought into view. It is called the ark of the covenant, when its
property as a symbol and pledge of the covenant is made account
of. So, for example, in the narrative of the wonderful passage
through the Jordan in the book of Joshua, in which the ark of

THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XT. 19. 443

the covenant formed a wall against the waters. So also in the
siege of Jericho, Josh. vi. 6. Now here the ark cannot come
into consideration in so far as it contained the tables of the law,
as Hofmann has explained the reason of its appearance : '' The
law still retains its power, as well in regard to those who have
sinned against it as to those who have fulfilled it. It may there-
fore be openly exhibited, after having been so long covered, while
God was bearing with the wicked and not rewarding his servants.*'
For, in that case, the ark would rather have been called the ark
of testimony — comp. ch. xv. 5, " And afterwards I looked, and
behold the temple of the tabernacle of testimony was opened in
heaven," where a real value must be attached to the testimony^
in which the world alone participates, for the capporeth avails
only for the church. In the representation also of the judgment
a point of essential moment would be wanting, the reference to
the church, which still, according to ch. x. 7, must not be want-
ing. Finally, by this view too much is to be supplied. But
when the ark of the covenant is made visible, the meaning can
only be that the covenant receives its most signal accomplish-
ment.^ By the open exhibition of the ark it was intimated that
the terrors which according to the following words were to burst
upon the earth, had their foundation in the love of God — comp.
the similar representation in ch. xiv. 15, 17. The thought is
this, that God now, remembering his holy covenant, shall give
to his people, that being redeemed from the hand of their ene-
mies, they may serve God without fear, Luke i. 72—74. We
must not determine the connection with what follows in some
such way as this : there is a blessed reward to the righteous,
though the words also represent the frightful punishment of the
wicked ; but the realization of the covenant, as is indicated by
the appearance of the ark of the covenant, consists precisely in
the overthrow of the enemies ; as likewise in ver. 18, the dis-
tribution of reward to the servants consisted in the destroying
of those who destroy the earth. The appearance of the ark
of the covenant marks the judgment inflicted on the world
to be an expression of the love of God to his church. — The hriffht

I Bengel: "An a testimony, that what Qod had promised was now to be most per-
fectly AilfiUed, both for the dismay and overthrow of the enemies, and for the sopport
and joy of his own people."

444 THE SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 19.

appearance here forms the contrast to the 8ad appearance in eh.
xii. 3. — According to some expositors mention is made of a hea-
yenly temple in Ex. xxr. 9, 40. xxyi. 30, xxvii. 8 ; Numb. riii.
3. Bat the subject of discourse there is not of a heavenly temple
and its furniture, the prototype of the earthly, but only that God
called forth in the spirit of Moses the vision of the sanctuary,
which formed the basis of the structure of the tabernacle. These
passages, therefore, are pot in point here. As little also does
the Jewish fable of the concealment of the ark in a secret place
before the Babylonish exile come into consideration (Ewaid.)
For, here the discourse is of the heavenly temple, the heavenly
ark of the covenant.— Of the throne of God above the ark of the
covenant, no account is made here. There is no reference to
the representation given of God's appearance in ch. iv., and the
question is out of place, how the ark of the covenant, over which
was the throne of God, could here first appear visible, after what
had preceded t God was not bound to the ark of the covenant.
Even in Ezekiel, ch. x. 4, the glory of the Lord raised itself
from the cherub to the threshold of the house ; and in Ez. ch. i.
the Lord appears to the prophet upon the cherubim out of the
temple with its ark. — The five number : Lightnings, voices,
thunderings, earthquake, hail, is deserving of notice. It de-
notes, according to the uniform signification of the five in Scrip-
ture, and especially in the Apocalypse, as the signature of the
half and incomplete, the unfinished character of the representa-
tion, and points to the supplement, which it is to receive in the
later groups. ' The same signification belongs to the number five
(which is here as little accidental as that of the three in ch. iv.
5, or of the four, as the signature of the earth, which the threat-
ening respected, in ch. viii. 5) in the passage ch. xvi. 18—21,
in which there is simply an extension of the one before us. — The
comparison between the passage before us and ch. viii. 5, ** And
there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earth-
quake," is instructive. The lightnings, which there occupy the
third place, are here placed at the head ; and quite naturally.
For there, where the voices, etc., have only a threatening cha-
racter, where they merely foreshadow the future judgments, the
thunder is at least as early in its production as the lightning ;
but here, on the contrary, where all concerns the judgment itself.

TUB SEVEN TRUMPETS, CH. XI. 19. 445

the thunder can only come into consideration as connected with
the lightning, as rendering the scene of destrnction more appal-
ling. Hand in hand with this position of the lightning, goes the
addition of the hail, which never possesses a merely threatening
character, but always appears where judgment has actually en-
tered ; comp. ch. viii. 7. Also in ch. xvi. 18 — ^21, where likewise
the actual entrance of the judgment is represented, the light-
nings form the beginning )ind the hail the conclusion. — The verse
before us is related to ver. 15 — 18 much as in ch. zti. 18, the
report that there were voices, thunders, etc., to the anticipative
declaration in ver. 17 : It is done. — The earthquake marks the
shattering of the ungodly world-power — comp. on ch. vi. 12.
Ch. xvi. 18 — 20 forms a commentary on it.^ Hail appears
often in the Old Testament as an image of diyine judgment,
comp. Isa. XXX. 30, xxxii. 19 ; Ps. xviii. 12, 13, " At the
brightness before him his clouds passed, hailstones and coals of
fire ! And the Lord thundered in the heavens, and the Most
High gaye forth his voice, hailstones and coals of fire." There
too we have a scene of actual destruction. The storm of divine
wrath discharges itself Amid frightful thunder and the sea of
fire, by which the Lord in his anger was encompassed, lightnings
burst forth, rending the cloud, and hailstones pour down — the
weapons with which the Lord assails his own and his people's
enemies; as of old the Egyptians (Ex. ix. 24, comp. Ps. Ixxviii.
47, 48), and the Canaanites at Bethoron (Jos. x. 11.) The
repetition there in ver. 13, serves the si^me design as is done here
by the lightning being made to open and the hail to close the
series. The repetition, as remarked in my Commentary, is
the more in its place as the fiery coals, or lightnings, and the
hailstones, were properly the things by which the enemies of the
Psalmist were destroyed ; the rest were mere accompaniments by
which the scene of destruction was rendered more dreadful. — We
have here no limitation of the territory, as in the first six trum-
pets, and even in the great earthquake, which befals Jerusalem

1 The Kol <raiflr^«, which is omitted in some critical helps, cannot be dispensed with
were it only on account of the relation to ch. viii. 5. Then also the relation to ch. xvi.
18—20 requires it. The reason for the omission may be gathered from ilie remark of
Ziillig: " Others have still earthquake, but this would destroy the round number cor-
responding to the four quarters of the world.*'

446 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD*S KINGDOM.

V in the episode in ch. xi. 13 ; which is a clear proof that we haye

here to do. with the final judgment.

THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM^ CH. ZII. — XIY.

The Berelation of St John gives no regularly progressire dis-
closure of the future, advancing in unbroken series from beginning
to end ; but it falls into a number of groups, which indeed supple-
ment each other, every successive vision giving some other aspect
of th^ future, but which are still formally complete in themselves,
each proceeding from a beginning to an end. %

There can be no doubt that at ch. xii. we have the commence-
ment of a new group, and the remark of Bengel, " Those are in
a great prophetical error who break off here, and if nowhere else,
yet here at least make an entirely new beginning," is quite wrong,
and ought to be precisely reversed. For at the close of ch. xi.
we are manifestly brought to the last end ; so that the Seer, if
he will not altogether conclude his book, must commence anew.
For what could it be but a description of the last end, which has
for its object the development of the kingdom of God, when it is
said, in ch. xi. 15, in anticipation of what was immediately to
follow, " The kingdom of the world has become (the kingdom) of
our Lord and his Christ, and he shall reign for ever and ever ?**
When the four and twenty elders, the ideal representatives of the
church in heaven, say in prospect of what is presently to be done,
" We give thee thanks, 0 Lord God the Almighty, who art and
wast, that thou hast taken thy great power and reignestl" When
the ''and ar^ to come," which before the last end has so deep a
meaning, and was spoken- with so strong an emphasis, appears now
as antiquated, and there is only a past and present in the king-
dom of God 1 When the elders say further, in ver. 18, "Thy
wrath is come, and the time to judge the dead, and to reward thy
servants, the prophets and the saints, and those that fear thy
name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy
the earth 1" Such, surely, have the time of the last judgment,
and the consummation of grace immediately in prospect^. What
we now, according to ch. xi. 15 — 18, expect — the appearance of
the Lord, the final victory of God's kingdom, the resurrection of

THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM. 447

the dead, the last judgment, the glorification of the church — ^all
this is represented in yer. 19 as haying entered, but only byiray
of gentle indication, which few haye understood. For, the Seer
would reserye the more particular delineation of these last things
for a later part of his book, and precisely by the enigmatical bre-
yity with which he here treats them, would set expectation on
the stretch regarding that more particular delineation in reserve.
" And the temple of God (it is said) was opened in heayen, and
the ark of his Testament was seen in his temple ; and there were
lightnings, and yoices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and
a great hail." The temple in heayen is a symbol of the church,
the ark of the coyenant a symbol of the gracious relationship in
which the Lord stands to his church ; that it has become visible,
imports that this relation is now in a glorious manner maintained,
and becomes manifest to yiew. All that the Lord does toward
the realization of this, and in suspending judgment oyer the
church's enemies, is here concealed under the lightnings, and
voices, and thunderings, and earthquake, and great hail — exactly
as in ch. viii. 1 by the silence, where the closing scene appears
under the same kind of veil. So the end of the vision reyerts to
the beginning, as a certain proof that we have here a termination
before us. What is said in eh. viii. 6, *' And the angel took the
censer and $lled it with fire from off" the altar, and threw it upon
the earth ; and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings,
and an earthquake," is a prophecy, which we here see brought to
fulfilment.

[By the yiew now giyen, the foundation is withdrawn from the
hypothesis of Bleek (in the Berlin Theol. Zeitsch. Th. II. p. 281),
according to which the book originally consisted of ch. i. and ch.
iv. — xi., and between ch. xi. and xii. something must have been
taken away which originally formed the conclusion of the whole
book, the representation of the Lord's second coming, and the
setting up of his kingdom. It rests primarily on the groundless
supposition, that the book in its original form must necessarily
have contained a continuous, regularly progressive representation,
whereas here we are met with a quite new beginning. " The
artificial plan, by which the future gradually advanced and rose
into yiew," is made to vanish at ch. yiii. 2, where we haye also a
new beginning, not less than at ch. xii. 1. Bleek, indeed, labours

448 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM.

there to discover a connection. He says, " We have to consider
the matter so, that what comes forth in the particular trumpet-
voices, taken together, makes up the whole still remaining part
of the contents of the book, inclosed in the seventh seal ; so that
we are here still in very close connection with the preced-
ing context.'* But if we mast be still within the compass
of the seventh seal at the end of ch xi., it is very strange
that no reference whatever is made to what goes before ch. viii.
1 ; the seven trumpets have entirely the appearance of an in-
dependent position, and never make any allusion to the seals.
The silence in ch. viii. 1 is alone to be regarded as belonging to the
seventh seal ; and the idea, that the seven trumpets are to be
drawn into the circle of the seven seals, was long ago very satis-
factorily refuted by Yitringa. Among other things against it is
the brevity of the description belonging to the other seals in
proportion to this, which would then embrace the contents of
four entire chapters ; while, " the events of most of the other
seals are declared in the short and simple delineation of a single
figure or two.'* Farther, if the trumpets were subordinated to
the seals, and contained the issues of the seventh seal, there
would have been no need for a new preface or an introduc-
tory vision, by which John sought to prepare the way for the
seven trumpets. For, the vision of the sacrificing angel, ch.
viii. 3 — 6, is a sort of prelude, heralding the new scenes, that
were soon to present themselves to John. If we have a quite new
beginning even at ch. viii. 2, the view must be abandoned, which
regards the Bevelation as a regularly progressive and continuous
whole, a view that has been most pernicious to the right exposi-
tion of the book ; and it must not be regarded as at all strange,
that at chap. xii. we are entirely cut off from the earlier series of
representations, so that we should go about to construct ground-
less hypotheses, with Bleek, or with Bengel and Lticke, try to
build a bridge out of our own materials. The attempt of the
latter to bring the whole of what follows even to the end of the
book within the compass of the last trumpet and of the last woe,
is proved to be unavailing by the fact, that never after ch. xi. is
a word said about a trumpet or a woe ; secondly, by the first six
trumpets and the two first woes having so limited a range ; and
lastly, by the circumstance that the immediately following por-

THE THli££ ENEMIES OF GOD's KiNGDOAf# 449

tion, ch. xji. — xiv., has not at all the character of a >ti^pet' and a
woe. Bleek urges further : " It has already been rem^^^d,' tow
the threefold repetition of the woe, ch. viii. 13, is intentional,
since to each of the three still remaining last trumpet voices there
belongs a woe ; this is expressly noticed in connection with the
fifth and sixth. But now in this third and last woe, for which
preparation had been so carefully made in the preceding part,
that we might certainly expect the same to be at least as
solemnly and expressly uttered in regard to it, as in regard to
the two first, it is not at all mentioned either here or anywhere
in what follows.** In the proclamation, however, at ch. xi. 14,
** The second woe is past, behold the third woe comes quickly,"
the third woe is expressly announced, and is realized in ver. 19,
where the great hail especially appears as the divine instrument
of punishment and the symbol of the divine judgment— comp. xvi*
21. Any more explicit mention was unnecessary ; because the
boundary-line in respect to the second was so plainly drawn at ver.
14, and there was to be no fourth. It would even have been con-
fusing ; for there was not to be expected here any formal con-
clusion, but rather something to indicate the supplement still to
be expected, the unfinished character of the issue. What Bleek
still further urges in proof of the fragmentary character of ch. xi. in
its present form — that we should have expected the personal ap«
pearance of the Lord at ver. 19, and the judgment therewith con*
nected — has been already met by the remarks made in the text. It
would only be of force, if ver. 19 formed the close of the whole
book, and not merely of a single group. In the latter case, it is
quite enough, exactly as at ch. viii. 1, simply to mark the place,
which is to belong to what is to be unfolded afterwards more at
length, and this here is sufficiently done, especially if we take
into account, not merely ver. 19, but also what in ver. 15 — 18, is
said in announcing what was immediately at hand. We shall
then have no doubt remaining as to what really belongs to the
seventh trumpet, and it will be clear, that we have here before
us in the plan, what is brought out in detail in the last groups.
-^Besides, Ewald has already remarked with justice, that the
mare hypothesis of Bleek, countenanced only by some appear-
ances, is effectually disproved by ch. xi. 7 alone, according to
which the beast, which rises out of the abyss, is to wage war on
2/

450 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM.

the two witnesses, and overcome and kill them. By that we are
pointed forwards to ch. xiii. Only an anthor could have written
thus, who meant to give aflerwards a more extended description
of the beast, as, indeed, without the future explanation we should
not know what to make of such a statement. (This passage also
is decisive against the hypothesis of a regularly progressive re-
presentation in one and the same line ; it implies, that the
book consists of groups, which run parallel with each other.
How, otherwise, could the beast, which is here spoken of as
already being on the field, be represented in ch. xiii. as then
only making its appearance ?) It is not worth while to advance
more arguments against the hypothesis in question — as that the
seven seals and the seven trumpets, which keep very much to
generals, and have the character of a prelude, cannot possibly
make up one whole, etc.]

As certainly as at the end of ch. xi. we stand at the final close
of things, so certainly do we find ourselves at the beginning of
ch. xii. thrown back to the commencement of the New Testament
economy ; so that it is vain to speak of a continuous represen-
tation. The sufferings of the Lord's people first pass before the
soul of the prophet, which were endured before the birth of
Messiah ; then follows the birth itself, then the ascension, and
the description, how through the accomplished atonement of
Christ the power of Satan has been broken. And though we
should consider all this as an introduction, which is its real cha-
racter, as shall presently be made to appear, yet it does not con-
duct us over the very first beginnings of the Christian church.
The starting-point in that case is the present of the Seer, the time
of the Roman persecution, and the tendency of the section ap-
pears to be, to direct those, who had to sufier under the perse-
cution, to the grace of God, which was to preserve the church
through all the coming troubles, ver. 6, 14, and at last bring
the persecution to an end by the overthrow of the persecuting
power.

Having thus determined the relation of this section to the pre-
ceding context, we shall farther endeavour to fix its relation %o
what follows. A new scene opens to us with the beginning -of
ch. XV. The section of ch. xii. — xiv., or the fourth group, is
occupied by the three enemies of God's kingdom ; the capital

•"^^^

THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM. 451

enemy Satan, who, as such, to indicate his great power, appears
in heaven, ch. xii. 1 — 17, — the heast, who arises ont of the sea,
the symbol of multitudes of people, the ungodly world-power, ch.
xii. 18 — 13, — and the second beast out of the earth, the earthly,
sensual, demoniacal wisdom, ch. xiii. 11 — 18. The fourteenth
chapter consoles the faithful, who are to be tried and oppressed
by these enemies, by pointing to the blessedness in hearen, which
awaits them, rer. 1 — 5, and to the judgment, which is to be exe-
cuted on the enemies at the close of all. But the representation
given of this judgment is of a very general kind ; the detailed
account of the divine judgment on the three enemies is reserved
for a separate group, the sixth, ch. xvii. — xx., which in a reverse
order ascends from the beasts to Satan, and for which the fifth
group, the vision of the vials in ch. xv., xvi., forms a sort of
prelude.

According to the historical starting-point of the Revelation,
as it is unfolded in ch. i. 9, which declares the book to have
been written by John during the Roman persecution ; and accord-
ing to its designs as announced in ver. 1, to shew to the ser-
vants of Christ, what must shortly come to pass ; farther, accord-
ing to ver. 19, " Write what thou hast seen, and what is, and
what shall be done hereafter," and according to ch. iv. 1, ''Come
up here, I will shew thee, what shall be done after these things,"
which shew that the pout as such cannot be the proper object of
the things here unfolded, we must regard what is said in ch.
xii. 1 — 5, 7 — 12, only as introductory. What Christ has accom-
plished in the past comes here into consideration only in so far
as it formed the basis of confidence and blessing to his oppressed
people in their present troubles — comp. ver. 11, where this aim
comes plainly out ; where it is announced that the glorious vic-
tory of Christ, described in the preceding context, is only to be
taken into account so far as it is the foundation of victory to
Christ's people in the hard conflict which they have to maintain
with the dragon. Ver. 6 and vers. 13 — 15 have respect to the
present and the immediate future ; vers. 16, 17, to the more re-
mote future.

It is justly remarked by Hartwig in his Apologie der Apoc,
II. p. 288, " that in this whole representation there are such un-
mistakeable allusions to the true history of the child Jesus and

2/2

462 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM.

his mother, and the tyranny of Herod, as related in the second
chapter of Matthew, that this chapter receives fromita Jiew con-
firmation.**

Ver. 1. And there appeared a great sign in heaven: a uro-
man clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, anvd on
her head a crown of twelve stars. A sign, because John saw-
things not in their proper nature, but in figure and enigma ; the
church, for example, under the image of a woman, Satan under
that of a dragon. So sign is used also in ch. xt. 1. This
circumstance, that John always sees only signs, has been too
little considered by expositors, who too frequently keep standing
at the mere outward appearance, so that those who penetrate
through the veil into the idea concealed behind it, are apt to be
accused of a false spiritualism. The word sign is used otherwise
in Matt. xxiv. 30. There, the sign of the Son of Man is his
appearance itself, so unspeakably comforting in his nature, and
yet so unspeakably frightful, as a prophecy in action of judgment
and salvation — comp. the declaration connected with it, " And
then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn." — The sign, whose
external display and glory points to the height of the matter in-
dicated by it (a great sign, in ch. xv. 1 : a sign great and won-
derful), appears in heaven. Many expositors refer this to the
circumstance that the church represented by the woman has its
proper seat and the root of its existence in heaven. So Vitringa :
" This sign was seen in heaven, partly because it refers to the
religion, the object of which is in heaven, partly and especially
because the subject of this vision, the church of the New Testa-
ment, has obtained its place with Jesus Christ in heaven, Eph.
ii 6." Bengel : " The woman herself, the church, had pre-
viously been in all conditions upon the earth, but on account of
her nobility, which belongs to her from her connection with the
Lord Jesus Christ, she is in heaven, Eph. ii. 6; Phil. iii. 20.
Her pregnancy and the birth following thereupon is heavenly ; in
heaven she is assaulted and defended, vers. 4, 7." But the hea-
ven is here rather the theatre, where every thing passed before
the eye of the prophet, not excepting that which in reality be-
longed to the earth. What the Seer beholds does not belong to
the sensuous but to the super-senuous sphere. To be in the
Spirit and to be in heaven is the same ; comp. Ezek, i. 1, ** The

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 1. 453

heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God ;" here ch. iv. 1,
2, where, as the realization of the call, " Come up hither (into
heaven), I will shew thee what shall be after these things," it is
stated, *• And immediately I was in the Spirit." Then, ch. viii.
1. — The woman, between whom and that described in ch. xvii.,
as Bengel remarks, there is a mighty difference, is not the com-
munity of Israel in contradistinction to the Christian church ;
for what is said in ver. 6 and ver. 14 — 17, of the woman, can
only be referred to the Christian church. Nor, on the other hand,
does it denote the Christian church in contradistinction to the com-
munity of Israel ; for the Christian church had not Christ bom
in it — an argument which the defenders of this view (Vitringa,
Bengel, and others) escape from only by the violent supposition
that it is not the first birth of Christ in Bethlehem that is here
spoken of, but a mystical birth of Christ as the ruler of the.
heathen. But the woman, or Zion, which often appears in the
Old Testament under the image of a woman, is properly the one
indivisible community of the Old and New Covenant, the Israel
perpetuated in the Christian church, out of which the false seed has
been cast by its unbelief in the now manifested angel of the co-
venant, while the believing heathen have been received into it —
comp. ch. vii. 4, ss. That the church here was seen in the typo
of the virgin Mary, or that the Seer perceived in the virgin Mary
an image of the church, is rendered probable by ver. 4. — The
woman appears as clothed with the eun. The sun is that of the
visible heavens, for only this could be called simply the sun, and
be put in opposition to the moon ; but the sun signifies the glory
of the Lord, and only as a symbol of this is it here brought into
view. In Isa. Ix. 1, this already appears under the image of a
great light, " Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of
the Lord is risen upon thee.*' Of Christ it is said, in Matth.
xvii. 2, when the veiled glory of the Lord broke forth on the
mount of transfiguration, '' And he was changed before them, and
his countenance shone like the sun, and his raiment was white
like the light." In tbis book itself, ch. i. 16, '* his countenance
was as the sun shineth in his strength.*' And of the New Jeru-
salem, the church in its state of exaltation, it is said, in ch. xxi.
23, ** And the city needs not the sun nor the moon to give light
to it, for the glory of the Lord illuminates it, and the Lamb is
the light of it." To be shone upon and enlightened by the glory

454 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM.

of the Lord, belongs at all times to the very nature of the church ;
but this glory during the present course of things, as with Christ
in his state of humiliation, is a veiled one ; a dark cloud conceals
it from our view ; and he only who, like John, has a door opened
for him in heaven, and a call addressed to him to go up thither,
can behold it in cloudless splendour. — The woman has the moon
under her feet. Created light is far beneath her glory, because
she is irradiated by the uncreated, the glory of the Lord. In*
stead of the moon, the sun and moon would both have been
named, if the sun had not already been taken as the symbol of
divine glory. The thought is the same as in Tsa. xxiv. 23, ^* And
the moon is confounded, and the sun is ashamed ; for the Lord of
Hosts reigns upon mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his
elders is glory.'' Sun and moon become pale before the glory of
the Lord, their Creator and Lord, with which he irradiates his
glorified church. What is said there, and in ch. Ix. 19, "The
sun shall no more be for light by day, and as brightness the moon
shall not enlighten thee," can only be regarded as peculiarly be-
longing to the triumphant church, of which it is primarily said,
in so far as in that church it is fully manifest in the appearance.
Essentially it must belong to the church always. For in sub-
stance every thing is common to the militant and triumphant
church. — On the head of the woman is a crown of twelve stars.
These cannot denote the twelve apostles, whose names, according
to ch. xxi. 14, are upon the twelve foundations of the New Jeru-
salem ; for the woman has the crown of twelve stars before the
birth of her Son ; but the twelve apostles are apostles of the Lamb.
They are rather the twelve Israelitish patriarchs, as ideal repre-
sentatives of the tribes ; comp. ch. xxi. 12, according to which
the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel are upon
the gates of Jerusalem. According to this passage, and ch. vii.
4, ss., these twelve tribes continue to exist also in the church of
the New Covenant ; comp. Ezek. xlvii. 22, 23, according to which
in the future development of the kingdom of God the stranger is
to be on a footing of equality with the native Israelite : ** And
shall also have their part in the land, each one under the tribe
wherein he dwells, saith the Lord." In the dream of Joseph, too,
Oen. xxxvii. 9, where sun, moon, and stars occur with respect to
the relations of Israel, and from which the figurative style of re-
presentation before us takes its rise, the stars denote the children

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 2. 455

of Jacob. In other parts of the Bevelation the elders correspond
to the stars here. The difference in the number, here twelve,
there twenty-foar, is to be explained bj the circnmstance, that
the representation of the church after the period that is here con-
templated (for Zion is seen by the prophet as at the threshold of
Messiah's birth), received an increase through the twelve apostles.
Yer. 2. And she was with child and cried, and was in tra-
vailing-panffs, and in great pain to he delivered. According
to a whole series of passages of the Old Testament, the heavy
troubles which preceded the appearance of the Saviour appear
here under the image of severe pains falling upon Zion, the church
of God. Comp. Mic. iv. 9, 10, " Pains have laid hold of thee
(Zion) as a travailing woman. Shout and break forth, daughter
of Zion ;" Jer. iv. 31, ** I hear a voice as of a woman in travail,
anguish as of one bringing forth her first-bom, the voice of the
daughter of Zion ; she bewails, she spreads forth her hands.
Woe is me ! for my soul is wearied through the murderers ;"
XXX. 6, xlix. 24 ; Isa. xxvi. 17 ; Hos. xiii. 13. The compa-
rison of these passages furnishes a complete answer to those
who understand by the woes here, with Bengel, " the anxious
longing, the sighing, the prayers, the earnest expectation of the
saints for the kingdom of God.'* This was not the sorrows, but
the sorrows called it forth. It is an eternal law, by which God
governs his church on earth, that pain precedes joy, misery salva-
tion ; after the example of Israel in Egypt, to whom redemption
only came when the suffering reached its greatest height. Suf-
fering must awaken longing after the salvation of God; it is
necessary to beget cordial reception and thankfulness of spirit.
We must receive what our deeds deserve, so that every feeling of
our own worth and excellence, which might lead us to think our-
selves entitled to salvation, may be destroyed ; so that not merely
with the lips, but with the whole heart we may sing, ^* Not unto
us, not unto us, 0 Lord, but to thy name be the praise." The
greatness of the preceding suffering is determined by the greatness
of the approaching deliverance. It must be experienced, and
must also culminate before the first and second coming of the
Lord ; in respect to which last it is said in Matth. xxiv. 21,
" There shall then be great tribulation, such as has not been from
the beginning of the world till now, nor ever shall be" — words,
whose solemn import is better understood by us now than it was

456 THE THREK ENEMIES OF GODS KINGDOW.

some time ago, since the beginning of troubles has already entered, \
and the storm of dirine wrath appears lowering in the heavens. — I
Whence the sorrows mentioned here come, what the iitstrnment
is which God employs to break the hardness of his people is
shown in what follows. They come without donbt from that
dragon who would devour the child. For he would devour the
child only because he feared that it would deliver its mother from
his dominion. The statement that his tail draws the third part
of the stars and throws them upon the earth, ver. 4, points to the
destroying agency of the dragon in earlier times — ^to that as the
animating principle of the conquering world kingdoms. Then,
the declaration in ver. 5, *' who shall rule all the nations with a
rod of iron," serves also to indicate the source of the troubles.
It implies that before the birth of the child the church was subject
to the dominion of the heathen. — From what has been remarked,
the historical reference cannot be doubtful. The people of God
before the manifestation of Christ were subject to the dominion
of the Romans, and under their auspices to the cruel tyranny of
Herod, well fitted to serve as a representation of the invisible
tyrant, under whose direction, according to the view given in this
book, the whole matter stood. In immediate connection with the
birth of Christ, and the unmerited salvation which began to be
prepared for the people of God, the deserved punishment of ser-
vitude to the world presented himself in a living form through
Herod in the murder of the children at Bethlehem, which was
designed to serve not only as a single specimen, but as an image
and symptom of the whole state. The word : *^ In Bamah was
there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourn-
ing, Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted,
because they were not," holds not alone in regard to that one
calamity ; it represents to our view generally the image of Zion
under the tyranny of the Romans, of Herod, of the dragon, and
affords us a glance into our own future. How Zion then cried
aloud, and was in travailing- pangs, in anguish to be delivered, is
also vividly described in the song of Zecharias, in which the felt
need for redemption joyfully hails the Redeemer, and exclaims,
'* Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he hath visited and
redeemed his people ; and hath raised up an horn of salvation
for us in the house of his servant David ; that we should be saved
from our enemies, and from the hands of all who hate us ; that

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 3, 4. 457

being delivered out of the hands of onr enemies we might serye
him without fear." Those who make all suhservient in the Reve-
lation to the discovery of a regularly progressive representation,
and who cannot bear to think of a new beginning at this chapter,
of a going back to the first origin of the Christian church, suppose
that the church is here described in the state which belonged to
it before the time of Constantine, when it was big with Christ as
the ruler of the heathen, and experienced bitter pangs from the
Roman persecutions, especially from the severest of them all, that
of Diocletian. But every impartial mind must think primarily
of the actual birth of Christ ; and this is confirmed by the refer-
ence to the history of Christ's childhood in ver. 4, his ascension
in ver. 5, and the atonement effected by him, ver. 7 — 9.

Ver. 3. And there appeared another wonder in heaven, and
behold/ a great red dragon, that had seven heads and ten
horns, and upon its head seven crowns. Ver. 4. And his tail
draws the third part of the stars, and throws them upon the
ground. And the dragon stood before the woman that was
ready to be delivered, in order to devour the child as soon as
she had brought forth. Vitringa : " Nothing is omitted that
might set forth the greatness and severity of the woman^s con-
flict in the most lively colours. She was in the greatest labour,
seized with the most violent pangs of child-birth, and in this
state appears to be supported only by the hope of the male off-
spring, which she had so much desired ; but she sees a frightful
dragon, ready to devour her child whenever it might be bom."
Bengel remarks : " The proper theme of this book begins at ch.
iv., where heaven is laid open to our view as a sacred theatre of
operations. During the first eight chapters no description is
given of Satan. But since he is introduced here as the chief
enemy of the kingdom of God and Christ, he is the more fre-
quently again brought upon the field, until he at last appears
as cast into the lake of fire." The single circumstance of the
author having till now been so sparing in his allusions to Satan,
shows the careful construction of the plan of the book ; and at
the same time shows, that it does not by a regular and uninter-
rapted progress anticipate history. For, in that case, silence
conld not haye been maintained so long respecting Satan. The
two first groups, the seals and the trumpets, possess more oi' a

3

458 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD'S KINGDOM.

general, introductory character, that of a prelude. Prophecy and
history respecting God's kingdom only come upon the main point,
when the conflict between Christ and Satan is brought into yiew.
— The dragon^ appears often as the king of the sea, and sovereign
of the marine animals — see Ps. Ixxiv. 13, 14, and my Commentary
there. In the spiritual seal of the world he is therefore the na-
tural image of conquering and reigning power — comp. Isa. zxrii.
1, where it is said in reference to the king of Babylon, '' At that
day will the Lord visit with his sword, the hard, the great, and
the strong, the Leviathan, the flying serpent, and the Leviathan,
the wounded serpent, and he kills the dragon that is in the
sea ;" also Jer. li. 34 of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon,
*' He has swallowed us up like a dragon ;" £z. xxix. 3, 4, where
the great dragon (to which the great dragon here specially al-
ludes) appears as an emblem of Pharaoh the king of Egypt.
Hence the great dragon must represent the prince of this world'
in his most powerful agency, having earthly princes merely as his
servants and instruments of working. — Satan appears as a great
red dragon. This colour belongs to him as the murderer of men
from the beginning (John viii. 44, comp. 1 John iii. 12), as the
ultimate author of all the plundering ambition and the blood-
shedding that discovers itself in the earth ; especially as the
ultimate author of all the world's fury against the church, which
was typified by the murder of Abel through Cain, the instrument
of Satan .^ — The seven heads and the ten horns of the dragon

' 1 The LXX. render by ipaKtov the y^ir^ of Ex. vii. 9, Jer. ix. II, tbe yr^^h of Im.
xxvii. I, and elsewhere. That by the dragon here & sea-beast is denoted, is evident (hnn
a comparison of tbe passages referred to in the text from the Old Testament These
are to be taken more into account than what has been said by heathen antiquity of tbe
dragon—see Vitringa.

3 This appellation, peculiar to the evangelist John, xii. 81, xiv. 30, xvi. II, differs
from the great dragon here, precisely as John's Gospel differs from the Revelation. lu
both alike Satan is represented as the spiritual background of the ungodly world. What
Liicke says in regard to the prince of this world, " the head of the refractory powers and
influences in the world, that are opposed to the kingdom of God, as well among' the
Jews as heathens/* applies equally to the dragon.

8 That irvppov here denotes the bloody character, is plain from ch. vi. 4, where beyond
all question it occurs as a mark of the blood colour, as also from Zech. vi. 2, comp. %
Kings iii. 22, LXX., T<l JiSaTa irvppA wt alfxa, and the dafiaXtt irvppA, whose colour
points to blood ; see my Egypt and the Books of Moses, p. 181, ss. Here, too, ch.xviL 3
is parallel,. as there the woman appears sitting on a purple-coloured beast (tbe blood-
thirsty world power,* whose animating principle is Satan.) But it is not necessary on
til is account to give irvppos, which properly means blonde, fawn, the signification of

3

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 3, 4. 469

denote the seven phases of the hostile world-power — the seventh
a divided one, as indicated by the ten horns on the seventh head.
Satan bears this emblem as a reflection of his visible representa-
tive and image npon earth. That Satan comes into consideration
here as the moving principle of the conquering power and dominion
of this world, as opposed to the kingdom of God, through which he
executes his wicked designs, is clear alone from this, that to him
the Old Testament representation commits the earthly world-power
— the dragon — with which also agrees the application to him of the
emblem that occurs in the subsequent context ; and it also ap-
pears from what immediately follows. Other reasons will be
g^ven in the treatise on the Beast of the Apocalypse. — The dra-
gon*s tail draws the third part of the stars and throws them on
the earth. This trait does not immediately belong to the mat-
ter at present in hand. The subject of discourse here is not
what the dragon begins to do against the kingdom of Ood.
" There is a wide diflference," as Bengel remarks, " between his
beginning against the mother, and his deceiving the nations on
the earth ;" yet still, we add, they have both the same root — the
spirit of revolt against Ood, an impious resistance to his holy
arrangements, as wishing to be God upon earth. In the Old
Testament also what the conquering world-power generally com-
mitted, is very commonly united with that, which is specially
attempted against the church. It is so, for example, in Ha-
bakkuk. According to the symbolical language of the Bevelation
stars are rulers ; their being cast down upon the earth denotes
their being conquered and overthrown — comp. the original pas-
sage in Dan. viii. 10, where the throwing of the stars npon the
earth occurs of an earthly conqueror, and the remarks on this
passage in the treatise on the Beast of the Apocalypse. In
what is said in Daniel, " And it (the horn) was great even to the
host of heaven, and threw down to the earth of the host and of
the stars, and trod upon them ; and it lifted itself up to the
prince of the host," &c., there is the same transition as here.
For the intention of devouring the child, as expressed in what

blood-red. With the serpents as well as the horses, the colour might appropriately
be chosen, which comes nearest to that of blood, and reminds one of it. Fawn is the
prevailing colour of the greater part of serpents, for example, the boa, and also quite
agrees with the colour of the crocodile.

460 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD*S KINGDOM.

immediately follows, is in like manner a direct act of impiety
toward God.^ The third part, according to the usage of this
book, denotes a great multitude. The dragon places himself
before the woman, that was going to bring forth, in order to
devour her child. The same wickedness had been practised by
him in ancient times. The life of Moses, on whom the hopes of
the people of God hung during the fearful oppression exercised
oyer them by the enemy, was bi ought into extreme peril by him
at the very first. At the coming of Christ, whose appearance
threatened far greater danger to his dominion upon earth, who
was to withdraw from him, not only the people of God, but the
heathen also, whom he had hitherto regarded as his proper sub-
jects, who should rule these with a rod of iron, and therefore
should attack him in his own territory, he sets his instruments
anew in motion, as is reported in Matt. ii. 1 — 12, to which allu-
sion is here manifestly made. Herod, the servant of the dragon,
as soon as he heard of the birth of Jesus, takes measures to have
the new-born child despatched, and kills all the children in Beth-
lehem under two years old, that he might make sure of destroying
the one hated child. He has been manifesting the same wicked-
ness also since, throughout the whole history of the Christian
church, as often as Christ is born anew in the Spirit. He is
always at hand to strangle, if he can, the nascent life. What he
then did through Herod is, because history, also symbol — a pro-
phecy in action. With Bengel and other expositors, to put here
one of those later imitations in the room of the great original, is
quite arbitrary.

Ver. 5. And she brought forth a son, a maUy who was to tend
all the nations with a rod of iron. And her child was snatched
up to God and his throne. The appended male, serves the
purpose of giving peculiar prominence to the sex, and stands in
connection with the following declaration : who was to rule all
the nations with a rod of iron.* Allusion, it would seem, is made

I The exposition, *- The stars are tbe Cbiitstians and teachers, the third part of wLom
the dragon draws from their divine object of faith, attaches to himself, and brings down
to the natural earthly state," is both against the original passages and the connexion.
It cannot possibly be spoken of Christians before Christ. Bat by what immediately
follows Christ was not yet born. Satan stands ready to devour him as soon as he might
be born. The uniform usage of the He velatio a also is against it, by wliioh stars de-
note rulers.

3 There is much haste in the remark of Ziillig, '* According to Jer. xx. 15, it is a pure

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 5. 461

to Isa. Ixvi. 7, where it is said of Zion, ** Before she cried, she
brought forth ; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man-
child." The man-child there is not a single person, but it de-
notes the manly, vigorous aftergrowth, or fresh growth of the
people of God. But by the allusion to that passage it is indi-
cated here, that only in and by that manly son Christ, that other
ideal manly son could be produced ; that what with the prophet
was primarily a mere personification, found in the real person of
Christ its profound truth. The word : who was to rule all the
nations with a rod of iron, which we find brought to its ac-
complishment at chap. xix. 15, carries a dreadful threatening
to the heathen. But behind the destruction threatened, salva-
tion is concealed, behind the judgment grace. It is a blessing
for the heathen if through the iron rod their rebellion against
God becomes broken, their enmity against his church, their entire
heathenish existence. If they themselves knew what makes for
their peace, they would beg to be smitten by the rod of iron.
Only the dragon receives hurt in the matter. Allusion is made
to Ps. ii. 9, where the Lord says to his anointed Christ, " Thou
wilt bruise them (the heathen) in pieces with a rod of iron." In-
stead of bruising, the Seer, after the LXX., has tending. Not
by a sort of misunderstanding or arbitrarily. In the original pas-
sage itself allusion is made to the pasturing or tending ; the word
which signifies : Thou wilt bruise, differs not in its consonants,
but only in its pronunciation, from that which means : Thou
wilt tend. By this significant allusion it is indicated that the
proper office of the anointed is to tend (Ps. Ixxviii. 71, 72), but
that upon their sinful quid pro quo, refractoriness instead of joy-
ful obedience, a righteous quid pro quo follows on the part of the
anointed. The double import of the expression could not be
rendered in Greek ; only one of the sides could be exhibited, and
the tending, used with a kind of irony, has substantially much
the same force as the original. — Before the words : and her child
was caught up, is to be supplied : and the dragon continued his

Hebraism without any intentional einpbasis." ** Cursed," says Jeremiah, " be the man
who brought to mx father the report: a son is born to thee, a male; that he might
make him glad." The ^yt added to ^a is employed to make the contrast more empha-
tic between the birth of a son and that of a daughter, as being more joyful : q. d.t. son,
and not a daughter. It is a similar kind of emphasis that is used here.

462 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD'S KINGDOM.

persecution, as was done according to the eyangelical history
from the temptation onwards to the death on the cross-^comp.
Luke iy. 13, where especially the axpt iccupov, for a season, is to
be kept in view, and John xiv. 30, where the Lord says in the
immediate prospect of his sufferings, '' The prince of this world
cometh,'* = the dragon. The supplying of this becomes quite
natural from what is said in ver. 4 ; for, how should he, who be-
fore the birth of the child stood ready to deyonrhim, have atonce
ceased from his persecution, the moment the child was bom ? and
it is demanded by the expression : he was snatched up. For,
this presupposes the danger of the child. It is expressire of the
haste, with which one snatches away a precious and loyed trea-
sure, and places it in security, when it has come to be in jeopardy.
The fundamental passage in Isa. liii. 8, where it is said of Christ,
'* From oppression and judgment was he taken away." As the
expression : it was snatched up, denotes the ascension of Christ
(comp. ch. xi. 12, where also there is a reference to the ascension),
so the words : to God and his throne, denote his session at the right
hand of God. It rests on Dan. yii. 13, 14. There the Son of
man comes upon the clouds of heaven to the Ancient of days, to
the heavenly throne of God, " And to him was given dominion,
and glory, and a kingdom, and all peoples, nations, and tongues,
shall serve him, his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which
does not pass away, and his kingdom shall not be destroyed."
Comp. Matth. xxvi. 64, " From henceforth shall ye see the Son
of man sitting on the right hand of power." The throne of God
is the symbol of his dominion over heaven and earth, and all that
is therein — see my Comm. on Ps. ex. 1. To be set near this
throne is to have a share in this divine supremacy over heaven
and earth. Christ's participation in the glory of the divine go>
vernment is still certainly a concealed one during the present
course of things. He only who, like Stephen, is full of the Holy
Ghost, can see heaven open, and the Son of man standing on the
right hand of God. Ch. v. 6 is parallel, " And I saw between
the throne and the four beasts, and between the elders, a Lamb
standing," where Christ likewise appears in the closest proximity
to the divine throne. On the earth, however, from which the
child had been snatched away, the hopes of the woman were ap-
parently disappointed, and nothing appears of the tending of the

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 6. 463

heathen. But what seemed to cut off hope in this respect was in
reality the means that led to its accomplishment (comp. Luke
xxiv. 21.)

Yer. 6. And the woman jkd away into the wilderness, where
she has a place prepared of Ood^ that they might there nourish
her for a thousand, two hundred and sixty days. The fate of the
woman is here related hy way of anticipation, in order to have it
placed in juxtaposition with that of the Son. The Seer comes hack
to it in rer. 14, after he has communicated what was of the greatest
moment for understanding her situation after her Son had heen
snatched away from the earth. By the wilderness no particular
wilderness is to he understood ; hut the article stands generically :
the wilderness in contrast to the cultivated land. To he obliged
to fly into the wilderness, into the desert, where no natural sources
of nourishment present themselves, is hard ; hut to he able to fly
into the wilderness, and so to escape from the persecutions, and
there also to he nourished by God, though it should be only with
the necessaries of life, as becomes a wilderness-condition, this is
great grace. The thought expressed is the preservation of the church
under the cross, and in spite of all persecutions and privations.
That all local and special historical meanings are to be avoided,^
is clear not only from the reference to the typical sojourn in the
wilderness (God had in ancient times led his church out of Egypt,
•where the dragon persecuted her through Pharaoh, into the wil-
derness, and on a small scale had again repeated the transaction
in the case of Elias, who fled from Jezebel into the same wilder-
ness, and was there fed by God), but also from passages of the
Old Testament, which speak of a leading through the wilderness
in a purely spiritual sense — Hos. ii. 14 ; Ezek. xx. 34 — 38 ; Jer.
xxxi. 1. 2 ; and see the Christology on the passages. What is
given in Deut. viii. 2 — 5 as the characteristic feature of the
sojourn in the wilderness, and what was also the characteristic
feature of our Lord's abode there, the temptation exists also here.
The thoughts of many hearts are revealed, when the necessity
arises for flying into the wilderness. Who then has, to him it is

1 Even Yitringa's explanation of the sense, God shall take care by bis iirovidence,
that the church shall be kept and preserved in certain places, remote from human com-
merce, till the more fortunate times which he has in reserve for his church, still carries
the elements which belong to the figure as such, over to the thing. The wilderness is
rathur everywhere where the church is persecuted, and preserved amid the persecution.

464 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD*S KINGDOM.

given, but he that has not, from him is taken away even that
which he has. What is said of the first sojourn in the wilderness,
'' He suffered Israel to hunger, gave him also to eat, suffered him
to thirst, gave him also to drink, who led him over burning sand,
suffered not his shoe to grow old," holds also here ; the woman
flies away into the wilderness, not to be wasted there but
to be nourished ; but if the spirit is there singularly quick-
ened and mightily strengthened, the flesh must in consequence
fare ill. As for the church at large, so for single individuals the
flight into the wilderness is a necessary stage. Canaan cannot
be found, if one has not overcome in the conflict with assaults
and temptations. The flight of the ideal mother of Jesus, the
church, into the wilderness, was typified by the flight of the actual
mother through the wilderness to Egypt, who also, in ver. 4,
appears as a symbol of the church. The 1260 days of the
woman's sojourn in the wilderness, are, according to the solution
given in ver. 14, the three-and-a-half years, which on the ground
of Daniel's prophecies are taken in the Revelation as the signa-
ture of the apparent victory of the world over the church. The
number, indeed, has no historical meaning, but is to be estimated
only by its relation to the number seven Considered thus, it
conveys an intimation, that the time appointed for the afflictions
of the church is a measured one, that these shall not continue a
moment longer than has been determined beforehand in the di--
vine counsels, and that it is a broken and short period.

Ver. 7. And there was a war in heaven : Michael and his
angeU fought with the dragon, and the dragon fought and his
angels. Ver. 8. And he overcame not, and his place was no
more found in heaven, Ver. 9. And he was thrown, the great
dragon, the old serpent, who is called the devil, and Satan,
who deceives the whole world ; he was thrown on the earthy
and his angels were thrown with him. The question here first
of all arises, who is Michael ? Very different answers have been
given to it — for the fullest account of these, see J. Ode de An-
gelis, p. 1052, ss. According to one view, Michael is no other
than Christ, or more correctly expressed, the Word, who in the
beginning was with God, and from the first has mediated in all
transactions respecting tlie church on earth. But, according to
another view, supported by the Jewi^sh expositors, some authori-

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 7, 8, 9. 465

ties in the ancient church, the greater part of Catholic commen-
tators, who in this manner hare endeayoured to find biblical
support for their angel-worship, and recently among ns by Hof-
mann, Michael is a created angel, who has committed to him the
charge of the church, both under the old and the new coyenant.
The following reasons decide in fayour of the first yiew. I. The
name Michael (who is like God) itself shews, that we must not
seek for him in the region of the finite. It rests upon Ex. xy.
11, **' Who is like thee among the gods, 0 Lord," and Ps. Ixxxix.
6, 7, " Who in the clouds is like the Lord, comes like the Lord
among the sons of the mighty ? God is greatly to be feared in
the fellowship of his saints, and terrible oyer all that is round
about him." In the name : Who is like God, there must be sup-
plied : Whose glory is represented in me. If we should suppose
with Bengel, that the name denotes the infinite distance fVom
God, " the humility of this distinguished angel, and his freedom
from all self-elation," q. d., I am not like God, it would be no
fit designation of the angel-princes, it would haye been more
appropriate for the least among the angels, or rather for being
used as a designation of men. The derisiye imitation of the
name Michael in ch. xiii. 4, " And they worshipped the dra-
gon that gaye power to the beast, and they worshipped the
beast and said, Who is like the beast ? and who is able to make
war with him ?*' implies that his name denotes an incomparable
greatness and power — the elvcu Itra 0€^, being like God, which
is afiirmed of God in John y. 18, and Phil. ii. 6. Only when the
name is yiewed in this light does it appear in a suitable connec-
tion with the matter in hand. ^* In the name Michael," says the
Berleb. Bible, '* which is applied to Jesus Christ, the Lord of
Hosts, there is giyen the sure pledge of yictory. For, since he
is supreme oyer the whole world, and the Father has put all things
under his feet, angels, principalities, and powers, including those
that are eyil, must also be subject to him, and shall eyer be so.
This, therefore, is the proper person to fight in us and for us ; and
were he not on our side we should neyer be able to escape fVom
our troubles." 2. Michael first meets us in the book of Daniel,
and there, therefore, we must seek for an explanation of his
nature. But that he is there identical with the angel of the
Lord, has been proyed in my Beitriigen I., p. 165, ss. And what
29

466 THE THREE ENEMIES OF OOD's KINGDOM.

was said in the Christology in proof of the angel of like Lord
being no created angel, but the Logos, still holds good, notwith-
standing the pains of Hofmann to inyalidaCe it.^ 3. What is said in
Daniiel x. 5, 6, of Michael, " His body was like a chrysolite, his
countenance like the lightning, his eyes like torches of fire, his arms
and his feet like shining brass, his speech like a great clamour,'* thia
in the Berelation, ch. i. 13-^15, and x. l,is transferred to Christ,
which we cannot suppose would hare been done, if Michael had been
a created angel. Daniel was so terrified by the Toice of the per-
son who appeared to him, that he fell down in a state of utter im-
potence, and could not for a long time raise himself up. John
was affected in a quite similar way by the manifestation of
Christ. In ch. ii. 18, also, features in the description of Christ
are drawn from Dan. x. 5. 4. What is here attributed to Mi-
chael, the conquering of Satan, is in the iundamental passages of
the gospels, and here also in yer. 11, attributed to Christ.' Vi-

1 No oreated tngel coaldbe described by the Lord u the one» in whom bia oame wm,
and his face, (Ex. xxxiii. 14, 15), nor could any created angel have been spoken of by
Jacob as having redeemed him, and as blessing his children. To give soeb pre-eminent
honour to a created angel, as Hofmann wishes, is entirely against the position, which is
vttiformly ascribed in the Old Testament to angels, and would have paved the way for
Polytheism. It would also imply a surrender of the Old Testament foundation for the
prologue of the gospel of John, which is of essential moment We lose also the key for
explaining the foot, thst as in the Old Testament the angel of the Lord and Satan, so
in the New Testament, Christ and Satan stand opposed to each other, and that in the
New Testament the angel almost disappears. In this one place alone would he occur
in regard to the times of the new covenant under the name of Michael. This is in-
credible if, as the guardian of the church, he was different from Christ. How much
has the Old Testament to say of the angel of the Lord ? The grammatical reason also
for holding that rrsrp ipfha cannot mean an angel, but only the angel of the Ix>rd, also
stands firm. Ewald in the last edition of his grammar, § 290, remarks, *' A proper name
has the same influence as a noun with the article. If the first is to be regarded as in-
definite, but the second as definite, the first also can remain so before the article in the
status construotus, if no dubiety arises; but should such arise, because in the first
word the individual and the indefinite in kind must necessarily be denoted, then the
first word cannot be marked by the status constructus." The genitive must in that ease
be marked by h, oomp. § 292. Such a ftindamental rule cannot be shaken by particular
passages, in which it seems on a slight consideration to be violated. A close inresti-
gation shews, that it is observed also in these. In Haggai 1. 13 it is not an angel of
the Lord that ia the subject of discourse, but Haggai is called the angel of the Lord, to
distinguish him from other persons of the same name, but of a different calling. In
Mai. ii. 7, the priest is not an angel, but the angel of the Lord of Hosts, ordinaiius dei
minister in his kingdom. The prophets alone as individuala have an extraordinary
mission.

f Ode : " Michael overcomes the devil, and throvrs him down from heaven to earth.
But it is evident that the person who accomplishes that great work, is Christ the Son of

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 7, 8, 9. 467

tringa says with perfect justice : " If there were another angel
besides him, who undertook and accomplished this, a great part
of the glory would be taken from the Sen of God, which by this
name is often ascribed to him in Scripture." — The reasons brought
in support of the created angel can easily be set aside. '' In
the altercation," says Bengel, " with the devil about the body of
Moses, he did not dare to bring against him a railing accusation,
but said, The Lord rebuke thee. This moderation, befitting only
in a creature, certainly indicates a created angel." But in that
passage of Jude, Michael speaks expressly as the " archangel,"
as the captain of the Lord s hosts, as the angel of the Lord,
and we can as little draw from it a proof against the godhead
of Michael, as from the declaration, '* The Father is greater
than I," we can find a proof against the Lord's equality in
power and glory with the Father.^ — But if Michael is Christ,
it may be asked, why should he here be called Michael and
not Christ ? The answer is, the name Michael points to this,
that the work, which is here under consideration, the decisive
victory over Satan, belongs to Christ, not after his human, but
only after his divine nature — comp. 1 John iii. 8, " He that com- .
mitteth sin is of the devil ; for the devil sinneth from the begin-
ning; for this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he
might destroy the works of the devil.'* Then, this name forms a
bridge between the Old and the New Testament. In the Old

God; seeMftttb. xu. 29^ Luke zi. 22; comp. with Lukex. 18, Hebr. ii. 2, 14, audi
Jobn iii. 8."

1 Vitringa with justice derives a proof from this very passage mgaintt tbe view of a
created angel : " Tbat be is the son of God, is plain from tbe following passages com-
pared together, Zech. iii. 1, and Jude ver. 9 ; for be, who is made known in Zeoh. iii. 2
by the name itself of Jehovah, is called in Jude the archangel Michael." This also ia
not without weight, that the name of no ordinary angel elsewhere occurs in the whole
of this book. When Bengel remarks, ** Michael alone is called in Scripture an arch-
angel, and elsewhere archangel is found only in 1 Thess. iv. 16, without the name of the
being to whom it is applied. Whether, therefore, there is more than one archangel, or all
good angels stand under Michael, as all bad ones under Satan, is a question more
easily asked than answered ;" two problems are mixed up together, which are essentially
different from each other. That all good angels stand under Michael as all bad ones
under Satan, cannot be doubted, whenever it is understood, that Michael is no other
person than tbe Logos, the Word. But it may still be matter of doubt, whether there is
more than one archangel. It admits of question whether archangel is the designation
of the higher angels generally, the " first princes" in Dan. x. 13, or whether it belongs
to bim who corresponds to the great prince in Dan. xil. 1. But in either case Michael
la distinctively the archangtl.

2<^2

468 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM.

Testament Michael had appeared as the great prince who fights
for the church, Dan. xii. 1. That battle was the prophecy and
prelude of the one reported here. — Bengel again says, " In this
battle itself Michael makes the onset. For, it is only said after-
wards, that the dragon also fought. But elsewhere this enemy,
and the other enemies, always make the assault ; ver. 4 here, 13,
17, xvii. 14, xix. 19." Farther, " The battle and the defeat
are ascribed pre-eminently to the dragon himself as the principal,
and not to his angels ; as the Bevelation, indeed, in the descrip-
tion of both the good and the eyil, is wont to make all, as it were,
depend on the head.*' Because, we add, it is from the head that
a cause always mainly proceeds. Michael and Satan are the pro-
per factors of history. AH others, however they may push them-
selves forward, and however much also they may draw upon them
the eyes of a short-sighted world, are but subordinate agents and
instruments. — The object of the battle we already learn from
Zech. iii. 1, ss. There the controversy is between Satan and the
angel of the Lord, who is all one with Michael, about the sinfal-
ness of the people. Satan desires, that on account of this they
may be given up to him still farther. The angel of the Lord re-
jects this demand, removes the ground of it by imparting forgive-
ness of sins, and at the same time declares, that a still richer par-
ticipation of this forgiveness, and in consequence a still deeper
confounding of Satan, should take place in the times of Messiah,
by which a bridge is raised between that passage and the one be-
fore us. There the angel of the Lord stands on the defensive :
he defends the people of God against the attacks of Satan ; but
here he takes the offensive. We are introduced to a more pro-
found insight into this conflict by the fundamental and parallel
passages in the gospels. As soon as Christ has become Christ,
has received in baptism the fulness of the Spirit, the battle of
Satan against him begins, with the view of defeating the work of
redemption in its commencement, maintaining his position as the
prince of this world, and checking in the bud the reviving glory of
the church. In the words of Bengel, *' He tempted Christ in the
wilderness, and when he was obliged to give way, he withdrew,
but only for a season. When the sufiering of Jesus came, the
enemy again appeared, and the power of darkness raged with
fearful violence. But then, too, was the prince of this world

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 7, 8, 9. • 469

judged. He had acquired over men, who had allowed themselves
to be overcome by sin, a right in consequence of this victory ; but
in the controversy with Christ he had lost all such right, and re-
ceived judgment against him as a robber and a murderer.*' Jesus
says in John xiv. 30, 31, " I shall not talk much more with you,
for the prince of this world cometh, and he hath nothing in me
(he has no right in me, because I am without sin, and the terri-
tory of Satan extends only so far as sin does) ; but that the world
may know that I love the Father, and as the Father gave me com-
mandment, even so I do ; arise, let us go hence*' — namely, that
I may meet the attack of this prince of the world. Here Satan
is still in the offensive ; but in consequence of the failure of his
last attempt, in consequence of the obedience of Christ unto
death, even the death of the cross, he passes into the defensive,
which terminates in the final overthrow. This result, according
to our passage, followed after the ascension of Christ. In ac-
cordance with this also is it said in John xii. 31, 32, '* Now is
the judgment of this world (Lticke : ' Its power is immediately
judgM, condemned and broken in its head'), now shall the prince
of this world be cast out. And I, if I be lifted up from the earth
(Bengel : ' In the very cross there was something that pointed
to glory') will draw all to me" — the complete triumph over Satan
only mentioned after the completion of Christ's work of redemp-
tion. According also to John xvi. 11, the declaration ''the
prince of this world is judged," is first introduced after Christ's
return to the Father, as according to ver. 10 it was only thereby
that the justification was perfected. It was, as Bengel remarks,
'* a very hard process, on which the execution followed." On
this execution it is here reported. What Christ had won from
Satan through blood and death, (comp. ver. 11, according to
which the blood of the Lamb is the root of the whole matter),
that is here turned against him. And since he is here once for
all cast down to th^ ground,. Christ can let him attempt more, can
look calmly on, while he assaults the church ; for his attacks can
no longer hurt her, they can only advance her real interests.
Berleb. Bible : '' This all weak and fainting persons may lay to
heart, so that they may not surrender the right which they have
in God, and God has in them, not reckon the devil stronger than
God, as reason is apt to represent him. Judgment has been

470 THE THREE ENEMIES OF OOD'S KINGDOM.

giren long since, and must be fulfilled in the experience of all his
party : they can prerail nothing, if one only withholds one s will
from them, as that in which they seek their strength."^

The preceding expression : and overcame or prevailed not,
serves to explain what follows : his place was no more fonnd in
heaven. For, that Satan cannot hold his place in heaven,
simply means, that his power is broken — broken, according to
ver. 11, through the blood of Christ — for by this forgiveness
of sin has been obtained, and thus Satan's most formidable
weapon is wrenched out of his hands. AH that is powerful is
transferred to heaven. In the passage Isa. xiv. 12, which is
here specially referred to, it is said of the king of Babylon,
the visible image of the great dragon here : " How art thou
fallen from heaven, thou bright star, son of the morning," mean-
ing, how impotent hast thou become, thou glorious ruler ! In
the chapter before us itself in ver. 1, mighty kings appear as
stars of heaven, after the example of Dan. viii. 10, and their fall
from the region of power is denoted by their being cast down
upon the earth. Comp. also ch. vi. 13. Still in Eph. vi. 12,
after the decisive victory of Christ, wicked spirits in heaven are
spoken of, meaning thereby that they are furnished with much
power and dreadful cunning.^ Comp. also Numb. xxiv. 17, Fs.
Ixxiii. 9. — Zullig remarks on the being cast on the earth, " For
believers on the earth this precipitation of their arch-enemy is
certainly not clear gain. Now that he has come nearer to them,
he can the more easily persecute them, and does it also, as the
sequel shews." This view has the appearance of things on its
side ; and yet it is found untenable on a closer examination. It
is against it, that the simple : he was thrown, denoting the com-
plete overthrow of Satan, in this verse, precedes the other ex-
pression : he was thrown upon the earth ; it occurs also in ver.

1 The Tou tro\ifiri<rai is not to be traofllated witb Ewald by : mwt war. This yields
no saitable sense. We are nther to supply from the preceding context : bad war.

2 Harlees, on that paaaage of Ephesians, still seeks io vain to establish for to itrov
pd¥ia another meaning, although he is himself obliged to remark : *' Even in this epistle
the expression served only for a designation of heaven itself, and of all that is divine."
Bad spirits are locally as little in heaven as in the air (Eph ii. 2), as is clear alone
fh>m this, thatjthe one destroys the other.^ Similar expressions are to be found also in
classical author*. Cicero says of P<jmp«»y : Quia deciderat ex astris, lapsus quam pro-
gressuB potius videbatur ; and of Antony : Collegam quidem de coelo detraxisti ; see for
these and other passages in Oesen., Isa. xiv.

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 7, 8, 9. 471

lO.j The Tiew is further opposed by the declaration in Ter. 10,
as to the salvation, and the power and the kingdom haying be-
come Ood's, and the power of his Christ; and that by yer. 11
the foundation of an absolute victory was given to believers. The
mere expression of his being thrown upon the earth, renders it
impossible for us to think of his acquiring by the circumstance a
greater power upon the earth. BengeFs paraphrase, " He was
thrown out of heaven, and after being so thrown he took the way
toward the earth," with manifest arbitrariness advances what
stands opposed to the received meaning. The being thrown from
heaven on the earth simply denotes his downfall. Satan's power
and opportunity to hurt were not increased by his precipitation
from heaven to earth ; they were rather checked and weakened ;
but his rage was increased, being inflamed on account of the
damage his interest had sustained, because he had suffered an
overthrow, such as had never befallen him since the beginning of
the world — an overthrow, from which he can never possibly re-
cover. Comp. the expression in ver. 12 : and has a great wrath,
and especially the words in ver. 13 : And when the dragon saw
that he was thrown upon the earth, he persecuted the woman.
The fundamental passages also all point in the same direction
The power of Satan uniformly appears in them as broken by
Christ, and only his rage as increased— see in respect to the lat-
ter, 1 Pet. V. 8. According to John xii. 31, the prince of this
world has been cast out of the world by the atonement of Christ;
and according to 1 John iii. 8, the Son of God has-been mani-
fested for the purpose of destroying the works of the devil. If
one should understand literally the throwing out of heaven and
the throwing on the earth, we may then say with Lticke, " In
John, and in other parts also of the New Testament, excepting
the Apocalypse, I find no trace of such a representation." Pre-
cisely the same figurative representation is found in Luke x. 18,
" I saw Satan fall from heaven as lightning" — a word which our
Lord uttered when the Seventy returned with joy and said. Lord,
even the demons are subject to us in thy name. If the falling

^ That the expression : be was thrown here, is quite complete in itself; that : he was
thrown upon earth, is only an expansion, is evident alone from the : he was thrown, in
ver. 10. The double merely : he was thrown, serves as a commentary on the : he was
thrown on the earth; shews* that the being thrown on the earth is only a symbolical
designation of his overthrow.

^72 THP» THKEE ENEMIES OF aODS KINGDOM.

from heayen were to be taken literally, there would be an opposi*
tion between these two passages. For here it is affirmed to haye
taken place before the accomplishment of redemption, bnt in the
Beyelation it appears as the consequence of redemption haying
been accomplished : understood fignratiyely the opposition dis-
appears. The words of our Lord in Luke refer to the commence-
ment of Satan*s oyerthrow by Christ, which carried in its bosom
the germ and the pledge of its completion. Then it proceeds
onwards by successiye stages, till the last stage is reached in the
resurrection of Christ and his ascension to heayen. The same
thing is presented to our yiew under a different image in Lnke
xi. 21, 22, '* When a strong man armed keeps his palace, his
goods are in peace ; but when a stronger than he comes upon
him and oyercomes him, he takes from him all his armour,
wherein he trusted, and diyides his spoils." Christ here breaks
in upon Satan's fortress. This took place as to its begmrnn^^
when Christ entered on his high calling, and in its completion^
when he sat down on the right hand of the Father. — The fright-
ful enemy of the human race, ** who deceiyes the whole earth,"
appears here under four names : the four as the signature of the
entire compass of the earth is yery suitable for the prince of this
world. The '* great dragon*' stands at the head, eyen before the
old serpent, because Satan comes here into yiew peculiarly as the
prince of this world, as the animating principle of the ungodly
world-power, which in the Old Testament is represented under
the image of the dragon. The persecution by the world-power
forms the starting point. For the consolation of the church
sighing under it and ready to faint, the decisiye yictory of
Christ oyer Satan is here set forth, as that was the pledge
of all subsequent yictories. The " old serpent" is mentioned
here on account of what he did so craftily at the begin-
ning. Gen. iii. 1 — 5, 2 Cor. xi. 3. In John yiii. 44, he is
called a murderer from the beginning; and in 1 John iii. 8,
it is said, that the deyil sins from the beginning. The ex-
pression : who is called, stands at the transition from the
purely matter-of-fact designations to those, which are at once
proper names, and also, as to the substance, belong to Satan. As
ihe two first appellations denote his great power and his deep
cunning (as a serpent he deceiyes, 2 Cor. xi. 3), so do the two

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 10, 11, 12. 473

last his intense hostility. The devils properly the calumniator,
he is called, as the accuser of the faithful ; Satan, the adversary,
as he who leads astray the whole world — that is, according to ch.
XX. 3, 8, 10, stirs them up to fight against the kingdom of God.i
On the words : his angels were thrown with him, Beogel remarks :
'' What might be the state and operations of the angels of the
dragon before and after this war and oyerthrow, is not delineated
in this book ; but mention is made only of the dragon. It is pre-
supposed that the truth is known from other books of scripture.'*
Ver. 10. And I heard a great voice in heaven, which said :
Now i8 come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of
our God, and the power of his Christ ; because the accuser of our
brethren is cast out, who accuses them day and night before God.
Ver. 11. And they have overcome him by the blood of the Lamb
and by the word of their testimony, and have not loved their
lives to the death. Ver. 12. Therefore, rejoice ye heavens, and
those who dwell therehi ! Woe to the earth and the sea, for the
devil is come down to you, and has a great wrath, because he
knows that he has a short time. The great voice is such an one
on the part of men. ** For it belongs to them to speak of their
brethren, and not the angels, ch. xix. 10. The saints who had
formerly oyercome, and had now reached heayen, are those who
rejoice thus oyer their brethren as they go thither (?)'* Bengel.
Gomp. on ch. xi. 15. But we can think only of the saints of the
Old Testament, not with Ewald of the twenty-four elders. For,
twelve of these represent the church of the New Testament,
which could not then as yet be represented otherwise in heayen :
the voice is heard immediately after the completion of Christ's
work of redemption. And the very circumstance of the twenty-
four elders not being mentioned here, confirms the view we haye
taken of the connection. The expression : now is come, is to.be
explained on the ground, that in this matter is contained the
germ and the pledge of all that follows — comp. the equally anti-
cipatory expression : they have overcome him, in ver. 11, and

1 There it is said : the devil, who deceives them ; but the did^Xm is used as a proper
name. The connectiiig together of the two Dames here renders it probable that an in-
ternal difference exists, that respect is had to the original import of the proper name.
Ewald would delete the 6 before caravan. But from what has been remarked, there is
no reason for this. For the sake of the four number alone Satan must stand indepen-
dently of the devil.

474 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD*S KINGDOM.

also ch. xix. 6 — 8, where the saints made perfect reg^ard the mar-
riage of the Lamb as already come, when the rictory was gained
over the great whore, although still much delay and many conflicts
mnst interrene. Bengel : " The salvation, by which the saints
were delivered, the power, by which the enemy was overthrown,
the kingdom, which displays God's majesty," comp. on ch. xi. 15,
and in regard to the salvation, on ch. vii. 10.^ The expression :
they have overcome him, ver. 11, is to be explained from the
clear foresight. Substantially it is as much as, they are able now to
overcome him. Parallel is 1 John ii. 13, ** 1 write to yon, young
men, that ye have overcome the wicked one ;" ver. 14, '* I have
written to you, young men, that ye are strong, and the word of
God abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one." The
victory is certain through (properly, because of) the blood of the
Lamb (comp. i. 5, *^ Who has loved us and washed us from our
sins by his blood," also v. 9, 1 John i. 7. 9, ii. 2), and the
word of their testimony — comp. Matt. x. 32, 33, ** Whosoever
confesses me before men," &c. We have not two quite indepen-
pent factors mentioned here, but the second, the witness-bearing,
has its root in the consciousness of pardon obtained through the
blood of the Lamb, according to the sentiment, ** Let us love him,
for he has first loved us." That blood alone gives power to re-
sist unto blood. Because Christ has humbled himself and become
obedient unto the death of the cross, they now no longer lore
their lives unto the death. Bengel: ''Because of the blood of
the Lamb — ^this blood purified the brethren from all sin, and so
the accuser could bring nothing against them. And because of
the word of their testimony — the word which they believed, and
because they believed it, they also spoke and gave testimony to
it, and suffered all for it, 2 Cor. iv. 13. This is called overcom-
ing the wicked one, 1 John ii. 14. Where there is such power
in the heart, there also will the name of Christ and the righteous-
ness, which is in that name, be confessed without fear." — Those
that dwell in heaven, ver. 12, properly, those who tabernacle in
heaven. By aicqvrj, tent, the church is denoted, because the
sanctuary representing the church first had the form of a tent —
comp. ch. xiii. 6. Accordingly the members of the church, who

1 The M8S. vacillate between the reading Kar^ywp, an abbreviation that often occurs

in ihe Rabbinical writings, and the usunl form KaT^yopo^.

3

THE DRAaON, OH. XII. 10, 11, 12. 475

after the Old Testament manner of representation dwell spiri-
tually with God in his sanctuary, appear here and in ch. xiii. 6 as
tabernacling or dwelling in a tent, A similar allusion to the
orignal tent -form of the sanctuary occurs in John i. 14, " And
the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us,*' and also in
this book, ch. vii. 15. In so far as the perfectly righteous are
denoted by those who dwell in heaven, the object of their joy can-
not be, that they have escaped from the personal assaults of
Satan (the perfected representatires of the church in yer. 10 know
only of the blessed consequences of the orerthrow of Satan for
their brethren), but the church triumphant rejoices over the sal-
vation, which is obtained by the church militant, as they dis-
tinctly express their joy in vers. 10, 11. This is plain from the
therefore. In the preceding context the discourse was only of
that which the church on earth, the church militant, had ob-
tained through the overthrow of Satan. But there is no reason
for thinking only, or even chiefly, of the saints in glory. Accord-
ing to the mode of representation adopted in the New Testa-
ment, the members of the church militant also dwell in heaven ;
their citizenship is there, Phil. iii. 20 ; they are risen together
with Christ, and sit together with him in the heavenly places,
Eph. ii. 6 ; they have come to the (heavenly) mount Zion, and
to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to
the church of the first-bom whose names are written in heaven,
and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of the just made
perfect, Heb. xii. 22, 23. In this book itself, in ch. ;dii. 6, those
who dwell in heaven are manifestly the members of the church
generally, including those on earth, who have been in a very pe-
culiar manner afiected by the blasphemies of the beast, who have
been calumniated by him as evil-doers, 1 Pet. ii. 12, iii. 16, iv.
14. Viewed in regard to these members of the church militant,
the contrast is not so much one of persons as of spheres of being ;
in respect to the heavenly one, they have for the object of their
joy the peace of God, which they there enjoy, and which Satan
can no more destroy ; but, in respect to the earthly, they are still
exposed to the assaults of Satan, they have sorrow and tribula-
tion in the world, whereby they are tried, and by the trial kept
and prepared for glory, 1 Pet. vi. 7. Yet the clear light of
heaven shines down upon the darkness of this earthly life. The

476 THE THREE ENEMIES OF OOD's KINGDOM.

m
sea can here, as in ch. yii. 3, viii. 8, xii. 18, xiii. 1, xri. 3, xxi.

1, come into consideration only in the figaratiye sense, as denot-
ing the sea of the peoples, the restless world. Ztillig conceives
*' those threatened npon the sea are partly the inhabitants of
islands, and partly such as might be fonnd in ships (!'') The time
that is given to Satan is marked as a small one, in relation to
the eternity of the glory of redemption.

Ver. 13. And when (he dragon saw that he was thrown upon
the earthy he persecuted the woman who had brought forth the
male (child,) This is no mere persona^ description : he perse-
cuted the woman who brought forth the manly son that had
thrown him down on the earth — persecuted her because she had
given birth to the son, his conqueror — persecuted in her the con-
queror himself, whom he could no longer come at. Hatred of
Christ is in Satan and his instruments the foundation of their
hatred of Christians.

Ver. 14. And to the woman were given th^ two wings of the
great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place,
where she is nourished a time, and times, and half a time from
the face of the serpent. This verse corresponds to the sixth.
What was already said there is here resumed again, after an ac-
count has meanwhile been given which serves to place the sitna-
tion of the woman in a clear light, the occasion of her flight, the
persecution by Satan, and what impelled him to this, at the same
time also what gave her in such a condition the hope of a blessed
and joyful issue ; so that we read here what we have already
known with quite new feelings. The only things peculiar to this
passage are the two wings of the great eagle which were given to
the woman ; and, instead of the 1260 days, the time, two times,
and an half time. The eagle's wings occur twice in the Old
Testament in regard to the first sojourn in the wilderness, Ex.
xix. 4, '' Ye have seen what I have done to Egypt, and I bore
you on eagle's wings, and brought you to me" — into the wilder-
ness, where, under my protection, ye are free from the dominion
and persecution of the Egyptians, — and Dent, xxxii. 11 , " Like
the eagle he stirs up his nest, hovers over his young, spreads out
his wings, takes it, bears it on his pinion :*' the Lord as the spi-

1 The article is waniing in Luther, and has been restored to the text only by the moat
recent editors. It could scarcely have failed on account of the article following.

2

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 14. 477

ritual eagle bore Israel out of Egypt into the wilderness. A re-
ference is made, besides, to Ezek. xvii. 3 — 7, where the king of
Babylon appears as the great eagle, the king of Egypt as a great
eagle. In allusion to that great eagle, the Lord is described as
the (true) great eagle.^ That the wilderness comes into consi-
deration here as a place of security is eyident from the whole con-
text. But that the state was one also of privation is implied
in the expression : where she is nourished. The natural means
of support do not exist there ; God must provide for his church
in a supernatural way, as of old in the wilderness by manna.
The simple expression " where she is nourished," does not cer-
tainly of itself necessarily imply that the matter here under con-
sideration belongs to the Seer's own time ; and we might explain :
where she (then) is nourished. But since it is certain on other
accounts that the subject has respect to the present, that a lead'-
ing into the wilderness forms even the starting-point of the
Revelation, there is no reason for departing from the most natural
construction. That by the times two times are to be understood,
may be inferred alone from the circumstance that a definite number
is manifestly demanded, hence naturally two as being the first in
order ; and less doubt can be entertained regarding it since the
" times*' stand between the one time and the half time. It is a
consolatory thought that the sojourn in the wilderness, which,
while it serves to quicken and purify the soul, must still always
be accompanied with something painful, has a bound set to it.
But the consolation grows when it is considered that the three
and a half in their relation to the seven suggest the idea of a pro-
portionately small period of time, and so correspond to the de-
claration in ver. 12, " he knows that he has a short time." But,
finally, the consolatory import receives a still farther increase by
the verbal reference to the prophecy of Daniel in ch. vii. 25, the
clear sunshine of which also at once sheds a cheerftil light over

1 Against Ewald, according to whom the great eagle mu3t denote only a very great
eagle—the article being Uebraistically used as a mark of the sapeilative— ZtiUig justly
remarks : ** This might be listened to, if there were no definite great eagle to be found.
It is the same great eagle that formerly bore on its wings out of Egypt into the wilder-
ness, and placed there in safely, the very same allegorical person, called here Zion, there
the people of Israel (Ex. xix. 4.)" By Bengel's exposition, whioh understands by the
great eagle the mighty power which gave protection and support to the church aAer the
arrival of the third woe, the empire, the reference to the passages in the Pentateuch is
quite overlooked.

478 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KIKODOM.

this monrnfnl scene. • A time, two times, and an half time are
there the period dnring which the little horn was to make wax
on the saints and obtain the victory oyer them, and at the close of
which things were to take a happy turn for the people of God.
Through this prophecy, which refers to the last great conflict
and victory of the kingdom of God,i the three and a-half
generally has been consecrated as the signature of the tem-
porary subjection of the Lord's people running out into vic-
tory. It is said in ch. vii. 24 — 27, " And the ten horns
are ten kings that shall arise out of this kingdom, and an-
other shall arise after them, and he shall be diverse from the for-
mer, and he shall subdue three kings. And he shall speak words
against the Most High, and he shall disperse the saints of
the Most High, and shall attempt to change time and taw
(he will effect a total revolution — comp. ii. 21, where the ex-
pression : he changes times, is used of God) ; and they shall be
given into his hand for a time, and two times, and an half time.
Thereafter shall the judgment sit, and his power shall be taken
away, that he may be consumed and destroyed unto the end. And
the kingdom and the dominion over all kingdoms under the whole
heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most
High ; and his kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and all domi-
nions shall serve and obey him." By this prophecy the three
and a half years and the dominion of the saints of the Most High
over the world are inseparably united together. What holds re-
specting the last end, must be found also in what is the beginning
and exemplar of the end. At the clause : from the face of the
serpent, we are to supply: in her flight, or, in her fear. Some
with Yitringa connect improperly thus : that she might fly from
the face of the serpent. By such a construction the words present
an unpleasant drawling appearance. Bengel already remarked,
'' The woman has her nourishment from the face of the serpent,
I.6., the serpent with his persecution cannot come at the woman.

1 In the resamption of Daniel's prophecy of the ten horns, the Seer of the Revelation
passes by in silence the small horn, which throws down three of tlie great horns, fiut
it is very improbable that he altogether left out the matter symbolized by it. Not being
touched on in the history of the beast, we mast seek for it in the new phase of the
enmity of the world against the kingdom of God, which breaks in at the end of the
thousand years. Then, thei« is the consideration, that the Apocalypse, if it does not
contain less, so neither does it more than Daniel.

THE DRAGON, CH. XII. 15, 16. 479

So in Jadg. ix. 21, Jotham dwelt there from his brother Abime-
lech. It has been constraed otherwise, that the woman fled from
the serpent. Bat this did not need to be said, as it is evident
from the fact, that the dragon persecuted the woman. But this,
on the other hand, is remarkable, that she should haye her nour-
ishment so long in the face of the serpent."

Ver. 15. And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a
flood after the woman^ that he might drown her. Ver. 16. But
the earth helped the woman and opened its mouth, and swal-
lowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth.
The water appears in ch. xyii. 15 as an image of the peoples.
Under the figure of an overflowing the idea of an overwhelming
was not rarely represented in the Old Testament ; for example,
in Fs. cxxiv. 4, 5, '* Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the
stream had gone over our soul, then the proud waters had gone
oyer our soul." Jer. xlvii. 2, where it is said in regard to the
Chaldean invasion, " Behold waters come ont of the mouth, and
become an oyerflowing flood ;** Fs. xviii. 16 ; Isa. yiii. 8 ; Jer.
xlvi. 7, 8. The more exact definition appears from ver. 16. By
this we learn, that the discourse here is of the hostile overflowing
of the church, the commencement of which gave rise to this book
— the Roman persecution. With perfect propriety the Berleb.
Bible compares 1 Pet. y. 8, the rather so, as there too the Roman
persecution is referred to. The serpent is named, and not the
dragon, in order to point to the cunning, which is the distinguish-
ing characteristic of the serpent — Gen. iii. 1. The poor world
has been deceived by it. It gives no heed to this, that it is
driven on by Satan, and conceives that it acts an independent
part in the persecution of the church, and advances its own inte-
rest, while it is only working for its own destruction. The earth
helped the woman and swallowed up the flood, yer. 16, " which
would haye swallowed up the believing Israel ; so that the matter
turned into the reverse.'* (Berleb. Bible.) Another earthly and
worldly power rose against those who persecuted the church, and
brought their persecutions to an end, as formerly under the Old
Testament the kingdom of the Modes and Persians brought to
an end that of Babylon. The farther explanation is given in ch.
xvii. By that we learn, that Rome was to be destroyed by the

480 THE THREE ENEMIES OF GOD's KINGDOM.

ten kings, which were themselyes of the earth, and gaye their
power to the beast.

Ver. 17. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and
went to make war with the rest of her seed, who keep the com-
niandmenta of God and have the testimony of Jesus (Christ.)
The rest are those who survived the hostile overflowing in ver.
15, or were not affected by it. The key is furnished by ch. xvii.
13, where it is said of the ten kings or kingdoms, who overthrew
Rome, '* These have one mind and give their might and power to
the beast," comp. ver. 17. Their battle against Christ is depicted
in ch. xix. 11, ss. On the last words Bengel has some excellent
remarks in his discourses, '* In respect to the keeping or maintain-
ing of the commandments of God, it is a great question, whether
such is possible to men or not ? Those who have attained through
the power of the gospel to faith in Jesus Christ, serve God in a
new and willing spirit, and this is called keeping the command-
ments of God. We must not take it in the strictest sense, as if
God saw no faults in his most devoted children, for which they
needed his forgiveness. No one knows better than he who
really exercises himself to obedience, how much it is a matter of
indulgence in God to regard the conduct of his children on earth,
which is so faulty, in the light of an obedience to his commands.
It is in the spiritual life and growth, much as in the natural.
When a child learns to walk or speak, there is at every step or
utterance some indication of weakness and defect i but matters
are always getting better, and blame is not imputed if there is a
growth in alacrity and strength. Those who keep God*8 com-
mandy have also the testimony of Jesus. If our hearts are con-
vinced of the truth of this, the mouth shall not fail to deliver a
stedfast testimony respecting it, though it should be at the ex-
pense of life itself. These are the persons on whom Satan makes
war, and hence it is a matter of strong suspicion, if one resile
from keeping the commandments of God. Such as do so, the
devil readily allows to live at peace."

END OF VOL. I.

AN INTRODUCTION

TO

THE NEW TESTAMENT;

COMTAININO

<%o tismioittiim nf tjit nmst Smprtsnt diltitstunts nloting

to t^ <3iit^in:iii(, Sntniirttatnra, iniit 3ittignti{

of t^ Cosomial %uh, mit^ nfixtm

to tjit lottst SnqnirtHf.

BY SAMUEL DAVIDSON,

D.D. OF THE UNIYERSITT OF HALLE, AND LL.D.

VOL. I -THE FOUR Q08PEL8.

VOL. II -ACTS TO II. THESSAL0NIAN8.

[VOL- lll.-l.TIM. TO REVELATION.]

LONDON:
SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS.

15, PATERNOSTER ROW.

The Publishers of Dr. Davidson's Introduction to the New
Testament wish, on the completion of the second volume, to direct
the attention of Clergymen, Ministers, and Biblical Students in general,
to this work, which is (they confidently believe) well worthy of their

2 DAVIDSON'S INTRODUCTION TO THE NEW TESTAMENT-

notice, and wKicli will be found to convey important information wluch
had previously been inaccessible in the English language.

The author was &YOurably known to Biblical Scholars through his
former works, especially ** Sacred Hermeneutics" ; and, in the opinion
of competent judges, who have noticed this work both in private com-
munications and in reviews, this " Introduction to the New Testament,"
now in course of publication, will not only be found worthy of Dr.
Davidson's former works, but of even greater utility : this appears to be
the opinion of many scholars.

It has been for many years the anxious desire of the Publishers to
continue to bring before Biblical Scholars such works as shall combine
true Christian principle with sound learning and general utility ; to this
end they have directed their attention, and have sought and obtained
the co-operation of not a few in whose scholarship they could confide :
they need not here speak of the results ; for they may say (without
claiming too much for themselves), that they have the satisfaction of
knowing that their endeavours have been appreciated.

In the same desire, and with the same object, when the present wofk was
proposed to them as Publishers, they were glad of the opportunity of thus
far promoting Biblical Learning ; they knew how the former works of Dr.
Davidson had been appreciated, and this ^^ Introduction" appeared to them
well suited to supply a want felt by the Biblical Scholars of this country.

It is well known, that in Germany, of late years, extensive learning
and intense diligence have been brought to bear upon almost every
subject connected with the Scriptures ; and while it is true, that not a
little of this laboriousness has been spent rather in opposing than in
furthering Truth and Revelation, it must be admitted, that almost every
question connected with the New Testament writings has been presented
in a new phase. Of course, the learned Biblical Scholars of Grermany
are not to be condemned in a mass ; there are amongst them illustrious
names — men who have sought to unite accurate and extensive scholar-
ship with the maintenance of the authority of Scripture, upon which
alone all true doctrine can be based.

It is, however, a fact, that Biblical Scholars in this country have either
known but little of recent investigations, or else they have been too much
exposed to the inconvenience of learning this department of biblical
inquiry from, at least, doubtful sources. And besides, there is not a

PUBLISHEBS' ADDRESS. 3

email portion of continental inquiry already difiused amongst us, of that
kind which opposes revelation, and which would use a certain portion
of learning to contravene the authenticity and authority of those Holy
Scriptures on which the hopes of Christians are based. How important
that such cavils should be met, that such specious objections should be
shewn in their true light, and that Biblical Students should be armed (in
some measure, perhaps, by anticipation) against the modes in which
learning can be used in opposition to truth.

Dr. Davidson has proposed to consider the various subjects relative to
the New Testament Scriptures, ** with reference to the latest inquiries" ;
to this end he has extensively examined the writings of modem scholars
— he has stated their opinions — he has shown the futility of those
objections which pass current among many on the continent, and which,
in various forms, are introduced here — he has, in fact, brought together
the information with regard to the New Testament books which a scholar
needs, and which he could not obtain elsewhere without having recourse
to a vast number of volumes, many of which are of objectionable
character.

This ** Introduction" is not, however, to be regarded as a mere
storehouse of materials ; the varied learning has been elaborated in the
author's mind, and in presenting the opinions of others, and the results
of their investigations, he gives his own judgment, and endeavours to
shew which may be regarded as certain data in forming correct con-
clusions.

There is no safety in our being ignorant of the modes in which Truth is
attacked ; it is only by sound and accurate learning that the authority of
Scripture and orthodoxy of belief can be maintained; the Publishers,
therefore, believe that the publication of this " Introduction" has been
well timed ; and they confidently expect that Clergymen, Ministers, and
Biblical Scholars, will unite with them in this opinion.

Extracts are subjoined from various notices which have appeared of
Dr. Davidson's first volume ; it will be seen, that they are not confined
to periodicals of any one class or description ; but that the testimony,
united as it is, comes from reviews of various shades of opinion on church
polity and other questions, but which unite in their commendation of
Dr. Davidson's work.

4 Davidson's introduction to the new testament.

The Publiflhers believe that the second Toluine, which has recently
appeared, will be found worthy of its predecessor ; and that the whole
work, when complete, will be a valuable addition to every Biblical
Student's Library.

Another volume on the remtdning books of the New Testament, from
the Pastoral Epistles to the Revelation, with an Index to the whole,
will complete the work ; on this the author is at present engaged.

15, Paternosteb-Row, March, 1850.

®9tnuin0 of t$e ^xtm.

** The title of this work sufficiently ex-
plains its nature; and Dr. Daridson's name
IS a warrant for its being written with learn-
ing and ability.'* — Church of England
Quarterfy Review,

** Now, seeing that matters stand thus, we
are glad that so much has been done in this
volume, and we shall await with some im-
patience for those that are to follow. The
Tolume is complete in itself. It contains
the result of much reading and examina-
tion on the chief historical and critical

questions relating to the gospels We

tnink it due to so serious an imdertaking,
that we should remind some, and, if need
be, inform others, of the grounds on which
we think the present work is fairly entitled
to a more than ordinary share of attention.
We are disposed to lay some stress on these
considerations, with a special reference to
the recent progress and the apparent pros-
pects of theological leamine generally, and
of this department specially, in Great Britain,
AS compared with other parts of Europe.

** Dr. Davidson has amassed a large
amount of information on the subjects to

which this work refers There is no

fact, we should think, known to German
literati on these subjects, no opinion ex-
pressed by any of them, which is not well
known to him $ so that he is not in danger
of betraying his reader into errors^ which
our learned neighbours, from more accurate

information, would have corrected To

the reading of the German authors, this
writer has brought a healthy understand-
ing, an independent judgment, a disciplined
power of critical reasoning, and that which

is above these, in our estimation, a truly

Christian reverence for sacred truth

" Here are fifty pages devoted to the
proof that the original gospel of Matthew
was written, not in Greek, but in the
Aramiean dialect The proof appears to
us to be nearlv perfect. The objections
whidi have hitherto been brought against
this position are not many nor strong, and
we think they are lairly and logically dealt
with." — Eclectic Review,

*' Here at last we have a book calculated
to meet the wants of the age, and the sight
of which will make the heart of eveiy real
Biblical Student glad.

** The performances of the most com-
petent and able men so often fall short of
their design, and even of their resources,
that it is not always safe to awaken large
expectations. But we are bound to say
that, in this instance, the expectations enter-
tained have be.en fuUy realised.

** It is among the sources of the satisfac-
tion with which we hail the present pro-
duction, that it seems to us well calculated
to give an impulse in this chiss of investiga-
tions, to which we greatly desire to see the
practical good sense of the English intellect
applied, infadiioning to becoming and holy
uses the vast materials which the fecundity
and minute research of our Teutonic
brethren have accumulated, and are con-
tinually increasing.

** This is a book that must always fill a
high and honourable place in the history of
our theological literature.

** We take credit for no particular foresight
in predicting that this work is destined to be

OPINIONS OF THE PBESS.

regarded as the one upon the ' Introduction to
the New Testament* from which the biblical
BchoUrship of this country and generation
will hereafter derive most credit ; and no
person can open the present volume without
being, even by the first glance, assured that
he has before him a work destined, beyond
most others, to exercise a powerAU influ-
ence in raising the standiurd of biblical
attainment, and in advancing the cause of
biblical literature in this land." — Dr. Kitto'g
Journal of Sacred Literature,

** As the criticism of the gospels is
awakening more and more attention, such
a work as that before us will, in all proba-
bility, excite the curiosity of many readers,
and we therefore think it best, without
renewing the discussion of the subject, to
describe, as briefly and as clearly as we can,
what the author has attempted, and how
far he has accomplished it

** The great merit of the book is that
which we have hinted at already, that it
shows a thorough and familiar acquaint-
ance with the latest literature of the subject,
which, as we have said before, is almost
exclusively G^man. The intrinsic value
of a large part of this matter, and the im-
possibility of utterly excluding it from the
English-reading public, makes it highly
desirable that those who feel an interest in
such inquiries should have access to them,
not in a garbled or one-sided shape, but in
a fair and ample statement. At the same
time, it is equally important that this state-
ment should be made by one who is not
infected with the virus of neology, or
ashamed or afraid to dissent from the con-
clusions of the most authoritative German
writers. Even a bias towards the oppo-
site extreme of sturdy common sense and
prepossession against specious novelties,
may, for obvious reasons, be regarded as
a salutary check, in the exposition of
Uiese new and strange views to the English
reader.

**Both these conditions seem to us to be an-
swered in the work before us. The author's
knowledge of the recent foreign writers is
surprisingly extensive and exact, coming
down, so far as we can judge, to the veiy
latest dates, and reaching to the most mi-
nute particulars. Nor is it mere bibliogra-
phical learning. With a rare patience of
attention and facility of acquisition, he has
really mastered the contents of this volu-
minous and complicated literature, stating
opinions and authorities, wherever we can
follow him, with exemplary fiumess and
precision. We have no hesitation in affirm-
ing, that a careful study of this volume is,
beyond comparison, the best means known

to us by which an English reader can in-
form himself, with least expenditure of time
and labour, as to the latest forms ot specu-
lation with respect to the Four Gospels."—
PHnceton Review,

** This * Introduction' is intended to
supply what has hitherto been a deficiency
in our language ; the author has proposed
to present, in an intelligible form, those
touics which ought to be Imown by all bibli-
cal students

** There may be a subjective tendency of
mind amongst lu, which is adverse to every
thin^ except a kind of traditional appre-
hension of facts As an instance of

this, we may mention the Hebrew original
of St. Matthew's gospel Dr. David-
son states the ancient authorities which
pi ove, as an historic fact, that St Matthew
wrote in Hebrew ; if any one regards this
as dangerouSf he can possess but little com-
petence for biblical study ; such an idea is
not reverence for the Word of God, but
reverence for one's own subjective ideas of
that Word

•• The more we have studied Dr. David-
son's ' Introduction to the Gospels,' the
more fully have we been impressed with
the importance of the object which he pro-
posed to himself, with the obstacles to be
overcome, and with the conscientious dili-
gence and marked ability with which this
volume has been executed. Let Dr. D.
complete his work with the same research,
and the same desire to vindicate the Scrip-
tures of the New Testament, which he has
here manifested, and then we believe that
his ' Introduction ' will be one of the most
important contributions to the study of die
Holy Scriptures which have appeared in
English in modem days." — MacphaiTe
Edinburgh EcclesiasL JourmaL

*' We hail this new publication from the
pen of Professor Davidson. We owe him
much already, and again we are his
debtors Such a b^k as the one be-
fore us was much wanted in this country. . . .
Every page teems with the results of calm
and steady thought, of earnest and thorough
research.

'* The errors of Germany are being

rapidly imported into Britain A

battle must be fought ; and we cannot but
be thankful that Dr. Davidson has both
entered the field, and supplied those who
may follow with necessary and efficient
armour." — Dr.Eadie^ in United Presbyte-
rian Magazine,

** Dr. Davidson's volume well sustains
the promise of the title-page. It is a ma»-

6

Davidson's introduction to the new testament.

terlj examination of the most important
questions relating to the authority, inter-
pretation, and integrity of the canonical
books, with reference to the latest inquiries.
Witness his refutation of Hug*s attempt to
invalidate the testimony of Papias, as to St.

Matthew's gospel His scrutiny has

been most exact, and his fairness unim-
peachable."— Biblicid Review,

** The value of this elaborate work will
depend, in part, on the answer to the fol-
lowing question : Is it wise to brin^ before
the British and American public, objections
to the geDuineness and authenticity of the
canoniod books which have been urged
only in Germany, and which may possibly
never be heard of in any other country,
even if these objections are met by able
and satisfactory replies? Shall the anti-
dote be furnished where the disease is un-
known ? We are disposed to answer this

question in the affirmative We are

disposed to welcome a treatise like that of
Dr. Davidson which goes so thoroughly
into the recent German criticism on the
Gospels, adducing and overthrowing the
most plausible objections to the truth of
the evangelical history, which the * latest
form* of German neology has brought
forward. In the first place, in the final
result the Gospel will stand on a firmer
basis

" The only safeguard is that which Dr.
Davidson has adopted — to meet learning
with learning, argument with a]:]gument,
and, if possible, before the poison is intro-
duced, prepare an effectual remedy

'* The book is substantially as it should
be, a systematic and exact exhibition of
the subject The studv of it ought not to
be confined to a few biblical scholars and
clergymen. It treats of a subject which
surpasses every other in interest, the records
of the life and atoning death of our Lord.
All clergymen, all who are called to defend
the gospel in these days, when it is attacked
from so many quaners, will here find ar-
mour on which they can rely." — Professor
Edvoarda, in the American Bibliotheca Sacra,
May 1849.

*' We take great pleasure in introducing
this elegantly executed and highly valuable
work to the notice of American scholars
and divines. It is eminently timely, and
a valuable acquisition to English biblical
literature No available source of in-
formation adapted to render it worthy of
the name * Introduction ' has been neglect-
ed It supplies a want which many

have felt and expressed, and we doubt not

that when its ^^at merit is known on this
side the Atlantic, it will be eagerly sought
after and highly appreciated." — American
JUibUcal Repository, April 1849.

*' His wide acquaintance with the theories
of the rationalistic school is of essential
service in the present state of sacred science;
and his present appearance with this able
• Introduction to the New Testament, be-
fore those theories have obtained a general
and popular acceptance, even among the
learned, lays the church under a lasting
obligation. It is not now possible to pre-
vent the accession of modem continental
researches to the studies and ears of
people. Dangerous and heretical they may-
be. That they are so will only render aome
the more anxious to introduce them ; bat
ignorance is most favourable to their recep-
tion. And instead of regretting that some
of these mischievous speculations shonld
now, for the first time, in (he pages of Dr.
Davidson be made known to us, wc rather re-
joice that they should thus appear, since with
them is given the antidote and reply

" In turning to the admirable work of
Dr. Davidson, one is at ouce struck widi
the manner in which these various adver-
saries are met. It is not by the mere
assertion or proof of the inspiration of the
evangelical writers, which, if established,
would of itself suffice to set aside a vast
number of the cavilling objections of the
rationalist or mythist. He fairly gn^ples
with the adversary on his own ground. If
history be resorted to, the reference is care-
fully examined and judged; if criticism,
an equally critical subtlety is displayed." —
Baptist Record and Biblical Repository,
Dec. 1848.

** Ein Artikel des litterarischen Anzeigen
1846, No. 52, hatte bereits anf dieses Werk
als ein zu erscbeinendes hingewiesen, wel-
ches einen riihmlichen Beweis abgeben
wiirde, bis xu welchem Maasse dentscbe
theologische Studien in England ein-
dringen. Einen solchen Beweis liefert nun
auch dieses Werk und hat dies auch von
Deutschland aus bereits Anerkennung ge-
fundcn, indem dem Verfasser — FroSesaor
am Independcnten-Kollegium zu Man-
chester— von der Halh'schen Factiltat der
theoloeische Doctorg^ad ertheilt worden."
— Tkoiuck*s Litterarischer Anzeiger, JuU
10, 1849.

** The most palpable absurdities, if con-
stantly and vehemently reiterated, will
ultimately find some disciples. Any per-
son asserting a gross falsehood for a given

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS.

time will in the end devoutly belieye it.
DoabtB and disputations in regard to the
truth of the Bible may appear trifling at
first, but by wishing them to be true, and
endeayouring to find proofs in their favour,
they will at last settle down into confirmed
scepticism and decided unbelief." — Stan-
dard of Freedom, Nov. 18, 1848.

** In our opinion, the best book of its
kind in our language, alike for its scholar-
ship, its manly dealmg with difficulties, and
the adequate idea which it gives of the pre-
sent state of opinion on the great subjects
of which it treats." — Norfolk News, July 7,
1849.

" This is one of the most valuable con-
tributions to biblical literature which has
of late years issued from the English press ;
yet it is but one of a series of works from
the pen of the same learned author, on any
one of which his reputation for learning
and research might safely rest

" The author fairly states, and as fairly
meets and examines, all the most important
objections to the authenticity and integrity
ef the sacred books. He evades no diffi-
culty. Fully persuaded of their divine in-
spiration, he entertains no fear of their
success in the struggle through which they
are again destined to pass. Knowing that
it is no part of valour to shut his eyes to
the operations of their foes, or turn his back
when a malicious blow is aimed at them,
lest it should prove deadly, he attentively
surveys the forces of the enemy, meets them
with the calm intrepidity of a man con-
scious of the goodness of his cause, turns
back upon themselves the arms of the
assailants, and throws into confusion and
puts to route the Philistines who had dared
to defy and attack the armies of tJie Living
God. — Londonderry Journal, October 11,
1848.

" We believe that many biblical students
will hail the appearance of this volume as a

worthy successor of that which the learned
and respected author had already published.
Many will gladly learn what the questions
are which are now discussed by sdiolars of
various countries, with regard to those books
of the New Testament which follow the
Gospels. As to objections which have been
raised to books, or parts of books, the stu-
dent will be able here to learn what the
objections are, and how they may be met

** Having this Introduction, we have no
occasion to direct any enquirer to doubtful
and rationalistic sources of information, to
works in which we find a strange and me-
lancholy union of extraordinary learning
and exceptionable sentiment Dr. David-
son tells us what the arguments are by
which Scriptiure is assailed; ne instructs how
such arguments are met and refuted; he
introduces to those points of investiga-
tion by which a really accurate knowledge
of the scripture may be attained. Most
sincerely do we trust that his labours will
be amply appreciated, and that a more ex-
tensive acquaintance with the whole range
of biblical enquiry may again be found in
this country. We are fully aware that
learning by itself cannot produce this; but
learning is a valuable accompaniment of
that sanctification of the heart and rever-
ence for the word of God; which those only
can know who have trusted in that Saviour
of whom the Scripture testifies." — Dr,
Samuel P. Tregelles in the Journal of
Sacred Literature,

"We much regret having been unable to
do justice to this able, profound, and liberal
volume, in oar present number. It is
admirably adapted to meet the wants of
these speculative times, when in so many
minds flippant doubt, or denial, is con-
founded with philosophy, — and scepticism,
clad in new garments, and wearing a new
mask, stalks fearlessly abroad. We hail Dr.
Davidson as one of the ablest and most
judicious champions of Christian truth, and
hope in our next to do ample justice to the
claims of his work." — Eclectic Review,

** This second volume manifests a continuance of the same learning and diligence - as we
found in the first, and we may add« characterises all the writings of Dr. Davidson; and there
are few subjects on which such talents can be more instructively employed than those coming
within the scope of the present volume, which embraces the Acts of the Apostles, and all
St Paul's Epistles to the Second of the Thessalonians." — Church of England Quarterly Review,

LONDON:
SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS,

15, PATERNOSTER ROW.

SAMUEL BAGSTER AND SONS, 15, PATERNOSTER ROW.
A Large Print Critdcal Greek Testament, with yanaaa readings, and

parallel references. The Text is the '* Bm^iTed. " The yarions readings emhraoe all
those emendations of the Text which affect its interpretation; and are accompanied with
citation of the authorities that support them. The References are selected. A HarmoiEiy
of the Gospels and a Synoptical Collation of the principal critical Texts accompany.
> The primary object of this edition is to provide a veiy readable convenient book for constant

stady ; and in order to adapt it to the use of persons of every class, the results of the
latest criticism are added in a condensed form* One Volume, 8vo. price about 10«. SeL

The Analytical Greek Lexicon to the New Testament, an alphabetical

arrangement of every word found in the Greek Text, in eveiy form in wluch each appears ;
that is to say, every occurrent person^ number^ tenser or tnood of verbs, every case and
nwnber of nouns, pronouns, etc, is placed in its alphabetical order, fully explained b^ a
careful grammatical analysis, and referred to its root; so that no uncertainty as
grammatical structure of any word can perplex the beginner ; but assured of th
grammatical force of any word he may desire to interpret, he is able imme^*
apply his knowledge of the English meaning of the root with satisfaction and i
One Volume, small 4to>, in the press; uniform with the Hebrew and /
Lexicon.

The Facsimile Large Print English Version of the Polyglot Bib^^

(which is admirablv suited for Pulpit and general use), has been prepared e^^ecially for
those who habitually use the smaller Pocket Edition, but require an exactly similar bihl^
with larger type,

AH who hare bean accustomed to use any partieuUr edition of the Scriptures regularly, must be aw&rvt
how much their ability to refer from one passafe to another depends on the remembrance of the poation
of the passages upon the particular parts of the pages where they occur ; so that while they are ai,ble
to turn with ease to the passa^ they winh to consult in their own Bibletf they are often quite at a lo«s
in searching for the same truths in a Bible with which they are not fomUiar. This of course depen ds
upon the local memory induced by the constant recurrence, during the daily reading of the same pas-
sages upon the same pages and parts of the pages.
A Bible, therefore, that mlffht supersede the smaller Pocket Cknniianioa, without destroying thevnlu-

/able assistance of this looal memory, and without the inconvenience of a new form and arrange-
ment, has been long a desideratum. Such a Bible is the present Edition.

Many vaittahle Svpplemaitary Tablee of Chronology, Harmonieal Arrangement, Geographicid
and Historical Information, !*<?., and CwouredMaps illustrate the Work,

The Treasury of Parallels Bible ; an Edition of the Scriptures in which the
fullest illustration of the Scripture from its own resources' is attempted. Each vene is
' accompanied on an opposite page with a copious selection of references to other Scrip-

/ tures, divided into the several sections of which the verse may consist.

SPECIMEN OF THE PLAN.

17 And Jesus answering said unto them.
Render to Cesar the things that are Cesar's,
and to God the things th^t are God*s. And they
marvelled at him. Mar. zii. 17.

17 JUmdsr to Cttar. Pr. U^ 21. Mat. 17. 15. >r. Ro.
18.7. iPe.S.17. <M(l<«0Mi.Ter.ao. Fr.8a.96. Be
b. 4.6. ICal. 1. 6. Ac. 4. 19. ao. Bo. 6. 19-18. 1. 1 Co.
6. 19, 20. 2 Co. A. 14, 16. tU, marvMid. Job &. 18, IS.
Mat. 28. 83, S3. 46. 1 Co. 14. 84, 85.

One pocket volume, price 20s. Kept in the best flexible bindings.

The portion of the work which consists of the parallelisms is published separate from the text

(price 10«.) and is of course adapted for use with any edition of the Soriptures.

A Treatise on the Grammar of the New Testament Dialect; embracing

Observations on the Literal Interpretation of numerous Passages. By the Bev. THOMAS
SHELDON GREEN, M. A. One Volume, 8vo. price 10*.

Ancient Egypt; her Testimony to the Truth of (he Bible from the Pictures and
Inscriptionsyet remaining on the Tombs and Temples; with very numerous Engravings
and Coloured Plates. Octavo, price 14«.

** Those who have occupied themselves with Egyptian antiquities, seem by common consent to have
rejected the aid of the Bible (the onlv book in existence which professes to be ootemporary with themX
and to have relied upon the chusicail authorities, the earliest of which dates at least 1000 years later
than the temples on which these reliefs occur, so that they could not possibly contain anythln^f beycod
vague and obscure traditions of a period so remote. This, it is the obiect of this work to show, hat
been the principal cause of the failure in interpreting the wonderful xeUefii and pictures of the temples
and monumeots."

*^* Specmena and Prospectuses of these, and numerous similar works may U
obtained gratis, hf post free,

o. MTTLawoon, nivrmn, ts, Lovnoir wall.

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