Bible Commentaries

Revelation 11:1. καὶ ἐδόθη μοι κάλαμος ὅμοιος ῥάβδῳ,¹⁰⁸ λέγων) See App. Crit. Ed. ii. on this passage. ἐδόθη μοι λέγων might be resolved by Syllepsis: for the Hebrews put לאמר absolutely; whence the idiom of the Septuagint translators, λέγων and λέγοντες, for instance, Isaiah 7:2, καὶ ἀπηγγέλη εἰς τὸν οἶκον δαυὶδ, λέγων· where in the passive ἀπηγγέλη is contained the active ἀπήγγειλεν, and on ἀπήγγειλεν depends λέγεν: 2 Kings 18:36, ὅτι ἐντολὴ τοῦ βασιλέως, λέγων. And thus frequently, especially in Genesis and the earlier prophets, and Exodus 18:3; Exodus 18:6; 2 Chronicles 10:15; Isaiah 30:21; Ezekiel 12:22; Psalms 78:4; Job 22:17. In like manner λέγων might here be connected with the verb ἔδωκεν, which is contained in ἐδόθη. But the speech is more conveniently attributed to the rod itself by Metonymy; John not seeing Him who gave the rod, and who is to be known from Revelation 11:3; Revelation 11:8. For thus also John heard the Altar speaking, ch. Revelation 16:7.— ΄έτρησο:, measure) The measuring is yet future.

Revelation 11:2. τὴν αὐλὴν) In the tabernacle of Moses, in the temple of Solomon, and in the temple of Ezekiel, the Septuagint usually puts αὐλὴ for the Hebrew חצר. A court in the open air is meant (in which חציר, grass, readily grows); wherefore there follows, τὴν ἔξωθεν τοῦ ναοῦ. ἔσωθεν in some places has crept in, for ἔξωθεν:¹⁰⁹ but this αὐλὴ, since it is the only one, cannot possibly be within the temple, from which it is contradistinguished. Also in Ezekiel 8:16, it is חצר פנימית. But here mention is made only of the outer court (in contradistinction to the temple): which in the measuring ought not to be reckoned as a part of the temple, but as it is an outer court, so it ought to be regarded as outside the temple. The reading ἔξωθεν is much more strongly supported by manuscripts.— ἔξωθεν— ἔξω) The figure Ploce [See Append. of Techn. Terms]: as Isaiah 32:19, the city shall be low in a low place.— πατήσουσι, shall tread under foot) See Luke 21:24, note.— ΄ῆνας τεσσαράκοντα δύο, forty-two months) These months, and the 1260 days in Revelation 11:3, are common months and days: for in the event they are later than the number of the beast, which being put in part enigmatically, in part literally, defines the passing of the book from the prophetical times to common times, as I have more fully shown in other places. Moreover, in my Harmony of the Evangelists, A. 1736, I had declared, that I would answer, in the Gnomon, the Mathematical Demonstration of Joh. Christian Seize respecting the 1260 days of the witnesses and the woman, Revelation 11, 12. I had prepared a reply sufficiently copious on this passage, not only to that Demonstration, but also to another, which the same writer published in the beginning of the year 1737, under the title of the Measuring Rod. But in the same year, as occasion then required, I wrote a review, which was inserted by the collectors of the work, which is called Geistliche Fama, in the 23d Part, after other remarks of Seize and myself: and in the meanwhile, the progress of time, bringing a decision of the question, confirmed my opinion, and rendered a reply superfluous. This question, therefore, being put aside, having in the meantime met with other adversaries, I dismiss this one; for I greatly shrink from unnecessary disputes.

Revelation 11:3. δώσω, I will give) namely, that they may prophesy. [This is the language of the Lord Jesus respecting His highly distinguished servants.—V. g. καὶ here follows, with the same which ו has in Job 6:9, ויאל אלוה וידכאני: Genesis 47:6, ואם ידעת ויש.— τοῖς δυσὶ μάρτυσί μου, to My two witnesses) These are not Moses and Elias, but two illustrious men (as Nic. Selneccer acknowledges, besides other interpreters), at once resembling them, and resembling Joshua and Zerubbabel. But Elias the prophet is certainly to come before the coming of Christ to judgment, just as John the Baptist came before the coming of Christ in the flesh: Mal. 3:23 (Revelation 4:5). And the genius and mode of procedure of Elias the prophet bears the same relation to the last coming, which the genius and mode of procedure of John the Baptist bears to the former coming. Comp. Matthew 17:12, note.

Revelation 11:4. αἱ δύο ἔλαιαι καὶ αἱ δύο λυχνίαι αἱ ἐνώπιον τοῦ κυρίου τῆς γῆς ἑστῶτες) See App. Crit. Ed. ii. In Revelation 11:13 He is called the God of heaven, and Isaiah 54:5, the God of the earth; Genesis 24:3, the God of heaven and the God of the earth; but in this passage He is called the Lord of the earth, as in the parallel passage, Zechariah 4:14.— ἑστῶτες altogether agrees with grammatical rules and the taste of many, and still more so does αἱ ἑστῶσαι;¹¹⁰ nor should I refuse to regard αἱ ἑστῶτες as a fault of the copyists, if this were the only instance of such a construction. But because the Apocalypse abounds in figurative expressions, as we have everywhere shown, in any passage where there is a variety of reading, I take it for granted, I admit, that the reading which is contrary to that which we should have expected is the true one, and that it has been simply and faithfully handed down by less perverse copyists; and I think that the others have been altered and conformed to the common rule by more recent copyists. In the present instance that הומדים is expressed from Zechariah, the passage quoted above, although the construction is easier in Hebrew than in Greek, as lately in לאמר, λέγων, Revelation 11:1. The article is necessary in this place for the connection of the discourse, as ה in העמדים. No book has οἱ: therefore αἱ remains. The Greek article is much, more flexible than our custom admits: as τῷ τὸν φόρον, ὁ τὸ πολὺ, οἱ μακρὰν, κ. τ. λ. Therefore αἱ— ἑστῶτες, if it pleases you, is said, as though it were said, αἵ— εἰσὶν ἑστῶτες, where αἱ as the subject, and ἑστῶτες as the predicate, are not ill agreed. There is a disparity of genders not unlike this, ch. Revelation 14:19. See also Notes on Chrys. de Sacerd. p. 504. If any one is positive that John could not have thus written, let him follow the reading which he judges that he wrote.

Revelation 11:8-9. τὸ πτῶμα) נבלה in the singular number is used collectively, Psalms 79:2; Isaiah 26:19; Jeremiah 34:20 : and so in this place, τὸ πτῶμα respecting two. Also the head of Oreb and Zeeb is spoken of for the heads, Judges 7:25. Presently afterwards, in the third place, τὰ πτώματα¹¹¹ is used: although in that place also there is a trace of the singular number in the Codex Leicestrensis, τὸ σῶμα. Although we see no reason for the difference, yet it would be rash to say that there is none. [In the text they are not said to lie. What, if you should suppose that they will be suspended, as their Lord also was suspended from the cross?—V. g.]— τῆς πλατείας— ἐσταυρώθη, in the street—was crucified) The place of crucifixion was outside the city under Tiberius; I almost think that it was so under Adrian also. Eusebius teaches, that the scene of the Lord’s martyrdom, or the place of the cross, passed over into the city built by Constantine; lib. iii. on the Life of Const. ch. xxxii. and ch. xxxviii., where he mentions the neighbouring street. The shape of the city has been changed in various ways, and will be changed hereafter. Whether the city has the place of the cross within the walls at the present day, or has not (for travellers are at variance with one another, and those who deny it, do so with far greater appearance of truth), at the time of the witnesses, at least, it will undoubtedly have the place of the cross in the street, either within the walls or without; for thus also רהב is called the street, 2 Samuel 21:12; Proverbs 26:13; Nehemiah 8:1, with Adnot. Halens, p. 178; Luke 10:10 (comp. Matthew 10:14); Esther 4:6. Comp. Lightfoot, Hor. in Matt. p. 54. The beast has been this long time struggling eagerly concerning Palestine; after his ascent from the bottomless pit he struggles much more.

Revelation 11:9. καὶ βλέπουσιν— καὶ οὐκ ἀφήσουσι) The present, followed by another tense. Thus soon after, χαίρουσι καὶ εὐφρανθήσονται. Comp. ch. Revelation 12:4, Revelation 13:12.— ἡμέρας τρεῖς ἥμισυ) 3½ days, not 3 or 4. This passage, even by itself, affords an irrefragable proof, how scrupulously, that is, how exactly, the interpreter, who trembles at the words of THE LORD, ought to take prophetic numbers, without proverbial roundness of numbers. See Erkl. Offenb., p. 99.

Revelation 11:11. πνεῦμα ζωῆς) So the Septuagint, Genesis 6:17.— εἰσῆλθεν αὐτοῖς) Wolf, who is in other respects thoroughly acquainted with Greek, thinks that this reading is unsupported by any example. But Plutarch, πυθομένοις τοῦτο, δεινὸν εἰσῆλθε μῖσος: Herodotus, a much more ancient authority, τοῖσι ἐσελθεῖν ἡδονήν: Plato, εἰσέρχεται αὐτῷ δέος. But nevertheless this is rather too remote from the Hebrew idiom. I should prefer to admit εἰσῆλθεν ἐν αὐτοῖς,¹¹² בם, from the Alex. and Augustan copy, especially since the copyists may easily have written the syllable ἐν once only, when it ought to be read twice. Thus Luke 9:46, εἰσῆλθε δὲ διαλογισ΄ὸς ἐν αὐτοῖς, where also ἐν is omitted in two copies, of Selden and Wolf.

Revelation 11:13. ὀνόματα ἀνθρώπων χιλιάδες ἑπτά) A frequent apposition: δώδεκα χιλιάδες ἐσφραγισμένοι, ch. Revelation 7:5-6; τρεῖς χιλιάδας παραβολὰς, 1 Kings 4:32; ψυχὰς ἀνδρῶν ἑκατὸν χιλιάδας, 1 Chronicles 5:21.— καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ, and the remnant) who survived from the decimation; [that is, sixty-three thousand men. A most ample conversion!—V. g.] Baal Turim (as Lightfoot teaches in his Chron. of the New Testament, on John 3) on Numbers 24:8, upon these words, “He shall consume the nations His enemies, and shall break their bones,” remarks, that the letter צ is gifted with a certain peculiar sign [significancy], which shows beforehand that He will root out the seven nations (namely, of the Canaanites), and in time to come ( לעתיר לבוא) the remaining sixty-three nations, that is, all the nations of the world. This passage of the Apocalypse softens the sadness of the omen. ἐγενοντο, were affrighted) This is more desirable to be heard of than the other: in whose case no change takes place, and who do not at all reverence God: Psalms 55:19. Compare also Revelation 16:9.—V. g.',)" onmouseout="UnTip()">¹¹³— ἔδωκαν δόξαν, they gave glory) A mark of their conversion: Jeremiah 13:16.— τῷ θεῷ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, to the God of heaven) He is called the Lord of the earth, Revelation 11:4, when He declares His authority on the earth by the two witnesses against the disobedient: He is called the God of heaven, when He not only gives rain from heaven, after a most disastrous drought, but also shows His majesty in heaven, by taking up the two witnesses into heaven.

Revelation 11:14. ἡ οὐαὶ ἡ δευτέρα, the second woe) This, according to D. Lange, designates the period of the rage of antichrist, consisting of 42 months. Comm. Ap. f. 221. But the four angels in the Euphrates plainly brought on the second woe. See Erkl. Offenb. p. 73, etc.

Revelation 11:15. ¹¹⁴ ὁ ἓβδο΄ος, the seventh) The principal trumpet is that of the seventh angel. This closely approached the very times of the apostles: but it was about to have a long continuance. The near approach of the events, which were about to follow in it, were often viewed by the apostles separately, and held forth by them to the view of the faithful: but in consequence of the length of the interval, scoffers denied the end itself, in which the course of the events was about to issue; while the faithful did not fully comprehend the long continuance of the interval. Each class furnished the apostles with a reason for explaining the mystery more fully: 2 Peter 3:2; 2 Thessalonians 2.

Whether Gabriel is the angel here meant, we propose in the German Exegesis as a subject of consideration for the reader. And the very name גבריאל agrees; for אל is God, and גבר a man, strong. Therefore that name exhibits the sum of the message to Mary, Luke 1:31; Luke 1:35; and here of the commencement of the trumpet in heaven: for, ch. Revelation 12:5, there is born υἱὸς ἄῤῥην; that is, אל גבור, Isaiah 9:5. I give no definition; I make no conjecture; I only inquire. But that which follows I affirm: This trumpet is the most important of all, which both of itself has here a most joyful meaning, and renders joyful all the trumpets of the former angels, but only to the inhabitants of heaven. Wherefore they are not to be heard, who here prefer to interpret sorrowful trumpets, used by the Jews in excommunication, rather than festive trumpets. The injury arising from the abuse of Jewish antiquities, in the explanation of the New Testament, and especially of the Apocalypse, is greater than the advantage arising from the use of the same. Truth is learned from the very clearness of the text, containing its own αὐτάρκειαν (self-dependent completeness); the abuse introduces errors. We see other examples on ch. Revelation 13:18 (Annot. ii. § 2), and on ch. Revelation 14:20, Revelation 17:9, note 1. It would be better not to have recourse to the books of the Jews, if no better reward for the labour could be carried off from them.— ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, in heaven) This is strictly parallel with that passage of Daniel 2:44, “IN the days of those kings (not, after they shall be destroyed), the God OF HEAVEN shall set up a kingdom.” He is called the God of heaven, as showing His majesty in heaven. Comp. altogether Revelation 11:13, note. Afterwards the action descends to the earth. See shortly afterwards concerning the kingdom of the world.— λέγοντες) See App. Ed. ii. So ch. Revelation 4:1. Many read, ἡ φωνὴ λέγων.¹¹⁵ See also ch. Revelation 5:12, and the remarks which we have made above on ch. Revelation 9:13-14, and Wolf’s remarks on Revelation 14:7, Revelation 19:1. Dionysius of Alexandria thus expressed his opinion respecting the writer of the Apocalypse, not 200 years afterwards: διάλεκτον ΄έντοι καὶ γλῶσσαν οὐκ ἀκριβῶς ἑλληνίζουσαν αὐτοῦ βλέπω, ἀλλʼ ἰδιώ΄ασι ΄ὲν βαρβαρικοῖς χρώ΄ενον, καί που καὶ σολοικίζοντα. But, says Lightfoot, he forms this judgment concerning dialect and phraseology, who was acquainted with neither, and he censures as a fault that which chiefly commends this book. For John θεοδίδακτος (being taught of God), everywhere in his Apocalypse assumed the style of the Old Testament: while this man, who was ignorant of the Hebrew language, reckoned as a SOLECISM the whole of that, which was THE DIALECT OF GOD, and believed that that which he could not understand was barbarous.—Op. Posth. f. 145. But yet the readings of the Apocalypse (which present the appearance of a solecism), as Dionysius demonstrates, are ancient, are repeated, and have an analogy to one another: but those which follow the ordinary syntax have been introduced by copyists, many ages after Dionysius.— ἐγένετο ἡ βασιλεία τοῦ κόσμου, the kingdom of the world is become) This reading of an early age is much more glorious than that of the hasty copyist, ἐγένοντο αἱ βασιλεῖαι,¹¹⁶ κ. τ. λ. Blemishes of such a character, and of such importance, as I have noticed, ch. Revelation 1:18, Revelation 3:12, Revelation 5:14, Revelation 6:11, Revelation 11:2; Revelation 11:17, Revelation 14:1, Revelation 15:3, Revelation 17:8; Revelation 17:16, Revelation 20:4, Revelation 21:24, Revelation 22:19, etc., remain in those editions, which are eagerly reprinted the revision which applies a remedy to them (I do not complain on my own account) lies neglected. See Pref. § viii. Admon. 20. We return to the passage. The kingdoms of the world give way to the kingdom of the world. Thus Obadiah, Obadiah 1:21, and the Psalms repeatedly. Vitringa indeed correctly says, The fulfilment of this oracle is in vain sought in the time of Constantine: Anacr. Ap. p. 512; but at the same time he thinks that this prophecy will be fulfilled after the destruction of the beast. In both points D. Lange assents to him. Here a true analysis of the text is especially necessary: moreover we have presented such a one above, in the Introduction to the Apoc. Number 6. Many separate the natural sequence of ch. 11 and those which follow; but it vindicates itself. See Erkl. Offenb. p. 71 and following, 552, 564, etc. The third woe, which is set forth in ch. Revelation 12:12, and is described particularly in ch. 13, is long ago in course, of accomplishment: and from things present it is distinguished, what things are past under the trumpet of the seventh angel, and what are still future.— τοῦ κυρίου¹¹⁷) See App. Crit. Ed. ii. κυρίου is here used as a proper name (as Grotius and Le Buy admit), with which that which immediately follows, καὶ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ, best agrees: for the expression is, the Lord’s Christ, משיה יהוה, not the Christ of OUR Lord. And thus in the Apocalypse the inhabitants of heaven say, God, Lord, our God, the Lord our God; but never, our Lord. Athanasius, in his Synopsis on this passage, and Rupertus, in his Comm. p. 308, were of the same opinion, if they did not retain the same reading.— καὶ τοῦ χριστοῦ αὐτοῦ, and of His Christ, or Anointed) This is the first appellation of Christ in this prophetic Treatise, after the Introduction of the book, namely, in the mention of the Kingdom under the trumpet of the seventh angel. For Christ is called a King antonomastically,¹¹⁸ as Hiller observes, Syntagm. p. 356. Comp. Brent’s Homily xlii. on Acts, and Explan. of Catech. p. 114 and following, and p. 23. Elisha the prophet was anointed, 1 Kings 19:16; priests were anointed, Exodus 28:41; but with especial propriety, Kings. Whence the title of Anointed, put absolutely, denotes nothing but a king. The usual expression is, the Lord’s anointed, not the anointed king: but [in the case of the priest] the only expression used is, the priest that is anointed, by way of epithet: Leviticus 4:5. Nay, the Anointed is even expressly distinguished from the priest, 1 Samuel 2:35; Psalms 132:16-17. In the whole Evangelic history, the name, Christ, is never set forth under the title of priest; it very frequently is under the name of king. And moreover, as often as the Messiah is mentioned in the Scripture, there is a reference to his Kingdom. The priestly office and the prophetical also are both contained in the kingly (which by a metaphor is the meaning of Shepherd also: ch. Revelation 12:5). See Hebrews 2:17, note. Among the Gentiles also, one man has often borne the kingly office in addition to the priestly, sometimes under the title of priest, sometimes under that of king.

Revelation 11:16. ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου τοῦ θεοῦ) Thus the greater part of the Manuscripts read,¹¹⁹ although the more ancient omitted the words τοῦ θρόνου, leaping from the one τοῦ to the other. The mention of the throne is especially suitable to this place, where the kingdom is spoken of, and where also the thrones of the elders are mentioned.¹²⁰

Revelation 11:17. ὁ ὢν καὶ ὁ ἦν, who is, and who was) Some have added, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος.¹²¹ The shorter reading here also is the true one; the fuller one is derived from a parallel passage. See App. Crit. Ed. ii. on this passage. Such varieties of reading are not to be decided in a cursory manner, on common grounds, but by careful investigation, according to the strong arguments which peculiarly and naturally belong to each passage. By which method we shall find, in the present instance, that this passage, ch. Revelation 11:17, is not so much to be compared with the three preceding, as with the one which follows, ch. Revelation 16:5. What is the aspect of the three preceding passages, we have before shown, on the passages themselves, and especially on ch. Revelation 1:8 : but now both these passages, ch. Revelation 11:17 and Revelation 16:5, coincide with the trumpet of the seventh angel, and therefore with the consummation of the mystery of God, in which, that which had previously been foretold by the expression, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, now is exhibited in actual operation, and indeed is exhibited first in heaven, ch. Revelation 11:17, and then on earth, ch. Revelation 16:5. Interpreters on this passage have long ago seen this. Ansbert says, They do not here subjoin, as they were accustomed, and who art to come; they speak of Him as already present. Haymo, who usually treads in the footsteps of Ansbert: It must be observed that he does not add, as before, who art to come. For they show Him already present in the judgment, by which all these things will be accomplished, and therefore they by no means speak of Him as (still) to come. John Purvey, in his Comm. published with the preface of Luther, says; He does not add the third clause, which he has usually added, namely, and who is to come, for this reason, because the prophet, with his intellectual vision, then saw God as it were already sitting in judgment. Zeltner published a dissertation, A. 1712, which is inscribed, Evangelium Tetragrammaton e Novo Testamento Exulans. The subject, as it is comprised in the title, derives something from the truth. When the Son of God was engaged in the world, of the promises given in the Old Testament, and comprehended in the name of Jehovah, as many as were to be fulfilled at that time, were fulfilled: and then, that which had been future, was advancing to the present. But, however, in the prophecy of the New Testament, that is, in the Apocalypse, that phrase, ὁ ὤν καὶ ὁ ἦν καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, by which the tetragrammaton, יהוה, is usually expressed, is, as it were, set forth afresh; and the future itself, as though reviving in the second coming of Christ, respecting which see Hebrews 10:37, is placed before us, until at the entrance of the most important trumpet of the seventh angel, first the words, καὶ ὁ ἐρχόμενος, which, at the beginning, were alone contained in אהיה, and afterwards also the words καὶ ὁ ἦν, which was denoted by the termination of the noun יהוה, are most magnificently absorbed, and pass into the single expression, ὁ ὤν. Hence it comes to pass, that even great things, from this very passage, are not said to come, as lately they were said to come, Revelation 11:14, and ch. Revelation 9:12, but to have come, shortly afterwards, Revelation 11:18, and ch. Revelation 14:7; Revelation 14:15, Revelation 19:7. Those persons do not sufficiently hold fast the normal force of Scripture, which ought to be retained even in addresses, who even still in prayers, and in hymns, from time to time, say, Jehovah, instead of Lord, or Jah. For under the trumpet of the seventh angel this Tetragrammaton ceases to be used, and the Diagrammaton, יָהּ, is the only expression which the saints utter, together with applause; ch. Revelation 19:1.

Revelation 11:17-18. ἐβασίλευσας· καὶ τὰ ἔθνη ὠργίσθησαν) Psalms 99:1; Septuagint, κύριος ἐβασίλευσεν· ὀργιζέσθωσαν λαοί. The verb ὀργιζέσθωσαν here answers to the Hebrew רגז, as Exodus 15:14; 2 Kings 19:28. Comp. 2 Kings 19:27, in which anger is denoted, together with alarm.

Revelation 11:18. καὶ ὁ καιρὸς) that is, ἐστίν. For ὁ καιρὸς does not seem here to be joined with ἦλθεν (although often in other places time is both understood to be, and is said to come, and that, in one place, jointly, Psalms 102:14), since that sentence, τὰ ἔθνη ὠργίσθησαν, και ἦλθεν ἡ ὀργή σου, is now finished. In like manner, ἐστὶ is understood after the verb ἔρχομαι, ch. Revelation 22:12. In like manner, ὁ καιρὸς (namely, ἐστι) τοῦ ἄρξασθαι τὸ κρίμα, 1 Peter 4:17; πότε ὁ καιρός ἐστιν, Mark 13:33.— τῶν νεκρῶν, of the dead) of mortals and the departed. The German Exegesis quotes many passages of Scripture speaking in this manner. Add the son of Sirach, before noticed, on Jude 1:4.— κριθῆναι) This verb, equally with δοῦναι καὶ διαφθεῖραι, is spoken concerning God, and answers to the Hebrew נשפט, which is likewise spoken of God. Isaiah 66:16; Ezekiel 38:22, in the Hebrew; and Ezekiel 17:20; Ezekiel 20:35-36; Joel 3:2, in the Hebrew, and in the Septuagint, where, however, the reading is not κριθῆναι, but διακριθῆναι; and Jeremiah 2:35; Jeremiah 25:31, in which the Septuagint has κρίνομαι. There is an allusion to the wonderful συγκατάβασις (condescension) of the Supreme Judge, whereby, for the sake of showing the justice of His cause, He blends discussion [“controversy”] with His unbending judgment. ὅπως ἂν νικήσῃς ἐν τῷ κρίνεσθαί σε, Romans 3:4, note.

Revelation 11:19. ὁ ναὸς) ὁ ναὸς, ch. Revelation 3:12, Revelation 7:15, is היכל, the whole of the temple, but in this passage, and henceforth, it is דביר, the inner part of the temple, διαθήκης, of the testament) the covenant which He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.—V. g.',)" onmouseout="UnTip()">¹²² דבר.