Bible Commentaries

Revelation 10. The second interlude in the movement of the drama. The sixth trumpet, like the sixth seal, is followed by a pause. Once again the climax is postponed. Revelation 10 and Revelation 11:1-13 are parenthetical, and the visions which they record are episodes in the main story.

Revelation 10:1-11. The Vision of the Strong Angel and the Little Book.

Revelation 10:1. The strong angel.—We have no means of identifying this angel. To suppose that he represents Christ is contrary to all analogy and precedent.—coming down out of heaven: the scene of the previous visions is laid in heaven, whither the seer had been transported. Here he seems to be standing upon the earth and watching the descent of the angel.

Revelation 10:2. a little book: the Gr. word is an emphatic diminutive, "a very small roll (or scroll)." This book is supposed to contain a fragment of Divine revelation (cf. the book mentioned in Ezekiel 2:9).

Revelation 10:4. the seven thunders: suggests that another cycle of visions, like the cycles of the seals and trumpets and bowls, occurred to the writer's mind, but he dismisses the temptation to use them.—seal up: the metaphor "sealing" is generally used to denote the ending of a document which has been written. Here it is applied to an unwritten utterance.

Revelation 10:6. time . . . no longer: (a) time now ceases, because eternity has begun, or (b) there shall no longer be any interval or respite before the commencement of doom. The latter is preferable because it helps us to see the connexion of this chapter with the rest of the book (e.g. Revelation 6:10 f.). It announces that the pause is at an end and the hour of Divine intervention at hand. That this is the true interpretation is clear from the allusion to the seventh trumpet in

Revelation 10:7.—then is finished the mystery of God (2 Thessalonians 2:7*): the revelation which God made to the prophets is now consummated.

Revelation 10:9. Take it, and eat it up: cf. Ezekiel 3:1. A bold metaphor indicating that the message of God was to be incorporated by the seer into his system; cf. the Prayer Book phrase, "read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest."—bitter: in Ezek. the only effect of eating the roll was to induce the sense of sweetness. Here there is a twofold result, a sweet taste in the mouth, and internal pain. "Every revelation of God's purposes, even though it be but a fragment, is ‘bitter sweet,' disclosing judgment as well as mercy" (Swete).

Revelation 10:11 indicates a fresh development in the movement of the drama, which is to involve many nations and kings.