Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 12:9

ὁ μέγας ὁ ὄφις. א 1 Primas[412] read ὁ μέγας ὄφις.

[412] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.

ἐβλήθησαν. Hieron[413] and several cursives omit.

[413] St Jerome.

9. ἐβλήθη. “Was cast down,” rather than “cast out.”

ὁ ὄφις ὁ�. Genesis 3:1. This is the only place in canonical Scripture (see, however, Wis 2:24) where we are told that the Tempter in Eden was the Devil: but it cannot be doubted that we are so told here.

ὁ καλούμενος διάβολος καὶ ὁ Σατανᾶς. In spite of the way the articles are placed, of course these are both names of the Dragon. The former name is regularly used in the LXX. as the representative of the latter: though the two are not quite synonymous, the Hebrew name meaning “the Adversary,” and the Greek “the Slanderer” (e.g. the same word is used in a general sense in 1 Timothy 3:11). “Satan” has the article here, as always in the O.T., except in the Book of Job—it is still rather a designation than a proper name. In Enoch xl. 7 we have it used in the plural in a passage very like this: “The fourth voice I heard expelling the Satans, and prohibiting them from coming into the presence of the Lord of spirits, to prefer accusations against the inhabitants of the earth.” The voice is afterwards explained to be that of Phanuel, the angel of penitence and hope.

ἐβλήθη εἰς τὴν γῆν. St Luke 10:18, St John 12:31 throw light on what must be meant—a breaking of the power of the Devil by that of the Incarnate Lord: but we cannot be quite sure that our Lord speaks of the same fall of Satan in both passages, or in either of the same that St John describes.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 12:9

Old Testament

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