Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 13:11

ἄλλο θηρίον. Afterwards called the False Prophet, Revelation 16:13; Revelation 19:20; Revelation 20:10. Some think that it is he, rather than the first Beast, who is to be identified with St Paul’s “Man of Sin,” the personal Antichrist—the first Beast being the antichristian Empire. But in Revelation 17:11 sqq. it seems plain that the seven-headed Beast, who is primarily a polity, at length becomes embodied in a person.

κέρατα δύο. Perhaps two only, because that is the natural number for a lamb—the only significance of the number being, that they are not seven or ten. Perhaps there is a reference to Daniel 8:3 : as Nero’s pride and guilt foreshadowed Antichrist’s, so the homage he seemed to receive from a representative of the one great rival empire may have foreshadowed Antichrist’s universal sway. It may be noted too, that Tiridates was a Magian who observed the rules of the order on the throne. But the meaning of the Vision is not to be gathered from the events of the time which not improbably coloured its imagery.

ὅμοια� … ὡς δράκων. No doubt the obvious view is right, that he looks like Christ and is like Satan. Alford well compares St Matthew 7:15—though the resemblance is in the sense, not the language or even the image, so that perhaps there is no conscious reference.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 13:11

Old Testament

New Testament