Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 5:8

ἕχοντες ἕκαστος. א reads ἕκαστος ἔχοντες; Hipp[200] omits ἕκαστος.

[200] St Hippolytus. The readings not given by Tischendorf are from the newly published 4th book of his commentary on Daniel.

κιθάραν. Text. Rec[201] reads κιθάρας with 1 Hipp[202] And[203]? and all Latins.

[201] Rec. Textus Receptus as printed by Scrivener.
[202] St Hippolytus. The readings not given by Tischendorf are from the newly published 4th book of his commentary on Daniel.
[203] Andreas Archbishop of Caesarea.

αἵ εἰσιν. אB2 have ἅ εἰσιν.

8. ἔχοντες ἕκαστος κιθάραν. The singular is certainly right, though nearly all Latin Versions, and fathers, and most late Greek MSS., alter it to suit φιάλας. If we attempt to carry the image into detail it is obvious that it was as impossible for the elders literally to play their harps and hold their bowls as it would be to speak while holding a two-edged sword in the mouth; up to a certain point it is not more difficult to picture the Living Creatures holding harps than the Lamb taking the Book and breaking the seals; nor is it more unfit that Cherubim and Seraphim should present the prayers of Saints than that a single Angel should bless them, as in Revelation 8:3 sq.

φιάλας χρυσᾶς. The “vials” are broad open bowls; more like saucers than any vessel in modern use: it is a curious question how the word came to mean a bottle: apparently the φιάλη was intermediate between the κρατήρ and the drinking cup: it served the purpose of a bottle, and so the bottle, when it replaced it, took its name: the oldest French instance of fiole in the sense of bottle is in Joinville’s Life of St Louis, who kept a large bottle of wine and another of water on his table so that his knights might mix for themselves; but the change is probably older, as Henry 3. provided an onyx phiola for his shrine of Edward the Confessor, which probably resembled the perfume jars of the same material called ἀλάβαστρα, as having no handles, used in French cathedrals to hold the holy oil.

αἵ αἰσιν αἱ προσευχαί. If αἵ be right, and if we are to press the grammar, it is the “vials” with their contents, not merely the “odours,” which are identified with the “prayers.” See Revelation 8:3 and note there. Cf. Psalms 141 (140 LXX.):2 κατευθυνθήτω ἡ προσευχή μου ὡς θυμίαμα ἐνώπιόν σου.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 5:8

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