Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 6:10

ἔκραξαν φωνῇ μεγάλῃ, λέγοντες. Hipp[245] reads καὶ ἐβόησαν καὶ εἶπον πρὸς τὸν θεόν.

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

10. ἕως πότε. Psalms 94 (93 LXX.):3 ἕως πότε ἁμαρτωλοὶ κύριε, ἕως πότε ἁμαρτωλοὶ καυχήσονται;

ὁ δεσπότης. Not the ordinary word of reverence applied to God, but one meaning (as we say) “lord and master.” It is used of God in Luke 2:29; Acts 4:24, and of Christ in Jude 1:4 (according to the right reading and probable translation); 2 Peter 2:1. Perhaps, as the usual word “Lord” in the N.T. and other Hellenistic writings stands for the Name Jehovah, so this is used where the sense “Lord” is really meant, i.e. it answers to the name Adonai, which the Jews pronounced instead of the Unutterable Name, and which Symeon and the Apostolic Church no doubt used in their thanksgivings. The use of the word after the Incarnation, and especially after the Ascension, shews that it is no argument for these Martyrs being only Jews—as though it proved a servile rather than filial spirit, as some have imagined: at most, it only proves Jewish habits of expression, and it needs no proof that such prevail throughout this Book.

οὐ κρίνεις καὶ ἐκδικεῖς. It has been argued again from this, that the temper of the Martyrs’ souls is less than Christian. But however right it may be to contrast 2 Chronicles 24:22 with Acts 7:60, no one can surely imagine that the spirit of this passage is a selfish desire for personal vengeance. As we meet with the germ of the thought in Psalms 94:3, so we have a developement of it, substantially identical with this, from the mouth of Christ Himself, Luke 18:2-8. Faith looks on evil with a hatred like God’s own—shares God’s will that it shall not triumph and trusts in God that it will not: but without sharing the depth of God’s counsels, Who knows best how and when to overthrow it. Therefore the Church on earth (the probable meaning of the Widow) and the Saints in heaven cry alike to God to execute His own purpose, and bring the reign of evil to an end—and He does not yet, but He surely will.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 6:10

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