Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 7:15

ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου. Perhaps in a more favoured position than is given to all, even among Saints: as we have similar language about the most favoured Angels, Matthew 18:10; Luke 1:19.

λατρεύουσιν αὐτῷ. The sense would be clearer if the word were rendered “worship”: it does not mean that they have active work to do for Him, but that they do what is the appropriate service of His Temple, though it is to be remembered that the service of the earthly Temple was arranged to represent the service of the Palace of an invisible King: His lamps were lit, His table spread, and the like.

σκηνώσει ἐπʼ αὐτούς. Lit. “shall tabernacle over them”: in Revelation 21:3 the verb is the same, but there the construction is μετʼ αὐτῶν. The word is used in the N.T., and in Hellenistic writers generally, to express the dwelling of the Divine Presence in any of its manifestations: see esp. St John’s Gospel, Revelation 1:14. The word σκηνὴ was the more readily used in this sense because of its assonance with the late Hebrew word Shĕchînêh for “the cloud of glory shadowing the Mercy-seat.” Here perhaps the thought is rather of that manifestation of God’s Presence than of the fuller and later Presence in the Incarnation.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Revelation 7:15

Old Testament

New Testament