Revelation 11:1

The Measuring Angel and the Two Witnesses. Chap. 11 Revelation 11:1-13

1. a reed Ezekiel 40:3; Zechariah 2:1.

like unto a rod i.e. a walking-staff: probably not as long as the one in Ezek., l.c., but perhaps of six feet:so that it would naturally, when carried, be grasped near the upper end, like a pilgrim's staff, or a modern alpenstock.

and the angel stood These words should be omitted: they are no doubt inserted for grammatical completeness. "There was given unto me a reed like unto a staff, … saying" is of course easily understood to mean, "There was given unto me … he that gave it saying." It thus is not certain that it is the "mighty angel" of the preceding chapter who speaks in this.

the temple of God The word used is not that for the whole "Temple-precinct," but the "Temple" in the narrowest sense what in the O. T. is called "the house" or "the palace."

the altar Being distinguishedfrom the Temple, we should naturally think of the Altar of Burnt-offering which stood outside it: besides that this was, and the Altar of Incense was not, large enough to be measured by something longer than a foot-rule. But we saw on Revelation 6:9 that the Heavenly Temple apparently has noAltar of Burnt-offering distinct from the Altar of Incense: so the question only becomes important if we suppose the earthly Temple to be meant.

Is it then the heavenly or the earthly Temple that St John is bidden to measure? Probably the latter. Without pressing the argument from Revelation 10:9, that the seer is now on earth, it is hardly likely that, whereas in Ezekiel, Zechariah, and inf. Revelation 21:15 the measurement, not of the Temple only but of the Holy City, is the work of angels, it should here be ascribed to a man. But what is more decisive is, that the whole of this chapter describes God's rebukesand correcting judgementson the city, the fate of which is connected with that of the Temple here named. This proves that it is the earthly city of God that is meant and therefore probablythe literal Jerusalem: for the Christian Church, imperfectly as it realises its divine ideal, does not appear to be dissociated from it in Scriptural typology or prophecy: "Jerusalem which is above … is the Mother of us all," even now, and even now "our citizenship is in Heaven."

and them that worship therein Lit. in it, not "in them," i.e. in the Temple, the mention of "the Altar" being parenthetical. But neitherthe Temple (in the narrower sense) northe Altar was ordinarily a place of spiritual "worship," but only of the ritual "service of God." Therefore the meaning of the Temple and Altar must be to some extentspiritualised: even if the prophecy be concerned with God's judgements on Jerusalem and the Jewish people, we are not to understand that the actual Temple was to be spared (for we know it was not): but, most probably, that the true Israelites would not be cut off from communion with God, even when their city and the earthly splendours of their Temple were destroyed. Ezekiel 11:16 will thus illustrate the sense of the passage, though there does not appear to be a conscious reference to it.