Revelation 2:9

thy works, and Should be omitted.

poverty Perhaps the effect of the persecution, Jewish converts being, as in Hebrews 10:34, deprived of their property when put out of the synagogue on their conversion. Or perhaps rather the cause of the persecution being more intense here the Christians being people of no dignity or influence, it was safe to attack them.

but thou art rich Contrast Revelation 3:17, and compare James 2:5.

blasphemy Probably rather in the sense of calumny, coarse slanders against them, than blasphemy against their Lord: though of course both may have been combined, as when Christians were ridiculed as worshippers of the Crucified.

of them We should read [coming] from them i.e. the calumny not only uttered by them, but originating from them, and very likely received and repeated among the heathen.

which say they are jews No doubt the persons meant are real Jews by birth as well as by profession, but are denied to be worthy of the name. It is treated as still an honourable one, implying religious privileges, as by St Paul in Romans 2:17; Romans 2:28-29; Romans 3:1. Contrast the way that "the Jews" are spoken of in St John's Gospel always meaning the chief priests and scribes, the persistent enemies of the Gospel. Hence is drawn an argument, that this Book could not be written by the author of the Gospel, at any rate after he had written it: though if this Book were written before the fall of Jerusalem, and the Gospel long after, the change in his point of view will be intelligible.

and are not Better, and they are not the relative construction is not continued, at least if we suppose the sentence to be grammatical.

the synagogue of Satan For an instance of the same severity from the same mouth, see John 8:44. While they claimed to be, as the old Jewish Church was, "the congregation of the Lord." Synagogueis etymologically almost equivalent to congregation, and is, as St Augustine observes, a less noble word than that used for the Christian Church, Ecclesia, a summoned assembly: for while brutes may be "gathered together," reason (and we may add, freedom) is implied in being summonedtogether. But the distinction between the two words is not always maintained: Israel is called "the Church" in Acts 7:38, and the assembly of ChristianJews is called a "synagogue" in St James 2:2, and almost in Hebrews 10:25.