The procedure of the writer here is very much the same as in ch. 11. (see above). The oracle of 12. is not an allegorising version of history, nor an exegetical construction of O.T. texts, nor a free composition of the author, but the Christianised reproduction of a Jewish source (possibly from the... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν τ. οὐ. almost = “in the sky” (_cf._ Revelation 12:4.). A Greek touch: _cf._ Hom. _Iliad_, ii. 308, ἔνθʼ ἐφάνη μέγα σῆμα · δράκων ἐπὶ νῶτα δαφοινός (_i.e._ fiery-red). Here as elsewhere mythological traits of the original source are left as impressive and decorative details. The nearest analogy is... [ Continue Reading ]
πυρρός, Vergil's serpents which attack Laokoon have blood-red crests, and Homer's dragon has a blood-red back, but here the trait (_cf._ above) is reproduced from the red colour of Typhon, the Egyptian dragon who persecuted Osiris (Plut. _de Iside_, 30 33). The seven heads are taken from the seven-h... [ Continue Reading ]
The symbolism is a reminiscence of an ætiological myth in astrology (_cf._ the _cauda_ of the constellation Scorpio) and of the primitive view which regarded the dark cloud as a snake enfolding the luminaries of heaven in its hostile coils (Job 3:8; Job 26:13, with A. B. Davidson's notes). Thus the... [ Continue Reading ]
In accordance with the rabbinic notion which withdrew messiah for a time, the infant, like a second Moses, is caught up out of harm's way. He has no career on earth at all. This is intelligible enough in a Jewish tradition; but while no Christian prophet could have spontaneously depicted his messiah... [ Continue Reading ]
ἀπὸ κ. τ. λ., = ὑπό of agent (so Acts 2:22; Acts 4:36, etc., Ps. Sol. 15:6, and a contemporary inscription in Dittenberger's _Sylloge Inscr._ 655 8 συντετηρημένα ἀπὸ βασιλέων καὶ Σεβαστῶν) only here in Apocalypse. On the flight of the faithful to the wilderness, a stereotyped feature of the antichri... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐγένετο … τοῦ π. (= ותהי מלחמה בשׂמים לִהלחם), the nomin. makes this rare use of the genit. infin. even more clumsy and irregular than the similar constr. with accus. in Acts 10:25 (where see note). The sense is plain, and it is better to put the constr. down to syntactical laxity than to conjecture... [ Continue Reading ]
Δράκων and ὄφις are in the LXX interchangeable terms for the leviathan or sea-monster of mythology, who is here defined as _the old serpent_ (a rabbinical expression, _cf._ Gfrörer, i. 386 389); so Tiâmat, the primaeval rebel, as dragon and serpent (_cf._ Rohde's _Psyche_, 371) had been identified i... [ Continue Reading ]
κατήγωρ (קטיגוִר) is the counterpart to the rabbinic (Lueken 22) title of συνήγορος given to Michael as a sort of Greatheart or advocate and protector of men (En. lx. 9). The Aramaic derivation of the word (Win. § 8. 13) is not absolutely necessary, as the papyri show that it might have sprung up on... [ Continue Reading ]
This sentence, like Revelation 12:7, suggests that earth's history is the reflex and outcome of transactions in heaven, on the common principle of Jalkut Rub. (on Exodus 14:7): “there was war above in heaven) and war below (on earth), and sore was the war in heaven”. Satan's dislodgment from heaven... [ Continue Reading ]
εὐφραίνεσθε, _cf._ the Egyptian hymn in honour of Râ, the sun-god: “Râ hath quelled his impious foes, heaven rejoices, earth is delighted”. οὐαὶ κ. τ. λ. This desperate and last effort of Satan is a common apocalyptic feature (_cf. e.g._, 4 Esd. 13:16 f.; Ap. Bar. xxviii. 3, xli. 1, lxxv. 5; Mark 13... [ Continue Reading ]
“The two wings of a huge griffon-vulture” (τοῦ either generic article, or a Hebraism, or more likely an allusion to the mythological basis). In traditional mythology the eagle opposed and thwarted the serpent at all points (_cf._ reff.). In the Egyptian myth the vulture is the sacred bird of Isis (H... [ Continue Reading ]
Another mythological metaphor for persecution or persecutors, like “torrents of Belial” (Psalms 18:4). As the primaeval dragon was frequently a sea-monster, from Tiâmat onwards, his connexion with water (_cf._ on Revelation 8:10) was a natural development in ancient (_cf._ Pausan. ver 43 f.) and eve... [ Continue Reading ]
The dragon is unexpectedly baffled by the earth, as the woman's ally, which swallows the persecutors like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Numbers 16:30-32). This enigmatic detail has not yet been paralleled from Jewish or early Christian literature, for _Protev. Jacobi_, 22 (cited by Selwyn, 7 9) is even... [ Continue Reading ]
The baffled adversary now widens his sphere of operations. τ. λ. an apocalyptic term = the _derelicti_ or _relicti_ of 4 Esdras (_cf._ Volz, 319). These represent to the Christian editor the scattered Christians in the Empire; by adding this verse (or at least καὶ ἐχ.… Ἰησοῦ) to the source, he paves... [ Continue Reading ]