Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 13:11

ἐκ τῆς γῆς the mythological trait is applied geographically to Asia Minor (i.e., the East). Here again the cosmological antithesis has been transformed into a political application. The marine monster cannot exercise dominion over the land except through an intermediary ἐκ τῆς γῆς. Cf. Apoc. Bar. xxix. 4, where the two beasts, leviathan and behemoth, rise from the sea and the land, as in the ancient Semitic and Babylonian mythology the dry land and the deep were the habitations of the two primeval monsters (En. lx. 7f., 4 Esd. 6:49 f.), who represented the chaos-opponent of heaven. The mild appearance of the beast (ὁμ. ἀρν. does not mean that he deceived men with the name of the Lamb) is accompanied by a plausible appeal (cf. Weinel, 21 f.). The allusion (Revelation 13:12), borrowed from the older dragonmyth, is to the seductive inducements held out by the Beast to Christians, such as considerations of loyalty, patriotism, self-interest, and the like. These are backed by (Revelation 13:13) miracles, which together with magic are also connected with Nero redivivus in Asc. Isa. iv. 9 11 (cf. A. C. 175 f.). The deceptive influence of miracles was a sure sign of the end, in early Christian literature (cf. the lines of the πρεσβύτης cited by Irenæus, Revelation 1:15; Revelation 1:6). Most Oriental cults practised such tricks lavishly, and constant warnings against them were heard (cf. Weinel 9; Friedlander, iii. 458 f., 521 f.).

Continues after advertising

BibliaPlus

Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 13:11

Old Testament

New Testament