The series (first three εἰς, last four ἐπὶ) of these plagues as usual consists of four and three; the former, as in the seals, affecting earth (_i.e._, votaries of the Imperial cultus), sea, waters, and the sun. The special object of the writer in this passage (_i.e._, to introduce the doom of Rome... [ Continue Reading ]
The sixth Egyptian plague, “a noisome and painful ulcer” (the punishment of the impious and rebellious, according to Philo, _de Execr._ Revelation 16:6) breaks out on the adherents of the Cæssar-cult.... [ Continue Reading ]
“Coagulated blood,” fatal to animal life (as in first Egyptian plague). This plague is final, as compared, _e.g._, with that of Revelation 8:8.... [ Continue Reading ]
No more drinking water. The justice of this particular plague is acknowledged by (Revelation 16:5-6) the angel of the element in question and by (7) the altar (personified here, in line of Revelation 6:9-10, and Revelation 8:3, or of Revelation 14:18), which echoes the angel's cry.... [ Continue Reading ]
ὅσιος and δίκαιος are used together of God in hieratic inscriptions of dedication throughout Asia Minor, possibly under Jewish influence. Δίκαιος, often a title of messiah (see on Revelation 3:1 and Beer's note on En. xxxviii. 2), is reserved here for God. Retribution is the outcome of God's intense... [ Continue Reading ]
The retribution once threatened on Jerusalem and the Jews (Matthew 23:35) is now transferred apparently to Rome, the later antagonist of the faith (_cf._ on Revelation 18:24). Once the Romans made Christian blood run like water. Now, by the irony of providence, they shall find nothing but blood to d... [ Continue Reading ]
Failure to honour the true God, a note of the heathen spirit (as in Revelation 11:13; Revelation 14:7; Romans 1:28). See Introd., § 6. For the general idea, _cf._ 2 Clem. ix.: “while we have opportunity of being healed, let us give ourselves over to God the healer, giving him a recompense. And what... [ Continue Reading ]
The ninth Egyptian plague of darkness (due to the eclipse, _cf._ Revelation 8:12 ?) falls on Rome, aggravating the previous pains of the Romans (Revelation 16:2) and driving them into exasperation and fresh blasphemy instead of repentance. The repetition of Revelation 16:11 _b_, after Revelation 16:... [ Continue Reading ]
To facilitate the invasion of the empire (Revelation 17:12; Revelation 17:16) by the Parthians (Revelation 9:14 f.) under Nero redivivus (_cf._ Revelation 19:19), as in 4 Esd. 13:43 47 to let the ten tribes return in safety from captivity, the Euphrates is to be dried up in the latter days, like the... [ Continue Reading ]
βάτραχοι perhaps a reminiscence of the second Egyptian plague, but probably an Iranian touch; the frog was a special agent of Ahriman in the final contest (_cf._ reff., _H. J._ 1904, 352, and Hübschmann, 230, 231). According to Artemidorus (ii. 15) frogs represent γοήτας καὶ βωμολόχους, and they wer... [ Continue Reading ]
“They are (not, these are) spirits of daemons”. These devilish imps muster God's opponents to the final conflict. The fierce invasion of _the kings of the east_ seems to give an impetus to _the kings of the world_. Antichrist's power extends to these (_cf._ Revelation 11:10). “As the Lord sent his a... [ Continue Reading ]
A double thread of tradition is woven into this strand of prophecy, (_a_) that of a last conflict of the world-powers with God and the messianic people (_cf._ Revelation 17:14; Revelation 19:19) and (_b_) that of Rome's ruin by the Parthians under Nero redivivus. The two were originally distinct, bu... [ Continue Reading ]
The temple (Revelation 11:19) and the throne (Revelation 8:3) are again blended in one scene. In Isaiah 66:6 the divine vengeance is heralded by φωνὴ ἐκ ναοῦ, φωνη Κυρίου ἀνταποδιδόντος ἀνταπόδοσιν τοῖς ἀντικειμένοις.... [ Continue Reading ]
The conventional stormtheophany brings on an exceptionally severe earthquake, which (Revelation 16:19) shatters Jerusalem into three parts and entirely overthrows the pagan cities. Rome's more awful ruin is attributed in Revelation 17:16 to the invasion of Oriental hordes (_cf._ Revelation 16:12); h... [ Continue Reading ]
Here, as at Revelation 6:14, the removal of hills tallies with the Iranian belief (shared by later Jewish Christian apocalyptic, _cf._ Böklen, 131 f.) that mountains as the work of Ahriman would disappear with him (_S. B. E._ ver. 129), leaving the earth in its ideal state of a smooth plane on which... [ Continue Reading ]
Even an abnormal hail-ahower (_cf._ the fourth Egyptian plague) fails to bring pagans to their senses. ὡς ταλ, _i.e._, literally about sixty times the weight of even the enormous hailstones (μνααῖαι) which Diodorus Siculus (19:45) records. In En. lx. 17 the “spirit of the hail is a good angel,” _i.e... [ Continue Reading ]