A fresh vision commences (_cf._ Revelation 4:1), still punitive (Revelation 16:1), but with an exchange of angelic cicerones (as Slav. En. xxi.). The Beast which has already (in 13) done duty as the empire is now the support of the capital. Rome, personified (so Sib. Or. iii. 46 92, before 80 A.D.)... [ Continue Reading ]
Tyre's commercial intercourse with the nations (Isaiah 23:17) and Assyria's political intrigues, by which her statecraft fascinated and seduced other states (Nahum 3:4) are both described by the same figure. Local and national cults, as a rule, were left undisturbed by the Romans; and indeed Orienta... [ Continue Reading ]
The wilderness was the traditional site of visions, but there may be an allusion here to Isaiah 21:1 or even to the Roman Campagna (Erbes). The woman in 12. is in the desert to be delivered from the dragon; the woman here is in the desert to be destroyed by the Beast. κόκκινον “crimson or scarlet,”... [ Continue Reading ]
κεχρυς. goes by an awkward zeugma with λίθῳ (collective) καὶ μαργαρίταις; “with ornaments of gold and precious stones and pearls” (like Ezekiel's doomed prince of Tyre). The harlot in _Test. Jude 1:13; Jude 1:13_ :5 was also decked ἐν χρυσίῳ καὶ μαργαρίταις and poured out wine for her victims. Rome... [ Continue Reading ]
Roman _filles de joie_ wore a label with their names thus (Juv. vi. 123). μυστήριον (which hardly belongs to the title itself) indicates that the name is to be taken πνευματικῶς (Revelation 11:8), not literally; “a name written which is a symbol,” or a mysteriously significant title. μήτηρ κ. τ. λ.,... [ Continue Reading ]
_Cf._ Nahum's “bloody city” (of Assyrian cruelty to prisoners, Revelation 3:1), and for the metaphor Cic. _Phil._ ii. 24, 29, or Suet. _Tiberius_, 59, or Pliny, _H. N._ xiv. 28, “quo facile intelligatur ebrius jam sanguine ciuium, et tanto magis eum sitiens,” also Jos. _Bell_. Revelation 17:8; Revel... [ Continue Reading ]
An explanation of the vision, cautiously but clearly outlining the Nero-saga.... [ Continue Reading ]
As the Beast seen by the seer cannot be described as non-existent, it must denote here (as in Revelation 13:3 f., though differently) not the empire but the emperor, or one of its own heads. Such an identification was natural in the ancient world especially, where a king and his capital or state wer... [ Continue Reading ]
ὄρη, _cf._ Prop. iii. 11, 57 (“Septem urbs alta iugis, quae praesidet orbi”), Verg. _Georg_. ii. 534.... [ Continue Reading ]
Bruston takes καὶ ἐκ τῶν ἑπτὰ ἐστιν as a translation of השבעה הוא ומן, in the sense that the eighth was more (or greater) than the seven, _i.e._, realising more fully the ideal of the Beast. But even were the case for a Hebrew original clearer than it is, such an interpretation is forced. The verse... [ Continue Reading ]
This political application of the _ten horns_ probably means either the Parthian satraps of Revelation 16:12, reckoned in round numbers, who occupied a royal position in the estimation of the East (so, _e.g._, Eichhorn, de Wette, Bleek, Bousset, Scott, J. Weiss, Baljon, Wellhausen), or (“chefs d'arm... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 17:12-18 : the campaign of Nero and his vassal-kings against Rome, which is slain by an arrow feathered from her own wings.... [ Continue Reading ]
An abrupt and proleptic allusion to Revelation 19:11-21; the Christian messiah is the true _King of kings_ (a side reference to the well-known Parthian title). This is the first time that John brings the Lamb on the scene of earthly action. He now appears at the side, or rather at the head, of his f... [ Continue Reading ]
The woman impiously rivals God (κύριος ἐπὶ ὑδάτων πολλῶν, Psalms 29:3; Psalms cf.10). ὄχλοι is substituted for the more common φυλαί, perhaps with an allusion (after Ezekiel 16:15; Ezekiel 16:25; Ezekiel 16:31) to Rome's imperial rapacity.... [ Continue Reading ]
Rome perishes at the hands of Nero and his ruthless allies a belief loudly echoed in the Talmud. In Sib. _Or._ iv. 145, 350 f. the East then and thus regains the treasures of which the Oriental provinces had been despoiled. γυμνήν … πυρί the doom of a Semitic harlot (Ezekiel 23:45 f., Ezekiel 28:17-... [ Continue Reading ]
The remarkable unanimity and obedience of the usurping vassals, which welds them into an avenging instrument, can only be explained on supernatural grounds. A divine overruling controls all political movements (_cf._ Revelation 11:2; Revelation 13:5; Revelation 13:7), according to the determioism of... [ Continue Reading ]
The dramatic climax of the oracle: the great harlot is Rome, domina Roma, the pride and queen of the world! _Cf._ Spenser's _Ruines of Rome_, 360 f. (“Rome was th' whole world, and al the world was Rome”). For the probable position of Revelation 19:9-10; Revelation 19:9-10; Revelation 19:9-10 at thi... [ Continue Reading ]