Here only in N.T. (after the ruin of sinners, as Psalms 104:35) the liturgical hallelujah of the psalter and synagogue worship occurs. In Revelation 19:1; Revelation 19:3; Revelation 19:6 it stands as usual first, an invocation = “praise Jah”; but in Revelation 19:4 it is responsive, as in Pss. 104... [ Continue Reading ]
ἔφθειρεν, as the first Babylon had been denounced for her depraving influence by Jeremiah (51) Jeremiah 28:25, τὸ ὄρος τὸ διεφθαρμένον τὸ διαφθεῖρον πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. The impatient cry of Revelation 6:10 has now been answered. God “has avenged the blood (_i.e._, the murder) of his servants at her hand... [ Continue Reading ]
After the long interlude of judgments on the earth, the πρεσβύτεροι and ζῷα (incidentally mentioned in Revelation 11:16; Revelation 14:3) re-appear upon the scene, though for the last time, to take part in the chorus of praise over Rome's ruin. The cradle-song of the future is the dirge of Rome. The... [ Continue Reading ]
The O.T. expression _servants of God_ implied (_R. S._ 69 f.) not simply membership in a community of which God is king, but special devotion to his service and worship. It was not associated with any idea of “slavery to a divine despot,” but was originally confined in the main to royal and priestly... [ Continue Reading ]
S ingeniously but awkwardly punctuates after “Hallelujah,” connecting ὅτι κ. τ. λ., with the subsequent χαίρωμεν. ἐβασίλευσε κ. τ. λ. A sublimated version of the old watchword ΚΥΡΙΟΣ ΑΥΤΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΗΜΩΝ which had been the rallying cry of pious Jews and especially of the Pharisees (_e.g._, Ps. Sol. 1... [ Continue Reading ]
A proleptic allusion to the triumphant bliss as a marriage between the victorious messiah and his people or the new Jerusalem (_cf._ Volz, 331). The conception is primarily eschatological (Weinel, p. 137; _cf._ Mechilta on Exodus 19:17) and is so employed here. The marriage-day of Christ and his chu... [ Continue Reading ]
“Yea, she is (has been) permitted to put on” (for διδόναι ἵνα _cf._ Revelation 9:5; Mark 10:37), epexegetic of ἡτοιμ. ἑαυτήν (Isaiah 61:10). “Uides hic cultum gravem ut matronae, non pompaticum qualis meretricis ante (Revelation 17:4) descriptus,” Grot. In the following gloss (see above) the rare us... [ Continue Reading ]
The saints are the Bride, but by a confusion inevitable when the the two cognate figures, apocalyptic and synoptic (Matthew 22:2 f.), are combined they are also the guests at the wedding. (The bliss of the next world is termed “the Banquet” in rabbinic writings, which interpret Exodus 24:11 as thoug... [ Continue Reading ]
Jewish eschatology at this point has much to say of the return of the ten tribes and the general restoration of Zion's children from foreign lands but these speculations were naturally of no interest to the religious mind of the Christian prophet. As hitherto the command to write has come from Chris... [ Continue Reading ]
messiah and his troops or retinue: Jesus to the rescue (_cf. Samson Agonistes_, 1268 f.). The following description of a semi-judicial, semi-military hero is painted from passages like Isaiah 11:3-5 (where messiah, instead of judging by appearances, decides equitably: πατάξει γῆν τῷ λόγῳ τοῦ στόματο... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 19:11-21 : a second vision of doom, on the Beast and his allies (in fulfilment of Revelation 12:5). Their fate (Revelation 19:17-21) follows a procession of the angelic troops (Revelation 19:11-16, contrast Revelation 9:16 f.). The connexion of this and the foregoing volume (Revelation 19... [ Continue Reading ]
The military function of the messiah is known even to the philosophic Philo, who (_de praem. et poen._ 15 20) represents him incidentally as καὶ στραταρχῶν καὶ πολεμῶν ἔθνη. The victory of messiah over the earthly foes of God's kingdom meant the triumph of the kingdom, according to Jewish and Jewish... [ Continue Reading ]
διαδήματα πολλά, bec. he is king of kings (Ptolemy on entering Antioch put two diadems on his head, that of Egypt and that of Asia (1Ma 11:13); _cf._ the ten golden diadems of royalty in ancient Egypt). Once crowned with thorns, Jesus is now invested with more than royal rank (_cf._ Barn. vii. 9, wh... [ Continue Reading ]
“Dipped in blood” (_i.e._, the blood of his foes): from the “crimsoned garments” of Yahveh in Isaiah 63.; _cf._ also Revelation 19:15 with “I have trodden the wine-press.… Yea, I trod them in mine anger (κατεπάτησα αὐτοὺς ἐν θυμῷ μου), and trampled them in my fury,” etc. Add Targ. Palest, on Genesis... [ Continue Reading ]
αὐτός The victory of the messiah is single-handed (“I have trodden the wine-press alone”); _cf._ on Revelation 19:13, an d Sap. 18:22, P s. Sol. 17:24 27, where the word of messiah's mouth is the sole weapon of his victory (an Iranian touch as in _S. B. E._ iv. p. lxxvii. f., the distinguishing exce... [ Continue Reading ]
“And on his garment and (_i.e._, even) upon his thigh”; on that part of the robe covering his thigh, he has a title of honour written. Some Greek statues appear to have had a name written thus upon the thigh (Cicero mentions one of Apollo marked in small silver letters, _Verr._ iv. 43). Messiah, lik... [ Continue Reading ]
ἐν ἡλίῳ, a commanding and conspicuous position.... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 19:17-21 : the rout and destruction of the Beast and his adherents, modelled upon Isaiah 56:9 f. and Ezekiel's description of the discomfiture of prince Gog (Ezekiel 39:17-21), where beasts as well as birds are bidden glut themselves with carrion (4). This crude aspect of the messianic tr... [ Continue Reading ]
In the ancient world, this was the worst misfortune possible for the dead to lie unburied, a prey to wild birds. On the famous “stele of the vultures” (bef. 3000 B.C.) the enemy are represented lying bare and being devoured by vultures, while the corpses of the royal troops are carefully buried.... [ Continue Reading ]
This marks the culmination of many previous oracles: the messiah meets and defeats (Revelation 16:13 f.) the beast (_i.e._, Nero-antichrist, Revelation 11:7; Revelation 13:1 f.) and the false prophet (_i.e._, the Imperial priesthood = second beast of Revelation 13:11 f.) and their allies (_the kings... [ Continue Reading ]