Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 2:23

τέκνα, literally, perhaps with an indirect allusion to the killing of Ahab's seventy sons. ἀποκτ. θ. (Hebraism), “I will utterly slay”; see on Revelation 6:8. If any particular form of death is meant, it may be pestilence (the inscriptions often mention fever), which represented to an Oriental mind the punishment of God on man's unfaithfulness. The curious difference between the treatment of the μοιχ. and the τέκνα is due to the fact that (cf. Daniel 6:24), a parent's sin was visited upon his family, both in Jewish and in contemporary pagan belief (cf. the Phrygian inscription, cited by Mayor on James 5:12, κατηράμενος ἤτω αὐτὸς καὶ τὰ τέκνα αὐτοῦ). Yet even when both classes are allegorised into active coadjutors and deluded victims, the relative punishment looks unequal. John, unlike Ezekiel (Revelation 13:17-18), holds that the victims of the false prophetess are willing and responsible for their position. πᾶσαι αἱ ἐκκλ., the judgment was to be as notorious as evidently the scandal had been. The idea recalls one of Ezekiel's favourite conceptions. ἐγώ κ. τ. λ. “I know the abysses,” and “discerner of hearts and searcher of the reins “were old Egyptian titles for divine beings. This intimate knowledge of man (cf. 16 c) pierces below superficial appearances, e.g., connexion with the church, prophetic zeal, and plausible excuses. As in Jeremiah 17:10; Jeremiah 20:12 (cf. Ps. Song of Solomon 8:8), the divine acquaintance with man's real, secret life forms the basis of unerring and impartial judgment; while, as in Jeremiah 4:16-17 (cf. Acts 4:1 f., 1 Timothy 1:20; 1 Corinthians 5:4, etc.) the prophetic denunciation or imprecation has a direct effect upon the person denounced (cf. von Dobschütz, 270 f.). The former would be a fairly novel idea to most of those accustomed to the Roman religio, which was “one of observance, sacrifice, and outward act, that in no way searched the heart of the worshipper a system of rules which covered the circumstances of Roman life” (H. O. Taylor, Ancient Ideals, i. 417, 418).

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 2:23

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