Chú giải Kinh Thánh

CHAPTER 11

Revelation 11:1. The interpolation καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος εἱστήκει before λέγων (Elz.) is without all attestation.

ἔγειρε. So Lach., Tisch., in accordance with A, א, 6, 7, al. Besides the var. ἔγειραι (Elz.), ἔγειρον also occurs (cf. Wetst.); both as an interpretation.

Revelation 11:4. ἑστῶτες. So A, C, א1, 2, 4, 6, al., Beng., Matth., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]. Without witnesses is the correction ἑστῶσαι (Elz.).

Revelation 11:5. θέλει. Only twice is the more grammatical, and therefore more suspicious, form θελήσῃ (Elz., Tisch. IX. [W. and H.]) found, viz., in A, א; the first θέλῃ (Elz.) is entirely unwarranted. Properly Beng. already wrote θέλει both times.

Revelation 11:6. The decision as to whether, after a relatively compounded form like ὁσάκις, either ἐάν (so here Elz., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.], in accordance with A, א) or ἄν (as C actually has it) is to be written, does not depend upon critical testimonies concerning a particular passage; cf. my notes on 1 John 3:20.

Revelation 11:8. For ἡμῶν after κύριος (Elz.), Beng. already, in accordance with all the witnesses, substituted αὐτῶν.

Revelation 11:9. ἀφίουσιν. So A, C, א, 12, 28, Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.], instead of the emendation ἀφήσουσιν (Elz., Beng., Griesb., Matth.).

Revelation 11:10. εὐφραίνονται. So A, C, א, 12, 28, Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]. Modified, Elz.: εὐφρανθήσονται (Vulg.).

Revelation 11:11. ἐν αὐτοῖς. Correctly accepted by Lach., Tisch., from A, 18. Only for the purpose of avoiding harshness of construction with εἰσῆλθεν is it written: αὐτοῖς (C, 7, 17, Erasm., 1, 2, 3, Beng.), επʼ αὐτούς (Elz.), εἰς αὐτούς (א, 2, 4, 6, al.). The var. ἐπʼ αὐτοὶς (12) indicates what is correct.

Revelation 11:12. The reading ἤκουσα (Beng., Tisch.), supported by א corr., 4, 6, 8, 9, al., Syr., Copt., Andr., al., deserves the preference to the certainly well-attested ἤκουσαν (Lach., Tisch. IX. [W. and H.]). See exposition.

Revelation 11:16. The art. οἱ is lacking before εἴκ. τεσσ. πρεσβ. in A, C, א1, Lach., and before ἐν τ. θ. καθ. in A, Lach. But, in the second place, the art. which, because of the retrospection to Revelation 4:4; Revelation 4:11, especially cannot be absent in the first place, is to be recognized besides in the paraphrase οἱ

κάθηνται (C, 3, 4, al., Tisch. IX.). The omission also can be accounted for because of the similarity of the preceding syllable. Tisch. is right in supporting the rec., which has the article in both places.

Revelation 11:18. Instead of the dat., Lach. (small ed.) has written the accus. from τοὺς ἁγίους until τοὺς μεγάλους, of course according to A. But in his larger edition he has altered the reading, because C (also א1) offers only the two accusatives τοὺς μικρ. καὶ τοὺς μεγ. But the entirely senseless acc. can have its origin only in a slip in the MSS., which was occasioned possibly by the succeeding accus.

Revelation 11:19. The ό before ἐν τ. ουρ., which is lacking in א, Elz., Tisch. 1854, is found in A, C, 14 (Lach., Tisch. 1859 and IX. [W. and H.]).

The first part of the chapter, extending until Revelation 11:14,—with which the chapter would more properly end, because the second part (Revelation 11:15 sqq.) belongs throughout to ch. 12 sqq.,—contains the first manifestation of the πάλιν προφητεῦσαι, which was committed to John at the close of ch. 10. The present προφητεία, moreover, is opened with the description of a significant act which John must perform in the vision—just as the ancient prophets, by significant acts, prophesied to the people.[2789] With a measuring reed he must measure the temple, but not its outer court; for, as the heavenly voice immediately afterwards signifies, this is given to the heathen, who are for forty-two months (Revelation 11:1-2) to tread down the holy city. During this time—so further sounds the heavenly voice, from whose report John afterwards passes to his own prophetic discourse, Revelation 11:11—two witnesses of Christ shall come forth as preachers of repentance, who, only after the completion of their testimony, shall be slain by the beast out of the abyss, and that, too, in Jerusalem, where, to the joy of the godless world, their unburied corpses shall lie exposed to view in the street (Revelation 11:3-10). But after three days and a half these witnesses shall be revived by God, to the terror of their enemies, before whose eyes they shall be raised to heaven (Revelation 11:11-12). A mighty earthquake then destroys a tenth of the city, and kills seven thousand inhabitants; the survivors are converted (Revelation 11:13).

With this the second woe[2790] is at an end; the third cometh quickly.

[2789] 1 Kings 22:11; Isaiah 20:2; Jeremiah 19:1 sqq. Cf. also Acts 21:11. Knobel, Proph., i. 420 sqq.

[2790] Cf. Revelation 9:13 sqq.

Revelation 11:1. Καὶ ἐδόθη μοι. By whom, remains just as undetermined as Revelation 8:2, Revelation 6:11. De Wette, Ew. ii., think of the angel of ch. 10, who, however, has fulfilled there that to which he was called; Beng.[2791] refers it to Christ, but to this, Revelation 11:3 (ΜΑΡΤ. ΜΟΥ) does not constrain.

ΚἈΛΑΜΟς ὉΜΟΙΟς ῬΆΒΔῼ. That a reed serves as a ΜΈΤΡΟΝ,[2792] is to a certain extent explained as to its form, by its resemblance to a rule.

λέγων, without construction, as Revelation 4:1. Of course, the giver of the κάλαμος is meant; but it is incorrect, if one, as even Beng., regard the κάλαμος as the formally determined subject, and then by metonymy reaches its giver.

ἔγειρε καὶ μέτρησον. From the ἔγειρε it does not follow, that previously John was “in another posture of body,”[2793] perhaps kneeling; the ἔγειρε—otherwise than in Mark 5:41; John 5:8; Luke 5:23—corresponding to the Heb. קוּם,[2794] is only excitatory with respect to the closely connected ΚΑῚ ΜΕΤΡ.[2795]

It is not the purpose of the measuring, as the antithesis in Revelation 11:2 undoubtedly shows, to make visible the relations of space, which, besides, is not conceivable in the measuring of the ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΟῦΝΤΕς,—as in Ezekiel 40:1 sqq. the temple-building beheld by the prophet in its completion was measured in all its parts, because he is to learn its dimensions accurately,[2796]—but just as in Amos 7:7[2797] that is measured which was destroyed, with respect to what is to be exempted from destruction, so John must here measure what is mentioned in Revelation 11:1, because this is to be exempted from the destruction to which what is not measured (Revelation 11:2) is abandoned, and is therefore to be preserved. In this formal understanding, Grot., Eichh., Ew., De Wette, Lücke, Hengstenb., etc., agree, much as they diverge from one another in its more detailed interpretation. It is, therefore, incorrect to find the intention of the new building in the measuring; whether in Bengel’s sense, who here finds a confirmation of Ezekiel 40, viz., the prophecy of the building of the temple of Ezekiel at Jerusalem actually to occur at the end of days; or in the sense of the allegorists, who understand the ναὸς τ. θ. of the true Church of Christ, and refer to its glorious new building, in connection with which the old Protestant expositors[2798] regard the destruction of that which was consecrated (Revelation 11:2; Revelation 11:13), as the Roman-Catholic degeneration, Jerusalem (Revelation 11:8) as papal Rome; while the Catholics have in view the removal of the O. T. sanctuary, and the separation of wicked members of the Church, Revelation 11:2.[2799] See in general on Revelation 11:13.

ΤῸΝ ΝΑῸΝ ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ. That part of the entire ἹΕΡΌΝ which contained the holy of holies, the holy place, and the porch; the proper temple-building,[2800] in distinction from the entire space of the outer courts, cf. Revelation 11:2. Incorrectly, Weiss:[2801] “The congregation of believing Jews.”

ΤῸ ΘΥΣΙΑΣΤΉΡΙΟΝ. Only the altar of incense can be meant; since only this, and not the altar of sacrifice,[2802] stood in the ΝΑΌς.[2803] For the argument of Hengstenb., that the ΝΑΌς itself is to be understood figuratively of the Christian Church, because here the altar of incense in the same is removed, there is no occasion. But, also, on the other side, the argument of De Wette is unsuitable, that in Revelation 6:9, Revelation 8:3, what is said pertains not to the altar of sacrifice, which does not occur at all in the Apoc., but to the altar of incense; for since the ΝΑῸς Τ. Θ. (Revelation 11:1) is different from the ΝΑῸς Τ. Θ. Ὁ ἘΝ Τ. ΟὐΡΑΝῷ (Revelation 11:19), just so little has the ΘΥΣΙΑΣΤΉΡΙΟΝ (Revelation 11:1) to do with the heavenly altar, Revelation 8:3, Revelation 6:9.

καὶ τοὺς προσκυνοῦντας ἐν αὐτῷ, viz., Τῷ ΝΑῷ. Vitr. refers ΑΥΤῷ to ΘΥΣΙΑΣΤ., and explains the ἘΝ by apud, since he interprets τ. προσκυν. by metonymy:[2804] “the place in which the people were accustomed to adore God,” and thus finally derives “the court of the Israelites.” To this view, conflicting with the idea of the ναός, and with Revelation 11:2,—which, besides, appears entirely confused by the fact that Vitr.[2805] understands by the ΘΥΣΙΑΣΤ. properly Christ,—he comes in order not to be compelled to conceive of the ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΟῦΝΤΕς in the ΝΑΌς, and at the altar found therein as exclusively priests, of whom many of the older Catholics, as C. a Lap, alone think. But as certainly as also the ΝΑῸς Τ. Θ. is to be sought in Jerusalem (Revelation 11:8), and the whole chapter is to be referred to the impending destruction of the city,[2806] just so certainly does the position of those ΠΡΟΣΚΥΝΟῦΝΤΕς in the ΝΑΌς itself appear as one of the ideal features, which explain the whole prophecy, and extend it to the sphere of a mere foretelling of a future event. That John beholds true believers from Israel transferred to the ΝΑῸς Τ. Θ., otherwise standing open only to priests, is interposed because of his knowledge of the priestly character of all believers, Jews and Gentiles.[2807] But as in ch. 7 he reports the sealing of believers out of Israel, as a necessary preparation for the judgment impending over Israel; so here, where the judgment breaks upon Israel those believers together with the proper dwelling of God are measured, just as he protects the ναὸς τ. Θ. before its sinking in judgment.[2808] [See Note LXVII., p. 332.]

[2791] Cf. also Ew.

[2792] Cf. Ezekiel 40:3 : קְנֵה הַמִּדָה; LXX.: κάλαμος μέτρον. Cf. Revelation 21:15.

[2793] Beng.

[2794] Numbers 10:35; LXX.: ἐξεγέρθεις. Psalm 3:8; LXX.: ἀνάστα. Micah 6:1; LXX.: ἀνάστηθι.

[2795] Cf. Ew., De Wette, etc.

[2796] Cf. Revelation 21:15 sqq.; also Zechariah 2:5 sqq. is similar.

[2797] Cf. Habakkuk 3:16.

[2798] Par., Vitr., etc.

[2799] C. a Lap., Stern.

[2800] Matthew 23:35; Matthew 27:51.

[2801] Stud. u. Krit., 1869, p. 30.

[2802] Grot., Vitr., Hengstenb.

[2803] Eichh., Heinr., De Wette, Stern, Ebrard.

[2804] Cf. also Grot.

[2805] Cf. Zeg., etc.

[2806] See on Revelation 11:13.

[2807] Revelation 1:6, Revelation 5:10. Cf. also Revelation 7:15.

[2808] Cf. also De Wette, Lücke (p. 354).

NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

LXVII. Revelation 11:1. τὸν ναὸν τοῦ θεοῦ, κ.τ.λ.

Alford argues at length in criticism of Düsterdieck’s interpretation, by which the measuring is referred to the literal and earthly Jerusalem: “I would strongly recommend any one who takes that view, to read through the very unsatisfactory and shuffling comment of Düsterdieck here; the result of which is, that, finding, as he of course does, many discrepancies between this and our Lord’s prophecy of the same destruction of Jerusalem, he is driven to the refuge that while our Lord describes matters of fact, St. John idealizes the catastrophe, setting it forth, not as it really took place, but according to its inner connection with the final accomplishment of the mystery of God, and correspondently with the hope which God’s O. T. people possessed, as contrasted with the heathen power of this world which abides in ‘Babylon.’ But if ‘Babylon’ is the abode of the world, why not ‘Jerusalem’ of the Church? If our interpreter, maintaining the literal sense, is allowed so far to ‘idealize’ as to exempt the temple of God itself (Revelation 11:1) from a destruction which we know overtook it, and nine-tenths of the city (Revelation 11:13) from an overthrow which destroyed it all, surely there is an end to the meaning of words. If Jerusalem here is simply Jerusalem, and the prophecy regards her overthrow by the Romans, and especially if this passage is to be made such use of as to set aside the testimony of Irenæus as to the date of the Apoc. by the stronger testimony of the Apoc. itself [so Düsterdieck from Lücke], then must every particular be shown to tally with known history; or, if this cannot be done, at least it must be shown that none contradicts it. If this cannot be done, then we may fairly infer that the prophecy has no such reference, or only remotely, here and there, and not as to its principal subject. Into whatever difficulty we may be led by the remark, it is no less true that the πόλις ἡ ἁγία of Revelation 11:2 cannot be the same as the πόλις ἡ μεγάλη of Revelation 11:8. This has been felt by the literal interpreters, and they have devised ingenious reasons why the holy city should afterwards be called the great city.… Düsterd.: ‘Because it is impossible in one breath to call a city ‘holy,’ and ‘Sodom and Egypt.’ Most true; then must we not look for some other city than one which this very prophecy has called most holy?” He understands the ναὸς τ. θεοῦ and its θυσιαστήριον as referring to “the Church of the elect servants of God, everywhere in this book symbolized by Jews in deed and truth. The society of these, as a whole, is the νάος agreeably to Scripture symbolism elsewhere, e.g., 1 Corinthians 3:16-17, and is symbolized by the inner or holy place of the Jerusalem temple, in and among which they, as true Israelites and priests unto God, have a right to worship and minister. These are they who, properly speaking, alone are measured; estimated again and again in this book by tale and number,—partakers in the first resurrection, the Church of the first-born.” Gebhardt, however, while emphatically rejecting Düsterdieck’s literalism, restricts the measuring to Jewish Christians (p. 258): “Can we still understand ‘the holy city,’ ‘the great city,’ to be Jerusalem in a purely local sense? No; the city is Jerusalem, but, as frequently elsewhere, it is at the same time the representative of the Jewish people. The seer was to ‘measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein;’ i.e., as Christians generally were protected from the trumpet and vial plagues (Revelation 7:1-4), so should Christians out of Israel be protected from the judgments which were to come upon Jerusalem and the Jewish people (compare Matthew 24:15-18). On the contrary, the court without the temple was to be ‘left out,’ for it was given to the Gentiles, and they should tread the holy city under foot forty and two months; i.e., the judgments already predicted by Daniel will burst in upon the non-christian, unbelieving Jewish people. Whether John, by its being given to the Gentiles, and their treading it under foot, had in mind the destruction of Jerusalem, the words do not expressly say.”

Revelation 11:2. Καὶ τὴν αὐλὴν τὴν ἕξωθεν, κ.τ.λ. Incorrectly, Luther: “The inner choir,” after a bad variation. Also Vitr., Ewald,[2809] Züll., object not only to the expression, but also to what was said in Revelation 11:1, since they conceive of τ. αὐλ. τὴν ἔξωθεν τοῦ ναοῦ in the sense of Τ. ΑὐΛ. ΤῊΝ ἘΞΩΤΈΡΑΝ Τ. Ν., and distinguish[2810] an outer and an inner court, the latter of which, as belonging to the ΝΑΌς, is measured with it. But the expression ἜΞΩΘ. Τ. Θ.[2811] confirms rather the idea given, Revelation 11:1, of the ΝΑΌς alone to be measured, i.e., the proper temple-building, outside of which the ΑὐΛΉ, i.e., the entire space of the court, lies.[2812] Arbitrarily, the ΑὐΛΉ is interpreted by Weiss: “the congregation of unbelieving Jews.”

ἜΚΒΑΛΕ ἜΞΩ. The casting out, viz., beyond the reach of that which is to be measured, is determined, according to the sense as well as the form of the idea, by the parallel addition, καὶ μὴ αὐτὴν μετρήσῃς;[2813] yet in the significant expression[2814] the point must not be overlooked, which Eichh. alone, and without the textual reference to the boundaries of the space to be measured, in his unhappy paraphrase makes equivalent to “declare profane.”[2815]

ὅτι ἐδόθη τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, for it is given to the Gentiles, viz., by the Divine decree; as the immediately following fut. πατήσουσι, which describes the impending fulfilment of this decree, unambiguously declares. Entirely in violation of the context, Beng. remarks that the Gentiles, on account of whose immensity, i.e., innumerableness,[2816] the outer court shall not be measured, shall at one day worship there. Improper also is the mingling of the idea, that the bloody sacrificial service at the altar of burnt offerings is not to be maintained:[2817] it is intended by this, only that according to the Divine decree, the Gentiles shall tread (πατήσουσι, Luke 21:24) the court and the entire holy city.[2818] Allied with this is the determination of the ΚΑΙΡΟῚ ἘΘΝῶΝ by the schematic temporal specification: ΜῆΝΑς ΤΕΣΣΑΡΆΚΟΝΤΑ ΚΑῚ ΔΎΟ, i.e., 3½ years,[2819] according to the type of the treading down of the holy city and the sanctuary by Antiochus Epiphanes.

[2809] Cf. Gött., Gel. Anz., 1861, p. 1013.

[2810] Cf. Ezekiel 40:17 sqq.

[2811] Cf. Revelation 14:20; Mark 7:15.

[2812] De Wette, Hengstenb., Ebrard.

[2813] Beng., Ewald, De Wette, Hengstenb., Ebrard.

[2814] Cf. Matthew 8:12; John 9:34 sqq., John 12:31; 3 John 1:10.

[2815] Cf. Vitr.: “Excommunicate.”

[2816] Revelation 7:4; Revelation 7:9.

[2817] Against De Wette, etc.

[2818] Cf. Matthew 4:5.

[2819] = 3½ καιροί, Daniel 7:25; Daniel 12:7; Revelation 12:14.

Revelation 11:3. κ. δώσω τοῖς δυσὶν μάρτυσίν μου. The object of δώσω follows here, not in the form of the infin.,[2820] but is described, according to the Hebrew way, in the succeeding clause, καὶ προφητ. Formally and materially incorrect are the additions to δώσω, “constancy and wisdom,”[2821] “the holy city,”[2822] which are expressly rejected already by Vitr. Unnecessarily, although in fact not unsuitably, De Wette supplies “direction and power.”

The art. τοῖς allows us to think only of two definite witnesses, otherwise known already, who, as the entire description until Revelation 11:12 establishes, are personal individuals, but not “allegories of potencies.”[2823] The witnesses are meant[2824] to be witnesses of Christ (μάρτ. μου),[2825] which accordingly is understood in general of itself, because, as all true ΠΡΟΦΗΤΕΊΑ proceeds from Christ,[2826] so also is it actually directed to Christ;[2827] but here it is especially applicable, because the witnesses come forth as preachers of repentance during an essentially Messianic visitation of judgment, and, besides, have to suffer from the same hostility as that by which the Lord himself is brought to the cross, Revelation 11:8. But from this it does not follow[2828] that Christ himself is to be regarded as speaking;[2829] but the heavenly voice[2830] speaks only in Christ’s name.

ἡμέρας χιλίας διακοσίας ἑξήκοντα. The specification of the forty-two months, Revelation 11:2, after the days, shows that daily, during this whole time, the prophetic speech of the two witnesses is heard.

περιβ-g0-. σάκκους-g0-. They are thus, above all things, preachers of repentance; for the penitential garb,[2831] which they themselves have adopted,[2832] puts before the eyes of the hearers what the prophetic testimony demands.

[2820] As Revelation 6:4, Revelation 7:2.

[2821] N. de Lyra, C. a Lap.

[2822] Beza.

[2823] Ebrard, who will in no way concede that they are symbols of individuals.

[2824] Ewald, De Wette, etc.

[2825] Cf. Revelation 11:8 : ὁ κύριος αὐτων.

[2826] Cf. Revelation 19:10.

[2827] Cf. Revelation 10:7.

[2828] Beng., Hengstenb., Ebrard.

[2829] Cf., on the other hand, the ὁ κύρ. αὐτῶν (Revelation 11:8).

[2830] Cf. Revelation 22:7.

[2831] Jeremiah 4:8; Jonah 3:5; Matthew 11:21.

[2832] Cf. Matthew 3:4.

Revelation 11:4. The two witnesses of Christ (Revelation 11:3) are further characterized in their nature and calling, and that, too, from Zechariah 4; for the definite art., αἱ δύο ἐλ., αἱ δύο λυχν., points back to this, as the entire verse is based upon the sense and expression of Zechariah 4. There Zech. beholds a golden candlestick with seven lamps, the symbol of the Church of God,[2833] besides two olive-trees, to the right and left of the candlestick, which receives from them its oil. The two ἐλαῖαι (LXX.) designate, besides the λυχνία, “two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth;”[2834] viz., the two defenders and guardians of the theocracy given by God,

Zerubbabel and the high priest Joshua;[2835] but the symbol represents that only by the Spirit of God, and not by man’s own power, the restoration of the kingdom of God can be effected, Revelation 11:6. With this symbol of Zech., John agrees when he designates the two witnesses of Christ as ΑἹ ΔΎΟ ἘΛΑῖΑΙ, and as ἘΝΏΠΙΟΝ ΤΟῦ ΚΥΡΊΟΥ Τῆς Γῆς ἙΣΤῶΤΕς. The latter expression, whose harsh incorrectness (ΑἹ

ἙΣΤῶΤΕς) is explicable by the reference to the persons represented under the symbols of ἘΛΑῖΑΙ and ΛΥΧΝΊΑΙ,[2836] designates as little as the corresponding words in Zech. the two witnesses as representatives of the Church against the world,[2837] but as servants of God,[2838] who is here called, accordingly, the Lord of the world,[2839] because he shall establish the fact that he is the Almighty, who sends his servants into their office, and protects them against all enemies, Revelation 11:5, and to the terror of their enemies can glorify[2840] the κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, Revelation 11:10 sqq. Deviating, however, from Zech., John designates the two witnesses, not only as two ἐλαῖαι, but also as two λυχνίαι. He, of course, derives this symbolical idea from Zech., but gives it another application; for what is said here is neither concerning the kingdom of God in itself, nor its up-building through Christ’s two witnesses, but concerning a judgment upon “the holy city,” during which the two witnesses preach repentance, and that, too, in vain, Revelation 11:7 sqq. In no respect have the two witnesses aught to do with the preservation of the temple.[2841] The idea of the one λυχνία in the sense of Zech. has therefore no place here. But John comprehends the symbol of the λυχνίαι in essentially the same significance as that of the ἑλαῖαι, when, precisely in the sense of Zechariah 4:6, he portrays what was just before expressed in clear words (δώσω τοῖς μάρτ. μ. καὶ προφητεύσουσιν); viz., that the efficiency of the two witnesses depends upon the Divine Spirit, not upon their own power, and hence becomes truly prophetic. John, therefore, describes the prophetic character of the two witnesses of Christ as like those two anointed ones in Zech.; but that he will not express the identity of the persons, nor designate the two witnesses as Zerubbabel and Joshua, who then must be regarded as repeated, follows partly from the deviation from Zech., and partly from other specifications in the context, Revelation 11:3, Revelation 11:5 sqq.[2842]

[2833] Cf. Revelation 1:20.

[2834] LXX.: παρεστήκασι κυρίῳ πάσης γῆς.

[2835] Cf. Revelation 3:1 sqq.

[2836] Cf. Revelation 5:13. Winer, p. 499.

[2837] Against Ebrard, who understands the אְַדֹון כָּל־הָאָרֶץ as the Persian ruler of the world, and accordingly, in this passage, the κύριος τῆς γῆς as “the Lord of this world.”

[2838] Revelation 8:2. Cf. Isaiah 6:1.

[2839] Cf., on the other hand, Revelation 11:13.

[2840] Cf. Beng.

[2841] Revelation 11:1, wherein many erroneously find the new building of the Christian Church symbolized.

[2842] See on Revelation 11:13.

Revelation 11:5 sq Description of the miraculous power with which the two witnesses are furnished in order, until their testimony is finished,[2843] to ward off their enemies, and to attest their divine commission. The particular features of the description, viz., Revelation 11:6, are derived from the histories of Elias and Moses. Even this retrospective allusion, acknowledged by all expositors, to the miracles of those ancient prophets which are in no way understood allegorically, of itself renders it in the highest degree improbable that the description here is meant to be allegorical; but also the individual expressions of the text guard against the “spiritual” interpretation, as it has been applied from Primas and Beda to Hengstenb. and Ebrard.

Whether in Revelation 11:5 (πῦρ ἐκπορεύεται ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτῶν, κ.τ.λ.) there be an allusion to 2 Kings 1:10 sqq., where Elijah calls down fire from heaven which consumes his enemies,[2844] remains uncertain; the parallel with Jeremiah 5:14[2845] is more probable, but in connection with this the different character of the two passages dare not be overlooked. In Jeremiah the words of God are mentioned, and how when given in the mouth of the prophet they are like fire; just as it is said in Sir 48:1 : ἀνέστη Ἡλιας προφήτης ὡς πῦρ, καὶ ὁ λόγος αὐτοῦ ώς λαμπάς ἐκαίετο.[2846] In this passage, however, nothing is said of God’s words coming like fire from the mouth of the prophet,[2847] but only of fire which proceedeth from his mouth. What is said in Jeremiah 5:14, by way of comparison, appears here, just as above, Revelation 9:17, in dreadful reality; and that the words πὺρ ἐκπορ. ἐκ τ. στόμ. αὐτ. are, nevertheless, meant figuratively, follows from their deadly[2848] effect described immediately afterwards in the parallel clause, which, besides, is expressly referred by the οὕτως to the fire; for this οὕτως[2849] says: “By the fire proceeding out of their mouth;”[2850] and designates the punishment corresponding to the guilt of the θέλειν ἀδικῆσαι.[2851] But if the πῦρ is understood figuratively, the ἀποκτανθῆναι must then be referred to the fact that to unbelievers the gospel is a savor of death unto death; for the ἀδικῆσαι must also then be figurative no less than the entire succeeding statement. The allegorists are, also, mostly consistent in this, but they arrive at the most wonderful interpretations. In the “power to shut heaven, that it rain not,” Revelation 11:6, the two witnesses are like Elijah;[2852] even the specification of time here corresponds, as the days of their prophetic employment during which it is not to rain,[2853] agree, according to Revelation 11:3, with the three and a half years during which Elijah kept the heaven shut.[2854] The further “power over the waters (ἘΠΊ)[2855] to turn them to blood,” the two witnesses have in common with Moses;[2856] the last words also, ΚΑῚ ΠΑΤΆΞΑΙ ΤῊΝ ΓῆΝ ἘΝ ΠΆΣῌ ΠΛΗΓῇ, Κ.Τ.Λ., contain a retrospective view to the plagues with which Moses smote the Egyptians,[2857] although unlimited power is given both witnesses “to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will.” These decided words once more make it manifest in the most definite way, that the issuing of fire from the mouth of the witnesses, the closing of the heaven, and the turning of water into blood,[2858] are clearly particular plagues of the kind inflicted by Elijah and Moses. If we are not to interpret 1 Kings 17, Jam 5:17, Exodus 7 sqq., allegorically, we must abide also in this passage by the literal sense, yet must not deduce therefrom that “the power of the keys”[2859] is here ascribed the two witnesses, in virtue of which they close the heaven spiritually, and hold back the spiritual rain of the gospel,[2860] cause bloodshed to come from the gospel,[2861] or—if the ὝΔΑΤΑ which are turned into blood be understood as the waters out of which the antichristian beast (i.e., the papacy) arises—could excite the conflicts between popes and antipopes.[2862] This kind of consequent allegorizing was doubtful already to Grot., who, therefore, tries to escape with the vague explanation, “There is nothing so great which they do not obtain on asking from God.”[2863]

[2843] Cf. Revelation 11:7 sqq.

[2844] Ewald, De Wette, etc.

[2845] Beng., Hengstenb., etc.

[2846] “Then stood up Elias the prophet as fire, and his word burned like a lamp.”

[2847] Against Beda, N. de Lyra, Aret., Par., Calov., Hengstenb., Ebrard. Cf. Grot.: “Their prayers excite God’s wrath.”

[2848] Cf. Revelation 9:18.

[2849] Cf. Sir 48:3.

[2850] Ew., Züll.

[2851] Beng., De Wette, Hengstenb.

[2852] 1 Kings 17:1.

[2853] Concerning the accus. τὰς ἡμέρας τ. πρ. αὑτ., cf. Winer, p. 215.

[2854] Jam 5:17.

[2855] Cf. Revelation 6:8, where the accus. follows.

[2856] Exodus 7:19.

[2857] Cf. Exodus 8:2; Exodus 8:16 sqq., Revelation 9:15, Revelation 11:1.

[2858] Cf. also Revelation 8:8.

[2859] Beda.

[2860] N. de Lyra, Vitr., Calov., Hengstenb., Ebrard.

[2861] Vitr.

[2862] Cf. Calov.

[2863] See on Revelation 11:13.

Revelation 11:7. ὅταν τελέσωσι. “When they shall have finished.”[2864]

ΤῸ ΘΗΡΊΟΝ ΤῸ ἈΝΑΒΑῖΝΟΝ ΈΚ Τῆς ἈΒΎΣΣΟΥ. Only the infernal nature of the beast is to be learned from his rising out of the abyss,[2865] and his definitely antichristian character; further, from his contending against the witnesses of Christ,[2866] and overcoming and slaying them. The more detailed explanation of the beast, John himself does not give until chs. 13 and 17. The mention of the beast in this passage is undoubtedly proleptical,[2867] inasmuch as the concrete idea of the antichristian power under the definite form of the beast from the abyss, which is presupposed as known by the definite art. ΤῸ ΘΗΡ., proceeds first from chs. 13, 17; meanwhile, not only is the idea of his Antichristian nature already to a certain extent intelligible from the entire context, but also the form of the description of the beast from the example of Daniel 7, to which the interpolation in Cod. A expressly refers.

[2864] Cf. Winer, p. 289.

[2865] Cf. Revelation 9:1; Revelation 9:11.

[2866] Cf. Revelation 13:7.

[2867] De Wette, etc.

Revelation 11:8-10. As the slaying of the two witnesses could not occur[2868] until they had fulfilled their mission, so the Almighty Lord[2869] here allows dishonor to be shown their dead bodies, only in order afterwards to glorify them the more, Revelation 11:11.

τὸ πτῶμα αὐτῶν. The sing.[2870] is regarded collectively;[2871] “that which has fallen of them,” i.e., their corpses.

ἐπὶ τῆς πλατείας τῆς πόλεως τῆς μεγάλης. On the street, in the place where in the public exercise of their μαρτυρία they are slain, they remain lying unburied,[2872] the most ignominious outrage even according to the feeling of the Gentiles,[2873] who here are represented as instruments of the beast of the abyss from the fact that they inflict such an outrage upon Christ’s witnesses, Revelation 11:9, and rejoice at this, Revelation 11:10.

That “the great city” is identical with the holy city where the ναὸς τοῦ θεοῦ stands, Revelation 11:1 sqq., and, therefore, is none other than Jerusalem, is evident already from the connection; just as unambiguously is this declared in Revelation 11:8, first in the spiritual designation of the same as Sodom and Egypt, then especially in the words ὅπου καὶ ὁ κύριος αὐτων ἐσταυρώθη. The spiritual designation (καλ. πνευματικῶς) expresses, in distinction from the proper historical name, the spiritual nature of the city; but the juxtaposition of the two names, Sodom and Egypt, shows that reference is not made here to individual relations,[2874] but to that wherein Sodom and Egypt are essentially alike, viz., entire enmity to the true God, his servants, and his people. As already the ancient prophets called Jerusalem, in express terms, Sodom,[2875] or a sister of Sodom,[2876] they wished not so much to characterize individual sins, as rather to designate them radically from the perverted position of the people to their God. So here the city wherein the witnesses of Christ are slain, and lie unburied on the street, and wherein also the Lord was crucified, is spiritually designated by both anti-theocratic names, because its antichristian hostility to the Lord is to be represented as against his witnesses.[2877] But the pneumatic designation of the city gives also the answer in harmony with the context to the question in hand as to why the city is called here, not, as Revelation 11:2, the holy, but “the great.” Aret., Calov., and many of the older Protestants, have concluded from a comparison with Revelation 16:19, Revelation 18:15, etc., that also in this passage the great city is nothing but Babel, i.e., Papal Rome. Ebrard and other allegorists wish from this designation to prove at least that not the actual Jerusalem, but that which is allegorically meant, i.e., the secularized church, is to be understood. The reply of De Wette, that John could no longer call the city holy after its “profanation,” and yet “wanted to designate it as a chief city containing a large population, Revelation 11:13, and at the same time many Gentiles, warriors, and others,” especially in its second part, is not properly satisfactory. The reason is more probable that it is impossible in one breath to call the city holy, and Sodom and Egypt, while the τ. μεγἀλῆς points in like manner as with respect to the city, which in ch. 16 sqq. bears the spiritual name of Babel, to the city’s greatness and power as the vain foundation of its godless security and arrogant enmity against the Lord and his witnesses calling to repentance.

That the concluding words of Revelation 11:8, ὅπου, κ.τ.λ., dare not be conceived of as a mere notice of locality, Ebrard properly mentions; but from this the impossibility does not result that the significance of the πνευματικῶς with καλεῖται extends also to the clause ὄπου

ἐσταυρώθη, as Hengstenb. and Ebrard still assert, as, like the old Protestant allegorists, they refer it to the spiritual crucifixion of the Lord in the secularized church,[2878] a conception against which already the aor. ἐσταυρώθη, pointing to the definite fact of the crucifixion, is arrayed,—but only the necessity follows for seeking the correct reference of that clause in the pragmatism of the context. Again, the text itself shows this, partly by the καὶ before ὁ κύρ. αὐτ., partly by the expression ὁ κύρ. αὐτων. Both belong inwardly together; as the two witnesses, so also their Lord was there slain, crucified; the servants have suffered the same thing as their[2879] Lord.[2880] This is accordingly made prominent, because from this it becomes clear that the antichristian enmity of the great city remains always the same; with the same hatred as that wherewith they formerly once brought the Lord there to the cross, they now slay the two witnesses just because they are his witnesses. But still in another respect is the allusion to the crucifixion of the Lord significant, viz., with respect to the judgment announced. For even in their days,[2881] the city shows the same impenitent hostility, on account of which the Lord himself already had proclaimed its judgment.[2882]

Revelation 11:9. The subj. to βλέπουσιν lies directly in the partitively formed expression ἐκ τῶν λαῶν, in connection with which a τινὲς is not to be supplied.[2883] In like manner, the subject is partitively formed, John 16:17, the object, Matthew 23:34; in the simple gen., without ἐκ, the partitive obj. is found; e.g., Revelation 3:9.

From peoples, kindreds, etc. (Revelation 5:9), Jews and Gentiles (cf. Revelation 11:2), many then have assembled in Jerusalem;[2884] these see the indignity (Revelation 11:8) ἡμέρας τρεῖς καὶ ἡμίσυ, “three days and a half.”[2885] The schematic significance of this date can only be mistaken, and a definite chronological prophecy be found here, if the specifications of time of Revelation 11:2-3, also be taken literally,[2886] which then of course is ill adapted to the further view of the allegorical character, and the reference of the whole to the antichristian period at the end of the world. All those have felt the schematic nature of the three and a half days, who have thought in connection therewith of only a short time;[2887] but that just three and a half days are named cannot be explained by an allusion to the three days during which the Lord lay in the grave;[2888] also not with Ewald: “Longer than it is proper for a dead person to be left unburied, especially if we consider that from the nature of the land the dead should be buried sooner, so as not to become offensive;” but only from the analogy of the three and a half years, Revelation 11:2 sq.[2889]

ἀφίουσι. The form, like the ἥφιεν, Mark 1:34; Mark 11:16, from the stem ἄφίω.[2890]

τεθῆναι εἰς μνῆμα. Cf. Luke 23:53; Luke 23:55; Matthew 27:60.

From the fact that in Revelation 11:10 it is said, “they that dwell upon the earth” rejoice over them,[2891] it has been inferred[2892] that not the actual Jerusalem is to be regarded as the scene, but the allegorically so-called great city, Papal Rome, or rather the Romish Papacy, which actually extends over the whole earth. Improperly; for the strange attempt in this way to present the entire mass of all individuals dwelling on earth as spectators would thereby miscarry. In the expression ΟἹ ΚΑΤΟΙΚ. ἘΠῚ Τ. Γ., the question is not with respect to the numerical mass, but the generic idea;[2893] the self-evident limitation to the ΚΑΤΟΙΚΟῦΝΤΕς ἘΠῖ Τῆς Γῆς[2894] found in the city, as representatives of the entire class, the text itself gives by accounting for their joy, to which they testify by mutual presents as on festivals,[2895] as follows: ὅτι οὺτοι οἱ δύο προφῆται ἐβασάνισαν τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς. The βασανισμός[2896] on the part of the two prophetic witnesses, which in no way can be referred to the inner pain[2897] excited by their preaching of repentance,[2898] was perceptible only to the enemies in the city, who just as such represent the entire class of dwellers upon earth.

[2868] Cf., on this idea, the ἐδόθη αὐτῷ (Revelation 13:7).

[2869] Cf. Revelation 11:4.

[2870] Cf. Revelation 11:9, the plural.

[2871] De Wette.

[2872] Cf. Revelation 11:9.

[2873] Cf. Winer, Rwb., i. 172 sq.

[2874] Against Hengstenb.: “Ἁιγυπτος refers to religious corruption, Σόδομα to immoral practices.” Otherwise in Vitr., etc.

[2875] Isaiah 1:9 sqq.

[2876] Ezekiel 16:48.

[2877] Cf. Ewald, Bleek, De Wette.

[2878] In the Papacy. Calov., etc.

[2879] The reference of the αὐτῶν to the inhabitants of Jerusalem (Ew. ii.) is ingenious, but violates the pragmatism of the statement, which also testifies to the passive form ἐσταυρώθη.

[2880] Cf. Matthew 10:24 sqq.: John 15:20.

[2881] Cf. Revelation 11:2 sqq.

[2882] Cf. Luke 19:41 sqq.

[2883] Against Ebrard.

[2884] Beng., De Wette, etc.

[2885] Accus. of duration, as Revelation 11:3.

[2886] Beng.

[2887] Zeg., Hengstenb., etc.

[2888] C. a Lap., Hengstenb.

[2889] De Wette. Cf. also Hengstenb. and Ebrard, of whom, however, the latter concurs therein with Beng., etc., in that he also understands the time of antichrist at the end of the world, by conceiving of the one thousand two hundred and sixty days (Revelation 11:3), at whose close the three and one-half days (Revelation 11:9) fall, as the period of the Church from the destruction of Jerusalem until the conversion of Israel before the end of the world.

[2890] Cf. Winer, p. 77.

[2891] ἐπʼ αὑτοῖς; viz., so far as the witnesses are slain, and lie ignominiously upon the street.

[2892] Calov., Vitr., etc.

[2893] Cf. Revelation 6:10, Revelation 3:10.

[2894] Cf. Revelation 11:9 : ἐκ τῶν λαῶν, κ.τ.λ.

[2895] Cf. Nehemiah 8:10; Nehemiah 8:12; Esther 9:22. Cf. Winer, Rwb., i. 482.

[2896] Revelation 9:5.

[2897] Hengstenb.

[2898] Beng., Ew., De Wette.