Revelation 7:1-8

The Sealing of the Hundred and Forty Four Thousand.

Revelation 7:1. Four angels are here represented as holding the winds, which are to bring disaster upon the world, in leash, until the seal of protection has been placed upon the Christians.

Revelation 7:2. The object of the sealing may be to protect against (a) physical dangers, or (b) apostasy, or (c) demoniac activity. Probably all are included, for all may be connected with the breaking of the last seal. Cf. Ezekiel 9:4 *, where the mark on the foreheads protected from death.

Revelation 7:4. 144, 000, i.e. 12, 000 out of each tribe. The number is evidently symbolical, being based on the square of twelve, and so denoting completeness. Whether the number represents Jewish Christians or the spiritual Israel, i.e. the totality of Christians alive at the time, is uncertain.

Revelation 7:5. The list of tribes presents some difficulties. (a) The order differs from other arrangements (G. B. Gray, Exp., 1902, pp. 225 f., thinks this is due to the disarrangement of the verses; Revelation 7:7 originally stood before the last clauses of Revelation 7:5); (b) Dan is omitted, probably because of the traditional belief that Antichrist would spring from his tribe; (c) Judah is placed first because of the belief that the Messiah would arise from his tribe; (d) Manasseh is given in place of Dan, though it is included in Joseph. [This is a strong reason for the view that Manasseh was not in the original list at all; moreover Manasseh is not in his proper place, coming far too high in the list. In other lists Naphtali is combined with Dan, both being sons of Bilhah. It is accordingly very probable that this was the case here, and that Manasseh is due to a scribe's blunder, Dan being misread as Man, and this being regarded as an abbreviation for Manasseh. A. S. P.]