Revelation 7:9

The Praise of the Great Multitude of the Redeemed, Revelation 7:9-17

9. of all nations, and kindreds, &c. Lit. out of every nation, and tribes, and peoples, and tongues.

white robes Cf. Revelation 3:5; Revelation 6:11.

palms Opinions differ as to the meaning of this image, whether we are to compare the Pagan use of the palm-branch as a symbol of victory, given e.g. to winners at the public games, or the Israelite custom of bearing branches of palm, as of other sacred trees, at the Feast of Tabernacles: see Leviticus 23:40, and cf. St John 12:13. Although Jewish rather than Gentile imagery is to be expected in this book, the former view seems on the whole more reasonable, as it gives a more obvious and a more appropriate meaning to the symbol.