Revelation 10:7

Vav consec. with the Heb, pf. (LXX= καὶ and fut. indic.) here by an awkward solecism (cf. on Revelation 3:20) = “Then is (i.e., shall be) fnished the secret of God.” The final consummation (inaugurated by the advent of messiah, 12.) is to take place not later than the period of the seventh angel's trumpet-blast, which ex hypothesi is imminent. The μυστήριον is plainly, as the context implies, full of solace and relief to God's people. εὐηγγ. The total (exc. Revelation 16:6) omission of εὐαγγέλιον and the restricted use of its verb in the Apocalypse may have been due to the fact that such terms had been soiled by ignoble usage in the local Ionian cult of εὐάγγελος (e.g., at Ephesus), with its oracular revelations and fellowship of Euangelidae. The Asiatic calendar of Smyrna contained a month called εὐαγγέλιος. The connexion between μυστήριον = “secret purpose or counsel” (as here) and μ. = “symbol, or symbolic representation” (Revelation 1:20; Revelation 17:7) is due to the fact that in the primitive world the former was enigmatically conveyed by means of symbolic-representations in word, picture, or deed. As “every written word was once a μυστήριον,” it was natural that the word used for the sign came to be employed for the thing signified (Hatch, Essays in Bibl. Greek, 61). The near approach of the end had been for years a matter of confidence and joy to the Christian prophets for it is they and not their predecessors who are specially in view. The special and solemn contribution of John's Apocalypse is to identify certain events in the immediate future with the throes out of which the final bliss was to be born. These throes include the downfall of the dragon from heaven, the subsequent climax of the Beast's influence on earth, and the assertion of God's authority over his own and against his foe's adherents (Revelation 12:1 to Revelation 14:20). The great and glad revelation is God seen in action, with his forces deployed for the final campaign which, with its issues of deliverance and triumph (Revelation 15-22.), forms the climax of this book. The apotheosis of the Cæsars in their life-time above all, of Domitian marked the pitch of human depravity; divine intervention was inevitable.

Up to the end of Revelation 9, the Apocalypse is fairly regular and intelligible; thereafter, criticism enters upon an intricate country, of which hardly any survey has yet succeeded in rendering a satisfactory account. The problem begins with Revelation 10. Although Revelation 10:1-7 complete the preceding oracles by introducing their finale (7 = Revelation 11:14 f.), while Revelation 10:8-11 connect more immediately with Revelation 11, this forms no reason for suspecting that the oracle is composite. Spitta takes Revelation 10:1 a, Revelation 10:2-7 (except Revelation 10:4) as the continuation of Revelation 9., followed by Revelation 11:15; Revelation 11:19, while the rest is substantially a prelude to Revelation 11:1-13; Briggs similarly views Revelation 10:1 a, Revelation 10:3-7 as the original transition between Revelation 9. and Revelation 11:14-15 a, Revelation 11:19, while Revelation 10:8-11; Revelation 10:8-11 (a vision of messiah) introduces the new source of Revelation 11:1-13; Revelation 12:17; and Rauch regards Revelation 10:1 b, Revelation 10:2 a, Revelation 10:5-7; Revelation 10:4; Revelation 10:9-11 as the opening of Revelation 11:1-13; Revelation 12:1-17, with Revelation 10:1-4 a (substantially) as the preface to Revelation 12:17., Revelation 16:13-16. These analyses are unconvincing. The alleged signs of a Hebrew original (e.g., Revelation 10:7, also λέγουσί μοι and λέγειμοι in Revelation 10:9; Revelation 10:11 = variant versions of ואמר לי) are not decisive.