The command or invitation ἔρχου is not addressed to Christ (as Revelation 22:17; Revelation 22:20). If addressed to the seer, it is abbreviated from the ordinary rabbinic phrase (_ueni et uide_) used to excite attention and introduce the explanation of any mystery. The immediate sequel (omitted only... [ Continue Reading ]
White = royal and victorious colour, _cf._ the white horse of the Persian kings (Philostr. _Vit. Ap._ i.). The triumphant figure of the mounted bowman is by no means to be identified with that of the Christian messiah or of the gospel. It would be extremely harsh and confusing to represent the messi... [ Continue Reading ]
_The second seal opened_ : A swordsman representing (red = martial colour) war and bloodshed, “is permitted to make men slay one another”. The allusion to the merciless weapon (Plut. _de Iside_, 11) of the sword as Rome's national arm thus places the Parthian and Roman empires side by side (τῆς γῆς... [ Continue Reading ]
The spectral figure of Hunger holds a balance or pair of scales (ζ. literally = the beam, see reff.) for measuring bread by weight, to personify (Revelation 6:6) bad times, when provisions became cruelly expensive. One χοῖνιξ of wheat, the usual rations of a working man for a day, is to cost twelve... [ Continue Reading ]
The third seal opened = _famine_.... [ Continue Reading ]
The fourth seal opened _pestilence and mortality_.... [ Continue Reading ]
χλωρός, pale or livid as a corpse. ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, for the ordinary ἐπʼ αὐτόν, a grammatical variation which has no special significance. In this Dureresque vignette the spectre of Hades, bracketed here as elsewhere with Death, accompanies the latter to secure his booty of victims. So Nergal, the Babyl... [ Continue Reading ]
The scene changes from earth to heaven, which appears as a replica of the earthly temple with its altar of burnt offering. As the blood of sacrifices flowed at the base of the altar (Revelation 16:7), the blood representing the life, the symbolism is obvious. It was mediated by rabbinic ideas of the... [ Continue Reading ]
The fifth seal opened.... [ Continue Reading ]
Like Clem. Rom., John is fond of δεσπότης as implying the divine might and majesty (3Ma 3:29; 3Ma 5:28). This severe and awe-inspiring conception (_cf._ Philo, _quis rer. div. haer._ 6) means that God will vindicate his holiness, which had been outraged by the murder of the δοῦλοι for whom he is res... [ Continue Reading ]
The white robe assigned each (Blass, § 32, 4) of these martyr-spirits as a pledge of future and final glory (Revelation 7:9) and a consoling proof that no judgment awaited them (Revelation 20:4-6), is a favourite gift in the Jewish heaven (_cf._ Enoch lxii. 15 f., and _Asc. Isa._ ix. 24 f.). The int... [ Continue Reading ]
The earthquake (reff.), darkening of sun by atmospheric disturbances, (Verg. _Georg_. i. 463 f., Lucan i. 75 f. 522 f., Compare Ass. Mos. Revelation 10:4 f.: et tremebit terra. Usque ad fines suas concutietur … sol non dab it lumen et in tenebras conuertet se, etc.; for Babylonian background _cf._ S... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sixth seal opened_ (_cf._ Crashaw's _To the Name of Jesus_, 220 234).... [ Continue Reading ]
Note the sevenfold description of the effect produced on humanity (Revelation 19:18, _cf._ Revelation 13:16), the Roman χιλίαρχοι (= tribuni), the riches and rank of men (ἰσχ. a dramatic touch = defiant authority, like Mrs. Browning's Lucifer: “strength to behold him and not worship him, Strength to... [ Continue Reading ]