Revelation 11:1

Revelation 11:1. A reed was given to the Seer, it is not said by whom, and we are left to infer, as at chap. Revelation 6:2; Revelation 6:4; Revelation 6:8; Revelation 6:11, that it was by one in heaven. The word ‘my' in Revelation 11:3 may lead us to the thought of the Lord Himself. The reed is for measuring, but it is stronger than a common reed, and is thus more able to effect its purpose: it is like unto a rod. May it not even be a rod of judgment (comp. 1 Corinthians 4:21)? Omitting for the present the import of the measuring, we notice only that the idea is taken from Ezekiel 40:3; Zechariah 2:2. Three things are to be measured. First, the temple of God, meaning not the whole temple-buildings, but the Holy and Most Holy place. Secondly, the altar. This altar, considering where it stands, can only be that of incense, not the brazen altar transferred to another than its own natural position. Upon this altar the prayers of God's persecuted saints were laid (chap. Revelation 8:3), and it is with the persecuted saints that we have here to do (Revelation 11:7). Thirdly, they that worship therein, that is, in the innermost sanctuary of the temple; while to ‘worship' is the expression of highest adoration. The last clause alone is a sufficient proof that the three things to be measured are not to be understood literally. How could those who worship in the temple be thus measured with a reed? But, if one of three objects mentioned in the same sentence and in the same way be figurative, the obvious inference is that the other two must be looked at in a similar light. By the ‘temple,' therefore, it is impossible to understand the literal temple in Jerusalem supposed to be as yet undestroyed. Even although we knew, on other and independent grounds, that the overthrow of the city by the Romans had not yet taken place, it would be entirely out of keeping with the Seer's method of conception to suppose that he refers to the temple on Mount Moriah. His temple imagery is always drawn not from that building but from the Tabernacle first erected in the wilderness. It is the shrine of the latter not of the former that he has in view, and the word used in the original, however its rendering in English may suggest such associations to us, has no necessary connection with the Temple of Solomon. For a clear proof that this is St. John's mode of viewing the Naos (i.e the shrine, the ‘temple' here in question) see the note on Revelation 11:19. As to the import of the measuring there can be little doubt. It is determined, by the contrast of Revelation 11:2, by the measuring of chap. Revelation 21:15-16, and by the analogy of chap. 7, to be for preservation, not, as sometimes imagined, for destruction.