1. B/jSx/ov, a book) There were not seven books, but there was one only, sealed with seven seals. — seuk v xa i s %ukv) So Ezek. ii. 10 : xs(pu\/g (3/(3\jov — xa/ 7)v sv aur/j y^ypa^f^zva ru z/jj^poakv xa/ ra onitidev. And it is possible that the copyists may have introduced into this passage Zmakv for e%ukv, either from ch. iv. 6, or from the passage just quoted from Ezekiel. ’'E/ywpoffkv and ontokv are opposed to each other, as are seukv and s%ukv, But since in Ezekiel the expression is “VinNI D\3D, s&ukv xai ovurkv is defended from the Hebraism. The Philocalia of Origen1 has ovuskv by itself. — eppayTtiv s vra, with seven seals) This prophecy abounds with instances of the number seven , of which four are most copiously described : the seven angels of the churches ; the seven seals of the sealed book ; the seven angels with trumpets ; the seven angels with vials. The churches are a model, to which the Universal Church of all climes and ages, together with its teachers and pastors, ought to be conformed. The seals repre- sent all power in earth and in heaven, given to the Lamb. By the trumpets the kingdom of the world is violently shaken, so that it at last becomes the kingdom of the Lord and of His Christ. By the vials the beast is crushed, and whatever is connected with it. We ought always to keep before our eyes this Summary . Thus the whole of the Apocalypse runs on in its own natural order. The di- vision of these sevens into IY. and III. will be explained below. The hypothesis of VII. periods of the Church, represented not only by VII. churches, but also by VI I . seals, VII. trumpets, VII. vials — other groups of seven in the Old and New Testament being drawn out to the same hypothesis, — has greatly enervated the Theology of many, especially that which is exegetical.
2. ’i o%upov, strong) Ps. ciii. 20.
4. "ExXa/oi/, I wept) By an excellent example, John places him- self as an eager and teachable learner of the Apocalypse. Comp, ch. x. 10, xvii. 1, xxi. 9, xxii. 8. They are far from perceiving the meaning of John, in this part at any rate, who seek anything rather than the argument of this book, as opened by the Lamb ;
1 And the sainted author exhibited that ( reading ) also in Vers. Germ, of the New Testament. — E. B.
A Syr. and some MSS. of Origen have ovtokv, B, e%ahv ; Vulg. “foris.” — E.