A Brighter Day Begins with His Word.

Bengel, Johann Albrecht, 1687-1752 • SECTION 245

Apocalypse Vi. 2.

← Gnomon of the New Testament — Volume 5

A reads odgtog ; Rec. Text, oi^iov. — E.

1 So Vulg. and B. But A, tt uutu. — 7dyouroc : so Rec. Text. — E.

2 ABC Vulg. refute the addition in Rec. Text and h, t^auri eig roi/g oti&iuecg ruu ctiavav. — E.

3 ABC read Quuyi \ Rec. Text, <pmi}g ; Vulg. “ vocem.”

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readers seek for my opinion, if it is of any consequence, from the Apparatus on this passage.

2. "I nnog Xeux.bg, a white horse ) D. Lange altogether applies these seals to the future, Comm. Apoc. f. 73, where he uses five argu- ments :

I. From the figures of the seals. I reply, The Past, when rightly explained, agrees with them.

II. From the failure of the reasons on which Vitringa, together with others, relies. I reply, Better reasons both exist in abundance and are brought forward. See on ch. iv. 1.

III. From the parallelism of Matt. xxiv. 6 and following verses with the second, third, fourth, and fifth seal. See fol. 83, 257. I reply, That the end , in Matt. xxiv. 14, denotes the destruction of Jerusalem, is proved by the whole connection of the discourse, and especially by the particle ouv , therefore , ver. 15, and the question of the disciples, as Mark and Luke represent it. A similarity in the plagues inflicted in each text does not imply that the plagues them- selves are the same. See above, p. 135 and next.

IV. From the parallelism of Zechariah vi. with the same seals. See fol. 84. I reply, In Zechariah there is not one horse only of each colour, but there are more, and they too joined to chariots : nor are the colours entirely the same (D. Lange undoubtedly puts paleness for whiteness ) ; nor is there the same order of the colours ; nor is there the same road to the four quarters of the world, nor the same expedition. In the first seal he applies the white horse to the conqueror, Christ ; in the third, the black to the dearness of corn : in what manner this is parallel with Zecli. vi. 6, 8, cannot be shown.

V. From the connection [of the seals] with the trumpets and vials. I reply, As this celebrated interpreter too much extends the epistles, so he also too much compresses the seals, trumpets, etc. The vials almost exhaust the whole of that space, which he sup- poses to be represented also in the seals and trumpets. There are four distinct spheres , each of which has its own subject-matter agreeing with the titles, churches , seals , trumpets , and vials ; and where they are explained distinctly [as distinct from one another],

Public domain historical edition (1859); scan/OCR from Internet Archive.

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