336
ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΜΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ i
dZech.i. ἀποστείλας διὰ τοῦ * ἀγγέλου αὐτοῦ τῷ δούλῳ αὐτοῦ “lwdvvy, 2. ὃς
Q. 13, li. 3,
3 A = ~ A Dan. νι ἐμαρτύρησεν τὸν "λόγον τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τὴν µαρτυρίαν ᾿Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ,
16,ix. 21 f.,
Ap. Bar. ὅσα { εἶδεν. es
(Ramiel),
etc.: Dieterich’s Mithras Liturgie, 47 f.
e Ver. 9.
3. µακάριος 6 Σ ἀναγινώσκων καὶ οἱ ἀκούοντες τοὺς
f {.ε., in present apocalypse. g 2 Cor.
ili. 15, Acts xv. 21, Matt. xxiv. 15, 1 Tim. iv. 13, Clem. Hom. xix.
too large for the traditional and artificial forms of its expression. Unless this angel is identified with that of x. 1 f., he plays only a scanty and tardy réle (xvii. 1 f., xxi. 5 Ε) in the series of visions; the prophet’s sense of direct experience (e.g., in i. g f.) bursts through the cumbrous category of an intermediate agent be- tween himself and Christ. It is by a conventional form of religious sym- bolism prevalent in this genre of litera- ture, that Jesus, like Yahweh in Ezekiel (cf. x. I, 3, xliv. 2), is represented both as addressing the prophet directly and as instructing him indirectly. The latter mode of expression (cf. Milton’s Uriel and 4 Esd. iv. 1) was due to a hypos- tatising tendency which was not confined to Judaism. As Plutarch points out (¢f. below on viii. 5 and xv. 8), the daemons in Hellenic religion are a middle term between the divine and the human; they prevent the former from being disturbed or contaminated by direct intercourse with men, and they also act as inter- preters who communicate the divine will to men (cf. De Iside 25 ; Oakesmith’s Re- ligion of Plutarch, pp. 121 f., 163 f.). Wherever the reaction against material- ism prevailed, especially in the popular religion of the empire, the belief in daemons or spirits as intermediate agents gave expression to the convic- tion that human weakness could not come into direct touch with the divine glory (cf. Friedlander, iii. 430 f. ; Hatch’s Hibbert Lectures, 245 f.).
Ver. 2. ἐμαρτ. (epistol. aor., cf. Phim. το, cf. further Thuc. i. 1 ξυνέγραψε). Ady.
τ. 6., like FTW VAT (LXX λόγος τοῦ
θεοῦ, e.g., Jer. i. 2), a collective term for God’s disclosures to men (τοὺς λόγους, 3), or as here for some specific revelation more exactly defined in ὅσα εἶδεν, all that was seen or even heard (Amos i. I) in visions being described by this generic term. The double expression the word of God and the testimony borne by Fesus Christ (xxii. 16, 20; cf. xix. 10) is an amplified phrase for the gospel. The subject upon which Jesus assures men of truth is the re- velation of God’s mind and heart, and
the gospel is that utterance of God—that expression of His purpose—which Jesus unfolds and attests. The book itself is the record of John’s evidence; he testi- fies to Christ, and Christ testifies of the future as a divine plan. For the re- velation of God, in the specific form of prophecy, requires a further medium between Jesus and the ordinary Chris- tian; hence the réle of the prophets. On the prophetic commission to write, cf. Asc. Isa. i. 4-5 and i. 2, παρέδωκεν αὐτῷ τοὺς λόγους τῆς προφητείας οὓς αὐτὸς εἶδεν, κ.τ.λ. The primitive sense of µαρτ. (=oral confession and procla- mation of Jesus by his adherents) ‘thus expands into a literary sense (as here) and into the more sombre meaning of martyrdom (ii. 13, John xviii. 37-39, xix. 19; cf. Lightfoot on Clem. Rom. v.). It is significant that the λόγος τ. 0. of Judaism was not adequate to the Chris- tian consciousness without the paptupia Ἰησοῦ.
Ver. 3. The first of the seven beati- tudes in the Apocalypse (xiv. 13, xvi. 15, xix. 9, xx. 6, xxii. 7, 14), endorsing the book as a whole. In the worship of the Christian communities one member read aloud, originally from the O.T. as in the synagogues, and afterwards from Chris- tian literature as well (apostolic epistles, Col. iv. 16, and sub-apostolic epistles), while the rest of the audience listened (Eus. H. E. iv. 23). In its present form the Apocalypse was composed with this object in view. Cf. Justin’s description of the Christian assemblies on Sunday, when, as the first business, τὰ ἄπομνη- μονεύµατα τῶν ἀποστόλων ἢ τὰ συγ- γράμματα τῶν προφητῶν ἀναγινώσκεται (Apol. i. 67). The art of reading was not a general accomplishment in the circles from which the Christian societies were for the most part recruited, and this office of reader (ἀναγνώστης), as distinct from that of the president, soon became one of the regular minor posi- tions in the worship of the church. Here the reader’s function resembles that of Baruch (cf. Jer. xxii. 5, 6). τηροῦντες τὰ, κ.τ.λ., carefully heeding the warnings of the book, observing its injunctions, and expecting the fulfilment