~ Ν = ol ὢν καὶ 6 ἦν καὶ ὁ "ἐρχόμενος: καὶ ἀπὸ τῶν f ς a , a) iste - ’ Pye ee ‘ α΄, ἃ A raf. ἑπτὰ πνευμάτων & ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου αὐτοῦ: 5. καὶ ἀπὸ ᾿Ιησοῦ n From =. x £ A ~ Hab. ii.3,Xptotod, °S µάρτυς 6 "πιστός, 6 πρωτότοκος τῶν νεκρῶν, καὶ 6 ech, ft. το - , ~ ~ ~ - - A _* dpxwv τῶν βασιλέων τῆς γῆς ' τῷ ἀγαπῶντι ἡμᾶς καὶ λύσαντι | ἡμᾶς
m i. 8, iv. 8, καὶ εἰρήνη ἀπὸ 76 Ex. iil. die
τα, Heb. we χα. 1-2. John xviii. 37.
p ii. το, 13, cf. Ps. Ixxxviii. 38 (LXX). Clem. Rom. xxiv.
1 Cor. xv. 20, Col. i. 18, r Isa. lv. 4 (LXX), only here in Apoc. i ?
The λουσαντι . . . απο of PQ, min., vg., Me., Aeth., Areth. (so Bg., Trench, Ἐπν., de W., Balj., Sp., Bs., Burgon: Corruption in Trad. Text, 59-60; for constr. cf. Deissm., 227) is a corruption of λυσαντι εκ (NAC, 1, etc., Syr., Arm., Anda, Pr., edd., cf. xx. 7), probably due to misconception of Heb. use of ev (WH), and to the associa- tion of the two ideas (cf. Iren. iv. 27, 1: qui abluit et emundat eum hominem qui peccato fuerat obstrictus, and Plato's Cratylus, 405 B 6 dwokovwv τε καὶ ἀπολύων
τών κακώγ).
notion (0) of the seven holy angels (Tobit xii. 15; cf. Gfrorer, i. 360 {) which reappears in early Christianity (cf. Clem. Al. Strom. vi. 635, ἑπτὰ μέν εἶσιν οἱ τοῦ μεγίστου δύναμιν ἔχοντες πρωτόγονοι ἀγγέλων ἄρχοντες), modi- fied from (ο) a still earlier Babylonian conception, behind (6), of the seven spirits of the sky—the sun, the moon, and the five planets. The latter is not unknown to Jewish literature before 100 a.D. (cf. Jub. ii. 2 £; Berachoth, 32, 3), corresponding to the Persian Amshas- pands (Yasht, xix. 19, 20, 5. B. E. xxxi. 145) and reflected in “the seven first white ones” or angelic retinue of the Lord in Enoch xc. 21 f. (Cheyne, Orig. Ps. 281-2, 327 f., 334 f.; Stave, 216 f. ; Liiken, 32 f.; R. ¥. 319). Whether the prophet and his readers were conscious of this derivation or not, the concep- tion is stereotyped and designed to ex. press in archaic terms the supreme majesty of God before whose throne (i.e., obedient and ready for any com- mission, cf. v. 6) these mighty beings live. They are not named or divided in the Apocalypse, but the objection to taking the expression in the sense of (a) denoting, as in Philo (where, ¢.g., 6 κατὰ ἑβδομάδα ἅγιος or κινούμενος is a charac- teristic symbol of the divine Logos), the sevenfold and complete energy of the Spirit in semi-poetic fashion, is the obvious fact that this is out of line with the trinity of the apocalypse, which is allied to that of Luke ix. 26; 1 Tim. v. 21; Just. Mart. Apol. i. 6. The Spirit in the Apocalypse, as in Jude, 2 Peter and the pastoral epistles, is wholly prophetic. It has not the content of the »pirit in Paul or in the Fourth Gospel. Since the writer intends to enlarge upon the person «f Jesus, or because the seven spirits
stood next to the deity in the traditional mise-en-scene, he makes them precede Christ in order.
Ver. 5. ἀπὸ, κ.τ.λ., another gramma- tical anomaly; as usual the writer puts the second of two nouns in apposition, in the nominative.—6 p. 6 π. Jesus not merely the reliable witness to God but the loyal martyr: an aspect of his career which naturally came to the front in “the killing times”, 6 πρωτότοκος (a Jewish messianic title by itself, Balden- sperger, 88) τ. v., his resurrection is the pledge that death cannot separate the faithful from his company. The thought of this and of the following trait (cf. Matt. iv. 8 f.) is taken frém Ps. Ixxxvili. 28, Kaya πρωτότοκον θήσομαι αὐτόν, ὑψηλὸν παρὰ τοῖς βασιλεῦσιν τῆς γῆς. On the two allied functions of ruling and witnessing (Isa. lv. 4) cf. the dif- ferent view of John xviii. 37. At the in- spiring thought of Christ’s lordship the prophet breaks into adoration—ayarevte κ.τ.λ. The eternal love (cf. ili. το) which Christ bears to his people is proved by his death, as a revelation of (4) what he has done for them by his sacrifice, and (b) what he has made of them (so Eph. v. 25-26=Apoc. xix. 7, 8). The negative deliverance from sins (cf. Ps. cxxix. 8) at the cost of his own life (ἐν instrumental) is a religious emancipation which issues in (6) a positive relationship of glorious religi- ous privilege.—Baotdelay, ἱερεῖς, a literal (cf. Charles on Jub. xvi. 18) and inac-