curate rendering of Ὁ ΓΙ nobnn
(Exod. xix. 6) to emphasise the royal standing of the Christian community in connexion with their Christ as ἄρχων, κ.τ.λ., and also (Tit. ii. 3) their indivi- dual privilege of intimate access to God as the result of Christ’s sacrificial death.
Sande
1, 18-19. t ’ a a ~ A - . βασιλείαν 1 ἱερεῖς τῷ θεῷ καὶ " πατρὶ αὐτοῦ: " αὐτῷ ἡ δόξα καὶ Totv. 10) ος I et. il. κράτος εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων. ἁμήν. 9: if 3 ” a im - 2 acc, 7." Ιδοὺ έρχεται * μετὰ τῶν νεφελῶν, καὶ ὄψεται αὐτὸν ” πᾶς ii-17, Jos. nt. XX. ὀφθαλμὸς, καὶ οἵτινες αὐτὸν ἐξεκέντησαν : καὶ " κόψονται ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν ο, Jub. κ : ee, μμ ολ ’ XVi. 13. πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς. ναί: dry. u Cf. on xxi. 7 (Ps.
sd. xiii. 3; cf. on Apoc. xiv. 14. 9; from Hab. ili. ro, LXX. a John xi. 27
y “ The world,” Did. xvi.; cf. Matt. xxvi. 64.
lxxxviii.
2 ν Resuming réay. Same doxology as in 1 Pet. iv. 11 ; see also Mk. xiii. 26, 2 Thess. is 2: and Chase in Camb. Texts and Stud. i. (1891) 168 f. i 4
w xvi. 15. x Mk. xiii. 26, xiv. 62,
Z XViii.
1βασιλεις και (P, 1, 28, 36, etc., And.) is one of several glosses introduced (like tepav or tepatixny of Syr., S. for vepers, or ημων of C, Lat. for ηµας) to ease the difficulty of the original βασιλειαν (ΑΘ, etc., vg., Syr., Areth., edd.) [like ιερατευµα
I Pet. il. 5, ο].
καὶ ἐποίησεν, the harsh anacolouthon breaks up the participial construc- tion. ἡμᾶς, emphatic. ‘‘ We Christians are now the chosen people. In us the Danielic prophecy of a reign of the saints is fulfilled and is to be fulfilled.” This is a characteristically anti-Jewish note. Persecution (cf. 1 Peter ii. 5) deepened the sense of continuity in the early Chris- tians, who felt driven back on the truth of election and divine protection; they were the true successors of all noble suf- ferers in Israel who had gone before (cf. the argument of Heb. xi. 32—xii. 2). In the Apocalypse the Christian church is invariably the true Israel, including all who believe in Christ, irrespective of birth and nationality. God reigns over them, and they reign, or will reign, over the world. In fact, Christians now and here are what Israel hoped to become, v1Z., priest-princes of God, and this posi- tion has been won for them by a messiah whom the Jews had rejected, and whom all non-Christians will have to acknow- ledge as sovereign. According to rab- binic tradition, the messianic age would restore to Israel the priestly standing which it had lost by its worship of the golden calf; and by the first command- ment (Mechilta on Exod. xx. 2), “slaves became kings”. There may also be an implicit anti-Roman allusion. We Chris- tians, harried and despised, are a com- munity with a great history and a greater hope. Our connection with Christ makes us truly imperial. The adoration of Christ, which vibrates in this doxology dcf. Expos.® v. 302-307), is one of the most impressive features of the book. The prophet feels that the one hope for the loyalists of God in this period of trial is «ο be conscious that they owe everything
to the redeeming love of Jesus. Faith- fulness depends on faith, and faith is tallied by the grasp not of itself but of its object. Mysterious explanations of his- tory follow, but it is passionate devotion to Jesus, and not any skill in exploring prophecy, which proves the source of moral heroism in the churches. Jesus sacrificed himself for us; αὐτῷ 7 δόξα. From this inward trust and wonder, which leap up at the sight of Jesus and his grace, the loyalty of Christians flows.
This enthusiasm for Jesus naturally carries the prophet’s mind forward (7, 8) to the time when the Lord’s majesty will flash out on mankind. He resumes the line of thought interrupted by the doxol- ogy of 55-6.