17—18.
, Cg Wee cy a 3 u x , λευκήν, καὶ ἐπὶ τὴν ψῆφον ὄνομα "καινὸν yeypappevoy,
οἶδεν εἰ μὴ ὁ λαμβάνων.
309
ὃ οὐδεὶς u Isa. Ixii. 2, Ixv. 15. v Cf. on Acts xvi.
“18. Καὶ τῷ ἀγγέλῳ τῆς ἐν " Θυατείροις] ἐκκλησίας γράψον, 14.
10η the variant τω (Lach., WH, Sw.) for της, cf. ii. 1,8. The singular form, νατειρη (Q, vg., etc.), is less well supported ; similar collocations of singular (i. 11) and plural are not uncommon (E. B1., 4538), 5064b).
after death, to have his name used to mark his year of office in public docu- ments? ‘‘Myname will remain,” replies the man. ‘‘ Write it on a stone and it will remain,” is the retort of Epictetus— plainly a colloquial expression for per- manence. This would fit in with the Apocalyptic saying excellently (see Schol. on Pind. Olymp. vii. 159). Still more apposite, however, is an ancient ceremony of initiation (as among the aborigines of New South Wales: Trumbull, Blood- Covenant, 1887, pp. 335-337), by which each person, on the close of his novitiate, received a new name from the tribe and at the same time a white stone or quartz crystal. The latter was considered to be a divine gift, and was held specially sacred, never to be surrendered or even shown. These boons formed part of the religious covenant which marked the entrance of a man into the closest rela- tion with the deity of his tribe and also into the full enjoyment of manhood’s privileges. Hence, if we suppose some such popular rite behind the language here, the idea is apt: the victor’s reward is the enjoyment of mature and intimate life with his God (so Victor.). For the symbolism of a name as evidence of personal identity (and inferentially of a Πεν’ name as proof of a renovated, enduring nature), see E.B.D. 75: “ May my name be given to me in the Great House, and may I remember my name in the House of Fire. .. . If any god whatsoever should advance to me, let me be able to proclaim his name forth- with ” (the latter clause illustrating Apoc. iii. 12). The significance attached by the Egyptian religion especially to the yeu or name was due to the belief that its loss meant the extinction of a man’s ex- istence. The idea in the prophet’s mind is little more than that developed, e.g., in Mrs. Browning’s sonnet, ‘“‘ Comfort” : ‘*Speak low to me, my Saviour, low and sweet, From out the hallelujahs sweet and low, Lest I should fear and fall, and miss Thee,” etc. As the suc- ceeding chapters are full of the state and splendour of heaven, with royal majesty predominating, the prophet finds
place here for the more intimate and individual aspect of the future life, de- picting God in touch with the single soul (cf. xiv. 1). In addition to this, he conveys the idea that outside the Chris- tian experience no one can really know what God is or what He gives; the re- deemed and victorious alone can under- stand what it means to belong to God and to be rewarded by him.—Wiinsch has recently pointed out (Excav. in Pales- tine, 1898-1900, p. 186) that, as in Egypt the sacred paper (χάρτης ἱερατικὸς) was used for solemn appeals to the gods (Brit. Mus. Papyrt, xlvi. 308), ‘‘in like manner, doubtless, in Palestine, limestone had some superstitious significance, but of what special kind we do not know. Per- haps it is in this connexion that in Apoc. ii. 17 “Τε that overcometh” is to receive ‘‘a white stone” inscribed with a “new” spell, evidently as an ‘“‘amulet”’. There may also be a further local allusion to the ψῆφοι and names which were supposed to be received by votaries of Asclepius as they lay in a trance or dream (Aristides, i. 352, 520). For the initiation-custom, cf. Spence and Gillen’s Native Tribes of Central Australia, pp. 139-140, where the secret, individual name is described as given only to those who are “ capable of self-restraint ”” and above levity of con- duct. Clem. Alex. (Strom. i. 23) pre- serves a Jewish tradition that Moses got three names—Joachim, Moses, and Melchi (1.ε., king), the last-mentioned ἐν οὐρανῷ μετὰ τὴν ἀνάληψιν, ὡς φασὶν οἱ μύσται.