6—8.
, ” κ , µένον, ἔχων “κέρατα ἑπτὰ καὶ | ὀφθαλμοὺς | ἑπτά, οἵ εἶσι τὰ ™ ἑπτὰ k After
πνεύματα τοῦ Θεοῦ ἀπεσταλμένοι εἰς πᾶσαν τὴν γῆν. καὶ " εἴληφεν ἐκ τῆς δεξιᾶς τοῦ καθηµένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου. ὅτε ἔλαβε τὸ βιβλίον, τὰ τέσσερα ἵῷα καὶ οἱ εἴκοσι τέσσαρες πρεσ- βύτεροι ἔπεσαν ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρνίου, " ἔχοντες ἕκαστος } κιθάραν καὶ
(Άργος πανόπτης = starry heaven), 5.Ο. 125, 2088. 0 1.€. οἱ πρεσβ. (loose syntax) ?
aoristic (Blass, § 59, 4).
where the seven spirits are identified with seven torches, but John is more con- cerned to express from time to time his religious ideas than to preserve any homo- geneity of symbolism (seven eyes simi- larly varied in Zech. cf. reff.). The in- consistency cannot, in a writing of this nature, be taken as evidence of interpola- tion or of divergent sources, though it may be an editorial gloss. An analogous idea underlies Plutarch’s explanation of the ‘‘ travelling ” power of Isis (Iside, 60), for which he adduces the old Greek ety- mology (= knowledge and movement, θεὸς from θέειν “to run”); and this etymology in turn (cf. Otto on Theoph. ad Autolyc. i. 4) reaches back to a star cultus.—N.B. In the Apoc. apvfov, which is opposed to θηρίον and is always (ex- cept xiii. rz f.) used of Jesus, denotes not only the atoning sacrificial aspect of Christ (ν. 6, 9 f., 12, xii. 11) but his triumphant power (horned) over outsiders (xvii. 14) and his own people (vii. 16 f.), Neither the diminutive (cf. below, on xii. 17) nor the associations of innocence and gentleness are to be pressed (cf. Spitta, Streitfragen der Gesch. F¥esu, 1907, 173 f.). The term becomes almost semi- technical in the Apocalypse. Asa pre- Christian symbol, it is quite obscure. The text and origin of the striking pas- sage in Test. Ios. xix. do not permit much more than the inference that the leader there (a µόσχος) becomes an ἀμνός, who, supported by Judah the lion, ἐνίκησεν πάντα τὰ θηρία. The virgin- birth is probably a Christian interpola- tion. No sure root for the symbolism has yet been found in astro-theology (Jeremias 15 f.). For attempts to trace back the idea to Babylonian soil, cf. Hommel in Exp. Times, xiv. 106 f., Havet, 324 f., and Zimmern in Schrader,’ 5074. One Babylonian text does mention the blood of the lamb as a sacrificia! substitute for man, which is all the more significant as the texts of the cultus are almost wholly destitute of any allusion to the significance of the blood in sacri- fice. But no influence of this on pre-
Dan. vii.
7. Kat ἦλθεν 20 f., viii. . Ὁ Επ, xc. 8. και 37f., etc. 11. 4, iv. 6, from
Zech. iv, IO (ili. ϱ):
eyes=
wae wee - stars N Viii. 5, Cf. iii. 3, Vii. 14, Xix. 3, Ρ Xiv. 2, xv. 2.
m iv. 5,
Christian messianism, or of contemporary cults on this element of Christian sym- bolism, can be made out from the extant evidence. In any case, it would merely supply the form for expressing a reality of the Christian experience.
Ver. 7. A realistic symbol of the idea conveyed in John iii. 35, xii. 49, etc.
Ver. 8. A thrill of satisfaction over Christ’s ability. ‘‘It is the manner of God thus to endear mercies to us, as he endeared a wife to Adam. He first brought all creatures to him, that he might first see that there was not a help- meet for him among them” (Goodwin). John lays dramatic emphasis on ¥esus only. ἐνωπ. τ. & (as before God him: self, xix. 4).—y. θ., cf. Soph. Oed. Tyr. 4, πόλις § ὁμοῦ μὲν θυμµιαµάτων yeper. An essential feature in the rites of Roman sacrifice was music played on fibicines ; the pateva, a shallow saucer or ladle with a long handle attached, was also em- ployed to pour wine on the altar. Harps held by living creatures who had no hands but only wings, and the colloca- tion of a harp played by a person who is at the same time holding a bowl, are traits which warn us against prosaically visualising such visions. Hirscht com- pares the adoration of Rameses II. be- fore the sun-god, the monarch’s left hand holding his offering, his right grasping a sceptre and scourge. The fragrant smoke of incense rising from the hand of a worshipper or from an altar in the primitive cultus (cf. Ezek. vili. 2) to lose itself in upper air, became a natural symbol for prayer breathed from earth to heaven; see Philo’s τὸ καθαρώτατον τοῦ θύοντος, πνεῦμα λογικόν.- αἱ .. . ἁγίων, probably an editorial gloss like xix. 8 b, suggested by the verbal parallel in viii. 3 (so, ¢.g., Spitta, Volter, Briggs, Jilicher, J. Weiss, Wellhausen, etc.). Contrast with this verse (and ver. 4) the descrip- tion of the enthusiastic seamen and pas- sengers who ‘‘candidati, coronatique, et tura libantes,” praised and blessed Augustus in the bay of Puteoli as ‘‘ He by whom we live, and sail secure, and