356
q Ps. οκ. 2.
r =a, by false at- traction.
8 Isa. xlii. 10, Ps. XXXiii. 3, cxliv. 9, etc.
t So xiv. 3, cf. Judith XVi. I (A), 13 (15), Ps. Sol. iii. 2, etc., and Eus.
αὐτοῦ *
u Cf. Isa. lili. 7. v See on 1 Cor. vi. 20, and below xiv. 3-4. cf. 4 Esd. iii. 7. 1 Kings xxii. 19, cf. 1 Pet. iii. 22.
II. Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἤκουσα ” φωνὴν ἀγγέλων
wi. 5, cf. 1 Pet. i. 18-19. y i. 6, Briggs here also would omit the καί.
Vv.
Φιάλας χρυσᾶς γεμούσας θυμιαμάτων [" al εἶσιν at προσευχαὶ τῶν ἁγίων] ' 9. καὶ " ἄδουσιν ᾠδὴν ἕκαινὴν λέγοντες, *"Agtos et λαβεῖν τὸ βιβλίον καὶ ἀνοῖξαι τὰς σφραγίδας
ὅτι " ἐσφάγης καὶ " ἠγόρασας τῷ Θεῷ " ἐν τῷ " αἵματί σου, ~ ‘ A *éx πάσης φυλῆς καὶ γλώσσης καὶ λαοῦ καὶ ἔθνους, 10. καὶ ἐποίησας αὐτοὺς τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν 7 βασιλείαν καὶ 7 ἱερεῖς : \z , Ἱ αι πει. melee καὶ ” βασιλεύσουσιν * ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.
πολλῶν κύκλῳ τοῦ
θρόνου καὶ τῶν Lwwv καὶ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων, καὶ ἦν ὁ ἀριθμὸς αὐτῶν
X vii. 9, fr. Dan. iii. 2, 4, 7, Ζ XXil. 5. a vii. 11,
1 For βασιλευσοµεν (Pr., vg.), βασιλευσουσιν (XP, 1, min., S., etc., Bg., Ti., Ws., Holtzm., Bs., Bj., Briggs, etc.) is preferable to βασιλευουσιν (AQ, min., Syr., Anda, Lach., Al. Ττ., WH, Sw., Jacoby 448-449) in sense of Matt. ν. 5.
2 After ηκονσα Ti., Tr. (WH marg.), Bj., Sw. add ως (903, min., Syr., Areth.,
etc.).
enjoy our freedom and fortunes”’ (Suet. Vit. Aug. 98.)
The scene or stage of the apocalyptical drama 1s occupied by an angelic and heavenly chorus, who upon this solemn and glad occasion give their plaudite or acclamation ,of glory {ο the Lord. The future which God rules is revealed by him through Christ ; and this moves enthusiastic gratitude, till the universe rings from side to side with praise.
Ver. 9. ᾠδὴν κ. followed (14) by ἀμήν, as in the worship of the church on earth (Col. iii. 16, 1 Cor. xiv. 15, 16). ὥδουσιν (historic present) no longer to God as creator (iv. 11) but to the Lamb as re- deemer, for the cost and scope and issue of his redemption. This unique and remarkable passage in early Christian literature marks the growing sense and value attaching to Jesus as being far more than a mere national messiah, in fact as the one assurance of God possessed by men, as their pledge of bliss and privilege and pardon. And this is due to his redeeming function, upon which the relationship of men to God depends. It is a further stage of the Christian development when, as in Asc. Isa. ix. 27-32, the vision and praise of Jesus is followed by that of the Holy Spirit (35, 36) and of God himself (37-42). The prophet John’s “theolcgy”’ is less advanced. Uni- versal allegiance and homage paid not, as in the contemporary sense of the οἰκουμένη, to a Czsar’s proud preten-
sions, but to the sacrifice of a Christ (see G. A. Smith, Hist. Geogr. 478, 479) isa new thing in the world. An undivided church, gathered from the divisions of humanity, is also a new and unexpected development, to which a foil is presented by the exclusiveness voiced at the annual Jewish paschal rite, and in the daily Shema-prayer (‘‘ For Thou hast chosen us from amongst all nations and tongues. . . - Blessed be the Lord that chose in love his people Israel’’). For ἀγοράζειν (cf. note on i. 5)=the buying of slaves, cf. Dittenberger’s Orientis Gr. Inscript. Selectae, 33535.
Ver. το. An allusion not so much to the idea of xx. 4, where the literal sway of the saints (=life eternal, in substance) is confined to a certain section of them, or to xxii. 5 (on the new earth, cf. xxi. 1), as to ii. 26. Compare the primitive patristic notion, reflected, ε.σ., by Vict. oni. 15: adorabimus in loco ubi steterunt pedes eius, quoniam ubi illi primum stete- runt et ecclesiam confirmauerunt, i.e., in Judza, ibi omnes sancti conuenturi sunt et dominum suum adoraturi. The whole verse sets aside implicitly such a Jewish pretension as of Philo, who (de Abrah. το) hails Israel as the people 6 pot δοκεῖ τὴν ὑπὲρ παντὸς ἀνθρώπων γένους ἵερω- σύνην καὶ προφητείαν λαχεῖν.