πι ” ~ ~ αὐτὸν ἔχων "ζυγὸν ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ.
τετάρτου ζώου λέγοντος, '' Ἔρχου '.
m Gen. price (Sc. πωλεῖται): cf. Matt. xx. 2.
Vi.
» ‘ a , ~
ἤνοιξε τὴν σφραγῖδα τὴν τρίτην, ἤκουσα τοῦ τρίτου ζώου λέγοντος, A ° 5
Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος µέλας, καὶ 6 καθήµενος ἐπ᾽
6. καὶ ἤκουσα ὡς φωνὴν
> / A , ΄ ἐν µέσω τῶν τεσσάρων ζωων λέγουσαν, 1 a , A ~ “ Xotveg σίτου ™ δηναρίου, καὶ τρεῖς Χοίνικες κριθῶν * δηναρίου * ‘ x ελ ‘ BY 3 \ 2 ah} / ”. και το εΛαιον και τον οινον μη α ικησης.
7. Καὶ ὅτε ἤνοιξε τὴν σφραγίδα τὴν τετάρτην, ἤκουσα φωνὴν τοῦ
8. καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἰδοὺ ἵππος
A ~ ~ °xAwpds, kal 6 καθήµενος ἐπάνω αὐτοῦ, ὄνομα αὐτῷ 6 Θάνατος 2
n Thuc. ii. 71, iv. 98,
2 Read avtw (NVQ, 5, Απά., Areth., Tr. marg.: cf. xiv. 4, 9, xix. 14) for per αντου (edd.), and, after εδοθη, avtw (Q, min., vss., Bg., Bs.) for the correction αντοις
(SACP, edd.). second, third, and fourth riders (Wellh.)].
‘holds a balance or pair of scales (ζ. liter- ally = the beam, see reff.) for measuring ‘bread by weight, to personify (ver. 6) bad times, when provisions became cruelly expensive. One χοῖνιξ of wheat, the usual rations of a working man for a day, is to cost twelve times its normal price, while the labourer’s daily pay will not command more than an eighth of the ordinary twenty-four mea- sures of the coarser barley. Grain is not to disappear entirely from the earth, otherwise there would be no famine. But food-stuffs are to be extremely scanty and therefore dear (cf. Lev. xxvi. 26; Ezek. iv. 16). These hard times are aggravated (καὶ adversative) by the immunity of oil and wine, which are, comparatively speaking, luxuries. One exasperating feature of the age would be the sight of wine and oil flowing, while grain trickled slowly into the grasp of the famishing. The best explanation of this realistic exception is to regard it as a water-mark of the Domitianic date (for details see the present writer’s study in Expos. Oct. 1908, 359-369). In 92 Α.Ρ. Domitian had made a futile attempt to injure the cultiva- tion of the vine in the provinces, which led to widespread agitation throughout Ionia. His edict had soon to be with- drawn, but not till it had roused fear and anger. Hence the words hurt not the wine have the force of a local allusion to what was fresh in his readers’ minds. The point of the saying lies in the recent events which had stirred Smyrna and the surrounding townships, and which pro- vided the seer with a bit of colour for his palette as he painted the final terrors.
[In any case, the avrots refers to Death and Hades, not to the
It is as if he grimly said: ‘“* Have no fears for your vines! There will be no Domitian to hurt them. Comfort your- selves with that. Only, it will be small comfort to have your liquid luxuries spared and your grain reduced almost to starvation point.” Or, the prophet’s meaning might be that the exemption of the vine would only pander to drunken- ness and its attendant ills. The addition of τὸ ἔλαιον is probably an artistic em- bodiment, introduced in order to fill out the sketch. The cultivation of the olive accompanied that of the vine, and the olive meant smooth times. It is no era of peace; far from that, the prophet im- plies. But the olive, “the darling of Peace” (as Vergil calls it), flourishes un- checked, so mocking and awry are the latter days. For ἀδικεῖν = “injure” (a country), see reff., vii. 2, and Dittenber- ger’s Sylloge Inscr. Graec. 557. This Domitianic reference of vi. 6 was first worked out by S. Reinach (Revue Arch- éolog. 1g01, 350 f.) and has been accepted by Harnack, Heinrici, Bousset, J. Weiss, Abbott, Holtzmann, Baljon, and others. There is no allusion to Jos. Bell. v. 13, 6, or to the sparing of gardens during the siege of Jerusalem (S. Krauss, in Preuschen’s Zeitschrift, 1909, 81-89).