15—I7. ΑΠΟΕΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ 395 “ Técete ἐφ᾽ ἡμᾶς καὶ κρύψατε ἡμᾶς p (Luke ή 3 BC 4 A ; XXlil. 30), ἀπὸ προσώπου τοῦ καθηµένου ἐπὶ τοῦ θρόνου, tii 14, ο ea a > A ae) , Nah. i. 6, καὶ ἀπὸ τῆς ὀργῆς τοῦ ἀρνίου, ο... eo e ie , ς , a 3 a aA Ze Bi i. 17. Pore ἦλθεν ἡ ἡμέρα ἡ µεγάλη τῆς ὀργῆς adtod,} Eee ate, q Win. § 14,
‘ , δ , q - ” καὶ τίς δύναται 3 σταθῆναι ;
4:
αυτων (NC, 35, vg., Syr., S., Haym., etc., Ti., Tr., WH, Sw., Bj.) is an emen- dation of the original and difficult αυτου (APQ, min., Me., Arm., Aeth., And.,
Areth., Pr., Lach., Al., Ws., Bs.).
g-17 acontinuation of vi. (Spitta). Vv. 1-8 are a Jewish fragment incorporated by the author} who writes 9-17 himself (so, ε.ρ., Vischer, Pfleiderer, Schmidt, Porter, Bousset, von Soden, Scott, Well- hausen). The fact that a selection, and not the whole, of the Jews are preserved, does not (in view of 4 Esdras) prove that a Jewish Christian (Volter, J. Weiss) must have written it. The scenery is not organic to John’s proper outlook. After ver. 8 he shows no further interest in it. The winds are never loosed. The sealing itself is not described. The sealed are not seen. An apparent allu- sion to this remnant does occur (xiv. I), but it is remote; John makes nothing of it; and the detached, special character of vii. 1-8 becomes plainer the further we go into the other visions. The sealed are exempted merely from the plague of the winds, not from martyrdom or perse- cution (of which there is no word here); one plague indeed has power to wound, though not to kill, them (ix. 4, 5). The collocation of the fragment with what precedes is probably due in part to cer- tain similarities like the allusions to the wind (vi. 13), numbering (vi. 11), and the seals (vi. 1 f.). The real problem is, how far did John take this passage liter- ally? This raises the question of the relationship between 1-8 and 9-17; either (a) both are different forms of the same belief, or (6) two different classes of people are meant. Inthe former event (a) John applies the Jewish oracle of 1-8 to the real Jews, 1.6., the Christians, who as a pious remnant are to be kept secure amid the cosmic whirl and crash of the latter days (vi. 12-17, cf. iii. το and the connexion of Nahum i. 5, 6, and 7). The terror passes and lo! the saints are seen safe on the other side (9-17). This in- terpretation of Christians as the real Israel or twelve tribes is favoured not only by early Christian thovght (cf. 1 Peter i. 1, Jas. i. 1, Herm. Sim. ix. 17), but by the practice of John himself (e.g., xviii. 4). Here as elsewhere he takes
the particularist language of his source in a free symbolic fashion; only, while the archaic scenery of 1-8 suffices for a description of the safeguarded on earth, he depicts their beatified state (g-17) in ampler terms. The deeper Christian con- tent of his vision implies not deliverance from death but deliverance through death. His saints are not survivors but martyrs. Hence the contrast between 1-8 and 9-17 is one of language rather than of temper, and the innumerable multitude of the latter, instead of being a supplement to the 144,000, are the latter viewed after their martyr-death under a definitely Christian light. The O.T. imagery of 1-8 mainly brings out the fact that the true Israel (Gal. vi. 16) is known and numbered by God; not one is lost. The alternative theory (b) holds that in taking over this fragment and adding another vision John meant Jewish Chris- tians by the 144,000. The latter identi- fication (5ο, e.g., Prim., Vict., Hausrath, Vischer, Spitta, Hirscht, Forbes, Bousset) is less probable, however, in view of the general tenor of the Apocalypse (cf. Introd. § 6), for the usual passages cited as proof (cf. notes on xiv. 1 f., xxi. 12 and 24) are irrelevant, and while John prized the martyrs it is incredible that 9-17 was meant to prove that martyrdom was required to admit Gentile Christians even to a second grade among the elect (Weizsacker, Pfleiderer), A Jewish Christian prophet might indeed, out of patriotic pride, regard the nucleus of God’s kingdom as composed of faithful Jews, without being particularist in his sympathies. Paul himself once held this nationalist view (Rom. ix.-xi.), but it is doubtful if it represented his final, position, and in any case the general conception of the Apocalypse (where Christians are the true Jews, and where particularist language is used metaphori- cally, just because literally it was obso- lete) tells on the whole in favour of the view that 9-17 represents 1-8 read in the light of v. ο (so, e.g., de Wette, Bruston-