Ver. 4. After a pause, in which the sealing is supposed to have taken place, the writer hears that the number of the sealed is the stereotyped 144,000, twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel (a ‘‘ thousand ” being the primi- tive subdivision of a clan or tribe, like the English shire into ‘“‘hundreds”). The enumeration of these tribes (5-8) contains two peculiarities, (a) the substitution of Joseph for Ephraim, a variation to which , we have no clue, and (b) the omission of Dan. The latter reflects the growing dis- repute into which Dan fell; it either stands last (e.g. in P.; Josh. xix. 4ο f.; Jud. i. 34) or drops out entirely, while it is curiously connected in the Talmud, as already in Test. XII. Patr. (Dan. =) with Beliar, and in Irenzus (v. 30, 32) as in Hippolytus (de Antichr. 5, 6) with the
ἐκ φυλῆς lovda δώδεκα χιλιάδες ἐσφραγισμένοι °
ἐκ Φυλῆς ‘PouBhy δώδεκα Χιλιάδες * ἐκ φυλῆς Γὰδ δώδεκα χιλιάδες : 6. ἐκ φυλῆς ᾽Ασὴρ δώδεκα χιλιάδες "
ἐκ φυλῆς Νεφθαλεὶμ, δώδεκα χιλιάδες *
ἐκ φυλῆς Μανασσῆ δώδεκα χιλιάδες "
7. ἐκ φυλῆς Συμεὼν δώδεκα χιλιάδες "
ἐκ φυλῆς Λευεὶ δώδεκα χιλιάδες "
ἐκ φυλῆς Ισσαχὰρ δώδεκα χιλιάδες *
nCf.oniii. ϐ, 8
ο Cf. ν.ο.
p Irreg. appos. to plur. sense of ο. ὀχλος. ες, 4
qNom.after ἐθύνατο, ἐκ (sc.) ιδοὺ; cf. John xii. 13,
ἐκ φυλῆς Ζαβουλὼν δώδεκα χιλιάδες -
ἐκ φυλῆς ᾿Ιωσὴφ δώδεκα χιλιάδες: .
ἐκ φυλῆς Βενιαμεὶν δώδεκα Χιλιάδες: ἐσφραγισμένοι.
ΜΕΤΑ ταῦτα εἶδον ὄχλον πολύν,ὶ ὃν ἀριθμῆσαι " αὐτὸν οὐδεὶς. ὁπαντὸς έθνους καὶ φυλῶν καὶ λαῶν καὶ ’γλωσσῶν,
A A ‘ - Pégtates ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου καὶ ἐνώπιον τοῦ ἀρνίου, περιβεβλη-
4 , α ‘ ~ Δ Lev.xxiii. µένους στολὰς λευκάς, καὶ " φοίνικες ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτῶν ΄ Io. καὶ
40. is rSeeonxix. Κράζουσιν φωνῇ µεγάλῃ λέγοντες,
1 and xii. 10. S V. 13, ΧΙΙ. 10, ΧΙΧ. I. t v. II-12. u Cf. Win. § 13. 20. v xi. 16.
”.
3 , ἀρνιῳ.
’ ~ lol c A ~ - ~ ““H Towtypla "τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν τῷ καθηµένῳ ἐπὶ τῷ θρόνῳ καὶ ᾿τῷ
ς ε A 11. ‘Kal πάντες ol ἄγγελοι " εἰστήκεισαν κύκλω τοῦ θρόνου καὶ a 9 A , \ A τῶν πρεσβυτέρων καὶ τῶν τεσσάρων ζώων, καὶ ᾿ ἔπεσαν ἐνώπιον τοῦ
1 Read, for και t. οχλος πολυς, the οχλον πολυν of A, vg., Me., Aeth., Cypr., Pr. (Lach.) (Syr. = κ.µ.τ. ειδον οχλυν πολυν ον, κ.τ.λ.].
origin of Antchrise This sinister repu- tation (cf. A.C. 171-174, Selwyn 200-294, Erbes 77 f.), current long before Irenzus’ day, rested on the haggadic interpretation of passages like Gen. xlix. 17; Deut. xxxiii. 22: and Jer. viii. 16. Andreas, comment- ing on xvi. 12, thinks that Antichrist will probably come from Persia, ἔνθα ἡ φυλὴ τοῦ Δάν.
Ver. ο. ἔθν. κ. ϕ. curious and irregular change from singular to plural. ἑστῶτες =erect, confident, triumphant. For the white robes, see on vi. 11 (the number of the martyrs being now completed). Cer- tain religious processions in Asia Minor consisted of boys robed in white and bearing crowns of leafy boughs (Deissm. 368 f.); and in some Asiatic inscriptions νίκη is associated with the palm branch, which in one case is placed alongside of the meta or goal (C. B. P. ii. 496). The carrying of palm-branches was a sign of festal joy in the Greek and Roman (= victory at the games Liv. x. 47, Verg. Aen. v. 109), as well as in the Jewish world (1 Macc. xiii. 51; 2 Macc. x. 7), accom- panied by the wearing of wreaths of
green leaves. For the robes, see Liv. xxiv. Io: ‘* Hadriae aram in coelo, spe- ciesque hominum circum eam cum can- dida ueste visas esse”. Here=‘“‘scilicet de antichristo triumphales ” (Tertullian). For the numberless multitude, see Enoch xxxix. 6, where ‘‘ the righteous and the- elect shall be for ever and ever without number before” the messiah, in the mansions of bliss; white raiment and crowns of palm in Herm. Sim. viii. 2-4.