Ver. το. “Salvation” (or, if ἡ be pressed, the salvation we enjoy) be as- cribed ‘‘ to our God and to the Lamb ”. The subordinate nature of the seven Spirits (i. 4, iv. 5) is shown by the fact that no praise is offered to them through- out the Apocalypse, although in Iranian theology (Bund. xxx. 23): ‘‘ all men be- come of one voice and praise aloud Atharmazd and the archangels in the- renovated universe”.
Vv. 11-12. The angels standing around once again adore God, catching up the previous praise with ‘‘Amen,” and utter- ing a sevenfold ascription of praise upon their own behalf, closed with another
399
a a a - Ae θρόνου ἐπὶ τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν καὶ προσεκύνησαν τῷ Θεῷ, 12. λέ- w Ioitial
yovTes, wise?
We ‘ Ne , ανα ο ‘ ~ ma ες a > ‘ IA καὶ ἡ τιμὴ καὶ ἡ δύναμις καὶ ἡ * ἰσχὺς τῷ Θεῷ ἡμῶν εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας
~ ” > , ” των αἰώνων. Gapny.
13. Καὶ ” ἀπεκρίθη els ἐκ τῶν πρεσβυτέρων λέγων por, “'Οὗτοιν οἱ περιβεβλημένοι τὰς στολὰς τὰς λευκάς, τίνες εἰσὶν καὶ πόθεν ἦλθον ; 14. καὶ "εἴρηκα αὐτῷ, “' Κύριέ µου, σὺ ' οἶδας”.. εἶπέ por, “' Οὗτοί εἶσιν οἱ ἐρχόμενοι "ἐκ τῆς θλίψεως τῆς μεγάλης,
b Ezek. xxxvii. 3, Job xxi. 15.
“Amen”. The article is repeated before each substitute, asin v. 13. The divine ‘*wisdom ” is shown in the means devised by the divine power to redeem (ν. 12) and deliver (vii. 14) men, in straits where no human prudence could prevail. See Clem. Rom. Ix. and Ps. Sol. xvii. 25.
Ver. 13. ‘‘ And one of the elders ad- dressed me, saying”; for similar open- ings of a dialogue, see Jer. i. 11, Zech. iv.2. Perhaps, like Dante (Parad. iv. 10-12), John although silent showed desire painted on his face. The form of inquiry resembles Homer’s τίς πόθεν els ἀνδρῶν; πόθι τοι πόλις, or Vergil’s qui genus? unde domo?, more closely still the similar sentences which recur in Hermas. See throughout, Zech. iv. 1, 6, and Asc. Isa. ix. 25, 26 (and I said to the angel ‘‘ For whom are these robes and thrones and crowns reserved?” And he said to me: ‘‘ They shall be missed by many who believe the words of him of whom I told thee [i.e., Anti- christ]” ; also xi. 40, uos autem uigilate in sancto spiritu ut recipiatis stolam uestram et thronos et coronas gloriae in caelo iacentes). It is the origin and character, not the number, of the company which interests the prophet.
Ver. 14. κύριέ pov (‘‘ Sir”) the re- spectful address of an inferior to his superior in age or station, the πρεσβύτεροι being conceived as angelic beings (as in Dan. x. 17, 19, 4 Esd, iv. 3, etc.).—‘* Thou knowest ” (and I fain would know also). The great distress is plainly the period of persecution and martyrdom (vi. 11) pre- dicted (e.g., Matt. xxiv. 21, from Dan xii.1) to herald the final catastrophe. It is still expected by Hermas (Vis. ii. 2. 7, iv. 2. 5, 3. 6) ; but he less religiously attributes the white garments (i.e., purity of soul) to the virtues. As the crisis with its outcome of faith and loyalty in all nations (ver. g) is to be world-wide, this
Amen, XX. 4; XXil. 20.
Αμήν ἡ εὐλογία καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ *oopia καὶ ἡ εὐχαριστία x Cy. v. 12;
σ. and δύναμις Job xii. 13 (cf. Dan. il. 20). Asin 1 Chron. ΧΧΙΧ. 11. ’ . z Constr. Kat” Mate. xi. 25, Cant. il. 1Ο. a Aoristic - pf., v. 7. ο Contrast Rom. ii. 8-9, and compareApoc. iii. 10.
passage seems to imply, although in a characteristically vague and incidental fashion (cf. v. 9, xiv. 6, etc.), the idea of Mark xiii. 1ο. But the situation of the Apocalypse is so acute, that mission operations are at a standstill. Instead of the gospel invading and pervading the pagan world, the latter has closed in upon the churches with threatening power, and in the brief interval before the end practically nothing can be looked for except the preservation of the faithful. Those “ who come out of the great dis- tress” are further described as having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb; which por- trays their character and conduct andat the same time explains the secret of theit triumphant endurance. ‘‘ Mehr gedacht als geschaut ist das Bild” (J. Weiss). The great thing is not to emerge from. trial, but to emerge from it with un- stained faith and conscience. And this is possible, not to man’s unaided efforts, but to the sacrificial power of Christ, the experience of which forms the last line of defence in the struggle. The confessors. and martyrs owed their moral purity to what they obtained through the sacrifice of Jesus. But moral purity became in this case something more intense (as the context and the emphatic language of this verse imply) than the normal Christian experience of forgiveness and holiness. By a turn of thought which is developed later by Ignatius and Ter- tullian (Scorp. xii. sordes quidem baptis- mate abluuntur, maculae uero martyrié candidantur), it is suggested that in their martyrdom (cf. Dan. xii. 10) these saints were able to make the redeeming power of Jesus peculiarly their own ; the nature of their cruel sufferings identified them es- pecially with their Lord. Itis noticeable that the mystic union of the individual. Christian with Christ mainly comes for-