411
3 , > A x , ee 3 3 a ¥; ~ αν Ss OU µετενόησαν EK τῶν * φόνων αὐτῶν οὔτε ἐκ τῶν Φαρμακειῶν αὐτῶν Υ Ο/. xvii. 1
οὔτε ἐκ τῆς πορνείας αὐτῶν οὔτε ἐκ τῶν * κλεμμάτων αὐτῶν.
Χ. 1. ΚΑΙ εἶδον ἄλλον ἄγγελον ἰσχυρὸν καταβαίνοντα ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, "περιβεβλημένον "νεφέλην, καὶ ἡ Ptpus ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν αὐτοῦ καὶ τὸ "πρόσωπον αὐτοῦ ὡς ὁ ἥλιος, καὶ of ἆ πόδες αὐτοῦ ds
with xviii, 2, 23, En. χον. 4, also Isa. xlvii. of., Mal. ili. 5 2 Kings ix. 22.
, αν ig ‘ ~ ol aT. . στύλοι Trupds* 2. καὶ "ἔχων ἐν τῇ χειρὶ αὐτοῦ ΄ βιβλαρίδιον ἠνεῳωγ-΄ Noe” , . \ a a i. 7, Xi µένον ΄ καὶ * ἔθηκε τὸν πόδα αὐτοῦ τὸν δεξιὸν ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης, Tov? * 7%
\ Β a a A δὲ εὐώνυμον ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, 3. Kal ἔκραξε φωνῇ µεγάλῃ ὥσπερ λέων "μυκᾶται᾿ καὶ ὅτε ἔκραξεν, ἐλάλησαν αἱ ἑπτὰ βρονταὶ τὰς ἑαυτῶν
Augur A pollo). b iv. 3. e As if ἄλλος ayy. had preceded (ver. 1). XViii. 16. 1062, Arist. Clouds, 292.
a passage (this time of some length) is intercalated (x. I-xi. 13), in which the personality of the seer now re-emerges (on earth, instead of in heaven). The object of x. τ-1Ι is to mark at once a change of literary method and a transi- tion from one topic to another. The passage, which certainly comes from the prophet’s own pen (so Sabatier, Schon, and others), looks backward and forward. Now that the preliminaries are over, all is ready for the introduction of the two protagonists (xi.-xiii.) whose conflict forms the closing act of the world’s history (xv. I-xx. 10). One of these is Jesus, the divine messiah, who has hitherto (v.-ix.) been depicted as the medium of revelation. Since his rdle is now to be more active, the prophet expressly alters the literary setting of his visions. The subsequent oracles are not represented as the contents of the book of Doom (which is now open, with the breaking of its last seal). Dropping that figure (contrast v. 2 and x. I) the writer describes himself absorb- ing another roll of prophecy received from an angel. Evidently he intends to mark a new departure, and to introduce what follows as a fresh start. This new procedure is accompanied by an explicit assurance—intended to whet the reader’s interest—that the Apocalypse has now reached the verge of the final catas- trophe; the prophet apparently makes this eagerness to reach the goal the reason for omitting a seyen-thunders vision (or source) which otherwise he might have been expected to include either at this point or subsequently. It is quite in keeping with the wider out- look and rather more historical atmos- phere of xi. f., that a freer and less
ci. 16, cf. Matt. xvii. 2. recede _ f£ Corrupt form of class. dimin. Βιβλιδάριον. h Am. i. 2, iii. 4, 8, Hos. xi. το, etc.
14, from Dan. vii. is “cloud- wrapt ” (like
: Horace’s di. 15, cf. Exod. xiv. το (LX Χ). m g Sap. iam. λεγ. N.T.; of thunder Aesch. Prom.
numerical method pervades these oracles. In short, x. 1-11 is a digression only in form. It serves to introduce not simply the Jewish fragment (xi. 1-13)—whose strange contents probably required some express ratification—but the rest of the oracles (xiii. f.), which are thus awk- wardly but definitely connected with the foregoing design (through the closing trumpet-vision: x. 7=xi. 15 f.).
CHAPTER X.—Ver. 1. ἄλλον, referring to v. 2, where another strong angel was mentioned, also in connexion with a book. The position of the seer is implied (since viii. 2?) to be no longer in heaven (cf. verses 4 and 8), but on earth, as the gigantic angel of light descends to him. The face and feet are described in stereo- typed fashion. In Ezekiel’s description of God (i. 28) the appearance of a rain- bow surrounds the divine throne, as an element of the theophany in nature. Here also it is an esthetic detail. Sue- tonius describes (Vit. Aug. 95) Augustus seeing suddenly ‘“‘in a clear and bright sky a circle, like a rainbow in heaven, surrounding the sun’s disc’.