Ver. 2. ‘And in his (left? cf. ver. 5) hand a small booklet open” (in contrast to the larger closed book of v. 1), after Ezek. Π. 9. This colossal figure, like an Arabian jin, bestrides earth and sea. His message is for the broad world.
Ver. 3. ὥσπερ λέων (of God in O.T., reff.; of the messiah 4 Esd. xi. 37, xii. 31) μυκᾶται Theokr, Jd. xxvi. 21, μύκημα λεαίνης, properly of cattle=“ to bellow”’. ἐλάλησαν x.7T.A.=‘‘uttered what they had to say” (i.e., spoke articulately). αἱ (the well-known or familiar) βρονταί ‘‘of the apocalyptic machinery ”’ (Alford), or a popular piece of apocalyptic prophecy (see below). Cf. the sevenfold voice of
412
Des
ki.10f.,19 φωνάς' 4 καὶ ὅτε ἐλάλησαν ai ἑπτὰ βρονταὶ npeAdov! γράφειν *
Xiv. 13, etc. 1 Dan. viii.
26, xii. 4, σαν at ἑπτὰ βρονταί, καὶ μὴ αὐτὰ γράψης.
cf. Apoc. Bar. xx.
καὶ ἤκουσα * φωνὴν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ, λέγουσαν ᾿ Σφράγισον & ἐλάλη-
5. Καὶ ὁ ἄγγελος, ὃν
εἶδον ἑστῶτα ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης καὶ ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς, “Ape τὴν χεῖρα
8. a ἁ αφ. 3 τι Gen. xiv. αὐτοῦ τὴν δεξιὰν εἰς τὸν οὐρανόν, 6. καὶ ” ὤμοσεν " ἐν τῷ ζῶντι εἰς
10, 22, Deut. XXX1li. 40,
AY 2A lal 3 ο ” Q > x Ν BS 3 5. ΔΝ τους αιωνας των ALWYWY, OS εκτισε TOV oupavov και τα εν αυτῷ και
A A A ~ 7 Ezek. xx. THY γῆν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῇ καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ τὰ ἐν αὐτῆ, “' Ὅτι
ἐπ ουταῖς) Ρ χρόνος οὐκέτι ἔσται ' 7. GAN’ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ ἑβδό-
Matt. v. 34, 36, xxiii. 16, 18, 20-22. lv. 3, 10, cf. Ezek. xii. 23-24.
o Neb. ix. 6, Ps. cxlv. (cxlvi.) 6.
p =respite, ii. 21, Jos. Bell.
1The double augment of ηµελλον (ACQ, min., so Lach., Tr., WH, Ws., Swete) is better attested here than in iii. 2, cf. Helbing 71-72.
the Lord in thunder, Ps. xxix. The seven thunders here may be conceived loosely as the echoes of the angel’s voice reverberating through the universe (Spitta, Weiss), thunder, throughout the ancient world, being especially venerated as a divine voice or warning.
Ver. 4. To seal or shut up a vision is to keep it secret from mankind, 2.e., in the present case (by a sequence of thought which is scarcely logical) to leave it unwritten. Ina similar passage (Apoc. Bar. xx. 3) ‘‘seal” means to lay up fast in one’s memory (because the realisation is not immediate) ; but this meaning is suggested by the context, although it might suit the present pas- sage. The seer describes himself as pro- hibited by a heavenly voice (which rever- ence leaves as usual undefined, 4 Esd. vi. 17: Dalman viii. 1) from obeying his impulse. Noreason is assigned; but the plain sense of the passage is that the author wishes (Weizs., Schon, Bs., Holtzm., Pfleid.) to justify his omission of a seven-thunder source or set of visions circulating in contemporary circles of prophecy (x. 7). In view ot the authoritative character of such fragments or traditions John justifies his procedure by the explanation that he felt inspired to do so, and also to substitute other oracles. Thus in the middle, as at the opening and end of his book, he reite- rates his prophetic authority. The epi- sode may further indicate that the written contents of the Apocalypse represents merely a part of the author’s actual vision (cf. John xxi. 25), or it may serve to heighten the effect of what is now to be introduced, or it may suggest that while the seer is to write (i. 11), he is to write only what is revealed through the medium of angels. In Slay. En. xxiii. 3, 6 the seer spends thirty days in writing
the remarks of his angel-instructor. To hear ἄρρητα ῥήματα, ἃ οὐκ ἐξὸν ἀνθρώπῳ λαλῆσαι was not incompatible, however, with an ἀποκάλυψις κυρίου (2 Cor. xii. 1-4), cf. Weinel, 162 f. There was an inspiration of restraint as well as an in- spiration of impulse. Thus Hermas (Vis. i. 3) listens with wonder to glories of God which he could not remember, ‘*for all the words were awful, such as man cannot bear. The last words, how- ever, | did remember; they were fit for us and mild”. Possibly the seven- thunders source was of a severely puni- tive character (viii. 5), traversing ground which had been already (vi.-ix.) and was to be again (xv.-xvi.) covered.