30.
r Zech. i. 6, Amos iii. 7, Dan. ix. 6, ro, etc., cf. Acts ili. 21. Favourite thought of sub- primitive
s Cf. Gal. iil. 8. εὐαγ.
t xvi. 1. uv. 7: w Cf, ix. 8,
1For βιβλιδαριον (Q, etc., Anda,c, Areth.) or βιβλαριδιον (NYP, 1, etc., Al., Ti.,
Bs., Bj.) read βιβλιον AC, 6, 14 (Lach., Tr., WH, Sw., Ws.).
readings are corrections.
pf. (LXX= καὶ and fut. indic.) here by an awkward solecism (cf. on iii. 20) =‘* Then is (z.e., shall be) fnished the secret of God.” The final consummation (inaug- urated by the advent of messiah, xii.) is to take place not later than the period of the seventh angel’s trumpet-blast, which ex hypothesi is imminent. The µυστή- ptov is plainly, as the context implies, full of solace and relief to God’s people. —einyy- The total (exc. xiv. 6) omission of εὐαγγέλιον and the restricted use of its verb inthe Apocalypse may have been due to the fact that such terms had been soiled by ignoble usage in the local Ionian cult of εὐάγγελος (e.g., at Ephe- sus), with its oracular revelations and fellowship of Euangelidae. The Asiatic calendar of Smyrna contained a month called evayyéAvos.—The connexion be- tween pvotypiov=‘‘secret purpose or -counsel’”’ (as here) and p.=‘‘ symbol, or symbolic representation’”’ (i. 20, xvii. 7) is due to the fact that in the primitive world the former was enigmatically con- νεγεά by means of symbolic-representa- tions in word, picture, or deed. As ‘‘every written word was once a µυστήριον, it was natural that the word used for the sign came to be employed for the thing signified (Hatch, Essays in Bibl. Greek, 61). The near approach of the end had been for years a matter of confidence and joy to the Christian prophets—for it is they and not their predecessors who are specially in view. The special and solemn contribution of John’s Apocalypse is to identify certain events in the imme- diate future with the throes out of which the final bliss was to be born. These throes include the downfall of the dragon from heaven, the subsequent climax of the Beast’s influence on earth, and the assertion of God’s authority over his
The two former
own and against his foe’s adherents (xii.-xiv. 20). The great and glad revela- tion is God seen in action, with his forces deployed for the final campaign which, with its issues of deliverance and triumph (xv.-xxii.), forms the climax of this book. The apotheosis of the Czsars in their life-time—above all, of Domitian —marked the pitch of human depravity ; divine intervention was inevitable.
Up to the end of ch. ix., the Apoca- lypse is fairly regular and intelligible; thereafter, criticism enters upon an intri- cate country, of which hardly any survey has yet succeeded in rendering a satis- factory account. The problem begins with ch. x. Although vv. 1-7 complete the preceding oracles by introducing their finale (7=xi. 14 f.), while 8-11 con- nect more immediately with ch. xi., this forms no reason for suspecting that the oracle is composite. Spitta takes τα, 26- 7 (except 4) as the continuation of ix., followed by xi. 15, 19, while the rest is substantially a prelude to xi. 1-13; Briggs similarly views 1a, 3-7 as the original transition between ix. and xi. 14, 15 a, 19, while x. 1 b-2, 8-11 (a vision of mes- siah) introduces the new source of xi. 1-13, xii. 18; and Rauch regards x. x ὃ, 2 α, 5-7, 4, 0-11 as the opening of xi. I-13, xii. I-17, with x. 1-4 a (substan- tially) as the preface to xii. 18-xiii., xvi. 13-16. These analyses are unconvincing. The alleged signs of a Hebrew original (e.g., ver. 7, also λέγουσί por and λέγει μοι in vv. 9, II = variant versions of
ak DN) are not decisive.
Ver. 8. ἡ φωνὴ (cf. νετ. 4) left un- grammatically without a predicate, the two participles being irregularly attracted into the case of qv (cf. i. 1, iv. 11).