Ver. 17. 6 ἐρχόμενος is naturally omit- ted from this paean; God has already come! The variation of order in i. 4 and iv. 8 has no occult significance. The
phrase Lord God is considered by Philo: (on Gen. vii. 5) specially applicable to: seasons of judgment; Lord precedes God, since the former signifies not beneficence but ‘royal and destructive power’’.
Ver. 18. @py.=defiant rage (cf. xvi. 11), not the mere terror of vi. 17, at the messianic ὀργή. The prophets are as usual the most prominent of the ἅγιοι. If the καὶ after ἁγίοις is retained, it is epexegetic (as in Gen. iv. 4, Gal. vi. 16), not a subtle mark of division between Jewish and Gentile Christians (Volter) or (ina Jewish source) saints and proselytes. The same interpretation (for Φοβ. cf. Introd. § 6) must be chosen, if καὶ is omitted (as, e.g., by Bousset and Baljon), but the evidence is far too slight to justify the ἀε]είοῃ.-- διαφθ. '' When Nero perished by the justest doom/Which ever the destroyer yet destroyed” (By- ron). Contrast the exultant tone of ‘this. retrospective thanksgiving with the strain.
—Ig.
aD τς) , ς a A aS.) 2 ~ > ~ 19. Kat “yvotyn ὅ ναὸς τοῦ Θεοῦ ὁ ἐν τῷ οὐρανῷ, \ o>» co Q cal , 3 A 32 - - > a καὶ ὤφθη ἡ " κιβωτὸς τῆς διαθήκης αὐτοῦ ἐν τῷ vad αὐτοῦ
of foreboding which is sounded in xii. 12 before the actual conflict.
Ver. το introduces xii. 1-18; all that the prophet can speak of, from his own experience [ε/- xiii. I, II, εἶδον), are the two θηρία on earth, but their activity in these latter days is not intelligible except as the result of mys- terious movements in heaven. The latter he now outlines (cf. ὤφθη xi. το, χι. I, 3. By whom ?) in order to com- fort Christians by the assurance that the divine conqueror of these θηρία was in readiness tointervene. The celestial (con- trast xi. I) ναός, presupposed in the scenery of iv.-vi., is now mentioned for the first time; its opening reveals the long lost κιβωτὸς τῆς διαθήκης, and is accompanied by the usual storm-theo- phany, marking a decisive moment. Jewish tradition had for long cherished the belief (cf. on ii. 17) that the restora- tion of the people (gathered by God, cf. xiv. 1 f.) in the last days would be accom- panied by the disclosure of the sacred box or ark (in a cloud; cf. here the lightning and thunder) which, together with the tabernacle and the altar of incense, had been safely concealed in Mount Nebo. So, ¢.g., Abarbanel (on τ Sam. iv. 4: haec est arca quam abscondit ante uastationem templi nostri et haec arca futuro tem- pore adueniente messia nostro manifesta- bitur). Epiphanius repeats the same rabbi- nical tradition (καὶ ἐν ἀναστάσει πρῶτον ἡ κιβωτὸς ἀναστήσεται). The underlying idea was that the disappearance of the ark from the holy of holies (Jer. iii. 16; 4 Esd. x. 22; Jos. Bell. v. 5. 5) was a temporary drawback which had to be tighted before the final bliss could be consummated. This legend explains the symbolism of the Jewish Christian pro- phet. The messianic crisis is really at hand! The dawn may be cold and stormy, but it is the dawn of the last day! The spirit and content of the passage are transcendental ; it is prosaic to delete ἐν τ. 6. (Spitta, and Cheyne in E. Bi. i. 309) and refer the vision to the earthly temple in Jerusalem. Like the author of Hebrews, this writer views heaven under the old ritual categories; besides, the originals of the sacred things were supposed to exist in the heaven of God (Heb. viii. 5).
This overture leads up to two sagas