~ ~ 4 s. ver. 6. εἲς τὸν τόπον αὐτῆς, "ὅπου τρέφεται * exer καιρὸν καὶ ' καιροὺς
t Dan. vii. 25 (Theod.), xi. dual
cw
(Win. § ἵνα αὐτὴν " ποταµοφόρητον ποιήση.
αν ο). , u Hebraism γυναικι,
‘ ο a Ἡα δ bY ΄ α 3 και ηµισυ καιρου απο προσωπου του Όφεως.
15. καὶ ἔβαλεν
ὁ ὄφις ἐκ τοῦ στόματος αὐτοῦ ὀπίσω τῆς γυναικὸς ὕδωρ ὡς ποταµόν,
16. καὶ ἐβοήθησεν ἡ γῆ τῇ
καὶ ἤνοιξεν ἡ γῆ τὸ στόµα αὐτῆς καὶ κατέπιε τὸν ποταμὸν ( 4 Δ » ς ή 3 [ο , > ~ WITIT ὃν ἔβαλεν 6 δράκων ἐκ τοῦ otdpatos αὐτοῦ.
17. καὶ ὠργίσθη ὁ
5 , ase a , ‘ fol x a x / a A 39) δράκων ἐπὶ τῇ γυναικί, καὶ ἀπῆλθε "ποιῆσαι " πόλεμον μετὰ τῶν
rom". λοιπῶν τοῦ ” σπέρματος αὐτῆς, τῶν ΄ τηρούντων τὰς ἐντολὰς τοῦ θεοῦ απ. εΥ. - No kal "ἐχόντων τὴν µαρτυρίαν ᾿Ιησοῦ. 1 ἐποίησεν : : 5 Ξ-ἀπόερσεν (Hesych. on Iliad, vi. 348). '' To get her swept away by the stream”. w xi. 18 “waxed wroth”. X χι. 7. y Cf. 2 John 1, 4, 13; also 1 Pet. i. 1-2, iv. 12 1. z 1 John ii. 3,
iii. 22, 24, 1 Cor. vii. 19.
ticle, or a Hebraism, or more likely an allusion to the mythological basis). In traditional mythology the eagle op- posed and thwarted the serpent at all points (cf. reff.). In the Egyptian myth the vulture is the sacred bird of Isis (Hathor). Any allusion to Israel’s de- liverance (as in Exod. xix. 4; Deut. xxxii. 11) is at best secondary.
Ver. 15. Another mythological meta- phor for persecution or persecutors, like “torrents of Belial” (Ps. xviii. 4). As the primaeval dragon was frequently a sea- monster, from Tiamat onwards, his con- nexion with water (cf. on viii. 10) was a natural development in ancient (cf. Pausan. ν. 43 f.) and even Semitic (e.g., Ps. Ixxiv. 4; Ezek. xxix., xxxii.) literature. The serpent in the river was, for Zoro- astrians, a creation of the evil spirit (Vend. i. 3).
Ver. 16. The dragon is unexpectedly baffled by the earth, as the woman’s ally, which swallows the persecutors like Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (Num. xvi. 30-32). This enigmatic detail has not yet been paralleled from Jewish or early Christian literature, for Protev. Facobi, 22 (cited by Selwyn, 7-9) is even more re- mote than 4 Esd. xili. 44. Probably it was retained from the astrological setting of the original myth: Cetos, the aquatic dragon of the southern heavens, which astrologically is a watery region, casts forth the river of Eridanos, which is swallowed up in the zodiac as it flows down the heavens into the underworld.
Ver. 17. The baffled adversary now widens his sphere of operations.—t.A. an apocalyptic term = the deyrelicti or re- lictt of 4 Esdras (cf. Volz, 319). These represent to the Christian editor the scat- tered Christians in the Empire; by add- ing this verse (or at least καὶ ἐχ. . . . ᾿Γησοῦ) to the source, he paves the way
a Vi. ο, xiv. 123, xix. 10, etc.
for the following saga of xiii. which de- picts the trying situation of Christians exposed to the attack of the devil’s de- puties. The devil keeps himself in the background. He works subtly through the Roman power. This onset on the faith and faithfulness of Christians by the enforcement of the Imperial cultus is vividly delineated in Ep. Lugd. which incidentally mentions the experience of Biblias who, like Cranmer, repented of a recantation. ‘‘The devil, thinking he had already swallowed up B., one of those who had denied Christ, desired to condemn her further by means of blas- phemy, and brought her to the torture [t.e., in order to force false accusations from her lips]. . . . But she, reminded by her present anguish of the eternal punish- ment in Gehenna [cf. Apoc. xiv. 9 f.], con- tradicted the blasphemous slanderers, confessed herself a Christian, and was added to the order of the martyrs.” Blandina, the heroic slave-girl, survived several conflicts ἵνα νικήσασα τῷ μὲν σκολιῷ Sher ἀπαραίτητον ποιήσῃ τὴν καταδίκην.