Ver. 13. βάτραχοι, perhaps a remini- scence of the second Egyptian plague, but probably an Iranian touch; the frog was a special agent of Ahriman in the final contest (cf. reff., H. $. 1904, 352, and Hiibschmann, 230, 231). According to Artemidorus (ii. 15) frogs represent γοήτας καὶ βωμολόχους, and they were naturally associated with serpents (cf. Plut. Pyth. 12) as amphibious.
Ver. 14. ‘They are (not, these are) spirits of daemons”. These devilish imps muster God’s opponents to the final conflict. The fierce invasion of the kings of the east seems to give an im- petus to the kings of the world. Anti- christ’s power extends to these (cf. xi. 1ο). ‘As the Lord sent his apostles to all the nations, so shall he (i.e., Anti- christ) send false apostles” (Hippol. vi. cf. A. C. 188 f.). The sources of the tradition lie in Addit. Esther, xi. 6 f., where the two dragons cry, and at their summons all nations gather to do battle against the righteous nation; also in the belief that Israel’s foes muster against her in the latter days (xvii. 14, xix. 17-20,
448
xxvii.34, οἰκουμένης ὅλης, συναγαγεῖν αὐτοὺς *els τὸν πόλεμον τῆς ” ἡμέρας ΧΙΧ. 10-21. | if VIA
y αν here τῆς μεγάλης τοῦ θεοῦ τοῦ ” παντοκράτορος. [15. ““Ιδοὺ " ἔρχομαι 1 (cf. 1. τοι
vi. 129) {η ὡς Ὁ κλέπτης. µακάριος ὁ γρηγορῶν καὶ τηρῶν τὰ ἵμάτια αὐτοῦ,
Very. ἵνα μὴ "γυμνὸς περιπατῇ καὶ βλέπωσι τὴν & ύνην αὐτοῦ.] pes μη γύόμγνος p n ην ἀσχημοσύνην au :
. 4 .. κ xxii 7,12, 16. καὶ " συνήγαγεν αὐτοὺς εἰς τὸν τόπον τὸν καλούμενον ° “EBpaiort She fe 2 \ / 8 a rata N
b iii. 3, x Ἀρμαγεδών." 17. καὶ 6 ἕβδομος ἐξέχεε τὴν φΦιάλην αὐτοῦ ἐπὶ τὸν Vv. 2. a A Aa ~ ciii. 18; cf. *aepa> Kal ἐξῆλθε Φφωνὴ µεγάλη ἐκ τοῦ ναοῦ ἀπὸ τοῦ θρόνου Κ. xii. 36-37.
d Sc. δαιμόνια. f Cf. SC 263f:= YTD “VPs Megiddo, a classic scene of
rout for Israel's foes (cf. xix. 11, 14 = Judg. v. 20), like the plain of Chaeronea, an”Apews ὀρχήστρα, g ix. 2 (Encycl. Rel. and Ethics, i. 252f. and Rohde’s Psyche, 415f., 548f., 609f.), haunt and home of spirits, etc., Philo, de gig. § 2, Eph. ii. 2, vi. 12, Yasht. xiii, 12-13, and Plut., de Iside 26.
6 ix. 11.
1 The variant ερχεται (9, 38, 47,S., Pr.) is an attempt to smooth out the abrupt- ness of this interjected warning, which echoes the synoptic tradition rather than the Jewish law that it was a deadly offence for a priest to lack “complete and clean apparel” (Sanh., 83, 1, cf. Selwyn, 197). The extreme awkwardness of the verse in its present setting suggests that it is an interpolation or misplaced gloss, which has crept into the text owing to the above association of ideas (so, e.g., Vischer,
Spitta, Sch6n, Volter, Rauch, Weyland, von Soden, Simcox, Briggs).
Beza trans-
ferred it to precede ΠΠ. 18, K6nnecke (Emendationen zu Stellen N.T., 35-37) to between iii. 3a and 3b, when it would complete the ἰδού series of ii. 22, iii. 9, 20.
2 Ap Μαγεδων (NA, min., And., Ar.) is preferred by WH (313) and Swete.
xx. 7-10; after Ezek. xxxviii-xxxix.; Zev, xiv. 2 f.3 En. Ίνι, χο.» Sib. Or. iii. 9 322, 663-674). In Asc. Isa. iv. Beliar, in the guise of Nero, comes ‘‘and with him all the powers of this world, and they will hearken to him in all that he desires”’ (cf. below on xvii. 13, 17). These de- monic spirits are not crushed till the day of judgment (En. xvi. I ἕως τῆς κρίσεως τῆς peyaAns, Jub. x., Matt. viii. 290). The three locusts which issne from the mouth of the Beast in Hermas, Vis. iv. 1. 6, belong to the conception of Apoc. στ
Ver. 16. A double thread of tradition is woven into this strand of prophecy, (a) that of a last conflict of the world-powers with God and the messianic people (cf. xvii. I4, xix. 19) and (b) that of Rome’s ruin by the Parthians under Nero redivi- vus. Thetwo were originally distinct, but the apocalyptist naturally twists them to- gether, although he never clears up their relationship. Here 13-16 is an enigmatic summary of what is variously depicted further on. But, though an erratic block in its present setting, it may have been placed here by the final editor, in his characteristically proleptic manner. Strictly speaking, the sixth plague is confined to ver. 12.-- Αρμαγεδών, where the messianic Josiah will triumph, is (a) either to be located in mythology rather than in geography, as a mount where