n> ς , ς ” / ‘ AY έπεσαν οἱ πρεσβύτεροι ot εἴκοσι τέσσαρες, Kal τὰ , a ‘ a ~ ~ a“
τέσσαρα faa, καὶ προσεκύνησαν τῷ θεῷ τῷ " καθηµένω ἐπὶ TO Opdvw \ a
Αμήν: Αλληλουϊά. 5.
m ν. 8, 14, on form cf. Helbing, 63-64.
p Of Christ (iii. 12, Joh. xx. 17)?
13 (αἰνέσατε αὐτῷ, tr. of ‘ Hallelujah’); aiv. with dat. only here in N.T. s Ps. xxii. 23, Cxxxv. 20; see above xi. 18.
w xi. 15, 17, Ps. xcili., xcv.-xcix.
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g ‘‘ For that she”
(i; 4, xii. 13, etc.).
h xi. 18, XViii. 23.
i Vi. 10, XViii. 20, Deut. XXXii. 43, Ps. Ixxix.
1ο.
oristic pf. (as v. 7, Vil. 14. xix. 3), of past action with no thought of existing result (Burton, 80, Blass, § 5ο, 4).
1 xiv. 11, XViii. 9, 18, Ps. Civ. 35,
η v. 13, Isa. vi. 1
q Fr. Jer. xx.
r Ps. cxxxiv. 1, Cxxxv
u Ver. x. Vv Xiv. 2,
καὶ Pdwv ἀπὸ τοῦ θρόνου
t xi. 18. τις,
Ίλεγοντες (as iv. 1) Q, min., Απάς, Tic. (WH πιατρ., Al., Ws., Bs.) [λεγοντων AP, min., gig., Anda, Pr., Lach., Ti., Tr., WH, Bj., Sw.].
tically ample expression for ‘‘ equitable,” it is in the context rather than in the language of the passage (Ritschl, Recht/. und Versohn. ii. 118, 119) that we must find the thought of God being shown to be the real and righteous Saviour of the saints by his infliction of punishment on their persecutors.
Ver. 4. After the long interlude of judgments on the earth, the πρεσβύτεροι and {@a (incidentally mentioned in xi. 16, xiv. 3) re-appear upon the scene, though for the last time, to take part in the chorus of praise over Rome’s ruin. The cradle-song of the future is the dirge of Rome. The drama now centres mainly round the city of God, and the earlier temple-scenery of the Apocalypse (iv.-xi. xv. 5-xvi. I7) passes almost wholly out of sight.—Apyv: the initial (and primitive) use of ἁμήν, social {ε.ρ.. I Kings i. 36) as well as liturgical, which gravely assents to the preceding words of another speaker.
Ver. 5. The O.T. expression servants of God implied (Κ. S. 69 f.) not simply membership in a community of which God is king, but special devotion to his service and worship. It was not associ-
ated with any idea of ‘‘slavery to a-
divine despot,” but was originally con-
fined in the main to royal and priestly families (cf. i. 5) which had a special in- terest in primitive religion and which were near to the god of the tribe or nation. Hence, in the broader and later sense of the term, the ‘servants of God” are all those who live in pious fear of him, {.ε., yielding him honour and obedience. John, pre-occupied with judgment, views the faith of the Lord as equivalent practically to his fear; unlike most early Christian writers, who (1 Peter i. 17, 18, etc.) carefully bring for- ward the complementary element of love. Lowly confidence rather than warm inti- macy is this prophet’s ideal of the Chris- tian life towards God. See Did. iii., iv.; Barn. iv. 11; Herm. Mand. x. 1, xii. 4, 6.
Ver. 6. S ingeniously but awkwardly punctuates after ‘‘"4 allelujah,’’ connecting ὅτι κ.τ.λ., with the subsequent χαίρωμεν. ---ἐβασίλευσε κ.τ.. A sublimated ver- sion of the old watchword ΚΥΡΙΟΣ AY- ΤΟΣ ΒΑΣΙΛΕΥΣ ΗΜΩΝ which had been the rallying cry of pious Jews and especi- ally of the Pharisees (e.g., Ps. Sol. xvii. I, 2, 38, 51, ii. 34-36, v. 21, 22) during the conflict with Roman aggression. This divine epithalamium is the last song of praise in the Apocalypse. At this point also the writer reverts for a moment to
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y Ps. cxviii. 7. 24; cf. Mt. v. 12.
Ζ Xi. 13.
a Proleptic,
3, and— for conn. of light and right —2 Cor. vi. 14. XVili. 5.