Ver. 16. ‘And on his garment and (ἱ.ε., even) upon his thigh”; on that part of the robe covering his thigh, he has a title of honour written. Some Greek statues appear to have had a name written thus upon the thigh (Cicero mentions one of Apollo marked in smal! silver letters, Verr. iv. 43). Messiah, like many of the Assyrian monarchs, bears adouble name. King of kings, a Persian (A2sch. Pers@, 24; Ezra vii. 12) and Parthian title of royalty, which im
14—20. ΑΠΟΚΑΛΔΥΨΜΙΣ ΙΩΑΝΝΟΥ 409 17. Καὶ εἶδον ἕνα ἄγγελον ἑστῶτα ἐν τῷ ἡλίῳ: καὶ ἔκραξε φωνῇ ο ια µεγάλη λέγων πᾶσι τοῖς P ὀρνέοις τοῖς πετοµένοις ἐν μεσουρανήματι, of the “Aeite συνάχθητε eis τὸ δεῖπνον τὸ péya τοῦ Θεοῦ, 18. Asc. Is. ἵνα Ἰφάγητε σάρκας βασιλέων καὶ σάρκας µΧιλιάρχων καὶ p xviii 2. σάρκας : ἰσχυρῶν καὶ σάρκας ἵππων καὶ τῶν καθηµένων ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν καὶ Sen ec
η A μμ. σάρκας πάντων " ἐλευθέρων τὲ καὶ δούλων καὶ μικρῶν καὶ μεγάλων. 5 xiii. 16.
19. καὶ εἶδον τὸ ἵ θηρίον καὶ τοὺς
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the Apocalypse is the prerogative of messiah as the true Emperor was ap- plied to Marduk as the conqueror of chaos and the arbiter of all earthly mon- archs (cf. Zimmern in Schrader,3 373 f.).
Vv. 17-21: the rout and destruction of the Beast and his adherents, modelled upon Isaiah lvi. 9 f. and Ezekiel’s de- scription of the discomfiture of prince Gog (xxxix. 17-21), where beasts as well as birds are bidden glut themselves with carrion (4). This crude aspect of the messianic triumph had commended itself to Jewish speculation on the future (see En. xc. 2-4); it reflects the intense par- ticularism of post-exilic Judaism in cer- tain circles, and also the semi-political categories which tended to dominate the eschatology. In Asc. Isa. iv. 14, the Lord also comes with his angels and troops to drag into Gehenna Beliar and his hosts.
Ver. 17. ἐν ἡλίῳ, a commanding and conspicuous position.
Ver. 18. In the ancient world, this was the worst misfortune possible for the dead—to lie unburied, a prey to wild birds. On the famous ‘‘stele of the vultures’ (bef. 3000 B.c.) the enemy are represented lying bare and being devoured by vultures, while the corpses of the royal troops are carefully buried.
Ver. 20. This marks the culmination of many previous oracles: the messiah meets and defeats (xvi. 13 f.) the beast (i.e., Nero-antichrist, xi. 7, xiii. 1 f.) and the false prophet (7.¢c., the Imperial priesthood=second beast of xiii. 11 1) and their allies (the kings of the earth, cf. xi. 9, 18, xiv. 8, xvi. 14, xvii, 12 f.),
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«κου Te Gu χν. 15, Ps, il. 2. XVi. I4 (the final struggle of xvi. 12-16). w Cant. il. 15, Doric for ἐπιέσθη. σαν. τα, y Xlii. 11-17. Z XX. 10, 14, Isa. xxx. 33, Dan. vii. 11; cf. Par. Lost, i. 62-69.
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according to a more specific form of the tradition reflected in xiv. 14-20. Pos- sibly the ghastly repast of ver. 21 is a. dramatic foil to that of ver. g. At any rate there is aslight confusion in the sketch, due to the presence of hetero- geneous conceptions ; whilst one tradition made messiah at his coming vanquish all the surviving inhabitants of the earth, who were ex hypothesi opponents of God’s people (cf. ii. 26, 27, xi. 9 f., xii. 9, xiv. τή f., xvi. 13-16, xix. 17 f.), the prophet at the same time used the special conception of a Nero-antichrist whose allies were mainly Eastern chiefs (ix. 14 f., xvi. 12, xvii. 12 f.), and also shared the O.T. belief in a weird independent outburst from the skirts of the earth (xx. 8). Hence the rout of nations here is only apparently final. See on xx. 3. The lake of fire, a place of torment which burns throughout most of the apo- calypses (Sibyll. ii. 196-200, 252-243, 286, etc.; Apoc. Pet. 8), was lit first in Enoch, (sec. cent.) where it is the pun- ishment reserved for Azazel on the day of judgment (ix. 6) and for the fallen angels (xxi. 7-10) with their paramours. The prophet prefers this to the alter- native conception of a river of fire [Slav. En. x.]. The whole passage reflects traditions such as those preserved (cf. GfrGrer ii., 232 f.), e.g., in Targ. Jerus. on Gen. xlix. rz and Sohar on Lev.- Exodus (miracula, uariaque et horrenda bella fient mari terraque circa Jerusalem, cum messias reuelabitur), where the beasts of the field feed for one year, and the birds for seven, upon the carcases of Israel’s foes. The supreme penalty