9—12.
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κατέφαγεν αὐτούς: 10. καὶ 6 διάβολος ὁ | πλανῶν αὐτοὺς ἐβλήθη i --ὃς
ἐπλάνα
3 ‘ k , a x Ν , J ‘ x 6 / ρε) ο η --« εἰς τὴν "λίμνην τοῦ πυρὸς καὶ θείου, ὅπου καὶ τὸ θηρίον καὶ ὁ (cf. Eph. . Q iv. 28). ψευδοπροφήτης: Ka. ᾿βασανισθήσονται ἡμέρας καὶ νυκτὸς εἰς τοὺς k xix. 20, a nm . En. xc. αἰῶνας TH Οἰώνων. 20-25; Ai) ken cf. Mt. iz. Kat εἶδον ™ θρόνον " µέγαν ° heuKdv xiii. 41-42, ΔΝ x , αι | Αν XXV. 41 καὶ τὸν καθήµενον ἐπ᾽ αὐτὸν, (Νο ας ο) τὰ a , p2 Ame ie he is , mention οὗ ἀπὸ τοῦ προσώπου P έφυγεν ἡ γῆ καὶ 6 οὐρανός, of fate of ΔΝ q , > 5.9 F q > a devil's καὶ τόπος οὐχ εὑρέθη Ἱ αὐτοῖς. Sheets, ia i Apoc.). 12. Kai εἶδον τοὺς νεκρούς, τοὺς peyddous καὶ τοὺς μικρούς, | ιτ; ἑστῶτας ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου, sap lege Αθ ιά 3 κά : 9. καὶ * βιβλία ἠνοίχθησαν ας tinct from ς ο, ~ 8 ty ; those of iv. 4, 2X. 4. o = unsullied justice? Ρ xvi. 20, xxi. 1, Isa. xiii. 13, xxiv. 19-20. q From Dan. fi. 35. r Dan. vii. το, Mal. iii. 16, Jer. xvii. 1. Encycl. Relig. and Ethics, ii, 792-795.
and Magog, an episode (consecrated by the Ezekiel-prophecy and later belief) which he feels obliged to work in somehow. Hence his arrangement of Satan’s final recrudescence in juxtaposition with the Gog and Magog outburst (cf. on xvi. 16, and Kiausner’s messian. Vorstellungen d. 11. Volkes im Zeit. d. Tannaiten, pp. 61 f.). The latter, an honoured but by this time awkward survival of archaic escha- tology, presented a similar difficulty to the Talmudic theology which variously putit before, or after, the messianic reign (Volz, pp. 175 f.). In his combination of messianic beliefs, John follows the tradi- tion, accepted in Sib. Or. iii. 663 f., which postponed the irruption till after messiah’s temporary period of power.
xXx. II-xxii. 5. The connexion of thought depends upon the. traditional Jewish scheme outlined, e.g., in Apoc. Bar. xxix.-xxx. (ef. 4 Esd. vii. 29, 30) where the messiah returns in glory to heaven after his reign on earth; the general resurrection follows, accom- panied by the judgment. Developing his oracles along these current lines, the prophet now proceeds to depict his cul- minating vision of the End in three scenes: (i.) the world and its judgment (xx. ττ-τς), (1.) the new heaven and earth (xx4 1-8), centring round (iii.) the new Jerusalem as the final seat of bliss (xxi. Q-xxii. 5). The last-named phase was as- sociated in eschatology (Sib. Or. v. 246 f., 414 f.) with the return of Nero redivivus and the downfall of Babylon which pre- ceded the sacred city’s rise. The destruc- tion of hostile forces, followed by the re- novation of the universe, is essentially a Persian dogma (Stave, 180 f.), and is paralleled in the Babylonian mythology,
where after the defeat and subjugation of Tiamat in the primeval age creation commences. From this point until xxi. g f., Jesus is ignored entirely.
Vy. 11-15. The moral dignity and retic- ence with which this sublime vision of the last assize is drawn, show how the primi- tive Christian conscience could rise above its inheritance from Jewish eschatology. The latter spoke more definitely upon the beginning of the end than upon the end itself (cf. Harnack’s History of Dogma, i. 174).
Ver. απ. John hints where Isaiah is explicit (vi. 1). Nothing is said about the uselessness of intercession; cf. 4 Esd. vii. [102-115] 33: ‘‘ and the Most High shall be revealed upon the judg- ment-seat, and compassion shall pass away, long-suffering shall be with- drawn ’’. Enoch xc. 20 sets up the throne near Jerusalem, and most apo- calypses are spoiled by similarly puerile details. Compare with 11 6 the tradition in Asc. Isa. iv. 18 where the voice of the Beloved (i.e., messiah) at the close of the millennium rebukes in wrath heaven and earth, the hills and cities, the angels of the sun and moon, “ and all things wherein Beliar manifested himself and acted openly in this world”. John’s Apo- calypse, however, follows (yet cf. xxii. 12) that tradition of Judaism which τε-, served the judginent for God and not for the messiah (4 Esd. vi. 1-10, vii. 33 f. anti-Christian polemic ?) although an- other conception (En. xlv. 3, lxix. 27 etc.; Ap. Bar. Ixxii. 2-6) assigning it to the messiah had naturally found greater favour in certain Christian circles.