Ver. 11. ‘‘ With the dazzling splen- dour of God,”’ cf. on ver. 3, Ezek. xliii. 5, Isa. lx, 1,2. Uxor splendet radiis mariti ; δόξα, here, as usually in a apocalyptic literature, denotes the manifestation and realisation of the divine presence. A realistic turn is given to the expression by the ‘‘shimmering radiance” of 6 φωστήρ κ.τ.λ. (asyndeton); ‘her bril- liance is like a very precious stone, a jasper, crystal-clear” (1.ε., transparent and gleaming as rock-crystal), The
483
λίθῳ Tidomsds κρυσταλλίζοντι": 12. ἔχουσα τεῖχος µέγα καὶ ὑψηλόν, α ἴν. 3.
ret. 2
έχουσα πυλῶνας δώδεκα, καὶ ἐπὶ τοῖς πυλῶσιν " ἀγγέλους δώδεκα, Chron.
καὶ ὀνόματα ἐπιγεγραμμένα & ᾿Ισραήλ.
λῶ A ‘ > A I la A ‘ > ‘ fa πυλωγνες τρεις και ATO νοτου, πυλῶνες τρεις ' καν απο δυσμῶν,
πυλῶνες τρεῖς.
δώδεκα, καὶ ἐπ᾽ αὐτῶν ὑώδεκα ὀνόματα ᾿ τῶν δώδεκα ” ἀποστόλων
n~ , τοῦ Gpviou.
A lal lol ‘ χρυσοῦν, ἵνα µετρήση τὴν πόλιν καὶ τοὺς πυλῶνας αὐτῆς καὶ τὸ
τεῖχος αὐτῆς.
t Wo) a κ ΄ αὐτῆς ὅσον τὸ πλάτος.
, a σταδίους δώδεκα χιλιάδων: τὸ µῆκος καὶ τὸ πλάτος καὶ τὸ pos αὐτῆς ἴσα ἐστί: 17. καὶ ἐμέτρησε τὸ τεῖχος αὐτῆς ἑκατὸν τεσσερά- κοντα τεσσάρων * πηχῶν, ” µέτρον ἀνθρώπου, ὅ ἐστιν ἀγγέλου.
XXViii. 16. absol. Vit. ii. 226, 332-3.
modern jasper is an opaque tinted quartz, only partially translucent at the edges, Perhaps, in reproducing Isa. liv. 11-12 (καὶ θήσω τὰς ἐπάλξεις σον ἴασπιν καὶ τὰς πύλας σου λίθους κρυστάλλου), the writer regarded both clauses as comple- mentary (Cheyne); hence ὡς A. i. κ. Otherwise ἴασπις might represent an opal, a diamond, or a topaz, any one of which answers better to the description of ‘‘transparent and valuable”. Flinders Petrie, however, suggests some variety of the dark green jasper.
Ver. 12. ἔχουσα. The constr. becomes still more irregular, the participles agree- ing with an imaginary nominative, q πόλις, sugg. by 6 φωστήρ. The in- scribed names denote the catholicity of the church and its continuity with the ancient people of God. A writer who could compose, or incorporate, or retain (as we choose to put it), passages like v. 9 and xiv. 4, is not to be suspected of particularism here. Even on the score of poetic congruity, the new Jerusalem implied such an archaic and traditional allusion to the twelve tribes. The angelic guardians of the gates are an Isaianic trait added to the Ezekiel picture.
Ver. 13. In one first century inscription (cf. Dittenberger’s Orientis Graect In- script. Selectae, 199%") ἀπὸ ἀνατολῆς and ἀπὸ δύσεως are East and West respec- tively.
Ver. 14. ἔχων, another rough asyndeton. —Oepedlovs κ.τ.λ., a symbolical and cor-
ἐστι "τῶν δώδεκα Φφυλῶν
14. καὶ τὸ τεῖχος τῆς πόλεως ἔχων "θεμελίους 15. καὶ 6 λαλῶν μετ ἐμοῦ εἶχε µέτρον κάλαμον
α -α , w ΄ A 9 9 16. καὶ ἡ πόλις “τετράγωνος κεῖται, καὶ τὸ µῆκος
v Asin Asc. Isa. iii. 17, ix. 17, Xi. 21. figurative Hellen. term = ‘ perfect " (Plato, Protag. 3444, Arist., Eth. Nik. I. x. 11). x tracted, Hellenistic genit. for πήχεων (Win. § 9, 6, Deissm. 153, Helbing, 44-45).
Vill. 14 From Isa, Ixii. 6.
ta UL@Y
3 ~ ~ - ‘ ~ 13. dm ἀνατολῆς, πυλῶνες τρεῖς' καὶ ἀπὸ * βορρᾶ, s vii. 4-5.
From Ezek.
xl viii. 31f. (cf. En. χχχῖν.- XXXV.).
t For form cf. Hel- bing, 33, Win. §8, 2; more common
καὶ ἐμέτρησε τὴν πόλιν τῷ καλάμω ἐπὶ |) PaPyt
Bopeas (Thumb, 65, 67, 56}o u Eph. il. 20, Heb. xi. 10; cf. Isa. w Like orig. Babylon, Herod. i. 178; Cor y Nom.
porate expression for the historical origin of the church in the primitive circle of the disciples who adhered to Jesus (cf. on xxii. 19). It is not their names but their historical and apostolic position which is in the writer’s mind. The absence of Paul’s name is no more significant than the failure to emphasise that of Peter. For the objective and retrospective tone of the allusion, with its bearing on the question of the authorship, see Introd. § 8. Foundation-stones in an ancient building were invested with high, sacred significance. Here the twelve apostles correspond roughly to the twelve φύλαρ- χοι of the Mosaic period (Matt. xix, 28, Clem. Rom. xlii.-xliii.).