Ephesus, etc. Five out of the seven cities here named appear in a passage in Tacitus’ “ Annals ” (iv., 55), in which is described a contention among eleven of the cities of proconsu- Jar Asia for the privilege of erecting a statue and a temple to Tiberius. Laodicea is passed over as unequal in wealth and dignity to the task. Philadelphia and Thyatira do not appear. Pergamum is rejected as having already a temple to Augustus. Ephesus (with Miletus) has sufficient employment for its state in the ceremonies of its own deity, Diana. Thus the dispute was confined to Sardis and Smyrna; and Smyrna was preferred on the ground of its friendly offices to the Roman people.
12. To see the voice. The voice is put for the speaker.
That spake (#r1s). The compound relative has a qualitative force: of what sort.
With me (uer’ éuod). The preposition implies conversation and not mere address.
Candlesticks (Avyvias). See on Matt. v.15. We are at once reminded of the seven-branched candlestick of the tabernacle (Exod. xxv. 831; Heb. ix. 2; compare Zech. iv. 2). Here there ig not one candlestick with seven branches, but seven candle- sticks, representing the Christian Church. The Jewish Church was one, as being the Church of a single people. The Christian Church, though essentially one, is a Church composed of many peoples. It is no longer outwardly one or in one place. Accord- ing to the literal meaning of the word, lampstand, the several lampstands are bearers of the light (Matt. v. 14, 16), “holding forth the word of life” (Philip. ii. 15, 16).
The epithet golden, so common in the Apocalypse, indicates the preciousness of all that pertains to the Church of God. Trench observes that throughout the ancient East there was a sense of sacredness attached to this metal, which still, to a great extent, survives. Thus, golden in the Zend Avesta is through- out synonymous with heavenly or divine. Even so late as the time of David gold was not used as a standard of value, but