17%. To eat. Omit.
Of the hidden manna (rod pdvva Tod Kexpuppévov). The allusion may be partly to the pot of manna which was laid up in the ark in the sanctuary. See Exod. xvi. 32-34; compare Heb. ix. 4. That the imagery of the ark was familiar to J ohn appears from ch. xi. 19. This allusion however is indirect, for the manna laid up in the ark was not for food, but was a memorial of food once enjoyed. Two ideas seem to be com- bined in the figure:
1. Christ as the bread from heaven, the nourishment of the life of believers, the true manna, of which those who eat shall never die (John vi. 31-33 ; 48-51) ; hidden, in that He is with- drawn from sight, and the Christian’s life is hid with Him in God (Col. iii. 3). 2. The satisfaction of the believer’s desire when Christ shall be revealed. The hidden manna shall not re- main for ever hidden. We shall see Christ as Le is, and be like Him (1 John iii.2). Christ gives the manna in giving Himself. “ The seeing of Christ as He is, and, through this beatific vision, being made like to Him, is identical with the eating of the hid- den manna, which shall, as it were, be then brought forth from the sanctuary, the holy of holies of God’s immediate presence where it was withdrawn from sight so long, that all may par- take of it; the glory of Christ, now shrouded and concealed, being then revealed to Ilis people” (Trench).
This is one of numerous illustrations of the dependence of the Apocalypse upon Old Testament history and prophecy. “To such an extent is this the case,” says Professor Milligan, “that it may be doubted whether it contains a single figure not drawn from the Old Testament, or a single complete sentence not more or less built up of materials brought from the same source.” See, for instance, Balaam (ii. 14); Jezebel (ii. 20) ; Michael (xii. 7, compare Dan. x. 13; xii. 1); Abaddon (ix. 11); Jerusalem, Mt. Zion, Babylon, the Euphrates, Sodom, Egypt (xxi. 2; xiv. 1; xvi. 19; ix. 14; xi. 8); Gog and Ma- gog (xx. 8, compare Ezek. xxxviii., xxxix.). Similarly, the tree of life, the sceptre of iron, the potter’s vessels, the morning-star (ii. 7, 17, 27, 28). Heaven is described under the figure of the