Sardis was in very early times an important commercial city. Pliny says that the art of dyeing wool was invented there, and it was the entrepét of the dyed woollen manufactures, carpets, etc., the raw material for which was furnished by the flocks of Phrygia. It was also the place where the metal electrwm was procured. Gold was found in the bed of the Pactolus. Silver and gold coins are said to have been first minted there, and it was at one time known as a slave-mart. The impure worship of the goddess Cybele was celebrated there, and the massive ruins of her temple are still to be seen. The city is now a heap of ruins. In 1850 no human being found a dwelling there.
The seven Spirits of God. See on ch. i. 4.
2. Be watchful (yivouv ypnyopav). Lit., become awake and on the watch. See on Mark xiii. 35; 1 Pet. v. 8. Become what thou art not.
Strengthen (or7jpiEov). See on 1 Pet. v. 10, and compare Luke xxii. 32; Rom. i. 11; 2 Thess. iii. 3.
That are ready to die (@ pédrex dzrodaveiv). Read éwedrov were ready or about (to die).
I have not found thy works (ov etjpnxd cov Ta épya). Some texts omit the article before works, in which case we should render, J have found no works of thine. So Rev.
Perfect (vremAnpwpéva). Lit., fulfilled. So Rev. God. The best texts insert pov, “my God.”
3. Thou hast received and heard (ciAndas Kat jHKovaas). The former of these verbs is in the perfect tense: thou hast received the truth as a permanent deposit. It remains with thee whether thou regardest it or not. The latter verb is in the aorist tense, didst hear (so Rev.), denoting merely the act of hearing when it took place.
462 WORD STUDIES IN THE NEW TESTAMENT. Watch. See on ver. 2. Onthee. Omit.
As athief (as «Aémrrns). Thief, as distinguished from Ago- ths robber, a plunderer on a larger scale, who secures his booty not by stealth, but by violence. Hence the word is ap- propriate here to mark the unexpected and stealthy coming of the Lord. Compare 1 Thess. v. 2,4; 2 Pet. iii. 10.
Thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. The Greek proverb says that the feet of the avenging deities are shod with wool. The sentiment is voiced in the two fol- lowing fragments from Aischylus:
‘* Whether one sleep or walk or sit at ease, Unseen and voiceless Justice dogs his steps, Striking athwart his path from right or left; Nor what is foully done will night conceal : Whate’er thou doest some god beholdeth thee.”
‘¢ And dost thou deem that thou shalt e’er o’ercome Wisdom divine? That retribution lies Somewhere remote from mortals? Close at hand, Unseen itself, it sees and knows full well Whon it befits to smite. But thou know’st not The hour when, swift and sudden, it shall come And sweep away the wicked from the earth.”
4. Thou hast a few names. The best texts insert ddAa but between these words and the close of the preceding verse. So Rev. But, notwithstanding the general apathy of the Church, thou hast a few, ete. Compare ver. 1, thow hast a name, and see on ch. xi. 13. ames is equivalent to persons,
a few who may be rightly named as exceptions to the general conception.
Even in Sardis. Omit «al even.
Defiled (€uéruvvav). See on 1 Pet. i. 4.