Two witnesses. ‘The reader may profitably consult on this point the lectures of Professor Milligan on the Revelation of St. John. He maintains that the conception of the Apocalypse is powerfully moulded by John’s recollections of the life of Jesus; that there is a close parallelism between the Apocalypse and the delineation of the life of Christ contained in the fourth Gospel ; and that the Apocalypse is, in the deeper conceptions which pervade it, a repetition of the Gospel. See pp. 59-69.
They shall prophesy (xpodytedcovow). See on prophet, Luke vii. 26. Commonly explained of preaching repentance, though some take it in the later sense of foretelling future events.
Clothed in sackcloth. The garb of preachers of repent- ance. Compare Isa. xxii. 12; Jer. iv. 8; Jonah iii. 55; Matt. iii. 4. For sackcloth see on Luke x. 138.
4. Two olive trees. See Zech. iv.
Candlesticks. See Zech. iv., and note on Matt. v. 15. The God. Read xupiov the Lord. Compare Zech. iv. 14. 5. Fire proceedeth. Compare 2 Kings i. 10; Jer. v. 14.
6. To shut up the heaven. As Elijah, 1 Kings xvii. 1; Luke iv. 25; Jas. v. 17.
That it rain not (@a px Bpéxn beros). Lit., that the rain may not wet.
To turn them into blood. Compare Exod, vii. 19.
To smite (ward£a:). Used by John only in the Apocalypse, here and xix. 15. Compare Matt. xxvi. 31; Mark xiv. 27; Luke xxii. 49, 50; Acts xii. 7, 23.
With all plagues (3don mwdnyf). Singular number. Rev., correctly, with every plague. See on Mark iii.10. Not merely with the plagues with which Moses smote Egypt.