19. The temple (6 vads). The sanctuary. Compare ver. 1, and see on Matt. iv. 5.
In heaven. Join with temple of God, as Rev., instead of with opened, as A. V.
The ark of His covenant (7 «Bards ris SiadIjnns avdrod). Ki8wros ark, meaning generally any wooden bow or chest. Used of the ark in the tabernacle only here and Heb. ix. 4. Elsewhere of Noah’s ark. See Matt. xxiv. 38; Luke xvii. 27; Heb. xi. 7; 1 Pet. iii. 20. For covenant, see note on testa- ment, Matt. xxvi. 28. This is the last mention in scripture of the ark of the covenant. It was lost when the temple was de- stroyed by the Chaldeans (2 Kings xxv. 10), and was wanting in the second temple. Tacitus says that Pompey “by right of conquest entered the temple. Thenceforward it became gen- erally known that the habitation was empty and the sanctuary unoccupied, no representation of the deity being found within it” (“ History,” v., 9). According to Jewish tradition Jeremiah had taken the ark and all that the Most Holy Place contained, and concealed them, before the destruction of the temple, in a cave at Mount Sinai, whence they are to be restored to the temple in the days of Messiah.
Lightnings and voices, etc. “The solemn salvos, so to speak, of the artillery of heaven, with which each series of visions is concluded.”
1. Wonder (cnyetov). Better, as Rev., sign. See on Matt. xxiv. 24.
Clothed (mepuBeBrnuévn). Rev., better, arrayed. See on ch. iii. 5.
The moon under her feet. See Cant. vi.10. The symbol is usually taken to represent the Church.