The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 58

ifa favourable situation, the city is in all ~nd ~pooolypse, is used in a. ~ - ~ other respects increasing daily, for it is the 'lncludiJlg the whole of «induct (ooinp. ·Job.n 'greatest place of trade of all the oities of iii. 19, 20: v:·s6'; vii. s; 7; mi. at&, u; etc:: Asia west_ of tlie Taurus." Patmos was only 1 John ill. S, 12 i 2 John 11; 8 John :10). aday's sq.il'from ·Ephesus; and it is by no 'l'hy toil and patience. Explanatory of "thy means µnprobabte the.t the gorgeous descrip- ·works;" Ola- 'Ephesians know how· to tQil tion of the merchandise o,f "'Babylon" (eh. a.nd how to suffer -patiently. They have :r.viii.12,13) is derived from St.-John's own '' learned to labour and· to wait." ·St. ·lgna- teoollectionl! of Ephesus. The Churoh of tios says that ·he must be trained "in Epliesuli was founded by St. Paul, about patienoo and long-snft'ering" by the Eph~ A:D. 55, and his Epistle to'that and other sians (' Ephes.,• iii.).. And that thou . . ChurilhtJS, now called simply "to the Ephe- ~ot bear evil m!lll- Age.in St. ·Ignatius sians," wu written about A.D. · 63. When supplies a commentary: .. Now,· Onesinuia of St; Paul went to Macedonia, Timothy was -his own accord higbly praiaeth yom orderly left at Ephestis (1 Tim. i. 3) to obeek the conduct, in qod, for, t~at ye.f!ll lite89()0~ wild speculations in which some Ephesian to truth, and that no ~ 1tatA ·a' Jwme Christians had begun, to indulge. Timothy among yuu; nay, · ye do · wt w muc~ M probably followed St. Paul to Rome (2 Tim. listen lo any one, if hi! ilpeak of'11,UgJi.t 'ehe iv. ·9, 21), and, (lfter his _me.11ter's death, save ciOncerning Jesuti. Cliriet m · tnl.tii'" returned tci Ephesus, where he· is said to ('Ephes:;':'ri.). The.word for'.! ~il"'(tciitt4s-), have autr~d martyrdom at a festival in th<iugh one of ihe commonest in th!l .ffiieek honour of" th,e gr~.t goddess Artemis." . He langnage;' is. rare ju St. John; it' QC)Clirs may have been still at Ephesus at the time onlf here and· in oh; xvi 2· (~' note); -when this epistle wa.s written; and Plumptre .Jolin xvffi. 28; 8 ·John 11• .-.Didsttrttliem. }1&11 traced coincidences between this epistle which oall themselvet apoit\es;: a.n~tth:91 ai'e snd those of St. Paul to Timothy. Accord- not. It is incredible· tha.t_ this can 'mell.fi ing to Dorotliei1s of Tyre (cire • .a..1>. 800), St. Paul ' Even allowin~ tbe' ~igipus he ·wu suooeeded by Gaius (Rom. xvi. 28). assumption that the "JeWlllh Chnstialli1y"' ;In the lgnatlan epistles we -have Onesimus of St,, John wa.t opposed to the "'Gentile (probably not the servant .of Phile:mon), Christianity" of St. ·Paul; what ohanoo would BishQp of Ephesus. . Ignatius speaks o1 the an opponent of St. Paul hl;lve ha.d in a. 'Epheliian Church in ierms of high praise, Churob:wh_ich St. Paul founded and fostered? showing th,-t it; had profit.ed. by the exhor- And bad 11Uoh opposition es:isted, could St 1:a,tions in this epistle. · It was free from Poly~rp, St. Jo~n•s · own -dieejple; ha~e heresy; ·though heiesy hovered a-round it. spoien of ,.1he wisdom of the· bfesi!i,d· ~ It.was. avh-itnally.minded, -and took God as glorious Paul"(' Phil,' iii)? ·.Thie nientio)l ita rule of life (Ignatius, • Ephes.,' vi.-:-viii.). of false apostles isdoubl;rinteres\iiiir: O)u a 'Write (ilee on ob. i. 11; and comp; I~; viii. l; ful6lmentof warnings given ·by ~t, Paul!iim- xu. 8; Jer. :ux. 2; mvl 2; Hab. ii. 2J. self to the !'Jrhesian Chureh{Acts 'XX. ~ ; J[oldeth (l(pllT-). Strimger than "had" oomp. 2 'l'iJiiothy, pll88im); (2) 'as a strong (fxaw) in ell. i.16. This·word implies hpld: incidental mark 'of the date of ~e book; · 1n ing fast and having full oontrol over: ·111 ~D. 68, when contemporaries of the apmitlea ver. 115 we have both verbs, and again in were aliundant, the claim to be lin ajicwtle eh. iii'. 11. A Churoh that had fallen from might with some show of re8IIOU be _made,; its fttst love (ven1. 4, · 5) bad · need to be in A.D. 95 ~h a. olajm would be ridic'ltloua; reminded of him who "holds fast" his own; This Trenoh admits, arid h ~ tells us that and 011.e whose ·ca.ndlestitik -WM in danger of the meaning of ·"a~tles" tnusf i'll:>t be iemoval had need to turn to him who is ever pressed; "as'thongh 'it iplplied a ole,im:·to !Mltfff (not mlil'6ly is, btit "walketh ") "in have s,een'attd been ~t--b:flheTmd;T~oa." jb.ihnidst of the candlesticks," to supply ·But t!lisis just wli9,ti•1 l@Btie" 4oes·iin'.piy i ~ with oifwhen they licker, a.nd rekindle (Acte'i. 21;22;,1 Our. iic:•i)•. · ' -1 ,1. '' them when· tiJ.ey go out. It iB he, and not Ver. S,-The text followed in the Aut!iO:. the apostle, who add:reiisea thein. ·' · rized Version is ·heie tery co'rrupt;-we i:iiust ,♦"fer. 2:;...:0wing to the in~urate ~se ~f read with the Revisedi'VersionV :&lid ·t11ou a .c,t;rru-p,t tEixt, the· Authori_ze_d Vers~on -~ bast patieitce'(as fu. ver. 1), and• :am., 1ieat llere ve-ry. faulty. The RensM Vers10J1 18 . for my Jr~6'1 iake, al1d:•~t Jaot ~ to. be' preferred throughout. I· bow th)' weary. ·Tli'e lael: verb (icfiril?':ia/il.r) is,,ell:leely worki: Tbis in,troduetory '":I.· know" _a:P'." akin to_t6!-1. (1(&2ros) in_,v~r:it ~ i f ' ~ ~ 1,1'ears in all seven letters. Hei wlio.se eyei 90ntrad1ct1on between ..-1 kliow 4.hy- toll ·Rre .. li.s.a'i!i~(l of fu-e" (eh; i H) hu per~ and "thou hast not'toiled "·lill.il eaUi!ett eon. f~· knowledge of his' servaJ1ts; and this fusion in the text ·Yet oil i<•iiottl11iies fflQI im~wledge ia' t.he basis of the praise .and not mean "thoti hast nottelled;"' lmt " \hou b~e. ..Worke," &·favourite word with hast not weari-ed of toil."· · Ii is all the inore !It. Jobu, 11,1)./i very frecinc{)t in both Gospel pr<1bable tl1~t tl,ui pia;r of wOfli~ it ~teJJ• 5$ THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN. THE DIVINE, [CH. IL 1-29.