The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 60

.Jiearaed and &cted at Bmyrn- fact which And the blasphemy -~- them ,rhioh ■&J" ·_gives special -po~t to llie ~ting·in this the, are Jewa, and tliey are not., We ha.Te •epi.,stle-" From him who became dead, and here strorig evi®nce iitthe ~ly-da.te of the lived.;' The ptjests who · preii.ded at this Apocalypse. Thronghotn thhr ~ "Jew" oelebr:ation were presenfoo·with a crown; ·to is DU honourable nanietfor th11.,i-orshippers wh1oh there may be·a11Usion in the promise, of the Christ; " Genti1ee,,. a' name of re- "I will give tl\ee the Ol'own of life." ·Not r.roach for those who oppose the Ohtj11t (oh. long;after ~he martyrdom Qf its·flriit bishop, ii. 9; iii. 9·; xi 2, 18; xii. 5;·xvi. l9; :tvi!i. St.· Pqlroarp, Smyrna was' destroyed by an S, 28; xix. 15, etc.). These Jierl!e<iu.tors.of eaiib.guake, in A.D. 178, and was rebuilt by lthe Church of Sbiyma are ·Jews in Dame, M'&l'Q\111 Alirelius. Earthquakes, fires. and but in reality are rather.Gentil~pponeuts, ·pestihlnoEll:I hove lilways been oonimon there, 'ii.net not wo~ippei-s of the Messiah. The But :in ipite of sucli. ·cotamitiea, it continues view taken in the- Fourth Gospel is utterly ·:t& ftottrhsb. From· the large proportion of different. There" the Jews·" are almost in- Qlmtitians there, it ia known among Mo- ·variably the opponents of Christ; the w.ord :'Wmmedotis as·" the infidel city." Chris• occlll'II · about seventy . times, · and nearly lilin.ityseemsnever to ha.ve been extinguished always·with thisshaaeofmeanjng. Assume ~in· Su{p-na, which shares, witlr l'hiladelphia, that the Gospel WBS wrl~ a quarter of a 0 tbe .h~our·pf :teoeivil)g unmixed p:raiee in century later than the Apooalypse,and there 1these· epit}eii. '. "Down from the apostolic is nothing strange in this;·· Long experience Jtit.iies ·a Churoh has existed here; and she of Jewish malignity in oppo,siog the gospel ·ljas repeafoo, with more· or lesa m:,ldness h\Y! changed the apostle's-views 'respecting , i.nd distinctness, the testimony of her martyr• his oountrymen: He has;beoome•fuUy eou- bishop,' l-,1,m a OhriBtian"' (R. Vaughan). vinced•of the inv11terate•''aI1d widespread '4'hlt st.adinilt in which· he suffered may-still chamct.ei of the national· apoet.aiiy.. To him ·l:Je:see~ t.liere. · We have already (see oii oh. :u th«f Jews" have. beoome· l!YDf)nyin9us with 'i/20) deeided that "the angel" of each the enemies of the crQBS of Chtisli. ·.Assume ·Church is probably not its bishop. But, . that the AJIOCl!,lyt,se·W!lff written ·oboiit the 'til'en if this were the'tl.leaning, this epistle s;une time a.a the Gospel;· and 'how· iihaU we 'could 'not ·bin1ddreased to St. Polyearp, if ·account for this ntter dilfererioe .of 'view in he was martyred A.D. 155, iu the eighty- the two books? .Assu.n,e that the Gi,gpel ~ ' yeru:;,aftµ his ~-versi1m, ;and .the was written lqng before the Apocalypse, Apooolypse was written iu A.D. 68. The and how shall we explain the fact that ex- First iw,d the Last, who became (rytve-ro) perience of Jewish hostility hos turned the lt-4, and liffd (see note.a on eh. L 17, 18). apostle's abhorrence of "the Jews" into aneh ·As 'in the epi11tle to Ephesus, the words of 'B.dmiration that to him a Jew has beeome •the od'mess are taken 'from the titles of -syno:aymous with a believer in Jesns Christ? the_'Cbrist given in·.the opening. it is no It is remarkable thai, in tha 'Mlmyrdom of mythical deity, with his· mock death ·and St. P-01ycarp,' the Jewl!: are aaid to ha.ve resurrection, btit the a.bsolutely· Living One, been pre~nt in 'great numbera,11,nd to have who ·indeed died, a.nd is indeed alive for been foremost (.wi>.,1r-r11 'Iowiilous rpo/Jvµr,,s) 'evemi:o:re, that sends this message· to· the in oollecting wood·with which,-to burn him sutfl'iring Church of Smyrna. · In the epistle alive. A synagogue of ·Satan (oomp. en. iii. to the Churoh ·.in· Thyatira we have what 9; John viii. 44). This is in•~arked con- '1186ms to-be an' allusion to the wol'8bip of trast to "the eynagogue of. 'the Lord" ·A~lo, Bimihlr to that to the worship of (Numb. xvi. S; n:. 4; xxxi. 16).- With the ~Di<lny•us here. •· ,ro,,...,,,..,,, exception of J as. iL 2, is, in the . Ver. 9,....1 know th:, tribulation, and thy New Testament, always used of Jewish ·poverty. ..Thy works" .has b~en inserted assemblies, n:ever of. Christian. Thie'uliage -here a.1\d iu ver. IS in order to make the soo11 became habilual in the Chuftlh '(see ·opening of all ~ven epistlea alike. The -Trench, •·synonyms of the New Testament,' •U:neials A, C; P,-and the Vulgate, Coplio, p. 4).- ... ,; . ,, ' .,•. ··arid' •lEtbiopio V1!r8ions omit the• words in ver, 10.-l'ear not the things wllblli thqu , each plooe. 'l.lhe·Sinaiticus inserts them here -art about to nffei:, We must bring 9µt $he •,and omits them -in ver. 13, wbel'e they are difference between "to be about to''(.,,~~). · piainly awkward: in oonstruetioJL •Like all iu the fust two olal!ses, and'the slmpi. ~ 'wealthyoitiea,Bmytna showed-the extremes (ef~-r•)in the thud; compare."-I.wiU ahow 'Of wealth 8Dd pbverty,side by-side. •It would aim how man,: things he must 11Ujf:~1'or my 0 be alDOttgthe--poor•tliat Chriiltians would in Name'na.kel (Act,!!'ix. 16). Thedovij,who -~fitatlhistan<lebe found,: ii;ud-their Chris• inspires the "·synali(lgite ·of· ~tan,"' is. to be ·\ilmity would lead to·their· apoliatiou;, in allowed to affli'ei tli01t1; as he wltioted Job. con• '°thill tn116h ortheit "tribulil.tio11" wbUld {For "behold,'!:soo;noie on- yer. 22.) ·The •si'llt. 1lut thou art rioh (oonipare the close ex ptession, "eome of yon" (~ fiµ.a,11), is al111 para.llel, 2; Cor. vi. 10: viii 2; Matt. vi. 20). iuter8-ltiug link of style between this booll ctr. it. 1-29.) Tim_ REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVIN~., &1