The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 100

ot.he:us ot~. last f-0ur· epistles,&nd-,tnilike nattte is Allilh SheJw; •• the city of God," or, the. :lird. ~ ~ exh9rta,tion f0Uow11 ibe as others write e.nd rende?-i:t, :Al? BMh,., ppmaise_ to t@ victor. No ~ti8factmy eit-, '' the striped oity.'' lri planatiqn of.the ohange·of•armDgement any q&iie\th'e coip~i~ eeema to h&ve been given by any comm.en, dence with " the name. of the· cijr, of' 'iµj- · fato;r. The Qrder in the fow; Ia1t epistl011 God " (ver. 12) is purely 8Cl'ident.&l. (For aieems best. The e:l[hortation forms a fitting an eloquent aoc<mnt" of Phila,1elphia; see QO))olusion tp - ~ . 118 in . the synoptic Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall,' oh. lxit.!) ~pels t,Q pa111bles (see notes 01'- oh. ii. 7., It is doubtful whether there are- any roe~ fl1ld,oomp. eh, i.Ui,,9). ' allusions in the epistle ; but l!()~e , \lave : '?'7ers:. 7--48.~ dpistle- to the Ohurch iu fanoi(;)~ that "thou hast a little, -W~~." fll~~T1f~ 1 'J'he_ cir~u~t oo~tin~es in the (ver. 8) a,nd ".a pillar in the teI$ple" (ver. 1111,me direatiqn. Philadelphia lies about 12) are such (see not.es in each pi-ace). thlrty miles :south-east of &rdi.1!, on the The name of "Little Athens," which Phila- rooo to -1.Aodiees. It is mid to owe its delphia so:pietimes bore, on account _of its ihi.m~ 'to .A.ttalus Ph~al1elphus, King of Per- numerous tfimples and festh;als (Acts xvii. il\.m.Qm, ll.ll'. I59-l88. But it is by no 16, 22), sho'lfs that the little Ohrist~ pii:lans certain 't}ie,t he was the founder. A oommunity would have to oontend-.with:a futst~l!thy tmcli,~n .as to its Egyptian specially vigorous form or .~athehlm. ·:ft orii!;in, points to 1/kiltJmy Philsdelphus, W~o had -also to contend with a colony of hostile ha.tl'eetales in Asia.<Minor ('fheo1fr., itvii. 88). Jews, which wasµq doubt lar~y augm~nt~fi M-the west;ern edge' of ~ district whos11 lilt.er the destruction of Je~l81ll,. ~Mn h 'v~2a1lio :c}h~oter eahl~d it the nam~ fugitive Jews came to "worship befo@, Jbe of, ,P4i7gfa' ~a~ume,ne, .Philadelphia feet" -of the Philadelphian Church (vet. 9). wu.icon&te.ntcy- sutr~ :from earthquakes Hence the epistle of Ignatius to the l'hila- (ofi' ffl. ·12). It waa,deat:toyed along with .delphians treats of Judaism as one of th\eir &rdis in the oatastl'(jphe bf A.D. 17 (Tao., chief dangers {c. vi., Vfii., ix.). . There w~e ~-Ami./ ii.. 47). Bu,t ~he a4,vantages of men among them who questioned _t1lfi ~~ · Jioill!ti®,. eoillill&Dding,1the Wf/.Y to the authority of Gospels and Epistles,; and 1)$11 between the Hermus, -.;alley llllQ the admitted only the Old Testament Scriptures ll-11®1" vwlley, -and the richness· of its (-rd apxe,a) ifi:I binding. Some had ti:-illll fu vine-produce (Virgil, • Georg.," :i,L 98}, ~eem: 1113d even ignatillil himself astray' (vii_.). to ha".e.'.~du,<$1 ~he inhabi~fi:D~, to ;c.ling to .Altogether his epistle · giv~ a less happy the sit!,. . The coins of P~elph1a oftim picture of the PhiladE#hiari.11 than that h$ye the :iieeA ..either of . .BaoQhlls' or a \ which we have here, whera (u iq. the epistle Baeohante on ~ne side; and it. :ist,a known to 11 the Church at Smyrn11,} the Phila'delphian tact iill11,t vomanie soil is specially fuvorirali-le Clliuroh r-E¥Jelvt]s unmixed_ p:rai~~-- ' Wbethk W ~ine-growiiig;.. Yet ih Roman~ti~e11 it the · la,rge proportion of Qld T119tllJil~t ;,as n~~ equaf to Epnesu.s or ElVen L~rnea: language and imagery which is fouud. in this aqd. for Ja,•r:-qourts its,citfaens. had t,t go to ~pistle has any oonnexiou with-·the-Jewillh &udis.. , ·N.eTertheless, it has ,outlived all colotiy in Philadelphia is ttlliiertain. Per- these three, od still contin'nes on the same haps most of the Christians_ hail' 'been ~ite, and· pl!fhapli within· the same· w~\Jr, as originally Jew& · of qld. At the close of the fourleflnth Cjlntuij it. was the last Byzantinl! city :to · - ~er. 7.-Re that ii hoJy, he that~ tne iuuendeli to the Turks, and, when .it ~d It ~ douN;ful which of these two ola~ snooum:b made better terms thli,n any of the eveuiy should .preeede: authoritill/l are S()IJl6Wqat others: To balanood. Obrist, the Speaker,ib.el'e this dl,\y it retains the'pri.vileg:e claims to be" the Holy 011e" (& &')'<Qt),, a11d 91':tr~ ~t~an ~orsnip, with the use of therefore God (eh.. vi; 10; comp. oh. iv,. S; bells f~:..Befv.i.ce, and ;procellili.ons in public, John iX-viL 11). In the Old Testam8;1lt '>t.he a thl9g ~ed. by the -Turks in no other Holy One" is a frequent name of, G.od, hilarld..ity,of• Asia Minor. It h88 a bishop especially µi Isa. ..i. 4: v. 19, 24 ; x. 'i., 20; Jtij.. 6, et.:\.; J11b_vi. 10; Jer.1. 29; U. tl.M ,s•li& ·oli'urchee. and it'ia said that S ; Esek. ltll~ 7; H11s, Jti. 9 ; Bab. iii, ~ .llio~t l'tr&d'br'its :llft¼eii' thousarid hihahit- eto, -The word .dQ011 not 00<11J? in, Homfll 1,11ta are Chrilltian. Its modeni Turkish pr He-8\od, nor in the Grellk ~edians,.pu&  ~'.v~•ft~~ ill'tli'e LXX. and th'~ Ne'# idluttllth,•. ant' ;nl>Ii• openlfll., 'If The.I VllnOUII Tetitament:•·.tts 1radl.eal· aieaniug ht sepa.ra.- l'l!adingniaie are numeious, but ilottohitll.ah 11.on. 'The'two'li'pitbeis "holy"'ant!lJ<Otrue" momentl, "·8ball shut" .:is much ,biatilr ~ust Uclt be me:r~ in one as_· .. ·the ·tru1y attesteel•than""Bh'utteth"' in the ·firilt ,hlllt holy.Ii The "Tro~d)ae:-"~,hafl a VfYrY di&- "Th~ihys of the kingdom.of•·hea1!eri''I' tm~· 'meariing•o~• its owp:. Nute ,that the (l\111/tt. ·s.vi. 19) are not.to be confounded 'With adjem;~: tletld _18 clh,i8,v~,. · not iiA11"1i t. "tne· •Ide,:' of knowledge" (Luke , :Ill;· 621. 'A.\,18/is, "6t"IW, JS "tme't, ea_ opposed t,o Tuey· befong to Chri&t; but ·have been ~ .. lying;" ~.,,e,v.lti ._,,, le ; "true" . 81!1 mitted to his 0hlll'Oh, bllt 11ot 1till'811enedlyl• opposed· to ··_",apnnOUB,~ .. unreal/' "im- ·" IM still retains the highest ·adrnmulta:ation. perfect." •Cbii"st' is •"tlie' True One" as in ·hiir uwn hands" (Trenoh) :·,and, itr ;the opposed to the Ilww·gWB of the heathen; 0hlll'Oh errs in binding or loosing, he caooela they are' sptll'l.mis goof. Both adjectives, the judgment. The Chlll'oh may open wMie and eepeciall y i11.\11fhv&s; are characteristic of Christ will shut, and shut where Chriat Will St. Jolin. The latter serves to bind together open. He.alone openeth so that none sh11U Gospel, Epistle, and Apocalypse. -' It occurs shut, and shutteth so that none ean open. nine times in the Goapel, four tirrles In 'the ·· Ver. 8.-1 Jtnow·thy.works. 0ooe more FrrstEpiBtle,and Wirtimesin'ilieApoca.lypse; Christ's jndgment is "based upon intimate hrenty-three times ·m .aJ.l; in the rest of personal knowledge. A question ariffes the N ewTestament onl,- five times. It is the whether the next sentence, introduced, by word;thed of·" the true Light" (John i. 9; "behold," should be- parenthetical or nol. 1 John' li., 8 ); 1•1;he true Bread" (John vi. It is possible, as in the Author.it.ed- Vet- 82), 'end "the t:l'tle Vine" (Jolrn.,:xv. 1). sion •and ·tm,vious English versions, 11.11d Applied t.o God, we':fi.nd it in .John vii, 29; also in the Vulgate, to avoid what 'is oer- xvii 3; 1 Johnv. 20. •He·thatuththe tainly an awkward' parenthesis. On ·the key of Da\ti.d:. Observe' that nolitl of these other hand, it seelilil clear thlrt in ,Ye:r. I •and iitlllll come· from the opening rvision in eh. L, ver. 15 8-n depends upon ofacr, "I kruiw- thy although by no meanll all the material there works, 'fh:at thou," and does not introduce fot1ndi(cll. i.18-d.6)has'been already used. a fresh 11entenoe; "I know thy worb: ·fat- The souooe of the present appellation is thou." Then must not g.,, ·depend •upon obviously Isa: 'hit. 20-22 ; but it is worth o16a here?• But either arrangement makes noting·that· 11!8/. ixii., 20 ,Jiaa much that· is good sense, and'perhups the oinission of~ parolM 'to tW unused material in 1ih. i. 13; pa.rentheiiiis makes the: best sense: "Bet»Uie ,le tll.a.t the 1lpening:vision would seem to thou hast little power, &.nd haet'inll.de a good diJ~<1;10us, .as-this passage certainly does, to usa·-of that little, I have' given thee an Elia,ktin <as'& type of 0hfist. .1As Trench opportunity of which none shlill : d.eprlve obi!ffi0li, lsamk foretells· the :promotion ·of thee." This seems to be the obvfollB mean- Elielriin ~• with an emphasis and, fulilesa " ing of the" opened door," in a.ooordanoe with which would surprise 115 if we did not see in 1 Cor. xvi. 9; 2 Oor. ii. 12 ; Acts xiv. 27; it not merely the description of "a revolution Col. iv. S. The Philadelphian Churoh,'m in the :royal palace" of Judah, but "the spite of its sniall .advantages, 'whetb.er iii type of something immeasurably! greater." numbel's •or prosperity, kept ·Christ's word Shii!bna,. whose nllIIle. shows him to have when ealled npon·to deny him; and for'thii! ~ - a:- foreigner, had misused his dignity it shaU ever have the prl'l'ilege of giving IIPli, ,pow~ as steward or eontIOller of the others an entrance into Christia ·fold. The :royabli.ome-an offiQII _analogous to that aorists, lrl,P"lo-o.s and :.ipvr,o-t10, appektl to point held by Josepb.,und.er fharao.11 $1l(j by our to some definite occasion. On ·".keep ray prime :iµmister, )i'o:r.. this he was degraded word," see notes on ·ch;'i. 8 and ii. 26. Th1!1 to.~.:inferior:·oflwe of royal scribe or antithetic ]:!Effallelism,-" didst keep and did-lit seer~ (i:iia. xxxvi. S; UX~ii. 2), while not deny," is thoroughly in St. John's t!tyld, Eliakim, was lll8de '' mayOJ:, cl the palooe " and•is one of manj''instances of the Hebrt!w in, .his l'OO[ll. The ,ra.,,,.orpdpwi, of the LX.X. cast of his language ( comp. ·eh. ii. 18; John ~ndP!"a!tJ!ositm umpli of the Vulg11,te w"uld i. 8, iO; iii. 16; x. 5, 18, etc.; 1 John: t 5, 14iad lis to suppose that Eliakim's office' was 6; ii. 4, 10, U, 27, 28). The ungri.mmaii<la1 saee:rilotal ; out this is certainly a mistake. repetition involved in 9,v oblMs litli,Ma, it.\t7- Lmhe:r's ·Hofmeuiff is much nearer the "'"' o.l,Tf,v recurs in eh. 'fii. 2; xiii; 42 :i :n:. lD&rk, , A· k11y would bot be an appropriate 8. Sueh frequent solecisms argue itilperfeet ~ool ,of a: priestly 'ciffi.oo, To. ~sessing grai!p of the language (comp. Mark·m. 25; ' the key of t.he >Muse cif David\" Eliakim had ootrtl'Ol. 'f1Ve1".tihe' house of Da.vid. There- ~ i!i_th.~ pa,e_llll.ge Christ clainrs theoontrol of thatlbf.!whicb ·the house of David was a actB':rv; 17). Vfh. 9,-Behold I give of "the'~:i- : ·· . -· , "''