The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 376

pagan or papal Bame. And, indeed, tbfe form the ftrat seven. The BeYiled Tenliaa may be a pamal fullllment of the mion; probably give, the oo~ meaning, • 19 cl but it is not the whole signifl.<'ation. To ihe aeven ; " that Is, the beast himtel( eon- understand 911!HIII mountaine literally in aista of, and ia fOl'med by, what baa been this plaee renders it necesl!llry to interpr~ denoted by the 11even kings. We ha'l'e forty-two weeks, etc., literally in 11.notlier. already interpreted the beast u the worldly Ver. 10.-And there are seven kings; afld power-Satan in hill capacity of "prinoe of th8fl an. Here we have the, salt.le idm (a£ thi11 world.'' We have also shown that the ver. 9), with a 110mewhat different a.spool "seven kings,. deaoribea thia worldly power The phrase in ver. 9, "seven mountains," as it exists throughout all agea. 'fhi•• V8l'9e, re~ed th·e world-power as one universal therefore, ■ ums up and real!lerta briefly what indivisible whole, without respect t.o par- has be~n already virtuaJly iutlinaled fn•th& ticular tim!l4 or modes in which it might be symbob.am employed, vu:. that the beut ia exhibited. In this phrase, "seven kings,'' t~e .sum total of what" baa been de.scribed we have the same world-power viewed in its under the form of five kinga, then one ldtia'., aucoel!ldve exhibltiona by different natiom1: and then one king again (ver. 10). · lIIs though here e.g.tln we muat be on our guard final doom ls also rea.aserted. "he goeth ·1iuo not to interpret the number -en literally p~rdition" (cl. ver. 8 and ob. xix. 20). · of llllVon nation& The king, repree@t Ver, lZ.-And the ten hOl'DI which thou worldly states or kingdoms; ~ again, 1aweat are ten .kings, wlitch have received. betokens universaliiy. We are thus told 110 kingdom a■ yot. The Aoni,, u we thn.t this world-power on which. the woman have 1eeu, aie s7mbolical of power (aee on relies iii exhibited in the me.nif< station or eh. xiii. 1), and tetJ signifies oompletenflll! and power by suooesai~e natiowi, e.g. Egyptian, sufficiency (eh. xiii. 1). By the lBJf 1om,, Assyrian, Roman, ete., as many 1LB have therefore, is expre88ed wide,,pread. oomplete ever exist.lld or shall exist; for this is the power. But thil J>OWer, aaya the IIQel", hll8 meaning of lllWII. :rive al'I fallen, and one not come into 1Watenoe a, pl. He thu is, and tJw other is DOt yet come ; Ou .fi11e; points to -a ooming power, hoatile ac> God, th8 OM; the othet-. Omit "and." Here, again, not liters.lly ft"- The seer dividflS the whole series or anti-theistio world- snob aa is de10ribed in that pa.r1, of the account or the aevan kinga whioh .. the other ii not yet oome" (ver. 10), li •tea powel'lt into three groups, and he would ,ay, seems probable, therefore,that in desoribing BOme, probably the majority, of theiie are the forces opposed to God-those pas&.,.~ paNedaway; the Be60lld group~mbraclll the preaent, and thOBe yet to oome-SG. .John worlcl-power u it is exhibited uow, whether foreseeB that the hoslile world-power will Roman, Jewish, or any other; _in the third not be alwap pre-eminently wieliW ~ one group are included those yet to OOD1e, Thu nation, u m hill on time; bnt will be thOll8"Writenwho enumerate Egypt.Nineveh, divided into many parts, here repneemed Babylon, Persia, Greece, Syria. et.e., iu · the by the number t.en, though not neotlll81'ily lnit group, are partially eoneot, and' only exactly ten in nrunber. This, indeed, euctly wrong iu 80 far a■ they attempt to limit and deacribee what h1111 really been the cue ainoe define the kingdom&: and aimilarly also St. John's time, and what, hutDaDly &peak- th1111e who in the third group place the ing, seeme likely to oontinue to the eod of Boman empire after the barbarian invuiona, tlie world. Tbeee tft 1aom, M8lll th111 to or imperial Germany, eto. And when he ~ identieial with the 11eventh king of ver. eometh, he mu■t continue a abort apaoe ; a 10. Compare the aooount given of· the Zillleumik (Revised Verwion). This "short honu i.D Dan. vii. B11.t reoelft ,-er u apace" describes the remainder of the time kiuga one hour with the beast ; autiqrif, · of 'the world's existence. Buch ie its mean- (Reviled Venion). One /1(),w denote& "a ing· in ob. Ti. 11 and xii. 12, and again In short time,'" in which way the Bible 'oon• xx. S. In a similll.l' manner, alBO, "ahortly et.mtly describes the period of the world's eome to pass," eto. ( o~. i. 1, S : ii. Ii, 16, eto. ; existence, and especially that period which of. also John xvi. 17, 28). intervenes between the time of the writer Ver. Il.-And the beait that waa, and ta 11.ud the)odgment-day (of. -~m. xvi. 20; not, even be is the eighth, and ii of tbe B&'feD, 1 Cor. vu. 29; eh. Ti. 11; xu, IZ; xxii 20, and goetb into perdition ; and the '1e<ut etc.). Thi• seutenoe thUB declares ·tbat, (neutt,J", 9-,zplor) that tDa, and u not, /is him- though in the future divided into many ,,,_lf u al,o an eighth (ma.aculine), and u of part.s, and thus not being visibly as poten- (b,, out of) the lllt,ffl, eto. We may note (1) tial aa fonner llingle united kingdom.a, that "eighth" refers to "king" in ver. 10, nevertheless this hostile world-power 'ilrfil being masculine gendei; (2) the abeenoe or be still formidable, having :ranited itself on the article before 3-ylloos, "eighth," showa the side of the beast, aoting for and with that thia is not the eighth in a suoeellllive him, and receiving power from him. 1Bries, in. which the kinga already mentioned Ver 13.-The■e have one mind, and Iha)] REVELA.TlON, 2 g  418 THE REVELATION· OF ST. JOHN THE DI.VINE. [cu. xm. 1-18.,