Vincent's Word Studies After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.
And immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne. They sing
Present tense, denoting the continuous, unceasing worship of heaven, or possibly, as describing their "office generally rather than the mere one particular case of its exercise" (Alford). Redeem (ἠγόρασας) Lit., purchase, as Rev. See John 4:8; John 6:5. Us Omit us and supply men, as Rev. With Thy blood (ἐν τῷ αἵματί σου) Lit., "in Thy blood." The preposition in is used Hebraistically of the price; the value of the thing purchased being contained in the price. Kindred (φυλῆς) Rev., tribe. Often in the New Testament of the twelve tribes of Israel. People, nation (λαοῦ, ἔθνους) See on 1 Peter 2:9. And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. Us (ἡμᾶς)
Read αὐτοὺς them. Kings (βασιλεῖς) Read, βασιλείαν a kingdom. See on Revelation 1:6. We shall reign (βασιλεύσομεν) Read βασιλεύουσιν they reign. Their reigning is not future, but present. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold. Ten thousand times ten thousand (μυρίαδες μυρίαδων)
Lit., ten thousands of ten thousands. Compare Psalm 68:17; Daniel 8:10. Μυριάς, whence the English myriad, means the number ten thousand. So, literally, Acts 19:19, ἀργυρίου μυριάδας πέντε fifty-thousand pieces of silver; lit., five ten-thousands. In the plural used for an unlimited number. See Luke 12:1; Acts 21:20; Hebrews 12:22; Jde 1:14. Thousands (χιλιάδες) Χιλιάς, a collective term like, μυριάς, meaning the number one thousand, is almost invariably used with men in Revelation. See Revelation 7:4; Revelation 11:13. Only once with a material object (Revelation 21:16). With inferior objects χίλιοι a thousand is used. See Revelation 11:3; Revelation 12:6. These words are the theme of Alford's noble hymn - "Ten thousand times ten thousand In sparkling raiment bright, The armies of the ransomed saints Throng up the steeps of light: 'Tis finished, all is finished, Their fight with death and sin; Fling open wide the golden gates, And let the victors in." And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. Power, etc.
Rev., "the power." Compare the ascription in Revelation 4:11, on which see note, and notice that each separate particular there has the article, while here it is attached only to the first, the power, the one article including all the particulars, as if they formed but one word. On the doxologies, see on Revelation 1:6. Riches (πλοῦτον) Not limited to spiritual riches, but denoting the fulness of every gift of God. James 1:17; Acts 17:25. Only here in a doxology. Blessing (εὐλογίαν) See on the kindred word εὐλογητὸς blessed, 1 Peter 1:3. And before the throne there was a sea of glass like unto crystal: and in the midst of the throne, and round about the throne, were four beasts full of eyes before and behind. Creature (κτίσμα)
See 1 Timothy 4:4; James 1:18. From κτίζω to found. A thing founded or created Rev., created thing. See on John 1:3. In the sea (ἐπὶ τῆς θαλάσσης) More accurately, "on the sea," as Rev. Not ships, but creatures of the sea which have come up from its depths to the surface. Blessing (ἡ εὐλογία) Rev. rightly "the blessing." All the particulars of the following ascription have the article. Honor (τιμή) Originally a valuing by which the price is fixed, hence the price itself, the thing priced, and so, generally, honor. See on Acts 28:10. Power (τὸ κράτος) Rev., the dominion. For the different words for power, see on 2 Peter 2:11. And the first beast was like a lion, and the second beast like a calf, and the third beast had a face as a man, and the fourth beast was like a flying eagle. Four and twenty
Omit. Worshipped In silent adoration. Him that liveth forever and ever Omit. And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. Of the seals
Add seven. And see Omit. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, White horse
For white, see on Luke 19:29. Horse, see Zechariah 1:7-11; Zechariah 6:1-8. All the figures of this verse are those of victory. The horse in the Old Testament is the emblem of war. See Job 39:25; Psalm 76:6; Proverbs 21:31; Ezekiel 26:10. So Virgil: "But I beheld upon the grass four horses, snowy white, Grazing the meadows far and wide, first omen of my sight. Father Anchises seeth, and saith: 'New land and bear'st thou war? For war are horses dight; so these war-threatening herd-beasts are.'" "Aeneid," iii., 537. So Turnus, going forth to battle: "He spake, and to the roofed place now swiftly wending home, Called for his steeds, and merrily stood there before their foam E'en those that Orithyia gave Pilumnus, gift most fair, Whose whiteness overpassed the snow, whose speed the winged air." "Aeneid," xii., 81-83. Homer pictures the horses of Rhesus as whiter than snow, and swift as the winds ("Iliad," x., 436, 437); and Herodotus, describing the battle of Plataea says: "The fight went most against the Greeks where Mardonius, mounted on a white horse, and surrounded by the bravest of all the Persians, the thousand picked men, fought in person" (ix., 63). The horses of the Roman generals in their triumphs were white. continued... The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, And see
Omit. Had opened (ἤνοιξεν) Rev., rendering the aorist mow literally, opened. Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created. Red (πυῤῥός) From πῦρ fire. Flame-colored. Compare 2 Kings 3:22; Zechariah 1:8. Only here and Revelation 12:3. To take peace from the earth Compare Matthew 10:34; Matthew 24:7. Kill (σφάξωσιν) See on Revelation 5:6. Sword (μάχαιρα) Compare Matthew 10:34. In Homer, a large knife or dirk, worn next the sword-sheath, and used to slaughter animals for sacrifice. Thus, "The son of Atreus, having drawn with his hands the knife (μάχαιραν) which hung ever by the great sheath of his sword, cut the hair from the heads of the lambs.... He spake, and cut the lambs' throats with the pitiless brass" ("Iliad," iii., 271-292). It is used by the surgeon Machaon to cut out an arrow ("Iliad," xi., 844). Herodotus, Aristophanes, and Euripides use the word in the sense of a knife for cutting up meat. Plato, of a knife for pruning trees. As a weapon it appears first in Herodotus: "Here they (the Greeks) defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords, using them (vii., 225) Later of the sabre or bent sword, contrasted with the ξίφος or straight sword. Aristophanes uses it with the adjective μιᾷ single, for a razor, contrasted with μάχαιρα διπλῆ, the double knife or scissors. This and ῥομφαία (see on Luke 2:35) are the only words used in the New Testament for sword. Θίφος (see above) does not occur. In Septuagint μάχαιρα of the knife of sacrifice used by Abraham (Genesis 22:6,Genesis 22:10). Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent [1886]. Text Courtesy of Internet Sacred Texts Archive. Bible Apps.com |
