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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comVincent Word Studies - Revelation 2:17 - 2:17
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
To eat
Omit.
Of the hidden manna (τοῦ μάννα τοῦ κεκρυμμένου)
The allusion may be partly to the pot of manna which was laid up in the ark in the sanctuary. See Exo 16:32-34; compare Heb 9:4. That the imagery of the ark was familiar to John appears from Rev 11:19. This allusion however is indirect, for the manna laid up in the ark was not for food, but was a memorial of food once enjoyed. Two ideas seem to be combined in the figure:
1. Christ as the bread from heaven, the nourishment of the life of believers, the true manna, of which those who eat shall never die (Joh 6:31-43, Joh 6:48-51); hidden, in that He is withdrawn from sight, and the Christian's life is hid with Him in God (Col 3:3). 2. The satisfaction of the believer's desire when Christ shall be revealed. The hidden manna shall not remain for ever hidden. We shall see Christ as He is, and be like Him (1Jo 3:2). Christ gives the manna in giving Himself “The seeing of Christ as He is, and, through this beatific vision, being made like to Him, is identical with the eating of the hidden manna, which shall, as it were, be then brought forth from the sanctuary, the holy of holies of God's immediate presence where it was withdrawn from sight so long, that all may partake of it; the glory of Christ, now shrouded and concealed, being then revealed to His people” (Trench).
This is one of numerous illustrations of the dependence of Revelation upon Old Testament history and prophecy. “To such an extent is this the case,” says Professor Milligan, “that it may be doubted whether it contains a single figure not drawn from the Old Testament, or a single complete sentence not more or less built up of materials brought from the same source.” See, for instance, Balaam (Rev 2:14); Jezebel (Rev 2:20); Michael (Rev 12:7, compare Dan 10:13; Dan 12:1); Abaddon (Rev 9:11); Jerusalem, Mt. Zion, Babylon, the Euphrates, Sodom, Egypt (Rev 21:2; Rev 14:1; Rev 16:19; Rev 9:14; Rev 11:8); Gog and Magog (Rev 20:8, compare Ezekiel 38, 39). Similarly, the tree of life, the sceptre of iron, the potter's vessels, the morning-star (Rev 2:7, Rev 2:17, Rev 2:27, Rev 2:28). Heaven is described under the figure of the tabernacle in the wilderness (Rev 11:1, Rev 11:19; Rev 6:9; Rev 8:3; Rev 11:19; Rev 4:6). The song of the redeemed is the song of Moses (Rev 15:3). The plagues of Egypt appear in the blood, fire, thunder, darkness and locusts (Rev 8:1-13). “The great earthquake of chapter 6 is taken from Haggai; the sun becoming black as sackcloth of hair and the moon becoming blood (Rev 8:1-13) from Joel: the stars of heaven falling, the fig-tree casting her untimely figs, the heavens departing as a scroll (Rev 8:1-13) from Isaiah: the scorpions of chapter 9 from Ezekiel: the gathering of the vine of the earth (chapter 14) from Joel, and the treading of the wine-press in the same chapter from Isaiah.” So too the details of a single vision are gathered out of different prophets or different parts of the same prophet. For instance, the vision of the glorified Redeemer (Rev 1:12-20). The golden candlesticks are from Exodus and Zechariah; the garment down to the foot from Exodus and Daniel; the golden girdle and the hairs like wool from Isaiah and Daniel; the feet like burnished brass, and the voice like the sound of many waters, from Ezekiel; the two-edged sword from Isaiah and Psalms; the countenance like the sun from Exodus; the falling of the seer as dead from Exodus, Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; the laying of Jesus' right hand on the seer from Daniel.
“Not indeed that the writer binds himself to the Old Testament in a slavish spirit. He rather uses it with great freedom and independence, extending, intensifying, or transfiguring its descriptions at his pleasure. Yet the main source of his emblems cannot be mistaken. The sacred books of his people had been more than familiar to him. They had penetrated his whole being. They had lived within him as a germinating seed, capable of shooting up not only in the old forms, but in new forms of life and beauty. In the whole extent of sacred and religious literature there is to be found nowhere else such a perfect fusion of the revelation given to Israel with the mind of one who would either express Israel's ideas, or give utterance, by means of the symbols supplied by Israel's history, to the present and most elevated thoughts of the Christian faith “(this note is condensed from Professor Milligan's “Baird Lectures on the Revelation of St. John”).
A white stone (ψῆφον λευκὴν)
See on counteth, Luk 14:28; and see on white, Luk 9:29. The foundation of the figure is not to be sought in Gentile but in Jewish customs. “White is everywhere the color and livery of heaven” (Trench). See Rev 1:14; Rev 3:5; Rev 7:9; Rev 14:14; Rev 19:8, Rev 19:11, Rev 19:14; Rev 20:11. It is the bright, glistering white. Compare Mat 28:3; Luk 24:4; Joh 20:12; Rev 20:11; Dan 7:9.
It is impossible to fix the meaning of the symbol with any certainty. The following are some of the principal views: The Urim and Thummim concealed within the High-Priest's breastplate of judgment. This is advocated by Trench, who supposes that the Urim was a peculiarly rare stone, possibly the diamond, and engraven with the ineffable name of God. The new name he regards as the new name of God or of Christ (Rev 3:12); some revelation of the glory of God which can be communicated to His people only in the higher state of being, and which they only can understand who have actually received.
Professor Milligan supposes an allusion to the plate of gold worn on the High-Priest's forehead, and inscribed with the words “Holiness to the Lord,” but, somewhat strangely, runs the figure into the stone or pebble used in voting, and regards the white stone as carrying the idea of the believer's acquittal at the hands of God.
Dean Plumptre sees in the stone the signet by which, in virtue of its form or of the characters inscribed on it, he who possessed it could claim from the friend who gave it, at any distance of time, a frank and hearty welcome; and adds to this an allusion to the custom of presenting such a token, with the guest's name upon it, of admission to the feast given to those who were invited to partake within the temple precincts - a feast which consisted wholly or in part of sacrificial meats.
Others, regarding the connection of the stone with the manna, refer to the use of the lot cast among the priests in order to determine which one should offer the sacrifice.
Others, to the writing of a candidate's name at an election by ballot upon a stone or bean.
In short, the commentators are utterly divided, and the true interpretation remains a matter of conjecture.
A new name
Some explain the new name of God or of Christ (compare Rev 3:12); others, of the recipient's own name. “A new name however, a revelation of his everlasting title as a son of God to glory in Christ, but consisting of and revealed in those personal marks and signs of God's peculiar adoption of himself, which he and none other is acquainted with” (Alford). Bengel says: “Wouldst thou know what kind of a new name thou wilt obtain? Overcome. Before that thou wilt ask in vain, and after that thou wilt soon read it inscribed on the white stone.”