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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Revelation 13:16 - 13:16
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
He causeth all (same use of poieō as in Rev 13:12, Rev 13:15). Note article here with each class (the small and the great, etc.).
That there be given them (hina dōsin autois). Same use of hina after poieō as in Rev 13:12, Rev 13:15, only here with indefinite plural dōsin (second aorist active subjunctive), “that they give themselves,” as in Rev 10:11; Rev 12:6; Rev 16:15.
A mark (charagma). Old word from charassō, to engrave, in Act 17:29 of idolatrous images, but in Rev (Rev 13:16, Rev 13:17; Rev 14:9, Rev 14:11; Rev 16:2; Rev 19:20; Rev 20:4) of the brand of the beast on the right hand or on the forehead or on both. Deissmann (Bible Studies, pp. 240ff.) shows that in the papyri official business documents often have the name and image of the emperor, with the date as the official stamp or seal and with charagma as the name of this seal. Animals and slaves were often branded with the owner’s name, as Paul (Gal 6:17) bore the stigmata of Christ. Ptolemy Philadelphus compelled some Alexandrian Jews to receive the mark of Dionysus as his devotees (3 Macc. 3:29). The servants of God receive on their foreheads the stamp of the divine seal (Rev 7:3). Charles is certain that John gets his metaphor from the tephillin (phylacteries) which the Jew wore on his left hand and on his forehead. At any rate, this “mark of the beast” was necessary for life and all social and business relations. On the right hand, that is in plain sight.
Upon their forehead (epi to metōpon autōn). Accusative with epi, though genitive just before with cheiros (hand). See note on Rev 7:3 and note on Rev 9:4 (genitive epi tōn metōpōn). Only in the Apocalypse in N.T.