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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.comRobertson Word Pictures - Revelation 20:4 - 20:4
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This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
And they sat upon them (kai ekathisan ep' autous). First aorist active indicative of kathizō. Another period here apparently synchronous (Rev 20:7) with the confinement of Satan in the abyss. No subject is given for this plural verb. Apparently Christ and the Apostles (Mat 19:28; Luk 22:30) and some of the saints (1Co 6:3), martyrs some hold.
Judgment was given unto them (krima edothē autois). First aorist passive of didōmi. Picture of the heavenly court of assizes.
The souls (tas psuchas). Accusative after eidon at the beginning of the verse.
Of them that had been beheaded (tōn pepelekismenōn). Genitive of the articular perfect passive participle of pelekizō, old word (from pelekus an axe, the traditional instrument for execution in republican Rome, but later supplanted by the sword), to cut off with an axe, here only in N.T. See Rev 6:9; Rev 18:24; Rev 19:2 for previous mention of these martyrs for the witness of Jesus (Rev 1:9; Rev 12:17; Rev 19:10). Others also besides martyrs shared in Christ’s victory, those who refused to worship the beast or wear his mark as in Rev 13:15; Rev 14:9.; Rev 16:2; Rev 19:20.
And they lived (kai ezēsan). First aorist active indicative of zaō. If the ingressive aorist, it means “came to life” or “lived again” as in Rev 2:8 and so as to Rev 20:5. If it is the constative aorist here and in Rev 20:5, then it could mean increased spiritual life. See Joh 5:21-29 for the double sense of life and death (now literal, now spiritual) precisely as we have the second death in Rev 2:11; Rev 20:6, Rev 20:14.
And reigned with Christ (kai ebasileusan meta tou Christou). Same use of the first aorist active indicative of basileuō, but more clearly constative. Beckwith and Swete take this to apply solely to the martyrs, the martyrs’ reign with Christ.