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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadJohn Bengel Commentary - Revelation 14:8 - 14:8
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Rev 14:8. Ἔπεσεν ἔπεσε) See on ch. Rev 18:2.-Βαβυλὼν ἡ μεγάλη) Thus all the MSS.; thus also Copt. Thus ch. Rev 16:19, Rev 17:5, Rev 18:2, and LXX., Dan 4:27. But ἡ πόλις[159] is inserted between by Erasmus, from ch. Rev 18:10; Rev 18:21. An epithet is often added to a proper name, without an appellative substantive. Babylon the great, put absolutely, has a somewhat grander sound, than Babylon the great city.-ἐκ, of) Asyndeton.-τοῦ οἴνου) This is the reading of a few, but ancient witnesses, of the Greek and Latins, to whom is added Cassiodorus. Because in those passages, where the wrath of God is treated of, ὁ οἶνος τοῦ θυμοῦ is usually said; for that reason here, and in ch. Rev 18:3, where the fornication of Babylon is treated of, Ὁ ΟἾΝΟς ΤΟῦ ΘΥΜΟῦ has also been inserted by the copyists.[160] But see App. Crit. Ed. ii. on this passage. Under the figure of a draught is often described the anger of God, and often the impurity of [spiritual] whoredom. It is in the former draught, and not the latter, that the word τοῦ θυμοῦ is used.-πεπότικε, hath made to drink) Luther says in the preface to Robert Barns’ Lives of the Pontiffs, “I indeed at first, who am not greatly versed or skilled in histories, attacked the Papacy, a priori, as the saying is, that is, from the Sacred Scriptures. Now I wonderfully rejoice, that others do the same a posteriori, that is, from histories. And I seem to myself altogether to triumph, when, as the light appears, I understand that histories are in agreement with the Scriptures.” And thus the history of the affairs of Rome, which is more and more brought forward into the light, serves to confirm the preaching of this second angel. But, laying aside party zeal, it is right that we should here especially weigh the things which were carried on in the East at the beginning of this century, by missions sent from Rome, rather than the Pontiff; and, on the other hand, the things which began to be carried on by evangelical missions. The impure draught given to the nations is followed by a purer draught.
[159] ABCh Vulg. reject ἡ πόλις, which Rec. Text has without good authority.-E.
[160] Lachm. and Tisch., with the oldest authorities, retain θυμοῦ. Fuld. MS. of Vulg. omits it; but better MSS. retain it.-E.