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Rev_1:15. To such eyes of flame,[776] belong feet ὅμοιοι χαλκολιβάνῳ ὡς ἐν καμίνῳ πεπυρωμένῃ , which tread down unholy enemies.[777] De Wette is wrong in finding in this feature no other meaning than that of the splendor.
The word χαλκολίβανος ,[778] which the Vulg. renders by orichalcum,[779] and Luther by Messing, is of doubtful derivation and meaning. Ewald follows an ancient testimony[780] which says that one of the three kinds of incense is so called.[781] As the entire picture has to do with more than color,[782] and as the type of Dan_10:6[783] leads to the idea of brass,[784] incense can in no way be thought of. This is also, within the comparison itself, highly unnatural. The feet appear like brass, but at the same time, as the second member,[785] Ὢς ἘΝ ΚΑΜ . ΠΕΠΥΡΩΜΈΝῌ , says, “as in a furnace glowing with fire,” and therefore like the feet of the angel, Rev_10:2, which are Ὡς ΣΤΎΛΟΙ ΠΥΡΌς . But whether the word[786] be a hybrid term composed of χαλκός and ìÈëÈï , and therefore mean glowing white;[787] or “brass from Lebanon;”[788] or be taken as an intentionally mysterious designation of the ambiguous ἬΛΕΚΤΡΟΝ , which denotes an alloy,[789] and also amber,[790] and therefore corresponds in some degree to the former as well as to the second part of ΧΑΛΚΟΛΊΒΑΝΟς ,[791]—cannot be certainly decided. The intentional mysteriousness is improbable; even though the idea were possible, that—of course, only in the provincialism of Asia Minor—the word were popularly formed and used in the sense received by Züllig. Wetzel,[792] by recurring to the root λὶβ , i.e., running, flowing, reaches the explanation of molten metal (Erzfluss); perfectly adapted to the meaning, but without sufficient justification in the language.
καὶ ἡ φωνὴ αὐτ ., κ . τ . λ . Cf. Dan_10:6; Eze_43:2; Eze_1:24. The force of the voice is represented (cf. Rev_1:10), but the majesty peculiar to the peaceful murmur of the sea[793] is not to be thought of.
[776] Rev_5:14, Rev_2:18.
[777] Psa_60:12; Isa_63:6; cf. Dan_10:6, where, also, arms which cast down are mentioned.
[778] - ον , Suidas.
[779] Cf. Cic., De Off., iii. 23, 12; Horace, Ars Poet., 202.
[780] In Salmas, Ad Solin., p. 810; also in Wetst.
[781] ὁ λίβανος ἔχει τρία εἴδη δένδρων , καὶ ὁ μὲν ἅῤῥην ὀνομάζεται χαλκολίβανος , ἡλιοειδὴς καὶ πυῤῥὸς ἤγουν ξανθός (“Lebanon has three kinds of trees, and one that is strong is called χαλκολίβανος , like the sun, and that is to say, the reddish-yellow of fire”) Against this, is the notice in Suidas: χαλκολίβανον , εἶδος ἡλέκτρου τιμιώτερον χρυσοῦ , ἔστι δὲ τὸ ἥλεκτρον ἀλλότυπον χρυσίον μεμιγμένον ὑελῷ καὶ λιθείᾳ (“ χαλκ . of the appearance of ἠλέκτρον , more valuable than gold; and ᾕλεκ . is gold of another kind mingled with glass and stone”).
[782] Against Ewald, De Wette.
[783] ðÀçùÑÆú ÷ÈìÈì : LXX., χαλκὸς στίλβων . Eze_1:7, LXX., ἐξαστράπτων χαλκ . Cf. Eze_1:4; Eze_1:27; Eze_8:2, çùÀîÇì : LXX., ἥλεκτρον .
[784] De Wette.
[785] The particle of comparison parallel with the ὅμοιοι renders the reading πεπυρωμένῳ , which is possible in a critical respect, belonging to χαλκολιβ . (cf. Rev_3:18), inadvisable for exegetical reasons.
[786] Very arbitrarily translated by Hitzig (Johannes Marc., p. 68), “Ofenerz.”
[787] Grotius, Bochart, Hieroz., 3. p. 900; ed. Lips., Vitr., Hengstb.
[788] Syr., Aeth., Areth., Vatabl., Ebr.
[789] Suidas, s. o.
[790] Ew. ii.
[791] Züllig.
[792] Zeitschr. fur die gesammte lutherische Theol. u. Kirche, Leipzig, 1869, i. p. 94.
[793] Ebrard.