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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadHeinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 11
Verse Commentaries:
Chapter Level Commentary:
ἔγειρε . So Lach., Tisch., in accordance with A, à , 6, 7, al. Besides the var. ἔγειραι (Elz.), ἔγειρον also occurs (cf. Wetst.); both as an interpretation.
Rev_11:4. ἑστῶτες . So A, C, à 1, 2, 4, 6, al., Beng., Matth., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]. Without witnesses is the correction ἑστῶσαι (Elz.).
Rev_11:5. θέλει . Only twice is the more grammatical, and therefore more suspicious, form θελήσῃ (Elz., Tisch. IX. [W. and H.]) found, viz., in A, à ; the first θέλῃ (Elz.) is entirely unwarranted. Properly Beng. already wrote θέλει both times.
Rev_11:6. The decision as to whether, after a relatively compounded form like ὁσάκις , either ἐάν (so here Elz., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.], in accordance with A, à ) or ἄν (as C actually has it) is to be written, does not depend upon critical testimonies concerning a particular passage; cf. my notes on 1Jn_3:20.
Rev_11:8. For ἡμῶν after κύριος (Elz.), Beng. already, in accordance with all the witnesses, substituted αὐτῶν .
Rev_11:9. ἀφίουσιν . So A, C, à , 12, 28, Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.], instead of the emendation ἀφήσουσιν (Elz., Beng., Griesb., Matth.).
Rev_11:10. εὐφραίνονται . So A, C, à , 12, 28, Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]. Modified, Elz.: εὐφρανθήσονται (Vulg.).
Rev_11:11. ἐν αὐτοῖς . Correctly accepted by Lach., Tisch., from A, 18. Only for the purpose of avoiding harshness of construction with εἰσῆλθεν is it written: αὐτοῖς (C, 7, 17, Erasm., 1, 2, 3, Beng.), επʼ αὐτούς (Elz.), εἰς αὐτούς ( à , 2, 4, 6, al.). The var. ἐπʼ αὐτοὶς (12) indicates what is correct.
Rev_11:12. The reading ἤκουσα (Beng., Tisch.), supported by à corr., 4, 6, 8, 9, al., Syr., Copt., Andr., al., deserves the preference to the certainly well-attested ἤκουσαν (Lach., Tisch. IX. [W. and H.]). See exposition.
Rev_11:16. The art. οἱ is lacking before εἴκ . τεσσ . πρεσβ . in A, C, à 1, Lach., and before ἐν τ . θ . καθ . in A, Lach. But, in the second place, the art. which, because of the retrospection to Rev_4:4; Rev_4:11, especially cannot be absent in the first place, is to be recognized besides in the paraphrase οἱ
κάθηνται (C, 3, 4, al., Tisch. IX.). The omission also can be accounted for because of the similarity of the preceding syllable. Tisch. is right in supporting the rec., which has the article in both places.
Rev_11:18. Instead of the dat., Lach. (small ed.) has written the accus. from τοὺς ἁγίους until τοὺς μεγάλους , of course according to A. But in his larger edition he has altered the reading, because C (also à 1) offers only the two accusatives τοὺς μικρ . καὶ τοὺς μεγ . But the entirely senseless acc. can have its origin only in a slip in the MSS., which was occasioned possibly by the succeeding accus.
Rev_11:19. The ό before ἐν τ . ουρ ., which is lacking in à , Elz., Tisch. 1854, is found in A, C, 14 (Lach., Tisch. 1859 and IX. [W. and H.]).
The first part of the chapter, extending until Rev_11:14,—with which the chapter would more properly end, because the second part (Rev_11:15 sqq.) belongs throughout to ch. 12 sqq.,—contains the first manifestation of the πάλιν προφητεῦσαι , which was committed to John at the close of ch. 10. The present προφητεία , moreover, is opened with the description of a significant act which John must perform in the vision—just as the ancient prophets, by significant acts, prophesied to the people.[2789] With a measuring reed he must measure the temple, but not its outer court; for, as the heavenly voice immediately afterwards signifies, this is given to the heathen, who are for forty-two months (Rev_11:1-2) to tread down the holy city. During this time—so further sounds the heavenly voice, from whose report John afterwards passes to his own prophetic discourse, Rev_11:11—two witnesses of Christ shall come forth as preachers of repentance, who, only after the completion of their testimony, shall be slain by the beast out of the abyss, and that, too, in Jerusalem, where, to the joy of the godless world, their unburied corpses shall lie exposed to view in the street (Rev_11:3-10). But after three days and a half these witnesses shall be revived by God, to the terror of their enemies, before whose eyes they shall be raised to heaven (Rev_11:11-12). A mighty earthquake then destroys a tenth of the city, and kills seven thousand inhabitants; the survivors are converted (Rev_11:13).
With this the second woe[2790] is at an end; the third cometh quickly.
[2789] 1Ki_22:11; Isa_20:2; Jer_19:1 sqq. Cf. also Act_21:11. Knobel, Proph., i. 420 sqq.
[2790] Cf. Rev_9:13 sqq.