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Rev_12:8. Properly, after the full contents of the subject ὁ δρ . καὶ οἱ ἄγγ . αὐτοῦ have preceded, the plur. form ἴσχυσαν [3096] is now introduced, although the sing. ἐπολέμησε (Rev_12:7) stood in express relation only to the chief subject ὁ δράκων . The sense of the καὶ οὐκ ἔσχυσαν is like the Heb. phrase ìà éÈëÉì , Gen_32:26;[3097] Psa_13:5;[3098] Gen_30:8 :[3099] “They could not prevail.”
ΟὐΔῈ ΤΌΠΟς ΕὙΡΈΘΗ ΑὐΤῶΝ ἝΤΙ ῈΝ Τῷ ΟὐΡΑΝῷ . The ΟὐΔΈ [3100] puts a second negative expression by the side of and opposite to the first, so that the meaning of the connection can be explained: Not only the dragon and his angels could not prevail, but he could no longer maintain his place in heaven: he is conquered in heaven and cast out of heaven. This idea Hengstenb. himself indicates in an entirely rationalistic way, by explaining, according to the accepted fundamental statement: “Every thing mighty is placed in heaven,”[3101] as follows: “That Satan could not maintain himself in heaven, simply means that his power is broken,—broken, according to Rev_12:11, by the blood of Christ, whereby the forgiveness of sins is obtained, and thus his most dangerous weapon is wrested from Satan.” On the other hand, a preposterous dogmatizing on this verse appears in Hofm., Ebrard, and Auberlen, who here find the presupposition, that until then,[3102] Satan with his angels have actually had their place in heaven, make a comparison with the coming-forth of Satan in Job 1, as though it were an historical fact, and, at the same time, explain from Zechariah 3, that the business of Satan in heaven is that of accusing. But this idea, impossible in itself[3103] to considerate Christian feeling, is gathered from the text only by the ascription of objective reality to that which is indeed improperly regarded a pure fiction,[3104] yet to which only the reality of the vision belongs. The real truth on which the visionary contemplation of the discomfiture of the dragon, after the withdrawal of the Messianic child, depends, is—as may be explained from Rev_12:10, but in no way from Rev_12:11[3105]—the Christian fundamental doctrine of the conquest of Satan and his kingdom by Christ, the Redeemer and Lord of the kingdom of heaven; but the subject treated in this passage (as also in Rev_12:3-6) is no doctrinal definition, but only the illustration, extending to the deepest foundation, of the rage of the arch-fiend against believers. Against them he turns (Rev_12:17 sqq.), after he has pursued in vain the Lord himself (Rev_12:4 sqq.) and the woman; the earth becomes the theatre of his wrath, after he has been cast thither from heaven, and that, too, as one vanquished, so that even believers can overcome the already overcome enemy, let him rage as he may. The description, Rev_12:7-8 (and 9), portrays an actual, historical or superhistorical, fact, past or entirely future, which was revealed to John by his vision, no more than Rev_12:3-6 describe actual facts as such; but also in this passage the form of the vision in the mind of the seer seems to be morally conditioned by his remembrance of the fact, firmly established in biblical revelation, of the overthrow of the fallen angels. In itself, and as such, this fact has nothing to do with the present connection; but in the mind of the seer, the particular conception which he here expresses clothes itself in the form of that fact.[See Note LXVIII. (b), p. 359.]
[3096] Cf., directly afterwards, τόπος
αὑτων .
[3097] LXX.: οὑ δύναται πρὸς αὐτόν .
[3098] LXX.: ἵσχυσα πρὸς αὐτόν .
[3099] LXX.: καὶ ἡδυνάσθην .
[3100] So Winer also (pp. 457, 572) writes.
[3101] Cf. Isa_14:12.
[3102] Until the ascension of Christ (Rev_12:5). Auberlen: During “the entire world-period.” Ebrard.
[3103] Which, especially in Ebrard, appears utterly inconceivable.
[3104] Against Heinr. and other rationalists.
[3105] Against Hengstenb.