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Rev_18:20. The heavenly voice—not John,[3994] to whom this demand is not well adapted[3995]—exhorts not only heaven (together with all who dwell therein, Rev_12:12), but also all who on earth belong to the Lord, to joy over the city thus perishing. Earthly believers—who are exhaustively enumerated by the three categories οἱ ἅγιοι , οἱ ἀπόστολοι , and οἱ προφῆται ,[3996] in which the most general conception precedes, and then two particular classes are mentioned, because they, being first attacked by the hatred of the secular power,[3997] have an especial reason to rejoice over the vengeance inflicted by God’s judgment—are mentioned besides “heaven,” because it is intended to express that to the entire number of those who belong to the Lord,[3998] the destruction of the city is a joyful proof of the righteousness and glory of their God.
ὅτι ἔκρινεν , κ . τ . λ . This fact, upon which the lamentation of the inhabitants of the earth is based,[3999] is the foundation of the joy of all the saints. But also in the phraseology, this diversity of relation is marked; the judgment of God, which the city has incurred,[4000] has brought about a ΚΡΊΜΑ , i.e., an act fulfilled by the ΚΡΊΝΕΙΝ , which[4001] is called a judgment of believers ( ΚΡ . ὙΜῶΝ ), since this judgment executed in the city, taken upon her ( ἘΞ ΑὐΤῆς ),[4002] is the justification and satisfaction of those believers persecuted by the worldly city, but now avenged on it.
[3994] Züll.
[3995] Cf. Rev_12:12.
[3996] Cf. Rev_11:18.
[3997] Cf. Rev_18:24.
[3998] For critical inferences this passage is not adapted. With the same justice with which it would be inferred that John does not belong to the apostles, we may also conclude that he does not belong to the prophets.—The state of the case is different, however, in Rev_21:14.
[3999] Rev_18:10; Rev_18:16; Rev_18:19.
[4000] Rev_18:8 : κρίνας αὐτήν ; the aor., as in this passage, ἔκρινεν . Rev_18:10 : ἡ κρἰσις σου .
[4001] Cf., on the other hand, Rev_17:1, where the harlot was designated as the direct object.
[4002] Cf. Rev_6:10.