Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 21:12 - 21:21

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Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 21:12 - 21:21


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Rev_21:12-21. The wall and the gates of the city. The harmonious proportions are given,[4297] according to the holy number twelve of the O. T. people of God.

ἈΓΓΈΛΟΥς ΔΏΔΕΚΑ . Correctly, Bengel: “They keep watch, and serve as an ornament. More definite references dare not be sought; as soon as we reflect that the new Jerusalem is no longer threatened by enemies, and therefore needs no watchmen of its gates, explanations result like that of Hengstenb., viz., that these angels symbolize the Divine protection against enemies “which could be conceived of only by an imagination filled with terrors, proceeding from the Church militant.”

ὈΝΌΜΑΤΑ ἘΠΙΓΕΓΡΑΜΜΈΝΑ , Κ . Τ . Λ . It does not follow that John wanted this idea, based upon Eze_48:31 sqq., to be understood as it occurs in Jewish theology,[4298] viz., that members of one tribe could make use of only one door.

As the walls on all four sides have each three gates (Rev_21:13), it follows (Rev_21:14) that there are twelve sections of the wall, each of which is supported by a ΘΕΜΈΛΙΟς ; four of these are to be regarded as massive corner-stones, since these support the corner-pieces which extend from the third gate of the one side to the first gate of the following side. The twelve corner-stones lie open to view, at least so far that their splendor can be perceived,[4299] and the inscriptions found thereon, viz., the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, can be read. In explanation of the latter idea, Calov., etc., have properly appealed to Eph_2:20. [See Note XCV., p. 485.]

[4297] Cf. Eze_48:30 sqq.

[4298] Cf. De Wette.

[4299] Cf. Rev_21:19 sq.

NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

XCV. Rev_21:14. ὀνόματα τῶν δώδεκα ἀποστόλων

Calov.: “The apostles, who, by their living voice and literary records, founded the Church, and upon whose doctrine and writings it rests as on an immovable foundation.” Hengstenberg: “The twelve apostles are the most noble bulwark of the Church, the chief channel through which the preserving grace of God flows forth to it. If, even in the new Jerusalem, they are the foundation on which the security of the Church against all conceivable dangers depends, they must also be the bulwark through all periods of the Church militant. But this passage, and that of Mat_19:28, where the twelve apostles appear in the ‘regeneration,’—the new Jerusalem,—as the heads of the Church, are a sufficient answer to those who maintain that the apostolate is a continuous institution, and expect salvation for the Church by subjection to pretended new apostles. The Lord himself, and the disciple whom he loved, knew only of twelve apostles. The twelve apostles are forever. That in the corner-stone, besides the apostles, there are also prophets, is only a seeming variation. For that the prophets are not those of the O. T., but of the N. T., and personally identical with the apostles, is clear from the parallel passages Rev_3:5, Rev_4:11.”