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Rev_7:2-3. ἄλλον ἄγγελον . That an angel—not an archangel[2254]—is to be thought of,[2255] not Christ,[2256] to be silent concerning the Holy Spirit,[2257] results not only from the appellation ἌΓΓΕΛΟς , but especially from the fact that this ἌΛΛΟς ἌΓΓ . is designated in the clearest way by the contrast with the angels mentioned in Rev_7:1, as of a different nature. The mode of expression also, Rev_7:3, Τ . ΔΟΥΛ . Τ . ΘΕΟῦ ἩΜῶΝ , suits most simply the mouth of an angel, not of Christ.[2258] Cf. especially Rev_8:3, Rev_10:1, Rev_14:6; Rev_14:8-9; Rev_14:17, Rev_18:1.
ἈΝΑΒΑΊΝΟΝΤΑ ἈΠῸ ἈΝΑΤΟΛῆς ἩΛΊΟΥ . John, therefore, sees how the angel comes forth,[2259] while the first four angels stand already in their places as he looks upon them; the angel now entering will take part in the act. The expression and ἉΠῸ ἈΝΑΤ . ἩΛΊΟΥ admits of no allegorical meaning; the annexed ἩΛΊΟΥ renders impossible the interpretation of the ἈΝΑΤΟΛΉ , with a vague allusion to Luk_1:78, as referring to Christ,[2260] so as to make the sense that the other angel is sent by Christ or God.[2261] The quarter of the heavens, the east, is designated; but not because of the look towards Judaea,[2262] or to “Patmos, and especially the Christian lands where the light of the gospel first shone,”[2263] which is here out of place; not “because the Hebrews always turned first towards the east,”[2264] whereby properly nothing is explained; not because the throne of God whence the angel proceeds[2265] is regarded as in the east,[2266] for that is nowhere indicated in the Apoc.; nor because, as plagues have their origin in the east, “for the earth (Rev_8:7) is Asia,” so also the sealing:[2267] but because it is appropriate and significant that the angel, coming for a victorious employment which brings eternal life, should arise from that side from which life and light are brought by the earthly sun.[2268] The angel himself, who does not descend from heaven, but rises from the horizon,[2269] is represented after the manner of the rising sun.
ἝΧΟΝΤΑ , cf. Rev_1:16.
ΣΦΡΑΓῖΔΑ ΘΕΟῦ ΖῶΝΤΟς . Without meaning[2270] is the metonymy accepted by Grot.: “The sealed constitution of the King.” The angel has a seal (in his hand) which he will press upon the foreheads of the servants of God. The gen. θεοῦ ζ . designates simply, that the seal belongs to the living God; that it “has been delivered by God,”[2271] is, therefore, self-evident, but not expressed. The attempt has been made to conjecture the legend of the seal. Beda, C. a Lap., Grot., Böhmer, regard it the sign of the cross; with more probability, Eichh., Ew., De Wette, Ebrard, etc., propose the name of God and of the Lamb.[2272] But since the text says nothing, nothing can be inferred.[2273] As the definite article is absent, the idea is left open that there are different seals of God for different purposes. In this passage, the mark made by the seal, upon the foreheads of the servants of God, does not mean what the χάραγμα indicates, which the worshippers of the beast receive upon the forehead or the right hand,[2274] viz., the belonging to one Lord and serving him;[2275] for they who receive the seal are already “servants of God.” The question is as little as to the fact of their being recognized and outwardly shown to be servants of God, or “that they receive the letter and seal to their being servants of God,”[2276] as that they are rendered secure from the approaching sufferings, but that, notwithstanding the approaching suffering, they are guaranteed their perseverance in the state of being servants of God; therefore the suffering does not come until the sealing of the servants of God has occurred. It is significant, with respect to this purpose of the sealing, that the seal belongs to the living God, whereby it is not said that he is the true and actual, and hence not that it is only his seal which is valid,[2277] but that he as the living also gives life.[2278] Yet the conception of the glory, for which the sealed are preserved, is that they attain to eternal life in the sight of the living God.[2279]
ἜΚΡΑΞΕΝ ΦΩΝῇ ΜΕΓΆΛῌ . The call with a strong voice is in general peculiar to heavenly beings; it does not always have a special purpose.[2280] Beng refers the loud cry of the angel to the fact that he wished to restrain the four angels who desired to make a beginning of the affliction; Hengstenb. finds therein the certainty of the command that has been given.
The most probable idea is, that the call is to penetrate to the ends of the earth where the angels stand.
ΟἸς
ΑὐΤΟῖς , as Rev_3:8.
ἘΔΌΘΗ , Κ . Τ . Λ . Concerning the aor. in the sense of a plusquampf., cf. Winer, p. 258. On the conception of ἘΔΌΘΗ , cf. Rev_6:4. The ἈΔΙΚΕῖΝ , injuring,[2281] would occur if the angels would let loose the winds which they still hold; the command ΜῊ ἈΔΙΚΉΣΑΤΕ , Κ . Τ . Λ ., still hinders this.[2282] It is contrary to the context to regard the ἈΔΙΚΕῖΝ as consisting rather in holding fast the winds, because, had the winds blown, they would have “cooled off,”[2283] or “blown away,”[2284] the approaching plagues; according to Herder, the restraining of the winds is to be regarded an ἈΔΙΚΕῖΝ , as thereby “the sultriness of death” is occasioned before the irruption of the plagues. From the fact that in what follows, the letting loose of the devastating winds is not reported, the view that just this restraining of the winds is destructive[2285] follows as little as the necessity of understanding the winds as a figurative designation of retributive visitations of all kinds.[2286] For, that it is not devastating tempests, but other plagues of many kinds, which proceed from the opening of the seventh seal, has in a formal respect its foundation in the fact that the succeeding seal-vision cannot justly be regarded and be treated further as a matter from the simple visions occurring between the last two seals; but a difficulty actually arises only if, hindered by a mechanical literalism, it cannot be seen that the holy fantasy of the prophet sees in Rev_7:1 sqq. the storm impending, which afterwards, however, is not seen in its approach, because (Rev_8:1 sqq.), in place of the desolating winds, hail and fire, and other plagues, come forth.
It is noticeable that in Rev_7:2, the trees are not especially mentioned, as in Rev_7:1; Rev_7:3, because it is self-evident that they belong to the earth;[2287] there lies therein, however, a manifest hint that neither the earth, nor the sea, nor the trees, are to be understood figuratively. Hengstenb. asks, indeed, how the sea, if it be meant in the proper sense, could be injured by winds; he does not consider that the specification in which the trees, as objects most easily injured by storms, are especially made prominent with the simplicity of nature,[2288] is meant only to serve[2289] to make visible how the entire earth, from whose four ends the winds are to rage, will be injured.
ἌΧΡΙ ΣΦΡΑΓΊΣΩΜΕΝ . “Until we shall have sealed.” Cf. Winer, p. 279. The plur. indicates that the angel has associates, who need not be further mentioned.[2290] With the whole train of thought of Rev_7:1 sqq., Hengstenb. conflicts when he advances the opinion that the four angels are to help in the sealing. The older interpreters, as Calov., refer the plur. to the Father and the Son, from both of whom the Holy Ghost (the seal) proceeds. [See Note LII., p. 255.] ΤΟῪς ΔΟΎΛΟΥς ΤΟῦ ΘΕΟῦ ἩΜῶΝ . “This noble designation pertains especially to saints from Israel. Gen_50:17; Isa_61:6.”[2291] Yet the reference in the connection is to Israel alone, although the expression in itself, because of the art., could include also the Gentiles. [Note LIII., p. 256.] To the angel here speaking, who is to seal, belong only the definite, more accurately designated servants of God, of Rev_7:4 sqq. The Τ . ΘΕΟῦ ἩΜῶΝ is significant; the angel himself, together with his associates, is, because of his relation to the same God, a fellow-servant of those for whose service he has been sent.[2292]
ἘΠῚ ΤῶΝ ΜΕΤΏΠΩΝ ΑὐΤῶΝ . The mark which the servants of the beast have received is, like the brand of slaves in ordinary life, impressed upon the right hand or forehead:[2293] the servants of God bear the seal and name of the Lord only on the forehead. That this is the most visible place,[2294] is a reason sufficient only with respect to those servants of the beast: with respect to the servants of God, however, it is found in the fact that the noblest part of the body bears the holy mark.
[2254] Stern.
[2255] C. a Lap., Grot., Beng., Eichh., Ew., De Wette, Rinck, Ebrard.
[2256] Beda, Aret., Zeger, Calov., Böhmer, Hengstenb.
[2257] Vitr., who interprets the seal used by this “angel” as “the public profession of the purer faith” wrought by the Spirit.
[2258] Cf. already Beng.
[2259] Grot.
[2260] Grot.
[2261] Calov.
[2262] Wetst.
[2263] Stern.
[2264] De Wette.
[2265] Ew. ii.: “As though, by the Divine commission, he had commanded the sun to shine no longer with such excessive heat, but to reserve its ardor” (Rev_7:16). But this supplementary fiction is in violation of the context, and Rev_7:16 has no analogy with the situation of Rev_7:1 sqq.
[2266] Ew. i.
[2267] Beng.
[2268] Cf. C. a Lap., Hengstenb., Ebrard, Volkm.
[2269] Beng.
[2270] Cf. Rev_7:3 : σφραγ .
ἐπὶ τ . μετώπων αὐτ .
[2271] Eichh.
[2272] Cf. Rev_14:1, Rev_3:12.
[2273] Hengstenb.
[2274] λαμβάνειν ; Rev_13:16, Rev_14:9; Rev_14:11, Rev_16:2, Rev_19:20, Rev_20:4.
[2275] So Ewald, etc.
[2276] Hengstenb.
[2277] De Wette.
[2278] Bengel, Ew., Hengstenb., Klief.
[2279] Cf. Rev_2:7; Rev_2:10, Rev_3:5, Rev_7:14 sqq., Rev_22:1 sqq.
[2280] Cf., e.g., Rev_6:1 with Rev_5:2.
[2281] Rev_6:6.
[2282] Cf. Alcas., C. a Lap., Vitr., Eichh., Ewald, De Wette, Hengstenb., Ebrard.
[2283] Bengel. Cf. Rev_8:7 sqq.
[2284] Rinck.
[2285] Rinck.
[2286] Hengstenb.
[2287] Ebrard.
[2288] Cf. De Wette.
[2289] Cf. Rev_5:13.
[2290] Bengel, Ew., De Wette, Rinck.
[2291] Beng.
[2292] Cf. Rev_19:10, Rev_22:9.
[2293] Rev_13:16, Rev_14:9, Rev_20:4.
[2294] Aret., Beng., Stern, etc.
LII. Rev_7:3. σφραγισώμεν