YALE
DIVINITY SCHOOL
LIBRARY

Gift of
Professor Clarence P. Shedd

XLbc Messages ot tbe Bible

Professor Frank K. Sanders, Ph.D., of Yale University, and
Professor Charles F. Kent, Ph.D., of Yale University.
Messrs. Charles Scribner's Sons take pleasure in announcing
that they have in course of preparation a series of hand-books which
will enable every reader of the Bible to appreciate and to obtain a
mastery of the essential facts and teachings contained in it.
This series is not a substitute for the Bible, but an aid to the* rev
erent, appreciative, and enthusiastic reading of the Scriptures ; in
fact it will serve the purpose of an
ORIGINAL AND POPULAR COMMENTARY
ON THE BIBLE.
Technicalities and unsettled questions will be, as far as possible,
ignored. Each volume will be prepared by a leading specialist and
will contain such brief introductions as serve to put the reader into
intelligent relation to the general theme treated. The editorial re
arrangement of the order of the Biblical books or sections will repre
sent the definite results of sober scholarship.

I. Ube /messages of tbc Earlier ipropbets. (Ready.)
II. Ube /messages of tbe later ipropbets. (Ready.)
III. Ube /Messages of tbe lawgivers. (Ready.)
IV. Ube /Messages of tbe ipropbetic anb priestly Ifofss
torians. (Ready.)
v. Ube /messages of tbe psalmists. (Ready.)
VI. Ube /messages of tbe Sages. (In Preparation.)
VII. Ube /messages of tbe Dramatic poets. (In Preparation.)
VIII. Ube /messages of tbe Hpocal^ptical TKIlriters. (Ready.)
IX. Ube /messages of 3esus accorMng to tbe S^nop=
tiStS. (Ready.)
X. Ube /messages of 3esus according to £obn.
(In Preparation.)
XI. Ube /messages of paul. (Ready.)
XII. Ube /messages of tbe Bpostles. (Ready.)

(Tbe Messages of tbe Bible

EDITED by
Professor Frank K. Sanders, Ph.D.
of Yale University
AND
Professor Charles F. Kent, Ph.D.
of Yale University

VOLUME VIII
THE MESSAGES OF THE APOCALYPTICAL
WRITERS

 Ube flDeggages of tbe Bible 
THE MESSAGES OF THE
APOCALYPTICAL WRITERS
THE BOOKS OF DANIEL AND REVELATION
AND SOME UNCANONICAL APOCALYPSES
WITH HISTORICAL INTRODUCTIONS AND
A FREE RENDERING IN PARAPHRASE

BY
Frank Chamberlin, Porter, Ph.D., D.D.
Winkley Professor of Biblical Theology in
Yale University

NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1905

Copyright, 1905*
• by
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
Published, February, 1905

MY FATHER
ONE OF THOSE WHO SEE
IN DAILY LIFE AND COMMON THINGS
A REVELATION OF GOD

PREFACE
The books of Daniel and Revelation are rather a per
plexity than a comfort to the average reader of the Bible.
Some, indeed, in every age have taken delight in these
books above all others just because of their mystery, but
for the majority, apart from the impressive admonitions in
the letters at the beginning of Revelation, and the glow
ing pictures of the New Jerusalem at the end, these have
been sealed books. In quite recent times the historical
method has, it is not too much to say, broken the seals.
To the historical student these apocalypses have become,
in their general character and chief message, among the
best instead of quite the least understood books of the
canon. And their importance has grown with their un
derstanding. Out of the background to which they were
relegated they have suddenly been pushed far forward,
too far it may be, into the front rank of historical docu
ments. They are no longer supposed to cast light upon
the actual constitution of the unseen universe, or upon
our own present, and the time and manner of the end of the
world; but they are found in a high degree illuminating
ix

in regard to a past history, one moreover, with which we
are deeply concerned. It is, so we are now told, chiefly
from the apocalypses, canonical and uncanonical, that
we are to gain an understanding of the Jewish religion of
the time of Christ. It is from these books that we are to
get a true conception of the faiths and hopes, the motives
and emotions of primitive Christianity. They are to serve
as one of our chief helps to an understanding of the Pau
line Christology, and even as our principal way of approach
to that central and supreme problem of historian and
theologian alike, the Messianic self -consciousness of Jesus
himself. The apocalyptic eschatology was, we are now
assured, the source and soul of Christ's own faith in his
mission and in the coming Kingdom of God. Hence the
new zest with which the modern scholar approaches the
study of the apocalypses. His hope is through these strange
books, not to unveil the future, but to enter deeply into
the inner life of Judaism during a critical and fateful epoch
of its history, and ultimately to lift the veil of a mystery
that attracts and baffles him far more than does the mys
tery of the angel world or even that of the future, the mys
tery of the personality of Jesus Christ. This ultimate
historical significance of apocalyptical studies lies beyond
the range of our present modest undertaking. The fact
that such significance is claimed for them by many of our
best scholars, whatever may be the precise measure of

truth in the claim, at least illustrates the importance of an
understanding of the historical approach to this literature,
and justifies the attempt to make historical methods and
results in this region familiar to a somewhat wider circle of
readers and students of the Bible. It is true that the effort
to make intelligible the general character and message of
the apocalypses may seem anything but a modest one,
since in the common opinion these books cannot be un
derstood, and probably were not meant to be. But it is
certain that the historical method of Biblical study has
nowhere vindicated itself more conspicuously than in the
investigation of this literature, and nowhere produced results
more radical and at the same time more convincing. It
should be possible in a book like this to introduce some
readers to whom these results are not yet familiar to the new
method and its general outcome. It can surely be made
clear to unprejudiced minds that it is impossible to under
stand the apocalypses apart from the political situations and
the party divisions and conflicts that called them forth. It
can be shown how the apocalypse stands related to proph
ecy, how wide its divergence and how close its dependence.
It can be made plain, in other1 words, that the mysteries
that perplex us in these books find their explanation
rather in events and conditions of their own times and in
books and traditions of their past, than in events future
to their writers and perhaps future still to us.
xi

Preface
In this little book on apocalypses the reader will find,
therefore, no flights of fancy, and no ecstasies of emotion,
but much history, many references to Old Testament
prophecy, many discussions of ancient traditions and
their remote and sometimes foreign beginnings, and of
course throughout not much that is new, but a constant
use of the work of recent scholarship. In comparison
with other books in this series of Messages the proportion
of introduction and notes may seem large, but the way to
an understanding of these books is indirect, and more mis
leading and treacherous paths have been started in this
region than in any other, so that some greater pains to get
our feet on firm ground and find an open path seemed to
be required.
No doubt some who have no quarrel with historical
methods in themselves will yet protest that a treatment
of the apocalypses in which imagination and emotion are
repressed fails to appreciate these books in their true
character. They belong essentially, it may be said, to
poetic literature. They are meant precisely to stimulate
the imagination and stir the feelings. It is better for us
to let our minds soar in such company than to try to get
our feet upon the ground. Against such possible criti
cism the book must be left to justify itself if it can. It is
hoped that the poetic value of the apocalypses has been
given a measure of recognition. There is indeed no higher
xii

Preface
or more fitting use to which such books can be put than the
use which the last chapters of Revelation find in the burial
liturgy. If we could grasp the underlying faiths that have
clothed themselves in these strange forms, faith in the
kingship of God, and the sure triumph of good over evil,
and the heavenly blessedness of those who hold to God's
side amid whatever shame and abuse and in the face of
death; if through the peculiar imagery and obscure sym
bolism of the books we could feel the power of the unseen
world and gain a fresh sense of its reality; then this use,
call it literary, or call it devotional, would be the best use
to which the books could be put, and even most in accord
ance with the highest mood and real purpose of their writers.
Then the protest against an unemotional, scientific treat
ment of such literature would be not without foundation,
though even then not wholly justified. We have a poet's
treatment of Revelation in Christina Rossetti's The Face
of the Deep. She finds Patience as our lesson in the book.
Besides mysteries that no insight or profundity of mortal
man can explain she reads also throughout clear and defi
nite lessons enforcing what we must or must not do or
be, and sees the purpose of it all in this, that we fear God
and keep his commandments. We have learned enough
when we have learned his will. Not attempting much
interpretation, she finds in the book constant incitements
to meditation, prayer and song. Giving up the effort to

Preface
discern the unity and sequence that must bind it together,
studying it only piece by piece, word by word, she is sat
isfied if it but summon her to watch and pray and give
thanks, and urge her to climb heavenward. Such an aim is
surely the highest, incomparably better than that of those
who search the book for predictions of the course of history
and the time of the end. Yet we find with regret that the
lack of a reasonable view of the historical place and char
acter of the Apocalypse involves the assumption of mistaken
and impossible views, so that this poet's commentary is not
a book that most of us can use with full sympathy and the
best profit for its intended purpose, devotion.
In truth much in the apocalypses cannot easily be read
as the poetry of faith and hope; and in general these books
have not been read as poetry, but the poetic character
which in some degree they have has been obscured. They
have been taken much more literally than their authors
intended, as disclosures of details of the future, and quite
contrary to their intention as if they concerned remote
times. With reverence and awe, with infinite patience
and ingenuity men have sought from early times until now
to find the place and meaning of their own present in the
apocalyptic scheme, and to reckon the time remaining
before the end of the world. The historical studies which
make such an appraisal of these books impossible may
clear the way for a truer appreciation of the life of faith
xiv

Preface
and feeling that flows beneath them. No doubt historical
studies will sober the eager longings and high expectations
with which the devout poet approaches the Apocalypse,
yet such studies should open rather than blind our eyes to
the genuineness and intensity of the religious convictions
and emotions which produced these books and were called
forth by them. Surely from books that inspired martyrs,
faith can gain inspiration in all ages for the victory that
overcomes the world. But if we are to make our way
through the difficult form to the abiding treasure of these
books we must read them not only with the spirit but with
the understanding also.
As helps to the understanding the introductions and
paraphrases here given are intended to serve. The para
phrases should not be regarded as attempts, in the phrase
of a recent essayist, at "improving the style of the Bible."
They are meant to be read by the side of the familiar ver
sions, not in their place; as a brief commentary, not as a
piece of religious literature. Without the poetic form and
fervor of the original though they be, and adverse to many
of the uses to which religious fancy has put these books,
it is hoped that they may yet help to prepare some minds
for a more deeply appreciative and religiously helpful use
of them. They may at least make a fresh impression of
the significance of two of the greater crises in the history
of religion, the struggle of Judaism with Antiochus and

Preface
Hellenism, and the struggle of Christianity with Rome;
and may give a more vivid sense of the mystery of the divine
Providence which orders human history, overruUng evil for
good, humbling the proud and exalting the lowly, restrain
ing the wrath of man and vindicating his faith, — that all-
comprehending Providence in which the apocalyptical writ
ers so deeply believed, whose ways they so earnestly sought
t0 exPlore- Frank C. Porter.
Yale University, January, 1905.

xvi

CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
PAGE
I. The Apocalyptical Books, their Number and
Scope  3 y
II. Their Historical Place and Significance ... 10
III. The Relation of Apocalypse to Prophecy . . 20
IV. Pseudonymous Authorship  27
V. The Apocalyptical Vision  34
VI. The Literary Composition of Apocalypses 44
VII. Their Messages for their Own Times .... 49
VIII. Their Messages for Our Time  . 64 ^,
THE BOOK OF DANIEL
I. Introduction to the Book of Daniel
1. The Jews under Greek Rule  79
*. Character and Career of Antiochus IV .... 82
3. Evidence that Daniel belongs to the Time of An
tiochus  97
4. The Exact Date  105
5. The History of the Book ... .108
xvii

Contents PAGE
II. The Rewards of Fidelity to the Law and of
Faith in God (Daniel 1-6)
i. Loyalty to the Ceremonial Law (i)  no
*. Dream of Four World Kingdoms and the King
dom of God (2)  112
3. Faith Tried by Fire (3)  116
4. The Proud King's Humiliation (4) . . . . 117
5. God's Judgment upon a Sacrilegious King (5) . . 120
6. God's Protection of One who will not Worship
a King (6)  122
III. Visions of the Fall of Antiochus and the Com
ing of the Kingdom of God (7-12)
1. Origin and Growth of the Vision of Four Beasts 125
2. " One Like unto a Son of Man " . . ... 129
3. The Four World Kingdoms and the Kingdom of
God (7)  .... 134
4. Duration of the Temple's Desecration .... 138
5. The Victorious Alexander and the Despotic An
tiochus (8)  .... 139
6. The Seventy Weeks of Years  142
7. The Explanation of Jeremiah's Seventy Years (9) 147
8. History in the Form of Vision  149
9. An Angel's Interpretation of History and its Con
summation (10-12)  155
THE BOOK OF REVELATION
I. Introduction to the Book of Revelation
1. The Book as an Apocalypse .  169
z. Methods of its Interpretation  172
3. Its Composition and Place  174
4. The Author  182
xviii

Contents PAGE
5. The Historical Situation and Date  185
6. The Canonicity of the Book . . ... 190
7. Its Teachings and Value ... ... 192
II. The Messages of Christ to the Churches
i. The Seven Churches of Asia  194
z. The Letters to the Churches (1-3) . . 202
(1) Superscription (t : 1-3) .... ... 202
(2) Introduction (1:4-8)  . . 202
(3) The Prophet's Call and Commission (1:9-20) . 203
(4) The Seven Letters (2-3)  204
III. Vision of the Chief Actors of the Future
1. Sources and Character of the Visions of God and
of Christ  209
2. Vision of God from Whom are all Things (4) . . 214
3. Visionof Christ through Whom are all Things (5) 215
IV. Visions of the First Stages of the Coming Judg
ment
1. Significance of the Six Seals ...
z. The Six Destructive Powers (6) . . .
3. Anticipations in Forms Old and New . .
4. The Salvation of the Faithful (7) . . .
(1) The Safety of the Saints (7: 1-8) . . .
(2) The Heavenly Bliss of Martyrs (7 : 0-17) .
5. The Imagery of Earthquake and Volcano .
6. The Six Partial Judgments (8-9) ....

216219
220222222222223
225

Visions of the Last Stages of the Coming Judg
ment
1. The Prophet's New Commission (10) .... 228
*. Jewish Oracles and their Christian Use .... 229
xix

Contents PAGE
3. The Salvation of Saints and Martyrs (11: 1-13) . 231
(1) The Safety of True Worshippers of God (n : 1-2) 231
(2) The Work and Reward of Martyrs (n : 3-13) . 232
4.. A Heavenly Song Anticipating the Victory of God
(11:14-19)  233
5. The Figure of the Dragon, the Woman and the
Child  234
6. The Ultimate Power of Evil, Satan (12) ... 241
7. The King and the Priest in the Realm of Evil . . 243
8. The Agents of Satan, the Roman Empire and
Cultus (13) . .... .... 249
9. The Opposing Host, Christ and the Undenled
(14 = 1-5)  251
10. Last Warnings (14 : 6-20)  252
n. Vision of the Seven-fold Wrath of God (15-
16)  254
12. The Figure of the Scarlet Beast and the Woman-
City  257
13. The Fall of Rome in a Figure (17) . . 263
14. Dependence and Freedom in the Use of Proph
ecy  265
15. The Fall of Rome in the Language of Prophecy
(18)  266
16. The Fall of Rome in Heavenly Song (19 : 1-
10)  268
17. The Warrior-Messiah  . . 270
18. The Fall of Rome at the Hand of Christ (19 :
n-21)  273
19. The Imprisonment of Satan and the Thousand
Years' Reign . . '  274
20. The Fall of Satan (20:1-10)  281
21. The Last Judgment (20 : n-15)  282
XX

Contents PAGE
VI. Visions of the Blessed Consummation
i. Sources and Growth of the Hope of the New
Jerusalem  282.
2. Pictures of the Life to Come (21 : 1-22 : 9) . 288
VII. Concluding Warnings and Promises (22 : 10-21) . 292
UNCANONICAL APOCALYPSES
I. Introduction  297
II. The Book of Enoch
1. Some Points about the Book .  299
2. The Coming Judgment and Rewards (1-5) . . 300
3. The Fall of the Angels and the Origin of Evil
(6-16)  301
(1) The Sin and Punishment of the Angels (6-11) . 302
(2) Enoch's Mission to the Angels (12-16) .... 304
4. Visions of the Secrets of Nature and of the Fut
ure (17-36)  305
(1) Enoch's First Journey (17-19)  305
(2) Enoch's Second Journey (20-36) .... 306
5. The Book of Astronomy (72-82) . 307
6. The Dream- Visions (83-90)  309
7. The Apocalypse of Ten Weeks (93, 91 : 12-17) » 312
8. The Book of Woes and Consolations (91 : i-n,
92, 94-104 or 105)  . . 313
9. Concluding Sections (106-108) . .... 317
10. The Similitudes of Enoch (37-71) . . . 318
(1) The First Similitude (37-44)  320
(2) The Second Similitude (45-57) . . . . 321
(3) The Third Similitude (58-69)  324
11. Significance of the Messianic Hope in the Simil
itudes  326
xxi

Contents PAGE
III. The Assumption of Moses  329
IV. The Secrets of Enoch  332
V. The Apocalypse of Ezra
1. Historical Situation, and Relation to the Apoca
lypse cf B aruch  334
2. Problems of the Book  337
3. The First Vision : Source and End of Evil . . 341
4. The Second Vision : Further Questions and An
swers as to Evil and its End  343
5. The Third Vision : The World to Come, and the
Lot of Souls after Death  344
6. The Fourth Vision : The Heavenly Jerusalem . 348
7. The Fifth Vision : Rome and its Fall .... 349
8. The Sixth Vision : The Coming of the Messiah . 350
9. The Seventh Vision : The Rewriting of the Sa
cred Scriptures  350
VI. The Apocalypse of Baruch  351
VII. The Apocalypse of Peter  353
APPENDIX
Books of Reference  359
Index of Passages .  „ 367

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

THE APOCALYPTICAL BOOKS, THEIR NUMBER
AND SCOPE
The Jewish apocalypses are one of the most character- The period
istic products of a distinct and important period in the aiy*ddiuter-
history of Judaism, that from about 168 B. C. to about ioo atur?' and.its
A-r^™, .,, . .,, great events
A. D. Tii&penod_tegjn£wit:hjhe_perser.iition hy Antinrriiig
J5^ the successful resistance of Judas Maccabeus, and
the rise of the independent Jewish kingdom of the Macca
bees. It ends with the unsuccessful revolt of Judaism
against Rome, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the end of
the separate political existence of the Jewish community.
It was the only period during its whole post-exilic history
when Judaism was seriously possessed by the ambition,
in part actually realized, of being again an independent
nation. The apocalypses may be said to be the most
important documents of the revived national faith which
first inspired Judas and his followers and created the Has-
monean kingdom, and then at last inspired the Zealots
and led to the suicidal attempt against Rome. Between
these two crises lie some great events in Jewish history,
3

Introduction The Messages of the
especially the fall of the Jewish kingdom at the hands
of Rome under Pompey, 63 B. C, and also a long and
intense rivalry of conflicting parties, the Pharisees and
Sadducees. It is from the apocalypses that we get most
light on these events and conditions. But more impor
tant still, this is the period of the rise of Christianity, and
the apocalypses represent that side of Judaism with which
Christianity was at first in closest relation. We cannot,
of course, truly say that the apocalypses produced, first
the Jewish kingdom, then the Christian religion, then
the fall of Jerusalem, and so as a consequence the purely
legalistic type of Judaism. A great man, Judas, produced
the Maccabean kingdom. The supreme man, Jesus, cre
ated the Christian religion. The personal element had a
great part also in the tragedy that ended the Jewish state.
It is true, however, that the apocalypses are most closely
connected with these events, and that we need not only
the events to help us interpret the books, but the books to
enable us to understand the events, especially on their
inner side, the ideals and motives and emotions that en
tered into them. Since this can be said of the second of
these events, the rise of Christianity, as well as of the other
two, the study of the apocalypses is still of vital and in
tense interest to us of to-day.
The apocalypses represented a revival of prophecy.
They are_the Jatest type of Jewish prophetic writing. The
revival of prophecy in Judaism meant the revival of na-
4

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
tional hopes and efforts. When these at last failedjjjuda- The passing
ism dropped its apocalypses and settled_back jntojegalism. aiypse from
But^ Christianity was a revival of prophecy, not indeed in c^aanity
a national, but in an anti-legal^ sense. Anticipating the
fall of Jerusalem, it looked forward to events of a more
transcendent character, the coming again of Jesus as the
Messiah- Judge, the end of this world and the beginning
of the world to come. The Jewish apocalypses, though
they were national, contained this transcendent element,
and could be appropriated by Christians and could help
them to express and elaborate and prove their new hopes
centring in Jesus. The important use made of Daniel,
apparently by Jesus himself, and certainly by his first fol
lowers, is very significant. Many conceptions developed
in other Jewish apocalypses regarding the angel world, the
Messianic judgment and the future life, conceptions not
found or not elaborated in the Old Testament, are adopted
by New Testament writers; and the New Testament con
tains an apocalypse of its own, quite after the Jewish type.
It is not strange therefore that the Jewish apocalypses
passed over from Judaism to Christianity, and the preser
vation of all that we have, after Daniel, is due to their use
by Christians and their inclusion in the Old Testament
scriptures of various Christian communities.
They circulated at first in Greek versions of the He
brew or Aramaic originals. But none of them is found in
existing manuscripts of the Greek Old Testament; hence
5

Introduction

The Messages of the

The loss of
the original
Hebrew or
Aramaic
texts

Loss of
many of the
books

of which the
number was
great

we possess usually only a translation from the Greek into
Ethiopic, Syriac, Latin or some other tongue. Thus
we have the Book of Enoch entire only in Ethiopic; the
Apocalypse of Baruch in one manuscript of the Syriac
scriptures; while the Apocalypse of Ezra was so widely
circulated in Christian communities that we have several
ancient versions of it, and because it was in the old Latin
Bible it has a place in our English Apocrypha (2 Esdras).
But a great many Jewish apocalypses were not received
into the Old Testament of any Christian Church, and are
therefore completely lost, name and all. Some that were
current for a while are known to us only by a few cita
tions, or only by name. We probably possess those that
the early Christians most valued, but as historians we
should be especially glad to have those also which Chris
tians did not find useful, for we are as much interested in
the differences as in the likenesses between Judaism and
Christianity. One of the last Jewish apocalypses contains a legend of
Ezra's rewriting of the Old Testament after its supposed
destruction at the Exile. According to this story Ezra
was inspired to dictate to his scribes ninety-four books
in forty days, and was commanded to publish twenty-
four of them, so that men of all sorts could read them—
that is, the Old Testament canon — but to give seventy
to the wise, because of the peculiar wealth of wisdom which
they contained (2 Esdras 14: 19-48). The story, legen-
6

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
dary though it is, reveals both the great number of apoc
alyptical books and also the high valuation that certain
Jews put upon them. Ezra's work was, indeed, only a re
production of that of Moses, for he also, according to the
story, published only a part of what God revealed to him,
and hid the rest, "the secrets of the times and the end of
the times" (2 Esdras 14: 5, 6).
The story suggests further the meaning of the name by They were
which the apocalypses were originally known, apocrypha, Apocrypha
secret books. They were literally hidden in certain circles
of Jews, esoteric books, and they had to do, also, with se
crets of earth and heaven and of the future. It is in many
ways unfortunate that the title, Apocrypha, was transferred
to a wholly different class of books and given the wholly •
different sense of uncanonical. The use of the title, apoc
alypse, seems to come from the Christian Apocalypse.1
Other current titles were, Vision, Assumption, Prophecy.
Of the extant apocalypses the list with approximate Extant
dates is as follows: apocalypses
1. Daniel. 167-165 B. C.
2. Enoch. (a) Ethiopic Book of Enoch.
Ch. 1-36, 72-108, about 100 B. C. and later.
Ch. 37-71 "Similitudes," probably not long
before Christ.
(b) Slavonic Secrets of Enoch. Before 70 A. D.
iRev. 1:1.
7

Introduction

The Messages of the

Others
known by title

Christian
apocalypses

3. Assumption of Moses. 4 B. C.-io A. D.
4. Apocalypse of Ezra (2 Esdras 3-14). 90-100 A. D.
5. Apocalypse of Baruch. 90-100 A. D.
6. Apocalypse of Abraham. Perhaps first century A. D.
7. Testaments of the Patriarchs. Probably first century
A. D.
A corresponding type of writing among Hellenistic Jews
is found in the Sibylline Oracles, composed after heathen
models. Closely related to the apocalyptical books are
the Psalms of Solomon, or Psalms of the Pharisees,
64-40 B. C, the Book of Jubilees, probably before Christ,
and the Ascension of Isaiah (Jewish part probably the
Martyrdom of Isaiah, 2 : 1-3 : 12 and 5 : 2-14).
Besides these extant books, four, evidently of the same
sort, are known only by a few citations in Origen or earlier
church fathers:
1. The Prayer of Joseph.
2. The Book of Eldad and Modad.
3. The Apocalypse of Elijah.
4. The Apocalypse of Zephaniah.
In addition to these we know a few titles of books that
may have been of Jewish origin: Pseudepigrapha of
Baruch, Habakkuk, Ezekiel, and Daniel.
For the most part Christian writers were content to
interpret and sometimes revise Jewish apocalypses. This
had the apologetic advantage of claiming the support of
ancient Jewish patriarchs and prophets for the new faith.

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
Much the most significant Christian apocalypse is of course
the canonical Book of Revelation. Some, we shall see,
regard even this as a Jewish apocalypse in a Christian
revision, and no doubt it draws largely from Jewish tra
ditions. The Apocalypse of Peter, of which a large frag
ment was published in 1892, deserves second place, as it
made strong claims for a time to canonicity, and has had
a great influence on later Christian ideas of heaven and
hell. This is as strongly Greek as Revelation is Jewish,
having a close relation to the Greek Orphic literature.
It concerns the lot of souls after death, whereas Revelation,
like the Jewish apocalypses, is more concerned with the
course of world history. A somewhat later book of great
popularity, which deserves to be called an apocalypse, is
the Shepherd of Hennas.
To these may be added the Christian parts of the Ascen
sion of Isaiah (all except 2 : 1-3 : 12, 5 : 2-14); Second
Esdras 1-2, 15-16, sometimes cited as Fifth and Sixth
Ezra; and the Christian parts of the Sibylline Oracles.1
1 All these are collected in German in Hennecke's Neutestamenlliche
Apoiryphen. 1904.

Introduction The Messages of the
II
THEIR HISTORICAL PLACE AND SIGNIFICANCE
Judaism and The first fully formed apocalypse, and the type of this
oppressors sort of writing, is the Book of Daniel. This book was oc
casioned, as we shall see more fully further on, by the
attempt of Antiochus IV to root out the Jewish religion
and forcibly convert the Jews to the Greek religion. Their
reaction against this assault, as they regarded it, upon
Jehovah himself was so vigorous that it carried them, un
der the able leadership of Judas and his brothers, beyond
their former tolerable condition of religious liberty under
foreign political rule to a practical political independence,
which they kept for a century. Then the Maccabean
kingdom fell to pieces, and Rome took direct possession
of the land of the Jews (63 B. C). Rome now took the
place, which Greece formerly held, of the foreign ruling
power that stood between Israel and its destiny of world-
rulership. We need not here describe the varying forms
of the Roman rule, whether through the Herods or through
the procurators. A growing protest of the suppressed na
tional spirit against the arrogant claims of Rome can be
heard. A crisis was narrowly averted when Caligula
ordered his image set up in the temple. The inevitable
revolt finally came which led to the destruction of Jeru
salem by Titus and the end of all that remained of national
10

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
existence for the Jews. The Jewish apocalyptical litera
ture begins, then, in Daniel, as an intense affirmation of
faith in Israel's God against the sacrilegious efforts of the
Greek king. It was the product of a crisis in which the
Jewish religion was itself at stake. It reached its culmi
nation and came to an end in connection with the actual
destruction of the temple and the holy city by Rome. In
the period intervening the varying fortunes of the religious
party form its background.
The old religious party of the Chasidim, whose voice is The religious
heard in Daniel, at first welcomed the armed resistance fc°i parties in
of Judas, though they could not regard it as more thanJudalsm
a little help (Dan. n : 34 ; 1 Mac. 2 : 42). The great help
was to come from God. But it is evident that they did
not sympathize with the effort of the Maccabean brothers
to gain political independence, after religious toleration
had been restored (1 Mac. 7: 12 ff.), and they protested
vehemently against the assumption of the high priesthood
by the Maccabean princes. Out of this separation grew
an intense antagonism resulting sometimes in civil war.
The party of the Chasidim became the Pharisees, the
"separatists," and those whom they opposed, the ruling
house and its priestly supporters, the court party, became
known as Sadducees.1 So the earlier antagonism between
the religious and the extreme Hellenizing party, whose
apostasy culminated in the effort of Antiochus, was changed
1 Probably from Zadok, the founder of the Jerusalem priesthood.
II

Introduction The Messages of the
by the Maccabean wars, which brought this ultra-Hellen
ism to an end, into a new form; but it was still the old
hostility between the religious and the worldly life and
ideals. The Pharisees had a more intense hatred of the
aristocratic Sadducees than they had of foreign rulers,
yet the charge they brought against the Sadducees was
that of too great friendliness and conformity to the heathen
world.
Theapoca- It would, then, depend on circumstances whether the
agalnsuhe Pharisaic prophet was moved to write visions against the
oppressor or heathen oppressor, or the heathen-minded Jewish aristoc-
heathen racy. In either case the great theme of the apocalypse is
the nearness of the day of Jehovah's triumph over the
heathen and the vindication and glorification of his true
people. The greatest apocalypses are written directly
against the ruling heathen powers : Daniel against the
Greek-Syrian kingdom, Second Esdras against Rome, and
the Book of Revelation also against Rome in behalf of the
new Christian Israel. These appeared at crises in which
the religious community had come into collision with the
great world-empire. Another such crisis, that brought
on by Caligula's attempt to have his image worshipped in
the temple, could well have called forth apocalyptical
warnings and promises of the same order. It is in fact
quite possible that an oracle from that time is used in Rev
elation 13. So one from the actual days of the siege of
Jerusalem is probably to be found in Revelation 11. Pom-

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
pey's conquest of Jerusalem was the occasion of some strik
ing Messianic Psalms from the Pharisaic party, the so-
called Psalms of Solomon, which betray something of the
apocalyptical spirit, but we have no apocalypse proper from
that epoch. These Psalms assail not so much Rome,
though Pompey's fate is described as a just judgment,
as rather the degenerate Jewish aristocracy whose rule is
worse than that of the heathen. It is this party animus
which avails itself of the apocalyptical form in Enoch 1-36,
72-105, and in other apocalypses.
There are some, however, who believe that the party The party
whose rights and hopes are affirmed in the apocalypses theWapoc-
is not the Pharisaic but the Essene. This raises an im- j^JSf be"
portant question, for the Pharisees early became the recog
nized representatives of correct Judaism, while the Essenes
formed only a small sect or order, always isolated and
peculiar. It is important to know whether the beliefs and
hopes of the apocalypses were commonly held by the more
religious Jews of this period, or were the vagaries of in
significant circles.
The final and characteristic work of the Pharisees was Final char-
the elaborate exposition of the law, of which the Talmud f^m, legaT
was the outcome. The prominent Pharisaic scribes be- J5Ca?P yP
fore the time of Christ, such as Hillel and Shammai, were
occupied with legal and moral questions, not with the
unseen world and the future. We should infer from the
Gospels that the Pharisees were more concerned with the
13

Introduction

The Messages of the

The earlier
type of Phar
isaism, that
which the
apocalypsesrepresented

law, and the common people with the national and apoca
lyptical hopes. It is true also that the Pharisaic rabbis
did not in the end care for the apocalypses; and that these
books would have been almost entirely lost if Christians
had not valued and kept them. Yet all this does not jus
tify the opinion especially of Jewish historians that the
apocalypses came from a wholly different sect, probably
the Essenes, and that the Pharisees never wrote nor valued
them. Judaism in the century before Christ was a much
more complex phenomenon than it was after the destruc
tion of Jerusalem, and Pharisaism was not always what
it then came to be. The Psalms of Solomon are the classic
product of Pharisaism about 60-40 B. C, and evidently
then the Messianic hope was of more vital interest to the
party than details of legal interpretation. On the other
hand Daniel and its successors represent a strictly legal
piety; but when legal righteousness has to maintain itself
at a cost, and must condemn not only the princes, but at
the same time the priests, the official representatives of its
own religion, it is inevitably inspired by something like
the apocalyptical temper. When the Pharisees them
selves displaced the priests, after 70 A. D., as the undisputed
heads of the Jewish religion, this temper would change,
for the apocalypse is always the protest of those who are
weak and oppressed and whose faith demands a speedy
change in the present intolerable condition. Further
more the Pharisees belonged at first to the laity, but they
14

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
gradually became a learned class, professional theologians.
Now apocalypses are adapted to the lay, not to the pro
fessional, mind. They are filled with fancies and figures
that appeal to the uninstructed imagination with its love
of the fantastic and the mysterious. They do not appeal
at all to the scholastic mind. Hence it would not be
strange if Pharisees wrote apocalypses in the years of
their sufferings and struggles, and disavowed them in the
time of their power. The complexity of Judaism in the
earlier period is indicated by the Book of Jubilees, which
is chiefly occupied with Pharisaic legalism, yet contains
many apocalyptical features, and makes considerable
use of the Book of Enoch. In the Assumption of Moses
also we have a blending of the Pharisaic with the priestly
type on the one side, and on the other a union of strict
legalism with an eager expectation of the speedy coming
of God. This combination is quite natural in the early
times of Pharisaism, when the observance of the law
brought, not glory, but poverty and peril.
It is true nevertheless that a somewhat impressive case The secret
can be made out for the position that the apocalypses are Essenes
the secret books of the Essenes. Josephus tells us that
they had and valued such books. He says that they derived
from the writings of the ancients a knowledge of the heal
ing properties of plants and stones, and that from the holy
books they were able to predict future events. We are led
to suppose that their secret books contained medical lore

Introduction

The Messages of the

Essenic feat
ures in our

and magical formulas or other methods of augury for
determining the future. Josephus records a number of
instances of their successful predictions, and, since they
were known as prophets, their books may well have had
a prophetic character. Josephus also gives us reason for
assuming that the books would contain many names of
angels, of magical value, and perhaps descriptions of the
fortunes of souls after death.
Now the apocalypses do contain many names of angels,
much nature lore, especially astrological, and predictions of
the future. In some of them can be found speculations
about the future lot of souls. They reveal also a some
what ascetic attitude, a contempt of the world and the
ideal of separation from it, which Essenism certainly rep
resented. One of the most peculiar marks of the Essenes
was their refusal to take part in the temple sacrifices. Our
apocalypses contain some depreciating judgments on the
second temple and its rites, which could be Essenic in
origin {e.g., En. 89 : 50, 73 ; 90 : 28 f.). Especially in the
Assumption of Moses do we find a judgment as to the
temple and its priesthood which sounds Essenic (chs. 5-7).
Arguments We can, then, easily understand the judgment of Well-
senic author- hausen that "the secret literature of the Essenes was per-
ship haps in no small degree made use of in the Pseudepigrapha,
and has through them been indirectly handed down to us."
Others, however, are still more guarded, and think that
the apocalyptical and the Essenic tendencies could per-
16

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
fectly well be related and parallel, but not identical. It
is quite possible, for example, that distrust of the priests
and depreciation of their sacrifices, resting in part on the
ancient prophets, in part on the character and actions of
the Maccabean priest-kings, was wide-spread among the
Jewish people. On the whole the view that our apoc
alypses are distinctively Essenic books is not convincing.
We do not certainly know that the Messianic element,
which is central in the apocalypse, characterized the Es
senes at all ; and on the other hand certain foreign rites and
customs which most distinguished them have no place in
the apocalypses.
Our conclusion may well rest on the observation already Conclusion as
made that apocalypses are books of and for the laity. Both apocafypses°
learning. and authority are unfavorable to the writing of mJudalsm
such books: learning, because with it ordered thought
takes the place of images whose appeal is to the fancy and
to the child-nature in man ; authority, because the apoca
lypse looks for divine interventions and reversals which
those who are already prosperous and powerful do not
expect or desire. Now at the beginning of their existence
the Pharisees had little learning and no authority. The
priests were the scholars and rulers of the Jewish com
munity. The Pharisees led the lay protest against the
indifference and corruption of the official religion, and
the apocalypse was one form in which this protest found
expression. Afterward, when they became absorbed in
17

Introduction The Messages of the
legal learning, and when their power in the Sanhedrim
and among the people increased, the apocalyptical form
of writing and even of belief would become less congenial
to them. The rise of Christianity in close connection
with apocalyptical hopes would increase their aversion.
It is true that hope never ceased to be an essential part of
the Jewish religion. The prophetic promises must some
time be fulfilled. The subject people would be freed, its
scattered members brought together from the ends of the
earth. It would again have its judges and counsellors.
Jerusalem would be rebuilt and God would again dwell
in his city. The throne of David would be re-established,
the temple sacrifices renewed, and the time of national
peace and glory would come. But this is not the apocalyp
tical form of tbe hope, and the rabbis did not hold it in
the intense, expectant, apocalyptical spirit. When Phar
isaism fell back upon this older and simpler form of the
national hope, it would no longer care for the apocalypse.
We need not then conclude that the apocalypses never
represented average popular and even Pharisaic Judaism.
We may on the contrary fairly assume that they represent
an important aspect of Judaism during this period, and
that the hopes and behefs they express were those of
many Jews of different sects, who agreed in condemnation
of the priestly and Sadducean classes. Many Pharisees,
many Essenes, and many of the common people may have
agreed in this supernaturalistic form of the protest against
18

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
foreign power and influence without and within the Jewish
community. Yet on the other hand it would not be right to suppose Representa-
that all Jews shared the views these books present. There apro&pses
were many to whom the study and keeping of law was far ^Stted""
more important than the study and elaboration of prophecy.
There were those who found satisfaction in the books of
wisdom. The contrast between the books of James and
of Revelation in the New Testament, both of which are
largely Jewish in character, suggests the contrasts in Juda
ism ; and it is as important to study books like James;
wisdom books, such as Ecclesiasticus and the Sayings of
the Fathers, as it is to study books like Revelation, the
apocalypses, Enoch, the Assumption of Moses, Second
Esdras and the rest, if we would understand the Judaism
of the time of Christ. These two sorts of books could
not have been written by the same men nor valued by
the same readers. The religion of some Jews was apoc
alyptical in character, that of others was ethical and in
tellectual, that of still others was legalistic. The fact that
Christianity began very much in an apocalyptical spirit,
with the expectation of a world crisis near at hand, gives
to the study of the apocalypses a peculiar interest, but
should not lead us to exaggerate the importance of this
element in contemporary Judaism. Nor is it the only ele
ment of which serious account should be taken in the
• effort to explain the beginnings of Christianity.
!9

Introduction

The Messages of the

III

Closerelation
of apoca
lypse to late
prophecy

Apocalypse
as the inter
pretation of
unfulfilled prophecies

THE RELATION OF APOCALYPSE TO PROPHECY
The transition from prophecy to apocalypse was not
sudden, and the Book of Daniel does not create a wholly
new type of literature. Not only do the apocalyptical
writers make much use of the prophetic books, but post-
exilic prophecy, from Ezekiel on, develops in the apoca
lyptical direction. In order to understand the apocalypse,
therefore, we must take account both of its dependence on
prophecy and of the tendency of late prophecy to assume
the apocalyptical type.
Some claim that the nature of the apocalypse can be
wholly explained by saying that it is an attempt to inter
pret the unfulfilled predictions of the canonical prophets.
There is much truth in this, though it is a one-sided view.
The Old Testament prophecies contain two chief predic
tions, that of judgment upon Israel and that of its resto
ration. The prediction of judgment had been fully realized
in the Exile, but the hope had not been realized in the
return. Hence almost the whole element of hope in proph
ecy was to the mind of post-exilic Judaism unfulfilled.
When and how was the promised glory and power of Israel
to come to pass ? This was the question which the apoca
lyptical scribe tried to answer, and the answer must accord
with prophecy, and if possible be derived from it. The-

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
harder the condition of the elect people the nearer must
be the fulfilment of the divine promise.
Of course the fact that the unfulfilled predictions of Old A decline
Testament prophecy were the chief source and authority ec°y™tIitsPh"
of the apocalyptical writers does not mean that they worked height
in the spirit of the older prophets. It indicates rather
that the older spirit was lacking, for dependence on one
another and the anxious pondering of ancient oracles did
not characterize the early prophets. They spoke each in
his own person with a confident message of his own, the
source and authority of their message being none but God
himself. There is, however, a history within Old Testament Thetransi-
prophecy itself, and the way is there largely prepared for with aSeE-riie
the later and lower type. The Exile is the event which and Ezeklel
marks the great division between the earlier and the later
types, and Ezekiel, whose work spans that crisis, is the
prophet in whom marked apocalyptical features first ap
pear. As compared with earlier prophets his conception
of God is more transcendental, his vision of God marked
by more sensuous and fantastic imagery, the inspiration of
the seer more external and supematuralistic. His revela
tions come in visions interpreted by angels. His later
message is less ethical and more simply religious, that is
he does not preach repentance and reformation, but rests
his hope wholly upon God's direct deed, for his own glory
and in his own time. The hope does not wait for man's

Introduction The Messages of the
righteousness as its condition but includes the miraculous
renewal of man's incurably evil heart. The land of Pales
tine is also miraculously transformed, and the new land
and city and temple have little to do with nature. A final,
vain assault by the wild horsemen of Gog from the land of
Magog will fulfil the predictions of Jeremiah and Zepha-
niah, and prove the security of the city in which God him
self dwells. Man does not by any effort or merit of his
bring in the Messianic age, and man cannot by any powers
however demoniacal, bring disaster upon it. One needs
only to compare Ezekiel's hope with that of the older
prophets who preached a repentance which might come
before judgment and avert it, or through the discipline of
judgment, in order to realize how radical the difference is.
The transition toward apocalypse is well under way, and
we are not surprised to find apocalypses making much use
of Ezekiel's vision of God, of the ecstatic form of his ex
perience as a prophet, and of many features of his hope.
Apocalyptical All the prophetic literature that succeeds Ezekiel is more
ixfst-exUic or less apocalyptical in tendency, and there is much more
prophecy 0f this post-exilic prophecy in the canon than was formerly
supposed. The marks by which it can be distinguished
from the earlier type are such as these: The predomi
nance of the Messianic element, with judgment not upon
Israel, but upon the foreign nations, its enemies ; the ab
sence of direct contact with current events, with this world
and with things just at hand, and the substitution of a more

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
general and vague and theoretical background and out
look ; a greater transcendence in the conception of God,
and a growing interest in heaven as his abode ; a tendency
to separate the Messianic era from this, and conceive of it
as almost another world, with heavenly, not earthly feat
ures ; a gradually increasing concern for the individual man
and his future lot, and not only for the nation.
Isaiah 40-66 is the fullest and finest exposition of the na- Deutero-
tional hope, and had great influence in lifting this hope up saia
to its new supernatural level. It was a rich treasure house
from which Judaism drew its images of the world-age to
come. With this belongs Isaiah 34-35, where the execu
tion of God's wrath against the nations and the perfect
blessedness of the future are described in classic form.
Haggai contributes the expectation of the coming of the Haggai and
wealth of the nations to glorify the temple. Zechariah
(chs. 1-8) introduces important apocalyptical features.
He not only contributes to the growing wealth of the lan
guage of hope (ch. 8), but in his dependence on older
prophets, his use of the vision form of inspiration, his ad
vanced angelology, and the place he gives to Satan, he
marks a new stage in the transition from prophecy to the
apocalypse. Most significant of all is his elaborate use,
in a poetical way, of fantastic figures, borrowed in part
from some foreign mythology.1
1 Note especially the idea of the four winds and the seven planets as the
messengers and the eyes of God, picturing his omniscience.
23

Introduction

The Messages of the

Zechariah 9-14

loel

Maiachi Malachi is not so distinctly an apocalyptical prophecy,
but adds the important idea of the returning Elijah, and
some elements in the description of the Day of the Lord,
which later writers could not fail to use.
Zechariah 9-14 furnished important materials for the
apocalyptical writer ; such as the descriptions of the last
times of distress that must precede the Messianic era, of
the final assault of the heathen upon Jerusalem and God's
intervention and universal kingship.
Joel is strongly apocalyptical in character. Its theme
is the coming Day of Jehovah, and the author both makes
free use of older prophecies, and adds new features descrip
tive of that day. The promise of a general revival of
prophetic inspiration in Israel (2 : 28-29), and the descrip
tion of the signs in heaven before the day of judgment
(2 : 30-31) are the elements in Joel's picture most used in
early Christian apocalyptical creations.
Isaiah 24-27 One of the latest and most apocalyptical sections in the
prophetic canon is Isaiah 24-27. Here we first meet two of
the most important conceptions which the apocalypses de
velop. One is the idea that the day of Jehovah will bring
destruction not only upon the kings of earth, but upon
angels whose wickedness and power in some way answers
to and explains that of the earthly kingdoms (24: 21-23).
The other is the doctrine of the resurrection of the right
eous to take part in Israel's glory (26 : 19 ; cf. 14). Apart
from this passage, it is only in the first apocalypse, Daniel,
24

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
that the resurrection is clearly affirmed. There we find
also the conception of angel princes of the nations. The
use of the chaos beast in Isaiah 27: i is also similar to
that in Daniel 7, and in later apocalypses.
There is another class of oracles which especially pre- Oracles
pare the way for the apocalypse, the oracles against foreign ^"nations
nations. Some of these go back to early prophets, but
probably the great majority of them come from the post-
exilic period. Such are the oracles against Babylon in
Isaiah 13-14, Jeremiah 50-51, and probably other oracles
in Isaiah 13-23, and Jeremiah 46-51, as well as those in
Ezekiel 25-32. These denunciations were freely turned
by apocalyptical writers against the oppressive kingdoms
of later times, the Greek and the Roman.
This very brief survey will serve to suggest to how great Dependence
an extent Daniel and later apocalypses were the direct out- fyps^on'such
come of the later developments of prophecy. The apoca- ProPhccles
lyptical writer found here rich materials ready to his hand.
It was the eschatology of the prophets that interested him
most ; not the efforts at moral and social reform, but the
forecasts of the future ; not the conversion of his people,
but their deliverance from trouble, and especially from
subjection to the heathen. He searched for signs of the
last day, for the mysteries of heaven and the angelic world
that might explain the evils of the present and give a clew
to the time and manner of the end of evil and the disclosure
of God and heavenly blessings. There is hardly an im-
25

new

Introduction The Messages of the
portant idea in the apocalypses for which beginnings and
points of contact cannot be found in older prophecy.
The vision also, the distinctive form of the apocalypse,
is already the ruling form of prophecy in Ezekiel and
Zechariah.
Yet the apoc- Yet in spite of all these close points of connection, when
something one turns from the study of prophecy to Daniel and the
apocalypses he feels that the change is great, greater per
haps than that involved in the transition from pre-exilic to
post-exilic prophecy. Perhaps the feature that most calls
forth this feeling is the pseudonymous character of these
writings. The use of fantastic imagery too seems less free,
more serious and literal. The dualistic supernaturalism
is more marked. The coming age has nothing in com
mon with the present, and the present age has nothing good
in it, but is wholly in the power of evil. There is further
more a universal scope in the view of Daniel, a sort of
philosophy of history, which is new; and in succeeding
apocalypses this semi -scientific interest extends to nature.
These and other characteristics of the apocalyptical books,
which set them off as a distinct class, in spite of their close
relationship to post-exilic prophecy, we must now proceed
to consider.

26

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
IV
PSEUDONYMOUS AUTHORSHIP
Post-exilic prophecy was largely anonymous. This Anonymous
means that it was only written, not first spoken, and that prop !ecy
its truth and effect did not rest on the authority of its
authors; perhaps further that the message was not new
and did not have to meet with contradiction and unbelief.
One has only to try to conceive of Amos or Isaiah as work
ing anonymously to realize how great the difference was
between early prophecy and late. The later could be
great in its way. Isaiah 40-66 is great prophetic litera
ture, but its author could not have been so great as Isaiah
as a prophetic personality.
But if the change to anonymous prophecy was great, the Riseof pseu-
rise of pseudoriymous prophecy marks a still greater change. p^rScy*
It is hard for us to conceive of one who had a genuine faith
and a serious message for his age adopting a literary form
that was not genuine. Yet the writer of Daniel was cer
tainly such a man and as certainly used such a device.
He wrote in the age of Antiochus, in the name of a seer of
the Exile, and gave in the form of prediction a review of
post-exilic history with increasing detail up to his own
time. Then on the basis of many predictions already ful
filled he would seem to claim the greater credence for his
actual predictions of the fall of Antiochus and the speedy
27

Introduction The Messages of the
coming of the kingdom of God. All Jewish apocalypses
follow Daniel in this respect, usually assuming the names
of still more ancient men of God, and relating history,
in general behind the veil of symbol or allegory, as if it
had been seen in vision ages before.
Difficulty of It is by no means easy to decide just how this regular form
character of of apocalyptical composition is to be judged. It would be
mou^utera- quite unfair to condemn it simply by our modern standards.
ture The Book of Daniel does not mark the beginning of pseud-
epigraphic literature among the Israelites, for Deuteronomy
and Ecclesiastes contain this element. It is not hard for us
to see how later formulations of law could be ascribed to the
original law-giver, and later proverbial writing to the typi
cal wise man. The pseudonymous character of Ecclesi
astes and the Wisdom of Solomon is nothing more than a
literary mode. But this can hardly be said of the apoca
lypses, for here the value of the contents seems to depend
on the authority of the assumed seer, and the truth of the
actual predictions on the confirmation by history of the
predictions ascribed to him. The pseudonymity is care
fully carried out. The books are meant to be received as
really written by the assumed authors. The fact that
though written so long ago they have remained unknown
till now is explained by the command which the seer re
ceived to seal his book or hide it until the last times. It
was written for the generation that was to see the end ;
hence it is only now found or made public because the end
28

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
is near.1 Yet if we are to claim any greatness for this liter
ature after the veil has been torn from its face we must find
some excuse or explanation for its use of the veil. It is
certain that a fair reading of Daniel, of parts of Enoch, of
the Assumption of Moses, and the Apocalypse of Ezra, in
the light of their circumstances and their aims, gives us
the impression that we are dealing not with pretenders,
but with writers of earnestness and sincerity. How then,
can we explain the falsity of the form in which their mes
sage is given ?
Can we say that the device was generally understood Was no de-
and so involved no deception ? This may have been true tended?™"
in the inner circles, but the genuineness of the books seems
to have been generally accepted, as that of Enoch is by
the writer of Jude ; and the influence of the books seems
in part to have depended on their assumed age.
Can we suppose that the form was adopted in self -de- Wasdecep-
fence, because of the hostility to foreign or native rulers foTsafetyf17
which the books express ? This may explain the figura
tive allusions to current events, but as to authorship the
anonymous form would have served the end of safety
equally well.
A more important suggestion is that the canon was closed, Didthedos-
at least the canon of law and prophecy, that prophetic "S^,* 0ecca.
inspiration was believed to have ceased with Malachi, S10nit?
1 See Dan. 12 : 4, 9 ; 8 : 26 ; Enoch 1:2; 93 : 10 ; 104 : i2f ; 82 : 1 ; Ass,
Mos. 1 : 16-18 ; 2 Esdr. 14 : 8, 44~47- 29

Introduction • The Messages of the
so that no one could gain a hearing for a prophetic message
unless it were put in the mouth of a man of the earlier age.
A somewhat related supposition is that the apocalypses
came from laymen, without reputation or standing, who
felt that they could gain attention only under cover of a
great name. Such considerations would seem to explain
rather than excuse the device.
Use of really In another direction we can perhaps go further in the
d?donsttra way of apology. We certainly feel that the writers of Dan
iel, and Enoch 92-104, and Second Esdras, not only wanted
their readers to believe their revelations, but believed them
themselves. How can we explain their own conviction
of the truth of their predictions? Two explanations have
been suggested. One, that actual visions entered into
the writers' experience and furnished a part of their ma
terial. The other, that really ancient traditions supplied
much of the material, and that these had been already as
sociated with the names of Enoch, Noah, and the rest.
We shall consider the question of the nature of the visions
described in apocalypses in the next chapter. The sec
ond suggestion bears directly on the question before us.
We should have an explanation of the pseudonymous form
of apocalypses, which would be also in part an apology for
it, if we supposed that apocalyptical traditions running
actually far back, tended to connect themselves, in the
course of their transmission, with the names of certain
ancient seers — Enoch, who walked with the Elohim, Noah,
3°

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
who was rescued from the first world judgment, Abraham,
the friend of God, Moses, who saw God face to face. Then
the final writer, fully aware that he was not the original
author of his material, but only its scribe and interpreter,
might believe that the real author was in a true sense the
one in whose name the traditions passed current. It would
be easier to conceive of such a state of mind if we supposed
the writing to be done in a condition of mental excitement
or exaltation, when one might regard his own free imagina
tions as in a spiritual sense true to the mind of the ancient
seer and intended by him.
How far such explanations may apply we can only tell Pseudonym-
by a detailed study of these books. Even if we can ac- ary^evice1"
count for the beginning and for the highest levels of apoca
lyptical writing in such ways, it is evident that pseudonym-
ity became a mere literary device in the hands of many.
It cannot be denied that whatever its psychological ex
planation pseudepigraphic prophecy marks a still further
and a very great decline from the original heights on which
the great prophets, Amos, Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah and
others stood, where the man's personality was the factor of
greatest worth. The sense of direct inspiration and of an
immediate message from God which these men had is '
almost wholly absent from the later representatives of the
prophetic order whose work we are considering.
On the other hand there is something to be admired in
that anonymous form of prophecy which intervened be-
3i

Introduction The Messages of the
Peculiarity of tween the first and last types and in a sense mediated be-
writerTseen tween them. That one should write such literature as
in anonymous isa;an 40-66 without an allusion to himself or a care to be
remembered as its author ; that not only law-givers and
historians but writers on ethics, story-tellers, and even
such supreme religious poets as the authors of the Psalms
and of Job, should be content to be unknown, reveals a
degree of absorption in the subject-matter, a measure of
unconsciousness, a loss of self in the community and its
ideals, in God and his truth, which we can hardly imagine.
The secret of the unique greatness, especially the genuine
ness and reality, of Israelitish literature lies in part in this
suppression of the individual. If one compares Hebrew
with Greek literature he will realize this peculiarity of the
Hebrew and its greatness. The Greeks had like ourselves
a pride of authorship which made them jealous of their
literary rights and ambitious for fame. In such an atmos
phere plagiarism is a natural temptation and of course a
recognized moral fault. But Hebrew historians and poets
incorporated the work of predecessors freely because no one
made any claim for himself. All belonged to the nation.
Each might use what he would and add what he could,
its bearing without a thought of deception or unfairness. Now this
°on o( pseu- community of authorship which appears in the anonymous
writirS0US character of most of the Old -Testament literature, and
results in that free editing and re-editing of older docu
ments which literary criticism discovers, helps us to under-
32

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
stand the pseudonymous form of the apocalypses. It re
mains true that the greater prophets spoke in their own
persons. Their self-assertion was, however, only a higher
form of the conquest of self, because it was an assertion
of God and of the ideal over against popular ideas and
wishes, involving personal danger and loss. Their isola
tion and the strangeness of their message forced them into
prominence. Their voice was not that of the nation ; it
was the voice of God against the nation. Their success
rested on the originality of their inspiration and ultimately
on the force of their personalities. But post-exilic proph
ecy did not in the same way oppose common beliefs. It
sought rather to add assurance to the hopes by which the
Jewish religion lived. A step further was taken by the
scribes who compiled the prophetic canon. They seem to
have regarded it as part of their task to assign anonymous
oracles to the various known prophets.1 Perhaps this re
veals a growing feeling that prophecy rests for its authenti
cation upon the known character of its author as a man of
God. These scribes seem to have done some more positive
editing also. The adaptation of the ancient prophecies to
the religious needs of their own time may have led them
not only to rearrangements, but also to comments ; so that
to a certain degree a pseudonymous element, which is
closely related to that community of authorship which we
1 For example, they inserted chs. 13-14, 24-271 40-66 in the Book of Isaiah,
cbs. 9-14 in Zechariah, etc. 33

Introduction The Messages of the
have described, is to be found in the prophetic canon. So
when a critical occasion called forth a new prophet, whose
task was not to give a new message but to give the old faith
and hope new expression and to interpret new events in
the light of old predictions, it would be not at all unnatu
ral, and may have seemed necessary and not really untrue,
to assume an ancient name. In a sense the new book was
really old, and in no sense did the deception serve the
writer's selfish ends. He remained unknown and it was
wholly the common cause to which he was devoted.
V
THE APOCALYPTICAL VISION
Place of the After the pseudonymous form, that which impresses us
erSprophecy" as most characteristic of apocalypses is that they consist
wholly of visions, and that elaborate and fantastic imagery
largely makes up the material of the visions. We find
visions indeed in the books of the older prophets, but their
prevailing mode was a direct, "thus saith Jehovah." The
visions of Amos (chs. 7-9) are hardly more than vivid fig
ures. Only the last one (9:1) reveals emotional excite
ment, and even there we need not suppose an actual con
dition of trance. Hosea gives no hint of such experiences.
Isaiah on the other hand had a great vision of God (ch. 6),
and elsewhere reveals the fact that his inspirations some-
34

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
times came upon him as it were from without.1 Yet
Isaiah's message is usually given in the direct fprm, and
appeals to reason and conscience rather than to imagi
nation and the love of mystery. Jeremiah was less a
man of vision than Isaiah, though he had intense emo
tional experiences. In prayer rather than vision his
highest insights were gained.
It is not until we come to Ezekiel that we find the vision Its primary
assuming primary importance. The spirit works upon ta^kief
him as an external force, even carrying him from place to
place. Trance experiences are frequently described. The
vision of God at the beginning and afterward, and the
words of angels in connection with visions are the founda
tion and substance of his message. It is especially signifi
cant that his description of the future in chapters 40-48,
though largely legal in contents, is in form a vision seen in
an ecstatic state and interpreted by an angel. This sec
tion is, as Wellhausen remarks, essentially an apocalypse.
In Isaiah 40-66 prophecy takes a poetical form, more
related to the Psalms than to the apocalypses. Zechariah, in Zechariah
on the other hand, carries still further the tendency of
Ezekiel to make vision the proper form of prophecy, and
strange imagery the proper contents of the vision.
In the apocalypses, vision becomes the one mode of
revelation, and the supernatural character and objective
reality of the vision are insisted upon as if on this the truth
1 8 : n ff. ; 22 : 14 ; cf. 28 : 9-13.
35

Introduction The Messages of the
Inapoca- of the message depended. The writer's claim is that he
isttie sole0n has actually seen what is hidden from the eyes of common
revSation mortals. He has been rapt to heaven and describes what
he saw and heard there. On the reality of his translation
depends the credibility of his account of unseen things.
Perhaps it is correct to say that the visions of older prophets
were chiefly emotional experiences, while in the apocalypses
their significance lies in the intellectual sphere. They be
come the means, the only means, by which man can obtain
a knowledge of the secrets of heaven and of the future.
The symbolic language in which alone visions can be de
scribed ceases to have the value of poetry, and is taken in a
more literal sense. The more unearthly and mysterious
the symbolic creations are, the better adapted to describe
divine things.
Material of How can we test the reality and determine the value of
S^* these visions? First of all by studying the nature of the
aitionnd "*" material which the visions contain. Modem scholars have
found two elements in the apocalyptical imagery, allegory
and tradition. It is certain that in many cases the apoca
lyptical writer has freely constructed allegorical figures to
represent historical persons and events, and to cast a veil of
mystery about familiar facts. The ram and goat in Daniel
8 are transparent figures picturing the conquest of Persia
by Greece, and the interpretation which follows is hardly
needed. Enoch 85-90 is a poor allegory of the history of
Israel. No real vision entered into its production but only
36

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
a clumsy literary fancy. Of the same sort is the symbol
of Rome in Second Esdras n-12.
Often, however, tradition furnished the writer with his
figures, and he only reshaped or interpreted them to fit his
own time. So the beasts of Daniel 7 go back to the Baby
lonian chaos dragon, used also in Revelation 12, 13, 17.
In each case the traditional figure is adapted to a present
situation. Did the apocalyptical writer really believe
that the ancient figure contained the mystery he would
solve, and revealed the solution to one who studied it with
reverence and received divine enlightenment, or did he
use it in a literary spirit, because of its poetic value, or
because of his own poverty of invention? Did he really
try to interpret the history of his times by these traditional
figures, or did he only use the ancient imagery for the de
scription of current history? And what right had he in
either case to say that his procedure was a vision?
Another way of approaching the question is to inquire Actuality of
after the real nature of visions in religious history in general, e T1MOn
and then ask whether the visions of our apocalypses have
the marks of reality. That vision may be a real experience
psychologists do not now doubt. But there are two im
portant reservations in this recognition of the actuality of
visionary experiences. One is that not all real visions are
of equal value, and the other that not all reported visions
are real.
As to the first point, the mere experience of a seeing of
37

Introduction The Messages of the
Actual that which is not present to the physical eye, the capacity
j^Sediffer or tendency to visualize one's thoughts, has in itself no
bearing on the truth and value of one's thoughts. Nor
can we ascribe value to susceptibility to emotional excite
ment, which may carry one to the point of a total loss of
self-control or even of self-consciousness. The value of
such ecstatic states depends on the nature of the feelings
that are given such unrestrained possession. If they are
noble feelings such as devotion to one's country, enthu
siasm for a righteous cause or for a great man, their mo
mentary intensification may be only good. _The test of
the value of such experiences is not their reality, but their
source and their issue in character and in action. Such
visionary or ecstatic experiences cannot be said to bring
new knowledge or involve anything that can be called
revelation.
The higher There is a higher type of vision which may be described as
insight or illumination gained in a state of intense thought,
in which the consciousness of self may be wholly lost, and
truth itself, God himself, seems to touch the soul and take
possession of it. This intuition or spiritual insight, which
comes after long mental struggle, and yet comes as if it
were the end of struggle", not its victorious consummation,
as a gift of immediate perception taking the place of rea
soning, is the highest type of vision, that of the prophet,
that of the man of genius. Here reason must still test
the vision and judge it by its newness and by the value and
38

type of
vision

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
power of the truth it gains. When it endures such tests
we have the best right to ascribe this experience to the
divine spirit and call it revelation. Into these supreme
experiences, actual vision, that is the visualizing of thoughts,
may not enter at all. Yet sense images must enter into
their expression, because the deeper experiences of the soul,
its most intimate communings with the eternal, are not to
be uttered in literal speech. Vision then may mean hal
lucination, the subjective seeing of things not actually pres
ent, or it may mean an emotional and- spiritual experience
on the highest plane. Many intermediate and mixed types
exist. Isaiah's vision of God (ch. 6) may have been ex
perienced as an actual sight of God's cloudy garment fill
ing the temple, and of the fiery beings that surrounded
him, but its inner content was a revelation of the holiness
of God as a power that makes holy him who beholds it in
humility, and that summons to its service him who wills
to subject himself to its rule. But how can the apocalypti
cal visions endure measurement by the standard of Isaiah's ?
Before answering the question we must consider the Recorded
other reservation which the modern student makes in his noJ a'ilreai
recognition of vision or ecstasy as an actual experience.
Not only are not all real visions of equal value, but not all
recorded visions are real. When the vision was regarded
as the only proper contents of prophetic literature, it was
inevitable that it should be adopted by many as a mere
literary form. This is all the easier because true visions
39

Introduction The Messages of the
cannot be described without much freedom of elaboration.
In proportion to the intensity and elevation of the ex
perience, they are incapable of literal description. It is
very hard to determine even in the case of Ezekiel how far
actual trance or visionary experiences are to be assumed.
The fact that the material of a vision is derived from the
Old Testament or from tradition does not in itself prove
that the vision is a mere literary artifice, for in true vision,
when self-consciousness is lost, the mind operates with
materials already in its possession, the inner eye sees in
some transfigured form and with a mysterious significance
things actually before the physical eye, or figures stored up
in memory. Old Testament and other ancient prophetic
images would be the very ones most likely to come in the
ecstatic state before the mind of those who had long
pondered their meaning.
If indeed visions were real in a more objective sense, so
that the seers literally saw the heavenly abode of God,
the angels, God himself, and literally heard divine voices
announcing the future, we should expect their accounts
to differ in form but to agree in substance, like the reports
of independent travellers in some distant land. This sup
position is however excluded both by the character of the
visions and by the nature of the case, since God is spirit,
and the higher realm of reality is not only unseen by man
but is in its nature invisible.
The visions described in the apocalypses are beyond
40

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
doubt in the majority of cases not real visions at all, but Real and un-
literary fictions. Yet in some cases it is quite possible that tne^Sdyp-
actual trance experiences are described. We are begin- ses
ning to understand the power of suggestion and expecta
tion over the human mind. It would not be strange if
members of a circle of writers who valued ecstatic states
above everything else, and regarded them as the only proper
form of prophetic inspiration, should strive by all known
means, by fasting and meditation and solitude, to gain such
experiences, and should sometimes succeed. So we may
agree with Gunkel that the first three or four visions in
Second Esdras : may have been truly visionary experiences.
The same impression of reality is made in the Book of
Daniel.2 In view of the true nature of such mental conditions, Significance
however, the most important thing is to recognize the sec-nonastoeS"
ondary significance of the question as to their reality. The J^S or un"
difference between true vision and the merely literary use of
the vision form is not the difference between revelation and
deception. The true vision might be valueless, a mere hal
lucination, or an irrational and unmoral excitement, and on
the other hand a serious message, deeply felt and urgently
enforced, might — such is the difference between that age
and our own— choose the apocalyptical form for its ex
pression. Our estimate of the value of an apocalyptical
1 See 2 Esd. 3:1-3; 5 : 14-15, 20-22 ; 6 : 35-37 ; 9 : 23-28.
2 7 :28 ; 8 : 15-19, 27 ; 10 : 2-11, 15-19.
41

Introduction The Messages of the
True tests of vision must therefore turn not on the question whether it
mapoca-°£ describes an actual experience, but on the question whether
lypse ;(¦ expresses a genuine religious faith, and conveys an
important and worthy religious truth. Furthermore the
worth of the message is to be measured not by the truth
of the predictions it contains, as tested by events, nor by the
objective accuracy of its descriptions of the unseen world,
as tested by our geology and astronomy, but by the under
lying faith it expresses and the duty it enforces. And
again the faith and the duty are to be measured by the needs
and dangers of their age, not of ours. We are most con
cerned, in other words, not with the supernaturahsm of
the form, but with the religious and ethical contents of
the apocalypse, and the value of its message for its time ;
although if we regard the spirit, not the letter, we shall
find that no writing that has a true and important message
for its own time is without a message for ours as well. We
must vividly realize the situation of the Jews in Exile if
we would appreciate Ezekiel. The high worth of Daniel
can be felt only as we transport ourselves sympathetically
into the next most critical moment in the history of the Jews,
that of the assault of the Greek king upon their faith.
Enoch and the Assumption of Moses can be understood
only in the light of the peril which true religion met in the
worldly success and ambition of the priestly class. The
Book of Revelation can be appreciated only in view of the
imminent danger of a decline of Christian morals and faith
42

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
into heathenism which befell the church in Asia Minor,
and had its source and strength in Rome and in the en
forcement of emperor worship. The Apocalypses of Ezra
and Baruch must be set against the background of the
perplexities and despair that threatened Jewish faith after
the destruction of Jerusalem. It is from this historical
point of view that we are to approach the apocalypses, and
as historians we can leave the question of the degree of
actuality in the visions largely to the psychologist.
We must accept the undoubted fact that a shallow and
insincere person could have genuine visions, and that an
earnest and honest writer could in that age cast his message
into the form of vision. We may go further and say that the
one divine Spirit may operate in the human spirit some
times as if it were a force from without, sometimes through
the normal processes of the mind ; that true revelations may
come in the form of sensible symbols that appear to be
literally seen, or of voices that are to the man's conscious
ness actually heard, or of insights that flash upon the soul
in a state of such exaltation and absorption and apparent
passivity that he cannot afterwards tell whether he was
in the body or out of the body ; and that on the other hand
a man of different temperament, or even the same man
under different conditions, may receive revelations in in
separable connection with his most conscious and strenu
ous moral and intellectual efforts.

43

Introduction The Messages of the
VI
THE LITERARY COMPOSITION OF APOCALYPSES
Use of older There are two aspects of the composition of apocalypti-
matenai caj ^ooks which the reader should understand and bear
in mind. In the first place these writers often incorporated
ancient oracles with but little change; and in the second
place their books often underwent much revision after
their first publication.
Old Testament prophecy and apocalyptical traditions
were the storehouse from which the apocalypses drew
freely and largely. It was more to their purpose to show
that ancient figures contained forecasts of present events,
than to invent new figures. To interpret the present crisis
in the light of former predictions was one of their chief
tasks. They were more concerned to prove that the Day
of Jehovah was near at hand, than to promulgate new
ideas about its nature.
Importance It is for several reasons important that the interpreter
guishing old recognize the old materials. Often the writer interpreted
elements on^ a Part °^ tne °'^ oracle> yet retained it all either because
of its sacredness or because it was familiar and poetically
impressive. The writer of Daniel, for example, does not
interpret the four winds and the sea out of which the beasts
come, in chapter 7. It is probably a mistake to try to
assign them a meaning in his mind. It is enough to say
44

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
that they belonged to the tradition, and to look to the tra
dition for their meaning. It suffices to say that the sea
is the abode of the dragon of chaos in the original myth
from which the beasts are developed. So in many cases
the recognition of the ancient source of a figurative creation
gives us the clew we need to its meaning, which we might
search for in vain in the persons and events of the writer's
time. Many details in Revelation had, as we shall see,
no definite meaning to the writer, but belonged to a picture
for which as a whole he had an application.
But the other aspect of the composition of apocalypses The revision
must also be regarded. The books often had a further nation™™ '
history after they were written. Revision was common aP°caIvPses
and unreserved in Hebrew literature in general. Anony
mous authorship and the prevailing practical religious
purpose in writing made new adaptations to new needs
natural. The apocalypses would especially need such adjust
ments to new conditions. They were written for a definite
situation, often for a special crisis, and always announced
the promised end as near at hand. Time invariably proved
their forecast partly or wholly mistaken. The situation
passed and the end was not yet. But the book was not
cast aside. That is not the way in which religious history
proceeds. The book was retained for its main message
of faith and courage, and for the value it had gained by
use. Slight changes would adapt it to new times and new
beliefs. The plainest examples of such revisions are found
45

Introduction

The Messages of the

in the Christian phrases occasionally added to Jewish
apocalypses. More radical changes would result from
uniting in one book oracles originally independent. The
Book of Enoch is demonstrably a collection of Enoch
books of different age and authorship. It contains also
fragments of a Noah-literature which appear as simple
interpolations, without relation to their context.
The necessity In such cases it is evident that literary analysis is essen
tial if the student is to assign the visions to their proper
place and give them the right interpretation. We cannot
assume the unity of an apocalypse, but must seek to remove
inconsistencies and obscurities in part by critical analysis.
Perhaps the most important difference now dividing
students of this literature concerns the relative importance
of the two methods of interpretation just suggested. Ac
cording to one view it is to be assumed that an apocalypse
is a unity unless strong reasons to the contrary appear,
and unevenness in the construction and apparent varia
tions in the point of view of the writer are to be explained
as due to his large use of older materials, written or oral,
which he did not fully harmonize. According to the other
view the presumption is that the book has gone through a
complicated history since leaving its chief author's hands,
and all breaks and inconsistencies of view are to be used
as evidences of its composite character. In one case the
interpreter's task is to trace the history of apocalyptical
traditions, the meaning given to these traditions by the au-
46

of literary
analysis

Its value in
comparisonwith the his
tory of tra
dition

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
thor of the given writing, and the plan and purpose of his
book. In the other case his first effort must be to analyze
the book into its component parts and so retrace the his
tory of its literary growth. As it stands it has no plan and
purpose because it has no unity, no proper author, no one
occasion. Assuming in general the unity of the book we
have as a chief problem to discover the writer's sources.
Assuming its composite character we have to discover
and loosen its joints and then study each part as an in
dependent whole. These two methods have been called
the Tradition-historical, and the Literary-critical methods.
It can be safely said that the former has so far succeeded
as to prove that the latter has been much overworked.
The two methods need to be united, for each has its rights.
Both processes entered into the formation of this literature.
It is especially important to urge the former because the
principal editor of apocalypses in English, Professor R. H.
Charles, is a very confident and somewhat extreme follower
of the latter, the method of literary analysis. As his edi
tions of the Enoch books, the Assumption of Moses, the
Ascension of Isaiah, the Apocalypse of Baruch as well as
the Book of Jubilees must serve most of us as sources, it is
necessary — though it may seem ungrateful to one to whom
we owe so much — to say that the analysis of Charles is in
general the least valuable part of his books, and should not
be taken for granted by the reader unless it .is supported
by the majority of critics. There are apocalypses, such
47

Introduction The Messages of the
as those of Baruch and of Ezra (2 Esd. 3-14), which are
elaborately analyzed by Charles, of which the substantial
unity in the sense above defined — allowing, that is, for a
considerable use of various traditional materials by the
writers — is the more current and the more probable view.
The same is true of Daniel and perhaps of Revelation.
Complicated analyses of these books, especially of Revela
tion, have been made, though little agreement has been
reached, and it remains probable that each of these
books, in approximately its present form, had a definite
occasion and author, though each makes large use of tradi
tions. Breaks in the connection, differences in historical
situation and in religious conceptions, may often be reason
ably accounted for without resort to critical dissection by
appeal to the variety of the writer's source materials, and
also to a want of logical consistency, natural in an imagi
native literature where the line between fact and poetry is
nowhere drawn, natural also to the thought of unscholastic
lay minds. It is to be remembered also that tradition was
a positive principle of the apocalyptical writers. Neither
heaven nor the purposes of God were subject to change.
What one seer had beheld another could only reaffirm.
His task was to find the fulfilment of past oracles in pres
ent events and in those soon to follow. i

48

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
VII
THEIR MESSAGES FOR THEIR OWN TIMES
The messages of apocalypses for their time may be The practical
roughly divided into the practical and the theoretical. The courage and
practical message of the apocalypse has already been ex- hope
plained in what has been said of its historical place and
significance, and its relation to prophecy. The original
and proper occasion of an apocalypse is a time of danger
to faith, of active persecution or serious apostasy, a time
when the oppressions or the allurements of heathenism
are making themselves felt. The greatest apocalypses,
Daniel and Revelation, were written when the world em
pire was pressing hard upon thev religious community ; and
all books of this class are animated by a spirit of protest
against the perverse conditions of the times, the weakness
and humiliation of the righteous people and the power and
glory of the wicked. For the suffering righteous, without
power or reputation, without office or learning, especially
in times of oppression and temptation, the practical message
needed is one of encouragement and hope, of trust in the
reality of the rule of God, hidden though it is, of belief that
his rule will soon be manifest and his people vindicated.
In view of this expectation of the coming of God, the vir
tue to be urged is persistent fidelity to religious faiths and
duties in spite of the persuasions or violence of evil and
49

Introduction The Messages of the
in the face of death itself. In the apocalypses this message
was given in the way best fitted to stir the heart and impel
the will of the men of the time.
Thetheo- But the apocalypses base their practical message on cer-
message tam theories of the world and of history which seek to ex
plain the present dominance of evil and to demonstrate
the nearness of its overthrow. These speculations are car
ried far enough to constitute a sort of philosophy of history
and even the beginnings of a natural science. In this
theoretical region the apocalypses exhibit considerable di
versity, yet the ruling aim is always the same, to explain
the present power of evil, and to prove the nearness of
its end.
Theory of the The problem of evil, that is, the sufferings of the right-
enTof evil eous nation or sect, of Israel or the true Israel, and the
prosperity of the "wicked is the theme of much of the post-
exilic literature of Judaism. Psalms, wisdom books, his
tories, stories, all struggle with it. The apocalypses are a
product of the extreme pressure of this problem in critical
times, and have their own solution of it. Their solution is
not that of Proverbs, or Job, or Ecclesiastes, or the Psalms.
It is this : The rule of evil is due to transgressions and
conflicts in the angel world, and it will cease, according to
an all-including and determined plan of God, with his
coming in the near future. The explanation of existing
conditions is found in the world of spirits, and their re
versal and correction is looked for in the immediate future.
5°

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
The announcement of the future is a more fixed and es
sential element in the apocalypse than the explanation of
the present, and may be considered first.
The promised Day of Jehovah, the day of his coming to The coming
fulfil his threats and promises, is near. He will come when fovah'and
evil is at the height of its arrogant and cruel power. He e^end of
will take the world-empire from those who have misused it,
and give it to his people Israel, whose rule is to be the reali
zation of God's rule on earth.
What strikes us first in this hope, as Daniel sets it forth, A philosophy
is its wide scope in comparison with the predictions of the ° s ory
earlier prophets. A scheme of the succession of nations
to world rulership is outlined which has in a sense the
character of a philosophy of history. This divinely or
dained succession is itself a sort of theodicy. Evil belongs
in the plan of God, but its time is fixed and its due reward
will follow.
The description of Israel's coming glory is largely taken Contrast be-
from earlier prophetic pictures, but we mark in Daniel and ageTnd the
its successors a tendency to take these pictures not too lit- age t0 come
erally, but to lift the hoped-for age above the conditions of
the present world. The consummation takes on a supernat
ural character. This transcendence of the hope is a marked
characteristic of the apocalyptical literature. It resulted
in a transformation of the older earthly Messianic hope.
The contrast between the present and the coming age be
came a contrast of two worlds. In the last Jewish apoca-
5i

Introduction The Messages of the
lypses, those of Ezra and Baruch, this development
reaches its height, and the whole view is dominated by the
dualism of "this world" and the "world to come." But
the Jewish apocalyptical movement was tending in this
direction from its beginning, though these phrases were
not current. A transcendental, supernatural element dis
tinguishes its hope from the older Messianic conceptions.
To be sure the foundation is laid for the contrast of the
two worlds earlier than Daniel, in Isaiah n, Zechariah
12-14, Joel, Malachi 4, Isaiah 24-27. It is true also
that the simpler national hope is still found in the apoc
alypses, as in Enoch 5, 10, 25, 90. Yet on the whole the
unearthly view of the consummation is characteristic of the
apocalypses. In general they look forward not to a sim
ple restoration of David's kingdom, or to a recovery of
the ideal conditions of the patriarchal age or even of the
earthly paradise, but to a new earth fashioned after heav
enly models and ruled by heavenly powers, a real descent
of heaven to earth, and then gradually an ascent of the
righteous to heaven and their transformation into angelic
natures. The reverse side of the hope for a new world was de
spair and hatred of this present world. It is as wholly
evil as the other is to be good. Not only are the righteous
in adversity, but nothing else is possible while the present
order continues. The world is now subject to evil powers
by the divine allowance or decree. This dualism involved
52

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
a partly pessimistic and ascetic tone, which is not native to
the Hebrew mind or characteristic of the Old Testament.
We note further a tendency to put the individual in the increasing
place of the nation as the centre of interest now and here- oTSelndi-
after. This tendency did not develop so rapidly as one v^n' JJ fhe
would expect, but it is unmistakably present. It is a very idea of resur-
significant fact that the great doctrine of resurrection origi
nates, in Judaism, in the apocalyptical literature; for Isaiah
24-27 must be regarded as belonging both in date and nat
ure essentially in this class. Here the belief is expressed
not only that death will cease to exist in the Messianic age
(25 : 8), but that though death is final for the wicked, the
righteous dead will rise to have part in the coming glory of
Israel (26 : 14, T9).
Daniel, who first states the belief in dogmatic form, ex
pects a resurrection of many, righteous and wicked as well,
each to receive the reward he deserves (Dan. 12 : 2, 3, 13).
We should expect that the hope of individual blessedness
after death, when it had once arisen, would displace the
idea of a national glory. But in Israel the national ele
ment was too deep-rooted for this. It is astonishing how
slowly the individual hope made its way into the Israelitish
religion. It long remained in the background and was
subordinate to the national idea, as its very form, that of
a bodily resurrection, indicates. The blessed future was
not the life of the spirit in heaven, but the recovery of the
present life on earth in the Messianic age.
S3

Introduction The Messages of the
SpirituaUza- But we have seen already that the national hope in the
inception of apocalypses took on a more and more unearthly character.
resurrection The hoped-for kingdom became a new world of heavenly
powers and properties. The conception of resurrection
must keep pace with this development. The new body
must be one capable of the immortal, angel-like life of
men in the heaven-like world to come. In this direction a
purely spiritual immortality might finally displace resurrec
tion altogether, and sometimes we seem to be on the verge
of this change.1 To this end Greek notions of the natural
immortality of the soul could have contributed, as Persian
conceptions may have helped in the first formation of the
Jewish doctrine of resurrection.
Riseofthe In the end, however, it was not found possible to lift
idea ' the old national hope up to the level of the highest indi
vidual hope. The nation required this earth for the reali
zation of the prophetic pictures of its destiny, but the in
dividual could dwell not only on an earth transfigured after
heavenly patterns, but just as well in heaven itself. After
various efforts to give a fully heavenly character to the
national earthly hope, of which perhaps Enoch 37-70 is the
highest, the apocalyptical writers tend to fall back on a
simpler adjustment of the old hope and the new, in which
each has its full rights. They are made to succeed each
other in time instead of blending with each other in char
acter. Thus arose the chiliastic or millenarian eschatology,
1 See, for example, Enoch 93-104, and Jubil. 23 : 31.
54

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
according to which the promises of Israel's national great
ness would be literally fulfilled, and then, after a certain
period, this world would come to an end and the heavenly
world would follow, introduced by a general resurrection
and judgment. At this stage heaven and hell and the
fortunes of souls therein took the place of the national
hope as the chief and final theme of eschatology.1
But it is a striking fact that throughout the whole course Slight interest
of the apocalyptical literature during almost three cen- Suis'after
turies, from Daniel to Second Esdras, the problem of the death
nation, that is of the true Israel, the righteous community,
remained foremost. Only in one isolated chapter in Enoch
(22) do we find speculations about the varying lots of souls
after death. In Second Esdras there is a far more elab
orate treatment of this theme in the section long lost, but
finally recovered in the Latin version (7 : 36-126), but even
here the fate of Zion and Israel is first in the writer's mind.
It is only in the Christian Apocalypse of Peter that the
ruling theme becomes that which it remained in the escha-
tological speculations of later ages, the varying fortunes of
souls after death. The Apocalypse of Peter is the oldest
Jewish-Christian writing that treats the theme of Dante's
apocalypse, the Divine Comedy.
Another important question concerns the place of the
Messiah in the apocalypses. In Daniel no Messiah ap-
1 This scheme is found first in Enoch 93 : 1-10 ; 91 : 12-17, then in Rev. 20,
and 2 Esd. 7 : 28. 55

Introduction The Messages of the
The place of pears. There seem to be two reasons for his disap-
ineapoeca-ah pearance. One is found in the supernatural character of the
lypses hope. God himself and no human hand is to overthrow
Antiochus and right the wrongs of those who fear God.
The other reason is that the human agent that is to be
God's representative in the future age is Israel. The one
like a man who receives the Kingdom from God and reigns
forever is an angel, not a man ; and he is the representative
of the people of the saints of the Most High. This only
carries on a tendency seen already in the Psalms, where
the anointed of God, his son, is usually the nation, not an
individual king.
In general the Messiah occupies a very secondary position
in the apocalypses. In Enoch 90 he appears only after the
kingdom has been established by God, as the head of
the community. There is no Messiah in Enoch 1-36,
91-104, or in the Assumption of Moses. In only one apoc
alyptical writing does he occupy the central place, namely,
in Enoch 37-70. Here in the effort to exalt the national
hope and give it a transcendent character, the figure of-
the Messiah is carried up and given a heavenly nature and
place. Though still a man he is a companion of God and
the angels in heaven from the beginning, and he is to be
himself the judge, sitting on God's throne in the coming
age. This exalted conception of a pre-existent and semi-
divine Messiah is very significant, but its influence in
Judaism seems to have been slight. What its influence
56

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
may have been upon the early Christology of the Christian
church it is exceedingly difficult to determine.
We turn now from the messages of the apocalypses re- The unseen
garding the future to their messages about the unseen origin of evil6
world. Ezekiel says, "The heavens were opened, and I
saw visions of God" (i : i). This suggests the other mys
teries, besides those of the future, which the seer sought
to disclose. Heaven contains God who governs and de
termines all, and the angels who know and do his will,
and hence the ultimate solution of the problems of human
life and destiny, of present evil and of coming good. The
apocalypses are ruled by the idea that the visible world
is to be understood by the invisible.
The Old Testament contains few visions of heaven, Old Testa-
and they do not form an essential element in a national cf heaven and
religion. The nation's fortunes constitute the region where of God
Jehovah's self-manifestations are to be seen. In regard
to his heavenly abode little curiosity seems to have been
felt. We have indeed such visions as Jacob's at Bethel,
the vision of Moses and the elders in Exodus 24 : 10, and
that of Micaiah in First Kings 22 : 19. These, together
with the visions of Ezekiel 1 and Isaiah 6, are enough to
suggest that more fancies about the abode of God and his
angelic servants were current among the people than the
canonical books record.
Jewish thought tended to separate God more and more
from the world, to set him at an inaccessible height and
57

Introduction

The Messages of the

Tendencies
of the later
Jewish
thought of
God

Resulting de
velopment of
angelology

surround him with an impassable barrier of fiery glory.
This involved the danger of conceiving of God's holiness
in physical terms. Human terms were avoided through
reverence, but in fact human terms, those of personality
and character, are the highest we possess, and when men
try to surmount these they fall below them. This was the
danger into which the apocalypses fell. Daniel 7 : 9-10
contains an exalted picture of God, but it appeals to the
imagination rather than to conscience, and in it the qual
ities that made the God of prophets and psalmists Israel's
Father and Saviour are lost. Enoch 14 seeks to surpass
this vision in the same direction. Dazzling light and con
suming fire surround God and fill the seer with terror. The
vision of God in Revelation 4 belongs in the same cate
gory. The tendency to make God remote is not peculiar
to the apocalypses. It belonged to late Judaism in general.
But it is striking that even the successors of the prophets
did not know how to overcome it and recover a more ethi
cal conception, but that in them also it produced its in
evitable fruit, an extreme supernaturahsm and a certain
religious coldness and formalism.
One-sided stress on the transcendence of God above
and apart from the world always involves the substitution
for his presence in the world of some sort of intermediary
agency. Angels are the earliest and most persistent form
which this conception takes. Though the conception
goes far back in Israel, the number and offices of angels
58

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
were naturally increased as God was more and more shut
off by his holy aloofness from contact with the world.
No doubt the Jews borrowed their later, more elaborate,
angelology in part from foreign religions, yet the Old
Testament contains so many elements of the later doc
trine that we seem to need little help from outside in order
to account for the development. The Jews knew how to
borrow what they liked and use it as they liked. They
knew how to appropriate foreign mythological figures with
out the mythology, and even dualistic conceptions without
the dualism, and could build a Babylonian story of crea
tion into their system, and the Persian idea of a ruling
evil spirit, without giving up their monotheism.
Yet it must be said that an elaborate angelology, though
it may be developed to guard an exalted monotheism,
tends actually to lessen the sense of the influence of God
in the world, and to substitute other divine beings for the
one God as objects of trust and worship, and as helpers
in need.
In the history of Israel's religion we find at the begin- Early stages
ning a period when there were multitudes of divine beings, angelology
"sons of God." Then followed the period of the highest
development of Israel's peculiar religion, that of the proph
ets and the law, when the angel world was practically
ignored and Jehovah stood alone, the only divine being
with whom Israel had to do, one who stood in most intimate
and living relation to his people. Then came a period
59

Introduction The Messages of the
represented by the apocalypses, in which angels reappear
and multiply, but in strict subordination to the one who is
Lord of lords and King of kings. In other words, angel
ology is repressed during the time of the establishment of
monotheism, and then revived in the interests of mono
theism, to aid in a still further exaltation of the one God
above the earth and man.
Varying The innumerable hosts of angels who surrounded God's
functions of throne formed the court of the heavenly King, and helped
angels represent his majesty to the imagination. It was natural
that their functions should be differentiated. Perhaps
partly under foreign influence the conception arose of
archangels, nearest the throne, usually seven, but some
times four in number. They probably rest ultimately on
the seven moving objects in the heavens, and on the four
points of compass or winds. The multitude of stars not
only represented the heavenly hosts, but in the popular
view seem to have been actually living, angelic beings.
This idea goes back to the ancient Babylonian and Assyr
ian star worship, and is even adopted by the philosopher
Philo, in the time of Christ. More native to Israel's
religion was the conception that the elements of storm,
clouds, wind and lightning, were living powers. The
cherubim and seraphim appear to stand in this connec
tion. Other more familiar phenomena of nature were
conceived of as animated by superhuman beings. Where-
ever mysterious forces were seen, spirits were at work. In
60

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
the apocalypses appear the first names of angels, in
Daniel, Michael and Gabriel, in Enoch many more.
Michael is the guardian or representative angel of Israel. Representa-
In the Old Testament we already meet the idea that every t^natfons0
nation has such an angelic counterpart (Deut. 4 : 19-20;
17 : 3 ; 32 : 8-9 LXX) ; and this conception — a mono
theistic modification of the older idea that each nation
had its own god — is another important source of the
apocalyptical angelology. It was natural to use this con
ception to explain the evil character of heathen nations
and their deeds of violence and injustice against Israel,1
and to look forward to the punishment of these angel
princes as well as that of earthly kings.
But the problem of evil needed to be pushed still fur- sinning
ther back. In Genesis 6 : 1-4 the apocalyptical writers ang
found a clew to the beginnings of transgression in the
angel world, and an explanation of human sin and suffer
ing. We shall see the important use made of this in Enoch.
The sin of these angels is more or less literally represented
by the wandering of certain stars from their courses, the
meteors. Their imprisonment beneath the earth is at
tested by earthquakes, volcanoes and sulphurous springs.
The tendency of all efforts to solve the problem of evil idea of a
by recourse to the angelic world is to carry all back to one splrit of
supreme spirit of evil. From the Old Testament theevU
name Satan was taken, that one of the angel host whose
1 So in Enoch 85-90.
6l

Introduction The Messages of the
office it was to accuse men before God, to prove their pro
fessions false, and even to tempt them to sin. The con
ception of angels of the nations, in connection with the
power of the one ruling nation, first Greece, then Rome,
would easily lead to the idea of a supreme evil spirit as
the ruler of this world. It is probable that foreign in
fluences, that of the Babylonian chaos-beast, and that of
the Persian god of darkness, entered into the formation
of the final idea that the present world, by divine allowance
and for an appointed time, was in the power of the devil.
It will be seen that the angelology of the apocalypses
has an important place in a long and involved history of
human thought and fancy. Its importance for us is en
hanced by the fact that New Testament angelology and
demonology have their closest analogy and in part their
explanation in these books.
The future One other subject should be briefly touched upon. Be-
righteousand sides heaven, the abode of God and the angels, our seers
wicked visited other hidden places, especially the future abodes
of the righteous and wicked. Here also we find a variety
and growth of ideas, and a blending of conceptions origi
nally distinct. Sheol was at first the common abode of
all the dead. The renewed holy land was the place of
the consummation. To this some of the righteous were
to be restored from Sheol, according to the oldest apoca
lypse. The transformed land and the new Jerusalem
and temple were more and more supernaturalized. They
62

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
were not only God's work but were already present, not
only in his thought, but in his heaven, waiting to be re
vealed. Still later when the heavenly consummation was
put after the earthly, the final abode of the righteous
was heaven itself. A transitional conception between the
earthly and the heavenly place of final blessedness was
that of Paradise. Man would recover the happy garden
he lost by sin. This was thought of as in a remote part
of the earth, and as already the abode of. the few who had
escaped death, such as Enoch, Elijah and Moses. After
ward it was transferred to heaven, or one of the heavens.
Meanwhile Sheol was gradually transformed from the
abode of all the dead to the place of the wicked only.
Greek influence seems to have modified the idea of Sheol
as we find it in Enoch 22. Here it is a place of provisional
rewards and punishments. Yet the wicked must rise
from Sheol in order to be adequately punished, and the
place of their punishment was conceived of in a realistic
way as the Valley of Hinnom, near Jerusalem. Finally
this idea was spiritualized, and Gehenna became the place
of the punishment of the souls of the wicked, Sheol having
finally the same meaning. Our word, hell, is from the
Greek equivalent of Sheol, Hades ; but it has the later,
not the original meaning of that word.

63

Introduction The Messages of the
VIII
THEIR MESSAGES FOR OUR TIME
Value of the The more theoretical or theological messages of the
uslshmited'0 apocalypses it is evidently impossible for us to accept in
any literal way as a message for our day. That which
they claimed to do, namely, to unveil the heavenly world
and the future age, they really did not do. We cannot
accept their descriptions of heaven, of God's throne, or of
the angels, their names and functions, as a revelation of
hidden realities. They are at most figurative and imagi
native representations or symbols of faith in God and a
spiritual realm. We are interested in these things only, on
the one side, for the imperishable faith and hope behind
them, and on the other for their place in the history of
human speculation and fancy.1 Our work as interpreters
is done when we have put a writer's views of the unseen
world in their proper relation to earher and later views,
and traced their sources and influence, and when we have
appreciated his underlying faith and his message to his
time. We may not be able to find the source or sense of
some fantastic figure, some number or symbol, but we do
not suppose that if we could find it we should have actual
1 " Apocalypses do not reveal to us the secrets of the divine providence, but
do reveal the optimistic believing nature of the human soul, the permanent
disquiet which makes his dignity." — Sabatier.
64

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
light upon unseen realities. We should have new light
only upon a past phase of human thought.
Even in the history of religious speculation we can give
to apocalypses only a lowly place. They belong among
the curious side paths of the mind's activity, leading into
thickets, not to any of the great highways of intellectual
progress. Yet certain considerations may help us ap
preciate the value of these books and the degree in which
we can find a universal truth in them.
Although we cannot receive their theoretical message, Permanent
yet their practical message for their own time is a true pra'cticai
message for all like times, and in a measure for all times mess£«e
alike. Religious faith in times of a dominating, aggressive,
or insinuating worldliness needs to maintain itself by the
assurance of the real dominion of the unseen world over
the world of sense, and by the hope of some approaching
manifestation of God, some open demonstration of the
rule of justice and goodness. The apocalyptical temper is
needed when religion is assailed and in danger ; and in all
times the religious life needs to maintain its purity and
strength by some sort of protest against the world, some
defiance of ruling ideals and customs, some faith in real
ities above those of sense, and in truths contrary to ap
pearances. The greater apocalypses were inspired by a
living faith in the ideal and an eager expectation of its
coming into reality ; and faith in ideals which the world
contradicts is too rare and precious a thing to be despised
65

Introduction The Messages of the
because its form is strange. We should have a deep
sympathy with this as with every effort to rise above the
world, to judge the sensible by the eternal, the present by
the future, our own times and fortunes by an all-including
purpose of God.
Their con- This leads us over from the directly practical to a cer-
toryasa S~ tain aspect of the theory of the apocalypses in which we
un,ty may find a message for to-day. The apocalyptical writ
ings are among the first which can be called in a crude way
philosophies of history. Daniel and its successors have
grasped the great idea of human history as a unity, as pro
ceeding according to a rational plan and bound to issue in
a worthy consummation. The strangeness and perplexity
of their present was to be understood in the light of the past
and the future. If they could find their place in world
history they would understand what baffled them in pres
ent conditions. This conception of world history goes
back to the prophets and belongs to Israel's monotheism,
the unity of history being a corollary of the unity of God.
But the apocalypses develop and apply it with a new range
and consciousness. It is true that they pushed their faith
too far in a deterministic direction. The present rule of
evil was divinely decreed, and the day of its end was set.
Good men had nothing to do but to wait for the next act in
the divine drama. Yet we should recognize the truth for
which they stood. There is a modern distinction between
those who emphasize the free, creative individual in his-
66

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
tory and those who give the decisive place to an ideal evo
lutionary process. Many historians belong to the former
class, and many sociologists to the latter, so that there is
truth in the suggestion of Sabatier that "sociologists are
the last class of apocalyptical writers."
That which most separates the apocalyptical view from The super-
present conceptions is its pure supernaturahsm. Even of'th^apoca-
compared with the still more ancient prophets, the apoca- lypse
lyptical writers show less sense of an inner, necessary re
lation between the present and the past and future. Pres
ent evils the prophets declared were due to past sins, not
to demoniac agencies, and not to a divine decree. The fut
ure is conditioned by the present. Men were called upon
not only to wait for it, but to determine it by present choices.
On the other hand the apocalyptical writers would reveal
an absolutely fixed future, in which they saw not the in
evitable results of present conduct, but the violent reversal
of present conditions. The sign that this future was near
was not the likeness but the unlikeness of the present
to it, not the presence but the absence of its powers and
qualities. So in the apocalyptical conception of world history we Truth and
find something to admire and also something to criticise, view of his-
The idea of a divine plan that determines human history tory
and contains the explanation of what seems like chance or
mishap or injustice in it, we can approve, even though the
specific plans of Daniel and of Revelation have been proved
67

Introduction The Messages of the
mistaken. The idea that the present world is given over
to the rule of evil, even though balanced by the belief that
it was God who gave it, and that he will take it back again ;
the idea that nothing can be done to remedy the evils, but
that they must increase till at their height God interferes
and brings them to an end, — with this pessimistic view of
the present world and purely supernaturalistic conception
of the coming rule of good, we cannot sympathize. It
must be admitted that the dualistic contrast between
this world and the world to come is of fundamental sig
nificance to the apocalypses, and if, as we believe, it is
mistaken, it is a fundamental mistake. Yet we may
partly forgive a pessimistic view of the present world in
those who held so grand an optimism in regard to the uni
verse as a whole.
Value of the We should be the more ready to forgive when we remem-
fiSom^rf11 ber the type of religion which stood in contrast with this.
son with the jt woui(j be hardly fair to compare the apocalyptical with
of religion the sceptical type of religion represented by Ecclesiastes,
because this was exceptional. It is certainly better to look
for a miraculous change, not conditioned by anything in the
present or in man, than to think that nothing changes,
that all things move in a ceaseless round without progress,
and that the lot of the righteous and the wicked may be
at last the same. But the type of religion with which it
is fair to compare the apocalyptical is the legal. This was
what finally prevailed in Judaism. It was better adapted
68

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
to the average man in average times, and to men of culture
and responsible position at all times. Much can be said
for the type of piety that legalism could and did produce,
for its greater sobriety and stability, its greater individuality
and higher ethical quality, though these were not all that
could be desired. But, on the other hand, the element of
emotion and enthusiasm is fostered by apocalyptical hopes,
and in their atmosphere the formalism and selfishness
which legalism tends to produce do not thrive. The apoca
lyptical seer is enlisted in a cause larger than his own, in
the coming of the new age and not simply in his individual
part in the world to come. It is better to have large out
looks and stirring enthusiasms than to rest in the minute
study of the law's details and the anxious observance of
its ritual. It is better to hope for a coming supernatural
Kingdom of God than to identify his kingdom with an ex
clusive church, as Jewish and afterward Catholic legalism
tended to do. The tendencies in Judaism which led di
rectly to its rejection of the apocalyptical type are not such
as we can wholly admire.
This comparison leads to another consideration which Significance
may help us to appreciate the elements of permanent value °ypseeinPthea
in the apocalypses. What does it signify that early Chris- clSSt °f
tianity took up and developed these books as Judaism let
them go ? Is it true that Christianity was the product of
the apocalyptical movement in Judaism, while its other
movements issued in rabbinical legalism? It would in-
69

Introduction The Messages of the
deed appear, when we read the gospels and the letters of
Paul, as if Christianity took its start in a critical and nega
tive attitude toward legalism, and in a positive affirmation
of the apocalyptical hopes. From this our inference might
be that the apocalypses contained more of that universality
of scope and spirituality of meaning which mark Chris
tianity than did the ruling legal traditions and practices.
But there is another interpretation of the matter. It may
be held that the connection of Christianity with the apoca
lypses was accidental not essential, a harm rather than a
gain. The apocalyptical element in early Christianity,
it may be argued, was an unfortunate Jewish survival
which hampered the gospel, and made a long battle neces
sary before universality and spirituality could win the day.
The war indeed has not ended even now. Millenarianism
is simply the apocalyptical form of Christian faith, which
many still think the only genuine form.
There is really ,no more vital question than the one thus
raised. Historians of the life of Christ and the beginnings
of Christianity are chiefly divided at just this point, the
significance of the apocalyptical element. It is far too
great a problem to discuss here. Truth lies in mediating
rather than in extreme views. No doubt one of the most
difficult and important struggles of the early centuries of
Christianity was that by which it freed itself from the apoca
lyptical inheritance which it receiyed almost at birth. No
doubt, on the other hand the summons and the promises
70

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
of Christ appealed most to those Jews who were least
under the burden of legalism, to those who were most sen
sitive and eager in their Messianic anticipations. The
forward look, discontent with themselves and their times,
trust in God and his purpose of good, the enthusiastic and
expectant temper, best prepared men at the first to listen
to the message of the prophet of Galilee, and afterward
to maintain the new faith against the adverse world.1
But was it true that the gospel as Jesus preached it Relation of
was an apocalypse ? We have compared prophecy and apocalyptical
apocalypse, and have found that closely related though hopes
they are, they represent two contrasted conceptions of
the nature of revelation, two ideas of the supernatural,
two estimates of the present life, two theologies, almost
two religions. Christ's own relationship was far closer
with prophecy than with the apocalypse. Christianity
was a new prophetic movement, pre-announced by a
prophet of the older, not the later type, and founded by
one in whom the prophetic spirit was present in its fulness.
It could not but find its closest point of connection with
Judaism in surviving prophecy, degenerate though it
was ; and it could hardly escape injury from the very de
generacy into which prophecy had fallen. Yet even apart
1 The apocalyptical literature was "an evil inheritance which the Christians
took over from the Jews" ; yet "these ideas encircled the earliest Christen
dom as with a wall of fire, and preserved it from a too early contact with the
world " (Hamack, History of Dogma, i., p. 101 and n. 3).
71

Introduction

The Messages of the

Prophecy
rather than
apocalypse has a per
manentvalue

Religiousvalue of
eschatoiogy

from critical inquiries which might lead us further still,
it can truly be said that there is in the gospels far more
of the prophetic than of the apocalyptical type, and that
this is still just as true of the letters of Paul.
The fact that Christianity arose in close relation to the
apocalypses is therefore proof rather of its prophetic nature
than of the superior and permanent value of the apocalyp
tical form. In fact, it is from prophecy that we are to
expect a message for to-day, and from apocalypses only
so far as they are really prophetic. For what is it that we
want from a prophet? It is not disclosures of mysterious
matters which we never before imagined and have no
means of verifying. It is rather assurance in regard to
the reality of our best known ideals and hopes. We want
the prophet to speak, with certainty and with a compelling
authority, of God and righteousness and immortality. It
is a sense of the reality of the eternal rather than a sense-
vision of heaven and the future that a prophet should im
part. Yet it remains true that the sense of the reality of
eternal things is inseparable from the belief in their future
manifestation and evident dominion. In other words,
eschatoiogy has its essential worth in religious faith. Re
ligious history supplies abundant proof how constantly es
chatoiogy furnishes the motive that gives faith its victory
over the world, and truth and justice their kingship over
the heart.
We need not be surprised at this. Experience furnishes
72

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
many analogies. One who lives in perilous times, who
faces national or personal dangers, experiences an intensi
fying of his powers, and not infrequently a clarifying of
his judgments. A reversal of his estimates of people and
things, a sudden realization of the true meaning of life,
may come from the crisis, and one who has always hved a
worldly life may be able all at once to look at his life in
the light of the eternal. The truth of his insight will re
main even if the crisis passes and the catastrophe is averted.
If a great man interprets a national crisis so as to bring
home to the nation its true ideals and destination he re
mains a true prophet even if his forecast was mistaken.
Without the critical situation it is probable that the great
man could never have brought so much truth to such power
ful expression. So an eschatoiogy is not to be judged by
a simple rule of agreement with facts, but rather by its
fitness under the circumstances to quicken faith in God,
to stir the conscience and put men's wills under the domi
nance of ideal motives, to give a living sense of God and
eternity. On the other hand, an eschatoiogy without an
ideal foundation, in which curiosity takes the place of
moral seriousness, which seeks to compensate for want
of power to understand and control the present life by the
detail with which it describes regions above and below and
times to come, is of little value. But the man who chooses
the future instead of the present and conquers the present
by the future, has made in one form, in the form often most
73

Introduction The Messages of the
effective, the great choice of the eternal instead of the
transitory, the spiritual instead of the sensible. Can the
choice be made in any other form so effectively ? l In the
apocalypses at all events the great choice is made in this
form, and they are of value to-day just so far as they
help us to make and to give expression to that choice.
Their message for us, their abiding truth, is their conquest
of self and the world, their resolute choice of the part of
God against the apparent interests of the hour, the spirit,
at its highest, of martyrdom. The forms which this truth
shaped for itself are strange to us, and belong wholly to
the times from which they come. But as they were always
only forms of a certain substance of faith, they rightly
become for us poetry, and we find their value only in the
feelings that inspired them.
The apocalypses then may properly be read either in a
historical spirit, as tracts for their times, disclosing the
inner life of their circle and age, and interpreted by cur
rent conditions and events, or in a devotional spirit, as
essentially a form of religious poetry, through which, though
the form is often grotesque, one can still feel the pulsa
tions of a true faith in God and in the blessed life to come.
The historian has no fault to find with such a free poetic
1 "The history of religion proves that the greater the moral energy with
which a religious community strives to realize its ideals, and the higher those
ideals themselves, the more easily it despairs of the present, the more urgently
it longs for the immediate coming of God." — Lucius, Essenismus, p. 130.
74

Apocalyptical Writers Introduction
reading of the apocalypses as this. Such reading is funda
mentally in accord with the essential, even if unconscious,
nature of the books. The use which the historian rejects
is that by which men still seek to find the time and course
of events still future, or the literal structure and contents
of the unseen world. Not for theology, but on the one
hand, for history, and on the other — so far as it is worthy
— for the liturgical and devotional expression of religious
faith and hope, does the apocalypse fulfil a mission for
to-day.

75

THE BOOK OF DANIEL

THE BOOK OF DANIEL
I
INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OP DANIEL
i. The Jews under Greek Rule
After our study of the nature of apocalyptical literature Daniel a tract
in general, we need as a special introduction to the reading £orthetlmes
of Daniel chiefly a history of the crisis that called it forth.
The book was distinctly a tract for the times, and we can
best understand it by understanding its times.
After two centuries of Persian rule, with the conquest The Jews
of Alexander the Great, Palestine came under Greek JSe"* Greek
power (332 B.C.). In the division of Alexander's kingdom
after his death Ccele-Syria, in which Judea was included,
lying between Egypt and Syria, was an object of dispute
between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids as long as the
two kingdoms endured. For the most part the Ptolemies
kept possession of it for a century, until Antiochus III, the
Great, finally conquered it for Syria (198 B. C).
We know far less than we would like to know about
the inner history of the Jews during this period It was
the policy of Alexander and his successors not only to rule
79

The Messages of the

Jewish parties for
and against
Hellenism

Jewish polit
ical parties

over conquered territories and collect taxes, but to intro
duce Greek colonists, to build Greek cities, and to attempt
to make a fully Hellenic culture prevail. Hellenism was
indeed in its nature a permeating and transforming force.
In the face of such an attempt the Jews would inevita
bly fall into two parties : those who favored Greek cul
ture, either because of its attractiveness or because this
was the way to personal advancement, and those who
remained faithful to ancestral laws and customs, and re
sisted heathenism the more stoutly because its form was
more alluring. At the head of the latter class, as the
special representatives of genuine, exclusive Judaism,
were the Chasidim, or Pious. But the attractions of the
new culture would be felt by many ; more strongly no
doubt in Jerusalem than in the country, and by men of
wealth and power more than by the common people. At
the head of this class stood the priests, the real aristocracy
of Judaism, who were under a strong temptation to ad
vance their own interests by faihng in with the wishes of
the Greek rulers.
Another line of cleavage was probably made by the
rivalry of the Ptolemies and the Seleucids for the posses
sion of Coele-Syria. Its conquest by Antiochus the Great
was doubtless welcomed by some Jews and disliked by
others. Some of the party friendly to Hellenism would
seek to further themselves by siding with the new power
of Syria ; some would hold to Egypt in the hope that it
80

Apocalyptical Writers
would soon regain its lost possession. We shall see that
it was these two oppositions, the fundamental conflict in
principle between the Hellenizers and the Legalists, and
the rivalry in politics between the Egyptian and the Syrian
sympathizers, that occasioned the assault of Antiochus IV
upon the Jewish religion, and so called forth the crisis of
which the Book of Daniel was a product.
We must take account further of the situation and nature Position and
of Judaism at this time, before we turn to the efforts and judSsnT0*
character of Antiochus himself, if we would understand
this epoch-making crisis. Judea was the only Jewish
land, Jerusalem its only city. In it and about it for only
a few miles the majority of Jews lived. Galilee was still
a heathen land Small Jewish communities were scattered
about there and east of the Jordan, and there were prob
ably a good many Jews in Egypt, and some in other parts
of the Greek world. That Egypt had become almost a
second native land of Judaism under the Ptolemies is a
fact that may have strengthened the Ptolemaic party in
Judea. But though a small and scattered people, the Jews
had two possessions of which they had a right to be proud-
One was the temple, justly famous as one of the richest
temples in the world, honored by heathen rulers with
large gifts. This must have been the glory and support
of Jews wherever they went. In one thing only they
gloried more, the Law, which not only prescribed the
priestly ritual of the temple, but ordered the daily life of
81

The Messages of the
the individual, and set the Jews, wherever they might be,
evidently apart from other men, and — who could deny
it? — evidently above others. For they were distinguished
not only by Sabbath observance and various peculiarities
as to food and behavior, but by a strict monotheism which
forbade their taking part in religious ceremonies other than
their own, and by a conspicuous moral rectitude and
purity. We know that back of these outward marks the
Jews possessed a spiritual treasure of inestimable worth,
a religious literature superior to any other in the world,
memories of a great past, and a hope so high as to seem
almost insane, the hope not only of national independence,
but of dominance over the world.
2. Character and Career of Antiochus IV
The youth of What now of the deeds and nature of the king who ap-
inRome18 pears in Daniel as the final and supreme embodiment of,
the rule of evil, Antiochus IV, called Epiphanes ? He
was a younger son of Antiochus the Great, who after vast
conquests which threatened the Roman empire itself, was
crushed by Rome and compelled to relinquish almost all
his gains except Ccele-Syria, and besides to pay a great
annual tribute to his conquerors. This son was sent by
his father to Rome as a hostage in the winter of 190-
189 B. C, and there grew from boyhood to young man
hood, while his older brother succeeded to the throne of
Syria (Seleucus IV, 188-176 B. C). Toward the end
82

Apocalyptical Writers
of the reign of Seleucus the Romans compelled him to Release and
send his own son and heir, Demetrius, as a hostage, and the'throne '°
released Antiochus, who took away with him an intense
hatred of Rome and a love of Hellenism which charac
terized him all his life. On his release he went to Athens
and even became chief magistrate of the city. Soon, how
ever, Seleucus was murdered by his chief minister, He-
liodorus, who perhaps made an infant son of Seleucus
nominal king. Antiochus at once left Athens and suc
ceeded in securing the throne for himself, putting the young
king out of the way. Rome thought best still to retain
Demetrius, the direct heir.1 So, as Daniel says (n : 21-22),
Antiochus came to the throne by guile, not by right ;
and it could also be said that he displaced three kings
(7 : 8, 20, 24), though it is not certain whether Heliodorus
is included, or whether Seleucus and his two sons, the
exiled Demetrius and the murdered infant, are intended,
or Demetrius and the Egyptian Ptolemy Philometor, son
of the sister of Antiochus, Cleopatra, for whom, it seems,
the throne of Syria was claimed.
Not long after his accession his sister Cleopatra, queen His first
of Egypt, died (173 B. C), and the regents proposed tocampdg^
claim for her young son Ptolemy Philometor the posses
sion of Ccele-Syria. Antiochus seems at first to have de
fended himself against these encroachments, but his suc
cesses carried him into Egypt itself. He got possession
1 He finally escaped from Rome and gained his throne (162-150 B. C.)
83

The Messages of the
of the person of the young king, his nephew, made Mem
phis his capitol and then proceeded against Alexandria,
where the younger brother of Philometor was set up as
king. Antiochus laid siege to Alexandria, but for some
reason did not push this attempt to an end. He went back
to his own land in glory and pride, leaving Philometor as
king, or associate, in Memphis, and a garrison of Syrian
troops in Pelusium. This first Egyptian campaign took
place in 170, or possibly in 169 B. C. It is summarized
in First Maccabees (1 : 16-19), and m Daniel (11 : 25-27),
and more fully narrated by Polybius. In Daniel (n : 28)
we read that on his return he gave expression in some way
to a deep feeling of hostility against the Jewish religion.
According to First Maccabees (1 : 20-28) it was at this
time that he entered the temple and plundered it of its
sacred vessels and of the gold that adorned it and the
treasures deposited there for safe-keeping. It is possible
that this is the act of violence described in Second Mac
cabees (5 : 11-20) as following the second Egyptian inva
sion, and as due to an insurrection that took place upon
the rumor that Antiochus was dead.
The second Antiochus must soon return to secure his gains in Egypt,
campaign f°r tne tw0 brothers had come to an agreement and united
against his pretensions. In the spring of 168 B. C, he
made what was probably his second and last Egyptian
expedition. He was met by petitions, but by no serious
opposition, either by sea or land, and the end of the king-
84

Apocalyptical Writers
dom of the Ptolemies, the incorporation of Egypt into the
Syrian empire, seemed close at hand
Just then occurred an event of great import, the fall of Theintcrfer-
the Greek Macedonian empire, under King Perseus, at^orne*'
the hand of Rome, in the battle of Pydna (June 22, 168
B. C). This victory left Rome free to interfere in Egypt
and made its interference effectual. That Syria should
absorb Egypt could not be at all according to the mind
of Rome after it had once broken the Syrian power, when
for a time under Antiochus III, it rivalled its own. Im
mediately after the victory of Pydna a Roman embassy
went to Egypt and stopped Antiochus in his victorious
march toward Alexandria. The head of the embassy,
Popilius, handed the king the decree of the senate, requir
ing his complete withdrawal from Egypt, and drawing a
circle around him demanded an answer before he left it.
Under the impression of the power of Rome which the fall
of Macedonia produced Antiochus wisely decided to yield.
He returned to Syria " in high dudgeon indeed and groan
ing in spirit, but yielding to the necessities of the time," *
and one of his first deeds appears to have been the assault
upon the Jewish religion, which, though it probably seemed
to him a little thing, proved to be of truly epoch-making
significance.2 It outweighed a hundred-fold all other events
of his life in its influence on human history.
Before asking after the reasons for this attempt and its
1 Polybius. 2 See Dan. n : 29-30.
85

The Messages of the
Last events effects, we may briefly sketch the remaining events of An-
Andochus°£ tiochus's career. Though the great prize he had really
won had been snatched from his hands, he had demon
strated his power, and seems really to have strengthened
his kingdom in various directions. Hence he determined
to celebrate his victories in a great festival at Daphne, near
Antioch. This did not take place until perhaps the spring
of 166 B. C. The ceremonies lasted for thirty days and
were followed by further feastings and revelries. Soon
after this, perhaps in the summer of 166 B. C, Antiochus
made a great campaign eastward and sought to reconquer
the Parthians, whom Antiochus III had subdued.1 He
might hope to extend his kingdom in this direction though
Rome blocked his way in Egypt and the west. The mag
nitude of his undertaking is shown by the fact that he gave
his young son the title king, appointed a guardian and
regent during his absence, Lycias, and took with him the
greater part of his army. Of this campaign httle is known.
He appears to have had many successes but his course
was ended by death due to disease, attributed by some
to his violation of a Greek sanctuary for the sake of gold.
His What was the real character of this king who through
his attack upon the Jewish religion, and through the Book
of Daniel, became the type of Antichrist, the incarnation
1 With characteristic boastfulness the Jewish writer in i Mac. 3 : 27 ff.,
affirms that Antiochus undertook this expedition in order to get money to carry
on the war with Judas. 86

character

Apocalyptical Writers
in a man of the spirit of the world-kingdom in its hostility
to the kingdom of God ? According to the writer of Dan
iel, who was a contemporary, though of course a highly
prejudiced witness, this "contemptible person" was char
acterized by two ruling qualities, a deceitful plausibil
ity by which he concealed his feelings and purposes and
gained his ends by cunning, and an overwhelming con
ceit and arrogance, shown most of all in his shameless
assumption of divine rank, and his sacrilegious audacity
in suppressing other religions than his own, and of course
most of all in lifting his hand against Jehovah.1 From
Polybius, who was also a contemporary, we get a some
what different impression, though craftiness and pre
sumption are not lacking in his description. From him
we learn that Antiochus, though a master of dissimulation,
was also a man of an impulsive and capricious nature.
The writer of First Maccabees represents him as saying
at the end of his life, "I was gracious and beloved in my
power"; z and in some measure this may have been true.
He was a man of energy and ambition, attempting mag
nificent things in war and in art, and accomplishing much.
His ruling passion was Hellenic life and Hellenic culture
in its external aspects, and he aimed, as Alexander had
done, to make Hellenism the dominant and unifying ele
ment throughout his realm. He made gifts of splendid
1 See Dan. 7 :8, 20-21, 24-25; 8 : 9-12, 23-25; 11:21 ff. Cf.i Mac. 1:41-43.
2 1 Mac. 6 :n. 87

The Messages of the
buildings, temples, altars, colonnades, to Athens and to
many other cities. His whims and his extravagances
more 'than offset his good qualities. He seemed to ob
servers at times a high-souled king with cultivated man
ners, and then again so eccentric as to be almost crazy.
Polybius describes some of his fantastic antics as he would
steal from court and mingle with the gossip and revelry
of the street. He loved pomp and display, yet disliked
the solemnity of court life. His festival of triumph at
Daphne was magnificent, but his conduct there was not
only informal but indecent, so that people seeing the splen
dor and extravagance of the show and the contemptible
conduct of the king, could hardly believe that so much
virtue and vice could exist in one nature. We can see
his face on a number of his coins,1 and can perhaps feel
something of the fascination and waywardness of his
His assump- character. The face, however, is idealized after the type
divinity at first of Apollo and then even of Zeus, and the star or
diadem of rays indicates the divine rank he assumed. The
inscriptions show the meaning of his title Epiphanes, which
might by itself mean Illustrious. Here it reads Theos
Epiphanes, God Manifest. The title had indeed been
adopted by an earlier Greek king, Ptolemy V (205-182
B.C.), and the claim of deity was common to the Greek
rulers of Egypt and Syria from Alexander himself onward.
But Antiochus seems to have pushed this ruler-worship
1 See Driver's Daniel, pp. 191-02.

Apocalyptical Writers
further than his predecessors. The word "god" appears
first on his coins. This imperial cult was regarded as
a useful means of unifying a diverse empire, and was
adopted first in this same eastern region and for the same
purpose by the Roman emperors We shall see of what
central significance it was in the production of the New
Testament Apocalypse. In judging it we must not forget
that none of the eastern peoples made any objection to it
except the Jews. All but Jews could worship the king
and still keep their ancestral faiths and rites. Indeed,
the Hellenizing process, of which this was a part, was wel
comed by most communities as a favor ; and what is still
more significant, the Hellenization of Jerusalem itself
was first begged of Antiochus as a privilege by the Jewish
aristocracy headed by the high -priest.1
Turning back now to the events in his career that chiefly Relations of
concern us we have to ask why Antiochus plundered the tnefjew™ '°
temple on his first return from Egypt, and spent the force
of his disappointment and indignation on his second re
turn in an effort to crush out the Jewish religion. In
spite of much obscurity in details it is not difficult to come
to some understanding as to the main problem. Ccele-
Syria was the region for which Antiochus had first under
taken his Egyptian expedition, and it was probably the
Jews who more than all others made his hold on this im
portant part of his realm insecure. If he could have kept
1 1 Mac. i : 1 1-15 ; 2 Mac. 4 : 7-17.
89

The Messages of the
even one garrisoned fortress in Egypt he might have felt
safe, but having lost even this he must take the greater
pains to make the region itself a loyal and peaceful part
of his domain. The best way to accomplish this, An
tiochus thought, as Alexander thought before him, was to
Hellenize the region, to give it the benefits of Greek cult
ure. Other oriental peoples regarded this policy with
acquiescence, or even with favor Only the Jews resisted
it, or rather, as Antiochus thought, and was really justified
in thinking, only a part of the Jews. What was more
natural than that he should believe that by giving the
high-priesthood and other places of power to Jews of his
own party, and getting rid of the adherents of Ptolemy,
and by rooting out by force the stubborn and unreasonable
superstition which stood in the way of the introduction of
the Greek manner of life, he could amalgamate this region
with the rest of his kingdom. It has been suggested that
the Jews may have hindered his preparations for his last
Egyptian campaign, and that he laid its failure to their
account, since if he had been a few days earher he might
have been in possession of Alexandria before the Romans
could interfere.1 But perhaps it is not necessary to sup
pose so definite an offence. The Ptolemaic party was
doubtless strong in Judea. The heavy burden of the
Roman tribute which Antiochus III had bequeathed to
his successors must have made the Seleucid rule oppres-
1 Mahaffy, Empire of the Ptolemies, p. 341.
90

Apocalyptical Writers
sive and unpopular. Yet there was a strong Syrian party.
It was called the party of the Tobiadae, or the Sons of
Tobias. Its origin is obscure. It appears that soon after
his accession Antiochus deposed the high-priest Onias
(III ?) and gave the office to Jason, a brother of Onias,
who promised larger tribute. Jason seems to have been, in
contrast to Onias, an adherent of Syrian against Egyptian
rule, and was also a zealous Hellenizer. He asked permis
sion to build a gymnasium in Jerusalem and to make it one
of the Antiochs. He even sent gifts to Tyre for a sacrifice
to Hercules. Yet about 171 B. C. Antiochus displaced
Jason and put Menelaus in the high-priesthood, though
he was not even of priestly family. Menelaus is said to
have secured the murder of Onias.1 Even if this is not
historical it could be said that the year i7r marked the
breaking off of the legitimate high -priesthood.2 During
one of the campaigns of Antiochus in Egypt, perhaps at a
rumor of his death, Jason returned to Jerusalem, im
prisoned Menelaus, and had the city in his power. He
could not maintain himself, however, but was obliged to
flee, either through a popular movement or by the ap
proach of Antiochus. Some think that Onias was still
living and that he also took the opportunity of seeking to
regain his office, but that before the coming of- Antiochus
he fled to Egypt with a band of his followers, and there
carried his claims to be the lawful high-priest to the point
1 2 Mac. 4 : 32-38. 2 Dan. 9 : 26 ; 11 : 22.
91

The Messages of the
of building a rival temple at Leontopolis. Some, how
ever, think that this temple was built rather by Onias IV,
a son of the murdered Onias III. In any case, the build
ing of this second temple, in spite of Deuteronomy and
tradition, not in Jerusalem, nor even in the holy land, but
in a foreign country, and the fact that it had a certain
recognition by orthodox Jews, and lasted for more than
two centuries (about 170 B. C. to 73 A. D.), is a most sig
nificant phenomenon. It is evidence of the depth of the
cleft that divided Judaism at this crisis. It may have been
built at the time when the temple at Jerusalem was a temple
of Zeus, but it could not have been sustained if there had
not been many Jews who preferred to maintain the legiti
mate high-priestly line in a foreign land, rather than sub
mit to an illegal high-priesthood at the legitimate temple.
It is little wonder that Antiochus should think the Jeru-
salemites deserving of chastisement and should consider
this obstinate nation, with its deep prejudices and its hot
party strifes, dangerous to the security of this disputed and
important part of his realm. But he was supported in his
efforts by leaders among the Jews themselves, and it is
not likely that he anticipated any serious opposition. He
may well have supposed that he was acting not with hos
tility to the Jewish nation itself, but for its interests as well
as his own, and in accordance with the wishes of its ruling
party.1 The actual desecration of the temple and the
1 See Dan. n : 30-32.
92

Apocalyptical Writers
persecution and war against the Jews were not conducted
by Antiochus in person, and we cannot be sure that he
intended the horrors that ensued. These may in part have
been due to the spite and love of plunder of subordinate
officers. According to one account (2 Mac. 9 : 13-17),
Antiochus, just before his death, resolved to grant to the
Jews rehgious freedom and the restoration of their tem
ple. Those who put weight on Second Maccabees think
it possible, therefore, that the recovery of the temple was
not an achievement of Judas, but a concession of Antio
chus.1 This is improbable. It is true, however, that with
all the zeal of Antiochus for the introduction of Hellenism,
it would have been more in accordance with his character,
if he had used flattery and persuasion rather than force to
reach his end. And if he had not left the matter to sub
ordinates in his absence, and if his death had not inter
vened, it is probable that he would have made timely con
cessions, and would not have allowed his efforts to unify
and strengthen his realm to result in a serious breach and
loss. The Book of Daniel gives us only a brief summary of The desecra-
the events that followed— the desecration of the temple temple and
(n : 31; cf. 7 : 25 ; 8 : n-14; 9 : 27), the apostasy of many ^jee™tioa
Jews and the persecution of those who stood fast (n : 32-
33), the hint of the beginning of the resistance under Judas
Maccabeus, which is only half approved (it : 34), and
1 Niese and Bevan.
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The Messages of the
the promise of the approaching end of Antiochus and the
Greek empire, and the glorious vindication of those who
suffer and even die for their faith in the coming reign of
God (n : 35 ff.). But though its narrative of these events
is brief the whole book is a direct witness of the feelings
stirred by the events, and the spirit that was called out by
them. If we would realize the greatness of the Book of
Daniel we should ask ourselves the question, what would
have been the history of religion in the world, and what
would have been our own rehgious condition, if the effort
of Antiochus to extirpate Judaism had succeeded, and
then realize that the faith and hope which this book ex
presses and which it must have greatly increased, was the
only thing that stood in the way of his success. Of course,
without Judas Maccabeus, those who shared the faith and
hope of Daniel could have been crushed out, but with
out this faith and hope the victories of Judas would have
been wholly impossible.
Details in For more details about the persecution and about the
and'second achievements of Judas we must turn to First Maccabees,
Maccabees an(j ^jj iess confidence to Second Maccabees. From
them we leam that beside the prohibition of the temple
offerings and the profanation of the temple by the altar
to Zeus, the king demanded of Jews the violation of Sab
bath and feasts, and of the laws of purity, and especially
required as evidence of conversion to Hellenism the sacri
fice and eating of swine's flesh, the omission of circum-
94

Apocalyptical Writers
cision, and taking part in Greek rites. When persuasion
failed force was used, and torture and death were the
part of those who would not conform. Although we can
find the martyr spirit in Jeremiah and in the literature of
the exile and early post-exilic period, it can still be said
with essential truth that this was the first proper religious
persecution that the Jews had ever met, and that this
crisis produced not only a new type of literature, the apoca
lypse, but a new type of religious character, the martyr.
The apocalypse is indeed primarily the embodiment of
the faith and expectation that inspires martyrdom, and
the Book of Daniel is, in the line of our own religious his
tory, the first book which has the support and praise of
martyrdom as its special aim. The New Testament
Apocalypse has precisely the same ruling motive.
Non-resistance was at first the policy of those who re- Judas
mained faithful, but soon the spirit of resistance arose as
a leader capable of resisting appeared, Judas Maccabeus.
His exploits, and those of his brothers carry us beyond
the Book of Daniel, and to tell them even in brief would
overpass the limits of this sketch. The amazing successes
of Judas and his brothers and the final establishment of
an independent Jewish kingdom, which yielded only after
a century, and then not to Syria, but in common with
Syria to Rome, was made possible only by a number of
concurring circumstances. The opportune departure of
Antiochus for the east before the resistance of Judas had
95

The Messages of the
become serious, and his death there ; the rival efforts of the
two generals, Lycias and Phillip, to get the power into
their hands, and later rivalries of aspirants to the throne,
who found it better to bid for the favor of the Jews than
to attempt their overthrow ; and in general the decline of
the Syrian empire and its practical dependence on Rome,
— all these things contributed to the realization of what
must have seemed to any unprejudiced on-looker the wild
est of dreams, the political independence of the Jews.
All these favoring circumstances would indeed have been
unavailing, if it had not been for the high and indomitable
spirit of the Jewish people, and the energy and capacity
^of Judas and his successors. Of the latter we read in
the Books of the Maccabees ; but the spirit of Judaism
as this emergency revealed it is best embodied in the Book
of Daniel, which is therefore not only a source, but an
important part, of one of the great religious crises and
turning-points of history. Besides this epoch-marking and
epoch-making book it is probable that a number of the
Psalms were the product of these events, and breathe the
spirit of the people.1 A few (Ps. 44, 74, 79, 83) may be
nearly contemporary with Daniel. Many more may fol
low, and celebrate the successes of the Maccabean princes.
The Book of Daniel most directly and surely reveals the
1 See Driver, The Book of Daniel, p. xli, " the Psalms, many of which (espe
cially those in the later books) certainly date from this period"; and see also
McFadyen's Messages of the Psalmists, pp. 24-25, 126-36.
96

Apocalyptical Writers
heart of Judaism when the blow first fell and faith could
only reach after a purely divine and miraculous help,
3. Evidence that Daniel belongs to the Time of Antiochus
Have we a right to assume, as we have done, that the General
Book of Daniel belongs to, the time of Antiochus IV ? hfswricaf ' °
There are still those who think that loyalty to the Bible studellts
requires them to apply tests and follow methods with
reference to its books which they would not regard as ap
plicable to other books. But those who believe that the
books of the Bible are historical documents are practically
at one in their acceptance of this date. Some of the rea
sons for this substantially unanimous opinion must be
briefly summarized here.
The book in various ways reveals its origin in the time Interest 61
of Antiochus, and more exactly in the time after his dese- culminates in
cration of the temple and before his death, and probably Antiochus01
also before the reconsecration of the temple (i.e., between
December, 168, and December, 165 B. C). How does the
writer betray himself as a contemporary of these events,
though he writes as a man of the Exile ? Briefly it is by
his relative ignorance about the events of the Exile, the
increasing accuracy of his knowledge from Alexander
onward, and the fulness of detail which he can give about
the character and the career of Antiochus IV, up to the
point just indicated, the desecration of the temple and the
persecution of the Jews. In this character and in. these
97

The Messages of the
events all the interest of the writer centres. Here he finds
the culmination of the power of evil in world history. He
has a most intense interest in what is to follow after this
crisis, but of this he gives an account which events did not
confirm. His description of the death of Antiochus is wholly
mistaken,1 and his expectation that the death of the king
would be the end of the Greek world empire and the be- .
ginning of the Kingdom of God and of God's people
Israel was of course disappointed.2
Errors prove Some details will illustrate these points. According to
is not an°ex- Daniel the Babylonian (Chaldean) empire fell at the hands
ilic book 0£ jjjg MecjeS; ancj a Median kingdom under Darius in-
Astothe tervened between the Chaldean and the Persian. The
kingdom second kingdom of chapters 2 and 7 is quite certainly the
Median, and the third the Persian ; and it is expressly
said that Darius the Mede overthrew the Babylonian king
dom and succeeded to the possession of it (5 : 31), and
that Cyrus the Persian followed after him- (6: 28). The
visions of chapters 7-12 take place, two under the last
king of Babylon, one under Darius, and one under Cyrus.
1 See 11 : 40-45 and notes.
2 In a certain way events confirmed the faith and forecast of the book.
Antiochus died and the temple was restored, and after a little the Jews gained
independence. These things could serve to give prestige to the book, but
they are coincidences of a wholly different sort from those that exist between
11 : 1-39 and history. The point at which the writer ceases to tell of things
past, under the form and device of vision, and begins really to predict the
future is perfectly marked.
98

Apocalyptical Writers
But in fact there was no Darius the Mede, and no Median
world empire between the Chaldean and the Persian.
Darius I was a Persian successor to Cyrus (522-485 B. C).
It was the general of Cyrus, Gobryas, who dealt the final
blow against the Babylonian king (539-538 B. C), and
Cyrus himself entered Babylon, without conflict, soon
after, and made Gobryas governor of Babylonia. Proph
ecy had expected that Babylon would be overthrown by the
Medes (Isa. 13 : 17 ; 21 : 2 ; Jer. 51 : n, 28), and this may
account for our writer's error. It is also a fact that the
Medes made their power felt in world history earlier than
the Persians. Under their king Cyaxares (624-584 B. C.)
they had the chief part, with the help of the Babylonians,
in the overthrow of Assyria. Nineveh fell at their hands
(606 B. C). But the Persian power under Cyrus had al
ready conquered and dispossessed the Medes before it over
threw the Babylonians. The conception of Daniel is not
difficult to account for in the case of a writer much later
than the events, but it is impossible for a contemporary.
Again this Darius is called the son of Ahasuerus As to Darius
(Xerxes),1 whereas the historical Darius I was father of
Xerxes, who succeeded him (485-465 B. C). Darius did
have to subdue rebellions in Babylon in 521 and 519 B. C,
and features of these events may possibly be found in
Daniel 5 and 6.
Once more, Belshazzar appears in Daniel as the son
JDan. 9 :i.
99

The Messages of the
and Bel- and successor of Nebuchadnezzar, reigning at least three
shazzar years ^g . ^ and the last king o{ Babylon. In fact four
monarchs succeeded Nebuchadnezzar, and the last one,
Nabunaid (555-538 B. C), was a usurper, not of the royal
line. He had a son, Belsarusur, who appears to have
been at the head of the army in northern Babylonia in
the middle of his father's reign. He was never king, and
it is not known that he had any important part in connec
tion with the fall of Babylon.
As to the four Again it appears to be explicitly said that there were
kings"1 only four Persian kings in all (11 : 2-4), the last of whom
seems to be at once the Xerxes (485-464 B. C.) who invaded
Greece and the Darius III whom Alexander the Great
subdued in 333 B. C.1
Inferences There are other smaller errors which confirm the judg
ment that the book cannot have come from the Exile, such
as the reference to the deportation of Jehoiakim in his
third year (1 : 1), and the form Nebuchadnezzar, as in
Chronicles, Ezra and Esther, for Nebuchadrezzar, as in
Jeremiah and Ezekiel. Errors like these show that the
course of tradition after the events was a long one, and
make it impossible for us to assume the historical actuality
of some things which we cannot test, such as the madness
of Nebuchadnezzar and the incidents of chapters 3 and 6.
In general the stories of Daniel have every indication of
1 The Old Testament in fact knows four names of Persian kings — Cyrus,
Darius, Xerxes and Artaxerxes.

Apocalyptical Writers
being freely elaborated, for the sake of admonition and
encouragement. In contrast to the writer's errors about the exilic period Positive evi-
is the fulness and accuracy of his knowledge about the later date
successors of Alexander, on the thrones of Syria and
Egypt. Especially chapter n, as far as verse 39, is sim- The visions
ply history, and at some points supplements the knowl- Antiochus
edge we get from other sources, especially in regard to
Antiochus IV. Some try to escape the inference that
Daniel was written at this time by supposing that this
chapter is a later Maccabean addition to an exilic book.
But this is not warranted by the facts. In all parts of
the book the Greek empire, founded by Alexander and
divided after his death, appears as the last world empire,
after which the Messianic age is expected. The fourth
kingdom of chapter 2, partly strong and partly broken,
is the great but divided kingdom of Greece^ The fourth
beast of chapter 7 is the same kingdom. In chapter 8 it
is expressly named. Moreover everywhere, though with
increasing clearness in successive visions, this last world
power reaches its culmination as a power of evil in An
tiochus IV. He is the little horn that plucks up three
others, and is insolent and impious (7 : 8, 20-21, 24-25).
More detailed and unmistakable is the picture of him in
the second vision (8 : 9-12, 23-25), where his deceit and
pretence are described, and his impious deed in stopping
the daily sacrifice of the temple and desecrating the altar.
101

also fit his

The Messages of the
The same event forms the climax of the third vision
(9 : 26-27), coming at the end of sixty -nine and a half of
the seventy weeks from the Exile to the Messianic age.
The stories But not only do all the visions come to an end with
Antiochus IV, but the other parts of the book also per
fectly fit the same crisis. The theme of the first story is
loyalty to the Jewish laws regarding food, against the com
mand of the foreign king. Just such demands were made
by Antiochus (1 Mac. 1 : 47 ; 2 Mac. 6 : 5, 8). In the third
story the worship of an image set up by the king is re
quired. So Antiochus demanded of Jews participation in
the Greek cult, and especially in the worship of the image
of Zeus and of his own image, which he set up in the
temple (1 Mac. 1 : 41-43, 47-48 ; 2 : 15 ff. ; 2 Mac. 6 : 7).
Nebuchadnezzar, in the next narrative, is humbled be
cause of his proud assumption and his denial of God. So
Antiochus had exalted himself above the gods and refused
to recognize the supreme God, from whom he received his
kingly power. Then comes the judgment of God revealed
against Belshazzar in the midst of proud and sacrilegious
revelry. So Antiochus had celebrated his victories in
luxurious feasting and sensual excesses at Daphne.1
Darius, in the sixth story, is guilty of the extreme pre
sumption of demanding worship in the place of God.
Antiochus called himself "God Manifest," and carried
1 There was also here a colossal image of Zeus which may have influenced
the description of the image of Nebuchadnezzar's dream (2 : 31 ff.).

Apocalyptical Writers
emperor worship to an extreme. It is evident that the
stories are perfectly adapted to the crisis to which all the
visions point, and we can with confidence ascribe the
whole book to this date.
This does not mean that the writer invented his stories. Possible ele-
He probably got much of his material from tradition, tradition
There is, indeed, some positive evidence that this was
his method. Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar and Darius
are not mere names or masks for Antiochus Epiphanes.
Antiochus did not do precisely the things ascribed to these
kings. He did, however, very similar things, manifested
the same arrogant spirit, and attempted the same cor
ruption of Jewish piety. The application of the stories
to present circumstances would have been easy and in
evitable. Some disguise was of course necessary if a
book were to assail the ruling power. Here the disguise
is that of story ; in the later chapters it is that of vision ;
and throughout the assumption of exilic date veils the
treasonable teaching of the book.
The stories, then, are to be valued not as fact, but. for
the teaching they were written to enforce. Their use of
tradition does not signify that they are historical in char
acter. We must in a measure suppress our modern his
torical sense in order to appreciate the freedom with which
history was adapted and story invented, and history and
story blended, for practical religious purposes. We can
not even assume that there was a Daniel in the Exile.
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The Messages of the
Ezekiel (14 : 14, 20 ; 28 : 3) refers to a Daniel who, with
Noah and Job, was a proverbial type of wisdom and
righteousness. This Daniel could not have been a living
contemporary of Ezekiel. Ezra (8 : 2) mentions a priest
Daniel, as in' Ezra's caravan, and among his contempo
raries, strangely enough, may be found a Mishael (Neh.
8 : 4), Azariah (Neh. 10 : 2 (3)) and Hananiah (Neh.
10 : 23 (24)). The writer may possibly have found the
names here, and transferred them to the Exile, a century
earlier.
Confirmatory The dating of Daniel in the Maccabean age is confirmed
™ ence by other more general considerations. There is no evidence
of the existence of the book or of its influence in earlier
writings. Even Ecclesiasticus (about 190 B. C.) is silent
about this prophet.1 The fact that its place is in the Hagio-
grapha, not in the prophetic canon, supports its late origin.
The ideas that it contains belong in part only to late Juda
ism, especially the developed angelology, and the doctrine
of the resurrection. The language of the book also points
to the same conclusion. There are many Persian words
in the book, and a few Greek words. The use of the word
"Chaldeans" as equivalent to soothsayers or magicians
would have been impossible during the continuance of
the Chaldean kingdom or soon after its fall.
1 See Ecclus. 49 : 6-10, which in the Hebrew text includes Job.

104

Apocalyptical Writers

4. The Exact Date
That the book was written before and not after the Before the
reconsecration of the temple in December, 165 B. C, is 0fthe'tempie
almost universally agreed. The dates of First Maccabees
are usually accepted. Accordingly the daily sacrifice was
stopped on the 15th of Kislev (about December), 168 B. C,
and the first heathen sacrifice offered on the 25th. The
rededication was just three years after the latter date (25
Kislev, 165 B. C). The death of Antiochus appears to
be about half a year later, in the summer of 164 B. C.
There are however some doubts about these dates. De
cember 25th remained the date of the yearly Feast of Dedi
cation in honor of Judas's achievement. But this feast
falls suspiciously at the exact time of the wide-spread cele
bration of the winter solstice, with which some of its rites
are connected.1 It is possible therefore, as in the case
of our own Christmas festival on the same date, that the
feast gave its day to the historical event, not the event to
the feast. That the date was shifted may be indicated by
the fact that First Maccabees itself puts the primary and
greatest catastrophe ten days earlier. In Second Macca
bees the desecration and the dedication take place on the
same day (10 : 5), but the interval is two years instead of
three (10 : 3). Josephus, in the Jewish Wars, I, 1, makes
1 The rekindling of fires and the lighting of lamps. See 2 Mac. 10 : 3 ;
1:18-23. I°5

tiochus

The Messages of the
it three and one-half years, but perhaps this is on account
of Daniel. The death of Antiochus is another uncertainty.
It is not unlikely that First Maccabees is mistaken, and
that his death took place in the winter of 165-164, or at '
about the same time as the dedication.1 The coincidence
of these two events would have been regarded as a striking
verification of the prediction of Daniel.
Before the But the book was quite certainly written not only before
paJnofAn-the death of Antiochus, but before he started on his great
Eastern campaign, for the writer would not have passed
by an undertaking of such magnitude in his sketch of the
king's career, and substituted for it a great victorious in
vasion of Egypt which never took place (n : 40-45). The
Eastern campaign may well have lasted a year and a half
before the death of Antiochus, so that its date would be
the summer of 166 B. C. Now if, as Niese thinks, Second
Maccabees is right in making the period of desecration
two years, its beginning would be in December, 167 B. C,
and the Book of Daniel would appear not very long after
it, that is, during the first half of r66 B. C; or if the des
ecration took place in December, 168 B. C, the book
would fall in the year and a half following. The perse
cution was a new and crushing experience when the book
appeared. The resistance under Judas had not reached
such proportions as to call to its support all loyal Jews.
The writer does not seem to have been much impressed
1 So Niese argues.
106

Apocalyptical Writers
by it (ri : 34). The idea of resistance does not enter into
his conception of the task of the righteous in this crisis.
He expects only persecution and counsels only endurance
until God comes. The Chasidim, to whom our writer
belonged, can hardly have joined Judas before he wrote.1
If the book was written not long after the desecration,
and the writer believed it would last three years and a
half, then there would be the greater need of his urgent
admonition to endurance even to death. It is not the im-
mediateness, but the certainty of the end and the reward
on which he insists.
I have dwelt so long on the historical crisis of which Significance
our book is a product, not only because it is the most toricai crisis
essential condition for a right understanding of the book,
but because the crisis itself is of such deep-going and far-
reaching significance. The whole course of Jewish his
tory and the character of the Jewish religion during the
last two centuries before the rise of Christianity is shaped
and determined by these events. We are standing at the
birth history of a type of literature and a type of piety, in
close relation with which Christianity itself arose. This
crisis produced a century of national independence for
the Jews, with the revival of national ideals and efforts
which this involved. It interrupted the Hellenization of
Judaism and put an end to its most dangerous phases.
It produced by reaction the party of the Pharisees, which
1 See 1 Mac. 2 : 42.
107

The Messages of the
in' the final outcome gave Judaism its permanent impress.
It stimulated the Jewish dispersion. Far more than any
other event it gave its peculiar character to the Judaism
out of which Christianity sprang. It shaped and inspired
the religion which both produced and rejected Jesus Christ.
5. The History of the Book
The Aramaic The book as we have it is partly in Hebrew and partly
(2 : 4-7 : 28) in Aramaic. The writer seems to have sup
posed that Aramaic was the language of the Chaldeans
(2:4); but even if Aramaic, instead of Babylonian, was
the court language of Babylon it was not such Aramaic
as this. No good reason has been found why the writer
continued to use Aramaic to the end of chapter 7. One
hypothesis is that the whole book was written in Hebrew
and that the original of this part was accidentally lost and
the translation substituted. Another and more probable
guess is that the book was written in Aramaic, and the first
and last part translated into Hebrew when the book was
canonized, because Hebrew was the Biblical language.
The Book of Ezra was a precedent for a canonical book
which had an Aramaic part (4 : 8-6 : 18). ' It is possible
that both in Ezra and in Daniel the change in language is
connected with the use of various sources in the composi
tion, but this does not seem probable in the case of Daniel.
1 So Marti and Comill.
I08

Apocalyptical Writers
It is true that the unity of the book cannot be assumed Unity of the
as certain. Even if, as seems highly probable, it all be
longs to the time of Antiochus, it is not impossible that the
visions were put forth separately, and that the book is a
collection, or a growth. Some think this the only explana
tion of the change from 1150 days (8 : 14) to 1290 (12 : ri),
and then to 1335 (12 : 12), as the length of the time of the
temple's desolation. This inconsistency can be explained
more simply by supposing 12 : n-12 a later addition
meant to fit the prophecy to a new situation. * The prevail
ing opinion is that the book is substantially a unit.2
The earliest evidence of the use of the Book of Daniel Earliest use
is found in First Maccabees 2 : 59-60, and in the Sibylline
Oracles, III, 396-400. It is interesting to compare the in
fluence and elaboration of the book in Palestinian and in
Alexandrian Judaism. In Palestine it called forth a lit
erature after its own sort, the apocalyptical, of which the
oldest extant specimens are contained in the Book of
Enoch. One of the later parts of Enoch (chs. 37-70) is
most directly dependent on Daniel. In the Alexandrian
version the book, as is well known, is supplemented by
additional stories which are contained in our Apocrypha :
the Prayer of Azarias and the Song of the Three Children,
supplementing chapter 3 ; the History of Susanna, and
Bel and the Dragon, illustrating the superior wisdom of
1 Gunkel, Marti, Comill.
* 9 : 4-20 is regarded as a later addition by von Gall, Marti, Cornill.
IO9

The Messages of the
Daniel. The interest of the Palestinian writers was to
interpret their own present and to forecast the future,
while the Hellenistic Jews were more concerned with wis
dom as a capacity that gave success and honor in common
human life. II
THE REWARDS OF FIDELITY TO THE LAW AND OF
faith in god (Daniel 1-6)
i. Loyalty to the Ceremonial Law (i)
This story introduces Daniel and his three companions
as young men who preserved strictly correct Jewish con
duct amid the allurements of a heathen court, and tells
of the vindication and reward of their fidelity and self-
restraint. The violation of the laws regarding food was
one of the demands of Antiochus Epiphanes, since this
was equivalent to apostasy from Jewish faith.1 The story
was therefore adapted to the needs of the hour.
The choice In the year 605 B.C.2 Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon,
youths'for took Jerusalem and carried the king Jehoiakim and some
'c'haldeans " °^ t'le sacred vessels of the temple to Babylonia,3 where he
(!-7) put the vessels into the temple of Marduk. Among the
Jewish captives who accompanied the king certain hand-
1 1 Mac. 1 : 47, 48, 62, 63 ; cf. 2 Mac. 5 : 27 ; 6 : 18 ff. ; 7 : 1.
2 But in fact Nebuchadnezzar's reign did not begin until 604 B. C.
3 According to 2 Chron. 36 : 6-7, but not 2 Kings 24 : 1-2.
no

Apocalyptical Writers
some and talented young men, of royal blood, were chosen
by the chief eunuch, at Nebuchadnezzar's command, to be
educated in the literature and language of the Chaldeans,
that after three years of training in body and mind they
might take their place in the king's service, in the class
of the wise men, whose functions were those of priests
and magicians.1 To four Jewish youths selected for this
training, Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,2 Baby
lonian names were given.
Daniel, their leader, determined not to violate the Jew- Daniel's re-
ish law by eating the food and drinking the wine pro- quest (8-13)
vided by the king. The chief eunuch did not at first dare
to grant his request, but the steward (or the chief eunuch
himself) finally consented to give Daniel and his com
panions uncooked vegetable food and water for ten days
on trial.
At the end of this time their condition compared favor- Vindication
ably with that of the other young men, so that this simple the'observ-
fare was continued. God rewarded the abstinence and \^{?mi)
strict observance of the law practised by the four Jews by
giving to them not only physical beauty and health but quick
intelligence, and to Daniel especially skill in visions and
dreams ; so that at the end of the three years the king found
1 These wise men were so characteristic of the Babylonians that the race
name, Chaldeans, came to be specifically applied to them, naturally not till
long after the end of the Chaldean empire (Dan. i : 4 ; 2 : 2, 4, 5, 10 ; 3 : 8 ;
4:7', 5:7.n- In the ethnic sense only in 5 : 30 ; 9:1).
2 For these names see Ezra 8:2; Neh. 8:4,10:2 (3), 23 (24).

The Messages of the
them superior to all the rest,1 and indeed wiser than all
the wise men in his kingdom. Daniel held his post in
the court until the time of Cyrus, 537 B. C. (about sixty-
five years).
2. Dream of Four World Kingdoms and the Kingdom
of God (2)
This is the first illustration of Daniel's superiority to
the wise men of Babylon. Jewish wisdom is superior to
heathen because it is due to divine revelation. Its won
derful disclosures of the future prove its divine origin,
for only the God who determines the future knows and
can make known its secrets. The dream of Nebuchad
nezzar contains in its most general form the central mes
sage of the , book, which the visions of chapters 7-12
only elaborate in greater detail. After the four great
world kingdoms there will come, without human effort,
suddenly and by miracle, the Kingdom of God. The
readers of the book would not fail to recognize that they
were living under the fourth kingdom, and to infer that
the end was near at hand. This message of the speedy
intervention of God, the overthrow of the ungodly power,
and the triumph and glory of God's faithful people, was
just adapted to inspire Jews to fidelity in the Maccabean
1 What follows from this point on (w. 20-21) may be a later gloss, since its
extravagant statement does not agree with Nebuchadnezzar's conduct in ch.
2, nor its chronology with 10:1, but rather with the Septuagint of 1 1 : 1.
112

Apocalyptical Writers
crisis. The chapter teaches faith in God, whose power
through Jewish seers to reveal the future is inseparable
from his power through the Jewish nation to bring the
prediction to pass.
In the second (twelfth?)1 year of his reign Nebuchad- The king's
nezzar had a dream which alarmed him, and he summoned his un-a°
his wise men to interpret it.2 He required them, tow-^^ble
ever, to tell him his dream as well as its interpretation.3 (>-«)
To the protests of the wise men against this unreasonable
demand the king only threatens them with death if they
cannot fulfil it, and explains that the requirement is meant
to test the reality of the superhuman arts they profess.4
They replied that such a demand was unheard of, one
that only the gods could meet, and, however mysterious
and magical their arts, they did not profess that the gods
dwelt in them. Inspiration in this (Jewish) sense they
denied to man.
The king in anger decreed, the destruction of all the His decree
wise men, including, of course, Daniel and his friends. (12-13)
1 The second seems too early on account of i : 5, 18.
2 The four names, magicians, enchanters, sorcerers and Chaldeans, probably
do not designate distinct classes, but in part the various methods of divination
practised by those who are sometimes called simply wise men (vv. 12, 13, 24),
or Chaldeans (w. 4, 5, 10). Still another name, soothsayers (or determiners)
is used (2 : 27 ; 4 : 7 ; 5 : 7, ")¦
» This story is closely related to that of Joseph's interpretation of Pharaoh's
dreams in Gen. 41, and is partly dependent on it.
1 Not that he had forgotten the dream. "3

The Messages of the

Daniel de
lays its exe
cution (14-16)
Prayer and
its answer
(17-19)
A psalm of
thanksgiving (20-23)

Danielcomes be
fore the
king (24-30)

and tells
him his
dream (31-35)

Daniel secured a delay in the execution of the sentence,
and in answer to his prayers and those of his fellows, God
revealed the dream and its meaning to him in a night
vision. Daniel in a psalm praised the wisdom and power
of God. It is he that determines the successive periods of
world history.1 Through him kingdoms rise and fall. It
is he that reveals the secrets of the future, for he alone
knows them.
After giving thanks, Daniel told the captain who was
charged to kill the wise men that he was prepared to ful
fil the king's demand. Introduced by the captain Daniel
appeared before the king, and said : None of the wise men
can reveal the king's secret, but there is a God in heaven
that reveals secrets, and it is he who has disclosed to the
king in his dream the future course and end of human
history, on which he was reflecting. For your sake, 0
king, and not because of my superior wisdom, God has
revealed to me the mystery of the dream.
Your dream was of a colossal statue of brilliant and
terrifying appearance. It was made of four sorts of ma
terial of lessening value from the head to the feet, gold,
silver, brass, and a mixture of iron and clay. As you
looked at it, a stone, hewn and cast by no human hand,
broke the feet, so that the image fell in a heap and its dust
was blown away by the wind, while the stone became an
enormous rock. 1 2 Chron. 20 : 6.
114

Apocalyptical Writers
This is the meaning of the dream : The four parts of and its
the image, from the head downward, are four successive ^|-«)g
world empires. Thine, O king [the Babylonian], is theT^Jour
first and greatest, God having given thee, as Jeremiah kingdoms
says (27 : 6-7, 28 : 14), absolute rule over man and beast.
The second kingdom [the Median] shall be inferior to
thine. The third [the Persian] shall have a world-wide
sway. The fourth [the Greek] shall be at first [in Alex
ander] invincibly strong, but soon division will come.
Rivalries [of the Seleucids and the Ptolemies] shall be a
source of weakness. Efforts to unite the separate parts
by royal marriages 1 will fail, and the world kingdom, in
spite of elements of strength, will betray, in its final form,
a fatal weakness, which will be a sign of its approaching
end. Then God will intervene and overthrow the world and the
empire. In its place he will set up his own rule, to be Gocf °m °
exercised through his own people, Israel, and never again (44-45)
transferred to another. The stone that you saw in your
dream is a guarantee of the certainty of. this prediction.
The king, in wonder and awe, worshipped Daniel as a The king
divine being, and confessed that the God of the Jews is GoYand
superior to all other gods, because he alone can reveal the T^Sd*
future. He promoted Daniel to the highest place in his (46-49)
court, and made him also chief of his wise men. At Dan
iel's request his three friends were given places of authority
in Babylonia, but Daniel remained at the court.
1 More fully described in n : 6, 17.
"5

The Messages of the

The great
image and
its worship
(i-7)

Accusa tions,threat and
choice (8-18)

The execu
tion of the
threat(10-23)The rescue
(24-27)

3. Faith Tried by Fire (3)
Nebuchadnezzar made a great statue,1 covered with
gold, ninety feet high and nine feet broad,2 on a plain near
Babylon, and summoned all the officers of his kingdom to
its dedication. It was then announced that at the sound
of musical instruments all must bow down and worship
the image on penalty of death by fire.3 So when the
music sounded everyone worshipped the image.
Then some of the wise men accused the three Jews of
disregarding the king's order. The king in anger sum
moned them into his presence, and put before them the
threatened punishment, adding, Who is the God that shall
deliver you out of my hand ? They reply, We believe that
our God will deliver us, but even if he does not, we will
not worship the image.
Nebuchadnezzar in a rage ordered the furnace heated
far beyond its ordinary condition, and the men were bound,
without removing their inflammable outer garments, and
cast into the fire.4 But when the king looked into the
furnace he was amazed at seeing four men unbound and
1 Whether of himself or of a god is not certain.
2 This is twice as high in proportion to its breadth as the human figure.
3 That Nebuchadnezzar could have inflicted such penalties might be known
from Jer. 29 : 22, which seems to be a historical allusion. That Antiochus
went to this length we can infer from Dan. 11 : 33, and 2 Mac. 7 : 3-5.
4 Here follow in the LXX, Vulgate and other versions the prayer of Azariah
and the Song of the Three Children, which may be read in our Apocrypha.
Il6

Apocalyptical Writers
unharmed, and the fourth, he declared, was like one of
the gods. Coming near he summoned them forth as ser
vants of the Most High God.1 They came forth without
a trace of fire on their persons or clothing. Nebuchad- its conse-
nezzar confessed the greatness of Israel's God, and decreed $Mo)
toleration for the Jewish religion throughout the world,
with the severest penalties upon all who opposed or de
nounced it. The three Jews were reinstated in office.2
4. The Proud King's Humiliation (4)
The story of Nebuchadnezzar's humiliation and resto
ration teaches that Jehovah rules and that earthly kings
have their kingdom from him, and must recognize his su
preme kingship if they would hold their own with security.
The idea is by no means new. Our writer is influenced
in his expression of it by Jeremiah 27 : 5-6. Isaiah had
already expressed the same faith with reference to Assyria
(Isa. 10 : 5 ff.), and had preached the truth that pride and
indifference to the majesty of God is man's great sin and
will bring upon him God's humbling judgment. In Dan
iel the message is made the more striking because it is put
into the mouth of Nebuchadnezzar himself, as a com
munication to all peoples. In a part of the chapter indeed
the writer seems to forget this device, and Nebuchadnezzar
1 This phrase is often used, from Gen. 14 on, and especially as a heathen
name for the one true God of Israel.
2 The story illustrates Isa. 43 : 2. 117

The Messages of the

is spoken of in the third person (w. 19-33). The fitness
of the story to sustain the courage of Jews in resisting the
arrogant claims of Antiochus is obvious. That any actual
incident in Nebuchadnezzar's life underlies it is improb
able. Yet here as elsewhere the writer may have availed
himself of current traditions. A Babylonian legend is
actually preserved,1 which goes back to about 300 B. C,
that Nebuchadnezzar was once inspired to predict the
overthrow of the Babylonian kingdom by Cyrus, and that
he expressed the wish that Cyrus might rather be driven
forth to wander alone among the wild beasts of the desert.
It is of some interest to observe that in both stories Neb
uchadnezzar receives a divine communication, and that
the fate which in the Babylonian story he invokes upon
the enemy of his nation, in Daniel falls upon himself.
This may give us a suggestion of the free way in which
such legendary materials were handled. Of course, the
story contains further evidence of the skill and truth of
Daniel's interpretation of mysteries.
Nebuchadnezzar greets all nations, and wishes to make
known to them a wonderful experience in which the God
of Israel showed him his power and eternal rulership.
Nebuchad- I was in peace and prosperity, with no thought of evil,
troubled by a when I had a dream that troubled me. My wise men
to Daniei™s could not interpret it. I therefore called in Daniel, who
(4-9) is a truly inspired magician, and told him this dream : I
1 Eusebius, Prosp. Evang., ix., 41.
Il8

Greetingand theme
(1-3)

Apocalyptical Writers
saw a great tree that seemed to fill the earth and reach to and tells him
the sky.1 It was beautiful, and its fruit gave food and its (io-isT"
branches shelter to all. Then an angel came from heaven
and ordered the tree cut down, warned beasts and birds
to flee, and commanded that the stump be left immovable '
in the grass, wet with dew, in company with the beasts, and
that a beast's mind take the place in him of a man's ; 3 and
this for seven years.4 Such is the sentence of the angelic
court, and its purpose is to teach that God rules on earth
and gives power to whomsoever he will.
To this dream Daniel after long hesitation, because of The inter-
its appalling import, gave me the interpretation. The tree, fi^27)a
he said, is thyself, O king, and the words of the angel sig
nify that God decrees for thee a life among the beasts and
as one of them for seven years, till thou shalt acknowledge
that he alone is king. But as the stump was preserved,
so thou shalt be restored, after confessing that heaven6
1 Compare the tree to which Assyria is likened in Ezek. 31 : 3-14.
2 This may be the meaning of the band of iron and brass, but the writer
may already have dropped the figure.
3 This applies only to the king, no longer in any sense to the tree. In
sanity was conceived of as possession by a brute soul.
4 "Times," stands for years, in accordance with the apocalyptical termi
nology, in which simple things are hidden behind mystical names.
fi The earliest use of heaven as a name of God, not elsewhere in the Old
Testament (yet cf. 2 Chron. 32 : 20), but very common in later writings.
The verse shows how easy the change would be from the idea of the God of
heaven ruling through the ministry of heavenly beings, to the use of "the
heavens" as a name of God himself. 119

The Messages of the
rules. But now, O king, know that by righteousness and
alms-giving this evil may be averted.
The fulfil- A year later, as the king was surveying Babylon from
S^jty of the roof of his palace, and glorying in the splendid city he
(28-^33? ^ad made for himself, a voice from heaven ' announced
the end of his rule and the fulfilment of the dream, which
followed that very hour. The king became insane and
hved as a wild man among the beasts, imagining himself
to be one of them.
His recovery At the end of the seven years, I, Nebuchadnezzar, looked
version up toward heaven, and with this sign of my recognition of
(34-37) QoA I became sane again and praised God as the only and
absolute ruler. Then I was re-established in my place as
king, and now I worship the God who rules in justice and
humbles the proud.
5. God's Judgment upon a Sacrilegious King (5)
That God abases those who walk in pride (4 : 37) is
also the theme of the story of Belshazzar, and this story
is closely connected with the preceding one by Daniel's
repetition of the story of the humiliation and conversion
of Nebuchadnezzar (w. 18-21). The sin of Belshazzar
was greater than his father's, for he not only forgot God
in his pride, but was guilty of an act of sacrilege in using
the temple vessels in a feast. The application of the story
1 Later Jews had much to say about the Bath Kol as a means of revelation.
See Matt. 3 : 17 ; 17 : 5 ; John 12 : 28 ; Acts 11 : 7, 9 ; Rev. 10 : 4.
120

Apocalyptical Writers
to Antiochus was self-evident. He had despoiled the tem
ple of its holy vessels (i Mac. i : 21-24), though we do
not know that he had put them to a profane use. Bois
terous revelry, however, he often did indulge in ; and as to
sacrilege, the erecting of an altar to Zeus on the altar of
burnt incense was far worse than Belshazzar's deed. The
fall of Antiochus, the writer meant to say, is no less certain
than that of this prototype, and like his it will involve
the end of his dynasty and race.
Belshazzar gave a magnificent feast to one thousand The feast
of his lords. When under the influence of wine he or- tmg's tm-
dered the vessels which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from piety 'I_4)
the temple of Jerusalem to be brought in and used by the
feasters, the women of the king's harem, as well as the
men. In the midst of this revelry the king was terrified by the The writing
sight of a hand, writing on the wall. Summoning his wise (s-9)
men he offered one of the three highest places in his king
dom to the one who could read and interpret the writing,
but none could do it.
The queen reminded Belshazzar of the way in which Daniel is
Daniel had proved his skill and inspiration during the (yo-™?™5
preceding reign. He was therefore summoned, and the
task and rewards set before him. Renouncing the re
wards he promised to read the writing and disclose its
meaning. He first rebuked Belshazzar for not learning from his

The Messages of the
He rebukes father's insanity and recovery to acknowledge the true
interprets111 God. In spite of this he has gone even further in putting
(is-™)"18 tke k°lv property of God to profane use, and in worship
ping idols in place of the creator and sustainer of his life.
On this account the hand was sent to write words of doom,
Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin (or, and Parsin). These
are the names of three weights, or coins : mene, fifty shekels,
tekel, a shekel, upharsin (two?) half -shekels.1 But the
words suggest something more than mere weights. Mene
means numbered ; so thy kingdom is numbered and ended.
Tekel suggests weighed (Tekil) ; so thou art weighed and
found lacking. Peres z suggests both divided (Peris) and
Persian (Paras) ; so thy kingdom is divided and given to
the Medes and Persians.
The reward The king fulfilled his promise to Daniel, and that very
and the'end night was slain and succeeded by Darius, the Mede, who
sha^zar was aD0ut thirty-two years old.
(29-31)' 6. God's Protection of one who Would not Worship a
King (6)
The lesson of this story is like that of chapters 1 and 3,
the safety of obedience to the law, without secrecy or fear,
whatever the threats and persecutions of the godless. The
1 Some think the weights suggest the great Babylonian kingdom, the lesser
Medo-Persian, and the divided Greek ; or Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, and
the dual Medo-Persian kingdom.
2 This may be the singular of which Parsin is the plural or dual.

Apocalyptical Writers
story, which is closely related to that of chapter 3, was
of value even to its writer, not as fact, but as truth. The
religious faith it embodies is contained in Psalm 91 : 10-13,
a passage that can be so misapplied as to express an un
truth and become a temptation to sin (Matt. 4:5-7). Its
truth is adapted to those who face persecution for right
eousness' sake. The fitness of the story to the times is
obvious. Antiochus assumed the r61e of a deity, as other
Greek kings had done, but with greater arrogance, and
the Jews were compelled to take part in this cult on pain
of death.
Darius gave Daniel a position like that which Bel- Daniel's
shazzar awarded him, that of one of three chief officers (i?3)P ace
to whom the one hundred and twenty satraps who ruled his
domain were accountable. Daniel proved so superior to
the others, because of the divine presence with him, that
the king thought of putting him in sole command.
Jealous of his power the other officers conspired to The plot
bring about his fall. They could find no fault with his cf^)St ™
administration of his office, and could hope to rob him of
the king's favor only on the ground of his peculiar religion.
They therefore proposed to Darius to demand that prayer
should be addressed to none but himself for thirty days,
on pain of being cast to the lions. They succeeded in
getting the king's consent to this flattering request, and
his formal assumption of the r61e of a god.
Daniel continued his habit of praying three times daily
123

The Messages of the
Daniel is a at his open window with his face toward Jerusalem.1 His
coSph-acy e enemies found him thus, and accused him to the king.
(10-17) Darius was not angry with Daniel, but rather regretted
his own action. He made every effort to save Daniel,
but in vain. The king's decree was inviolable and the
sentence must be executed. With the hope that Daniel's
God would yet deliver him, Darius committed him to the
lions, closing and sealing the den.
The deliver- After a sleepless night the king hastened to the den and
24 was rejoiced to find Daniel unharmed. An angel, he said,
had kept him safe, because of his innocence before God
and the king, and because of his faith. Daniel's accusers
and their families were cast into the den in his place, and
were immediately destroyed by the ravenous fury of the
beasts.
The decree Then Darius wrote a decree of toleration for the Jewish
(25-28) religion, as Nebuchadnezzar had done, to be enforced in
all his realm. So Daniel prospered under Darius, and
still later under Cyrus. Ill
VISIONS OF THE FALL OF ANTIOCHUS AND THE
COMING OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD (7- 1 2)
The second main division of the book, chapters 7-12,
consists of four visions of Daniel, seen in the reigns of
1 See Ps. 55 : 17 ; 1 Kings 8 : 35, 38, 44, 48 ; Tobit 3 : 11.
124

Apocalyptical Writers
Belshazzar, Darius and CyruS. They are told in the Purpose of
first person, but the first and fourth are introduced by a "ip^te™
verse which speaks of Daniel in the third person, as is
the case throughout chapters 1-6. It is said definitely
that Daniel himself wrote the first vision (7 : 1), and it is
implied that he wrote them all, or all of the book, and
sealed it, so that its contents should remain unknown
and unchanged until the time of the fulfilment, long after
his death (12 : 4, 9, 13 ; cf . 8 : 26).
The aim of this second part of the book is the same as
that of the first. There by stories of past judgments and
deliverances, here by visions of the immediately approach
ing overthrow of Israel's enemy, and the glorious salva
tion of the faithful people of God, the Jews were ad
monished to endure persecution and hold fast to the law.
In chapter 2, in the earlier section, the message of the
visions is anticipated.
1. Origin and Growth of the Vision of Four Beasts
The first vision is in many ways of great importance importance
in the history of religion. This is clear enough simply fentsc°?~
in view of the fact that the Messianic use of the phrase, chapter 7
Son of Man, in Enoch and in the Gospels has its source
here. The chapter contains the vision (1-14) ; its effect
on Daniel, and his appeal to an angel for its meaning
(15-16) ; a summary interpretation (17-18) ; a further
request for more particulars (19-22) ; the reply of the
"5

The Messages of the

Relation be
tween the
vision and

angel (23-27) ; and Daniel's mental state after the vision
(28). It is to be noticed that in Daniel's request for more
particulars (19-22) he adds some details to the vision it-
tationterpre' self : namely> that the fourth beast had "nails of brass";
that the httle horn became greater than the others ; and
that it made war with the saints and prevailed against
them. Nothing is said of such a war in verse 8. Further
the reply of the angel (23-27) not only describes the fourth
kingdom and the character and deeds of its last king, but
adds the important new item that his insolent and sac
rilegious dominance over the saints is to last three and a
half "times" (v. 25). Why does the vision as it is first
described lack these elements? Again why does it con
tain elements not used in the interpretation? "The four
winds," and the storm which they cause on "the great
sea" are unexplained. Again the description of the di
verse appearance of the four beasts occupies an impor
tant place in the vision (3-8), but the interpretation passes
all this by with the general remark that the four beasts
are four kingdoms, adding "that shall arise out of the
earth," in contrast to v. 3, and then gives attention only
to the fourth beast, and chiefly to the eleventh horn (18-
25). Now there is much in the description of the first
three beasts that needs elucidation. If these had been
interpreted even as fully as were the four parts of the
image in chapter 2, or with entire explicitness as are the
126

Apocalyptical Writers
animal figures in the second vision (ch. 8), how long a
chapter of rehgious history would have been not at all or
very differently written !
What are we to infer from this partial want of adjust- inferences
ment between the vision and the interpretation? Our sou'rce'of the
answer to this question bears on the answer to another : jjjjjj^. in.
Where did our writer get the vision from? Did he in-vention, tra-
. ., _ . , , . . ,. . _ _ . , , . . dition or
vent it ? Did he get it from tradition ? Did he see it in trance
a literal trance ? The relation of invention and tradition
in the writing of apocalypses is a most important and
difficult problem, as we have already seen. In a case like
the one before us we should naturally look for tradition
especially in those features of the vision which the writer
does not apply or explain in his interpretation. On the
other hand we should suspect invention, creating or at
least modifying the material, at points which fit with special
closeness the message he is most interested in communi
cating, and the peculiar situation of his own time.
Now in verses 2 and 3 there are features that seem to
have no significance to the writer (cf. v. 17). It is natural
therefore to suppose that the winds and the stormy sea
and the coming up of the beasts that stand for the godless
kingdoms out of the sea, belong to a fixed tradition. And
in fact we have positive evidence that this is the case.
This is a new form of the old conception of the dragon
of the watery chaos. On the other hand the enumeration
of just four beasts, and the precise description of them,
127

The Messages of the
fits the writer's view of the four kingdoms of which he
wrote in chapter 2 closely enough so that we may sup
pose that he fashioned, or at least refashioned them
with a measure of independence, though the fact that he
does not care to give an interpretation of their details by
the angel makes one hesitate. Perhaps the idea of the
four world kingdoms and the adaptation of the chaos
monster to them were already current in the circles to
which our writer belonged. His creative hand is most
clearly seen in the fourth beast and especially in the httle
horn, which is not a natural feature in the picture, but is
far the most important feature for the author's purpose.
In fact this is history under only a thin disguise. The
little horn is described not as a horn, but as a man (v. 8).
In the vision of God and his judgment and the one like
a son of man and his dominion (9-14), the proportion and
relation of old and new are harder to determine. The vis
ion is not unrelated to earlier visions of God (1 Kings 22 :
19 ; Deut. 33 : 2 (?) ; Ex. 24 : 10 ; Isa. 6 ; Ezek. 1). The
figure of the one like a man, the representative of the holy
people of God and of their destined rulership, in contrast to
the beasts who represent the heathen kingdoms, certainly
embodies the writer's ruling faith and hope, and we are
tempted to regard this use of it as in a measure his own.
But, it may be asked, what of the third possibility, that
the whole vision, just as it is described, was seen by the
seer in actual vision or trance ? Our earlier study of vision
128

Apocalyptical Writers
has prepared us to consider the question in an unpreju- Relation of
diced spirit, and to realize that it does not in fact involve usTof tradi"-6
a third view of the source of the symbolism essentially dif- ''"n/"11 m"
ferent from the two already considered, tradition and in
vention. The question of actual vision resolves itself for
us practically into the question of the presence of an emo
tional element in our writer's experience, more or less in
excess of the normal. In verses 15 and 28 partly physical
effects are described, which might follow a more or less
complete state of trance or ecstasy. The reality of the
vision as a psychological experience can be admitted more
easily in the case of some apocalyptical products than in
that of others ; more easily, for example, in this first than
in the second of Daniel's visions. But even when it is
present in a high degree it does not make the appeal to
tradition and to inventive imagination superfluous or mis
taken. For even in such states the mind still works over
materials which it already possesses. Indeed the natural
effect of these conditions of emotional transport is rather
to give new meanings to objects present before the senses,
or in memory, than to create wholly new objects.
2. "One like unto a Son of Man"
The main points in the interpretation of this vision are interpreta-
clear. The four beast-like figures, and the figure like a -^^ ;n e
man stand for the nations which successively possess do- Beneral
minion over the world. It is highly probable that the
129

The Messages of the
four are the same that are imaged in Nebuchadnezzar's
dream (ch. 2). Beyond question the first is the Baby
lonian and the fourth the Greek.
views as to In regard to the figure "like'unto a son of man," that is,
Man00 °f simply, like a man (v. 13), although in some way it must
represent Israel, three different interpretations are pos-
ls it the sible. In the earliest use of the vision of which we have
Messiah? knowledge) ;n the similitudes of the Book of Enoch (chs.
37-70), this figure is understood to be the Messiah. So
it is in the New Testament,1 and in Second Esdras 13:3;
and this has been the current Jewish and Christian inter
pretation. It does not seem, however, to have been the
meaning of the writer. The expression "one like a man''
excludes the view that it was actually a man. Moreover
no Messiah appears elsewhere. The task of overthrow
ing the Greek king and setting up the kingdom of Israel is
ascribed to God himself, or where an intermediary agent
appears it is Michael, the angel prince of Israel. More
over, the writer seems to give an explicit interpretation of
is it a sym- the figure. In verse 14 he is the one to whom the kingdom
Israel? is finally to be given, and in verses 18, 22 and 27 this honor
falls to "the people of the saints of the Most High."
1 See, for example, Matt. 24 : 30 ; 26 : 64 ; 16 : 27 f. It is not so clear how
the writer of Revelation understood it. He uses the imagery to describe his
vision of the heavenly Christ in 1 : 13, but only in connection with features
taken from the Ancient of Days (v. 14), and the angel of Dan., 10 : 5-6, while
in Rev. 14 : 14 he seems to take the figure to be an angel rather than the
Messiah. 130

Apocalyptical Writers
According to this, just as the beasts are symbolic repre
sentations of four successive ruling nations, from the Baby
lonian to the Greek, so the human figure is a symbol of
Israel, as it finally receives the kingdom at God's hand.
This is the view of the majority of recent commentators.
There is, however, a third possibility. This heavenly is it an
representative of Israel may be an angel rather than aange
mere symbol ; and if an angel then presumably Michael,
since he is Israel's representative and counterpart in the
spirit realm. In favor of this view, which has been urged
by two recent writers independently,1 it may be argued
that the figure has a distinctly heavenly character, and
especially that the coming on clouds is appropriate only
for God {e.g., Isa. 19 : 1 ; Ps. 104 : 3) or an angel (cf. Rev.
10:1). The impression he makes is that of majesty,
not of human weakness. There is no hint of foregoing
sufferings, such as Israel has to endure (7 : 25 ; 12 : 1), nor
of impurities needing to be cleansed (n : 35). Further
more, very similar expressions are used of an angel in
8 : 15, 16 ; 9:21; 10 : 16, 18. An angel is not a man, but
is like a man. This view does justice both to the im
pression of distinct personality which led to the first in
terpretation of the figure as Messiah, and also to the
second interpretation which regards it as a symbol of
1Prof. N. Schmidt, in Journal of Biblical Literature, 1900, i., pp. 22-28;
and Prof. J. Grill, Untersuchungen liber die Enlstehung des vierten Evan-
geliums, 1900, i., pp. 50-57. 131

The Messages of the
the people of God. For this writer shares the current
belief in guardian, or rather representative, angels of the
nations (10 : 13, 14 ; 10 : 20 ; n : 1). Michael is Israel's
angel prince, and his victory in the heavenly realm over
the angels of other nations, and his receiving the kingdom,
would mean precisely Israel's victory over its enemies on
earth and its attainment of world-rulership. In fact it is
evident that Michael occupies an important place in our
writer's view of Israel's fortunes, and his mediatorship
is an important factor in the coming of the longed-for
salvation. He, with Gabriel, fights against Israel's ene
mies, the angels of Persia and Greece, and his appearance
as Israel's champion at the height of its distress will mean
the coming of its salvation and glory (12 : 1). In this
passage he appears immediately after the death of An
tiochus (n : 45), just as in 7 : 13 the one like a man ap
pears just after the same event (w. 11-12). It is not
said that Michael himself overthrows Greece, unless this
is implied in 10 : 20, 21. It was, however, at some time a
current idea that Michael was to be the conqueror of the
demoniac dragon power (Rev. 12 : 7). It is natural,
therefore, to raise the question whether either in our
writer's own view, or in the older tradition of which he
made use, the one like a man was not himself the destroyer
of the water beast.1 If so then 7: n-12 would describe
1 According to the LXX, 8 : n, it appears that Michael is to be the deliv
erer of Israel from Antiochus. I32

Apocalyptical Writers
this victory, and in verse 13 the conqueror would be seen
rising up from his conflict with the sea -monster, borne on a
cloud to the presence of God, where he receives as a reward
for his victory rulership over the world.1 This, however,
is not so clear as is the general idea that the one like a
man is an angel. This is probably the view of the writer,
and it seems also to have been the understanding of the
passage in Revelation 14 : 14, where the connection pre
vents us from understanding it as the Messiah.
If the one like a man is an angel being, the question The beasts
arises whether the beasts may not also be more than sym- as demons
bols. In fact, the ancient chaos dragon, whose element
is the sea, has a demoniac character, and it is not improb
able that in this new form the old personification may
have been still in mind. This would account for the
fact that the first three beasts seem to be still in existence
after the fourth is destroyed, and continue for a time after
the judgment, though without power (v. 12). This could
not be said of the Babylonian, Median and Persian king
doms, but might be said of their spirit counterparts.
It is important to notice that our writer does not expect Influence on
a human deliverer from the present distress, but only a Messiahas °
divine. A hero and king of David's line and of David's
1 According to 2 Esdr. 13 : 1, the Son of Man rises from the heart of the sea,
and it must be confessed that die expressions used in Dan. 7 : 13 do not justify
the idea of Enoch 37-70, that he comes from heaven where he pre-exists. He
comes not from God but to him. 133

The Messages of the
type, the Messiah, as he was popularly regarded, could
neither save Israel in this supreme peril, nor bring to pass
so transcendent a destination for the true people of God
as this writer hoped for. An angel counterpart of the
Messianic nation therefore displaces the human repre
sentative. It is also exceedingly interesting to see how,
partly, and perhaps even largely, under the influence of
this passage, the Messiah was himself later on hfted up
and given an angelic rather than a Davidic character.1
So that although in Daniel the Messiah is displaced by
an angelic being, yet in the end the book had a very great
influence on the development of the conception of Messiah,
by which angelic qualities are ascribed to him, and con
tributed to the process by which a part of Judaism was
prepared to accept as Messiah one who renounced the
Davidic ideal.
3. The Four World Kingdoms and the Kingdom of God (7)
The vision In the first year of Belshazzar Daniel had a dream-
beasts(i-3) vision at night, which he wrote down as follows : I saw a
wind-tossed sea,2 and out of it came four great beasts, one
after another.
The Baby- The noblest of the four was the first, a lion with vulture's
kingdom (4) wings. Its wings were torn off, symbolizing the humbling
of its soaring pride ; but then it was raised up from its
1 Enoch 37-70.
2 The familiar symbol of the source and element of the power of evil.
J34

Apocalyptical Writers
humiliation and given the appearance and mind of a
man.1 The second beast was like a bear, half reclining, repre- The king-
senting a voracious and insatiable, but slothful, power. Medef 00
Three ribs in its mouth suggested that it had just devoured
a kingdom (or three kingdoms?), and it was summoned
to devour yet more.2
The third beast was like a leopard (or panther) with The king-
four wings (suggesting the rapidity and range of its move- PeSi?f(6)
ments), and four heads, that is four kings. The world
empire was given to this kingdom.3
Then I saw a fourth beast, too terrible in aspect and
power to be compared with any earthly animal. It had
1 To be understood of Nebuchadnezzar, representing the first and best of
the four kingdoms, the head of gold (2 : 37-38), and the humiliation through
which he was healed of his heathen arrogance and obtained a truly human
(Jewish) character (ch. 4).
2 Probably the Medes, in accordance with 2 : 39*. The Medes were mer
ciless conquerors during the Assyrian and Chaldean periods, yet remained an
inferior power. The character of the Medes is described in Isa. 13 : 17-18 ;
21 12 ; Jer. 51 : n, 28. Since the first beast represented Nebuchadnezzar
personally, it has been suggested that the second is Belshazzar, the luxurious,
feasting king. But this is less probable. It is true that the king and the
kingdom were almost interchangeable terms to our writer (cf. 7 : 17 with
7 : 23-24).
3 The Persian empire, which under Cyrus gained the position of the ruling
world power. So in 2 : 3Qb. That our author supposed that there were
only four kings of Persia appears from n : 2 (see p. 157). Those who
regard the second beast as Belshazzar are obliged to make this the Medo-
Persian empire ; but this is not in accordance with our writer's view.
135

The Messages of the
The Greek iron teeth (and brass claws, v. 19) with which it devoured
Antiochus1 and tore in pieces, trampling what it left under its feet.
IV (7-8) This beast had ten horns, and as I was looking at it an
eleventh came up, at first a little one, yet it tore out three
others (and became greater than all, v. 20). This horn
had human eyes and mouth, and uttered boastful and
insolent words.1
The coming I then had a vision of the coming of God as judge. His
judgment appearance was that of an aged man,2 clothed in white,
'9~12' seated on a chariot of fire 3 and surrounded by countless
angels.4 The court sat on thrones prepared for them, and
the books of judgment were opened. The eleventh horn
was even then uttering his boastful words, on account of
which the beast was slain and consumed with fire.5 His
fate was more severe than that of the three who preceded
him, for they were left in existence for a time, though
without authority.6
Then I saw a figure like a man, borne, like a divine
being, on clouds to God, and introduced by angels into
1 The seer could not attribute to a horn the character and deeds he wished
to describe, so partly drops the figure and lets us see that the horn is a man
The interpretation of this beast is given further on in the chapter.
2 Cf. Isa. 44 : 6 ; Ps. 55 : 19. 3 Cf. Ezek. 1:4, 13 ; 10 : 2, 6-7.
4 Cf. 1 Kings 22 : 19 ; Ex. 24 : 10 ; Deut. 33 : 2.
6 Cf. Isa. 66 : 24.
6 Their destruction was not involved in that of the fourth, as it was in 2 : 34,
35. 44. 45. Perhaps, however, the meaning is not that the three survived
the fourth, but that in the past, when they had been displaced, it had been
by a less violent catastrophe. 136

Apocalyptical Writers
his presence. And there was given to him absolute ruler- The corona-
v - ii .• r , tion of ls-
snip over all nations forever.1 raePsrepre-
In distress and perplexity at the vision, I approached ^l^6
one of the host of ministering angels and asked him its The general
mterpreta-
meaning.2 He answered, The four beasts are four king- tion (15-18)
doms which are to be, but the holy people of God will at
last receive the rule and hold it forever.
I asked for more detail concerning the fourth beast Questions
and especially the eleventh horn, adding that it seemed as to the
larger than the others, and that I had seen it make vie- [i^t2h7))east
torious war against the true Israelites until God's inter
vention in their favor.3 The angel explained that the
fourth kingdom (the Greek) would differ from those that
preceded it in that it would crush out existing states
and impose its own new political forms upon conquered
peoples. The ten horns, he said, are ten kings.4 The
1 His kingdom has the characteristics of God's (2 : 44 ; 4:3". 4 : 34 J
6 : 26), and is evidently identical with it.
2 The angel interpreter is a fixed feature in apocalypses. Dan. 8 names
Gabriel as his interpreter. Ezek. 40-48 and Zech. 1 : 7-6 : 8 already have such
angel guides and instructors.
3 This feature has no place in the original vision since w. 8 and 11 speak
only of the arrogance and impiety of this king's speech. Some regard verses
21-22 therefore as a later insertion, interrupting the connection of question
and answer, but they seem to be required by v. 25.
4 In this vision the dividing of Alexander's kingdom into four parts is not
alluded to, as it is in 8 : 8, 22 ¦, 11 : 4. Since the eleventh horn is Antiochus
IV, the ten are probably the kings of the Seleucid line. They can be counted
as follows : i. Alexander, 2. Seleucus I, 3. Antiochus I, 4. Antiochus II, 5.
Seleucus II, 6. Seleucus III, 7. Antiochus III, 8. Seleucus IV, 9. Heliodorus,
10. Demetrius I. The last three, however, are variously reckoned (see p. 83).
137

The Messages of the
eleventh will gain his place by overthrowing three of his
predecessors. He will blaspheme God and persecute God's
people, and will plan to stop the observance of the legal
ordinances ; and he will even succeed in this for three and
a half years.1 Then will come the judgment and he shall
be destroyed, and the kingdom given to the holy people of
God, the Jews (that is, the law-abiding Jews), who will rule
over all nations for all time.
Effect of the This disclosure of the future troubled me, but I kept it
vision (28) wholly t0 mySeif.
4. Duration of the Temple's Desecration
Almost the only element of mystery in the second vision
(ch. 8) is the prediction of the exact length of time during
which the daily sacrifices of the temple shall be omitted
(8 : 14). Apart from this we have simple history, with
only the thinnest disguise of imagery, and with no dis
closures about the heavenly or angelic background of
human events.
The estimate of the length of the temple's desecration,
1 150 days, is hard to explain. It does not correspond to
the three and a half years of 7 : 25 and 12 : 7, with which
the 1290 and 1335 days of 12 : 11-12 are more nearly, but
not exactly, in agreement. These last numbers are more
than three years and a half, and we can imagine that
the time was lengthened because of events, first by a half
1 On this period see pp. 144-46.
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Apocalyptical Writers
month or so, and then by a month and a half more. But
1 150 days is less than two months in excess of three years.
Now according to First Maccabees the "desolating ini
quity" was erected on the fifteenth of Kislev (about De
cember), 168 B. C. The first sacrifice on it was offered
on the twenty-fifth. The restoration was accomplished
exactly three years after the latter date (1 Mac. 4 : 42-58).
But even three years and ten days falls short of 1150 days
by a month and a half.1 It is quite conceivable that this
number was added after the rededication. If so it is
probably exact. Just 2300 morning and evening offerings
had been omitted. In that case First Maccabees and the
tradition of an exact three years are mistaken.2 If on the
other hand the number belongs to Daniel then we cannot
tell why it does not correspond with the other reckonings of
the book. 5. The Victorious Alexander and the Despotic
Antiochus (8)
Two years later I had another vision. I seemed to be The ram,
in Susa, the capital of Elam, the residence of the Persian th™Med°s
kings. I was by the river Ulai [Eulaeus], when I saw on and4Persians
the opposite side ( ?) of the river a ram with two horns, of
which the higher came up last. The ram pushed with
irresistible force toward the west and north and south.
1 From 60 to 17 days according to the reckoning of the year.
2 On this possibility see p. 105.
139

The Messages of the
The goat Then from the west I saw a goat coming over the earth
andltegreat with incredible speed, as if on wings. It had one great
ander)A'eX h°rn, and when it came with furious rage against the ram
(5-8) it overcame and destroyed it. But in the midst of its
career the great horn was broken, and four horns came up
in its place toward the four points of the compass.
The little Out of one of them came a little horn that grew very
tiochus IV) fast toward the south and east and toward Palestine. It
pFety'to-™) made war not only against these countries but against their
religions, even casting down some of their gods [putting
an end to their worship].1 Its arrogance was so great that
it even arose against the supreme God, the God of Israel,
stopped the regular daily sacrifice z and desecrated his tem
ple, erected the Iniquity 3 [the altar to Zeus] on the altar
of burnt offering, and overthrew the true religion. And
what it did succeeded.
How long? Then I heard one angel asking another how long this
would last — that is, the cessation of the daily sacrifice,
the presence of the heathen altar and the desolation of the
temple. The answer was, for 1150 days, until 2300 morn
ing and evening sacrifices have been omitted ; then shall
faith in the temple, shaken by its desecration, be justified
by its restoration.
As I tried to understand the vision an angel stood be-
1 For the thought that the stars represent or are the gods of the heathen,
see Deut. 4 : 19 ; 32 : 8 LXX ; Isa. 24 : 21 ff. ; En. 80 : 7.
2 "The continual," Ex. 29 : 42. 3 This depends on a revised text.
140

(13-14)

Apocalyptical Writers
fore me and a voice from the river addressed him as Ga- Gabriel in-
briel, and bade him interpret the vision to me. At his ^smn's ' e
approach I fell down in terror, but he said, Know, O man, ('s-26)
that the vision concerns the last great crisis in world history.
As he spoke, I fell stunned to the ground, but his touch re
vived me and brought me to my feet ; and he explained
the disclosures of the vision as to the last stages of history,
the final manifestations of the wrath of God, as follows :
The ram with two horns signifies the empire of the Medes
and Persians.1 The goat is Greece ; the great horn is its
first king [Alexander the Great] ; and the four horns, the
four Greek kingdoms into which his realm was divided
after his death.2 Toward the end of these kingdoms, when
transgression — that of the Greeks and Greek-minded Jews
— is at its height, a bold and crafty king [Antiochus IV,
Epiphanes] shall arise. With great and malign power he
will operate against his political antagonists and against
the Jewish people. With deceit and in pride he will cor
rupt many Jews,3 and even oppose God. But God him-
1 It is noteworthy that the proper names of the nations are here introduced
as they are not in chs. 2 and 7, that the Babylonian kingdom is passed by,
and that the Median and Persian appear as two horns of one beast. They
are connected also in 5 : 28 ; 6: 8, 12, 15, but distinguished in 5:31 ; cf.6:28,
and in 9 : 1 ; 10 : 1 ; 11 : 1.
2 Alexander died in 323 B. C. The division was not concluded until 301 B. C.
Kassander received Macedonia and Greece ; Lysimachus, Thrace and Bithy-
nia ; Seleucus, Syria, Babylonia and other eastern countries ; Ptolemy, Egypt.
3 See 1 Mac. 1 : 30, 43. Notice the progress toward greater detail about
Antiochus, which reaches its end in ch. 11.
141

The Messages of the
self, and not man, shall smite him. The polluted sanct
uary will in truth be restored in 1150 days. All this, how
ever, concerns a remote future.1 You are therefore to
keep the vision secret.
Effects of At this I fainted and fell ill, and was kept from my
the vision duties at court for a few days ; and still in spite of the
angel's interpretation I did not understand the vision (or
the meaning of the delay and secrecy?).
6. The Seventy Weeks of Years
Aninterpre- The peculiarity of chapter 9 is that the vision con-
prophecy sists in the interpretation of an Old Testament passage.
The seer is puzzled by the prediction of Jeremiah (25 : n f. ;
29 : 10) that the exile and the desolation of Jerusalem would
last only seventy years, whereas the post -exilic period had
been hardly better than a prolongation of Israel's dis
persion and subjection to foreigners, and now under An
tiochus IV the situation of the Jews was more trying and
critical than ever, and the state of the temple more deplora
ble than even when it was in ruins. He prays for a right
understanding of the prediction and feels that if he could
interpret it he would have not only the explanation of the
long continuance of Israel's troubles, but an assurance of
the near approach of the end.
The question of the origin and first meaning of the sev
enty years is a difficult one. If, as the majority of critics
1 That is, of course, from the assumed standpoint of the Exile.
142

Apocalyptical Writers
still hold, Jeremiah is its author, it was probably not his The seventy
purpose to foretell the exact length of the exile, but rather, jeremiah
in opposition to the bright hopes of the people, encouraged
by such prophets as Hananiah (Jer. 28 : 1-5), to affirm his
conviction that the exile would last a long time, not two
years, but two generations. Those who went away would
not come back, but only their descendants. Seventy years
is a round number for a long period. It is a human life
time. In Isaiah 23 : 15 ff., Tyre's desolation is to last
seventy years, "like the days of one king," which may
mean the lifetime of one king, or the length of one
dynasty. As a matter of fact the exile was long, as Jeremiah fore
told, though not precisely as long as he expected. From
597 B. C. to 537 B. C. is sixty years, and from 586 B. C. to
537 B. C. is forty-nine years. It is possible that Jeremiah's
prediction stimulated the Jews to undertake the rebuilding
of the temple so as to finish it just seventy years after its
destruction (586-516 B. C). This is confirmed by Zecha
riah, a prophet of the rebuilding of the temple, who re
fers to seventy years as the time of God's indignation
against Israel (1 : 12 ; 7 : 5). It was the belief of later
Judaism that Jeremiah's prediction had been literally ful
filled (2 Chron. 36 : 21-22 ; Ezra 1 : 1).
What now was the interpretation which Daniel hears from The
Gabriel? Many divergent views have been propounded. reSter- yeatS
The most probable one may be briefly stated as follows : preted
143

The Messages of the
The seventy years are to be reckoned as seventy weeks 1 of
years, that is as 490 years. This is the appointed time of
Israel's desolation. It is divided into three main periods of
The first 49, 434 and 7 years. The length of the Exile is 49 years (v.
mrtyine 250) , from the time of Jeremiah's prediction, which could be
years identified in a general way with the beginning of the Exile
itself, either to the time of the edict of Cyrus permitting
the return, or to the time when a high-priest, Joshua, again
stood at the head of the community; that is, in either case,
from about 586 to 537 or 536 B. C. This first period, then,
was correctly given, and its forty-nine years may in part have
The last suggested the week -year scheme. The last period of seven
seven years years extends from the time of the assassination of the high-
priest, Onias III, or that of the end of the legitimate high-
priesthood with the appointment of Menelaus, a Benja-
minite (in either case the year 171 B. C), to the still future
restoration of the temple and coming of the Messianic age.
The number This period is divided into halves by the desecration of the
onee-na5 temple by Antiochus. According to First Maccabees, this
took place in December, 168 B. C. The writer had already
experienced this event, and if it took place in fact just
about three and a half years after the cutting off of the
legitimate high-priesthood, then these two events, the most
terrible that had happened to the Jews since the Exile,
would themselves furnish a clew to the week -year theory,
1 The word weeks as here written (9 : 24) has the same letters as the word
seventy, though it is pronounced differentiy.
144

Apocalyptical Writers
and would make the suggestion natural that one more
half week remained, and that then the coming of God
would make a final end of the rule of evil.
The fact that the temple was rededicated about three
years after its violation, and that Antiochus died, perhaps
about the same time or a half year later, must have been
regarded as a remarkable vindication of the message of the
book, even though not an exact fulfilment. Of course, on
the other hand, the death of Antiochus did not bring with
it the end of the Greek empire and the beginning of the
kingdom of Israel. We seem to have evidence of efforts
to adjust the prediction more exactly to events, first in
the shorter period, 1150 days, given in 8 : 14, and then
in the lengthening of it to the 1290 days of 12 : n, and the
1335 of 12 : 12. l
Some think that the number 3$ had already, long before
Daniel, come to stand for the length of the reign of evil,
or of its last and highest manifestations,2 but no plausible
explanation of it has been given. If historical events
suggested it, as we have indicated, theory might confirm it.
It could be said that seven being the number of perfec-
1 1290 is just 43 months of 30 days. It could be therefore the longest pos
sible 3K years, including the addition of an intercalary month. Ci. p. 138 f.
2 Gunkel (Schoplung und Chaos, pp . 266-70, 390-91) tries to make 3K
months the length of the conflict of the god of light with darkness, from the
winter solstice till the prevalence of hght in the spring equinox. But he does
not succeed in accounting for the extra half month. Furthermore, evil dom
inates during the whole seven years according to Daniel
145

The Messages of the
tion, three and a half, as the length of the reign of evil,
would mean that it would not run its full course, but would
be cut off in the midst. This was not, however, the idea
of Daniel, for Antiochus oppresses the Jews and violates
their religious customs for seven years, and it is the last
half of the seven, not the first, that brings his abomina
tions to a climax.
The middle Now between the seven weeks of exile (586-537-6 B. C),
y^are ' 434 and the one week of the persecutions of Antiochus (171-
164 B. C), is a period in fact of about 366 years. Of this
the writer is obliged, in order to carry through his inter
pretation of Jeremiah's seventy weeks, to make sixty-two
weeks of years, 434 years, or from sixty -seven to sixty-eight
too many. This discrepancy has led many scholars to
attempt some other explanation of the first or of the last
period, but none has been proposed that fits so well. It is
therefore probable that the writer did not know exactly the
length of the post-exilic period, but that according to his
estimate it was not far from the sixty-two weeks required
by his theory. There is no great difficulty in this supposi
tion, since no means were then at hand for constructing
an accurate chronology of the period, and as a matter of
fact just such an error as this is made by Josephus, who
reckons the time from the return out of exile to several
events of the Maccabean period and of his own time at
from thirty to sixty years too long, and Demetrius, not far
from Daniel's age (about 200 B. C), reckons the time
146

Apocalyptical Writers
from the fall of Israel to Ptolemy IV (722 B. C.-222 B. C.)
as 573 years, making almost the same excess as Daniel.
7. The Explanation of Jeremiah's Seventy Years (9)
In the first year of Darius I marked in the Scriptures Daniel's
the number of years which Jeremiah revealed as the length Jtto' jer.7
of the desolation of Jerusalem, namely seventy years. \5 : I1_/!.'\
Since this time had long past, and the Jews were still suf
fering at the hands of the heathen, and the temple was
desolated anew, I could not understand the prediction,
and earnestly prayed for light upon its meaning.
My prayer 1 was a confession that our Jewish people His prayer
had fully deserved the lengthening of our distress, and an <4~I!"
earnest petition that it might now come to an end, not for
our desert, but for the honor of God's own name.
While I was praying Gabriel came near to me, at the time Gabriel
of the evening offering, and said that he had been sent at in^rVta'
the very beginning of my prayer, to bring me, as one loved (2t>_23)
of God, the interpretation of the passage that troubled me.
It is, he said, not seventy years, but seventy weeks of
1 The prayer should be about the meaning of Jeremiah, and the answer
does concern simply this. Hence it may be that this prayer of general con
fession and supplication on behalf of God's people is a later addition, like
the apocryphal Prayer of Azarius and Song of the Three Children inserted at
3 : 21. Notice that v. 4a repeats v. 3, and that v. 20 repeats v. 21, whereas
v. 21 follows v. 3 well; also that " Jehovah" is used here only, with the excep
tion of v. 2, where it may be due to the influence of the later passage or of the
Old Testament citation. 147

The Messages of the
His inter- years, that Israel and Jerusalem were destined to suffer
(24-27)11 for their sins, and only after the 490 years are ended will
the prophetic vision be confirmed, the sins of Israel atoned
for, and the Messianic age introduced with the reconse-
cration of the polluted temple. You may recognize just
how near the end is by observing the divisions into which
the seventy times seven years fall. Seven weeks, forty-
nine years, passed from the time of Jeremiah's oracle to
the rise of an anointed prince ' (Cyrus, or more probably
Joshua, the first high -priest of the new temple).2
The second period, that of the rebuilding of Jerusalem
and the straitened times that followed, is sixty-two weeks,
434 years. At the end of this period an anointed (priest)
shall be cut off (or the succession of legitimate high-priests
shall be broken off), and shall have no (successor?).3 Then
1 Jer. 25 : n, 12 was spoken in 60s or 604 B. C. (25 : 1), and 29 : 10 in
596 B. C. Perhaps the author meant rather the beginning of the Exile
itself, 586 B. C.
2 Cyrus is called Jehovah's Anointed in Isaiah 45 : 1. It is more probable,
however, that Joshua, the anointed high-priest of the new temple, is meant,
for in 9 : 26 the word is used of the high-priest. Cf. Lev. 4 : 3, 5, 16 ; 6 : 22.
3 One of the guesses made to nil up an incomplete sentence, " He shall have
no  ." Perhaps "he shall have naught," no helper, no name. Some
prefer, " Without judicial sentence," or " without guilt." With the death of
Onias IH (2 Mac. 4 : 34), or with the appointment of Menelaus (2 Mac
4 : 23 ff.) in 171 B. C, the direct line of priests was broken off (p. 91 f.).
As a matter of fact the end was final, for the Maccabean rulers must needs
assume the high-priesthood, though they were not in the line, and when they
came to an end, with the Roman period, the office of high-priest came to be
a matter of Herodian or Roman appointment. 148

Apocalyptical Writers
shall the Greeks and their king, Antiochus, lay waste
Jerusalem and the temple, and the final period shall be
one of desolation and war. Antiochus shall gain the co
operation of many Jews in his effort to root out the Jewish
religion l for a week, that is, seven years ; and for the second
half of this period the temple sacrifices shall cease altogether,
and in their place that astounding abomination, an altar to
Zeus, shall be set up, to remain until judgment falls upon
the sacrilegious kingdom.
8. History in the Form of Vision
The last vision of Daniel (chs. 10-12) consists simply in Character of
the sight of the angel Gabriel, and the hearing of his words. Ssionof
There is no vision of God or of symbolic figures represent- D.aniel as
ing historical nations, persons, or events. Gabriel does in
deed disclose some significant happenings in the angel world
with which the fortunes of Israel are intimately connected,
but all he tells about angehc and human history, past and
future, is in literal language, not in figure. There is
indeed a certain air of mystery which belongs to the apoc
alypse, and without which the telling of history in the
form of prediction would be too transparent. Yet this
1 The passage is difficult and may need revision. The word covenant in
Daniel elsewhere means religion, or religious practices (n : 22, 28, 30, 32),
and here the original text may have meant that many should be without re
ligion for seven years, or that religious rites would cease for that time. The
temple rites under Menelaus, from 171 B. C. on, would be illegal and void,
and after December, 168 B. C, even these rites would cease.
149

The Messages of the
impression of mystery is produced chiefly by a suppression
of the names of the personal actors in the scene. The
names of the nations are in part used, though here also a
paraphrase often takes their place. The Ptolemies are
the kings of the south, the Seleucids the kings of the north.
The account of the history of these two divisions of Alex
ander's empire is given in detail, and we are able at almost
every point to supply names and dates with certainty.
As the writer is a contemporary of Antiochus IV it is
natural that his account should be fullest at this point.
In fact his history of Antiochus is not only confirmed by
First and Second Maccabees and Polybius, but enables us
to supplement these sources, and is an important original
document of the period.
As pseu- Yet though this vision contains almost undisguised his-
vision10 tory, its visionary character is especially emphasized. The
long period of fasting and prayer which led to it, and the
overwhelming impression it made on the seer are elabo
rately described. The pseudepigraphic character of this
vision cannot be questioned, and the conscious art with
which this strange literary device is here carried through
it is impossible to deny. It professes to be a story of far
future events, told to the seer during the reign of Cyrus,
by Gabriel, and the fact that the story has remained so
long unknown is explained as due to the hiding and sealing
of the book, by order of the revealing angel, until the end
came near (10 : 14 ; 12:4, 5-13). It is hard to doubt that
ISO

Apocalyptical Writers
this device was used to gain for the book greater respect
and credence in the period of its actual publication.
The late date of the writing is unmistakably revealed Its date
by the fact that there are probably errors, certainly striking
omissions and abbreviations, in the early part of the his
tory, and that the writer's knowledge and interest increase
as the reign of Antiochus IV is approached, and culmi
nate in that reign. At a certain easily recognizable point,
however, namely at n : 40, the agreement of the angel's
disclosures with known history ceases, and we have an
account of a third and triumphant invasion of Egypt by
Antiochus, and his death in Palestine on his return, which
is not in accordance with the facts. At that point evi
dently the form of prediction passes over into prediction
proper, and that is of course the point at which the writer
himself stands.
The supernatural element in the history itself appears in The angelic
a highly developed form, though it makes only an incidental 0f numa™
part of Gabriel's communications. In a manner more historv
elaborate than elsewhere in the Old Testament the con
ception is worked out that conflicts of angels underlie and
explain and condition the conflicts of nations. The post-
exilic history is revealed as being, behind its human and
earthly surface, a conflict of Gabriel and Michael, Israel's
prince, first with the angel of Persia, and then with the
angel of Greece. The greatness of Daniel's revelation is
magnified by the representation that it is not a mere angel
iSi

The Messages of the
of revelation who visits Daniel and tells him God's pur
poses, but that the chief combatant in those heavenly wars
leaves his toils for a while and hastens to Daniel in answer
to his prayer (10:12-13, 20-11:1). That this angel,
though here unnamed, is Gabriel, is a natural inference
from the identity of his office with that ascribed to Gabriel
in 8 : 16 ff., 9 : 21 ff. But if so, then Gabriel is more than
the angel of revelation, the spirit of prophecy. He ap
pears to be the chief antagonist in God's cause against
the angels of heathen powers. Michael, he says, helped
him in his conflicts with the princes of Persia and Greece,
and was the only one on his side. His position, therefore,
seems to be higher than Michael's, who was one of the
nation-princes among others, though as Israel's prince he
was superior to the rest. According to Enoch 40, Ga
briel's task is intercession, and he "is set over all the
powers." '
Antiochus as Another important idea, for which the earlier visions
ntlc lst have prepared us, is that the power of evil in the world
comes to its height, and to its consummate manifestation
in an individual man. The description of Antiochus, espe
cially in 11 : 36 ff., has something demoniacal about it. It is
almost cited by Paul in Second Thessalonians 2 : 4, in de
scribing the coming"man of sin." In fact, iathe figure of
Antichrist, the human representative of Satan and counter-
1 Had he perhaps taken on the qualities of the old " angel of Jehovah," for
which his name "Man of God," or "Hero of God," would fit him?
!S2

Apocalyptical Writers
part of the Christ becomes a really superhuman being.
It is probable that this figure was not first fashioned by
Christians as the antithesis of Christ, but was developed
in Jewish eschatoiogy, and that its germ is to be found
in Daniel's description of Antiochus. This demonizing
of Antiochus was a natural result of his deification of
himself, taken in connection with his almost insane ca-
priciousness of nature and his violence and rage against
the Jews. Nero, with a somewhat similar character,
took up the same role in later eschatoiogy, Jewish and
Christian. Another significant feature of the vision is the concep- The doctrine
tion of resurrection, which appears here for the first time tion8111™*
in Jewish writings in definite form, as if it were an estab
lished doctrine.1 In regard to this we notice that it is
not a universal resurrection that is expected, and that
(unlike Isa. 26 : 19 ; compare v. '14) it is not the righteous
only who are to rise. "Many" will rise, some to shame, and
some to eternal life, while for the author's inner circle of
the wise there awaits an exceptional star-like glory. Ap
parently resurrection is only for the most ill-deserving on
the one side, and the best-deserving, the small circle of law-
abiding Jews, on the other ; perhaps the Hellenizing apos
tates of the immediate past, or perhaps the persecutors of
Judaism in all ages, and the faithful kernel, especially
1 It is found in Isa. 26 : 19, in vaguer form. The date of the section (chs.
24-27) is late, but whether earher or later than Daniel is not certain.
T-S3

The Messages of the
those who have suffered martyrdom.1 It is most note
worthy that one who has attained the great faith in re
wards and punishments after death should give it still so
subordinate a place in his predictions. It is still the nation
and its fortunes that form the centre of his interest, as of
the prophets before him. The individual hope could not
indeed displace the national so long as it was only a part
of it and depended wholly upon it. It is not heavenly
blessedness after death for which the writer hopes, but
first of all and last of all the coming of Israel to its destined
kingship. But he has the hope that those who have died
in fidelity to Israel's faith and law will rise to share Israel's
glory, to rejoice in it and to add to it. Yet though sub
ordinate to the national hope, and only a part of it, the rise
of the individual hope is immensely significant. It is per
secution and martyrdom that brings this faith, which may
have been more or less current before, to the front, and
gives it a recognized and significant place in the Jewish
religion. What courage it must have given in that great
emergency to those who if they remained true to their con
victions must fall by the sword and by flame !
This hope for the individual, having once established
itself in the inner religious circle of Judaism, could not
but grow to ever-increasing importance. The growth was,
1 If in 12 : 13 it is said that the Daniel of the Exile is to rise from the grave,
then we may suppose the resurrection to include the great heroes of the
Israelitish religion, however long they may have been resting, waiting for
the end. 154

Apocalyptical Writers
indeed, slow, but the place of the belief in resurrection
as a fixed dogma of Pharisaism in the time of Christ marks
its outcome, and is one of the most important steps forward
that Judaism took in the interval between the Old Testa
ment and the New.
9. An Angel's Interpretation of History and its Consum
mation (10-12)
In the third year of Cyrus, in Daniel's old age,1 he had a vision of an
true vision concerning a great suffering. After three weeks ange
of fasting, as I was by the river Tigris, I saw an angel
dressed in linen, glorious and resplendent in appearance,
like gold and jewels and fire,2 after the likeness of the
angel that Ezekiel saw (Ezek. 9 : 2), and of his vision of
the chariot of God and its fiery bearers (Ezek. 1, 10).
This vision was not seen by those about me, though a Effect of the
sense of dread came over them and they fled away. On DanielUP°n
me its effect was the loss of all strength, though not of con- (?-11)
sciousness. I fell as if in a heavy sleep with my face to
the ground, but the hand of the angel raised me up on
my hands and knees, and at his encouraging word, still
trembling, I arose.
Then he said, Do not fear, for I come in answer to your
prayer to tell you of the future. I should indeed have
1 The third year of Cyrus would be about 70 years after the coming of
Daniel to Nebuchadnezzar's court.
2 The angel is probably Gabriel, cf. 8 : 16 ff. ; 9 : 21 ff.
I5S

The Messages of the
The angel come three weeks ago at the very beginning of your prayer,
explains his .f j had not been detained during all that time by a conflict
(12-14) w;th the angel-prince of Persia. But Michael came to
help me, and I was thus enabled to come to you to reveal
the final fortunes of your people.
Further con- I could not answer this glorious being until another
DanieiTnd angel, of more human appearance,1 touched my mouth.
the angel Then j could only say, in apology for my silence, O my
11 ;i) lord, the vision has seized upon me like a woman's travail
and made me powerless. How can such a one as I speak
to such as you? With this the power to speak left me
again. I was again strengthened by a divine touch, and
by Gabriel's heartening words, and enabled to ask for his
message. He said, I have come, as you know, to tell you
the future as it is written in the book of God's purposes;
but I must be brief, for I must return to the conflict with
the angel of Persia, which I have just left unfinished, and
after that I shall contend with the angel of Greece.2 In
these conflicts Michael, the prince of Israel, is the only
one who helps me. I for my part helped him in the na
tional crisis when the Median succeeded the Babylonian
world empire.3
1 Gabriel, too, is "a man," but not like men in his appearance (10 : 5-6).
2 There is a long interval between Cyrus (10 : 1) and Alexander, but per
haps the writer means that there is an angelic warfare during the whole of the
Persian period and then during the Greek rule that followed it.
3 This which is our reading of 11 : 1 is hard to interpret, for the suggestion
that it was through Michael's efforts, aided by Gabriel, that the Median and
156

Apocalyptical Writers
Now as to the future, this is to be its course : There will The con-
be three more kings of Persia, that is, four in all.1 The Perlia°by
fourth, the richest of all [Xerxes I], shall make a great ex- f^^f
pedition against Greece. But a mighty Greek conqueror
shall arise [Alexander the Great], /whose kingdom, how
ever, shall not remain in its greatness, nor be bequeathed
to his sons, but shall be divided into four parts 2 under
four of his generals.3
The king of Egypt [Ptolemy I, 305-285 B. C.] shall be
strong, but not so strong as the king of Syria [Seleucus I,
312-280 B. C], who was once his subordinate, but whose
Persian kingdoms were made relatively friendly to the Jews is venturesome.
Perhaps the text is corrupt. Marti reads it in the following order : vv. 20,
2ib; 11 : ib ("who stood up to help and protect me"). 2x&. He omits
11 : ia, as wrongly inserted after the analogy of 7 : 1 ; 8 : 1 ; 9 : 1 ; 10 : 1. Cf.
Bevan. The LXX and Theodotion read "Cyrus" for "Darius the Mede."
1 In Ezra 4 : 5-7 four Persian kings are named : Cyrus (558-529 B. C.),
Darius I (521-486 B. C), Xerxes I (485-465 B. C), Artaxerxes I (464-424
B. C). These four names are all that the Old Testament knows ; though the
Darius of Neh. 12 : 22 is probably Darius III. The writer of Daniel seems here
to affirm that there were only four in all, just as in 7 : 6 the Persian beast has
four heads ; and evidently the fourth is Xerxes I, who made the expedition
against Greece, ending in defeat at Salamis in 480 B. C. The next verse
passes immediately to Alexander's conquest of Persia against Darius ni, in
333 B.C.; and the impression is certainly given that the king that invades
Greece is the one that Alexander overthrows. It is, to be sure, difficult to
suppose such an error in a writer who makes too long, not too short, a reckon
ing of the period of Persian and Greek dominion (9 : 25, 26).
2 See note on 8 : 22.
3 The history of the two of these parts of Alexander's kingdom with which
Palestine had to do, Egypt and Syria, follows.
157

The Messages of the

Relations of
the early
Ptolemies
and Seleu-
cids (5-9)

AntiochusIII the
Great (10-19)

rule shall be greater than his. Some years later [248 B. C]
Egypt and Syria shall be brought into alliance by the mar
riage of the Syrian king [Antiochus II, 267-247 B. C] to
the daughter of the king of Egypt [Berenice, daughter of
Ptolemy II, 285-247 B. C.]. But this effort to make peace
between the two kingdoms shall come to a disastrous end
in the death of the wife and her adherents and of her father
the king of Egypt.1 Her brother, however [Ptolemy III,
247-221 B. C], shall succeed to the kingdom of Egypt, and
shall take vengeance upon the Syrian king [Seleucus II,
246-226 B. C.]. He shall defeat him, and shall enter the
fortress of Seleucus and carry away idols and golden and
silver vessels as spoils. A retaliatory effort of Seleucus
against Egypt shall fail [240 B. C.].2
His son,3 on the contrary, shall be a mighty and suc
cessful warrior, and shall proceed with a great force against
Ccele-Syria and Palestine [219-218 B. C.]. Then he shall
return to his fortress,* and shall undertake a campaign
against Egypt [217 B. C.]. The king of Egypt [Ptolemy
IV] shall come against him and gain a great victory [at

1 Antiochus n was poisoned by his former wife, and Berenice and her
child and adherents were murdered (247 B. C.). Ptolemy II also died in the
same year.
2 Ptolemy III in fact shook the Syrian kingdom to its foundations.
3 At this point the writer passes over Seleucus III, 226-222 B. C., unless we
are to read here, "his sons." But as* only one son, Antiochus III, went
against Egypt, we should probably read with the LXX, "his son."
4 Gaza (Driver), or Raphia (Marti). 158

Apocalyptical Writers
Raphia in 217 B. C], slaying multitudes. But though
elated at his success he shall not show himself a man of
strength by following up his victory. Some years later
Antiochus shall return, after notable victories in the East,
with a greater army than before against the boy king
[Ptolemy V, 204 B. C.]. In this assault Antiochus shall be
helped by allies [Philip of Macedon and some insurgents in
Egypt itself]. Moreover some among the Jews, a party of
"the violent," shall favor Antiochus and seek to bring Pal
estine under Syrian in place of Egyptian rule, thus work
ing indeed for the fulfilment of prophecy — whi.h requires
the subjection of the Jews to the terrible son of Antiochus
— but bringing upon themselves destruction.1 Then
Antiochus shall come and first besiege and take Sidon,
where the Egyptian force has taken refuge, and then
utterly break Egyptian power in Syria [rc;8 B. C.]. With
Palestine wholly in his power he will, from that vantage
ground threaten Egypt with destruction.2 He will plan
its complete subjugation and hope to accomplish this by
an agreement according to which he gives his daughter
[Cleopatra] to Ptolemy in marriage,3 with the object of
1 This is one interpretation of v. 14 f . Perhaps, however, the allusion is to
the vain effort of some zealot Jews to secure national independence, and so
bring about the fulfilment of Messianic prophecy (Bevan).
2 At this point Syrian rule over Palestine completely and finally displaces
that of Egypt. This was settled by Antiochus's victory over the Egyptian
general Scopas at Panium. Some put the date earlier, about 200 B. C.
3 They were not married until 193 B. C.
1 59

The Messages of the
destroying the Egyptian kingdom. But this object shall
fail. After this [from 197 B. C. on] he shall go against the
coast-lands [of Asia Minor], most of whose cities shall
submit to him ; but the Roman general, Lucius Scipio,
shall bring overwhelming defeat upon him in a great bat
tle [that of Magnesia, in 190 B. C], and compel him to
relinquish all his gains [in Asia Minor and Europe] and
make peace on most humiliating terms. Retiring to the
fortresses of his own land he shall there meet a violent end.1
The reign of He shall be succeeded by his son [Seleucus IV, 187-
iv,ephifo- I7S B. C], whose officer shall exact tribute of the Jews,2
pator (20) Dut this king shall perish shortly, not in open conflict but
by a plot.3
The reign of The next king will be, not the son and heir of Seleucus
^vjspfph- [Demetrius, who was a prisoner in Rome], but his brother,
|™s0£-45)-a despicable man who gains the throne by intrigue and
acter and address [Antiochus IV, Epiphanes, 175-164 B. C.].* Op-
(21-24) position shall vanish before him. He shall even depose
the Jewish high-priest [Onias III, in 174 B. C.]. When
he makes a league with anyone he shall at once scheme to
1 He was killed in 187 B. C. by the people of Elymais, whose temple of Bel
he robbed, to help pay the tribute demanded by Rome.
2 He had to pay 1000 talents a year to the Romans for nine years. Accord
ing to 2 Mac. 3 : 1-40, he attempted to rob the temple. Some, however,
think the verse means that with Seleucus the royal dignity declined.
3 At the hand of his minister, Heliodorus. Our author may have thought
Antiochus IV the instigator of the murder (7 : 8, 24).
4 With what follows the reader should compare the account of Antiochus
on pp. 82-97.
160

Apocalyptical Writers
get the better of his ally. By his power of deception and
intrigue he shall gain great advantages, though his forces
be small. He shall know how to acquire power and get
the better of opponents by trickery, acting more dishonor
ably than his predecessors. He shall be lavish with gifts
and bribes, and shall scheme against the fortresses of his
enemies for a fixed time.1
He shall make a great expedition against Egypt [about His first
169 B. C.].2 The Egyptian king [his nephew, Ptolemy agamst8"
VI, Philometor] shall resist him with a powerful army, but f^J^
shall not succeed because of treachery. Some of his own
court shall betray him, and his army shall be swept away.
Then these two kings [Antiochus and Ptolemy] shall pro
fess friendship, but insincerely, since each shall be plot
ting against the other.3 Their plans however shall not
come to effect, for the end of the dealings of Antiochus
with Egypt — its subjection to him, predicted in verse 43—
shall not come for a definite period longer. Then Anti
ochus shall return to Syria, and shall come into Palestine
and enter and plunder the temple.1
After a time he shall return into Egypt, but without the
1 It is especially in his efforts to gain control of Egypt that these methods
and qualities are seen. About tiis details follow (w. 25 ff. ; cf. i Mac.
1 : 16 ff.).
2 See 1 Mac. 1 : 17-10-
3 Though Antiochus posed as defender of the title of Ptolemy Philometor,
his real purpose was to get possession of Egypt for himself.
'See 1 Mac. 1 : 20-28 and 2 Mac. 5 : n-21.
l6l

The Messages of the
The second success he had before ; for his plans shall be frustrated by
expedition the intervention of the Romans.1 He shall therefore re-
secutionofr"turn to ^s own kingdom, and shall vent his anger against
the Jews the Jews, listening to the counsels of Jewish apostates, and
using them for his own ends.2 With an armed force he shall
proceed against the temple, breaking down its defences. He
shall put an end to the daily burnt offerings and shall set
up on the altar the appalling pollution of an altar to Zeus.3
He shall tempt to apostasy those who are ready to deny
their religion, but the loyal and true shall be steadfast and
strong. Members of the religious party shall help many
of the people to religious fidelity,4 though severe persecu
tions shall reward them for a time.5 In their extremity
the pious will be helped a little [by the early, less decisive,
victories of Judas Maccabeus].6 But many shall be drawn
into this patriotic and religious movement by selfish fear
or hope. So that martyrdom will be required to effect the
needed purification and sifting. This persecution should
1 Immediately after the fall of the Macedonian kingdom at their hands, the
Romans sent Popilius Lffinas to demand Antiochus's instant withdrawal from
Egypt, 168 B. C.
2 Such as are described in i Mac. i : n-15.
3 See 1 Mac. 1 : 29-64 ; 2 Mac. 6 : 1-11.
* It is evident that the party to which our writer belonged engaged in an
aggressive campaign of teaching and admonition for the sake of holding the
people to fidelity to the ancestral religion. The nature of their teaching is
revealed in part by our book itself. The teachers were often martyrs, but they
could look forward to a place of peculiar glory in the world to come (12 : 3).
6 See 1 Mac. 1 : 57 ; 2 : 38 ; 3 : 41 ; 5 : 13. 6 See 1 Mac. 2 : 42-48.
162

Apocalyptical Writers
not, therefore, bring despair, for it is a needed discipline,
and moreover its duration is fixed by divine decree.
Antiochus will show himself in every way to be the typi- The arro-
cal impious king. He will be lifted up in pride, as if he rmpilty'of
were above the very gods,1 and shall speak against God him- ^a-™)™3
self ; yet he shall prosper, but only for the appointed time,
after which judgment will come. He shall not even hold
to his ancestral religion, but shall pay honors to foreign
gods.2 He shall not honor Tammuz (Adonis), the Syrian
god, over whose death the women weep.3 He shall not
truly honor any god, but shall set himself above them all.
But he shall give special official recognition to the god of
fortresses [Jupiter Capitolinus ?], erecting to him a splendid
temple in Antioch, and dedicating to him precious gifts.
He shall put in charge of his fortresses the worshippers of
foreign gods.4 He shall greatly honor and reward those
who flatter him, and bribery and corruption shall prevail.
The end of the reign of Antiochus shall be as follows : 5
1 Referring to the tide he assumed, Theos Epiphanes, God manifest, and
to the stress he put on the emperor cult (see p. 88 f.).
1 On his coins Zeus displaces Apollo, who stands on coins of his predeces
sors. But perhaps such a policy as i Mac. i : 41-42 describes gave the im
pression that he had no respect for ancient religions.
3 See Ezek. 8 : 14.
4 Referring to the foreign soldiers in Palestinian strongholds.
5 Here the writer passes from history to actual prediction. He has reached
the point where he himself stands. Thus far his account of Antiochus an
swers to what we know from other sources, especially 1 and 2 Mac. and Poly-
bius. What follows does not correspond with fact.
163

The Messages of the
The final Ptolemy shall attack him and be overwhelmed by the pow-
endof1"1 erful resistance of Antiochus, who shall then proceed on a
Antiochus career of conquest greater than before. He shall come
again into Palestine, bringing destruction upon many, and
shall subject surrounding peoples, all except Edom and
Moab and Amnon.1 In his victorious progress Egypt shall
not this time escape, but shall fall into his hands together
with the Libyans and the Ethiopians. But tidings from
the northeast shall lead him to return thither in great rage.2
But while he is encamping between Jerusalem and the
Mediterranean, he shall suddenly die with none to help.3
The lot of Then the angel Michael, the prince of Israel, will cham-
"e^during pion his people during the unexampled hardships they
times8' must still meet. These trials shall indeed be greater than
(12 ; i) any other people was ever called on to endure, but all whom
God has approved shall be saved.4 Many of the dead also
1 Edom and Moab helped Antiochus against the Jews (r Mac. 4:61;
S : 1-8).
2 Bevan suggests that the tidings may be the recovery of Jerusalem and the
temple by the Jews, which our writer expected after 3K years.
3 The prophets expected that God would smite the last great foe of Israel
within sight of Jerusalem (Ezek. 39 : 4 ; Joel 3:2, 12 f. ; Zech. 14 : 2 ; Isa.
10 : 33 f. ; 14 : 25 ; r7 : 12-14 ', 30 : 27-33 ', 3' : S, 8, 9). On the actual death
of Antiochus see p. 86.
4 The end does not come immediately with the death of Antiochus. There
is still a period of trial, even greater than before. Perhaps the writer thinks
of an invasion of remote and dreadful warriors such as Ezekiel predicted
(chs. 38-39). No doubt fuller traditions were current in regard both to this
supreme trouble and also to the task of Michael in connection with it, so that
these brief allusions would be understood. 164

Apocalyptical Writers
shall arise to receive fitting rewards and punishments in Theresur-
the Messianic age, life for some, abhorrence for others.1 (12:2)
The party of the pious, doers and teachers of the law, The special
who bore effectual witness to the truth and persuaded the teachers
many others to withstand the temptation to apostasy, shall £hf3)dlm^
be rewarded with a peculiar and unearthly glory.
Gabriel then charged me to close and seal the book re- The book
cording these visions until the predicted end should draw denS(i2 :4V
near.2 Then many shall eagerly read the book, and it shall
serve that end of instruction to which the teachers shall
devote themselves.3
Then I saw two other angels on each side of the river. Concluding
One of them asked Gabriel how long the calamities de- by angels of
scribed would last ; and he, lifting both hands to heaven, *' ^^l
swore that it would be for three and a half years (as in Jnd of lh_e
J x time of the
7 : 25). When the persecution of the Jews is complete, end (5-7)
the consummation shall come.4
I could not understand this, and asked again about the Final an-
end. But the angel bade me ask no more questions since Daniel's
my visions concerned a remote future, and could not be ^f^)0113
understood until the time approached. When that time
1 Such as Isa. 66 : 24 describes.
2 The beginnings of this idea are to be seen in Isa. 8 : 26 ; 30 : 8. In the
apocalypses it is a necessary part of the pseudonymous form.
3 The meaning may, however, be that. the interval between the writing and
the reading of the book shall be a period of distraction and calamities.
4 Or, when the persecutor, Antiochus, dies, the sufferings of Israel will
cease. I6S

The Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers
comes men shall be divided according to their character.
The trials shall only perfect the good, while the wicked
shall increase in wickedness, not knowing the divine mean
ing of these events, which the present book discloses, and
the party of the wise shall understand. From the time
when Antiochus shall stop the daily offerings and erect
the altar to Zeus there will be a period of 1290 days. The
full consummation will follow forty -five days later.1 But
thou, Daniel, must wait in thy grave to rise again at the
end. 1 Twelve hundred and ninety days is the longest possible estimate of three
years and a half, namely, by adding an intercalary month, forty-three months
of thirty days. What happens after that interval is not said, nor do we
know what the special blessedness is that follows a month and a half later.
Some think w. n-12 an addition to the original book, but if so they must
have been added very early, before the period named had elapsed. If three
years and a half had passed and the consummation had not yet come a reader
of the book, or more probably the writer himself, could have lengthened out the
period in this way.

166

THE BOOK OF REVELATION

THE BOOK OF REVELATION

INTRODUCTION TO THE BOOK OF REVELATION
i. The Book as an Apocalypse
Does the New Testament apocalypse belong to the class is the book
of apocalyptical literature? The Greek word "apoca- lypseor^
lypse" of which "revelation" is the Latin equivalent, is the Pr°Phecy?
first word of our book, and in the earliest lists and manu
scripts it is called "The Apocalypse of John." It is from
this use that the word became the current Christian title
of the books which Jews probably called either apocrypha,
or visions. The use of the new title is itself a proof that
the relationship of the Christian to the Jewish books was
early recognized. The writer, however, calls himself a
prophet (22 : 9) and his book a prophecy (1 : 3 ; 22 : 7, 10,
18, 19). Perhaps his own title would have been, The
Words (or Book) of the Prophecy of John. The writer
may be regarded as a later representative of the class of
Christian prophets whom Paul puts second in rank only to
apostles in the early church (1 Cor. 12 : 28 ; 14 : 1-40 ; Eph.
4:11; 2:20). It is not certain, however, from Paul's de-
169

The Messages of the
scription, that these prophets spoke only of the mysteries
of the future. They may have uttered such rhapsodies
as First Corinthians 13 or Romans 8 : 35-39, no less than
such eschatological disclosures as First Corinthians 15, or
Second Thessalonians 2 : 1-12.
Close reia- Does Revelation then belong to the class of Jewish
Jewish apoc- apocalypses, or is it a wholly new creation of the new order
aiypses 0f cjirjstian prophets? A little reflection will make it
clear that the book is certainly an apocalypse, even though
there is something new in it that may be ascribed to the
new Christian spirit. Like Daniel, the Book of Revela
tion was written at a time when the true religion of the
writer and his circle was threatened both by the allure-
! ments and by the violence of the ruling heathen power.
I It aims to establish wavering faith, to warn apostates,
I and especially to encourage believers to resist foreign in
fluences and to endure trial even to death, in view of the
I speedy coming of God as judge and saviour. Like Daniel,
' it is a revelation of the meaning and end of the history of
; the world, and not chiefly of the destiny of souls after
death. Many other features show its close relationship to Jewish
apocalypses. Thus our book uses highly wrought and
fantastic imagery, derived in large part from the Old Tes
tament, but also from various apocalyptical traditions of
more or less foreign origin, more or less freely adapted
to the present purpose. Again, it constantly uses the
170

Apocalyptical Writers
vision form of revelation, with angelic interpreters. It
explains the origin and present excess of evil as due to
angelic powers and their conflicts, and regards the Roman
empire as embodying the chief spirit of evil, or as his chief
agent in the world. But still further its whole outline of
the future, its philosophy of history and its eschatological
doctrines, are in the closest way parallel to those of the
Jewish apocalypses. To be sure, the identification of the
Messiah who is to come as judge with Jesus involves some
changes in the Jewish conception, though far less than
one would expect. It is true, also, that the seven letters
are a unique feature of the Christian book, distinguishing
it from Jewish apocalypses and revealing a different spirit.
But these differences are not such as to justify us in sepa
rating it from the class, and departing from the principles
of interpretation which have proved correct in the case
of Daniel and its successors.
It is therefore to be assumed that the predictions of the inferences
book relate to the immediate and not to the remote future, l^.lts
as the writer most expUcitly affirms (i : i, 3; 22 : 10-12). character
We should expect to find that the visions of the book have
to do with present political and social conditions, with the
dangers of Christian churches due to their actual historical
situation. We should expect to find the value of the book
not in disclosures of the course of church history during
nineteen following centuries, nor in forecasts of still future
events and of the end of the world, but rather historically
171

The Messages of the
in its fitness to brace Christian faith to meet one of the
great crises in its history, and permanently in the faith that
inspires it in the rule of God and the certain victory of his
cause and the safety and glory of faithfulness to him even
to death. 2. Methods of Its Interpretation
Older If our book is an apocalypse, we must unhesitatingly
tenable15 °0t reject most of the methods of interpreting it that have been
current in the past. We can no longer consider the ques
tion whether the beasts of chapters 13 and 17 refer to
Mohammed and the Turks, or to Luther and Protestant
ism, or to the Pope and the Romish church. Nor can we
assent to any of the views, still more or less current, ac
cording to which the book predicts the whole course of
church history to the end of the world, either literally
reviewing its great persons and events, or symbolically
representing the conflicts of opposing principles from the
beginning to the end. Nor can we accept the view that its
predictions refer not only in part but altogether to persons
and events still future. Over against all such conceptions
the analogy of Daniel and the Jewish apocalypses, the ex
press language of the book itself, and in general the his
torical spirit of our own time, unite in compelling us to
seek for the meaning of the imagery of the book primarily
in factors present in the writer's age and place.
The first decisive and secure step of historical criticism
172

Apocalyptical Writers
in the study of this book was the recognition of the Roman Rome is the ,
empire as the persecuting and godless power whose allure- %J^t
ments are to be resisted, whose violence is to be endured,
whose overthrow is to be the first work of the coming Christ.
Isolated scholars in far older times knew this, but it was
through men like Liicke, Bleek and Ewald that it has gained
the acceptance of most modern scholars. The persecution
by Nero and the fear of his return from the dead seems to be
a concrete factor in the book, but the reign of Domitian,
especially the enforcement of the emperor cult in the prov
inces during his reign, furnishes its immediate background.
In the light of this and of the special conditions of the
churches of Asia Minor we are to read the book, which
was, like all the New Testament writings and even in a
very special sense, a book for its times.
After the historical situation, the most important thing Use of Old
for the interpreter of Revelation to take account of is theandtraen
fact that the materials of its visions are largely drawn from *at™^Is
the Old Testament and from apocalyptical traditions
already current. These traditions would naturally come
from some earlier crisis in the history of the Christian or
the Jewish church ; and the use of such material would
naturally lead to just such occasional indications of an
earlier date, or such varieties of view, as our further study
of the book will disclose.1 We shall often have two ques-
1 For example 1 1 : r-2 points to a date before the destruction of Jerusalem,
while 17 : 10-n requires us to come down to Domitian. In 7 : 1-8 we seem
173

The Messages of the
tions to answer about a given visionary figure — its original
meaning, and its application by the present writer ; and
the question of the original meaning may divide itself still
further into a study of nearer and more remote origins.
3. Its Composition and Plan
The ques- The Book of Revelation has been by many praised for its
unity ' artistic structure, while many on the other hand have de
nied not only its art, but even its unity, and have main
tained that the seams and breaks in its construction, and
the diversity of different parts in the historical situation
they presuppose and the type of Christianity they repre
sent, can be explained only by the supposition that the
book had at least two authors and perhaps several more.
The ques- It is evident that in general the book presents a progress
ive movement from the treatment of present actual con
ditions in certain churches of Asia Minor, through ap
proaching catastrophes embracing all regions and peoples
of the earth and the earth itself in their scope, on to the
final overthrow of the powers of evil and the consummate
blessedness of the faithful in a new heaven and earth. Yet
the movement is by no means straight forward from be
ginning to end. The structure of Daniel and other apoca
lypses would not, indeed, lead us to expect a chronological
to meet with a narrow Jewish Christianity, while 7 : 9—17 is as universal as
Paul. A Jewish Messiah warrior is pictured in 19 : n ff., but a divine being
meets us elsewhere. 174

tion of
progress

Apocalyptical Writers
sequence. In Daniel the successive visions do not move
forward in time, but advance rather in the clearness and
detail with which they indicate the identity of the power
of evil with the Greek empire and Antiochus Epiphanes,
the time and manner of their overthrow, and the experiences
and rewards of the people of God. So in Revelation it is
not until chapters 13 and 17 that we have clear indica
tions that the ruling power of 'evil is Rome, and perhaps
hints of Nero as its personal embodiment ; and it is not
until chapter 20 that the consummation divides into two
stages. Of the fall of Rome and the reward of the saints The habit
many anticipatory descriptions are inserted. In 6 : 12-17 Son1 C'Pa
we have nothing less than the final day of God's judg
ment. It is described again in 14 : 14-20. Yet its proper
place appears to be in chapters 19 and 20. In 7 : 9-17 we
already read of the final blessedness of the faithful. So
in n : 15-18 and 15 : 2-4 the establishment of God's king
dom is announced. Yet only in chapters 21-22 does the
consummation appear to be reached. The fall of Rome
appears to have been already accomplished in 14 : 8 ; it
is more fully described in 16: 17-21 ; still predicted in
17 : 16 ; announced as if an accomplished fact in 18 : 2,
and predicted still more elaborately in 18 : 4-24 ; again an
nounced in 19 : 2-3, but perhaps not finally effected until
19:11-21. Yet the inference which many interpreters
from Augustine on have drawn that the method of the
writer is one of recapitulation does not seem to do justice
I7S

The Messages of the
to the general indications of progress from the beginning
to the end of the book. It seems therefore more probable
that anticipatory hints and summary statements charac
terize the writer's method. These could be explained as
due to his practical aim, his desire to warn and also to
encourage. This would lead him not to put off to the end
of the book that by which the tempted and wavering faith
of Christians was to be strengthened, the assurance that the
fall of Rome and the glorious reward of those who were
faithful even unto death was near at hand. This is the
one message of the book from the beginning, announced
in the opening verses, and enforced in the letters, whose
promises to those who overcome contain all the main feat
ures of chapters 21-22, and formally connect the begin
ning of the book with the end.
The plan in Turning now to details, it is not easy to say just how far
we may ascribe to the author an elaborate plan by which
The plan of this general impression is produced. According to the
ruling view the predictions of chapters 4-22 are made up
of three series of seven judicial acts. These do not simply
repeat one another in new form, but the seventh of each
series is unfolded in a new series. We have first seven seals,
then seven trumpets which develop the contents or signifi
cance of the seventh seal, then seven bowls which elaborate
the seventh trumpet. In the case of the seals and the
trumpets the first four are distinct in character from the
remaining three, and the seventh is separated from the
176

successive sevens

Apocalyptical Writers
sixth by two interrupting episodes (7 : 1-8, 9-17 ; 10,11 : 1-
13). The seven bowls are preceded by the introduction
of the three great enemies of God, the dragon and the two
beasts (12-13), and an anticipation of their overthrow (14),
and followed by a fuller description of the fall and punish
ment of the beasts and finally of the dragon (17-20). Then
comes the consummation (21-22). This idea of the plan of
the book may be represented by the following scheme from
Holtzmann : * 1 : 1-8, Introduction.
1 : 0-3 : 22, The seven letters.

4 : 1-5 : 14, Heavenly scene of the
visions.
6 : 1-17, Six seals.
8 : 1-5, The trumpets coming forth
out of the seventh seal.
8 : 6-9 : 21, Six trumpets.

11 : 15-19, Seventh trumpet.

7 : 1-17, The sealed and the Blessed.

10 : 1-11 : 14, Fortunes of Jeru
salem.

12 : 1-14 : s, The great visions of the
three chief foes and the Messiah-
Kingdom.
14 : 6-20, Return to the earlier context.
15 : 1-16 : 1, Transition to the
bowls.
16 : 2-2 1, Seven bowls. 17 : 1-19 : 10, The great Babylon.
19 : 11-20 : 15, Final catastrophes. 21 : 1-22 : 5, The new Jerusalem.
22:6-21, Conclusion.
1 Commentar, p. 295.
177

The Messages of the
Objections The objection to this theory of the writer's plan is that
to p an tke passages wnich stand in the way of it, those in the right-
hand column, are too important to be regarded as mere
interrupting interludes, and a plan which has no proper
place for them can hardly have been in the author's mind.
The fullest and most significant predictions of the book
stand in no relation at all, or only in the loosest relation,
to the series of sevens. Certainly from chapter 10 to the
end the scheme of sevens is largely abandoned,1 and the
seven bowls, which are the least original and impressive
part of this section, being dependent on the seven trumpets
and inferior to them in force, appear rather like an inser
tion in this part of the book than its chief contents.
If, as is commonly affirmed, the seventh seal is developed
in seven trumpets, and the seventh trumpet in the seven
bowls and what introduces and follows them, then the con
tent of the seventh seal and trumpet is in each case all
that follows to the end of the book, and we should begin a
new division with the end of the sixth, not with the an
nouncement of the seventh. In that case chapters 7 and
ro need not be regarded as mere insertions, but may be
taken as the proper introductions of new stages in the
progress of the drama. The seven seals are not ended in
8:1, but when the seventh seal is removed, the book is
opened of which the remainder of our prophecy must de-
1 This may be the meaning of the reference to the seven thunders which the
seer heard, but was forbidden to write (10 : 4).
178

Apocalyptical Writers
scribe the contents. So also n : 15-19 does not complete
an apocalypse of seven trumpets, but introduces the sev
enth, which contains, as is distinctly said (10 : 7), all that
follows. Even the seventh bowl, though not formally sepa
rated from the sixth, contains not simply 16: 17-21, but
also the following chapters, which describe in fuller detail
its theme — the fall of Babylon-Rome.1
I suggest, therefore, the following as approximately the Another
, , view of the
writers plan : author's plan
Superscription, 1 : 1-3.
I. The Messages of Christ to his Churches, 1 : 4-3 : 22.
1. Introduction :
Salutation, 1 : 4-6.
Theme, 1 : 7.
Attestation, 1 : 8.
2. The Prophet's call, 1 : 9-20.
3. The seven messages, 2-3.
II. Visions of the Future, 4-22.
A. Introduction :
1. Vision of God, by whom all is done, 4.
*. Vision of Christ, by whom all is known and revealed, 5.
B. First Stages of .the Coming Judgment, 6-9.
1. Destructive powers seen at the opening of six seals, 6.
2. Salvation of the faithful, 7.
a. The safety of the saints, 7 : 1-8.
b. Final blessedness of martyrs, 7 : 9-17.
3. Preliminary judgments ; destroying one-third of earth and
mankind at the sounding of six trumpets, 8-9.
1 See 17 : 1 ; 31 : 9.
179

The Messages of the
C. Last Stages of the Judgment, 10-20.
(I) Introduction :
j.. The Prophet's new commission, 10.
z. New assurances, in old figures of the safety of saints and
martyrs, n : 1-13. •
a. Safety of the true worshippers, 11 : 1-2.
b. Work and reward of martyrs, n : 3-13.
(II) The Overthrow of Rome and Satan, n : 14-20 : 15.
1. Introduction : Heavenly song,- anticipating God's 'vic
tory, n : 14-19.
2. The powers of evil.
a. Satan, 12.
b. Rome and the imperial cultus, 13.
3. The opposing host, Christ and the undented, 14 : 1-5.
4. Last warnings to flee from the wrath to come, 14 : 6-20.
5. The Judgments, 15-20.
a. Vision of the wrath of God, in seven bowls, 15-16.
b. Fall of Rome described in a figure, 17.
c. Fall of Rome in prophecy, 18.
d. Fall of Rome in heavenly song, 19 : 1-10.
e. Fall of Rome as the victory of Christ in warfare with the
beasts, 19 : 11-21.
/. The fall of Satan, 20 : 1-10.
g. General resurrection and Judgment, 20 : n-15.
D. The Blessed Consummation.
1. The coming of God to dwell with men, 21 : 1-8.
2. The descent of the heavenly Jerusalem, 21 : 9-22 : 9.
Concluding warnings and promises, 22 : 10-21.
This outhne assumes that the book had a proper author
in its present form and a real unity, in spite of the fact that
180

Apocalyptical Writers
it incorporates much material that may have received Varying
almost its present form from earlier hands. This con- thTr-om-
ception of the composition of the book, which we here {£?booko£
assume to be the true one, wa£ first put forth by Weiz-
sacker in 1882. He regarded chapters 7 : 1-8; 7 : 9-17;
n : 1-13 ; 12 : 1-11, 12-17; I3> and I7> as sucn older
oracles, perhaps in part Jewish, which our author incor
porated in his book.
On the other hand, some scholars have supposed that
entire apocalypses lie behind our book, that it has no
proper unity, and that its final editor was in no sense its
author. Vischer, in 1886, proposed the view that the
book is a Jewish apocalypse (4 : 1-22 : 5), set in a Christian
framework (1-3; 22 : 6-21), and slightly edited by the
addition of occasional Christian sentences. More elabo
rate analyses followed. Spitta found a primitive Christian
apocalypse by John Mark, to which a later Christian added
two Jewish apocalypses, one from Caligula's time, and one
from Pompey's. The last analysis of this sort, by J. Weiss,
is somewhat like Spitta's.
In general it may be said that there are no such con- Conclusions
elusive grounds for analysis here as in the Book of Enoch,
and yet it is important to recognize that the writer uses
materials that were shaped for earlier and different situa
tions than his own. It is probable that much came origi
nally from Palestine, and was written in Hebrew, and it is
also probable that some of it was written by Jews. Chris-
181

The Messages of the
tians adopted into their Old Testament canons for a time
some purely Jewish apocalypses, and it was easy for them,
regarding the Christian church as the true Israel, to use
Jewish language as the poetic and sometimes even as the
literal expression of Christian behefs and hopes.
4. The Author
The aposde The writer calls himself John (1 : 1, 4, 9; 22 : 8), and
byte/john? declares that he saw his visions on the Island of Patmos
where he was "on account of the word of God and on ac
count of the testimony of Jesus," that is, as usually under
stood, on account of persecution or banishment. Justin
Martyr is the first to identify this John with the apostle.
So also do Irenasus and Tertullian. Dionysius of Alexan
dria (about 255 A. D.) is the first to argue, on the basis
of a comparison with the Fourth Gospel, that the author
of Revelation was another John; and Eusebius suggests
the Presbyter John, of whom Papias speaks. The earliest
opponents of the canonicity of the book, the Alogi, as
signed it to the Gnostic, Cerinthus, an idea adopted by
the Roman presbyter Caius, about 210 -A. D., against
whom Hippolytus wrote. The author himself nowhere
claims to be an apostle (21 : 14; 18 : 20), and nowhere
reveals any personal knowledge of the earthly Jesus.
It is usually said that he does assume the position of
the unquestioned official head or bishop of the churches
182

Apocalyptical Writers
of Asia. But, in the first place, it is not certain that the
Apostle John was the head of the churches of Asia Minor ; 1
and in the second place it is not clear that the author of
Revelation assumes this office. He is a brother and fel
low in trial of those to whom he writes (1:9); and the one
who speaks with authority in the letters is Christ, of whom
the writer claims only to be a true prophet, to report truly
what he has seen and heard. Like other apocalyptical
writers he makes great claims for his book rather than
for himself.
Is it true, then, that unlike other apocalyptical writers Could the
he gives his own name ? Our book is certainly distin- ps^udony-
guished from Jewish apocalypses by the fact that it is not mous?
written in the person of an ancient patriarch or prophet,
and does not survey long stretches of past history in the
form of vision. Yet it does not necessarily follow that it
is not, like them, pseudonymous. Christians did not need,
like Jews, to go far back in order to find prophetic names.
They possessed new prophets of their own. If we could
hear the prophets speak whom Paul describes and praises
we should be able to say whether Revelation is a direct or
a secondary product of that new inspiration. Our im
pression is that it is secondary. It is apocalyptical, and
Paul's description of the Christian prophets does not lead
us to suppose that the first prophecy was of that type.
And being apocalyptical we should not be surprised to find
1 See B. W. Bacon, in Hibbert Journal, Jan., 1904.
I83

The Messages of the
that Revela.ion was pseudonymous. The apocalypse of
Peter was certainly so, though it was widely accepted as
genuine. In Second Esdras 1-2 a Christian falls back on
the name of the famous Jewish scribe ; and in the Sibyl
line oracles there are Christian pseudepigraphs.
Opposing On the other hand the Book of Revelation does not con-
tions tain the familiar marks of pseudonymous writing. If it
were put forth in the name of the apostle we should expect
some allusions to the known events of his life. But our
writer gives no intimation that he had known Jesus, and
his picture of Messiah is taken from Jewish sources rather
than from the personality known to us in the Gospels.
Not the Our author is certainly not the writer of the Fourth
Fourth Gos- Gospel. The difference in style and in type of religion
** remains too great, after all that has been said of minor
points of contact between the two books.
Hebraistic Revelation is so entirely Hebraistic that we may assume
Palestinian3 that its author was a Jew' and probably a Palestinian, and
the possibility remains open that the work of some John
of Palestine has been adapted to a new region and a new
crisis by a writer of Asia Minor.
In the present uncertain state of inquiry it is chiefly
important to remain undogmatic and to remember that
the meaning and value of the book to us do not depend
on our view of its authorship.

184

Apocalyptical Writers
5. The Historical Situation and Date
The historical background of the book is the Roman The wor-
empire and especially the worship of the emperors and its Roman em-
enforcement in Asia Minor. This was a natural continua- perors
tion of the earher worship of Alexander and his successors,
the Greek kings of Syria and Egypt. It was introduced
for the same purpose that it then served, that of unifying the
diverse elements in the empire. Augustus declined it in
Rome, but encouraged it in the provinces, and especially
in the East where it was already familiar. The enthusiastic
temper with which it was generally welcomed is evident
from the extravagant language applied to Augustus in
connection with the introduction of the Julian calendar
in the Asian province. He always joined with it the wor
ship of the goddess Rome. It was not meant to displace
the native religions but to have recognition by their side,
in a more or less close relation to them. It was valued by
the emperors as an effective means of Romanizing the
empire, and hence was furthered especially where Roman
culture did not prevail, and in the Orient where it would
cause least offence. It was in fact offensive only to mon
otheistic faiths, Judaism and Christianity, which could
not worship God and Caesar. Jews and Christians, in
refusing it, would bring upon themselves suspicion and
contempt. In general Jews fared better than Christians
during this period. The Jews had gained concessions,
185

The Messages of the

Jewish because of their long persistent refusal to take part in
pnvieges jjoiatrous practices under whatever pressure, and these
privileges which Cassar had granted and Augustus con
firmed were seldom violated by the authorities. Caligula
did indeed attempt to enforce the imperial cult, and tried
to have his statue erected in the temple. It is quite pos
sible that Revelation 13 came originally from a Jew of
Palestine during this crisis. The Jews of Alexandria also
suffered during Caligula's reign. But Claudius restored
their ancient rights and exemptions. Christians, however,
did not necessarily inherit these privileges.
Special de- There were temples of Cassar in Palestine (Samaria,
ofthemkinPanias, Cassarea), but it was in Asia Minor that the em-
Asia Minor peror cujt was most developed, and Pergamum seems to
have been its centre, though Ephesus had a temple to Rome
and Augustus during that emperor's reign. It does not ap
pear, however, that this worship was enforced by law before
the reign of Domitian. Paul's life and letters lead us to the
confident inference that the cult was not forced upon the
Christians of Asia in his time. First Peter knows of per
secutions of Christians in this region, but not by the Ro
man government and not for refusal to take part in the offi
cial religion. Both Paul (Rom. 13 : 1-5) and First Peter
(2 : 13-17) urge submission to Roman rule, which there
fore could not have demanded idolatry. The Jews and the
populace hated and misused Christians, but Rome rather
restrained than supported this hatred (2 Thes. 2 : 6-7).
186

Apocalyptical Writers
The situation reflected in Revelation is very different especially
from this, and evidently later. The reign of Domitian is Domitian
indicated by this general situation. It is true that we
know of no edict from this emperor enforcing the imperial
cult ; but it appears that under him, and presumably with
his approval, the priests of the cult and the governors of
the provinces were especially zealous in enforcing it. We
do not know how far compulsion had gone when Revela
tion was written. It may be, as J. Weiss thinks, that there
had been already only a few martyrdoms, but that the
seer had reason to expect in the immediate future a forc
ible and even fanatical insistence upon emperor worship,
which would involve a general persecution of Christians,
with the apostasy of many and the martyrdom of the
great body of the faithful. Something, perhaps a rumor
of an imperial decree, or the knowledge of plots among
the local officials or the populace, made the writer certain
that such measures as Revelation 13 : 11-17 described
would be enforced. There is evidence in fact that under
Domitian the extension of emperor worship became a
persecuting and oppressive policy. Under Domitian and
Trajan Rome first set itself definitely the task of stamping
out Christianity. The Book of Revelation has therefore Revelation
the unique significance of marking the' transition from the beSnning
earlier tolerant attitude of Rome to its later hostile at- ^Z^n™
titude. It is the first expression of Christian faith as it Christianity
x . and Rome
asserted itself and took its stand over against the world
187

The Messages of the
power when this became its outspoken enemy through
insistence upon an idolatrous worship. The end of the
warfare thus opened was not what the book expects, the
fall of Rome and the enthronement of Christ and his
martyr saints in its place. It was an end that would have
been inconceivable at the outset, the Christianization of
Rome itself. In the situation described we have the ex
planation and justification of the apocalyptical form of
our book. Here just as in the crisis that called forth the
Book of Daniel, the power of the ruling state was applied
to compel men to renounce faith in God. A religious
test was made the test of loyal citizenship. Christian
faith could then take no form but that of the renunciation
of the right of Roman rule, and could sustain itself only
by the expectation of the speedy fall of that rule at the
hand of God. Only this could warn and recover apostates
and give courage to the faithful to endure even death
itself.
Confirma- The date which the historical situation requires — not
undefDo^"5 Def°re the reign of Domitian — is confirmed by other in-
mitian dications. The notes on chapter 17 will show that in his
reign this chapter received its present form. The eighth
king of 17: 11 can scarcely be any other. Harnack re
gards this as one of the most definite dates in the New
Testament literature because it is so evidently added to
verse 10, written under Vespasian (69-79 A. D.), to fit the
vision to a later period. It effectually excludes the infer-

Apocalyptical Writers
ence that would naturally be made from verse 10 that the
book as a whole comes from the earlier reign.
A less conclusive result is reached by the use made in Legend of
our book of the figure of Nero. After the death of this *Nerom
last and worst of the line of Augustus the rumor arose that
he was not dead but had fled to the Parthians, the great
eastern enemies of Rome, and would return with their
support against the empire. Among Christians this re
turn of their persecutor became an interpretation of the
expected Antichrist, and it was affirmed that he would
reign over the East with his throne in Jerusalem. As
time passed the idea that Nero was still alive changed into
the belief that he would return from the grave, and his
figure took on more superhuman, demoniacal, features. It
may with plausibility be maintained that it is in this form,
which belongs to the close of the first century, that the
legend is alluded to in Revelation 13 : 3 ; 17 : 8 ff. This
would be a decisive point if we could be sure that 17:11
identifies Domitian with the returning Nero. This is
possible but not certain.
We naturally look with special interest to the seven The time of
letters, the most original and distinctive part of the book, letters e°
and most definite in their references to concrete conditions.
But we find here no allusion to historical events, and can
only say that Christianity had had a somewhat long his
tory in these churches. There was a relaxation of earlier
zeal, a loss of love, a tendency to admit heathen ways of
189

The Messages of the
living and thinking. All this points to a later rather than
an earlier period. Paul's position as founder of the church
in Ephesus, also, appears to be wholly a thing of the past.
An argu- Hamack now follows Reinach in fixing upon 93 A. D. as
"earVf "* the exact year of the final redaction of our book.1 In 6 : 6
the angel of famine is told to make grain scarce but leave oil
and wine abundant. Men will lack necessary food, while
they possess what tends to luxury and immorality. This
strange forecast suggests some peculiar situation. Now in
92 A. D.', Domitian prohibited the cultivation of the vine
in the provinces, nominally to encourage the culture of grain
and restrain drunkenness, really to protect the vineyards of
Italy. A year later he revoked this edict, and the writer
of Revelation saw in this the danger of a dearth of grain
and a superfluity of wine. He adds oil perhaps as another
article of luxury which could not by itself serve for food.
Conclusion The date which Irenaeus assigned, "near the end of the
reign of Domitian,'' that is, about, if not exactly, 93 A. D.,
remains the probable one for the book as it stands.2
6. The Canonicity of the Book
Disputes be- The place of the Book of Revelation in the New Testa-
and West ment was long disputed. Its claims are great (1 : 1-3 ;
22 : 16, 18-19), and it was probably treasured as the most
sacred of books by those who first received it. But it did
not hold its place in the East, and its reception into the
1 Theol. Literaturzeilung, 1902, p. 591 f. 2 See further pp. 229 f., 261 f.
190

Apocalyptical Writers
canon was secured only by the advocacy of the Western
church. The Greek mind naturally favored a more ethical
and rational type of Christianity, and always opposed the
millenarian ideas that appealed to this book for support.
Eusebius records the objections to it, and seems to sympa
thize with them ; and the book was not found in the origi
nal Syriac New Testament. But the Western church ac
cepted it after an elaborate defence by Hippolytus, about
215 A. D., and the Eastern church finally yielded to the
West. At the beginning of the Reformation these questions
arose again, and an effort was made to put Revelation in
a class of deutero-canonical books. Luther himself was at
first averse to the book because of its extravagant claims,
its obscurity, and the absence of the Pauline gospel in it ;
but he afterward recognized its value as expressing the
faith that, however great the powers of evil may be, Christ
is near and the victory of his cause certain.
The history of its place in the canon suggests that it has inference a
been valued by the church, not for its extravagant claims, value
nor for its visionary form and the air of mystery that sur
rounds it, but for its power to sustain Christian faith and
hope amid trial and apparent defeat. Christian faith has
always been able to take the language of the book in a
poetic sense and find in it an expressive elaboration of
the beatitude, "Blessed are ye when men shall reproach
you, and persecute you, and say all manner of evil against
191

The Messages of the
you falsely for my sake. Rejoice and be exceeding glad,
for great is your reward in heaven ; " and of such expres
sions of the Christian faith at its height as this : "If we
died with him, we shall also live with him : if we endure,
we shall also reign with him."
7. Its Teachings and Value
The predic- The book predicts the speedy coming of God, in or
Revelation with the coming of Christ, as judge. Christians will then
be divided, the true from the false. Rome will fall and
Satan himself, whose power Rome embodies, will be first
bound and finally destroyed. Those who are faithful
unto death in the present trials will have as their special
reward a place of glory and power by the side of Christ
during the thousand years of his earthly rule. The final
destiny of all believers is to live with God and Christ in
eternal blessedness. The fall of Rome is described in a
variety of ways. It is not clear whether the author thought
that a literal earthquake would have part in its overthrow
(6:12-17; 16:17-21), or whether it would fall before
foreign hosts, especially the Parthians with Nero at their
head (9 : 13 ff. ; 16 : 12-16 ; 17 : 16 ff.), or whether the re
turning Christ would smite it (19 : 11 ff.). In any case the
outpouring of God's wrath against Rome is part of a larger
judgment, which involves the fall of Satan and all his evil
powers. Behind the world empire are spiritual powers of
darkness. Their conflicts with angelic powers of good
192

Apocalyptical Writers
form the invisible background and ultimate explanation
of the power of evil on earth and the guarantee of its final
overthrow. It is hard to distinguish between figure and reality in our Points of
author's predictions, but two things he certainly held with stress
all the energy of his being : the approaching fall of the
Roman empire, and the reward in a power and blessedness
far beyond anything earthly that awaited those who were
faithful even to martyrdom in their resistance against the
force and persuasions of the world power.
Underlying the rehgion of the book is the faith in one Ruling re-
God, who was and is and is to come, and the certainty that gI0US ' eas
his power is absolute and must prevail. The transcend
ence of God and the inevitableness of his purposes are
emphasized, while the qualities of fatherhood which Christ
disclosed do not appear. Second only to God is Christ.
He is seen as an angelic being (i : 9-20), yet in power and
dignity is above all angels, even those nearest God's throne
(5 : 1 ff.). The earthly Jesus is wholly out of view apart
from his redeeming death, and the spirit of his life and
teaching is hardly to be felt. He is given titles that belong
to God (1 : 17-18 ; 2:8; 22 : 13), is worshipped by angels
and men (5 : 9-14), and not only reigns during the earthly
millennium, but sits with God on his throne in the final
consummation (21 : 22-23 ! 22 : I_3)-
The Christianity of the book has on the one hand a
Jewish character, and on the other various aspects closely
193

The Messages of the
Relation to related to Paul. It is not certain that Paul's influence is to
Christianity be recognized. It is as probable that the book represents a
late development of primitive Christianity in which a very
high Christology and a broad universality, that is, an entire
freedom from Jewish particularism, had been gained largely
or altogether apart from Paul.

II
THE MESSAGES OF CHRIST TO THE CHURCHES
i. The Seven Churches of Asia
Theseven The seven letters seem unmistakably to be addressed

cities

to seven actual churches within a certain radius of Ephe-
sus, for the description of the character and conditions of
each is distinct and concrete. Yet on the other hand the
choice of only seven in a region where there were certainly
more suggests that under the form of addressing specific
churches the writer meant to address all churches in the
province of Asia, or all churches in general, and all Chris
tians. Only in such an ideal or representative sense, it
would seem, could the seven churches be identified with
the seven candlesticks and stars (i : 12-20 ; 2:1). Each
letter, moreover, is formally declared to contain what the
Spirit says to the churches. It is certain that these are
not letters like those of Paul, and that they were never sent
separately to the various communities. The seven mes-
194

Apocalyptical Writers
sages form together the complete message of Christ to the
entire body of his followers. They were meant to be read
together, and were probably meant originally to introduce,
as they now do, a book of prophecies which do not con
cern any special cities, nor even any one region alone, but
the whole Roman empire, and even the whole world.
These seven cities were indeed important, and if we
could suppose that each was understood as " the centre
and head of a district," ' they might be made to include the
Christians of the Province of Asia. It is hard, however,
to account for the omission of such old and important
churches as those at Colossal and Hierapolis except by
the determination to hold to the number seven, unless,
indeed, the limitation lay in the personal knowledge or
relationships of the writer.
Ephesus, Smyrna and Pergamum deserved to be named
first in any fist of the cities of Asia. They vied with each
1 Ramsay now argues (The Expositor, 1004) that the seven cities were situ
ated along the line of certain great roads which a messenger would naturally
follow, and that they were suitable distributing points where seven other mes
sengers could take letters and make smaller circuits, each in his own region.
The theory is not without its attractions, but presents difficulties as well.
Ramsay regards the writer as "charged with the superintendence and over
sight of all those churches [of Asia Minor], invested with divinely given and
absolute authority over them." But an apocalypse is not the form in which
we should expect such a bishop to embody his message, and Ramsay thinks
the choice of this literary form unfortunate. In truth, the fact that our book
is an apocalypse weighs against Ramsay's view of its author and its purpose,
and the method of its circulation. See his Letters to the Seven Churches
(N. Y., 190s). 195

The Messages of the
other for the title of first city of the province. Since Ephe
sus stands first in the list, the others following in a geo
graphical order, moving north, east and south, it was prob
ably regarded as the capital by the writer and by popular
opinion. It seems, however, that the older capital, Per-
gamum, retained its place in the official view until after our
book was written, for it was not only the first city to have
the honor of a temple to Rome and Augustus (29 B. C),
but also the first to be granted a second imperial temple,
probably under Trajan. Smyrna had a temple to Ti
berius in 26 A. D. It is possible that Ephesus received
this distinction under Claudius (41-54 A. D.). There
was a temple there to Augustus much earlier (before
5 B. C), but as it was not ordered by Rome it did not in
volve the title Neocoros, that is, "warden of a temple dedi
cated to the imperial cultus." This title, which is found on
coins and inscriptions, appears not to have been held by
others of the seven cities until long after the time of this
book. It cannot therefore be said that the choice of the
seven was due to the special prevalence in them of this
cult.
Allusions Professor Ramsay finds in the letters allusions to the
the history past history and current reputation of the various cities,
of the cities as weji as to tjje conditions and character of the churches
located in them. Thus he finds an allusion to the fact that
Smyrna was destroyed about 600 B. C, and not refounded
until about 300 B. C, in the description of Christ as one
196

Apocalyptical Writers
who died and lived again, and the promise to the faithful
disciple to gain life through death. Sardis was known as a
city of the past, decayed from its former estate. It had
also twice been taken by stealth in spite of its. supposed
impregnable position. So 3 : 1-3 applies with singular
fitness to the town as well as to the church. Laodicea
had become rapidly rich under Roman rule, rebuilding
itself after destruction by earthquake, in 60 A. D., without
such help from Rome as oth r cities received in like cir
cumstances (see 3:17). It was a financial centre, owing to
its situation at the crossing of three great highways. There
are allusions to things for which it was specially famous
in 3 : 18. Since in Thyatira the guild of coppersmiths
was influential, it is possible that the tutelary deity of the
city was represented with feet of brass, as Christ is in 2 : 18.
Philadelphia had an "open door" for trade with the in
terior of the country, and so also for Christian missions
(3 : 8 ; cf . 2 Cor. 2 : 12). This is not wholly convincing.
Moreover it is the church, not the city, which the writer
describes and approves or condemns, and with which in
each case he seems to show intimate personal knowledge.
But Professor Ramsay points out that the special danger of
the church might well lie in the peculiar character of the
city in which it was ; for the one danger was the influence
of Greco -Roman life and ideas, and this took its form and
got its strength from the special circumstances of the several
towns. The wealth and worldly pride of Laodicea were
197

The Messages of the
reflected in the church. The strength of trade guilds
in Thyatira led to the temptation to join them, though
practical idolatry and perhaps the danger of immorality
were involved in the common meal which bound the mem
bers together. The significance of Pergamum as the cen
tre of the worship of the emperor explained the dangers
that threatened the church there.
The two churches which were most praised, Smyrna
and Philadelphia, were the two in which the Jews are
mentioned as troublesome. It has been pointed out as a
striking fact that these two churches are those that have
proved in later history most tenacious of life and most
loyal to Christianity. Smyrna is still the most flourishing
and the most occidental of the cities of Asia Minor, and
Philadelphia has most successfully resisted the Turk, and
is still largely Christian (see 3 : 12").
A region of Another important fact about these cities is that they had
suffered much from earthquakes. A great earthquake in
17 A. D. destroyed Sardis and Philadelphia and several
other cities. Tiberius contributed largely to the rebuild
ing of them. Other destructive earthquakes are also re
corded. It is further to be remembered that these prov
inces were near the Parthian frontier, and would feel the
menace to Roman power from this its only serious rival.
We shall notice further on that Asia Minor was the centre
of a zealous imperialism, whereas in Rome itself the old
republican ideals still had much power, and the growing
198

earthquakes

Apocalyptical Writers
pretensions of the emperors were by no means universally
approved. An important problem is presented by the address "to The angels
the angel of the church." It does not seem probable that churches
a bishop or any other officer of a church could be so com
pletely identified with the church itself as this angel is. He
is warned, blamed, praised, wholly as if he were the church
itself, and never once in his separate personal character
and official responsibility. It is probable therefore that
the angel of the church is its heavenly counterpart, or rep
resentative, not its heavenly ruler or guardian or advocate,
but simply its heavenly presence, a personification of its
actual character, the church itself regarded as a person.
The conception of angehc representatives of kingdoms
and nations is frequently found in various forms in Jewish
writings, and, as will appear, is not wanting elsewhere in
the book before us. The writer may have chosen this
form of address to fit the heavenly setting of the vision.
The heavenly Christ speaks to the heavenly presences of the
churches the things which John writes to the churches them
selves. The message of the Christ-angel to the church-
angel must be written in order that it may reach the actual
church on earth, and the identification of the two is so close
that it can be said that John writes to the angel.
The letters are introduced by descriptions of Christ,
which are in most cases borrowed from the vision (i : 12-
20), and close with promises which in most cases anticipate
199

The Messages of the
The artistic the fuller descriptions of the life to come in the closing
strucfure of chapters of the book. The selection of descriptive feat-
the letters ures from the vision of Christ is in several cases made
with reference to the special message of the letter ; and
this is sometimes, though not so often and clearly, the case
with the selection of the reward. This artistic structure
is at many points so evident, and the skill displayed so
great, that we may suppose that a reason determined the
choice of titles and rewards where it is not now evident.
The first reward suggests Eden ; the second, the Fall ; the
third, the Wilderness ; the fourth, the Kingdom. Yet it
is hardly probable that the writer intended to represent the
fulfilment of successive stages of Old Testament history.
The histori- In regard to the historical situation, it is to be observed
that some persecutions are past, but that general and se
vere persecution seems to be a thing of the future, though
it is regarded as imminent. The present tendency in the
churches is toward a relaxation of earlier Christian faith
and zeal, a loss of love and the adoption of heathen ways of
living and thinking. The influence of the ruling culture,
of the ideas and practices of the great Greco-Roman world,
is strong. Degeneracy is either seen or feared by the
writer, and his admonition is to get back what they have
lost, and to hold fast what they have, even if faithfulness
means death.
Since in later parts of the book resistance against the
enticements and compulsions of emperor worship is most
200

Apocalyptical Writers
strongly urged, both by threat and by promise (13 ; 15 : 2 ; The Nico-
16:51., 10; 17:6; 19:201.; 20:4-6), it is natural to^^
regard this as the fundamental teaching underlying the
practical heathenism, the conformity to heathen ways, of
the Nicolaitans or Balaamites (2 : 6, 14-15), and of the
false prophetess (2 : 20 ff.).
This is confirmed by the fact that Pergamum was the
city where the emperor cult was first introduced with
temple and priesthood. The language used points to a
Christian sect, claiming apostolic authority (2:2; cf. 6),
authenticating itself by prophecy (2 : 20), claiming to
possess a teaching of a peculiar mystery and value, called
"deep things of Satan" by our author (2:15, 24), not
libertine to the degree of heathenish immorality, yet
believing that Christian faith did not prevent free asso
ciation with heathen, and such conformity to their ways
as this involved, perhaps more exactly the eating at a
common table in connection with religious rites, such as
was involved in membership in one of the Greek guilds
or social clubs. Perhaps even participation in the im
perial cult was allowed by some Jewish synagogues, for
the relations of Jews in the Dispersion to heathen varied
through all the gradations from strict separation to prac
tical conformity.

The Messages of the
2. The Letters to the Churches (1-3)
(1) Superscription (1 : 1-3)
Authorship The author of this revelation is Christ, who, however,
lanceof the received it from God, that he might give it to the Christian
b°?k_ . community. The mode of its communication was through
an angel, who again imparted it by visions to John. It
can therefore with equal right be called the word of God,
or the testimony of Jesus, or the things that John saw. Its
contents is the prediction of future events, those that are
not of a remote but of the immediate future. Its im
portance is great because the events it foretells are not only
most significant but also near at hand ; therefore, happy is
he that reads in the public meetings, and happy they that
hear and observe these prophecies.
(2) Introduction (1 : 4-8)
Salutation, John salutes the seven churches that are in Asia. I
maryVthe wish you the blessing of God, the seven spirits — that is, his
theology spirit, perfect and one in its various workings — and Jesus
(1:4-6) Christ, these three; and would remind you that Christ
gained his kingly place through his faithful testimony and
his resurrection from death. His love to us not only re
deemed us from sin, but will exalt us also to a kingship
and priesthood like his own.1 To him therefore our praise
is due. lEx. 19:6; cf. 1 Pet. 2:9.
202

Apocalyptical Writers
My message is that it is this Christ who is coming in The theme:
majesty, as Daniel1 prophesied ; it is he whose coming will * chris|ng
produce in those who rejected and crucified him that terror (l : 7^
and dismay of which Zechariah z wrote.
I, the Lord God, the ultimate author of this revelation, The attesta-
attest it by my name, Jehovah, which means that I am not bpokbyGod
only the God of the present and of the past, but also of Y^li
the future (cf. Ex. 3 : 14 ; Isa. 44 : 6 ; 48 : 12).
(3) The Prophet's Call and Commission (1 : 9-20)
I, .John, the immediate author of this book, one with The calling
you in faith and suffering, received my message in this prophet
manner : I was in the island of Patmos in banishment on 'l:«,_I15
account of my preaching of the gospel. It was on a Sun
day when in a state of ecstasy I heard a loud voice com
manding me to write what I saw and send it to seven
specified churches in leading cities in the province of Asia.
Turning to see who spoke, I saw the heavenly Christ. His and his vis-
appearance was that of one in priestly dress, but of kingly Christ, who
power and heavenly radiance, with dazzhng eyes and {J^Jrjj|h"n
shining feet and resounding voice. He seemed to me like what he sees
the two whom Daniel saw in his vision, the Ancient of Days
and the one like a man ; 3 but also, and even more, like his
vision of the angel Gabriel.4 He stood in the midst of
seven candlesticks and had seven stars in his right hand
1 Dan. 7:13. 8 Dan. 7:9, 13.
2 Zech. 12 : 10. a Dan. 10: 5-6.
203

The Messages of the
and a sword in his mouth, symbol of the judicial and de
stroying power of divine words.1 I was overcome, and
fainted at this sublime sight, but he put his hand on me
and said, I am, even as God is, the first and the last,2 and,
by pre-eminence, the living one, since I died and yet now
live, and so have gained authority over death. I repeat
therefore my command that you write what you have
seen and what you are to see. Take heed especially to
the seven stars and candlesticks. The candlesticks are
the churches amid which I stand, and the stars represent
the personal being and character of the several churches.
What you behold, then, is the truth that I, the glorious and
divine Christ, who contain and surpass all Old Testament
visions of a Messianic or angelic man, and even include
essential marks of God himself, live amid my churches
and have perfect knowledge of them and absolute au
thority over them. My message which you are to convey
to them they must therefore hear and heed.
(4) The Seven Letters
The church He who has authoritative possession of the churches
is praised13 and is present in their midst says, I know your merit in
tion' of newC" zealously excluding false apostles and in the patient en-
teachings, (jurance of trials. Yet you have lost something of the
but blamed J °
tor the loss brotherly love that marked earlier days. I charge you to
love recover this, lest I deny your right to a place among Chris-
(2 : 1-7) 'Isa. 11:4; 49:2; Ps. Sol. r7 : 27, 39. 2 Isa. 44:6 ; 48: 12.
204

Apocalyptical Writers
tian churches. Yet your zeal against the Nicolaitans1 is
praiseworthy. Listen then to this prophetic message. He
who victoriously resists these evil influences shall gain the
right which man lost in Adam, the right to eternal life in
the blessed presence of God.
He who knows by experience that death leads to life The church
says, I know your worth amid persecutions at the hands jsprajseda
of those who are Jews in name but not in reality, having ^neTof
fallen into heathenish ways of hving (or, having failed to increasing
. . , ,-., . . . , . , r i persecutions
join the Christian community, which now forms the true (2 :8-n)
Judaism). You are about to suffer still more severely
for a short time. But if you are faithful in prison and
even in martyrdom you will win the prize of eternal life.
Listen to this prophetic message. He that triumphantly
endures trial, even to the suffering of bodily death, shall
escape real death, the death of the soul.
He whose words have power to judge and destroy says, Pergamum
I know that your city is the first and chief seat of the wor- forPfarfhfui-
ship of the emperor, and that even in the time of Antipas, jJH^^jj!
that representative martyr (the first?), who fell a victim ditions
to the imperial religion, you did not deny me. Yet there
are some among you who practise and teach conformity but blamed
to heathen manners and morals. For as Balaam's coun- ing'a Ro-'"
sel led to the fall of Israel into unchastity,2 so the Nicolai- ^^K
1 Probably the same as the false apostles.
2 By applying Num. 31 : 16 to 25 : 1 ff., Jewish tradition made Balaam
responsible for Israel's sin, and so the type of a false religious teacher (Philo,
Vita Mosis, i., 48-55 ; Josephus, Ant., iv., 6 : 6 ff .).
205

The Messages of the

Thyatira is
praised for
Christiangrowth (2 : 18-19),
but blamed
for allowing
a false
prophetess(2 : 20-29)

tans [whose very name may be taken as the Greek equiva
lent for Balaam, meaning conqueror, or lord of the people]
have misled some among you. Remove this fault, or else I
will come and speak against you my destroying words.
Listen to this prophetic message : He that conquers shall
receive [in place of the polluted food whxh some of you
now eat] heavenly sustenance, as rare and precious as the
manna once kept before the ark in the holy place, which
God hid when the temple was destroyed, and kept for the
Messianic age.1 He shall receive also a name written oj
a stone, a secret name known only to him who receives it.2
The Son of God, of heart-searching vision and resistless
strength, says, I know your Christian virtues, and how
they have increased. But you permit the presence of a
false prophetess, who like Jezebel of old teaches you to
recognize a heathen rehgion and conform to heathen ways.
She has been warned in vain, and now I will destroy her
and all her followers as they deserve, for my eyes discern
the heart. I add no other charge 3 except to avoid this
taint of idolatry and unchastity, which disguises itself as
1 Ex. 16 : 32-34 ; Heb. 9:4; 2 Mac. 2 : 4-8 ; Apoc. of Baruch 6 : 7-10 ;
29:8. 2 Perhaps the symbol is derived from the current idea of secret names that
had mysterious and magical powers. No heathen sect possessed so potent a
secret of renewal and salvation as would be granted to the faithful Christian.
3 Cf. Acts 15 : 28. In the Teaching of the Twelve 6:3, as in Rev., the
prohibition of eating things strangled, and blood (i.e., meat killed in a way
not according with Jewish rules), is not added, and the rule agrees with Paul's
practice (1 Cor. 10 : 21). 206

Apocalyptical Writers
an especially advanced and profound doctrine, and also
to keep what you have till I come. He that successfully
resists this temptation shall have the place of kingly rule
over the heathen — over this very Roman empire to which
some would have you submit — which God promised, in
the Book of Psalms,1 to his son, Israel, and which he gave
to me, his Son. Give heed to this prophetic message.
He that has divine omniscience says, I know that you Sardis is
have the reputation of living, but you are spiritually dead. foremost
Guard what httle good remains, for you have brought part de«en-
nothing to completion. Strive to recover what you have (3 : 1-3).
lost, lest I come upon you with sudden judgment. There
are indeed a few pure souls left among you, to whom my yet a few
coming will be a blessing. All such shall have their purity arenworthy
made manifest, and shall be known as my disciples in the (3 ; 4~6^
presence of God, even as I promised.2 Give heed to this
prophetic message.
The message of the holy and true one, of whom that is Phiiadei-
supremely true which Isaiah said of Eliakim,3 that he is the prated for
highest officer in the palace, and can admit and exclude 'As .^J1'?
whom he will : I know your faithfulness, weak though
you are. It is to you that I open that door to authority
rather than to those who are Jews by birth, but not by
character. These instead shall be subject to you ; and
you, for your fidelity, I will protect in the approaching
1 Ps. 2 : 8-9. 2 Matt. 10 : 32=Lu. 12 : 8 ; cf. Mk. 8 : 38= Lu. 9 : 26.
3 Isa. 22 : 22. 207

The Messages of the
world judgment. My coming is near. Be faithful, and
your royalty will be secure. He that conquers shall have
a permanent place of honor before God, and shall be known
as belonging to God, and to the promised royal city, and
to me. Take heed to this prophetic message.
Laodicea is The message of him whose word is absolute truth, the
its spiritual faithful witness and martyr, and so your example, but also
armdworldly ^e beginning or principle of creation, and so your Lord and
prosperity Judge : I know and abhor your indifference, and dull
insensibility. You are outwardly prosperous and self-
satisfied, but are really in wretched want. I advise you
to get from me true riches, and the white raiment of purity,
and a cure for the blindness of the soul.1 This severity of
my rebuke is but a sign of my love to you, and is meant to
lead you to repentance. I am ready to come as a friend
to every one of you who is willing to receive me. The
victor in this conflict against worldliness will be with me
and share my glory [which is far greater than the earthly
glory you covet], as I conquered and share the glory of
God. Give heed to this prophetic message.
1 Ramsay thinks the suggestion is : Instead of the gold of your famous
bankers, and your boasted garments of black wool, and the "Phrygian
Powder" with which you claim to cure diseased eyes.

208

Apocalyptical Writers III
VISION OF THE CHIEF ACTORS OF THE FUTURE
i. Sources and Character of the Visions of God and of
Christ
The vision of God in chapter 4 is based on that of Ezekiel The four
(chs. 1, 10) and Isaiah (ch. 6) . The conception of the heav- mas belngs
enly dwelling-place of God is doubtless older still (see Ex.
24 : 10 ; 1 Kings 22 : 19), though it is not much elaborated
elsewhere in the Old Testament.1 The four living beings
come directly from Ezekiel (1 : 5, 18, etc.). We are not,
however, to suppose that he originated them. They go back
at least in part to the four winds which bear about the
storm-cloud, God's chariot (Ezek. 1 : 4, 5). These wind-
driven clouds are the cherubim (Ezek. 9:3; 10 : 20) which
carry God's chariot or throne, and so symbolize his pres
ence. Their place in the midst of the throne and about it
(Rev. 4 : 6) suggests that they originally supported it. Now
if the throne of God is the heaven itself, then we may well
suppose that the number four goes back to the mythologi
cal conception of four great angelic beings supporting the
four corners of heaven, and at the same time representing
the four winds.2
1 See Dan. 7:9-10; Enoch 14:8 ff.; 39-40; 46; 71; Secrets of Enoch 20-22.
2 See Zech. 1 : 8 ff. ; 6, and Enoch 18 : 2-5, "I saw the four winds which
bear the earth and the firmament of heaven, etc." Further compare the four
presences in Enoch 40 and Apoc. of Baruch 51 : n; 21 : 6, and the four angels
in Enoch 87 : 2-3 ; 88 : 1 ; cf. 90 : 31. 209

The Messages of the
The seven The seven spirits (v. 5) are an important feature in our
spirits author's angelology. In 1 : 4 they are mentioned between
God and Christ. A closely related conception is contained
in the picture of Christ as standing in the midst of the seven
lights and as having seven stars in his hand (1 : 12, 16).
Again the seven angels in 8 : 2 must go back to the same
original idea. Ezekiel 9 : 2 has seven angel beings, but
it is from Zechariah 4 that we get most light on the my
thology that underlies the conception. Here it is evident
that the seven never-failing lights, the eyes of Jehovah, are
originally stars, and no doubt the seven moving objects in
the heavens (sun, moon and five planets). These would
naturally take the chief place in the hierarchy of heaven,
and the central one of the seven, the sun, would be supreme.
In the following vision of Christ the seven spirits of God
sent out into all the earth are the seven eyes of Messiah
(5:6). So bold is the Christianization of an Old Testa
ment prophecy (Zech. 4: 10), and so free the poetic use
of the figure. This suggests that the eyes with which
the four hving beings are filled s may have been originally
the multitude of the fixed stars.
The twenty- The twenty-four elders are a harder problem. It has
been usually supposed that they represent the twelve patri
archs and the twelve apostles, and so the complete new
community, the Christian church. But they appear to be
associated, as the seven spirits and the four living beings
1 Ezek. 1 : 18 ; Rev. 4 : 8.
2IO

Apocalyptical Writers
are, with God rather than with man.1 It is possible that
the twenty-four classes of priests '' suggested the number of
this angelic priesthood. But on the other hand these
beings seem to be kings rather than priests. They form
the heavenly court, so that one is inclined to look for their
antecedents in the same mythological region in which the
four hving beings and the seven spirits have their origin.
Hence the suggestion has weight that these heavenly kings
were once gods, and that the Babylonians seem to have
known twenty-four star gods, who formed a circle around
the polar star, hence were perhaps a double zodiac, twelve
constellations in the north half and twelve in the south
half of the heavens.3
What do these conceptions signify to our writer? Of Poetic use of
course, Judaism had already stripped off the mythological j£ai figures
and polytheistic features that originally belonged to them.
The four and seven and twenty-four are no longer gods ;
they are only angels, or spirits. In our author's use of
them they have nothing to do but to praise and exalt God
and Christ. The twenty-four are crowned, but only that
they may cast their crowns before God, and renounce all
authority, that he may be all in all. In our vision they
1 For the use of the word "elders " of a class of angels see Isa. 24 : 23 ;
Secrets of Enoch 4 : 1 ; cf . Isa. 63 : 9, LXX.
2 1 Chron. 24 : 7-18 ; Josephus, Ant., vii., 14 : 7 ; Vita, i. ; and the Talmud,
Taanith, iv., 2 ; Sukka, v., 6-8.
3 Gunkel, Zum religions geschUhttichen Verstiindnis des Neaen Testaments,
pp. 42-43- 211

The Messages of the
are essentially figures, helping the writer to give effective
poetic form and expression to his faith that God is before
and over all, that creation is his work, and that he who
made the beginning will make the end. The future can
be only the unfolding of his plans and the realization of
his purposes.
The vision The vision of Christ in chapter 5 is made up of wholly
and the different figurative materials from that in 1 : 12-20. A com-
book parison of the two should teach us how free our author is in
his vision creations, and how far from imagining that he is
describing heavenly things just as they objectively are.
This picture of Christ has more elements in it that are ex
clusively Christian than the other,1 so that we should nat
urally ascribe more of it to our author and less to Jewish
traditions. Yet here also it is probable that traditional
Theexaita- material has been made use of. The vision introduces
Christ Christ into the heavenly scene described in the preceding
chapter, as if he were in some sense a new-comer, who
through vicarious death has gained admission there, and
now displays a divine power which none of the angel host,
even those nearest the throne of God, possess. He is
therefore hailed as a greater one than they all. They
have little to do but to praise and glorify God, but he can
know the hidden purposes of God, and can both reveal
them and co-operate with God in bringing them to pass.
1 References to the atoning death of Christ in the expression "the lamb as
if slain," and in w. o-io.

Apocalyptical Writers
The thought is closely parallel to that of Paul in Philippians
2:5-11. Christ gained through his redemptive death a
place of glory and power above the highest angels. They
now include him in their praises by the side of God himself.
The scene may almost be said to picture, as Gunkel puts
it, "the enthroning of a new god." 1 His view indeed is
that the material came ultimately from a foreign source,
and did originally describe the introduction of a new deity,
into some pantheon, and the demonstration of his superi
ority by his taking and opening a magical book. The The magical
book is one of such mysterious, magical character that
the opening of it brings about the end of the world, and
until one comes who can open the book this longed-for
end cannot come. It is not in itself inconceivable or even
improbable that a Christian apocalyptist should have made
use of such a scene. Whether he did or not, it is evident
that he intends to picture the exaltation of Christ to the
right hand of God as due to his sacrificial death, and as
demonstrated by his power to know and to bring to pass
God's purposes regarding the end.
The vision has a consoling and encouraging message for Practical
those who are enduring persecution, for it teaches that vision0
present events, however trying, are only Christ's fulfilment
of God's purposes, and can therefore only lead in the end
to the rescue and glory of Christ's servants.
The question how the writer pictured the book with
1 Gunkel, p. 62 f.
213

The Messages of the
The form of seven seals has been much discussed, and cannot be an-
e swered with confidence. It seems on the whole most
probable that the book was a roll, and that all seven seals
along the edge must be loosed before the parchment could
be unrolled. Something happens, to be sure, with the
breaking of each seal, but it is not said that a part of the
book is opened and read. What happened was rather the
appearance on the scene of vision of the various actors in
the last things, and not until the seventh seal is opened
do the preliminary judgments begin.
2. The Vision of God, From Whom Are All Things (4)
Ecstasy, and After this I saw, as did Ezekiel,1 an open heaven, and
of God's the same voice that spoke to me before summoned me up
throne (1-3) to see fae future. I was at once in an ecstatic condition,
and beheld a throne in heaven and the one that sat on it,
who can only be likened to jewels surrounded by a rain-
The twenty- bow. Around the central throne was a court of twenty-
seven spirits, four angel beings, crowned and sitting on thrones like
hvmg°beings Prmces> dressed in white like priests. As at Sinai,2 so
here the presence of God manifested itself in the form
of tempest. Seven lamps typified the seven divine spirits.3
Before the throne of God stretched the blue sky like a trans
parent sea.4 Amid and about the throne were the four
1 Ezek. r : 1. 2 E.g., Ex. 19 : 16.
3 Not, as in 1 : 20, the seven churches.
* See Ex. 24 : 10 ; Ezek. 1 : 22 , En. 14 : 0-10.
214

Apocalyptical Writers
cherubim which Ezekiel saw.1 They had, however, six
wings like the seraphim of Isaiah's vision, and uttered
unceasingly the same cry, Holy, Holy, Holy is God the
Almighty.2 The twenty-four angelic kings and priests The elders
-bowed before God, and renouncing all glory of their own S^reme
worshipped him as absolute creator. (9_Il)
3. The Vision of Christ, Through Whom Are All Things (5)
On God's right hand I saw a book-roll, written as was The sealed
Ezekiel's,3 on the outside as well as on the inside of theno^ecanCh
parchment. It was sealed with seven seals, so that before open (I-3)
the book could be unrolled and read, all the seven seals
must be loosed. This book, which contained the secret
but determined course of the future, could not be opened
by any angel or man. I, eager to know the future, and The seer
to have the end hastened, mourned at its impenetrable reassured' a
mystery, but was assured by one of the angel priest -rulers ^4_5^
that the Messiah had victoriously achieved the power to
open the book, and so to know and bring to pass the des
tined future. Then I saw, not one like the expected Jewish Vision of
Messiah, a lion-like conqueror, but one like a lamb, with jesUS ^f.'7)
throat cut as if for sacrifice. Yet this gentle and suffering
one was endowed with perfect power and perfect divine
knowledge. It is he alone that has power to know and
even to accomplish the execution of the divine will. Then
all the heavenly host, even the most exalted, acknowledged
1 Ezek. 1:5-21 ; 10: 1-22. -Isa.6:2-3. 3 Ezek. 2 : 9-10.
215

The Messages of the
He is praised his right, just because of his death and its universal re-
host (8-i°T deeming effect, to open the book of God's future purposes.
To him, therefore, praise is rendered as to God by the
angelic hosts, and even by those who are nearest God's
throne, as well as by all created things.
IV
VISIONS OF THE FIRST STAGES OF THE COMING
JUDGMENT
i. Significance of the Six Seals
Further ac- It is not clear what relation exists between the opening
last things of the seals of the book and that which the prophet sees
and hears. We do not have a progressive unfolding of
the future as if the book were being read. Indeed, if the
book could not be opened until the seven seals were all
loosened we should not expect positive disclosures to fol
low the loosening of the first six. In fact, these only bring
visions of further actors in the drama. Having seen God
who accomplishes all and Christ who alone has power
to know and reveal all things, and to be God's agent
in their realization, the seer now beholds a series of de
structive agencies through which God's judgments against
evil are to be brought to pass. Wars and famine and pes
tilence, the prayers of the wronged for vengeance, and
earthquake shocks, the terror of which these cities had
known — these are the instruments of the divine wrath.
216

Apocalyptical Writers
The first four seals are so distinct in character, and have The four
such obvious relationship to the four horsemen of Zech- orscmen
ariah's vision 1 that it is possible that in some source of
which our author made use they stood alone. It is tempt
ing to think that the original close was : "And there was
given to each of them authority over a fourth of the earth
to kill with bow and with sword and with famine and with
pestilence" (see v. 8b). In Zechariah 6 : 5 they are iden
tified with the four winds, messengers of God who bring
him news of the world, agents of his omniscience, and per
haps also fulfillers of his will. This conception seems to be
still in the background of our writer's thought when the
delay of God's judgment is figured as a restraining of the
four winds (7 : 1 ; cf. 9 : 14, 15). It may not be accidental
also that the four horsemen are summoned forth by the
four living creatures,2 behind whom in Ezekiel the four
winds are still discernible. This, however, explains only
the figure, not its meaning. The four horsemen are more
completely removed from this mythological origin than in
Zechariah, and have become simple poetic imagery. They
are clearly interpreted as signifying four of the powers of
evil which, especially in Jeremiah and Ezekiel, are chief
agents in God's retributive judgments.3
1 Zech. 6:1-8; 1 : 8-n. 2 See also 6 : £ .
3 Jer. 15 : 2-3 ; 24 : 10 ; 29 : 17-18 ; 42 : 17 ; 44 : 13 ; Ezek. 5 : 12, 17 ;
14 : 21 ; 33 : 27. In the summary in v. 8 the wild beasts are added as fre
quently in the prophetic passages, here possibly with reference to gladiatorial
contests. 217

The Messages of the
Efficacy of The fifth seal pictures the reality and efficacy of the
pr^as prayers of the persecuted and of martyrs. The Old Testa
ment contains various expressions of this idea, either in
literal form ' or in a realistic and in some sense figurative
way. Uncovered blood is thought to cry to God for ven
geance.2 In the blood was the soul (Lev. 17 : 11, etc.),
and so beneath the altar, where the blood flowed, the
souls of the slain are seen praying for vengeance. Else
where angels are thought to convey such prayers to God
and secure their hearing,3 a thought which meets us in
Revelation 5:8; 8 : 3-5. The latter passage shows in how
real a sense the prayers of the oppressed were instruments
of punishment against oppressors.
The souls of the martyred dead are pictured as under
the altar. This is the first mention of an altar appar
ently in heaven, but later on (ch. 8) the temple scenery
displaces that of a heavenly court (ch. 4). Perhaps we
should not suppose that the writer is describing the literal
place of the abode of the righteous dead before resurrection,
but rather that he is picturing his faith in the final efficacy
of their prayers in a form familiar to apocalyptical writers
(see 2 Esd. 4 : 35-37).
1 Ex. 22 : 23 f. ; Deut. 15:9; 24 : 15 ; Ecclus. 35 : 13 ff. ; cf. James 5 : 4.
2 Gen. 4 : 10 ; Ezek. 24 : 7 f. ; Job 16 ; 18 ; cf. Enoch 22 : 5-7.
3 Zech. 1 : 12 ; Tob. 12 : 12, 15 ; Enoch 9 ; 15 : 2, etc.

2l8

Apocalyptical Writers
2. The Six Destructive Powers (6)
When Christ opened the first seal one of the four living a vision of
beings, with a voice like a peal of thunder, summoned J$r. I-2)
forth a white horse and his rider, representing a royal and
conquering nation that fights with a bow (the Parthians?).
At the opening of the second seal I heard the second a second
living creature summon forth a red horse and his rider, (if:0"-^)™1
representing another warlike nation, which fights with a
sword (the Roman?), and destroys the peace of the earth.
The opening of the third seal and the summons of the A vision of
third creature brought before me the vision of a black (oTs-e)
horse and a rider holding balances in his hand, symboliz
ing dearth and famine.
At the opening of the fourth seal and the call of the fourth A vision of
creature I saw a pale horse and its rider, signifying death, ^ 7-8)e
to which a fourth of the earth was given.
When the fifth seal was opened, I saw under the altar A vision of
the souls of the martyrs praying for vengeance on those 0f Martyr?
who shed their blood. They were assured that their ^6:9_Il)
prayers would be answered after a little while, when the
number of martyrs should be filled up.
At the opening of the sixth seal I saw an earthquake, a vision of
so great and terrible that it involved nothing less than the (g1.' £j^7*
overthrow of earth and heaven. At this all (seven) classes
of men, from the highest to the lowest were filled with
dismay. This was the coming day of Jehovah, which
219

The Messages of the
Isaiah and many prophets after him had described in the
imagery of storm and earthquake and volcano. Now it is
come in its unescapable and irresistible might.1
3. Anticipations in Forms Old and New
Before the opening of the seventh seal, for the strength
ening of faith before the fearful and protracted tribulations
still to come, John has two visions of the safe-keeping
and final blessedness of faithful Christians. The two ap
pear to be inharmonious with each other. In one (7 : 1-8)
a definite number of Jews are sealed before the coming
of evil in order to be kept from it, a conception like that of
Ezekiel 9 : 4 ff.; in the other (7 : 9-17), a countless number
from all nations have come through trials to heavenly
blessedness. It is quite certain, however, that the first
vision — probably of Jewish origin, and originally taken in
a somewhat literal sense — is for our author a figure, and
means for him that the whole perfect number of those who
make up the people of God, the true Christians, who are
in our writer's view the only true Jews, will be kept from
all real evil in the coming judgments. This does not
necessarily mean, however, that they will escape physical
death; and the second vision pictures the coming glory
of those who are faithful unto death. In spite of appear-
1 See e.g., Isa. 2 : 12-22 ; Zeph. 1 : 14 ff. ; Joel 2 : 30-3T ; 3 : 15-16. Notice
that we have in this sixth seal practically a description of the last judgment
itself. * 220

Apocalyptical Writers
ances, it seems probable that the writer did not mean to
say that the true Christian kernel of Israel would have a
first place and separate significance in the consummation,
and that to them the multitudes of heathen converts would
be added as proselytes. We have rather two forms fur
nished in part by tradition, for expressing one hope for
the one body of Christian believers, who form both the
true Israel and an innumerable company from all nations.
It is a vision of the future, not of the present heavenly
blessedness of those already dead. Nothing in the clos
ing chapters of the book surpasses this picture of the
consummation, and it is introduced so early for its prac
tical power to encourage faithfulness. If 6 : 12-17, m~
traducing the earthquake as one of the agents of God's
judgment, really describes the last judgment itself by
anticipation, so 7:9-17 anticipates the final blessedness.
It is a very natural suggestion that the opening of the
seventh seal (8 : 1) originally stood before 7 : 1 or 7 : 9, and
that the seals once formed a complete and independent
apocalypse. Our writer would then have postponed the
opening of the seventh seal in order to make room for more
detailed pictures of the judgment which he wished to make
use of. This supposition is not, however, necessary.
Chapter 7 serves a good purpose as it stands, with its
confident and bright hopes set over against the threaten
ing judgment, between the description of the destructive
powers and the beginning of their activity.

The Messages oj the

Safeguard
ing of the
true Israel
(7:i-8)

Vision of
saints in
heaven(7:9-10)

Although the seer now beholds the vast multitude of
martyred saints in heaven, yet we must understand that
the vision concerns the future. No such host of martyrs
had as yet fallen victims to Rome, and those who had
died must await the resurrection (6 : 9 ff. ; 20 : 4 f.). Even
with reference to the final consummation this introduction
of the unnumbered host of the redeemed directly into the
heavenly scene described in chapter 4 is striking. We
must remember that in general in the Jewish mind heaven
was not the future abode of the righteous dead, but a new
earth, of heavenly origin and character. 1
4. The Salvation of the Faithful (7)
(1) The Safety of the Saints (7 : 1-8)
Then I saw that the forces of destruction were to be
restrained until all true Christians should be marked as
belonging to God, that they might be safe. This truth
came to me in the imagery which Ezekiel used,2 and the
body of true Christians seemed to me to compose the true
and perfect Israel to whom the promises of God, especially
through Ezekiel,3 were made.
(2) The Heavenly Bliss of Martyrs (7 : 9-17)
Then I saw a vast number, not from the literal Israel
only, but from all nations, standing before God and Christ
1 In Enoch 40 : 1 the countless multitudes whom the seer beholds in heaven
are angels, as in Rev. 5:11; Dan. 7 : 10 ; Matt. 26 : 53.
2 Ezek. 9. 3 Ezek. 47 : 13-48 : 35.
222

Apocalyptical Writers
in heaven, and praising them. All angels joined in a seven- in whose
fold ascription of praise. One of the twenty-four angel- angels' join
princes then told me that the multitudes whom I beheld (7 : 11_I2)
were the Christians who had been faithful unto death, They are the
martyrs after the example and by the power of Christ ; Jute of1
and that they now serve God in his very presence, where, m^tsytr^Iin
in fulfilment of Old Testament promises (Isa. 49 : 10 ; heavenly
25 : 8), they are without want or sorrow, under the safe (7 : 13-17)
protection of God, with the life-giving leadership and
companionship of Christ.
5. The Imagery of Earthquake and Volcano
Since the book -roll could contain nothing less than the The six
complete account of God's purposes, its contents, which bringpartiai
the opening of the seventh seal must make known and^udgments
bring to effect, cannot include less than the remainder of
our book. The opening of this seal (8 : 1) is therefore not
the end of the apocalypse of the seals, which is followed by
the apocalypse of the trumpets. On the contrary, its con
tents, or the contents of the book now opened, begin to be
made evident by the trumpets. The six trumpets signify
the beginnings of evils. Of five of them it is expressly
said that they involve the destruction of but one-third of
nature or of mankind. They should have produced re
pentance in the rest, but failed of this purpose. The
seventh trumpet, it is declared, will bring the final and
completed judgments of God (10 : 7). Its contents must
223

The Messages of the

island, San-
torin

therefore include all that follows after n : 15. It is to be
noticed that as the first four seals are distinct from the
rest, so the last three trumpets are separated from the
others, and introduced as three "woes."
The volcanic The imagery of the first four trumpets is volcanic in
origin, and the description can be matched almost through
out by the actual phenomena of the eruptions of the island
volcano, Santorin, about eighty miles southwest of Patmos.
It is not impossible that John may have seen the smoke
of the eruptions, and heard from fugitives how fiery blasts
destroyed vegetation ; how sulphurous vapors killed the
fish in the sea, and blinded and killed men ; how masses
of molten rock fell into the sea; how the waters were red
dened as if by blood ; how islands rose and sank again.1
But apart from this possibility, volcanic phenomena were
familiar in all that region. They are frequently used in
such poetic or prophetic ways in the Old Testament.
The question how far the writer expected the literal
earthquake and volcano to bring about these preparatory
judgments, and how far he used such language in a fig
urative sense to suggest events and forces of a supernatural
character, is hard to answer. The cities of Asia Minor, to
which he wrote, had several of them been destroyed by
earthquake. What more natural means could be imagined
for the trial judgments, or even for the final destruction
1 See J. T. Bent, What St. John Saw in Patmos. Nineteenth Century,
1888, pp. 8i3-2r, and Fouqu£, Santorin el ses eruptions, 1879.
224

Was the
earthquake
simply a
figure?

Apocalyptical Writers
of Roman cities and of Rome itself? Yet a poetical use
of the earthquake is suggested by the fact that it alternates
with invasion and war as a means of bringing Roman rule
to an end. The fifth trumpet begins as a volcano, some
what supernaturalized, but its eruptions are locusts of
demoniacal character and powers, and these again seem to
symbolize armies of cavalry. On the other hand, the
sixth trumpet begins with warriors, but the powers by
which the horses kill men are the volcanic powers of fire
and smoke and brimstone.
6. The Six Partial Judgments (8-9)
The opening of the seventh, seal was followed by an The seventh
ominous silence. Then seven angels l appear and receive sevenangefs
seven trumpets. (8:1-2)
Before the trumpets sound it was made plain to me how The efficacy
the prayers of the saints for vengeance, offered to God by prayers
angehc priestly mediation, became the cause of the mani- (g.t^f5S)llnts
testation of God's judicial power upon earth.
At the blowing of the first trumpet a fiery hail, like the The plague
seventh Egyptian plague (Ex. 9: 23 f.), burned up one- (8:6-7)
third of the land with its vegetation.
At the second, a mass of fire fell into the sea so that one-' The plague
third of it became blood,2 and a third of the fish and of the (s.-s^T
ships that were therein were destroyed.
1 "The seven angels" appear as if well known, though not seen in earlier
visions, unless they are the same as the seven spirits of i : 4 ; 4:5; 5:6.
2 Cf. the first Egyptian plague, Ex. 7 : 14-2 r.
225

The Messages of the<
The plague The third trumpet brought a burning star from heaven
water! which poisoned the rivers and springs of fresh water, so
(8 :io-n) tna(. men (jje(j wno drank of them.
The plague The fourth darkened a third of the sun, moon and stars,
heavenly and a third of the light of day and of night failed.1
ravS) ^n angel declares that the remaining three trumpets
Greater are three woes.
areto fol- When the fifth angel blew his trumpet an angel-star fell
low (8 : 13) to earth and opened the abyss, from which a darkening
from the smoke came forth, and out of the smoke, locusts whose
™f 1™°) power, like that of scorpions, was used not against vege
tation but against non-Christian men, not to kill them
but to torture them for a prolonged period, until they long
in vain for death. These locusts, like those in Joel's
prophecy looked like war-horses, but they had crowns
on their heads, and human faces, and women's hair, and
lions' teeth.2 They were clad in armor, and the sound of
their coming was like that of a charge.3 It was their tails
that had the scorpion-like power to torture men. In truth
these beings, who seemed to me to combine the terrors of a
volcanic eruption, a plague of locusts such as Moses brought
upon Egypt (Ex. 10 : 12-15), ar"d such as Joel describes
(1 : 2-2 : 11), and an assault of wild hordes of mounted
warriors, were more than any earthly and human plague.
They were demon powers of the under-world, ruled by
1 Cf. the ninth plague, Ex. 10 : 21-23. 2 Joel 2 : 4-5 ; 1:6.
3 Joel 2 : 5.
226,

Apocalyptical Writers
him who personifies that realm of death and perdition.
Such is the first woe.
When the sixth trumpet was sounded I heard a voice The plague
from God's presence commanding the angel who blew the (0™3-2i)
trumpet to loose the four angels that were bound at the
Euphrates, once the land of the Assyrians and Baby
lonians, now of the dreaded Parthians, and were destined
for this hour. These (wind?) angels signified hostile
nations, for when they were loosed,1 myriads (200,000,000)
of cavalry appeared, and one-third of mankind were
killed, not by the arrows or swords of the riders, but by
fire and smoke and brimstone, volcanic agencies, which
came from the mouths of the horses, whose tails also have
power to do injury.2 Yet the men who were not thus
destroyed did not repent, but continued to worship de
mons and idols and to practise all manner of immorality.
These partial judgments will therefore prove ineffectual.
1 Perhaps an old tradition about the loosing of the four destructive winds
is alluded to here, as in 7 : 1-3, and now interpreted of the expected Parthian
invasion. Some such idea is already present in En. 56 : 5-6.
2 So that the Parthians, although a historical danger, take on a demoniac
character.

227

The Messages of the

V
VISIONS OF THE LAST STAGES OF THE COMING
JUDGMENT
i. The Prophet's New Commission (10)
The sounding of the seventh trumpet, which, hke the
seventh seal, must contain all that follows, is not, we may
safely say, deferred for the sake of an unrelated interlude or
excursus, but rather introduced in especially solemn fash
ion by two passages, one of which describes the prophet's
experience in receiving the remaining revelations, and the
other gives fresh assurance of salvation to those who keep
the faith. In the first of these introductory passages it is
explained that the writer's departure from the regular
scheme of seven-fold visions was not unintentional, since he
was expressly forbidden to write the vision of seven thun
ders which next appeared to him, and was given instead a
new book of prophecies which he was charged to declare,
the form of its communication being shaped after Ezekiel
2:8-3: 3.
The angel I was again upon earth and beheld an angel of dazzhng
(joA-a)00 and splendid appearance, not unlike that of Christ him
self (cf. 1 : 15-16), coming down from heaven with a little
book open in his hand. Colossal in size, he stood with one
foot on the earth and one on the sea, and uttered a great
228

Apocalyptical Writers
cry. I heard seven thunders, but was forbidden by a voice The seven
from heaven from writing their contents. The angel (^"l-")
solemnly swore that the end would be no longer delayed,1 The angel's
but that the blowing of the seventh trumpet would bring °^: s_g)
the fulfilment of the predictions of the prophets. The
voice from heaven commanded me to take the little book The eating
from the angel's hand. I took it and ate it, as he bade (10:9-11)
me. I found it, as Ezekiel did,2 sweet at first to receive
the words of God, but as I pondered them I found them
hard, for they were words such as Jeremiah was called to
utter,3 of denunciation and woe against many peoples.
2. Jewish Oracles and their Christian Use
In 11 : 1-13 it is especially necessary to distinguish be- A Jewish
tween the original sense of the figures and our writer's use about 70
of them. It is quite evident that he has used fragments of A' D-
Jewish apocalyptical tradition in order to express, by fig
ure, the Christian hope. There seem to be two more or
less distinct fragments here, verses 1-2 and 3-13. The
former must have been written before 70 A. D., by a Jew
ish seer who believed that Jerusalem was to fall into the
hands of the Romans, but that the temple and those who
took refuge in it would escape. To our author, writing
1 Cf. Dan. 12 : 7. The other rendering "there shall be time no longer '
might suggest the idea of Secrets of 'Enoch 33 : 2 ; 65 : 7-8, that there is no
reckoning of time in the coming age. Cf. En. 91 : 17.
2 Ezek. 3:3; cf. Jer. 15 : 16. 3 Jer. 1 : 10.
229

The Messages of the
long after the fall of the temple, the passage is a symboli
cal expression of the faith that the true worshippers of God,
that is, Christians, would escape harm in the approaching
world judgments. The measuring off of the temple and
altar is equivalent to the sealing of the 144,000 in 7 : 1-8,
which is also an originally Jewish oracle.
Fragment of The prophetic ministry, the martyrdom and the resurrec-
lypseof tion of the two witnesses (n : 3-13) is another fragment
ac st of a Jewish apocalypse. It does not seem to be closely
related to 11 : 1-2, for though the length of the ministry of
the witnesses is the same as that of the occupation of
Jerusalem by the Gentiles, the events, which culminate in
the destruction of one-tenth of the city by earthquake (v.
13), do not suggest the situation described in verse 2. The
Jews expected the return of Elijah, on the basis of Malachi
4 : 5-6,1 and the return of Moses might have been hoped
for because of Deuteronomy 18 : 15, 18,2 and the current
legend that he too had not really died.3 Indeed the com
ing and preaching of all those who had not tasted death,
among whom were Ezra and Baruch, as well as Enoch,
is expected according to Second Esdras (6 : 26) and the
Apocalypse of Baruch (13 : 5 ; 24 : 2 ; 25 : 1).
Now early Christian apocalyptical traditions regarding
the Antichrist relate how Enoch and Elijah are to come to
1 Mk. 6 : 15 ; 8 : 28 ; 9 : n-13 ; Matt, ir : 14 ; Jn. 1 : 21, 25.
2 Matt. 21 : n ; Jn. 1 : 21, 25 ; 6 : 14 ; 7 : 40.
3 See Deut. 34 : 6, and the title of the book the Assumption of Moses.
230

Apocalyptical Writers
expose the falsehoods of Antichrist, and deliver men from
his wiles. He will slay them, but God or his angels Mi
chael and Gabriel will raise them up.1 It seems prob
able that we have in Revelation 1 1 a fragment of an earlier
Jewish form of this tradition, so that the beast (v. 7) was
Antichrist, and the testimony and miracle-working of the
witnesses were directed against him.
The common early Christian view was that "Enoch
and Elijah were translated, nor were they found dead, but
their death deferred, though they are reserved to die ; that
they may extinguish the Antichrist in their blood." 2 Why
it is that here and in the account of the transfiguration
Moses appears in the place of Enoch we do not know, un
less it be that Moses and Elijah, as the representatives of
Law and Prophecy, more perfectly stood for the complete
testimony of Judaism to the truth of Christianity.
The purpose of these two fragments is, like that of chap- Practical
ter 7, to encourage true Christians by the promise of their materials"6
deliverance from the coming evils if they persist in their
faithful Christian testimony even, if need be, to death.
3. The Salvation of Saints and Martyrs (n : 1-13)
a. The Safety of True Worshippers of God (n : 1-2)
I saw in vision that great as were the evils which the
book of prophecy contained, true Christians would not be
1 Bousset, The Antichrist Legend, ch. xiv. 2 Tertullian, de Anima.
231

The Messages of the
Safe-keep- harmed by them. This is the truth beneath the mistaken
safnts e confidence of the Jews in the inviolable security of their
(n : 1-2) temple, even if the city fell into heathen hands for the
short period fixed by Daniel's prophecy.1
b. The Work and Reward of Martyrs (n : 3-13)
The work of I would encourage you to faithfulness even unto death
(11 Ts-fi)** by the example of the two well-known typical martyrs of
current Jewish tradition. During the whole period, three
years and a half, of the rule of the heathen these two shall
prophesy, in raiment typifying their sombre message.
These are the two of whom Zechariah wrote,2 who are by
pre-eminence the men of God. They are kept from de
struction during the time of their ministry by a miraculous
power to repel danger. They are known, by their exer
cise of the powers that marked them of old, to be Elijah
Their death and Moses. After their witness has been completely
christ (7-10) given they are to be killed by the demon power of evil,3
and will lie unburied for the same number of days as the
years of the reign of evil, in Jerusalem, that city of evil
name, while men of all nations look at them and laugh,
Their resur- and congratulate one another. Then God will bring them
ascension1 to life, to the terror of men, and they will ascend to heaven
(n-12) jn sjght 0f their enemies, while an earthquake destroys
' Dan. 7 : 25 ; 12 : 7. 2 Zech. 4 : 2-3, n-14.
3 The Antichrist seems to have been a superhuman being, an agent of
Satan, endowed with his powers. 232

Apocalyptical Writers
one-tenth of the city and seven thousand men. The rest Judgment
in terror will acknowledge God. Such is the victory in wicked city
the end of the faithful witnesses of God, however great ^I3^
the power and temporary triumph of evil may be. Let
this give you heart as I disclose to you the last and worst
evils that are about to come, the bitter contents of the
httle book. •
4. A Heavenly Song Anticipating the Victory of God
(n : 14-19)
In chapters 12-20 we have the description of the war
fare of Satan, especially through his chief agent the Ro
man empire, against the Christian community, and the
final overthrow of Rome and of Satan himself and all his
forces. It is evident that this whole section is introduced
by n : 14-19, as the seventh trumpet, or the third woe.
The general plan of these chapters is plain. The actors
are introduced. Satan, the source of all evil (12), and
his agent, Rome, the empire and the imperial cultus (13).
The judgments upon Rome form the main theme of chap
ters 14-19, and the judgment upon Satan that of chapter
20. Then follows the consummation (21-22) which was
anticipated in the prelude of the section (n : 15-17).
The seventh angel blew his trumpet, that " last trump," l ^™fl
which is to bring the end (10: 7). The end is indeed so°P™rce*e
sure and so near that heavenly hosts and the twenty-four God and
Christ
1 Cf. 1 Thes. 4 : 16 ; i Cor. 15 : 52. (11 : 14-19)
233

The Messages of the
angel-kings, leaping over the judgments by which the end
is to be brought about, break forth in celebration of it as
of something already accomplished, as if God and Christ
were already reigning over the world, their enemies de
stroyed and their servants rewarded. Then the heavenly
temple was opened, and the ark, lost to Israel when its
first temple fell,1 was seen ; and as of old the immediate
presence of God was manifested by the phenomena of
storm,2 suggesting that the coming of God brings destruc
tion to all that are opposed to him.
5. The Figure of the Dragon, the Woman and the Child
The present The distinction between the original meaning of the
theafigufes of figurative material here used, and our writer's meaning in
the woman tne use °^ '*• 's as imP°rtant as in n : 1-13, and much more
an.d the difficult. We may suppose the writer's purpose to have
been something like this : Satan is the real power behind
the throne of Rome, the ultimate source of the present suf
ferings of Christians and peril to Christianity. There is a
reason for the intensity of his present efforts against the
Christian community, a reason which yields a hope. He
has already been overcome in heaven, his overthrow being
in some way connected with the birth and resurrection of
Christ. This means that he not only no longer accuses
men before God, but that his end is near. It is because
he knows this that he is the more fierce in his assaults upon
1 See 2 Mac. 2 : 1-8 ; Apoc. of Baruch 6 : 7-10. - Ex. 19 : 16, 18.
234

Apocalyptical Writers
Christ's followers, but if Christians also know it they can
resist and endure his violence waiting with confidence for
his approaching overthrow.
These thoughts, preparing men both for severe trials Origin of
and for endurance in view of an assured and speedy de- five material
liverance, the seer expresses in figures which he certainly
did not create for the purpose, but borrowed and more or
less adapted. If we could know where he found them
and to what extent he modified them, we should be able
to solve the problem which the chapter presents. The
Old Testament furnishes but slight analogy. There were,
however, Babylonian and Egyptian and Greek sun-myths
with which this material quite certainly stands in some
relation. According to the Babylonian myth, creation was
effected by Marduk, the god of light, who conquered Tia-
mat, the dragon of the waters. There is some probability
that if we ever find the account of the birth of Marduk we
shall read a story like that of this chapter about the perse
cution of his goddess mother by the dragon, who knows
that her child is to be his destroyer. At all events the
Egyptian story of the birth of Horus, and the Greek ac
count of the birth of Apollos, whose mother was persecuted
by the dragon, Pytho, seem more closely related to this
imagery than anything in Jewish traditions. The mother
is a goddess (12 : i),1 the dragon is a water monster (12 : 15),
1 The sun, moon, and twelve constellations of the zodiac were the supreme
heavenly beings, according to Babylonian tradition.
235

The Messages of the
from whom escape is found in the wilderness, and the whole
picture has a cosmic range and an unmistakably mytho
logical background. In the sun-myth, however, the dragon
tries to kill the mother before the child's birth, and she
flees in order to rescue her child. Changes have been
freely made in the story to adapt it to Christian use, and
it is not improbable that it was shaped by a Jewish hand
first. We can be quite sure that we see here traditional
materials that have gone through various modifications
even though we cannot retrace the process with confi
dence.
A possible Let me give a possible history of the material, which
the growth may illustrate the nature of the process even though it does
teriaf ma not exactly restore it. There was first in Babylonia, and
more or less independently elsewhere, a myth of creation,
mythological which told of the aggressive power of the dragon of chaos
against the older gods, of the birth' of the sun-god, who
is rescued by his mother's flight from the assaults of the
dragon, and who, when he grows to maturity, overcomes
and binds, or destroys the dragon, and cutting him in two,
makes of his parts heaven and earth. This story is built
up out of the partial creation which is effected each year
in a region like Babylonia, when the sun, born in the winter
solstice almost overwhelmed by the darkness and cold,
finally attains strength to dispel the clouds and dry up the
floods and bring forth order and beauty and life.
Then perhaps the Babylonians, certainly the Jews,
236

Apocalyptical Writers
made of this picture of creation, a picture of the new crea- its Jewish
tion for which they hoped. God would make the last devel°Pment
things like the first.1 The dragon represents the power
of evil not now in nature, but in history ; the ruling king
doms under whom Israel suffers, and whose dominance,
which is really that of Satan, stands in the way of the
Messianic age, the age of Israel's rule, which is the rule of
God. The divine conqueror of this evil ruler of the world
could be regarded by Jews as Michael, the angelic repre
sentative and champion of the nation, or as the Messiah ;
or both could have part in the victory, Michael over
coming the spirit power of evil in heaven, and Messiah
the earthly kingdom in which Satan's power was em
bodied. The birth and rescue of the Messiah could mark
the time when Michael must make war against the dragon
and cast him out of heaven ; while the Messiah grown to
manhood could be the conqueror of the world kingdom.
The traditional element of the persecution of the woman
could easily be applied to the sufferings of the nation Israel,
the mother of the Messiah,2 while waiting for his return
from heaven where he is hidden, so that her flight was now
made to follow the birth of her son. On the other hand,
the description of the woman as a goddess could be re
tained for its appeal to the imagination, and the more eas
ily because the twelve stars, originally perhaps the twelve
1 Barnabas 6 : 18.
2 Compare 2 Esd. 9 : 38-10 : 59.
237

Christian

The Messages of the
constellations of the zodiac, fitted Israel with its twelve
tribes, and are so used in Genesis 37 : 9, 10.
The present If Jewish writing or tradition had made some such use
of the figure, perhaps finally in connection with the Roman
wars (about 70 A. D.), the later Christian writer could
adapt it to his purpose with little change. It might be due
to him rather than to the Jew that the casting of Satan
out of heaven follows the birth of the Messiah ; for Chris
tians gave such significance for the overthrow of angelic
powers of evil to Christ,1 and there is some evidence that
our author changed the order of material in his sources.
It is quite evident that verses 13-16 were originally a vari
ant form of verse 6 ; and it seems hardly possible that our
author himself intended to describe two nights to the same
place for the same length of time. Again, verses 7-9 seem
to give a fuller account of verse 4. In this case we may
suppose that the Christian writer wished to put the actual
expulsion of Satan from heaven after the birth and ascen
sion of Christ, as in some way due to him. But perhaps
he put together two accounts of the dragon's assault upon
the woman without adjusting them, because each con
tained elements that he found useful ; the first, the birth
of the divine-human king and saviour, the second, heaven's
riddance of Satan's presence, and the significance of this
for man, now and hereafter — greater tribulation now, surer
deliverance hereafter.
1 Cf. Jn. 12 : 31 ; 14 : 30 ; 16 : n-33 ; 1 Jn. 3 : 8 ; Col. 2 : 15.
238

Apocalyptical Writers
Originally we must suppose a story without the present Relation of
repetitions, and the confusion of heavenly and earthly and Chris-
scenes (w. 1-6). For example, in the original Jewish tial1 verslons
form it may be that we should read first of the wars in
heaven, in which the dragon is cast down to earth and in
his fall draws one-third of the angel host with him ; 1 then
of his wars on earth with the woman who bears the son, in
which the child is rescued and taken to heaven and the
mother flees and escapes, while the dragon returns to make
war with the remainder of her seed.2 It might have been
the Christian writer who wished to give an earlier and
higher part in the drama to the Messiah, and so puts his
birth before the dragon's overthrow in heaven. But it is
verse n that reveals the meaning of the whole figure to our
writer. The victory of Christian faith over the persecu
tions of the evil kingdom, even over martyrdom, is the
literal fact which Michael's conquest of the dragon and the
escape of child and mother symbolize.
The writer then used such traditional materials, of
heathen parentage and perhaps of Jewish adoption, in
the same free and more or less poetic way as that in which
he used Old Testament figures in chapters i, 4, 5, etc.,
for the expression of his one message of patience and cour
age in Christian faith and confession amid present and
greater coming persecutions from Rome. It is evident,
therefore, how mistaken is the effort to find a Christian
1 Vv. 3, 7-9, 4". 2 Vv. 1 ( ?), 2, 4b-6= 13-17.
239

The Messages of the
meaning in all the details of the figure, and to go into an?
other time than the writer's present in search for the events
to which the figures refer.1
We do not know enough to affirm that this traditional
material went through just the process of growth we have
described, but we do know enough to say that the material
was in part traditional, and that the explanation of such
details as do not apply to the writer's present is to be
looked for in the traditions that lay behind him, not in
the events that lay before him, in succeeding history. In
many cases we may safely suppose that he left the tra
ditional features as he found them, not because he had
a clear view of their meaning, or a definite application of
them to the present situation, but because they belonged
to the story for which as a whole he had a use, or because
they appealed to his feelings as poetically or rhetorically
impressive.
The escape Although we know the general meaning of the chapter
woman, and to our writer and do not feel obliged to find his purpose in
persecution au jts details, yet it would seem as if he must have had a
of her seed ' J
purpose in the concluding verses where he describes the
escape of the woman from the dragon, and his turning
against "the rest of her seed," that is, faithful Christians.
The question might be asked whether the woman who
1 See Gunkel's Schopfung und Chaos (1895), and Wellhausen's Skizzen
und Vorarbeiten, vi., pp. 215 ff. On these two discussions the views given
above are largely based. 240

Apocalyptical Writers
escapes is the true Israel, that is, the original Jewish-
Christian church, which escaped destruction in the fall of
Jerusalem (70 A. D.) by timely flight, while the rest of
her seed are the Christian churches of the dispersion who
are still suffering persecution. Perhaps it is enough to
say that the escape of the woman to her place in the wil
derness was given in the original myth, and had already
been interpreted by Jews as meaning the1 escape, when
Jerusalem fell, of the remnant which became the kernel
of the new Judaism. Then verse 17 may describe either
the fury of Rome against the Jews who remained in Jeru
salem, or it may have been added by the Christian reviser,
to refer to the present persecutions of Christians, from
which escape was still future. In this case it is not im
possible that just as Messiah's escape from the dragon
was not deliverance from death, not the rescue from Herod's
plots by flight into Egypt, but an escape through death
and resurrection to heaven (v. 5 f.), so the escape of the
woman to the place where she is to be cared for till the
time of evil ends may have been taken by our Christian
writer as the escape of the older generation of Christians
by death from the present final rage of Satan.
6. The Ultimate Power of Evil, Satan (12)
A portent appeared in the sky, a woman in appearance.
like a goddess, queen of heaven. She cried out in the
pains of childbirth. Another portent appeared, a great
241

The Messages of the
Satan's vain red dragon bearing the marks of world rulership. In his
against' the fall from heaven one-third of the heavenly host were in-
IhScHh-6) volved-1 He stood ready to destroy the woman's child,
who, he knew, was destined to dispossess him in the rule
of the world. But the Messianic child was snatched up to
God's throne and the woman escaped into the wilderness
for the three and a half years of the dragon's remaining
rule.2
Satan's ex- Here are more details in regard to these events. The
heaven r°m fall of the dragon from heaven a was the result of a war
(7-12) ;n wnich he and his angels assailed the throne of God and
were repulsed by the angelic hosts under Michael, and
cast down to earth. I heard a heavenly voice celebrating
this victory and rejoicing that heaven was rid of the great
accuser, who had always accused the righteous before
God, as he was the first tempter and the constant deceiver
of man. Yet Christian martyrs had overcome him by
Christ's death and their own.4 But that which is heaven's
deliverance is earth's sorrow, for the devil will be the more
fierce in his assaults upon men, knowing that his end is

1 There is an allusion here to Dan. 8 : 10, but there the reference is to the
efforts of Antiochus to put an end to various native religions. Here the
language has the mythological, which must be the older, meaning of a literal
fall of angels.
2 As in 11 : 2-3. 3 Referred to in v. 4.
4 This verse (n) is evidently an insertion applying the old mythological
figures to the present situation, the persecution of Christians by Rome.
242

Apocalyptical Writers
This was the reason for the dragon's fury against the The perse-
woman. Her flight to the wilderness was supernaturally So^ho
speeded. The attacks of the dragon also were miracu- ke'°P8 to
lously averted. There she is safe for the three and a half (13-17)
times (years) of the dragon's power, and he can only turn
against her other children, those faithful Christians who
are still for a short time exposed to persecution.
7. The King and the Priest in the Realm of Evil
In the 12th chapter Satan is introduced and the explana- Meaning of
tion of his present power given, with the assurance of his beast™
speedy overthrow. Over against him is set the child who
is destined to rule over the world in his place. In chapter
13 it is made evident that Rome is the agent through whom
Satan now rules the world, and that the imperial cultus,
the worship of the emperor, is the means by which that
rule is made oppressive and offensive. Rome stands in
the same relation to Satan as that in which the Christian
community stands to Christ. The devil has given to
Rome his authority over the world, as Christ will give his
authority to his faithful followers.1
The difficulty of interpreting the figures of the two beasts Origin of
arises from uncertainty as to the extent of the Christian tionatoP ca"
writer's inventive originality. In his use of the figures Rome
they certainly signify the Roman empire and the imperial
cultus. But various features in the description were fixed
1 2 : 26-27 ; cf . 1 : 6 ; 5 : 10 ; 20 : 4-6.
243

The Messages of the
in a tradition which goes back at least to Daniel, where
the four beasts, here reunited, were shaped to represent
the four kingdoms of Chaldea, Medea, Persia, and Greece.
Further, it is not unlikely that some Jewish writer had
already applied the figure of the beast to Rome. The
suggestion has been made, and is not without a measure of
probability, that this was done in 39-40 A. D., when Calig
ula attempted to have his statue erected in the temple at
Jerusalem, in revenge for the act of the Jews in destroying
an altar to the emperor set up by the inhabitants of Jamnia.
The wounding and healing of the head could then have
referred to the serious illness, near the beginning of his
reign, from which Caligula recovered ; and the original
number in verse 18 could have been 616,1 which is the
numerical value in Greek of Caligula's name, Gaius Cffisar.
Yet it must be said that the efforts of the provincial
government, though a powerful priesthood, to enforce the
worship of the emperors in Asia Minor, to which the chap
ter now unmistakably refers, could very well have been
the original cause of this peculiar development of the an
cient figure of the evil beast of the sea.
The wound- But although some features in the description of the
e a first beast, especially verses 4-8, and the character and
r61e of the second beast could have been shaped to de
scribe the conditions that met the Christian communities
of Asia Minor, the smiting of one of the seven heads would
1 See Revised Version, margin.
244

Apocalyptical Writers
seem to refer to some notable event in the history of Rome
itself. It would be most fully accounted for if the death
of one of the emperors by the sword (v. 14) had endan
gered the existence of the empire itself (cf. vv. 12, 14),
especially if this stroke had fallen in an assault against the
empire from without (see v. 4, end). The death of Julius
Caesar would satisfy most of these requirements. The
first verses of the chapter need not refer to events of the
writer's own time, but may rather be meant to describe the
rise and character of the Roman Empire. A reference to so
well known and significant an event as Caesar's death, from
the shock of which the empire rose to new strength, would
serve admirably to identify the beast as Rome,1 and to en
hance wonder at its power.2 Perhaps this characteristic
of Rome that it had, as it were, been killed and come to new
hfe and greater power is emphasized and repeated (w. 12,
14) because it was analogous to the characteristic of Christ.
The verse is more commonly referred to the death of is Nero re-
Nero, which was a violent death by suicide, and which erre
ended the Julian dynasty and left the empire to a danger
ous period of anarchy, from which, however, it recovered.3
1 "The founding of the empire after the death of the first emperor is char
acteristic of Rome " (Gunkel, Schopfung und Chaos, p. 355).
2 It is even possible that in a Hebrew original the phrase " One of his
heads" signified "the first of his heads." Gesar was sometimes reckoned
the first emperor (e.g., 2 Esdr. n: 12 f. ; I2:i4*f.).
3 Some think that tbe recovery is still future, and refers to the expected re
turn of Nero to life. This would best account for the 3'A years during which
245

ber 666

The Messages of the
The verse does not, however, refer so naturally to Nero,
and this interpretation would hardly have been urged if
it had not been for other evidence that in the view of the
writer or of his sources Nero is the embodiment ot Rome's
The num- evil power. Such evidence has been found by many
in the number 666 (v. 18), which is the numerical value
of the Hebrew letters of Nero Caesar.1 There are some
objections to this current interpretation of the number.
It requires an unusual spelling of the word Cffisar. The
usual spelling would yield 676. And it would seem more
probable that the solution of the enigma was to be found
in Greek rather than in Hebrew. Again, 666 is the num
ber of the beast, not of one of its horns or heads, and the
words "it is the number of a man" need not mean that
the number signifies a man's name, but may mean, like
the similar phrase in 21 : 17, that the number is to be
reckoned in the usual human way. Accordingly, a very
old solution, as old as Irenaeus, though he does not adopt
it, is the Greek word for "Latin," which, however, has
to be written in an unusual if not wholly unused form
(Lateinos, instead of Latinos). Better than this is a very
recent suggestion by Professor Clemen of Halle, namely,
the healed beast is to rule (v. 5), which is the set time of the rule of Antichrist ;
but it does not so well fit w. 3-4, and the rest of the chapter.
1 In Hebrew and in Greek the only numerals were the letters of the alpha
bet. Hence every word had' a numerical value. It should be added that in
a Latinized spelling tbe Hebrew of Nero Caesar yields the number 616, which
is found in some manuscripts. 246

Apocalyptical Writers
The Latin kingdom {he latine basileia). It happens that
"The Italian kingdom " gives the alternate reading, 616. It
seems probable that these phrases could have been used in
an apocalypse for the Roman empire. It has been argued,
however, that the number must have been ancient in
order to have the mysterious value our writer attributes to
it. It should be the number of the ancient chaos dragon,
and in fact a Hebrew phrase meaning "the chaos of old"
yields the number 666 (Gunkel). Finally, the interesting
suggestion has been made that the significance of the
number to our writer lay in his discovery that the ancient
number of the beast is also "the number of a man," for
example, that it means not only "the chaos of old)" but
also Nero Caesar. The man who bears the number has
appeared. He is to be known as the last foe of God and
the saints by the number of his name ; and his appearance
with this mark of identification, is evidence that the end is
at hand.1
Though the last suggestion is not an improbable one,
yet it need not be doubted that in part the significance
of the number lay in itself. This is not inconsistent
with the views just presented. A name for the power
of evil would be sought that would yield a number
of symmetry and ideal significance. Three sixes might
suggest a persistent failure to reach the perfect number,
seven, as the three eights which are the numerical value
1 P. Corssen.
247

The Messages of the
of the Greek name, Jesus, suggested his surpassing per
fection.1 Whatever we may now guess as to the number we may
rest assured that it is the past and not the future that hides
the mystery of its meaning.
The mark of Another much disputed matter is the mark of the beast
' e eas which must be put on the hand or forehead of everyone as a
condition of buying and selling, that is of taking part in the
necessary business of life. Commercial papers (papyri) of
this period have recently been discovered which are attested
by an imperial stamp, and it has been suggested that the
use of this stamp seemed to our writer idolatrous, and that
by a bold figure he declared that those who made use of it
received, as it were, the stamp of Rome on their very per
sons. '' Perhaps, however, the writer is not here describing
things as they are, but is, from verse 15 on, predicting more
terrible and diabolical doings of the Roman government
than he has yet actually experienced, especially the actual
giving of life to the images of the .emperors, and compelling
everyone literally to have the name of the emperor branded
on his forehead or hand, as the name of the master was
branded on the slave. This compulsory stigmatization was
expected, it is said, because of the growing passion and
enthusiasm of the populace for the imperial cultus.3
1 Irenseus, v. 28, 2, says that the six hundreds, six tens and six units signify
a summing up of all the apostasy of the six thousand years of world history.
2 See Deissmann's Bible Studies, pp. 241 ff.
3 J. Weiss, Die Offenbarung des Johannes, pp. 15 ff.
248

Apocalyptical Writers
8. The Agents of Satan, the Roman Empire and
Cultus (13)
As the dragon 1 stood by the sea-shore, I saw a beast come Rome and ,
up out of the sea, who had the same marks of world ruler- authority0
ship as the dragon himself. It was the symbol, or the(l~2)
demoniacal representative, or counterpart, of the Roman
empire, the names of whose rulers, since they demand
worship, are blasphemous names. It united in its powers
and in its appearance the features of the four beasts of
Daniel's vision, and was terrible as those four empires com
bined. It received world rulership from him who really
possesses it, the dragon, Satan. One of the seven heads The healing
seemed to be slain, but the stroke was healed, and the beast wound, andS
had greater power than before. All men were amazed, pow^bias-
and worshipped both Satan, who gave Rome its power, phemies and
persecutions
and Rome itself, declaring it invincible. It made arrogant (3-10)
and blasphemous claims for itself, like those which Daniel
(7 : 8, n, 20 ; 11 : 36) describes. It is, in fact, in fulfilment
of Daniel's prediction (7 : 25), destined to possess power
for the predetermined period of the rule of evil, three
years and one-half. It blasphemed God and heavenly
things.2 This is the nation that persecutes Christians3
and rules all peoples, and is worshipped by all except
1 Not improbably the reading " and I stood by the sea-shore " is correct.
2 Dan. 8: 10-12, 25 ; 11:36, 37.
3 Dan. 7: 21. Notice the large use of Dan. 7. It is evident that by our
writer, as by the writer of 2 Esdras (12 : 10 ff .), the fourth beast of Daniel was
identified with Rome. 249

The Messages of the
Christians. Attend to this, my readers. Be encouraged
in your resistance against the demands of this nefarious
cultus by remembering the principle that those who use
violence against others shall suffer the same themselves.1
Rome will suffer all the woes she inflicts, and your part is
not violent resistance, but believing patience.
The im- I saw another beast, a beast of the land, not the sea,
tus,'aitsCde"- with two horns like a lamb,2 but its speech betrayed its
acies aSdop- relationship not to Christ but to the dragon. It was an
F^°?s authoritative agent of the first beast, Rome, and had the
task of enforcing and extending the imperial cultus.3 This
it did by delusive miracles,4 by calling down fire from
heaven, and by giving to the image of the emperor the
appearance of life. It enforced the worship of this image
on penalty of death,5 and compelled all men of every rank
to accept it as a condition of taking part in the ordinary
business of life, and so as a condition of life itself.
If you would know who this beast is whom I have de
scribed, I will give you the number of the name, 666."
1SeeGen.g:6; Jer. 15: 2 ; Matt. 26:52. 2 Cf. Dan. 8 : 3.
3 The priesthood of the imperial cultus. Called the false prophet in 16: 13 ;
19:20; 20: 10.
i Such as were expected from false prophets and antichrists (Matt. 24 : 24).
5 As in Dan. 3 : 5-7, 15.
6 Or, I would ask you to look for a man's name which has the number
which you must recognize as that of the power of evil, 666.

250

Apocalyptical Writers
g. The Opposing Host. Christ and the Undefiled
(14 : i-5)
The heavenly vision of Christ and the company of his
followers (14 : 1-5) is a prophecy and anticipation of the
future — perhaps of that reigning of the martyrs with Christ
of which 20 : 4-6 tells — rather than a disclosure of the
condition of Christians who have already died. The num
ber is given with no direct allusion to the 144,000 of 7 : 1-8.
If literal celibacy were originally meant in verse 4, then
our author must here have made use of traditions coming
from an ascetic sect of Jews (Essenes?) or Christians ;
for there is no sufficient evidence that celibacy belonged
to our author's ideal, or is added to martyrdom as a
second condition of attaining the highest reward of the
future. Then in contrast to the Satanic power, and the multi- Christ and
tudes of men who belonged to it, I had a vision of Christ, fii|dUn e
in the heavenly Zion, with the completed number of those (I4:l-s)
who were marked as belonging, not to the beast, but to him
and to God, his Father. And I heard a sound both mighty
and musical. It was the new song which these redeemed
ones sing before God's presence, and which none but these
could learn. They are those who kept themselves from
all defiling contact with the world. They will be ever with
Christ who redeemed them.

2Si

The Messages of the

10. Last Warnings (14 : 6-20)
A succession of brief summary and anticipatory visions
follows (vv. 6-13), which seems to be inserted here, be
tween the actors and the action of the drama, in order to
encourage the faithful and warn those who are still in
different. The teaching of the whole apocalypse is here
summed up. Then follow two pictures of the world
judgment, one as the harvest of grain, the other as the
gathering and pressing of grapes. The first reaper is de
scribed as the one like a son of man sitting on a cloud, with
unmistakable reference to Daniel 7 : 13. Yet the context
seems to call for an angel rather than the Messiah here,
for "another angel" summons him to his task, and the
second reaper is still "another angel." It is difficult to
believe that our author intended to represent Christ as
directed by one angel as to the time of his coming for judg
ment, and as followed by another angel whose judicial act
seems more important and final than his own. It will not
do to say that Christ comes first and harvests the good, and
an angel of destruction executes God's wrath on the wicked.
It is Christ who is to tread the wine-press of the wrath of
God (19 : 15). It is simpler to take the one like a son of
man to be an angel, in accordance with what we have re
garded as its original meaning. It is true that the imagery
of Daniel 7 : 13 is used in a description of Christ in Reve
lation 1 : 13, yet it is not used by itself, but only in con-
252

Apocalyptical Writers
nection with the description of God (Dan. 7 : 9) and that
of the angel, Gabriel (Dan. 10 : 6) ; hence we cannot
infer that our author regarded Daniel's "son of man" as
Messiah. Anticipations belong to our author's manner,
and it would not be contrary to his custom if he should use
two different figures to describe, not successive events, but
one event in two aspects, or for the sake of richer and more
impressive poetical expression. The second description
(w. 17-20) is hardly more than an expansion of Joel 3 : 13.
I saw an angel proclaiming to all men the gospel of the The eternal
worship of the one God, the creator, in view of his ap- ff^-y)
proaching judgment.
A second angel announced (as if it were already accom- Fall of
plished) the fall of Babylon (Rome) for its sins against Rome011"
mankind. (l4:8)
A third angel declared that those who yield to the wor- Penalty of
ship of Rome shall share the eternal torment that awaits accepttiie
it. This should encourage Christians in their patience and {."JJ^ al
fidelity (14:9-12)
A voice from heaven assured me of their future blessed: Blessedness
ness. Death will bring them only release from pains and °ui dead'
reward for their good deeds. (14:13)
I saw one like Daniel's vision of a human figure on a The
cloud.1 He was crowned as a king, and had a sickle in is the'reap-
his hand, with which, at the summons of an angel messen- "J."*^"
ger of God, he reaped the ripe earth.
1 Dan. 7:13.
2S3

The Messages of the
As the Another angel with a sickle is bidden by the angel of
Indtriad- fire to gather the grapes of the earth and cast them into
tog of grapes tne wme-press of God's wrath. From it flowed out a flood
(14 : 17-20) ^
of wine, like blood, over all the land.1
11. Vision of the Sevenfold Wrath of God (15-16)
The way is prepared for the overthrow of the beast,
Rome, and of the dragon, Satan, by a new and last series
of seven plagues, the seven bowls. They are closely paral
lel to the seven trumpets, but less elaborated, and although
the whole, and not one-third, is now involved, yet the
description is somewhat less vivid and impressive. The
sequence as to place is very nearly the same in the first six
bowls and trumpets, namely : (1) Earth, (2) Sea, (3) Rivers
(fresh waters), (4) Heavenly bodies, (5) Under-world (?),
(6) Euphrates. The bowls are somewhat more nearly
related to the Egyptian plagues, and less dominated by
volcanic features. But the seventh bowl, like the sixth
seal, is an earthquake with a hail of volcanic stones. Un
like the seals and trumpets, there is in the bowls no
distinction between the first four and the following three,
and no break or interlude between the sixth and seventh.
On the other hand the first five are somewhat distinguished
from the sixth and seventh.
The seven I saw seven angels with seven plagues in which God's
p?agues° ' e wrath will come to its final and complete expression.
1 See Enoch ioo : 1-3.
254

Apocalyptical Writers
But before this was revealed, in order that you faithful Song of the
Christians might not be terrified by it, there was given me heavened m
another vision of the heavenly blessedness of those who(15:2~4'
successfully resist the power of Rome and the imperial
cultus. They sing a song of praise to God for his great
ness, a Christian song like the Song of Moses when God
delivered Israel from the Egyptians, ascribing in the lan
guage of psalmists and prophets of old 1 all glory to him,
whose power is now about to be recognized by all men.
Then I saw the seven angels come forth out of the The seven
heavenly temple in splendid attire, and one of the four cSve the
cherubim gave them seven bowls containing God's wrath. 2°f
And the temple was, as of old, so filled with the visible ('5=5-8)
glory of God 2 that though it was open, none could enter
into it, till God's judicial wrath had spent itself.
Then the command came and the first angel poured out The wrath
his bowl into the earth and the worshippers of Rome were against
afflicted with sores, like the sixth Egyptian plague.3 The ftg.^fS
second poured his bowl into the sea and it became blood The sea
and all its life was destroyed.4 The third poured his bowl (I '3
into the fresh waters and turned them into blood. The waters
angel of the waters confessed that the judgment was but (l6:4~7)

1Ps.92:5; 111:2; 139:14; 145:17; Ex. 34: 10; Jer. 10:6-7; Hos. 14:9.
2 See Ex. 40:34; 1 Kings 8:10; 2 Chron. 5:13-14; 7:1-2; Isa. 6:4;
Ezek. 44:4.
3 Ex. 9:8-11.
4 See the first Egyptian plague (Ex. 7 : 1 4-25) and the second trumpet
255

The Messages of the
just, since men who had shed blood must now drink blood.
The altar answers, yes, God's judgments are just.
The sun The fourth poured his bowl upon the sun, and it burned
(16:8-9) men wjtk jts jntense hggj- . ve)- fney blasphemed and did
not repent.
The throne The fifth poured his bowl upon the throne of the beast,1
(lotio^ii) and brought darkness upon his kingdom ; but for all these
plagues men repented not.
The The sixth poured his bowl upon the Euphrates, drying
bringing68' it up ' so that the eastern kings, the Parthians, could come
Unireto war against Rome. And I saw that the three great powers
(16:12-16) 0f evil, the Satanic dragon and the two Roman beasts,
would instigate, through demoniacal agency, a general as
sembly of nations to the war of the day of judgment. (Note,
my readers, that that day will come unexpectedly, and only
constant watchfulness can prepare one for it.) The place
where the nations will gather for this last war is called in
Hebrew Har-Magedon.3
1 This should be the throne of the Cffisars, but it is possible that the demon
representative of Rome is in mind, and that a preliminary plague in the realm
of Satan is intended (cf. 13:2, where the throne of Rome is Satan's throne).
2 See 2 Esdr. 13 : 43-47.
3 This is a somewhat obscure vision of a fixed and well-known event in
Jewish and Christian eschatoiogy. Wars and rumors of wars are always
among the signs of the end. This war is anticipated in the sixth trumpet
(9:13-21) and consummated in 19:19-21 and 20:7-10, where a fuller dis
cussion of it will be found. Har-Magedon may mean the mount of Megiddo.
The plain of Megiddo was a famous battle-field, and a natural place of resist
ance against armies coming from the north toward Jerusalem. An apoca-
256

Apocalyptical Writers
The seventh angel poured his bowl upon the air. A The air,
voice announced this as the final manifestation of God's earthquake
wrath. An earthquake followed, great beyond all parallel, (f^.1^,,,)
in which the mighty city, Rome, was divided into three parts
and the cities of other nations fell, and Rome was punished
by God.1 Islands, too, and mountains disappeared, and a
hail-storm of great stones fell upon men causing them to
blaspheme. 12. The Figure of the Scarlet Beast and the Woman-City
The fall of Rome is not adequately described in the Subject, the
seventh bowl. Perhaps it is only announced there, as in
14 : 8. Since it is a leading theme of the book we should
expect it to be fully elaborated, and in fact the next three
chapters develop it in different ways and with the use of
a variety of materials.
The interpretation of the figure of the woman sitting on Origin and
the dragon is involved in difficulties of the same sort as the figure
those that met us in studying chapters 12 and 13. It is
quite certain that the author is here also using traditional
material. It is not at all certain that the figure was first
lyptical writer might prefer to make the neighboring mountains the scene of
the conflict on account of Ezek. 38 : 8, 21 ; 39 : 2, 4, 17. See also the refer
ences to Mount Tabor and the high places in Jud. 4 : 6, 12, 14 ; 5 : 18 ; cf.
5 : 19. Perhaps lost apocalyptical traditions would explain the word.
1 Or, "the great city," Jerusalem (cf. 11 : 8), was divided into three parts,
and heathen cities fell, and Rome was reserved for special judgment at the
hand of God. 257

The Messages of the
invented to typify Rome, nor is it clear that our author
was the first to apply it to Rome. Just how far he may
have adapted it to the immediate situation it is not easy
to say ; yet upon our answer to this question depends the
extent and detail of our effort to find references to his
torical events in the various features of the picture. Un
like chapters 12 and 13, we have here an elaborate inter
pretation of the figure (w. 7-18). Yet we cannot infer
that John borrowed the figure and added the interpreta
tion, for this is not simple and consistent, but seems itself
to have been worked over to suit a new use. Verse 6 in
the vision, and verses 9 and n in the interpretation, seem
to be additions to an older form, and verse 14 does not
appear to be in a natural place, for the ten kings could not
be first overcome by Christ and his followers and then aid
the beast in the destruction of the woman (16-17).
It is certain that this is a vision of the approaching judg
ment upon Rome. Parallel to it and introduced in the
same way is the vision of the approaching glory of Jeru
salem in 21 : 9 ff. That is actually the vision of a city, and
its name is given ; this is a symbolic figure which is defi
nitely interpreted as meaning a city, and all but in name
as the city, Rome (vv. 9, 18). But the figure was hardly
A picture of constructed in the first place for Rome. The seven heads
were a fixed feature in the beast that represents the power
against God (12 : 31; 3 : 1), and the interpretation of them
as signifying the seven hills on which Rome was seated
258

Apocalyptical Writers
(v. 9) is evidently secondary, and does not even displace
the interpretation of them as seven kings (v. 10). It is
not Rome but the literal Babylon that sat on many waters
(v. i),1 so that it has to be explained that, with reference
to Rome, the many waters are the peoples over whom
she ruled (v. 15). Comparing verses 1 and 3, however, it
would seem that the beast himself should be the many
waters, and in fact, as we have seen, this beast is the
dragon of the chaos of the deep. If this is so then the
whole image of the royal woman sitting on the dragon
could have been shaped in the first place as a picture of
Babylon. The woman and the dragon evidently belong together, Relation of
and the seven heads and ten horns of the dragon must and tneS°n
represent the imperial power on which the greatness of the woman
city rests. But at the end of the chapter the beast and
the ten horns, who now appear as foreign kings, are ene
mies of the woman and bring about her overthrow. This
must be a modification of the original figure. Now it is
a historical fact that though the Roman empire lifted the
city of Rome to a greater than its former glory, yet there
remained from the days of the Republic a persistent popu
lar aversion to the imperial policy, so that the idea of a
final turning of the empire against the city was not in
conceivable. Perhaps, however, the Nero myth must be The Nero
assumed as the explanation of this strange ending of the myt
1 So in Jer. 51:13.
259

The Messages of the
vision. The last form of this myth appears to have an
ticipated a rising of Nero from the under-world, and his
coming with the aid of the Parthians to take vengeance
on the city that had forsaken him. To this, which could
be a Jewish expectation, the Christian writer added the
warfare of the returning Nero and his allies against Chris
tians (v. 14).
If it was the identification of the beast with the emperors
and specifically with Nero that made possible the con
ception of a final assault of the beast upon the woman,
Rome, then verse n must be understood as making this
identification. After the appointed seven kings of Rome
will come an eighth, who is one of the seven, for the set
number must not be changed, and is also the beast him
self. The returning Nero could be so described. A half-
Satanic being, he would be no longer only one of the
heads (kings), but the beast itself, the very embodiment
of the evil spirit of the Roman empire. Then verse 8
must have, in our author's intention, the same meaning.
It is the beast as Nero who was, and is not, and is about
to come up out of the abyss, and to go to destruction.
These impressive formulas, however, with their apparently
intended antithesis to the description of God as one who
was, and is, and is to come, were probably shaped origi
nally to describe the Satanic chaos dragon himself, who
was, before creation, and who is not, having been bound at
the creation of the world, and who is to come up out of the
260

Apocalyptical Writers
abyss to make a final assault upon God and his people,
and be forever vanquished and destroyed.
We have then in this chapter the familiar figure of the Summary
chaos dragon, from a heathen mythology, once applied to
Babylon, and afterward to Rome, reshaped to be a vehicle
of the Nero myth, and applied by the Christian writer to
explain the present and future persecutions of the saints
(w. 6, 14), and to express the assurance that the perse
cuting power was nearing its appointed overthrow, per
haps with the suggestion that that which made Rome's
rule just now especially oppressive would prove itself the
means of her downfall.
In verse 10 we seem to have a very specific indication of The date of
our author's date. Five Roman emperors are fallen, one
is, and one more is to follow and reign a short time. The
book, or rather the verse, was written then under the sixth
emperor. We may safely omit Galba, Otho, and Vitellius
from the reckoning, but it is not certain whether we should.
begin with Caesar, as do Suetonius, Josephus, Fourth Ezra
(n : 12, 13 ; 12 : 14, 15), and possibly Revelation 13 : 3,
or more correctly with Augustus, as Tacitus does.
The latter gives a better result, for Nero would then be
already dead, as verse 8 may imply, and the verse would
date from Vespasian (69-79 A- D.). Titus, the seventh,
did in fact reign, but a short time, so that it is possible to
infer that even this verse came from Domitian's reign, and
that the assumption of Vespasian's reign is a device by
261

The Messages of the
which the writer is enabled to predict the short reign of
Titus and to identify Domitian with the returning Nero.
It seems more probable, however, that verse 10 really
came from Vespasian's reign ; and that the next reign was
made short in order that the number seven might be filled
out and yet the end be near.
In verse n, however, the number is lengthened out to
eight in such a way as to suggest that the writer is hving
under the eighth emperor and feels obliged to reduce the
number to seven in accordance with the vision. This he
does by making the beast himself the eighth, and by say
ing still further that the eighth was one of the seven.
Perhaps it is simplest to suppose that the vision received
its earlier form (Jewish or Christian) under Vespasian, as
verse 10 indicates, and that verse n was added when our
book was written, under Domitian. Other additions we
may suppose were verses 6 and 14. It is possible also that
the ten kings got their present peculiar interpretation from
the same hand. They may represent the Parthians, with
whose help Nero was to come against Rome. But it must
be confessed that being ten horns of the beast it is more
natural to suppose that either provincial Roman governors
or vassal kings of the empire were meant. The historian
Mommsen maintains that the impulse to the Book of
Revelation came from a pseudo-Nero, Terentius Maxi-
mus, who arose in Asia Minor in the last days of Vespa
sian. He found adherents in the region of the Euphrates.
262

Apocalyptical Writers
The Parthians supported him and prepared to reinstate
him in Rome by force, but at length surrendered him, after
long negotiations, about the year 88, to Domitian.
It should, however, be said at the end that caution may Remaining
well be used with regard to the reference to Nero here as in Nero
chapter 13. The clear meaning of the vision would appear
to be that Rome is to fall at the hands of certain rulers who
now seem to belong to her, whether governors or former
kings of Roman provinces, and that Satan, who has given
Rome its evil power, will be the inspiring agent in this revo
lution. 13. The Fall of Rome in a Figure (17)
One of the seven angels of the bowls summoned me to Vision of the
see the judgment of the great harlot-city, situated, like (Rome) and
Babylon, on many waters. By her, as by Tyre and Baby- j^f"^)
Ion of old, kings were made impure.1
He took me away, in anecstasy, into a wilderness,2 where
I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, which had, like
the beasts I had seen before, the well-known marks of
godless world rulership.3 The woman was magnificently
attired, a picture of luxury and immorality. Her name was
Babylon, the mother of vice and sin ; and I saw that it was
with the blood of Christian martyrs that she was defiled.4
1 Isa. 23:17; Jer. 51:7; Rev. 14:8.
2 Such as lay between Palestine and Babylonia. 3 Rev. 12:3; 13 : 1.
* Those even in the provinces who were sentenced to fight with wild beasts
would die chiefly in Rome (cf. 18:24). 263

The Messages of the
The inter- The angel promised to explain to me the hidden meaning
Kl'beast °f of the woman and the beast. The beast, he said, "was,
heads'5 anc* 's not> ar*d is about to come up out of the abyss, and
(7-") to go to destruction," and all men except Christians ' shall
wonder at his coming again after having disappeared.
We that are wise may see that the seven heads suggest
the seven hills on which Rome sits. They also stand for
seven kings, of whom the sixth reigns at present ; the
seventh will reign but a httle while. The beast himself
will finally reign, and we may call him therefore an eighth,
though he also belongs to the seven, so that the destined
number is not exceeded.
The ten The ten horns are also ten kings,2 though they have not
ther? war yet received their royal power. But they will reign for a
Chrisms brief time when the beast reigns (the eighth), and wholly in
and against subordination to him. These are they who with the beast
(12-17) are to make war against Christ and his followers and be
vanquished.3 The waters on which the harlot sits may
be taken as meaning the multitudes of nations over whom
Rome holds sway.4 It is these ten kings who with the
demon beast itself shall turn against the harlot, Rome,
whom they now support, and destroy her. For God made
these kings and the nations they represent at first a part
1 As in 13 : 8. 2 As we learn from Dan. 7 : 7, 20, 24.
3 After the temporary and apparent victory alluded to in 1 1 : 7 ; 12 : 17 (or, 6
and 13-17); 13:7.
4 This is a familiar use of the figure (Isa. 8:7; Jer. 47 : 2). It was suggested
by the reflection that Rome was not, like Babylon, literally situated on waters.
264

Apocalyptical Writers
of the evil empire and then the agent in her overthrow,
which is accomplished by that .very Satanic spirit of evil
to which Rome owes her present fleeting glory. For the The woman
woman is, as you may well know already, that city which (Sl8)°me
now rules over the kingdoms of the earth.
14. Dependence and Freedom in the Use of Prophecy
We do not know the sources of the materials from which Dependence
the figures of chapter 17 were constructed, and can only t°mlm<t Tes"
make guesses as to the process by which the materials prophecy
took this form. On the other hand, chapter 18, which
expresses in prophetic form the same expectation that
chapter 17 gives in apocalyptical imagery, is made up al
most entirely of Old Testament language, borrowed from
the woes against Babylon (Isa. 13, 14 ; Jer. 50, 51), Tyre
(Isa. 23 ; Ezek. 26-28), and Edom (Isa. 34). The prin- How was
cipal question here concerns the intellectual process outcom^ede?
of which this composition sprang. This conglomerate of
Old Testament phrases is described as the utterance of
angel voices from heaven, which the seer heard. Now it
is true that the chapter does not make the impression of
being pieced together in a mechanical way by some dry
and laborious scribe. On the contrary, the result, though
it contains little new, has a unity of its own and a degree of
impressiveness which seems to attest a strong emotional
impulse in its writer. We can suppose that one whose
mind was full of prophetic language against the godless
265

The Messages of the
cities of the past, and whose heart was burning with hatred
against the godless city of the present, could have ex
pressed himself in such a way as this ; and it is possible
that the heat and intensity of his mental action was such
that what he wrote seemed to him not his own — as indeed
in a true sense it was not — but inspired from heaven. Yet
even so the angel voices and action must have been, to
the author of such a production, figure rather than reality,
and certainly for us no supernatural agency is needed to
explain its composition.
There is one verse which seems to allude to a historical
situation (v. 4), but we hesitate to give it such a significance
when we see that it is taken over exactly from Jeremiah.
It was probably taken not in the literal sense, as a warn
ing to escape from a doomed city, but as an admonition
to Christians to escape from contact with heathen life, lest
they share the approaching downfall of the heathen world.
The variations between the second and third personal
pronouns in speaking of the city seem to have no signifi
cance except as signs of the various sources from which
the writer drew.
15. The Fall of Rome in the Language of Prophecy (18)
The fall of After this I saw another angel from heaven, of great
nounced authority and shining radiance, who cried, Babylon-Rome
(I-3) is fallen 1 and become like a desert, with its uncanny in-
1Isa. 21 : 9; Jer. 51 : 8.
266

Apocalyptical Writers
habitants,1 for she has misled and corrupted all na
tions.2 I heard another voice summoning God's people to leave Her fall is
the doomed city,3 so as not to share her sins,4 and the pun- ^™ (^Lgf
ishment which is now about to fall upon her.5 Let her
punishment be according to the strict rule of recompense,
like for like,6 but in double measure.7 Let her misery be
as great as her present glory and self-confidence.8 The
troubles which she thinks far from her shall come upon
her suddenly, bringing sorrow and destruction, for the
strong God is her judge.9
The kings of the earth who lived in luxury and sin "be- Kings be
cause of her shall weep over her destruction,10 and the for- (g-io)"
eign merchants who were enriched by supplying the various Lamenta-
luxuries of her extravagant and splendid life mourn the merchants
loss of her trade,11 — for all the things thou didst desire and (II_I?")
prize have perished — the merchants (I say) mourned over
the city that had so suddenly lost so great magnificence.12
Sea-captains and sailors likewise mourned the fall of Seamen
the city whose trade had made them rich. 13 But let heaven her1™ °ver
(l7b-l9)
1 Isa. 13 : 21 ; 14 : 23 ; cf. 34 : 11-15 ; Bar. 4 : 35b ; Jer. 50 : 39 ; 51 : 37.
2 Isa. 23 : 17 ; Jer. 51:7; Nah. 3:4; cf. Ezek. 27.
3 Jer. 51 : 6, 9, 45 ; 50 : 8 ; Isa. 48 : 20 ; cf. Apoc. Bar. 2 : 1.
* Isa. 52:11. 5Jer. 51:6, 9. ' Jer. 50 : isb, 29b -, Ps. 137 :8.
7 Cf. Isa. 40 : 2. 8 Isa. 47 : 7-8 ; cf. Jer. 50 : 29 (Babylon).
9 Isa. 47 : 9. That Rome is to be destroyed by fire (cf. w. 9, 18) is said also
in 17 : 16, but there it is by the ten kings, here by God's judgment.
10 Ezek. 26 : 16-18. u Ezek. 27 : 12-24. u Ezek. 27 : 36.
13 Ezek. 27 : 27-34. 267

i The Messages of the
But Chris- and all Christian martyrs therein rejoice, for Rome's fall
jotce (20) is your vindication and revenge.
Her fall will Then an angel cast a great stone into the sea, as Jeremiah
abso"uteaD was once charged to do,1 as a symbol of the sudden and
(21-24) gna] fau 0f tne doomed city. No longer, said he, shall
music be heard,2 or any art or labor be pursued in thee.
No lamps shall shine in thee, no weddings be celebrated.3
For great as was thy wealth,4 thou didst corrupt the na
tions.5 Moreover, she was the great slayer of prophets
and of saints.8
16. The Fall of Rome in Heavenly Song (19 : 1-10)
In 19 : 1-10, as in 7 : 9 ff.; 11 : 14-18; 14 : 1-5 ; 15 : 1-3,
the author interrupts the course of his visions of judgment
to come with a heavenly scene in which the meaning and
outcome of it all is set forth. In verses 1-3 the seer ap
pears to be on earth and only hears a great voice of heavenly
choirs ; but in verses 4 ff. he describes the heavenly scene
in detail, after the manner of chapter 4. This may be
evidence of the use of different materials, or only of the
author's disregard of formal consistency. There is no
distinctively Christian element except in verses 7-10.
1 Jer. 51 : 62-64. 2 Ezek. 26 : 13 ; Isa. 24 : 8.
»Jer. 25:10; 7:34; 16 :9. * Isa. 23 : 8. 6 Nah. 3 : 4 ; Isa. 47 : 9.
6 Jer. 51 : 35, 49 ; Ezek. 24 : 7-9- The charge which in Jeremiah is made
against Babylon, and which Christ (following Ezekiel) makes against Jerusa
lem (Matt. 23 : 29-37=Lu. n : 47-51 ; 13 : 34)> °ur writer characteristically
turns against Rome. 268

Apocalyptical Writers
After this I heard in vision what was like the voice of Heavenly
a multitude ascribing praise to God because of his just ^Rome's
judgment upon Rome for her corruption and for her per- °™rthrow
secution of his servants. Her burning is as perpetual
as that of Edom of old (Isa. 34 : 10). The twenty-
four elders and the four living beings joined in these in which all
praises. In response to a heavenly command all God's people join
people join in a mighty Hallelujah to the Lord, the 's-6'
King.1 For us Rome's fall and God's reign is an occasion for The joy of
great joy, as at a marriage feast, for in place of the harlot beiiewsrf
city, Rome, the new Jerusalem, the Christian community, ^7"9'
will appear as the pure bride of Christ, clothed in righteous
deeds.2 And the angel 3 said, Blessed are those who are
invited to this marriage feast ; 4 and he declared these words
divinely true. But when I would worship him, he for- The angel
bade me, saying that he was but a fellow-servant of Christ, worshipped6
and that God only was to be worshipped ; for angels can ^
only bear witness to Jesus, and this witness to Jesus is the
supernatural endowment of the Christian prophet also,
1 A like refrain is found in Ps. 93 : i ; 97 : 1 ; 99 : 1, and see also the
Psalms of Solomon, 2 : 34, 3° '¦ 5 : 2' f- '. '7 : '. 4. 38, 51. Such summoning:;
to praise God are common in the Psalms, e. g., 104 : 35 ; 106 : 48 ; 22 : 23 ;
115 : 13 ; 134 : 1 ; 135 : 1, and in general Ps. 113-18.
2 An anticipation of ch. 21, where the figure is interpreted. In 2 Esd. 9
the old Jerusalem is God's bride ; cf. Hos. 2 : 19-20 ; Isa. 54 : 5 ; 62 : 5 ;
Ezek. 16 ; Jer. 3 ; and Paul likens the Christian community to the bride of
Christ, 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5 : 29, 32.
3 See 17 : 15. i See Lu. 14 : 15.
269

The Messages of the

The warrior
Christ, and
the fall of
the two
beasts

Relation to
ch. 12

so that the angel and the prophet belong in the same
class.1 17. The Warrior -Messiah
In 19 : 1 1-2 1 we have the end of the two beasts, the
Roman empire and the imperial cultus, whose rise and
dominion chapter 13 describes, while chapter 20 brings
the temporary imprisonment and then the final overthrow of
the dragon, Satan, of chapter 12. But though this is our
writer's plan there is evidence that the materials he used
were not originally cast in just this form. We have found
reason to suppose that the dragon of chapter 12 and the
beasts of chapter 13 had originally the same meaning,
that is, the ungodly power of Rome which persecuted first
the Jews and then Christians. Behind both lies in apoc
alyptical tradition the same chaos monster, whom God
overcame at creation, and'who was to be again and finally
vanquished, in his new form as symbol or demon of the
godless heathen kingdoms, at God's second coming and
new Messianic creation. The account of the birth of
Messiah and his escape from the dragon (12 : 5) should nat
urally have been followed by an account of the victorious
warfare of the Messiah after he had grown to manhood
against his old enemy ; and the present chapter supplies
in part what we should think the original story must have
1 It is not certain just what this last clause of v. 10 means. It may possibly
be a gloss. At all events the verse is a protest against angel worship.
270

Apocalyptical Writers
contained. Here the Messiah comes as a mounted war-Thewarrior-
rior, with some features that suggest the young sun-god jeSor
of the ancient myth (v. 12), with hosts of heavenly cav Christian?
airy, to overcome the heathen nations and reign over all.
No doubt the vivid and sanguinary picture of Jehovah's
coming in judgment in Isaiah 63 : 1-6 furnished much of
the imagery of this description of Christ, and it may be that
we need no other explanation of it than this, and the Mes
siah of Isaiah n : 1-5, and our writer's own adaptations.1
It is not easy to say how far this warfare could have been
literally conceived, even by a Jewish writer. The blood
thirsty and revengeful spirit is evident enough, and we
should prefer to think that it was not the original creation
of the Christian writer, but that he rather adopted Jewish
material here as often before, and used it in a more or less
figurative sense. The image of a fierce warrior is quite
different from our writer's own vision of the heavenly
Christ in chapter 5 ; and perhaps we can see evidences of
the process by which this Jewish figure became allegorized
into a Christian one. The garment sprinkled with blood,
in spite of its likeness to Isaiah 63 : 1-2, may be meant to
suggest the sacrificial death of Christ rather than the blood
of a warrior, for it is so dyed before, and not only after
the combat ; and the name, The Word of God, and the The "Word
idea that his sword proceeds out of his mouth (vv. 15, 21) °
suggests that it is not an actual warfare in which the re-
1 Joel 3 : 9-15, and Ezek. 39 : 4, 17-20 are also used ; cf. Wisd. 18 : 4-25.
271

The Messages of the
turning Christ will engage, but rather a judging in right
eousness, which is the task of him who is faithful and true
(v. n). This idea, however, is not distinctively Christian.
In Isaiah 11:4 the Messiah smites the earth by his words,
not by arms. So in the Psalms of Solomon, "He shall
destroy the ungodly nations with the word of his mouth"
(17 : 27, 39, 41). In Second Esdras 13 : 9-11, 27-38 the
breath of Messiah's mouth is like a tempest of fire destroy
ing his enemies, and this is interpreted as meaning his
words of rebuke and condemnation. We may compare
also the striking personification of the judicial word of God
in the Book of Wisdom 18 : 15-16, in a description of the
slaying of the first-born in Egypt. The title "Word of
God" here may have little if any relation to its use in the
Fourth Gospel. It would be hard to find two descrip
tions of the Messiah and his task farther apart than Rev
elation 19 : 11 ff. and John 1 : 1 ff. There is no sugges
tion in Revelation of the Alexandrian Logos speculation.
It is of course possible that the name was added as a gloss
by a later scribe who thought he could supply the mys
terious name "which no one knows but himself" (v. 12).
In the eschatoiogy of our author the great final assault
of heathen powers against the Messianic kingdom, fore
told in Ezekiel 38-39, and in many prophets after him,1
falls into two parts, the one here told (19 : 19-21) before
'See Joel 3 : 1-13 ; Zech. 14 : 2; Ps. 2; Isa. 24 :2i; and cf. Rev. 16 : 12-16;
17 : 12-14. 272

Apocalyptical Writers
the thousand years' reign of Christ, and the one told in
20 : 7-10, after it.
18. The Fall of Rome at the Hand of Christ (19 : 11-21)
Then I had a vision of a heavenly rider on a white horse, Christ the
his name, Faithful and True,1 his calling, that of a king, andTirfg1
to judge and make war. He had blazing eyes 2 and many (II_I°)
diadems, since he is king of many peoples, and a mysterious
name known to no one else.3 His garment was blood-red,
like that of the heavenly judge in Isaiah 63 : 1-2, and his
name was ' ' The Word of God. " Armies of heavenly horse
men in white followed him. Out of his mouth came words
like a sword with which to smite the nations.4 He will
rule them with an absolute authority,5 and will execute the
judicial wrath of God,6 according to the exalted name he
bears, King of kings and Lord of lords.'
An angel in the sun summoned the birds to feast on the The judg-
' ment as a
'Sees: 14. 2 Dan. 10 : 6. ^}lg)
3 Just such a name is promised to him who overcomes in 2 : 17. Perhaps
the idea is derived from that of a magical formula, a word of supernatural
properties and powers ; for the proper names of this being are known (vv. 11,
13, 16).
* This means that the Messiah's judicial word is itself effectual, his sen
tence of condemnation is self-executing. See 1 : 16 ; 2 : 12, and Isa. 11 : 4.
5 The expression is from Ps. 2 : 9 ; cf. Rev. 2 : 27 ; 12 : 5.
6 The figure of the wine-press has been used already in 14 : 19-20, and is
derived from Joel 3 : *3 and Isa- 63 : 2_3-
7 See 17 : 14. This which in the Old Testament is a title only of God
(Dan. 2 : 47 ; Deut. 10 : 17, and so in 1 Tim. 6 : 15) is here applied to Christ.
273

The Messages of the
bodies of the slain, who include all men, of high and low
estate.1
Assault and Then I saw the Roman empire and the other kings with
the Roman' tnelr armies come against the Messiah and his hosts ; and
emmreand Rome and its godless worship (the two beasts of ch. 13)
(jo- 21) were cast into the lake of fire.2 The rest were slain by the
Messiah, and made food for the birds.
19. The Imprisonment of Satan and the Thousand Years'
Reign
Relation of Back of Rome, in our author's view, is the spirit of evil,
Sa^an'to'the wno giyes Rome its evil power (ch. 12 ; cf. 13 : 1 f.). Hence
fallofRome as before describing the rise of Rome (ch. 13) he gives
an account of Satan himself and of the reason for his pres
ent power on earth (ch. 12), so now, after telling of the fall
of Rome, he goes on to describe the fate of Satan. So
closely are the two united, Rome's power is so much the
embodiment of Satan's rule, that the fall of Rome involves
at least the crippling of his kingdom. With the fall of the
empire, which was his tool, Satan is himself bound for
a time, but his final overthrow will not come until one
1 This figure is taken from Ezek. 39 : 4, 17-20, where it describes the awful
fate of Gog and his hosts when they come in the Messianic time against
Israel. There are other less gross forms in which the figure of a feast is used
of the Messianic age, the idea being not as here that of birds of prey feasting
on the slain foes of Christ, but that of a feast of joy and companionship. See
Lu. 22 : 30 ", Mk. 14 : 25.
2 See Dan. 7 : 11; Isa. 30 : 33 ; Ezek. 38 : 22, and especially En. 10:13;
18 : 11 ff. ; 21:7; 90 : 24-27. 274

Apocalyptical Writers
more opportunity has been given him to show his malign
power. The idea that each nation has its counterpart in the heav- Evil angels
enly world, and that the conflicts and fortunes of these natirjn?en
angel beings accompany and explain the great events of
world history, was, as we have seen, familiar to the Jews.
It is found not only in Daniel 10-12, but also in Isaiah
24 : 21, 22 ' and in later apocalypses.2
There are other important points of connection between imprisoned
this chapter and current Jewish ideas. In the Book of bo Ska?
Enoch 3 there is elaborated out of the myth of Genesis Enoch
6 : 1-3 the idea that after certain angels fell from heaven
they were bound under the earth where they are to remain
during the course of human history.1 Only at its end will
they be released and then only in order to suffer a more
severe and final punishment. Meanwhile the evils that
afflict men are due in part to the demon spirits of the giants,
the offspring of the fallen angels, and in part to the angels
of the heathen nations, who oppress the Jews beyond their
commission. As in Revelation 20 : 10, so in Enoch 90 : 21-
25, we read that these angels of the nations are punished
in the same abyss of fire to which the original fallen angels
are condemned. We can guess that the conception that su
pernatural powers of evil are confined and their destruc-
1 See also Deut. 4:19; 32:8 LXX ; cf . Isa. 34 : 4-5 ; Ps. 82 ; 58 ( ?).
2 See En. 89, 00. 3 See pp. 301-305.
4 From Enoch this conception passed over into the New Testament. Jude
6 ; 2 Pet. 2 : 4 ; cf. 1 Pet. 3 : 19. 275

The Messages of the
tive powers restrained under the earth was originally sug
gested by earthquakes and volcanoes.1 There is a rela
tively old account of a long confinement and then a releas-
Imprison- ing of evil angels in Isaiah 24 : 21-22, and this leads back
chaos'oeast to a still different conception, that of creation as accom
plished by a binding of the chaos dragon, the spirit of the
waters, that is a confining of the ocean within fixed bounds,
so that earth is freed from its ravages and can produce life.
We have already discussed this idea and its important
place both in the Old Testament and in apocalyptical
symbolism.2
Peculiarities But in Revelation the binding of Satan takes place not
cepdonin" at °r near the creation of the world, but at the beginning
Revelation 0f tjje Messianic kingdom. This looks like a Christian
modification. To the Christian seer it is not God's deeds
at creation or in the beginnings of human history, but
Christ's deeds, past and about to come, which are the cen
tre of faith and hope. The dragon was cast out of heaven
in connection with the birth and ascension of Christ. His
rule on earth is to be checked by Christ's victory over Rome
and his reign over the world, and will come to a final
end before the new heaven and earth arise. It may be also
that the experience of Christians at this time, the violence
of the evil power and the persecutions of Rome, made it
: See En. 67 : 9 ff., where hot springs reveal their presence.
2 See the Prayer of Manasses 2-4, where it is expressed in language in part
related to the passage before us (Rev. 20 : 1-3).
276

Apocalyptical Writers
impossible to suppose that the dragon was already bound.
The conquest over him made through the birth and resur
rection of Christ was only heavenly. He was cast out of
heaven, but he is all the more violent and desperate on
earth. Yet the old legend of his being temporarily bound
and then released for a final effort and then destroyed,
held its place ; it was only pushed down in time. Satan
would be bound at Christ's second coming, and would be
loosed and finally conquered and destroyed at the end of
the millennial era and the beginning of the new heaven
and earth.
The most important conception in our chapter, and one The thou-
of the most significant in the whole book, is that of the thou- saQ years
sand years' rule of Christ and the risen martyrs on earth.
In three verses (20 : 4-6) the basis for a Christian doctrine
of an earthly millennium is laid, fateful verses which have
produced one of the least useful chapters in the long history
of Christian thought. As in the case of so much else in
apocalyptical writing, we must see the meaning and esti
mate the value of this conception by a study of its origin
and development.
The original Messianic hope was wholly earthly, the hope Origin of the
of Israel's future power and prosperity, the recovery of its in- eartWy pre-
dependence as under David, and the extension of its power. £e!'veni
There gradually arose, especially from Daniel on, a more consumma-
transcendent idea of the promised consummation. More
heavenly features were added to the description, and there
277

The Messages of the
was a tendency to detach the hope altogether from earth.
Now the idea of a temporary earthly consummation followed
by an eternal heavenly one was, to the Jew, simply one of the
ways of adjusting the new conceptions to the old, of pro
viding for the literal fulfilment of Old Testament predic
tions and nati nal ambitions, and yet giving a place, and
the chief place, to the heightened and more supernatural
expectations that had more lately arisen. There were other
ways of adjusting the old and the new, especially that of
regarding the earthly and national language as only a fig
ure of which the reality was heavenly and spiritual. But
the simpler way was to allow old and new to remain side by
side by making one follow after the other, and making the
Messiah the chief actor in the first, God in the second. So
far as we know this method is followed first in the Apoca
lypse of Weeks, in Enoch 91: i2ff. We find the same scheme
in Second Esdras 7 : 28-29, where the earthly kingdom is
four hundred years long ; also in the Apocalypse of Baruch
40 : 3. The four hundred years of Second Esdras may have
arisen out of a combination of Genesis 15 : 13 and Psalms
90 : 15. l Israel was to rule as king as long as it had served
as a slave. It is not hard to explain the larger number, one
thousand. From suggestions in the Book of Jubilees 4 : 30
and the Secrets of Enoch 33 : 1-2, it appears that out of
Genesis 2 : 2 and Psalms 90 : 4 the idea had arisen that
world history would run its course in one heavenly week,
1 So it is explained in the Talmud (Sanh. 99).
278

Apocalyptical Writers
of which each day is a thousand years. The Messianic
age could easily be conceived of as the Sabbath of that
week, and after it would follow the unreckoned and eter
nal time of the final consummation.1
There are some peculiar things about the thousand years' Significance
reign in Revelation 20, that put us in doubt as to its precise sand years'
value in the writer's mind. He does not need this earthly author0 °Ur
consummation in order to give to the Messiah his office as
judge and king, for in the final heavenly consummation,
though God is judge, yet the Messiah still has a place on
God's throne (22 : 1, 3). Neither does he need the earthly
kingdom in order to find a fulfilment for the predictions
of the prophets, for he follows the other method of adjusting
these predictions to a heavenly consummation, that is the
method of figurative interpretation. His description of the
new heaven and earth is made up of Old Testament pro
phetic language poetically taken. So the original motives
for putting an earthly before the heavenly kingdom are
lacking. It would seem as if this order of things were
given either in Christian z or in Jewish traditions, and that
our writer follows them. We can perhaps find two mo
tives that may have influenced him, that of giving a dra
matic character to the account of Satan's end, and that of
providing a special reward for the martyrs. The concep-
1 See Secrets of Enoch 33 : 2, and cf. En. 91 : 17.
2 Paul seems to prove that the idea had been adopted from Judaism by
Christians long before the time of our book. See 1 Cor. 15 : 20-28 ; 6 : 2, 3 ;
also Matt. 19 : 28. 279

The Messages of the
tion seems to be that while the chief power of evil is re
strained, Christ and the risen martyrs, by their rule and
judgment, will overcome and remove the remaining evil of
the world, and prepare it for the coming of God and the
final consummation.1
How literally our author conceived of this reign of
martyrs with Christ who that takes account of the extent
to which he poetizes will venture dogmatically to assert?
Certainly the similar promises in 2 : 26, 27 ; 3 : 21, in their
connection and in comparison with other parallel promises
(2 : 7, 17, etc.), do not suggest a literal reigning on earth ;
and on the other hand according to 1 : 6 and 5 : 10, it
would seem that Christians are already kings and priests
to God (20 : 6).
Significance But however our author may have imagined the thou-
ception°to us sand years' reign, and whether he shaped it, or found it
already present in the midst of some account of Satan's
overthrow which he wished to use, we ourselves ought cer
tainly to value it only for the distinctively Christian truth
which it images forth, namely, that the conquest of evil
and real rulership in this world belong to Christ and to
those who truly belong to him. Here again we find the
essential truth of the apocalypses to be contained in the
Beatitudes of Jesus.
1 This at least seems to be Paul's conception of the purpose of Christ's reign
(1 Cor. 15 : 20-28). 280

Apocalyptical Writers
20. The Fall of Satan (20 : 1-10)
Then I saw an angel come down and seize Satan, the The binding
first tempter of man, the prime spirit of evil, and chain (t-ff"11
and lock him in the abyss for a thousand years, after which
he must have freedom for a last short time. Then I saw
the heavenly court of Daniel's vision,1 many thrones on
which as judges sat not angels, but Christian martyrs, The earthly
whom Rome had killed for their fidelity to Jesus.2 These christ°and
only were raised from the dead, having the peculiar reward Sfg?artyrs
of sharing in the thousand years' reign of Christ.
When this is ended Satan shall be loosed and shall at- Overthrow
tempt that last assault upon the city and people of God his hosts'
of which Ezekiel wrote.3 But when the hosts of Gog and ^_I°)
Magog which he leads shall surround Jerusalem, fire from
heaven shall consume them ; 4 and Satan himself shall be
doomed to eternal torment, in company withithe beasts,
his instruments, the Roman empire and religion.5
1 Dan. 7 : 9, 10.
2 In Daniel also it is the saints who receive the kingdom (7 : 18, 22, 27), and
among them are risen martyrs, 12 : 2, 3.
3 Ezek. 38-39.
4 Ezek. 38 : 22 ; 39 : 6. In Ezekiel Gog is prince of the land of Magog. The
reference here is to the outstanding barbarian hordes remaining after the de
struction of the Roman empire.
5 This final miraculous deliverance of the Christian community fulfils the
many predictions of Jehovah's intervention on behalf of Jerusalem in its ex
tremity (e.g., Isa. 14 : 24-27 ; 17 : 12-14 ; Ps. 46 ; 48). The whole account
(with 19 : 19-21 and 16 : 12-16) is closely parallel to En. 56.
28l

The Messages of the
21. The Last Judgment (20: 11-15)
Final resur- Then I had a vision of God on his throne,1 and of the
judgment"1 last judgment over all men, according to their deeds, as
(u-15) God perfectly knew and reckoned them.2 All the dead
without exception appeared at this judgment. This is
the end of death and Hades,3 for those who now do not
enter into blessedness will suffer no longer the old death,
but a new sort of death, "the lake of fire," which swallows
up death itself and all the powers of evil.4
VI
VISIONS OF THE BLESSED CONSUMMATION
1. Sources and Growth of the Hope of the New Jerusalem
Sources and The description of the final blessedness of the faithful,
thedescrip- which has been anticipated in brief in 7 : 9-17, as well as
new heaven m the promises to him that overcometh, in chapters 2-3,
and earth fans mt0 two partSj 2i : i-8, which has the character of a
summary of what follows, and bears evidence of coming
1 Cf. Isa. 6 : i ; Dan. 7 : 9-10.
2 For the image of the heavenly books see 3 : 5 ; 13 : 8 ; 17 : 8, "book of
life ; " and Dan. 7 : 10 ; En. 90 : 20 ; 98 : 7 f. ; 104 : 7 ; 89 : 61-64, 68, 70 f.,
76 f. ; 47 : 3 ; Apoc. Baruch 24 : 1 ; 2 Esd. 6 : 20.
3 The prediction of the end of death in the Messianic age is found in Isa.
25 : 8, and in Paul, 1 Cor. 15 : 26, 54 f. ; cf. 2 Tim. 1 : 10.
i See En. 90: 20-27, a similar picture of the judgment over angels and men.
282

Apocalyptical Writers
directly from our author's hand, and 21 : 9-22 : 9, the
vision of the heavenly Jerusalem, which apart from a few
phrases could be from a Jewish as well as from a Christian
writer, and in any case shows dependence on a traditional
use of prophetic language. The imagery here employed
is largely taken from the predictions of the exilic prophets,
Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah, regarding the return and the
rebuilding of Jerusalem. It is interesting to compare this
composition with Tobit 13, where a somewhat similar
collection of Old Testament images is made.1 We can
imagine one whose mind was steeped in the Messianic
language of these prophets using their language in a free,
poetic way, as the most impressive imagery at his com
mand to suggest a consummation quite unearthly in char
acter. It is evident, after chapter 20, that it is no earthly
hope that inspires him. It is only in a new heaven and
earth that the fulfilment of the prophetic hopes is looked
for. Yet the language of sense and of present conditions
is used as the only language available, and as most sug
gestive and emotionally impressive, just because it is sacred
and ancient and famihar. Two things then are important Paths to a
, , /-, • . right under-
for a historical appreciation of these chapters. Une is to standing of
bear in mind tne constant use of Old Testament language, the cIlaPters
the allusions and reminiscences with which the passage is
full. The other is to feel the emotion of the writer and
sympathize with his effort through the sense symbols that
1 See also Ps. Sol. 17 : 28 ff., and Sibyl. Or. 5 : 247-81 414-33-
283

The Messages of the
Scripture and tradition offered to suggest spiritual and in
reality inexpressible joys. The underlying reality that
gives its marvellous power to this accumulation of sensible
imagery is that which also in Old Testament prophecy
was the kernel and essence of hope, the presence of God
and the expectation of a real vision of him and a close
communion with him in the life to come.
Rise of the The idea of the heavenly Jerusalem is one whose history
of aCheaven- we should try to trace. It goes back to the simple idea of
llmerusa" tne restoration of Jerusalem after its first fall. But Ezekiel,
the first to predict the restoration, already describes the
new city in a fashion that transcends the old and contains
supernatural features.1 The prophet sees it in vision,
and an angel measures it and explains it. The new city
will be in a different sense from the old the dwelling-place
of the glory of God. Its new name is to be, "Jehovah is
there." After this in various forms, according to existing
conditions, the idea of a new Jerusalem belonged to the
Messianic hope. Sometimes it was only the hope of a
morally purified Jerusalem,2 but often the hope contained
suggestions of an unearthly glory.3 The more glorious
the new city was imagined to be, the more natural to
ascribe it directly to God's workmanship, and finally to
think of it as already made in heaven, and only waiting
1 Chs. 40-48. 2 Isa. 52 : 1 ; cf. Ps. Sol. 17 : 25, 33.
3 Isa. 54 : 11, 12 ; 60 : 10-14 ; Jer. 31 : 38-40 ; Hag. 2 : 7-9 ; Zech. 2 : 1-5 ;
cf. Tobit 13 : 16-18 ; 14 : 5. 284

Apocalyptical Writers
to be revealed, or to descend to earth. The idea that the
new city is the direct work of God is contained in Enoch
90 : 28-29 ! DUt the idea of a pre-existing heavenly Jerusa
lem is not clearly expressed in extant Jewish literature
until after the second destruction of the city in 70 A. D.1
Paul, however, attests the currency of the idea before that
event (Gal. 4: 26). It would be an easy step from this
to the use of the name Jerusalem for heaven itself, when
this, and not the earthly city however glorified, came to be
regarded as the final abode of the saints with God.2
In the New Testament the conception appears in at
least two different forms. In Hebrews n : 10-16 ; 12 : 22 ;
13 : 14, it is not a heavenly city which is to descend to earth
in the Messianic age, as in Revelation 21:2521:9 ff. 53:12,
but it is the heavenly counterpart of the earthly city, the
eternal reahty of which the literal city is but a shadow; it
is, in other words, spiritualized and has become a name
of the heavenly world itself. Perhaps Paul's idea in Gala-
tians 4 : 26 is rather that of Hebrews than that of Reve
lation. But even in Revelation the heavenly city remains
heavenly in character though it descends to earth. The
new earth- is to him, in substance, hardly more than a name
for heaven.
One root of this conception may be found in the idea
of the heavenly patterns of the Tabernacle and its fur-
1 2 Esd. 7 : 26 ; 13 : 36 ; 8 : 52 ; 10 : 44-59 ; Apoc. Bar. 4 : 2-6 ; 32 : 2-4.
2 See Secrets of Enoch 55 : 2. 28S

The Messages of the
nishings (Ex. 25 : 9, 40) ; another in the gradual supernat-
uralizing of the Jewish hope ; and still another in the Hel
lenistic (Platonic) idea of heavenly counterparts of earthly
things. Out of such various roots we should not expect a
very simple and consistent product.
The measurements of the city and its wall (21 : 16-17)
are hard to explain. The conception of a city in the shape
of a cube, 1,379 miles in each direction, surrounded by a
wall 216 feet high, is little else than grotesque. In Ezekiel,
on whose description our writer depends, the new city
measures 4,500 cubits square, that is about 7,875 feet, or
a mile and a half. l It has been suggested that our author
conceived of the city as on the top of a great mountain (cf.
Isa. 2 : 2).2 It is possible, however, that the word "height"
is a gloss added by someone who did not picture the city
at all, but regarded the description as purely symbolic,
and so wished it to have the perfect symmetry of the Holy
of Holies in the temple. It may be worth noting that
if the earthly Jerusalem were made the centre of a great
city, 1,379 miles square, it would just include Asia Minor
on the west and north, Babylon on the east, and Egypt, far
below Thebes, on the south. Could the author have im
agined that the new Jerusalem would be a great city cov
ering almost the whole world of Jewish and Christian
history except Italy and Greece ? 3 This would involve
1 Ezekiel's cubit is probably if feet (40 : 5). 2 Also Ezek. 40 : 2 ; 43 : 12.
3 Perhaps Rome was thought to involve these countries in its destruction.
286

Apocalyptical Writers
the removal of the Mediterranean Sea (21 : 1). Ezekiel's
vision involved a transformed Palestine, but this would
mean a transformed earth.
If this suggestion is not acceptable, and if the number,
12,000, is original, we must suppose that the author did
not mean to describe an imaginable city, but was using
language in a purely symbolical sense.
In general our writer uses the familiar Messianic Ian- Poetic value
guage of the Old Testament, in a wholly figurative sense, e?'shpic?oph~
without minding the inappropriate and inconsistent char- J^ef the
acter of its literal meaning. All men have received their
final reward (20 : n-15), and heaven arid earth have passed
away (21 : 1), and yet the writer can speak of nations and
kings and their gifts, and can describe what must be a heav
enly consummation in the language in which the prophets
described Palestine in the hoped-for time of its glory. Such
language was the best the writer knew by which to convey
his hope. It was, indeed, fitted to convey only the emo
tion of his hope, not its intellectual contents. Just this is
indeed its value still for us. We have no better language
than his in which to suggest the inconceivable glory and
blessedness of the final life of the soul with God. It is
actually to our great advantage that the Jewish prophets
and poets expected an earthly consummation, for they were
able to give to this a vivid, concrete emotional expression,
and the language of beauty and feeling in which they voiced
their hope is a far more adequate expression of our more
287

The Messages of the
ideal aspirations than we could create for ourselves. Fig
urative language is the only language in which we can ex
press our hope of heaven, and no figures can have greater
power to suggest this hope than those taken from the literal
longings of exiled Israel for the recovery of its land and
city. 2. Pictures of the Life to Come (21 : 1-22 : 9)
The new I saw a new heaven and a new earth, the old having
earth and Passed away,1 and the sea was no more.2 And I saw the
?lty. _ . heavenly Jerusalem descending as the bride of Christ.
This image was interpreted to me by an angelic voice as
God dwells meaning that God would now dwell among men 3 and re-
("' : ™-4) move from them all sorrow,4 bringing the first things to an
end, and making all new.6
God attests God himself affirmed that he now makes all new *
the truth of , , . ,,,_,'
this expecta- and charged me confidently to wnte that the fulfilment
(2°in: 5-8) is come, declaring himself to be the first and the last 7 and
1 Isa. 65: 17 ; 66 : 22. For the idea of the destruction of heaven and earth
see Isa. 34 : 4 ; 51 : 6 ; En. 45 : 4 f. ; 72 : 1 ; 91 : 16 ; 2 Esd. 7:31, and com
monly in the New Testament.
2 This striking conception may go back to the idea of the ocean as the orig
inal power of chaos, the element of the great spirit of evil.
3 This is the ultimate aim of the Old Testament law, and the sum of the
Old Testament hope. Lev. 26 : n, 12 ; Ezek. 37 : 27 ; 43 : 7 ; Ex. 25 : 8 ;
29 : 45 ; Zech. 2 : 10-11 ; 8:3.
* Isa. 25 : 8 ; 35 : 10 ; 65 : 19. = Isa. 65 : 17 ; 66 : 22.
5 Isa. 43 : 19 ; cf. 2 Cor. 5 : 17.
7 Here of God as in Isa. 44 : 6 ; 48 : 12 ; in 1 : 17 ; 2 : 8 ; 22 : 13, of Christ.
288

Apocalyptical Writers
the giver of the water of life to the thirsty.1 The con
queror shall be heir of such things, and I will be his God
and he my son.2 But the part of all who deny their Chris
tian faith and of all the impure and sinful will be in the
lake of fire, the place of Satan and his servants,3 the second
death. As one of the angels of the bowls had shown me in a Vision of the
vision Rome, the harlot-city, and her overthrow, so one of Jerusalem
them now shows me from a mountain-top 4 the Jerusalem (2i:°-22:°)
that is to descend from God, the pure bride of Christ. The Descent of
glory of God was hers,5 so that she was illuminated by a^i^Jn)
white sparkling light like that of a diamond,8 the light
that best symbolizes the presence of God (4:3).
It has great walls, and twelve gates, three on each side Its structure
of its square, each bearing the name of one of the twelve
tribes,7 and twelve foundation stones, one for each part
between the gates, on which were the names of the twelve Its meas-
apostles. And the angel measured the city with a golden (21:15-17)
reed,8 and found it a cube, 12,000 stadia, 1,379 miles, in
1 Isa. 55 : 1.
2 2 Sam. 7 : 14 ; and see Ps. 89 : 26-27 J Zech. 8 : 8, and many Old Testament
passages. Also 2 Cor. 6:16.
3See 14:9-11; Matt. 25:41; En. 90:26; 48:9; Secrets of Enoch 10; cf.
Isa. 66 : 24.
4 See the opening of Ezekiel's vision of the restored Jerusalem, 40:2.
5 In Ezek. 43 : 2, 4, 5, the glory of Jehovah, that is his manifest presence,
enters the new city and takes up its abode in the temple ; cf. Isa. 60: 1-3.
6 This and not our jasper is probably meant.
7 This is from Ezek. 48: 31-34- 8 Ezek- 4o: 3-
289

The Messages of the
length, breadth and height,1 while the wall was 144 cubits,
216 feet, in height, human and angelic measures being
the same.
Glorious The wall was of diamond, and the city was like trans-
oF^hTcity6 parent gold. The twelve foundation stones were twelve
(21:18-21) jewejSj2 namiely those that adorn the high-priest's breast
plate.3 Each of the twelve gates was a single pearl, and
the streets transparent gold.
No temple There is no temple in this Jerusalem because God him-
"j'l'fa-jj) self and Christ are there ; 4 nor is there need of other light
than their glory.5
its open Heathen nations shall walk by the light of the city, and
^2i:524-27) kings shall bring their treasure into its ever-open gates.9
1 Even if we suppose the 12,000 stadia to measure the circumference, which
is improbable, the city would be a cube of 345 miles in each direction.
2 Isa. 54: 11, 12 ; cf. Tobit 13: 16, 17,
3 Ex. 28: 17-21 ; 39: 10-14 '. cf- Ezek. 28: 13.
4 When God dwells among men, the temple, which stands for his presence
now while he is really absent, shall lose its meaning. The temple is displaced
by the throne. There is no parallel to this in Jewish literature, but only such
preparations for it as Jer. 3 : 16 ; Isa. 66 : 1 ; cf. Acts 7 : 48-50 ; Mk. 13:2;
John 4: 21. In Ezekiel's vision the temple was not in the city, but its
separateness was meant only to secure its purity and heighten its signifi
cance. 6 Isa. 60 : 19, 20 ; cf . Isa. 24 : 23 ; En. 1:8; 38 : 4. There is much use of
Isa. 60 in w. 22-27.
8 This is taken over from prophecy (Isa. 60:3, 5-7, 11, 16; 6i:6f. ; 66: 12;
cf. Ps. 72:10-11; Ps. Sol. 17:34-35; En. 90:30; 10:21; Tob. 13:11) in
spite of the fact that, after 20: 11-15 ; 21: r, there can be in the literal sense
no nations and kings left, and none who are outside of the city except those
who are in the lake of fire, 290

Apocalyptical Writers
Yet shall nothing unclean enter it1 nor any who are not
destined to eternal life.
The river of running water which Ezekiel 2 saw issu- The river
ing from the temple I beheld flowing from the throne (per- rffife™
haps from the transparent sea before the throne, 4:6); and (22: 1_2)
along the middle of the streets of the city and on both sides
of the river grew the tree of life, that was in Eden (2 : 7),
bearing fruit twelve times a year, for the twelve tribes {i.e.,
for the whole community of believers), the fruit being for
food and the leaf for healing.3
And there shall be no more curse,4 and God himself and The blessed
Christ shall be there0 and his servants" will serve him, (22:3-5)
and see him 7 and bear his name (7 : 3-4 ; 14 : 1). And
there where there is no night,8 in the constant light of
God, they shall live and reign forever.9
1Isa. 52:1 ; Ezek. 44:9; Isa. 35:8;6o:2i; Joel3:i7; Zech. 14:20, 21;
Ps. Sol. 17: 29, 31, 33, 36.
2 The picture of the river going from the throne and the trees by its banks is
taken from Ezekiel's vision of the ever-broadening stream issuing from the
temple (47: 1-12) and from Zech. 14:8.
3 This is all taken from Ezek. 47 : 12 ; cf. En. 25 : 4-6.
d Zech. 14: 11 ; cf. En. 91:17; 92:5; 107:1.
6 On the dwelling of God with men in the Messianic age see Ezek. 37 : 26,
27',43'-7', Zech.2.-io; 8:3; En. 62:14; 105:2; 45:4-6; Rev. 7: 15-17.
6 It appears as if "and of the Lamb" were added to an older description,
for the singular number follows, his servants, etc. The same suggestion is
natural in 21:22,23; 22:1.
7 See Ps. 17: 15; 11: 7, and such hopes as Ps. 16:11; 140: 13 ; 42: 2 ; see
Matt.5:8; iJohn3:2. 8 Isa. 60 : 19-20 ; Zech. 14: 7.
9 See Dan. 7 : 18, 27. So the blessed life in the final consummation can still be
291

The Messages of the

The certain- The angel gave new assurance of the truth of this reve-
nessof these lation, and the immediacy of its fulfilment (i : i) adding, as
if it were Christ himself who spoke in the angel, Behold
I come quickly (3 : 11). Blessed is he who keeps this
prophecy (1:3). And I John (1 : 9), when I heard and
saw these things, would again worship the revealing angel,
who seemed the very spirit of Christ, but he again refused
my adoration (19 : 10), and identified himself rather with
us who are prophets and with all faithful fellow Chris
tians. God only, he said, is to be worshipped.1

promises (22:6-7)

The angel
will not be
worshipped(22:8-9)

Nearnessand finality
of Christ's
judgment(22:10-15)

VII
CONCLUDING WARNINGS AND PROMISES (22 : IO-2l)
And he said,2 do not seal this book and keep it secret,
for it concerns no distant day,3 but must be read at once.
called a reigning, as was that of the martyrs in the 1000 years, 20: 6. In Wisd.
Sol. 6 : 10-21, there is an interesting passage in which "reigning forever" is
parallel to being near unto God and apparently a symbol for it.
1 It is evident that here, as in Col. 1-2, and Heb. 1-2, there is a polemic
against a current angel worship.
2 In w. 10-19, though at first we should suppose the angel to be speaking,
it is evident that the speaker is Christ himself. The whole book indeed is put
forth as Christ's revelation through an angel (1 : 1), so that the angel's person
ality could easily lose itself in that of him whose message and voice he was.
The words of 10-15 could equally well be those of God.
3 The sealing of an apocalypse belonged to the pseudepigraphic device. It
explained how it could be that a book which assumed to be written so long ago
was only now known and read (Dan. 8 : 26 ; 12:4, o).
292

Apocalyptical Writers
Everyone must now keep the character he has gained,1 '
the time both for repentance and for apostasy being past,
for now I come to reward each according to his deeds.2
As creation was my work, so also will judgment be.3 Blessed
are those who are pure and so have access to life and bless
edness, from which all the impure are cut off (21 : 8). The book
I, Jesus, am the one who has revealed all this through message of
my angel, I who am the promised Messiah and the chief se?fUS him"
of heavenly beings.4 (22 : l6)
The divine spirit of prophecy and the church unite in is a'freeTn-86
inviting all men to the blessedness of eternal life.5 Sum™ i°)°
I, the writer,6 affirm that one who adds to or takes from The words
this book will be excluded from eternal life. areinvioia-
Christ, the real author of this revelation, affirms again, "' . i8-i9)
The end is
1 Cf. Dan. 12 : 10 ; Ezek. 3 : 27. 2 Isa. 40 : 10 ; 62 : n ; Ps. 62 : 12, etc. near
3 See 1 : 17 ; 2:8; Isa. 44 : 6 ; 48 : 12. The attribute of eternity is carried ^22 : *°>
over from God to Christ. See also 2 Esd. 5 : 56-6 : 6.
4 Cf. Num. 24 : 17.
5 Isa. 55 : 1 ; John 7 : 37 ; 4 : 14.
6 It is not improbable that this extreme curse was added by an editor. It
is an unfortunate ending of a book whose value consists in the spirit that
breathes in it, the bold faith and confident hope it inspires, rather than in the
literalness and finality of its disclosures. Such claims belong to law (see
Deut. 4:2; 12 : 32) rather than to prophecy, in which there is always a large
conditional element and a free play of imagination. We may suppose that
some reacdon against such eschatoiogy as this book contains, or the opposi
tion of a different hope, more spiritual, or perhaps more friendly to Rome
(2 : 20), occasioned this addition. The apocalyptical literature was pecul
iarly liable to alterations and perversions in the interest of rival sects, such as
are referred to in Enoch 104 : 10-13. 293

The Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers
I come quickly ; and the response of his believing servants
is, Yea, come, Lord Jesus.1
The benediction (as in the letters of Paul) closes the
book. 1 We have the Aramaic phrase which was in current use to express this eager
longing of primitive Christianity, Maranatha, "our Lord come," in i Cor.
16:22, and as part of the liturgy of the Lord's Supper in Didache 10 :6.
A like longing and prayer for the coming of God moved the Israelitish psalm
ists and prophets in like times of peculiar trial. See Isa. 62 : 11 ; 40 : 10 ;
Ps. 50 : 3 ; 96 : 13 ; 98 : 9 ; 101 : 2 ; 70 : 5 ; 38 : 22.

294

UNCANONICAL APOCALYPSES

UNCANONICAL APOCALYPSES

INTRODUCTION
In order to understand the apocalyptical literature in its
form, its material, and its spirit and purpose, it is essential
to extend one's reading beyond the limits of the canon.
The attempt is made here, therefore, under limitations
which will be readily appreciated, to give some impression
of the character and contents of the most important Jewish
apocalypses and the only Christian one which made seri
ous claims to a place in the canon.
Among the tasks that our hmits do not permit us to The
undertake, one seems to call for a word of explanation, of apoca-
After the study of the apocalypses proper it would be in j^ents in
order to investigate the apocalyptical elements in other Gospels and
New Testament books, especially in the Gospels and in
the Epistles of Paul, and to seek to determine the place
of apocalyptical conceptions in the mind of Christ and
among the moving forces of primitive Christianity. If
we regarded Matthew 24, with Isaac Williams, as "the
anchor of apocalyptic interpretation,'' or, as Alford adds,
as "the touchstone of apocalyptic systems," we could not
297

The Messages of the
omit in any study of the Book of Revelation to set forth
its relationship to this chapter. Alford assumes that our
Lord here gives in clear outline the main points of the his
tory of the church, and he regards Revelation as essentially
an expansion of this primary and authoritative Christian
apocalypse. But in the present state of historical studies
in the Gospels it is not possible to proceed on the assump
tion either that this chapter was uttered in its present form
and sequence by Jesus, or that he made any forecast that
reached beyond the fall of Jerusalem and the Jewish state.
The problem is involved in such difficult critical complica
tions that a summary treatment of it is impracticable. It
cannot be separated from the whole great subject of the
Messianic and apocalyptical elements in the thought and
teaching of Jesus.1 It must suffice here to remind ourselves
that, at all events, Jesus certainly appeared and preached
openly, hke the prophets of old ; that he did not write
books, nor regard himself as called to be an interpreter of
books ; that he neither hid himself nor made a mystery of
his teachings or an esoteric sect of his disciples ; that he
found good already stronger than evil in the world ; that
he worked for the salvation of his people from sin rather
than waiting for their salvation from Rome, whose rule,
indeed, he did not think inconsistent with the rule of God ;
1 Muirhead's Eschatoiogy of Jesus (London, 1904) may be recommended as
a cautious and scholarly treatment of some of the elements involved in this
great problem. 298

Apocalyptical Writers
that he was not anxious for the morrow, nor curious about
the day of the Lord's coming ; and that he rebuked the
spirit of ambition and of revenge. All this means that
his spirit and his message were essentially prophetic in dis
tinction from apocalyptic in character. On the other hand
it remains true and significant — and the following brief
survey of uncanonical apocalypses will' make this only
clearer — that the Jewish apocalyptical world of fancy and
feeling entered deeply into the mind and heart of early
Christianity II
THE BOOK OF ENOCH
i. Some Points about the Book
The Book of Enoch is the most important pre-Christian importance
Jewish apocalypse, and as it arose between Daniel and °f Enoch"
Revelation and casts much hght on the development of
this sort of literature it is not out of place to attempt a
somewhat full account of its contents.
It is not a single book, but a collection of writings in Composition
the name of Enoch, giving the revelations he received when oj'the'book
he walked with God concerning the mysteries of the angel
world, the forces and operations of nature, the future judg
ment and the consummation. There are also a number
of insertions that belonged to another line' of apocalyptical
299

The Messages of the
writing in which Noah was the central figure. The book
dates from about the beginning to the latter part of the
first century before Christ. It was written, certainly in
part, in Aramaic. It was current in early Christian com
munities in a Greek translation. It survives as a whole
only in an Ethiopic version of the Greek. Chapters 1-32,
however, have been recovered in Greek. It is once cited
in the New Testament (Jude 14-15 = En. 1 : 9), and
was highly valued as a genuine revelation by the ancient
church.
Editions The best English edition is that of Professor R. H.
Charles, whose analyses and dates, however, must not be
accepted as final. The translations of Lawrence (Oxford,
182 1) and of Schodde (Andover, 1882) still give one a fairly
correct general idea of the book.
2. The Coming Judgment and Rewards (1-5)
This is a httle apocalypse in itself. It serves well to in
troduce the Enoch literature, for it touches many of the
themes that are elaborated afterward. It may, however,
be one of the oldest documents of that literature, for the
consummation is wholly of this earth. A similar primitive
and simple eschatoiogy is found again in chapters 10-ri
and 25, but elsewhere the other world displaces this.
The coming Enoch saw a vision of God in heaven, shown him by
judgment angeiSj an(j gave utterance to it, not for his contemporaries,
but for men of' the remote future. His message is the
300

Apocalyptical Writers
coming of the Day of the Lord. Fearful will be his ap
pearance. Angels will tremble, the earth will shake, and
all that is on it will perish. But for the righteous God's
coming will be a blessing. He will come with myriads of
angels and will destroy all the wicked.1
The unnaturalness of man's sin is made evident by its Nature con-
contrast to the uniformity and fidelity of nature. The ^f i-s™a6)
stars in their courses, the vegetation that follows the sea
sons in their round, the seas and rivers, all observe without
fail the ordinance of God. Only sinners have disobeyed
God's law and spoken against him. Therefore destruction
will come upon them.
But the righteous will inherit the earth. Wisdom will The reward
be given them, and they will be kept from sin. No evil eous indie
will befall them, but they will reach old age in peace and ^sslanic
happiness. (* '¦ *"»)
3. The Fall of the Angels and the Origin of Evil (6-16)
In chapters 6-16 we have accounts of the myth of the
fall of certain angels through marriage with human women.
There is a fragment of the myth in Genesis 6 : 1-4. It is
not certain whether the Enoch writers simply elaborated
this, or also had knowledge through tradition of fuller
forms of the story. It is certain that our writers found
the explanation of sin and evil in man — so unique and
out of place in God's world — in this story rather than in the
1 This verse, i : 9, is cited in Jude 14-15 as a saying of Enoch.
301

The Messages of the
account of Adam's fall. The section falls into two parts.
In chapters 6-n Enoch is not mentioned and there seems
to be no place for his mediatorship, which is a chief theme
of chapters 12-16. The former section may belong to a
Noah-circle of apocalyptical tradition. It is itself com
posite. In one part Semjaza is leader of the fallen angels,
in another Azazel. Evidently the subject was a favorite
one, and was much worked over.
Our brief paraphrase will not enter into the question
of analysis, but will simply show how our writers treated
the theme and answered various questions which are not
dealt with in Genesis, though the original story must
have included them, such as the deeds and destiny of the
giants, the punishment of the angels, the effects of their
transgression upon man. It will be noticed that these
effects include, besides the misleading of the women, the
teaching of forbidden and harmful secrets, acts of violence,
and the production of demons, permanent mischief-makers
among men.
(i) The Sin and Punishment of the Angels (6-n)
The fall of Certain angels resolved to gratify their unnatural lust
t^eanges ar):er |luman women Under Semjaza, two hundred
bound themselves by an oath to fulfil this purpose. They
descended in the days of Jared • upon the top of Mount
1 The father of Enoch (Gen. 5 : 15-20). There is a play on words here.
Jarad, to descend = Jared. 302

Apocalyptical Writers
Hermon, so called because of their oath {herem). They
took wives and taught them enchantments and medical
lore. Their sons were giants of prodigious size, who ate
up man's gains and began to eat man himself. They
were the incarnation of foulness and violence.
The angels also taught men the arts of war, and of lux- Teachings
urious living, and of magic. (S)' e ange s
The cry of men in their distress reached the four arch- The prayer
angels, who recounted the evil deeds of Azazel and his pressed^)
associates and of the giants before God, and interceded
with him on behalf of men.
God charged one of them, Rafael, to bind Azazel and imprison-
confine him under rocks in the desert until the day of judg- m1geis°and
ment, and to heal the earth of his corrupting works. Ga- th^ghmts
briel is charged to bring destruction upon the giants by (IO : I_is)
inciting them to a murderous warfare against one another.
Their angel fathers will witness their destruction before
they are themselves bound under the hills, from which
they will be loosed only to be destroyed at last in the abyss
of fire.1 After the angel has destroyed all violence and
evil, the Messianic age will dawn. Then the righteous The Messi-
will have long life and many children, vines and olive trees (IO : Z6-
will bear abundantly, and all seed a thousand fold, right- IJ :2)
eousness will be universal, and all nations will worship
God. Then heavenly blessings will descend upon men.
1 See Jude 6 ; 2 Pet. 2 : 4.
3°3

The Messages of the

(2) Enoch's Mission to the Angels (12-16)
Enoch goes Enoch was "walking with the Elohim" l when one of
judg^enTto them charged him to announce to the fallen angels God's
ol ain-ie'^ 3) approaching judgment. He went therefore and told Azazel
and the others that they were to be bound for their sins
against men. Then they prayed Enoch to petition God on
He brings their behalf, for sin had shut them off from God's presence.
tercession on So he wrote their petition and read it, sitting by the river
O3lr4-io)f Dan [Judgment], until he received an answer in a dream
vision. He then came and told it to them.
He reports The answer is that the petition is not granted. These
result of his angels are never again to ascend into heaven. After seeing
intercession ^ destruction of their sons they are to be bound in the
earth.
His vision of The vision is then told in detail. Enoch is transported
God (14) jnto jleaven -phis js a piace of fire and light, splendid
and terrible in its shining glory. God himself cannot be
seen or approached even by the angels who stand before
him, but is surrounded by fire. Yet even this God with
his own mouth summoned and addressed the man Enoch.
and God's He charged him to tell the fallen angels that they ought
the angels"1 t0 intercede for men, not men for them. Their sin was
(is-16) most unnatural, for marriage and children were meant for
1 Gen. 5 : 22-25 was understood of his intercourse with angels. Notice the
striking conception of a man interceding for angels and becoming the revealef
to them of the meaning and consequences of their sins.
3°4

Apocalyptical Writers
those who are subject to death, not for immortal spirits.1
And now the giants, offspring of this unnatural union, half
human, half divine, will become, after the death of their
mortal bodies, evil spirits, demons, doing all sorts of harm
to men, until the last judgment.
4. Visions of the Secrets of Nature and of the Future
(17-36)
Chapters 17-36 describe Enoch's journeys through earth
and the unseen realms and the secrets of nature and of the
places of future punishment and reward which were revealed
to him. Here also are two partly parallel and perhaps
independent accounts, 17-19 and 20-36. In the second,
chapter 22 is isolated and peculiar. It is an account of
Hades in which, in accordance with Greek, but not with
Hebrew notions, preliminary rewards and punishments are
experienced by the souls of the dead. On the other hand,
in chapter 25 the Messianic age is described in the simple
earthly form we have met in chapters 5 and 10-11. Alt
this makes it appear that the book is a collection rather
than an original composition.
(1) Enoch's First Journey (17-19)
In the first journey (chs. 17-19) Enoch saw the secret His visit to
places of thunder and lightning, the great ocean stream, piacesof
and all the waters that are about and beneath the earth. |p"ye;Jnd
1 Cf. Matt. 22 : 30. . (r7-i9)
305

The Messages of the
He saw the chambers of the winds, the corner-stone of the
earth and the four winds on which earth and heaven rest
as on pillars, and the winds that turn the sky about and
those that bear the clouds. He visited the seven wonder
ful mountains in the south, of which the middle one was
like God's throne ; and finally the terrible places where
heaven and earth end, and where the seven stars that have
transgressed their orbits ' are imprisoned, together with the
fallen angels of Genesis 6, whose wives will become sirens.
(2) Enoch's Second Journey (20-36)
His further In the second journey (chs. 20-36) , after giving the names
teriou? mys" and offices of the six (seven?) archangels (ch. 20), Enoch
rJaces and describes first the place where the seven transgressing an
gels are bound, and the final place of punishment of angels
(ch. 21). He then sees Hades as a place with four divi
sions, two for the righteous and two for the wicked. The
pleasantest place, with a spring of water in it, was for the
righteous who have unjustly suffered in this life ; and the
worst place was for the wicked who have unjustly pros
pered. The rest of the wicked, those who have already
on earth been punished for their sins, will not rise at the
judgment, nor suffer any severer penalty.2 He then sees
1 "Wandering stars," Jude 13. This seems to be one of the various
myths based on the seven irregularly moving heavenly bodies, sun, moon, and
five planets, known to antiquity.
2 This chapter is interesting as being the oldest picture of Hades in Jewish
writings which makes it properly an intermediate state, and one with a posi-
306

Apocalyptical Writers
(ch. 23) the fiery river (milky way ?), and the seven moun
tains where God's throne is, encircled by trees, one of
which is the tree of fife, which in the coming age will be
transplanted to Jerusalem, and give long life and gladness
to the righteous (24-25). He then sees Jerusalem where
the righteous are to dwell, and the valley of Hinnom where
they will behold God's just judgments on. apostate Jews
(26-27). Then travelling eastward past mountains with
trees of various properties (28-31) he comes to the Garden
of Eden with the tree of wisdom of which Adam and Eve
ate (32). Then he goes to the ends of the earth, first on
the east where were the gates through which the stars
came, whose names and laws the angel taught him (33) ;
then on the north with three gates for the north winds (34).
There are like portals for the winds in each direction, and
at the east (and west?) small gates above them for the
stars (35-36). 5. The Book of Astronomy (72-82)
Here Enoch gives the courses of the luminaries of heaven, studies of
their classes, their dominion and seasons, their names and 0f the heav-
places of origin, as Uriel showed them to him. In brief enly bodles
this crude attempt at science treats first of the sun and
explains the varying lengths of day and night through the
year, and the varying positions of the sun (72). Then the
five contents of good and ill, or better and worse, for the "spirits" or "souls"
of men. Greek influence is probable here.
3°7

The Messages of the
perplexing course of the moon is taken up and an elabo
rate attempt made to adjust it to that of the sun (73-74)-
Then intercalary days are treated,1 and further details
about the sun and its varying warmth (75).
The twelve portals of the winds are explained and the
different powers and effects of each of the twelve winds
(76). The four quarters of the earth are described, and
the seven great mountains, rivers and islands (77). The
writer then returns to the sun and moon, especially the
latter's waxing and waning (78-79). So far his interest
seems to be solely in the observation and explanation of
the facts, to which he has evidently given much study. But
the underlying interest even here is eschatological and
Sin in nature ethical. So he now goes on to explain that nature does
not altogether observe these laws — the facts do not wholly
match his theories — and this is due to sin, which has in
troduced an element of perversity and disorder into nature
itself 2 (80). It is revealed to Enoch that it is safe to hold
to righteousness and that the wicked will surely die (81).
Enoch then commends his books and their wisdom to his
son, affirms the truth, against those who deny it, of his reck
oning of the year as 364 days, and of his whole angelic
astronomical system (82).
1 The writer's year is 364 days.
2 Compare Rom. 8 : 19-22 ¦, and see 2 Esd. 5 : 1-13.

308

Apocalyptical Writers

6. The Dream Visions (83-90)
In two dreams Enoch foresaw the whole course of human
history. The first is a vision of the Flood, after which he
prays for the survival of the righteous seed (chs. 83-84).
The second vision is an allegory of the history of man from
the beginning to the end. Behind a self-evident though
clumsy and inartistic disguise of figure, the Old Testament
history is summarized. The most interesting parts of The seventy
this vision concern the seventy angel shepherds, and the prices
problem of determining just what conditions were present
to the author, and so fixing his date. Just before the de
struction of Jerusalem by the Chaldeans (about the time
of Jeremiah's prediction of a seventy years' exile, Jeremiah
25 : 12 ; 29 : 10), God gave the Israelites into the keep
ing of seventy angels, each of which was to have charge
for a fixed time (89 : 59 ff.). It is evident that in some
way these angels represent the foreign kings to whom the
Jews were subject.1 They are commissioned to chastise
Israel, but they overpass their charge and afflict the people
beyond the measure of God's purpose. All this excess is
recorded against them in the heavenly books. God does
not now restrain them, but he will punish them hereafter.
This transgression of the angels of foreign kingdoms is
the explanation of the evils that Israel suffered from the
exile onward. The seventy shepherds rule in four groups
1 They may be called "depotentiated heathen gods" (Beer).
3°9

The Messages of the
of 12, 23, 23 and 12. The first group covers the Exile itself.
The twenty-three seem to stand for Persian rule from the
rebuilding of the temple (89 : 72) to the conquest of Alex
ander (90 : 2). The third group, beginning with Alex
ander, extends to a time not definitely fixed during the
Greek (Ptolemaic and Seleucid) rule, when the last group
is introduced by the birth of some Jews who "began to
open their eyes and to cry" to their fellow-countrymen
(90 : 6). This is evidently the beginning of the enlightened
and protesting sect or party to which our writer belongs.1
indications The verses that follow (90 : 7 ff.) are hopelessly obscure.
er's date " They should reveal the situation and date of the writer, but
unless the Greek text is found their riddle will probably
remain unanswered. One notable martyr is alluded to
(90: 8)2, and then a great leader of the writer's party is
described (90 : 9 ff.), whom some identify as Judas, some
as John Hyrcanus, but who may be a later hero. If the
party is that of the Pharisees, verse 9 might refer to their
gaining power through admission to the Sanhedrim. The
great leader is described almost as a warrior Messiah, such
as the Messiah son of Joseph in later tradition. His wars
lead directly over to the Day of Jehovah (v. 18), which fol
lows the period of the last twelve shepherd-angels. It
SchUrer thinks these the Maccabees (165 B. C), Charles, the Chasidim,
who originated some time earher, about 200 B. C, when the Seleucid displaced
the Ptolemaic rule over Palestine.
2 Onias III, the high-priest, or Eleazar, the Chasid martyr of 2 Mac. 6?
3IO

Apocalyptical Writers
would seem, therefore, that the writer was either a con
temporary of this leader and his wars,1 or predicts his rise
as close at hand. It is not possible to date the book by
this passage in the present condition of the text.
According to the writer's forecast, God, who has helped Eschato-
the great warrior (v. 15), himself comes in judgment after ^^ feat"
the seventy angels have ruled in turn. The righteous are
given power to slay their enemies (90 : 18-19). 2 Then the
last judgment takes place, first over the sinning angels of
Genesis 6, and over the seventy angels of Israel's foreign
oppressors, who were cast into a fiery abyss ; then over
apostate Jews who are punished in the like fiery valley of
Hinnom near Jerusalem (90 : 20-27).
Then God removes the old Jerusalem and puts a new
and greater Jerusalem in its place, in which he himself
dwells (90 : 28-29). The heathen who remain do homage
to Israel. Enoch himself and Elijah are brought from
Paradise to join the Messianic community. Righteousness
and peace prevail, and all are enlightened with the saving
wisdom which at present only the few possess (90 : 30-36).
Then the Messiah is born and becomes the acknowledged
head of the community (90 : 37-38). 3
1 Hence Charles puts this section in 166-161, the period of Judas. But this
is quite certainly too early.
2 This period of the sword, often referred to in chs. 94-104, stands between
two divine judgments, and answers in general to the millennial period in
Rev. 20 : 4-6.
3 The secondary place here given to Messiah perhaps confirms the possi-
311

The Messages of the

A millenna-
rian escha
toiogy

of history

7. The Apocalypse of Ten Weeks (93, 91 : 12-17)
This little apocalypse of world history is especially
important because it is the earliest that clearly follows
the millennarian scheme. It is independent of the section
The course in which it occurs, and we cannot determine its date.1 The
first week closes with Enoch, the second with Noah, the
third with Abraham, the fourth with Moses, the fifth with
Solomon's temple, the sixth with the Exile, the seventh
contains the evil post-exilic period, closing with the rise
of the party or circle of the righteous and wise, to whom
the writer belongs,2 those whose wisdom the apocalypses
contain.3 The following weeks are future. The eighth is the period
of the sword, when present conditions will be reversed,
and the righteous will slay the wicked. At its close the
Messianic age will begin and the new Jerusalem will be
built. The ninth week is an epoch of missionary preach
ing, when the coming judgment will be declared to the
world, and all men will be converted to righteousness.
bility that the writer expected two Messiahs, and that the warrior who
belongs to this world age and whose coming is at hand is to him the more
interesting figure.
1 Beer makes it one of the oldest parts of the book, pre-Maccabean. But
it is probably much later.
2 Corresponding to 90 : 6.
3 A summary of this seven-fold wisdom follows (93: n-14), which in spite
of critical objections may belong to this httle apocalypse.
312

Outline of
the future

Apocalyptical Writers
The tenth week ends in the final judgment which is ap
parently only over angels. A new heaven seven times
brighter than the old will appear, and there will follow
numberless periods of righteousness.
8. The Book of Woes and Consolations (91 : 1-11 ; 92 ;
94-104 [or 105])
This is one of the most important sections in the book.
It is not distinctively apocalyptical in form, but is admon
itory. Its hopes and faiths are, however, those funda
mental to this hterature. The situation and the mood
are of the apocalyptical type. This book comes out of a
definite situation, and it can be more securely dated than
any other part of Enoch. It is clearly a Pharisaic writ
ing against the Sadducees, at a time when the latter are
in power and the former despised and persecuted. This
points to the latter part of the reign of John Hyrcanus
(135-104 B. C), or to that of Alexander Jannaius (103-
76 B. C). The date is probably before the turn in the
fortunes of the Pharisees under Alexandra (76-67 B. C),
and certainly before the fall of the Maccabean house at
the hand of Rome, in 63 B. C. There are verses that
look as if the conflict of the two parties had been raging
long {e.g., 103 : 9-15). Such bloody persecution of the
Pharisees as the book describes belongs rather to the
second than to the first of the two reigns given above.
This comes nearer to being, like Daniel and Revelation,
3^3

The Messages of the
a book for martyrs than any other part of Enoch ; but here
the persecutors are not foreign powers, but the Jewish
rulers. The character of Pharisaism in this period of its
weakness and struggle, and that of the Sadducees as Phari
sees judged them, may be vividly realized by reading this
section. A brief summary follows.
Apostates Enoch foretells the apostasy of many Jews and the op-
judged, and pression of the righteous, but assures his sons of the judg-
reC argded0US ment °f God upon the sinners, and of the resurrection and
eternal life of the righteous (91 : 1-10 ; 92). He, therefore,
admonishes them to hold fast to righteousness, and to resist
the temptation to acquire wealth and power by violence
Woes and deceit. He utters solemn woes against the rich who
richTncf116 trust in riches and forget God (94). Their success and
P°werf"i prosperity are indeed a hard problem, but their sins will
lieving surely bring destruction upon them, and the righteous will
one day have power and take their revenge (95-96). Only
faith is necessary. The prayer of the righteous will reach
the Lord and his judgment will be its answer. The evil
deeds of the wicked are known in heaven and no escape
is possible. The riches which they have heaped up and
on which they rely will vanish and will be unavailing (97).
They are living fives of effeminate luxury and of bound
less extravagance. Their sin is wholly their own, and
they cannot excuse themselves by arguing its necessity.
All their sins are recorded, and they cannot comfort them
selves by affirming that God keeps no reckoning. The
3H

Apocalyptical Writers
day of judgment will be for them a day of death, not of life,
at the hand of God and of the righteous whom they now
oppress (98). They write books to justify their viola
tions of law and right.1 There are coming days of war- The coming
fare and of extreme want, of bloodshed and of gross idol- distress
atry and superstition with its fruits of ignorance and fear.
When such days come blessed are those who hold to the
wisdom and righteousness of God. Those on the other
hand who make gains by deception and by oppression,
who violate the law and traditions of Israel and are in
clined to idolatry will be destroyed (99). Brothers will
slay brothers and fathers sons, and unheard-of violence
will prevail. But judgment will come upon the angels
who introduced sin, and upon sinners. The righteous will The inter-
be guarded from this divine judgment, and even if they die Judgment
they need have no fear. Those who see the truth of the an4 'J8 ^a?t
J and rnevi-
teachines of this book will know that riches cannot save table rcwirtis
them from punishment. The righteous may suffer mar
tyrdom even by fire, but fire shall hereafter burn their
persecutors. Nature itself shall testify against them, and
shall disclose God's judgment against them (100).
The sight of nature's mighty powers, and of their obedi
ence to the command of him who made them, ought itself
to bring sinners to fear him (101). They will indeed fear
him when he comes in judgment, but it will then be too
late to escape his wrath. The righteous may die in trouble,
1 This Sadducean hterature has not survived.
315

The Messages of the
Over against so that sinners declare that death is alike for all, and
tidsmeof the that righteousness has no advantage (102). But the seer
wicked swears that he knows and has seen in the heavenly books
is the cer- . J
tain hope of that the spirits of the righteous have a joy and glory far
for immor- beyond that of the living, and an immortal life in God's
tahty presence. On the other hand sinners who die after a long
life of prosperity and honor will have tribulation in Hades.
Their spirits will enter a fiery prison-house.
The present The complaint of the righteous is indeed a grievous one.
therighfeous They suffer every evil, and are in daily peril of their lives
fa B1^1' at the hands of their enemies. They hoped as of right to
be first in the community, but are last. They have labored
hard for influence, but have not gained it. They are sub
jected to the dominion of those that hate and oppress them.
There has been no chance or place for escape. They have
appealed to their rulers for redress, but the rulers have
given support to those who oppressed them (103).1 All
this is true but it is not the whole truth. It is true on earth,
but in heaven angels intercede for the righteous and their
but it will names are before God. Soon they will be glorious as the
an°endm stars, and like them will have access to heaven. Their
joy will be like that of angels. There they will dwell far
removed from the dreadful judgment that is to visit the
earth. Let not the righteous, then, destined to be com
panions of the heavenly hosts, be tempted by the pros-
1 The Maccabean kings naturally sided with the Sadducees, since they
formed essentially the party of the ruling house.
316

Apocalyptical Writers
perity of sinners to associate with them and imitate them. The hope of
They do indeed say that their sins are not recorded, and muTnotHty
they alter [Enoch ?] books and write books of their own to Jouta0
prove heathenish lies.1 But when as here the Enoch
writings are faithfully transmitted and translated [into
Aramaic and Greek?] they will be to the righteous a
source of wisdom and joy.
The concluding reference to the duty of those who' pos
sess these books to guide and admonish men, and the
promise of the presence of God and his Son, Messiah, with
men in the coming age of peace, is regarded by some as a
later addition (ch. 105).
9. Concluding Sections (106-108)
Chapter 106-107 is Part of the Noah-apocalyptical tra- The marvel-
ditions, namely an account of the marvellous birth of Noah m °
Noah, who appears more like an angel than like a man. (Io6_I°7)
Enoch, who is still living, interprets the sign to the per
plexed father and grandfather of the child. Noah is thus
marked as destined to be the survivor when the earth is
destroyed. Chapter 108 is more nearly in line with 94-104, but car
ries further the ascetic contempt of this life which could
1 We leam from the New Testament and Josephus that the Sadducees de
nied the existence of angels and spirits, and a life of rewards and punishments
after death. The tone of the affirmations of this book on these subjects shows
how hot the debate was in regard to the reality of the spirit world and of the
life to come. The discussion was evidently carried on in books on both sides.
317

The Messages of the

Asceticism
and its re
ward(108)

easily result from the extreme other worldliness of that sec
tion. Here the spirits of the humble, who afflict their
bodies, are especially recompensed by God. They loved
God and did not love earthly goods. They gave their
bodies to torture, despising them and the food that sus
tained them, and by such asceticism purified their spirits ;
and having proved that they loved heaven more than earth,
and having had shame and abuse on earth, they will be
enthroned in heavenly glory.1

Importanceof this
section

Against for
eign foes

10. The Similitudes of Enoch (37-71)
This is to us the most important part of the Book of
Enoch, because of its picture of the pre-existent heavenly
Messiah, who is destined to come as judge of men and
angels. Of all the Jewish apocalypses this would seem to
offer by far the most help in the effort to understand the
Messianic consciousness of Jesus, or at least the earliest
interpretation of his office and nature. Yet this section
offers great difficulties to the historian.
It is entirely distinct in character from the rest of the
book. It appears to come from a different situation, one
in which the enemies of God and his people are not Jewish
apostates but foreign kings and rulers. In this important
respect it is like Daniel and Revelation. It is significant,
2This ascetic piece is regarded as Essenic by many, and evidently does
contain Essenic elements. The dualistic contrast of body and spirit is not
native to the Jews but is probably of Greek origin.
318

Apocalyptical Writers
therefore, that the writer returned more directly to Daniel
than the other Enoch writers did. The most distinctive
part of his work consists in an elaboration of Daniel 7.
The book is not dated by any clear reference to a his- Uncertain
toricai event, but on the whole the latter part of the reign date
of Herod the Great seems to be the most probable time of
its origin. "The mighty kings and high ones who possess
the earth" would then be Augustus and Herod and other
vassal kings under Rome. Some think that native Jewish
kings, the late Maccabean rulers, are meant, but the phrase
cited would not fit them, and the description of their arro
gant denial of God and their impious and unjust deeds is
like the condemnation of the heathen king Antiochus in
Daniel.1 One sentence which seems to imply native rulers
(46 : 8) is justified by Herod's pretensions to Judaism.2
It is true that this date is no more than probable. We
should expect definite references to Herod or to Rome,
which we do not find. But for some reason, whatever his
situation, the writer chose to make his references to the ene
mies of the righteous community vague and general, and
it is especially easy to conceive of reasons for this reserve
in the reign of the suspicious and despotic Herod.
We may assume then that this writing comes from a
1 Compare En. 46 : 5-7 with Dan. 4 : 17-25, 30-32 ; 5 : 18-2 1 ; 8 : 10-1 1.
2 It seems, however, that the verse means that the kings persecute the
Jewish synagogues, not that they will themselves be expelled from them
(Fleming). 319

The Messages of the
General sit- time when the Sadducees were no longer in power, when
the whole people were again feeling the oppression of the
heathen, and hoping for a Messiah whose judgment would
be more universal than the Roman empire itself, and his
reign one whose glory would put to shame the kings who
possess the earth.
The book The Similitudes have not been perfectly preserved in
preserved y °ur book. There are several obvious interpolations from
the Noah circle of tradition (39 : 1, 2a ; 54 : 7-55 : 2 ; 60 ;
65-69 : 25), and there are evidences that parts of the origi
nal have been lost. There is a peculiar addition (ch. 71),
which identifies the Messianic "Son of Man " with Enoch
himself. This serves at least to prove the thoroughly
Jewish character of the whole book. Even the inter
polations are not Christian.
(1) The First Similitude (37-44)
The three so-called Similitudes all treat the Messianic
time though from somewhat different points of view. The
first deals chiefly with the future dwelling-places of the
righteous which are now in heaven, but are destined for
those who now believe in their existence, hidden though
they are, those who believe in the world of spirits and in
God the "Lord of spirits." Sinners are those who deny
the spiritual world, and when the heavenly places are
manifested at the day of judgment, they will be excluded
from them and will have no abiding-place.
320

Apocalyptical Writers
Enoch is translated into heaven and here he sees these vision of the
future dwelling-places of the righteous. They are now ingUpkcese""
occupied by angels, who intercede for men, and by the °ou^e rlght~
Messiah ; and these with God himself will hereafter be the
companions of holy men.1 It is a place not of dreadful fire
and dazzling splendor (ch. 14), but of righteousness and
peace, where one would long to abide.2 Enoch sees the
innumerable hosts of spirits who inhabit this place, the
four presences that are nearest to God, and other secrets
of heaven and of the divine rule over men and in nature.
Among the inhabitants of heaven he sees also the divine
Wisdom, which found no dwelling-place on earth and re
turned to her place with the angels,3 while unrighteousness
came to live among men.
(2) The Second Similitude (45-57)
The second Similitude is announced (45 : 1) as "con
ceming those who deny the name of the dwelling of the
holy ones and the Lord of spirits," and the third (58 : 1)
as "concerning the righteous and elect." These titles do
1 The present place of the righteous dead is not heaven, but the Garden of
Eden in the northwest (61 : 12 ; 70 : 3-4).
2 It is not clear whether the righteous are to ascend to heaven, or the places
to descend to earth. The latter seems to be affirmed in 45: 4-5; 51:5, but
see 39:6-7; 45:2,6; 51:4; 62:i4-i6(?).
3 Compare the deviating idea of Ecclesiasticus 24: 1-23 and Baruch 3:9-
4:4, according to which Wisdom found her place in Israel and is identical
with the Law. 321

The Messages of the
not well describe the contents of what follows. The prin
cipal subject of the second Similitude is the Messiah, the
destined judge.
The pre- In accordance with Daniel 7, Enoch sees God, the An-
h?aSvenly cient of Days, and with him one like a man.1 Asking who
Messiah "that man" is, he is told that it is the man of supreme
and his com- ' A
ing as judge righteousness and wisdom, whom God'has chosen to over
throw the kings of the earth for their ungodly claims, their
injustice, idolatry, denial of God and persecution of the
Jews (ch. 46). The seer then has a vision of that coming
judgment. Its first stage is purely heavenly (ch. 47). In
answer to the prayers of the righteous, God takes his seat
on the throne of judgment surrounded by the angelic hosts,
and the books are opened before him. Then "that man"
is summoned before God to receive his commission as the
executor of judgment. This was not the beginning of his
existence, for he was created before the sun and stars. He
is destined to be the support of the righteous, the light of
the heathen, the hope of the distressed, and at last the
adored of all.2 But even now he is the saviour of those to
whom God has revealed him, who because of their faith
in him have hated this unrighteous world.3
1 The phrase "son of man," which in Hebrew means simply "a man," is
certainly not a title in Dan. 7: 13, and apparently not yet in Enoch. It is
"that man," that is the man of Daniel's vision, who is here described.
2 Cf. Isa. 42 : 6 ; 49 : 6 ; 51:4; 45 : 23 ; Phil. 2 : 10.
3 Notice the saving power of the prophet's faith in a coming divine
deliverer. Faith in him already enables men to overcome the world.
322

Apocalyptical Writers
With the approach of judgment terror seizes the kings The
of the earth. Destruction will come upon them because of judgment
their denial of God and Messiah (48). The fitness of this
heavenly Messiah for his task is due to his abundant en
dowment with the divine spirit of wisdom, so that he knows
the secrets of every heart (49). There still remains for
sinners a last chance for repentance at sight of the glory
now resting upon the holy (50). Then follows the resur
rection of the dead, and the redemption of the righteous,
who will become [like?] angels in heaven and will dwell
with the Messiah on the redeemed earth (51).
Enoch then sees evidences of the power of the Messiah its inevi-
and the inevitableness of his judgments upon the wicked, and finality
Neither can wealth bribe nor war resist him (52). The
gifts of the wicked will not avail. Their punishment is
sure, and with their end peace for the congregation of the
righteous (53). The valley of fire prepared for Azazel and
his hosts will be the final place of the kings, Satan's sub
jects, who have misled men (54). Both angels and men
are to be judged by the Messiah (55). After a vision of
the angels of punishment follows a description of the last
assault of Eastern kings, incited thereto by angels, against
Jerusalem.1 There they will turn against one another and
be destroyed (56). Then comes another mighty army from
east and west and south, whose noise will be heard in
1 Charles's reasons for making 56:5-57:3 a later insertion are not con
vincing. It is a fixed part of apocalyptical tradition based on Ezek. 38, 39.
323

The Messages of the
heaven and will shake the earth, an army of those who will
worship God at Jerusalem.1
(3) The Third Similitude (58-69)
The reward The third Similitude "concerning the righteous and
eouse ne the elect" is marred by long interpolations, and the original
form can hardly be regained. The righteous will have
eternal life and will ever seek and increasingly find hght
and righteousness, as they search in heaven for the secrets
now accessible there and the treasure faith is now heir to
(58). A vision assures the seer of the universality of the
Messiah as resurrection of the righteous dead (61 : 1-5). He then sees
mg withthe the Messiah seated on God's throne, judging even the holy
and'the18 angels — so exalted is his authority — and all the angels of
s"^1" heaven and the Messiah himself join in blessing and glori
fying God (61 : 6-13). Then follows the judgment over
men on earth. Again God seats the Messiah on his own
throne, and by his judicial sentence he slays all sinners.2
Terror shall seize the kings and mighty of earth as they
see "that man" sitting on the throne of his glory. Then
too late they will acknowledge him, who was hidden, and
was revealed only to the elect, and will pray for mercy. But
they will be thrust from his presence in shame, and he
will give them to the punishing angels because of their
1 Perhaps heathen converts rather than the Jews of the dispersion, accord
ing to Isa. 2 : 2-4 ; Zech. 8 : 20-23.
2 As in Rev. 19: 15, 21. 324

Apocalyptical Writers
persecution of the righteous, and they will be destroyed
in the sight of those whom they oppressed. But the right
eous will dwell forever under the favoring care of God
and in the companionship of "that man," clothed with
garments of glory and life (62).
Then the mighty ones from their place of punishment
will glorify the Lord of spirits and confess their sin in not
believing in him, but trusting instead in their own power
and riches (63). In the same place will be the sinning
angels of Genesis 6 (64).
The third Similitude ends as it began with a description The blessed
of the blessed consummation, of which the central good jj™summa"
is the revelation of "that son of man," his judgment
removing all evil from the earth, and his glory as he reigns
over an incorruptible world, possessing the full favor of
God (hence an efficient mediator between men and God).
After these visions Enoch is translated to the Messiah and
the Lord of spirits, and his dwelling-place is Paradise,
in the far northwest, where the fathers and all the righteous
dwell (69 : 25-70).
A later writer takes this occasion to describe the heaven a suppie-
into which Enoch was translated, borrowing his descrip- Sapterfri)
tion largely from chapter 14, whereas the writer of the
Similitudes appears to make no use of other parts of the
book. The interpolator adds the remarkable identification
of " that son of man " with Enoch himself, making him
the supreme embodiment of righteousness, the imitation
325

The Messages pf the
of him the law, and eternal life with him the hope of
man (71). 1
11. Significance of the Messianic Hope in the Similitudes
Rehgion as The Messianic theology of this book is so important in
unseen1 ' e its bearing on the beginnings of Christianity that we may
world wejj attempt to summarize and estimate it. There are,
according to this writer, dwelling-places in heaven prepared
for the chosen and just. These places are, it would seem,
to be brought to earth, or earth transformed into their
likeness, in the coming age. There dwell at present not
only angel spirits, but also one like man and like angel as
well, the Elect one of God, the Messiah, who is destined
to sit on God's throne as judge, to destroy those who now
rule the earth, and to reward the righteous. Faith in the
reahty of these heavenly places and rewards and of this
Messiah, though they are hidden, is the essence of piety.
By this faith the just are sustained in their struggle with
the world, and given strength to resist and despise its
wealth and pride. The sin of the rulers of the world is
unbelief and arrogance. They deny the spirit world,
angels, the books of reckoning, the Messiah and God him
self. The Messiah was created before heaven and earth.
1 All the Enoch books exalt Enoch as the great revealer of God and of
heavenly and future things to men. They represent a sort of Enoch reh
gion, an ideahzation and partial deification of the one who walked with God
and was not, for God took him. 326

Apocalyptical Writers
He is more than man in nature, and is put above all angels The heaven-
in authority ; yet he seems to represent what man should ly Messiai
be, and he will be the head of the new community of the
righteous, whose blessedness consists in association with
him. Even now he is the salvation of those who know
the secret of his being and believe in him. What a trans
formation, and yet not an unnatural one, the symbolic
figure of the one like a man in Daniel 7: 13 has here
undergone !
We must beheve then that the idea of the Messiah as a Jewish
pre-existent and as destined to sit on the throne of God as cfristology
the final judge of angels and men was not a Christian
creation, but was held at some time by some Jews. It was
one of the forms of the Jewish Messianic hope. There
were others wholly different from this. The primitive
conception of the Messiah as another David, a great war
rior and king, wholly man, and his task chiefly political,
was still current and popular in the time of Christ. The
rehgious and ethical sides of his activity, his work in mak
ing the Jewish people pure and righteous, could be em
phasized, as in the 17th Psalm of Solomon, without alter
ing his character as a purely human, national king. But
the Jews whom the Similitudes of Enoch represent had
made of Messiah a heavenly being, and regarded his office
as chiefly that of judge of the world.
The millennarian eschatoiogy which we found in the
Apocalypse of Ten Weeks is a different attempt to meet
327

The Messages of the
Peculiarity the same need, that of making the consummation of more
eschatoiogy than earthly glory. There the Messianic earthly consum
mation comes first, and the heavenly and eternal follows
after it. In the Similitudes the heavenly precedes, being
already a reality, and the one crisis and one consummation
consists in the breaking in of the heavenly upon the earthly,
and the transformation of earth and man after heavenly and
angelic patterns. In the millennarian scheme the Messiah
would naturally introduce and rule over the earthly king
dom, and God himself would be the final judge. So it is in
Second Esdras 7. In the Christian Revelation the Messiah is
central both in the thousand years' reign and in the heavenly
consummation. Nothing short of this would express the
place of Christ in Christian faith. It is a surprising and
unique feature of the Similitudes among Jewish writings
that they make the Messiah the final judge, even of angels.
It is due to the fact that the heavenly consummation does
not here follow after the earthly, but displaces it, or in
cludes and interprets it. The Messianic hope is lifted up
and given a transcendent nature, and with it the Messiah is
exalted and becomes a heavenly and semi-divine being.
Yet this It would be a great mistake to exaggerate the likeness
MeSahis between the Messiah of the Similitudes and the Christ
tianChrls" of tlle New Testament. The ideas of pre-existence and
judgeship are important in early Christology, but are not
of central significance in the problem of the Messianic
consciousness of Jesus. Far more important is such a
328

Apocalyptical Writers
sentence as this : "I came not to call the righteous but
sinners." The Messiah of the Similitudes comes not to
make sinful Israel righteous, but to make righteous Israel
triumphant, to vindicate the righteous by the destruction
of their enemies. Ill
THE ASSUMPTION OF MOSES
This apocalypse exists only in one Latin manuscript. The book
It is perhaps a fragment, though it seems quite complete
in its plan. The date is not long after the death of Herod,
probably before 10 A. D. It consists in the last charges
and revelations of Moses to Joshua, and contains a brief
history of Israel from Moses to the Messianic age, told in
literal, *not in figurative, speech. The most striking point Its polemic
in this history is the unsparing condemnation of the priest- priests e
hood before, during and after the Maccabean age, and a
depreciation of the temple services because of the unworthy
character of those who officiate. The impelling purpose
of the book is to be found in this denunciation and in urging
a patient and courageous protest against the ruling party.
Apparently the writer expects a new persecution by a Persecution
second Antiochus Epiphanes. Those who patiently en- waid'of16
dure it in fidelity to the law will be rewarded at the coming ^3SJ"like
of God's kingdom by elevation to heaven, from which they
will look down upon the destruction of their enemies by
329

The Messages of the
the avenging wrath of God.1 The earth itself is apparently
destroyed and the consummation is purely heavenly. The
ideal righteous man is one who retires from the world in
order fully to keep the law of God, sacrificing life if need
be, in the sure hope of vindication and glory at the coming
of God (ch. 9).
Thedeifica- Another noteworthy feature of the book is the semi-
Moses divine character given to Moses. God prepared him be
fore the foundation of the world to be the mediator of his
covenant (i : 14). He feeds, pities, guides the people.
His intercession secures their blessings (11 : 9-17 ; 12 : 6).
None would dare touch his dead body, and only the whole
world could be his grave. Joshua must be reassured in
view of the irreparable loss which his death will entail by
Moses's strong assertion that Israel's salvation does not
depend on him, but on the eternal and irrevocable purpose
of God. This exaltation of Moses is connected with the
exaltation of the Law.
The party to The book represents, perhaps, as Mr. Charles puts it,
book be- "a Pharisee of a fast-disappearing type, recalling in all
longs respects the Chasid of the early Maccabean times, and
upholding the old traditions of quietude and resignation."
Or it may be more correct, with Baldensperger, to call him
a Messianic Pietist, and to regard him as a critic of Pharisa-
1 But some think this (ch. 10: 8 ff.) a picture of the elevation of Israel to
rulership over the earth, though the starry heaven is not mere figure. The
scene of the new era is elevated above earth.
33°

Apocalyptical Writers
ism as well as of Sadduceeism (see ch. 7), one whose de
votion to the law is not a cloak to cover unrighteousness.
Baldensperger agrees that he is a successor of the Chasi
dim. Perhaps a Pharisee would not make a Levite his
representative pious man.
It is interesting to contrast this type of piety with that Compared
found in the Book of Jubilees.1 There the realization look of
of the hope depends on Israel's observance of the law. Jubllees
The emphasis is on man's freedom rather than on God's
covenant and oath, and on God's justice and recompense
according to desert rather than his unmerited grace (Ass.
Mos. 12 : 7 ff.). The distinction consists in a difference
of emphasis on two sides of the Jewish rehgion, and it is
connected with differences of circumstance as weE as of
temperament. The Book of Jubilees was written when the
religious party was prosperous, the Assumption of Moses
when it was oppressed and in danger ; so the one thinks
that the consummation will come with a further dominance
of legal piety,2 the other expects it only by a purely miracu
lous intervention of God. One expects a transformation
of the earth and a dwelling of God among men ;3 the other
1 Not an apocalypse but containing some apocalyptical features. See
Charles's Book of Jubilees, 1904 ; but his date (a few years after 135 B. C.) is
probably too early. A midrash or free paraphrase and commentary on Gen
esis and part of Exodus, up to the founding of Passover.
2 See Book of Jubilees, 1:15-18; 23:26-31.
3 Jubilees 1:17; yet after this ( ?), according to one passage, comes a spir
itual immortality, 23 : 30. 331

The Messages of the
requires nothing less than the destruction of the earth,
and the dwelling of the righteous with God in heaven.
The rabbis in a much later time continued to discuss
the question whether the coming of the Messianic time
depended on Israel's repentance and righteousness, or on
a predestined course of world history in which its place
was unchangeably fixed. Circumstance and temperament
determine the attitude of men on this perennial problem.
IV
THE SECRETS OF ENOCH
The book This is a recent addition to our knowledge of the Enoch
and its date ,. _ . . ,, . . , . ,
literature. It was originally written, certainly in the mam,
in Greek, and it has survived only in Slavonic. It makes
some use of the older (Ethiopic) Enoch book, but is
largely independent of it and different from it in char
acter. It is on the whole an unmistakably Jewish book,
though there are some strange things in it that suggest
foreign influence, and on the other hand the ethical teach
ings are in part so Christian that some have supposed a
few Christian interpolations. The references to sacrifices
seem to imply that the temple was still standing. This is
almost the only indication of date.
The first part of the book describes Enoch's journey up
through the seven heavens, with an account of what he saw
332

Apocalyptical Writers
in each. Having reached the very presence of God he Visions of
is instructed by him regarding mysteries which not even ^dofthe"3
the angels know. He is told the way in which God created °^f n of
the world, the visible out of the invisible, and man, in
whom visible and invisible are united. The fall of Adam
is shaped in such a way as to guard both his pre-eminence
among men, and the absolute goodness of all the world
as God made it. The blame is put in part upon Eve, in
part on Satan, who fell from heaven because of his am
bition to equal God, in part on Adam's ignorance of his
nature. After a month's stay in heaven, during which he writes Admoni-
366 books of his revelations, Enoch returns to earth for
a month to instruct and admonish his children. The last
part of the book contains his admonitions, consisting of
some fine ethical teachings, in which emphasis is laid on
justice and a charity that is disinterested and rests on love,
patient forbearance and endurance, and sincerity in all
one's service of God, who knows the heart. These duties
are enforced by the expectation of a coming judgment
which will introduce the world to come. The reward of
following the maxims of the book is a blessed immortal
ity, the consummation being conceived of in individual
more than in national form. In the world to come there
are many mansions prepared for men : good for the good,
and evil for the evil. Emphasis is put on monotheism
and divine determination. The number and place of all
333

The Messages of the
souls are fixed. Yet freedom and responsibility are in
sisted upon. V
THE APOCALYPSE OF EZRA
i. Historical Situation and Relation to the Apocalypse
of Baruch
Tfie ques- Two closely related apocalypses, that of Ezra (2 Esd.
[Sv" °gee a" 3-14) and that of Baruch, were called forth by the destruc
tion of Jerusalem in 70 A. D., and by the condition in
which Judaism was left by that dreadful calamity. It is
very uncertain what their relation to each other is, which
is earlier, and so which is dependent on the other. Some
think that the writer of the Apocalypse of Baruch has
a more vivid impression of the fall of the city, others
that the writer of the Apocalypse of Ezra reveals a deeper
emotion, a more natural order and progress, and a greater
originality. The historical Baruch was an actual witness
of the first destruction of Jerusalem, as Ezra was not, and
Second Esdras 3 : 1 suggests that some time had inter
vened. On the other hand, Ezra was a greater name
than Baruch and would naturally be chosen first after
Enoch, Moses, and Daniel, by an apocalyptical writer.
There is also a great difference of judgment among stu
dents as to the question of the unity of these books. Our
334

Apocalyptical Writers
English editor of the Apocalypse of Baruch, Professor The ques-
Charles, accepts an elaborate analysis of both apocalypses, potion00™"
while the most recent and able German writer on the
Apocalypse of Ezra, Professor Gunkel, maintains that it is
a unity, though its author, like other writers of this sort of
literature, made use of various written or oral traditions.1
The Apocalypse of Ezra is on a higher plane of religious Relative
feeling and reflection than the other, and was far more christians
highly valued by the Christian church. It has survived in
five ancient versions, Latin, Syriac, Ethiopic, Arabic and
Armenian, while the Apocalypse of Baruch exists only in
one Syriac manuscript, first published in 1866.
In these two apocalypses the eschatological conceptions The escha-
of Judaism are most fully elaborated ; so that Schurer, in the°ly °£
his History, follows a scheme that is derived from these aP°cal)'Pses
two books when he would give a systematic summary of
the Jewish Messianic hope. This is his scheme : (1) The
last oppression and confusion. (2) Elijah as forerunner.
(3) The appearance of Messiah. (4) Last attack of hostile
powers. (5) Their destruction. (6) Renewal of Jerusalem.
(7) Gathering of the Dispersion. (8) Kingdom of glory
in Palestine. (9) Renewal of the world. (10) General
resurrection, (n) Last judgment. Eternal blessedness
and condemnation.
We are not, however, to suppose that these apocalypses
1 Gunkel's edition is in Kautzsch's Pseudepigraphen des Allen Testa
ments, 1000. 335

The Messages of the
follow this scheme in a clear and consistent way. On the
contrary each of them contains a variety of eschatological
material, derived certainly in large part from various tra
ditional sources, and not worked together into a consistent
and orderly whole. It is because of such diversities that
some regard these books as composite, but it is probably
better to say that they have each a proper author and a
real unity, but that the authors, like others of their class,
are very dependent on traditions, and are not anxious,
perhaps are not able, to harmonize them.
Three forms There are three consummations with which Jewish
toiogicai0 a eschatoiogy concerned itself : (i) The old prophetic and
thar relf- always popular hope of a national restoration, a coming
tionstoone kingship and glory of Israel. It is here that Messiah, the
king, originally belonged. (2) A new world age to dis
place this corrupt world. . An a;on heavenly in its source
and character, introduced by a world catastrophe, and
even by a new divine creation. (3) Rewards and pun
ishments of individual souls after death, according to their
deserts, in unearthly places prepared for such purposes.
Now the tendency in Judaism was to pass from the first of
these hoped-for ends to the second, and from the second
to the third. The eschatoiogy of the older prophets was
occupied chiefly with the first. The eschatoiogy of the
Jewish rabbis as the Talmud records it is principally con
cerned with the third. It is characteristic of the apoc
alypses that they make the second central. Someone calls
336

Apocalyptical Writers
Second Esdras 7 : 50, " The Most High hath not made
one world but two," the key to the apocalypses. Another
quotes as their text, Barnabas 6 : 13, " Behold I make the
last things as the first" — a new creation, like the first,
begins the new world. This does not mean, however, that
in the apocalypses the hope of a new world displaced the
hope of a royal Israel. It either interpreted the older hope,
giving it an unearthly elevation, or it followed it in time,
of course so surpassing it in glory as to put it into the back
ground. As a matter of fact, from Daniel itself on, the
apocalypses deal with all three of the ends just described,
and it is only by differences in emphasis and relationship
that they are distinguished from each other.
If, now, we compare Daniel and Second Esdras we are
struck especially with the fact that though Israel's disas
trous collision with Rome is the occasion of the later book,
yet the national, political element is far more in the back
ground than in Daniel. The contrast of the two world-
ages is much more important than the contrast of Israel
and Rome. It is evident also that interest in the fortunes
of souls in the realm of the dead is far more developed in
the later than in the earlier book.
2. Problems of the Book
On account of the fact that this book, was in the old Place of the
Latin Bible, and was appended to the Vulgate, though it Apocrypha
does not belong to the Catholic canon proper, we fortu-
337

The Messages of the
nately have it in our English Apocrypha. It should be
read in the Revised Version, which contains a fragment of
seventy verses missing from the common Latin texts, after
7 : 35, though found in the Oriental Versions, and recently
recovered in Latin. Our Second Esdras 1-2 and 15-16
do not belong to the Jewish apocalypse and are not found
in the other versions. They are Christian books in imi
tation of the Jewish, and are often called Fifth Ezra (1 Esd.
1-2) and Sixth Ezra (2 Esd. 15-16), while the Jewish book,
Second Esdras 3-14, is commonly cited as Fourth Ezra.
Its date According to the historical vision in chapters n-12, the
book appears to have been written before the end of Domi-
tian's reign (81-96 A. D.), and with this the other indica
tions of date in the book agree.
General con- We may approach the study of the book in the light of
book° C a few sentences from Gunkel. "The author wished to pre
sent two kinds of material : 1. Properly apocalyptical and
especially eschatological mysteries ; this material is to be
compared with Daniel 7 ff. or Revelation 4 ff. 2. Religious
problems and speculations which relate to eschatoiogy and
find in it either their answer or their occasion ; this mate
rial is comparable with the speculations of the Pauline
letters. The author put these problems in general before
the mysteries, as being of greater importance, an order
which can be compared with that of Revelation."
Two great problems concern this writer, and he grapples
with them, with the means at his command, in an earnest
33§

Apocalyptical Writers
and worthy way, with deep feeling and serious reflection. Two chief
One is the problem of Israel, whose temple and city have problems
fallen before the Romans. How are God's choice of
Israel and his promises to be made good? The answer
should be the Messianic hope, and in fact the book pre
dicts the overthrow of Rome, and the coming of Israel's
king and kingdom. The other problem is that of sin and
evil in general, the universality of sin and the dominance
of evil. The solution is the hope of a new world in which
the source of sin in the heart of man will be removed, and
all the roots of evil in this world will be cut out.
In one place the millennarian scheme of adjusting these Place of the
two hopes is adopted, except that the Messianic age meas- hop'™21
ures only four hundred years instead of one thousand.
This period of Israel's vindication against Rome still
belongs to the present world age. At the end of it the
Messiah, though he pre-existed before his manifestation,
nevertheless dies with all other men, as if to emphasize
the fact that what then follows, the new creation, wholly
supersedes the national hope.
But our author is not satisfied with this eschatoiogy on'a The prob-
large scale. It is well that the present world with its irre- dtaduaisin
mediable corruption and evil be destroyed and the new j^ sufier"
world take its place, but what of the multitudes to whom
the judgment that must introduce the new world can only
bring death? "The world to come shall bring delight to
few, but torment to many" (7 : 47). The answer to this
339

The Messages of the
new difficulty leads the writer much further into specu
lations about the destiny of souls after death than earlier
apocalypses had gone, and we find ourselves well started
in the movement which, re-enforced by Greek influence,
became dominant both in later Jewish and in Christian
eschatoiogy.
Value of the A brief summary of the book will suggest some of the
far-reaching thoughts which moved this man. His book
records an inward struggle, as real as that of the writer of
Job, in which an earnest religious thinker seeks to main
tain his faith in monotheism and in salvation through the
law over against opposing facts, against the ill fortune of
Israel in the loss of its temple and nationality, against the
power of evil in this world in general, and against the in
ability of the law to produce righteousness in man, because
of his evil heart. In the world-wide range of the writer's
views, in his concern for sinful men and their fate, and in
his almost Pauline experience of the inadequacy of the
law as a means of salvation, the writer helps us to under
stand the kind of Judaism that was ready for Christianity.
The fall of Jerusalem (70 A. D.) must have helped to
detach many Jews of this type from the national and legal
istic side of the Jewish religion, though, on the other hand,
it occasioned a reaction of the majority into a more one
sided type of legalism, in which the eschatological motive
was reduced to the hope by the study and keeping of the
law to have part in the world to come.
340

Apocalyptical Writers.
3. The First Vision : Sources and End of Evil
In the person of Ezra mourning over the desolation of The first
Zion and the wealth of Babylon, the writer expresses his (^Ti-s : 19)
grief and despair at Jerusalem's fall at the hands of Rome.
He utters his protests to God by appealing, on the one hand,
to the universality of human sinfulness and, on the other, to
God's choice of Israel. Sin goes back to Adam, who was
altogether as God made him, yet he sinned because he had
an evil heart ; and for the same reason all men have sinned.
The law which God gave to Israel could not make this
people righteous so long as he did not remove from them
the evil heart. Hence he should not expect perfect right
eousness of them. On the other hand no nation has shown
more faith and righteousness than Israel, and yet nations
far more wicked prosper, while Israel suffers (ch. 3). The
most serious point in this argument is the implied charge
that the evil heart is man's by nature, that God is respon
sible for it, and hence cannot punish men for sin. Who
planted this evil seed in human nature if not God? The
angel Uriel replies first to this charge much as Jehovah
replies to Job. You cannot understand the simplest things
about you, he says, still less things remote ; how then
can you understand why the heart of man is wicked?
Man's worn-out nature in this corruptible world cannot
grasp such mysteries (4 : 1-11). Ezra protests that it were
better not to five than to suffer and not know why (4 : 12).
34i

The Messages of the
The angel replies that it is vain for anything to seek to go
beyond the bounds of its own nature. Man can know
what is on earth. Only God knows what is in heaven
(4 : 13-21). Ezra answers that it was indeed a thing on
earth that he wished to know, namely, why Israel had fallen
before an ungodly nation (4 : 22-25). The answer is, that
though this seems to be a thing of earth it is involved in
something transcendent. This present world is altogether
evil, but this is in accordance with the plan of God, and it
is not his purpose to remedy this .world, but to remove it
and put another in its place. It is necessary rather that
evil increase in order that the present world may reach its
end. The evil sown in it must grow to maturity, and only
then can it be harvested (4 : 26-32). The seer replies : If
then the solution of the problem lies in the future, not in
the past, how soon will it come ? The answer is, It cannot
be hastened, for everything is determined and the number
and measure of all things must be according to the divine
decree (4 : 33-37). Is not the delay, then, on account of
men's sins? No, the resurrection, the birth of souls out
of the womb of the grave, cannot come before the time is
fulfilled (4 : 40-43)- Is this age, then, at least half gone?
Yes, so much the angel can affirm, what remains is far less
than what is past (4 : 44-50) ; but he cannot tell whether
the end will come within the seer's lifetime. He can only
tell the signs of its approach, a still greater increase in faith
lessness and wickedness, the desolation of Rome. Dortents
342

Apocalyptical Writers
in the heavens, perversities in nature and degeneration in
human life (4 : 51-5 : 13).
4. The Second Vision: Further Questions and Answers
as to Evil and its End
After seven days Ezra again makes complaint to God. The second
Why, if he has chosen Israel and favored it above all ^'^-6:34)
nations, does he allow it to be oppressed and dishonored
by the heathen? (5 : 20-30). The angel answers as before
that man is without understanding or power in the smallest
and nearest things, and cannot know the mystery of God's
ways, though he may know that God's love to Israel is far
greater than his own (5 : 31-40). The seer demands to
know at least what the lot of those shall be who have died
before the end comes, and is assured that their lot will not
be worse than that of those who survive (4 : 41-42). But
why could not God have made all men at once and shown
his righteous judgment without such delay? Because it
would be unseemly haste, and because earth, like a mother,
must bear her children in turn (4 : 43-49). But it is evi
dent from the deterioration of the human race that our
mother earth is growing old (4 : 50-55). Ezra is then as
sured that the one whose coming will bring the new world
is no other than he who created the present world, God
himself (5 : 56-6 : 6).1 It is then intimated that the rule of
1 Some find here a polemic against Christianity, but it is not necessary to
assume this. 343

The Messages of the
Rome will end the present world, and that of Israel will
begin the world to come (6 : 7-10). ' A mighty voice an
nounces further signs in nature and in human life of the
nearness of the end, especially the coming of Elijah and
other such men, who did not die, to effect a moral reforma
tion in the world (6 : 11-28).
5. The Third Vision: The World to Come and the Lot
of Souls after Death
The third Ezra reviews, with some legendary additions, the story
(o?3s-9=as) °f tne Slx days °f creation in order to bring forth the truth
that God made the world for man, and then among men
chose Israel as his people. But "if the world be made for
our sakes, why do we not possess our world? " (6 : 35-59).
The angel's answer concerns the problem of man rather
than that of Israel. He likens this world to a narrow
and dangerous entrance — made such because of Adam's
transgression — through which one must pass if he would
enjoy the breadth and security of the world to come. One
should endure the present by setting his mind upon the
future (7 : 1-16). But, Ezra replies, it is only the right
eous who can cherish this hope. True, says the angel, and
right, for sinners have violated the express command of
God (7 : 17-25). This will be the order of the last things.
1.7 : 20-31 differs from this, for it makes the Messianic kingdom belong to
this age, not to the age to come. The writer does not care to harmonize
varying traditions. 344

Apocalyptical Writers
After the signs already described, the new Jerusalem will
appear. Messiah will come with the righteous dead and
reign 400 years. Then he and all men shall die and the
earth shall be silent as before the creation. Then the new
incorruptible world shall appear, all the dead shall rise,
and judgment shall follow, with eternal rewards in Gehenna
and Paradise. This day of judgment, seven years long,
is a wholly unearthly day. It is lighted only by the glory
of God1 (7 : 26-44). But the seer returns to his anxious
inquiry after those to whom this day of judgment will bring
only woe. Have not almost all sinned on" account of the
evil heart, and will not the age to come bring delight to
only a few? The angel does not deny the fact. All
precious things are rare, and God will rejoice over the few
righteous, as a man over his jewels, and' will not grieve
over the multitude that perish (7 : 45-61). To this the
seer replies again that it would be better not to be, or to
be as animals without minds that fear and hope, than to
be men inevitably sinful and destined to judgment after
death.2 The angel answers that judgment was in God's
plan from creation, and that man's intelligence makes him
1 Isa. 60 : 19 f. ; Rev. 21 : 23.
2 The tone of the writer changes from impatient haste for the coming of the
future world to solve the present evils of Hfe, to fear lest the future will bring
to many and even to him not the end of evil but greater evils than are now
endured. The sense of the grace of God to his chosen people is balanced by
the sense of the righteousness of his judgment according to the law, and the
incapacity of man to fulfil the law on account of his evil nature.
345

The Messages of the
rightly responsible, especially since God not only gave him
a law, but has put the judgment off so long (7 : 62-74).
Ezra then asks whether souls are punished immediately
after death or are kept till the day of judgment. The
angel first assures him that he is not to number himself
with the sinners, and then discloses the experiences of
souls in the intermediate state immediately after death,
the seven torments of soul which the wicked will suffer,
and the seven joys that shall fill the minds of the righteous.
They have seven days of freedom in which to see the places
destined for them, and then wait in their chambers (7 : 75-
101). Ezra's anxiety for sinners leads him to ask whether
the righteous can intercede for the unrighteous in the day of
judgment, fathers for children, or friends for friends. The
answer is, No ; each one must then stand alone ; and in
answer to the appeal to historical examples of the efficacy
of such intercession the angel reiterates that this belongs
to the present world, but not to that in which sin is to have
no place (7 : 102-115). The hopeless finality of the issues
of that day weighs the seer down. He thinks it better that
man should not have been made, or that Adam should not
have been permitted to sin and bring such evil upon the
race. The promise of eternal life is unavailing because
man cannot deserve it. So the hope of the world to come,
which was to solve the problem of evil, only increases its
darkness and oppression (7:116-126). The answer of
legalism that the transgressors of the law only receive their
346

Apocalyptical Writers
deserts as the law prescribes (7 : 127-131) does not satisfy
his heart. For God is now not only just but merciful.
Compassion as well as righteousness enters into the Old
Testament revelation of his character, and the very contin
uance of the world and of man is proof of it (7 : 132-140). 1
When the angel repeats the principle, many for this
world, few for the world to come, many created, few saved,
Ezra answers no longer with argument but with a prayer.
The only hope is that God, who alone makes man, and
with such pains, will also give him such inward help as
shall enable him to gain righteousness and hfe (8 : 1-14).
He will not pray, as he is prompted to, for all men, but will
be satisfied if God will hear his prayer for his own people
and for himself (8 : 15-19). His prayer is that God will
overlook the deeds of the wicked, and will deal with Israel
only with regard to the merit of those who have feared
and trusted him. Only by such overlooking of sin would
God deserve the name of merciful (8 : 20-36). The angel
again answers that God will indeed forget the wicked, but
not so as to remit their penalty. He will fix his thought
upon the righteous and rejoice in them and their reward,
as a husbandman sows much seed but has fruit from
1 The struggle here between the religion of hope and the rehgion of law is
most significant. Hope and law together made up the Jewish rehgion, but
some Jews besides Saul of Tarsus had experience of the essential disharmony
of the two. A legalism that includes a fixed and sure national calling and
destiny is no pure legalism, and a hope that is conditioned upon the fulfil
ment of a law is no joyous hope, but may be changed into despair.
347

The Messages of the
only a part (8 : 37-41). To this Ezra makes the obvious
answer that seed fails to grow because of too much or too
little of God's rain. But man is wholly God's creation ;
he is not to be hkened to seed but should have God's mercy
(8:42-45). The answer contains the assurance that in
spite of contrary appearances Ezra's pitying love for God's
creatures falls far short of God's own love. Ezra himself is
praised for his humility but is again assured that he will be
among the blessed. It is for such as he that the rewards of
the world to come are prepared, and he is bidden to think
no more of those who have wilfully disobeyed and denied
God, and deserve his judgment (8 : 46-62).
Ezra then returns to the question when the end will come.
The signs of its coming are again given, perils from which
those who can escape by works or faith shall be preserved.
When Ezra once more laments over the few that will be
saved, God replies with a confession of partial failure in
his creation. Sin spoiled his work, and he could rescue but
a few and that with difficulty. In the few he will rejoice
and let the many perish (8 : 63-9 : 25).
6. The Fourth Vision : The Heavenly Jerusalem
The fourth After seven days Ezra speaks to God again of his per-
(tKafr- plexity. He has in a sense given up the problem of man-
10 : s°) kind and retired upon the problem of Israel, and now he
declares himself ready to accept even Israel's destruction
if only the law, the divine seed which Israel failed to keep,
348

Apocalyptical Writers
remain and have its vindication (9 : 26-37). It is when
the religion of law seems thus to have vanquished the re
ligion of the national hope that the prophet receives a re
assuring vision of the coming glory of Zion. The vision
is that of a woman mourning for the loss of her only son
on his wedding-day. Ezra rebukes her for mourning for
one son when Jerusalem is abased and earth laments the
loss of many children, when the temple and all its sacred
treasures have been destroyed. He bids her have courage
and be comforted in view of the common sorrow (9 : 38-
10: 24). As he speaks the woman is suddenly glorified,
and immediately in her place he sees a great city. The
angel explains that the woman was Zion and her son the
temple,1 and that the city now before his eyes is the glori
ous Jerusalem which God himself has made. He is bidden
to enter it and see what he is able of its beauties. But no
further account of it is given.
7. The Fifth Vision : Rome and its Fall
After the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem comes a vis- The fifth
ion of the fall of Rome. The details are obscure but it is ™5Ja)
clear that the writer understands Rome to be the fourth of
Daniel's four kingdoms, and regards this as a new inter
pretation (n : 39 f. ; 12 : 11, 12) ; and it is also probable
that the writer is living under Domitian, the last of the three
1 This is not altogether natural and is probably an allegorical interpretation
of a story already given. 349

The Messages of the
Flavian emperors (the three heads of the eagle), or soon
after his death. The Messiah appears as the one who
charges Rome with its sins and announces God's just
judgment (n : 36-46), and then as the one who destroys
Rome after he has reproved her (12 : 31-33).
8. The Sixth Vision : The Coming of the Messiah
The sixth Then follows a vision of the Messiah, based on Daniel 7 ;
vision 113; j^s appearance ijjjg a marl) his destruction of opposing
multitudes of heathen by his flaming words, his coming
and gathering together his own, the ten tribes, in addition
to those that remain in Palestine, a great multitude. The
terrors of his coming are such that Ezra almost doubts
whether it is better to live to experience it. The angel re
assures him as to this point, and interprets the vision.
9. The Seventh Vision: The Rewriting of the Sacred
Scriptures
The seventh Ezra is assured of his translation to be with the Messiah
vision (14) afl(j j^ companjons untjj tne encj comes Before his de
parture from earth in answer to his prayer he is inspired to
restore the Scriptures which were destroyed with Jerusalem.
In forty days he dictates to five scribes the twenty-four
canonical books, to be published for all to read, and sev
enty secret books, the apocalypses, to be kept for the inner
circles of the wise; the law of life by which alone man
35°

Apocalyptical Writers
can escape the judgment to come, and the mysteries of
eschatoiogy, which made the chief contents of the revela
tion to Moses himself (14 : 5-6).

VI
THE APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH
This book is well worth reading in connection with Sec
ond Esdras. It is a closely related book, yet in important re
spects different. A summary of its contents is excluded by
limitations of space. In comparison with the Apocalypse
of Ezra the book represents a more orthodox or at least
a more contented Judaism. There is no protest against
legalism, no sense of its inadequacy, no doubt about the
writer's own salvation. There is no such serious vacillation
between hope and fear in the expectation of the coming
day of the Lord.1 There is no such sense of sin as Sec
ond Esdras expresses in its doctrine of the evil heart, and
though Adam's sin has the same direful consequences, yet
man's freedom and responsibility are unimpaired.
The book begins with various attempts to remove the
offence to faith caused by the destruction of Jerusalem.
It was for Judah's sins. It will last but for a time. It is
for the good of the heathen. It is the heavenly, not the
earthly, Jerusalem for which God cares. The destruction
1 Yet see 14-19 ; 28 : 3 ; 48 : 12 ff. ; 75 : 5 f. ; 84 : io ; 85 : 3.
351

The Messages of the
was only apparently by a heathen power ; it was really by
angels of God. The sacred utensils of the temple were
removed and buried by an angel. God himself withdrew
his presence before the fall. Pessimistic laments over this
catastrophe lead over to the eschatoiogy, in which the real
solution of the problem is found. The age to come is
at hand. It cannot indeed be hastened, but the predes
tined time is not far away. The signs of its coming are
described, the tribulations preceding it, the reign of Mes
siah, and after his return to heaven, the resurrection of
the just. There is a vision of Rome and its fall at the
hand of Messiah. There are speculations about the nature
of the resurrection somewhat like Paul's (Ap. Bar. 49-52,
1 Cor. 15). A vision follows picturing the course of world
history, from the beginning to the time of the consummation
(chs. 53-74). Throughout are many admonitions and
prayers, in which the legalistic spirit prevails. The book
ends with a letter from Baruch to the nine and a half tribes,
justifying God's judgment over Jerusalem, announcing the
coming judgment over Israel's enemies, and admonishing
to penitence and fidelity.

352

Apocalyptical Writers

VII
THE APOCALYPSE OF PETER
Among uncanonical Christian apocalypses we may select
for treatment the Apocalypse of Peter, not only because it
had wide currency in the early church as a genuine work
of the apostle, and hence as canonical, but because of its
epoch-making importance in the history of Jewish and
Christian apocalyptical literature. Here, for the first time,
detailed descriptions of the appearance of the redeemed
in heaven, and especially of the various and fitting punish
ments of the wicked in hell, form the theme of the apoca-
lyptist ; and it appears that directly through the influence
of this book this theme became the ruhng subject of apoca
lyptical speculations in early and mediaeval Christianity.
There were, of course, beginnings in this direction in the
Old Testament and in the Jewish apocalypses which we
have already dealt with.1 The Book of Revelation con
tains no more than these beginnings. The rewards of the
righteous are described in the Messianic language of the
Old Testament, and as to the wicked no details are at
tempted beyond the lake of fire that is to receive them all.
It is to the Apocalypse of Peter that late Christian specu
lations about rewards and punishments after death are
1 See, e.g., Ezek. 32 : 23 ff. ; Isa. 66 : 24 ; Dan. 12 : 2-3 ; En. 22 : 10 : 6, 13 ;
18 : 11 ff- ', 21 : 7-10 ; 90 : 24-27 ; 98 : 3 ; 103 : 7-8 ; 2 Esdr. 7 ; and especially
Secrets of Enoch io. 353

The Messages of the
chiefly to be traced as their source. Even Dante's "Divine
Comedy" has been called "the most marvellous fruit on
the tree of which this book is the root."
Our study of apocalypses, however, and our recognition
of the large place of tradition in them, leads us at once to
ask after the sources from which this writer derived his
materials. The closest analogies have been found in Greek,
not in Jewish, writings. The Orphic-Dionysian religion,
which was widespread at the time, cultivated the hope of
immortality, and elaborated the ideas of heaven and hell.
These Greek ideas may have been adopted directly by our
author. It is possible, however, that some of the lost
Jewish apocalypses would give evidence that such con
ceptions had already been developed in Judaism. In
fact, a recently published Koptic apocalypse containing
such material may be largely Jewish in origin.1 It is to
be observed, however, that the Orphic cult itself drew
upon Oriental sources, and Babylonia may possibly have
been the original home of these speculations.
The Apocalypse of Peter was known only through a
1 Steindorff (Die Apocalypse des Elias, Leipzig, 1899) published two frag
ments which may belong to one book, an Apocalypse of Zephaniah, in which
detailed descriptions of heaven and hell are given. The age and origin of
this apocalypse are unknown, but it is regarded by many as a Jewish rather
than a Christian work. It is not in itself improbable that this new type of
apocalyptical writing was cultivated by Egyptian Jews, under Greek influence,
before it was adopted by Christians and produced such a book as the Apoc
alypse of Peter. In any case Greek influence is the probable source of this
radical change in the nature of apocalyptical speculations.
354

Apocalyptical Writers
few allusions and brief citations in Clement of Alexandria
and others until the year 1886, when about half of it was
discovered in a burying-ground in Egypt. It probably
dates from before 150 A. D., and seems to have been used
by the writer of Second Peter. It may be read in English
in the "Ante-Nicene Fathers" (vol. ix.).
The extant fragment begins with the last sentences of a Last things
prediction by Jesus, and concerns false prophets and the vision
coming of God as saviour and judge. The Lord then righteous
takes the twelve disciples into a mountain, and there, at dead
their request, he shows them two of their departed breth
ren, that they may know the appearance of the righteous
in the other world. They have a dazzling lustre and an
inexpressible glory and beauty of body and raiment.1
Peter asks to see the abode of these glorified ones, and Vision of
is shown a place outside of this world, characterized by caven
brilliant light, and fair flowers, and fragrant and fruitful
trees, where men are clad like angels, and have angels
as their companions. Here there were no distinctions of
rank, but all had the same glory.
Over against this heaven Peter saw the place of pun- Vision
ishment. Here the punishments were appropriate to the0
sins. Blasphemers were hanging by their tongues. Adul
terers hung by hair or feet over a lake of flaming mire.
Murderers were cast into a gorge where they were bitten
by reptiles and tormented by worms, while the souls of
iCf. Matt. 17 :2.
355

The Messages of the Apocalyptical Writers
their victims declared God's judgments just. Persecu
tors stood up to the waist in flames and were lashed by
evil spirits, and their bowels gnawed by worms. Blas
phemers and slanderers bit their lips and had molten iron
poured over their eyes. False witnesses gnawed their
tongues, and their mouths were filled with fire, The un
merciful rich, in filthy rags, rolled about on sharp, red-
hot stones. Usurers stood in a boiling lake of pitch and
blood. Sodomites were cast down a great chff and always
driven up to be cast down again. Idolaters were burned.
The manuscript breaks off in the midst of further de
tails of the same sort. From the other fragments we
learn that this apocalypse taught that children who die
in premature birth are cared for by guardian angels, who
instruct and discipline them until they are fitted to have
part in heaven. The judgment, we further learn, is to be
absolutely universal, over all men and over earth and
heaven itself.

356

APPENDIX

APPENDIX
BOOKS OF REFERENCE
The following notes aim simply to be of service to those who
may wish further to pursue the study of the apocalypses in a
historical spirit. No review of the vast literature oj the subject
is attempted. THE BOOK OF DANIEL
The historical events that form the background of this book
are fully treated in E. R. Bevan's "The House of Seleucus"
(2 vols., London, 1902) ; in German, in Niese's "Geschichte
der griechischen und makedonisohen Staaten " (vol. iii., Berlin,
1904). See also Schurer's " History of the Jewish People in
the Time of Jesus Christ" (Scribners), I., i., pp. 186 ff., and
Mahaffy's "The Empire of the Ptolemies " (Macmillan, 1895).
Among the best general introductions to Daniel are Schurer's
(II., iii., pp. 49 ff.), and the articles in Hastings's "Dictionary
of the Bible," by Curtis, and in the " Encyclopedia Biblica,"
by Kamphausen. Among commentaries, those of Driver (" The
Book of Daniel," 1900, Cambridge Bible), A. A. Bevan ("A
Short Commentary on the Book of Daniel," Cambridge, 1892),
and J. D. Prince ("A Critical Commentary on the Book of
Daniel," Leipzig, 1899), are especially valuable ; in German,
those of Behrmann (1894) and Marti (1901).
359

The Messages of the

THE BOOK OF REVELATION
The historical background may best be studied in the arti
cles on the seven cities in Hastings's " Dictionary," by Ramsay,
and in the " Encyclopedia Biblica," by Woodhouse ; and now,
especially, in Ramsay's "The Letters to the Seven Churches"
(Armstrong, 1905). In this book we have abundant evidence
of Professor Ramsay's special knowledge of the Asian Prov
ince, both geographically and historically. On questions of
criticism and interpretation, however, his views of Revelation
should be carefully and cautiously weighed. The portion of
Mommsen's "Provinces of the Roman Empire" (Scribners,
1887) relating to the Asian Province may also be read.
Among introductory discussions of the Book of Revelation,
the writer may refer to his own article in Hastings's "Diction
ary," in which some matters are treated with greater detail
than in the present volume. . See, further, the article " Apoca
lypse " in the " Encyclopedia Biblica," by Bousset, whose book,
"The Antichrist Legend" (London, 1896), should also be con
sulted as an important contribution to the history of some of
the traditions made use of in Revelation. The articles, "Apoca
lypse" and " Millennium" in the "Encyclopaedia Britannica,"
by Harnack, should still be consulted, and also the discussions of
our book in Jiilicher's "Introduction to the New Testament"
(London, 1904), and in Wernle's " Beginnings of Christianity"
(Williams and Norgate, 1903). Of older works, it must suffice
to say that the historical method of interpretation was set forth
in classic form in the great work of Liicke, "Einleitung in die
Offenbarung des Johannes" (1832, 2d ed., 1852). In this treatise
360

Apocalyptical Writers
the Jewish apocalypses were investigated, with full recognition
of the fact that the Book of Revelation belonged to this class of
literature, and could be understood only when looked at in
this hght ; the book was regarded as having a message for its
immediate present, and the Roman empire was recognized as
the power of evil against which it was chiefly directed. It
should be said that this historical method had a long, though
scattered, history before Liicke, and that other scholars, con
temporary with him, deserve equal credit, especially Ewald,
Bleek, and de Wette. It is interesting to note that this histor
ical method found an early and able advocate in America in
Professor Moses Stuart (" A Commentary on the Apocalypse,"
2 vols., Andover, 1845), whose work — dependent in consider
able measure on Liicke — can still be read with great profit.
Here and in Bleek's "Lectures on the Apocalypse" (London,
1875), the English reader will still find, on the essential matters,
safe guidance. The same point of view is occupied by the
earlier Meyer's " Commentary on Revelation," by Diisterdieck
(1852), which is in English (Funk & Wagnalls, 1887). These
earlier critical works are deficient chiefly through the absence
of literary analysis, and of the tracing of traditional material
back in part to foreign sources. On the other hand, unhistor-
ical methods of treating the book, especially the understanding
of it as directed against the Roman Catholic Church, have pre
vailed in Protestant England and America. The works of
Milligan ("The Revelation of John," 1886; "Discussions on
the Apocalypse," 1893 ; " The Book of Revelation " in the Ex
positor's Bible, 1899), and Archbishop Benson's "The Apoca
lypse" (1900), in which the Apocalypse is thought to describe
church history in its principles rather than in concrete details,
361

The Messages of the
in spite of their learning and ability, rest on untenable pre
suppositions. Even the commentary of Alford ("The Greek
Testament," vol. iv.), and that of Simcox (Cambridge Bible,
1898), seek to unite in an unjustifiable way the historical view
of the book with that which seeks in it a forecast of church his
tory. The brief commentary by C. Anderson Scott ("Revela
tion," in The New-Century Bible) can be heartily commended.
In German, Holtzmann (2d ed., 1893) and Bousset (in Meyer's
"Commentary," 1896) are especially useful.
UNCANONICAL APOCALYPSES
Most of the Jewish apocalypses can be read in English in
the admirable editions of Professor R. H. Charles : "The
Book of Enoch" (Oxford, 1893) ; "The Book of the Secrets of
Enoch" (Oxford, 1896) ; "The Assumption of Moses" (Lon
don, 1897) ; "The Apocalypse of Baruch" (London, 1896) ;
"The Ascension of Isaiah" (London, 1900). To these should
be added, though they are not properly apocalypses, Charles's
"The Book of Jubilees" (London, 1902), and Ryle and James's
"Psalms of the Pharisees" (Cambridge, 189 1). "The Apoca
lypse of Ezra" may be read in our Apocrypha, Revised Ver
sion (2 Esdras, 3-14). There is no adequate commentary on
this important book. Almost the only one in English is by
Lupton in Wace's " Apocrypha " (1888). " The Testaments of
the Twelve Patriarchs" are contained in English in Sinker's
translation in the "Ante-Nicene Fathers, "vol. viii. (Scribners).
Readers of German may have the advantage of possessing
these apocalypses and some other related books, translated
and briefly annotated by competent scholars, in a single collec
tion, at a reasonable price (Kautzsch's "Die Apokryphen und
362

Apocalyptical Writers
Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testaments," 2 vols., Tubingen,
1900). A similar collection of the New Testament Apocrypha
(Hennecke's " Neutestamentliche Apokryphen," Tubingen,
1904) contains the following early Christian • apocalypses :
The Apocalypse of Peter, the Shepherd of Hermas, The
Ascension of Isaiah, 5 and 6 Ezra (= 2 Esdras, 1-2 and 15-
16), and the Christian Sibylline 'Oracles. In English, the
"Apocalypse of Peter" may be read in the "Ante-Nicene
Fathers," vol. ix. ; "Hermas," in vol. i. ; and a number of later
apocalypses in vols. viii. and ix.
Besides the introductory discussions of this literature in the
editions of Charles and others, the student should consult
Schurer's "History of the Jewish People" (II., iii., pp. 44 ff.).
See also the articles in Hastings's "Dictionary of the Bible," on
"Apocalyptic Literature" (Charles), "Apocrypha" (Porter),
"Eschatoiogy of the Apocryphal and Apocalyptic Literature"
(Charles), and articles on the several apocalyptic books by
Charles and others ; in the "Encyclopedia Biblica," "Apoca
lyptic Literature" (Charles), "Apocrypha" (James) ; and in the
"Jewish Encyclopedia," "Apocalypse" (Torrey), and articles
on the several books. Among the best discussions of the
apocalyptic hterature in German, are : Baldensperger's "Die
Messianisch-apokalyptischen Hoff nungen des Judenthums "
(3d ed., Strassburg, 1903); Bousset's "Die Religion des
Judentums" (Berlin, 1903); Volz, "Judische Eschatologie "
(Tiibingen, 1903) ; and also Gunkel's " Schopfung und Chaos "
(Gottingen, 1895).

363

INDEX OF PASSAGES

INDEX OF PASSAGES

DANIEL PAGES
I  IIO-II2
2  II2-II5
3  116-117
4  117-120.
5  120-122
6  122-124
7  134-138
8  139-142
9  147-140
10-12  155-1G6
REVELATION 1—3  202-20S
4  214-215
5  215-216
6  219-220
7  222-223
8-9  225-227
10  228-229
11 • 1-13  231-233
1 1 : 14-19  233-234
12  241-243
13  249-250
14:1-5  2SJ
14 : 6-20  252-254
15-16  254-257
17  263-265
jg  266-268
19 : 1-10  268-270
19: 11-21  273-274

REVELATION PAGES
20 : 1-10  281
20 : 11-15  282
21 : 1-22 :9  288—292
22 : 10-2 1  292-294
ENOCH 1-5  300-301
6-16  301-305
17-36  305-307
37-71  318-326
72-82  307-308
83-00  309-311
91-105  312-317
106-108  317-318
ASSUMPTION OF MOSES  329_332
SECRETS OF ENOCH  332~334
APOCALYPSE OF EZRA (2 ESDRAS)
3 : 1-5: 19  341-343
5 : 20-6 : 34  343-344
6 : 35-9 : 25  344-348
9 : 26-10 : 59- :  348-349
11-12  349-350
13  3S°
14  35o-3Si
APOCALYPSE OF BARUCH  351
APOCALYPSE OF PETER . .  353

3^7

Ube Student's ©lb Testament
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THIS work gives a logical and chronological arrange
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HISTORY OF THE HEBREW PEOPLE
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Charles F. Kent, Ph.D., Woolsey Professor of Biblical Lit
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