CHAPTER 10

10:111. PREPARATIONS FOR THE SEVENTH TRUMPET-BLAST. (1) VISION OF THE

STRONG ANGEL WITH THE LITTLE BOOK.
1. .] As the opening of the Seventh Seal was
preceded by the two visions of c. 7., so the visions of cc. 10., 11. are preparatory to the
blowing of the last Trumpet. First the Seer sees an angel, not, as Primasius thinks,
Dominum Christum descendentem de caelo, but an angel in the technical sense
which is maintained throughout the book; another angel, not one of the Seven or of
the Four (cf. 7:2, 14:6, 14:15 ff.), remarkable for his strength (5:2, 18:21) coming down
from heaven (20:1), clad in a cloud, the vehicle in which heavenly beings descend and
ascend (Ps. 103. (104.) 3, Dan. 7:13, Acts 1:9 ff., 1 Thess. 4:17, Apoc. 1:7, 11:12, 14:14
ff.; for the acc. after . see 7:9, note). Upon his head is the rainbow ( ), not
the emerald bow of c. 4:3 (Tert. coron. 15), but the ordinary bow of many colours
connected with the cloud (Gen. 9:13 ), and due in this
instance to the sunshine of the Angels face. recalls the
description of the glorified Christ (1:16), but does not serve to identify this angel with
Him; cf. Mt. 13:43, Apoc. 18:1; nor can this be inferred from
, notwithstanding that this description bears some resemblance to 1:15
, . In there is
perhaps a reference to Exod. 14:19, 14:24 ,
... ... . The pillarlike extremities of the Angels form accord with the posture ascribed to him in v. 2.
2. ] The description is
continued in the nom., as if the Seer had written . . .
The Angels hand grasped a small papyrus roll which lay opena double contrast to the
of c. 5:1. The little open roll contained but a fragment of the
great purpose which was in the Hand of God, a fragment ripe for revelation.
is a diminutive of , with which may be compared (Mc.
14:47), (Jo. 6:9), (2 Tim. 3:6); other forms are ,
, cf. Pollux 7:210: , , ,
. seems to be found here only, and, as the app. crit. shows, it
has given the scribes trouble.
The Apocalyptist has in his mind Ezek. 2:9 ,
, .
.] The Angers posture denotes both
his colossal size and his mission to the world: sea and land is an O.T. formula for the
totality of terrestrial things (Exod. 20:4, 20:11, Ps. 68. (69.) 35). Sea and land offer an
equally firm foothold to the servants of God (Mc. 6:48, note; Mt. 14:28 ff.); the Angel
plants his right foot on the sea, as if to defy its instability. The sea is ever present to the
mind of the Seer (5:13, 7:1 ff., 8:8 f., etc.); to the exile in Patmos there must have been a
peculiar attraction in the thought of the strong Angel to whom the Aegean was as solid
ground.

3. .] Most things in the Apocalypse are on a great

scale, and a is common (e.g. 1:10, 5:2, 5:12, 6:10, 7:2, 7:10, etc.); but the
strength of this Angels voice is emphasized by the added metaphor
. , mugire is used of a low deep sound like the lowing of the ox (Job
6:5 LXX., and an anonymous translator in 1 Regn. 6:12), or the growl of thunder (Ar.
nub. 291); cf. Arethas: ,
: the lions roar is more exactly expressed by (LXX., 1 Pet. 5:8
) or (Hos. 11:10, Am. 3:4), or ,
(Arethas, Phavorinus); but as Theocritus (26:21) has , it is
possible that was so employed in Alexandrian Greek. The word may have
been preferred here, to indicate that the voice of the Angel had not only volume, but
depth, at once compelling attention and inspiring awe. It was a signal rather than a
message. No words were spoken, yet a reply was at once elicited.
, ] . ., clearly a recognised group, like
, , . But whereas other heptads are
defined, the Seer does not stop to explain the Seven Thunders, but assumes them to be
known. No satisfactory explanation of the article has been given; unless (Zllig) it is to
be found in the sevenfold o o
of Ps. 29. which describes a thunderstorm upon
the sea. The Thunders uttered their own () voices, distinct from the Angels cry,
and charged with a message intelligible () to those who had ears to hear; cf.
Ps. 19:1, and the remarkable parallel in Jo. 12:28 ...

. In the acc. is that of content (Blass, Gr. p. 90 f.); cf.
13:5 , Heb. 12:24 .
4. ... ] The Seer in his vision seems to be
engaged in taking notes of what he sees and hears (1:11, 1:19, 2:1, etc.). He has
understood the special () utterance of the Thunders, and at once takes his
papyrus-sheet and dips his reed pen into the inkhorn (2 Jo. 12, 3 Jo. 13), intending to
write them down, when a voice from heaven (14:2, 14:13, 18:4) bids him refrain. The
form occurs in Jo. 4:47, 12:33, 18:32, while on the other hand in Jo. 6:6, Apoc.
3:2, the best text has ; see WH.2 Notes, p. 169. ; Syr.gw. adds

= apparently, and this interesting reading is now confirmed by

the Athos MS. 130.

... . . is from Dan. 12:4 , ,
(cf. ib. 8:26); but the application of the metaphor to
unwritten utterances is a bold innovation. stands in sharp contrast with
1:19 ; the position of is emphatic, cf. 11:2 .
What the utterances were, or why they were not to be revealed, it is idle to enquire; but
compare 2 Cor. 12:4 . As
Arethas says: to be forbidden to write was to
Ar. Arethas.
WH. Westcott and Hort, N.T. in Greek second edition (1896).

be forbidden to communicate to the Church what he had heard. The Seers enforced
reticence witnesses to the fragmentary character of even apocalyptic disclosures. The
Seer himself received more than he was at liberty to communicate. He was conscious of
having passed through experiences which he could not recall or express, and he rightly
interpreted his inability to put them on paper as equivalent to a prohibition. Such a
revelation was, for all practical purposes, a . Cf. Origen in Joann. t. 13:5:
c. Cels. 6:6.
5 f. .] See v. 1, notes. The angel now speaks (v.
3) and answers the Seven Thunders by a solemn oath. But first he lifts up his hand to
heaven, a gesture which in the O.T. accompanies an adjuration; cf. Deut. 32:40 (

(
(
) ,

(see Driver ad loc.). or is in fact frequently

a synonym of , see e.g. Gen. 14:22, Exod. 6:8, Num. 14:30, Ez. 20:15, 20:28.
The passage in the Seers mind is perhaps Dan. 12:7
, . On
Arethas remarks: . ,
. The phrase is frequent in the
Apocalypse (1:18, 4:9 f., 15:7). . is another familiar
formula (Exod. 20:11, Ps. 145. (146.) 6, 2 Esdr. 9:6), which increases the solemnity of
the oath by rehearsing the visible proofs of the almighty power of God; cf. Gen. 14:22.
On see Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 284.
] is followed by (1) the object of the appeal in the
acc. (Jac. 5:12) or governed by (Mt. 5:34, 5:36, 23:16), (Mt. 5:35), or (Heb.
6:13, 6:16); (2) the contents of the oath, preceded by (Gen. 14:23, Ps. 94. (95.) 11), or
recited with or without (Ps. 109. (110.) 4, Mc. 6:23, 14:71). The Angels words
were, : not Time shall be no more ( .), as the
ancient commentators for the most part interpret (e.g. Bede: mutabilis saecularium
temporum varietas cessabit), but there shall no more be any interval of time, any
further delay: cf. Hab. 2:3 (Heb. 10:37), , and
contrast Apoc. 6:11 . There may be an
allusion to Dan. 12:7, which foretells a . But how necessary so solemn an
assurance became towards the end of the Apostolic age, when the early hopes of an
immediate had been dispersed, is clear from such a passage as 2 Pet. 3:3 ff.

; cf. Lc. 12:45 ... ,
.
7. ... .] But, so far from further
delays supervening, as soon as the days of the Seventh Trumpet have come, at the
moment when the Seventh Angel is about to blow, then (for in apodosis, cf. WM. p.
546 f.) the Secret of God is finished. The clause as a whole corrects the impression that
implies an immediate end. It will come in days which though
WM. Winer-Moulton, Grammar of N. T. Greek, 8th Engl. ed. (Edinburgh, 1877).

future are so distinctly present to the mind of the speaker that he writes rather
than (the aor. of anticipation, WM. p. 346 f., cf. Burton, 50).
: cf. the Synoptic phrase . . . (Mc. 4:11,
note), and St Pauls . . . (1 Cor. 2:1, Col. 2:2), or (Col. 4:3). The
mystery of which mention is made here is perhaps wider than these, including the whole
purpose of God in the evolution of human history. The whole is now at length complete;
with cf. 15:1 , 17:17
. That a final and joyous clearing up of the problems of life should find a place
in the last days was the Gospel of the prophets both Jewish and Christian (
[ ] ). For the phrase His
servants the prophets see Am. 3:7, Jer. 7:25, 25:4, Apoc. 1:1, 1:3, 11:18. The rare
active occurs also in 1 Regn. 31:9, 2 Regn. 18:19, Apoc. 14:6;
is frequent in St Luke, and is found also in Gal. 1:9, Pet. 1:12, but
the usual construction is . [] (Blass, Gr. p. 89 f.).
8. .] Another example of mixed construction: normally,
the sentence would run either ... ... or
. (cf. app. crit.). The sense is
clear; the same heavenly voice, which had bidden the Seer not to write the utterance of
the Seven Thunders (v. 4), now bids him take the roll that lay open in the Angels hand
(v. 2). Cf. 4:1, note.
9. .] The Seer in his rapture quits his position at
the door of heaven (4:1), and places himself before the great Angel whose feet rest on
sea and land. On see WH.2, Notes, p. 171, W. Schm. p. 3.
telling (bidding) him to give; cf. Acts 21:21 .
The Angel does not give the book, but invites the Seer to take it, and thus to shew at
once his fitness for the task before him (cf. 5:2 ff.), and his readiness to undertake it.
The book did not need to be opened, like that which the Lamb had taken out of the
Hand of God, nor were its contents to be read or published; it was to be consumed by
the Seer (on see Mc. 4:4, note) i.e. taken in and digested mentally; cf.
Primasius: id est in secretis recondi visceribus, and Arethas: , ,
. There is a clear reference to Ez. 3:1, 3:3
, ...
. ,
. The Seer adds: , and
(5:10) . The sweetness of the roll reminds the reader of Ps. 18.
(19.) 10, 11 ... , 118. (119.) 103
, . . The beauty of
the revelation, the joy of insight and foresight which it afforded, the promise it held of
greater joys to come, are well expressed by this metaphor: cf. Jer. 15:16
. But when the message has been
digested, it has other and opposite effects (for this use of
cf. Jo. 7:38 ). Every revelation of Gods
purposes, even though a mere fragment, a , is bitter-sweet, disclosing

judgement as well as mercy. The Seer, if he would be admitted into a part of Gods
secret, must be prepared for very mixed sensations; the first joy of fuller knowledge
would be followed by sorrows deeper and more bitter than those of ordinary men. Cf.
Orig. philoc. 5:6.
10. ... .] The Seer obeys, and the
result is as the Angel had said. There is however an instructive change of order: the
Angels words are ; the
Seer relating his experience naturally places first the sensation which was first in order
of time. The remarkable variant for is best explained as the first
word of a gloss , accidentally transferred into the text from the margin
or from a position over ; the gloss itself may have been suggested by Job
32:19. Cf. app. crit.
11. .] is the plural of
indefinite statement, nearly equivalent to ; whether the words come from the
heavenly voice (vv. 4, 8), or from the Angel (v. 9), or from some unknown source, is not
obvious or material. . recalls the commission given to the prophets of Israel,
especially to Jeremiah (1:10 ,
) and
Ezekiel (4:7 (i.q. ), 6:2, 11:4 et passim). The Seer
of the Apocalypse, full of the bitterness of the roll which he has devoured, is now bound
() to prophesy again. After the Seventh Trumpet a second will begin in
which the destinies of nations and their rulers will be yet more fully revealed. The Seer
is not sent to prophesy in their presence ( with gen., cf. Mc. 13:9
), nor against them ( with acc., see Ez. l.c.), but simply with a
view to their several cases ( .). emphasizes the greatness of the
field. It is no one Empire or Emperor that is concerned in the prophecies of the second
half of the Apocalypse; not merely Rome or Nero or Domitian, but a multitude of races
kingdoms and crowned heads.