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τῶν καὶ φόβος μέγας ἔπεσεν ἐπὶ τὰς θεω 12 ένας αὐτές. Καὶ

ἤκεσαν φωνὴν με γάλην ἐκ τῶ ἐρανα, λέγεσαν αὐτοῖς· Ακάθηκε ὧδε και ἀνέβησαν εἰς τὸν ἐρανὸν ἐν τῇ νεφέλη καὶ ἐθεώρησαν αυτ τὲς οἱ ἐχθροὶ αὐτῶν· 13 Καὶ ἐν ἐκείνῃ τῇ ὥρα ἐγένελο σεισμός μέγας, καὶ τὸ δέ καλον τῆς πόλεως ἔπεσε, καὶ ἀπεκλάνθησαν ἐν τῷ σεισμό ὀνόματα ἀνθρώπων χιλιάδες ἐπλά· καὶ οἱ λοιποὶ έμφοβοι ἐγένοντο, καὶ ἔδωκαν δόξαν τῷ 14Θεῷ τῷ ἐξανᾶ. Ἡ καὶ ἡ δευτέρα ἀπὸ ήλθεν ἰδὲ, ἡ ἐαὶ ἡ τείτη ἔρχεται ταχύ.

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great voice from heaven, saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies beheld 13 them. And the same hour was there a great earthquake, and the tenth part of the city fell, and in the earthquake were slain of men seven thousand: and the remnant were affrighted, and gave glory to the God of 14 heaven. The second woe is past, and behold, the third woe cometh quickly.

Ver. 1. A reed like unto a rod.] A reed*, being both straight and light, became a fit instrument for measuring; and, like our rood, rod, or pole, had its definite measure. The Hebrew rod or reed was, according to Michaelis, of six ells, each ell being five or six hand-breadths. Such a measuring instrument is now placed in the hands of the prophet, who, on receiving his new commission, is ordered "to measure "the Temple of God, and the altar, and those who "worship therein." The commission extends not only to the temple and altar, but to the worshippers who frequent them; and, compared with Ezek. xl. Zech. ii. Hab. iii. 6, will appear to authorize an examination into the state of divine worship in the times of this Trumpet, and an estimate of the number and kind of the worshippers. Concerning the first part of the commission, which respects the temple and altar, and the worship of those who are admitted to the nearest presence of the Deity, no account is returned. In those times of ignorance and superstition, under the beginnings of the sixth Trumpet, few they were, who worshipped "in spirit and in truth." But the outer court of the Temple is particularly mentioned; and it is not to be measured, for the God of the Temple will not acknowledge such worship as, under the times of this Trumpet, was performed there; it is ordered not to be measured, but to be cast out; and the Gentiles are to take possession of it; and at the same time they are to possess themselves of the holy city surrounding it, during a period of fortytwo months. And during this period (the length of

* In the Hebrew, whence the Greek navwv, and the English cane.

which will be explained) we have no mention of the inner temple; till, at the sound of the seventh Trumpet, "the Temple of God is opened in Heaven, and "the Ark of his covenant is seen *." Then is restored a purer worship; then men draw God," in the beauty of holiness.

nearer unto

Ver. 2. The holy city shall they tread.] The Holy City is the Christian Church, which, after the rejection and destruction of the sacred Jerusalem, was received in its stead which will appear clearly from this instance, that the Christian Church in its renovated and purer state is called, "the New Jerusalem † ;" and Jerusalem is certainly "the Holy City ." The Temple was at Jerusalem with its altar, and holy place, and Holy of Holies: but these, at least the inner and more sacred places, are not given to the Gentiles, but the outer court only, with the city surrounding, which they are to occupy during the period assigned to them.

It is said in the received translation, that "they "shall tread under foot the holy city;" &c.—And the commentators, who have generally admitted this translation, have explained it to signify, that "they "shall trample upon, and tyrannize over, the Church "of Christ." I have translated the Greek (which is walos) simply by the word tread; because I entertain doubts whether either the Greek expression, or the context, will require or indeed admit of any other meaning. The verb wale signifies simply to tread; and to tread the courts of the temple, is synonymous, in Scriptural language, to worshipping therein. Thus God,

* Ver. 19.

† Gal. iv. 25, 26. Rev. iii. 12. note xxi. 2. 10.

Matt. v. 35. xxvii. 53.

by

by the mouth of his prophet, rejecting the worship of the polluted Israelites, says, "who hath required "this at your hands, to tread my courts?" where the

Greek is, wale

way μs, and has the same signification as in Psalm 1xv. 4, to frequent, or dwell in, my courts. To tread under foot, to trample upon indignantly, is commonly expressed by nalanale, naTazalεopal, of which many instances may be seen in the concordances. Or, if water is ever used in this sense, to express indignant trampling, a preposition generally follows, (as walɛw étuvw oɛwv) which brings it to express the same sense as καλαπατεω. Παλειν is indeed employed to express the treading grapes in a winepress; but that action is simply treading; and, excepting in its metaphorical sense, implies no indignation. Metaphorically, it expresses iudignation; because, in that borrowed sense, the treading seems to be destruction attended with blood. It may indeed be used in that borrowed sense in this passage; but I am inclined to think that it is not, for the reasons assigned above; and also, because the history of the times, hereby signified, agrees better with the notion of the Gentiles being the occupiers of the Christian Church, (not of its holy interior, but of its exterior courts and surrounding streets,) than with that of their trampling under foot, and tyrannizing over it, during the long period assigned to them. From the time when the Gentiles took possession of the Church, and began to tread its courts; from the time that Constantine, by adopting Christianity, made it the Religion of the nations; Kings became her nursing.

66

Пatii, wogeveσfans: Hesych. The vulgate, and the Ethiopic version, as given in Latin, have calcabunt, not conculcabunt : Walton's Polyglot. 2. b. A

"fathers,

"fathers, and Queens her nursing mothers," and persecution of the Church, by the civil powers, has only raged at some certain periods, arising from the ignorance of the kings, who worshipped only in the outward courts, and were not admitted to see the truth and purity of Religion in the inner Temple †.

Ver. 2. Forty-two months.] The period assigned for this Gentile worship in the courts of the Temple, is forty-two months. It is the very same duration of time, which we shall afterwards see described under the name of 1260 days. Forty-two months, of thirty days each, (such undoubtedly was the measure of time in the East ‡,) amount exactly to 1260 days. But a day, in the prophetic language of Scripture, has been shewn to signify a year §.

The exact commencement, and consequently the end of this period of 1260 years, shall be afterwards discussed ||. But certainly there appears exhibited in

Isa. xlix. 23.

+ The note of the ancient commentator Arethas upon this passage deserves attention :-Πολιν άγιαν την εκκλησιαν ἐκάλεσεν, ἣν ἴσμεν πατείσθαι ὑπο ἔθνων, οἷς ἐδόθη οιονει ἐν αὐτῇ αναςρεφεσθαι, ύπο μεν Χρισιανων Θεοφίλος, ύπο δε απιςων καλαφρονητικώς και ολεθρίως. And it may be questioned whether 'Iguaλnu waluuem, x. t. λ. in Luke xxi. 24, should not be translated, "Jerusalem shall be trodden (not trodden down) by the Gentiles," and whether that prophecy does not belong to the same period as this?

↑ See Louth, on Hos. vi. 6. Prideaux, Con. i. 380, &c. Wintle's Prelim. Dissert. on Daniel; where Gen. vii. 24. viii. 3. 6. vii. 11; 1 Kings vii. 4; 1 Chron. xxvii. 1; are quoted, to shew that the aucient year was composed of 360 days, or of 12 months of 30 days each: and the learned writer refers to Sir John Marsham, Bishop Beveridge, Strauchius, &c., for proofs of other nations beside the Jews using the same method of computation. This may be seen also fully proved in Playfair's Chronology, p. 11.

Note, ch. ii. 10.

I See note, ch. xiii. 5.

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