{"collection":"Bible & Christianity","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/bib/cmt/vws/rev006.htm","path":"bib/cmt/vws/rev006.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/bib/cmt/vws/rev006.htm","text":"Vincent's Word Studies, by Marvin R. Vincent, [1886]\nOf the seals\nAdd seven.\nAnd see\nOmit.\nWhite horse\nFor white, see on Luk 19:29. Horse, see Zac 1:7-11; Zac 6:1-8. All the figures of this verse are those of victory. The horse in the Old Testament is the emblem of war. See Job 39:25; Psa 76:6; Pro 21:31; Eze 26:10. So Virgil:\n\"But I beheld upon the grass four horses, snowy white,\nGrazing the meadows far and wide, first omen of my sight.\nFather Anchises seeth, and saith: 'New land and bear'st thou war?\nFor war are horses dight; so these war-threatening herd-beasts are.'\"\n\"Aeneid,\" iii., 537.\nSo Turnus, going forth to battle:\n\"He spake, and to the roofed place now swiftly wending home,\nCalled for his steeds, and merrily stood there before their foam\nE'en those that Orithyia gave Pilumnus, gift most fair,\nWhose whiteness overpassed the snow, whose speed the winged air.\"\n\"Aeneid,\" xii., 81-83.\nHomer pictures the horses of Rhesus as whiter than snow, and swift as the winds (\"Iliad,\" x., 436, 437); and Herodotus, describing the battle of Plataea says: \"The fight went most against the Greeks where Mardonius, mounted on a white horse, and surrounded by the bravest of all the Persians, the thousand picked men, fought in person\" (ix., 63). The horses of the Roman generals in their triumphs were white.\nBow (\u03c4\u03cc\u03be\u03bf\u03bd)\nSee Psa 45:4, Psa 45:5; Heb 3:8, Heb 3:9; Isa 41:2; Zac 9:13,Zac 9:14, in which last passage the figure is that of a great bow which is drawn only by a great exertion of strength, and by placing the foot upon it. Compare Homer's picture of Telemachus' attempt to draw Ulysses' bow:\n\"And then he took his place\nUpon the threshold, and essayed the bow;\nAnd thrice he made the attempt and thrice gave o'er.\"\n\"Odyssey,\" xxi., 124-25.\nThe suitors propose to anoint the bow with fat in order to soften it.\n\"Bring us from within\nAn ample roll of fat, that we young men\nBy warming and anointing may make soft\nThe bow, and draw the cord and end the strife.\"\n\"Odyssey,\" xxi., 178-80.\nA crown (\u03c3\u03c4\u03ad\u03c6\u03b1\u03bd\u03bf\u03c2)\nSee on Rev 4:4.\nHad opened (\u1f24\u03bd\u03bf\u03b9\u03be\u03b5\u03bd)\nRev., rendering the aorist mow literally, opened.\nRed (\u03c0\u03c5\u1fe4\u1fe5\u03cc\u03c2)\nFrom \u03c0\u1fe6\u03c1 fire. Flame-colored. Compare Kg2 3:22; Zac 1:8. Only here and Rev 12:3.\nTo take peace from the earth\nKill (\u03c3\u03c6\u03ac\u03be\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd)\nSee on Rev 5:6.\nSword (\u03bc\u03ac\u03c7\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1)\nCompare Mat 10:34. In Homer, a large knife or dirk, worn next the sword-sheath, and used to slaughter animals for sacrifice. Thus, \"The son of Atreus, having drawn with his hands the knife (\u03bc\u03ac\u03c7\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1\u03bd) which hung ever by the great sheath of his sword, cut the hair from the heads of the lambs.... He spake, and cut the lambs' throats with the pitiless brass\" (\"Iliad,\" iii., 271-292). It is used by the surgeon Machaon to cut out an arrow (\"Iliad,\" xi., 844). Herodotus, Aristophanes, and Euripides use the word in the sense of a knife for cutting up meat. Plato, of a knife for pruning trees. As a weapon it appears first in Herodotus: \"Here they (the Greeks) defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords, using them (vii., 225) Later of the sabre or bent sword, contrasted with the \u03be\u03af\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2 or straight sword. Aristophanes uses it with the adjective \u03bc\u03b9\u1fb7 single, for a razor, contrasted with \u03bc\u03ac\u03c7\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1 \u03b4\u03b9\u03c0\u03bb\u1fc6, the double knife or scissors. This and \u1fe5\u03bf\u03bc\u03c6\u03b1\u03af\u03b1 (see on Luk 2:35) are the only words used in the New Testament for sword. \u0398\u03af\u03c6\u03bf\u03c2 (see above) does not occur. In Septuagint \u03bc\u03ac\u03c7\u03b1\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1 of the knife of sacrifice used by Abraham (Gen 22:6,Gen 22:10).\nCome and see\nOmit and see.\nBlack\nThe color of mourning and famine. See Jer 4:28; Jer 8:21; Mal 3:14, where mournfully is, literally, in black.\nPair of balances (\u03b6\u03c5\u03b3\u1f78\u03bd)\nRev., a balance. Properly, anything which joins two bodies; hence a yoke (Mat 11:29; Act 15:10). The cross-beam of the loom, to which the warp was fixed; the thwarts joining the opposite sides of a ship; the beam of the balance, and hence the balance itself. The judgment of this seal is scarcity, of which the balance is a symbol, representing the time when food is doled out by weight. See Lev 26:26; Eze 4:16.\nMeasure (\u03c7\u03bf\u1fd6\u03bd\u03b9\u03be)\nChoenix. Only here in the New Testament. A dry measure, according to some, a quart; to others a pint and a half. Herodotus, speaking of the provisions for Xerxes' army, assigns a choenix of corn for a man's daily supply, evidently meaning a minimum allowance (vii., 187); and Thucydides, speaking of the terms of truce between the Lacedaemonians and the Athenians, mentions the following as one of the provisions: \"The Athenians shall permit the Lacedaemonians on the mainland to send to those on the island a fixed quantity of kneaded flour, viz., two Attic quarts (\u03c7\u03bf\u03af\u03bd\u03b9\u03ba\u03b1\u03c2) of barley-meal for each man\" (iv., 16). Jowett (\"Thucydides\") says that the choenix was about two pints dry measure. So Arnold (\"Thucydides\"), who adds that the allowance of two choenixes of barley-meal daily to a man was the ordinary allowance of a Spartan at the public table. See Herodotus, vi., 57.\nFor a penny (\u03b4\u03b7\u03bd\u03b1\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5)\nSee on Mat 20:2.\nPale (\u03c7\u03bb\u03c9\u03c1\u1f78\u03c2)\nOnly in Revelation, except Mar 6:39. Properly, greenish-yellow, like young grass or unripe wheat. Homer applies it to honey, and Sophocles to the sand. Generally, pale, pallid. Used of a mist, of sea-water, of a pale or bilious complexion. Thucydides uses it of the appearance of persons stricken with the plague (ii., 49). In Homer it is used of the paleness of the face from fear, and so as directly descriptive of fear (\"Iliad,\" x., 376; xv., 4). Of olive wood (\"Odyssey,\" ix., 320, 379) of which the bark is gray. Gladstone says that in Homer it indicates rather the absence than the presence of definite color. In the New Testament, always rendered green, except here. See Mar 6:39; Rev 8:7; Rev 9:14.\nHell\nProperly, Hades. The realm of the dead personified. See on Mat 16:18.\nPower (\u1f10\u03be\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03af\u03b1)\nSee on Mar 2:10; see on Pe2 2:11. Rev., better, authority.\nWith the sword (\u1f10\u03bd \u1fe5\u03bf\u03bc\u03c6\u03b1\u03af\u1fb3)\nAnother word for sword. Compare Rev 6:4, and see on Luk 2:35.\nWith death (\u1f10\u03b9 \u03b8\u03b1\u03bd\u03ac\u03c4\u1ff3)\nOr pestilence. The Hebrew deber, pestilence, is rendered by the Greek word for death in the Septuagint. See Jer 14:12; Jer 21:7. Compare the term black-death applied to an Oriental plague which raged in the fourteenth century.\nWith the beasts (\u1f51\u03c0\u1f78 \u03c4\u1ff6\u03bd \u03b8\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03c9\u03bd)\nRev., by. The preposition \u1f51\u03c0\u03cc by is used here instead of \u1f10\u03bd in or with, indicating more definitely the actual agent of destruction; while \u1f10\u03bd denotes the element in which the destruction takes place, and gives a general indication of the manner in which it was wrought. With these four judgments compare Eze 14:21.\nAltar (\u03b8\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03b1\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03c1\u03af\u03bf\u03c5)\nSee on Act 17:23. The altar of sacrifice, as is indicated by slain; not the altar of incense. The imagery is from the tabernacle. Exo 39:39; Exo 40:29.\nSouls (\u03c8\u03c5\u03c7\u1f70\u03c2)\nOr lives. See on Jo3 1:2. He saw only blood, but blood and life were equivalent terms to the Hebrew.\nSlain (\u1f10\u03c3\u03c6\u03b1\u03b3\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03c9\u03bd)\nSee on Rev 5:6. The law commanded that the blood of sacrificed animals should be poured out at the bottom of the altar of burnt-offering (Lev 4:7).\nThey held (\u03b5\u1f36\u03c7\u03bf\u03bd)\nNot held fast, but bore the testimony which was committed to them.\nThey cried (\u1f14\u03ba\u03c1\u03b1\u03b6\u03bf\u03bd)\nSee on Mar 5:5.\nHow long (\u1f15\u03c9\u03c2 \u03c0\u03cc\u03c4\u03b5)\nLit., until when. Compare Zac 1:12.\nO Lord (\u1f41 \u03b4\u03b5\u03c3\u03c0\u03cc\u03c4\u03b7\u03c2)\nSee on Pe2 2:1. Only here in Revelation. Addressed to God rather than to Christ, and breathing, as Professor Milligan remarks, \"the feeling of Old Testament rather than of New Testament relation.\" Compare Act 4:24; Jde 1:4.\nTrue (\u1f00\u03bb\u03b7\u03b8\u03b9\u03bd\u1f78\u03c2)\nSee on Joh 1:9; see on Rev 3:7.\nJudge (\u03ba\u03c1\u03af\u03bd\u03b5\u03b9\u03c2)\nOriginally the verb means to separate; thence the idea of selection: to pick out, and so to discriminate or judge.\nAvenge (\u1f10\u03ba\u03b4\u03b9\u03ba\u03b5\u1fd6\u03c2)\nOn the earth (\u1f10\u03c0\u1f76 \u03c4\u1fc6\u03c2 \u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2)\nEarth, in Revelation, is generally to be understood of the ungodly earth.\nWhite robes were given unto every one of them (\u1f10\u03b4\u03cc\u03b8\u03b7\u03c3\u03b1\u03bd \u1f11\u03ba\u03ac\u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03b9\u03c2 \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u03b1\u1f76 \u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03ba\u03b1\u1f76)\nThe best texts read \u1f10\u03b4\u03cc\u03b8\u03b7 \u03b1\u1f50\u03c4\u03bf\u1fd6\u03c2 \u1f11\u03ba\u03ac\u03c3\u03c4\u1ff3 \u03c3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u1f74 \u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03ba\u03ae there was given them to each one a white robe. So Rev. \u03a3\u03c4\u03bf\u03bb\u1f74 is properly a long, flowing robe; a festive garment. Compare Mar 16:5; Luk 15:22; Luk 20:46.\nShould rest (\u1f00\u03bd\u03b1\u03c0\u03b1\u03cd\u03c3\u03c9\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9)\nSee on Mat 11:28; see on Pe1 5:14; compare Rev 14:13; Dan 12:13. Not merely rest from their crying for vengeance, but rest in peace.\nFellow-servants\nSee Master in Rev 6:10.\nShould be fulfilled (\u03c0\u03bb\u03b7\u03c1\u03ce\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9)\nCompleted in number. See Col 2:10. Some texts read \u03c0\u03bb\u03b7\u03c1\u03ce\u03c3\u03c9\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd shall have fulfilled their course.\nThe sixth seal\n\"The Apocalypse is molded by the great discourse of our Lord upon 'the last things' which has been preserved for us in the first three Gospels (Mat 24:4; 25.; Mark 13:5-37; Luke 21:8-36; compare 17:20-37). The parallelism between the two is, to a certain extent, acknowledged by all inquirers, and is indeed, in many respects, so obvious, that it can hardly escape the notice of even the ordinary reader. Let any one compare, for example, the account of the opening of the sixth seal with the description of the end (Mat 24:29, Mat 24:30), and he will see that the one is almost a transcript of the other. It is remarkable that we find no account of this discourse in the Gospel of St. John; nor does it seem as sufficient explanation of the omission that the later Evangelist was satisfied with the records of the discourse already given by his predecessors\" (Milligan).\nEarthquake (\u03c3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u1f78\u03c2)\nLit., shaking. Used also of a tempest. See on Mat 8:24, and compare Mat 24:7. The word here is not necessarily confined to shaking the earth. In Mat 24:29, it is predicted that the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (\u03c3\u03b1\u03bb\u03b5\u03c5\u03b8\u03ae\u03c3\u03bf\u03bd\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9, see on Luk 21:26). Here also the heaven is removed (Rev 6:14). Compare Heb 12:26, where the verb \u03c3\u03b5\u03af\u03c9 to shake (kindred with \u03c3\u03b5\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u1f78\u03c2) is used.\nBlack as sackcloth of hair (\u03bc\u03ad\u03bb\u03b1\u03c2 \u1f61\u03c2 \u03c3\u03ac\u03ba\u03ba\u03bf\u03c2)\nCompare Mat 24:29; Isa 50:3; Isa 13:10; Jer 4:23; Eze 32:7, Eze 32:8; Joe 2:31; Joe 3:15; Amo 8:9, Amo 8:10; Mic 3:6. For sackcloth, see on Luk 10:13.\nThe moon (\u1f21 \u03c3\u03b5\u03bb\u03ae\u03bd\u03b7)\nAdd \u1f45\u03bb\u03b7 whole. Rev., the whole moon.\nUntimely figs (\u1f40\u03bb\u03cd\u03bd\u03b8\u03bf\u03c5\u03c2)\nBetter, as Rev., unripe. Compare Mat 24:32; Isa 34:4. Only here in the New Testament.\nDeparted (\u1f00\u03c0\u03b5\u03c7\u03c9\u03c1\u03b9\u03c3\u03b8\u03b7)\nThe verb means to separate, sever. Rev., was removed.\nScroll (\u03b2\u03b9\u03b2\u03bb\u03af\u03bf\u03bd)\nSee on Luk 4:17. Compare Isa 34:4.\nMountain and island\nOf the earth\nSee on Rev 6:10.\nGreat men (\u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03b9\u03c3\u03c4\u1fb6\u03bd\u03b5\u03c2)\nRev., princes. See on high captains, Mar 6:21.\nChief captains (\u03c7\u03b9\u03bb\u03af\u03b1\u03c1\u03c7\u03bf\u03b9)\nSee on Mar 6:21, and see on centurion, Luk 7:2.\nThe mighty (\u03bf\u1f31 \u03b4\u03c5\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03bf\u1f76)\nThe best texts read \u03bf\u1f31 \u1f30\u03c3\u03c7\u03c5\u03c1\u03bf\u1f76. Rev., the strong. For the difference in meaning, see on the kindred words \u03b4\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03bc\u03b9\u03c2 and \u1f30\u03c3\u03c7\u03cd\u03c2 might and power, Pe2 2:11.\nEvery free man\nOmit every, and read as Rev., every bondman and free man.\nIn the dens (\u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 \u03c4\u1f70 \u03c3\u03c0\u03ae\u03bb\u03b1\u03b9\u03b1)\nRev., caves. The preposition \u03b5\u1f30\u03c2 into implies running for shelter into.\nRocks (\u03c0\u03ad\u03c4\u03c1\u03b1\u03c2)\nSee on Mat 16:18.\nSaid (\u03bb\u03ad\u03b3\u03bf\u03c5\u03c3\u03b9\u03bd)\nLit., say. So Rev.\nFall on us\nWrath (\u1f40\u03c1\u03b3\u1fc6\u03c2)\nDenoting a deep-seated wrath. See on Joh 3:36.\nThe great day (\u1f21 \u1f21\u03bc\u03ad\u03c1\u03b1 \u1f21 \u03bc\u03b5\u03b3\u03ac\u03bb\u03b7)\nLit., the day, the great (day). For the construction, see on Jo1 4:9.\nIs come (\u1f26\u03bb\u03b8\u03b5\u03bd)\nLit., came.\nShall be able to stand (\u03b4\u03cd\u03bd\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03b9 \u03c3\u03c4\u03b1\u03b8\u1fc6\u03bd\u03b1\u03b9)\nRev., rightly, is able. Compare Nah 1:6; Mal 3:2.","title":"Vincent's Word Studies: Revelation: Revelation Chapter 6","type":"page"}