Revelation 10

Revelation 10:1

Upon the multiplying of these sins, ch. ix. 21, and impenitent continuing in all their provocations, it was just with God to proceed, as now he appeared to me in the vision to do; for methought I saw another angel of special dignity (such as ch. v. 2, and ch. xviii. 21, designed and used for eminent employments) coming down in a cloud from heaven, (as angels are wont to do on God’s messages,) having a rainbow on his head, either to denote a glorious appearance, as Ezek. i. 28, or, perhaps, moreover (see ch. iv. 3.) God’s covenant of mercy and deliverance, made with all his faithful servants, who were now to receive benefit by what should fall out, (see ch. ix. 13,) but his looks or countenance were most terrible, and his feet, denoting his ways and present designed actions, were most sad and destructive, the fire noting destruction, and the pillars the fixedness of the decree, the immutableness of it.

Revelation 10:2

And he had in his hand a roll opened, and so ready to be read, wherein was contained a sentence against the whole nation of the Jews, (see note on ch. vii. 6,) a decree come out from God of utter destruction: and this was the completion of that prophecy, wherein it was said that Christ should make his enemies his footstool; that is, subdue and bring them down, and that here expressed by this angel’s setting both his feet on them.

Revelation 10:3

And this angel roared terribly, as a lion doth roar after his prey when he is in sight of it; and upon that, as upon a call, the seven thunders uttered their voices, that is, methought I heard seven, that is, many claps of thunder, and voices coming out of them, by which the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus was shortly represented.

[a] seven thunders] What is meant by the ἀπὸ βρονταί, seven thunders, here, must be observed for the clearing the whole matter. That thunders are the fittest expressions or emblems of great blows or judgments, is obvious to every man; and so that the number of seven, being a complete number, is fitly affixed when any fatal, signal blow is to be inflicted. And so these seven thunders here, sending forth their

Revelation 10:4

And as I had before written what I had seen and heard, so now I was about to do, to set down what was said by those voices; but I was commanded that I should not do so, but, on the other side, that I should shut and seal them up, signifying them to be too terrible to be revealed, (the ears of every one that heard them would tingle,) and therefore fitter to be sealed and closed up in silence than to be recorded or set down, (such was this destruction by Titus.)

Revelation 10:5

And the angel, ver. 1, lifted up his hand to heaven, as a ceremony of swearing, Gen. xiv. 22, Deut. xxxii. 40, (proportionably to that which is said of God concerning the provoking Israelites, that he sware in his wrath, they should not enter into his rest, (that is, that they should die in the wilderness, and not enter into Canaan,) or concerning the delivering his people out of Antiochus’s hands, Dan. xii. 7,)

6, 7. And with an oath, by God the creator of all the world, he pronounced the sentence, that time or delay should no more be, that is, that this execution of God’s decree should be no longer deferred, but the destruction, so long threatened, which when it came, it should be a total, utter destruction, should now immediately light upon this people: a very great part of it now by Titus, and within a very little while, upon the sounding of the seventh angel, it should be perfected, and so all those prophecies be fulfilled, whereby it had been foretold both by the old prophets, and since by the prophets under the new testament, to whom it had been made known by God,

¹ land, γῆν. ² land, γῆν. ³ delay. ⁴ be ready to sound, μέλλῃ σαλπίξειν.

Revelation 10:6

[b] time no longer] The word χρόνος, signifying time, signifies delay also: and accordingly thus the verb χρονίζω, (rendered by Hesychius, διατρίβω, to stay,) is used by the apostle, Heb. x. 37, ὁ ἐρχόμενος οὐ χρονιεῖ, he that comes will not delay, in the very notion that here, οὐκ ἵσται χρόνος ἔτι, there shall be no longer delay, God’s judgments shall speedily be executed; and this most agreeably to the expression in Habakkuk, ch. ii. 3, it will surely come, οὐ μὴ χρονίσῃ, it will not tarry, or delay, any longer. So Ecclus. vii. 16, of wrath, that is, the judgments of God, οὐ χρονιεῖ, it will make no long delay, and ch. xii. 15, οὐ χρονιεῖ, he will not tarry. And so in Demosthenes the word is used, χρόνοις ἐμποικὶν τοῖς πράγμασι, to cause delay to affairs.

Revelation 10:8

And that voice that spake to me from heaven, ver. 4, again spake to me, and commanded me to go to that angel, ver. 2, and beseech him to give me the book or roll, (wherein that sentence was written.)

Revelation 10:9

And I went and besought him for it; and he gave it me, and bid me eat it, (see Ezek. iii. 1,) telling me that though it would taste a little pleasant in my mouth, Ezek. iii. 3, yet when it was in the stomach it would be very bitter; that is, that though in respect of the rescue and deliverance that would befall the godly by the destruction of these enemies of theirs, and by consideration of the great justice of God upon these that so well deserved it, I should, while I considered that alone, fully approve and be well pleased with this sentence against the Jews; yet when I began to see and consider it in the terribleness of it, and in the utter vastation of a glorious temple, where God had so long been pleased to dwell, and of a people which God had taken and owned peculiarly for himself, it would be a most horrible and amazing thing to me.

Revelation 10:10

And I took the roll and devoured it, that is, considered and meditated upon it, on both parts of it, the destructions to the Jews, as well as the deliverances and advantages to Christians; the terribleness of the utter destruction as well as the merits of the Jews that brought it on them: and though the one pleased me exceedingly, yet, as honey, that is sweet to the taste when it is eaten, is very uneasy to the stomach, so the other part, that of the destructions of my countrymen the Jews, was matter of horrible grief to me.

Revelation 10:11

And when I thought with myself, sure now there is an end of the vision concerning the Jews, there is no more to be seen or prophesied of; the angel said unto me, that beyond this destruction of the temple and Jerusalem and Judæa under Titus, to which these last parts of the vision belonged, there was yet more matter of prophecy belonging to this people, what should yet further betide them from the Romans (after this destruction) by ensuing emperors, Adrian especially, and other kings and people, that should assist him in rooting out this nation.

[c] many peoples] What ἐπὶ λαοῖς here signifies may be thus collected. The word λαός, people, is frequently taken for the Jews, and then here in the plural (see Acts iv. 25, and note [f] on Rev. xi.) it will do the same; or else farther, it may signify this people in all their dispersions, in Africa and Egypt and Greece, &c., where the judgments of God should find them out, as many as continued obdurate, according to that of Christ’s prediction, that wheresoever the carcass was, the Roman eagles should congregate and assemble unto them. Then for ἐπὶ, that must rather be rendered of, or concerning, (according to the looser use of the Hebrew על, answerable to it,) than before. And then προφητεύειν ἐπὶ λαοῖς, is an easy and ordinary phrase, to denote the matter of the prophecy, and not the auditors of it; as when Ezek. xxxii. 2. it is said, take up a lamentation, על פרעה, it is not before, but concerning

Revelation 10:18

And a multitude of the Jews were killed by them in their passage through the country.

Revelation 10:19

And the rear of this army was as terrible as the front, came, after wasting and destroying, as the front had done, ver. 18. And so the whole army was like that kind of serpent which hath an head in the tail, and wounds as dangerously with that as with the other.

Revelation 10:20

And though many of the inhabitants were destroyed by this means, yet were not they that escaped, nor the Gnostics among them that had associated with the Jews against the Christians, (and were many of them now destroyed with them,) reformed by all this; they yet repented not of their idol-worship, which they took for an indifferent thing, but rather grew worse and worse,

Revelation 10:21

And went on impenitently in all their bloodiness that they had been guilty of upon the Christians, their sorceries, (see note [d] Gal. v.) yea, and their abominable uncleannesses and rapines; they were no whit the better for all that had yet befallen them. ### CHAP. X.