Revelation 13

Revelation 13:1

And I was in the island Patmos, upon the sea shore, when I saw the vision that I am now to set down, viz. concerning the execution of that design of Satan of bringing persecution on the Christians at Rome, ch. xii. 17. And here the first thing I saw was a beast, representing the heathen worship as it stood at Rome, rising out of the sea, as that is all one with the abyss or deep, that is, introduced among them by Satan, (see note [c] ch. xi,) and thriving and prospering by the strength and power of the Roman emperors; that heathen worship represented by this first beast, and the Roman empire by the seven heads, either as seven emperors, ch. xvii. 10, or else as referring to the seven hills of Rome, the seat of this idolworship, usurping to itself that blasphemous title of being a goddess; and the ten horns, ten kings, noting those that complied with Rome in this deifying of their emperors, and in the rest of their idol-worship, viz. the many kings that were by the Roman emperor set over other places, who therefore are said to have ten crowns.

[a] the name of blasphemy] “Ονομα βλασφημίας, name of blasphemy, literally signifies such a title as cannot be assumed or owned without blasphemy. Now blasphemy is committed two ways, either by speaking contumeliously of the true God, or giving divine honour to any else; which is also the taking that honour which is due to him alone, and bestowing it upon others, and so as contrary to his being acknowledged the one God, as the using him reproachfully is to his being God. And therefore it is that Paul and Barnabas having divine honours attributed to them at Lystra, they rent their clothes, Acts xiv. 14, in the same manner as was usual among them when any man was heard to blaspheme, signifying thereby, that sacrificing to any creature is direct blasphemy against the Creator. Now what this title of blasphemy was, which is here referred to, is specified by St. Jerome, Qu. 11. ad Algas. Æterna cum dicitur quæ temporalis est, nomen est blasphemiæ, “The city Rome was called the eternal city.” (So Ausonius Gallus,

Urbis ab æternæ deductam rege Quirino Annorum seriem— and Hæc erit æternæ series ab origine mundi.)

“Which to be attributed to any thing which had a beginning and shall certainly have an end, is a name of blasphemy.” So in the same words “Prosper, Æterna cum dicitur quæ temporalis est, utique nomen est blasphemiæ, cum mortules, licet reges, in ea dicantur divi, eisque supplices dicunt, Numini vestro, altaribus vestris, perennitati vestræ, &c. “For that which is temporal to be called eternal, is the name of blasphemy, when their kings though mortal are called gods, and their suppliants address to them in this style, To your deity, your altars, your eternity, &c.” See note [a] on ch. xvii. But beside this, (and what Athenaeus says of it, l. 1, where he instyles it οὐρανόπολις Ῥώμη, Rome the celestial, or heavenly city,) it appears by many ancient Roman coins, (set down by Goltzius in Thesauro,) that Rome was called a goddess, there being many such inscriptions, Ῥώμη θεά, Rome a goddess. Accordingly the people of Smyrna built a temple to it, saith Tacitus, Hist. l. 3, and other provinces used the like flattery, erected temples, appointed priests to the goddess Rome; and at last Adrian raised a stately temple, and called it Templum Romæ et Augustorum, the “temple of Rome and of the emperors,” (that is, dedicated to them, as to gods,) saith Dio in Adriano. And accordingly this idolatry or blasphemy is taxed by Prudentius,

—colitur nam sanguine et ipsa More deæ, nomengue loci ceu numen adorant,

“Rome is worshipped by sacrifice, after the manner of a goddess, and they adore the name of the city as a deity.” And to this it is agreeable that many other copies read, ὀνόματα βλασφημίας, names of blasphemy, in the plural, more such blasphemous titles beside that of urbs æterna, “the eternal city,” that one of θεά, goddess, and the erecting temples to it, containing all imaginable blasphemies in it.

Revelation 13:2

And this idolatrous, heathen worship, thus assisted by the power of the empire, began to be very cruel, and cannot sufficiently be expressed by one cruel beast; but having variety of all kinds of gods in it, from which it is represented by a speckled leopard, it exercises all the cruelty both of bear and lion, as was manifest by their persecutions of Christians. And to the sustaining of this beast (the idolatrous heathen worship) the devil (that laboured to destroy Christianity, ch. xii. 3.) contributed all his power and skill, did all that he could to hold it up by prodigies and by all other means.

Revelation 13:3

And though one prime temple on one of the seven hills of Rome, the most stately of all the rest, and so called the capitol, from a Latin word signifying head, were burnt down by lightning, and esteemed to be smitten by God from heaven, and so idolatry conceived to have received a fatal blow; yet that was soon rebuilt by Domitian, the emperor of Rome, and that gave a great confirmation to idolatry among all that lived in the Roman dominions and took notice of it: (see note [k].)

[b] one of his heads] What is here meant by μία τῶν κεφαλῶν, one of the heads, will be judged, first, by the notion of head; secondly, of

• Dimid. Temp. c. 7.

Revelation 13:4

And they worshipped the devil, who had thus upheld the heathen religion when the Jewish was destroyed, resolving from hence, that the God of Israel was not able to contend with their devils, nor his religion able to maintain itself against their idol-worship.

Revelation 13:5

And hereupon the heathen idol-worship and worshippers began to despise all others, and to scoff at the God of Israel (and the heathen emperors to call themselves gods, for so Domitian did) upon the destruction of the temple at Jerusalem, concluding thence that that God of Israel was not the true God. And soon after this, Domitian began a persecution against the Christians, as those which opposed the heathen worships, and continued it about three years and a half, until his death.

[c] a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies] One special testimony of the heathens’ blasphemy against God upon occasion of the Romans’ victories over the Jews, is that of Cicero pro Flacco, speaking of the Jews, Illa gens, quam chara diis immortalibus esset, docuit, quod est victa, quod clocata, quod servit, “That nation hath taught us how dear they are to the immortal gods by their being conquered, and subjected” by the Romans to a king of their sending thither. This hath been thought fit by a learned man to be brought to the illustrating of this place, though indeed it belong to it only by way of accommodation, as a proof how apt the Romans’ prosperity and conquests over Judæa were to make them blaspheme God; not that this speech can belong to the point of time now spoken of, being delivered long before by Cicero. Dionysius Alexandrinus, in Eusebius. l. 7. c. 10, applies it to Valerian, 255 years after Christ, who (by the instigation of the chief of the magicians in Egypt, commanding him τοὺς καθαροὺς ἄνδρας καὶ ὁσίους κτίνενσθαι καὶ διώκισθαι, to kill and persecute the pure and holy men, ὡς κωλυτὰς, &c. as those that hindered their enchantments) became a great enemy of the church. The like is again related of Diocletian, that upon a response of Apollo from Delphi, that the just upon earth hindered him from speaking truth, he fell on persecuting the Christians: see Eusebius de Vita Const. l. 2. c. 49, 50. But that which is more pertinent to the times whereof, I conceive, the vision speaks, is Domitian’s styling himself Dominus et Deus noster, and forbidding ne scripto quidem ac sermone cujusquam appellaretur aliter, “that any, whether in words or writing, should call him otherwise,” and appointing his statues of gold and silver to be set up in the capitol, and his professing his contempt of thunder and lightning. See Suetonius in his Life, c. 13.

[d] continue forty and two months] That which is read in some copies, ποιῆσαι πόλεμον μῆνας τεσσαράκοντα δύο, to wage war fourty-two months, that is, three years and a half, is in other the best and ancientest copies (without πόλεμον) ποιεῖν μῆνας, &c., and then that is, to spend or stay so many months. Thus the king’s MS. hath it; and so in Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. l. 7. c. 10. Dionysius Alexandrinus, citing this place, reads it, ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ἰξουσία καὶ μῆνες (or, as another reading of Eusebius hath it, μῆνας) τεσσαράκοντα δύο, power was given him forty-two months. And then to stay so many months, is to live so long; which was punctually true of Domitian, who began his persecution in the thirteenth, and died in the sixteenth year of his reign. And so this is directly answerable to the space wherein Antiochus had vexed the Jews, Dan. vii. 24, (see Eusebius Eccl. Hist. l. 3. c. 13,) and so is fit to be expressed in the same form of words, as we see it is.

Revelation 13:6

And this same Domitian was very bitter against God, the church, and all Christians; in all this being a factor for the beast, or idol-worship.

Revelation 13:7

And was permitted by God to persecute the Christians, and to suppress them wheresoever they inhabited, whether of Jewish or Gentile extraction: (see note [c] ch. x.)

Revelation 13:8

And all the Christian professors within the compass of the Roman dominions were put to sore trials, and of them very many were wrought upon by this means, viz. the carnal, temporizing Gnostics, which had not a mind to be martyrs and confessors for Christ, but rather chose to comply with idolatry than to suffer for Christ.

9, 10. And this persecution of his against the Christians was so sharp and unresistible, that (which is the thing that all Christians are concerned to take notice of) there was nothing left to the persecuted but the exercise of their patience and faith; the one, in bearing without resistance what befalls them; the other, in trusting God with their condition, and never revolting from him, or attempting to relieve themselves by secular arms; for as those are unlawful for subjects to make use of against the lawful power under which they are, though never so sharp or injurious to them, so would it prove, if it were used, but a means to bring more misery upon them.

[e] names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain] That the words here should not be read thus, the Lamb slain from the

Revelation 13:10

[f] leadeth into captivity] Αἰχμαλωσίαν συνάγειν, is to gather together a captivity, that is, a number of captives, as he that undertakes to bring them back out of their captivity, to be their captain, and lead them against their conqueror that hath taken them, as συνάγειν εἰς πόλεμον, to gather to war, ch. xvi. 14, 16, and ch. xx. 8, and as the word gathering is particularly applied to captives, and so used by the psalmist, Gather us, O Lord, from among the people, &c. psal. cvi. 47, having in the former verse mentioned, τοὺς αἰχμαλωτεύσαντας, those that had carried them captive, which concludes the ἡμᾶς, us, there to be the αἰχμαλωσίαν, captivity here, (in like manner as περιτομή, circumcision, is the Jews which were circumcised, and many the like,) just as the קבצנו, or, ἐπισυνάγαγε, gather together, is all one with the συνάγειν, gathering. This is after farther expressed by killing with the sword, that is, making violent resistance and opposition against the persecuting emperors; which for a Christian to do is quite contrary to the faith and patience of the saints, which consists in suffering, not in resisting, in having their names written in the slain Lamb’s book of life, (see note [d]), not in the military list of those that will fight against their lawful superiors rather than suffer under them. Now as God hath in the fifth commandment of the Decalogue commanded obedience, and (in the Psalmist, and in the sermon on the mount, meekness, with the promise of temporal blessings; so here doth he deter from resistance or rebellion, even against persecuting emperors, by denouncing of temporal judgments of an higher nature than those which by that means any man desireth or attempteth to avoid. He that goeth about to deliver those conquered captives out of the emperor’s hands, out of his oppressions or persecutions, shall do them no good, but shall himself be justly punished by him, by the righteous judgment of God, who loves not thus to be assisted (any more than Christ by St. Peter’s

HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II. P P

Revelation 13:11

The next part of this vision was the representing a second beast; by which is meant the magic and auguries and oracles of the heathen priests, which appeared to me to ascend out of the earth, or from under ground, as the oracles were wont to be delivered; and this beast had two horns, these men had two powers, by which they made themselves fit to be considered, doing of miracles and divination, wherein they had some resemblance of Christ the Lamb, but made use of these to all diabolical ends of cruelty, and delivered their oracles, as the devil was wont to do, in dubious forms.

[g] another beast] What this ἄλλο θηρίον, other, or second, beast signified in this vision, is determinable by the consequents (vv. 13, 14.) thus far, that it must denote some one or more sorcerers or magicians, to whom it is peculiar to do the great wonders, to make fire come down from heaven, ver. 13, to deceive by means of those miracles which he hath power to do before the beast. Of this therefore so signally set down there can be no place of question, nor consequently that these sorcerers were heathens, being by the devil made use of to support and advance heathenism and idolatry. This appears, 1. by his speaking like the dragon, that is, the devil, (see note [b]); 2dly, by his exercising all the power of the first beast before him, that is, assisting of the heathen worship, ver. 1, whose deadly wound was cured, that is, which was newly restored to a flourishing condition again by Domitian’s reedifying of the capitol, (see note [b]); 3dly, by his commanding to make an image to the beast, ver. 4, (which must be again the advancing of heathen worship,) and so the giving breath to the image, as shall anon appear. It is therefore most reasonable to interpret this second beast of Apollonius Tyaneus, that did such feats at this point of time, and was the person whose life is so solemnly written by Philostratus, and his miracles by Hierocles compared with and preferred before Christ’s, that he cannot be looked on as a person too mean to be thus represented in this vision. But this not so as to confine it to his person, (for Christ himself is oft not the person of Christ, but he and his followers, the Christians together,) but to comprehend also the magicians, sorcerers, augurs, heathen priests, ἱεροσκόπω, that divined by the entrails of beasts, flying of birds, the whole sort and profession of these. For that it belongs not to Simon Magus, and his followers, Menander and Basilides, &c. (though they were all sorcerers,) appears, 1. because Simon was worshipped in time of Claudius; and though in Nero’s reign he came a second time to Rome, yet he was then worsted and destroyed by the apostles St. Peter and St. Paul, and the Christian religion advanced by that means, not heathenism, as here it is; and, 2dly, the contexture of these visions, and other characters in the former part of this chapter, determine this of the second beast to Domitian’s, and not to Nero’s time: and for Menander and Basilides, &c., they kept and taught in Palestine, Egypt and Syria, whereas this second beast must have a larger influence, and that particularly on heathen Rome, and the heathen worship there, denoted by the first beast, whose deadly wound had been cured. And for the confirming of this interpretation, it is to be observed, (what is most evident,) that this second beast, and the false prophet, ch. xix. 20, had the same design. For as here the second beast doth his miracles before the first, ver. 12, and commands to make an image to the beast, ver. 14, and causeth them to take the mark

Revelation 13:12

And all this was made use of to advance idol-worship, which before had lost some reputation in the burning of the capitol, ver. 3.

Revelation 13:13

And by these, great wonders were pretended to be done, even calling and bringing down fire from heaven; which is affirmed of Apollonius.

Revelation 13:14

And by these and the like prodigies, shewed in several parts of the empire, they endeavoured to set up the same idol-worship among them which was at Rome.

Revelation 13:15

Meanwhile Satan used all means to pursue the Christians whither they fled, raising up persecutions from Nero against them in the provinces, by which he hoped to have utterly drowned and destroyed the church.

[l] life] That πνεῦμα signifies breath, not life, is sufficiently known, and consequently to give breath must be to enable to speak, as it here follows; and to give this to the image of the beast (in the notion of that forementioned, note [k]) must signify, to devise arts by which oracles were now given, or the devils raised to give responses in those other places where these Roman worships had been received. That the oracles at Cumæ, at Dodona, at Delphos, in all Bœotia, and in most other places, were become dumb before this time, is acknowledged by all heathen writers: and Plutarch’s discourses of that subject are very considerable to shew the influence that the Christian faith had on this, and how idol worship lost much of its reputation by this means. These augurs then and heathen priests, as they did undertake to divine by looking into entrails of sacrifices, and by many other ways, so did they contrive the delivering of oracles in new places, as in Pontus by Æsculapius, and the like, as may be seen in Lucian’s Pseudomantis. This practice continued public as long as the emperors continued pagan, and afterwards more privately: but about the time to which this vision belongs, that is, in the reign of Domitian, (as also of Trajan and Adrian,) upon the great defection of oracles, the devil in these his agents was most active to repair the loss by setting up new impostures in this kind; and this as a branch or effect of that prophetic power signified by the second horn (of this second beast) like unto the Lamb,

Revelation 13:16

But these afflictions and calamities which the devil designed the Christians were diverted by the seditions raised by the Jews against the Romans, by which means it came to pass, that all the malice which was by Satan designed against the Christians, fell actually upon the Jews, under Vespasian and Titus, and so at that time the persecution of the Christians was necessarily cooled, and fell upon the Jews, their greatest enemies.

[m] a mark in their right hand] The giving χαράγματα, marks in the right hand or forehead, was ordinary in Syria and the neighbour countries, not as a brand or στίγμα, (as it is among others, by way of punishment, see Gal. vi. 17,) but as a note of servants, or to discriminate the servants of one master from another. These marks were either in their right hands (or arms or wrists, as χείρ oft signifies, and not only the hand, which is ἀεροχείρ, see note [a] on Mark vii.) or in their foreheads: Στίγματά ἐστι τῶν στρατευομένων ἐν ταῖς χερσίν, saith Julian, “Marks of soldiers are in their hands or wrists;” and Lucian de Dea Syr. hath στίζεσθαι εἰς καρποῖς, “to be marked on the wrists.” So that to cause all to receive this mark, is to force all to the receiving these idol-worships; and the way of forcing them is specified, ver. 17, ἵνα μὴ τις δύνηται ἀγοράσαι ἡ πωλήσαι, that no man might buy or sell, that would not; that is, incensing the emperor and his officers in the provinces to make interdicts against Christian assemblies, and to proceed severely and capitally against all that used any but these heathen idol-worships. This whole passage seems to allude to the tyranny of Ptolemæus Philopator upon the Jews in the third of the Maccabees, Προέθετο δημοσίᾳ κατὰ τοῦ ἔθνους διαδούναι ψόγον καὶ ἐπὶ τοῦ κατὰ τὴν αὐλὴν πύργου στήλην ἀναστήσας, ἐξεκόλαψε γραφὴν, Μηδείνα τῶν μὴ θυόντων εἰς τὰ ἱερὰ αὐτῶν εἰσιέναι, πάντας δὲ τοὺς Ἰουδαίους εἰς λαογραφίαν καὶ οἰκετικὴν διάθεσιν ἀχθῆναι — Τούτους τε ἀπογραφομένους χαράσσεσθαι καὶ διὰ πυρὸς εἰς τὸ σῶμα παρασήμῳ Διονύσου κισσοφύλλῳ — “He made an edict to bring disgrace upon the nation; and upon a tower joining to the court he erected a pillar, and engraved on it, that no man should enter but those who sacrificed after the heathen manner to their gods; and that all the Jews should be forced to be enrolled and put in a servile condition, and that those that were enrolled should be marked also with fire upon their body with Bacchus’s ensign, an ivy-leaf.” Which passage seems to be taken notice of by the author of the Ἐτυμολογικὸν μέγα, who speaks of Ptolemæus Philopator marking men διὰ τὰ φύλλα κισσοῦ, with ivy-leaves. All which we see signifies the marking them out as servants with the ensign of their heathen god Bacchus, as here with the mark of the beast, that is, of idol-worship.

Revelation 13:17

And this was a great vexation to Satan, to see Christianity thrive the better by this means, and therefore he set to his former design again, that of setting the emperors upon persecuting the Christians, viz. the pure orthodox of them that stood out constant in confession of Christ, and would not, for acquiring safety, join with the Jews or Gnostics, and comply with them. And this persecution now designed by Satan is that which fell out under Domitian, the subject of the next vision, ch. xiii. ### CHAP. XIII.

[n] name of the beast] Beside the mark of the beast, here is mentioned the name of the beast, and the number of the name, which are in

Revelation 13:18

[o] Here is wisdom] What ὡδε ἡ σοφία ἐστίν, here is wisdom, signifies, is somewhat uncertain. It may refer to God: Herein is wisdom shewed, that as the heathen priests veil the names of their gods in secret numbers, so God hath here set down in cypher the name of that heathen god whose worship is by these edicts prescribed. And then that which follows, ὁ νοῦν ἔχων ψηφισίσω, let him that hath understanding count, or reckon, will be no more than, Let him that knows what belongs to mystical expressions of names by numbers take notice of this number now given him, and he shall find how it fits the event. But it is also possible that the phrase here is wisdom, may refer only to man: It is an act of special wisdom to do it: and then to that sense