Key signifies power and trust committed. It denotes power either to stop the action or to exert it, according to the circumstances.
So the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Mat 16:19, signify the power to admit into that state, and to confer the graces and benefits thereof. So in Luk 11:52, the key of knowledge, signifies the power of attaining to knowledge, the means of getting knowledge; and, according to the same analogy, to open the Scriptures, Luk 24:32, is to shew the true meaning of them, whereby others may understand them. So in Isa 22:22, the keys of David, signifies the power to rule; and so the Targum hath there dominium.
Thus the heathen, to denote the government of Pluto, and the rest of the infernal gods, assigned to them the keys of the infernal pits.f1 And therefore Pluto and Proserpine were represented with keys in their hands.f2 So Silence, which is inactivity, is represented by a golden key on the tongue in Sophocles.f3 And so in the Arabian writers, Soliman Ben Abddalmalek had the name or title of Meftah Alkhair, the key of goodness, because he had set at liberty all the wretches in prison, and done good to all his subjects.f4
Keys are, in Rev 1:13, the symbols of Christ’s power over Hades, the place of separate spirits, and the grave. Hence Christ saith, Mat 16:18, that the gates of Hades, i.e. death, shall not prevail against his church.
I should not think it necessary to notice this, the thing is so familiar, were it not that the Lord Jesus hath condescended to use the figure with reference to his grace and power. He calls himself the "Key of David, who openeth and none shutteth; who shutteth and none openeth. (Rev. 3: 7. Isa. xx2: 22 ) It is blessed to see in how many ways the Lord manifests the supremacy of his power, He hath the key of heaven, to admit whom he pleaseth: he hath the key of hell, to shut up all his foes; he hath the key of his word, to unfoldthe mysteries of his kingdom; he hath the key of the heart, to open it, and to render that word effectual. Hence, in all things, from the highest heaven to the lowest hell, Jesus governs. What a sweet thought for all his redeemed to cherish! He it is that opens his church, opens the mouth of his ministers and the souls of his saints, opens the opportunities of ordinances, and gives blessings to ordinances, and the several means of grace upon earth, and finally; fully, and completely opens an entrance for all his redeemed intohis everlasting kingdom in heaven. Gracious Lord Jesus, "open thou mine eyes, that I may see the wondrous things of thy law!"
is frequently mentioned in Scripture, as well in a natural as in a figurative sense. The keys of the ancients were very different from ours; because their doors and trunks were closed generally with bands, and the key served only to loosen or fasten these bands in a certain manner. In a moral sense key has many significations: “And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder: so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open,” Isa 22:22,—he shall be grand master and principal officer of his prince’s house. Christ promises to St. Peter, that he should first open the gate of his kingdom, both to Jew and Gentile, in making the first converts among them, Mat 16:19.
It is observable that no supremacy is here given to St. Peter; as the power of binding and loosing belonged equally to all the Apostles, Mat 18:18. The term binding and loosing was customarily applied by the Jews to a decision respecting doctrines or rites, establishing which were lawful and which unlawful. (See Bind.) And it may also denote, to bind with sickness, and to loose by restoring to health. Jesus Christ says that he has the key of death and hell, Rev 1:18; that is, it is in his power to bring to the grave, or to deliver from it; to appoint to life or to death.
Key. The key of a native Oriental lock is a piece of wood, from seven inches to two feet in length, fitted with the wires or short nails, which, being inserted laterally into the hollow bolt which serves as a lock, raises other pins within the staple so as to allow the bolt to be drawn back.
(Keys were sometimes of bronze or iron, and so large that one was as much as a man could carry. They are used in Scripture as a symbol of authority and power. Giving keys to a person signifies the intrusting of him with an important charge. Mat 16:19. In England, in modern times, certain officers of the government receive, at their induction into office, a golden key. -- Editor).
Son 5:4-5. A piece of wood, from seven inches to two feet long, fitted with pegs which correspond to small holes in the bolt within; the key put through a hole draws the bolt. The symbol of authority to open or shut (Isa 22:22; Rev 3:7; Rev 1:18). A chamberlain’s (eunuch) badge of office is often a key, hung by a kerchief "on the shoulders" (Isa 9:6). The power of the keys was given to Peter and the other apostles only at times (Mat 16:19; Mat 18:18) when, and in so far as, Christ made him and them infallible. Peter rightly opened the gospel door to the Gentiles (Acts 10; Act 11:17-18; Act 14:27), but he wrongly tried to shut it again (Gal 2:11-18; compare Luk 11:52).
Used symbolically for authority to open or to shut. Spoken of Eliakim, ’established by God,’ as having the key of the house of David laid upon his shoulder: "he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open." Isa 22:22. He is a type of the Lord Jesus, as spoken of in Rev 3:7, who has also the keys of hades and of death. Rev 1:18. To Peter were given the keys of the kingdom of heaven, Mat 16:19, which he opened to the Jews in Acts 2, and to the Gentiles in Acts 10. The Lord charged the doctors of the law with taking away the key of knowledge. Luk 11:52. This they did by their traditions and by hindering those who would have entered in to the blessings brought by Christ.
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By: Emil G. Hirsch, M. Seligsohn
In Biblical times the key, as its Hebrew name indicates ("mafteaḥ" = "the opener"), was used chiefly to open the door which was locked by means of a bolt ("beriaḥ"). This bolt, like that used in the Orient to-day, had a number of holes into which fitted iron points in the door-post, so arranged that they dropped into the corresponding holes as soon as the bolt was pushed into the opening made for it in the door-post. The key, made of wood, was provided at the end with a similar number of nails, arranged to correspond with the iron points holding the bolt. Introducing the key from the side into the run of the bolt, one was able by these nails to push up from below the iron points and then draw the bolt back. Thus Ehud could lock the door of Eglon's palace without the aid of a key, while only Eglon's servants "took the key and opened" (Judges iii. 25). The expression "to bear the key on his shoulder" denotes possession of office (comp. Isa. xxii. 22). In the time of Ezra, four Levites, the chief porters, were in charge of the key of the Temple (I Chron. ix. 27). The key as a symbol of authority is also met with in the Talmud: "Three keys are in God's own hand which He never entrusteth to any angel: the key of rain; that of childbirth; and that of the resurrection of the dead. The Western (Palestinian) Talmudists say also the key of nourishment" (Sanh. 113a; Ta'an. 2a).
KEY.—See House, § 6. Of the passages where this word is used in a figurative sense the most important are Isa 22:22 (cf. Rev 3:7), where the key is the symbol of authority and rule; Luk 11:52 ‘the key of knowledge’; and the crux interpretum, Mat 16:19, for which see Power of the Keys.
A. R. S. Kennedy.
Figurative: Used figuratively for power, since the key was sometimes worn on the shoulder as a sign of official authority (Isa 22-22). In the New Testament it is used several times thus figuratively: of Peter: “the keys of the kingdom of heaven” (Mat 16:19); of Christ, in Revelation, having the “keys of death and of Hades” (Rev 1:18), also having “the key of David” (Rev 3:7). An angel was given “the key of the pit of the abyss” (Rev 9:1; Rev 20:1). our Lord accused the teachers of the law of His day of taking away “the key of knowledge” from men, that is, locking the doors of truth against them (Luk 11:52; compare Mat 23:13).
It is remarkable that ‘key’ in the concrete form does not occur in the apostolic writings. The four occurrence in Rev. are symbolical. There are certain passages in Acts where we should expect mention of a key, but the circumstances are exceptional, and ‘key’ is omitted (Act_12:10; Act_16:26-27). When a porter was in attendance, admittance was given from the inside, and a key to open was not necessary (cf. Act_12:14-15). From the fact that city gates were guarded, the need for a key was in this case also absent. It may be noted that the chains by which prisoners were secured, and the stocks in which their feet were made fast, were in all likelihood secured by the equivalent of a key (Act_12:6-7; Act_16:24 etc.).
We remark the difference between the Hebrew word (îַôְúֵּçַ), ‘that which opens,’ and the Greek and Latin (êëåßò, clavis), ‘that which shuts.’ This seems to correspond with actual usage. Among the Hebrews the lock was arranged in such a manner that the key was requisitioned only for opening (see illust. in Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) ii. 836). The bar was shot, and the lock acted of itself, but it could be withdrawn only by aid of a key or opener. This advanced mode of making fast a door was doubtless preceded and attended by a simpler process, whereby the bolt or bar could be moved forwards and backwards by means of a hoot passing through a slit in the door. This served to shut the door, but did not make it absolutely secure as in the other case. For the age with which we have to deal we must think of the key as a device by which one outside held command over the closed door. Having shut it in the first instance, one had power to open it by applying the key.
The imagery of Rev., so far as ‘key’ is concerned, implies power and authority on the part of one standing outside and having possession of the key. This power is in the hands of angelic beings, who are above earth, and chiefly in the hands of the Risen Christ. Their dominion is manifested upon earth and in the under world, over living and dead.
(1) Christ has the keys of death and of Hades (Rev_1:18, Revised Version ). This power is Imperial, exercised from without and from above. There are interesting parallels to this, apart from Scripture, in literature, both earlier and later. When Ištar descended to the land of no-return she called imperiously to the porter to open the door, and threatened in case of refusal to shatter the door and break the bolt. Here the power is primitively conceived, and remains largely with the one within. For later and more advanced conceptions see Dante, Purg. ix. 65ff., and Milton, Paradise Lost, ii. 774ff., 850ff. In both these instances the power, although great, is still limited.
(2) Angelic authority is evident in Rev_9:1; Rev_20:1, where the key of the ‘pit’ or ‘well’ of the abyss, or of the abyss simply, is spoken of. This power was delegated (‘was given,’ 9:1). That some symbol of power was bestowed seems clear from 20:1, where the key and a great chain for binding are seen in the angel’s hand (or attached to his person). The figure of the key here directs our thought to the pits or wells of ancient times, whose opening was safeguarded against illegitimate use by a covering of some kind. The primitive setting of such coverings would naturally be horizontal, but here the imagery, extending to key, points rather to a door set upright and secured by bolt or lock. The stone doors of tombs may be compared.
(3) Upon earth itself Christ’s unlimited authority is exercised over the churches, including that in Philadelphia (Rev_3:7). The ‘key of David’ here mentioned is reminiscent of Isa_22:22, where some sort of investiture is in the writer’s mind (Hasting's Dictionary of the Bible (5 vols) v. 172). In this instance power is exhibited in the most absolute form, and made over to the Church in the sense of a ‘door opened,’ for the enjoyment rather than for the extension of the gospel (see R. W. Pounder, Hist. Notes on the Book of Revelation, 1912, p. 140). It is not surprising that the reading of this verse should have been attracted to Rev_1:18, as appears in some inferior Manuscripts (ἅäïí for Äáõåßä).
See further Dict. of Christ and the Gospels , article ‘Keys.’ For specimens of actual keys discovered in the course of excavation see R. A. S. Macalister, The Excavation of Gezer, 1912, i. 187 and ii. 271. Further illustrations in A. Rich, Dict. of Roman and Greek Antiquities3, 1873, s.v. ‘Clavis.’
W. Cruickshank.
Isa 22:22 (b) By this figure our Lord is describing the right of JESUS CHRIST to rule and to reign. He only can consign men to Heaven or to hell. He has never delegated this power to another. (See Rev 1:18).
Mat 16:19 The two keys given to Peter were evidently the two Gospels: one Gospel for the Jews which included baptism for the remission of sins; the other Gospel for the Gentiles in which salvation is by faith alone. By means of these two Gospel keys, Peter was used of GOD to bring thousands to CHRIST.
Luk 11:52 (b) This key is probably the person of the Lord Jesus Himself for when He is ignored, overlooked, or denied in the Scriptures, then there can be no knowledge of the truth of GOD, nor of the will of GOD.
Rev 1:18 (a) The Lord JESUS controls the destiny of the soul. He alone can send a man to hell. He alone decides the day of one’s death. His will and decision in these matters is described as a key.
Rev 3:7 (a) This represents the right of the Lord JESUS to erect the throne of David again, to sit upon it, and to execute sovereign powers. This right is described as a key.
Rev 9:1 (a) The key in this passage represents the divine right and power given by GOD to the angel to open and close the pit of hell in order that the purposes of GOD might be performed.