Apocalisse 2:20 Commento

The apostle John, having in the foregoing chapter written the things which he had seen, now proceeds to write the things that are, according to the command of God (Rev 1:19), that is, the present state of the seven churches of Asia, with which he had a particular acquaintance, and for which he had a tender concern. He was directed to write to every one of them according to their present state and circumstances, and to inscribe every letter to the angel of that church, to the minister or rather ministry of that church, called angels because they are the messengers of God to mankind. In this chapter we have, I. The message sent to Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7). II. To Smyrna (Rev 2:8-11). III. To Pergamos (Rev 2:12-17). IV. To Thyatira (Rev 2:18, etc.).

INTRODUCTION TO REVELATION 2 This chapter contains the epistles to the churches at Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, and Thyatira. It begins with that to Ephesus, in which the sender of it describes himself by some of his characters mentioned in the preceding chapter; takes notice of some things commendable in this church, Rev 2:1, reproves her for leaving her first love; gives some advice upon it; threatens her in case of non-repentance; yet notwithstanding commends her for her detestation of some bad practices; and concludes the epistle with a phrase exciting to attention to what is written, and with a promise to them that are constant and conquering, Rev 2:4, next follows the epistle to the church at Smyrna, in which the sender assumes some of his former titles; takes notice of her works in general, and of her afflictions in particular, and of the blasphemy of others, Rev 2:8, fortifies her against a great affliction to be endured, described by its author, kind, use, and duration; and exhorts to faithfulness and constancy, with a promise of a crown of life, Rev 2:10, and closes the epistle in the same form as the preceding, promising security from the second death to the persevering and conquering Christian, Rev 2:11, and next in order is the epistle to the church at Pergamos, in which the sender takes to him one of the above characters in the description of him; observes her works and place of abode, and commends her faithfulness to him in the worst of times and places, Rev 2:12, yet exhibits a complaint against her for having, and conniving at persons of bad principles and practice, called Balaamites and Nicolaitans, Rev 2:14, exhorts to repentance, and in failure of it threatens to come and fight against them; and closes the epistle in the same manner as the two former, with a promise of hidden manna, a white stone, and a new name to him that overcomes, Rev 2:16, and the last epistle in this chapter is that to the church at Thyatira, in which the sender makes use of some other titles and characters of his before mentioned; takes notice of her good works, and yet signifies he had a controversy with her, for permitting a false prophetess to teach in her, who seduced men to fornication and idolatry, Rev 2:18, whose impenitence is complained of, and which was aggravated by having space for repentance given her, Rev 2:21, wherefore, in case of continuance in impenitence, he threatens both her and her followers with tribulation and death, whereby the omniscience and justice of Christ would be manifest to all the churches, Rev 2:22, and then another and better sort of men in this church are addressed, who are described as not having imbibed the doctrine of the false prophetess, and as not approving the depths of Satan, or her doctrines of devils; and these are told that no other burden should be laid on them than was, and are exhorted to hold fast what they had, until the coming of Christ, Rev 2:24, and for their encouragement to hold on to the end, many promises are made unto them respecting their power and rule over their enemies, and the happy days that they should enjoy, Rev 2:26, and the epistle is concluded with the usual epiphonema, Rev 2:29.

Notwithstanding, I have a few things against thee,.... By way of complaint; so the Arabic version renders it, "I have a certain complaint against thee". The impartiality of Christ may be observed in taking notice of the bad deeds, as well as of the good ones of his people, and his tenderness in representing them as few; and these things he had against them not in a judicial way to their condemnation, but in a providential way, in order to chastise them for them, for their good; and they are as follow: because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel; or "thy wife Jezebel", as the Complutensian edition and Syriac version read; the name of King Ahab's wife, who seduced him, in the Hebrew language is "Izebel", but is read by the Septuagint in Kg1 16:31, Jezebel, as here; and by Josephus (a) Jezabela; she had her name from "Zebel", "dung", to which Elijah has reference in Kg2 9:37; the Ethiopic version calls her "Elzabel". By her is meant the apostate church of Rome, comparable to Jezebel, the wife of Ahab; as she was the daughter of an Heathen, so is Rome Papal the daughter of Rome Pagan; and as she was the wife of Ahab, and therefore a queen, so the whore of Babylon calls herself; and as Jezebel was famous for her paintings, so the church of Rome for her pretensions to religion and holiness, and for the gaudiness of her worship; and as she was remarkable for her idolatry, whoredoms, witchcrafts, and cruel persecution of the prophets of the Lord, and for murder, and innocent blood she shed; so the church of Rome, for her idolatrous worship of images, for her whoredoms, both in a literal and spiritual sense, and for the witchcrafts, magic, and devilish arts many of her popes have been addicted to, and especially for her barbarities and cruelties exercised upon the true professors of Christ, and for the blood of the martyrs, with which she has been drunk; and as Jezebel stirred up Ahab against good and faithful men, is has this church stirred up the secular powers, emperors, kings, and princes, against the true followers of Christ: and the end of both of them is much alike; as scarce anything was left of Jezebel, so Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, shall be cast into the sea, and be found no more at all: compare Kg2 9:7 with Rev 17:1, which calleth herself a prophetess; as perhaps Jezebel might do, since she was such a favourer of the prophets of Baal, and so familiarly conversed with them, and kept them, even a hundred of them, at her table: and certain it is, that the antitype of her pretends to an infallible interpretation of the Scriptures, and to have a bulk of unwritten traditions; and which interpretations and traditions are to be regarded as an infallible rule of faith and practice. Now what is complained of in the true members and followers of Christ is, that they suffered this woman to teach; when it was insufferable for a woman to teach, and especially such a strumpet: and to seduce my servants to commit fornication; to deceive such who called themselves the servants of Christ, and draw them into the commission of spiritual fornication, which is idolatry; as the idolatrous worship of the Mass, and of images and saints departed: and to eat things sacrificed unto idols; as Balaam, or the pope, before had done, Rev 2:14. This may have respect to the latter part of this period, when the eyes of many began to be opened to see these false doctrines and idolatrous practices, and yet had not courage enough to oppose them as they should, (a) Antiqu. l. 8. c. 13. sect. 1. 4, 7.

He imputes to the Ephesians "forsaken love; " reproaches the Thyatirenes with "fornication," and "eating of things sacrificed to idols; " accuses the Sardians of "works not full; " censures the Pergamenes for teaching perverse things; upbraids the Laodiceans for trusting to their riches; and yet gives them all general monitions to repentance-under comminations, it is true; but He would not utter comminations to one unrepentant if He did not forgive the repentant.

He is speaking to the leaders of the churches who fail to impose the severity of ecclesiastical discipline upon the extravagant and the fornicator and those who do whatever other kind of evil. It is possible that this also refers to heretics. “Who calls herself a prophetess,” that is, a Christian, for many heresies flatter themselves with this name.

But I have this against you; this is to show that only God is completely blameless. What do I have against you? That you tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess, that you do not persecute [διώκεις] her. From Jezebel, who dwelt with Ahab, she who is continually a demonstration of wickedness. She says that she herself is a prophetess; she teaches and leads many astray into fornication and eating food sacrificed to idols.

Although on account of [your] faithfulness and your service for those in need I acknowledge your piety and your endurance, nonetheless I rightly blame you, because you allow the heresy of the Nicolaitans to exist openly. This heresy is figuratively called “Jezebel” because of its impiety and licentiousness. Because of this [heresy] my servants, through their simplicity of mind, are presented with a stone of stumbling and are drawn toward idolatrous practices from which they had [previously] fled. You must curb this [heresy], because it deceitfully calls herself a prophetess, being moved by an evil spirit.

But I have this against you, that you permit the woman Jezebel, etc. Indeed, you are commendable in your work and faith, but you are reproachable in this, that you do not rebuke with worthy denunciation the synagogue of pseudo-apostles, who falsely claim to be Christians. The name Jezebel, which signifies a flow of blood, is fitting for heretics. And it is conjectured that there was a woman in the aforementioned church teaching these crimes, who was a figure of all Jezebel throughout the world, to whom he also threatens clear vengeance.

To seduce my servants to commit fornication, etc. Certainly, under the name of Christ, she taught spiritual fornication and idolatry. For how could she openly teach the worship of idols, who called herself a prophet in the Church?

But I have somewhat against thee: because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat of things sacrificed to idols. These things do not correspond to the one he honored with such great praise above, but they refer specifically to the bad preachers who allow fornication and idolatry in the Church by their negligence. It is not to be believed that Jezabel the wife of Ahab, who we know was crushed by the hoofs of horses, [2 Kings 9:33] physically survived until that time; but since there were then in that church some people who imitated her sexual intercourses, the very mother of fornications was censured in them: for the reprobates, united in an equality of vices, constitute one body, which is that of the old enemy, just as the elect, by the bond of virtues, make up one body, which is that of Christ. Jezebel's fornication is of four kinds: there is fornication in pleasure, as in Whosoever shall look on a woman to lust after her, hath already committed adultery with her in his heart; [Matt. 5:28] there is also fornication in deed, whence the apostle: Fly fornication, brethren; [Variant of 1 Cor. 6:18] there is the fornication of idolatry, according to this: She played the harlot with stones and with stocks; [Jer. 3:9] and there is also the fornication of covetousness, according to this: covetousness, which is the service of idols. [Col. 3:5] It is also to be noted that Jezabel calls herself a prophetess, and seduces God's servants because of that. So, when anyone says to a celibate, “Come, let us enjoy what we desire, because if God did not wish this to happen, he would not have created man and woman,” they are seeking to seduce a soldier of God as though by prophesying. So, Jezabel translates to “flow of blood,” “flowing,” or “dunghill.” By the name of blood are symbolized sins, according to this: Deliver me from bloods. [Ps. 50:16] It is said that what happens to women when they suffer their flow of blood is that humor of blood collected during several days overflows and is discharged when the menstrual time has come. It is demonstrated that it is what happens to the universal Jezabel: a shameful pleasure accumulated during a long time springs forth to open ugliness of works when the time has come. Then the mind grows excessively anxious, and the man melts just like wax in front of fire; whence it is right for her to be called “flowing.” Finally, by the very repetition of the perpetration of lust, a stench of bad reputation is emitted far and wide, whence it is fittingly that Jezabel translates to “dunghill.”

That woman Jezebel - There is an allusion here to the history of Ahab and Jezebel, as given in 2 Kings 9:1-10:36; and although we do not know who this Jezebel was, yet from the allusion we may take it for granted she was a woman of power and influence in Thyatira, who corrupted the true religion, and harassed the followers of God in that city, as Jezebel did in Israel. Instead of that woman Jezebel, την γυναικα Ιεζαβηλ, many excellent MSS., and almost all the ancient versions, read την γυναικα σου Ιεζαβηλ, Thy Wife Jezebel; which intimates, indeed asserts, that this bad woman was the wife of the bishop of the Church, and his criminality in suffering her was therefore the greater. This reading Griesbach has received into the text. She called herself a prophetess, i.e., set up for a teacher; taught the Christians that fornication, and eating things offered to idols, were matters of indifference, and thus they were seduced from the truth. But it is probable that by fornication here is meant idolatry merely, which is often its meaning in the Scriptures. It is too gross to suppose that the wife of the bishop of this Church could teach fornication literally. The messenger or bishop of this Church, probably her husband, suffered this: he had power to have cast her and her party out of the Church, or, as his wife, to have restrained her; but he did not do it, and thus she had every opportunity of seducing the faithful. This is what Christ had against the messenger of this Church.

EPISTLES TO EPHESUS, SMYRNA, PERGAMOS, THYATIRA. (Rev. 2:1-29) Ephesus--famed for the temple of Diana, one of the seven wonders of the world. For three years Paul labored there. He subsequently ordained Timothy superintending overseer or bishop there: probably his charge was but of a temporary nature. John, towards the close of his life, took it as the center from which he superintended the province. holdeth--Greek, "holdeth fast," as in Rev 2:25; Rev 3:11; compare Joh 10:28-29. The title of Christ here as "holding fast the seven stars (from Rev 1:16 : only that, for having is substituted holding fast in His grasp), and walking in the midst of the seven candlesticks," accords with the beginning of His address to the seven churches representing the universal Church. Walking expresses His unwearied activity in the Church, guarding her from internal and external evils, as the high priest moved to and fro in the sanctuary.

a few things--omitted in the three oldest manuscripts. Translate then, "I have against thee that," &c. sufferest--The three oldest manuscripts read, "lettest alone." that woman--Two oldest manuscripts read, "THY wife"; two omit it. Vulgate and most ancient versions read as English Version. The symbolical Jezebel was to the Church of Thyatira what Jezebel, Ahab's "wife," was to him. Some self-styled prophetess (or as the feminine in Hebrew is often used collectively to express a multitude, a set of false prophets), as closely attached to the Church of Thyatira as a wife is to a husband, and as powerfully influencing for evil that Church as Jezebel did Ahab. As Balaam, in Israel's early history, so Jezebel, daughter of Eth-baal, king of Sidon (Kg1 16:31, formerly priest of Astarte, and murderer of his predecessor on the throne, JOSEPHUS [Against Apion, 1.18]), was the great seducer to idolatry in Israel's later history. Like her father, she was swift to shed blood. Wholly given to Baal worship, like Eth-baal, whose name expresses his idolatry, she, with her strong will, seduced the weak Ahab and Israel beyond the calf-worship (which was a worship of the true God under the cherub-ox form, that is, a violation of the second commandment) to that of Baal (a violation of the first commandment also). She seems to have been herself a priestess and prophetess of Baal. Compare Kg2 9:22, Kg2 9:30, "whoredoms of . . . Jezebel and her witchcrafts" (impurity was part of the worship of the Phœnician Astarte, or Venus). Her spiritual counterpart at Thyatira lured God's "servants" by pretended utterances of inspiration to the same libertinism, fornication, and eating of idol-meats, as the Balaamites and Nicolaitanes (Rev 2:6, Rev 2:14-15). By a false spiritualism these seducers led their victims into the grossest carnality, as though things done in the flesh were outside the true man, and were, therefore, indifferent. "The deeper the Church penetrated into heathenism, the more she herself became heathenish; this prepares us for the expressions 'harlot' and 'Babylon,' applied to her afterwards" [AUBERLEN]. to teach and to seduce--The three oldest manuscripts read, "and she teaches and seduces," or "deceives." "Thyatira was just the reverse of Ephesus. There, much zeal for orthodoxy, but little love; here, activity of faith and love, but insufficient zeal for godly discipline and doctrine, a patience of error even where there was not a participation in it" [TRENCH].