1:2. “{John} Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.”
Commenting on John 21:24 regarding John’s testimony:”…we know that his testimony is true,” Lightfoot says:
“…We suppose the evangelist, both here and in chap. xix.35, referreth to an eyewitness, …. For in all judicial causes the ocular testimony prevailed. If any person should testify that he himself saw the thing done, … his witness must be received: for …truth, when it is said of any testimony, does not signify barely that which is true, but that which was to be believed and entertained for a sure and irrefragable evidence. So that the meaning of these words is this: ‘This is the disciple who testifies of these things and wrote them: and we all know that such a testimony obtains in all judgments whatever; for he was an eyewitness, and saw that which he testifies.'” [3:455]
1:3. “…blessed is he who reads aloud… (RSV)”
The following Quote shows the likelihood that the Book of Revelation was written in Hebrew:
“In all the following ages these things obtained: ‘If any write the holy books in any language, or in any character, yet he shall not read in them [publicly in the synagogue], … unless they be written in Hebrew.’….” [4:296]
1:3. “…the words of this prophecy…. (RSV)”
This shows that the Book of Revelation as a prophecy, must have been written in Hebrew. From the Talmud, Lightfoot quotes:
“…’He prophesied in the Syriac language,…But now, when prophecies were spoken only in the Hebrew language, however they understood the sense of the words, yet they reputed it not for a prophecy, because it was not uttered in the language that was proper for prophetical predictions.” (2:23.)
Although Lightfoot believes that Syriac had become the mother-tongue of the people of Judea, there were certain traditions that holy writings were originally only in Hebrew. Some translations of the Scriptures were made into the Chaldee, which was very near the Syriac, but more highly regarded as prestigious.
Greek was also much esteemed and indeed “The Jews do well near acknowledge it for their mother-tongue even in Judea.” [2:24-5] And the Talmud was: “…’In the Greek mother tongue.‘” [2:25] The Rabbis say: “…’They searched seriously, and found…that the sacred law could not be translated according to what was needful for it, but in Greek.‘…’The five elders wrote the law in Greek for Ptolemy the king: and that day was bitter to Israel, as the day wherein the golden calf was made, because the law could not be translated according to what was needful for it.’…” Indeed, the esteemed Rabbis of Caesarea recited their phylacteries “in the Hellenistical language.”
The historian Jerome says that the Gospel of Matthew was originally composed in Hebrew but was later translated into the Greek. Lightfoot, however, believes the reverse was true: “Thus, I suppose, this Gospel was written in Greek by St. Matthew, for the sake of those that believed in Judea, and turned into Hebrew by somebody else, for the sake of those that did not believe.” [4:25]
“The same is to be resolved concerning the original language of the Epistle to the Hebrews. That Epistle was written to the Jews inhabiting Judea, to whom the Syriac was the mother-tongue; but yet it was writ in Greek, for the reasons above named….” [4:26]
These things bear on the question as to what language the Book of Revelation was originally written in.
“…When it is said, that by the imposition of the hands of the apostles the gift of tongues and of prophecy was conferred (‘they spake with tongues, and they prophesied,’ Acts xix.6), by ‘prophecy’ nothing may be better understood than this very thing, that the minds of such were opened, that they might understand the Scriptures:….” [3:228]
“… The word … to prophesy, comprehends three things, ‘singing psalms,’ ‘doctrine,’ and ‘revelation:’ as ver.26. {on I Cor.14}.
“… To prophesy is to ‘preach,’ or to ‘have a doctrine,’ as ver.26. Hence the Chaldee almost always renders … a prophet, by a scribe, or learned, or one that teacheth. When it is very ordinarily said of those that were endued with extraordinary gifts, that ‘they spake with tongues and prophesied.’ Acts x.46, it is said, that ‘they spake with tongues, and magnified God.’ For they prophesied, is said, ‘they magnified God:’ and that these two ways, either by praising God, or by preaching and declaring the wonderful things of God, Acts ii.11.
“…To prophesy is to foretell and teach something from divine revelation; which is expressed, ver.26, by ‘hath a revelation.’ In those times there were some who, being inspired with a spirit of revelation, either foretold things to come, as Agabus did a famine, Acts xi.28, and Paul‘s bonds, Acts xxi.10: or revealed the mind of God to the church, concerning the doing or the not doing this or that thing; as Acts xiii.2, by the prophets of Antioch they separate Paul and Barnabas, &c.”
Davies, [209] “…. that very close connection, which is found in Rabbinic thought, some would even call it an identification, between prophecy and the Holy Spirit,…. Of the belief in the cessation of prophecy there is evidence in the Old Testament where we read: ‘We see not our signs: there is no more any prophet: neither is there among us any that knoweth how long.’ [Psalm 74:9] The same attitude is also expressed in I Macc.4.46,9.27,14.41, and also in Josephus. [Antiquities 13.1.1] For the Rabbinic view we quote: ‘When the last prophets Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi died the holy spirit ceased out of Israel; but nevertheless it was granted them to hear (communications from God) by means of a Bath Qol.’ [Note 4:”b. Yoma 9b; b. Sotah 48b; b. Sanh.11a; M. Sotah 9.12; Tosefta Sotah 13.2,p.318.” ‘Bath Qol’ means the heavenly voice.
1:3; 22:9. “…blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein….”
1:3. “…the time is at hand…”
The following will show that this refers to ‘the time’ spoken of by Daniel 9:24-27.
“Daniel‘s weeks had so clearly defined the time of the true Messias‘s coming, that the minds of the whole nation were raised into the expectation of him….” The Revelator says: “…the time is at hand…” [2:35-6].
Lightfoot asks the question as to why there were such crowds flocking to hear John the Baptist. “I. The first reason is, Because the manifestation of the Messias was then expected, the weeks of Daniel being now spent to the last four years. Let us consult a little his text:–
“Dan.ix.24. ‘Seventy weeks [of years] are decreed concerning thy people, &c. That is four hundred and ninety years, from the first of Cyrus to the death of Christ. These years are divided into three parts, and they very unequal.
“1. Into seven weeks, or forty-nine years, from the giving of Cyrus‘s patent for the rebuilding Jerusalem, to the finishing the rebuilding of it by Nehemiah. [but see my article “Calculating the seventy weeks’, in PART 1 Introductory Articles.]
“2. Into sixty-two weeks, or four hundred thirty-four years, –namely, from the finishing the building of the city to the beginning of the last week of the seventy. In which space of time, the times of the Persian empire (which remained after Nehemiah, if indeed there was any time now remaining), and the times of the Grecian empire, and of the Syro-Grecian, were all run out, and those times also, wherein the Romans ruled over the Jews.
“3. The holy text divides the last week, or the last seven years, into two equal parts, ver. 27; which I thus render; ‘And he shall strengthen, or confirm, the covenant with many in that one week: and the half of that week shall make the sacrifice and oblation to cease: or, in the half of that week he shall make to cease,’ &c. Not in the middle of that week, but in the latter half, that is, the latter three years and a half of the seven.
“First, seven weeks having been reckoned up before, and then sixty-two weeks, ver. 25,–now there remained one only of the seventy; and in reference to that, in the middle of it the Messias shall begin his ministry; which being finished in three years and a half (the latter halved part of that week), ‘he shall make the sacrifice and oblation to cease,’ &c.
“The nation could not but know, could not but take great notice of, the times so exactly set out by the angel Gabriel. Since, therefore, the coming of the Messias was the great wish and desire of all,–and since the time of his appearing was so clearly decreed by the angel that nothing could be more,–and when the latter half of the last seven years, chiefly to be observed, was now, within a very little, come;–it is no wonder if the people, hearing from this venerable preacher that the kingdom of heaven was now come, should be stirred up beyond measure to meet him and should flock to him. For, as we observed before, ‘They thought that the kingdom of God would immediately be manifested,’ Luke xix.11.” [2:53-4]
The Jews computed the ‘times’ so diligently that they even predicted the rainfall for the coming year. [2:231] Commenting on Matt. 26:3, Lightfoot says:
“…As if he had said, ‘Can ye not distinguish that the times of the Messias are come, by those signs which plainly declare it? Do ye not observe Daniel‘s weeks now expiring? Are ye not under a yoke, the shaking off of which ye have neither any hope at all nor expectation to do? Do ye not see how the nation is sunk into all manner of wickedness? Are not miracles done by me, such as were neither seen nor heard before? Do ye not consider an infinite multitude flowing in, even to a miracle, to the profession of the gospel? and that the minds of all men are raised into a present expectation of the Messias? Strange blindness, voluntary, and yet sent upon you from heaven: your sin and your punishment too! They see all things which may demonstrate and declare a Messias, but they will not see.”
Commenting on Matt. 24:34, “This generation shall not pass…” [Lightfoot says]:
“Hence it appears plain enough, that the foregoing verses are not to be understood of the last judgment, but, as we said, of the destruction of Jerusalem. There were some among the disciples (particularly John), who lived to see these things come to pass. With Matt.xvi.28, compare John xxi.22. And there were some Rabbins alive at the time when Christ spoke these things, that lived till the city was destroyed, viz. Rabban Simeon, who perished with the city, R. Jochanan Ben Zaccai, who outlived it, R. Zadoch, R. Ismael, and others. [2:320]
On Jesus words in Mark 13:32, But of that day and hour knoweth no man, Lightfoot says: “Of what day and hour? That the discourse is of the day of the destruction of Jerusalem is so evident, both by the disciples’ question, and by the whole thread of Christ‘s discourse, that it is a wonder any should understand these words of the day and hour of the last judgment.”[2:442]
“…The nations of the world, … is a very common form of speech amongst the Jews, by which they express the Gentiles, or all other nations beside themselves. …{kosmos} and … {aion} have a peculiar propriety in sacred writ, which they have not in profane authors: so that … {aion} hath relation only to the Jewish ages, and … {kosmos} to the nations that are not Jewish. Hence …, Matt. xxiv. 3, is meant the end of the Jewish age, or world. And …, Tit. i.2, is before the Jewish world began. And hence it is that the world very often in the New Testament is to be understood only of the Gentile world.” [3:135]
In the Jewish writings we find: “…The time draweth nigh that the kingdom of heaven shall be revealed. We have observed elsewhere, that it was the nation’s universal opinion, that that very time wherein Christ did appear was the time wherein they expected the coming of Messiah, being so taught by the prophecy of Daniel. Which however the more modern Jews would now endeavour to evade, as also other more illustrious predictions that concern our Jesus, yet were those times then more truly and more sincerely interpreted. Hence that conflux of Jews from all nations to Jerusalem, Acts ii.5. And to this doth that in some measure attest which the Talmudists relate concerning the paraphrast of the prophets, that when he went about to paraphrase also the Hagiographa, or holy writings, he was forbidden by Bath Kol, saying, That he must abstain from that; for in those books was the end of the Messiah, viz. Dan.ix.26.” [3:194]
“…’Forty years before the destruction [of Jerusalem], the gates of the Temple opened themselves of their own accord. Rabban Jochanan Ben Zacchai declaimed upon it … saying, ‘O Temple, Temple, why dost thou terrify thyself? I know thy end will be destruction; for so Zechariah, the son of Iddo, hath prophesied concerning thee; Open thy doors, O Lebanon,”
“The rest that follows doth plainly enough speak out desolation and ruin, ver. 2, 3: {Zech. 11}, but particularly that is remarkable, ver. 6, ‘I will deliver the men every one into his neighbour’s hand:’ how manifestly doth it agree with those intestine broils and discords, those horrid seditions, stirred up amongst them! ‘And into the hand of his king;’ i.e. of Caesar, concerning whom they may remember they once said, ‘We have no king but Caesar.'” [3:346]
Some of the following quotes are to show how time was calculated. [1:76-7]
The priestly duty of determining the times of the calendar year was so
important that they had a special court in the temple where the Sanhedrim could examine the people from various cities regarding the appearance of the new moon. In this special court, feasts were held for those who would come to witness about the new moon.
The Mount of Olives, (might also be translated Mount of Oil, or Light), served as a place for the relay of the fire signals that proclaimed the appearance of the New Moon. (1:88.) Likewise the hill of Hauran was a place where flaming torches gave notice of the new year. [1:301]
The importance of calculating time is indicated in 1 Chron. 12:32. The Targumist says of Issachar: “‘They were skilled in calculating the beginnings of the years, the calends of the months, and the intercalation both of years and months:…sophists [skilful] in new moons,…astrologers [conversant] about planets and stars,‘”….
“If we would include the Levites, that dwelt amongst the tribe of Issachar, under the general name of Issachar, then might Engannim, being a Levitical city, be an academy for that kind of mathematical learning; [i.e. time reckoning], but in both we are very uncertain….” [1:314]
There is a passage in the Talmud wherein the Hebrew word ‘olam (often translated ‘eternity’), is translated ‘world.’ “…All that come into the world pass before God….” [1:378].
The popular notion that the world is to last six thousand years is not a Biblical idea, but is rather based upon the rattlings of the Rabbis in the Talmud: “‘The tradition of the school of Elias, The world is to last six thousand years,’ &c. And a little after; ‘Elias said to Rabh Judah, ‘The world shall last not less than eighty-five jubilees; and in the last jubilee shall the Son of David come.'”
In time reckoning, “’The first day of the year is reckoned for that year’,” according to the Talmud. For example, when Christ ‘began to be about thirty years old’ refers to the fact that He would be thirty within that year that had already its beginning.[2:80]
At certain times an intercalary month was added to the year:
“…if, when the just time of the Passover was come, the barley were not ripe, the intercalary month was added to that year, and they waited until it ripened: ‘For, for three things they intercalated the year; for the equinox, for the new corn, and for the fruit of the trees….” [2:196]