1:4. “Asia.”
The Samaritans call the ‘Rephaim’ of Gen. 15:20, ‘Aseans’. Lightfoot says: “I know not whence the word Asia may more fitly be derived, than from the memory of this gigantic race, living almost in the middle of Asia, and mounstrous and astonishing above all other Asiatics….” [1:284-5] But see my article “Asia”.
1:4. “…seven…”
“…in the Jewish schools themselves it obtained for a custom, yea, almost for an axiom, to reduce things and numbers to the very same, when they were near alike….Behold with what liberty they fit Numbers to their own case….” (See Commentary at 13:18, on “666“.) [2:15-16]
The word which we translate ‘scribes’ is literally ‘numberers.’” ‘The ancients were called … numberers, because they numbered all the letters of the law: for they said …(vau) in…(Lev.xi.42) is the middle letter in the whole book of the law,’ &c. The Gloss gives another reason out of the Jerusalem Talmud; namely, ‘because they numbered all the points and contents of the law, as the forty principal servile works save one,’ &c….” [3:98]
My opinion of the original word is that it was related to their duties in time-reckoning which required painstaking accuracy in numbering the revolutions of the heavenly phenomena. See commentary at 1:4 “The number seven”.
1:4. “… the seven Spirits which are before his throne….”
The following quotes will give a sense of how the Holy Spirit was understood:
“… Very many Jews that were magicians, exorcists, conjurors, wandered up and down, who boasted that they were endued with the Holy Ghost, taught much and did miracles; and yet called our Lord Jesus anathema. ‘But be ye certain (saith the apostle, {I Cor. 12:3}) that these men neither speak, nor act, nor are acted by the Spirit of God: ‘For no man, speaking by the Spirit of God, calleth Jesus accursed.’ On the other part also, the whole Jewish nation indeed denied that the Holy Ghost was given to the Gentiles. ‘The Holy Ghost (say they) dwells not upon any without the land of Israel.’…
“’But (saith the apostle) when the Gentiles confess Jesus is the Lord, they do not this but by the Holy Ghost.’ And also he instructs Christians, that they be not deceived by the crafty and magical spirits of the Jews; and in like manner he stops the mouth of the Jews, that they should not deny the Holy Spirit to be bestowed upon the Gentile Christians.” [4:252-3]
The “seven Spirits which are before the throne” represent the universal Spirit of God, the seven-fold, or completion, fulness and perfection of the One Spirit. (See Eph. 4:5; 1 John 5:7.)
1:5: “… and washed us from our sins in his own blood.”
Davies, [338]: Passages From PESIKTA RABBATI (ed. M. Friedmann; Wien, 1880) [ AD 100+-?] “…. ‘Rabbi Simeon ben Yohai said, ‘Come and see, blood is a thing despised and eaten of dogs but the Holy One, Blessed be He, said that it should be offered on the altar. Nevertheless, if one might say so, the Holy One, Blessed be He, said, ‘Bring before me a gift and take its blood and put it upon the horns of the Altar in order that blood should atone for blood’.'”
1:5. “…first begotten of the dead….”
These quotes show how the word ‘first-born’ was understood:
When Jesus was presented to the Lord, (Luke 2:22), “…This was done to the first-born, but not to the children that were born afterward: nor was this done to the first-born unless…the first-born were fit for the priest….” [3:38]
Related to this is the type of the ‘first-fruits.’ ‘The paschal lamb was eaten on the fifth day of the week, our Thursday: the first day of the feast was the sixth day of the week, our Friday, the day on which our Lord was crucified. The day declining towards night (about the time that our Lord was buried), they went out that were deputed by the Sanhedrim to reap the sheaf: and on the morrow, that was their sabbath, whiles our Saviour slept in the grave, they offered that sheaf. That day therefore was …the second day, and from thence they counted the weeks to Pentecost. And the sabbaths that came between took their name from that…second day. The first sabbath after that was…the first sabbath after the second day; and the next sabbath after that was … the second sabbath after the second day;…
“‘The first day of the Passover is called the sabbath; and they counted after that … seven sabbaths that had relation to that.'” [3:81]
Davies, [82]: “Israel is the Lord’s portion; the sole abode of Wisdom (Law); the chosen of Yahweh, which will never be cut off; the everlasting heritage of Yahweh; his first-born;…: Quoting Susanna 19.29. Israel was considered to be Yahweh’s ‘first-born’.
Note 12: “Susanna 19.29.” “There had been a growth in the nature and belief in the resurrection which affected Paul‘s theology. In contrast to the Greek concept of individual immortality, Judaism‘s belief in the “oneness of the nation made the idea of merely individual immortality unattractive, and the attitude of Judaism towards the future was determined more by the sense of national solidarity than by individual aspirations.” [83]
We see here how that the concept of “First-Begotten of the Dead” was so vitally important. It was obvious to the people of that generation that ‘Israel’ was dead; her kingship and priesthood had been emasculated; her temple had been polluted; the Law had been corrupted; her genealogies had been burnt. Her only hope was in a resurrection. When Christ arose from the dead, He became the only, –not one among many, — but the only Living Heir.
1:6. “…And hath made us to be kings and priests….”
The following quotes will shed light upon the conditions of and atitudes toward the priesthood and kingship in the New Testament era:
“…’In the second Temple, which stood but four hundred and twenty years, there were more than three hundred high priests within that time. Of these four hundred and twenty years, deduct those forty wherein Simeon the Just ministered, and those eighty wherein Jochanan sat, and those ten wherein Ismael Ben Phabi, and (as it is said) those eleven wherein Eleazar Ben Harsom governed; and then reckon, and you will find that hardly any other high priest sat out his whole year.’
“But this number of high priests is very much lessened in Vajicra Rabba: ‘Under the first Temple, because they that served therein served in the truth, there were but eighteen high priests, the father, the son, and grandson successively. But under the second Temple, when that honour came to be obtained by money [there are also that say how they murdered one another by charms and witchcrafts], there were fourscore high priests served in that time: fourscore and one, say some; fourscore and two, say others; and there are that say fourscore and four. Amongst these, Simeon the Just sat forty years: but when the place was bought and sold, the years of enjoying it were cut short. The story goes of one that sent his son with two bushels of silver [to purchase the high priest’s office], and the bushels themselves were silver. Another sent his son with two bushels of gold, and the bushels themselves were of gold too.’
“As to this difference of numbers, we will not much trouble our heads about it: perhaps the Gemarists might reckon the sagans together with the high priests, for they were indeed deputed to minister in their stead, if any uncleanness had happened to them. Let there be fourscore high priests, or thereabouts, it is certain that so frequent were the changes and successions amongst them, that the high priest of this year was hardly so the year that went before or that followed after. Although indeed in this Caiaphas it was something otherwise, yet did the evangelist justly and properly enough add this clause, that he was high priest that same year; tacitly noting the common state of affairs as to the office of high priest at that time.” [3:416-7]
Davies, [260-61]”…. [Exod.19.3f:] ‘…if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine. And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation….’ In this passage ‘to hear God’s voice’ and ‘to keep His covenant’ are synonymous terms: to be in the covenant is to obey…. the covenant stands for the Torah or for laws commanded by Yahweh; and when we turn to the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha the same is true. This is so, for example, in Ecclesiasticus,1 I Macc.2, the Psalms of Solomon,3 Ass. Moses,4 and 4 Ezra.5 The Torah is the sepher ha–berith. Hence it comes about that to disobey the commandments is to break or transgress the covenant. ‘The deliberate, provocative transgression of one of God’s laws is an open defiance of His authority and of God Himself, the Giver of the Law’, writes Büchler, ‘the contempt involved is the breaking of a covenant imposed by God, the sovereign King of Israel.’
“The Rabbinic literature reveals the same outlook. Jews are bene berith and Yahweh is ba`al berith…. This ba`al demands implicit obedience, he is the sole master of Israel and to be within His covenant people implies absolute submission to His rule, the acceptance of the yoke of the Kingship of God, `ol malkuth shamaim. The true spirit of a ben berith is well expressed by the zealot Eleazar: ‘We have resolved for a long time to be subject neither to the Romans nor to anybody else, except to God alone, for He alone is the true and just Master … of men.9 But to acknowledge a master is to become an `ebed and it is the duty of the `ebed to obey…. According to R. Simeon b. Yohgai (A.D.140-65) God said to the Israelites at Sinai: ‘Now that ye have accepted my kingship,
[Note 1, p. 261: “17.11,24.23,28.7,42.2,45.5,17,39.8.” Note 2, p. 261: “I Macc.1.15,57,2.20,27,50….” Note 3, p. 261: “10.5” Note 4, p. 261: “1.9,3.9,11.17,12.13….” Note 5, p. 261: “4.23,7.24, etc.” Note 9, p. 261: “Josephus, Wars, 7,6 (Whiston’s translation, p.600).”
Davies, [262 continued] ‘accept my decrees.’1 Again R. Joshua b. Korhah (A.D.140-65) says: ‘Why does (in the prayer) the recital of Deut. 6.4ff. precede that of Deut. 11.13ff.? In order that we should first accept upon us the yoke of the Kingship of God and then the yoke of the commandments.’2 …. The words of R. Johanan b. Zakkai, which we quote here again, are valid not only with reference to the question in reply to which they were uttered, but for the attitude of Rabbinic Judaism generally. According to him a decree issued by God is ‘a decree of the king of the King of Kings….God said, I have ordered an ordinance and I have decreed a decree, and no mortal must transgress my decree, as it is written Numbers 19.2. This is the ordinance of the Torah.’3”
[Note 1, p. 262:”Mekilta Bahodesh 6.” Note 2, p. 262: “M.Ber.2.2. Although the two Rabbis quoted belong to the middle of the second century the thought expressed here is fundamental to Rabbinic Judaism from the beginning….” Note 3, p. 262: “Num.Rabba 19.”]
1:6-7. “…hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. …Even so, Amen.”
“There is no need to mention that prayers were made publicly by the angel of the church for the whole congregation, and that the congregation answered amen to every prayer….” [2:95]
“…That prayer, wherein there is not mention of the kingdom of God, is not a prayer.“
“…In the public service in the Temple, the commemoration of the kingdom of God was the respond; instead of which the people answered Amen, when the priests ended their prayers….’the tradition is, that they answered not ”Amen” in the house of the sanctuary. What said they then?….Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom for ever.'” …’But the priests and people standing in the court, when they heard…the name Jehovah pronounced out in its syllables, adoring, and falling prostrate upon their face, they said…Blessed be the name of the glory of his kingdom for ever and ever.”
“…As they answered Amen, not at all in the public prayers in the Temple, so they seldom joined it to the end of their private prayers. In the synagogue, indeed, the people answered Amen to the prayers made by the minister: and also at home, when the master of the family blessed or prayed; but seldom, or indeed never, any one praying privately joined this to the end of his prayers.” [2:150-3]
“… It was the part of one to pray, or give thanks, –of all to answer, Amen. ‘They answer Amen after an Israelite blessing, not after a Cuthite,’ &c. But ‘they answered not … the orphan Amen … nor the snatched Amen,’ &c.
“The orphan Amen was when Amen was said, and he that spake weighed not, or knew not why or to what he so answered. To the same sense is … an orphan psalm; that is, a psalm to which neither the name of the author is inscribed, nor the occasion of the composure…. Such is the Amen concerning which the apostle in this place; when any one answers Amen foolishly to a thing not understood.” [4:265]