1:8. “…the beginning and the ending…”  [See also 1: 11, 17.  “…I am the first and the last:…” Also 2:8; 22:13].

 

                The terms ‘the beginning and the end’, in the usage of the Jews, ‘the beginning’ meant what was the chief matter at hand, whereas ‘the end’, signified a question of a secondary nature.  In dealing with the question of the Pharisees who asked: “Who are you?” (John 8:25):

 

                “…we may suppose what he said was to this purpose: ‘You ask who I am? … The beginning.  That is the chief thing to be inquired into, which I now say, viz. That I am the light of the world, the Messiah, the Son of God, &c.  But what works I do, what doctrines I teach, and by what authority, … this is an inquiry of the second place, in comparison to that first and chief question, who I am.'”  [3:332-3]

 

                There is a common maxim in the Rabbins: “…’There is no first and last in the holy Scriptures, i.e. the order of the story does not necessarily determine the time of it….'”  [4:72]

 

Davies, [331-2]:  Passages from SIFRA on Lev. (J. H. Weiss and J. Schlossberg; Wien, 1862).  On 13.5.85d “…. ‘And ye shall keep my statutes and my judgements, which if a man perform,’ i.e. observe and perform the statutes and observe and perform the judgements. ‘Then he will live by them,’ i.e. in the Age to Come.  And if thou shalt say– ‘In this Age; surely the end of him is that he shall die’, well then how do I fulfill the promise (that he may live by them to the Age to Come?).  I am the Lord, i.e. am to be trusted to pay a reward.'”

 

1:8. “I am Alpha and Omega….” 

 

Lightfoot [1:119] The Talmudists played with the letters of the alphabet for inventing meanings that could not be justified by the actual words themselves.  They also used them for magical incantations and conjuring up ‘secret’ messages, which practice developed into the part of their religion known as ‘Cabala’, which is the practice of magic by use of the alphabetic letters.

 

                “…the Gemarists…play with the letters of the alphabet, and amongst the rest especially the letter …[Tsadi]… there is Tsadi that begins a word, … [or the crooked … (Tsadi)], and Tsadi that ends a word (or the straight … (Tsadi).  What follows from hence? …There is the just person that is crooked [or bowed down], and there is the just person that is erect or straight.…'”  {See their methods of logic!}  [3:153]

 

                Quoting the Talmudists: “‘The Samaritans…have not the letters …(He), or …(Ain), or…(Cheth).  …(He) is in the name of Abraham,…and they have not honour.  …Cheth, is in the name of Isaac, …and they have not mercy.  …(Ain) is in the name of Jacob, …and they have not gentleness.  But for these letters they use …(Aleph): and hence it is known that they are not of the seed of Israel.'”[1:119]

 

                Another example of this is given by Lightfoot, [1:133], where the letter ayin is given no sound and so words containing this letter are interchanged.  Similarly, as the Jews were dispersed and began more and more to speak the dialects, the letters of the alphabet lost their original sound correspondences.  In some contexts in the Syrian dialect Hebrew zayin changed into daleth; ayin to shin and shin to ayin.  Sometimes ayin was pronounced as aleph and vice versa, and heth as he.  The Syrians sometimes changed shin to tau, and interchanged mem and beth.  The Chaldee and Syriac change tsade to ayin, and heth to samech.  The Syriac used zayin for Tsade. [2:135]

 

                Instead of adhering to the original language, these variations would allow them to do as they did, “make anything out of anything.”  [1:135, 140, 152, 170-172, 176, 229, 327, 333]

 

                There were many interchanges of letters which the Rabbis forbad, saying that they “destroyed the world.”  (see 2:102.)

 

                The Talmudists also like to play games with the etymologies of names and places. [1:147]

 

                In speaking of the fact that with the Jews, Truth is the seal of God: “…’But what is truth?  R. Bon saith, … The living God and King eternal.  Resh Lachish saith, À is the first letter of the alphabet, מ the middle, and ת the last: q.d. I the Lord am the first; I received nothing of any one; and beside me there is no God: for there is not any that intermingles with me; and I am with the last.'”  [3:303]  {Note that the letters mentioned here spell ‘truth.’  תמא}

 

1:9-10. “I…was on the isle of Patmos….”

 

The following quotes will show how the isle of Patmos would not have been considered a suitable place for prophecy according to the Rabbis:

 

Davies, [206-7], points to several passages in the Rabbinical writings to show that they believed prophets could only be filled with the Spirit and prophesy because of the merits of Israel.  When Israel was in sin, there could be no prophets. [Citing Mekilta Pisha I, Sifre Deut. on 18.12, ¶173.]

 

                “According to some Rabbis, since Palestine alone was sanctified, outside Palestine it was only on the seas that the Holy Spirit could be experienced.  This view was held by some Rabbis who cited in support of it Ezek. 1.3.  According to other Rabbis, although God revealed himself everywhere it was only in Palestine that the Holy Spirit remained constantly.

 

[Note 4: Cf. Targum Jonathan on Ezek. 1.3.]  “Further, the activity of the Holy Spirit was still more closely limited to Jerusalem ….  ‘In order to understand the issue involved in this difference of opinion,’ writes Parzen, ‘we must bear in mind that Palestine is the Holy Land. Therefore it is the proper place for Revelation.  Foreign lands are from the Rabbinic viewpoint ‘impure’; consequently not suitable for Divine Revelation ….’ It will be seen in the light of this that the geographical limitation of the activity of the Holy Spirit is bound up with its communal character, it comes to a community and therefore to the abode of that community.”

 

                “Note 3: “In Pesikta R. 160a, we read: ‘When the Temple was rebuilt, the Shekinah did not rest upon it.  For God had said, ‘If all the Israelites return [from Babylon] the Shekinah shall rest upon it, but if not, they shall be served only with the Heavenly Voice.’ ‘…. H. Loewe comments on this: ‘This interesting passage implies that there can be no full revelation when Israel is divided…’ –this confirms what we have written above: community is essential to the activity of the Holy Spirit.”

 

1:9. “I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God, and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

 

                There were metal mines in the land of Palestine, owned by the Jews but frequently used to punish Christians who were condemned by the Roman tyrants or by the Jewish Sanhedrin.  [1:189] John had probably been condemned in this manner, but sent to the salt mines on the isle of Patmos rather than to mines in Palestine.

 

1:9. “…tribulation….”

 

                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]