The Apocalypse of John, by Charles C. Torrey

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

Several of the early Roman emperors, not satisfied with the bare ascription of divinity, required of their subjects formal worship, either as a means of unifying the empire or with some special object in view. Caligula had his clash with the Jews, when he would have his statue erected on the alter in the temple at Jerusalem; Domitian permitted and encouraged persecution of Christians on the charge―among others―of atheism (); the similar proceedings in the time of Trajan are especially familiar. These attacks on the Christians were very slight, however, compared to those of a later day, especially under Decius and Diocletian, when on the one hand the Church had grown strong, and on the other hand the persecution was more fully organized.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

In Revelation the Christians are about to be called upon to offer worship to a certain Roman emperor who is consistently named "the Beast." He holds a very conspicuous place in the later chapters of the book, as the arch enemy of the Christians. We are so fortunate as to know which emperor is meant; we have his number. Revelation 13:18, "He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man; and his number is 666." The key to the cipher was at last found, with certainty, when it was understood that the letters of the name are Semitic, not Greek. It is now the accepted conclusion that the beast is the emperor Nero, for the numbers represented by the Aramaic letters NRWN QSR, Nero Caesar, make up exactly the required sum.*

*It has often been said that the form of "Caesar" to expect would be QYSR; thus Swete, Porter, Bousset, Charles, and others. This is hardly the case; the form without Y is the older, and is found in inscriptions. The number 616, found in some ancient sources, arose out of the failure to gain a plausible 666 from Greek characters. The name must be that of a man, a Roman emperor. Nero being found impossible, Caligula seemed the only other possibility, and it was was at once seen that Gaios Kaisar yielded 616, This emendation, KhISʾ instead of KhXSʾ, was accordingly made in numerous manuscripts. The curious suggestion that the number was gained from a "latinized" reading NRW, has no support in known usage, nor plausibility in view of the fact that only Greek letters can have been considered. It may be added, as a mere curiosum, that the Hebrew letters of GSQLGS QSR, the standard Talmudic rabbinical writing of the name Gaius Caligula Caesar (see G. F. Moore, JAOS, 26, [1905], 26 [1905], 26 [1905], also yield 616.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

Equally definite information, of another sort, is provided in the all-important verse 17:10. The conducting angel has explained to John the mystery of the Monster with the seven heads and seven horns. The heads have a twofold symbolism: in the one interpretation, they are the seven hills of Rome; in the other, they are "the" seven Roman emperors.* Verse 10 specifies: "The five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come; and when he comes, he must continue a little while."

*The loose symbolism is characteristic of the author. He does the same thing with the "Beast" (see 17:3. 7 f., etc.)., which is both the Roman empire and the emperor Nero. The Woman sits on the seven hills, or on the Beast, according to the writer's fancy. The ten horns (derived from Daniel) are similarly treated; compare 12:3 with 13:1 and 17:12 ff.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

This certainty seems to provide, as exactly as could be expected of an apocalypse, information as to the time―the precise reign―in which the book was composed. "The one is" means, if the plain word of the angel is accepted, that this revelation was given to the seer in the time of the sixth emperor. The prediction relating to the seventh, the one who "has not yet come" (!), is a riddle calling for interpretation; but this must wait until more ground has been gained. First of all it is essential to ascertain where, in the series of imperial heads, we are to locate him whose number is 666.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

Some ancient authors, oriental as well as occidental, began their list of Roman emperors with Julius Caesar instead of Augustus. In such a list Nero would be the sixth "head," the one in whose day the book was written. Fortunately, there is conclusive evidence that the series in Revelation began with Augustus and that, accordingly, the Beast was the fifth in the series. The Apocalypse makes express and repeated use of the superstition of Nero redivivus, as is now well recognized.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

Upon Nero's death, which occurred early June of the year 68, Servius Galba, a man of high rank and great wealth who had served with distinction as administrator of important provinces, was hailed as emperor and took the throne. There were many, however, especially outside Italy, who could not believe that they had seen the last of Nero when his death was reported. He had made an immense impression upon the common people. If they had lived in dread of his doings and at last had learned to speak of him with execration, yet he had never ceased to fill them with awe. No other emperor had made so deep a personal impression, not only in Rome but throughout the Roman world. More than this, he was the last of the legitimate line, whose members had been revered and obeyed for nearly three generations. Had the rule of the divinely appointed house really come to an end? The alleged death took place outside the city, in a private villa, when the emperor was fleeing for his life. Was there not trickery in the published reports of the suicide or assassination? May not the body that was cremated have been that of a substitute, while Nero himself was hidden away?

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

The rumor―very natural under the circumstances―that Nero was alive and would soon return to take his place on the throne, spread rapidly in the provinces and was credited by very many, as Tacitus attests. It is quite clear, if the words of Revelation presently to be quoted are taken on their face value, that its author believed that Nero actually escaped his pursuers and recovered from his wound. In Asia the belief seems to have been especially widespread from the first. Early in the year 69, soon after the death of Galba, a pseudo-Nero raised a band of insurgents in Asia and Greece and set sail for Rome. The account of his brief career is given by Tacitus (Hist., II, 8, 9). There were other pretenders, at least at a later day. The Byzantine chronographer Zonaras tells of one who appeared in Parthia, Rome's chief rival, in the reign of Titus. Suetonius mentions another―or more probably the same?―who made his appearance, also in Parthia, "twenty years after the death of Nero." With Parthia, however, and with the belief that Nero was to return at the head of a Parthian army, the Apocalypse has no concern. These matters lie entirely outside its horizon, as will appear.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

The passages in Revelation which assert the escape of Nero and predict his ultimate return to the throne of the Caesars are in chapters 13 and 17. There is here no ambiguity; we could dispense with the number 666 given in 13:18. We see mention of the short sword by which the Beast was reputed to have met his death; and we are told in the plainest terms that the fifth "head" is destined to reign a second time, after the sixth and the seventh have had their turn.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

13:3. After introducing the Monster with ten horns and seven heads, John proceeds: I saw one of his heads (namely the Beast)* as though it had been smitten unto death; but his death stroke was healed."

*The possibility naturally suggests itself that in the original text one Aramaic word was employed for the symbolic Monster and another for the human Beast. The creature that arose from the deep was of course a (Dan. 7:3, 7), and it would have been easy to call the beast ḥayṯᴐʾ another common word. The translator must necessarily render both by the same word, . The suggestion is of very doubtful value, however. The author seems to have identified the empire so completely that he could use the same term for both, as apparently we see him doing in 17:7 f.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

13:12. Here the writer has mentioned the official―or, more probably, the institution―appointed to enforce the state worship. A most imperious being is described: "he had two horns of a wild ox, and howled like a dragon" (verse 11). He is himself a beast, "and he makes the earth and those who dwell therein worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed."

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

13:14. The description continues: he issues the command, to all who dwell on the earth, "that they should make an image to the beast, who had the stroke of the sword and lived."

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

17:8. "The beast that thou sawest was, and is not, and is destined to come up out of the abyss.* and to go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder . . . when they behold the beast, how that he was, and is not, and shall come."

*"Out of the abyss" refers to 11:7 (and Dan. 7:3), and means simply that the Beast will reappear in his own time and in the same way that he made his appearance in the first place. The writer holds to the language of the vision. No other opposition is necessary. "Is destined to" is a better rendering here than is "is about to."

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

The Beast was not yet needed on earth to take part in two great scenes of Jewish (and Christian) eschatology: the further persecution of the saints (Dan. 12:1), one feature of it already announced in 11:7; and the final battle with the hosts of heaven in which he is to be destroyed.

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

17:9-11. "The seven heads are seven hills, on which the woman sits; and they are seven emperors; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come, and when he comes he must continue a little while. And the beast that was, and is not, is himself an eighth, and is of the seven; and he goes into perdition."

To be continued...

[John Reece]

Continued from last post above ↑

Continuation of the Introduction to The Apocalypse of John (Yale University Press, 1958) by Charles Cutler Torrey:

These passages seem to give the needed information, clear as to the main fact, which is not affected by the added element of mistaken prediction. The sixth emperor is Galba, and the little pamphlet professes to have been written in his reign. A seventh is expected to follow eventually. The number is absolutely limited to seven, for Nero himself, the fifth, is to close the series, returning "as an eighth," but as one of the seven.

To be continued...