From: Noel Maddy (ncm@biostat.hfh.edu)
Date: Mon Feb 09 1998 - 13:36:03 EST
> Rev 19:5 KAI FONH APO TOU QRONOU EXHLQEN
>
> I can't quite picture this. A voice comes from the throne, telling us to
> give praise to God. This voice can't be God, the one who is seated on the
> throne. But who else could speak APO TOU QRONOU? I mean, that's kind of
> like Dad's armchair, isn't it? Nobody else gets to sit there? But if nobody
> else is there, how could they speak from there?
Well, I doubt we'll understand completely until we see it, but
here's a couple possibilities:
1) In three places in Rev, we see beings EN MESWi TOU QRONOU:
4:6 TESSARA ZWA
5:6 ARNION
7:17 TO ARNION TO ANA MESON TOU QRONOU
In the contexts, this seems to indicate that "the throne" may be
referring to more than just the place for one person to sit -- maybe
a raised platform or dais -- or a throne room, maybe? If so, the
voices could be coming from beings in this throne-area.
This *might* also be indicated by things like 3:21, where the saints
are to sit MET' XRISTOU EN TWi QRONWi AUTWi, but that seems more like
metonymy referring to the position of authority rather than a
physical throne.
But, on the other hand, the twelve are promised separate,
individual thrones in Mt 19:28, rather than a place in the
throne of Jesus.
I'm not familiar enough with O QRONOS to know if its semantic
range can include a throne-area like this, but it's sure suggested
by these contexts.
2) The occurrence in 19:5 is not unique, though. In 4:5, we also
see voices coming from the throne, and without any indication of
other beings in the area. It could be that it is actually the
throne itself that is the source of these thunders, lightnings,
and voices.
Offhand, the only case I can think of with inanimate objects
speaking is Luke 19:40, where Jesus said that the stones would
cry out if the people stopped -- obviously it didn't actually
happen there, though. That doesn't mean that God couldn't do
it, though...
-- Poor pet names # 37: Chuck "Sit up, Chuck. Up, Chuck. Good boy."Noel Maddy <nmaddy1@biostat.hfh.edu>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:39:02 EDT