10. made us--A, B, Aleph, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic read, "them." The Hebrew construction of the third
person for the first, has a graphic relation to the redeemed,
and also has a more modest sound than us, priests [BENGEL].
unto our God--So B and Aleph read. But A omits the
clause.
kings--So B reads. But A, Aleph, Vulgate, Coptic, and
CYPRIAN, read, "A kingdom." Aleph reads
also "a priesthood" for priests. They who cast their crowns
before the throne, do not call themselves kings in the sight of
the great King
(Re 4:10, 11);
though their priestly access has such dignity that their reigning on
earth cannot exceed it. So in
Re 20:6
they are not called "kings" [BENGEL].
we shall reign on the earth--This is a new feature added to
Re 1:6.
Aleph, Vulgate, and Coptic read, "They shall
reign." A and B read, "They reign." ALFORD
takes this reading and explains it of the Church EVEN
NOW, in Christ her Head, reigning on the earth: "all things are
being put under her feet, as under His; her kingly office and rank are
asserted, even in the midst of persecution." But even if we read (I
think the weightiest authority is against it), "They reign,"
still it is the prophetical present for the future: the seer being
transported into the future when the full number of the redeemed
(represented by the four living creatures) shall be complete and
the visible kingdom begins. The saints do spiritually reign now;
but certainly not as they shall when the prince of this world shall be
bound (see on
Re 20:2-6).
So far from reigning on the earth now, they are "made as the
filth of the world and the offscouring of all things." In
Re 11:15, 18,
the locality and time of the kingdom are marked.
KELLY translates, "reign over the earth"
(Greek, "epi tees gees"), which is justified by the
Greek (Septuagint,
Jud 9:8;
Mt 2:22).
The elders, though ruling over the earth, shall not necessarily
(according to this passage) remain on the earth. But English
Version is justified by
Re 3:10.
"The elders were meek, but the flock of the meek independently
is much larger" [BENGEL].
JFB.
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