This letter to the Smyrneans is the first placed in the Apocalypse where “days” stand for years. The Apocalypse is a book of symbols, *n which the greater is represented by the less.
“You have done perfectly right, my dear Pliny, in the inquiry you have made concerning the Christians. For truly no one general rule can be laid down, which will apply itself to all cases. These people must not be sought after. If they are brought before you and convicted, let them be capitally punished, yet with this restriction, that if any one renounce Christianity, and evidence his sincerity by supplicating our gods, however suspected he may be for the past, he shall obtain pardon for the future, on his repentance.
“Health.—It is my usual custom, sir, to refer all things, of which I harbor any doubts, to you. For who can better direct my judgment in its hesitation, or instruct my understanding in its ignorance? I never had the fortune to be present at any examination of Christians, before I came into this province. I am therefore at a loss to determine what is the usual object either of inquiry or of punishment, and to what length either of them is to be carried.
“Ye will have tribulation ten days.”— Verse 10
“hear not the things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the Diabolos will cast of you into prison,
that ye may be tempted” verse 10.
Satan is a Hebrew word from the root pip , sahtan, which signifies,
Synagogue is a Greek word, from the vero sunago “to bring together, collect, gather; passive, to convene, come together, meet.” The noun <
But, though the Star-Angel of the ecclesia of the Smyrneans was richly faithful in the midst of poverty and tribulation, the Spirit informs us, that there existed in that city an institution of a hostile and rival character.
“And to the Angel of the Ecclesia of the Smyrneans write: These things saith the First and the Last, who was dead and lived: I have known thy works, and the tribulation, and the poverty, though thou art rich; and the blasphemy of those who say, that they themselves are Jews, and are not, but a synagogue of the Satan.
In Apoc. 1 : 3, the Spirit pronounces a benediction upon individuals of a certain class in relation to the Apocalypse.