Replies

From: Revelation 11:4-12

The Death and Resurrection of the Two Witnesses (Continuation)

[4] These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands which stand before the
Lord of the earth. [5] And if any one would harm them, fire pours from their mouth
and consumes their foes; if any one would harm them, thus he is doomed to be
killed. [6] They have power to shut the sky, that no rain may fall during the days
of their prophesying, and they have power over the waters to turn them into blood,
and to smite the earth with every plague, as often as they desire. [7] And when
they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the bottomless
pit will make war upon them and conquer them and kill them, [8] and their dead
bodies will lie in the street of the great city which is allegorically called Sodom
and Egypt, where their Lord was crucified.

[9] For three days and a half men from the peoples and tribes and tongues and
nations gaze at their dead bodies and refuse to let them be placed in a tomb,
[10] and those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them and make merry
and exchange presents, because these two prophets had been a torment to
those who dwell on the earth. [11] But after the three and a half days a breath
of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell
on those who saw them. [12] Then they heard a loud voice from heaven saying
to them, “Come up hither!” And in the sight of their foes they went up to heaven
in a cloud.

*********************************************************************************************
Commentary:

3-6. The period of tribulation coincides with the length of time the two witnesses
prophesy. They call people to penance (symbolized by their use of sackcloth).
God protects them in a very special way; and yet he does not spare them death
or suffering; in the end, however, they will be glorified in heaven. In the Apoca-
lypse the identity of the two witnesses is not given; they are referred to as “olive
trees” — the same language as used of Zerubbabel, a prince of the line of David,
and Joshua, the high priest (cf. Zech 3:3-14). But they are assigned features of
Elijah, who brought about a drought (cf. 1 Kings 17:1-3; 18:1), and Moses, who
turned the Nile to blood (cf. Ex 7:14-16). The enemies of Elijah and Moses were
also devoured by fire from heaven (cf. 2 Kings 1 :10; Num 16:35). However, be-
cause the two witnesses testify to Jesus Christ and die martyrs, tradition identi-
fies them with St Peter and St Paul, who suffered martyrdom in Rome, the city
which the Book of Revelation later mentions symbolically. Some early commen-
tators (e.g. Ticonius and St Bede) saw the two witnesses as standing for the Old
and New Testaments; but this interpretation has had little following. St Jerome
(”Epist.” 59) says that they are Elijah and Enoch, and St Gregory the Great and
others give that interpretation (”Moralia”, 9, 4).

What St John is doing is using a theme which occurs fairly frequently in apoca-
lyptic writings where Elijah and Enoch or other combinations of prominent figures
are portrayed as opponents of antichrist. His two witnesses do have features of
Elijah and Moses, both of whom bore witness to Christ at the Transfiguration
(cf. Mt 17:1-8 and par.). However, the duration of the trial they undergo, and the
entire context of the passage, point rather to them standing for the prophetic
witness of the Church, symbolized by certain more outstanding witnesses, who
were present at the death of Christ, which took place in Jerusalem, and who were
also witnesses of his glorious resurrection. However, it is the entire Church, right
through the course of its history, that has been given the prophetic role of calling
men to repentance in the midst of harassment and hostility: “The holy People of
God shares also in Christ’s prophetic office: it spreads a broad and living witness
to him, especially by a life of faith and love and by offering to God a sacrifice of
praise, the fruit of lips praising his name (cf. Heb 13: 15)” (Vatican II, “Lumen
Gentium”, 12). “The Church announces the good tidings of salvation [...] , so that
all men may believe the one true God and Jesus Christ whom he has sent and
may be converted from their ways, doing penance (cf. Jn 17:3; Lk 24:27; Acts 2:
38)” (Vatican II, “Sacrosanctum Concilium”, 9).

7-10. The prophet Daniel used four beasts to symbolize the empires of the world
as enemies of the people of Israel. In the Apocalypse the beast stands for the
enemy of the Church and the enemy of God. Further on it will develop this theme
and link the beasts to the dragon or Satan (cf. 13:2), and describe their defeat by
Christ, the Lamb of God (cf. 14:1; 19:19-21).

The symbol of the beast is brought forward in this passage to show that there will
be a point, or various points, before the End when the forces of evil will apparent-
ly win victory. Martyrdom silences the voices of the witnesses of Jesus Christ
who preach repentance; many will rejoice over this and even deride those whose
words or actions they find uncomfortable, despite the fact that when a Christian
bears witness to the salvation that comes from Jesus he is motivated purely by
love. “Since Jesus, the Son of God, showed his love by laying down his life for us,
no one has greater love than he who lays down his life for him and for his brothers
(cf. 1 Jn 3:16; Jn 15:13). Some Christians have been called from the beginning,
and will always be called, to give this greatest testimony of love to all, especially
to persecutors. Martyrdom makes the disciple like his Master, who willingly ac-
cepted death for the salvation of the world, and through it he is conformed to Him
by the shedding of blood. Therefore the Church considers it the highest gift and
supreme test of love. And while it is given to few, all, however, must be prepared
to confess Christ before men and to follow him along the way of the cross amidst
the persecutions which the Church never lacks” (”Lumen Gentium”, 42).

“The great city”, whose name is not given, seems to be Jerusalem, which in Isai-
ah 1:10 is called Sodom because it has turned its back on God. However, when
the writer tells us that it is “allegorically called Sodom and Egypt, where their
Lord was crucified” (v. 8), we may take Jerusalem here to stand for any city or
even any nation where perversity holds sway (cf. Wis 19:14-17, which alludes to
Sodom and Egypt) and where Christians are persecuted and hunted down (cf.
Acts 9:5). Thus, St Jerome (”Epist.” 17) interpreted the names of Sodom and
Egypt as having a mystical or figurative meaning, referring to the entire world
seen as the city of the devil and of evildoers.

Further on, St John will identify the Rome of his time with this “great city” (cf.
17:9).

Evil will triumph for only a limited period. Its reign is fixed to last “three days and
a half”, to show its brevity and temporary character as compared with the one
thousand two hundred and sixty days (three years and a half) for which the pro-
phetic witness endures (cf. note on 11: 1-2).

11-13. Those who have given their lives to bear witness to Jesus will also,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, share in his resurrection and ascension into
heaven. The writer describes this by various references to the Old Testament, re-
ferences rich in meaning. The breath of life which causes the witnesses to stand
up, that is, to be resurrected, reveals the power of the Spirit of God, which is also
described by the prophet Ezekiel in his vision of the dry bones which become li-
ving warriors (cf. Ezek 37:1-14). The voice which calls them up to heaven reminds
us of what happened to Elijah at the end of his life (cf. 2 Kings 2:11), and to cer-
tain other Old Testament saints like Enoch (cf. Gen 5:24; Sir 44:16); according
to certain Jewish traditions (cf. Flavius Josephus, “Jewish Antiquities”, IV, 8, 48),
all of these men were carried up into heaven at the end of their days on earth.

The exaltation of the witnesses is in sharp contrast with the punishment meted
out to their enemies, a punishment designed to move men to conversion. The
earthquake indicates that the chastisement is sudden and unexpected; the num-
ber of those who die symbolizes a great crowd (thousands) embracing all types
(seven).

The prophecy of the two witnesses is a call to the Christian to bear witness to
Christ in the midst of persecution, even to the point of martyrdom. It makes it
quite clear that God does not abandon those who boldly take his side. If the pro-
phets of the Old Testament suffered martyrdom, the same will happen in the new,
only more so: the messianic times have begun, persecution will grow in strength,
but the end of the world is approaching.

*********************************************************************************************
Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.

Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.