Revelation 13: previous
#100
11 And I saw another beast - 22
coming up out of the land, and it had two horns, like a lamb, and it was speaking as a dragon, - 23
22 - No one is really sure who are what this second beast was. There does seem to be a general consensus, though, that this second beast is one and the same with the "false prophet" spoken of in Revelation 16:13; 19:20 and 20:10. In any case, we first notice that this second beast exercises "the authority " of the first beast [Identified above as Nero specifically and Roman generally]. It does so "in it's presence" [or "on its behalf", as the ESV puts it]. It makes "the earth" [which we have been called Israel] to worship the first beast [Nero/Rome] There are four different potential candidates for this second beast:
[1.] The Roman Concilia [ or what is known as the "the Cult of the Emperor]
[2.] A singular Jewish Leader or Governor [perhaps Gessisu Florus];
3 ,a collective of Jewish Leadership [Acts 4:24-28; 12:1-3; 13:8; 14:5; 17:5-8; 18:12-13; 21:11; 24:1-9; 25:2-3, 9, 24]; or
4 Vitellius, Rome's 9th Emperor. - [Because we have stayed with the sea being gentiles and this second beast rises up from the land, this view doesn't carry the same weight as do the second and third theories].
23 - [ see Revelation 11:7]
12 and all the authority of the first beast doth it do before it, and it maketh the land and those dwelling in it that they shall bow before the first beast, whose deadly stroke was healed, - 24
24 Historians Tacitus, Suetonius, and Zonaras all affirm that after Nero's death, proclamations continued to be published in his name as if he was still alive, and that his image was frequently placed upon the rostra [large speakers's platforms in Rome] "dressed in robes of state." Even Jewish and Christians writers began to exclaim that Nero was back from the dead as the dreaded "Beliar Demon". "Nerco committed suicide in June of AD 68. However a Rumor arose and persisted that he had not died but had fled across the Euphrates river to Rome's arch-enemy, Parthia." In the fact of this it was also said that one day Nero would return at the head of Parthian armies to destroy Rome. This view became the so-called "Nero redivides" myth. A second possibility is that it was the beast in the form of the Roman Empire which dramatically recovered from he mortal wound of one of its seven heads [ which was Nero]. This is inf act what happened in first century Rome and it wasn't until Vespasian took the throne in December 69AD, which initiated the Flavian Dynasty that stability was restored to the Empire [Revelation 13:3]
13 and it doth great signs, that fire also it may make to come down from the heaven to the earth before men, - 25
25 - [See Deuteronomy 13:1-3; 1 Kings 18:38; 2 Kings 1:10;12; Matthew 24:24; 2 Thessalonians 2:9; Revelation 16:14]
14 and it leadeth astray those dwelling on the land, because of the signs that were given it to do before the beast, saying to those dwelling upon the land to make an image to the beast that hath the stroke of the sword and did live, - 26
26 - Vitellius had such a rabid fascination with Nero that Vespasian had to "make a determined effort to check the growth of the "Nero Cult" when he came to power." In the time Revelation was written, it was common for the ancients to believe that statues spoke and performed miracles as the gods, [and demons] used statues as conduits to communicate with the humans and work miracles. Both Justin and Irenaeus wrote that the heretic Simon Magus is said to have "brought statues to life." [Clementine Recognitions 3.47; Justin, Apologia 1.26; Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.23]. In ancient times, this was precisely the point of having idols; people thought that the life of a person or being was actually in the idol. In their book, Lat antiquity: A guide to the Postclassical World [1999], the authors [Brown, Bowersock, Grabar] write about the common sight of images of Roman Emperors in the third and fourth centuries. These images took prominent place throughout the empire and were literally worshiped. This was ordinary in the first century as well. Those who beheld Constantine in this golden raiment were said by Eusebius to be "stunned and amazed by the sight -- light children who have seen a frightening apparition." Away from court and capital however, Emperors rarely appeared in person.
In the provinces their presence was represented by statues and other images. As a result of all of this, municipal squares were dominated by imperial statues; the portraits of emperors hung in official buildings, shops, theaters, and public porticoes; in their range and variety, imperial images made emperors omnipresent. The crowd applauded not only the emperor but also his image as it was paraded around them, surrounded- like the emperor himself - by the imperial bodyguard.
These "mirror images of majesty" not only made permanent the transitory message of imperial ceremonial, but were designed to blur the distinction of between emperors and their representations. and those approaching an emperor's statue were required to prostrate themselves "not as though they were looking at a picture. but upon the very face of the emperor".
Statues of Nero's likeness already existed in the Roman Empire during his lifetime, even from early in his reign. In 55D, the second year of his reign, the Roman senate erected a statue of Nero in the Temple of Mars that stood between 110 and 120 feet high. One commentary reads "The emperor's brow was crowned with rays, suggesting a comparison or identification with the Sun-god." Additionally his portrait appeared on coins [at that time] as Apollo playing the lyre. Even his own mother, Agrippina, was hailed by provincial coins "as goddess and the parent of a god." We also know that inscriptions founded in Ephesus called Nero "Almighty God", and "Savior", and inscriptions found in Cyprus called him "God and Savior" [See 2 Kings 20:7; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10; Revelation 12:9; 19:20]
15 and there was given to it to give a spirit to the image of the beast, that also the image of the beast may speak, - 27
and [that] it may cause as many as shall not bow before the image of the beast, that they may be killed. - 28
27 - See note above - 26
28 - See [ Revelation 16:2; 19:20; 20:4]
