Revelation 3:10: Roman Empire or Whole World?

[KaikaiSimon]

Hello everyone!

This one is about eschatology (or not?). Let´s see what you think:


Rev 3:10: ὅτι ἐτήρησας τὸν λόγον τῆς ὑπομονῆς μου, κἀγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ τῆς μελλούσης ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης πειράσαι τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς "

Is the hour of test affecting the Roman Empire or the whole globe?

[C. S. Bartholomew]

Rev 3:10: ὅτι ἐτήρησας τὸν λόγον τῆς ὑπομονῆς μου, κἀγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ τῆς μελλούσης ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης πειράσαι τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆ"

Is the hour of test affecting the Roman Empire or the whole globe?

Several questions are lurking here.

The expression τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς doesn't refer to everyone living on earth.

Rev. 3:10 ὅτι ἐτήρησας τὸν λόγον τῆς ὑπομονῆς μου, κἀγώ σε τηρήσω ἐκ τῆς ὥρας τοῦ πειρασμοῦ τῆς μελλούσης ἔρχεσθαι ἐπὶ τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης πειράσαι τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

Rev. 8:13 Καὶ εἶδον, καὶ ἤκουσα ἑνὸς ἀετοῦ πετομένου ἐν μεσουρανήματι λέγοντος φωνῇ μεγάλῃ· οὐαὶ οὐαὶ οὐαὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ἐκ τῶν λοιπῶν φωνῶν τῆς σάλπιγγος τῶν τριῶν ἀγγέλων τῶν μελλόντων σαλπίζειν.

Rev. 11:10 καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς χαίρουσιν ἐπ᾿ αὐτοῖς καὶ εὐφραίνονται καὶ δῶρα πέμψουσιν ἀλλήλοις, ὅτι οὗτοι οἱ δύο προφῆται ἐβασάνισαν τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς.

Rev. 13:12 καὶ τὴν ἐξουσίαν τοῦ πρώτου θηρίου πᾶσαν ποιεῖ ἐνώπιον αὐτοῦ, καὶ ποιεῖ τὴν γῆν καὶ τοὺς ἐν αὐτῇ κατοικοῦντας ἵνα προσκυνήσουσιν τὸ θηρίον τὸ πρῶτον, οὗ ἐθεραπεύθη ἡ πληγὴ τοῦ θανάτου αὐτοῦ.

Rev. 13:14 καὶ πλανᾷ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς διὰ τὰ σημεῖα ἃ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ ποιῆσαι ἐνώπιον τοῦ θηρίου, λέγων τοῖς κατοικοῦσιν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ποιῆσαι εἰκόνα τῷ θηρίῳ, ὃς ἔχει τὴν πληγὴν τῆς μαχαίρης καὶ ἔζησεν.

The question regarding τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης hinges on the lexical semantics of οἰκουμένης. Some argue that οἰκουμένης means "the known inhabited world" which would include places outside of the Roman Empire.

[KaikaiSimon]

I agree on the first point, the question would be, though, whether the incidents are of a global character (even though some are not affected)?

Is there a way of limiting "ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς " to certain space boundaries without qualifiers such as in Mt 2:20: "πορεύου εἰς γῆν Ἰσραήλ"? If γῆ without a qualifier always refers to the whole world, this may help us with "τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης", since the two seem to describe the same space. To me it looks like the whole globe is affected.

[Victor]

I agree on the first point, the question would be, though, whether the incidents are of a global character (even though some are not affected)?

Is there a way of limiting "ἐπὶ τῆς γῆ" to certain space boundaries without qualifiers such as in Mt 2:20: "πορεύου εἰς γῆν Ἰσραήλ"? If γῆ without a qualifier always refers to the whole world, this may help us with "τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης", since the two seem to describe the same space. To me it looks like the whole globe is affected.

I'm a little puzzled by some of the comments in this thread. I'm even more puzzled by the strange Greek you've both used, namely ἐπὶ τῆς γῆ. Where did that come from?

[KaikaiSimon]

It is quoted from the Book of Revelation in the New Testament, chapter 3, verse 10.
The basic question is, whether this has to refer to "on the whole earth" or whether it could talk about a limited region such as the Roman Empire.

[jeidsath]

Victor is pointing out that a couple of letters were skipped in the quotation. Should be "ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς."

He is also poking fun.

[KaikaiSimon]

Ooops, overlooked that right from the beginning, when I copied and pasted the verse. Thanks.

[C. S. Bartholomew]

I agree on the first point, the question would be, though, whether the incidents are of a global character (even though some are not affected)?

Is there a way of limiting "ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς " to certain space boundaries without qualifiers such as in Mt 2:20: "πορεύου εἰς γῆν Ἰσραήλ"? If γῆ without a qualifier always refers to the whole world, this may help us with "τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης", since the two seem to describe the same space. To me it looks like the whole globe is affected.

RE: If γῆ without a qualifier always refers to the whole world

The answer to that is negative. γῆ without a qualifier rarely refers to the whole world, e.g. Gen. 1:1 Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἐποίησεν ὁ θεὸς τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν.

That however doesn't have much impact on the question of the extent "τῆς οἰκουμένης ὅλης" which has an explicit modifier ὅλης. The semantic component represented by οἰκο- in some contexts signifies habitation. So one could argue that the extent of reference would be limited by the notion of habitation. In other words where not talking about places which are not known to be inhabited. The referent is different from γῆ, it isn't the physical earth. That does not rule out global cataclysmic events, it just limits the focus of attention to the world as an inhabited place from the perspective of author.

In other contexts οἰκουμένη represents a region of governmental dominion or administration which is why in some contexts it could be used for the Roman Empire.

Your question is certainly a legitimate one but I don't think it is addressed by the text of Rev 3:10. The author is focusing on questions about who more than where. The expression τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς is used for the enemies of the Lamb who are considered as one group united in purpose across the globe.

EDIT: I see Souter addresses this. Souter's dictionary is very small and very old.

(oikouménē) is "the land that is being inhabited, the land in a state of habitation, the inhabited world, that is, the Roman world (orbis terrarum), for all outside it was regarded as of no account" (Souter).

Louw & Nida

1.39 γῆa, γῆς f; οἰκουμένη, ης f; κόσμος, ου m: the surface of the earth as the dwelling place of mankind, in contrast with the heavens above and the world below — ‘earth, world.’11 γῆοὐαὶ τοὺς κατοικοῦντας ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ‘how horrible it will be for all who live on earth!’ Re 8:13.
οἰκουμένη: ἔδειξεν αὐτῷ πάσας τὰς βασιλείας τῆς οἰκουμένης ‘he showed him all the kingdoms of the world’ Lk 4:5.
κόσμοςb: δείκνυσιν αὐτῷ πάσας τὰς βασιλείας τοῦ κόσμου ‘he showed him all the kingdoms of the world’ Mt 4:8.
In He 2:5 there is a reference to τὴν οἰκουμένην τὴν μέλλουσαν ‘the world to come, the future world.’ This has generally been interpreted as being equivalent to ‘the coming age,’ but the use of οἰκουμένη would seem to imply an inhabited world.

1.83 οἰκουμένηb, ης f: the Roman Empire, including its inhabitants (οἰκουμένηb differs from οἰκουμένηa ‘earth,’ 1.39, in that those outside of the Roman Empire are specifically excluded, that is to say, no census was to be taken of the barbarians, but only of the inhabitants of the Empire) — ‘empire, people of the empire.’ ἐξῆλθεν δόγμα παρὰ Καίσαρος Αὐγούστου ἀπογράφεσθαι πᾶσαν τὴν οἰκουμένην ‘Emperor Augustus sent out an order for all the people of the empire to register themselves for the census’ Lk 2:1.14 In order to represent accurately the meaning of οἰκουμένηb in Lk 2:1 it may be possible to translate ‘Emperor Augustus sent out an order that all the people over whom he ruled should register themselves for the census.’

One should always check Danker's 3rd and Thayer. Don't just ignore Thayer, he has perspective that is different from BAGD and BDAG.