where also their Lord was crucified" (Rev. 11:8). The existence of the twelve tribes seems also to
be assumed in 7:4–8. The advocates of the traditional date understand these passages in a figurative
sense. But the allusion to the crucifixion compels us to think of the historical Jerusalem.- The book was written not long after the death of the fifth Roman emperor, that is, Nero,
when the empire had received a deadly wound (comp. 13:3, 12, 14). This is the natural interpretation
of 17:10, where it is stated that the seven heads of the scarlet-colored beast, i.e., heathen Rome,
"are seven kings; the five are fallen, the one is, the other is not yet come, and when he cometh, he
must continue a little while." The first five emperors were Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius,
and Nero, with whom the gens Julia ingloriously perished. Next came Galba, a mere usurper
(seventy-three years old), who ruled but a short time, from June, 68, to January, 69, and was followed
by two other usurpers, Otho and Vitellius, till Vespasian, in 70, restored the empire after an
interregnum of two years, and left the completion of the conquest of the Jews and the destruction
of Jerusalem to his son Titus.^1258 Vespasian may therefore be regarded as the sixth head, the three
rebels not being counted; and thus the composition of the Apocalypse would fall in the spring
(perhaps Easter) of the year 70. This is confirmed by 13:3, 12, 14, where the deadly wound of the
beast is represented as being already healed.^1259 But if the usurpers are counted, Galba is the sixth
head, and the Revelation was written in 68. In either case Julius Caesar must be excluded from the
series of emperors (contrary to Josephus).
Several critics refer the seventh head to Nero, and ascribe to the seer the silly expectation
of the return of Nero as Antichrist.^1260 In this way they understand the passage 17:11: "The beast
that was, and is not, is himself also an eighth and is of the seven." But John makes a clear distinction
between the heads of the beast, of whom Nero was one, and the beast itself, which is the Roman
empire. I consider it simply impossible that John could have shared in the heathen delusion of Nero
redivivus, which would deprive him of all credit as an inspired prophet. He may have regarded
Nero as a fit type and forerunner of Antichrist, but only in the figurative sense in which Babylon
of old was the type of heathen Rome. - The early date is best suited for the nature and object of the Apocalypse, and facilitates
its historical understanding. Christ pointed in his eschatological discourses to the destruction of
Jerusalem and the preceding tribulation as the great crisis in the history of the theocracy and the
type of the judgment of the world. And there never was a more alarming state of society. The horrors
of the French Revolution were confined to one country, but the tribulation of the six years preceding
the destruction of Jerusalem extended over the whole Roman empire and embraced wars and
rebellions, frequent and unusual conflagrations, earthquakes and famines and plagues, and all sorts
of public calamities and miseries untold. It seemed, indeed, that the world, shaken to its very centre,
was coming to a close, and every Christian must have felt that the prophecies of Christ were being
fulfilled before his eyes.^1261
(^1258) Suetonius, Vespas. c. 1 "Rebellione trium principum et caede incertum diu et quasi vagum imperium suscepit firmavitque
tandem gens Flavia."
(^1259) So Bleek (p. 121), Lücke (in the second ed.), Böhmer, Weiss, Düsterdieck (Introd. pp. 55 sqq. and Com. on Rev. 13:3, and
17:7-14).
(^1260) So Ewald, Reuss, Baur, etc. See NOTES below.
(^1261) Comp. ch. vi., pp. 376-402, and especially the most graphic description of those terrible years by Renan, in L’Antechrist,
ch. xiv., pp. 320-339, which I would like to transcribe if space permitted. His facts are well supported by heathen and Jewish
testimonies especially Tacitus, Suetonius, Strabo, Pliny, Josephus, etc.
A.D. 1-100.