Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Revelation 1:15
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
15. fine brass ] Decidedly the most probable sense, though the etymology of the word is obscure. It looks like a compound of the Greek words for “brass” (or more accurately bronze) and “incense” the latter being borrowed from the Hebrew name, which comes from a root meaning “white.” Perhaps the real meaning is “white brass,” i.e. the Latin orichalcum (vid. Verg. Aen. XII. 87), which was like gold (Cic. Off. III. 23:92) i.e. perhaps was our “brass” as distinct from bronze. In Eze 1:4; Eze 1:27; Eze 8:2 we have a word which probably (comparing ibid. Eze 1:7, Eze 40:3, Dan 10:6) means the same, but which the LXX. translate electrum meaning perhaps by this not amber, but an alloy of gold with silver or other metal. Some think that sense suitable here, as symbolising the divine and human natures of our Lord.
as if they burned ] Read, as if it burned or rather with R. V. as if it had been refined which seems to prove that “incense” cannot be the sense of the word just discussed, as incense would be burned in a censer not a furnace.
his voice as ] Eze 43:2.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And his feet like unto fine brass – Compare Dan 10:6, And his arms and his feet like in color to polished brass. See also Eze 1:7, and they (the feet of the living creatures) sparkled like the color of burnished brass. The word used here – chalkolibano – occurs in the New Testament only here and in Rev 2:18. It is not found in the Septuagint. The word properly means white brass (probably compounded of chalkos, brass, and libanos, whiteness, from the Hebrew laban, white). Others regard it as from chalkos, brass, and liparon, clear. The metal referred to was undoubtedly a species of brass distinguished for its clearness or whiteness. Brass is a compound metal, composed of copper and zinc. The color varies much according to the different proportions of the various ingredients. The Vulgate here renders the word aurichalcum, a mixture of gold and of brass – perhaps the same as the elektron – the electrum of the ancients, composed of gold and of silver, usually in the proportion of four parts gold and one part silver, and distinguished for its brilliancy. See Robinson, Lexicon, and Wetstein, in loco. The kind of metal here referred to, however, would seem to be some compound of brass – of a whitish and brilliant color. The exact proportion of the ingredients in the metal here referred to cannot now be determined.
As if they burned in a furnace – That is, his feet were so bright that they seemed to be like a beautiful metal glowing intensely in the midst of a furnace. Anyone who has looked upon the dazzling and almost insupportable brilliancy of metal in a furnace, can form an idea of the image here presented.
And his voice as the sound of many waters – As the roar of the ocean, or of a cataract. Nothing could be a more sublime description of majesty and authority than to compare the voice of a speaker with the roar of the ocean. This comparison often occurs in the Scriptures. See Eze 43:2, And behold the glory of the God of Israel came from the east: and his voice was like the sound of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory. So Rev 14:2; Rev 19:6. Compare Eze 1:24; Dan 10:6.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 15. His feet like unto fine brass] An emblem of his stability and permanence, brass being considered the most durable of all metallic substances or compounds.
The original word, , means the famous aurichalcum, or factitious metal, which, according to Suidas, was , , “a kind of amber, more precious than gold.” It seems to have been a composition of gold, silver, and brass, and the same with the Corinthian brass, so highly famed and valued; for when Lucius Mummius took and burnt the city of Corinth, many statues of these three metals, being melted, had run together, and formed the composition already mentioned, and which was held in as high estimation as gold. See Pliny, Hist. Nat., lib. 34, c. 2; Florus, lib. 2, c. 16. It may however mean no more than copper melted with lapis calaminaris, which converts it into brass; and the flame that proceeds from the metal during this operation is one of the most intensely and unsufferably vivid that can be imagined. I have often seen several furnaces employed in this operation, and the flames bursting up through the earth (for these furnaces are under ground) always called to remembrance this description given by St. John: His feet of fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; the propriety and accuracy of which none could doubt, and every one must feel who has viewed this most dazzling operation.
His voice as the sound of many waters.] The same description we find in Eze 43:2: The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east; and his voice was like the noise of many waters: and the earth shined with his glory.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And his feet like unto fine brass: there are nice disquisitions what this chalcolibanum (which we translate, fine brass) was: vid. Poli Synopsin. I understand not of what profit the determination will be to us. By the feet of Christ (probably) are signified his ways, counsels, and methods, in ordering and governing his church, which are compared to fine brass, for the beauty and glory of them, and for their firmness, strength, and steadiness.
As if they burned in a furnace; they appeared like brass filled with fire, as if it were burning, and red-hot in furnace.
And his voice as the sound of many waters; loud and terrible, like the noise of the sea dashing upon a rock, or the shore.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
15. fine brassGreek,“chalcolibanus,” derived by some from two Greekwords, “brass” and “frankincense”; derived byBOCHART from Greek,“chalcos,” “brass,” and Hebrew,“libbeen,” “to whiten”; hence, “brass,”which in the furnace has reached a white heat. Thus it answersto “burnished (flashing, or glowing) brass,” Eze 1:7;Rev 10:1, “His feet aspillars of fire.” Translate, “Glowing brass,as if they had been made fiery (red-hot) in a furnace.” The feetof the priests were bare in ministering in the sanctuary. So ourgreat High Priest here.
voice as . . . many waters(Eze 43:2); in Da10:6, it is “like the voice of a multitude.” Asthe Bridegroom’s voice, so the bride’s, Rev 14:2;Rev 19:6; Eze 1:24,the cherubim, or redeemed creation. His voice, however, is hereregarded in its terribleness to His foes. Contrast Son 2:8;Son 5:2, with which compare Re3:20.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace,…. By which is meant, not his human nature in a suffering state; or his people, the meaner and lower parts of his mystical body, in a like state; or his apostles and ministers, who are supporters of his church, and run to and fro with spiritual knowledge, for which, though they suffer much, are permanent and glorious; but either the power of Christ in bearing up and supporting his people, in the care and government and defence of them; or his ways, works, and walks in his churches, and all his providential administrations towards them, which are holy, just, and righteous, and will be manifest; or his wrath and vengeance in treading down and trampling upon his enemies:
and his voice as the sound of many waters; meaning his Gospel, as preached by his apostles and ministers, which was heard far and near; see Ro 10:18; and which made a great noise in the world; or his voice of vengeance on his enemies, which will be very terrible and irresistible.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Burnished brass (). Associative-instrumental case after . This word has so far been found nowhere else save here and 2:18. Suidas defines it as an (amber) or a compound of copper and gold and silver (aurichalcum in the Latin Vulgate). It is in reality an unknown metal.
As if it had been refined ( ). Perfect passive participle of , old verb, to set on fire, to glow, as in Eph 6:16; Rev 3:18. The feminine gender shows that is referred to with understood, for it does not agree in case with the associative-instrumental just before. Some would call it a slip for as Aleph, and some cursives have it (taking to be neuter, not feminine). But P Q read (masculine plural), a correction, making it agree in number and gender with (feet).
In a furnace ( ). Old word, in N.T. also Rev 9:2; Matt 13:42; Matt 13:50.
As the voice of many waters ( ). So the voice of God in the Hebrew (not the LXX) of Eze 43:2. Repeated in Rev 14:2; Rev 19:6.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Comment:
1) “And his feet like unto fine brass,” (kai ho podes sutou homoioi chalkolibano) “And his feet appeared to be like burnished or polished brass,” burnished in heat for polishing, to trample under his feet or crush his opposition, the antichrist, Dan 10:5-21.
2) “As if they burned in a furnace,” (hos en kamino pepuromenes) “As having been fired in a furnace,” as white heat-metal, brass (copper) or bronze, in a burning furnace, as in or similar to Eze 1:26-28.
3) “And behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen,” (kai idou eimi eis tous aionas ton aionon) “And behold it, perceive it, I am living (alive) now and hereafter, forevermore,” to die no more. This is a victory annunciation over death, an assurance of his power to raise all his own from the grave, 1Th 4:13-18; Joh 5:28.
4) “And have the keys of hell and of death,” (kai echotas kleis tou tharatou kai tou hadou) “And I have, hold, or possess the keys (control or jurisdiction) of death and of hell,” of the hadean, spiritual realm, of the abode of the impenitent and unregenerate, the unsaved whose souls have departed their bodies. Keys denote authority of control, jurisdiction, or administration to the places of their entrance – – our Lord, with all authority committed to him by the Father, holds the keys to both heaven and hell, Joh 3:35; Joh 5:22; Act 17:30-31.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(15) His feet like unto fine brass.The feet, like the feet of the ministering priests of Israel, were bare, and appeared like chalcolibanus (fine brass). The exact meaning of this word (used only here) is not certain. The most trustworthy authors incline to take it as a hybrid word, half Greek, half Hebrewchalcos, brass, and labn, white, to whitenand understand it to signify brass which has attained in the furnace a white heat. Such technical words were likely enough to be current in a population like that of Ephesus, consisting largely of workers in metal, some of whomif we may judge from the case of Alexander the coppersmith (Act. 19:34; 2Ti. 4:14)were, without doubt, Jews. I believe the word in question to have belonged to this technical vocabulary. It is at any rate used by St. John as familiar and intelligible to those for whom he wrote (Prof. Plumptre in the Epistles to Seven Churches, in loco).
His voice as the sound (better, voice, as the same wordphonis used twice, and translated first voice and then sound in our English version) of many waters.Daniel described the voice of the Ancient of Days as the voice of a multitude (Dan. 10:6); but the voice of the multitude was in earlier Hebrew writings compared to the sound of the waves of the sea, which the voice of the Lord alone could subdue (Psa. 65:7; Psa. 93:4). This image the Evangelist adopts to describe the voice of Christstrong and majestic, amid the Babel-sounds of earth. That voice, whose word stilled the sea, sounds as the waves of the sea, which St. John heard Him rebuke.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
15. Passing down his priestly-royal robe from his head to his feet, we are again dazzled with the splendour. They are like unto fine brass melted into a white heat in a furnace. How uncouth is Hengstenberg’s quotation from Bengel! “This has respect to his great power, with which he brings all under him, as with a bar of metal burning hot,” etc. But his feet are not said to be brass, but only like brass; and that not in solidity, being melted, but in their intensity of colouring and splendour. The apparent fusion of the brass negatives the “bar;” and may represent that molecular mobility by which the resurrection body is in every element at once indestructible and yet flexible and transformable at will. See note, 1Co 15:44. They once were flesh; they are now transfigured into an immortal nature, of which the blazing furnace can alone suggest the radiance. The Greek compound word for fine brass, used here and at Rev 2:18, , is thought to be a term originated by John. Of what term affixed to brass the compound consists, scholars are doubtful. Salmasius and Ewald find the compound to be furnace brass; Bochart, white brass, alluding to the white heat; but most probable of all seems Lebanon brass or fine brass, first brought from Mount Lebanon, and thence generalized in meaning to mountain brass; an explanation furnished by the old Greek commentator Arethas, and sustained by the Syriac and Ethiopic Versions.
Voice many waters Symbol of majesty and power, referring, rather, to the flow of torrents than to the waves of the ocean. The entire imagery suggests superhuman grandeur of size, and requires a correspondent power of voice.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And his feet (or legs) like burnished brass, as if it had been refined in a furnace.’
All the descriptions are seeking to bring out His glory, and John no doubt remembers the Transfiguration (Mar 9:1 and parallels) as he gazes at this heavenly figure. The translation ‘legs’ (podes) is possible as the same word is used in terms of pillars of fire in Rev 10:1 where it is descriptive of legs. But the usual meaning of the word is feet, and as the garment covers down to the feet, this would seem more probable here. (For OT parallels see Eze 1:7; Dan 10:6).
The actual word used here for brass is unknown outside Revelation, so that any Biblical parallels are only secondary. Undoubtedly it signified brass at its most pure and glorious, as is brought out by the fact that it has been ‘refined in a furnace’. In Isaiah 63 a glorious figure is depicted as treading down men in the winepress of God’s wrath. In view of the parallel with eyes like a flame of fire, and its application to the partly idolatrous church of Thyatira (Rev 2:18), such an idea may be in mind here (see Rev 14:19-20), for all things are to be brought into subjection under His feet ( Psa 8:6 ; 1Co 15:27; Eph 1:22; Heb 2:8).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
‘And his voice as the voice of many waters.’
In Eze 43:2 we are told that God’s voice was ‘like the sound of many waters’ as the glory of God came and the earth shone with His glory. This is clearly reflected here. Later the sound of heavenly voices is also described in these terms (Rev 14:2; Rev 19:6). So the voice of the ‘son of man’ is as the voice of God and as the voice of a heavenly multitude, demonstrating His supreme power (compare and contrast ‘as of a trumpet’ Rev 1:10).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 1:15. Unto fine brass, The original word , signifies some kind of fine copper or brass; the inferior kind of auri chalcum, in use among the Romans. See Dan 10:6 and Parkhurst on the word.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 1:15 . To such eyes of flame, [776] belong feet , which tread down unholy enemies. [777] De Wette is wrong in finding in this feature no other meaning than that of the splendor.
The word , [778] which the Vulg. renders by orichalcum , [779] and Luther by Messing , is of doubtful derivation and meaning. Ewald follows an ancient testimony [780] which says that one of the three kinds of incense is so called. [781] As the entire picture has to do with more than color , [782] and as the type of Dan 10:6 [783] leads to the idea of brass, [784] incense can in no way be thought of. This is also, within the comparison itself, highly unnatural. The feet appear like brass, but at the same time, as the second member, [785] . , says, “as in a furnace glowing with fire,” and therefore like the feet of the angel, Rev 10:2 , which are . But whether the word [786] be a hybrid term composed of and , and therefore mean glowing white; [787] or “brass from Lebanon;” [788] or be taken as an intentionally mysterious designation of the ambiguous , which denotes an alloy, [789] and also amber, [790] and therefore corresponds in some degree to the former as well as to the second part of , [791] cannot be certainly decided. The intentional mysteriousness is improbable; even though the idea were possible, that of course, only in the provincialism of Asia Minor the word were popularly formed and used in the sense received by Zllig. Wetzel, [792] by recurring to the root , i.e., running, flowing, reaches the explanation of molten metal ( Erzfluss ); perfectly adapted to the meaning, but without sufficient justification in the language.
., . . . Cf. Dan 10:6 ; Eze 43:2 ; Eze 1:24 . The force of the voice is represented (cf. Rev 1:10 ), but the majesty peculiar to the peaceful murmur of the sea [793] is not to be thought of.
[776] Rev 5:14 , Rev 2:18 .
[777] Psa 60:12 ; Isa 63:6 ; cf. Dan 10:6 , where, also, arms which cast down are mentioned.
[778] – , Suidas.
[779] Cf. Cic., De Off ., iii. 23, 12; Horace, Ars Poet ., 202.
[780] In Salmas, Ad Solin ., p. 810; also in Wetst.
[781] , , (“Lebanon has three kinds of trees, and one that is strong is called , like the sun, and that is to say, the reddish-yellow of fire”) Against this, is the notice in Suidas: , , (“ . of the appearance of , more valuable than gold; and . is gold of another kind mingled with glass and stone”).
[782] Against Ewald, De Wette.
[783] : LXX., . Eze 1:7 , LXX., . Cf. Eze 1:4 ; Eze 1:27 ; Eze 8:2 , : LXX., .
[784] De Wette.
[785] The particle of comparison parallel with the renders the reading , which is possible in a critical respect, belonging to . (cf. Rev 3:18 ), inadvisable for exegetical reasons.
[786] Very arbitrarily translated by Hitzig ( Johannes Marc ., p. 68), “Ofenerz.”
[787] Grotius, Bochart, Hieroz ., 3. p. 900; ed. Lips., Vitr., Hengstb.
[788] Syr., Aeth., Areth., Vatabl., Ebr.
[789] Suidas, s. o.
[790] Ew. ii.
[791] Zllig.
[792] Zeitschr. fur die gesammte lutherische Theol. u. Kirche , Leipzig, 1869, i. p. 94.
[793] Ebrard.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.
Ver. 15. And his feet ] He stood firm then when he was cast into the fire of his Father’s wrath. He trod the winepress alone, and set his feet on the necks of all his and our enemies. He lost no ground, when he grappled with the devil on his own dunghill, Mat 4:1-11 “He will also bruise Satan under our feet shortly,” Rom 16:20 .
As the sound of many waters ] Audible, terrible, forcible. Some Catadupes are deafened by the fall of this Nile. (Som. Scip.) But the spouse cries out, “O thou that dwellest in the gardens, the companions hearken to thy voice; cause me to hear it,” Son 8:13 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
15 .] and his feet were like to chalcolibanus (this word has defeated all the ingenuity of Commentators hitherto. The Vulg. has aurichalcum (or ori- see Cic de Off. iii. 23. 12, Hor. de Art. poet. 202), the Syriac and Arethas, “ brass from Lebanon ” (1st altern. in catena, ), the Arabic “ Greek brass ,” Andreas, and most of the German editions of the Bible, a kind of incense so called (2nd altern. in catena, , , : Germ., Erzmeihrauch ), on the authority of Antonius of Nebrissa (in Salmasius (Wetst.), , , , ), who understands by the word some superior species of frankincense, the so-called ‘thus masculum:’ for in Greek frankincense is called , after the Heb. or , from the root , albus fuit . This writer refers to hymns of Orpheus in honour of Apollo and of Artemis, in which . occurs in the sense of a costly kind of incense (but all we find in the titles of hymns 7, 19, 21, 65, is , possibly a mixture of frankincense and manna), and to Virg. Ecl. viii. 65, ‘Verbenasque adole pingues et mascula thura.’ Still it appears somewhat strained to refer or – to ‘thus masculum:’ for, granted that ‘masculum’ may betoken its purity and clearness, how is accounted for, which looks more like a hint at hardness? Besides, incense is not burnt , in a smelting furnace, but in a censer or shallow vessel, and its colour while burning is no way observable. The interpretation, “brass from Lebanon,” does not appear to be tenable, as there is no notice of Lebanon ever having produced brass of superior quality, such as this from the context must be. Suidas interprets it thus: , , . . And this, considering that in the similar and model passage, Dan 10:6 LXX, we have (as also in Eze 1:7 ), ib. Theod. (as also in Eze 40:3 ), and in Eze 1:4 ; Eze 1:27 ; Eze 8:2 , , seems the most likely direction in which to find the meaning. Still, as almost all Commentators confess, it must remain enigmatical, of what the word is compounded, and to what it precisely applies. According to usual analogy, not but is the central idea, and the qualifying one, as in , , , &c. But this makes the difficulty greater; for we can assign no meaning to which would fit this requirement. If conjecture were admissible (which it is not), I should, in despair of any way out of the difficulty, suggest whether the word might not have been , a stream of melted brass: having been read or . At all events this may rank with Hitzig’s conjecture, ), as if they had been burnt in a furnace (and so red-hot and glowing): and his voice as the voice of many waters (Ebrard sees an allusion to the quiet and majestic sound of the sea, appealing to ch. Rev 17:1 and Rev 13:1 ; but, as Dsterdieck remarks, there seems to be no such allusion here, but only to the power of the voice as resembling the rushing of many waters. So Dan 10:6 Theod., : Eze 43:2 , where the same expression is found (in the Heb., with which agree Vulg., Syr., &c., but not LXX), Eze 1:24 , where the sound of the wings of the creatures is ).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
fine brass. Only here and Rev 2:18.
as . . . burned = as glowing.
furnace. Only here; Rev 9:2. Mat 13:42, Mat 13:50.
voice . . . waters. See Rev 1:10; Rev 14:2; Rev 19:6. Eze 1:24; Eze 43:2.
voice. Same word as “sound”. Greek. phone.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
15.] and his feet were like to chalcolibanus (this word has defeated all the ingenuity of Commentators hitherto. The Vulg. has aurichalcum (or ori- see Cic de Off. iii. 23. 12, Hor. de Art. poet. 202), the Syriac and Arethas, brass from Lebanon (1st altern. in catena,- ), the Arabic Greek brass,-Andreas, and most of the German editions of the Bible, a kind of incense so called (2nd altern. in catena,- , , : Germ., Erzmeihrauch), on the authority of Antonius of Nebrissa (in Salmasius (Wetst.), , , , ), who understands by the word some superior species of frankincense, the so-called thus masculum: for in Greek frankincense is called , after the Heb. or , from the root , albus fuit. This writer refers to hymns of Orpheus in honour of Apollo and of Artemis, in which . occurs in the sense of a costly kind of incense (but all we find in the titles of hymns 7, 19, 21, 65, is , possibly a mixture of frankincense and manna), and to Virg. Ecl. viii. 65,-Verbenasque adole pingues et mascula thura. Still it appears somewhat strained to refer or – to thus masculum: for, granted that masculum may betoken its purity and clearness, how is accounted for, which looks more like a hint at hardness? Besides, incense is not burnt , in a smelting furnace, but in a censer or shallow vessel, and its colour while burning is no way observable. The interpretation, brass from Lebanon, does not appear to be tenable, as there is no notice of Lebanon ever having produced brass of superior quality, such as this from the context must be. Suidas interprets it thus: , , . . And this, considering that in the similar and model passage, Dan 10:6 LXX, we have (as also in Eze 1:7), ib. Theod. (as also in Eze 40:3), and in Eze 1:4; Eze 1:27; Eze 8:2, ,-seems the most likely direction in which to find the meaning. Still, as almost all Commentators confess, it must remain enigmatical, of what the word is compounded, and to what it precisely applies. According to usual analogy, not but is the central idea, and the qualifying one, as in , , , &c. But this makes the difficulty greater; for we can assign no meaning to which would fit this requirement. If conjecture were admissible (which it is not), I should, in despair of any way out of the difficulty, suggest whether the word might not have been , a stream of melted brass: having been read or . At all events this may rank with Hitzigs conjecture, ), as if they had been burnt in a furnace (and so red-hot and glowing): and his voice as the voice of many waters (Ebrard sees an allusion to the quiet and majestic sound of the sea, appealing to ch. Rev 17:1 and Rev 13:1; but, as Dsterdieck remarks, there seems to be no such allusion here, but only to the power of the voice as resembling the rushing of many waters. So Dan 10:6 Theod., : Eze 43:2, where the same expression is found (in the Heb., with which agree Vulg., Syr., &c., but not LXX), ezee 1:24, where the sound of the wings of the creatures is ).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 1:15. ) So Uffenb. and one or two others, and the ancient versions. Others read .[20] It is an epithet not of the feet, but of the word ;[21] and therefore it is not repeated, ch. Rev 2:18. brass; , incense: , a species of brass, like incense. See Bocharts Hierozoicon, at the end, where, in a full discussion, he explains it as white brass. Comp. Dan 10:6, on shining brass. Hesychius, , , , The Cretans express by it what is wholly of brass, shining all over.
[20] So Rec. Text. De fornace igne, h. , Vulg. But AC have ; and so Lachm.-E.
[21] This observation is less supported by the greater Edition than by the margin of Ed. ii.-E. B.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
his feet: Rev 2:18, Eze 1:7, Eze 40:3, Dan 10:6
his voice: Rev 14:2, Rev 19:6, Psa 93:4, Isa 17:13, Eze 43:2
Reciprocal: Son 5:15 – legs Isa 30:30 – his glorious voice Eze 1:4 – colour Eze 1:24 – like Eze 3:12 – a voice Eze 8:2 – I beheld Joh 3:23 – much Rev 10:1 – pillars Rev 18:2 – cried
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 1:15. The original for brass is defined by Thayer as follows: “Some metal, like gold if not more precious.” As if they burned in a furnace is said to indicate the brightness of the appearance. When used figuratively many waters means great numbers of people. The significance of this and the preceding verse is to show the dignity and authority of Christ as represented by this person.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 15
Verses 12-16
(5) The Son of man in the midst.
1. “In the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of man”–Rev 1:12-13.
When John turned to see the voice, he saw one who had the appearance of Jesus. From his own memory John knew Jesus. He could recognize the countenance of the Lord and his personal appearance by his constant association with him in the days of his flesh. And he had seen him in majesty, glory and power in his ascension. Now he beheld in the vision One who was like him–he had known his incarnate person; he saw him in ascended glory; he knew his coronated majesty; he knew his kingly power–and he recognized the Son of man!
2. “He was clothed with a garment.”–Rev 1:13.
The royal garment was in keeping with appropriate royalty, a royal garment which was indicative of monarchial dignity.
3. “And girt with a golden girdle”– Rev 1:13.
It represented the source and sway of the truth, as the girdle of truth suggests in Eph 6:14.
4. “His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow”–Rev 1:14.
These figures symbolized his sinless purity and his sublime majesty, as employed in Isa 1:18 : “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
5. “And his eyes were as a flame of fire”– Rev 1:14 .
The same symbols are used in the prophetic apocalypses to designate divine omniscience, that He is the penetrator and the discerner of all things.
6. “And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned it in a furnace”–Rev 1:15.
The reference here is to the method of refining metals and minerals in a crucible, and it is the emblem of untarnished and unmingled truth of which Jesus Christ is the source and the administrator.
7. “And his voice as the sound of many waters”– Rev 1:15 .
In this metaphor John saw Jesus as the combination of unison and rhythm in its perfect flow, signifying the accord and harmony of divine utterance, set to the melody of divine love and grace and blessing.
8. “And out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword”–Rev 1:16.
The same theophany is presented in the flaming sword of Eden. It stood for divine justice, and here it means that Jesus Christ was, and is now, the executor of righteous judgment and justice.
9. “And his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength”–Rev 1:16.
The sun of the solar system is the light of the world. As the monarch of the universe it rules the solar system as the earth and all planets revolve around it. So was the Son of man in this high point in the vision. In all his grandeur, as in the last prophetic glimpse of Malachi, he was the sun of righteousness, with all the spiritual benefits to mankind that the sun can bestow in its rays upon the earth.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
15. His feet were like unto brass. This clause describes our Saviors immutability, revealing the fact that He never changes, but is the same unutterable love, omniscient wisdom, and superabounding grace, yesterday, to-day, and forever. His voice as the sound of many waters. This reveals His awful denunciation of sin. The artillery on every battlefield, the roaring thunder, the mighty tread of the hurricane, the sweep of the cyclone, the shock of the earthquake, and the bitter wail of the earths suffering millions, articulate our Saviors warning voices against sin, doom, and damnation.
Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament
Verse 15
As the sound of many waters; that is, as the roaring or thundering of the waves of the sea.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
His feet looked like bronze glowing in the reflection of a fire. This is probably an allusion to His purity as He moves among the churches (cf. Luk 1:79; Act 5:9; Rom 3:15; Rom 10:15; Heb 12:13). [Note: Thomas, Revelation 1-7, pp. 101-2.] Perhaps it also implies His purity as proved during His earthly walk that made Him a sympathetic high priest (Heb 4:15; cf. Heb 2:18). The figure also connotes strength and stability (cf. Dan 2:33; Dan 2:41).
His voice sounded like a rushing river such as the Niagara at its Falls, namely, authoritative, powerful, and irresistible (cf. Rev 14:2; Rev 19:6; Psa 93:4; Isa 17:13; Eze 43:2).
"Perhaps two ideas are suggested here: (1) Christ gathers together all the ’streams of revelation’ and is the Father’s ’last Word’ to man (Heb 1:1-3); (2) He speaks with power and authority and must be heard." [Note: Wiersbe, 2:569.]
John would have hardly ever been away from the sound of waves beating on the shore while he lived on Patmos.