Revelation 20 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

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Tobit 8:2-3, Then Tobias remembered the words of Raphael, and he took the fish’s
liver and heart out of the bag where he had them and put them on the embers of the incense.
The odor of the fish so repelled the demon that he fled to the remotest parts of Egypt. But
Raphael followed him, and at once bound him [kai. ev,dhsen auvto, kai edesen auto, language
almost identical to Revelation 20:2] there hand and foot.”
1 Enoch 10:4-5 (before the coming of the universal flood in Noah’s day, the Lord says
to Raphael), “Bind Azaz’el hand and foot and throw him into the darkness!”, following which
Azaz’el is cast into a hole in the desert, over which is thrown rugged and sharp rocks, “in order
that he may be sent into the fire on the great day of judgment”; compare verses 11-12 (the prison
house of the angels / messengers, where they are detained forever); 13:1; 14:5; 18:16;
21:1-6; 88:1-3 (an abyss, narrow and deep, empty and dark, where the mighty stars are
bound hand and foot, and thrown into the pits of the earth).
Testament of Levi 18:12 (in its description of the glorious final priest, it is predicted
that all evil deeds and persons will cease, the gates of paradise will be opened, the people of
God will have access to the tree of life), “and Beliar shall be bound by Him. And He shall grant
to His children the authority to trample on wicked spirits.” Compare Luke 10:19, and also see
Jubilees 5:6; 10:7-11; 2 Enoch 7:2; 2 Apocalypse of Baruch 56:13.
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This phrase, "[for] a thousand years" occurs six times in Revelation 20, and then
nowhere else in the entire book. The passages are as follows:
20:2, "...And he bound him a thousand years."
20:3, "...And he threw him into the abyss, and locked and sealed [it] over him, so that he
should not any longer lead astray the nations until the thousand years should be
completed."
20:4, "...And they lived, and reigned with the Anointed [King] a thousand years."
20:5, "...The rest of the dead people did not live until the thousand years should be
completed."
20:6, "...They will be priests of God and of the Anointed [King], and they will reign with him a
thousand years!"
20:7, "...And when the thousand years shall be completed, the adversary will be released from
his prison..."
Aune notes that “The first occurrence of ci,lia ev,th [‘a thousand years’] in verse 2 is
anarthrous [without the definite article] as one might expect in the case of a new apocalyptic
concept that the author assumes is unknown to the readers. The expression ‘a thousand
years’ occurs six times...though in verse 4 the phrase is unexpectedly anarthrous, and in
verse 6 the presence of [the definite article] ta, ta, is problematic.” (P. 1072)
What this shows, we think, is that Aune’s rule concerning the use of the definite article,
though oftentimes accurate, doesn’t always work.
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