Revelation 3:14-22 - Indepthbible.org

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The aorist infinitive ìÝóáé, emesai, means "to spit out." Compare the Testament of
Asher 7:3, "...In the dispersion you shall be regarded as worthless, like useless water..."
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The phrase ìÝëëù óå ìÝóáé ê, mello se emesai ek, “I am about to vomit you out,”
is changed to read evle,gcw se evk, elegcho se ek, “I reprove you out...” by Minuscule 2329.
This is a definite change from what the original states, and is evidently motivated by the desire
to remove the harsh language of the original from the mouth of Jesus. The reading has little
or no possibility of being original, and reflects the theological motivation of its copyist–one that
has been shared by many other readers of Revelation!
463
The first person possessive pronoun ìïõ, mou, “my,” is changed to the second
person sou, sou, “your,” by Minuscule 2329. This copyist changes the original text which has
a threat from the risen Lord Jesus, “I will vomit you out of my mouth,” into “I reprove you out of
your mouth.” We think that this copyist is following the rule, “If you don’t like what the text
says, change it!”
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How could the risen Lord's disgust and nausea with his "church" be expressed any
more powerfully? The reader of the Jewish Bible is reminded of the statements in Leviticus
concerning the land of Israel's "vomiting" Israel out because of her disobedience to the divine
covenant: “...If you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were
before you. Everyone who does any of these detestable things--such persons must be cut off
from their people. Keep my requirements and do not follow any of the detestable customs that
were practiced before you came and do not defile yourselves with them. I am YHWH your
God!” (Leviticus 18:28-30)
“Keep all my decrees and laws and follow them, so that the land where I am bringing
you to live may not vomit you out. You must not live according to the customs of the nations I
am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them. But I
said to you, ‘You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing
with milk and honey.’ I am YHWH your God, who has set you apart from the nations!”
(Leviticus 20:22-24)
The Land of Israel was to be a "place of rest," h(x'Wnm., menuchah for the faithful and
obedient people of Israel. But if they did not make that land a place of right relationships and
justice and freedom for all its inhabitants, they would be "vomited out" by YHWH their God.
Now, in the New Testament, Jesus is described as having become the "place of rest" for all
who follow him (compare Matthew 11:28-30). In Him, they become a "new Israel," and they
come to the "new Jerusalem, the heavenly Zion, the city of the Living God." But He, like
YHWH in the Jewish Bible, will vomit them out of His mouth if they do not live set-apart,
special lives in His service!
Beasley-Murray comments that “It is a violent metaphor, even a shocking one, but it
would have produced an instant, if horrified, response of comprehension in the Laodiceans.
For six miles away, in nearby Hierapolis, there were well known springs of hot water. As the
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