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Is λιβανωτός a censer/brazier in Revelation 8.3, 5? How in the lexicon is this possible?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 August 2023

Laurențiu Florentin Moț Open the ORCID record for Laurențiu Florentin Moț [Opens in a new window]
Laurențiu Florentin Moț*
Affiliation:
Adventus University, Cernica, Ilfov, Romania
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Email: laurentiu.mot@uadventus.ro
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Abstract

Λιβανωτός is a rare word in the Biblia graeca and means ‘frankincense’. It appears once in the canonical Septuagint in 1 Chron 9.29 as part of a list of ingredients which were under the care of the Levites: flour, wine, olive oil, incense and spices. In the Apocrypha, it appears in 3 Macc 5.2 as a drug, together with unmixed wine, for maddening or running elephants wild. Then it is used only in Rev 8.3, 5 in constructions which made lexicographers unanimously define λιβανωτός as a container (censer or brazier). However, when one examines the usage of this noun in Greek writing at large, he or she observes, not without surprise, that λιβανωτός exhibits impressively stable semantics. Virtually everywhere in the history of Greek, the term is a spice (frankincense). Why then should Rev 8.3, 5 be an exception? The study probes into the claim that λιβανωτός means ‘censer’ in the Johannine Apocalypse, shows how well the regular meaning of incense fits in the scene John witnesses, and draws important implications for the understanding of the text and the lexicographical task.

Keywords

frankincenselibanōtosRev 8.3–5lexicographysemanticsNT Greek
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Articles
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New Testament Studies , Volume 69 , Issue 3 , July 2023 , pp. 332 - 344
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Copyright © The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

1 What is called ‘incense’ refers to a powder made of several species of Boswellia, a plant of South-Eastern Arabian origin and from Somaliland. The English term ‘frankincense’ comes from an Old French term, and it distinguishes in translation from ‘incense’ just for the sake of signalling different Hebrew/Greek terms. In fact, it is substantially the same kind of product, although made of different plants. Thiselton-Dyer, W. T., ‘Origin of Incense’, Nature, 85(2155) (1911) 507–8. doi:10.1038/085507d0CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 A work from the first century (60s-70s) covering semantic differences between synonyms explains that λίβανος μὲν γὰρ κοινῶς καὶ τὸ δένδρον καὶ τὸ θυμιώμɛνον, λιβανωτὸς δὲ μόνον τὸ θυμιώμɛνον (‘λίβανος usually means both the fruit/tree and that which is burned, whereas λιβανωτóς means only that which is burned’): Ammonius, De adfinium vocabulorum differentia (= Πɛρὶ ὁμοίων καὶ διαφόρων λέξɛων) 301.1–3. In Ammonii qui dicitur liber de adfinium vocabulorum differentia (ed. K. Nickau; Leipzig: Teubner, 1966). This distinction is confirmed in the second century in Phrynichus, Eclogae 157.1–4: see Die Ekloge des Phrynichos (ed. E. Fischer; Berlin: De Gruyter, 1974) 60–109. A Byzantine lexicon of the 10th century distinguishes between λιβανωτός and λίβανος thus: the former is ὁ καρπὸς τοῦ λιβάνου, λίβανος δὲ αὐτὸ τὸ φυτόν (‘the fruit of the λίβανος, whereas the λίβανος is the very plant’). Suda, Lexicon 486.1. In Suidae lexicon (4 vols; ed. A. Adler; Leipzig: Teubner; Lexicographi Graeci 1.1–1.4, 1.1:1928 (1971); 1.2:1931 (1967); 1.3:1933 (1967); 1.4:1935 (1971)).

3 Horsley, G. H. R., New Documents Illustrating Early Christianity (vol. 4; Marrickville: Southwood Press, 1997) 130Google Scholar.

4 E.g., Ex 30.34; Lev 2.1–2, Num 5.15; Jos 11.17; Jud. 3.3; 9.15; 1 Kgs 2.46; 2 Kgs 14.9; 1 Es 4.48; 5.53; Ezra 3.7; Neem 13.5, 9; Psa 28.5–6; Song 3.6, 9; Sir 24.13, 15; Hos 14.6–8; Nah 1.4; Hab 2.17; Zech 10.10; Isa 2.13; Jer 6.20; 17.26; 18.14; Bar 1.10; Ezek 17.3; 27.5; etc.

5 E.g. Gen 37.25; 43.11; Ex 30.1, 7–9; Lev 4.7, 18; Num 4.16; Deut 33.10; 1 Sam 2.28–9; 3.14; 1 Chron 6.34; 28.18; 2 Chron 2:3; Tob 6.17; 8.2; 1 Macc 4.49; 2 Macc 2.5; 10.3; Psa 65.15; 140.2; Prov 27.9; Sir 45.16; 49.1; Mal 1.11; Isa 1.13; 39.2; Jer 17.26; 51.21; Ezek 8.11; 16.18; Dan 3.38; etc.

6 Theodore Zahn contends that λιβανωτός means ‘Rauchfaß’ (censer), a result which derives from the attribute χρυσοῦν, from the verbs λαμβάνɛιν (ɛἴληφɛν) and γɛμίζɛιν (ἐγέμισɛν) (v. 5), and from the fact that λιβανωτός comes next to θυμίαματα. Theodor Zahn, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (vol. 2; Leipzig: Erlangen, 1926) 383.

7 Ammonius, De adfinium vocabulorum differentia (= Πɛρὶ ὁμοίων καὶ διαφόρων λέξɛων) 301.1-3. Suda, Lexicon 486.1.

8 Philo, De ebrietate 87. ‘The Works of Philo: Greek Text with Morphology’ (ed. Peder Borgen, Kåre Fuglseth, and Roald Skarsten; Bellingham: Logos Bible Software, 2005), electronic ed. (Verbum 9).

9 Philo, Her 197. Cf. Her 226; De somniis 2.74; Spec 1.175, 275, 3.56. Philo, Philo, The Loeb Classical Library 3 (trans. F. H. Colson, G. H. Whitaker and J. W. Earp; London: William Heinemann, 1929–1962).

10 Josephus, Antiquities 3.256. In Flavii Iosephi opera (vols. 1–4; ed. B. Niese; Berlin: Weidmann, 1:1887; 2:1885: 3:1892; 4:1890, 1955).

11 Diogenes Laertius, Vitae philosophorum 2.131.6. In Diogenis Laertii vitae philosophorum (2 vols; ed. H. S. Long; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964 (1966)).

12 Diogenes Laertius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers (ed. R. D. Hicks; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2005) 263.

13 Lucianus, De sacrificiis 2.16; 12.4. In Lucian (vol. 3; ed. A. M. Harmon; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1921 (1969)) 154–70. Lucianus, Prometheus 19.3. In Lucian (vol. 2; ed. A. M. Harmon; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1915 (1960)).

14 Cassius Dio, Historiae Romanae (versio 1 in volumine 3) 68.3.4.5. In Cassii Dionis Cocceiani historiarum Romanarum quae supersunt (vol. 3; ed. U. P. Boissevain; Berlin: Weidmann, 1901 (1955)).

15 Gus W. Van Beek, ‘Frankincense and Myrrh’, The Biblical Archaeologist 23, no. 3 (1960) 70–95 (esp. 82–83). Accessed 21 December 2020. doi:10.2307/3209285.

16 Herodotus, Historiae 2.40.11. In Hérodote, Histoires (9 vols.; ed. Ph.-E.Legrand; Paris: Les Belles Lettres, 1932–1968).

17 Herodotus, Historiae 2.86.19. The same is true for Galenus, De instrumento odoratus 3.9.2. In Galeni de instrumento odoratus (ed. J. Kollesch; Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1964).

18 Origen, Contra Celsum 1.80 (PG 11.772).

19 Clem. Al., Stromata 8.9; cf. 4.32 (PG 11.600).

20 Plutarchus, Sulla 38.2.2–7. In Plutarch's lives (vol. 4; ed. B. Perrin; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1968 (1916)).

21 Plutarchus, Regum et imperatorum apophthegmata 179.9 (in Plutarchi moralia, vol. 2.1; ed. W. Nachstädt; Leipzig: Teubner, 1935 (1971));

De Pythiae oraculis 397.5 (in Plutarchi moralia, vol. 3; ed. W. Sieveking; Leipzig: Teubner, 1929 (1972)); Quaestiones convivales 623.10 (Plutarchi moralia, vol. 4; ed. C. Hubert; Leipzig: Teubner, 1938 (1971)); cf. Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 2.1.73.16 (in Athenaei dipnosophistarum epitome, vols. 2.1–2.2; ed. S. P. Peppink; Leiden: Brill, 1937 (1939)); Dionysius Halicarnassensis, Antiquitates Romanae 7.72.13.4 (in Dionysii Halicarnasei antiquitatum Romanarum quae supersunt, 4 vols; ed. K. Jacoby; Leipzig: Teubner, 1967).

22 Julius Pollux, Onomasticon 9.47.8. In Pollucis onomasticon (2 vols; ed. E. Bethe; Leipzig: Teubner, 9.1:1900; 9.2:1931 (1967)).

23 Galenus, De methodo medendi libri xiv 10.356.9–10. In Claudii Galeni opera omnia (vol. 10; ed. C. G. Kühn; Leipzig: Knobloch, 1825 (1965)). For other healing properties of λιβανωτός see Galenus, De simplicium medicamentorum temperamentis ac facultatibus libri xi 12.60.1–17. In Claudii Galeni opera omnia (vols. 11–12; ed. C. G. Kühn; Leipzig: Knobloch, 1826 (1965)).

24 Kerry Hughes, The Incense Bible: Plant Scents That Transcend World Culture, Medicine, and Spirituality (London: Routledge, 2007) 121–2.

25 E.g., BGU vol. 2, 362.10.13; 362.12.18. PSI, Vol 6, 628.r.4. OMich, Vol 1, 3.6. POxy, Vol 1, 118.v.20. POxy, Vol 17, 2144.29.

26 Peloponnesos, SEG 1–41 [excl. Olympia] document 11.449, 3. Cf. Peloponnesos, SEG 1–41 [excl. Olympia] document 22.282, A, 13. Varia [Sacred Laws], Lois sacr. des cités gr. Supp. [LSS] document 25, fr A, 13.

27 Varia [Sacred Laws], Lois sacr. de l'Asie Mineure [LSAM] document 37, 11. Italy, Occident, Iscr. gr. d'Italia. Napoli I document 82, 16. Egypt, Paneion d'el-Kanaïs document 72, 9. Ionia, Priene document 210.11, 17. Ionia, Ephesos document 5, 5. Mysia and Troas [Munich], Kaikos document 819, 29. Asia Minor [general], Pergamon 8,1–3 document 1.246, 12. Attica, Suppl. Epigr. Gr. 1–41 [SEG] document 25.168, 27. Etc.

28 Sic! The two words are in gender disagreement.

29 Etymologicum Magnum 544.40. In Etymologicum magnum (ed. T. Gaisford; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1848 (1967)).

30 Pseudo-Zonaras, Lexicon (kappa), 1267.7. In Iohannis Zonarae lexicon ex tribus codicibus manuscriptis (2 vols; ed. J. A. H. Tittmann; Leipzig: Crusius, 1808 (1967)).

31 Nikolaos Kontopoulos, A Lexicon of Modern Greek-English and English-Modern Greek. Volume One: Modern Greek-English (London: Trübner, 1868) 241. I. Lowndes, A Modern Greek and English Lexicon (London: Balck, Young, and Young, 1837) 382.

32 Peter Mackridge, ‘Review of “Λɛξικό της νέας ɛλληνικής γλώσσας” by G. Babiniotis’, Journal of Greek Linguistics 2, 1 (2002) 254–9, doi: https://doi.org/10.1075/jgl.2.11mac.

33 G. Babiniotis, Λɛξικό της νέας ɛλληνικής γλώσσας (Athens: Kentro, 2002) 1009. The definition in the second source is almost identical. For Λɛξικό της κοινής νɛοɛλληνικής (Thessaloniki: Aristoteleio Panepistimio Thessalonikis, Institouto Neoellinikon Spoudon [Idryma Manoli Triandafyllidi], 1998) see https://www.greek-language.gr/greekLang/modern_greek/tools/lexica/triantafyllides/search.html?lq=%CE%9B%CE%B9%CE%B2%CE%B1%CE%BD%CF%89%CF%84%CE%BF%CF%82&dq= (accessed on 2 September 2022).

34 Λιβανωτὸν μέν φησι τὸ θυσιαστήριον, ὡς δɛκτικὸν λιβάνου. Oecumenius, Commentarius in Apocalypsin 104.11–12. In The Complete Commentary of Oecumenius on the Apocalypse (ed. H. C. Hoskier; Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 1928) 29–260. ‘He calls the altar a censer as being receptive of incense.’ Oecumenius, Commentary on the Apocalypse, The Fathers of the Church 112 (trans. John N. Suggit; Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2006) 83.

35 Wilhelm Bousset, Die Offenbarung Johannis (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1906) 293.

36 Alfred Loisy, L'Apocalypse de Jean (Paris: Émile Nourry, 1923) 172.

37 Gerhard Maier, Die Offenbarung des Johannes: Kapitel 1–11, Historisch Theologische Auslegung, Neues Testament (Witten: Stiftung Christliche Medien, 2009) 381.

38 KJV, ASV, ESV, NAS, NIV etc. ‘in Rauchfass gemeint ist’. Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer, Die Offenbarung Johanis, Kritisch Exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament 16 (ed. Friedrich Düsterdieck; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1859) 302.

39 Stephen Smalley argues: ‘Because in the present context John describes the censer (λιβανωτός, libanōtos) as “golden”, he must be referring to a ladle-shaped container, rather than the substance it holds.’ Stephen S. Smalley, The Revelation to John: A Commentary on the Greek Text of the Apocalypse (London: SPCK, 2005) 215. See also Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1997) 174. Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John: Studies in Introduction with a Critical and Exegetical Commentary (New York: Macmillan Company, 1919) 553. The Apocalypse of St. John, 2nd. ed., Classic Commentaries on the Greek New Testament (ed. Henry Barclay Swete; New York: The Macmillan Company, 1906) 106.

40 Homer, Iliad 8.42; 13.24. In Homeri Ilias (vols. 2–3; ed. T. W. Allen; Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1931).

41 Homer, Iliad 13.523.

42 Athenaeus, Deipnosophists 9.376d. In Athenaei Naucratitae deipnosophistarum libri xv (3 vols.; ed. G. Kaibel; Leipzig: Teubner, 1966 (1965)).

43 Joseph Barber Lightfoot and J. R. Harmer, The Apostolic Fathers (London: Macmillan, 1891) 419.

44 Λιβανωτός is the regular Greek equivalent of the Hebrew לְבוֹנָה, which was described in these terms. William Lee Holladay and Ludwig Köhler, A Concise Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament (Leiden: Brill, 1971) 173.

45 Hughes, The Incense Bible, 120. Italics mine.

46 The LXX rendition of the Hebrew construct is not literal but uses a hendiadys.

47 David Stec, ‘קְטֹרֶת’, The Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (ed. David J. A. Clines; 8 vols.; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993–2011) 7.246.

48 As fats of the victim for example. Wilhelm Gesenius and Samuel Prideaux Tregelles, Gesenius’ Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament Scriptures (Bellingham: Logos Bible Software, 2003) 731. Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977) 882.

49 Ronald E. Clements, ‘קטר’, Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament (ed. G. Johannes Botterweck, Helmer Ringgren and Heinz-Josef Fabry; trans. David E. Green; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004) 12.

50 Josephus, Antiquities 3.103.

51 Josephus, Antiquities 3.197.

52 Josephus, Antiquities 3.220; cf. 8.101; 15.61.

53 Josephus, Antiquities 4.32.

54 Josephus, Antiquities 8.92.

55 Josephus, Wars of the Jews 5.218.

56 Josephus, Wars of the Jews 7.71.

57 R. H. Charles, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St John, vol. 1, International Critical Commentary (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1920) 230.

58 William Arndt et al., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000) 191.

59 Henry George Liddell, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, Roderick McKenzie, A Greek-English Lexicon, 9th ed with a revised Supplement (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996) 342.

60 In Plutarch's lives (vol. 1; ed. B. Perrin; Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1914 (1967)) 306–82.

61 Outside the Bible, the collocation ‘to fill / be full of fire’ (γɛμίζɛιν / γέμɛιν πυρός) is not only used with receptacles, but many times without, and in the sense of blazing, inflaming, or covering with fire. The ancient Greek tragedian, Carcinus, relates in the first half of the 4th century BCE how the crags of Mount Etna in Sicily ‘were overflowing with [lit. full of] fire’ (πυρὸς γέμουσαν ῥɛύμασιν, Carcinus Junior, Fragmenta 5.7). Close to the turn of the 1st century CE, Plutarch has Pisias describing how the copper, in contact with molten copper, becomes ‘all ablaze and full of fire’ (συνδιακɛκαυμένῳ καὶ γέμοντι πυρός, Plutarchus, Amatorius (748e–771e) 752.D.8). Sometime between the 2nd and the 3rd century CE, Acta Joannis 84.4–5 calls an unrepentant sinner ‘a blazing [lit. full of fire] fruitless tree’ (δένδρον ἄκαρπον πυρὸς γέμον). Libanius's 11th Oration, written in 360 CE, describes animal thighs on Zeus's altar, wrapped in fire (τὰ μηρία γέμοντα πυρός, Libanius, Orationes 11.86.3–4). Chrysostom writes to Chromatius, bishop of Aquileia (155M), in the spring of 406 CE, of the latter's ‘love full of fire’ (πυρὸς γέμουσαν ἀγάπην, Joannes Chrysostomus, Epistulae 18–242.52.703.5).

62 Kjeld Nielsen, Incense in Ancient Israel (Supplements of Vetus Testamentum XXXVIII; Leiden: Brill, 1986) 38–40.

63 Plutarchus, Alexander 25.7.3. In Plutarchi vitae parallelae (vol. 2.2; 2nd ed.; ed. K. Ziegler; Leipzig: Teubner, 1968).

64 Menaḥem Haran, ‘The Uses of Incense in the Ancient Israelite Ritual’, Vetus Testamentum 10 (1960) 113–29.

65 For some scholars, Rev 8:3–5 recalls the Day of Atonement ritual being linked to Exod 30.8–10 and Lev 16.12–13. In the second text, there is a clear indication of the high priest combining incense with coals of fire from the altar. G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007) 1111.

66 For some Christ. E.g., Tyconius, Exposition of the Apocalypse (The Fathers of the Church 134; ed. David C. Robinson; trans. Francis X. Gumerlock; Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2017) 90.

67 Max Zerwick, Biblical Greek Illustrated by Examples (Scripta Pontificii Instituti Biblici 114; Rome: Editrice Pontificio Istituto Biblico, 1963) 20. Gerard Mussies, The Morphology of the Koine Greek as Used in the Apocalypse of St. John: A Study in Bilingualism (Supplements to Novum Testamentum 27; Leiden: Brill, 1971) 99.

68 James Hope Moulton, Prolegomena, vol. 1 of A Grammar of New Testament Greek by James Hope Moulton, Wilbert Francis Howard, and Nigel Turner, 3rd ed. (Edinburgh, Scotland: T. & T. Clark, 1998 (2006)) 75.

69 C.F.D. Moule, An Idiom Book of the New Testament Greek, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1959 (1998)) 43.

70 Grant R. Osborne, Revelation (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament; Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2002) 345.

71 Moses Stuart, A Commentary on the Apocalypse (vol. 2; New York: Allen, Morrill and Wardwell, 1845) 182.

72 Andrew of Caesarea, Commentary on the Apocalypse (The Fathers of the Church 123; ed. David G. Hunter; trans. Eugenia Scarvelis Constantinou; Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2011) 112.

73 David E. Aune, Revelation 6-16 (Word Biblical Commentary 52B; Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 2002) 515. See also pp 512–13.

74 See also George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972) 124. Paige Patterson, Revelation (The New American Commentary 39; ed. E. Ray Clendenen; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2012) 209.

75 Gregory K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International Greek Testament Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999) 457.

76 As Johann Bengel puts it, ‘The prayers of the saints are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.’ Johann Albrecht Bengel, Gnomon of the New Testament (vol. 5; ed. M. Ernest Bengel and J. C. F. Steudel; trans. William Fletcher; Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1866) 237. See also Bede, ‘The Exposition of the Apocalypse’, in Latin Commentaries on Revelation (ed. William C. Weinrich, Thomas C. Oden, and Gerald L. Bray; trans. William C. Weinrich; Ancient Christian Texts; Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2011) 137.

77 Philo sees θυμίαμα as symbolizing thanksgiving (ɛὐχαριστία). Philo, De specialibus legibus I 171, 276.

78 Babylonian Talmud, Zebahim 58 a/b. Josephus, Ant. III, 10.7. Paul Heger, The Development of Incense Cult in Israel (Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die alttestamentliche Wissenschaft 245; Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1997), 88–89.

79 Heger, The Development of Incense Cult in Israel, 170.

80 Philo, Quis rerum divinarum heres sit 197.

81 Philo, Quis rerum divinarum heres sit 199.

82 Swete, The Apocalypse of John, 107.

83 Craig R. Koester, Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Yale Bible 38A; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2014) 433.

84 See also Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1993) 202–4.

85 Aune, Revelation 6-16, 511. Beale, The Book of Revelation 472.

86 Apoc Abr 30:8 lists 10 eschatological woes, after the fashion of the exodus plagues. The tenth consists of ‘thunder, voices, and destroying earthquakes’. James H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha (vol. 1; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1983) 704.

87 The dual function of the fire has been observed by some commentators. ‘Remarquons la double action du même ange intercesseur: le même feu sert à dégager le parfum des prières des saints, et à vouer la terre au châtiment. [… ] L'action symbolique préliminaire doit à la fois rassurer les communautés fidèles et terrifier les ennemis de Dieu et des chrétiens.’ Ernest Bernard Allo, Saint Jean. L'Apocalypse (Études Bibliques, 2nd ed.; Paris: J. Gabalda, 1921) 104.

88 Loisy, L'Apocalypse de Jean, 173.

89 This was more than the regular cloud (Ex 9.16; 40.38). Gray, George Buchanan, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Numbers (New York: C. Scribner, 1903) 212Google Scholar. Cole, R. Dennis, Numbers (The New American Commentary 3B; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2001) 271Google Scholar.

90 The daily ‘incense burning was propitiatory’. Nielsen, Incense in Ancient Israel, 73, cf. 87. Cf. ‘Das die Weihrauchgabe der Versöhnung Gottes gilt wird weder in der Apokalypse noch in den liturgischen Weihrauchgebeten gesagt.’ Klaus Berger, Die Apokalypse des Johannes: Kommentar (2 vols; Freiburg: Herder, 2017) 1.649.

91 Similarly, Simcox, William Henry, The Revelation of S. John the Divine with Notes and Introduction (The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges; Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1894) 56Google Scholar. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 553.

92 Ford, J. Massyngberde, Revelation: Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Anchor Yale Bible 38; New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008) 135–6Google Scholar.