IsiTyhilelo 14:20

Izhibhalo Ezingcwele

20 Isixovulelo eso sanyathelwa ngaphandle komzi lowo; kwaphuma igazi esixovulelweni eso, lada lafika emikhaleni yamahashe, umgama wezitadiya eziliwaka elinamakhulu amathandathu.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the winepress: Isaiah 63:1-3, Lamentations 1:15

without: Revelation 11:8, Hebrews 13:11, Hebrews 13:12

and blood: Revelation 19:14-21, Isaiah 34:5-7, Isaiah 66:24, Ezekiel 39:17-21

Reciprocal: Psalms 58:10 - wash Psalms 110:6 - fill Psalms 119:118 - trodden Isaiah 34:3 - and the mountains Isaiah 49:26 - drunken Isaiah 63:3 - trodden Jeremiah 25:33 - the slain Ezekiel 16:6 - polluted Ezekiel 24:9 - Woe Ezekiel 30:11 - and fill Ezekiel 32:6 - water Malachi 4:3 - tread down John 6:19 - furlongs John 11:18 - fifteen furlongs Acts 10:15 - What Revelation 19:13 - clothed

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the winepress was trodden without the city,.... The beloved city, the new Jerusalem, into which none of the wicked will enter, and without which are dogs, c. Revelation 20:9. The allusion may be, as Dr. Lightfoot thinks, to the olive presses, which were without the city of Jerusalem, from whence Gethsemane had its name, whither our Lord went, and where his sorrows began the night he was betrayed: hell is sometimes expressed by outer darkness, and said to be far off from heaven, and between the one and the other a great gulf is fixed, the distance is considerable hence men are said to go forth to behold the miseries of the wicked; see

Matthew 22:13.

and blood came out of the winepress; alluding to the juice squeezed out of grapes, called the blood of grapes, Genesis 49:11.

Even unto the horses' bridles, for the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs; which is only an hyperbolical expression, setting forth the largeness and universality of the destruction of the wicked, and the impossibility of their escaping it. In like manner the Jews express a great slaughter of men; so of the slaughter at Bither, by Adrian, they say e, they went on slaying בדם עד-חוטמו

עד ששקע הסוס, "until a horse plunged in blood up to his nostrils", and the blood ran four miles into the sea; which is not to be understood literally, but as expressing a prodigious effusion of blood: and as to

the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs, perhaps there may be an allusion to the measure of the land of Israel, and the common notion of it among the Jews, who make it to be the square of four hundred parsoe f: hence they often speak of the land of Israel shaking and moving four hundred "parsoe", upon some extraordinary occasions g; and a "parsa" contained four miles h, so that four hundred "parsoe" made a thousand and six hundred miles; and if miles and furlongs are the same, in which sense only the land of Israel could be so large, here is the exact space; for Jerom i, who was an inhabitant of it, says, it was scarce 160 miles in length, to which agrees R. Menachem k; and it may be observed, that the Arabic version renders the words, "by the space of a thousand and six hundred miles". The Ethiopic version, very wrongly, reads, "sixteen furlongs".

e T. Hieros. Taanioth, fol. 69. 1. f T. Bab. Bava Metzia, fol. 28. 1. Gloss. in ib. g T. Bab. Megilla, fol. 3. 1. & Bava Kama, fol. 82. 2. & Menachot, fol. 64. 2. h T. Bab. Pesachim, fol. 92. 2. Gloss. in ib. i Ad Dardanum, fol. 22. 1. Tom. 3. k In Gen. fol. 60.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the wine-press was trodden without the city - The representation was made as if it were outside of the city - that is, the city of Jerusalem, for that is represented as the abode of the holy. The word “trodden” refers to the manner in which wine was usually prepared, by being trodden by the feet of people. See the notes on Isaiah 63:2. The wine-press was usually in the vineyard - not in the city - and this is the representation here. As appearing to the eye of John, it was not within the walls of any city, but standing without.

And blood came out of the wine-press - The representation is, that there would be a great destruction which would be well represented by the juice flowing from a wine-press.

Even unto the horse bridles - Deep, as blood would be in a field of slaughter where it would come up to the very bridles of the horses. The idea is, that there would be a great slaughter.

By the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs - That is, two hundred miles; covering a space of two hundred miles square - a lake of blood. This is designed to represent a great slaughter; but why the space here employed to describe it was chosen is unknown. Some have supposed it was in allusion to the length of Palestine. Prof. Stuart supposes that it refers to the breadth of Italy, and that the allusion is to the attack made on the city of the beast. But it is impossible to determine why this space was chosen, and it is unnecessary. The idea is, that there would be a slaughter so great, as it were, as to produce a lake or sea of blood; that the enemies of the church would be completely and finally overthrown, and that the church, therefore, delivered from all its enemies, would be triumphant.

The “design” of this, as of the previous representations in this chapter, is to show that all the enemies of God will be destroyed, and that, therefore, the hearts of the friends of religion should be cheered and consoled in the trials and persecutions which were to come upon it. What could be better suited to sustain the church in the time of trial, than the assurance that every foe will be ultimately cut off? What is better suited to sustain the heart of the individual believer, than the assurance that all his foes will be quelled, and that he will ere long be safe in heaven?

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Revelation 14:20. Even unto the horse bridles — A hyperbolical expression, to denote a great effusion of blood. The Jews said, "When Hadrian besieged the city called Bitter, he slew so many that the horses waded in blood up to their mouths." The same kind of hyperbole with that above. See Wetstein on this verse.

The space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs.] It is said that the state of the Church, or St. Peter's patrimony, extends from Rome to the Po, two hundred Italian miles, which make exactly one thousand six hundred furlongs! If this be really so, the coincidence is certainly surprising, and worthy of deep regard.

On these two last verses pious Quesnel thus speaks: "As the favourable sickle of Jesus Christ reaps his wheat when ripe for heaven, so that of the executioners of his justice cuts off from this life the tares which are only fit for the fire of hell. Then shall the blood of Christ cease to be trampled on by sinners; and that of the wicked shall be eternally trodden down in hell, which is the winepress of the wrath of God.

"And the winepress was trodden without the city, eternally without the city of the heavenly Jerusalem, and far from the presence of God; eternally crushed and trodden down by his justice; eternally tormented in body and soul, without any hope either of living or dying! This is the miserable lot and portion of those who shall have despised the law of God, and died in impenitence. My God, pierce my heart with a salutary dread of thy judgments!"

Whatever these passages may mean, this is a prudent and Christian use of them.