Bible Commentaries
Revelation 8

Verses 1-13

Revelation 8:1

Mr. A. C. Benson writes: 'I think that there are few verses of the Bible that give one a more sudden and startling thrill than the verse at the beginning of the eighth chapter of the Revelation. "And when he had opened the seventh seal there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour." The very simplicity of the words, the homely note of specified time, is in itself deeply impressive. But further, it gives the dim sense of some awful and unseen preparation going forward, a period allowed in which those that stood by, august and majestic as they were, should collect their courage, should make themselves ready with bated breath for some dire pageant.'

References. VIII. 1. W. F. Shaw, Sermon Sketches for the Christian Year, p. 66. VIII. 11. J. Keble, Sermons for the Saints' Days, p. 362.

Revelation 8:13

Compare Mrs. Oliphant's analysis of Botticelli's special trait, in her Makers of Florence (p. 853). 'It is,' she observes, 'to be seen in his pictures of all subjects, even in his "Venus" a cloud somewhere shadowing the sun, a perception dim and terrible of griefs that must come, howsoever they may be disguised, or how distant soever they may be for the moment. This is the very soul and sentiment of his work, his highest inspiration in art.'