Notes on the New Testament, Explanatory and Practical: Revelation

by Albert Barnes

15. And he that talked with me. The angel, ver. 9. ¶ Had a golden reed to measure the city. See Notes on [ch. xi. 1]. The reed, or measuring rod, here, is of gold, because all about the city is of the most rich and costly materials. The rod is thus suited to the personage who uses it, and to the occasion. Compare a similar description in Eze. xl. 3–5; xliii. 16. The object of this measuring is to show that the city has proper architectural proportions. ¶ And the gates thereof, &c. To measure every part of the city, and to ascertain its exact dimensions.

16 And the city lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal.

16. And the city lieth four-square. It was an exact square. That is, there was nothing irregular about it; there were no crooked walls; there was no jutting out, and no indentation in the walls, as if the city had been built at different times without a plan, and had been accommodated to circumstances. Most cities have been determined in their outline by the character of the ground—by hills, streams, or ravines; or have grown up by accretions, where one part has been joined to another, so that there is no regularity, and so that the original plan, if there was any, has been lost sight of. The New Jerusalem, on the contrary, had been built according to a plan of the utmost regularity, which had not been modified by the circumstances, or varied as the city grew. The idea here may be, that the church, as it will appear in its state of glory, will be in accordance with an eternal plan, and that the great original design will have been fully carried out. ¶ And the length, is as large as the breadth. The height also of the city was the same—so that it was an exact square. ¶ And he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. As eight furlongs make a mile, the extent of the walls, therefore, must have been three hundred and seventy-five miles. Of course, this must preclude all idea of there being such a city literally in Palestine. This is clearly a figurative or symbolical representation; and the idea is, that the city was on the most magnificent scale, and with the largest proportions, and the description here is adopted merely to indicate this vastness, without any idea that it would be understood literally. ¶ The length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal. According to this representation, the height of the city, not of the walls (comp. ver. 17), would be three hundred and seventy-five miles. Of course, this cannot be understood literally, and the very idea of a literal fulfilment of this shows the absurdity of that method of interpretation. The idea intended to be conveyed by this immense height would seem to be that it would contain countless numbers of inhabitants. It is true that such a structure has not existed, and that a city of such a height may seem to be out of all proportion; but we are to remember (a) that this is a symbol; and (b) that, considered as one mass or pile of buildings, it may not seem to be out of proportion. It is no uncommon thing that a house should be as high as it is long or broad. The idea of vastness and of capacity is the main idea designed to be represented. The image before the mind is, that the numbers of the redeemed will be immense.

17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

17. And he measured the wall thereof. In respect to its height. Of course, its length corresponded with the extent of the city. ¶ An hundred and forty and four cubits. This would be, reckoning the cubit at eighteen inches, two hundred and sixteen feet. This is less than the height of the walls of Babylon, which Herodotus says were three hundred and fifty feet high. See Introduction to ch. xiii. of Isaiah. As the walls of a city are designed to protect it from external foes, the height mentioned here gives all proper ideas of security; and we are to conceive of the city itself as towering immensely above the walls. Its glory, therefore, would not be obscured by the wall that was thrown around it for defence. ¶ According to the measure of a man. The measure usually employed by men. This seems to be added in order to prevent any mistake as to the size of the city. It is an angel who makes the measurement, and without this explanation it might perhaps be supposed that he used some measure not in common use among men, so that, after all, it would be impossible to form any definite idea of the size of the city. ¶ That is, of the angel. That is, “which is the measure employed by the angel.” It was, indeed, an angel who measured the city, but the measure which he employed was that in common use among men.

18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

18. And the building of the wall of it. The material of which the wall was composed. This means the wall above the foundation, for that was composed of twelve rows of precious stones, ver. 14, 19, 20. The height of the foundation is not stated, but the entire wall above was composed of jasper. ¶ Was of jasper. See Notes on [ch. iv. 3]. Of course, this cannot be taken literally; and an attempt to explain all this literally would show that that method of interpreting the Apocalypse is impracticable. ¶ And the city was pure gold. The material of which the edifices were composed. ¶ Like unto clear glass. The word rendered glass in this place—ὕαλος—occurs in the New Testament only here and in ver. 21 of this chapter. It means, properly, “anything transparent like water;” as, for example, any transparent stone or gem, or as rock-salt, crystal, glass (Rob. Lex.). Here the meaning is, that the golden city would be so bright and burnished that it would seem to be glass reflecting the sunbeams. Would the appearance of a city, as the sun is setting, when the reflection of its beams from thousands of panes of glass gives it the appearance of burnished gold, represent the idea here? If we were to suppose a city made entirely of glass, and the setting sunbeams falling on it, it might convey the idea represented here. It is certain that, as nothing could be more magnificent, so nothing could more beautifully combine the two ideas referred to here—that of gold and glass. Perhaps the reflection of the sunbeams from the “Crystal Palace,” erected for the late “industrial exhibition” in London, would convey a better idea of what is intended to be represented here than anything which our world has furnished. The following description from one who was an eye-witness, drawn up by him at the time, and without any reference to this passage, and furnished at my request, will supply a better illustration of the passage before us than any description which I could give:—“Seen as the morning vapours rolled around its base—its far-stretching roofs rising one above another, and its great transept, majestically arched, soaring out of the envelope of clouds—its pillars, window-bars, and pinnacles, looked literally like a castle in the air; like some palace, such as one reads of in idle tales of Arabian enchantment, having about it all the ethereal softness of a dream. Looked at from a distance at noon, when the sunbeams came pouring upon the terraced and vaulted roof, it resembles a regal palace of silver, built for some Eastern prince; when the sun at eventide sheds on its sides his parting rays, the edifice is transformed into a temple of gold and rubies; and in the calm hours of night, when the moon walketh in her brightness, the immense surface of glass which the building presents looks like a sea, or like throwing back, in flickering smile, the radiant glances of the queen of heaven.”

19 And the [661]foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

19. And the foundations of the wall of the city. Notes on [ver. 14]. ¶ Were garnished. Were adorned, or decorated. That is, the foundations were composed of precious stones, giving them this highly ornamented and brilliant appearance. ¶ The first foundation. The first row, layer, or course. Notes on [ver. 14]. ¶ Was jasper. See Notes on [ch. iv. 3]. ¶ The second, sapphire. This stone is not elsewhere mentioned in the New Testament. It is a precious stone, next in hardness to the diamond, usually of an azure or sky-blue colour, but of various shades. ¶ The third, a chalcedony. This word occurs nowhere else in the New Testament. The stone referred to is an uncrystallized translucent variety of quartz, having a whitish colour, and of a lustre nearly like wax. It is found covering the sides of cavities, and is a deposit from nitrated silicious waters. When it is arranged in stripes, it constitutes agate; and if the stripes are horizontal, it is the onyx. The modern carnelian is a variety of this. The carnelian is of a deep flesh red, or reddish-white colour. The name chalcedony is from Chalcedon, a town in Asia Minor, opposite to Byzantium, or Constantinople, where this stone was probably first known (Webster’s Dict.). ¶ The fourth, an emerald. See Notes on [Re. iv. 3]. The emerald is green.

20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.