Page 11 - 04 A New Vision - The Heavenly Sanctuary

DANIEL AND THE REVELATION-Uriah Smith

~The Response of History to the Revelation~

Chapter 4 – A New Vision: The Heavenly Sanctuary
said to be seated on thrones. Our translation,

it is true, reads “seats;” but the Greek is

θρόνοι, “thrones;” and so the Revised Version

reads: “And round about the throne were four

and twenty thrones, and upon the thrones I

saw four and twenty elders sitting.” This

passage, consequently, throws light on the

expression found in Daniel 7:9, “I beheld till

the thrones were cast down.” These are the

same thrones; and, as has been shown in

comments upon that passage, the meaning is

not that the thrones were overturned, or cast

down, in the ordinary sense of that

expression, but placed, or established; and the

figure is taken from the Eastern custom of

casting down, or placing, mats or divans for

distinguished guests to sit upon. These four

and twenty elders (see on chapter 5) are

supposed to be assistants of Christ in his