Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 13:1-2

"and he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns, and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. And the beast which I saw was like unto a leopard, and his feet were as [the feet] of a bear, and his mouth as the mouth of a lion: and the dragon gave him his power, and his throne, and great authority." — Revelation 13:1-2 (ASV)

(1a) Most modern translations include v.1a as the concluding verse of ch. 12 because they adopt manuscripts that read “he [i.e., the dragon] stood” rather than KJV’s “I stood.” If “he stood” is the correct reading, the sense would be that the dragon, who has now turned his rage on the children of the woman (12:17), stands on the seashore to summon his next instrument, the beast from the sea. But if the text reads “I stood,” the sense is that John receives a new vision (cf. 10:1).

(1b–2) The beast (GK 2563) has already been described in 11:7 as rising from the “Abyss” (cf. 17:8). Thus the sea may symbolize the Abyss, the source of demonic powers that are opposed to God (cf. 9:1; 20:1–3). This view agrees with the OT images of the sea as the origin of the satanic sea monsters—the dragon, Leviathan, and Rahab (Job 26:12–13; Pss 74:1:13–14; Job 87:4; Job 89:10; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 51:9; cf. also Eze 32:6–8). The ancient Hebrews demythologized the seamonster myths to depict the victory of the Lord of Israel over the demonic forces of evil that had sought in several ways to destroy God’s people. Similarly, John later foresees the day of Christ’s victory when there will “no longer [be] any sea.” John describes the beast in words similar to those he used in 12:3 of the dragon, the only difference being in the matter of the crowns.

Any attempt to identify the heads or horns as separate kings, kingdoms, etc., should be resisted. It may be argued that John’s beast from the sea should be connected to Leviathan, Rahab, and the dragon in the above-cited OT texts. While these refer to political powers, such as Egypt and Assyria, that were threatening Israel, to the OT writer, these nations were inseparably identified with the archetypal reality of the satanic, idolatrous systems represented by the seven-headed monster.

Thus the beast represented, not the political power, but the system of evil that found expression in the political entity. The reason this point is so important is that it helps us see that the beast itself is not to be identified in its description with any one historical expression or with any one institutional aspect of its manifestation. It may appear now as Sodom, Egypt, Rome, or even Jerusalem, and it may manifest itself as a political power, an economic power, a religious power, or a heresy (1Jn 2:18, 22; 4:3) In John’s mind, the chief enemy is diabolical deception; his description therefore has theological overtones, not political ones.

This interpretation does not exclude the possibility that there will be a final climactic appearance of the beast in history in a person, in a political or religious economic system, or in a final totalitarian culture combining all these. The point is that the beast cannot be limited to either the past or the future. John further states that this beast had “on each head a blasphemous name” (cf. vv.5–6; 17:3). Arrogance and blasphemy also characterize the “little horn” of Daniel’s fourth beast (Daniel 7:8, 11, 20, 25) and the willful king of Da 11:36. John alludes to the vision of Daniel but completely transforms it. In keeping with the Rome hypothesis, many identified the blasphemous names with titles of the emperor (e.g., “Savior” and “Lord”). But was this in John’s mind? In 2:9 he refers to the blasphemy “of those who say they are Jews and are not,” a reference to the fact that some Jews at Smyrna had spoken against the lawful messianic claims of Jesus.

They may also have charged the Christians with disloyalty to the empire and thus sided with the pagan officials in persecuting them. Could these Jews also be part of the blasphemous names? In v.6 the blasphemies are directed against God and are further defined: “to blaspheme God, by blaspheming his name, his temple, those who dwell in heaven” (my translation). Thus the beast challenges the sovereignty and majesty of God by denying the first commandment: “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3). In other words, whatever person or system cooperates with Satan by exalting itself against God’s sovereignty and by setting itself up to destroy the followers of Jesus, or entices them to become followers of Satan through deception, idolatry, blasphemy, and spiritual adultery, embodies the beast of Rev 13. The description John gives of the beast from the sea does not describe a mere human political entity such as Rome. Rather, it describes in archetypal language the hideous, satanic system of deception and idolatry that may at any time express itself in human systems of various kinds.

Yet at the same time John also seems to be saying that this blasphemous, blaspheming, and blasphemyproducing reality will have a final and, for the saints, utterly devastating manifestation.