Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 2:9

"I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty (but thou art rich), and the blasphemy of them that say they are Jews, and they art not, but are a synagogue of Satan." — Revelation 2:9 (ASV)

The speaker’s knowledge is threefold: (1) He knows their “afflictions” (GK 2568—a word translated “persecution” in v.10). (2) He knows their “poverty” (GK 4775). This can only mean material poverty because the speaker (Christ) immediately adds, “Yet you are rich” (toward God). Why was this church so poor in such a prosperous city? We do not know. Perhaps the high esteem of emperor worship in the city produced economic sanctions against Christians who refused to participate. Sometimes, even today, a Christian’s loyalty to the Lord entails economic loss (cf. 3:17). (3) The risen Lord also knows “the slander of those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” Trouble arose from the Jewish community. Certain Jews used malicious untruths to incite persecution of the impoverished saints in Smyrna. Even though these men claimed descent from Abraham, they were not his true descendants because they did not have faith in Christ, the “Seed” of Abraham (Galatians 3:16, 29). These hostile Jews probably viewed the Jewish Christians at Smyrna as heretics of the worst sort. “But are of the synagogue of Satan” reveals for the first time in Revelation the ultimate source of the persecution of Christians—“Satan” (GK 4928). Many further references to this archenemy of the followers of Christ are found throughout the book (2:13; 3:9; 9:11; 12:9–10, 12; 13:4; 20:2, 7, 10). In fact, he is one of the principal actors in the apocalyptic drama. While Satan is the author of persecution and wicked men are his instruments, God remains sovereign in that he gives “the crown of life” to those who are “faithful, even to the point of death” (v.10). “Synagogue of Satan” refers, then, to certain Jews in ancient Smyrna who, motivated by Satan, slandered the church there.