Revelation of John 5:2-5
2. strong— (Ps 103:20). His voice penetrated heaven, earth, and Hades (Re 10:1-3).
3. no man—Greek, "no one." Not merely no man, but also no one of any order of beings.
in earth—Greek, "upon the earth." under the earth—namely, in Hades. look thereon—to look upon the contents, so as to read them.4. and to read—inserted in English Version Greek text without good authority. One oldest manuscript, ORIGEN, CYPRIAN, and HILARY omit the clause. "To read" would be awkward standing between "to open the book" and "to look thereon." John having been promised a revelation of "things which must be hereafter," weeps now at his earnest desire being apparently frustrated. He is a pattern to us to imitate, as an eager and teachable learner of the Apocalypse.
5. one of—Greek, "one from among." The "elder" meant is, according to some (in LYRA), Matthew. With this accords the description here given of Christ, "the Lion, which is (so the Greek) of the tribe of Juda, the root of David"; the royal, David-descended, lion-aspect of Christ being that prominent in Matthew, whence the lion among the fourfold cherubim is commonly assigned to him. GERHARD in BENGEL thought Jacob to be meant, being, doubtless, one of those who rose with Christ and ascended to heaven (Mt 27:52, 53). The elders in heaven round God's throne know better than John, still in the flesh, the far-reaching power of Christ.
Root of David— (Isa 11:1, 10). Not merely "a sucker come up from David's ancient root" (as ALFORD limits it), but also including the idea of His being Himself the root and origin of David: compare these two truths brought together, Mt 22:42-45. Hence He is called not merely Son of David, but also David. He is at once "the branch" of David, and "the root" of David, David's Son and David's Lord, the Lamb slain and therefore the Lion of Juda: about to reign over Israel, and thence over the whole earth. prevailed—Greek, "conquered": absolutely, as elsewhere (Re 3:21): gained the victory: His past victory over all the powers of darkness entitles Him now to open the book. to open—that is, so as to open. One oldest manuscript, B, reads, "He that openeth," that is, whose office it is to open, but the weight of oldest authorities is with English Version reading, namely, A, Vulgate, Coptic, and ORIGEN.