Revelation of John 2:9

thy works, and--omitted in two oldest manuscripts, Vulgate, and Coptic. Supported by one oldest manuscript. tribulation--owing to persecution. poverty--owing to "the spoiling of their goods." but thou art rich--in grace. Contrast Laodicea, rich in the world's eyes and her own, poor before God. "There are both poor rich-men, and rich poor-men in God's sight" [TRENCH]. blasphemy of them--blasphemous calumny of thee on the part of (or arising from) them. say they are Jews, and are not--Jews by national descent, but not spiritually of "the true circumcision." The Jews blaspheme Christ as "the hanged one." As elsewhere, so at Smyrna they bitterly opposed Christianity; and at POLYCARP'S martyrdom they joined the heathens in clamoring for his being cast to the lions; and when there was an obstacle to this, for his being burnt alive; and with their own hands they carried logs for the pile. synagogue of Satan--Only once is the term "synagogue" in the New Testament used of the Christian assembly, and that by the apostle who longest maintained the union of the Church and Jewish Synagogue. As the Jews more and more opposed Christianity, and it more and more rooted itself in the Gentile world, the term "synagogue" was left altogether to the former, and Christians appropriated exclusively the honorable term "Church"; contrast an earlier time when the Jewish theocracy is called "the Church in the wilderness." Compare Num 16:3; Num 20:4, "congregation of the Lord." Even in Jam 2:2 it is "your (not the Lord's) assembly." The Jews, who might have been "the Church of God," had now, by their opposition and unbelief, become the synagogue of Satan. So "the throne of Satan" (Rev 2:13) represents the heathens' opposition to Christianity; "the depths of Satan" (Rev 2:24), the opposition of here…

The apostle John, having in the foregoing chapter written the things which he had seen, now proceeds to write the things that are, according to the command of God (Rev 1:19), that is, the present state of the seven churches of Asia, with which he had a particular acquaintance, and for which he had a tender concern. He was directed to write to every one of them according to their present state and circumstances, and to inscribe every letter to the angel of that church, to the minister or rather ministry of that church, called angels because they are the messengers of God to mankind. In this chapter we have, I. The message sent to Ephesus (Rev 2:1-7). II. To Smyrna (Rev 2:8-11). III. To Pergamos (Rev 2:12-17). IV. To Thyatira (Rev 2:18, etc.).

2:9 Jesus connected material poverty with the blessing of being rich in God’s Kingdom (Matt 5:3, 10-12; Luke 6:20). • Jews who had no faith are condemned for aligning themselves with Satan in hostile opposition to the Christian faith (Rev 3:9; see John 8:44; Acts 14:2-5; 17:13; 18:6; 20:3; Gal 5:11; 1 Thes 2:14-16). At the Jewish council of Jamnia, the Jews excluded Christians as unholy heretics. John was not anti-Semitic; he was a Jew describing the actions of fellow Jews against Jewish and Gentile Christians.