Revelation 2:12 - To the Church in Pergamum (2024)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(12) Pergamos.--Unlike Ephesus and Smyrna, Pergamos was not distinguished as a commercial city. Its importance was due to other causes. A striking coneshaped hill rose from the plain which bordered the northern banks of the Caicus. The hill was considered sacred. Its value as a strong natural fortress was early recognised, and it was used as a keep and treasury where local chieftains deposited their wealth. Its greatness as a city dated from Eumenes II., who was given by the Romans a large surrounding territory, and who fixed Pergamos as his royal residence. Under his auspices a splendid city--rich in public buildings, temples, art galleries, and with a library which rivalled that of Alexandria--rose into being. It has been described as a city of temples, "a sort of union of a pagan cathedral city, an university town, and a royal residence." It retained its splendour even after it passed by bequest to the Roman Republic, and was declared by Pliny to be a city unrivalled in the province of Asia.

Sharp sword with two edges.--See Note on Revelation 1:16. The appropriateness of this language to the state of the church in Pergamos will best appear afterwards. (See Note on Revelation 2:15-16.)

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 12-17. - The epistle to the Church at Pergamum. Verse 12. - Pergamum is the usual form both in Greek and Latin writers; "Pergamus" is very rare. And if Πέργαμος were right here, why "Pergamos" any more than "Ephesos"? The city lies north of Smyrna, in Mysia Major, or the right bank of the Caicus. Pergamum is first mentioned by Xenophon, and becomes important and magnificent under Attalus, the friend of the Romans (B.C. 241-197), and his son Eumenes (B.C. 196-159). Its library was second only to that of Alexandria; but Mark Antony took it to Egypt and gave it to Cleopatra. Parchment gets its name from Pergamum, and Galen the physician was born there. Pliny writes of "longe clarissimum Asiae Pergamum" - a description which probably has reference to its buildings. It still exists under the slightly changed name of Bergamah, or Bergma; and its ruins still tell of the magnificent public edifices which have caused it to be described as a "city of temples," and again as "a sort of union of a pagan cathedral city, a university town, and a royal residence." Its idolatrous rites were frequent and various, and the contamination which they spread is manifest from this epistle. The sharp two-edged sword (see notes on Revelation 1:16 and Revelation 2:13). How much this weapon is needed is shown by the evils protested against. Parallel Commentaries ...

Greek

To the
τῷ (tō)
Article - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

angel
ἀγγέλῳ (angelō)
Noun - Dative Masculine Singular
Strong's 32: From aggello; a messenger; especially an 'angel'; by implication, a pastor.

of the
τῆς (tēs)
Article - Genitive Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.