7:8 Of the tribe of Zabulon [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of {c} Joseph [were] sealed twelve thousand. Of the tribe of Benjamin [were] sealed twelve thousand.
(c) Of Ephraim, who was Joseph's other son, and had the birthright given him, of which he is called Joseph.
7:4-8 And I heard the number of them who were sealed. The number first named is 144,000, twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of Israel. These numbers are not to be taken literally, but only signify that a great number, not a countless, but a part of each tribe of Israel, accepted the gospel. Of the tribes Ephraim appears under the name of Joseph (Re 7:8), and Dan is entirely omitted, a fact possibly due to the early falling away of Dan into idolatry (1Ki 12:26-30). The number twelve is preserved by counting Levi (Re 7:7). For another appearance of the 144,000, see Re 14:1.
7:8 Of the tribe of Joseph - Or Ephraim; perhaps not mentioned by name, as having been, with Dan, the most idolatrous of all the tribes. It is farther observable of Dan, that it was very early reduced to a single family; which family itself seems to have been cut off in war, before the time of Ezra; for in the Chronicles, where the posterity of the patriarchs is recited, Dan is wholly omitted.
7:1-8 In the figurative language of Scripture, the blowing of the four winds together, means a dreadful and general destruction. But the destruction is delayed. Seals were used to mark for each person his own possessions. This mark is the witness of the Holy Ghost, printed in the hearts of believers. And the Lord would not suffer his people to be afflicted before they were marked, that they might be prepared against all conflicts. And, observe, of those who are thus sealed by the Spirit, the seal must be on the forehead, plainly to be seen alike by friends and foes, but not by the believer himself, except as he looks stedfastly in the glass of God's word. The number of those who were sealed, may be understood to stand for the remnant of people which God reserved. Though the church of God is but a little flock, in comparison with the wicked world, yet it is a society really large, and to be still more enlarged. Here the universal church is figured under the type of Israel.
