The Second Wild Beast in the Book of Revelation

Below is the 25th of multiple excerpts of commentary on the Book of Revelation from The Parousia, the late 19th-century masterpiece on the Second Coming by James Stuart Russell:

"5. The Second Wild Beast. "Chap. xiii. 11-17 [Rev. 13:11-17]---‘And I saw another wild beast coming up out of the earth (land [Greek: tes ges]); and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast in his presence, and causeth the land and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. ...And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or on their forehead; and that no men might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name [six hundred and sixty-six].’ "If our conclusions respecting the identity of the first beast are correct [namely, that the figure is the Roman emperor Nero], it ought not to be difficult to discover who is intended by the second beast. It will be observed that in many respects there is a strong resemblance between them: they are of the same nature, though one is supreme and the other subordinate; but there are also points of difference. It will be proper, however, in this case also, to bring into one view the various particular characteristics which assist to identify the individual intended:--- "1. The second beast rises up from the land [of Israel]. "2. He has only two horns, and they are like a lamb’s. "3. He speaks like a dragon. "4. He is clothed with the delegated authority of the first beast. "5. He compels men to pay homage, or worship, to the beast. "6. He pretends to exercise miraculous powers. "7. He rules with tyrannical force and cruelty. "8. He excludes from civil rights all who refuse abject submission to the beast. "Looking at these characteristics it becomes at once perfectly clear that we must seek the antitype [corresponding type] to this symbolic figure in a man of kindred character with the monster Nero himself. He is evidently the alter ego of the emperor, though his proportions are drawn on a smaller scale. "1. His rising out of the land, while the first beast rises out of the sea, denotes that the second beast is a domestic or home authority, ruling in Judea; while the other is a foreign power. "2. His having two horns like a lamb, while the first beast has ten, denotes that his sphere of government is small, and his power limited, compared with the other. "3. That he speaks as a dragon, or serpent, denotes his crafty and deceitful character. "4. His being clothed with the authority of the first beast indicates that he is the official representative and delegate of Nero in Judea. "At this point the individual is revealed to us. He can be no other than the Roman procurator or governor of Judea under Nero, and the particular governor must be sought at or near the outbreak of the Jewish[-Roman] war [that culminated in the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in A.D. 70]; and here the history of the time throws a flood of light upon the inquiry. "There are two names which may vie with each other for the bad pre-eminence of the original of this picture of the second beast,---Albinus and Gessius Florus. Each was a monster of tyranny and cruelty, but the latter outdid the former. Before Gessius Florus came into office [in A.D. 64] the Jews counted Albinus the worst governor who had ever ground them by his oppression. After Gessius Florus came they thought Albinus almost a virtuous man in comparison. Florus was a miscreant worthy to stand by the side of Nero: a fit servant of such a master. "...We are now in a position to ask the verdict of every candid and judicial mind on the question of identity which has been argued, as well as of the complete congruity and correspondence in all points between the symbols in the vision and the historical personages whom, in our opinion, they represent. The time, the place, the scene, the circumstances, and the dramatis personae are all in full accord with the requirements of the Apocalypse [Book of Revelation]. It is the eve of the great catastrophe [occurring at the end of the Old Covenant age], the final ruin of the Judaic polity [government, which ended in A.D. 70]. The predicted persecution of the people of God, which was to usher in the end, has broken out. A terrible triumvirate of evil is in league against Christ and His cause. The dragon, the beast from the sea, and the beast from the land,---[i.e.,] Satan, the Emperor [Nero], and the Roman procurator [Gessius Florus], are in active hostility against ‘the woman [Hebrew-Christian church] and the remnant of her seed [faithful disciples of Christ in Judea]’ [Revelation 12:17]. Their time, however, is short; the hour of retribution is at hand; and the very next scene discovers the champion and avenger of the faithful [the Lamb on Mt. Zion], and shows the security and blessedness of His people."