And [shall not] suffer NOT their dead bodies to be put in [graves] A GRAVE.—On the contrary, this very attempt “served to arouse Christians everywhere to put forth new exertions in behalf of the Bible.”—Smith.
11:10. And they that dwell upon the earth.—The people of France, then infidels, without any hopes except for the present poor earth‐life.
[Shall] rejoice over them, and make merry.—Literally fulfilled when the Assembly proscribed the Scriptures.
And [shall] send gifts one to another.—Literally fulfilled, the gifts being expressions of joy over the sudden “liberty,” “a custom usual in times of festivity.”—Neh. 8:10, 12; Esth. 9:19, 22.—Cook.
Because these Two Prophets tormented.—By continuing to proclaim the coming Reign of Christ and His Church.
Them that dwelt on the earth.—The classes whose hopes and destinies are earthly.
11:11. And after three days and an half.—Three years and one half.
The Spirit of life from God entered into Them.—In a symbolic sense They were “raised from the dead.”—Ezek. 37:5, 9, 10, 14.
And They stood upon Their feet.—See Ezek. 37:10. “In 1793, a decree passed the French Assembly suppressing the Bible. Just three years after, a resolution was introduced into the Assembly superseding the decree, and giving toleration to the Scriptures. That resolution lay on the table six months, when it was taken up, and passed without a dissenting vote. Thus, in just three years and a half, the Witnesses ‘stood upon their feet.’ ”—Smith.
And great fear fell upon them which saw them.—“Nothing but the appalling results of the rejection of the Bible, could have induced France to take her hands off these Witnesses.” (Smith.) “In the light of the foretold character of coming events of this battle, we may regard the French Revolution as only the rumbling of distant thunder, giving warning of an approaching storm; as a slight tremor preceding the general earthquake shock; as the premonitory click of the great clock of the ages, which gives notice to those already awake that the wheels are in motion, and that shortly it will strike the midnight hour which will end the present order of affairs and usher in a new order,—the Year of Jubilee, with its attendant commotion and changes of possession.”—D. 535.