Revelation 2:17

17. Hidden manna For him who spurns the meat of idol sacrifices there is reserved a divine food, the hidden manna. Not merely secret, but hidden, laid up and deposited away from human gaze. So God commanded Moses, Exodus 16:32-34, to deposit a memorial manna, “and lay it up before the Lord to be kept for your generations.” According to Hebrews 9:4, the manna was deposited in a pot enclosed in the ark of the covenant, within the holy of holies. Our Saviour denominates himself the “bread,” figured by the manna, (John 6:48-50,) of which our sacramental bread is the symbol. But the depositing the memorial manna by Moses in the holy of holies, (the symbol of the highest heavens,) figures Christ in his ascended and resurrected state. Hebrews 9:24. It is our risen Lord, then, who is our hidden manna, our immortalizing food. Parallel to this is the fruit of the tree of life, the aliment of a heavenly immortality, whose vitality and vitalizing power are derived from Christ. See note on Revelation 22:0.

A white stone Of all interpretations of this image, that of Trench is both most beautiful and most satisfactory. The white stone is the oracular urim, (it was probably a diamond,) in the breast-plate of the High-priest, bearing the incommunicable name. And as every glorified Christian becomes a high-priest, so to every one is given the diamond urim. This stone, as white, represents the purity of heaven. Nay more, it is not merely the pale dim white, (Latin, albus,) but the lustrous, radiating white, (Latin, candidus,) of which the diamond gives a sample, and so symbolizes even the glory of heaven. So, white are the hairs of the Son of God, Revelation 1:14; and white raiment, Revelation 3:5; white robes, Revelation 7:9; a white cloud Revelation 14:14; white horses, Revelation 19:8; Revelation 19:14; great white throne, Revelation 20:1.

The Greek word for stone here, ψηφος , meaning a pebble or smooth sea-worn stone, was used before the invention of the paper ballot for the decision of alternative questions, as the election of a candidate to office, or the acquittal of an accused person; which was by a “white stone” in opposition to a black. Hence it was used in some kinds of divination to decide a future event, which may have suggested its use here for the urim, by which the will of Jehovah was ascertained; though Trench does not notice that point. The use of the word to designate so precious a stone as the diamond, is, perhaps, sustained by the fact, that in later Greek it is used by Callimachus to denote the gem of a finger-ring.

How far it is made sure that the urim was a diamond is not so clear. The breastplate of the high priest (see note, Matthew 26:3) was studded with twelve precious stones, on which were inscribed the names of the twelve tribes. The urim was, very probably, an additional stone, most precious of all, and so a diamond, or at least some stone of high value and radiant clearness. Its highest value, however, was, that it was officially borne upon the heart of the high priest in his highest functions, and that it was a medium of communion with Jehovah. The white stone bestowed upon the apocalyptic conqueror, that is, upon every triumphant Christian, is token that he is high priest, and his intercommunion with God is glorious. And all this is confirmed by the remarkable fact that both the hidden manna and the white stone of the urim being in the holy of holies, were accessible to the high priest alone.

If we reject this identification of the white stone as too ingenious, or for other reasons, we may fall back upon Hengstenberg’s view, that the white stone is merely the appropriate basis or surface for bearing the gracious inscription of the divine witness of our sonship of God. And we may also add the view of Grotius and others, that the white stone is an entrance-ticket into the gates of heaven, with God’s own signature upon it.

He that receiveth it It means the stone, and not the name; the name is not that of the receiver, but that of the divine donor. And nothing can be wiser than Bengel’s reply to him that asks, What is that name? “Wouldst thou know what sort of a name thou wouldst receive? Overcome! Otherwise, thou askest vainly. But overcoming thou wilt soon read that name upon the white stone.” That name is not a word, but a power.