The Letter to the Church at Smyrna. Smyrna was situated about 35 miles N. of Ephesus, and from a commercial point of view was its most serious rival in Asia. We have no information about the church at Smyrna before this letter, and do not know when or by whom it was founded. It was later the home of Polycarp, and the scene of his martyrdom.
Revelation 2:8. the first, etc.: borrowed from the description of Christ in Revelation 1:18.
Revelation 2:9. thy tribulation: i.e. persecution, apparently from the Jews. poverty: probably explained by the fact that the mass of Christians were drawn from the poorer classes, though possibly they may also have sustained losses in the persecutions. blasphemy: i.e. the calumnies or revilings of the Jews, who, as we know from Ignatius (Ep. ad Smyrn. 5), were specially bitter against Christianity at Smyrna. they are not: the true Jew would have recognised that Christianity was the culmination of the teaching of the prophets. These men can, therefore, only be described, as in Revelation 3:9, as a synagogue of Satan.
Revelation 2:10. Persecution is ascribed to the agency of Satan. ten days: not to be taken literally; the phrase denotes a brief period. crown (cf. James 1:12 *, 2 Timothy 4:8; 1 Peter 5:4).
Revelation 2:11. second death: the final death of the wicked after the resurrection (cf. Revelation 20:6, Revelation 21:8).