Revelation 2:14

Thee. For the force of the singular see on v. 2.

Balaam. See Num. 22–24. The analogy with Balaam suggests that there were some at Pergamum whose purpose was to divide and ruin the church by encouraging practices that were forbidden to Christians (see below on “things sacrificed”; cf. on Acts 15:29). Balaam was concerned about advancing his own interests, not those of God’s people.

Stumblingblock. Gr. skandalon, the trigger that springs a trap. Thus to “cast a stumblingblock” before someone is to trip him up. See on Matt. 5:29.

Things sacrificed. The two practices here mentioned had been expressly prohibited by the council at Jerusalem (see on Acts 15:29; Rom. 14:1; 1 Cor. 8:1). Balaam influenced Israel to commit “whoredom with the daughters of Moab,” to sacrifice to Moabite gods, and to “eat,” presumably of the meat sacrificed to these gods (Num. 25:1, 2, 31:16).

These two sins led to a mixture of paganism with true religion. Applied to Christian history, this portrayal is peculiarly appropriate to the situation in the church in the period following the legalization of Christianity by Constantine in A.D. 313 and his nominal conversion some 10 or 12 years later. He pursued a policy of blending paganism and Christianity at as many points as possible, in a studied attempt to unite the diverse elements within the empire and thus strengthen it. The favorable, even dominant, position he accorded the church made it a prey to the temptations that always accompany prosperity and popularity. Under Constantine and his successors, almost all of whom continued his favorable policy, the church rapidly became a politico-ecclesiastical institution and lost much of its former spirituality.