PERGAMUM: THE WHITE STONE AND THE NEW NAME

Revelation 2:12—17 (contd)

THE final promise of Christ to the faithful in Pergamum is that he will give them the white stone with the new name on it. This is a passage of which there are almost endless interpretations. In the ancient world, a white stone might stand for many things.
(1) There was a Rabbinic legend that precious stones fell from heaven along with the manna. The white stone would then simply stand for the precious gifts of God to his people.
(2) In the ancient world, coloured stones were used as counters for doing calculations. This would mean that Christians are counted among the number of the faithful.
(3) In the ancient law courts, white and black stones were used for registering the verdicts of juries–black for guilty, white for not guilty. This would mean that Christians are acquitted in the sight of God because of the work of Jesus Christ.
(4) In the ancient world, objects called tesserae were much used. A tessera was a little tablet made of wood or metal or stone; it had writing on it; and, generally speaking, the possession of a tessera conferred some kind of privilege upon an individual. Three of these tesserae add something to the picture.
(a) In Rome, the great houses had their clients, dependants who each morning received from their patron food and money for the day. They were often given a tessera by which they identified themselves as having the right to the free gifts. This would mean that Christians have the right to the free gifts for life which Christ can give.
(b) To win a victory at the games was one of the greatest honours the ancient world could give. Outstanding victors were given, by the master of the games, a tessera, which in the days to come conferred upon them the right of free entry to all public entertainments. This would mean that Christians are the victorious athletes of Christ who may share in the glory of their Lord.
(c) In Rome, a great gladiator was a hero admired by everyone. Often, a gladiator had to fight on until he was killed in combat. But, if he had had a particularly illustrious career, when he grew old he was allowed to retire in honour. Such men were given a tessera with the letters SP on it. SP stands for the Latin word spectatus, which means a man whose valour has been proved beyond a doubt. This would mean that Christians are the gladiators of Christ and that, when they have proved their valour in the battle of life, they are allowed to enter into the rest which Christ gives with honour.
(5) In the ancient world, a particularly happy day was called a white day. The Greek historian Plutarch tells that, when Pericles was besieging Samos, he knew that the siege would be long. He did not want his army to grow weary, so he divided it into eight parts. Every day, the eight companies drew lots; one was a white bean; and the company which drew the white bean was exempt from duty for the day and could enjoy itself as it wished. So it was that a happy day came to be called a white day (Life of Pericles, 64). In one of his letters, Pliny tells a friend that that day he had had the joy of hearing in the law courts the cases made by two magnificent young advocates in whose hands the future of Roman oratory was safe; and, he says, that experience made that day one marked candidissimo calculo, with the whitest of stones (Letters, 6:11). It was said that the Thracians and the Scythians kept in their homes an urn into which for every happy day they threw a white stone and for every unhappy day a black stone. At the ends of their lives, the stones were counted; and, depending on the greater number of white or black stones, a person was said to have had a wretched or a happy life. This would mean that, through Jesus Christ, Christians can have the joy that no one can take from them (John 16:22).
(6) Along this line, there is another and most likely interpretation. One of the most common of all customs in the ancient world was to carry a small lucky object, or charm. It might be made of a precious metal or a precious stone, but often it was nothing more than a pebble. On the pebble there was a sacred name; to know a god’s name was to have a certain power over that god, to be able to summon him to one’s aid in time of difficulty and to have control over the demons. Such an object was thought to be doubly effective if no one but the owner knew the name that was inscribed upon it. Most likely, what John is saying is: ‘Your friends–and you did the same in the days before you became a Christian–carry charms with superstitious inscriptions on them and they think they will keep them safe. You need nothing like that; you are safe in life and in death because you know the name of the only true God.’

Barclay, W. (2004). The Revelation of John (3rd ed. fully rev. and updated., Vol. 1, pp. 106—108). Louisville, KY; London: Westminster John Knox Press.

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