But after the three and a half days a breath of life from God entered them, and they stood up on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them.
The two witnesses lie dead in the street of the great city. The world refuses them burial and sends gifts to celebrate their silence. Then God acts. What looked like the end of their testimony becomes its most public moment — and the watching crowd is gripped by terror, not joy.
God's Verdict on His Slain Servants
The world's rejoicing is cut short. One writer reads the reversal as God's verdict on two parties at once — the men who were killed, and the men who killed them.
T. B. BainesBut their triumph is brief. Only three and a half days have passed. Then a miraculous display of God's power terrifies them. It shows His acceptance of the fallen witnesses, and His anger against those who destroyed them and celebrated over them.
Life That Death Cannot Touch
They do not just revive; they stand. One writer sees in that standing a settled strength, and traces the onlookers' fear to what their own consciences now admit.
Walter ScottThe energy of life, eternal life, from God is put forth, and the witnesses rise in its power and stand on their feet. Their witness is finished and their trials are past. They stand in the strength and stability of a life that death cannot touch. The whole world watches this act of resurrection. The Gentiles who have turned away from God see it, and their own consciences admit that it is from God. The effect is terror and alarm.
"A Spirit of Life" — Weighing the Words
One writer weighs the wording closely. The ESV reads "a breath of life"; older translations have "a spirit of life" — and the writer asks why it is not "the Spirit of life."
J. N. DarbyThis was what marked what entered them and set them on their feet — a Spirit of life. The point was not to present the Spirit as an object, but to show the character of this sudden event and its source. To say "the Spirit of life" here would have gone too far. That would have amounted to a declaration that the Holy Spirit came and dwelt in them; but that was not the point. It was simply that this living power, from God, changed the whole state of things.
The Enemies Made Spectators
Refusing burial was meant as the final insult. It backfires: the enemies are standing right there when the bodies rise.
L. M. GrantHowever, this wicked folly of Israel's leaders makes them witness their own defeat. In the sight of their enemies the two witnesses are raised from death and stand on their feet (v. 11). If they had buried them, they would not have seen this great sight. But they took a morbid delight in staring at the dead bodies. So they expose themselves to the terror of seeing them come to life. These witnesses stand there long enough to impress men with the reality of their resurrection.
Three and a Half Days: Literal or Symbolic?
Commentators differ on how to take the time note. One takes every period of time in the chapter as exact and still future.
Walter ScottThe three and a half days mentioned twice (vv. 9, 11) are literal days. It is impossible to regard them otherwise. We are here on the eve of the events that close the last prophetic week… There is no room or need to take the time as anything but literal. The four periods of time named in this chapter are literal and exact. They belong to the coming crisis, not to past history.
Another allows a literal fulfilment in the crisis, yet reads most of the language as symbolic. He also marks what has changed in the testimony itself.
J. N. DarbyThere may be a more literal fulfilment of this in the crisis. Even so, nothing in the reviving of the witnesses makes it strictly literal. On the contrary, the terms are mostly symbolic. "A spirit of life from God," though it may be applied that way, does not strictly describe a mere giving of life. It was, however, something different from a simple renewal of prophecy in sackcloth. The testimony now was by their public exaltation, not by their faithfulness under trial.
Summary
- Cause: The world celebrates for three and a half days over two silenced prophets. Then God's power reverses it, showing that He accepts His servants and is angry with their killers.
- Gift: What enters them is life from God. The wording does not name the Holy Spirit as a person living in them. It marks a living power whose source is God, and it changes everything at once.
- Reach: They stand on their feet in a life death cannot touch. Their witness is finished, their trials are past, their strength is settled.
- Result: The insult of leaving them unburied backfires. The enemies stand there as eyewitnesses of the resurrection they never wanted to see.
- Reading: Commentators differ on the three and a half days. Some take every period in the chapter as literal and still future. Others read the language as mostly symbolic. Both agree on one thing: the testimony now speaks through public exaltation, not through suffering.