Survey of Revelation Commentaries

The "Study Light" website provides numerous commentary resources.  There is a range of orthodoxy and quality amongst the resources.  So, I provide the links below merely for reference for those interested, not by way of any kind of recommendation.  Additionally, given that there are already over 80 works that in some way discuss Revelation 16 (usually specifically including verse 5), I thought it would be wise to catalogue those resources I've reviewed in preparation for my planned debate on Revelation 16:5.  God willing in future posts, I will in some way interact with those resources that in some way have a bearing on the specific textual issues that pertain to that debate.  For this post, I merely categorize the resources, according to whether they are:

• essentially irrelevant: resources in this category range from resources that provide no commentary or even quotation of Revelation 16:5, to those that provide some commentary or a quotation of Revelation 16:5, but that fall short of providing comments that would appear to have any impact on the debate.  I'm not saying that these works are irrelevant in general -- some of them, such as Poole's Annotations, are excellent resources -- just not relevant to my debate on Revelation 16:5.
• minor relevance: resources in this category have some kind of comments or statements that, while they do not go directly to the heart of the issue, have at least some bearing on the debate (usually in terms of the internal evidence)
• significant: resources in this category provide some kind of interesting or highly relevant observation
• most significant: resources in this category in some way directly address the textual issue.  These were, of course, the resources I was looking for in my search.  

Naturally, the "Study Light" website, while extensive, is not complete.  There doubtless are commentaries that are not found on this site, including some of the most recent and most scholarly by contemporary standards.  So, exclusion from the list below means nothing other than that on January 21, 2025, the website did not list the resource (or that I, in my haste, somehow overlooked it). 

Essentially Irrelevant

• Foy Wallace (link)
• Larkin (link)(link to actual book)
• Koenig (link)
• Box (link)
• D.S. Clark (link)
• Hampton (link)
• Knollys (link)
• Smith (link)
• Ironside (link)
• Brown (link)
• Norris (link)
• "Restoration" (link)
• Kelly (link)
• Newell (link)
• Zerr (link)
• "Concordant" (link)
• Orchard (link)
• Barclay (link)
• Edwards (link)
• Godbey (link)
• "Bible Study New Testament" (link)
• "People's New Testament" (link)
• Burkitt (link)
• Clarke (link)
• Bridgeway (link)
• Bell (link)
• Smith (link)
• Dummelow (link)
• Dr. Constable (link)
• Ellicott (link)
• Expositor's Dictionary of Texts (link)
• Hole (link)
• F. B. Meyer (link)
• Gaebelein (link)
• Gann (link)
• Morgan (link)
• Everett (link)
• Geneva Study Bible (link)
• Haydock (link)
• Gray (link)
• Seiss (link)
• Sutcliffe (link)
• Trapp (link)
• King (link)
• Kretzmann (link)
• Lange (link)
• Grant (link)
• Wells of Living Water (link)
• Henry "Complete" (link) and "Concise" (link)
• Poole "Annotations" (link)
• Pett (link)
• Peake (link)
• "Preacher's Homiletical Commentary" (link)
• Hawker's "Poor Man" (link)
• Benson (link)(Interesting as an example of the danger of interpreting Revelation using the newspaper)
• Scofield (link)
• The Biblical Illustrator (link)
• Coke (link)
• The Expositor's Bible Commentary (link)
• Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (link)
• Wesley (link)
• Whedon (link)

Minor Relevance (My analysis of the "minor relevance" commentaries as a group)

• Keathley (link)
• Luscombe (link)
• Schaff's Popular Commentary (link)
• Coffman (link)
• Barnes (link) 
• Darby (link)
• Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary (link)

Significant 

• Hengstenberg (link)(my analysis here)
• Utley (link)(my analysis here)
• Alford (link)(my analysis here)
• Robertson's Word Pictures (link)(my analysis here)

Most Significant

• Bengel (link)(my analysis here)
• Scott (link)(my analysis here)
• Cambridge Greek Testament (link)(my analysis here)
• Meyer (link)(my analysis here)
• Vincent's Word Studies (link)(my analysis here)
• Bullinger (link)(my brief analysis here)
• Gill (link)(my analysis here)
• Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (link)(link to "unabridged" version)(my analysis here)
• The Pulpit Commentary (link)(my analysis here)

God willing, I plan to summarize and discuss the most relevant material from these last three categories of resources, either for a future blog post or video (or both).

James Durham (1658) Commentary on Revelation at Revelation 1:4, 4:8, 11:17, and 16:5

At Revelation 1:4 (p. 5)

The Persons from whom, are Three, or, the Three Persons of the Trinity. 1. From the Father, which is which was and which is to come, that is from God the Father described from his eternal Being without all beginning or ending. And this Description of the Father relates to that of Exod. 14, "I AM THAT I AM hath sent me unto you," and it is a Name that God often taketh to himself: The first and the last, the beginning and the ending, and the Title JEHOVAH taketh up these three JE the future time HO the time present VAH the time past. In a word it's the Paraphrase of the Word JEHOVAH and this Title is attributed to the Father not secluding the Son and holy Ghost, but the Father, being the Fountain of the Godhead, when he is joined with the Son and Spirit those things that are essential to God are ordinarily attributed to him.

At Revelation 4:8 (p. 352)

The third Attribute mentioned, is, His Eternity, in these words, which was, and is, and is to come: wherof often hath been spoken; and it is mentioned to advance the Glory of God infinitely beyond all created Idols who have had their beginning, and are going on unto a decay, and will ere long come to be destroyed: but the portion of Jacob is not so, who in all the tossings of the world, continueth the same, and of His years there is no end.

At Rev. 11:17 (p. 645)

In the first, vers. 17, they begin with God's title, Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come: it was spoken of before, and is here applied, to show ...

At Rev. 16:5 (p. 779)

1. That commended, is God's eternity and unchangeableness, it is the same with His name JEHOVAH, these three syllables making up this, which art, and wast, and shall be; and it especially relates to God's faithfulness when He is now known by that Name as He was to Israel, Exod. 3, and that other pitched upon, is God's justice, not simply, but as proportioning suitable judgments to the party plagued.