“He which hath the sharp sword with two edges,” is the one who walked in the midst of the seven golden lamp-stands—out of whose “mouth went a sharp two-edged sword,” 1:16. This identifies him as the one who was followed by the armies of heaven, when “the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse: which sword proceeded out of his mouth,” 19:21. “The sword of the Spirit ... is the word of God,” Eph. 6:17. “He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked,” Isa. 11:4. The One who indites this epistle is thus designated, probably, because, unless they repented of the things alleged against them, he would fight against them with the sword of his mouth. The church of Pergamos had refrained from apostasy, although situated in a wicked and corrupt city,—even where Satan reigned almost supreme and received the obedience of its inhabitants. They had been faithful in those days when Antipas, a faithful Christian, and probably the former pastor of the church, was slain (Dr. Hales thinks) in Domitian’s persecution, in A. D. 94. Yet, the Lord had some things against them. The doctrine of Balaam is what that prophet counselled Balak to cast as a stumbling-block before Israel: For “the people began to commit whoredom with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto the sacrifices of their gods; and the people did eat and bowed down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto Baal-peor,” Num. 25:1-3. And Moses said of the women of Midian, “Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the Lord in the matter of Peor,” _Ib._ 31:16. This was also, probably, the same as the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes, p. 34. The “hidden manna” seems to be a reference to that hidden in the ark, where it was laid up before the Lord (Ex. 16:33), in memory of what was sent for the sustenance of Israel in the wilderness, where “man did eat angel’s food,” Ps. 78:25. The law having a shadow of good things to come (Heb. 10:1), the manna hidden in the ark may be typical of the angelic sustenance to be revealed in the future world. The Saviour said, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die,” John 6:47, 48, 50.