The Danger at Midday: Death Threats in the Apocalypse 11 3. You will face hardship for ten days (Rev 2,10) As transition from the discussion of what happens ad matutinum and afterwards at the midday intermission, I would like to show that the paralleling of the Apocalypse text with the gladiatorial games can perhaps explain an expression which until now remains rather unexplained in the exegesis. It is about the expression e}xete qli'yin hJmerw'n devka in the letter to the angel of the church in Smyrna (2,10). I would like to cite the three most recent commentaries. D. Aune writes about this part of the verse: The phrase “ten days” is used for an undefined but relatively short period of time, perhaps it is the sum of the fingers of both hands (Gen 24:55; Num 11:19; Neh 5:18; Jer 42:7; Dan 1:12-15); m ‘Abot 5:1-6 contains a list of ten things of various kinds. Ten can also function as a number signifying completeness (28). R.H. Mounce writes: Believers at Smyrna (or at least some of them) are to suffer persecution for ten days (or “within ten days”). Opinions vary about the time intended. Most view the ten days as a round number indicating a short period of time, but others hold it to be a prolonged but definitively limited period. The latter interpretation is more in keeping with the seriousness of the impending crisis (29) P. Prigent summarizes this and then expresses his own preference for an intertextual relationship with the text of Daniel: The number is surprising. It is generally explained as an assertion that the persecution was limited by God. Ten would thus be a round number that is fitting for this intention. There are indeed several examples of a similar usage of this number in the OT, such as the following: “They tempted me ten times without obeying my voice”, says God in speaking of the rebellious Hebrews (Num 14:22). In this case ten signifies “many times”. And yet one should note, as does Kraft, that we possess in the OT a precise text which might have been present in the mind of the author when he spoke of ten days of tribulation, namely Dan 1: 12,14, which speaks of the days during which the Hebrew youth abstain from the impure food served at the table of King Nebuchadnezzar. The testing ends in a conclusive manner: God rewards their faithfulness and they endure the period of fasting with no ill effects (30). (28) D.A. AUNE, Revelation 1–5 (WBC; Dallas, TX 1997) 166. (29) R.H. MOUNCE, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI 1998) 76. (30) PRIGENT, Commentary, 168-169.