2. And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed--13:12. The salient points in the description of the land beast in verses eleven through eighteen, verse by verse, may be outlined in brief as follows: Verse 11: He was from the earth, or land, not from the sea--denoting the local persecutors of Palestine. He was a false prophet visualized as a lamb in appearance, but speaking as the dragon. The two horns of the lamb represented two notorious rulers which Josephus mentioned (in Antiquities, Book XX 11, 1; and Wars, Book II, Chapters 14-15) as being sent by Nero, the emperor, into Palestine as his representatives. This beast appeared as guileless as a lamb, but as a false prophet he possessed the infernal spirit of the sea-beast, and deceived the land--the people of Palestine--into the worship of the sea beast, the emperor. Verse 12: He was a mere satellite of the sea beast, whose wound of rebellion and civil war within the tenkingdom empire was healed by the sheer power of force. This power brought all kingdoms and provinces under submission to the Roman head. The second beast as a servile and menial instrument of the first beast, enforced his will, exercising an authority not his own, but was derived solely from the superior beast number one, the Roman emperor. In this subservience the land beast in obedience to sea beast, “ causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast”--the emperor. The earth referred to the provincial governments; and them that dwell therein had reference to the people who were under their political rule. The grievous blow inflicted on the empire by civil wars was referred to as a deadly wound on the sea-beast which had been healed by his conquering power; and this brought the kings, governors, and people into submission to worship the emperor. [Continue to comments on next verses for the rest of the descriptions]