REVELATION (BOOK OF):
By: Crawford Howell Toy, Kaufmann Kohler
The last book in the New Testament canon, yet in fact one of
the oldest; probably the only Judæo-Christian work which has survived the
Paulinian transformation of the Church. The introductory verse betrays the
complicated character of the whole work. It presents the book as a
"Revelation which God gave . . . to show unto his servants things which
must shortly come to pass," and at the same time as a revelation of Jesus
Christ to "his servant John." According to recent investigations, the
latter part was interpolated by the compiler, who worked the two sections of
the book—the main apocalypse (ch. iv.-xxi. 6) and the letters to the
"seven churches" (i.-iii. and close of xxii.)—into one so as to make
the whole appear as emanating from John, the seer of the isle of Patmos in Asia
Minor (see i. 9, xxii. 8), known otherwise as John the Presbyter. The
anti-Paulinian character of the letters to the seven churches and the
anti-Roman character of the apocalyptic section have been a source of great
embarrassment, especially to Protestant theologians, ever since the days of
Luther; but the apocalypse has become especially important to Jewish students
since it has been discovered by Vischer (see bibliography) that the main
apocalypse actually belongs to Jewish apocalyptic literature.
The Letters to the Seven Churches:
The first part (i. 4-iii. 22) contains a vision by John, who
is told by Jesus to send a letter to the seven angels of the seven churches in
Asia (founded by Paul and his associates), rebuking them for the libertinism
that has taken hold of many "who pass as Jews, but show by their blasphemy
and licentiousness that they are of the synagogue of Satan" (ii. 9, iii.
9, Greek). These seven churches were those of Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamus,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Owing to their heathen
associations many of their members had lapsed into pagan or semipagan views and
practises, under the influence of heretic leaders. Of these one is singled out
by the name of Nicolaites (ii. 6, 15; comp. Acts vi. 5), called also Balaam
(ii. 14, ="Nicolaos"),
because, like Balaam, he seduced the people to idolatry and fornication by his
false prophecies and witchcraft (Num. xxv. 1; xxxi. 8, 16). Another singled out
was a woman, probably a prophetess, called Jezebel (ii. 20) on account of her
idolatrous practises (I Kings xviii. 19, xxi. 25). Evidently the seed sown by
Paul and his associates, who in their antinomian Gnosticism boasted of having
penetrated "the deep things of God" (I Cor. ii. 10), had borne evil
fruit, so that the seer of Patmoscalls these heretics "false apostles and
liars" (ii. 2), and their teachings "the depths of Satan" (ii.
24).
How much local cults, as that of Esculapius in Pergamos
("Satan's seat"; ii. 13), had to do with these heresies it is
difficult to say; certain it is that many were "polluted" by pagan
practises (ii. 13, 26; iii. 4). All the more severely does the seer condemn the
Pauline teaching as "the teaching of Balaam" (comp. II Peter ii. 15;
Jude 11; Sanh. 106b; Giṭ. 57a; see Balaam). On the other hand, Jesus, through
John, promises to the poor, the meek, and the patient toilers of the churches
who refuse to partake of the meals of the pagans that "they shall eat of
the tree of life" in paradise (ii. 2, 7); to those who are to suffer from
the pagan powers that they shall, as true "athletes" of this world,
be given the "crown of life" (ii. 10); to him "that
overcometh" in the contest (comp. the rabbinical term, "zokeh")
will be given a lot or mark ("goral") bearing the Ineffable Name, and
he shall "eat of the hidden manna" (ii. 17; comp. Tan., Beshallaḥ,
ed. Buber, p. 21; Ḥag. 12b; Apoc. Baruch, xxix. 8; Sibyllines, ii. 348); or,
like the Messiah, he will "rule them [the heathen] with a rod of
iron" and be given the crown of glory (ii. 26-28; the "morning
star," taken from xxii. 16, if it is not the error of a copyist); those
who "have not defiled their garments" "shall be clothed in white
raiment," and their names shall be written in the book of life and
proclaimed before God and His angels (iii. 4-5); while those who stand the test
of Satan's trials shall be spared in the great Messianic time of trial and
become pillars in the temple of the "new Jerusalem" (iii. 10-13,
Greek), or shall partake of the Messianic banquet, sitting by (scarcely
"in") the seat of Jesus (iii. 21).
Jewish Point of View of Writer.
Obviously, the writer of these visionary letters to the
seven churches of Asia was in his own estimation a Jew, while believing in
Jesus as the risen Messiah. He beheld him in his vision as "the faithful
witness" (martyr) who is next to God, "who is, was, and will be"
("come" is the emendation of the late compiler), his seven angelic
spirits standing "before his throne" (i. 4-5); "the Son of
man" grasping seven stars in his right hand, while out of his mouth came a
sharp two-edged sword (i. 13-16; ii. 1, 12 [taken from the apocalypse, xiv.
14]; iii. 1); who "holds the keys of hell and of death" (i. 18); who
is "the holy and true one" that "holds the key of David"
(iii. 7, with reference to Isa. xxii. 22); who is called also "the
beginning of the creation of God" (iii. 14). However, the identification
of "him who was dead and became alive again" with God, who is the
First and the Last, the ever-living Almighty (i. 17; comp. i. 8 and ii. 8), is
the work of the late compiler. The close of the visionary letters is found at
xxii. 16, where Jesus is represented as saying, "I am the root and the
offspring of David" (comp. Isa. xi. 1, 10), "the bright and morning
star" (after Num. xxiv. 17 and [probably] Ps. cx. 3; comp. LXX.). To find
in these chapters traces of a persecution of the early Christians by the Jews,
as do most modern exegetes, is absurdly illogical. On the contrary, the writer
condemns the anti-Jewish attitude of the Pauline churches; the document is
therefore of great historical value. It is important in this connection to note
the Hebraisms of the whole of this part of the book, which prove that the
writer or—if he himself originally wrote Hebrew or Aramaic—the translator could
neither write nor speak Greek correctly. As to the relation of this to the
apocalypse which follows see below.
The Main Apocalypse:
The succeeding part (iv.-xx. 8) contains several Jewish
apocalypses worked into one, so altered, interpolated, and remodeled as to
impress the reader as the work of the author of the letters to the seven
churches. In the following the attempt is made to acquaint the reader with the
contents of the two original Jewish apocalypses, as far as they can be
restored, the Christian interpolations and alterations being put aside.
First Jewish Apocalypse: After the introductory verses, part
of i. 1, 8 ("I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the
Lord, which is, and which was and will be ["will come" is a Christian
alteration], the Almighty") and part of i. 12-19, the apocalyptic seer
describes (iv. 1 et seq.) how he was carried up by the spirit (with the angel's
word, "Come down hither," compare the expression "Yorede
Merkabah"), and how he saw "a throne set in heaven and One sitting on
the throne," after the manner of Ezek. i. 26-28. "Round about the
throne were twenty-four seats, and upon these I saw twenty-four elders sitting,
clothed in white raiment, and they had golden crowns on their heads":
obviously heavenly representations of the twenty-four classes of priests
serving in the Temple (Ta'an. iv. 2; I Chron. xxiv. 7-18; Josephus,
"Ant." vii. 14, § 7; comp., however, Gunkel, "Schöpfung und
Chaos," pp. 302-308, and Isa. xxiv. 23 [Bousset]). After a description of
the four "ḥayyot," taken from Ezek. i. 5-10, 18 and combined with
that of the seraphim in Isa. vi. 2-3, the text continues, "They rest not
day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God of hosts [παυτοκράτωρ,
translated "Almighty" in A. V.; comp. Amos iv. 13], who was, is, and
shall be" (Greek text, "is to come"). And when the ḥayyot give
glory and honor and praise to Him who sits on the throne, Him who lives forever
and ever ("ḥe ha-'olamin"), the twenty-four elders prostrate
themselves and, laying down their crowns, say, "Thou art worthy, O Lord,
to receive glory and honor and power, for Thou hast created all things, and by
Thy will they have been created."
Ch. v.: The seer then describes how he saw at the right hand
of God a scroll written within and without and sealed with seven seals (it was
customary for the last will to be sealed with seven seals and opened by seven
witnesses; see Huschke, "Das Buch mit den Sieben Siegeln," 1860;
Zahn, "Einleitung in das Neue Testament," ii. 591), which none in
heaven, on earth, or beneath the earth was found worthy to open until one of
the twenty-four elders pointed out that "the lion of the tribe of Judah,
the root of David, had merited to open the book and loose its seven seals."
Then the lion (the Christian reviser rather awkwardly substituted "the
slain lamb") suddenly appeared, with seven horns and seven eyes, standing
between the throne and thefour ḥayyot and the twenty-four elders; and he
stepped forth and took the scroll while the ḥayyot and the elders prostrated
themselves before him, saying, "Thou art worthy to take the book and open
the seals thereof; for . . ." The remainder has been worked over by the
Christian reviser.
Ch. vi. 1-12: At the opening of the first seal by the
Messiah the seer hears the thunder-call of one of the four ḥayyot, and sees a
white horse appear, with a rider holding a bow (representing, probably,
Pestilence); at the opening of the second seal, a red horse, with a rider armed
with a great sword (representing War); at the opening of the third seal, a
black horse, with a rider holding a pair of balances to weigh flour, bread
having become scarce (signifying Famine); at the opening of the fourth seal, a
"pale" horse, the rider thereof being Death. These four are to
destroy the fourth part of the earth by the sword, famine, pestilence, and wild
beasts. What plague is ushered in at the opening of the fifth seal is no longer
stated; apparently it is persecution of the saints, as the text continues:
"I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of
God, and for the testimony they gave" (as martyrs; see Ḳiddush ha-Shem).
"And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and
true, dost Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the
earth." And white robes were given them, and they were told to rest for a
while until the number of the martyrs was full (comp. Apocalypse of Baruch,
xxx. 2; IV Esd. iv. 36).After this the seer beholds a great multitude of people
of every land and language, both Jews and proselytes, also arrayed in white
robes, standing before the throne; and he is told that, "having undergone
great tribulation, they have made their robes white by the blood of the
martyrs" (of course, not "of the lamb," as the Christian reviser
has it); and that now they serve God in the heavenly temple day and night, and
the Shekinah dwells with them (vii. 9-17, which part is misplaced).
Ch. vi. 12-17: At the opening of the sixth seal "the
birth-throes of the Messianic time" appear, as depicted in Joel iii. 3-4;
Isa. ii. 10, xxiv., xxxiv. 4; and Hosea x. 8. Fear of the great day of God's
wrath (Mal. iii. 2) and of the wrath of His anointed (Ps. ii. 12) seizes the
whole world.
Opening of the Seventh Seal.
Ch. viii. 1-13: The opening of the seventh seal forms the
climax. The awful catastrophe is marked by "silence in heaven about the
space of half an hour." The four angels that hold the winds at the four
corners of the earth are told to check the blowing of the winds on land, on
sea, and on the trees until an angel has sealed upon the forehead, with the
seal of the living God, the 144,000 servants of God, that is, 12,000 of each of
the twelve tribes of Israel (Dan as idolater is excluded, and Levi takes his
place along with the two sons of Joseph), in order to guard them against the
impending destruction (vii. 1-8). The seven trumpets of the seven angels before
God usher in seven great calamities: the first four involve a world
conflagration ("mabbul shel esh") that burns up the third part of the
land and dries up a third part of the sea and the rivers, and an eclipse of
sun, moon, and stars (viii. 2-12; comp. Sibyllines, iii. 80-90, 540); the
remaining three, who are announced by an angel flying through the midst of
heaven (viii. 13), bring even greater woes; first the torment of locusts,
described in all its fierceness in the apocalyptic chapters of Joel (i. 6, ii.
2-9), coming forth from the abyss over which the angel Abaddon (Destruction;
comp. Job xxviii. 22; comp. "Ẓefoni," Joel, ii. 20; Suk. 52a) alone
has power (ix. 1-12); secondly, the letting loose from the banks of the
Euphrates of the four kings (; not "angels," ), with numberless hosts
of wild Parthian horsemen wearing breastplates of fire and brimstone, and
riding on horses that have heads of lions and tails of serpents, and out of
whose mouths come fire, smoke, and brimstone (comp. Nahum ii. 4-5, iii. 3). As
with the former plagues, a third part of mankind is killed; they were prepared
for this task from the beginning of the world. "And yet," closes the
seer, "the rest of the men which were not killed repented not, but
continued to worship demons, idols of gold and silver, bronze, stone, and wood,
practise witchcraft, and commit murders, fornications, and thefts" (ix.
13-21; see Sibyllines, ii. 255-262, iv. 31-34; and compare the four kings of
the mighty hosts upon the banks of the Euphrates in the Midrash of Simeon ben
Yoḥai, in Jellinek, "B. H." iii. 81).
The third and last wo, announced in xi. 14 (x.-xi. 13
interrupts the connection), is no longer given in what follows xi. 15a; for the
Christian reviser changed the text which originally described the last judgment
passed upon the non-repentant people, "the kingdoms of this world,"
and instead speaks of their having "become kingdoms of Christ." Only
verse 18, telling of "the wrath of God that has come upon the nations that
shall be destroyed as they have destroyed the land," contains traces of
the former contents of the chapter; although possibly part of xiv. 1-5,
referring to the 144,000 of Israel who had been saved, and the proclamation to
all the nations to "fear God and worship Him who made heaven, earth, sea,
and the fountains of water," "for the hour of His judgment has
come" (xiv. 6-7), formed part of the original Jewish apocalypse; also xi.
16-18, the song of praise by the twenty-four elders before God and the vision
of the reappearance of the Ark of the Covenant (xi. 19; comp. Yoma 53b, 54a).
In all probability this apocalypse was written before the
destruction of Jerusalem, at a time of persecution, when many Jews died as
martyrs, though many others yielded; hence only 12,000 of each tribe are to be
selected.
Moses and Elijah.
The Second Jewish Apocalypse: Far more powerful, and
expressive of intense hatred of Rome, the Babel-like destroyer of Judea, is the
second Jewish apocalypse, or series of apocalypses, written during the siege
and after the destruction of Jerusalem, and contained in ch. x. 2-xi. 13, xii.
1-xiii. 18, and xiv. 6-xxii. 6. After the manner of Ezek. ii 8-iii. 3, the
writer represents his vision as having been received in the form of a book,
which he is to eat with its bitter contents. In imitation of Ezek. xl. 3 and
Zech. ii. 5-6, the angel gives him a measuring-rodthat he may measure the site
of the Temple and the altar, which is to remain intact, while the rest of the
Holy City is doomed to be trodden under foot by the Gentiles (the Roman
soldiers) for forty-two months (Dan. vii. 25, viii. 14, xii. 7). He is then
told that during this time there shall be two prophets, witnesses of the Lord
(Moses and Elijah), who shall again manifest their power of restraining the
heavens from giving rain (I Kings xvii. 1), of turning the water into blood,
and of striking the land with plagues (Ex. vii.-x.); and whosoever shall
attempt to hurt them will be devoured by fire from their mouths (II Kings i.
10). But they will finally fall victims to the beast that ascends out of the
abyss to make war upon them. After their dead bodies have been lying for three
and a half days in the streets of the Holy City, which shall have become a
Sodom and Gomorrah, and the people of all tongues and of all nations have
looked upon them and rejoiced at the death of the prophets that had chastised
them (by their preaching of repentance), refusing to give them burial, God's
spirit will again imbue them with life, and they will, to the astonishment of
the people, rise and ascend to heaven; and in the same hour a great earthquake
will cause the death of 7,000 people (xi. 1-13). Of this eschatological feature
no trace is found in rabbinical sources, except the appearance of Moses and the
Messiah during the war of Gog and Magog (Targ. Yer. Ex. xii. 42). Possibly this
is the older form of the legend of the Messiah ben Ephraim or ben Joseph being
slain by Gog and Magog, based on Zech. xii. 10-11 (comp. Jellinek, "B.
H." iii. 80).
Then follows (xiii. 1, 12a, 5b, 10) the description of the
beast (after Dan. vii. 4-7; comp. vii. 8, xi. 36). It bears (in "Augustus
Divus") the name of blasphemy, and its mouth speaks blasphemy against God
and His Shekinah on earth and in heaven (i. 5-6, misunderstood by the Christian
translator). It has power over all nations and tongues, and over all those whose
names are not written in the book of life (the awkward addition "of the
lamb" betrays the Christian hand) from the foundation of the world, and it
makes war upon the "saints" (the Jewish people, as in Daniel). For
forty-two months (the three and a half years of Daniel) will its power last,
trying the patience of the saints.
Vision of the Seven Plagues.
But then (xiv. 6-7) an angel in the midst of heaven
announces good tidings to the people on the earth, saying, "Fear God, and
give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that
made heaven, and earth, and the sea." Here follows (xv. 5-xvi. 21) the
vision of the seven angels coming out of the Temple with "seven golden
vials full of the wrath of God who liveth for ever and ever." The first
angel pours out his vial upon the earth and there falls an evil and grievous
sore (comp. Ex. ix. 8) upon the men who bear the mark of the beast and worship
his image (an allusion to the cult of the emperors and to the Roman coins). The
second angel pours out his vial (comp. Ex. vii. 19) on the sea, which turns
into blood, so that all living things therein die. The third pours out his vial
upon the rivers, and they become blood, the angel of the waters praising the
justice of God ("ẓidduḳ ha-din"), which makes those drink blood who
have shed that of the saints and prophets. The fourth pours out his vial upon
the sun, which becomes a fire to scorch the people who blaspheme and repent
not. The fifth pours out his vial upon the seat of the beast (Rome), and its
empire becomes full of darkness; yet the people repent not. The sixth pours out
his vial upon the great Euphrates (comp. Sanh. 98a), and it is dried up, so as
to prepare the way for the kings of the East (the Parthians) to gather in
Armageddon ('Ir Magdiel, symbolic name for Rome; xvi. 13-15 is an
interpolation; see Targ. Yer. to Gen. xxxvi. 43; Pirḳe R. El. xxxviii.; Gen. R.
lxxxiii.). The seventh pours out his vial into the air and causes an earthquake
which splits the great city (Rome) into three parts, and the cities of the
nations fall, and islands and mountains are removed, and Babylon (Rome) takes
from the hand of God the cup of the wine of His fierce wrath (comp. Jer. xxv.
15).
Rome the Great Harlot.
In ch. xvii.-xix., in imitation of Isaiah's and Ezekiel's
vision of Tyre (Isa. xxiii. 17; Ezek. xxvii.-xxviii.), the apocalyptic writer
then proceeds to dwell on the judgment held over the great harlot that sits
upon the many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication,
and with the wine of whose fornication the inhabitants of the earth have been
made drunk. He then sees in the wilderness "a woman sitting upon a
scarlet-colored beast full of names of blasphemy [idolatry] and having [seven
heads and] ten horns [comp. Dan. vii. 7], herself arrayed in purple and scarlet
and decked with gold and precious stones, and holding in her hand a golden cup
full of the filthiness of her fornication" (the picture is taken probably
from the Syrian representations of Astarte riding on a lion with a cup of
destiny in her hand). Greatly astonished at this sight, he learns from the
interpreting angel (verses 5-14 and 16 are later insertions which anticipate
the interpretation) that "the many waters" are the many nations given
into the power of the beast, and that the woman is the great city (of Rome)
which reigneth over the kings of the earth.
Then he beholds (xviii. 1-8) one of the glorious angels
descending from heaven, and crying out (in the words of the ancient seers—Isa.
xxi. 9, xxiv. 11-13), "Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and has become
the habitation of demons," for all the nations have drunk of the glowing
wine of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication
with her (Isa. xxiii. 17; Jer. xxv. 15, 27). "Go out of her, my people,
that ye be not partakers of her sins and receive not of her plagues" Jer.
li. 6, 9); "for her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered
her iniquities" (Ps. cxxxvii. 8; Jer. l. 15, 29). In rhythmic sentences,
taken from the Bible, the voice is heard saying: "Fill her cup double of
what she offered you, and give her as much torment and grief as she has had
glory and pleasure." All that is said of Babel (Isa. xlvii. 7-9; Jer. l.
32-34) is applied to her; and Ezekiel's lamentation over the fall of Tyre
(xxvi. 16-xxvii. 36) is repeated by the kings of the earth overthe fall of
Babylon (Rome). "Alas, alas, Babylon the great, mighty city! in one hour
is thy judgment come!" is the refrain (xviii. 10, 19). The rhythmic form in
which the whole is composed indicates a Hebrew author, whereas the Christian
interpolations always spoil both context and rhythm.
Finally (xviii. 21-24), an angel casts a large stone into
the sea (comp. Jer. li. 63-64), saying, "Thus shall Babylon be cast down
forever and no longer be found"; her musicians shall no longer be heard in
her (comp. Ezek. xxvi. 14); nor shall any craftsman be seen; nor shall
"the sound of a millstone" or "the voice of bridegroom and bride
be perceived"; nor shall "the light of a candle" shine in her
(comp. Jer. xxv. 10).
The Beast, the Dragon, and the Messiah.
In order to understand the relation between the prophecy
concerning the beast and Rome and the visions of the dragon and the Messiah
(the Christian "lamb") which precede and follow, it is necessary to
bear in mind that since the days of Pompey Rome was in the eyes of the Jewish
apocalyptic writers the fourth beast in the Daniel apocalypse (see Dan. vii.
7), the last "wicked kingdom" whose end is to usher in the Messianic
kingdom (Cant. R. ii. 12; Gen. R. xliv. 20; Lev. R. xiii.; Midr. Teh. Ps. lxxx.
14; see Romulus). Rome was found to be alluded to in Ps. lxxx. 14 (A. V. 13),
in the words ("the boar out of the
wood"), the letter ע being written above the others so as to make the
word ("Rome") stand out in
transposed order (comp. Enoch, lxxxix. 12, where Esau is spoken of as "the
black wild boar").
The identification of Rome with Babylon is found also in the
Jewish Sibyllines, v. 159, and the identification with Tyre in Ex. R. ix.
13—facts which indicate the lines of Jewish apocalyptic tradition. "The
wild beast of the reeds" (Ps. lxviii. 31 [R. V. 30]) has also been
identified with Rome (see Midr. Teh. Ps. lxviii. [ed. Buber, p. 15]). But in
order to account for the delay of the Messiah, who was to "slay the wicked
by the breath of his mouth" (Isa. xi. 4), a cosmic power in the shape of
an Ahrimanic animal, the dragon, was introduced as the arch-enemy plotting the
destruction of the Messiah, the Antichrist who with his hosts hinders the
redemption ("me'aḳḳeb et ha-ge'ullah"; Sauh. 97b; Nid. 13b; comp. II
Thess. ii. 6-7). To this end the author used a mythological story (xiii. 1-6),
borrowed from Babylonia, as Gunkel (l.c. pp. 379-398) claims, from the
Apollonic myth, as Dieterich ("Abraxas," 1891, pp. 117-122) thinks,
or from Egypt, as Bousset suggests. He sees (xii. 1-6) Zion in the garb of
"a woman clothed with the sun, the moon beneath her feet, and twelve stars
on the crown of her head," while about to give birth to a child destined
to "rule all nations with a rod of iron" (Ps. ii. 9), pursued by a
seven-headed dragon; the child (the future Messiah) is carried up to the throne
of God (that is, he is hidden), and she flees to the wilderness, where a place
is prepared for her by God to be nourished in for 1,260 days (three and a half
years; comp. xi. 3, xiii. 5, and Dan. vii. 8, xi. 25). Compare with this the
Talmudic legend of the Messiah babe carried off by the storm (Yer. Ber. ii.
5a). Here follows a similar story from another hand (xii. 7-15), telling of a
battle raging in heaven between Michael, the "Synegor" (=
"pleading angel") of Israel (Midr. Teh. Ps. xx.), and Satan, the
"Kategor" (= "Accuser"), which ends in the casting down of
the old serpent with his hosts—a victory brought about by the merit of the
Jewish martyrs, which silenced the Accuser.
It was thereafter, says the second version, that the woman
(Israel) was pursued by the serpent; but she was carried by a great eagle into
a safe place in the wilderness, where she was nourished for "a time, two
times, and a half time" (three and a half years; comp. Dan. vii. 25);
"and when the dragon cast forth a flood of water to drown her, the earth
opened her mouth to swallow the water." Finally, unable to slay the woman
with her Messiah babe, the dragon made war with the remnant of her seed, the
pious ones "who observe the commandments of God."
Interpolations.
The prophecy concerning Rome seems to have received many
interpolations and alterations at the hands of Jewish and Christian compilers.
Both "the second beast, the false prophet who aids in the worship of the
image of the emperor (xiii. 11-17), and the interpretation of the seven heads
(xvii. 8-11) are later insertions. The number 666 (; xiii. 18), also, is
scarcely genuine, inasmuch as the number 256 represents both the beast and the
man ( and ) as stated in the apocalypse. For the second beast, called Beliar,
comp. Sibyllines, ii. 167, 210; iii. 63-90.
The story of the Messiah hidden with God in heaven is
continued in xiv. 6-20, a passage which has but few traces of the Christian
compiler's hand. Announcement (not of "good tidings") is made to the
nations: "Fear God the Creator, for the hour of His judgment is come"
(xiv. 6-7). Then "the Son of man coming on the cloud" (comp. Dan.
vii. 13) appears, a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand,
and a voice calling forth from within the Temple, "Thrust in thy sickle
and reap, for the harvest of the earth is come"; "Tread ye the
clusters of the vine of the earth, for the grapes are ripe" (comp. Joel
iv. 13); and he "thrust the sickle, and gathered the clusters of the vine
of the earth and cast them into the wine-press of the wrath of God" (comp.
Isa. lxiii. 1-6); and as the wine-press was trodden, outside the city (comp.
Zech. xiv. 4), there came blood out of the wine-press, reaching even to the
bridles of the horses, for the space of 1,600 furlongs (comp. Enoch, xciv. 9,
xcix. 6, c. 3).
The same scene is depicted in ch. xix. 11, 16 (also altered
by the Christian compiler), where the seer beholds "upon a white
horse" him who is "to judge and to make war"; his eyes are a
flame of fire, and on his (triple ?) crown the Ineffable Name is written; he is
clothed with a vesture dipped in blood (Isa. lxiii. 3), and his name is. . . .
Heavenly hosts follow him on white horses, and out of his mouth goes a sharp
sword with which he shall smite the nations. He shall rule them with a rod of
iron (comp. Ps. ii. 9) and tread the wine-press of the wrath of the Lord of
Hosts (Isa. lxxiii. 6); and on his vesture and thigh is written, "King of
Kings and Lord of Lords." The closing scene is describedin xix. 17-18, 21:
A voice ("of an angel standing in the sun"—certainly not genuine)
calls, in the words of Ezek. xxxix. 17-20, all the fowls and beasts together
for the great sacrifice ("supper") of God, at which they are to eat
"the flesh of kings, of captains, and mighty men, of horses and of those
who ride on them, and the flesh of all men both free and bond, small and great,
. . . and the fowls were filled with their flesh."
Then the writer dwells, in ch. xx. 1-5, on the judgment
passed in heaven upon the dragon, Satan, the primeval serpent, who is, like
Azazel in Enoch, bound and cast into the abyss, there to be shut up for a
thousand years, the seventh millennium which the Messiah shall pass together
with the elect ones. Here the original apocalypse probably told of the
resurrection of the "saints who had died in the Lord" (xiv. 13), and
of the triumphal song they sang at the union of the Messiah, the bridegroom,
and the daughter of Zion, the bride (xv. 2-4, xix. 1-8).
Gog and Magog.
After the lapse of the seventh millennium (comp.
"Bundahis," xxix. 8) the old serpent is again letloose to deceive the
nations of the earth, and the numberless hosts of Gog and Magog beleaguer the
Holy City. Then Satan is cast forever into Gehenna (comp. ib.), and "seats
of judgment" (Dan. vii.) are set for all the dead who rise to be judged
(xx. 7-15). Then all whose names are not written in the book of life are cast
into the lake of fire. "All the cowardly and faithless ones who yield to
abominable rites, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars,
shall meet the second death" (comp. Targ. Yer. to Deut. xxxiii. 6)
"and be cast into the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone"
(xxi. 8). There shall be "a new heaven and a new earth" (Isa. lxv.
17); the old ones shall disappear, and God's Shekinah shall be with men: they
shall be God's people, and "He shall wipe away all tears from their eyes,
and there shall be no more sorrow or pain" (comp. Enoch, xc. 29; IV Esd.
vii. 26; Apoc. Baruch, iv. 3, xxxii. 2; Ḥag. 12b; Ta'an. 5a).
Then (xxi. 9-27) in place of the old the seer beholds the
new Jerusalem come down from heaven, prepared "as a bride adorned for her
husband" (Isa. lxi. 10), in all the glory and splendor described in Isa.
liv. 11-12, lxii. 6, with the twelve gates mentioned by Ezek. xlviii. 31-35,
for the twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve foundation-stones (the twelve names
of the Apostles merely betray the Christian reviser's hand) are to be of
precious stones, corresponding to the twelve on the high priest's breast-plate
(comp. Ezek. xxxix. 10), the twelve gates, of twelve pearls; and the city with
its streets, of pure gold, transparent as crystal (the same dreams of a golden
Jerusalem with gates of pearls and precious stones are indulged in by the
Rabbis; see B. B. 75a). No temple shall be there, as the Lord of Hosts will be
its temple (comp. Ezek. xl. 35). The words "and the Lamb" (xxi. 22),
"and the Lamb is the light thereof" (xxi. 23; comp. xxii. 5, taken
from Isa. lx. 19) are Christian interpolations. Verses 24-27 are taken from
Isa. lx. 2, 11; lii. 1 (comp. Ezek. xliv. 9), only so modified as to avoid the
mention of "the night," while, instead of the passage concerning
"the uncircumcised," it is said that "whosoever worketh
abomination and falsehood may not enter; only they who are written in the book
of life."
The Throne of God.
Finally, the seer beholds (xxii. 1-5) a crystal-like river
of water flow forth from the throne of God (comp. Ezek. xlvii. 12 and Sanh.
100a, where the river is said to issue from the Holy of Holies). Jewish
Gnostics (Ḥag. 14b) also spoke of the white marble throne and the
"waters" surrounding it, exactly as "the sea of glass" near
"the white throne" is described in Rev. iv. 6, xx. 11. On either side
of the river he sees the tree of life (Enoch, xxv. 4-6) "bearing twelve
kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and its leaves are for the
healing of the nations." "There shall be no more curse" (comp.
Zech. xiv. 11, ), for the servants of the Lord "shall see His face"
(comp. Isa. xl. 5), and they shall reign for ever and ever" (comp. Dan.
vii. 27).
The whole apocalypse, of which xxii. 10-15 is the
conclusion, is, like the shorter one which precedes it, in every part and
feature (except where altered by the Christian compiler) thoroughly Jewish in
spirit and conception, as was fully recognized by Mommsen ("Römische
Gesch." v. 520-523). It presents the development of the whole
eschatological drama according to the Jewish view. It is Hebrew in composition
and style, and bears traces of having originally been written in Hebrew, as is
shown by the words ρκήυη (tabernacle; xxi. 3) for ; (angels) mistaken for (Kings; ix. 14); ευίκηρευ (has conquered) for (is worthy); and others. The two apocalypses
appear to have been, like that in Matt. xxiv., or like the Epistle of James and
the Testament of the Twelve Patriarchs, in the possession of Essenes who joined
the Judæo-Christian Church after the destruction of the Temple (comp. Rev. xxi.
22, showing that the author did not believe in the future restoration of the
Temple). Hence it was easy for a member of the early Church to adapt the whole
to the Christian view by substituting or inserting frequently, but not always
skilfully and consistently, "the Lamb" for "the Messiah,"
and by occasionally changing or adding entire paragraphs (v. 9-14; vii. 9-10;
xi. 82; xiv. 2-5; xvi. 15; xix. 7-10; xx. 6; xxi. 2; xxii. 7-10, 16-17, 20)
Possibly the seer of Patmos when writing the letters to the
seven churches, or one of his disciples when sending them out, had these
apocalypses before him and incorporated them into his work. This fact would
account for the striking similarities in expression between the first three
chapters and the remainder. Attention has been called also to the fact that the
name "The Word of God" given to the Messiah by the Christian writer
in Rev. xix. 13 corresponds exactly to the "Logos" of the Gospel of
John i. 1 and "the Lamb" of John i. 29. To this may be added the
conception of the Antichrist, dwelt upon alike in Revelation and in I John ii.
18, iv. 3, and II John 7. Owing to these and other similarities John the
Presbyter, author of the letters to the seven churches and perhaps of the
Secondand Third Epistles of John (see introductory verses), was identified with
John the Apostle, the assumed author of the Fourth Gospel. Under his name these
books passed into the canon, notwithstanding the fact that the views held by
the writer of the Book of Revelation differed widely from those expressed in
the Gospel and in the Epistles. The Epistles are, like the Gospel, Pauline in
spirit and written for Pauline churches; the Book of Revelation remains, under
its Christian cloak, a Jewish document.
http://jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/12712-revelation-book-of
Bibliography:
Bousset, Die Offenbarung Johannis, Göttingen, 1896 (written
from an apologetic point of view and without familiarity with the rabbinical
sources);
H. Gunkel, Schöpfung und Chaos, 1895, pp. 379-398;
P. Schmidt, Anmerkungen über die Komposition der Offenbarung
Johannis;
E. Vischer, Die Offenbarung Johannis, Leipsic, 1886;
Fr. Spitta, Die Offenbarung des Johannis, Halle, 1889;
Weiss, Die Offenbarung des Johannis, ein Beitrag zur
Literatur- und Religionsgesch. Göttingen, 1904;
J. Wellhausen, Skizzen und Vorarbeiten, 1899, iv. 215-234.
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