Reading Revelation in Context: John's Apocalypse and Second Temple Judaism

by Zondervan,

God is frequently presented with lion imagery in the Old Testament (e.g., Job 10:16; Isa 31:4; Jer 50:44; Hos 5:14; Amos 3:8), but such imagery was not understood in messianic terms in the OT or in Jewish writings prior to the first century AD.

Although 4 Ezra was likely composed about the same time as

Revelation (or even later),

the text clearly indicates that Rome’s destruction of Jerusalem (AD 70) is in view, with AD 100 as the likely composition date.2

Given that the lion is not an OT messianic image, it is plausible that John knew of a later Jewish depiction of the messiah as a lion, possibly as presented in 4 Ezra, and may have drawn upon it in Revelation 5.

Notice that despite the militaristic imagery, the rider who is called “Faithful and True” conquers by his word (19:15), not by his physical prowess.

Drawing on messianic imagery from the OT and later Jewish traditions reflected

in 4 Ezra, John radically redefines popular messianic hopes and expectations.

Interesting assertion based only on 4 Ezra which may have just as well drawn from Revelation?

Again it seems possible that the Gospels and Revelation influenced the pseudogryphia.

The depiction of martyrs in Revelation clearly shares a number of assumptions with the account in 2 Maccabees—the virtue of suffering at the hands of an evil oppressor, the justice of the sovereign God, and the certainty of judgment. But at key points Revelation offers a radically different theological understanding. God’s judgment will come after eschatological delay, and will be effected by God alone and not by military or political action. Atonement is achieved by the suffering of Jesus alone, yet the suffering of his people follows his example of patient endurance. Their response to evil oppression is therefore not to take up arms in resistance, but to continue in their faithful testimony as they look to The End when God will make all things new (Rev 21:5).

Revelation 7:2–4 and Psalms of Solomon 15:6–9. In both texts the people of God are positively described as being “sealed” or “marked” with divine protection and their security is set in contrast with those “marked” for destruction because they antagonize and actively oppose God’s purposes.

It is here that Psalms of Solomon 15:6–9 employs the motif of a divine “mark” on the people of God (the same image that the author of Revelation later also takes up as both a “seal” and a “mark”):

Possibility of image having come from BC and used by John.

Further development of this image in biblical traditions is evident in Ezekiel 9:4–6 where the LORD gives instructions to “put a mark on the foreheads” of those who are identified as a remnant (minority) of the righteous.

it is possible to observe that readers only fully learn the significance of the seal when they hear, in 14:1–5, that it is actually “his [the Lamb’s] name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.” Now the Ezekiel 9 vision may well have been merged with the Israelite high priest’s practice of wearing a signet inscribed “holy to the LORD” on the forehead (Exod 28:36).

both texts sought to find ways to encourage the faithful to remain so, while also insisting that the one who sealed them would invariably thwart even the darkest hostility of their opponents.

John provides no clear answers to these questions, assuming probably that his readers would know the purpose of the silence. In fact, Jewish writers often discuss silence in heaven.

there is a tradition within Judaism that says that the angels will be silent in order for the prayers of Israel to rise to God’s throne.

While these texts are later than the first century AD, they provide some additional material that helps to explain the silence of the angels in the Testament of Adam.

In the ancient Jewish context, events that happen on earth are mirrored in heaven. There is a correspondence. So the burning of incense on the altar of incense in the tabernacle or temple is matched by the offering of incense in the heavenly temple of God’s throne room. John seems to be suggesting that the incense and prayers are intermingled, and as with sacrifices, the incense gives the prayers a sweet aroma that is pleasing to God.

The silence of the heavenly beings allows the prayers of the martyrs to sound forth. The silence tells us that God hears our prayers and will act to vindicate his people.

First Enoch is the common title for a “library” of traditions about the antediluvian patriarch Enoch (Gen 5:21–24), comprising five books dating from different periods, which was highly influential in the New Testament period (e.g., Matt 25:31–46; Jude 6, 14–15) and beyond (e.g., Ep. Barn. 4.3; Apoc. Pet. 4; 13; Tertullian, Cult. fem. 1.2; Idol. 4; Origen, Princ. 1.3.3; 4.4.8).

Most of the traditions were originally written in Aramaic (fragments from all but one of the book’s five sections survive from Qumran), translated into Greek, and thence into Ethiopic, becoming an important canonical text for the Ethiopian Orthodox Church.

This visionary sweep of history, written at a time of crisis for Israel under foreign oppression, offers prophetic reassurance that the historical process remains firmly under divine control.

According to the Book of the Watchers, rebellion by some of the angels resulted in a transgression of the boundary between heaven and earth. The fallen Watchers, led by Semihazah, took human wives and fathered a hybrid race of destructive giants. Interwoven with this is a parallel tradition,

Explains more how this idea became so popular an interpretation.

A falling star is an appropriate image for a fallen angel.

Asael, given that he will later be bound hand and foot and thrown into the Abyss, or bottomless pit (1 En. 88:1; see the similar fate of Asael in 1 En. 10:4–8). The Abyss serves the function of a temporary prison, where Asael resides until the final judgment,

Enoch sounds most explicitly like Revelation

Fallen Stars. John’s vision of a star falling from heaven (Rev 9:1) recalls Enoch’s vision of the fallen star Asael. In contrast to the Animal Apocalypse, however, emphasis is less on angelic rebellion than on divine sovereignty.

Commentators are divided over whether the angel with the key is to be identified with the angel of the Abyss, called Abaddon (“Destruction”) or Apollyon (“Destroyer”), who

rules as king over the locusts (9:11).

Most probably the two are separate characters: the fallen angel opens the door from outside, whereas Ab...

That the entrance to the Abyss is kept under lock and key highlights its prison status. Here it is opened to let its prisoners out. Later, the door will be opened again to imprison the dragon Satan for a thousand years (20:1–3).

The demonic character of the locusts is not in doubt. However, there is also a more familiar dimension to these devilish creatures. Their faces resemble human faces (9:7). They have women’s hair, a probable reference to its length

The Parthians, Rome’s greatest threat on its eastern border, were famous for the long hair of their warriors (Plutarch, Crass. 24:2; cf. Suetonius, Vesp. 23:4). Moreover, according to certain tales circulating when John wrote, the supposedly deceased Nero had actually escaped to Parthia, only to return with a Parthian army (Sib. Or. 4.119–124, 137–139; cf. Suetonius, Nero 47; Tacitus, Hist. 2.9).

Like the millions of cavalry John sees (Rev 9:16–19), the Parthians will come from the River Euphrates.

Some commentators detect a further Neronian allusion in the Greek name of the king of the locusts, Apollyon (“Destroyer”), given Nero’s frequent identification with the god Apo...

In the Animal Apocalypse, the crucial victory of the ram (= Judas Maccabeus, 1 En. 90:9) over the wild animals

is not yet the final resolution. That will come with the emergence of a white bull (possibly the Messiah) after the judgment (1 En. 90:37).

The book of Jubilees is a second-century BC retelling of Genesis and the first half of Exodus.

primarily in Ethiopic.

it is rewritten Scripture.

Reading 4 Ezra with the two witnesses narrative heightens the eschatological tension of the passage and contextualizes the strange behavior and abilities of these prophets.

Fourth Ezra 3–14 uses the destruction of the temple by the Babylonians as a literary construct in an effort to grapple with issues surrounding the destruction of the Second Temple by the Romans in AD 70.

Another text that describes the fall of Satan is the Life of Adam and Eve 12:1–17. The Life of Adam and Eve offers significant parallels—concepts, vocabulary, imagery—to Revelation 12.

apocalyptic imagery, function not as a coded system of symbols that can be neatly unpacked into prose, but as transformative imagery that changes how we imagine our world and its systems. They are a powerful form of anti-imperial political theology exposing deceptive imperial propaganda.

This is a worldview-transforming depiction of the Roman Empire, which, under the promise of a “golden age,”

The letters

of “Caesar Nero” (neron̄ kaisar), transliterated into Hebrew from Greek and their values added together, gives 666.10

Most interestingly, the alternative spelling in Greek (nerō kaisar) gives 616—precisely the variant we find in some...

18. Since the chances of exactly these variations coinciding are very slim, most scholars are convinced the name behind the number 666 is that of Nero, Roman em...