PROPHETIC TYPOLOGY
Without doubt the centuries have witnessed a lot of ignorance in regard to the topic of how biblical prophets used their own Scriptures. Besides ignorance, many also have not even thought to inquire about which methods were used by the prophets as they utilized their own Scriptures. A cursory investigation of the prophetic use of Scripture is not only helpful in understanding the great prophets of the Hebrew Scriptures, but it also provides guidance for us moderns who wish to more accurately understand how the prophet John utilized Scripture.
At the outset it is crucial to remember that the heart of the ministry of biblical prophets was not to give predictions concerning the remote future. In nuce, a straightforward reading of biblical prophets shows that they were messengers from God to call the people of YHWH to return to Moses and to the message of Mt. Horeb by rejecting idolatry and the mistreatment of others, both of which reflected their assimilation to the values of the surrounding pagan nations and cultures. It should surprise no follower of Christ that he correctly summarized the prophets when he stated the Golden Rule (Matt. 7:12).
An aspect of the prophetic use of Scripture that sheds light both on the Old Testament prophets and also on the use of the Old Testament by the prophet John is “typological allusion.” This technique or hermeneutical style is called allusion since the prophets do not quote or formally cite earlier Scripture; they allude to it by the use of reminiscent terms or phrases. It is typology, since through the particular message the prophet is hoping to create in the hearts of the audience points of correspondence between the stories contained in earlier Scripture and the message that God is giving through their contemporary ministry. The following example will clarify this often neglected dimension of biblical prophecy as a background to Revelation.
The latter part of the book of Isaiah deals in part with the hope of the redemption of the Jews from Babylonian captivity. With what words and pictures can the prophecies of the book of Isaiah dare offer hope and a future to those Jews who are dejected and without hope because of the decades spent by the waters of Babylon (Ps. 137:1). Isa. 43 boldly offers hope for a resilient future for those weary Jews of Babylon by portraying reminiscent images of the previous mighty acts of YHWH on behalf of his elect people.
For your sake I will send to Babylon and break down all the bars, and the shouting of the Chaldeans will be turned to lamentation. I am the LORD, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. Thus says the LORD, who makes a way in the sea, a path in the mighty waters, who brings out chariot and horse, army and warrior; they lie down, they cannot rise, . . . I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. . . . I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself so that they might declare my praise (Isa. 43:14-21).
How could any Israelite hearing these words from Isa. 43 not see the clear points of correspondence between what God had done for Israel in the Exodus, in the destruction of the Egyptian armies, and in the providential waters from God during the wilderness wanderings and what God would be doing in the liberation of Israel from Babylonian oppression?
This hermeneutical technique of “typological allusion” worked well and often in the book of Isaiah and in other Jewish prophets. It certainly helps the modern student better appreciate the prophetic use of Scripture by Old Testament prophets. This method clearly does not rely upon the idea that later prophets viewed earlier Scripture as predictive. It is a significant distortion to imagine that a later use of earlier Scripture by a prophet presupposed some kind of predictive prophecy understanding. Nor is it necessary to assume that the words of Isa. 43 had to be literally fulfilled for the ancient Jews in Babylon to see the correspondence between YHWH’s former deeds and his promised deeds for those Jews in captivity.
As we will see in later posts, the prophet John followed this pattern of typological allusion to employ Old Testament themes and images, without at all supposing that the Scriptures he was using were somehow predictive or that the imagery had to have a literal fulfillment.
Thoughts on Idols
GRANT
Graeco-Roman Antiquities & the New Testament
Thoughts on Idols
From time to time scholars put forth ideas or make suggestions that simply don’t seem plausible in light of the hard evidence of ancient historical facts. To borrow an adage from sports and apply it to scholarship, “from time to time even a pro will hit a foul ball.” One of the areas in which some biblical scholars have been guilty of hitting a foul ball or two is their views about ancient idolatry.
On occasion scholars of both the Old Testament and New Testament explain that ancient pagan peoples did not “really” believe that those statues or monuments that the Jews and we Christians call idols were “really” gods. Even before we look at ancient historical evidence coming from the pagans themselves, it ought to be pointed out that the onus probandi lies with modern scholarship anytime it questions a view that is so repeatedly made in the ancient sources.
Even a brief look at Jewish and Christian sources show how widespread was the estimation that these physical objects were considered to be gods and goddesses. Jewish and Christian sources such as Exod. 32:4-8; Isa. 44:9-20; Psa. 115:2-8; 135:15-18 and Acts 19:26 seem pretty clear on this point. I am certainly not intending to overlook the idea that anything and any desire can become a person’s god. After all, Paul himself seems to equate greed and idolatry (Col. 3:5; cf. Ezek. 14:4, 7). Martin Luther saw this non-material use of the idea of personal gods and idols when he wrote in his Large Catechism (1529), “I say, [that] upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.”
 |
| Pagan god |
So, why would some scholars set themselves against the widespread testimony of antiquity? In part it is because they themselves in their own theology/philosophy have so little experience with worshipping material objects; this is particularly true of Protestant scholars. Another reason might be that they know of the minority view of religious philosophers, both past and present, who played down the role of material objects in comprehending the divine.
When we look beyond the personal beliefs of modern scholars or the statistically rare religious philosopher, past or present, the ancient evidence seems to indicate that statues and other objects were considered divine and gods. I recently was reminded of this when looking at a Hellenistic document that mentioned a pagan priest carrying a portable statue of his god. The Greek term used for this object he carried was “theos”
(the identical Greek term used by pagans, Christians, and Greek speaking Jews for “god”). Of course this pagan priest did not believe that the god he worshipped was totally contained by the portable idol he carried, any more than Jews believed that YHWH was totally contained within the Jerusalem Temple. However, Jews associated YHWH close enough with the temple, that when the physical temple was destroyed they clearly believed that YHWY’s presence was no longer there (e.g., Ezekiel).
(the identical Greek term used by pagans, Christians, and Greek speaking Jews for “god”). Of course this pagan priest did not believe that the god he worshipped was totally contained by the portable idol he carried, any more than Jews believed that YHWH was totally contained within the Jerusalem Temple. However, Jews associated YHWH close enough with the temple, that when the physical temple was destroyed they clearly believed that YHWY’s presence was no longer there (e.g., Ezekiel).
 |
| Pagan goddess |
I am not suggesting that all Jewish and pagan notions of divine presence are identical, but it is important to realize that just as the Jews closely associated divine presence with a physical object like the ark of the covenant, so pagans, in their polytheism, associated divine status with objects without circumscribing the deity’s presence to the object. This explains the fact that we have stories of pagans trying to control the behavior of a deity by actions they performed on the idol itself, whether feeding it or chaining it or transporting it.
At first blush it might appear to some that this is not a significant issue. Without clarity on this issue, however, it becomes difficult to understand historical actions by pagans, Jews, and later Christians, for they all associated defeat of another’s religion with the destruction of divine objects associated with an opponent’s faith. After Christianity gained control over the government of the Roman Empire in the 4th century, it was not long before the formerly persecuted became the persecutors. A Taliban-like mentality developed among many Christian clerics as they systematically and forcibly destroyed the idols and statues of paganism.
Resurrection in Revelation
Sometimes it is easy for modern believers to miss the point of Revelation regarding afterlife and resurrection. This often comes about because contemporary Christianity has drifted away from its original teachings in this regard. Whether one agrees with everything written by the British New Testament scholar N. T. Wright (I certainly do not), he is absolutely spot on in his observation that modern Christianity has abandoned the early church’s belief in the resurrection (e.g., Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church, 2008), and has replaced it with vapid notions about immortality of the soul. The emptiness of the church’s current understanding about the resurrection is evident in the fact that the Nativity and Christmas (which barely qualify as New Testament concepts) eclipse the contemporary church’s celebration of the Easter event. Based upon current practices and emphases an outsider would surely conclude that Jesus’ birth was far more central to the Christian faith than the resurrection.
A major goal of Revelation is to led the reader to embrace the conclusion that “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever” (11:15). When this final change or metamorphosis occurs death itself will be destroyed. But before the mural of Revelation can illustrate the passing of “the first heaven and the first earth” and the arrival of the “new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1) this seeming nemesis of God, death, must receive attention by John. As John’s visions make clear, God’s answer to the tyranny of death is not immortality of the soul, but resurrection of the body.
Superficial readings of Revelation might suggest that some one-world ruler at the end of time would be the greatest enemy of God, or perhaps the beast or false prophet would stand at the head of the list of the fiercest opponents of the Lord God Almighty. That is just not the case. In the unfolding of the depiction of God’s history in Revelation, the beast and false prophet are removed from the mural after the “Great Banquet of God” (Rev. 19:17-21) and long before the End. Satan is bound for a millennium, yet even during this suppression of Satan death is still active and challenges the reign of God. In fact, even when Satan is later cast with finality into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10), death still lingers to threaten God’s plans.
It is only in conjunction with the final judgment of the world, a judgment including both saints and sinners, that this seeming nemesis of God’s sovereignty is removed from God’s sight: “death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14). It is certainly not a coincidence that the same tableau that depicts the final resurrection also depicts the end of death, a truth captured in the poetry of John Donne when he commented about this truth with these words, “death, thou shalt die” (from his poem “Death Be Not Proud”). From this scene John draws the obvious point in the following chapter, “Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away” (Rev 21:4).
This prophetic book from John stands as a clarion witness to the early church’s conviction that it is impossible to understand redemptive history without seeing the significance of resurrection as God’s victory over his last enemy, death.
Loving Devotion Preserved in Stone
GRANT
Graeco-Roman Antiquities & the New Testament
Loving Devotion Preserved in Stone
It is interesting that one of the longest Latin inscriptions, almost 200 lines in length, that contains personal rather than official information portrays the love of a husband for his departed wife. The Latin inscription that is considered the jewel of all Latin inscriptions (Res Gestae Divi Augusti, The Achievements of the Divine Augustus) was authored by the first Roman Emperor, Augustus, and it narrates the great achievements of his long and successful reign. Unlike Augustus, this husband does not narrate his own achievements, but those achievements of his now dead wife, a rare woman named Turia.
This crestfallen husband and his beloved Turia are thought by scholars to have lived early in their marriage in the turbulent times of the late Roman Republic. The fact that his wife preceded him in death just adds additional sorrow to his burden of loss. Toward the end, the inscription reads, “It was fated that you should go ahead of me. You have bequeathed me sorrow, born of my longing for you . . . . Natural grief wrests away my power of self-control. I am drowned by sorrow, and tormented by grief and fear – I stand firm against neither.”
Earlier in this funerary monument the husband remarks, “Marriages as long as ours are rare, ended by death, not broken by divorce. For we were fortunate enough to be together forty years without quarrel. Would that our long partnership had come to an end because of something that had happened to me . . . .”
The qualities of Turia are enumerated by her saddened husband. “Why should I recall your domestic virtues, of modesty, obedience, affability, reasonableness, diligence at wool-working, religion without superstition, sobriety of dress, modesty of appearance? Why should I speak about your concern for your relatives, your devotion to your family, that you looked after my mother as you did your own parents, that you worked to provide the same quiet life for her as you did for your own relatives, and the innumerable other virtues you have in common with all married women who cultivate a good reputation?”
What really qualified Turia as the uberwife was her special service to her husband when he was exiled during a time of political unrest. Turia’s husband calls these acts Turia’s “special virtues.” These “special virtues” are attested in statements like, “you furnished abundant assistance during my flight,” “you begged for my life when I was absent,” and “a gang of men broke into our house to plunder it, but you drove them back and defended our home.”
This Latin inscription also contains additional drama about Turia’s defense of her husband during his exile that is even more dramatic than her “driving back gangsters.” These snapshots of Turia’s virtues contained in these old stones provide insight not only into the life and activities of women in the late Republic and early Empire, but also demonstrate the value of Latin inscriptions for students of the New Testament who want deeper discernment about the world from which some of the early Christians came.
A full translation of this Latin inscription can be found in:
Also consult David Cherry, The Roman World, pp. 54-58; Lefkowitz, Mary and M.B. Fant, Women’s Life in Greece and Rome. A Source Book in Translation.
Religion with Numbers
I have not forgotten that I promised in September 2011 to provide some material on the issue of isopsepha as it pertains to Revelation. One of the reasons I have waited is that there are recent publications containing new examples of isopsepha, and I wanted these new archaeological materials to go into my material on isopsepha in this blog; so, please practice the fruit of patience, s’il vous plaît.
What does John’s reliance upon numbers tell us about his theology and, therefore, his spirituality. Many modern Christians, at least in the West, have little patience with numerology and regard it as quasi-superstition. Whether numerology whets your spiritual palate is beside the point. Any reading of Revelation that includes the desire to understand its author, as opposed to using the prophecies of John for ventriloquy, cannot miss John’s pervasive reliance upon numerology.
John’s numerology includes both cardinal and ordinal numbers. Examples of the former would include references to “seven congregations” (Rev. 1:11), “high wall with twelve gates” (Rev. 21:12), and “one hundred forty-four thousand” (Rev. 14:3). The use of ordinal numbers is seen in the references to “a third of the sea became blood” (Rev. 8:9), the “fourth living creature” (Rev. 4:7), and “the Lamb opened the seventh seal” (Rev. 8:1).
So, why are there scores of numbers weaved throughout John’s highly structured prophecies? One of the obvious reasons is that John, like Jesus before him (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:30), relied upon theologically significant numbers preserved in the Jewish Scriptures. As a Scripture guided Jew, Jesus knew that you cannot spend much time in Scripture without seeing the controlling use of the number twelve to describe the people of God; the same point was self-evident to James who described believers as “the twelve tribes who are dispersed abroad” (James 1:1).
Another example of John’s Scripture guided numerology is seen his use of the broadly synonymous phrases, “forty-two months” (Rev. 13:5), “time and times and half a time” (Rev. 12:14), and “twelve hundred sixty days” (Rev. 11:3). All of theses point to a three and one-half year period, mentioned in Daniel, during which God allows his elect to be defeated by enemies. This is certainly the meaning of these numbers in Revelation.
Not all of John’s numbers, however, are as obviously guided by Jewish Scripture. The number seven, for example, was popular also in Graeco-Roman religion and philosophy. One non-Christian author of the second century AD mentioned his own conversion to a pagan religion in these words, “Seven times I plunged my head under the waves, since the divine Pythagoras pronounced that number to be very especially suitable in sacred rites. Then with a tear-stained face I prayed to the all-powerful goddess.” The earlier, famous Roman statesman, author, and philosopher Cicero makes a comment about the “music of the spheres” and their reflection of the seven distinct sounds –– “a number which is the key of almost everything.”
This widespread belief in the significance of numbers comes from the conviction of ancient peoples that there is a unity in the physical universe, the cosmos, that is manifested in numerical relationships. This unity in the cosmos was evident, for example, in audible musical tones, in mathematics and geometric relationships, and in the natural sciences in the observations of astronomy. One of the reasons that numbers were a lodestone for the religion and philosophy of ancient peoples is that most of them, unlike the modern Christian West, embraced the idea of the unity (but not necessarily the uniformity) of the universe. For the most part they did not bifurcate religion from the other forms of truth in their experiences. In fact, this impulse toward a theory of a unified cosmos was so strong and widespread that some in the time of John spoke of “one god,” albeit not the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob or in the way Christians understand “monotheism.” Examples of this can be seen in the many inscriptions to a singular god or in the “Hymn to Zeus” by the philosopher Cleanthes [http://www.utexas.edu/courses/citylife/readings/cleanthes_hymn.html].
John and many other ancient Christians embraced a holistic view of reality that did not truncate truth by assigning only overtly religious books or liturgical activities to God’s domain. For John, mathematical realities such as numbers reflected divine realities, just as creation and Scripture did. It is little wonder that in the theology of the prophet John even “personified” nature conspired with God to bring about his judgments against wickedness (Rev. 6:16). When it was time to locate the person who could “open the book and to break its seals” (Rev. 5:1-3), it is possibly significant that the search does not begin in Jerusalem, but goes to every creature “in heaven or on the earth or under the earth” (Rev. 5:3) before coming to the slain Lamb. It seems to me that It would be appalling for John to see the modern Christian bifurcation between “science and religion” or learn of the notion that all real truth is only “religious truth.”
The reliance on numbers evident in Revelation depicts a spirituality so comprehensive of the cosmos, its structures and its realities – both seen and unseen, that there can be no room for surprise when John’s vision of God’s final consummation of all reality is depicted as a new cosmos, or in Jewish idiom, a new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1).
Colorful Prophecy
GRANT
Graeco-Roman Antiquities & the New Testament
There are things you can tell about an entire ocean even if you have only one cup of water from it. Naturally a scientist would like to have as many cups and as broad a sampling as possible, but even a single cup is of some help. The same is true when investigating the world of the New Testament. You can learn something even from one ancient document, though the explorer of the ancient world would like to have as many documents as possible.
I hope once a week to present a small sample of information that mirrors some aspect of the ancient world surrounding nascent Christianity.
Colorful Prophecy
When many people think of ancient Greek statues and temples they rarely associate them with the idea of color. Walk through any antiquities museum and virtually all the statues are white or some neutral hue. Many ancient temples that are still in situ in Greece, Italy, or Turkey lack any prominent color.
This typical understanding of colorless artifacts is based upon a lack of awareness that most ancient statues and temples were in fact quite colorful. The stark whiteness or dullness of so many museum items from antiquity is a result of time, weather, and erosion. We know these artifacts were originally colorful eye-catchers based upon the descriptions we have of them that are preserved in ancient literature and inscriptions. In addition, on some individual artifacts archaeologists have discovered the remains of colorful paint pigment.
Many pagan religions, for example, used chryselephantine covering on the statues of their gods. With this frequent use of glistening gold and the iridescent ivory, they created an aesthetic luster that communicated celestial and numinous qualities for the statues of the deity. The iridescent ivory often projected rainbow-like colors.
While we lack the artifacts and statues, the Jewish Scriptures also point to a religion that employed the power of color to enhance the religious experience of its worshippers.
This awareness of the religious use and significance of color in John’s world should enhance one’s appreciation for the use of color in the book of Revelation. Without mentioning any names, I am surprised at times to see various modern attempts, often by people who are interested in Christianity and the arts, that artistically interpret Revelation primarily with blacks, whites and sepia.
Evangelicals in particular often manifest an aesthetic poverty when it comes to the use of color, even in understanding the book of Revelation. Unlike the book of Revelation itself, many of the modern portrayals of the book are often sterile in their use of color. In the case of Revelation, it is not just that color occurs in the book, but that it is theologically employed in the book. An instance, but not the only one, is John’s use of color with the four horses in Rev. 6:1-8. Unlike Zechariah’s uses of colorful equine imagery where the colors have no specific meaning (chapters 1 & 6), in Revelation 6 each of the four colors of the horses specifically relate to the task of the particular horseman.
If one can read Revelation with an aesthetic sensitivity rather than a preconceived doctrinal agenda, it is quite astounding how the human senses are assaulted when one stands within the narrative itself. As you broaden our aesthetic horizons when you step into the world of Revelation, you can come to appreciate not only its sounds, but also the sights and colors of this prophetic work.
