There’s a special blessing for those who ‘keep’ what’s written in the book of Revelation, so it would be nice if we could identify a structure that helps us remember its contents.
Thanks for this. I think there are a few things you are missing (though you might be adding them in later).
1. The prologue and epilogue are also linked by seven, in that there are seven 'blessings' and when you add 'Alpha and O', 'first and last' and 'beginning and end' you get seven.
2. The second, third, and possibly fourth of your sevens have intervals between the sixth and seventh, and that really matters.
3. I think you are hampered by working with chapter and verse divisions, which I think can be misleading. Would the discussion work better with either word numbers or sentence numbers?
4. I don't think your seven kai eidons works. You either need to be strict or flexible to make an argument. Why do you include the variations in 17.6 but not the one in 15.5?
5. Why should there be *one* structure? I think different elements offer different structures. For example, there is a striking absence of 'and I saw' in chapters 11 and 12, and though everyone agrees that 12.1 marks a major change (with 'a sign appeared') suggesting disjunction, in fact chapters 11 and 12 and linked together both by the absence of 'and I saw' (since the account of the two witnesses is described to him) but also by the time spans of 42 months = 1260 days = 3.5 times. And when you look at other patterns of word frequency occurrences, this will give yet another set of structural markers.
6. I think you miss some other major literary markers. The threefold hallelujahs in 19.1–8 belong with the threefold lament of chapter 18, not least because of the 'rejoice' and 'woe' in 12.12—but 19.9 then marks a shift.
And I think that Richard Bauckham is right to count seven unnumbered visions of The End from 19.11 to 21.1. Note also that 21.1 to 22.5 are set apart, like cos 11 and 12, by the absence of 'then I saw', being replaced by 'and he showed me'. Note also the parallel between 19.10 with 22.8–9.
Hi Ian. Thanks for this; it’s hugely helpful. I’m doing some work on Revelation at the moment and would love you take a look at it at some point.
Re 1, could you spell this out for me a bit? How do you ‘get seven’ here?
Re 2, agreed!
Re 4, I *would* have included the variation in 15.5, but my claim here is about the sections *between* the heptadic sections, so in this case it’s about 12.1–15.3.
Re 5 and onwards, agreed. This isn’t supposed to be the one structure to bind all other structures.
P.S. Where does Bauckham do this? In this ‘Theology of the Book of Revelation’ or somewhere else?
Oh my mistake! It is seven blessings altogether, not in the epilogue and prologue.
'Beginning and end' occurs in 1.8, 1.17, 21.6 twice, and 22.13 three times, making seven.
Re 4, I am still not convinced! idon is a participle, and is sometime paired with eidon for emphasis. I don't think it works with the definitive verbs.
Re 5, but other structural markers are sometimes more striking...
Bauckham sets this out in “The Eschatological Earthquake in the Apocalypse of John” in The Climax of Prophecy
Hello James, this is very interesting as always. Many thanks. One strange detail which might be a typo? You say in Observation 1 that it starts with an epilogue and closes with a prologue. Did you mean to say this, or the other way 'round? If you meant it, I don't know, as some kind of reverse of the Alpha/Omega thing, I wonder if you would elaborate a bit on the reversal? Seems a bit Eliot-esque, In my beginning is my end...
Thanks for this. I think there are a few things you are missing (though you might be adding them in later).
1. The prologue and epilogue are also linked by seven, in that there are seven 'blessings' and when you add 'Alpha and O', 'first and last' and 'beginning and end' you get seven.
2. The second, third, and possibly fourth of your sevens have intervals between the sixth and seventh, and that really matters.
3. I think you are hampered by working with chapter and verse divisions, which I think can be misleading. Would the discussion work better with either word numbers or sentence numbers?
4. I don't think your seven kai eidons works. You either need to be strict or flexible to make an argument. Why do you include the variations in 17.6 but not the one in 15.5?
5. Why should there be *one* structure? I think different elements offer different structures. For example, there is a striking absence of 'and I saw' in chapters 11 and 12, and though everyone agrees that 12.1 marks a major change (with 'a sign appeared') suggesting disjunction, in fact chapters 11 and 12 and linked together both by the absence of 'and I saw' (since the account of the two witnesses is described to him) but also by the time spans of 42 months = 1260 days = 3.5 times. And when you look at other patterns of word frequency occurrences, this will give yet another set of structural markers.
6. I think you miss some other major literary markers. The threefold hallelujahs in 19.1–8 belong with the threefold lament of chapter 18, not least because of the 'rejoice' and 'woe' in 12.12—but 19.9 then marks a shift.
And I think that Richard Bauckham is right to count seven unnumbered visions of The End from 19.11 to 21.1. Note also that 21.1 to 22.5 are set apart, like cos 11 and 12, by the absence of 'then I saw', being replaced by 'and he showed me'. Note also the parallel between 19.10 with 22.8–9.
Hope that is all useful.
Hi Ian. Thanks for this; it’s hugely helpful. I’m doing some work on Revelation at the moment and would love you take a look at it at some point.
Re 1, could you spell this out for me a bit? How do you ‘get seven’ here?
Re 2, agreed!
Re 4, I *would* have included the variation in 15.5, but my claim here is about the sections *between* the heptadic sections, so in this case it’s about 12.1–15.3.
Re 5 and onwards, agreed. This isn’t supposed to be the one structure to bind all other structures.
P.S. Where does Bauckham do this? In this ‘Theology of the Book of Revelation’ or somewhere else?
Oh my mistake! It is seven blessings altogether, not in the epilogue and prologue.
'Beginning and end' occurs in 1.8, 1.17, 21.6 twice, and 22.13 three times, making seven.
Re 4, I am still not convinced! idon is a participle, and is sometime paired with eidon for emphasis. I don't think it works with the definitive verbs.
Re 5, but other structural markers are sometimes more striking...
Bauckham sets this out in “The Eschatological Earthquake in the Apocalypse of John” in The Climax of Prophecy
Hello James, this is very interesting as always. Many thanks. One strange detail which might be a typo? You say in Observation 1 that it starts with an epilogue and closes with a prologue. Did you mean to say this, or the other way 'round? If you meant it, I don't know, as some kind of reverse of the Alpha/Omega thing, I wonder if you would elaborate a bit on the reversal? Seems a bit Eliot-esque, In my beginning is my end...
Ah—yes, I meant it the other way round!
:)
It always looks like Revelation should fit a pattern but every time a new scheme is imposed on it bits stick out that just don't fit!
I think sevens always occur with a One to make eight. Seven torches before the One. Who is the One when one looks closely? He's The Lamb.
Have you seen this paper on the literary structure of Rev 11-22?
https://www.academia.edu/12462892/Caught_up_to_God_and_to_His_Throne_Restructuring_Revelation_11_22?source=swp_share