There are two other aspects to the idea of “context” not covered in Part 1 of this post that I would like to illustrate using Revelation 18 as an example.
Biblical Context
Individual books of the Bible and passages within these books do not exist in a vacuum. They are all interconnected. And when it comes to the Book of Revelation, it is especially important to be aware of the way in which its words constantly refer back to passages in the Old Testament. It has been pointed out by a number of commentators that Revelation undoubtedly contains more allusions to the OT per chapter than any other NT book. Much of the material below comes from Beale and McDonough, including the quotations. However, the same references they cite are also mentioned by most commentators on Revelation.
18:1-2a Ezekiel 14 also describes the prophet seeing a bright light and hearing a loud voice. God showed him a vision of Israel being restored in the final days and telling the people to separate from the world. J.M Ford also sees similarities in 2a to the dirge of Amos over Jerusalem before it fell.
18:2b See Isaiah 13:21-22; 34:11-14 for similar descriptions of Edom and the Babylon of that day. The creatures like birds in these passages are understood to be demonic.
18:3 concerning the merchants echoes the Septuagint version of Ezekiel 27:12,33. “Tyre's destruction is the model for the destruction of the latter-day Babylon, Rome and her evil descendants.”
18:4 There are many similar exhortations to God's people to separate from all evil nations found in the OT. Especially close to v. 4 here is Jeremiah 51:45. Beale and McDonough also point to Isaiah 52:11, where the Israelites are told not to touch Babylonian idols.
18:5a Sins “reaching up to heaven” in the OT is a phrase generally occurring in the context of extreme corporate sin (as in Genesis 18:20; 19:13; Jeremiah 51:9; Ezra 9:6 and Jonah 1:2).
18:5b God also “remembers” sins in verses such as Psalm 109:14 and Hosea 9:9, meaning that He will judge them.
18:6a is practically a quotation from the Septuagint renderings of Psalm 137:8 and Jeremiah 50:29.
18:7b The description of future Babylon's self-assured attitude is identical to that of historical Babylon portrayed in Isaiah 47:7-8.
18:8 The borrowing from Isaiah continues here (see Isaiah 47:9,13).
18:9-19 is modeled after the prediction of Tyre's destruction in Ezekiel 26-27, “although the cargo lists have been adapted to fit the realities of economic exploitation in the Roman Empire.”
18:9 Strong allusions to Jeremiah 51:8 and Ezekiel 27:33 appear in this verse.
18:12-13 Actually, fifteen of these products are identical to those found in Ezekiel 27.
18:16 “The picture of an ungodly economic system as a person dressed in luxurious clothing made of trade products has been partly inspired also by the same figurative portrayal of the king of economically prosperous Tyre in Ezekiel 28:13.”
18:17b-19 The picture of sea-going merchants bewailing the demise of Babylon also appears in Ezekiel 27 (verses 28-33) where the same group mourns the fall of Tyre.
18:19 The practice of throwing dust on your head as a sign of mourning appears in Joshua 7:6; Job 2:12; Lamentations 2:10; and Ezekiel 27:30.
18:20 One reason for the judgment against the historical Babylon in Jeremiah 51:48-49 was because of the Israelites who had been killed by them.
18:21 A very similar symbolic action occurs in Jeremiah 51:63-64, where the scroll prophesying historical Babylon's destruction is attached to a stone and thrown into the river.
18:22-23b combines elements from Isaiah 24:8; Jeremiah 25:10; and Ezekiel 26:13.
18:23d recalls Nahum 3:4 in which Nineveh is portrayed as a purveyor of witchcraft to the nations.
And John does not omit references to the New Testament either. For example, Revelation 18:4 echoes Jesus' warning to the believers in Jerusalem to depart before it is too late (Matthew 24:15-22). Also Revelation 18:24 is similar to Jesus' accusation against Jerusalem (Matthew 23:34-35; Luke 11:49-51).
All of the above allusions to earlier scriptures should serve as a clear warning to those who would take a given biblical passage and automatically treat it as a literal prophecy of an event still future to us today. If one engages in this sort of biblical interpretation, one would have to confidently predict that the Babylon of Revelation 18 is a future city or empire located on the site of ancient Babylon or in the territory of Edom or Tyre or Nineveh or even Jerusalem, depending on which previous Bible verses you happen to zero in on. It is a much more responsible approach to view all of these passages as mere types of something to come.
Historical Context
Additional valuable information that helps to establish the context of a biblical passage comes from consideration of writings and events that are nearly contemporaneous with the writing of that passage. Thus, here are some historical contexts that go a long way toward showing what the current Jewish and pagan thinking was when John penned Revelation 18. Most of these come from J.M. Ford's commentary on Revelation.
18:3 Some of the Dead Sea scrolls indicate that orthodox Jews of the time were critical of any person prospering under Roman rule.
A Qumran commentary on Nahum 2:12 says that Jerusalem has become a dwelling place for the wicked of the nations.
18:5 The apocryphal book of IV Ezra speaks of Rome's insolent attitude ascending to God.
18:7 In the Dead Sea scrolls, Jerusalem is called “princess of all the nations.”
18:11 An early rabbinical writing said that Rome received nine-tenths of all the wealth in the world.
18:11-17 Josephus mentions that a number of these items were also traded to Jerusalem from other countries as well as in trade within Israel.
18:12 Silk was a common Roman fabric around AD 70.
18:13 Contemporary Roman writers mention the use of cinnamon in Rome.
18:14 Josephus uses the same word translated as “luxury” to describe the Spartan's pleasing appearance due to physical exercise.
18:19 The Greek word for “devastation” is not a common one, but Josephus applies it to Gessius Florus (AD 64-66) when he says that his greediness brought about devastation on all the cities.
Very little actual action occurs in Revelation 18, so contemporary events are not as important in helping us to understand the historical context as in some of the other chapters. Nevertheless, the writings outside the Bible that were in common circulation at the time help to show what the influential ideas and thought processes were during the period in which Revelation 18 was penned.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
Comments