Andrews University Seminary Studies, Autumn 1995,Vol. 33, No.

2, 245-264
Copyright m 1995 by Andrews University Press
THE ROLE OF THE HEBREW CULTUS,
SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE IN THE PLOT AND
STRUCTURE OF THE BOOK OF REVELATION'
JON PAULIEN
Andrews University
Introduction
Those who learn a second language generally come to realize that
people express themselves by means of codes. Words are made up of a
sequence of letters or sounds to which a particular meaning is attached.
Words, therefore, function as codes, which those who are uninitiated
into a language must learn one at a time. Linguistic codes are not
limited to words; however, they can involve phrases, sentences, and
even genres as well as words.' In a literary work like the book of Revelation a series of
codes is organized to express the author's intention for the text. But since the
meaning of the codes within a given language system is constantly
changing, the potential meaning in a text may far exceed the original
intention of the author.' Over time the author's intention for a text
'An earlier version of this article, "Intertextuality, the Hebrew Cultus, and the Plot
of the Apocalypse," was read to the Reading the Apocalypse Seminar (then known as the
Literary Criticism and the Apocalypse Consultation) of the SBL Annual Meeting in New
Orleans on Nov. 18, 1990. The concepts in this paper have greatly benefited from the
discussions of the seminar group over the last five years.
'According to Ray F. Collins, "literary criticism" has been used in three ways in
biblical scholarship: (1) as a synonym for source criticism, (2) as a way of seeking out the
author's original intention by means of the analysis of structure and the component
elements of the text, and (3) as a reference to the application of the laws of narrative from
contemporary literature to ancient texts. Collins, Introduction to the New Testament
(Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1983), 116-117.
Collins' third approach to literary criticism is fairly recent and has not greatly
impacted biblical scholarship because of the use of extremely esoteric language codes.
The
opening portion of this article reflects an attempt to simplify some of the insights of
contemporary literary criticism which aided in the development of 'this essay. The
remainder of the essay also makes use of Collins' second approach.
'Michael Harris, "Text in Vision/Vision in Text: Toward an 'Open' Poetics for the
Apocalypse of John," paper read at the Annual Meeting of the SBL in Anaheim, CA,
November 18-21, 1989, 4; cf. Edgar V. McKnight, Post-Modern Use of the Bible: the
Emergence of Reader-Oriented Criticism (Nashville: Abingdon, 1988), 117-118; Norman
R.
Petersen, Literary Criticism for New Testament Critics, Guides to Biblical Scholarship:
New
Testament Series (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1978), 39-42.
245
246 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
may be lost to readers or even become distorted because of changes in
the meaning of the codes that the author utilized.' The codes in a text
often mean one thing to an original author and something entirely
different to later readers.
The basic building blocks of a language, then, are codes made up
of words, phrases, and genres which the users of a language commonly
recognize and understand without particular effort. When a text makes
use of common language or explains unfamiliar codes to the reader, one
can speak in terms of "intrinsic" codes.5 Intrinsic codes do not require
that a reader have specialized skills or background in order to
understand the text. An everyday understanding of a given language will
suffice to understand such intrinsic codes.
Among those who speak a given language, however, there are also
specialized language codes familiar only to those who have been
initiated into their meaning.' Such "extrinsic" codes depend for their
interpretation on information that is outside a given text.'
In contemporary literary criticism the extrinsic symbolism of a
book like Revelation can be described as "overcoding."8 In overcoding,
shared experience between an author and his or her implied audience
provides the context in which a work is to be understood. This shared
experience can arise out of direct, face-to-face contact within a group,
but it can also arise out of a common experience of reading. When
author and reader share a common literary heritage, a special kind of
'Contemporary literary critics are not particularly disturbed by this reality. A text
that takes on a life of its own may develop new and valuable significance as time passes.
To those who see particular value in the original intention of the author, however, the
phenomenon of code change may seem to threaten the integrity of the text. This is
particularly the case where texts (such as the Bible and the Constitution of the United
States) are considered authoritative.
'McKnight, 138-140.
'McKnight, 134.
'Ibid., 138-140. Harris, quoting Leland White ("Grid and Group in Matthew's
Community: The Righteous-ness/Honor Code in the Sermon on the Mount," Semeia 35
[19861: 61-62), notes that "narrative codes include 'tacit meanings' which 'include both
presuppositions and intentions that are not or can not be specified in the text'" (5). The
Gospel of Mark, for example, contains a number of codes, including both Aramaic terms
and Jewish religious practices, which Gentile readers would not understand. When these
are explained within the gospel (cf. Petersen, 42), however, they become intrinsic.
'McKnight, 221. A classic example of overcoding is the English phrase "once upon
a time," which in addition to its natural significance conveys to the knowledgeable reader
information that a fictional account placed in an indefinite nonhistorical time is in view.
Cf. Umberto Eco, The Role of the Reader: Explorations in the Semiotics of Texts
(Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 1979), 19-20; McKnight, 222.
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 247
overcoding is afforded by the interplay between the author's text and
earlier texts (sometimes called intertextuality). Shared experience in
reading provides the context for heightened enjoyment and understanding
of a literary work.'
New Testament scholars have widely recognized that the symbolic
overcoding of the book of Revelation is often grounded in a multitude
of intertextual allusions and echoes to previous texts such as the
documents of the. Old Testament and Jewish Apocalyptic.m The purpose
of this article is to explore the possibility that a major source of
intertextual and cultural overcoding in the Apocalypse can be detected
in the furnishings and the rituals of the Hebrew cultus, sanctuary, and
temple as described in the Old Testament and elaborated upon in the
traditions of Early Judaism.
A number of scholars have noticed elements of the Hebrew cultus
in the Apocalypse." But apart from generalities the role of that imagery
in the author's overall structure and/or narrative plot has received only
superficial treatment."
The Introductory Passages
Building on the work of Kenneth A. Strand, I have noticed that
allusions to the Hebrew cultus appear primarily in the passages which
introduce the various visions in the Apocalypse, such as Rev 1:12-20;
9Eco, 21.
"'See my book Decoding Revelation's Trumpets (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews
University Press, 1988) for a thorough discussion of the extent of such allusions in the
Apocalypse and the varying success of those who have sought to master this aspect of the
book.
"J. A. Draper, "The Heavenly Feast of Tabernacles: Revelation 7:1-17, JSNT 19
(1983): 133-147; Austin Farrer, A Rebirth of Images (Gloucester, MA: Peter Smith,
1970);
M. D. Goulder, "The Apocalypse as an Annual Cycle of Prophecies," NTS 27 (1981):
342-
367; L. W. Hurtado, "Revelation 4-5 in the Light of Jewish Apocalyptic Analogies,"
JSNT
25 (1985): 114; R. J. McKelvey, The New Temple: The Church in the New Testament
(London: Oxford University Press, 1969), 155-178; Lucetta Mowry, "Revelation IV-V
and
Early Christian Liturgical Usage," JBL 71 (1952): 75-84; D. T. Niles, As Seeing the
Invisible
(New York: Harper and Brothers, 1961); Massey H. Shepherd, The Paschal Liturgy and
the
Apocalypse, Ecumenical Studies in Worship, vol. 6 (Richmond, VA: John Knox, 1960);
Leonard Thompson, "Cult and Eschatology in the Apocalypse of John," JR 49 (1969):
330-
350; idem, The Book of Revelation: Apocalypse and Empire (New York: Oxford
University
Press, 1990), 70; Hakan Ulfgard, Feast and Future: Revelation 7.9-17 and the Feast of
Tabernacles, Coniectanea Biblica, New Testament Series, vol. 22 (Lund: Almqvist &
Wiksell, 1989).
'The sweeping and imaginative attempts by Farrer and Niles have been largely
ignored by most scholars.
248 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
chapters 4 and 5; and Rev 8:3-5)3 It may be helpful at this point to
briefly outline the macrostructure of the book of Revelation as I
understand it.14
Prologue (1:1-8)
Introductory Scene (1:9-20)
The Seven Churches (2:1 - 3:22)
Introductory Scene (4:1 - 5:14)
The Seven Seals (6:1 - 8:1)
Introductory Scene (8:2-6)
The Seven Trumpets (8:7 - 11:18)
Introductory Scene (11:19)
The Wrath of the Nations (12:1 - 15:4)
Introductory Scene (15:5-8)
The Wrath of God (16:1 - 18:24)
Introductory Scene (19:1-10)
The Final Judgment (19:11 - 20:15)
Introductory Scene (21:1-8)
The New Jerusalem (21:9 - 22:5)
Epilogue (22:6-21)
"Note the following helpful essays by Strand: "Chiastic Structure and Some Motifs
in the Book of Revelation," AUSS 16 (1978): 401-408; "The Eight Basic Visions in the
Book of Revelation," AUSS 25 (1987): 107-121; Interpreting the Book of Revelation
(Worthington, OH: Ann Arbor Publishers, 1976); The Open Gates of Heaven, 2d ed.
(Ann
Arbor, MI: Ann Arbor Publishers, 1972); "The `Victorious-Introduction' Scenes in the
Visions in the Book of Revelation," AUSS 25 (1987): 267-288.
The most significant of these works for this study is the one entitled "The Eight
Basic Visions in the Book of Revelation." This article was reprinted with some
modifications in Frank B. Holbrook, ed., Symposium on Revelation—Book I, Daniel and
Revelation Committee Series, vol. 6 (Silver Spring, MD: Biblical Research Institute,
1992),
35-49.
Strand divides the book of Revelation into eight visions with a prologue and an
epilogue (see "The Eight Basic Visions," AUSS 25 [1987]: 108). Each is preceded by a
"victorious-introduction scene with temple setting" (see "The Victorious-Introduction
Scenes," AUSS 25 [1987]: 268). I find this outline basically convincing except for the
designation of Rev 16:18-17:3a as an introductory vision with temple setting, leading to
the treatment of Rev 17 and 18 as a separate vision. I prefer to treat Rev 17 and 18 as an
elaboration of the bowl vision of Rev 15 and 16. The result is a seven-part outline with
seven introductory scenes followed by seven visionary descriptions. This minor
disagreement should not cause anyone to overlook my basic debt to Strand.
"In an extremely helpful dissertation Ekkehardt Muller ("The Microstructure of
Revelation 4-11," Ph.D. dissertation, Andrews University, 1994, 10-11) speaks about
"macrostructure" as the organization and arrangement of the broad text sequences of a
book and of its larger blocks of text. 'Microstructure," by way of contrast, is concerned
with the relationships between sentences and the various verbal, grammatical, and
syntactical entities in the small structures of a work.
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 249
The first of these introductory scenes (1:9-20) utilizes cultic
imagery to portray the living presence of the risen Jesus among his
churches on earth; the heavenly temple is not in view." The seven
lampstands seem to be an explicit reference to the ten lampstands placed
in the outer room16 of Solomon's temple (1 Kgs 7:48, 49). 17The garment
worn by the "one like a son of man" may also recall the vesture of the
High Priest of the Hebrew cultus." This association of churches with
elements of the Hebrew cultus reminds one of how the Gk word naos
(Rev 3:12) is applied to the church in such passages as 1 Cor 3:16,17; 2
Cor 6:16; and Eph 2:21; cf. 1 Pet 2:4,5.19 The association is probably
grounded on the Early Christian concept of Jesus Christ as both the
Christian High Priest and the replacement for the glorious Shekinah
presence in the Hebrew tent/sanctuary.20
The second introductory scene (Rev 4:1-5:14) shifts the focus from
churches on earth to a vision of the heavenly sanctuary/throne-room.21
The scene contains a thorough mix of images from nearly every aspect
of the Hebrew cultus.22 The word for door in Rev 4:1 (thura), for
'5The scene occurs on Patmos itself, and the seven lampstands represent the seven
churches. The explicit invitation to "come up" or ascend into the heavenly realm comes
later in Rev 4:1. Alberto R. Treiyer goes to great lengths to show that the scene of Rev
1:9-20 takes place in the outer room of the heavenly sanctuary. It seems to me that this
goes against the explicit statements of the text, particularly the "ascension" language of
4:1
(The Day of Atonement and the Heavenly Judgment [Siloam Springs, AR: Creation
Enterprises International, 1992], 498-503).
''Sometimes referred to as the "holy place" in contrast to the inner room containing
the ark of the covenant, which was called the "most holy place."
17Treiyer indicates that Revelation as a whole is based more on the descriptions of
Solomon's temple, than on the tent sanctuary of the Pentateuch, while in the epistle to
the Hebrews the opposite is the case (472).
"The pod ere and the golden sash suggest such descriptions as Exod 28. I do not
imply that the imagery of this passage has only cultic significance. Imagery in Revelation
tends to have multiple significance (cf. Robert Dean Davis, The Heavenly Court
Judgment
of Revelation 4-5 [Lanham, MD: University Press of America, 1992], 65-67). Within the
confines of this article, only cultic imagery is being explored.
19Cf. McKelvey, 92-132.
20Cf. Exod 40:34,35; Ezek 10:4,5. The High Priesthood of Jesus Christ is one of the
central themes of the book of Hebrews. Jesus' replacement of Yahweh's glorious cultic
presence is also expressed in John 2:13-22 (where he replaces with his physical body the
temple buildings which were intended to house Yahweh's glory) and Matt 18:20 (which
recalls Aboth 3:2. "If two sit together to discuss Torah, the Shekinah rests between
them").
2'Thompson, "Cult and Eschatology," 335.
22Davis (118-143) offers the most comprehensive survey of the cultic imagery in Rev
4 and 5 that I am aware of, although I do not accept his conclusions in every detail.
250 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
example, appears scores of times in the LXX in relation to the Israelite
tent/sanctuary, temple, and liturgy." Trumpets (4:1) were used in the
cultus as well as in battle (Num 10:8-10). The three precious stones of
Rev 4:3 were all found in the breastpiece of the High Priest (Exod
28:17-21)." The twenty-four elders remind the reader of the twenty-four
courses of priests in the temple (1 Chr 24:4-19)." The seven lamps
(lampades) may recall the lampstands in Solomon's temple, although a
different Greek word is used." The sea of glass makes use of the Greek
word (thalassa) applied to the molten sea in Solomon's temple (1 Kings
7:23, 24).27 The proximity of the four living creatures to the throne in
Ezek 1 and 10 reminds one of the four major cherubim associated with
the inner sanctuary of Solomon's temple (Exod 25:18-20; 1 Kings 6:23-
28)." Jewish tradition also associates the lion, calf, man, and eagle with
the four banners that surrounded the Israelite encampment in the
wilderness (cf. Num 2).29 The calf was sacrificed as a sin offering for
both priest and congregation (Lev 4:1-21).
In Rev 5 many of these images are repeated but with some
additions. The slain Lamb of 5:6 is reminiscent of the widespread use of
lambs in the various sacrifices of the Hebrew cultus (Exod 12:3-5; 29:38-
42; Lev 3:7; 4:32; 5:6; 14:10; Num 6:12; 28:19-21; 29:4, 10, 15). In 5:8 the
24 elders hold golden bowls of incense which are interpreted as the
prayers of the saints. Both the incense and the prayers of the saints are
likewise associated with the continual morning and evening sacrifices of
"Cf., for example, Exod 29:4, 10, 11; Lev 1:3, 5; 1 Kings 6:31, 32, 34.
'The connection with the High Priest's breastpiece is enhanced by the fact that
sardius was the first stone listed in the Hebrew of Exodus 28 and jasper the last. Thus all
the tribes are represented in the stones of the oldest and the youngest sons of Jacob (cf.
Josephine Massingbaerde Ford, Revelation, AB 38 [Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1975],
71, 85; McKelvey, 173). The emerald represented Judah, the tribe from which Messiah
was
to come (Gen 49:8-10; Rev 5:5, cf. Davis, 120).
It may also be significant that in the LXX of Exod 28:21 the breastpiece is said to
be "sealed" (sphragiclon) with the names of the twelve tribes.
"Thompson, The Book of Revelation, 70; Robert E. Coleman, Songs of Heaven (Old
Tappan, NJ: Fleming H. Revell, 1980), 39.
'The LXX word for the candlestick is luchnia, the word used in Rev 1:12,13,20. Cf.
Thompson, The Book of Revelation, 70.
27Cf. Thompson, "Cult and Eschatology," 337, note 24; idem, The Book of
Revelation, 70.
"Coleman, 32. The term "cherubim," of course, also applied to other "angelic"
creatures whose images were carved into the walls and doors of the temple and worked
into the curtains as well (cf. 1 Kings 6:29, 32, 35; 2 Chron 3:14).
"Ibid., 31.
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 251
the cultus (Ps 141:2, cf. Exod 29:38-42). The blood of the Lamb (Rev
5:9) provides the means to purchase the peoples of the earth for God.
The elders serve God in analogy to the priests of the OT sanctuary
(5:10, cf. Exod 19:5, 6).
No passage in Revelation contains a larger quantity or a wider
variety of allusions to the Hebrew cultus than the introductory scene
of Rev 4 and 5. Such a variety of references could only come from an
occasion in which the entire temple/sanctuary was involved. Only two
such occasions appear in the Hebrew cultus: the Day of Atonement
and the service of inauguration (Exod 40; cf. 1 Kings 6-8).
For several reasons I believe that the best identification for the
imagery in Rev 4 and 5 is the service of inauguration.3° First of all, Rev
3:21 associates the scene of Rev 5 with the cross and the enthronement
of Christ, events that are linked with the establishment of the heavenly
cultus by the author of Hebrews.31 Second, lambs were appropriate for
sacrifice during the service of inauguration (Exod 40:29, cf. Lev 1:10,
etc.); the Day of Atonement required a male goat instead.32 Third, the
linguistic codes associated most specifically with the inner room of the
30Both Davis (220-226) and Treiyer take the position that the scene of Rev 4-5 is a
Day of Atonement scene. Because of space considerations, I do not deal with their
arguments
here. Suffice it to say that I do not find their approach convincing because it seems
more philosophical and thematic than exegetical. Perhaps these points of difference can
be examined in detail in later publications. The reason Rev 4-5 does not allude directly
to the inauguration passages of the OT (Exod 40:34, 35; 1 Kgs 8:10-11) is probably that
the primary focus of the passage is a royal enthronement (see Ranko Stefanovic, "The
Background and Meaning of the Sealed Book of Revelation 5," Ph.D. dissertation,
Andrews University, 1995). Since the Lamb of Revelation combines the roles of priest
and
king, the passage combines the imagery of royal enthronement with the imagery of
temple
inauguration.
31Heb 8:1-10:22. The "overcoming" of Christ at the cross (cf. Rev 5:5) and his
enthronement with the Father, which appear to be the main themes of Rev 5, are linked
as past points in time by Rev 3:21. I have argued elsewhere ("The Seven Seals," in
Symposium on Revelation—Book 1, 201-204) that Rev 3:21 is of specific and intentional
importance to an understanding of the vision of Rev 4:1-8:1.
32Although lambs were sacrificed on the Day of Atonement, they were sacrificed
as part of the tamid (Exod 29:38-42; Num 28:3-8) or as part of the general preparation for
a festival that was in no way unique to the Day of Atonement (compare Num 29:7-11
with the entire context of Num 28 and 29). Where the services unique to the Day of
Atonement are described (Lev 16; cf. Yoma 3:8, 9; 4:1-3; 5:4; 6:1-8), there is no mention
of lambs. Other animals are used, male goats being the most distinctive.
252 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
sanctuary (naos33 and kiboto.s34) are absent; so is the language of
judgment." If Yom Kippur were in view we would expect Rev 4 and
5 to be filled with lang-uage related to the inner shrine and judgment
(cf. Rev 11:18, 19). Instead, the immediate result of the lamb's sacrifice
is intercession (5:8) and the outpouring of the Spirit (5:6). Finally, the
implicit structuration of the Apocalypse associates Yom Kippur with a
later portion of the book.'
Scene three (Rev 8:2-6) continues in the celestial sanctuary/temple,
offering a view of the outer chamber or holy place of the temple with
its continual services of intercession, involving the burning of incense
and the blowing of trumpets." Although Charles and others have
suggested that the scene points to Yom Kippur," a careful comparison
of the scene with the tractates Tamid and Yoma in the Mishnah
underlines its association with the tamid services of the continual
sacrifice rather than with the annual cultic rites associated with the Day
of Atonement."
"In the first 10 chapters of the Apocalypse, the use of naos is limited to Rev 3:12
and 7:15; both have the eschatological consummation in view. The term naos, associated
with God's throne in Rev 7:15 and 16:17, does not occur in chapters 4 and 5.
34The kibotos was the ark of the covenant, the most sacred object of the Israelite
sanctuary, whose cultic use was limited to the services of Yom Kippur. This word is used
in Rev 11:19 where the inner room of the heavenly temple is clearly in view.
"In fact, the Greek words for judgment and judging are totally absent from the
scene. The only time a Greek word for judging appears in the first half of the book is in
Rev 6:10 and there the assertion is that God has not yet begun to judge!
Davis (22-23, 157-188) and Treiyer (474-567) have invested much effort in the
attempt to demonstrate that the scene of Rev 4-5 is a judgment scene along the lines of
the Day of Atonement and Dan 7. I have dealt with some of these issues in more detail
in my earlier article on the Seven Seals (cited above), 206-221.
I am not as opposed as I once was to describing Rev 5 as a judgment scene, but I
see it as the judgment of the Lamb (in relation to the significance of the Lamb's sacrifice),
not the eschatological judgment of humanity announced in passages such as Rev 14:7.
Where eschatological judgment is clearly in view, John uses the Greek language of
judgment. Where reference is made to judgment in relation to the cross, the Greek
language of judgrrtent is absent.
36The language of judgment (krina, krisis, and krima) is widely utilized in the
Apocalypse after the explicit appearance of the inner naos of the heavenly temple
(11:19).
See below for a brief description of the role of Yom Kippur in the Apocalypse.
37The blowing of trumpets is mentioned neither in relation to the original Yom
Kippur of Lev 16 nor in the detailed description of the Mishnah tractate Yoma.
38See the discussion in Decoding Revelation's Trumpets, 309-323.
"Roger Lucas, a doctoral student at Andrews University, first pointed me to the
evidence for this conclusion. Study of the originals confirmed that the scene of Rev 8:2-6
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 253
The fourth cultic introductory scene (Rev 11:19)40 offers an explicit
view of the inner chamber of the Hebrew sanctuary (naos) with its ark
of the covenant. The fact that this scene appears in the context of
judgment (11:18), after the multiple blowing of trumpets is strongly
supportive of an association with the cultic activities of Yom Kippur.4'
The fifth introductory scene (Rev 15:5-8) takes up the language of
inauguration again.42 However, it portrays a de-inauguration of the
heavenly sanctuary/temple, a cessation or abandonment of its cultic
activity during the events that immediately follow.
The sixth cultic introductory scene (Rev 19:1-10)—which
introduces the visions concerning the rider on the white horse, the
thousand years, and the judgment at the great white throne—contains
the closest linguistic parallel in the book to the scene of Rev 4 and 5.
There is, however, a significant difference. While Rev. 19:1-10 makes
mention of throne, worship, and Lamb, explicit references to
is modeled on the daily liturgy, rather than that of the Day of Atonement. The incense
altar was the main event of the tamid; it was bypassed during Yoma (Tamid 6:2, 3; cf.
Yoma 5:1). In the tamid liturgy the priest is given the incense; during the celebration of
Yoma he gathers his own (Tamid 6:2, 3; cf. Yoma 5:1). The incense of tamid is ministered
on the incense altar; the incense of Yoma is ministered on the Ark of the Covenant
(Tamid 6:3; cf. Yoma 5:5). If, as is argued below, the tamid liturgy is central to the
structuration of this half of the Apocalypse, the identification of Rev 8:2-6 with the outer
room and the tamid service of the Hebrew cultus is reasonably certain.
"'In agreement with Bowman's outline; cf. J. W. Bowman, "Revelation, Book of,"
IDB 4:58-71. Many scholars prefer to see Rev 11:19 as part of the seventh trumpet
(11:15-
18) rather than as the introduction to chapters 12ff. Ekkehardt Muller (325-331),
however,
has offered some fresh argumentation in favor of a division between 11:18 and 11:19,
which have settled the matter in my mind.
The issue may not, however, be as decisive as it seems. The boundaries of the book
of Revelation tend to be soft, and often point in both directions from a literary
perspective ("duodirectionality"). See Jon Paulien, "Looking Both Ways: A Study of the
Duodirectionality of the Structural Seams in the Apocalypse," a paper read at the annual
meeting of the SBL, Chicago, November 19, 1988; cf. also Leonard Thompson, "The
Mythic Unity of the Apocalypse," in SBL 1985 Seminar Papers, 13-28.
"In the Pentateuch, as in contemporary Jewish liturgy, the Feast of Trumpets (Rosh
Hashanah) precedes Yom Kippur (Lev 23:23-32).
42The use of the phrases "tent of witness" (tes skates tou rnarturiou) and "smoke of
the glory of the Lord" (kapnou ek tes doxes tou theou) combined with the fact that no one
could enter the temple creates a strong allusion to Exod 40:34,35. An additional allusion
to 1 Kings 8:10,11, where a similar scene is described at the dedication of Solomon's
temple, may also be intended.
254 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
furnishings and other elements from the Hebrew cultus are absent."
The heavenly sanctuary/throne room has faded from view.
The last introductory scene (21:1-8) introduces the New Jerusalem
climax of the Apocalypse. The city's descent to earth creates the
counterpart to chapter one; God is again with His people on earth. The
key statement is found in Rev 21:3, "the tabernacle of God is with
humanity, and He will tent with them, and they will be His people,
and God will be with them."44 Although there is no temple in the scene
that follows (Rev 21:9-22:5; see specifically 21:22) there are many
allusions to the Hebrew cultus."
These introductory sanctuary scenes, therefore, show two definite
lines of progression. First, the reader's attention is drawn from earth to
heaven and then back to earth again. Second, within the heavenly
portion of the heaven/earth dyad, the reader is led from the
inauguration of the heavenly sanctuary/throne room through its two
liturgical compartments to a scene of its cessation, followed by its
absence. These progressions are illustrated on p. 255.
Since all seven introductory scenes center around worship, the
actions of priestly figures, and/or temple/sanctuary structures, their
relationship to the Hebrew cultus is relatively explicit. Other cultic
patterns are more implicit. They require the kind of "shared experience
of reading" noted earlier. Nineteen hundred years after the production
of Revelation, dogmatism regarding these patterns would probably be
inappropriate. An examination of the background literature related to
the Hebrew cultus, however, may lead to a number of implications for
our understanding of the original meaning of the text.
"Although the term "Lamb" is certainly a cultic image, its use in Revelation is so
ubiquitous that it does not necessarily carry cubic weight by itself (see Rev 6:16 and
17:14
as examples of "Lamb" used as a title for Jesus without any intention of importing cultic
significance into the account). The term for the "fine linen" worn by the bride of Rev
19:7,8 (bussinon) is by no means limited to the priesthood and cultus in the LXX (cf., for
example, Exod 36:35; 1 Chron 15:27; Esth 1:6; Ezek 16:13).
'The latter part of this verse recalls the language of the covenant between Yahweh
and Israel (cf. Lev 26:12; Jer 32:38; Ezek 37:27).
"The cubical shape and the radiance of the new Jerusalem recall the inner sanctuary
of the Hebrew cultus (1 Kings 6:20; cf. Coleman, 154; McKelvey, 176). The stones from
which the foundation is built remind the reader of the stones on the breastpiece of the
High Priest (Exod 28:17-21; cf. Coleman, 153). The twelve gates in four directions may
allude to the encampment of the twelve tribes around the tent/sanctuary in the desert
(Num 2; cf. Ezek 48:30-35). The description in Rev 22:1-5 is built on that of the
eschatological temple of Ezek 47 and Zech 14 (cf. Ulfgard, 4, note 16). God's servants
offer Him "sacrificial service" (latreusousin) before His throne (22:3). In addition to the
above are allusions to the Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth) as outlined below.
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 255
(1) Rev 1:12-20 EARTH
(2) Rev 4 and 5 (Inauguration)
(3) Rev 8:3-5 (Intercession/outer room)
(4) Rev 11:19 (Judgment/inner room)
(5) Rev 15:5-8 (Cessation)
(6) Rev 19:1-10 (Absence)
HEAVEN
(7) Rev 21:1-22:5 EARTH
The Daily and the Yearly Sacrifices
The structure of the book of Revelation may have been developed
in part on the basis of reference to the daily and yearly sacrifices of the
Hebrew cultus. While the OT gives few details of the tamid service, a
comparison of Rev 1-8 with Mishnaic sources reveals striking parallels
between this section of the Apocalypse and the continual tamid services
of the temple, as recollected in the Mishnah."
As the first major act of the tamid, a selected priest opened the
great door of the temple, entered the outer room of the temple, and
trimmed the lampstand, making sure that each of the lamps was burning
brightly and had a fresh supply of oil (Tamid 3:7, 9; cf. Rev 1:12-20).
Following this act the great door of the Temple presumably remained
open, as repeated entries into the outer room were made thereafter
(Tamil 6:1-3; 7:1, 2; cf. Rev 4:1).47 Both Revelation and the Mishnah
460T references to the tamid include Exod 29:38-43; Num 28:1-8; and Ezek 46:13-15.
The primary source for the description of the daily sacrifice is the tractate Tamil in the
Mishnah. I do not intend to suggest that the author of the Apocalypse was quoting from
the Mishnah, for the Mishnah as we know it was published roughly a hundred years later.
(On the dating of the Mishnah see Jacob Neusner, Judaism: The Evidence of the Mishnah
[Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981]; idem, The Mishnah Before 70, Brown
Judaic
Studies, no. 51 [Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1987D. In an oral society traditions such as are
found there were not manufactured out of thin air, but usually had long histories of
development. It seems to me that the destruction of the temple in 70 A.D. was not the
point at which the detailed practices of temple liturgy began to be developed, but that the
recollections of the Mishnah had a basis in the practices that took place in the pre-70
temple. See Gary A. Anderson, "Sacrifice and Sacrificial Offerings (0T)," ABD 5:885-
886.
The many parallels listed in my paper would certainly point to the aliveness of these
concepts at the end of the first century.
'In Rev 4:1 the verb translated "standing open" (NIV) is a Greek perfect, implying
that the door had been opened at an earlier time and was standing open at the time John
is called to enter. Cf. Treiyer's struggle with this comparison (669-670).
256 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
refer next to the slaying of a lamb (Tama 4:1-3; Rev 5:6), which did
not begin until it could be certified that the great door was open (Tamid
3:7).48 The lamb's blood was then poured out at the base of the altar of
burnt offering in the outer court of the Temple (Tamid 4:1; Rev 6:9).49
After the pouring out of the blood, incense was offered at the golden
altar in the Holy Place (Tamid 5:4; Rev 8:3, 4; cf. Luke 1:8-10). Then,
during breaks in the singing (Tama 7:3; Rev 8:1), trumpets were blown
to indicate that the sacrifice was complete (Tamid 7:3; Rev 8:2-6)."
Not only does this portion of the Apocalypse contain potential
allusions to all the major details of the tamid liturgy, it alludes to them
in essentially the same order. Thus, the material making up the septets
of the churches, seals, and trumpets would be subtly associated with the
activities in the temple related to the continual or tamid service. If the
introductory scenes to the seals and the trumpets septets signify
inauguration and intercession, reference also to the tamid service would
be appropriate.
It is interesting, therefore, that in Rev 11 one finds language
reminiscent of the annual liturgy of Yom Kippur. Strand has pointed
out that Rev 11:1, 2 contains an allusion to the Day of Atonement.'
This allusion is followed by an even more explicit one in Rev 11:18,19.52
"Cf. Treiyer, 670-671.
"Since no blood was ever poured out at the base of the incense altar in the temple
(Exod 30:1-10; 40:5), it seems likely that Rev 6:9-11 contains a reference to the
sacrificial
altar in the courtyard outside the temple (Exod 29:12; 40:6; Lev 4:7, 18, 25, 34, etc.).
50But cf. Treiyer, 671. While D. T. Niles observed the possibility of connection
between Revelation and the Tamil and was the means of calling it to my attention (On
Seeing the Invisible, 112-114), he mistakenly, I believe, sought to pursue the parallel
throughout the Apocalypse. This forced him to see enough material in a couple of phrases
in Tamid 7:3 to provide the basis for the last half of the book. It seems far more likely
to me that the overall liturgy of the tamid provided a cultic structuration for only the first
half of the Apocalypse.
"Kenneth A. Strand, "An Overlooked Old-Testament Background to Revelation
11:1," AUSS 22 ( 1984): 317-325. In Lev 16, which outlines the liturgy of Yom Kippur,
atonement is made for the High Priest, the Sanctuary, the altar, and the people. The only
other place in Scripture where the terms Sanctuary, altar, and people are combined is in
Rev 11:1,2. Since the NT High Priest (Jesus Christ) needs no atonement, the reference to
sanctuary, altar, and people being measured appears to be a deliberate recollection of the
Day of Atonement as a day when these are evaluated or "measured" (cf. 2 Sam 8:2 and
Matt 7:2).
The possibility that this pericope may have come from a source (Adela Yarbro
Collins, Crisis and Catharsis• The Power of the Apocalypse [Philadelphia: Westminster,
1984],
65-67) should not impact on a literary study of the final form of the text.
52The association of the inner shrine of the temple with judgment in 11:18, 19 can
point to no other aspect of the Hebrew cultus than the Yom Kippur liturgy. Another
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 257
From these points on in the Apocalypse there is repeated focus on the naos
or inner sanctum of the temple where the central activities of Yom Kippur
took place." Judgment language and activity, a central theme of Yom
Kippur, is also a major concern of the second half of the Apocalypse."
The visions of the second half of Revelation, furthermore, portray
a division of all humanity into two groups. There are those who serve
the true God, represented in Revelation by the true trinity (introduced
in Rev 1:4, 5). The true God is portrayed as sending out three angels of
proclamation to the whole world (Rev 14:6-12), calling for decision
(14:7). On the other hand, there are those who serve a counterfeit
trinity (the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet; Rev 16:13), which
are portrayed as sending out three demonic spirits to gather
representatives of the entire inhabited world to the place called in
Hebrew Har-Mageddon (Rev 16:13, 14, 16). A final battle between these
worldwide forces results (17:14). The solemn appeals of 14:6-12; 16:15;
and 18:4 also imply a spiritual division of humanity.
Such a division along spiritual lines took place also in relation to
the lots cast over the two male goats on Yom Kippur." On that day individuals
chose between two types of atonement, the one offered by the
service and the one represented by their own ultimate death." In the
Apocalypse the entire world is represented as facing such a life-anddeath
decision (cf. Lev 23:29, 30). The above evidence suggests that the
heaven/earth dyad related to the Hebrew cultus in Revelation is accompanied
by a daily/yearly dyad in which the first half of the Apocalypse
is subtly modeled on the daily liturgy of the tamid while the latter
portion of the book reflects the annual liturgy of Yom Kippur.
Revelation and the Annual Festivals
A number of scholars (such as Farrer, Niles, and Goulder)57 have
suggested that the Apocalypse as a whole is also patterned according to
the order of the annual festal calendar of the Hebrew cultus. While such
claims are easily overdrawn, I do believe that the language chosen by
the author of the Apocalypse offers evidence of such a pattern."
association with the Day of Atonement may be the call to judgment in Rev 14:7 which
is followed by a grape harvest (Rev 14:17-20), activity which typically occurred around
the time of Yom Kippur.
53Rev 11:19 (2x); 14:15, 17; 15:5, 6, 8 (2x); 16:1, 17; 21:22 (2x). Cf. Yoma 5:1-4.
54Rev 14:7; 16:5, 7; 17:1; 18:8, 10, 20; 19:2, 11; 20:4, 12, 13.
55Lev 16:7-10; cf. Yoma 4:1.
"Yoma 8:8, 9.
57See footnote 11 for bibliographic information.
"I am indebted to my colleague at Andrews University, Richard M. Davidson, for
many of the parallels described in this section on Revelation and the Annual Feasts. See
258 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
The epistolary septet of Rev 1-3 contains a number of images
related to Passover, the primary spring festival. Nowhere else in the
Apocalypse can one find such a strong concentration of references to
Christ's death and resurrection (cf. Rev 1:5, 17, 18)." The searching
scrutiny of the churches by "one like a son of man" reminds one of the
Jewish household's search for leaven just before Passover (cf. Exod
12:19; 13:7). The manna mentioned in Rev 2:17 (cf. Exod 16) was
associated in Early Judaism with both the original Passover and the
Passover on which the Messiah was expected to come.6° Rev 3:20 calls
for a meal of mutual fellowship. Since Passover is the only festival firstcentury
Christians considered fulfilled by the earthly Christ (1 Cor
5:7),61 it would be fitting to associate it with that portion of the book
where Christ is portrayed in his ministry to the churches on earth.62
As the inauguration of the heavenly sanctuary, the throne-scene of
Rev 4-5 is fittingly associated with Pentecost. The song of Rev 5:9, 10
Davidson, "Sanctuary Typology," in Symposium on Revelation—Book I, 121-126. The
many
other parallels between his article and this one can be attributed to our involvement
together in team-taught classes and Davidson's familiarity with an earlier draft of this
article, as his copious footnotes clearly indicate. The intention of this article is to update
these ideas and bring them to the attention of the wider scholarly community.
I am well aware that the pattern of annual festivals being suggested here is far from
explicit, with the probable exception of the Feast of Tabernacles. Connections with the
other four Pentateuchal festivals range from probable to possible. Cf. Treiyer (663-668)
for examples of possible objections to some of these connections.
"Although the slain lamb is mentioned in the next part of Revelation (Rev 5:6), its
death was understood to precede the scene in Rev 5 (Rev 5:5, 6; cf. 3:21). If the "Lord's
Day" of Rev 1:10 were the Quartodeciman Easter (Kenneth A. Strand, "How Sunday
Became the Popular Day of Worship, These Times, November, 1978, 24; Goulder, 356)
the connection would be even stronger since the Asian churches probably celebrated
Easter on Passover at the time the Apocalypse was written (cf. Eusebius, Ecclesiastical
History 5.23-25).
60In John 6, the manna, Passover, and Jesus' messianic role are tied together in the
debate with the crowd in the synagogue at Capernaum. See Raymond Brown, The Gospel
According to John Ito XII, AB 29a, 2d ed., 265-266, for documentation on the
relationship
between manna, Passover, and the Messiah in Early Judaism.
61The Christian's "Passover sacrifice" took place at the crucifixion, an event that
took place during a Passover feast (Matt 26:2,17-19; Mark 14:1,1 2, 14, 16; Luke 22:1, 7-
15;
John 13:1; 18:28, 39; 19:14). This association is underlined by the eucharistic
connections
with Passover found repeatedly in the Fourth Gospel (John 2:13-22; 6:1-66; 13:1-20).
While
the Fourth Gospel also understands Jesus to be the fulfillment of Sukkoth, the Feast of
Booths, with its emphasis on water and light (John 7:2, 37-39; 8:12; 9:5), this fulfillment
was postponed until after His glorification and ascension to the Father (John 7:37-39;
20:17).
62Goulder's association of the seven lampstands with the Paschal candle which
burned in ancient churches from Easter to Pentecost is plausible, if the tradition can be
traced to first-century Asia Minor (355).
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 259
recalls the language of Exod 19:5, 6, which describes the inauguration
of Israel as the people of God. According to Exod 19 the giving of the
law on Mount Sinai took place on the fifth day of the third month, the
day that was ever after celebrated as the festival of Pentecost.63 As the
New Moses, the Lamb receives, as it were, the new Torah from God in
Rev 5. Christ's death produced the "blood of the covenant" (according
to Matt 26:28), an apparent reference to the covenant ratified on Mount
Sinai (Exod 24:8).64 It should not surprise us, then, that the Jewish
liturgy for the festival of Pentecost included the reading not only of
Exod 19 but also of Ezek 1, a major literary background to Rev 4-5.65
The blowing of seven trumpets near the center of the book (Rev
8-9; 11:15-18) echoes the Feast of Trumpets, which was celebrated on
the first day of the seventh month (Tishri). The Feast of Trumpets is
closely associated in Jewish thought with the new-moon festivals that
were celebrated at the beginning of each month.' Since the months of
the year in the Jewish calendar are numbered beginning with Nisan,
there is a sense in which the Feast of Trumpets comes as the climax of
a seven-month series of mini-Feasts of Trumpets. The festival, in
principle then, covers the span between the spring and fall festivals. If
John is familiar with Jewish thinking in these matters, and we have
already seen abundant evidence that he is, the seven trumpets of
Revelation probably represent the ongoing sequence of seven months
with the seventh trumpet representing the Feast of Trumpets itself. It
is, interestingly, within the seventh trumpet (Rev 11:18) that we find
the first explicit use of judgment terminology in Revelation. In Jewish
thought the seventh-month Feast of Trumpets ushered in the time of
judgment that led up to the Day of Atonement (cf. 11:18, 19).
'Israel arrived at Sinai on the first day of the third month, according to Exod 19:1.
The three days of preparation would indicate that the giving of the law was on the fifth
day of the third month, coincident with the date of Pentecost. Cf. Hayyim Schauss, The
Jewish Festivals: History and Observance, trans. Samuel Jaffe (New York: Schocken,
1938),
87-89. Evidence is lacking in Jewish sources to demonstrate conclusively that this
connection was made in the first century. However, according to Jub 6:16, Pentecost was
celebrated as a perpetual renewal of the Noachic covenant some 200 years before the
Apocalypse was written. Thus, it is not unlikely that the feast had developed associations
with the Sinai covenant as well by the time Revelation was written.
&Robert H. Gundry, Matthew: A Commentary on His Literary and Theological Art
(Grand Rapids: 1982), 528; cf. idem, The Use of the Old Testament in St. Matthew's
Gospel,
Supplements to Novum Testamentum, vol. 18 (Leiden: Brill, 1967), 57-59.
"Goulder, 356; cf. Meg. 31a.
'Schauss, 117; cf. Num 10:10; Rai Hai 1:3, 4; 3:1.
260 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
Correspondingly, from Rev 11:19 to near the end of the book there is
an increasing focus on judgment.'
The importance of Yom Kippur imagery to the material in Rev 12-
20 has already been discussed above and will not be repeated here. The
last of the five basic festivals of the Levitical system (cf. Lev 23) was the
Feast of Tabernacles or Sukkoth which followed Yom Kippur. In the
language of the Apocalypse, the harvest is over (cf. Rev 14-20). God is
now "tenting" with His people (Rev 21:3). Therefore, the end-time
celebrations of the Apocalypse are filled with images of feasting, palm
branches, music, and rejoicing, as was the Feast of Tabernacles." The
primary images of the feast, water and light, find their ultimate
fulfillment in Rev 22:1, 5." This connection was not unique to Early
Christianity; the rabbis had already associated the messianic stream of
living water in Zechariah with the water-drawing ceremony of
Sukkoth."
Since the Feast of Trumpets functioned as the climax of seven newmoon
festivals (Num 10:10), it formed the bridge between the Passover
and Pentecost festivals of spring and the Yom Kippur and Sukkoth
festivals of autumn. The above evidence may, therefore, indicate a
spring/fall dyad within the Apocalypse, dividing at roughly the same
point in the book as the daily/yearly dyad, and coinciding with the
center point of the liturgical sequence of the introductory passages.
The transition point for both dyads coincides with the opening of
the scroll in Rev 10. If it could be demonstrated that the two scrolls of
Rev 5 and 10 were the same, and time does not permit the exploration
of that thorny issue,' these dyads come at a major move within the
Apocalypse toward a resolution of the eschatological situation within
which the author and his implied readers find themselves. This is
"Rev 14:7; 16:5, 7; 17:1, etc.
68Cf. Rev 7:9ff. and Rev 19:1-10 as well as Rev 21-22. Cf. Sukkah 3:1, 8-16; 4:1-4, 7,
8; 5:1. Some may wish to argue that the Tabernacles imagery of Rev 7:9ff. is evidence
that
the kind of overall scheme presented here does not work. I would suggest, instead, that
Rev 7:9ff. functions as an example of what Harris calls "premature closure" or an
"episodic plot" (Harris, 16-17).
"Sukkah 4:9; 5:2-4.
'According to Ulfgard, 4, note 16. I obviously disagree with McKelvey (163), who
argues that the Feast of Tabernacles is the dominant image of all the liturgical scenes in
the Apocalypse.
"However, note the suggestions of Fred Mazzaferri, The Genre of the Book of
Revelation from a Source-critical Perspective, Beiheft zur ZNW 54 (Berlin: Walter de
Gruyter, 1989), 265-279.
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 261
supported by evidence that the fall festivals were understood in the first
century as anticipations of the ultimate eschaton.72
Concluding Implications
What contribution can the above make toward a literary understanding
of the Apocalypse? First of all, the patterns observed in this
article all suggest a linear plot to the Apocalypse." While scholars have
observed abundant evidence of recapitulation and "premature closure"
in the book," its linearity must not be ignored. Like most literary
works that originate in oral cultures, strict linearity is not observed, but
is broken up by a high degree of repetition and enlargement, thus
creating a continuous narrative with an "episodic plot."" The cultic
background, however, overcodes the imagery in a linear direction.
The presence of strong allusions to Sukkoth in Rev 7:9-17, long
before the consummative Feast of Tabernacles in chapters 21 and 22, on
the other hand, underlines the fact that the linear closure of the
Apocalypse is repeatedly anticipated by "premature closures."" Thus,
Fiorenza's appellation "conic spiral," for all its shortcomings,77 is an
excellent summarization of the plot of the Apocalypse!' An even more
accurate analogy may be that of a musical scale, which continually
72Thompson, "Cult and Eschatology," 330-331.
73By "linear plot" I mean a natural flow of action from beginning to end, as opposed
to a series of episodes or "short stories" that have only a loose connection with each
other. Harris ( 9-17) cites R. H. Charles, The Revelation of St. John, ICC (Edinburgh: T
& T Clark, 1920)1:xxiii-xxvii; David Aune, "Revelation," Harper's Bible Commentary
(San
Francisco: Harper & Row, 1988), 1301; and Jan Lambrecht, "A Structuration of
Revelation 4,1-22,5," in L'Apocalypse johannique et l'Apocalyptique dans le Nouveau
Testament, ed. Jan Lambrecht, Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium,
vol. 53 (Gembloux: Leuven University PreSs, 1980), 77-104; as supportive of a linear
structure in the Apocalypse.
"Harris cites the following as prominent supporters of a "recapitulation" view:
Adela Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia:
Westminster, 1984), 149; David Barr, New Testament Story: An Introduction (Belmont,
CA:
Wadsworth, 1987), 282-295; and Sophie Laws, In the Light of the Lamb: Imagery,
Parody,
and Theology in the Apocalypse of John, Good News Studies, vol. 31 (Wilmington, DE:
Michael Glazier, 1988), 16.
75Harris, 16-17.
7qhat the allusions to Sukkoth are nearly as strong in 7:9-17 as in the last section
of the Apocalypse has been noted by a number of scholars such as Ulfgard, Draper (see
note 11 for documentation) and Comblin. According to Ulfgard, Comblin sees no less
than ten major parallels between Rev 7:9-17 and Rev 21,22 (Ulfgard, 86, note 368). Rev
7:9-17 does not negate the festal-year structuration of the Apocalypse but functions as a
proleptic depiction of the realities of the consummation recounted in chapters 21 and 22.
'See Harris, 11.
78Elisabeth Schiissler Fiorenza, The Book of Revelation: Justice and Judgment
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985), 171.
262 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
progresses in a linear direction while reviewing earlier tones in everricher
vibrations.
Second, Harris has pointed out that Mediterranean society in the
first century A.D. grasped ideas in terms of dyads or matching pairs,
such as the shame/honor system." Three further dyads; heaven/earth,
daily/ yearly and spring/fall are suggested in this study. These three
dyads appear to point in the direction of a two-part focus for the book.
The first half of Revelation, based on the daily sacrifices, the spring
festivals, and the inauguration and intercession provided by the cosmic
Christ, focuses on the ongoing realities of a world impacted upon by
the Christ event, while the second half of the book, based on the yearly
sacrifices, the fall festivals, judgment, and the abandonment of
intercession focuses on the anticipated consummation.
This observation supports the approach of Strand, who argues on
the basis of the book's chiastic structure that Revelation falls naturally
into two halves, whose emphasis he terms "historical" and "eschatological.'
This approach parallels the pattern of the other two great
"apocalyptic" passages of the NT, Matt 24 (with its parallels in Luke 21
and Mark 13) and 2 Thess 2. Each of these passages contains a section
that focuses on the immediate realities of the Christian age (cf. Matt
24:3-14 and 2 Thess 2:3-7), followed by a section which gives special
attention to the anticipated climax at the parousia (2 Thess 2:8-12; Matt
24:15-31, especially vv. 27-31).81 Revelation appears to be based on a
similar pattern.82
"Included among his citations on that point were the following: Bruce Malina, The
New Testament World: Insights from Cultural Anthropology (Atlanta: John Knox, 1981);
idem, Christian Origins and Cultural Anthropology (Atlanta: John Knox, 1986; John H.
Elliott, "Patronage and Clientelism in Early Christian Society," Forum 3/4 (1987): 39-48;
Halvor Moxnes, The Economy of the Kingdom: Social Conflict and Economic Relations
in
Luke's Gospel, Overtures to Biblical Theology (Philadelphia: Fortress, 1988); idem,
"Honor, Shame, and the Outside World in Paul's Letter to the Romans," in The Social
World of Formative Christianity and Judaism: Essays in Tribute to Howard Clark Kee,
ed.
J. Neusner, E. S. Frerichs, Borgen, and R. Horsley (Philadelphia: Fortresss, 1988), 207-
218.
°Kenneth A. Strand, Interpreting the Book of Revelation, 2d ed. (Naples, FL: Ann
Arbor Publishers, 1979), 43-58.
"This dual perspective is particularly clear in Luke where the "Times of the
Gentiles" (21:24) form a bridge between the description of A.D. 70 and the general
realities of the Christian age (21:7-23), and the description of the end-time (Luke
21:25ff.).
°All three of the dyads observed draw attention to chapter 11 of the book as in
some way central to the whole, the crucial turning point. While the heaven/earth/heaven
movement of the introductory visions highlights the outer boundaries of the book, the
development in the heavenly temple moves to its climax at 11:19 and then fades out
progressively into oblivion. The daily/yearly dyad overlaps in chapter 11 as the trumpets
PAULINE: HEBREW CULTUS, SANCTUARY, AND TEMPLE 263
Third, while some may be inclined to consider this article an
exercise in fantasyland, it is imperative to keep in mind that when an
author's conceptual universe includes a cultic system with its own
complex inner associations and contrasts, the selection of one or another
image based on that system is likely to be of deep significance. To
illustrate, when the author describes the ark of the covenant instead of
the incense altar (Rev 11:19, cf. 8:3, 4), or Sukkoth instead of Passover
(Rev 21, 22) he is not picking images out of a hat, but is operating
within a narrative world that his ideal reader will also share. His choices
must be examined not only in terms of their inherent significance
within the cultic system, but also in the light of alternatives that were
not selected.
The cultic imagery of Revelation suggests that the ideal reader of
the book is one who, through shared competency in the texts and
liturgical practices of the Hebrew cult, is enabled to enter more deeply
into the world of the text. This leads us to two contradictory
possibilities. If Thompson and Goulder are correct that the cultic
elements of the Apocalypse reflect early Christian worship practices,"
the Hebrew cultus was, in a metaphorical sense, at least, central to early
Christian liturgy, and would have had deep literary and theological
significance for any early Christian's reading of Revelation." The other
possibility is that the book's highly specialized narrative world was
targeting a rather limited number of historical readers, perhaps a specific
subgroup of Jewish Christians, already educated in the cultic intricacies
of the author's conceptual world." In either case, readers without such
a background would have great difficulty in understanding and
of the tamid draw to a close in 11:18 while Yom Kippur imagery begins in 11:1. The
spring/fall dyad utilizes the trumpets of chapters 8-11 as the transition section. Thus, the
book of Revelation is divided into two fairly equal halves to highlight the
literary/theological movement from a focus on the results of the death of the Lamb and
its consequences for Christian existence to a focus on the eschatological consummation.
Such anomalies as the Sukkoth imagery of Rev 7:9-17 are explainable in terms of
the conic spiral or the tendency to premature closure in the plot of the Apocalypse. This
cultic structuration is not the only way to structure the book, but needs to be taken into
account in the development of the structure or plot of the book.
"Thompson, "Cult and Eschatology," 342-350; idem, The Book of Revelation, 72-73;
Goulder, 349-354.
"The book would then have provided further liturgical material for the churches
of Asia Minor. Cf. Thompson, The Book of Revelation, 72.
"It is sometimes overlooked that the grammar of the introduction indicates that
there is a blessing only on those who read and hear "with understanding" (Rev 1:3).
264 SEMINARY STUDIES 33 (AUTUMN 1995)
appreciating the author's literary intent, which in fact is exactly what
has happened with regard to the Apocalypse over the centuries.
Is the cultic mentality of John typical of first century Christianity,
or was John speaking to a theological minority in the ancient
Mediterranean world? It seems to me that the centrality of the Old
Testament to early Christian thought and argumentation would lead to
general familiarity with one of its central features. This is certainly true
of the argumentation in the so-called Letter to the Hebrews, which
requires thorough immersion in the Christian significance of the
Hebrew cultus. The letters attributed to Paul86 and the Gospels also
show considerable familiarity with it.87 Our own lack of familiarity with
these cultic practices is no argument that early Christians as a whole
were unfamiliar with them. The metaphorical use of cultic imagery was
probably widespread among the early Christians.
While the reading of the book of Revelation suggested in this
article may seem needlessly complex to today's readers, an understanding
of the Hebrew cultus provides a window into the complex thoughtworld
revealed in this strange yet fascinating book.
86Rom 3:25; 5:9, 10; 12:1; 15:16, 31; 1 Cor 3:16-17; 5:7; 6:19; 9:13; 10:18-20; 11:25;
2 Cor 2:14-16; 5:21; Eph 2:13, 19-22; 5:2; Phil 2:17; 4:18; Col 1:20; cf. Acts 21:26.
87Matt 5:23-24; 26:28; Mark 1:44; 14:24; 15:38; Luke 1:8-11; 2:22-24; 22:7-8,15-16,
20; John 1:29, 36; 2:13; 5:1; 7:2, 10-14; 10:22-23; 11:55-57; 12:1; 18:28; 19:14, 31, 36.
However, the implied audience of Mark's Gospel requires some explanation of Jewish
practices (Mark 7:3, 4).
Andrews University Seminary Studies, Autumn 1995, Vol., 33, No. 2, 265-283
Copyright ° 1995 by Andrews University Press