A FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE

GRAMMAR OF REVELATION
by
G. BIGUZZI
Rome
Abstract
John' s Apocalypse puzzles and troubles at every page. The reason is that the
author frequently goes against common logic in shaping his images and narra-
tives. Yet this lack of logic is not capriciousness. In fact, since Rev.'s surprising
literary phenomena occur repeatedly, one can catalogue and systematise them in
a sui generis Johannine figurative and narrative grammar. This contribution analy-
ses two features of Johannine images (1), six features of Johannine ways of nar-
rating (2), and the surreal and oneiric world created by John (3). First, this review
helps one understand better John' s bewildering language and makes the book of
Rev. a more readable book. Second, it suggests that the numerous difficulties of
Rev. are to be resolved first of all by collating the parallel traits found within
this very same book, and not by hurriedly resorting to possible literary sources.
"A Grammar of Ungrammar:" This is how E. W. Benson entitled
a section of his introduction to John' s Apocalypse. By this turn of a
phrase he defines the numerous grammatical and syntactical mistakes of
Revelation. Other scholars such as W. Bousset, R. H. Charles, E.-B.
Alio and more recently G. Mussies and D. Aune have catalogued these
foibles.
1
However, there is another ungrammar that could be written:
namely the ungrammar of those images and narratives in Rev. which
are no less queer than its grammatical solecisms, and along with them
contribute to the "inimitable" style of Rev., as M.-E. Boismard calls it.
2
The ungrammar of Rev.'s images and narratives has drawn lit-
tle attention so far. At most, reference has been made to "l'trange"
1
E. W. Benson, The Apocalypse. An Introductory Study of the Revelation of St. John the
Divine (London: Macmillan, 1900) 131. Cf. also E.-B. Alio, "Apocalypse," in DBS I
(1928) 308, who writes: "Il faudrait presque crire une grammaire spciale pour ce
livre, dont les principales trangets paraissent obir une sorte de rgle subjective."
2
M.-E. Boismard, "'L'Apocalypse', ou 'les Apocalypses' de S.Jean," RB 56 (1949)
509.
Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2003 Novum Testamentum XLV, 4
Also available online - www.brill.nl
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 383
(P. Prigent, 1982), to "logical and chronological oddity" (M. E. Boring,
1989), and to descriptions "defying normal conceptions" (G. K. Beale,
1999). An attempt is made here therefore to inventory the anomalies
of Rev.'s figurative and narrative language in a sui generis grammar: a
grammar that, although not exhaustive, should be substantial enough,
first of all to help understand better John' s bewildering language, and
second, by showing the consistency of such language throughout the
book, to suggest the unicity of Rev.'s authorship.
1. Peculiarities of Johannine Images
a. Description Songs
John frequently introduces his antagonists describing the anatomi-
cal details of their semblance. The first and longest of such "descrip-
tion songs"
3
of Rev. concerns the "One like a son of man" (1:12-16).
John first portrays the whole person (the robe down to the feet, with
a golden girdle, v. 13b), then the upper part (the head, with its hair
and eyes, v. 14), next the lower part (the feet, v. 15a), and finally the
central part (the voice, v. 15b; the right hand that holds seven stars,
v. 16a; the sword coming out of the mouth, v. 16b), focusing on the
face that shines as bright as the sun (v. 16c). Other songs describe the
twenty-four Elders and the four Living Creatures (4:4, and 4:6-8 respec-
tively), the Lamb (5:6), the four horses and riders of the first four seals
(6:1-8), the locusts of the fifth trumpetwith an abundance of details
(9:7-10), the cavalry of the sixth trumpet (9:17-19), the mighty angel
of Rev. 10 who hands the to John (w. 1-2), the Woman
and the Dragon that threatens her baby (12:1-2, and 12:3-4 respec-
tively), the Beast emerging from the sea (13:1-3; cf. 17:3) and the Beast
emerging from the land (13:11), the Great Harlot (17:4-6), and finally
the Conquering Rider or Lgos of God, with his armies (19:11-16).
3
To Rev.'s description songs, or Beschreibungslieder, there are precedents and paral-
lels. It suffices to think of the Canticle and its descriptions of the physical beauties of
the beloved (Cant. 4:1-5; 6:4-7; 7:2-10) or of the bridegroom (Cant. 5:10-16), even
though John' s very patterns are in the Book of Daniel. For instance, the description
of the man clothed in linen (Dan. 10:5-6) inspired the description of the "One like a
son of man" (Rev. 1:12-17), while the description of the four beasts (Dan. 7:3-8) inspired
the description of the Beast that emerges from the sea (Rev. 13:1-2). Other cases of
description songs are found in Dan. 7:9-10; 2Enoch 1:4-5; 4H86 (4QCryptic) 1, i-iii;
2, i; 4Q561 (4QHor. ar.) 1, i-ii; 2.
384 G. BIGUZZI
A detailed analysis of each of these descriptions is not necessary
here. However, three remarks can be made about them.
The first concerns the great variety of subjects, which range from
Christ to demons, from celestial worshipers to harlots, and so on. The
description songs function as a malleable tool enabling the author to
introduce all kinds of characters, major or minor, human or animal,
positive or negative. The second remark concerns the purpose of the
songs: by describing the exterior appearance of each such character,
John conveys its moral identity and physiognomy. The third remark
concerns the different clues John gives for interpreting and identifying
his antagonists. The identity of the angel of 10:1 is explicitly stated:
it is an angel who plays the role of God's messenger. The Dragon's
image, instead, needs interpreting and translating into terms other than
those of mythical zoology. John himself, in fact, says that it is the
primeval Serpent, the Devil, or Satan (12:9; cf. 20:2). As to the Great
Harlot and the Beast from the land, surely the first is said to be
Babylon (17:5), the city which reigns over the kings of the earth (17:18),
while the second is said to be the pseudo-Prophet (16:13). Yet John
does not say which city he intends by "Babylon" and which alleged
prophet by "pseudo-prophet." At other times, John does not supply
any help to the interpreter of his images. For instance, having intro-
duced the Beast from the sea as extremely perilous in the song of
13:1-3, he leaves the interpreter to his own devices in calculating the
number of its name (13:18). The reader of the description songs is
expected, then, to face three different levels of difficulty, having aids
at his disposal sometimes for the task, and none at other times.
b. Metamorphosis of Images
A remarkable peculiarity of John' s images is their metamorphosis.
Images in Rev. do not remain fixed but they change in some of their
traits or even entirely.
4
The Great Harlot of Rev. 17:1, for instance,
changes into Babylon the Great (v. 5). The metamorphosis of the same
woman into a city is found again on a smaller scale in v. 16 where
John sketches the devastation of the in four stages: two of them,
the second and the third, suit a woman, while on the contrary the
first and the last suit a city. In fact, in an elegant crescendo Rev. 17:16
4
Cf. E.-B. Alio, Saint Jean. L'Apocalypse (B; Paris: Gabalda, 1921) lx, who (unfor-
tunately without references) speaks of: " . . . instabilit des symboles secondaires qui glis-
sent, qui se fondent, qui se chassent l'un l'autre au cours d'une mme vision."
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 385
speaks first of the destruction of the city and of the woman's denud-
ing (. . . ). Then the two
statements are brought to the climax: the denuding of the woman cul-
minates in the eating of her flesh (. . . ),
while the destruction of the city grows to an all-consuming fire (. . .
). The metamorphosis of the bride of Rev.
21:9 is very similar, since in the following verse she changes into the
city of Jerusalem: " will show you the bride that the Lamb has mar-
ried' . . . , and he showed me Jerusalem, the holy city, coming down etc."
The two presentations of the 144,000 are also in metamorphosis.
While these 144,000 are signed with the seal of the Living God on
their foreheads in Rev. 7, they have there the name (not the seal) of
God and, in addition, the name of the Lamb, in Rev. 14. Furthermore,
in Rev. 14 they are no longer related to the twelve tribes of Israel
but are introduced now as virgins. Reasoning from these differences,
A. Feuillet distinguishes the 144,000 of Rev. 14 who should be Christian
virgins, from the 144,000 of Rev. 7 who should be identified as the
historical Israelites.
5
Yet, here as well, the discontinuity of the details
is to be explained rather by means of metamorphosis. This can be
inferred from the parallelism with the number twelve of the gates and
the foundations of the eschatological Jerusalem.
6
Rev. 7 employs the
vocabulary of the twelve tribes in the same way Rev. 21:12 does for
the gates. Similarly, Rev. 14 puts the 144,000 in relationship with the
Lamb, as Rev. 21:14 does with the foundations, since the twelve names
of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb are written on them. Rev. 14 is
therefore in substantial continuity with Rev. 7 on one hand, but on
the other glues together metamorphically new elements, the most rel-
evant being the relationship with the Lamb and its name.
The wrath of God in Rev. 7:1-3 and Rev. 8:6-9:21 is another exam-
ple of metamorphosis, a metamorphosis so drastic that it is almost
5
Cf. A. Feuillet, L'Apocalypse. tat de la question (Studia Neotestamentica, Subsidia III;
Paris-Bruges: Descle de Brouwer, 1963) 28, 50; Idem, "Les 144.000 Isralites marqus
d'un sceau," NT 9 (1967) 191-224. But cf. for example W. Hadorn, Die Offenbarung des
Johannes (THK, NT; Leipzig: Scholl, 1928) 149 ("Kein Leser des Buches konnte zweifeln,
da Joh von den gleichen 144.000 rede, deren Versiegelung er 7:4 berichtete an ihren
Stirnen"), and a detailed discussion in G. Biguzzi, / settenari nella struttura delVApocalisse
(Suppl. Rivista Biblica 31; Bologna: EDB, 1996) 137-40.
6
Already some ancient interpreters relate the 12 and its multiple 144,000 of Rev.
7 to the same numerical figures of the eschatological Jerusalem in Rev. 21. Gf. for
instance Primasius of Hadrumetum (f c. 558; CChr SL 92, 108:58-63), and Ambrosius
Autpertus (f 784; CCh CM 27, 298:7-10).
386 G. BIGUZZI
unrecognisable. Announced in 6:17 ("The great day of his anger has
come, and who can stand before it?"),
7
this wrath shall consist in the
release of the four winds according to 7:1-3. Before this happens, how-
ever, the servants of God have to be signed on their foreheads with
the seal of the living God as a mark of protection (w. 2-3). That mark
is mentioned again in Rev. 9:4, where the plague of locusts is sup-
posed to strike only those not signed with the seal of the living God.
8
This entails that the release of the winds in 7:1-3 and the series of
plagues of the seven trumpets in 8:6-9:21 (fire unleashed against the
earth of the first trumpet, water changed into blood of the second and
third trumpets, . . . the locusts of the fifth trumpet etc.) are the very
same manifestation of divine wrath presented in metamorphosis by
John.
Rev. 11:1 is a further case of metamorphosis. John is told to mea-
sure not only the (a quite logical order), but the altar as well (an
order a little more puzzling, because of the start of the metamorpho-
sis), and then to measure the worshipers, for which the measuring rod
( ) and the imperative are totally out of
logic because of the swift exasperation of the metamorphosis.
9
A final example of metamorphosis is to be taken into account between
Rev. 17 and Rev. 19. In fact, the victorious battle of the Lamb over
the coalition led by the Beast is announced in Rev. 17 (". . . they will
go to war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will defeat them," v. 14),
while in Rev. 19 it is the Rider on the white horse who is said to
conquer the Beast and its armies ("I saw the Beast with all the kings
of the earth and their armies, gathered together to fight the Rider and
his army, and the Beast was captured etc.," w. 19-20). If Richard of
Saint Victor (f 1137) says that Rev. 5 announces a lion but shows a
lamb, one can say here that Rev. 17 indeed announces a lamb and
Rev. 19 shows a rider.
10
According to Z. C. Hodges there is continuity
7
The upsetting of the cosmic elements in Rev. 6:12-17 is not yet the release itself
of divine wrath, but only its announcement. Cf. Biguzzi, / settenari nella struttura dell'Apocalisse,
135-6.
8
In fact, one cannot but note the connection of Rev. 9:4 (... . . .
) with
Rev. 7:3 (. . . ).
Thanks to that precious verse, we are sure that the plagues of the trumpets are to be
put in relation with the wrath of God and of the Lamb that was announced by the
cosmic upset (6:17) and that is here re-presented through the image "in metamor-
phosis" of the four winds (7:1-3).
9
Cf. Biguzzi, / settenari nella struttura dell'Apocalisse, 128 note 30.
10
The sentence is found in what could be called a comment on the Christological
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 387
(and metamorphosis) even between the rider on the white horse of
Rev. 6:2 and the rider on the white horse of Rev. 19,
11
though between
them there are two remarkable variations: the first rider is armed with
a bow and bears a crown on his head, while the second is armed with
a sword and bears an undetermined number of diadems on his head.
12
For Hodges, the sequence of bow (i.e. the weapon used to fight from
a distance) and sword (i.e. the weapon used to fight one on one)
expresses the fighters' mutual approach for a fight with cold steel, while
the crown in Rev. 6 and the diadems in Rev. 19 signify respectively
"victory in prospect" and "victory realized."
13
In the Johannine metamorphoses the reader senses that events are
multifaceted and perceives history's evolution and progression towards
the aim intended by God.
2. Peculiarities of Johannine Narrative Techniques
a. Autarchy of Single Episodes or Details
John sometimes contradicts himself or at least betrays inconsisten-
cies. For instance he presents the Two Witnesses saying that anyone
who wants to harm them shall himself be harmed: "Fire can come
from their mouths and consume their enemies if anyone tries to harm
them; and if anybody does try to harm them he will certainly be killed"
(11:5). But only two verses later John says that "the Beast that comes
out of the abyss is going to make war upon them . . . and kill them"
(v. 7), and everything surprisingly happens without the least resistance,
in spite of the reassurances of v. 5.
"metamorphosis" of Rev. 5:5-6: "Superius posuit promissionem, hie subjungit promis-
sionis exhibitionem. Nam leonem audivit in promissione, agnum videt in exhibitione.
Magna est enim differentia inter leonem et agnum. Leo est magnus, agnus est parvus.
Sed, si utrumque consideramus, utrumque Redemptorem nostrum comprobamus. Ipse
est enim leo magnus per divinitatem, agnus per humanitatem. Leo per potentiam majes-
tatis, agnus per mansuetudinem. Leo malos puniendo, agnus bonos redimendo. Leo
fortitudine, agnus pietate. Leo in promissione ut spes infirma se roboret, agnus in exhi-
bitione ne pavida conscientia formidaret" (PL 196, 756.D).
11
. C. Hodges, "The First Horseman of the Apocalypse," BSac 119 (1962) 333-4.
12
The term comes from -, "to bind," and before the term began
to signify "head-ornament for ladies" in antiquity it meant a royal band to wind round
the head, and particularly round the tiara, which was a royal headgear. L. A. Moritz,
"Diadem, ," in Oxford Classical Dictionary (Oxford: Clarendon, 2nd ed., 1970)
333, adds: "This was adopted, in the form of a white band with decorated edges, by
Alexander and by his successors as an emblem of royal power."
13
Hodges, "The First Horseman," 333-4.
388 G. BIGUZZI
Again, the angelus interpres promises in Rev. 17:1 to show John the
Great Harlot sitting upon many waters (. . .
). Yet John sees the Woman seated upon a scarlet Beast (... -
, . 3) although the angel in v. 15 refers all
the same to the waters seen by John (but in fact, not seen at all): "The
water that you saw, where the Harlot is seated etc.
." In addition to this, a further "stool" comes
out in v. 9, where the Harlot is said to sit upon seven mountains (
. . . ' ). Something analogous is found
in Rev. 21 where the measurement of the city, its gates and walls is
announced (v. 15), yet only the city and its walls are measured (w.
16b; 17a), not the gates (even though the foundations and gates are
described in detail, w. 19-20, and v. 21a).
Again, interpreters point out that, if the "One like a son of man"
holds in his right hand the seven stars ("In his right hand he was hold-
ing seven stars . . .," 1:16), he would not be able to lay his hand on
John as a gesture of encouragement (". . . he touched me with his right
hand and said etc.," 1:17), all the more so because the stars are still
in his right hand a little later according to 2:1 ("The words of him
who holds the seven stars in his right hand . . ."). And again, while
the name of the new Jerusalem will be written according to 3:12 on
a column of the eschatological temple (actually on the Philadelphian
"conqueror"), one learns to the contrary in 21:22 that there will be
no temple in the eschatological Jerusalem.
This same lack of inter-relatedness of details is found in the cosmic
elements and phenomena. The plague of the first trumpet burns all
the green grass ( , 8:7), and yet, as if
nothing had been said before, according to 9:4, the locusts "were told
not to harm the grass of the earth or any herbage (...
) etc." In the same way, the
sun is darkened in 6:12 (". . . the sun became black as sackcloth"), but
then the plague of the fourth trumpet is somehow able to darken a
third of its light (8:12), and it is still shining so intensely in 16:8 as to
scorch people with its burning blaze. The fate of the stars, moon, sky
and sea is the same. Though in Rev. 6:13 the stars had fallen like
withered figs as when a violent wind shakes the trees, they still shine
in the sky when the plague of the fourth trumpet strikes them (8:12),
and again when the Dragon's tail sweeps them away (12:4). The moon
also, even though it has become like blood in 6:12, loses a third of
its light when struck by the plague of the fourth trumpet (8:12), and
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 389
still shines presumably in its full splendour under the feet of the Woman
of Rev. 12:1. Again, the sky, though rolled up as a scroll in 6:14, is
still in the firmament in 8:13 when, from its zenith, the eagle announces
the three woes, or in 11:6 when rain can be detained in it (if the Two
Witnesses so desire), or again when the three 'signs' appear in it accord-
ing to 12:1,3 and 15:1. Finally, the waters of the sea become blood
repeatedly: in Rev. 8:8 and in 16:3 when the plague of the second
trumpet, and respectively the plague of the second bowl strike them.
14
John' s narratives and reports are then in some measure autarchic.
The reason for this is difficult to discern. Possibly John wants to say
that we consider only the external and contradictory surface of human
history and are not able to perceive the deeper connections that nev-
ertheless link its events.
b. Narrative Lacunae
John often leaves gaps in his narratives which the reader has to fill
in by an active reading, thus becoming a participant in the storytelling.
For instance, between the announcement of the sealing of the 144,000
(Rev. 7:3) and John' s learning of their number (w. 4-8: no fewer than
78 words), the sealing itself is simply left out. The verses that speak
of the four angels bound at the great river Euphrates (Rev. 9:14-16)
is another case. When the angel of the sixth trumpet orders to release
them, his order is promptly executed "so that [the four angels] kill a
third of humankind" (v. 15b). But then neither is the clause ". . . by
releasing the cavalry of twenty thousand of thousand of mounted men"
added after v. 15c (as the context calls for), nor is the irruption of
that cavalry out from their encampments mentioned. Yet it is the cav-
alry that in fact kills the third of humankind (v. 18), not the four angels
charged with the task, according to v. 15b. Furthermore, the missing
segment of the episode is substituted by John' s learning of the num-
ber of the cavalry ( , v. 16b) exactly as the
sealing of the 144,000 is substituted by John' s hearing of their num-
ber, in Rev. 7:4a ( ). And again,
while Babylon's destruction as the enterprise of the Beast and its ten
14
Furthermore cf. what M. E. Boring, Revelation. Interpretation (Louisville, KY: Knox,
1989) 57-58, writes about the sea in 21:11,13: ". . . to ask how can the sea give up
the dead in 20:13 when it has already passed away with 'earth and heaven' (the uni-
verse of Gen. 1:1 . . .) in 20:11 etc."
390 G. BIGUZZI
horns is announced in 17:16, in Rev. 18 the end itself of Babylon is
to be supposed, without a word about either the Beast or its allies and
their war operations that put an end to the metropolis.
This jump from announcement to result, skipping over the inter-
mediate operations, accelerates the rhythm of the narrative, and so
expresses and inspires the wish that the plan of God will soon be
accomplished.
c. Discontinuity in Itineraries and in the Identity of Antagonists
John says in 17:3 that an angel transported him into the desert to
show him the Great Harlot, and in 21:10 that another angel trans-
ported him up a high mountain to show him the eschatological Jerusalem.
Yet similar spatial indications are wanting in large parts of his book.
For example, John says in 4:1 -2 to have gone up to heaven but, with-
out any transfer being signalled, he happens to find himself on the
seashore in Rev. 10:1-2. In fact the angel who hands him the
to swallow puts his right foot in the sea and his left on the land (v. 2).
There is a lack of continuity also in the localisation of the battle and
in the identity of the fighters of Rev. 12. The Dragon and its armies
fight in heaven with Michael and his armies. The song which cele-
brates the victory over the Dragon seems to suppose, however, that
the battle took place on earth and that the Dragon fought with the
brethren of those who sing the song: "They [i.e. our brethren] have
conquered him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their
testimony" (12:11).
When the itineraries are discontinued, the continuity of the narra-
tive itself seems to be assured by the person of John. The reader has
to follow him in his pneumatic experiences, the mention of places
being of lesser importance. It is that John finds himself
before the "One like a son of man" (1:10) or in heaven before the
throne of God (4:2). It is again that he is transported into
the desert to see Babylon-the-harlot and her judgement (17:3), or onto
a high mountain to contemplate the descent from God of the new
Jerusalem (21:10). When instead there seems to be an overabundance
of subjects and their inter-relatedness remains unclear, John leaves it
to the reader to grasp the unity of the events precisely in the bond
between heaven and earth, such that Michael and his angel hosts are
interchangeable with terrestrial combatants, victorious through the blood
of the Lamb. Autobiography and spiritual communion are, then, supe-
rior to topography and individuality in Rev.
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 391
d. Anomalous Sequences of Verbal Tenses
The author of Rev. loves the hysteron-proteron that occurs at least ten
times in his book, according to D. Aune's count.
15
For instance, exchang-
ing the order of the elements, John writes: "I am rich, and I became
rich" (3:17), "everything existed, and was created" (4:11), ". . . to open
the book, and to break its seals" (5:2), " . . . to have authority over the
tree of life, and to get into the city" (22:14), etc. But in Rev. there is
something more than this almost irrelevant rhetorical device, in that
John often constructs his narratives on very surprising sequences of
verbal tenses.
For example the narration of Rev. 11:1-13 starts with six future
tenses (w. 2-3,7: , , , , ,
), then continues with four present tenses followed by one
residual future (w. 9-10: , , , -
,), and finally closes with no fewer than eleven aorist
tenses (w. 11-13: , , , , ,
, , etc.).
The sequence of the tenses is anomalous also in the dirges over
Babylon in Rev. 18. After the future tenses that have the kings of the
earth as their grammatical subject, two present tenses and one resid-
ual future follow, with the merchants of the earth as their grammati-
cal subject. Finally two aorists and two imperfect tenses occur with
the sailors as their subject. So the first dirge is set in the future
(, , v. 9), the second in the present (,
, v. 11; but , v. 15), and the third in the past (-
, , ', , w. 17-19). The rest of the chapter as
well oscillates from past to future and from future to past, such that
Babylon at times is already a haunt of every foul spirit ( -
, 18:2), while at other times it still claims to be a queen
( , v. 7), plagues and fire are still about to dev-
astate it ( , v. 8), and the people of God are
urged to escape from it to avoid being associated with its sins and
exposed to its plagues (v. 4). Or again, Babylon shall sink ()
as a great millstone in the sea according to Rev. 18:21, yet the smoke
of its fire already ascends (), according to 19:3, for ever and
ever. The succession of verbal tenses is irregular also in the narration
of the Dragon's final assault and defeat, where two future tenses
15
Cf. D. Aune, Revelation 1-5 (WBC 52A; Dallas, TX: Word Books, 1997) 221, 259.
392 G. BIGUZZI
(, , 20:7-8) are continued by five aorist tenses
(, , , , , w. 9-10a).
16
The most surprising sequence of tenses is however in Rev. 10:7
whose aorist tense is rendered with the future consummabitur
even by the usually rigorous Jerome in his Vulgate.
17
The reason of
Jerome's future is that according to Rev. 10:7 the mystery of God
"" at the blowing of the seventh trumpet, that will sound only
later on in Rev. 11:15.
In all these verbal tense anomalies John probably wants to say that
the times of God are other than our times and that the future fulfilling
of God's will is so sure that it can be expressed through the Greek
tenses of the past.
18
e. Episodes Narrated from Complementary Perspectives
Some events in Rev. 11-13 seem to be extraneous to each other
but actually they are not because the time lapse in which they take
place is one and the same. Thus, the dominion of the nations over
the holy city will last 42 months according to 11:2, the Two Witnesses
shall testify for 1,260 days according to 11:3, the Woman of Rev. 12
will stay under God's protection in the desert for 1,260 days or "three
times and a hal f respectively according to 12:6 and 12:14, and, finally,
the Beast from the sea is allowed to do whatever it wants for 42
months according to 13:5. As is evident from the equivalence between
16
See also the present in 6:16 that comes after 7 aorists (/fer, ,
, , ); the present in 7:10, preceded by an
imperfect and followed by a series of aorists; the present in 12:4, that is set
amongst past tenses, and see finally the presents and , which
conclude a series of futures in 14:11.
17
Other translations are: "should be finished" (KJV), "will be fulfilled" (NJB, NRSV),
"alors sera l'accomplissement" (TOB), "wird vollendet sein" (ELB), "dann ist vollen-
det" (LUT).
18
The comments of some Medieval Interpreters on Rev. 14:8 are particularly effective.
Bede (f 735) writes: "Cecidit, cecidit Babylon ilia magna. Dicit (. . .) more Scripturae, quae
solet praeteritum poner, quod novit inevitabiliter adimplendum" (PL 93, 174.D). But
first of all cf. Bruno of Asti (f 1123): "Cecidit, cecidit Babylon magna. Usitatissimus enim
est iste locutionis modus, ut ea, quae certissime fieri scimus, prius etiam quam fiant
facta dicamus: unde et eos jam vicisse dicimus, quos victores fore putamus, et eos quos
morti propinquos videmus, jam mortuos nuntiamus. Sic ergo angelus in hoc loco, quia
non dubitat subito esse Babylonem perituram, ac si jam cecidisset quasi de praeteritis
loquens ait: Cecidit, cecidit Babylon magna." The same Bruno significantly adds: "Ac si
dicat: Nullam spem in ea ulterius habeatis, nullum amorem in ea ponatis, quia in prox-
imo miserabiliter mere videbitis; non vos fallat, non vos decipiat, cujus omnis pul-
chritudo subito evanescet" (PL 165, 701.C).
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 393
the 1,260 days of 12:6 and the "three times and a half" of 12:14,
which refer to the same sojourn of the Woman in the desert,
19
each
of the five terms at issue is equivalent to the other, since the "three
times (= years) and a half" are equal to 42 months or 1,260 days.
20
Such temporal indications, strange enough for a less-informed reader,
are in fact rather transparent for those who are acquainted with the
book of Daniel.
21
In Dan. 7:25 and 12:7 "three times and a half" is
the length of the desecration of the temple which in fact lasted from
June 168 B.C. to December 165 B.C.
The same time spoken of from diverse perspectives in the four
episodes mentioned, is a time of prophetic testimony on the one hand
and on the other, of blasphemy against God and persecution against
the saints and finally, of God's protection for them.
22
Thus, every nar-
rative segment blends with the others in the same story. It is as if the
narrator feels unable to express a complex event in one stroke and
therefore narrates the story from partial perspectives successively, which
when put together like orange segments give the complete account of
the event.
23
19
See below the paragraph on the anticipatory doublets.
20
It suffices to mention H. B. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John (London: Macmillan,
2nd ed., 1907) 152: "The story of the Woman in the wilderness synchronizes with the
prophesying of the Two Witnesses," and, first of all, Alio, L'Apocalypse, 142: "La com-
paraison de XI,3 avec XI,2 et XIII,5 montre que cette mesure s'applique une seul
et mme poque, et non deux poques contigus d'gale longueur: c'est pendant que
les gentils foulent la Sainte Cit, et pendant que la Bte svit (XIII,5; cfr. XI,7), que
les Deux Tmoins exercent leur activit." Alio concludes: "Saint Jean entend bien faire
un synchronisme." The interpreter who first looked for synchronisms in Rev. was
J. Mede in his Clavis Apocalyptica (Cantabrigiae, 1st ed., 1627; 3rd ed., 1649).
21
Hadorn, Die Offenbarung des Johannes, 8, speaks of "danielische Zahl."
22
It seems to be intentional the differentiation of the counting stated in days for
the negative forces (11:2 and 13:5) from those stated in months for the positive forces
(11:3 and 12:6), apart from the "three times and a half" of 12:14, a variation due
probably to the fact that it is a doublet of 12:6.
23
Cf. Biguzzi, / settenari nella struttura dell'Apocalisse, 245-6. This is not unknown to
some. Cf. P. Prigent, "Le temps et le Royaume dans l'Apocalypse," in d. J. Lambrecht,
L'Apocalypse johannique et l'apocalyptique dans le Nouveau Testament (BETL 53; Gembloux: Duculot,
1980) 244: "Notre auteur nous invite . . . reconnatre qu'ils [i.e. les mots] sont inca-
pables d'exprimer la rvlation. Il faut donc transgresser les rgles d'une logique humaine
impropre traduire parfaitement l'vangile. La vrit ne se dira qu'au prix d'approx-
imations successives, voire contradictoires;" Idem, "L'trange dans l'Apocalypse: une
catgorie thologique," LumVie 31 (1982) 57: "Il n'y a pas d'abord le temps des tmoins,
puis celui de la fuite au dsert, et enfin celui du pouvoir de la Bte. Il s'agit toujours
de la mme poque . . . Sur cette priode, le voyant projette des clairages successifs."
Elisabeth Schssler Fiorenza resorts to three different images to convey how John some-
times describes the same antagonist or event from different perspectives successively.
394 G. BIGUZZI
A similar dissection in complementary perspectives is in Rev. 1:1
where John succeeds in entirely reconstructing the transmission chain
of the only at the cost of listing its protagonists in two
complementary strokes. He mentions the ultimate source of the reve-
lation (God), the princeps-mtdiator (Jesus), and the beneficiaries (the
servants of God or Jesus) in Rev. 1:1a. In Rev. 1:1b, on the contrary,
John mentions Jesus, the angel sent by Jesus, and then John himself,
illustrating only the central segment of the revelation chain, the seg-
ment of the mediators, and disregarding the two extremes (God as the
ultimate source, and his servants as the recipients). Condensing every-
thing in one list would have been grammatically heavy and concep-
tually less expressive. Instead, the bifurcation into two complementary
series gives prominence both to the greatness of the revelation (1:1a)
and to its prophetic nature and structure (1:1b).
A third case of a narrative composed from complementary per-
spectives is found in Rev. 20:11-15. Here John divides the judgement
scene into two halves: w. 11-12, and v. 13. In the first, after intro-
ducing the Sovereign (i.e. judge, v. 11), the dead (v. 12a), and both
the book of works and the book of life (i.e. the books of judgement
and of reward, v. 12b), John speaks explicitly of the judgement of the
dead ( , v. 12c). Three elements, (i) the cosmic power of
the judge ("From his presence, earth and sky fled away etc.," v. lib),
(ii) the article in "the () dead," and (iii) the totality entailed in the
couple " ", orient the reader to conclude
that John is speaking here of all the dead. In spite of such universal-
ity, John goes on speaking of two more classes of the dead in
v. 13. One class was detained in the sea (v. 13a), probably the peo-
ple who had had no burial. The second was held in Thanatos and
Hades (v. 13b), i.e. in the Underworld. John states that these dead also
were judged ( , v. 13c).
It is not possible to hold that these two judgementsthe one of the
"great and small" dead and the other of the dead of the sea and of
She lists: "a prismatic rather than sequential fashion," "a dramatic motion picture
whose individual scenes portray the same persons or action each time from a different
angle or perspective," "a musical composition that varies its main themes in different
ways": E. Schssler Fiorenza, Revelation. Vision of a Just World (Edinburgh: Clark, 1993)
36. Cf. finally R. Bauckham, The Theology of the Book of Revelation (NTT; Cambridge:
University Press, 1993) 21, where the author speaks of "complementary perspectives
[about Babylon's fall]," and p. 47, where he writes: "Revelation deals with images
which cannot say everything at once."
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 395
the Underworldare either distinct or chronologically successive, because
one cannot make out where to locate the waiting for judgement by
the "great and small" dead if not exactly in the sea or the Underworld.
Therefore, one has to conclude that John divides the same event into
two halves here as well. In between a prologue where the judge's
throne is presented (v. 11) and the epilogue where the sinking of
Thanatos into the lake of burning sulphur is related (v. 14), a single
judgement is referred to from two different perspectives that distin-
guish themselves on the grounds of their distinct universality: the anthro-
pological (the "great and small" dead, v. 12), and the cosmic (the dead
of the sea, the dead of the Underworld, v. 13).
f. Anticipatory Doublets
John sometimes challenges his readers and interpreters also by means
of surprising doublets that anticipate what he relates in more detail at
the right time and place later on.
One of such cases regards the two flights of the Woman of Rev.
12 into the desert, the first being signalled immediately after her deliv-
ery (12:6), and the second when the Dragon pursues and persecutes
her (12:14). It is true that E. Corsini surmounts the difficulty stating
that one confronts here two distinct flights. The first one would be
"an allegory of the original fall," while the second would be a com-
pendium of the Jewish dispensation, or the exodus.
24
However, even
prescinding from Corsini's methodological options,
25
his hypothesis of
two distinct flights is not free from difficulties. According to him the
desert would be a negative locus in the first instance (original fall), and
a positive one in the second instance (exodus). On the contrary the
text manifestly presents both cases as a positive environment. And
again, the absence of persecution in the first flight, used by Corsini as
a criterion to distinguish it from the second,
26
has nothing to do with
24
E. Corsini, The Apocalypse. The Perennial Revelation of Jesus Christ (Wilmington, DE:
Glazier, 1983 [Torino 1980]) 217-23; Idem, "La donna e il dragone nel capitolo 12
dell'Apocalisse," RStBib 6 (1994) 261. In his article of 1994, Corsini changed the
identification of the second flight from the Jewish dispensation to the exodus.
25
Understanding a flight in the desert as the original fall is an interpretation nei-
ther symbolic nor typological, but in se and per se allegorical. After all, Corsini himself
employs the term "allegory" abundandy.
26
The two flights are distinguishable from each other since only the second has to
do with persecution, says Corsini. The 1,260 days of the first would constitute the first
half of Daniel's week of years which is not a time of persecution, whereas the "three
times and a hal f of the second flight should be the second half of the week of years,
396 G. BIGUZZI
either the image or the reality of the original fall. The point is that,
if the Dragon dashes off in pursuit of the Woman's child towards the
place where it is brought to safety, the Woman is not threatened by
it and has no need to flee. It is in v. 13 that there is indeed the neces-
sity for her to seek safety, because there the Dragon turns against her
with great hostility (: "pursue," "chase in war or hunting,"
"persecute"). If v. 6 speaks of a needless flight, then, along with the
majority of interpreters, one can see in this verse a surprising (and
useless) anticipation of v. 14, where the flight is chronologically in the
right place.
27
A second anticipatory doublet is in Rev. 16:18-19 where Babylon
is split into three parts by an unprecedented earthquake. Yet the actual
destruction is announced later on in Rev. 17:16 and is finally pre-
supposedas already said above, not exactly described, as the result
of a big fire (not of an earthquake!), in Rev. 18. A third example is
the descent of the New Jerusalem from heaven in 21:2 which antici-
pates unnecessarily that of 21:10. The classical explanation of such a
doublet is to suppose the blending of two sources by the author.
28
But
which is, instead, a time of persecution: "And he shall make a strong covenant with
many for one week; and for half of the week he shall cause sacrifice and offering to
cease; and upon the wing of abominations shall come one who makes desolate etc."
(Dan. 9:27). The sum of the two times would equal Daniel's week of the messianic
waiting.
27
Here there is an anticipation according to Bousset, Swete, Alio, Lohmeyer, Gelin,
Bonsirven, Behm, Salguero, Bartina, Beasley-Murray, Prigent, Roloff etc. As an exam-
ple, cf. L. Cerfaux, "La vision de la femme et du dragon de l'Apocalypse en relation
avec le Protvangile," in Recueil Cerfaux, III (BETL 71; Leuven: University Press,
1985) 247: "Le verset 6 . . . n' est. . . qu'une anticipation de 13-18." Some other inter-
preters, instead, give impossible narrative explanations of this evident doublet. Thus,
Hadorn, Die Offenbarung des Jofannes, 131 ("Es mute gesagt werden, wo die Gemeinde
nach der Entrckung des Messias ist"), U. B. Mller, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (TK,
NT 19; Gtersloh-Wrzburg: Mohn-Echter, 1984) 236 ("Weil der Verfasser einen neuen
grundlegenden Gedanken einschieben will, ist er zu dieser Unterbrechung gentigt), and
H. Gollinger, Das "Groe Z^hen" von Apokalypse 12 (SBM 11; Wrzburg: Echter, 1971)
117, and 178-179, for whom the double flight is even necessary: ". . . doch erweist sich
auch diese Wiederholung im Rahmen der . . . Gesamtinterpretation . . . als durchaus sin-
nvoll, wenn nicht gar notwendig'" "Deshalb [i.e. to say that God governs history and
not Satan] mu die Frau schon in der Wste sein, als Satan von Himmel gestrzt wird.
Daher ist Vers 6 an seiner Stelle ebenso notwendig wie die ausfhrlichere Darstellung
von Flucht und Wstenaufenthalt der Frau in den Versen 14-16. Vers 6 kann also
nicht einfach als mehr oder weniger bedeutungslose Dublette zu Vers 13b-14 abgetan
werden, wie es Charles (I, 321) und mit ihm eine Reihe anderer Interpreten tun" (ital-
ics added).
28
In his status quaestionis, J. Comblin, "La liturgie de la nouvelle Jrusalem (Apoc,
XXI,1-XXII,5)," ETL 29 (1953) 7, lists for example Vlter, Spitta, J. Wei, among
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 397
the tenor of the words in the two descriptions reveals a single hand
and, moreover, Rev. 7:9-17 employs the vocabulary and images of the
two supposed sources, i.e. both 21:1-8 and 21:9-22:5. It would be safer
then to attribute both texts to John, originally distinct and subsequendy
joined together, as M.-. Boismard assumes.
29
In regard to all of these
suppositions one rightly recalls L. Morris: "We need not think of two
originally different narratives put together by a bungling editor, so
obtuse that he forgot what he had included eight verses before."
30
The
almost inevitable conclusion therefore is that Rev. 21:2 is an antici-
patory doublet.
31
John has recourse to such anticipations when he wants to acceler-
ate the rhythm of his narrations. Thus, before an episode is concluded
(Rev. 12) or even reported (Rev. 18 and 21), the reader is assured of
God's assistance and victory.
3. John's Surreal and Oneiric World
a. A World beyond Common Logic and Experience
As a suitable frame for his unusual linguistic, figurative and narra-
tive repertoire, John is shaping a world of his own in every page of
the Literarkntiker of the end of the nineteenth century, but cf. also R. H. Charles, A
Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Revelation of St John (ICC; Edinburgh: Clark, 1920)
II, 151-3; H. Kraft, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (HNT 16a; Tubingen: Mohr, 1974) 262;
Prigent, "Le temps et le Royaume," 232-3, and, with reservation, W. Thusing, "Die
Vision des 'Neuen Jerusalem' (Apk 21:1-22:5) als Verheiung und Gottesverkundigung,"
TTZ 77 (1968) 20 note 4 ("mglich, nicht zwingend").
29
Cf. Boismard, "'L'Apocalypse', ou 'les Apocalypses' de S. Jean," 524-7.
30
L. Morris, The Book of Revelation. An Introduction and Commentary (TyndNT 20;
Leicester-Grand Rapids, MI: Inter-Varsity-Eerdmans, 2nd ed., 1989) 242.
31
Hadorn, Die Offenbarung des Johannes, 209, is too evasive ("wie schon 21:2 angedeutet"),
while on the contrary S. Bartina, Apocalipsis de San Juan (SE, NT 3; Madnd: BAC,
1967) 824, explicitly speaks of "anticipation." Others interpret Rev. 21:1-8 as a first
and summary description and 21.9-22:5 as a more detailed one. Thus, J. Moffatt, The
Revelation of St John the Divine (E's GT 5; London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1910) 478
and 482 ("prelude" and "resumption"); E. Lohmeyer, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (HNT
16; Tubingen, Mohr, 1926) 167 ("eine Ergnzung"); J Bonsirven, L'Apocalypse de Saint
Jean (VS 16; Paris: Beauchesne, 1951) 305 ("une description dtaille"); Ch. Brutsch,
La Clart de l'Apocalypse (Genve: Labor et Fides, 5. ed., 1965) 363 ("une vision plus
nuance"); Muller, Die Offenbarung des Johannes, 349 ("naher beschreibt"); J. Roloff, Die
Offenbarung des Johannes (ZB, NT 18; Zurich: Theologischer Verlag, 1984) 197 ("zunchst
einen allgemeinen berblick"); W. J. Harrington, Revelation (SP 16; Collegeville, MN:
The Liturgical Press, 1993) 209 ("more fully"); G. . Beale, The Book of Revelation
(NIGTC; Grand Rapids, Mi-Cambridge, U K. Eerdmans-The Paternoster Press, 1999)
1062 ("a recapitulation of the immediately preceding section")
398 G. BIGUZZI
his book: a world made of very unique settings, actors and rules, such
that Rev.'s images often transgress common logic, as happens in dreams.
A cluster of such bizarre items can be found for example in the
image of the Woman of Rev. 12:1-2. She is in fact surprisingly dressed
in sun, standing on the moon, and crowned with a dozen stars of the
sky. These traits hint of the celestial nature and vocation of the Woman.
Yet the sun is not a dress, the moon cannot be underfoot, and the
stars of the sky are not gems to be set in any crown. Another detail
of John' s universe can be taken from the image of the Great Harlot
(Rev. 17) who is labelled as "drunk with the blood of the saints and
the blood of Jesus' witnesses" (v. 6). The "drinking of blood" evokes
the image of a horrifying banquet, while the drinking of blood "till
inebriety" suggests relentlessness with one's victims. Yet blood is not
alcoholic nor inebriating. Another peculiar detail is in the image of
the armies dressed in linen ( ) fighting with the
two Beasts and their armies, at the command of the Rider of Rev.
19. Going into battle dressed in linen conveys that they are fighters
pure and stainless and that their battle is an ideal one. In fact, linen
is an extremely valuable and refined cloth: John himself knows that
the great and the powerful wear linen (18:16) and that linen is worn
on the day of one's wedding (19:8). It is then understandable that John
lists linen among the 28 precious wares in 18:11-13. Yet in real life
nobody goes to the front dressed in linen. The image of the gates of
the New Jerusalem is also bewildering: each gate is a huge pearl, made
of a single piece (21:21). John's description here seeks to amaze, express-
ing the preciousness and eschatological nature of the Jerusalem that
comes down from heaven. But the dimensions even of the most mas-
sive pearl are out of proportion to the dimensions of a city gate.
While experience tells us that blood stains red, John states, on the
contrary, that the saints have bleached their robes in blood (7:14).
Again, while a stream of water can run only upon an earthen surface,
a stream is vomited out by the Dragon against the Woman who escapes
by flying, obviously in the sky, towards a place of refuge (12:15).
32
And
again, one reads in Rev. 21:16 that the three dimensions of the escha-
tological Jerusalem are the same. The city in consequence would have a
cube's shape according to John, and yet urban dwellings rise to a height
32
The oddity is pointed out by R. Lehmann-Nitsche, "Der apokalyptische Drache.
Eine astraltheologische Untersuchung ber Ap Joh 12," Zihn 65 (1933) 201.
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 399
of only some tens of meters, and surely not up to 12,000 stadia.
33
Strange as they are, these details do have some meaning in John' s
universe. The bleaching power of the blood celebrates the salvine force
of the Christ-Lamb's death. The stream running through the sky is a
remaking of the old exodus taken from an image found in Ex. 19:4
and Dt. 32:11. The cubic city tries to represent what is otherworldly
and ineffable.
34
But in each the reader faces a straining of common
understanding and experience.
Furthermore, it belongs to a world other than our own that an
eagle (8:13) or even an altar (16:7) or its horns (9:13) speak, and that
three frogs perform prodigies (16:14), or again, that a star be able to
handle the key of the abyss (9:1-2). It is extraneous to our world and
experience that a human being have a sword in place of his tongue
(1:16; cf. 2:12,16; 19:15,21), that a woman would fly (12:14), that a
human being be appointed as a permanent column of a temple (3:12),
that an animal would be a member of itself (17:7,9-11),
35
or that a
city would fornicate with the kings of the earth (18:3), or that another
city would marry (21:9-10), and that it would marry a lamb (19:7;
21:9), that the lamb could have 7 eyes, and that it could open the
seals of a book which no one else in the three regions of the cosmos
is able to do (5:2-4 and 6:1,3,5 etc.), and that it could turn out to be
the shepherd of an innumerable multitude (7:17), being followed wher-
ever it goes by 144,000 persons (14:4), fighting a victorious war against
terrible foes (17:14).
b. Rev.'s Surreal World, its Nature and Purpose
The least inadequate term to ascribe to all the images that popu-
late this Johannine world is perhaps "surreal."
36
The term "surreal-
ism" was coined in the Twentieth century to signify the transcendence
33
Concerning the "cubical" Jerusalem, B. J. Malina, The New Jerusalem in the Revelation
of John. The City as Symbol of Life with God (Zacchaeus Studies, NT; Collegeville, MN:
The Liturgical Press, 2000) 54, writes: "It is a cube, each side of which is the length
of the Great Wall of China . . . This great cube would cover half of the United States
and reach to the height of 260 Mount Everests."
34
J. Sweet, Revelation (TPI, NTC; London-Philadelphia, PA: SCM-Trinity Press
International, 2nd ed., 1990) 15, writes: "A square is a perfect figureeven more so
a cube (21:16)."
35
Cf. Allo, L'Apocalypse, 64 (". . . par exemple un animal et un membre de cet ani-
mal [are identical]").
36
The term is employed for instance by Boring, Revelation, 57, who writes: "Interpreters
of Revelation should not attempt to fit John' s surrealistic pictures into etc."
400 G. BIGUZZI
of realism in European arts and literature. In fact, one could compare
a number of Johannine traits with certain creations of surrealistic artists.
For example, just as John presents the "One like a son of man" hav-
ing a sword which issues from his mouth (1:16), so Salvador Dal
would represent drawers coming out from the belly of Venus, or would
paint a head with a candle or an aeroplane in place of eyes nose and
mouth. Just as John presents a cavalry wielding sulphur and fire, so
Dal would paint appalling burning giraffes.
37
However, even if the
term "surreal" might help to define John' s images, his unrestrained
fantasy escapes our capacity to classify his bizarre creations and inven-
tions exhaustively.
As for its nature and purpose, the "strangeness" of this oneiric world
is first of all revelatory and prophetic. It speaks in fact of the new cre-
ation that God's power brings about, to some extent in the present
messianic times, and then fully in the eschatological aeon. Since Rev.'s
strangeness engages the reader in a demanding interpretative labour,
it also serves to catch the attention, to surprise, and fundamentally to
exhort. Through it John alarms the readers on the one side, and tries
to persuade them to opt for the right camp on the other.
4. Conclusion
John' s Apocalypse puzzles and troubles at every page. The reason
for this is that the author frequendy goes against common logic in
shaping his images and narratives.
38
Yet, John' s license with regard to
common logic is not capriciousness since it is possible to gather his
37
The transcendence of realism was rather frequent also in antiquity and in more
recent times: it should be enough to recall here Aesop's fables, or those of Phaedrus,
or of J. de la Fontaine, and the writings of Lucian of Samosata, the Golden Ass by
Apuleius of Madaura, the legends of A thousand and one nights, and The adventures of Baron
von Munchausen, etc.
38
The literary audacities found in Rev. are not without analogy. Prigent, "L'trange
dans l'Apocalypse," 49-50, for example points out parallels with the OT and apoca-
lyptic literature, commenting that the original readers of Rev. met with less difficulty
in approaching it than we do today. He adds, however, that it suffices to compare ten
pages of any OT prophet and ten pages of Rev. to realise that there is no such con-
centration of surprising features in the OT as there are in John' s book. What could
be said about apocalyptic literature is different to some extent. For example H. P.
Mller, "Die himmlische Ratversammlung. Motivgeschichtliches zu Ape. 5:1-5," ZJ^^
54 (1963) 255 note 4, writes: "Die jdische Apokalyptik ist voll von Unanschaulichkeiten
und technischen Inkonsequenzen."
FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE OF REV. 401
eccentricities into some kind of system, here called a "grammar." Since
every grammar helps in learning and mastering a language, the above
attempt to systematise the strange traits of the book of Rev. seeks to
make it a more readable book, however inimitable it is.
This attempt at writing the Ungrammar of Rev.'s anomalies is rel-
evant also on the level of literary criticism. In other words, all that
has been said above testifies against the source-hypothesis as applied
to Rev.'s origin and composition. This is so for at least two reasons:
because of the repeated occurrence of the same anomalies, and because
of their presence in the micro-texts.
Firstly, if for instance the sequence of verbal tenses goes from future
to present to past repeatedly, in many episodes, it is not viable either
to call in question the author's knowledge of Greek, or to suppose his
recourse to different sources. The same can be said for the texts of
the complementary perspectives. One could for example suppose two
sources behind the judgement of the two groups of dead in Rev. 20:11-
12 and 20:13, but the hypothesis is not necessary and even improba-
ble, because the author proceeds in 20:11-13 as he does on at least
two other occasions.
Secondly, the supposed blending together and reworking of pre-exis-
tent sources are belied on the literary level by the narrative gaps and
metamorphoses when they are found in such short episodes that can
only be unitary. If for example the result of the sealing follows imme-
diately its announcement without a single word about the sealing act
itself, then analogous lacunae are not indisputable proofs for a bungling
combination of sources when they occur elsewhere in Rev. Similarly,
the metamorphosis in the command to measure the , the altar
and the worshipers (11:1: a single verse), or the metamorphosis by
which a city changes into a woman and again from a woman it turns
back into a city (17:16: a single verse again) prove that it is not nec-
essary to have recourse to any source in order to explain analogous
variations which may exist between larger and wider images.
39
In conclusion, the numerous and great difficulties of Rev. are to be
solved first of all by collating the parallel features found within this
very book, and not by hurriedly resorting to sources. After all, the
diachronic study of Rev., dominant for example in the last decades of
Cf. the review on D. Aune, Revelation 1-5, in Bib 79 (1998) 584.
402 G. BIGUZZI
the nineteenth century, which W. Bousset spoke of as a "hunt for
sources,"
40
has not succeeded in explaining the book and its plot.
41
Rather, due to his particular language and his own narrative logic,
John of Patmos is the best interpreter of himself.
40
W. Bousset, Die Offenbarung Johannis (KEK, NT; Gttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht,
6. ed., 1906) 121 ("Jagd nach Quellen").
41
Allo, L'Apocalypse, lxvi, writes: ". . . ainsi il n'y aurait nul besoin de recourir, pour
expliquer certaines 'incohrences' du symbolisme, l'hypothse qu'il [i.e. John] a jux-
tapos pniblement des sources disparates."
^ s
Copyright and Use:
As an ATLAS user, you may print, download, or send articles for individual use
according to fair use as defined by U.S. and international copyright law and as
otherwise authorized under your respective ATLAS subscriber agreement.
No content may be copied or emailed to multiple sites or publicly posted without the
copyright holder(s)' express written permission. Any use, decompiling,
reproduction, or distribution of this journal in excess of fair use provisions may be a
violation of copyright law.
This journal is made available to you through the ATLAS collection with permission
from the copyright holder(s). The copyright holder for an entire issue of a journal
typically is the journal owner, who also may own the copyright in each article. However,
for certain articles, the author of the article may maintain the copyright in the article.
Please contact the copyright holder(s) to request permission to use an article or specific
work for any use not covered by the fair use provisions of the copyright laws or covered
by your respective ATLAS subscriber agreement. For information regarding the
copyright holder(s), please refer to the copyright information in the journal, if available,
or contact ATLA to request contact information for the copyright holder(s).
About ATLAS:
The ATLA Serials (ATLAS) collection contains electronic versions of previously
published religion and theology journals reproduced with permission. The ATLAS
collection is owned and managed by the American Theological Library Association
(ATLA) and received initial funding from Lilly Endowment Inc.
The design and final form of this electronic document is the property of the American
Theological Library Association.