Microdiálisis y HPLC

1. Collect potential parallel texts. Bible margins

Commentaries Concordances

Computer Bible programs

2. Copy the passage in Revelation and the potential parallels texts in large print.

3. Using a colored pen or highlighter mark all significant parallel words.

Thematic Parallels

A second piece of evidence to look for is thematic parallels. Thematic parallels can occur in connection with verbal parallels, but you can still have one without verbal parallels. You look for common themes, subjects, and ideas, whether or not the two

passages use the same words. In themselves thematic parallels are very weak. When an author has an earlier text

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in mind, he will normally echo its language as well as its themes. But sometimes the allusion acts like a secret code, as if a nod or a wink were passing between author and reader. At such times an author and reader may both recognize a common theme even though only one word, or sometimes none at all, betray a common element between two texts.

Thematic parallels, therefore, can be difficult to detect. The interpreter comes to the potential parallel text from a knowledge of the book of Revelation, the Old Testament, and a sense of the way John works with the Old Testament. As your experience grows, this difficult process becomes easier and easier. While thematic parallels are weak evidence by themselves, in

combination with verbal and structural parallels, the presence of a thematic parallel increases the likelihood that one passage alludes to another.

Perhaps the best way to teach this process is through an example or two. Ezekiel 9:1-7 presents a visionary description,

one of the most terrifying in the whole Bible. The prophet sees six men of frightful bearing approaching Jerusalem with weapons in their hands. Among them is a seventh man with a writer’s inkhorn at his side. As the seven men enter the Temple of Jerusalem, the glory of God rises up from its place over the ark (in the Most Holy Place) and moves to the door of the Temple. The Lord commands the man with the inkhorn to go from person to person throughout the city and place a mark on the forehead of all those who share God’s attitude toward the “abominations” happening in the city and in the Temple.

The man with the inkhorn proceeds from person to person, studies each face, and then either marks the forehead or doesn’t. It is a terrifying picture of judgment. No doubt each person holds their breath as the seventh man approaches, because if he places no mark on the forehead, the six armed men behind him

immediately strike that individual dead. It is a massacre of all those who don’t receive the mark. The result is that the slain fill the Temple and the city and the prophet falls on his face in agony at the scene (Eze. 9:8). Ezekiel learns that the carnage is

necessary because the land is full of violence, abuse, and perversion (verse 9). But the judgment also includes mercy. It spares those who “sigh and cry” over the wickedness in the land. So a major theme of the passage in Ezekiel 9 is a mark on

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In Revelation 9:4 (same numerical reference as the mark in Ezekiel!) we encounter a seal placed on the foreheads of the people who are serving God. It protects them against the locusts and the scorpions in the fifth trumpet. Ezekiel and Revelation use different words for “mark.” No verbal parallel exists between the texts (the only word in common is “forehead” and a single word is

not a verbal parallel), but there is a thematic parallel. The idea of marking the forehead to protect people from the judgments of God makes an interesting and significant correspondence. It is possible that the author of Revelation 9 had Ezekiel 9 in mind even if the passages have only one word in common. Normally, however, allusions are based on more than just a thematic

parallel.

Another example of a thematic parallel appears in Revelation 14:6, 7:

“Then I saw another angel flying in midair, and he had the eternal gospel to proclaim to those who live on the earth—to every nation, tribe, language and people. He said in a loud voice, “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come. Worship him who made the heavens, the earth, the sea and the

springs of water” (NIV).

You will notice three italicized phrases in the passage: “eternal gospel,” “the hour of his judgment,” and “worship him who

made.” While there are no verbal parallels between these phrases and the Ten Commandments, the italicized phrases express the three motivations for obedience included in the first table of the commandments. The Ten Commandments open with the theme of salvation: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of

Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Ex. 20:2, NIV). God’s saving action is the primary reason for obeying all the commandments. The next motivation is the aspect of judgment in the second commandment, “visiting the iniquity” (verse 5). The third is the element of creation: “I made you, therefore keep the Sabbath day holy” (verses 8-11). The triple motivations of salvation, judgment, and creation all occur in the italicized passages of Revelation

14:6, 7.

The process of finding thematic parallels is fairly similar to that of searching for verbal ones. You begin by collecting

potential parallel texts from margins, commentaries, and other sources. As you compare the Old Testament texts side by side with the passage of Revelation under study, you need to carefully

watch for common themes. Since thematic parallels tend to involve large blocks of text, it is helpful to compare the larger context of the

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Revelation passage with the larger context of potential Old Testament allusions to see if some thematic parallels might be lurking under the surface of the bigger story. The better you know both the book of Revelation and the Old Testament, the easier it is to detect genuine thematic parallels.

Structural Parallels

The third type of evidence for allusions is called a structural parallel. A structural parallel to the Old Testament in Revelation occurs when you have a whole series of words and ideas in

common. A structural parallel might be limited to a paragraph or two in Revelation, or it can cover large sections of the book. A good example of a structural parallel is that between the fifth trumpet (Rev. 9:1-11) and Joel 2:1-11. Note the many parallel words and themes between the texts: a trumpet blast, darkness, locusts, vegetation, horses, chariots, anguish, and a leader. The author of Revelation seems to be following Joel 2:1-11 verse by verse and point by point.

A number of other significant structural parallels exist in the book of Revelation. For example, Revelation 4 has a strong

structural parallel to Ezekiel 1. In a doctoral class I once gave the students both the Greek of Ezekiel 1 (the Septuagint translation of the original Hebrew) and of Revelation 4. They discovered that nearly one-third of Revelation 4 had been drawn from Ezekiel 1.

It’s a powerful relationship. Other examples of structural parallels include Daniel 7 as a structural parallel behind Revelation 13 and 17; Ezekiel 26 and 27 behind Revelation 18; and Ezekiel 40-48 behind the whole story of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, 22. And you might suspect the biggest structural parallel already. The book of Revelation as a whole seems to track pretty closely to the book of Ezekiel.

Structural parallels, however, are not limited to references to specific Old Testament texts. They can also involve repeated references to an over-arching idea. The trumpets of Revelation, for example, seem clearly based on the Exodus. But the structural parallel is not simply to the book of Exodus. The trumpets allude repeatedly to the theme of the exodus which also occurs in

Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, and throughout the rest of the Old Testament as well, including the Psalms and the prophets. The plagues of the trumpets parallel those of the Exodus: water turning to blood; hail and fire falling from heaven; darkness; people and animals dying; etc.

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In addition, we find many parallels to the creation theme in the trumpets. The Ten Commandments in principle seem to be a major background concept in Revelation 12-14 (and this parallel is not limited to references to Exodus 20). Much of Revelation 14- 19 seems drawn from the fall of Babylon theme of Isaiah 44-47, Jeremiah 50-51, and Daniel 5, among others. When looking for structural parallels one should not, therefore, restrict the search just to parallel texts with verbal and thematic parallels. Broader themes of the Old Testament also find repeated reference in Revelation.

So the book of Revelation clearly has many structural parallels to the Old Testament involving both specific texts and major

themes and events. Structural parallels are extremely strong

evidence for Old Testament allusions in Revelation. For example, wherever you have a verbal parallel to the Exodus theme in the trumpets, the likelihood of a direct allusion is much higher than it would otherwise be.

Weighing the Evidence

All things considered, the more verbal, thematic, and structural parallels you can find, the more likely it becomes that a particular Old Testament passage was in the author’s mind. Structural

parallels are generally the most certain because of their clarity, but multiple word parallels are also extremely significant. If you have a verbal parallel of six, seven, or eight words, there is

probably a direct allusion there. More than eight words in the same order and you should probably be talking about a quotation rather than an allusion.

One problem you may encounter when assessing possible allusions is what to do when a particular phrase or idea is so widely exhibited in the Old Testament that it could point to 10 or 12 different Old Testament texts. At times like that, it becomes particularly difficult to determine which exact one John had in mind. It is more likely in such circumstances that you are dealing with an echo rather than an allusion. The frequent repetition of certain words or ideas placed them “in the air” of John’s

consciousness. At such times he probably did not have a particular Old Testament source in mind. On the other hand, if the theme or parallel is limited to just one place in the Old Testament, the likelihood that the author of Revelation thought of it when he wrote correspondingly increases.

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I assess potential allusions to the Old Testament into five

categories of probability: certain, probable, possible, uncertain, and non-allusions. Let’s say that a Bible margin reference suggests an allusion to Daniel 6 in Revelation 6. But when you compare the texts you don’t find a single verbal, thematic, or structural parallel. That would be what I call a non-allusion. On the other hand, as with Revelation 4 and Ezekiel 1, if you find one verbal parallel after another, many thematic parallels, and a strong structural parallel or two, you have a certain—or at least a probable, allusion.