This seal has caused far more debate among commentators than any other. There are dozens of plausible (and not a few implausible) suggestions for what this short period of silence means. It is possible this is simply a rhetorical pause, the calm before the storm.
Some see it connected to the Jewish practice of silent prayer, which is connected to incense burning found in the same context as the silence. In the context of chapter 8 this is possible, since the angels are lighting incense in the temple of God. David Aune offers several rabbinic texts implying a ritual silence was practiced during the burning of the incense (m. Tamid 5:1-6 does not explicitly say that the incense was offered in silence; 2:508). This suggestion has some merit, since silence is associated with worship of God in the Old Testament (Psalm 46:10) and even among the Greeks (Thucydides, for example).
Thuc 6.32.1 The ships being now manned, and everything put on board with which they meant to sail, the trumpet commanded silence, and the prayers customary before putting out to sea were offered, not in each ship by itself, but by all together to the voice of a herald; and bowls of wine were mixed through all the armament, and libations made by the soldiers and their officers in gold and silver goblets.
Greg Beale observes silence is associated with Gods judgment. The nations are silenced when they fall under God’s judgment (Revelation, 446). In Isaiah 47:5 Babylon is told to “sit in silence,” in Ezekiel 27:32, Tyre is silenced. Zephaniah 1:17 the day of the Lord is an occasion for silence because it is like a sacrifice to the Lord.
Isaiah 47:5 “Sit in silence, go into darkness, Daughter of the Babylonians; no more will you be called queen of kingdoms.
Ezekiel 27:32 As they wail and mourn over you, they will take up a lament concerning you: “Who was ever silenced like Tyre, surrounded by the sea?”
Zephaniah 1:7 Be silent before the Sovereign LORD, for the day of the LORD is near. The LORD has prepared a sacrifice; he has consecrated those he has invited.
Both silence in judgment and silence as worship appear in the pseudepigrapha. In 1 Enoch 18:2, Enoch sees the fifth heaven where encounters the innumerable armies called Grigori” (the watchers) who had turned aside from the Lord. The gigantic beings are perpetually silent and “there was no liturgy in the fifth heaven.” In 4 Ezra 7:30, after the messiah dies “the world shall be turned back to primeval silence for seven days.”
The Letter of Aristeas describes Temple worship as “well ordered silence” (92), “a general silence reigns, so that one might think that there was not a single man in the place although the number of ministers in attendance is more than seven hundred” (95). The Testament of Adam begins with a list of the twelve hours, concluding with “the twelfth hour is the waiting for incense, and silence is imposed on all the ranks of fire and wind until all the priests burn incense to his divinity” (1.12). Notice the connection between silence (Rev 8:1) and incense (Rev 8:2-5).
I think it is best to see the seventh seal, trumpet, and bowl as parallel. Just prior to God’s intervention to defeat his enemies (the seventh bowl), there will be worship in heaven. First, this is silence, but it is followed by loud worship. Revelation 12:15 says when the seventh trumpet sounds, there were “loud voices in heaven” because the kingdom of God has come.
Why “about a half an hour?” Once again, there are dozens of suggestions. It is a short and indefinite time, much like Daniel 4:16,19, Daniel was amazed and struck with silent awe for about an hour. Later in Revelation, several judgements all take place within an hour (18:10, 17, 19).
This was an interesting read. Even today when we spend time in prayer it usually in silence. When reading this post there is a huge importance intuit silence plays in worship. What is interesting is that the silence is only in heaven (8:1). This does not mean things were silent on earth. Silence is an uncomfortable thing fo bus today however when you read the OT silence was a sense of reverence and respect to the Lord. Even today moments of silence are used to remember either people we hold in high regard and in remembrance of a tragic event that has happened.
I have always found the opening of the seventh seal to be one of the most chilling events in the entire Bible, not just in the book of Revelation. There are many frightening images in Revelation, but there are few that seem especially frightening in the sense that they go against a very prominent theme of Christianity. I had always envisioned that the presence of God is always filled with ceaseless praise and song, as it is described in Revelation four and five. However, once the seventh seal is broken, all of that stops. A place that is full of ceaseless praise to God stops and goes silent for thirty minutes. This has always like a “calm before the storm” as P. Long describes—all of heaven quietly waiting, or perhaps even mourning, the tribulation that is about to be unleashed upon the earth. It doesn’t seem out of place for this to take place, as so many of the Old Testament prophets describe the end times (the Day of the Lord) as a horrible time for anyone. Amos 5:18 proclaims woe onto those who await it; Joel 2 describes it as “a day of darkness and gloom.”
It seems to me like there are plenty of reasonable options for what the silence in heaven could represent, with all of the examples shared here fitting that standard. The one that jumped out at me the most was silence being related to God’s judgement. There are a number of actual Biblical examples to support that idea, which isn’t necessarily true for other potential explanations. Silence is something that we incorporate into our spiritual lives even today, using it both in groups and personally as a space for prayer, reflection, and meditation. Maybe this is another potential explanation, that the silence serves as a time for reflection before the kingdom of God is fulfilled. This is just another one of those things that we won’t fully understand the true meaning until it happens. I also thought the parallels between Revelation and the Testament of Adam were interesting. Jason Matson points out that neither John and Adam describe the significance of the silence. “They assume instead that their readers will know what it signifies” (Matson 84). Maybe the people of John’s time knew exactly what he meant by the silence or had more context for it than we do. Either way, it clearly plays a role in God’s plan, otherwise John would not have recorded it.
looking at how loud worship is all over the book of Revelation, it gives a feeling of uneasisnes to suddenly have that suspense of silence before the seventh seals is opened. “There’s no specific reason given for the silence of the angelic host, but there is a tradition within Judaism that say that the angels will be silent in-order for the prayers of Israel to rise to God’s throne,” (Reading Revelation). Maybe this was at the reason this silence was taking place.
But I love this observation, “Just prior to God’s intervention to defeat his enemies (the seventh bowl), there will be worship in heaven. First, this is silence, but it is followed by loud worship. Revelation 12:15 says when the seventh trumpet sounds, there were “loud voices in heaven” because the kingdom of God has come,” (P. Long). As this silent is taking place there souls praying although you can hear them praying, they are not interrupting the silence. I believe this was just a way for just giving God there glory for fulfilling His promises to his chosen people.
This silence in heaven for half an hour is significant. It means a sign of deep respect and awe in the presence of the great judge or ruler. We read in Zephaniah 1v7 and Habakkuk 2v20 the Lord is in his holy temple let all the earth keep silent .it signifies some somber reflection on what has just been revealed hence all heaven remains silent as God’s righteousness is displayed and his sovereignty of the actions about to be taken when now leads to the preparation of the sounding of the seven trumpets.
In Revelation 8:1 it talks about the seventh seal and how there was silence for half of an hour. This is important because as I was reading chapter 8 of Revelation, I looked at the study bible notes, and it provides us with some information to help us understand this better. There was silence in Heaven because it first represents when the Lamb breaks the seventh seal, and it also shows that God has patience with us. When it said that there was silence for half an hour that is because it gives living creatures which are angels, elders, and the church, time to praise the Lord because of his coming of judgement.
P Long talks about how the silence of prayer could also be connected to how the Jewish people practice silent prayer, which is also connected to when they burn incense, but we are not sure if they burned the incense in silence or not. But the Greeks say that the trumpets are blown by the angels as a sign to command silence to everyone and means that that is the silence time to pray and worship God. There are a lot of Bible verses that mention silence that I agree with why this would make sense that they spent time in silence. IN Isaiah 47:5 it tells us to go and sit in silence in a dark room. Also, Zephaniah 1:7 says that we need to be silent when we are going before the Lord because the day of the Lord is close. He has prepared a sacrifice for us. I think that it is just a shorter time frame that God commanded the angels to spend time in prayer and respect him, even if it is shorter than an hour, it still is taking time out of the day to spend time with him. I don’t think time is necessarily the purpose of this. I think that it is the fact that taking time out of our day to spend with God will be greatly appreciated.
It is strange to imagine silence being the reaction of the opening of the seventh seal, especially considering the chaos which the first six seals created. The idea of the calm before the storm, or even silent prayer, are intriguing. However, I think the comment made earlier, by ilbisee, was especially thought inducing: after such loudness a silence as this one creates a sense of uneasiness. It reminds me in a suspense novel or movie, where right at the climax there is a moment where there is complete and utter silence. When you watch this on a movie screen, the tension and fear are real for the watcher just as much as for the characters. I imagine this silence at the opening of the seventh seal to be just like that, a tension and fear of what is to come next. Johnson (2008) states that this silence is not a sign of God’s indifference for His judgement but is “appropriate in anticipation of the Lord’s coming judgement” (2472). What is about to come will not be pleasant, and a healthy fear of the judgement about to take place is necessary. It seems that even Jesus had a healthy form of fear of what He was about to endure on the cross. In the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus prays in agony to the point of “his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Luke 22:44). Even though He knew not only what was to come, but it’s necessity for the plan of salvation, Jesus was in agony over what He was about to endure. However, just like in Revelation, this agony was presented not in screaming or chaos, but silence, as it says in Isaiah 53:7 says, “and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.”
Reference
Johnson, D.E. (2008). Revelation. In The ESV Study Bible. Crossway Bibles.
At first the consideration of a half hour of silence seemed peculiar given everything that had just transpired in this book, but after reading this blog post and what Johnson wrote in the ESV study Bible, it really makes a lot of sense to me. Like you wrote, there are several instances in the Bible recognizing silence as a form of worship and used in prayer. Johnson on page 2474 also writes that silence is appropriate for the anticipation of the coming of Christ and I would have to agree. It would appear that John is trying to show that God is allowing people to process what had happened in the previous chapters and build suspense as to what is to come. Also, people would be able to use this time to reflect and worship because they had been spared of all that they had seen and give them an opportunity pray to God for protection for what is to come. It makes me think about what I have learned about prayer. I believe there should be a time of stillness and silence to prepare yourself to enter into God’s presence before starting in prayer or worship and it appears that God has allowed this time in John’s vision too.
I thought that this blog post did a good job of making connections between silence, worship, and judgment. These connections that were made in the blog post were very interesting and intriguing. I like that there was an inspection of the cultural and religious contexts that allows the reader to understand more of the symbolism that is in Revelation. Bringing connections with many of the other passages that are mentioned in the post helps with the understanding of why this silence was so important in Revelation. In the blog, there is a view that silence means a lot more than just being silent in general. The post suggests that this silence leads to an increase in worship and divine intervention. Overall, I feel as though the post includes a deep view of the text of Revelation. The post challenges the readers to be thoughtful and have consideration with the overall context of Revelation. It is important to notice the symbolism in Revelation and try to understand it as the readers. If we allow ourselves to understand the symbolism, we will be able to understand the many eschatological events that are in Revelation.
The silence descriptive in Revelation 8:1 is a perplexing passage, as it is hard to understand why silence would follow the opening of the seal, why is it for half an hour specifically? Some suggest it is simply a blank section, as John did not know how to interpret the imagery he saw, thus leaving it blank (Long, 208). Others provide various possible interpretations, ranging from symbols of subsequent earthly history, such as the church under Constantine, to symbols of evangelistic success, or the silence functioning as a rhetorical pause. One potential interpretation that may be the most likely is that some see connections to Jewish practices of silent prayer (Long, 208). Psalm 31:17 & 115:17 describes people as silent while under God’s judgment, with Isaiah 47:5, Ezekiel 27:32, Amos 8:2-3, and Lamentations 2:10-11 stating that nations are silent before God’s judgment. Silence before great figures such as powerful kings and rulers were also common, such as 1 Maccabees 1:3 describing silence before Alexander the Great. Overall, it might be best to read this half hour of silence as a time when God will hear the prayers of His people and then place His judgment on the nations. The specific time of half an hour is not as significant as people might want it to be, as it simply denotes a short period of prayer before God’s judgment.
Either way, one should employ a hermeneutic of humility when dealing with difficult texts such as Revelation 8:1, as while certain interpretations are much more probable than others, no one can be certain about why this silence in the text occurs. The chapter seems to be somewhere between an idealist and futurist interpretation, as this judgment of God will necessarily come in the eschatological future, and is not said specifically when it will occur, seeming to deal with elements of good and evil somewhat broadly. Perhaps this could be read in a preterist context, but if the text is written somewhere between 90-96, this judgment could not be related to the Temple’s destruction. Overall, it is a challenging and perplexing verse of a book that is already bewildering.
I thought at first that both the idea of the silence being a reference to worship and judgment seem plausible. While doing the reading from Jason Matson, I found myself much more convinced that this silence was more in reference to worship. He makes the case that in the Testament of Adam there is silence amongst the Angels in preparation of the incense (83). Given that John seems to be pulling much inspiration not only from the Old Testament but also from the Second Temple Literature, I think Matson and Aune’s positions seem to carry more weight than Beale’s, although I enjoy Beales commentary on Revelation. It seems to me that when points are contested and debated in Scripture, looking towards the Second Temple period literature brings more clarity than some may have thought in the past. While Beale does point out the verses in the Old Testament, I think we can get caught up in always looking for a connection in the Bible within itself, neglecting that there was an entire world at the time with literature outside of it. Since John was Jewish and living with this literature available, it seems likely to me that he would reappropriate it in a way that is inspired unlike the other literature.
The seventh seal is one of the most anticlimactic parts of Revelation and maybe even the most anticlimactic parts of the whole Bible. The sixth seal is full of drama. After it is opened there are earthquakes, the sun and moon are affected, and the stars start to fall (Rev 6:12-13). After reading that imagery, the common thought is that if the sixth seal is that bad then the seventh seal must be really horrible. Then the seventh seal is opened and the only thing that happens is there is silence (Rev. 8:1). After this, the seven trumpets become the focus of Revelation (Rev. 8:2). There is all this build up just for nothing to happen and we are left with the question of why. I do not believe that we will ever have a good answer for this passage. The specfic note that the silence lasts for half an hour is interesting, but we really can only guess at what it means (Rev 8:1). A possible connection between the Testament of Adam and this passage leads to this conclusion “The silence of the heavenly beings allows the prayers of the martyrs to sound forth. The silence tells us that God hears our prayers and will act to vindicate his people” (Maston, 2019, p. 85). This conclusion regarding this passage is not perfect because it does not address why the seventh seal is so anticlimactic or why the silence specifically lasts for half an hour, but I do feel that conclusions like this are the best we can do regarding the seventh seal.
I think the seventh seal is the most powerful seal out of all of them. Many people would disagree with me, but I think it is. Silence throughout scripture is viewed as very powerful and always noted as something significant. We can see in 1 Kings 19 where there is a strong wind, an earthquake, and a fire. The crazy part is that God was not in any of those “powerful” things. He was in the gentle whisper. There are also plenty of examples throughout the Bible when God comes to people in silence or when they are in silence. If Revelation is repetitive and the seals, trumpets, and bowls are the same thing just described differently then we know that this seal marks the end of the final judgment of God. I know after a great victory whether that’s in sports or even a video game I always jump and scream in joy and celebration. I know for sure this is way more important than winning a game in Fortnite. This is the greatest victory that has ever happened and to celebrate that they are in complete silence. Not even a clap or the snapping of fingers. I believe this is in the awe of God and true worship of God, to honor him and his glory. I know myself and I could use a lot more silence in my day-to-day life. Silence really does something indescribable and I mean complete silence. No noise in the distance or the ring of your phone. Complete and utter silence. Just you and God. I have found that it creates the best time of worship and prayer. God already knows my heart and my thoughts. He knows what I desire and what prayers I want answered. Sometimes God just wants time with you alone and nothing else. God wants you to be in deep and completely focused on him for even 10 minutes a day. All God wants is us. Not fancy worship music or this deep thought-out prayer to make you sound Godly. He just wants us in deep silence in complete awe of him just like Heaven will be after the greatest victory of all time.
The variety of interpretations of this debate are not far off of the rest of the book of Revelation. Throughout this course, I have had to just submit myself to the fact that there are so many things that we will not be able to logically explain found therein. This is no different when studying Revelation 8 and the seventh seal. When looking at the different interpretations of this event, I do appreciate the rhetorical pause aspect. The cacophony of noise found in the past six seals is leading up to a brief, but reflective pause just as the narrative of God’s unfolding wrath reaches a climax. This moment of silence is followed by the rest of the outpouring of God’s wrath, therefore indicating that this could very well be a calm before the storm.
I also like the aspect of the Jewish silent prayer taking place here. The angels are taking this moment to pray and worship God in a brief moment of silence and then incense is being burnt to symbolize the prayers reaching up to God. This allusion to a practice that was common to Jewish worship would have made sense to John and his audience. Perhaps we could combine the two viewpoints. Not only is this a moment of brief silence to recognize the coming magnitude of God’s judgement on the wickedness of man, it could also be a moment for all the heavenly host to solemnly lift up a prayer to God in a form of silent worship. All things considered, this is not something Western culture is used to. Perhaps that is why this silence has caused more noise in biblical scholarship through the ages.
The book of revelation always seems to be at the heart of the debate for a multitude of topics. The seventh seal being one of them. As it goes with most of the book of revelation I feel that your are to take what is said literally at first then for more interpretation you can go back and look at every detail and speculate whether what is being said is literal or figurative. On the topic of silence in Heaven for me personally I feel that it did literally go silent. I feel that the silence in Heaven is a way that God was portraying his judgment and that silence is associated with God’s judgment elsewhere in Scripture, the silence in heaven may signify the solemnity and gravity of the events about to unfold.