Apocalyptic

Who are the “Four Living Creatures” in Revelation 4?

Like the 24 elders, the four “living creatures” worship God at his throne (Rev 4:6b-8a). The NIV places these creatures “in the center, around the throne.” This reflects the difficulty of the syntax of this line in Greek. It could mean they are simply in the immediate vicinity of the throne, near the throne.

Most scholars think John’s vision draws on the throne room vision from Ezekiel 1-2. If this is true, then these creatures in Rev 4 are cherubim. In Ezekiel the four creatures are a part of the throne of God, more or less the “wheels” of the Throne-Chariot of God. There are, however, a number of differences between these creatures and Ezekiel 1-2. The four creatures are described as having similar other-worldly features. They are “full of eyes,” or “eyes all around.” This is similar to Ezekiel 1; the cherubim are “wheels within wheels, full of eyes.” But the description is also slightly different; the faces are not quite the same in Revelation.

Thirteenth century ivory carving of Christ surrounded by the four living creatures from the MusŽe national du Moyen-åge

Thirteenth century ivory carving of Christ surrounded by the four living creatures from the Muse national du Moyen-åge

It is possible the description in Revelation recalls something of Ezekiel, but also may have been influenced by other developments in Jewish thinking about angels. One possibility is that John intended to make a reference to archangels. In the Hebrew Bible, there are no archangels, although Gabriel (Dan 8:16, 9:21, Luke 1:18, 26) and Michael (Dan 12:1, Jude 9) are two specific, named angels given that distinction in later Jewish documents. “Archangel” does appear in Jewish literature, but it is perhaps not the right designation for these angels.

It is possible these many-eyed creatures are apocalyptic “watchers.” In some apocalypses written well before the first century, there is a category of angelic being who are designed by God to “witness” everything (1 Enoch 1:5, Jubilees 4:15; 8:3; 10:5). According to 1 Enoch 6-36, some of these angels came down to earth and taught humans sinful practices (like making war and sorcery, but also medicine and cosmetics, 1 Enoch 8). They also had relations with human women and created “the giants.” Michael and Gabriel (along with Surafel or Uriel, depending on the manuscript of 1 Enoch) “observed carefully from the sky” all of this wickedness and called out to the Most High to judge these angels and to destroy the wickedness they had caused (1 Enoch 9-10). The result, of course, is the flood (and a blockbuster Hollywood film).

The Targum on Ezekiel has an expanded description of the cherubim. In Tg. Ezek. 1:6 the angelic beings face four faces, each of which have four faces, sixteen to each creature, with sixty-four faces in all. This kind of elaboration is also found in 3 Enoch 21:1-3:

R. Ishmael said: The angel Metatron, Prince of the Divine Presence, said to me: There are four creatures facing the four winds. Each single creature would fill the whole world. Each of them has four faces and every single face looks like the sunrise. 2 Each creature has four wings and every single wing would cover the world. 3 Each one of them has faces within faces and wings within wings. The size of a face is 248 faces, and the size of a wing is 365 wings. 4 Each creature is crowned with 2,000 crowns and every crown is like the rainbow; its brightness is as the brightness of the sun’s orb and the rays which shine from each separate crown are as the brightness of the morning star in the east. (P. Alexander, OTP 1: 277)

Each of the four creatures has a different appearance. Only the third is said to have the “face” of a man, but based on Ezekiel 1 it may be that only the face is in mind. A major difference between these four creatures and Ezekiel 1 is that each creature has a different face, while Ezekiel 1 describes four creatures with four faces each. These creatures have wings like the Seraphim of Isaiah 6 and they worship God is a very similar manner as the Seraphim, but other characteristics (such as the faces and eyes, etc.) are similar to Ezekiel.

AliensMany attempts have been made to ferret out some meaning of the four faces, some more serious than others. The church fathers usually tried to find the four gospels in the faces, but never really agreed on which gospel was intended. It is probably best to agree with the majority of modern commentaries and see these faces as referring to the highest creature in four categories, wild animal, domestic animal, flying animal, and man.

We can know for certain these creatures lead worship in heaven (Rev 4:6-9; 5:8-9, 19:4) and they appear to be associated with the throne of God. In Rev 6:1-7 they will announce the coming of the four horsemen after each seal is opened, and in 15:7 one of these creatures gives the seven bowls of God’s wrath to the angels who pour them out on the earth (16:1).

 

Revelation as Subversive Literature

In his book Apocalypse Recalled (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002), Harry Maier advocates taking Revelation as a “subversive piece of memory work” in order to avoid falling into the trap of extremism. The apocalyptic genre, Maier argues, looks at the present by looking back at what has already happened rather than forward to an escapist future.

revelation-bibleHe says western, post-modern culture has become, like Nietzsche’s cows, blissfully ignorant.  We no longer need to remember anything because information is so freely available.  The post-modern world, according to Maier, is a post-God world of fragmentation (24-25).  American culture tries to be “real” but it is in fact Hollywood simulation.  Maier cites Jean Baudrillard’s criticism of modern culture as well as Umberto Eco critique in Travels in Hyper-Reality. Christianity has bought into this fake culture and most Christians are comfortable in the secular culture of the West.

For Maier, several reactions are possible with respect to reading Revelation.  We could hunker down and await the rescue of the Coming Jesus who will judge this world and reward the faithful few.  On the other extreme is the Social-gospel model of working with culture to create a more Christ-like culture.  The problem with the old-style Social-Gospel is that few if any government agencies care what Christian organizations advise these days. The days of a “transformational” relationship between Christ and Culture are gone, according to Maier, all which is left for the church is to “trouble culture,” which is what John does in the book of Revelation.

In order to “trouble the world” with Revelation, Maier says we ought to read the book “as a Laodicean” By this he means we ought to read Revelation as if we were members of the church at Laodicea, rather than one of the other churches.  He argues the seventh of the letters to the churches is climactic, and therefore the most important. In order to make his point he must make the brief line in the letter to Sardis about a few without soiled clothes a “praise” (although Mounce considers Sardis under the strongest condemnation, Revelation, 109). Perhaps Maier’s point concerning Laodicea as most like the modern church should stand, despite his structure of the seven churches. The church at Laodicea thought it was rich, but it was in fact poor (spiritually thinking),

I find it somewhat ironic Maier agrees with many on the “radical edge” in describing the present church as Laodicea, since many early dispensationalists thought the seven churches told the “history of Christianity” climaxing in the apostasy of Laodicea.  Many of the writers Maier scolded for reading Revelation as a roadmap to the future also read the book through the lens of Laodicea!

Perhaps this is my criticism of the “reading as a Laodicean” image Maier invokes: all seven of the churches struggle with integration of faith and culture, with Laodicea being the most spectacular of the failures.  To me to limit the “lens” to this last church is to ignore the positive value of some of the churches, as well as the warnings given to them.  All seven of the churches ought to be the grid through which we read the rest of the book, not simply Laodicea.  But then again, when it comes down to the application of this image, Maier does invoke all seven of the churches, so he himself does not read the book solely “as a Laodicean!”

How did Joseph Get His Wife? – Joseph and Aseneth 1-22

The opening paragraph of Joseph and Aseneth introduces to Joseph and Pharaoh and the well-known situation of the famine. Pentaphres a priest in Hierapolis has a beautiful daughter named Asenath (in the Bible, her father is Potiphera, priest of On). Asenath is described as tall like Sarah, handsome like Rebecca and beautiful like Rachel. The son of Pharaoh desires to marry her, but the king pushes him toward a royal marriage. We are told Asenath scorned the attention of men and is “scornful and arrogant to everyone.”

Joseph and Asenath

 

Joseph and Aseneth 3-6 Joseph visits the priest’s home to collect corn because of the famine. He stays until the afternoon and Asenath prepares herself to meet him. Before he arrives, her father proposes a marriage between Asenath and Joseph. She arrogantly refuses and becomes enraged at the suggestion. When Joseph arrives, however, she sees him dressed in this royal outfit she falls in love with him (she trembles and her knees are paralyzed). The description of Joseph is angelic, prompting David Aune to see a parallel to this passage in the description of Christ in Revelation 1 (See Aune, Revelation 1-5, 72), although the description in both Joseph and Asenath and Revelation is likely a development from Daniel 7 (as Aune himself notes). Expecting a shepherd from Canaan, she was not prepared for “such beauty.” She describes him as a “son of a god.”

Joseph, however, is not a hurry to meet Asenath (chapter 7-9). Only after he is convinced she will not “molest him” does he consent to meet her. Asenath expects him to kiss her, but he refuses since he worships God and she worships idols and eats the food offered to idols. This section is the main crux of interpretation for the study of the book since Joseph describes his worship as eating blessed bread of life and drinking the cup of immortality. This passage has been the subject of lengthy discussions concerning the possibility of finding the Lord’s Supper here as well as potential parallels to John 6 and 1 Corinthians 10 (OTP 2:211 note i).

There are at least two possibilities. The most obvious (and easiest to handle) is that this is a Christian interpolation added at a much later date to make it appear as though the Communion was anticipated in the book of Genesis. The second possibility is that the reference to “true worship” as the eating of the bread of life and drinking the cup of immortality is a Jewish concept which may have had an influence on the book of John. This creates all sorts of issues when dealing with the book of John and the sources of imagery chosen in Chapter 6. This is a possibility because the text clearly contrasts the food of Joseph with the “bread of strangulation and the cup of insidiousness.” The reference in the book may be simply “true worship” versus “false worship.” How this influences John 6 (or is influenced by John 6) is a separate issue. Asenath is insulted and “distressed exceedingly” at Joseph’s rather final refusal of her. She resolves to repent, to pray to the God of Israel, and to ask him to “make her alive again” (8:11). Spurned, Asenath returns to her room and bitterly weeps in repentance. Joseph promises to return in a week’s time.

Joseph and Aseneth 10-13 describe Asenath as a model of repentance. She only eats bread and drinks water, she wears sackcloth put ashes on her head. She refuses to be comforted by her attendant virgins and she destroys her idols. Chapters 11-13 are “soliloquies” on repentance.

Asenath’s repentance is genuine and she is reward with a visit from an angelic figure (Joseph and Aseneth 14-17). This sequence is the most mysterious in the book and may not be very well understood for as much has been written in it.  This angel calls to her (Asenath, Asenath) to which she responds “here I am,” just as Abraham did at critical points in Genesis (Gen 22, for example). She sees a man very much like Joseph except that he is shining like sunshine. He tells her to have courage and to dress. Her prayers have been heard and she has been accepted by God. He tells her she will be the bride of Joseph and that her name will be “city of refuge.” The heavenly man, who refuses to give his name, gives Asenath a honeycomb “which is the bread of life.” Asenath invites him to sit on her bed (which no one has been in other than herself), and she prepares a table for him.

Image result for joseph and aseneth honeycombHe asks for honeycomb, but Asenath tells him there is none in the store room. He tells her to go and check, and returns with a wonderful honeycomb. She knows the man “spoke, and it came into being,” a spiritual insight. The man blesses her (“happy are you” is the form a beatitude) and he tells her this honeycomb is the bread of life. He breaks off a piece and gives it to her, telling her that now she has eaten the bread of life and drank the cup of immortality. The man then touches the honeycomb, drawing his finger in the shape of a cross (or an X), and his finger became like blood. Innumerable bees began to rise from the comb and surround her mouth. They eat the honeycomb out of her mouth then ascend into heaven. He then blesses the seven virgins who attend Asenath – they will be the seven pillars in the “City of Refugee” (i.e., Asenath). The man disappears while she is putting the table away. She sees a chariot of fire with four horses traveling to the east, and then she realizes either a god or the God has been in her chamber.

Joseph arrives for his second visit in Joseph and Aseneth 18-20. Asenath is instructed to prepare herself for his arrival, so she dresses beautifully. She is so striking her foster-father says “At last the Lord God of Heaven has chosen you as a bride for his firstborn son, Joseph.” When Joseph arrives he too is amazed at her beauty and asks her name. She explains to him her decision to no longer worship idols and of her vision of the man from heaven. They embrace for a long time and hold hands.

Pentephres proposes marriage and Joseph suggests the Pharaoh give the wedding banquet. We are told Joseph did not sleep with Asenath until after they were married, “It does not befit a man who worships God to sleep with his wife before the wedding” (20:1). This line is important for what it says about sexual morality in Judaism at the time of Christ, but also because Joseph refers to Asenath as wife before the wedding. This is helpful in sorting out the descriptions of Mary in Matthew and Luke. There Joseph can refer to his “wife Mary” and perhaps seek a divorce despite the fact they have not yet been married.

Pharaoh presides over the wedding of Joseph and Asenath (ch. 21) and holds a seven-day banquet for them. Asenath confesses her sin before the Lord in eleven stages (idol worship, trust in arrogance of beauty, etc.). Jacob and the rest of the family move from Canaan to Goshen (ch. 22. Asenath is astounded at his beauty even though he is an old man. She especially likes Levi because he has devoted himself to the service of the Lord.

Joseph and Aseneth

Joseph and Aseneth is a “romance,” telling the story of Joseph’s marriage to Aseneth, the daughter of Potiphera (called Pentepheres in this book.)  Like the book of Jubilees, the book attempts to answer a question which many people have about the story of Joseph. If Joseph was such a godly Jew, how could he marry an Egyptian, especially one whose father is a pagan priest? The story answers the question, “How did Joseph get his wife?”

Joseph and Aseneth

The Joseph and Aseneth was written in Greek and seems to have been a Jewish book, although there are Christian interpolations (possibly the honeycomb sequence, for example, which mentions the “bread of life.”) The book may have been known in the fourth century A.D. since it is mentioned in the Pilgrimage of Etheria. This book is a list of “holy sites” written about A.D. 382. The reference to Asenath’s house is found in a fragment of the work in Peter the Deacon of Monte Cassino’s On the Holy Places, which is dated to about A.D. 1137.

It is likely Joseph and Aseneth use the Septuagint (the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament), implying the book was written no earlier than 100 B.C. If the book was written in Alexandria (the scholarly consensus), then it is unlikely to have been written much after the Jewish revolt under Trajan, A.D. 115-117. A major argument in favor of Egypt is that Asenath is the heroine, the only convert to Judaism from Egypt.  If it was from Palestine, then Ruth or Rahab might have been better examples of pagan conversions (OTP 2:187-188).

This argument weakens if the book is an apologetic explaining why Joseph married an Egyptian or an explanation of how Joseph married a gentile without punishment, aimed at Diaspora Jews tempted to marry gentiles. Like Reuben or Judah in Jubilees, the story may be intended to explain that just because Joseph “got away with it” does not mean you can!

The book can be divided into two parts. The first is the “romance” between Joseph and Asenath (chapters 1-21). This romance is more about repentance and gentile conversion than romantic love. From the perspective of the book, it is entirely possible for a gentile to truly convert to Judaism. Asenath is so thorough a convert that she receives a heavenly visit, which confirms her resolve.  In order to convert she must completely reject her former idolatrous ways, a point made several times in the book, including the eating of food associated with these idols. This may play into the background of the issue of eating meat sacrificed to idols which turns up at several points in the New Testament, especially in Pauline letters.

As Christianity spread into Gentile regions, the meal became a potential problem on two levels. Some Jews appear to have been more than uncomfortable eating with Gentiles, especially those who were not of the “God-Fearers.” A second and related reason was the potential for non-kosher foods to be eaten, including meats that had been sacrificed to idols.  To the Gentiles, this was not a problem since they never cared about it before Christ, and it wasn’t a problem after becoming a Christian for them. But to the Jew, this is a sin!  Such food is unclean, so they could not eat it in good conscience. The issue of table fellowship appears in Galatians 2:11-18. Peter had shared the table with Gentiles, but after a visit from “certain people from James,” he withdrew from eating with Gentiles.  Asenath indicates that, at least for some Jews, the food laws were critical for true conversion. Circumcision may be the primary “boundary marker,” but it is obviously not an issue for Asenath.

The second part of the book concerns a plot by the son of the Pharaoh to kill his father to avenge his losing Asenath to Joseph. This plot goes wrong when Asenath is caught in the trap. The son of the Pharaoh is injured in the attack and dies soon after. This section has less to do with New Testament issues than the first, although the theme continues that Asenath is more righteous than the (Jewish) sons of Bilah and Zilpah.

The Apocalypse of Adam and Eve

The Apocalypse of Adam and Eve is often called the Life of Adam and Eve. M. D. Johnson translation of the Greek version of the Life of Adam and Eve is rearranged and placed in parallel columns to the Latin version in Charlesworth’s Old Testament Pseudepigrapha. This text is sometimes called Apocalypse of Moses, although he refers to it as the Apocalypse of Adam and Eve. Based on possible parallels to rabbinic material and 2 Enoch, Johnson argues the text was originally written in Hebrew near the end of the first century and translated into Greek in the fourth century.

Ultra White Adam and EveIn Chapter 29 Adam and Eve mourn for seven days after the fall. Eve asks that Adam to “do away with her” because of what she has done. Adam dismisses the thought since he cannot commit murder against his own rib. He suggests, rather, that they repent. The story continues much the same as the Life of Adam and Eve.

After they came out of paradise, Eve has two sons, Diaphotos, called Cain, and Amilabes, called Abel (Chapters 1-5:1). Eve has a vision of Abel’s murder, so as in the Vita, so the parents attempt to separate the children. Cain however is a “son of wrath” and murders his brother. In 5:1 we are told Adam fathered thirty sons and thirty daughters.

In chapters 5-14 Adam falls ill and requests Seth and Eve go to paradise and bring fruit to receive his pain (instead of the oil of life as in Vita, although in 13:2-6 Michael tells Seth it is no good trying to get the oil from the tree.) At this point Michael says that all men must die, but they will be raised up in the “great day.”

Chapters 15-30 the fall from Eve’s perspective and are not paralleled in Vita. Adam was responsible for guarding the north and east of the garden along with the male animals, while Eve was responsible for the south and west and the female animals. The devil convinces the serpent to “be his vessel” so that Adam can be tempted. When the angels who were watching over the humans in the garden depart to worship God the devil approaches Eve and discusses the fruit with her. The dialogue is expanded from the biblical narrative. For example, the devil makes Eve swear by the throne of the Lord and the cherubim to share the fruit with her husband. The fruit was sprinkled with the poison of covetousness. When Eve eats she realizes she is naked (the glory which clothed her was gone) so she makes a skirt from fig leaves.

Eve calls to Adam and tells him she will share with him a great mystery, but when she opens her mouth to speak it is the devil who talks. Adam is persuaded, eats, and realizes what Eve has done to him – “you have estranged me from the glory of God” (Cf. 2 Enoch 31, blaming Eve for the fall of Adam. In Genesis Eve is not cursed, here she is the subject of a lengthy curse). God arrives in Paradise and the throne of God is made ready at the place where the tree of life was. When God calls on Adam to explain himself, Adam says the serpent deceived him (rather than Eve, as in the biblical account). Chapters 24-26 contain the “curses” on the woman and the serpent (which imply the serpent had hands and feet prior to this).

In chapters 27-30 Adam and Eve are expelled from the garden and they are not allowed back into paradise. The Lord tells them if they guard themselves from evil they will be raised to paradise again “at the time of the resurrection.” As Adam dies, Eve repents of her sin in deceiving her husband (ch. 31-37). She is visited by the “angel of mankind” (probably Michael, OTP 1:287 note b). who tells her to look up and see Adam’s spirit leave his body and is taken up to meet its maker. She sees a brief vision of heaven and Adam on the chariot along with the seraphim. Adam’s soul is taken up into Paradise, in the third heaven (cf. 2 Cor. 12:2, Paul was called up into Paradise, in the third heaven).

Finally, in chapters 38-42 The archangel instructs Seth how to bury the body of Adam. Michael brings silk cloths from the third heaven and wraps the body which is placed in a sealed tomb for six days, after which time his “rib” would be returned to him (i.e., Eve will die and “join him in the tomb”). Chapter 41 is a promise to Adam that “on the last day” he will participate in the resurrection along with “every man of your seed.” Presumably this means spiritual seed rather than universal resurrection.