A FIGURATIVE AND NARRATIVE LANGUAGE GRAMMAR O F 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 narratives. 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 analyses two features of Johannine images (1), six features of Johannine ways of narrating (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 little 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.

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Novum Testamentum XLV, 4

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(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.

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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 (unfortunately without references) speaks of: " . . . instabilit des symboles secondaires qui glissent, qui se fondent, qui se chassent l'un l'autre au cours d'une mme vision."

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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

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).

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unrecognisable. Announced in 6:17 ("The great day of his anger has 7 come, and who can stand before it?"), 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

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(and metamorphosis) even between the rider on the white horse of 11 Rev. 6:2 and the rider on the white horse of Rev. 19, 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 12 a sword and bears an undetermined number of diadems on his head. 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 promissionis 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 majestatis, 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.

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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

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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."

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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.

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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.

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(, , 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 half 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 proximo miserabiliter mere videbitis; non vos fallat, non vos decipiat, cujus omnis pulchritudo subito evanescet" (PL 165, 701.C).

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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 narrative 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

See below the paragraph on the anticipatory doublets. 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 comparaison 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 incapables 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'approximations 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 sometimes describes the same antagonist or event from different perspectives successively.
20

19

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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, J o h n 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."

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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 distinguish themselves on the grounds of their distinct universality: the anthropological (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 delivery (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 compendium 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

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 neither 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 half of the second flight should be the second half of the week of years,

24

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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 interpreters, 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, N T 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 sinnvoll, 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" (italics 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

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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 anticipatory doublet.31 John has recourse to such anticipations when he wants to accelerate 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 narrative 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 G T 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, N T 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")

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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

The oddity is pointed out by R. Lehmann-Nitsche, "Der apokalyptische Drache. Eine astraltheologische Untersuchung ber Ap Joh 12," Zihn 65 (1933) 201.

32

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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 wherever 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 populate this Johannine world is perhaps "surreal."36 The term "surrealism" 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 animal [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."

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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" having 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 inventions 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 creation 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 O T and apocalyptic 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 O T prophet and ten pages of Rev. to realise that there is no such concentration of surprising features in the O T 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."

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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. 20:1112 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-existent 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.

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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.

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 juxtapos pniblement des sources disparates."

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