End of days. Book of Revelations. Check this., page 1

Hi Toolmaker:

Since we are now in the 10 day period between Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur, now might be a time to discuss the Imagery in the Book of Revelation in a little more detail for those on this thread that care to listen in.

Most "Christians" who even bother to read the Bookof Revelatioin today are unaware of the source material parallels that we find throughout this book (whose title is officially, The Apocalypse of Yohanon the Elder,) nor are they conversant about the Liturgy 2nd Temple Period or the 1st Jewish War against Rome which provides the historical underpinning to this book--and thus are unable to spot the exact parallels which the author is drawing from to make his "Apocalyptic" points and message.

Toolmaker, what makes you think the Apocalypse of Yohanon the Elder (whoever he was) was basing his rather messy hotchpotch of visions on the Sybilline Oracles, in particular ?

Feel free to list these in your response to this.

First, HERE is SOME BACKGROUND on the Jewish 2nd TEMPLE LITURGY (BC 167 to AD 68) which is the main source for much of the book's structure and contents.

The Jewish Feast of Trumpets/Rosh Hashannah and the 2nd Temple Liturgy and Tamidim Psalms in general form the core of cores for most of the imagery that we come across in this book

Notice how the "visions" start with the Blowing of the Ram's horn on the "Lord's Day" i.e the 1st day of the week, what we today would call a Sunday.

The Jewish Feast of Rosh Hashanah IS ALSO KNOWN as YOM HA'DIN, the DAY OF JUDGMENT when (according to Rabinninc literature and the Dead Sea Scrolls) every year YHWH determines WHO WILL BE INSCRIBED IIN THE BOOK OF LIFE (Sefer Hayyim) and WHO WILL BE INSCRIBED IN THE BOOK OF THOSE DESTINED FOR DESTRUCTION for the coming year.

Also according to Rabbinic lore, a harsh legal decision is made on Rosh Ha Shannah (New Year) AND SEALED 10 DAYS LATER AT THE CONCLUSION OF YOM KIPPUR.

During this 10 day period in the 2nd Temple period, VISIONS of the Future were thought to have been given to the faithful ---in this case Yohanon the Elder, whoever he was---where one's behavioiur during this interim period can ALTER a harsh decrees of YHWH--and thus these 10 days are known collectively as THE TEN DAYS OF REPENTENCE (Aseret Yemei Teshuvah): these were sometimes later called THE 10- DAYS OF AWE.

This 10 day cycle OPENS WITH THE LIGHTING OF SEVEN CANDLES (sound familiar?) : after the Arvit service, it is customary for the faithful to wish one another "Shannah Tovah tehatem ve-Tikatev" = MAY YOU BE INSCRIBED AND SEALED FOR ONE MORE YEAR (sound familiar? "and I looked and behold, the Angel sealed the 144,000 of the faithful...")

IT WAS ALSO CUSTOMARY FOR BELIEVERS TO EAT BREAD DIPPED IN HONEY with the words, "May it be your Will O YHWH (adonai) to grant us a good and sweet coming year..." (sound familiar? And the Angel said to me, take this scroll and Eat it: and I did eat and to my mouth it tasted as honey---but it burned as acid in my stomach!" cf: Hezekiel's scroll written both on front and back which he had to eat as well, which "tasted as honeycomb")

Certainly the conscious imagery of the Herodian Temple (the focus of the Jewish War against Rome in AD 66-72) would have been the more obvious source for :

l. the numerous blocks of chanting of Temple Liturgy Psalms by 24 Levites in White Linen,
2. the fallng down/bowing before the Throne of Heaven of the 24 Levites
3. the Silence in the Temple as the Ark of the Testimony is opened
4. Smoke filling the Tabernacle
5. all the Burning of Incense on the Altar of YHWH, and the Censors
6. the usage of the conscious exact verbal images taken straight out of the 7 Daily TAMIDIM --aka the Temple Service Psalms (mornng and evening sacrificial psalms sung Sunday through Saturday) = Psalms 24,, 48, 82, 94, 81, 93 and 92,
7. The Measuring of the Temple and its 12 gates and the mention of the Courtyard and the Court of the Gentiles (occupied by the Romans)
8. the Sacrifice of the Slain Lamb,
9. The 24 Levites playing their Golden Harps(representing the 24 Leviticial priestly families of 2nd Temple Judaeism)
10. The Seven Branched Menorah or SEVEN BRIGHT LAMPS (cf: the one in the 2nd Temple) where one Like Unto a Son of Man appears to John
11. The golden crown /mitres of the High Priest placed on the heads of each of the 24 elders
12. A voice coming from under the Altar of YHWH
13. the Seven Archangels in White Linen of the Priests, each with GOLDEN EPHODS
14. The 12 precious stones of the New Jerusalem City-Temple made out of the same 12 precious stones of the High Priest's Breastplate (Heb. 'qozen)
15. the Gates and measurements of the New Jerusalem being a perfect CUBE i.e. the Holy of Holies in the 2nd Temple which was also a perfect CUBE in shape
16. The River of Water flowing out from under the Altar of YHWH (cf; the sacrificial water drains of the 2nd Temple)
17. the SON OF MAN appears to Yohanon clothed with an Ephod of the High Priest and a GOLDEN GIRDLE from the midst of the Menorah

and several dozen other intimate references to the 2nd TEMPLE in Jerusalem.

Although we cannot be sure if this book was ever completed, (we can see that in its present form, it certainly appears to be a hotchpotch, i.e. not very polished), we can see that the author (whoever he was) was VERY INTIMATE with the LITURGY OF THE 2nd Temple priesthood (like the author of Hebrews, whoever he was)--and to ignore out of hand all the 2nd Temple cult imagery in the Book of Revelation is to overlook a great deal of the Jigsaw puzzle.

Let me have a similar list of parallels with the Sybilline Oracles, since you seem to think they also played a part in the images used here:

Other purely LITERARY sources seem to have included many of the texts found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including many peculiarly Aramaic Targum translations of the Old Testament passages:

Various EXODUS PLAGUES of EGYPT (hail, fire, darkness, boils, blood etc.)
Deutero-Zechariah (chapters 9-14)
The Testaments of Levi and Judah
The Odes of Solomon
The Apocalypse of Abraham
The Book of the prophet Malachi chapters 1, 2 and 3
The Pslams of Solomon
Daniel chapters 7 through 12
The Book of Jubilees
The Assumption of Moses
I Henoch chapters 1-36
I Henoch chapters 72-106
Joel chapters 1, 2 and 3
and the Book of the prophet Hezekiel, especially the chapters 38 to 48

A good exercise would be to read over the exact wording of the TAMIDIM PSALMS (Weekly 2nd Temple Hymns) (Psalms 24, 48, 82, 94, 81 93 92)

Here are some random samples:

e.g. "Walk around Zion, Measure its Ramparts, Count its Towers, Consider its gates, etc. How Long will the Righteous Ones Suffer, Render Thanks to YHWH with the harps, The City of EL shall be forever, Open thy Mouth Wide: I shall fill thy Belly,Arise, O EL to Judge the Earth, for Lo, the Wicked Ones gather themselves against the Souls of the Righteous Ones, Great is YHWH upon his holy Mountain, Vengeance belongeth to YHWH, EL judgeth the Gentiles amongst all the gods, Delivery O YHWH the afflicted ones from the Grip of the Wicked, The Wicked who flourish shall all die in Judgment, Blessed is the Martyr whom YHWH chastiseth, Who shall ascend the Hill of YHWH? Only the Righteous with pure hands and a clean heart, the VOICE of YHWH is mightier than the Great Waters, Lo, the foundations of the earth shall shake, The Kings of the Gentiles are mortal...each shall fall) etc.

Surely you can see all the close parallels in images and wording in these Weekly Psalms contained inside the images throughout the core of the Book of Revelation?

There's much more to write on this subject, but this thread has gotten far too long for one posting.....again !