Abstract
The narrative shape of Revelation is notoriously difficult to identify, and varies from commentator to commentator. However, there are indicators of structure, some of which are subtler than others. This textual note identifies uses of three Greek words for ‘scroll’ (belonging to the βιβλ- word-group), twenty-eight in total, and suggests that the hitherto unidentified cluster of seven uses of the word ‘scroll’ in Revelation twenty-two could form an inclusio with the seven uses in chapter five. It further proposes that in chapter ten we are alerted to the forthcoming contents of the now opened scroll by the equivalent use of ‘little scroll’ and ‘scroll.’ I argue that the opened scroll’s contents, relating a metanarrative of salvation and judgement, are narrated from 11:19 to the close of the inclusio in chapter twenty-two, where I postulate a double ending—that of the scroll eaten by John and that of the whole book.
John Communicates in Numbers
It is regularly noted that the Book of Revelation has a complex structure 1 and that the author does not conform to the normal conventions of Greek syntax. 2 However, the more one reads his work, the more aware one becomes that this is an author who uses words carefully. In common with other apocalyptic works, 3 he communicates in word pictures of vibrant colour and loud noise, seeking to describe the indescribable. He also resorts often to the symbolic use of numbers: three, four, six, seven, twelve, a thousand, to mention some of the important ones. John uses this numerical symbolism even to the extent of using particular words a symbolic number of times. John expects us to count.
Richard Bauckham has documented instances of these uses of numbers. 4 Importantly for the thesis of this note, Bauckham writes that ‘Christ’ is used seven times, ‘Jesus’ fourteen times (7x2, half in connection with ‘witness’), and ‘Lamb’ occurs twenty-eight times (7x4). 5 Exactly what the interpreter is supposed to make of this is not always clear, but there ‘are far too many of these numerical patterns for them to be accidental’. 6 In the same vein, Boxall refers to what he calls ‘John’s often complex fascination with numbers’. 7 We now turn to one of John’s numerical patterns.
The βιβλ- Word-Group in Revelation
In their lexicon of the Greek NT, Burer and Miller note that of the thirty-four occurrences of βιβλίον in the NT, twenty-three of them are in Revelation. 8 Any reader conversant with Revelation knows that twenty-three is not one of John’s special numbers, but I believe it would be unlikely that he would use this word so many times if he was not seeking to draw special attention to it. ‘Scroll’ is an important motif in the book, and twenty-three is close to two of John’s special numbers: twenty-four (12x2) and twenty-eight (7x4). Have we counted accurately?
βιβλίον is not the only word in this group that John uses to refer to ‘scroll’. There are three in total: in descending order of size, βίβλος, βιβλίον, and βιβλαρίδιον. Blount tells us that in the time in which Revelation was written, diminutive forms had lost much of their force, 9 so it is not surprising that John uses βιβλίον as an equivalent for both βίβλος (3:5 and 13:8 referring to ‘the scroll of life’) and βιβλαρίδιον (10:2 and 10:8). 10 When the two occurrences of βίβλος and the three of βιβλαρίδιον are added to the twenty-three of βιβλίον, we find that John uses this word group a total of twenty-eight times. It is noteworthy, I believe, that there is an ellipsis in the Greek text of 20:12, ‘καὶ ἄλλο βιβλίον ἠνοίχθη, ὅ ἐστιν τῆς ζωῆς’, since the omission of another occurrence of the word group keeps the total intact at one of John’s special numbers. 11
The βιβλ- Word-Group as an Indicator of Narrative Structure
Whatever significance John places on the twenty-eight uses of this word group, we can gather from the extent of its use that the concept of ‘scroll’ is an important one for his narrative. Might the way John used it have structural significance for the book?
Cluster of Use in Chapter Five
There are three clusters in which the word group is used that point to the strong possibility that John is using it as one indicator of narrative structure. In both chapters five and twenty-two βιβλίον is used seven times within the space of a few verses: 5:1–9 and 22:7–19. 12 Of the special numbers in Revelation, seven is John’s favourite. 13 As far as I am aware, this is the first time that these seven uses in chapter twenty-two has been observed, 14 and it raises the possibility that, despite the textual distance between them, John intended these two clusters to be seen as an inclusio, opening up the theme of ‘scroll’ in chapter five (developing it in chapter ten—see below) and closing it in chapter twenty-two. 15 How might this work within the narrative logic of Revelation?
Many interpreters see the Throne Room scenes of chapters four and five as a crux point of the book. 16 It has, literally, brilliant descriptions of the worship of heaven to the one sitting on the throne and to the slaughtered lamb. 17 Of themselves, these scenes give us a rich theology of worship, creation and redemption. But how do they move the story along? What is their purpose in context? The brilliance of the picture of the one who sits on the throne heightens both our expectation and the importance of the scene. But when all creation has given hymnic glory, the focus, like a zoom lens, is drawn to the scroll in God’s right hand.
Then I saw in the right hand of the one seated on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the back, sealed with seven seals; and I saw a mighty angel proclaiming with a loud voice, ‘Who is worthy to open the scroll and break its seals? (Rev 5:1–2, NRSV.)’
If this scroll is in this right hand, it must be of crucial importance to the hearers. 18 And the importance is heightened even more when none is found worthy to break its seals. Are we to go without hearing and understanding what it contains? When the tears are rolling down John’s face, the tension for the first hearers would have been palpable. But the Lion/Lamb, the triumphant slaughtered one, is found worthy to break the seals of the scroll and thus relay its contents, because he has died and has redeemed by his death. The zoom lens follows the Lamb to the throne and then catches in full screen the handing over of the scroll from God to the Lamb. This all points to ‘scroll’ as a central and crucial theme in the book as a whole.
From the perspective of narrative development, I would conclude that, while the main characters in these throne room scenes are God and the Lamb, the main narrative driver is the appearance of the scroll. 19
At this point we must bear in mind how scrolls function. It is only when all seven seals have been broken that the contents of a scroll can be read. When the Lamb unseals the scroll and sees/reads it, only then will these contents be revealed to those within the vision—and thus to John’s hearers, who are now waiting with bated breath to know what it contains.
Having taken centre stage with this dramatic build up, it would be strange if, in the entire book, the contents of this scroll were not to be revealed. 20 But if they appear, where do they appear?
Cluster of Use in Chapter Ten
The answer to the question depends on how the uses of βιβλίον and βιβλαρίδιον in chapter ten are understood. ‘One of the key presuppositions of discourse grammar is that choice implies meaning’. 21 By using βιβλαρίδιον, or the alternative words in the textual variants, our author is signalling to us. To write this off as simply another diminutive rendering that has little change of meaning does not fully explain why this particular choice was made. However, it is unclear exactly what difference John is signalling by using βιβλαρίδιον, ‘little scroll’, 22 but what is clear from the comparison of 10:2 and 10:8 is that he is using the two words to refer to the same artefact, 23 made particularly clear by the parallel description of the angel who is holding it. So, what scroll is this?
There are indications in the text of chapter ten that John intends us to identify this scroll with the scroll unsealed by the Lamb: the mighty angel roars with the voice of a lion (10:3), and may be presumed to be, or speaking on behalf of, the Lion/Lamb; 24 what was still rolled up in chapter five, now lies open after the Lamb has broken its seven seals; in 10:11 the voice from heaven speaks to commission John again, including in this commissioning an echo and variation of 5:9–10, 25 in which context this scroll is first encountered.
There are also details in the two encounters between John and Jesus, and John and the angel in 10:8–11 that help us understand something of the significance of the ‘little scroll’ and its contents, but I draw attention only to one. John is instructed to eat the little scroll. In other words, and in the tradition of the prophets, he is to make this message a part of himself. 26 It will now shape who he is and what he does as he prophesies once more to the nations. Importantly, for understanding the contents of the scroll, it also means that, rather than hearing the contents directly from Jesus, or a voice from heaven, we will hear them mediated through John’s personality, visionary experience and literary expression. They will be part of his scroll, contained within the larger scroll of the whole book.
If there is shared identity between the scrolls of 5:1 and 10:2, or at least a correlation between them, where do we find the contents of the now open scroll relayed? There is a clue in 10:7—‘ἀλλ’ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ ἑβδόμου ἀγγέλου, ὅταν μέλλῃ σαλπίζειν, καὶ ἐτελέσθη τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ, ὡς εὐηγγέλισεν τοὺς ἑαυτοῦ δούλους τοὺς προφήτας’. Commentators acknowledge that the Greek of this verse is difficult,
27
but its meaning, in relation to the timing of revealing the scroll’s contents, centres on the three phrases: ‘
I take ‘τὸ μυστήριον τοῦ θεοῦ’ to be a genitive of source, 28 with the content of this ‘mystery’ being God’s cosmic plan of salvation, of justice and judgment, 29 in other words, the metanarrative of the scroll. Mathewson argues that, in the light of Greek verbal aspect theory, ‘ἐτελέσθη’, as an aorist passive, is ‘simply portraying a future event as a completed whole’. 30 The other two phrases ‘serve to establish the temporal frame of reference’. 31 So, when is this ‘mystery of God’ going to be seen as having been completed? Part of the answer is, ‘ὅταν μέλλῃ σαλπίζειν’. BDAG notes that μέλλω with the present infinitive means, ‘be about to, be on the point of’. 32 Mathewson states, ‘this construction should not be taken to suggest that the mystery will be completed just before the sounding of the trumpet (Beale, 540–1). Rather, the mystery will be fulfilled when the trumpet will sound.’ 33 I would argue that, on the basis of what Mathewson writes, the text could even indicate the mystery will be revealed after the trumpet has sounded. The first temporal marker is, ‘ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις τῆς φωνῆς τοῦ ἑβδόμου ἀγγέλου’, but what force does ‘ἐν’ have? Harris, notes the ‘remarkable elasticity’ 34 of the use of ἐν in NT Greek, and that, when used in a temporal sense, it can mean a specific time, such as ‘ἐν ἡμέρᾳ κρίσεως (Mt 10:15),’ or it can mean, ‘a period of time in the course of which, or within which, something happens’. 35
Taken together, these temporal markers mean that any time from just before the beginning, until the ending of the sounding of the trumpet of the seventh angel, the mystery of God will be seen as having been completed. Consequently, commentators have adopted a variety of positions about when the mystery of God will have been revealed. Those who argue for this revelation just before the sounding of the seventh trumpet are constrained by having to find the fulfilment of the saying in 10:7 in the narrative of 11:1–18/19. There are two compelling reasons, in my opinion, why this cannot be the case. First, the text is too short to convey the metanarrative of the revelation of the mystery of God. Second, the content of the text does not meet our expectations of what such a metanarrative would contain.
The oracle associated with the seventh trumpet ends at 11:18, so I would argue that the scroll’s contents will follow after. Some commentators see 11:18 as the end of a major section in the book and that 11:19 (or 12:1, but 11:19 makes better narrative sense) begins a new series of visionary experiences. 36 The ‘sevens’ that have dominated the book so far now recede for a time and do not recur until the seven bowls of 15:1, hinting that the sequence has been broken and something new is now taking place. The remaining chapters of the book give ample length for the telling of the mystery of God, and the content, while episodic, may be read as a continuous narrative, from the mother giving birth to her child through to the coming of new creation-an imaginative and symbolic retelling of the story of redemption.
Cluster of Use in Chapter Twenty-Two
If the contents of this opened scroll end begin at 11:19, where do they end? I believe the answer is found in the way βιβλίον is used in Revelation 22. The cluster of seven uses of βιβλίον in this last chapter of the book are divided into two mini-clusters of three and four. 37
And he said to me, ‘These words are trustworthy and true, for the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.’ See, I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.’ I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me; but he said to me, ‘You must not do that! I am a fellow-servant with you and your comrades the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God!’ And he said to me, ‘Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. (Rev 22:7–10, NRSV.) I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this book; if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away that person’s share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book. (Rev 22:18–19, NRSV.)
What we have here is a double ending to Revelation, or perhaps we might say one ending in two parts, relating to two scrolls: the scroll eaten by John, and the scroll that is the whole book. Apart from the repeated use of τοῦ βιβλίου τούτου (and its variants), there are parallels between 22:6–11 and 22:12–20:
Two messages for John, one from the angel and one from Jesus (22:6; 22:16); 38
two descriptions of the sinful on the outside (22:11; 22:15);
the stress in each passage placed on the importance of the prophetic words written in ‘this scroll’;
the use of, ‘I, John’, (22:8) and ‘I, Jesus’, (22:16) as markers for where John’s scroll and Jesus’ Apocalypse are coming to an end—compare the reverse order at the very beginning of the book where Jesus is mentioned first, then later John, as conduits of this revelation;
the promise, ‘I am coming soon’, given three times (22:7, 12, 20) binds the two endings together at beginning, middle, and end.
Certainly, John is drawing the whole visionary scroll to a conclusion here, but if the two sets of seven uses of βιβλίον are an inclusio, I believe that, in 22:6–11, he is also drawing to a conclusion the contents of the scroll first mentioned in chapter 5.
Conclusion
So, my overall proposal is this:
that the twenty-eight uses of the βιβλ- word-group signals that this motif is very significant in the book as a whole, and that we should look to see if it has structural significance;
that while the seven uses of chapter five introduce the ‘scroll’, 10:2 and 10:8 alert us to the fact that its contents are about to be revealed;
that 11:19–22:11 convey these contents in a sustained metanarrative;
that the seven uses in chapter 22 bring both the scroll and the whole book to an end.
As John experienced, this will be a sweet and sour metanarrative: it will include judgement, with the defeat and destruction of the forces of evil; it will include suffering, as the Lamb’s army is martyred; it will include salvation, with the deliverance, victory, and reigning of the Lamb’s martyr army.
While it is beyond the scope of this note to show exactly how the episodes of this sweet and sour metanarrative fit together, David Barr summarises it well.
It is as if John, having sketched the need for struggle in the scroll of the letters and having shown the mode of God’s victory in the scroll of worship, turns now to look more deeply into the conflict. It is as if the storyteller having finished the tale of God’s coming rule should turn to the audience and say: ‘and do you wonder how this came about? Well, let me tell you another story.’ 39
The theme encapsulated by the βιβλ- word group has been a Cinderella among Revelation scholars, 40 particularly given that the words occur so often. Using it as one lens through which to view the book as a whole may help to bring new insights on John’s writing, particularly in the latter half of Revelation where this story of salvation is related.
Whether or not readers are convinced by the arguments of this note, I hope that they will be convinced that the theme itself is worthy of further reflection, and that it could, indeed, prove to play an important role in how we understand the structure of the book and the narrative threads that drive it.
Footnotes
1
G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999) 108; Ian Boxall, The Revelation of Saint John (London/Peabody: A&C Black/Hendrickson, 2006/2009), 17; David E. Aune, Revelation (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1997), xci.
2
Aune, Revelation, clxii; Grant R. Osborne, Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2002), 24.
3
For an exploration of the genre, see John J. Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature, 2nd edn (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1998).
4
Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993) chapter 1.
5
Bauckham, Climax, 34.
6
Bauckham, Climax, 35.
7
Boxall, Revelation, 305.
8
Michael H. Burer and Jeffrey E. Miller, A New Reader’s Lexicon of the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2008), 473.
9
Brian K. Blount, Revelation: A Commentary (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), 190. See also Bauckham, Climax, 244.
10
The textual variants for βιβλαρίδιον in chapter 10 matter little for this argument since the variants also belong to the same word group. David E. Aune, Revelation, 552, considers βιβλίον to be the probable original reading in 10:8.
11
David L. Mathewson, Revelation: A Handbook on the Greek Text, (Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2016), 281, notes ‘an implied βιβλίον’.
12
We can exclude ‘the Lamb’s scroll of life’ in 21:27 from the latter group as the narrative has moved on and all the references to ‘scroll’ in chapter twenty-two are all qualified as ‘this scroll’.
13
Aune, Revelation, xciii.
14
In personal email correspondence (6 October 2015), Ian Boxall has indicated to me that he is unaware of this having been noted elsewhere. I have also failed to find any reference in over thirty commentaries, including several on the Greek text. John Christopher Thomas, The Apocalypse: A Literary and Theological Commentary, (Cleavland OH: CPT Press, 2012), 686, notes the four occurrences in 22:18–19.
15
In NA28 there are no issues with textual variants on the use of βιβλίον in chapters 5 and 22.
16
See, for example, Craig R. Koester, Revelation: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (New Haven/London: Yale University Press, 2014), 367.
17
The one sitting on the throne is not identified as God, but the narrative appears to make that implicit.
18
Koester, Revelation, 383.
19
Aune, Revelation, xcix, states, ‘the scroll with seven seals was the central focus of the throne scene in Rev 5…’.
20
Bauckham, Climax, 249f.
21
Steven E Runge, Discourse Grammar of the Greek New Testament: A Practical Introduction for Teaching and Exegesis (Peabody, MA: Hendrikson Publishers, 2010), 5.
22
A common suggestion is that it is because John will be asked to eat it, e.g. Beale, Revelation, 526.
23
Blount, Revelation, 198.
24
Beale, Revelation, 527, Thomas, Apocalypse, 312.
25
Boxall, Revelation, 158.
26
Beale, Revelation, 551.
27
Boxall, Revelation, 156.
28
Mathewson, Revelation, 135.
29
Koester, Revelation, 480.
30
Mathewson, Revelation, 135.
31
Mathewson, Revelation, 135.
32
BDAG, 627.
33
Mathewson, Revelation, 135.
34
Murray J. Harris, Prepositions and Theology in the Greek New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012) 115.
35
Harris, Prepositions, 119.
36
Boxall, Revelation, 175.
37
This is a feature of John’s ‘sevens’ throughout the book, as in the varied endings to the letters to the seven churches.
38
It is often difficult to identify exactly who is speaking in Revelation, but 22:6 refers back to the angel of 22:1, and the message from Jesus (mentioned in 22:16), in the first person, may begin at 22:12. While there are several possible configurations, the basic point of double closure remains.
39
David L. Barr, Tales of the End: A Narrative Commentary on the Book of Revelation, 2nd edn (Salem, OR: Polebridge, 2012), 181.
40
Barr is a notable exception, although I disagree with the way in which he constructs Revelation as three scrolls.