The Tribulum

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Revelation 1:9. Tribulation: “I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation.”

Symbolically, the seven stars, (Ursa Major), were sometimes known as the wain, or threshing sledge called a “tribulum.” The word tribulation comes from this instrument. Just as the grain was threshed and the wine was pressed, so were those who endured tribulation.

In Isaiah 41:15, the remnant of Israel is promised the role of “threshing sledge” to thresh the wicked. The suffering which  the saints endured was avenged by the Lord God Almighty, their Kinsman/Redeemer.

In Jeremiah 51:33 the “daughter of Babylon,” (backslidden Israel), is said to be like a “threshing floor.”  This is a reference to 1 Chronicles. 21:18-22:1 that the temple was built on the “threshing floor” of Ornan, the Jebusite. The root of the word “Jebusite” is Hebrew ‘bus’ meaning “to tread down, trample,” (BDB). When Jerusalem lost her identity with God she became the “daughter of Babylon,” the threshing floor.

The threshing floor was often associated with the wine press either by their proximity or by the fact that both represented the processing of the harvest and both were trodden. The same floor was probably suitable for both purposes.

The wicked city of Jerusalem, under the rulership of the Pharisees, persecuted the Christians to the death and caused them great tribulation. But just as she had caused so many to suffer, she also came to “great tribulation” and was finally totally destroyed in 70 AD.

TRIBULATION

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Revelation 1:9. Tribulation: “I, John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation.”

Purpose of the Writing

Discerning the purpose of any writing is crucial to its interpretation. Just so, in the Book of Revelation, what one discerns as its primary purpose colors every aspect of the interpretation of the Book. Many interpreters see the purpose of the Book as being to comfort those who are being persecuted. Those who thus interpret the purpose of the Book then usually interpret this persecution as coming from the Roman government.

There are therefore two questions to be examined: (1) Is the primary purpose of the Book to comfort those suffering persecution? And (2) is the persecution alluded to in the Book from the Romans or from the Jews? The question of the source of persecution is tied to the date of the writing.

Date of the Writing: 96 AD or 68 AD?

Those who see the date of writing as in Emperor Domitian’s reign, circa 96 AD, view the persecution as coming from the Roman Empire, and Mystery Babylon as Rome. These three facets of interpretation, i.e., (1) the date of writing, (2) the source of persecution, and (3) the identity of Mystery Babylon, all depend upon each other and neither of them can stand alone. If any one of them is totally proven, the others would be on much steadier ground. However, if any one of them is totally disproved, the others must fall with it.

Those who see the writing as being in Emperor Nero’s reign, about 64-68 AD, have the option to view the persecution as coming both from the Roman Empire (Rome, interpreted as the Beast), and Judaism, (Jerusalem), interpreted as Mystery Babylon. After reviewing Biblical and historical records, this is my view.*

Persecution Under Nero, circa 64 AD

The Roman persecution under Nero as described by the ancient Roman historian Tacitus[i] was probably not a general law against Christianity as such but a specific charge such as of arson. Tacitus had no respect for Christianity, but admitted that the charges of their having set fire to Rome in 64 AD were a “frame-up.” Whatever difficulties they may have encountered at this time in Rome, the modern historian Cary says: “There is no evidence for persecution outside Rome,” (ibid. note 27), and Nero’s ruthless treatment of Christians caused the general populous to pity them and to hate Nero even more, (ibid. 359).

The Church historians have little record or memory of the Neronian persecution. Other than Tacitus, they have the ancient historian Suetonias’ allusion to a disturbance in Rome caused by one “Chrestus” which may have been his mistaken conception of a Jewish uprising against the Christians in that city, (ibid. 639, n. 50).

Therefore, there is little evidence of widespread Roman persecution in Nero’s reign, but there is evidence that there was a “frame-up” against the Christians and a Jewish uprising against the Christians.

*(See Lesson 18: “The Writer and Date of Writing” in my Book, Revelation In Context.)

[i] As given by Cary and Scullard, History of Rome, 634, note 26-7.

THE ALMIGHTY

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Revelation 1:8. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”

The Greek word for Almighty is “pantokrator.”  This term is found seven times also, in Revelation 4:8; 11:17; 15:3; 16:7, 14; 19:15; 21:22. According to Malina the term literally means “Controller of Everyone and Everything” (Malina, 261*). The like term polokrator was used in the Greek cultures to designate the “god” who exercised control over the pole of the universe, upon which the whole heavens and earth apparently turned. The word pole meant “that central pivot plus all the sky connected with it that rotated around the earth due to the power applied at the pole,” (ibid. 73). In identifying Christ as the ‘pantokrator,’ He is the One Who has all power in the universe.

Various Names of the Constellation of Ursa Major

The seven stars of Ursa Major which is the constellation containing the pole star, (often called “the North Star”), were known variously in that era “… as simply the ‘Seven Stars’; or as ‘Septem Triones,’ the seven oxen that plow or thresh around the pole,’ (in Latin, a common word for northern is ‘seven-oxen-ward’ septemtrionalis); or ‘the Turner,'” (ibid. 92). So when John turned and saw the “seven stars” he was seeing Ursa Major.

The Symbolism of the North Star

On this view, the polokrator held the pivotal stars in his right hand (ibid. 262).  Christ is, therefore, being portrayed in Revelation 1:16 as the God of the universe, not merely the Messiah of the small nation of Israel.

It is in this idea of the pole as the pivot point upon which the whole universe turns that we find an analogy with the Garner also as a place where the good grain is gathered, ( see Matthew 3:12; Luke 3:17), for the oxen tread out the grain around just such a pole. Symbolically, Christ is gathering His good grain into His garner.

The Lamb/Ram Sign as the First Sign of the Mazzaroth

This polokrator is also identified with the constellation of the Lamb/Ram, believed to be the first of the zodiacal signs. [Remember, however, that the Hebrews did not use the word ‘zodiac’, a circle of animals, but rather ‘mazzaroth’, meaning “moving things.”] The ancients popularly believed that when the sky revolved to the position where the Lamb/Ram was again the first of the signs of the year, then the whole universe would be transformed. By referencing the symbol of the polokrator, the Book of Revelation is declaring that Jesus now occupies, not only this position of power, but also ALL power; not only physical power, but ALL kinds of power in the universe. As the Great Lamb of God, He is in this first position; it is therefore the time for the transformation of the universe.

*Malina, Bruce J. On the Genre and Message of Revelation. Hendrickson Publishers. Peabody, Mass. 1995.  

Alpha and Omega Part 4 of Series

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History of the Alphabet

Some history of the alphabet will help to demonstrate its significance as a symbol of Christ. The alphabet did not originate as the phonetic system we have today which roughly represents speech sounds. It had a long history before it reached the phonetic stage of development. As the handwriting of God upon the heavens, it was universally significant to all mankind. Being able to read the signs of the heavens, to know the global positioning system, to know the seasons, was a matter of life or death as well as a spiritual experience. Having already acquired this basic significance, it was ideally suited to go into the whole world when it developed into a phonetic system.

Alphabet as Immutable Order

The primal idea of the alphabet was that of an immutable order, an order witnessed to by the order of the time-indicating signs of the heavens. Possibly the first use of the graphic symbols of the alphabet was as numerals for counting and naming this ordered series of the progression of time-indicators for time-reckoning, that is, the calendar.

As symbols of order, it consequently became a mnemonic device for memory units of all kinds.[9] In time the mnemonic use of these signs for oral literary and historical units developed into semasiographic writing,[10] which, at some point, produced the idea of correlating the signs with speech sounds. At this point the alphabet became phonetic as we know it today.[11]

The major steps in the history of the development of the alphabet as it progressed through a continual differentiation of usage, meaning, and signs is somewhat parallel to the ever-increasing Light of Christ.

[9] A mnemonic device is a system used to recall the proper order of items in a sequence; i.e. any group of items to be remembered could be arranged according to this fixed numero/alphabetic order and so be more easily recalled, for example, “1, 2, 3,” or “a, b, c.”

[10] Semasiographic writing is defined by Gelb as “… a stage of writing in which meaning– not words or sounds– are suggested by signs,” Ignace J. Gelb, A Study of Writing: The Foundations of Grammatology, Second Edition, (Chicago, Ill., University of Chicago Press, 1962), 15.

[11] The Behaviourist School says that language is the only medium of human communication and all human intercommunication outside of language is nothing but a secondary substitute for language, that thinking and ideas are ‘silent talk.’
Gelb says that the Behaviourist School is wrong in some instances, that there is not a complete identity of speech and writing, that in the earliest writing, the images expressed meaning without a “linguistic garment.” Only after the development of a phonetic system was writing practically identified with speech and lost its independent character (ibid.).

Alpha and Omega Part Three of Series

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Revelation 1:8, KJV: I Am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending.[7]

From the creation, the “signs,” the aleph ve tau, the alphabet, was intended to be both numerals and letters witnessing to and symbolizing the Logos of the Most High God.[8] The lights of the heavens, the sun, moon, and stars were created for “signs,” ’othoth. This plural represents the grouping, or pluralizing of the alphabetic signs. These signs were for two purposes: to mark time, designating the times and seasons, and to give light, separating the light from the darkness, (Gen. 1:14).

When Christ said: “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending”; that is, the ending and the beginning were one and the same point. Christ became the overlapping anchor between the “this age” and “the age to come.” 2Esdras 6:7 shows that the “dividing of times” means “the end of the first age and the beginning of the age that follows.” That is, this particular era shared both the end of the old age and the beginning of the new.

Definition of the Letter tau

The letter tau is defined by Gesinius (Lexicon s.v.) as: “(1) a sign, Eze. 9:4 (Arab….a sign in the form of a cross…whence the name of the letter …, which in Phoenician, and on the coins of the Maccabees has the form of a cross. (From the Phoenicians the Greeks and Romans took both the name and form of the letter.) (2) sign (cruciform), mark subscribed instead of a name to a bill of complaint; hence, subscription, Job 31:35.”

The Constellations Were Originally Named the Letters of the Alphabet

According to Jewish tradition, Moses “invented” the alphabet. However, it would be more accurate to say, “Moses was shown the alphabet upon Sinai.” There God showed him the order of the constellations of the heavens that mark both time and location, the global position. The alphabetic figures then were drawn in a stylized form of the constellations. The Hebrew name for this circle of constellations was not ‘zodiac,’ but rather Mazzaroth, (Strong’s #4216).

Seiss says that, due to the proclivity of the Jews to idolatrous worship of the heavenly bodies, all the figures of the zodiac were erased and the Hebrew alphabet was substituted in their place (p., 177). Seiss’ view is perhaps an anachronism, for the more likely scenario was that the “zodiac” signs were always, and originally designated by the Hebrew alphabet and only when Hebrews fell into idol worship did they use the signs of the “zodiac”.

Alphabet as Time Markers

As time markers, they fulfilled a numeric function, to mark day and night and the seasons of the year. As light givers they were to fulfill a literary and artistic function: to give Light on the earth and to separate Light from darkness physically, and wisdom from ignorance, intellectually. The original alphabet represented these two distinct rays, the numerical, which first found expression in the time-reckoning function and later in other mathematical uses, and the linguistic, expressed in writing. At this first stage it should perhaps be called the “numero/alphabet.” The original idea of the numero/alphabet represented the idea of order.

Alphabet as Witness of the Most High God

As signs, these highest of all symbols, were created as a witness of and to the Most High God, to teach and to inspire worship. We should therefore not wonder that they have been prostituted to idol worship throughout history in many cultures of the world. That is all the more reason we should appropriate them, as symbols, to the worship of Christ, their legitimate and intended use.

[7] The KJV includes the phrase “the beginning and the ending” but this is at the translator’s privilege for it was not in the original Greek. The KJV translators felt it was necessary in order to bring out the sense of the verse.
The RSV leaves out the phrase “the beginning and the ending” here but includes it at Revelation 21:6 and 22:13 where the saying is repeated, see “First and Last” my Commentary on 1:17.
[8] It could well be argued that this heavenly Pattern is the written Name of God. Its incorporation into the Temple meant that God’s Name was there. That is, the Temple was created and designed for the purpose of an observatory of the heavenly Pattern telling the times and seasons and teaching the wisdom of God. See also my Commentary at 1:3 “Christ as Light and Time”.

Next Lesson: Alpha and Omega Part 4