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Up from Sea and Earth: Revelation 13:1, 11 in Context

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Up from Sea and Earth: Revelation 13:1, 11 in Context Andrews University Digital Commons @ Andrews University Dissertations Graduate Research 2015 Up from Sea and Earth: Revelation 13:1, 11 in Context Hugo Antonio Cotro Andrews University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations Part of the Biblical Studies Commons Recommended Citation Cotro, Hugo Antonio, "Up from Sea and Earth: Revelation 13:1, 11 in Context" (2015). Dissertations. 762. https://digitalcommons.andrews.edu/dissertations/762 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Research at Digital Commons @ Andrews University. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ Andrews University. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ABSTRACT UP FROM SEA AND EARTH: REVELATION 13:1, 11 IN CONTEXT by Hugo Antonio Cotro Adviser: Ranko Stefanovic ABSTRACT OF GRADUATE STUDENT RESEARCH Dissertation Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary Title: UP FROM SEA AND EARTH: REVELATION 13:1, 11 IN CONTEXT Name of researcher: Hugo Antonio Cotro Name and degree of faculty adviser: Ranko Stefanovic, Ph.D. Date completed: February 2015 Problem and Method The wide spectrum of usually unreconcilable ways sea and earth have been interpreted in Revelation 13: 1 and 11, as chapter 2 exposes, prompts questions such as What did John mean in Rev 13:1, 11 by coming up from the sea and the earth or land? What could his original addressees have understood when they heard it for the first time? These are the basic questions this dissertation aims to answer through a reconstruction of the original context shared by John and his first-century Asian audience, and, in that light, of the sources he most probably used to paint his literary fresco. The analysis of these sources, both cannonical and non cannonical in chapter 3 made manifest the singular way in which John uses the sea and earth/land motifs in comparison to the ways they were used in his milieu. The linkage with the Old Testament is more connected than any of the non biblical groups of literature analyzed. Results At the outcome of exegesis, chapter 4 made evident a complex array of evocations, drawn basically from the history of OT Israel, concurring in the images John piled up in Rev 13, sea and earth/land. It is precisely in virtue of such an inherent multivalence of his chosen terms that he could address a variety of circumstances with one and the same set of words and images. Thus, in regard to Rev 13: 1, 11, it would be more proper to speak of “meanings,” rather than of only “meaning.” Conclusion In conclusion, both sea and earth in Rev 13:1, 11 are multivalent, evocatively pointing to several paramount moments and events in the OT history of salvation, with Israel as its foremost protagonist. God’s creation, the Exodus, the Babylonian exile, the postexilic restoration, as well as Jesus’ victory over death are among those hallmarks, contrasted by John with their counterfeit by Satan. The ancient Near Eastern treaties which first served as God’s chosen sociocultural, historical, and literary framework for those events are also a clue for their interpretation in the spiritualized, Christ-centered re- application John makes of them in his Revelation to the seven churches of Asia. A Christian Israel is treading the same wrong path its ancestors trod in the past during their spiritual journey. The same dangers and consequences are ahead, according to the covenantal dynamics still in place: Deceit in the form of false prophetism springing from the church itself as a spiritual land, in tandem with a flooding tide of spiritual slavery through paganism seducing the wayward many while threatening, hand in hand with hostile local Judaism, a remnant of faithful witnesses to the Lamb. Thus, a new God-sent prophet, in the fashion and the lineage of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel and Ezekiel, again calls many to repentance, and the faithful few to endurance. John’s familiar and carefully chosen words and images are intended to be more evocative than referential for his primary public then. The same principles—good and evil—are at work in the first-century Asian scenario, although with different institutional customs and disguises. Thus, John’s Revelation is aimed at showing who’s who behind the apparel, at warning against the consequences of flirting with evil, and at helping people to take the right side in the conflict between the Lamb and the Dragon by letting them know in advance who will be the victor in the end. Andrews University Seventh-day Adventist Theological Seminary UP FROM SEA AND EARTH: REVELATION 13:1, 11 IN CONTEXT A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy by Hugo Antonio Cotro April 2015 © Copyright by Hugo Antonio Cotro 2015 All Rights Reserved UP FROM SEA AND EARTH: REVELATION 13:1, 11 IN CONTEXT A dissertation presented in partial fulfillent of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy by Hugo Antonio Cotro APPROVAL BY THE COMMITTEE: _______________________________ _____________________________ Faculty Adviser, Director of Ph.D /Th.D. Program Ranko Stefanovic Thomas Shepherd Professor of New Testament _______________________________ _____________________________ Richard Davidson Dean, SDA Theological Seminary Professor of Old Testament Jiri Moskala _______________________________ Thomas Shepherd Professor of New Testament _______________________________ _____________________________ Date approved TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ...................................................................................... vii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ........................................................................................... x Chapter 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................ 1 Purpose and Justification of the Dissertation ................................................ 4 Parts of the Dissertation ................................................................................. 6 2. INTERPRETATIONS OF SEA AND EARTH IN REVELATION 13 ............. 10 Revelation 13 and the Combat Myth ............................................................. 10 Problems of the Interpretation ................................................................ 15 The Selective Nature of the Evidence ............................................. 15 The Selection of the Sources ........................................................... 16 The Missing Links .......................................................................... 18 Anachronisms .................................................................................. 18 Differences between the Myths and Revelation ..................................... 20 The Babylonian Creation Epic ........................................................ 21 The Akkadian Myth of Zu ............................................................... 23 The Sea/Iam versus Baal Ugaritic Myth ......................................... 24 The Egyptian Myth of Horus and Seth ........................................... 26 The Greek Saga of Leto, Apollos, Python, Zeus, and Typhon ........ 29 The Hittite Myth of Illuyankas ........................................................ 30 Some Preliminary Observations on the Chaos Myth and Revelation 12,13 ................................................................................................ 31 Rome and Chaos ............................................................................. 37 Hyginus and the Leto-Apollos-Python Myth .................................. 39 Daniel 7 as a Source of Mythical Elements .................................... 40 Revelation 13 and the Old Testament Leviathan and Behemoth .... 44 Behemoth and the Beast of Revelation 13: Where From? .............. 60 The Non-Mythical Biblical Cosmogony ......................................... 60 The Counter-Mythical Program of the Bible .................................. 63 Summary and Conclusions ..................................................................... 64 iii Sea and Earth in Revelation 13 ..................................................................... 73 The Sea .................................................................................................. 73 The Biblical Perception of Nature................................................... 75 Revelation and the Postexilic Literature ......................................... 75 The Old Testament as John’s Main Source ..................................... 77 The Visionary Nature of Revelation................................................ 78 The Mediterranean as Rome ........................................................... 78 Sea as the Abyss .............................................................................. 86 Sea as People ................................................................................... 93 Concluding Remarks on the Sea as People ..................................... 99 The Earth ................................................................................................ 103 Earth as Asia Minor ......................................................................... 103 Earth as Palestine or Palestinian Judaism ....................................... 106 Earth as the Abyss ........................................................................... 107 Earth/Land as in Contrast to the Sea ..............................................
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