Historical and Theological Backgrounds of the Whore of Babylon
HISTORICAL AND THEOLOGICAL BACKGROUNDS OF THE WHORE OF BABYLON IN REVELATION 17 & 18 IN A JEWISH CONTEXT Warren Wheatley, B.A. Thesis Prepared for the Degree of MASTER OF ARTS UNIVERSITY OF NORTH TEXAS December 2013 APPROVED: Christopher Fuhrmann, Major Professor Ken Johnson, Committee Member Walt Roberts, Committee Member Richard B. McCaslin, Chair of the Department of History Mark Wardell, Dean of the Toulouse Graduate School Wheatley, Warren. Historical and Theological Backgrounds of the Whore of Babylon in Revelation 17 & 18 in a Jewish Context. Master of Arts (History), December 2013, 77 pp., bibliography, 84 titles. I argue that some ancient Jewish sects, specifically the community at Qumran and the early Christians, did in fact write against, speak out against, and interpret ancient tests as being against their fellow Jews, the Temple, Jerusalem or all three. Given the time in which these occurred,I argue that those sects believed that the Roman Empire would be means in which their god would punish/destroy Jews that did not believe as they did, the Temple that did not represent what they thought it should, and Jerusalem as they believed it had become a sinful city. I examine the writings and persons of the Greek Bible. I examine specifics such as the Parable of the Tenants and demonstrate that this was delivered against Jewish leadership and the Olivet Discourse that, like the book of Jubilees, presents a series of tribulations that will fall on a wicked generation, specifically the one living in Jerusalem during the first century C.E. I also demonstrate how the motif of these writings affected the book of Revelation.
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