New Perspectives on the Bowl Plagues in Revelation 16 by Rudolph Scharneck Submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR PHILOSOPHIAE. in the Faculty of Theology, University of Pretoria April 2019 Supervisor Prof Gert Jacobus Steyn (University of Pretoria) Co-promotor Prof Paul Decock (University of KwaZulu Natal) 1 Declaration I declare that the thesis, which I hereby submit for the degree at the University of Pretoria, is my own work and has not previously been submitted by me for a degree at this or any other tertiary institution. Ethics statement The author, whose name appears on the title page of this thesis, has obtained, for the research described in this work, the applicable research ethics approval. The author declares that he/she has observed the ethical standards required in terms of the University of Pretoria’s Code of ethics for researchers and the Policy guidelines for responsible research. 2 Table of Contents Chapter 1: Introduction and literature review .......................................................................11 1.1 Reason for this study ..................................................................................................11 1.1.1 General ................................................................................................................11 1.1.2 The three septets in Revelation ............................................................................12 1.2 The unity of the book ..................................................................................................12 1.3 The author of Revelation .............................................................................................13 1.4 The Old Testament in Revelation ................................................................................13 1.5 The apparent background of the bowl plagues ............................................................14 1.5.1 The Exodus narrative ...........................................................................................15 1.5.2 The ancient cosmology .........................................................................................16 1.5.3 Other aspects of the background ..........................................................................16 1.6 Brief research history ..................................................................................................17 1.6.1 Research on the OT in Revelation ........................................................................17 1.6.2 The debate on the way Old Testament is used in Revelation among recent scholars .........................................................................................................................22 1.6.3 Work on the Greek ancient cosmology .................................................................28 1.6.4 Conclusions drawn from the literature review .......................................................29 1.7 Identifying the gap in recent research .........................................................................29 1.7.1 The first bowl plague (Rev 16:2) - painful sores ....................................................30 1.7.2 The second bowl plague (Rev 16:3) - the sea turns to blood ................................30 1.7.3 The third bowl plague (Rev 16:4-7) - rivers and springs turn to blood ...................31 1.7.4 The fourth bowl plague (Rev 16:8-9) - the sun is allowed to burn the people and they then curse the name of God ..................................................................................31 1.7.5 The fifth bowl plague (Rev 16:10) - darkness on the land .....................................32 1.7.6 The sixth bowl plague (Rev 16:12) - the Euphrates River dries up ........................32 1.7.7 The seventh bowl plague (Rev 16:17-21) - the air is effected which leads to noise and thunder and an earthquake.....................................................................................34 1.8 Research question ......................................................................................................35 1.9 Hypothesis .................................................................................................................35 1.10 Methodology .............................................................................................................36 1.10.1 Diachronical method ...........................................................................................36 1.10.2 Synchronic method .............................................................................................41 1.10.3 Methodology to be used .....................................................................................42 Chapter 2: The introduction to the bowl plagues and the first bowl plague - Rev 16:1-2 .......44 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................44 3 2.2 The angels receive the command to pour out the bowl plagues (Rev 16:1).................44 2.2.1 The text ................................................................................................................44 2.2.2 Stichwörter and key phrases in verse 1: ..............................................................46 - ἑπτά - “seven” ........................................................................................................46 - εἰς τὴν γῆν – “on the earth” .....................................................................................47 - ἐκχέετε φιάλας – “pour out (the seven) bowls” ........................................................48 - θυμός – “wrath” ......................................................................................................49 2.2.3 Summary ..............................................................................................................49 2.3 The first bowl plague ...................................................................................................50 2.3.1 The text of the first bowl plague ............................................................................50 2.3.2 Stichwörter and key phrases ...............................................................................51 2.3.3 Connections to the trumpet plagues .....................................................................54 2.3.4 A comparison between the Exodus plague of boils and the bowl plague of boils ..55 2.3.5 Other places in the Old Testament where boils are mentioned .............................63 2.4 Angels .........................................................................................................................63 2.5 Conclusions ................................................................................................................64 2.5.1 Connections to the Exodus plagues .....................................................................64 2.5.2 Connections to the writings of Philo ......................................................................65 2.5.3 Connections to other plagues in Revelation ..........................................................65 2.5.4 Angels ..................................................................................................................65 2.5.5 Final conclusions ..................................................................................................66 Chapter 3: The second bowl plague (Rev 16:3) ....................................................................67 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................67 3.2 The text of the second bowl plague .............................................................................68 3.3 The Egyptian plague of blood......................................................................................68 3.3.1 The text of the Egyptian plague of blood ...............................................................68 3.3.2 Correspondences .................................................................................................69 3.3.3 Differences ...........................................................................................................69 3.3.4 Summary ..............................................................................................................70 3.4 Stichwörter and key phrases ......................................................................................71 3.4.1 εἰς τὴν θάλασσαν – into the sea ............................................................................71 3.4.2 αἷμα ὡς νεκροῦ - “blood like that of a corpse” .......................................................77 3.4.3 πᾶσα ψυχὴ ζωῆς ἀπέθανεν – “every soul having life died” ...................................79 3.4.4 Connections to the second trumpet plague ...........................................................82 3.5 Other possible connections .........................................................................................82 3.5.1 Papyrus ................................................................................................................83 4 3.5.2 The archangel ......................................................................................................83 3.6 Preliminary conclusions ..............................................................................................83 3.6.1 The background of the plague ..............................................................................83 3.6.2 The significance