Texts in Conversation
Revelation’s first trumpet brings hail and fire, echoing Wisdom of Solomon where the same forces strike the unrighteous. Both draw on the Hebrew Bible, including Ezekiel’s picture of divine storehouses of ice and fire where nature is a tool of judgment.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Wisdom of Solomon 16:23
Deuterocanon
21 For your nature showed your sweetness toward your children, while that bread, serving the desire of the eater, changed itself according to every man’s choice. 22 But snow and ice endured fire, and didn’t melt, that people might know that fire was destroying the fruits of the enemies, burning in the hail and flashing in the rains; 23 and that this fire, again, in order that righteous people may be nourished, has even forgotten its own power. 24 For the creation, ministering to you, its maker, strains its force against the unrighteous for punishment and in kindness, slackens it on behalf of those who trust in you. 25 Therefore at that time also, converting itself into all forms, it ministered to your all-nourishing bounty, according to the desire of those who had need,
Date: 100–50 BCE (based on scholarly estimates)
Revelation 8:7
New Testament
2 Then I saw the seven angels who stand before God, and seven trumpets were given to them. 3 Another angel holding a golden censer came and was stationed at the altar. A large amount of incense was given to him to offer up, with the prayers of all the saints, on the golden altar that is before the throne. 4 The smoke coming from the incense, along with the prayers of the saints, ascended before God from the angel’s hand. 5 Then the angel took the censer, filled it with fire from the altar, and threw it on the earth, and there were crashes of thunder, roaring, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake. 6 Now the seven angels holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them. 7 The first angel blew his trumpet, and there was hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was thrown at the earth so that a third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up. 8 Then the second angel blew his trumpet, and something like a great mountain of burning fire was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea became blood,
Date: 92–96 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... A number of parallels to the first trumpet in Early Judaism have been suggested by various commentators. The author of Revelation was probably aware of the underlying tradition, if not the literary setting, of several of these. Wisdom of Solomon 16:16-24 offers a striking thematic parallel to the first trumpet ... This passage portrays a judgment plague that impacts on the godless but spares and even benefits the righteous. The plague consists of storms of rain and hail, with fire blazing in the hail, that result in fires which destroy the crops of God's enemies. There is a hint ('who were to learn from this') that these judgments might lead the godless to sober thought (perhaps leading to repentance?). The plague is summarized as creation (i.e., the natural world), in service to its maker, turning on the godless to punish them and to deliver the righteous from their affliction. The thematic parallel is striking. In both passages the wicked are those who worship idols (Wisdom of Solomon 16:2; compare Revelation 9:20,21) In both plagues the wicked are punished and God's people are preserved ..."
Paulien, Jon
Allusions, Exegetical Method, and the Interpretation of Revelation 8:7-12
(pp. 366-367) Andrews University, 1987
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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