Texts in Conversation
Revelation 19 presents Jesus as the Word of God wearing bloodstained clothing, drawing on Isaiah 63. This may also reflect an Aramaic tradition later preserved in Targum Neofiti on Genesis 49, where the messiah is described in blood-soaked clothes.
Share:
2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Revelation 19:13
New Testament
11 Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. 12 His eyes are like a fiery flame and there are many diadem crowns on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except himself. 13 He is dressed in clothing dipped in blood, and he is called the Word of God. 14 The armies that are in heaven, dressed in white, clean, fine linen, were following him on white horses. 15 From his mouth extends a sharp sword so that with it he can strike the nations. He will rule them with an iron rod, and he stomps the winepress of the furious wrath of God, the All-Powerful. 16 He has a name written on his clothing and on his thigh: “King of kings and Lord of lords.”
Date: 92–96 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Neofiti Genesis 49:11
Targum
10 Kings shall not cease from those of the house of Judah, nor scribes who teach the Law from his sons’ sons, until the time when King Messiah comes, to whom the kingship belongs, and all the kingdoms shall be subject to him. 11 How beautiful is King Messiah, who is to arise from those of the house of Judah! He girds his loins and goes out to battle against those who hate him, and he kills kings together with rulers. He reddens the mountains with the blood of their slain and whitens the hills with the fat of their warriors. His garments are rolled in blood; he is like one who treads grapes. 12 How beautiful are the eyes of King Messiah, more than clear wine, so that he will not look with them on the uncovering of nakedness, nor on the shedding of innocent blood. His teeth are purer than milk, so that he will not eat with them what is taken by violence or by robbery. The mountains will grow red from his vines, and the vats from wine, and the hills will grow white with plenty of grain and flocks of sheep. 13 Zebulun will live on the coasts of the Great Sea, and he will rule over the harbors of ships, and his border will reach as far as Sidon.
Date: 300–600 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Search:
Notes and References
"... Revelation 19,13a-15b is clearly dependent on Isaiah 63,1-6 where Yahweh, depicted as returning after having avenged himself on Edom, is represented as saying: 'I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with me. I have trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled upon my garments, I have stained all my raiment" (Isaiah 63,3). The Apocalypse has transferred to Christ what the text of Isaiah predicated of Yahweh. This in itself causes no surprise whatever. It is quite possible, however, that the figure of the Warring Messiah which we find in Ap 19,13-15 is not the work of the New Testament Seer but was taken over by him from Jewish doctrine. In the Palestinian Targum to Genesis 49,11 we are presented with the same figure of the Messiah we find in Revelation 19,13 ff., i.e. a Warrior with clothes saturated with the blood of his enemies. Like Revelation 19,13.15 the Palestinian Targum borrows the terms of Isaiah 63 to portray the warlike Messiah ..."
Martin McNamara, The New Testament and the Palestinian Targum to the Pentateuch, AnBib (Rome: Biblical Institute, 1966), 231.
* 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.
Your Feedback:
Leave a Comment
Anonymous comments are welcome. All comments are subject to moderation.
User Comments
,