Texts in Conversation
Revelation’s description of a large crowd from every nation uses language also found in the Apocalypse of Abraham, where history follows defined periods and leads to a final age with a universal gathering of the righteous.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Apocalypse of Abraham 21:7
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
2 And I looked beneath the heavenly vault at my feet and saw the likeness of heaven and what was in it, 3 and then the earth and its fruits, and what moved on it and its living beings; and the power of its people, and the godlessness of their souls, and their righteous deeds [and the beginnings of their works], and the lower regions and the destruction in it, the Abyss and its torments. 4 I saw there the sea and its islands, and its monsters and its fish, and Leviathan and his domain, and his camping place, and his caves, and the world which lay on him, and his movements, and the destruction of the world because of him. 5 I saw there streams and the rising of their waters, and their winding courses. 6 And I saw there the Garden of Eden and its fruits, the source of the stream flowing from it, and its trees and their bloom, and those who behaved righteously. And I saw in it their food and happiness. 7 And I saw there a great crowd of men and women and children [half of them on the right side of the picture] and half of them on the left side of the picture.
Date: 70–150 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Revelation 7:9
New Testament
4 Now I heard the number of those who were marked with the seal, 144,000, sealed from all the tribes of the people of Israel: 5 From the tribe of Judah, 12,000 were sealed, from the tribe of Reuben, 12,000, from the tribe of Gad, 12,000, 6 from the tribe of Asher, 12,000, from the tribe of Naphtali, 12,000, from the tribe of Manasseh, 12,000, 7 from the tribe of Simeon, 12,000, from the tribe of Levi, 12,000, from the tribe of Issachar, 12,000, 8 from the tribe of Zebulun, 12,000, from the tribe of Joseph, 12,000, from the tribe of Benjamin, 12,000 were sealed. 9 After these things I looked, and here was an enormous crowd that no one could count, made up of persons from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb dressed in long white robes, and with palm branches in their hands. 10 They were shouting out in a loud voice, “Salvation belongs to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb!”
Date: 92–96 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Abraham asks about the righteous. God says that Israel did have some good leaders (David, Hezekiah, Josiah), but that most quickly turned to their own interests. Abraham asks how long this dismal state of affairs will persist. God says that there are four ages of a hundred years each. This is a reference to the four kingdoms of Daniel 2 and 7. The time scheme this section indicates is hard to decipher; the text may be corrupt. In addition to the four eras, God mentions an hour at the end that is equivalent to a hundred years, and then he says that the end time itself will be divided into twelve parts. There follows a Christian interpolation in chapter 29. It speaks of a man who arises from Israel and whom many from the left and from the right Jews and gentiles, worship ..."
Frederick James Murphy, Apocalypticism in the Bible and Its World: A Comprehensive Introduction (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 160–165.
* 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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