Texts in Conversation
In 4 Ezra, a mourning woman vanishes while Ezra watches and a city appears in her place. In the Shepherd of Hermas, an elderly woman shows Hermas a tower and says the tower is herself, at once a woman and a building instead of being replaced by one.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
4 Ezra 10:27
2 Esdras
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
24 Therefore shake off your great heaviness, and put away from yourself the multitude of sorrows, that the Mighty One may be merciful to you again, and the Most High may give you rest, even ease from your troubles.” 25 It came to pass while I was talking with her, behold, her face suddenly began to shine exceedingly, and her face flashed like lightning, so that I was very afraid of her, and wondered what this meant. 26 Behold, suddenly she made a great and very fearful cry, so that the earth shook at the noise. 27 I looked, and behold, the woman appeared to me no more, but there was a city built, and a place shown itself from large foundations. Then I was afraid, and cried with a loud voice,
Shepherd of Hermas 11:3
Early Christian
1 When she had shown me these things, she wanted to leave quickly. I said to her, “Lady, what good is it for me to have seen these things, and yet not to know what they mean?” She answered me, “You are a very curious man, wanting to know all about the tower.” “Yes, lady,” I said, “so that I may tell my brothers and sisters, and they may be more joyful, and when they hear these things they may know the Lord in great glory.” Then she said, 2 “Many will hear; but when they hear, some of them will be glad, and others will weep. Yet even these, if they hear and repent, will also be glad. So listen to the parables of the tower; for I will reveal everything to you. And do not trouble me any further about revelation; for these revelations have an end, since they are complete. Even so, you will not stop asking for revelations; for you are shameless.” 3 “The tower that you see being built is me, the Church, which you have seen both now and previously. So ask whatever you want about the tower, and I will reveal it to you, so that you may rejoice with the saints.”
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Notes and References
“... The female personification of a city or community is commonplace in OT prophetic literature. The roughly contemporary 4 Ezra 10:25-54 is often quoted as a parallel, in which a mourning woman talking with Ezra is suddenly changed into a city, which, as the angel Uriel explains to him later, is Jerusalem. But there are many differences. This is a tower, not a city, and the woman church does not change into the tower, but she is both woman and tower at the same time, and for this there are no parallels. That the interpreting figure interprets a vision which is at the same time herself is quite unique. ...”
* 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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