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The Apocalypse of Abraham gives Jaoel a turban like a rainbow as he guides Abraham toward heaven. Revelation 10 echoes this image in the rainbow above its mighty angel's head, giving both messengers an appearance associated with divine glory.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Apocalypse of Abraham 11:3
Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
1 And I rose up and saw him who had grasped me by my right hand and set me up upon my feet: 2 and the appearance of his body was like sapphire, and the look of his face like chrysolite, and the hair of his head like snow, 3 and the turban upon his head like the appearance of the rainbow, and the clothing of his garments like purple; and a golden sceptre was in his right hand. 4 And he said to me: "Abraham!" And I said: "Here I am, your servant." And he said: "Do not let my look frighten you, nor my speech, that your soul not be perturbed. 5 Come with me and I will go with you, until the sacrifice, visible, but after the sacrifice, invisible for ever.
Revelation 10:1
New Testament
1 Then I saw another powerful angel descending from heaven, wrapped in a cloud, with a rainbow above his head; his face was like the sun, and his legs were like pillars of fire. 2 He held in his hand a little scroll that was open, and he put his right foot on the sea and his left on the land. 3 Then he shouted in a loud voice like a lion roaring, and when he shouted, the seven thunders sounded their voices. 4 When the seven thunders spoke, I was preparing to write, but just then I heard a voice from heaven say, “Seal up what the seven thunders spoke and do not write it down.”
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Notes and References
“... The mention of the rainbow is
reminiscent of Ezekiel 1.28 (cf. Rev. 4.3), where God's glory is
compared to the bow in the clouds. An angel with a rainbow
around his head appears also in Revelation 10.1, and it is not
easy to differentiate between this angel and the risen Christ who
appears to John on the island of Patmos. ...”
Rowland, Christopher
The Open Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism and Early Christianity
(p. 102) Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1982
* 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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