Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Revelation 5:1-14, the sealed scroll and the Lamb
In God's right hand is a scroll written on both sides and sealed with seven seals, and no one is worthy to open it until the Lion of Judah, the Root of David, appears as a Lamb that looks slain. The living creatures, the elders, countless angels and all creation worship him.
Revelation 5:1-14, in every translation this tool compares.
God holds a sealed scroll, and John weeps because nobody anywhere is fit to open it. He is told that the promised royal heir from Judah has won the right, but what he actually sees is a Lamb bearing the marks of slaughter, who takes the scroll. The whole of heaven, then every creature, breaks into worship, praising the Lamb because his death has bought a people for God from every nation. What the scroll is, and what its seals stand for, are debated.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/seals-and-deposits\/","n":"Seals, down payments and deposits","s":"A seal pressed into wax showed who owned or witnessed a document or a jar of goods and proved that no one had opened it. A down payment was the first part of the price, paid as a pledge that the rest would follow. A deposit left in someone's keeping had to be guarded and returned.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/adoption-and-heirs\/","n":"Adoption, heirs and wills","s":"A family's property passed to its heirs; in Jewish practice the land went to the sons, the eldest with a double share. Roman law also let a man adopt a son, often a grown one, who left his old debts and ties behind and became his heir. A will, sealed before witnesses, settled who inherited and who looked after an heir too young to inherit.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/messiah\/","n":"The Messiah, son of David","s":"The anointed king most Jews expected from David's line, who would free Israel from its enemies. Nobody expected him to be killed.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/passover-pilgrims\/","n":"Passover and the pilgrim crowds","s":"The spring festival that retold God's rescue of Israel from Egypt. Jerusalem filled with pilgrims, and hopes of freedom ran high.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/divine-council\/","n":"God's council and throne room","s":"Israel's Scriptures picture God presiding over an assembly of heavenly beings, the sons of God, and Psalm 82 calls its members gods. Who those gods are is one of the hardest questions behind John 10.","r":""}
A scroll written on both sides, an opisthograph, was rare; this echoes Ezekiel 2:9-10 (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes; the ESV and CSB Study Bibles). Witnesses pressed seals into the wax over a legal document's threads (the cultural backgrounds article Sealing Documents and Revelation 5): often seven (Keener), seven for a Roman will (Beale), though the article says "usually about six in number". A will could not be opened until its maker's death was attested, so the slain Lamb opens it (Keener). The scroll is read as a covenant inheritance in the form of a will (Beale), a will or covenant (the ESV Study Bible), a will, perhaps the book of life (Keener), God's sealed plan (Wright) or his plan of judgment and redemption (the CSB Study Bible). The article and Heiser agree that the seals' judgments are not the scroll's contents, which stay shut until the seventh seal; Heiser adds that John never reveals these. Lion of Judah and Root of David were Davidic titles, and the slain Passover lamb shocks beside the reigning lion (Keener; the cultural backgrounds notes). Heiser, with Aune, sees the Lamb's investiture, not enthronement: "the lamb never occupies the throne" until 22:1.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 5:1, 5:5, 5:6 and 5:7
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Revelation 5:1, 5:5 and 5:6, and article Sealing Documents and Revelation 5
- ESV Study Bible, study note on Revelation 5:1
- CSB Study Bible, note on Revelation 5:1
- N. T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, comment on Revelation 5:1-7
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, on Revelation 5:1, sections The "Book" and A Doubly Written Testament
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 5: The Scroll and the Lamb Who Is Worthy, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
