Tool Alpha
Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 1:16, his face like the sun shining in its strength
The shining face uses the closing words of Deborah's song in Judges 5, where those who love God are like the sun rising in its strength.
Revelation 1:16, in every translation this tool compares.
A victory speech that ends with a line from an old battle song links the two wins. Deborah's song in Judges 5 ends with a wish: may those who love the Lord shine like the rising sun at full strength. John's figure has a face like the sun shining in its strength. Beale thinks John took the words from that song of victory.
The sun, and its strength. In the Greek both end with en te dynamei autou or en dynamei autou, in his power.
In Judges the words are a wish for God's friends, the faithful people. John uses them of Jesus' own face. The Greek of Judges speaks of the sun rising; John says shining. The other features of the portrait follow Daniel 10, whose man had a face like lightning, but the wording here is Judges.
Judges 5 is a song of victory after a battle in which even the stars fought from heaven. Beale reads John's line as a picture of Christ as the victorious warrior, linked with the stars in his hand. The face that shines is the face of the winner.
Not proof that John had Judges open. Beale grounds the link in wording. The study Bibles point instead to the transfiguration, where Jesus' face shone like the sun.
Beale says the description still follows the outline of Daniel 10, but the actual wording is derived from Judges 5:31 in the Greek of Codex Vaticanus (B). The vault's Greek Judges reads hos he anatole tou heliou en dynamei autou, as the rising of the sun in its power; John has hos ho helios phainei en te dynamei autou. Beale links the warrior of Judges 5:31 with the stars that fought from heaven in 5:20, and notes Jewish writings that join Judges 5:31 with Daniel 12:3 (Sifre Deuteronomy 10 and 47). He suggests Judges 5:31 was seen as a type of the messianic warrior. The grade is drawn here: Beale treats the wording as derived, but no other source in the vault names Judges.
Heiser reads Beale on Judges 5:31 and the stars that fought from heaven in 5:20, which make Christ the divine warrior. He says the connections might be a little loose but are worth considering. He takes Beale's point that the image is warfare: Christ returns to judge those who oppose him, starting with compromise inside the churches.
The CSB Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible read the shining face against Matthew 17:2, the transfiguration, and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible adds Psalm 84:11 and Isaiah 60:19. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible points to Greek and Jewish descriptions of shining beings. Beale mentions the transfiguration too, as anticipating Christ's reign.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-1-9-20\/","n":"Revelation 1:9-20, Patmos, the Lord's day, lampstands and stars","s":"On the island of Patmos, in the Spirit on the Lord's day, John hears a voice like a trumpet telling him to write to seven churches. He turns and sees one like a son of man among seven golden lampstands, holding seven stars, who holds the keys of death and Hades and explains what the stars and lampstands mean.","r":"Revelation 1:9-20"}
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 1:16
- CSB Study Bible, note on Revelation 1:16
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 1:16
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 1:16
- Septuagint, Judges 5:31, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 1:16
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 1: The Revelation of Jesus Christ and the Glorified Son of Man, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
