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 19:16, King of kings and Lord of lords
The name on the rider's robe and thigh is a title the Old Testament gives to God, in Deuteronomy 10:17 and in Daniel, where Beale finds it in the Greek of Daniel 4:37.
Revelation 19:16, in every translation this tool compares.
A title once given to the real owner, and later stolen by a pretender, means more when it is handed back. Eastern kings called themselves king of kings. Deuteronomy 10 calls Israel's God Lord of lords. In Daniel the pagan king learns that God is the true king of heaven. Now the rider wears the full double title, king over all kings and lord over all lords. It belongs to him alone.
Lord of lords, a title for the one God over every ruler, in Deuteronomy 10:17 (kyrios ton kyrion in the Greek). Daniel 2:47 calls God Lord of kings. John has basileus basileon kai kyrios kyrion.
Deuteronomy pairs God over all gods with Lord over all lords. John pairs king over all kings with lord over all lords. Beale says John's full pair is found in the old Greek of Daniel 4:37. The Greek Daniel kept in the vault is a later version. It has only king of heaven at 4:37, so the full pair could not be checked there. John gives the title to Christ, as he did in 17:14.
Nebuchadnezzar, king of the first Babylon, was hailed as king of kings until God humbled him. Beale reads the title as handed to Christ, who judges the latter-day Babylon. Rome's emperors, and the Parthian kings who used the same title, are shown up as pretenders.
Not a title borrowed from Parthia. Keener and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible note the Parthian kings used it, but Jewish tradition had given it to God long before.
Beale says the name is taken from the Greek of Daniel 4:37, where it is a title for God, and is applied to Christ typologically, so God's handling of Nebuchadnezzar foreshadows Jesus' handling of the latter Babylon. The vault's Daniel, the version called Theodotion, reads at 4:37 ton basilea tou ouranou, the king of heaven. Beale's reading of the old Greek is reported, not checked, here. Keener cites Deuteronomy 10:17, Daniel 2:47 and Zechariah 14:9. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible adds Psalm 136:3 and notes the title was used of eastern monarchs (Ezra 7:12; Ezekiel 26:7; Daniel 2:37). The CSB Study Bible's cross-references give Deuteronomy 10:17, Daniel 2:47 and 1 Timothy 6:15. Applied to someone new is the label drawn here, since the old Greek wording could not be checked. The grade is drawn here: the pair is a stock title, but its use for God against a Babylonian king points to Daniel.
Beale traces the title to the Greek of Daniel 4:37. Keener and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible name Deuteronomy 10:17 and Daniel 2:47 and stress the Parthian royal title as the setting. The ESV Study Bible names no Old Testament source.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-19-11-21\/","n":"Revelation 19:11-21, the rider on the white horse","s":"Heaven opens and a rider on a white horse, named Faithful and True and the Word of God, leads heaven's armies, his robe stained with blood and a sword coming from his mouth, his title King of kings. Birds are summoned to feast on the fallen, the beast and the false prophet are seized and cast into the fiery lake, and their armies fall to the rider's sword.","r":"Revelation 19:11-21"}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/gods-of-the-bible\/yahweh\/","n":"Yahweh","s":"The personal name of Israel's God, printed as LORD in most English Bibles.","r":"Genesis 2:4"}
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 19:16
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 19:16
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 19:16
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 19:16
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 19:12-16
- Septuagint, Daniel 4:37 and Deuteronomy 10:17, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 19:16
