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 5:6, seven eyes sent into all the earth
The Lamb's seven eyes are the seven eyes of the Lord in Zechariah 3 and 4, which range over all the earth, now belonging to the Lamb.
Revelation 5:6, in every translation this tool compares.
When the owner hands a new manager the master keys, everyone knows who runs the building now. The Lamb has seven eyes, which John calls God's seven spirits, sent out across the world. In Zechariah seven eyes sit on a stone, and seven eyes belong to the Lord and roam the whole earth. In Zechariah they are God's eyes. Here they belong to the Lamb.
Seven eyes over all the earth. Zechariah 4:10 in Greek has hepta ophthalmoi kyriou, seven eyes of the Lord, looking on all the earth (pasan ten gen). Zechariah 3:9 has seven eyes on one stone. Revelation 5:6 has seven eyes (ophthalmous hepta) sent into all the earth (pasan ten gen).
In Zechariah the eyes are the Lord's, watching the earth. John gives them to the Lamb and names them the seven spirits, sent out on mission. Zechariah's eyes look; John's are sent. And Zechariah's seven eyes on the stone are tied to removing the land's sin in one day, which John's slain Lamb has done.
Before, the seven spirits stayed before the throne (1:4; 3:1; 4:5). Beale says that the Lamb's death and resurrection make them his agents in all the world. The NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible draws the point out. Eyes that were God's now belong to Jesus, who appears as divine.
Not seven spirits with seven jobs. Beale reads the seven spirits as a picture of the Holy Spirit in full. The NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible reads them as the fullness of God's Spirit.
Beale says the consensus is that the phrase depends on Zechariah 3 and 4. In Zechariah 3:9 the seven eyes are tied to an inscription about removing the land's iniquity in one day; in Zechariah 4 the seven lamps (4:2) and seven eyes (4:10) are linked to Yahweh's Spirit. 2 Chronicles 16:9 adds that the Lord's eyes range through the earth to support his own. John has read Zechariah's eyes as Yahweh's Spirit and made both eyes and spirits the Lamb's. Isaiah 11, alluded to in 5:5, may have drawn Zechariah in, through the sevenfold Spirit of the Greek of Isaiah 11:2 and the shared images of root and branch. In the vault's Septuagint, Zechariah 4:10 has hepta houtoi ophthalmoi kyriou eisin hoi epiblepontes epi pasan ten gen. Keener, the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, the ESV Study Bible and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible cite Zechariah 4:10. The grade is drawn here: close wording and the consensus Beale reports.
Keener notes that Zechariah's eyes may be angels, modeled on the Persian king's messengers. So Revelation may mean the seven archangels of Jewish tradition, under Christ, rather than the Spirit. Beale and the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible read the Holy Spirit. The ESV Study Bible reads the Lamb's full knowledge.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-5-1-14\/","n":"Revelation 5:1-14, the sealed scroll and the Lamb","s":"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.","r":"Revelation 5:1-14"}
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 5:6b
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 5:6
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 5:6
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 5:6-7
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 5:6
- Septuagint, Zechariah 3:9 and 4:10, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 5:6
