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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 6:15-16, hiding in the caves and rocks
People hide in caves and among the rocks from the face of God, as Isaiah 2 pictured idolaters hiding from the terror of the Lord.
Revelation 6:15-16, in every translation this tool compares.
Hiding under the covers does not stop the storm. Isaiah 2 pictures idolaters running into caves and the cracks of the rocks to hide from the terror of the Lord. They throw away their idols as they go. John sees the whole world do the same. Kings and slaves hide in caves and rocks, from the face of God on the throne and the anger of the Lamb.
Caves (spelaia) and rocks (petrai). Hiding from the face (apo prosopou) of the Lord. All three are in the Greek of Isaiah 2:10, 19 and 21.
In Isaiah people hide from the Lord's terror and his glory. In John they hide from God on his throne, and from the Lamb. Beale says the Lamb stands where Isaiah had the glory of God's majesty. In Isaiah the scene judges Israel's idolaters; in John it is the whole world.
Beale reads the borrowing as a sign that these people are idolaters. It also puts the Lamb in the place of God's own glory, so the Lamb judges as God does.
Not the same scene as Isaiah 2. Isaiah's idolaters hide from the Lord's terror and throw away their idols. John's hide from God seated on his throne, and from the Lamb, and no idols are named.
Beale says the hiding is based on a typological reading of God's judgment of Israel's idolaters in Isaiah 2:10, 18-21, with Jeremiah 4:29 possibly included. In the vault's Septuagint, Isaiah 2:19 reads eis ta spelaia kai eis tas schismas ton petron … apo prosopou tou phobou kyriou kai apo tes doxes tes ischyos autou; John has eis ta spelaia kai eis tas petras ton oreon and apo prosopou tou kathemenou epi tou thronou kai apo tes orges tou arniou. Beale adds a typological allusion to Genesis 3:8, where Adam and Eve hide from the presence of God. Keener cites Isaiah 2:10 and 19-20; the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible cites Isaiah 2:19; the ESV Study Bible cites Isaiah 2:20-21; the CSB Study Bible's cross-references list Isaiah 2:10, 19, 21; the NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible cites Isaiah 2:19-21. Walton notes the bright aura of a god in Isaiah 2:10. The grade is drawn here.
The sources weigh Isaiah 2 against Hosea 10:8. Keener says the scene reflects Hosea 10:8 and compares Isaiah 2. Beale treats Isaiah 2 as the basis of the hiding and Hosea 10 as the basis of the cry. Beale also hears Genesis 3:8, which no other source here mentions. On why they hide, Beale argues they seek to die away from God's presence, not to survive.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), comment on 6:15 and 6:16, and The Theological Significance of the Old Testament Allusions in 6:15-17
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 6:15-16
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 6:15
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 6:12-17
- CSB Study Bible, cross-references at Revelation 6:15
- NIV Biblical Theology Study Bible, note on Revelation 6:15
- John H. Walton, Victor H. Matthews and Mark W. Chavalas, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: Old Testament, on Isaiah 2:10
- Septuagint, Isaiah 2:10, 2:19 and 2:21, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 6:15-16
