Re: Revelations relocated?
James J Rovira (jrovira@juno.com)
Fri, 09 Jul 1999 22:41:26 -0400 (EDT)
>After looking back over Rev 4 just now, it DID seem to me to be quite
>possibly references to the zodiac. And in Biblical times, i'm not
>aware of
>the zodiac having the connotation it does now. I'm not quite in the
>frame
>of mind at the moment to try to explain what I mean though. I've got
>a bit
>of a headache and need to take a nap. I will go into it more later.
>though.
>
I'm pretty sure the ancient Greeks did develop our present Zodiac, so
it's pretty likely that if we accept the idea of John's authorship around
the end of the 1st century or beginning of the second then it was
probably common knowledge to him.
But what you have to address before this is, "Are we going to tie meaning
in the text to the author and his reading community at all?" If so,
then references to the Zodiac are pretty unlikely. If you want a
literary origin to the four living creatures around the throne, read
Ezekiel chapter 1. There are four creatures there, and the description
is verrrry similar to that found in Revelation.
But some people read the scriptures as a kind of code, a code the author
himself (and his first/second century readers) may not have understood
themselves. I tend to shy away from that kind of interpretation
myself...
Jim
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