Bible Review

For example, Ibn Ezra (second explanation), Ramban, Bekhor Shor.

Vassal Treaties of Esarhaddon, column 4:266–68, in James B. Pritchard, Ancient Near Eastern Texts (Princeton, NJ: Princeton Univ. Press, 1969), p. 537.

Matthew 22:37–40; Mark 12:20–31; Luke 20:27–28 Sipra Qedoshim 4:12, cited below.

There are many excellent introductions to Revelation. See, for example, Adela Yarbro Collin’s essay in the Anchor Bible Dictionary (New York: Doubleday, 1992), vol. 5, pp. 694–708.

In addition to the reasons cited in the rest of this article, there is one more: The symbolic language of the Book of Revelation refers to matters known to its late first-century audience. The original meaning of the book is denied when the symbolism is made to refer to our time (or some still future time). See my BR column, “Thinking About the Second Coming,” August 1994.

The place of the final battle is named as “Armageddon” (ancient Megiddo) in Revelation 16:16; the vision of the battle itself is in Revelation 19:11–21.

Quoted in Rifkin and Spohn, “Political Extremists.”

For the historical circumstances and their social-psychological effect on early Christians, see Adela Yarbro Collins, Crisis and Catharsis: The Power of the Apocalypse (Philadelphia: Westminster, 1984).

This apocalyptic worldview is typical of “visionary historical” apocalypses, one of two main categories of ancient Jewish and Christian apocalypses (the other category is “other-worldly journey” apocalypses). For the distinction and a classification of such books into two almost equal categories, see John Collins, The Apocalyptic Imagination (New York: Crossroad, 1984).

Ira Rifkin and Gustav Spohn, “Political Extremists Rally ‘Round Revelation,” The Oregonian, April 29, 1995 (Religious News Service). Agreeing with their claim does not imply that the majority of militia members are religious, or that the Book of Revelation is their primary motivating force. The claim is more modest: some within the militias appeal to the Book of Revelation as legitimation of their cause.