Literary tools in the Book of Revelation

How did the original audience read the book of Revelation? There were no headings or paragraphs, just plain text. Let us take a look at this very different way of reading.

Introduction

Hebrew literature is very different from ours. They did not have chapters or verses, but letters in rows with minimal graphic or visual indicators, since they were meant to be read aloud (heard) rather than seen.

There are indicators to show where a story begins and ends, how the stories are connected and organized, and where the emphasis is. But even the breaking of such structure can give a signal to the reader. We get a much richer understanding when we study and understand these structures, but we should not force it so that we see structure where the author did not intend it.

Basis steps

To understand the literature, it is useful to follow these three steps

1, Identify the unit

• Units can be on word level or larger units of text.
• This even happens on a cascading level because the human brain cannot handle too many small units, so they are usually broken into 3 to 9 units and then collected into a super unit.

2, Analyze the arrangement of these units

• Could by repetitive, parallel, non-linear

3, Consider the relationship of the structure to its meaning

• Shows where the author’s focus is.
• In a symmetrical structure, the emphasis is often in the center.
• The mix of parallels and contrasts within a structure can also be used as emphasis.
• Breaks in flow can also draw attention.

Identify units

The first step is to identify the units. This has three parts: start markers, end markers, and independence.

Start markers can also be combined:

• Title,
• Introductory phrase (“these are the generations”),
• Common opening phrase (“hear”, “thus says the Lord”),
• Rhetorical questions,
• Shift in time, place, characters or speakers, theme, genre, pace, tense or mood.

End markers could be

• Closing formula,
• Poetic refrain,
• Conclusion or summary,
• Flashback.

Unit as an independent, self-contained and complete package

• Uniqueness in time, place, participants, theme, genre, speed of action, …,
• Easily accessible to the audience,
• Compatibility in content,
• Package size: typically 15–20 pages (large) or Bible chapter (medium) or single sentence or several paragraphs (small),
• Usually 7 or 13, 14 units, but 3 or 5 are also possible.

The arrangement of units

There are three types that can be combined

• linear (a-b-c-d-e-f),
• parallel (a-b-c-a’-b’-c’),
• symmetric (a-b-c-’b’-a’).

There are many combinations

• a-b-c-d-e-a’ combines linear and symmetric patterns, like a sentence that starts with an assumption and ends with a summary that proves the assumption.
• a-b-c-d-’b’-c’-a’ is a modified symmetry, a combination of symmetric and parallel patterns, and would draw the reader’s attention to the b’-c’ switch.
• a-a’-b-b’-c-c’-d-d’ combines linear and parallel patterns and can tell parallel but distinctive stories like Gen.38/2–50/26.

The same story can be seen in different patterns, e.g. for Gen.37/2–50/26 it can be red as a-b-c-d-e-f-g-g’-f’-e’-d’-c’-b’-a’ or a-a’-b-b’-c-c’-d-d’-e-e’-f-f’-g-g’.

Linear pattern

They are easy to follow. They could be

• chronological, like stories with some overlap of the timeline or flashback or other brackets
• non-chronological like spatial (north, east, south, west) or collection or along the alphabet

Parallel pattern

They can be set like a-b-c-a’-b’-c’, where the respective x’ has a similar theme, structure, … as x, e.g. Ps.19/1–2

• a: the heavens
• b: tell of
• c: God’s glory
• a’: the heavens
• b: proclaims
• c: his work

There may be parts that do not match, they may be at the end (a-b-c-a’-b’-c’, d), in the middle (a-b-c-d-a’-b’-c’), or rarely at the beginning (a-b-c-d-a’-b’-c’).

Parallel patterns may not be so easy to recognize, but they provide a point of satisfaction and anticipation. We have this in fairy tales like The Three Little Pigs (in the second house we think we know the pattern and the author can surprise us in the third house where he gives a lecture).

Parallel pattern

• Makes it easier to remember
• Can introduce comparison, contrast, emphasis, explanation, illustration

Example: Jonah

• a: Jonah’s commission and disobedience (1:1–3)
  • b: Jonah and the Gentile Sailors: YHWH is merciful (1/4–16)
    • c: Jonah’s Response to YHWH’S Mercy: Praise (1–17–2/10)
• a’: Jonah’s Recommitment and Obedience (3/1–3a)
  • b’: Jonah and the pagan Ninevites: YHWH is merciful (3/3b-10)
    • c’: Jonah’s response to YHWH’s mercy: resentment (4/1–4)
• d: YHWH’s lesson (4/5–11)

This structure gives the impression that his first prayer was hypocritical and his second selfish, but the arrangement of the story can convey this through the structure without being moralizing.

Symmetric patterns

These are patterns like a-b-b’-a’ e.g. Isa.22/22 (looking at “open/close”)

• a: he shall open
  • b: and no one will shut
  • b’: he shall shut
• a’: and no one will open

This has the pattern of the left part of an X (in Greek this is the letter Chi). Such a pattern is also called a chiasm.

This can also be applied to enire books of the Bible, e.g. Judg.3/7–16/31

• a: Othniel and his good wife (3/7–11)
  • b: Ehud and the victory at the Jordan fords (3/12–31)
    • c: Deborah: enemy’s skull crushed by woman (4/1–5/31)
      • d: Gideon: turning point (6/1–8/32)
    • c’: Abimelech: judge’s skull crushed by woman (8/33–10/5)
  • b’: Jephthah and civil war at the Jordan fords (10/6–12/15)
• a’: Samson and his bad wifes (13/1–16/31)

This approach has several advantages

• Beauty: aesthetic quality of balanced presentation
• Coherence: symmetry reinforces unity
• Completeness: Audience sees when winding down and comes full circle.
• Contrapuntal pivot: in the case of an uneven number of units, see above, there is a turning point where both sides strive for and make this natural focal point. In the example above, Gideon’s Rule is the focal point.
• Memory aid: audience can remember successive point easier (usually learn it by heart)
• Opportunities to use repetition: Adding opportunities to compare, contract, reiterate, emphasize, explain or illustrate.

This also has a disadvantage:

• requires more from the audience to recognize it,
• requires more work from the author.

But in spite of all odds, the symmetrical form was very much appreciated in the ancient world.

Understanding structures

The structure of the text has a lot to do with the meaning, for example, when a text is not meant to be explicitly moralistic, but rather to have an impact, as in the story of the three little pigs.

There are three main ways to convey meaning through structure

• Overall compositional structure
• Structured repetition
• Position of emphasis

Overall structure

The overall structure can convey the author’s message.

Structured repetition

Not all structures are used to show meaning, sometimes it is just for artistic beauty, these are

• Structural: helps create a structural scheme for the composition, e.g., listing Noah’s three sons before and after the flood (Gen 6/9–10 and 9/18–19) creates balances and brackets the story.
• Elaboration: Second unit of the paired unit develops the theme, e.g., Gen 28/6–9 introduces Esau’s wife while Gen 36 traces the rest of Esau’s family.
• Second perspective: Takes the first unit from a different point of view or summarizes it, e.g. the crossing of the Jordan gives two points of view (Josh.3/9–17: from the east a crossing begins and is completed, Josh.4/10–13: from the west as it proceeds and is completed).

On the other hand, it can also be used to convey meaning, as in the prayer of Jonah (Jon.2/2–9 and 4/1–3).

The advantage is that the author can make a point subtly, and this is much appreciated by the audience, since most people don’t like to be pointed out to and quickly tire of being pointed out to. This invites the listener to discover the meaning, to participate, to think. This makes communication more interesting, more enjoyable, and therefore more effective. Think about how pedantic it would be to explain the point at the beginning of The Three Little Pigs.

This can be done in several ways in the Hebrew language:

• Emphasis: by repeating a point can be emphasized, e.g. Dan. 2 and 7, that human kingdoms will rise, but they will fall and only God’s kingdom will remain.
• To emphasize a pattern: to draw attention to a particular pattern, especially a pattern of behavior, e.g., Jonah’s case with the Gentiles. Jonah is reluctant to obey God, but the heathen readily accept and plead for mercy.
• Compare: Two or more units can be compared to show the similarity between two things that do not seem similar, e.g. Amos 1–2 when Israel was judged the same as the foreign nations.
• Contrast: may also show the difference between two things that seem the same but are not, e.g. Genesis 38 and 39 shows two sons of Jacob confronted with an illicit sexual invitation by a woman, and in both stories the temptress keeps a mark of the man to later use as evidence against him, but the rest is all different, how Judah fails completely and prospers while Joseph is faithful and punished.
• Reversal: can show the reversal of something (1 Kings 3–11: establishment of Solomon’s reign and building of the temple, 2 Kings 18–25: end of Solomon’s reign and destruction of the temple).
• Reciprocity: Shows reciprocal action in matching units (Songs 2/8–17: young man’s invitation to young woman to join him, 7/11–8/4: she invites him to join her in the country).
• Resolution (or fulfillment): Emphasizes the close connection between the story’s opening tension, suspense, or prediction and its closing resolution or fulfillment (Gen 12/1–9: Abram and Sarah’s childlessness, 21/1–7: Isaac’s birth).
• Totality: to show the totality of a phenomenon by showing both halves of a merism (day and night, man and woman) (Isa.2/10–22: future humiliation of proud man, 3/16–17: future humiliation of proud woman).

Positions of Prominence

Position can also be used to reinforce or convey meaning. Modern storytellers place important messages in the next-to-last unit because this is the climax and the last unit is for the denouement (fade out).

In Hebrew literature, in linear and parallel structures, this is the last unit because these are the last words the audience hears.

• In an odd-numbered parallel scheme, the position of the last unit is accentuated by the unmatched unit, such as a-b-c-a’-b’-c’-d.
• In a symmetric scheme, the center is usually the position of prominence if odd, but for an even number it is the first and last as in Ex.21/2–22/27 (where the beginning and end deal with capital offenses and kindness to the poor).

The meaning could be

• Turning Point: The center is the turning point in the story, e.g. Ehud (Jugd. 3/12–30) where the turning point is when he kills the king. Also the whole structure of Judges has Gideon as a turning point.
• Climax: This is also the case in Ehud’s story, the point of highest tension.
• Centerpiece: represents the climax, e.g., Songs 3/6–5/1 is the wedding, Chr. Center is Solomon, the builder of the temple (2 Chr. 1–9).
• Significant Pause (or Interlude): A notable pause in the action or argument of the composition to make a highly significant point.2 Kings 2/1–8/6 is a pause in the relentless, almost uninterrupted parade of the sins of the kings, broken by the ministry of Elisha.2 Kings 3/21–32: pauses in relentless tragic eulogy to reflect on the profound love of God.

Value of structural analysis

There are many values

• Appreciation of literary artistry: We can appreciate the skill and care that has gone into the text, and what may at first appear to be chaotic writing can be seen as an elegant arrangement.
• Identification of unit boundaries: We can better interpret the text if we can structure it, e.g. 1 Kings 1–2 is the conclusion of Sam. and not the introduction to the rest of Kings. Also, the 5 books of Moses and Joshua are a unit — it was never intended to end the books of Moses with Israel almost home and the story almost complete.
• Discovering the rationale behind a unitary layout: This gives us a better understanding of the flow of the text, e.g. the two stories of Abraham lying about his wife are linked to the two promises of Ishmael and the migrations of Lot’s family. Also Songs has the wedding in the middle for poetic reasons and the intimacy before does not support premarital sex but shows the arrangement as a chiasm. Also, Isaiah’s call in Isaiah 6 seems out of place (as it should be the beginning), but is central to Isaiah 1–12.
• Clarifying the relationship of the parts to the whole: Especially in long units this can help to organize the text, e.g. Isa. 26–35 and 40–48 explain the reciprocal function, seeing Isa. 36–39 as the thematic center in between.
• Explain repetitions: Repetitions confuse modern readers, but they help the hearer to perceive the structure of the text, e.g. morning and evening and the nth day shows the completion of each day in Gen.1.
• Explanation of the apparently misplaced units: Some passages seem to be misplaced, but structural analysis helps to understand their position, e.g. Gen 38 seems to interrupt the story of Joseph, but was used to contrast his behavior at Potiphar’s place. This wrongful treatment of Joseph while Judah gets away with it will lead to the parallel chapter of disowning Judah and giving the firstborn right to Joseph.
• Clarifying a unit by comparing it to its counterpart: The meaning of a function of a unit can be clarified by comparing it to its counterpart.

Sources