the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Book with the Seven Seals
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or There is no more impressive piece of symbolism in the Apocalypse than that connected with the seven-sealed book (Revelation 5). Much of the imagery of Rev. strikes the modern Western mind as exotic and unattractive; it is only by a determined use of the historical imagination that we can bring ourselves to a sympathetic understanding of it. But here the qualities which we look for in great painting or in epic poetry are plainly to be seen. And this applies both to the imagery and to the dominant thought. The unnamed Presence in the glory of light on the central throne, the representatives of humanity and nature grouped around and before Him, the concentration of interest in the seven-sealed book held out upon (ἐπί, acc.) His hand, the dramatic challenge, the dread pause when there seems no answer, emphasized by the grief of the Seer, the triumphant approach of the Lion of the tribe of Judah-each point in the progress of the drama seizes the reader’s imagination and increases the tension of his sympathies, till at last they are afforded relief by the magnificent burst of acclamation which follows.
And the thought, as has been said, is worthy of its setting, for this sealed book is the book of destiny, the prophetic history of the world as foreknown in the purpose of God; and the fact that the Lion of the tribe of Judah alone prevails to open the book is the symbolic expression of what would be described in modern language as the central significance of Christ in history. That the Lion is also the Slain Lamb attaches this significance especially to His sacrifice of Himself: ‘For thou wast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood … and hast made us unto our God, kings and priests.’ In a word, the purpose of history is the founding of a redeemed humanity.
To touch on some of the details-the conception of a book containing the future history of the world is found in Enoch, lxxxi. 1, 2: ‘And be said unto me: O Enoch, observe the writing of the heavenly tablets and read what is written thereon … and I read the book of all the deeds of men, and of all the children of flesh that will be upon the earth to the remotest generations’; and more especially xciii. 2, 3: ‘Concerning the children of righteousness … I will speak to you … according to that which I have learned from the heavenly tables.’ (Then follows a prophetic scheme of the history of Israel divided into seven weeks.)
The seals obviously imply the secret nature of the record (not here, directly, ratification), as in Daniel 12:4. If the vision of ch. 5 stood alone, the sevenfold sealing might simply emphasize this idea, but the successive opening of the seals implies that the leaves of the book or parchment-roll are sealed down in successive portions, and the idea of completeness in the seven is thus referred to the history (cf. the seven weeks of Israel’s history in Enoch).
The visions connected with the opening of the several seals are of less central interest, belonging rather to the general furniture of apocalyptic. The second to the sixth signify clearly war, famine, pestilence, persecution, convulsions of nature. As to the meaning of the first horseman, expositors are not agreed. Swete takes the first two together as representatives of war in its two aspects of victory and carnage. At the seventh vision the scheme, instead of moving directly to its completion, branches out into new ramifications.
Literature.-See Literature at end of preceding article.
W. Montgomery.
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Book with the Seven Seals'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/b/book-with-the-seven-seals.html. 1906-1918.
