Sjef van Tilborg, «The Danger at Midday: Death Threats in the Apocalypse», Vol. 85 (2004) 1-23
This paper proposes a new suggestion in the discussion regarding possible death threats in the Apocalypse. It makes a comparison between relevant texts from the Apocalypse and what happens during festival days when rich civilians entertain their co-citizens with (gladiatorial) games. At the end of the morning and during the break special fights are organized. Condemned persons are forced to fight against wild animals or against each other to be killed by the animals or by fire. The paper shows that a number of texts from the Apocalypse are better understood, when they are read against this background.
The Danger at Midday: Death Threats in the Apocalypse (*)
The word mesouravnhma is used three times in the Apocalypse: the
zenith, the point where the sun reaches its highest point; the midday: in
8,13 the seer hears an eagle crying with a loud voice as it flew in mid-
heaven, “Woe, woe, woe to those who dwell on the earthâ€; in 14,6 he
sees an angel flying in mid-heaven with an eternal gospel to proclaim
to those who dwell on earth…saying with a loud voice: “Fear God and
give him glory, for the hour of his judgment has come; and worship
him who made heaven and earth, the sea and the fountains of waterâ€(1);
and in 19,17 he sees an angel standing in the sun which with a loud
voice calls to all the birds that fly in mid-heaven: “Come, gather for the
great supper of God, to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the
flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh
of all men, both free and slave, both small and greatâ€. The word is thus
an indication of time as well as of place and is evidently not
insignificant in the scheme of the book. It is the place from where the
last and the greatest plagues begin. It is the point in time at which the
confession of God as creator of heaven and earth must resound and it is
the place from where the birds are summoned from the sky to begin
their last meal, the end of the beast and all its followers.
In the study of the Apocalypse there is a discussion about the
inquiry into the social setting of the book: are there real death threats
or do these exist only in the mind and imagination of the author? L.L.
Thompson (2) describes this as a contrast between the position of E.
Schüssler Fiorenza and A. Yarbo Collins. While A. Yarbo Collins
writes that
(*) Prof. Sjef van Tilborg passed away on the 22nd of May 2003. The proofs of
this article were corrected by his assistant Dr. Patrick Chatelion Counet.
(1) The confession of God as maker of everything often comes back in all sorts
of martyria: see 4 Macc 11,5; Mart. Carpi, Papyli et Agathonicae 9; Mart. Justini
1.15; recensio B 2.12; recensio C 2.3; Mart. Apollonii 2; Mart. Pionii 8.3 and
others, see H. MUSURILLO, The Acts of the Christian Martyrs (Oxford 1972) 91 n.
3; L. ROBERT, Le martyre de Pionios, prêtre de Smyrne (Washington 1994) 70.
(2) The Book of Revelation. Apocalypse and Empire (Oxford 1990) 202-210;
see also St.J. FRIESEN, Imperial Cults and the Apocalypse of John. Reading
Revelation in the Ruins (Oxford 2001) 144-151 who quotes these same authors.
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