John and the Future of the Nations - Institute for Biblical Research

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252 Bulletin for Biblical Research 12.2 (2) The fourfold phrase "peoples and nations and languages and many kings" (laoi=j kai_ e!qnesin kai_ glw/ssaij kai_ basileu=sin polloi=j, 10:11) is used negatively, as is indicated by the insertion of basileu=sin polloi=j. Note John's usage of lists of ethnic units: 5:9 e)k pa/shj fulh=j kai_ glw/sshj kai_ laou= kai_ e!qnouj 7:9 e)k panto_j e!qnouj kai_ fulw=n kai_ law=n kai_ glwssw=n 10:11 e)pi_ laoi=j kai_ e!qnesin kai_ glw/ssaij kai_ basileu=sin polloi=j 11:9 e)k tw=n law=n kai_ fulw=n kai_ glwssw=n kai_ e)qnw=n 13:7 e)pi_ pa=san fulh_n kai_ lao_n kai_ glw=ssan kai_ e!qnoj 14:6 e)pi_ pa=n e!qnoj kai_ fulh_n kai_ glw=ssan kai_ lao/n 17:15 laoi_ kai_ o!xloi ei)si_n kai_ e!qnh kai_ glw=ssai In 5:9 and 7:9 the list of four ethnic units describes the multinational and multiracial character of the people who have been redeemed by the Lamb. In 11:9; 13:7-8; 14:6; and 17:15 the phrase is used of unbelievers who will be judged because of their identification with the beast or with Babylon. 26 (3) The exchange of fulai=j for basileu=sin establishes the negative character of the ethnic units. The repeatedly used phrase "the kings of the earth" (1:5; 6:15; 17:2; 18:3, 9; 19:19) refers to Christ's defeated enemies, 27 to which the seven and the ten kings of 17:10 and 12 belong as well. 28 (4) The context of Ezek 2-3, _______________________________________________________________________ chaps. 2-3!), are the object of God's blessing, whereas the dative object(s) in 10:11 is laoi=j kai_ e!qnesin kai_ glw/ssaij kai_ basileu=sin polloi=j which, in the context of what follows, are the object of divine judgment. 26. Cf. Beale, Revelation, 355; for the correspondence to the similar formulas in Daniel, see p. 359; cf. also Bauckham, Climax, 326-37. 27. Cf. Beale, Revelation, 191, 555. 28. The possible allusion to Matt 10:18 ("and you will be dragged before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them and the Gentiles"; par. Luke 21:12) and Mark 13:9b ("and you will stand before governors and kings because of me, as a testimony to them"; par. Matt 24:18) is understood in opposite ways: Roloff, Offenbarung, 111, takes the "old early Christian apocalyptic tradition" of Mark 13:9 and Luke 21:12 as proof for the positive character of the mission that is given to the church in Rev 10:11, because the reference to the witness before kings and nations describes the task that the church has publicly before the world. Aune, Revelation, 574, thinks that Matt 10:18 and Mark 13:9 confirm the negative character of the Christian witness. However, the witness in Matt 10:18 and Mark 13:9 is a positive "witness to them" (cf. e.g. W. D. Davies and D. C. Allison, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel according to Saint Matthew [ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1988-1991] 1.184; Robert H. Gundry, Mark: A Commentary on His Apology for the Cross [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993] 766, who correctly points out that an accusatory witness against Gentile governors and kings makes no sense at all, "for they would not have heard the good news before and therefore would not yet have had opportunity to reject it and persecute its preachers"). If the witness before kings in Matt 10:18 and Mark 13:9 is a positive, missionary-evangelistic witness, and if the witness about the kings in Rev 10:13 is a "negative" pronouncement of judgment, it seems preferable not to see an allusion to Matt 10:18 and Mark 13:9 in Rev 10:13.
SCHNABEL: John and the Future of the Nations 253 which is the background for the scroll vision in Rev 10:8-10, confirms the interpretation of 10:13 in the sense of "prophesying against" peoples and nations. Ezekiel's message is primarily one of judgment, a fact that explains why the scroll is described as displaying "lamentation and mourning and woe" (Ezek 2:10). (5) The following vision (11:1-13), which develops the ideas of chap. 10, focuses on God's judgment on the "peoples and tribes and languages and nations" (11:9). The prophecy of judgment on the nations that was predominant in the early chapters continues after chap. 10. John's focus from chap. 11 onward is, as G. Beale correctly observes, "not on a new strategy for converting the world but on the world's rejection of the church's witness." 29 We conclude that the content of the scroll in Rev 10 does not support the view that John relates to the church a missionary mandate for an evangelistic ministry to the nations, thus anticipating the conversion of the Gentiles who respond to the witness of the church. Second, the term e!mfoboi e)ge/nonto (11:13d) hardly has the positive sense of "fear of the Lord.''' (1) John uses the word "fear" indeed in the positive sense of worshipful stance toward God, but (i) only in the subsequent context (11:18; 14:7; 15:4; 19:5), (ii) often with clear reference to "the prophets and saints" (11:18) or "his servants" (19:5), (iii) usually in the context of divine judgment on the nations (11:18; 14:7; 15:4; 19:5), and (iv) never with the use of the noun fo/boj, which is used only negatively in Rev (11:18; 18:10, 15). 30 (2) In the preceding context the notion of "fear" is not used in the sense of the "fear of the Lord" but negatively in the sense of being afraid of God (cf. the mh[de_n] fobou= in 1:17; 2:10). (3) e!mfoboi with a form of gi/nomai always means "frightened" or "terrified" in the NT, never implying faith, even though both believers and nonbelievers may be in view (Luke 24:5, 37; Acts 10:4; 24:25). (4) The possible allusion to the fear of the Philistine sailors in Jonah 1:9-10 and 16 confirms the interpretation of "fear" in terms of anxious apprehension: after the prophet tells them that he worships YHWH the God of heaven (to_n ku/rion qeo_n tou= ou)ranou= e)gw_ se/bomai, v. 9), the pagan sailors are terribly afraid (e)obh/qhsan oi( a!ndrej fo/bon me/gan, v. 10; e)fobh/qhsan oi( a!ndrej fo/bw| mega/lw| to_n ku/rion, v. 16) and offer sacrifices to Jonah's God. There is no hint that they stopped worshiping their own gods or that they joined God's covenant people. (5) The parallels in Rev 9:20; 19:21; and 20:5 that also speak of oi( loipoi/ use the phrase with regard to unbelievers who experience the beginning of the last judgment. 29. Beale, Revelation, 531. 30. In 13:13 several MSS read e)n fobw|= instead of e!mfoboi: ) 2351 pc lat sy ph.hmg ; cf. Beale, Revelation, 605.
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John and the Future of the Nations - Institute for Biblical Research

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