Blood Crimes Avenged in Seven Bowls: Revelation 17 as an Explanation of the Fifth and Sixth Plagues
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.19141/1809-2454.kerygma.v20.n1.pe1682Keywords:
Babylon, Judgment, Plagues, Literary structure, RevelationAbstract
Interpreters generally consider that Babylon is remembered by God during the seventh bowl of the wrath (cf. Rev 16:19). After this, God would pour out his wrath upon her. However, according to Revelation 15:1 and 16:17, God’s wrath is completely satisfied throughout the first six bowls and when the seventh bowl is poured out “on the air.” Even before the theophanies of the seventh bowl, God declares himself satisfied with the execution of bowl’s judgment, with the statement “It is done!” Furthermore, in the most predominant reading of this textual unity, God would have remembered Babylon to give her the cup of the wrath after the “great city” was divided into three parts, or completely destroyed, which would suggest an anachronism in this section (Rev 16:17-21). Questions of structure and linguistic aspects must be analyzed in order to clarify the meaning of the vision of Revelation 17 after the seven plagues, and what kind of relationship this account has with the vision of the seven plagues (Rev 16). This article uses an exegetical methodology with structural analysis in the search for more answers to these questions. The hypothesis defended here is that Revelation 17 does not report a later event nor an unfolding of the seventh bowl, but an explanation of the fifth and sixth plagues.Downloads
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