The New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation

Pilchan Lee

doi:10.1628/978-3-16-157173-2

Pilchan Lee

The New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation

A Study of Revelation 21-22 in the Light of its Background in Jewish Tradition

2001. 358 pages. unrevised e-book edition 2019; Original edition 2001.

Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2. Reihe (WUNT II) 129

DOI 10.1628/978-3-16-157173-2

including VAT

eBook PDF
available
978-3-16-157173-2

Summary

Authors/Editors

Reviews

Summary

How can we understand the New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation against the background of the Jewish tradition? Pilchan Lee uses the early Jewish literature for the interpretation of the New Testament text.

There is a development between expectation for the rebuilding of the New Jerusalem/Temple in the Old Testament and the coming of the New Jerusalem/Temple in Revelation. In Revelation, there is a dynamic relation between the New Jerusalem and the Heavenly Jerusalem: the New Jerusalem is the descent of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Moreover, there is no Temple building which was expected as the eschatological promise in the Old Testament but rather God and the Lamb is the Temple. How can this shift be explained?
Pilchan Lee examines the exegetical tradition which existed between the Old Testament and Revelation. He assumes that as the exegetical tradition, the early Jewish (apocalyptic) literature functions as a key element for forming the idea of the New Jerusalem in Revelation. John's main argument is that the church (which is symbolized by several images) is placed in heaven now (chapters 4-20) and the church (which is symbolized by the New Jerusalem) will descend to the earth from heaven in the future (21-22).

Table of contents:

1. The Jerusalem/Temple Idea in the Old Testament
Introduction - The Book of Ezekiel - The Book of Isaiah - The Book of Jeremiah - The Book of Zechariah
2. The Jerusalem/Temple Idea in the Early Jewish Literature
Introduction - 1 (Ethiopic Apocalypse of) Enoch - 2 (Slavonic Apocalypse of) Enoch - Tobit - Sectarian Works at Qumran - The Fourth Book of Ezra - 1 Baruch - 2 (Syriac Apocalypse of) Baruch - Baruch - The Apocalypse of Abraham - Pseudo-Philo (Latin Title, Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum: Hereafter LAB) - The Sibylline Oracles, Book 5 - Yavnean Movement: Rabbinic Response to the Temple Destruction - Bar Kokhba Revolt
3. The Jerusalem/Temple Idea in the New Testament
4. The New Jerusalem in Revelation
Introduction - Structural Analysis: Structure and Composition - Contextual Analysis I - Contextual Analysis II: Babylon the Harlot (17:1-19:10) and the Transition from Babylon to the Great to the New Jerusalem (19:11-21:8) - Exegetical Analysis: The New Jerusalem (21:1-22:5) - Thematic Analysis: The Relation of the Heavenly Temple and the New Jerusalem in Revelation