Examinations of the wedding metaphor in Rev are generally limited to Rev 19 and 21¹. However, in addition to the announcement of the "wedding of the lamb" in Rev 19,6-9 and the presentation of celestial Jerusalem as a "bride" (Rev 21,2.9), the image of the wedding, often overlooked, has already appeared in the letters to the churches (Rev 2,10; 3,11) as well as in the middle section (14,4-5) and is encountered again in Rev 18,23 and 22,17. The comparison of the two female figures of the harlot and the bride in Rev 17–21 is thus embedded in contrasting declarations, making metaphoric use of gender, that appear throughout all of Rev as a continuous theme². In the following paper, the nuptial images of Revelation will be examined upon the background of tradition in Judaic imagery, and, within this process, the integration of various elements of such imagery such as metaphors of meals, clothes, city and royalty will become visible. By contrasting the various images of harlotry and the wedding, one of the basic structural elements of Revelation can be recognized.

I. The "wreath of life" (Rev 2,10; 3,11) 

        In two letters to the churches, the faithful Christian is promised a crown or a wreath (Rev 2,10; 3,11). The "wreath of life" (ste/fanoj th=j zwh=j) in Rev 2,10 is a formulation that has a parallel tradition in Jas 1,12 but remains without analogy in secular Greek literature. Generally, this metaphor is explained within the scope of the Pauline tradition of the victory wreath (1 Cor 9,24, compare Phil 3,14; 2 Tim 4,8),

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and this explanation is supported by the references of nika/w in the context of Rev 2–3 (cf. Rev 2,6-7.11.15; 3,5.12 etc.) as well as the athletic contests that are proven to have taken place in Smyrna, the adressee of one of the letters.

1. The "wreath of life" as bridal wreath

        Alone the manifold uses of "wreathes/crowns" within Revelation itself³ should lead one to be wary of one-sided models of explanation. The competition scenario clearly plays no role in Jas 1,12-15. Instead, fortitude and fidelity between man and woman are in the foreground. Lust (e)piqumi/a) is portrayed as a seductive woman whereas a true love relationship exists only with God. The wreath of life could then mean the bridal wreath, which, in both Judaic and Hellenistic wedding rituals, has been documented for both the bride and the groom and can be understood as a symbol of (premarital) chastity⁴. Additionally in Rev 2,10, the semantic field peirasmo/j is associated with the promise of the wreath of life, leading one to assume a common basis of tradition with Jas 1,12. In the same way in Rev 3,9-11, the wreath becomes the expression for fortitude in the face of temptation, which endangered the love of the narrator (Rev 3,9).

2. Traditional background

        Metaphors of the crown/wreath can be found in several scriptures of Jewish tradition, often linked to Jerusalem or Zion. According to Lam 2,15, it is the virgin, daughter of Zion, who is named the "delight of the whole world" and "crown of beauty" (ste/fanoj do/chj). In Bar 5,1-2, Jerusalem should discard the cloak of mourning in order to place the "diadem of splendour of the eternal" on her head. A clear connection between the metaphor of the crown and the wedding can be found in Ezek 16 and Cant 3. In Ezek 16,12, the foundling is crowned with a beautiful crown while she is adorned as a bride (ste/fanon

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kauxh/sewj). The bride described in Ezek 16 is not only "worthy to reign" (Ezek 16,13), but, more to the point, she also serves as a metaphor for Jerusalem. Further, in Cant 3,11 the crown is associated with marriage as the lover is compared to King Solomon, who was crowned by his mother on the day of his wedding. Simultaneously, it is in Cant 3,11 that for the first time an allegorization of Cant in the Judaic tradition (JHWH-Israel) can be demonstrated (see m. Taan 4,8). A symbolically meaningful motif of the bridal wreath within a wedding can also be found in the intertestamental Jewish scripture JosAs. According to JosAs 18,5-6 Aseneth is described, demonstrated also by the royal girdle (JosAs 18,6), as a royal bride setting a golden wreath on her head. Simultaneously, with her adornment as a bride a transformation from mourning to great joy takes place. Thus, the bridal garland becomes, together with the bridal jewelry, a symbol of heavenly transformation, depicted and promised in the image of the wedding. The intertextual parallel to Rev becomes obvious here⁵.

        Lastly, a passage in the intertestamental Jewish document Liber Antiquitatum Biblicarum (LAB) should be referred to, for here the bridal wreath is mentioned in close connection to an upcoming death. Seila, the daughter of Jephta, laments her virginity, for, due to her father’s vow, she is to be sacrificed as a virgin:

I have not been satisfied on my bridal bed and was not granted the wreathes of my wedding (...). And over time the flowers of the wreath that my nurse has woven will wilt (LAB 49,6).

        Although this scene can hardly be understood in a metaphorical sense, there appears here to be a certain parallel to a custom within the Greek wedding ritual which could be drawn upon as a donor field for the New Testament metaphor of the "wreath of life". Portrayed upon a lutrophora in Athens there is a young dead girl whose death crown is marked with spiky leaves. This crown is the same as that which is otherwise used at weddings. Salis and, following him, Baus therefore assumed that it was customary in Greece to adorn a woman who died as a virgin with a bridal wreath⁶. It has been unquestionably

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substantiated that lutrophora, amphoras with which the water for a bridal bath was fetched, were placed on the graves of virgins. It is possible that it was also usual in a broader sense to adorn dead women as brides. In this way Kalirrhoe, who was believed to be dead, was made up as a bride (Charito I.6,2). Conversely, some Greek epitaphs expressly regret that the deceased could not be adorned as a bride⁷.

        If the "wreath of life" in Rev is also used specifically as an image of hope against death (martyrdom), the formulation does not only have to be understandable within the image of the "martyr as athlete" but also retains its meaning within the scope of the wedding. This shows up not least in the later depiction of the martyr Blandina whose death, described in detail, is depicted as a wedding. Her death is union (koinwni/a) with Christ⁸.

        As the crown/wreath was used only once in the Judaic tradition as a metaphor for competition (cf. 4 Macc 17,15), and the imagery of Rev is without a doubt dependent on the Old Testament Judaic traditions⁹, it seems likely that the image of the wreath of life in Rev 2,10 and 3,11 alludes to the bridal wreath. The use of such a metaphor falls back on an inner-Judaic tradition in which the crown/wreath was associated with feminine figures (wisdom, virtue, Jerusalem/Zion) and in which at times the bridal crown was directly mentioned (Ezek 16,12; Cant 3,11). The NT metaphor of the wreath (of life) connects the wreath in Rev, as in Jas 1,12, with statements about faithfulness, fortitude and love. Further, the wreath of life in the sense of the bridal crown is regarded in the later Christian tradition as a symbol of (sexual) restraint (John Chrysostom)¹⁰.

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II. The 144,000 as virginal bride (Rev 14,4-5)¹¹

        The 144,000, who appeared previously in Rev 7,4, are described in detail in Rev 14,4-5. The motifs brought together in Rev 14,4-5 are not lined up randomly but rather indicate definite metaphoric traditions that each in its own way sheds light on the controversial motif of virginity¹². The expression "defilement with women" (meta_ gunaikw=n ou)k e)molu/nqhsan, v. 4) incorporates, as A. Yarbro Collins, K. Berger and lastly D.C. Olson¹³ have already shown, a formulation from the early Judaic interpretation of the tradition of the fallen angels (Hen[gr] 5–15; Jub 5,1; Gig; etc.)¹⁴ of Gen 6,1-4. Above all in the Book of the Watchers in 1 Enoch 1–36 there are several similar or even identical formulations:

They took for themselves wives from all whom they chose; and they began to cohabit with them and to defile themselves with them¹⁵.

Kai_ e!labon e(autoi=j gunai=kaj: e#kastoj au)tw=n e)cele/canto e(autoi=j gunai=kaj, kai_ h!rcanto ei)sporeu/esqai pro_j au)ta_j kai_ miai/nesqai e)n au)tai=j: (Hen[gr] 7,1, cf. 9,8; 10,11; 15,2-7).

        Assuming that the author of Rev takes up this tradition in his formulation, the expression ‘defile with women’ makes sense because the sons of God have, according to Gen 6,1-4, defiled themselves with the daughters of man, meaning women. According to Olson, the author of Rev described the chosen 144,000 as "good angels" in explicit contrast to the watchers and thus has emphasized the observance of angelic virginity (Hen[aeth] 15,7)¹⁶. However, while sexuality, for

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Enoch and a certain line of tradition, should be protologically and eschatologically evened out, the sexual dimension in Rev is spiritualized and is thus functionalized religiously¹⁷. Thus for Rev 14,4, virginity can not be equated with asexuality. Going further, however, it could be observed that the mythos of the fallen angels in intertestamental scriptures is employed above all for the metaphorical treatment of the problem of mixed marriage (compare Jub). Inadmissible sexual association, whether between angels and humans or between Jews and non-Jews, thus had to be rejected. As, previously in Rev 2,14.20, "fornication and food sacrificed to idols" incorporates a classical formulation from the ‘letter of the apostles’ (Acts 15,20.29 and 21,25)¹⁸, this theme could also have been taken up in Rev 14,4 and this time could be associated with a metaphoric expression from the mythos of the fallen angels. The further context also brings the talk of "virginity" into the scope the wedding. On one hand, "virginity" and "immaculateness" are the most basic elements of a bride in early Judaic time¹⁹. On the other hand, the motif of redemption is associated with the wedding. In this way, marital contracts from Muraba’at or from the Babatha Archive²⁰ as well as rabbinical texts²¹ speak explicitly of the obligation to ransom a wife, should she be taken prisoner. Further, the reference to the 144,000 as dou=loi (Rev 7,3) leads to the assumption that this alludes to the custom, normal in Hellenistic times, of the purchase of a female slave for the purpose of

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marriage²². It is even more probable that this is an allusion to the fact that, after the legal reforms of Augustus, being purchased for marriage was the only way for a female slave to attain freedom²³.

        In the final analysis, virginity, the promise of the 144,000 to follow, and the ransom of the first fruit incorporate linguistic forms characteristic of the Judaic tradition of imagery (Jer 2,2-4). The motifs of following after another and the first fruit demonstrate a close linguistic connection to Rev 14,4 (oi( a)kolouqou=ntej or a)parxh/). Further, there are unmistakable allusions in Jer 2,2-3 to the bridal ritual. The MT speaks explicitly of the love of the betrothal (K7yItfOlw%lk@; tbahj)a), and this semantic field is also present in the Greek translation a)ga/phj teleiw/sew/j sou for the wedding was called te/loj in Greek. In addition, the sanctity alludes to the betrothal, for the betrothal was called "Qiddushin" (aram. N#$d@q) in Hebrew as well as Aramaic. The betrothal formula was "You are sanctified to me" (b. Qid 5b). The undefilement and immaculateness of the 144,000 could be seen as an expression of this sanctity. As in the metaphoric tradition Israel is sanctified as a bride for JHWH ²⁴, so are the chosen ones sacred for God and the lamb, so that they are shifted into the scope of the celestial bride Jerusalem.

        All interpretations come to be unified in the function of the chosen 144,000 being removed from the influence of foreign power and foreign claims to ownership. The metaphors of immaculateness and

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defilement have been employed in the early Christian tradition since Paul in connection with conflicts over authority. According to 2 Cor 11,2-3²⁵, so-called "super-apostles" endanger the virginity of the communal bride through their incorrect teachings²⁶. According to this linguistic construct, "virginity" stands precisely for the purity of teaching and the non-recognition of other authorities. In the context of Rev, this metaphoric tradition grants the expression "virginity" a deeper meaning, for the chosen ones are removed from the realm of power of the harlot. Further, the infrequent term molu/nw²⁷ (defile) in Rev 3,4 has already been employed in the context of purity and originality of teaching (Rev 3,3). Instead, the exclusive affiliation with the Lamb is emphasized and illustrated with images of the betrothal. The varying elements of the imagery of Rev 14,1-5, such as virginity, immaculateness, the promise of the 144,000 to follow and the ransom of the first-born, form a sub-section in the metaphor of the wedding. The 144,000 elected are described in images of the wedding, meaning that the vision in Rev 14,1-5 can be seen as a anticipation of the wedding of the lamb. This wedding is then developed further in Rev 19,6-9 and Rev 21,2.9.

III. The voice of bridegroom and bride (Rev 18,23)

        The author of Rev illustrates the fall of the city in Rev 18,21-24 with images from daily social life. Just like the sound of the mill, the voice and the song of the musicians will become silent. No more craftsmen will be seen, the light of the lamp will be extinguished and the voices of bridegroom and bride will no longer be heard in the city. It is striking that the short list of the fading pulse of life closes with the voice of the bride and bridegroom. Thus, it is to be assumed that the author intends to place a special emphasis on this image.

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1. Traditional background

        The "voice of the bridegroom and bride" takes up a motif from Jeremiah. The silencing of the voice of bridegroom and bride is employed in three places in the Book of Jeremiah in connection with proclamations of disaster (Jer 7,34; 16,9; 25,10) while it occurs in Jer 33,10 (LXX 40,10) in the context of a promise of salvation. This formulaic expression thus becomes a symbolic declaration of human joy and an intact social community. There exists a direct reference from Rev 18,23 to Jer 25,10 because here the bridal metaphor also appears in association with the light of the lamp and taking over the MT of the Hebrew Bible with the sound of the mill (MyIxvre lw$q)²⁸. In contrast to Jer, fwnh/ is named only once in Rev 18,23. Through succinct formulations, that, with the exception of v. 22a, constantly bring monomial examples, the author is obviously trying to create a more concise portrayal. More important than the variations in expression is that the author of Rev reverses the order of the examples and now places the voice of bridegroom and bride as the most significant member at the end.

        One decisive difference from the assumed background of tradition, however, is that this expression in Jer always refers to the fate of Judah and Jerusalem and closely describes the situation of exile. Indeed the verse in Jer 25 that is decisive for Rev is followed by a proclamation of disaster to befall Babylon (Jer 25,12-16). In this proclamation, although the bride formula is not employed, the image of the "fiery wine" (Jer 25,15) does appear and demonstrates a parallel motif to that of "fierce wine of fornication" (Rev 18,3; cf. 17,2). If the imagery in Jer constantly refers to inner historical events, Rev 18,23 in contrast demonstrates an "eschatologization" because the judgement of the harlot has both a final and simultaneously eschatological character. This expansion into an eschatological event is prepared by the adoption of the motif in the environment of the New Testament, which is substantiated by the early Judaic and rabbinical evidence (cf. Josephus, Bell. 6,300-306; b. Ket 7b; b. Ber 6b; DevR 7).

2. Figurative language and metaphoric interaction

        The city in which the joyful noise of a wedding no longer will be heard was personified a few verses previously as a harlot with whom

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kings have fornicated (18,3). Based on the, for Judaic ears, inseparable connection of wedding, marriage and reproduction, one is reminded by the wedding formula in Rev 18,23 of the self-celebration of the harlot who expressly emphasizes that she is not a widow (18,7). Similar to the traditional presentation, i.e. in Isa 47,8-9, this self-confidence is now exposed and turned against itself. Here Rev 18,23 goes one step further. Babylon will not only be a childless widow, she will, moreover, not even be permitted to marry according to Rev 18,21-24. When the voice of the bridegroom and bride falls silent there will be no more weddings. This is true first of all for the inhabitants of the city but, as is suggested by the metaphoric interaction, also has implications for the personified city herself. Babylon is of all things not a bride but a harlot.

        The image of the silencing of the bridegroom and bride forces the well-known schema of contrast inasmuch as, with the fall of the harlot, no joyful wedding noise will more be heard (Rev 18,23: fwnh_ ... ou) mh_ a)kousqh|=) until the wedding of the lamb is announced (Rev 19,6-8) with a powerful voice (Rev 19,6: h!kousa w(j fwnh/n, compare vv. 1.5) and with praise. While in Babylon the voices of the bridal pair fall silent, Jerusalem becomes the location of the wedding of the lamb. The celestial city herself will even be a bride (Rev 21,2.9).

IV. The wedding of the Lamb (Rev 19,6-9)

        Within the final vision, Rev 19,1-10 marks the turning point from harlot to bride. The celestial glorification of a great throng is retrospectively concerned with the completed judgement of the harlot Babylon (vv. 1-4), which was already suggested in Rev 18,20 while the earthly hymn extols in anticipation the wedding of the Lamb (vv. 5-8). The woman named in v. 7 and assigned into the possession of the lamb can be interpreted as the "bride". This is made possible by the ambiguous lexeme gunh/ and confirmed by the detailed description of her jewelry and robes of fine "byssuss linen" that follows it ²⁹. V. 8c creates a break in the hymnically poetic style and acts instead more like a commentative explanation. The previously named bu/ssinoj is now identified with the righteous deeds of the saints. V. 9 introduces, in the form of a Beatitude, the element of the wedding supper and guests, which is unique to Rev.

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1. Different elements of the imagery

        Altogether, one can differentiate three elements from the imagery of the wedding metaphor that will be examined more closely below: (a) the wedding of the king; (b) bridal garment and adornment; (c) the invitation to the wedding supper.

        a) The wedding of the king

        Just as the entire section Rev 19,10 is already determined by elements of song³⁰, the wedding image of vv. 6-8 is also formally composed as a hymn. After the imperative call to praise in v. 5b (ai)nei=te tw|= qew|=) as a typical introduction to the "imperative hymn" (compare Ps 134,1.20 [LXX]: ai)nei=te, dou=loi, ku/rion)³¹, v. 6bc delivers the answer in the form of the so-called "Lobsatzrezitation (recitation of praise)", that is introduced as usual with o#ti (hebr. yk@i) names the reason for the praise: "For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns". The summons to exultation is now repeated by the crowd as a self-summons (1. pl.) in three variations (v. 7a) in order to then connect to a o#ti-reason: the wedding of the lamb is now given as the reason for the exultation and the joy (7b).

        This entire section adopts elements of OT Psalms. Based on the Ku/rioj-e)basi/leusen-formula, one recognizes a reference to the so-called JHWH-King-Psalms (Ps[LXX] 92,1; 96,1; 98,1) while the introduction of v. 6a (rushing water) seems to be an allusion to Ps 92,4. Further, the call to joy in v. 7a could have been inspired by Ps[LXX] 117,24b (a)galliasw/meqa kai_ eu)franqw=men). However, the motif of the wedding, a central component of the exultation, is not yet explained with these references. Within the hymn-like texts of the tradition, there is Ps 45 (44 LXX) that creates exactly this connection

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between sovereignty and the wedding image and clearly shows proximity in both motif and language to the doxology of Rev 19,6-8, as the table shows:

Rev 19,6–8		Motif		Ps 44 (LXX)
v. 6: e)basi/leusen ku/rioj o( qeo_j		(divine)		o( basileu_j ... o( ku/rio/j sou (v. 12)
[h(mw=n]		King		o( qro/noj sou o( qeo/j ... (v. 7); (cf. king [basil*] also in vv. 5.6b.7b.10a. 15a.14a.16b)
o( pantokra/twr.		omnipotence		a!rxontaj e)pi_ pa=san th_n gh=n (v. 17b) cf. e)n pa/sh| genea=| kai_ genea=| (v. 18a)
v. 7: xai/rwmen kai_ a)galliw=men		joy		e!laion a)gallia/sewj (v. 8) e)n eu)frosu/nh| kai_ a)gallia/sei (v. 16)
kai_ dw/swmen th_n do/can au)tw=| ...		glory (Doxa)		pa=sa h( do/ca au)th=j qugatro_j basile/wj (v. 14)
h( gunh_ au)tou= h(toi/masen e(auth/n		adorned bride		(quga/ter ...) e)n krosswtoi=j xrusoi=j peribeblhme/nh pepoikilme/nh (v. 14, cf. 10.15)
v. 8: kai_ e)do/qh au)th=| i#na periba/lhtai bu/ssinon lampro_n kaqaro/n:		wear bright garment		e)n i(matismw=| diaxru/sw| peribeblhme/nh pepoikilme/nh (vv. 10.14)
to_ ga_r bu/ssinon ta_ dikaiw/mata tw=n a(gi/wn e)sti/n:		righteousness/ justice		basi/leue e#neken a)lhqei/aj kai_ prau%thtoj kai_ dikaiosu/nhj (v. 5b) h)ga/phsaj dikaiosu/nhn (v. 8)

        Psalm 45 (44 LXX) extols the wedding, taking place with the sheer jubilation and joy of all participants, of a king and a bride adorned in splendid robes. This king legitimizes his power directly from God and is himself addressed as "God" (v. 7). At a time when the political monarchy was long a thing of the past, an idealistic monarchy was described doxologically. It was a monarchy showing clear messianic overtones in formulations such as "anointed with oil, token of joy", "eternal throne", and "sceptre of righteousness". The bride can also be metaphorically interpreted as "Zion", as is not least suggested by the placement, by the Sons of Korah, of the Psalm in the Hebrew Canon (before the Zion Psalms)³².

        The similarity to the royal wedding of Rev becomes obvious based simply on the parallels of motif. The inter-textual connection between

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Ps 45 (44 LXX) and Rev 19,5-8 increases, however, in plausibility above all because Ps 45 (44 LXX) has been interpreted in a messianic sense both in the rabbinical (Tg.Pss, MPss) as well as the ancient Christian (Hebr 1,7-8) tradition. Additionally, together with Cant 3,11³³, it may have made a substantial contribution to the metaphor of the messiah-bridegroom that then gained a central meaning in ancient Christianity³⁴. Even the ambiguity already created in Ps 45 (44 LXX) as to the relation between God and king fits into the image of the "Lamb-King" as it is imparted in Rev. The Lamb, whose royal wedding is announced here in Rev 19,5-9, is drawn directly into the realm of God without, however, being identified with God. Thus, the specific Christology of Revelation receives in advance a traditional character in its imagery.

        b) Bridal garment and adornment

        The text speaks further of a woman who has adorned herself as a bride. The bridal garment is often mentioned within the metaphorical tradition itself. Thus, the bride in Ezek 16, metaphorized as Jerusalem, is adorned with byssus-linen, silk and embroidered clothes (bu/ssina kai_ tri/xapta kai_ poiki/la Ezek 16,13[LXX]). The "bride of Zion" in Ps 45 is presented with golden robes (literally "Her clothing is interwoven with gold" — e)n krosswtoi=j xrusoi=j peribeblhme/nh pepoikilme/nh Ps 44,14[LXX]). In Isa 61,10 "robes of salvation" and "cloak of righteousness" are compared with the garland and jewels of the bride and bridegroom, while the bride, here, can be identified with Zion and the bridegroom in the scope of the Judaic interpretation of Isa 61 can be identified with the Messiah (compare PesR 37; PesK 22,4). A detailed description of bridal jewelry is handed down in JosAs by way of the bride Aseneth (see JosAs 18,5-10): she dons a bridal gown, "the first of the wedding, like lightning in its appearance", puts on a majestic golden belt, dons precious stones, golden bracelets and jewels and places a golden wreath on her head. A transformation takes place

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with the bridal jewels. Formerly Aseneth had a "deflated appearance", but suddenly her face is lighted with overwhelming beauty "like the sun and her eyes like the morning stars etc." The bridal adornment makes Aseneth’s inner beauty, initiated by the meeting with the celestial people, simultaneously concrete and aesthetic.

        The aesthetic dimension of the festive gown is in all sources clearly in the fore. Within the framework of the wedding description, the beauty of the bride and especially also the beauty of her wedding jewelry and garment is emphasized. In Ezek 16 and JosAs, the contrast between the "supernatural" beauty of the bride to her previous simplicity is emphasized. As, previously in Ezek 16, the bride of Jerusalem is considered "worthy of royalty" (Ezek 16,13), Aseneth is also described as a royal bride because she puts on a "royal belt" and takes a scepter in her hand (JosAs 18,6). In looking at metaphoric interaction, the elements of imagery of aesthetics, transformation and royal worthiness must be considered.

        c) Wedding supper / wedding guests

        The image of an eschatological celebratory supper is also widely known in Judaism emerging from the prophetic promise (Isa 25,6; 62,9; Ezek 39,17; etc.)³⁵. The idea of a final supper is associated, especially in the Enoch literature, with the son of man (Hen[aeth] 62,14; Hen[gr] 42,5). However, no references that identify the final supper concretely as a wedding supper are known.

        This combination of motifs is obviously an achievement of early Christianity. A loose association between an eschatological supper and a wedding exists in the section from the Sayings Source Luke 12,35-38 (Q)³⁶. Further, there are many indications of a formal and contextual parallel between Luke 14,15b and Rev 19,9³⁷. An exact comparison of Luke 14,15b and Rev 19,9, however, shows that besides the formal relatedness of the Beatitude, alone the basic motif of the invitation to a supper leads one to see a common background of tradition. The concretizations and formulations such as bread-eating in the Kingdom of God or as one invited to the wedding supper of the

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lamb show clear differences. Certainly Luke 14,15 appears to be an introductory verse in the parable of the great supper, in which the motif of the "invitation to the supper" then shifts in the narrative into the center (cf. Luke 14,24: keklhme/noi/dei=pnon). While in Luke this image is not yet associated with the wedding symbolism, the version of the parable in Mt 22,1-14 shows the exact combination of eschatological banquet and eschatological wedding. Thus, Mt and Rev demonstrate here the knowledge of a common tradition whose source may lie in a Q-tradition of eschatological supper.

2. Metaphoric interaction

        The central statement of the metaphoric section Rev 19,6-9 is: "The wedding of the Lamb has come". Out of the twenty-nine titular references to a)rni/on in Rev, twenty-eight of the terms refer to Jesus Christ. The wedding that is extolled in Rev 19,6-9 and to which guests are invited is therefore the wedding of Christ. Jesus is the bridegroom!

        A connection between Lamb and sovereignty, as is completed here in Rev 19,6f., exists already in Rev 17,14 as here the Lamb is called "Lord of all lords and King of all kings". The same term is then taken up again in Rev 19,16 and again clearly refers to Christ, as indicated by the name "Word of God" (Rev 19,13), the image of the sword coming out of the mouth (19,15; cp. 2,12) and above all by the quotation from Ps 2,9 (LXX), interpreted in a messianic sense, referring to the ruler with the iron rod (Ps 2,9; Rev 19,15). The bridegroom whose wedding is extolled here is simultaneously the king whose reign is beginning. In this way, important characteristics of the Christology of Rev can be distinguished. The label of sovereignty ku/rioj o( qeo_j o( pantokra/twr (Rev 19,6c), which certainly goes back to Isa 6,2, is clearly assigned to God within the framework of the throne visions in Rev 4,8 and 11,17. In Rev 15,3 it occurs within the song of the Lamb (w|)dh_ tou= a)rni/ou). However, precisely these passages make it clear that despite God’s preeminence, demonstrated through the ovation, a monopoly of power has not been declared. Sovereignty is shared within the divine-celestial sphere. God does not sit alone upon the throne, but rather a "co-regency" of the twenty-four elders is described. The same motif is taken up again as a structure of sovereignty in celestial Jerusalem, so that the entire vision of the celestial city ends with the promise of the reign of the king of servants (Rev 22,5). The sovereignty of God and Lamb also become closely related here, to the point of identity, for the throne of God is

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simultaneously the throne of the Lamb (qro/noj tou= qeou= kai_ tou= a)rni/ou, Rev 22,1–3; 7,10.17; cp. 5,6.11). Looking at Rev 19, one can conclude that here the reign of God and the sovereignty of Christ are also indivisibly joined and must not be separated. Regarding Rev 17,14 and 19,16, one can also connect the begin of the reign of the king described in 19,6 to the kingdom of the Lamb. The reference to God should, however, not be overemphasized in a Christological sense upon the background of PsLXX 44,7 and 92,1. Certainly there already exists a synopsis of God and Christ that may have been employed consciously and that was able to form the breeding ground for the later "explicit Christology"³⁸.

        Let us now turn to the bride of the Lamb. The text provides little help in the interpretation of who is actually represented in the imagery of the bride. A reference back to Rev 12 is created by the clearly conscious use of the term gunh/ (the author also knows nu/mfh, see 21,2.9)³⁹. The woman in Rev 12 is also "splendidly" clothed (peribeblhme/nh, Rev 12,1) for she is robed with the sun. However, we meet the pregnant woman of Rev 12 in a stage in a woman’s life that is much later than that of the bride. The allegorical provision in Rev 19,8c ("for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints") could give another clue to the designation of the bride. As the linen was first introduced as the clothing of the bride, the bride is identified with the saints by way of the parallel phrases. The clothing then refers to the righteous acts in the sense of an analogue structure. Of course, the celestial bride could also be robed in the righteous acts of the saints, so that the saints and the bride do not have to be identical. This is suggested in the continuation in Rev 19,9 for if the saints are identical with those that are said to be lucky, those invited to the wedding can not simultaneously be the bride herself. Thus, the identity of the bride

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is still hidden from the reader at this point and is not addressed again and answered until Rev 21,1-9 and 22,17.

        The scenario that has been developed up to this point is expanded in Rev 19,9. Instead of learning about the bride, we learn about the guests invited to the banquet. In this way, the Judaic tradition of the eschatological feast is certainly taken up. The fact that the observer is commanded to put the beatitude into writing suggests that it is the church that is addressed here. The entire scene, however, does not only lay the groundwork for the vision of the celestial bride of Jerusalem, but itself, through the motifs of the great throng, voice, Lamb and chosen ones, is closely connected to the anticipatory visions in Rev 7,9-19 and 14,1-4.

V. The celestial bride Jerusalem (Rev 21,2.9)

1. The image in the context of the vision of Jerusalem

        The vision of the city of Jerusalem descending from heaven in the final chapters of Rev can be divided into two sections closely connected to one another. That which appears at first only sketchily in Rev 21,1-8 is then described in detail in Rev 21,9-22,5⁴⁰. At the beginning of each section the celestial city is compared to and identified with a bride (Rev 21,1.9). The two sections are connected to each other to the point of their literal formulations and are arranged chiasmatically. In Rev 21,2, it is the sacred city, described as a bride only in the second part of the verse, that is seen first while in Rev 21,9-10 it is the vision of the bride of the Lamb that is first promised and what is then shown is the sacred city. Rev 21,9 takes up the thread then from Rev 19,7 with the formulation "wife of the Lamb" and makes clear, in combination with nu/mfh, that the celestial city of Jerusalem is identical to the bride of the Lamb. However, the bride is not characterized in any further detail other than her declaration and assignment to the Lamb. This is different in Rev 21,2. The sphere of images that is first introduced with the comparative particle w(j ⁴¹ is made concrete in so far as the bride is adorned (kekosmhme/nh), with

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which the particle, named above, h(toimasme/nh is illustrated. In this way, Rev 21,2 is also closely associated to Rev 19,7 for precisely the preparation of the bride (h(toi/masen e(auth/n) was also mentioned within the wedding hymn. Thus, the three bridal passages Rev 19,7-8; Rev 21,2 and 21,9 are woven closely together.

2. Traditional background: Jerusalem/Zion as bride and wife

        The conception of a city as a female figure has a long history especially in the western Semitic-Syrian region and it also occurs in the Judeo-Christian tradition, above all in prophecy⁴². The starting point for this tradition could be the idea of the ancient oriental city goddess as she appears, for example, in Sumerian texts⁴³. Even in the most ancient sources, the female personification of cities is associated with symbols of weddings. This ancient oriental linguistic tradition then made its way into Judaism and female personifications of cities such as Samaria, Jerusalem or Babylon belong to the characteristic wealth of metaphors of the Hebrew Bible as well as the subsequent scriptures (i.e. PsSal; JosAs; 4 Es). The city goddesses play a further role in the context of Greek culture as becomes clear in Athene or Roma. In the region of Syria-Palestine and Asia Minor or, in other words, the region of those to whom Rev is addressed, Tyche is known as the city patron in the Hellenistic era⁴⁴. Images of such city Tyches (tuxh_ po/lewj), bearing the characteristic feature of the wall crest as a head adornment, can often be found on coins after 1 B.C.⁴⁵.

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Inscriptions to Mega/lh Tu/xh as a city goddess as, for example were found in Bostra, the provincial capital of Arabia (after 106 A.D.)⁴⁶ complete this picture. The combination of motifs of woman and city can at the least be seen as a fixed image that influenced all of antiquity and was well-known to the author and his readers not only through the adopted tradition of scripture.

        Below, we will be interested in the concrete linguistic tradition according to which Jerusalem/Zion is personified as a female figure. According to O.H. Steck⁴⁷, the focus of the relational figurations can be differentiated into two aspects. In the one, Zion is depicted in relation to people/inhabitants, expressed above all in metaphors of children, sons, daughters and childlessness. In the other, the female images serve to more closely determine God’s relationship to Zion. Here we find the terms "daughter" next to "wife", "bride" and its counterpart "forsaken one" or "widow". Zion/Jerusalem is described as "queen" vis à vis JHWH (cf. Isa 62,3; Micah 4,9; Zeph 3,15.17; Ps 146,10). Certainly both aspects remain closely connected. This has to do with the fact that Zion is enacted, i.e. in Isa 50,1; 51,22; 54,1.4-8(10); 62,4; Ezek 16,8-14, as the wife of JHWH while the relation to God, however, also reflects the relationship of the people to JHWH. In the image of a disordered or successful/promised marital union, the historically experienced relation to God is in each case thematized in the example of the city of God. The fornication⁴⁸, forsakenness, widowhood of Jerusalem etc. thus stand for the presently experienced or retrospectively interpreted experience of exile, while a successful relationship (betrothal, young love) is depicted in memory or the promise of the return to Zion. While in Hos, Jer and Lam, adultery and unfaithfulness are categorized into a context of guilt, the hopeful perspective dominates above all in Isaiah. Here the catastrophes of

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Jerusalem remain unfounded (Isa 49,14; 54,6) or at least incurred not by the fault of Zion and the belief in being forsaken or divorced by JHWH is rejected as unjustified (Isa 50,1). Mourning will cease and instead Zion will be clothed in robes of glory (Isa 52,1; 61,1-10) and will be loved and adorned as a bride (Isa 62,4-5; 61,10).

        The intertestamental adoption of the personified city of God in Bar 5,1-2 and PsSal 11⁴⁹ could follow directly, as P. Söllner assumed⁵⁰, from Isa 61,10 in which the clothing metaphor becomes independent:

Jerusalem put on the clothes of your glory, prepare the robe of your sanctity, for God has declared Israel’s happiness for ever and ever.
e!ndusai Ierousalhm ta_ i(ma/tia th=j do/chj sou e(toi/mason th_n stolh_n tou= a(gia/smato/j sou o#ti o( qeo_j e)la/lhsen a)gaqa_ Israhl ei)j to_n ai)w=na kai_ e!ti (PsSal 11,7)

        However, in my opinion the metaphor of the bride could be also seen in PsSal 11,7 if the term "sanctity" in the somewhat surprising expression "prepare the robe of your sanctity (e(toi/mason th_n stolh_n tou= a(gia/smato/j sou)" were, in its conscious ambiguity, to allude to the betrothal (Qiddushin). As one can assume that PsSal was originally written in Hebrew⁵¹, "robe of sanctity" could be a confusing translation, because in the original this meant the bride or wedding dress. In this scenario, the verb e(toima/zein would also take on a specific semantic meaning and would have been employed, as in Rev 19,7-8; 21,2, as a technical term for the preparation of the bride for the wedding. Finally, as PsSal 2,20-21 shows with the lexeme ste/fanoj, the concept of the wedding jewelry is not foreign to the author of the scripture.

        Altogether it can be determined that, within the traditional personification of Jerusalem as a woman, the city of God in her double relation to God and man is described as a self-reliant unity that excludes a simplified identification with her inhabitants or the people of God. Zion assumes, like lady wisdom, an intermediary role into which she

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enters as a person in relation to JHWH and to mankind. From within the intimate relationship with God, the city of God provides for the well-being of her inhabitants and can even create salvation for all people⁵².

3. Metaphoric interaction

        Although images used here by John such as the city-woman, metaphors of jewelry and images of marriage and bride are widely anchored in the metaphoric tradition, their employment in Rev demonstrates an original character in two ways. The idea of a city descending from heaven (Rev 3,12; 21,2.9) has not been seen before Rev and does not occur again until the Hebrew Sefer Eliyahu 10,4⁵³. Equally unique is that the expected eschatological city is understood as the bride of the messiah. These characterizations are notable in view of the eschatological and Christological dimension. While the historical perspective dominates in the metaphoric tradition of the city woman, here the new Jerusalem is linked to the "new creation" for in the framework of the compact series of apocalyptical events in Rev 21,1-8 the "new" heaven, or the transcendental sphere, is the place of origin of the holy city⁵⁴. At the same time, this eschatological dimension projects into the present. The wedding of the bride and the Lamb is doxologically experienced as already "come" (Rev 19,6). Neither does the "new Jerusalem" remain in heaven, but rather descends from heaven (21,2). That which is eschatologically expected anticipates that which is historically actual, but is described in the image as real and existing. That which can be declared proleptically and anticipated doxologically can thus have an effect on and transform the present.

        The combination of the city of Zion with the messiah is anchored in the proximity of Jerusalem to the sovereignty of JHWH⁵⁵ and the eschatological kingdom of David. Within the tendency in early Judaism to bridge the distance to God with mediary figures, Zion is at the same level as Sophia or the messiah. In the metaphor of the bride, the author of Rev is successful in linking together the concepts of the theology of Zion and of the theology of the messiah that otherwise

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exist independently next to each other. This is interesting in so far as the female figure of the city of Zion now approaches the male concept of the messiah. This female figure of Zion already has a traditional significance as self-reliant unity and can not therefore be simplified into an indentification with her inhabitants or the people of God.

        Who, however, is the bridal city in Rev 19-21? If, according to Rev 19,8, the gown of the bride is associated with the righteous deeds of the saints, perhaps the chosen ones, the faithful, are concretely the 144,000 that stand as a symbolic number for the perfected people of God. Indications of the same kind are given by the metaphoric tradition of the JHWH-Israel-marriage to which the people of God appear as a bride and counterpart of God. In addition, several representations of the urbane aspect of the bridal city, such as the twelve names of the apostles on the foundation stones (Rev 21,14), speak for such a classification. Can the bride thus be identified with the Christian church as an eschatological people of God, as many researchers postulate⁵⁶? The gown of the bride is not identical with the bride. Further the bride and the church remain separate in so far as the bride and the wedding guests (Rev 19) and the bridal city and its inhabitants (Rev 21) are clearly differentiated⁵⁷. The ambivalence in identifying the image, seen already in the Zion-bride tradition, is adopted in Rev, obviously unchanged. The bridal city is most closely linked to the skill of the chosen ones, or the church, and can even be seen partially as a code for the completed church of salvation. On the other hand the relationship between the community and the bridal city is declared not in the sense of a symbolic identity but as a relationship. In this way, the independent character of the bridal city is preserved in relation to her bridegroom as well as to her inhabitants/wedding guests. The holy bridal city is thus not simply a collective term for the sum of her inhabitants but rather has an independent existence that becomes the counterpart of the bridegroom⁵⁸.

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VI. The Summons of the bride (Rev 22,17)

        Within the final section of Rev (Rev 22,6-21) a last reminiscence of the wedding metaphor occurs, in which the bride together with the Spirit summon Jesus to come (v. 17). This summons remains embedded in a final chapter that as a whole, creates the impression of lively moving dialogue⁵⁹. The units of speech of different people and groups of people (vv. 10–16.20a: Christ, v. 17: Spirit, bride, the hearer, vv. 18-19: author, v. 20b: church etc.) here are situated next to each other often without connection. In this way the concrete addressees come into view and are addressed in the style of prayer dialogues⁶⁰ in their community serving God.

        Rev 22,17 continues from the speech of Christ in vv. 10-16 without transition or introduction. In addition to honoring himself (see 13.16: I am [e)gw/ ei)mi] Alpha – Omega, the first – the last etc.) the speech of Christ also proclaims statements of judgement (v. 12) and salvation (v. 14) that indicate the separation of the godless from the pious. In v. 14 those who wash their clothes are praised as holy. In v. 17 the speech act changes from indicative exhortation to an imperative challenge carried out by three speakers. While the first two parts of the verse are constructed almost in parallel and end with the same imperative (e!rxou), the form in v. 17c seems to be opened up by the expression containing two figures and the change of character (imp. 3. sg.). The parallel tradition suggests that an independent logion was integrated here whose basic component is also passed on in John 7,37-38⁶¹ and which may stem from the tradition of Isa 55,1⁶².

1. The image and its donor field

        Focussing on the object of our examination, it is above all the statement in Rev 22,17 that a bride summons her bridegroom to come that is interesting. As the donor field of this metaphor we can look at

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two situations within the Judaic marriage ritual⁶³. On the one hand, the bride could here summon the bridegroom to come to the house of her parents in order to accompany her to his house and thereby to bring the actual wedding to its commencement. There could be a longer period of up to one year between the betrothal (Qidduschin) and the actual wedding. According to the rabbinical tradition, this waiting period was brought to an end by the request of the bridegroom to the bride that she should keep herself in readiness for the wedding⁶⁴. On the other hand, the background could be a summons of the bride to the bridegroom to come to her in her bridal chamber in order to consummate the marriage sexually. According to Tob 7,18 and 8,1 as well as several rabbinical sources ⁶⁵, the bride was first in the bridal chamber in order to receive the bridegroom there.

        Looking at a figurative use of the scene, the intention of both aspects differ very little. Each time, the request goes from the bride to the bridegroom to come into closer association with her and thereby at the same time to bring the preceding state to an end. It could be that he takes her to his house in a bridal procession and thereby puts an end to her living with her parents or it could be that he becomes one with her through sexual intercourse in the bridal chamber and thereby ends her virginity. In either case, however, it is surprising that it is not the bridegroom who summons the bride but rather the bride who summons the bridegroom. Such an initiative on the part of the bride is unusual and suggests a metaphoric profundity that will be examined below.

2. Traditions and metaphoric interaction

        The designation of the one who is required is clear because of the contextual assignment of the imperative e!rxou. Jesus announces his arrival several times (vv. 7.12.20). The answer to this promise is the confirming summons that goes out in v. 17 from the Spirit, the bride and a hearer. At that point it does not have a direct addressee but then receives one in v. 20 through the vocative: The Lord Jesus shall come (e!rxou ku/rie 'Ihsou=)! Thus Jesus is the bridegroom whose union the bride requests in v. 17.

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        But who is making the request here? Who is the bride? Up to this point the bride has been introduced as the wife of the Lamb (Rev 19,7) or as the city of Jerusalem descending from heaven (Rev 21,2.9). However, a combination with the Spirit did not take place. The seer is carried away in the Spirit in order to see the celestial Jerusalem as a bride (Rev 21,9). While the (holy) city in Rev 22,14.19 no longer appears as an independent person, the bride in Rev 22,17 becomes even more concretely portrayed as the speaker than in the metaphors up to this point. Further, the direct context shows clear lines of connection to the introductory section of the epistle. The connection between hearing and spirit can be found there in a stereotypically repeated sentence: "Hear, you who have ears to hear, what the Spirit says to the churches" (Rev 2,7.11.17.29; 3,6.13.22, cf. 13,9). If the hearers here are thus identified as the direct addressees in the congretations that are addressed, then in Rev 22,17 the hearer will be conceived of precisely as the pars pro toto of the congregation as a whole. The strict parallelizations with the hearer, however, make it clear that the bride in Rev 22,17 is also not (only) regarded as an eschatological quantity but primarily stands for the concrete church⁶⁶. This assumption is supported by the fact that the motif of the upcoming arrival to which the bride exhorts is known to the concrete churches from the epistle (Rev 2,5.16.25; 3,11). The Spirit speaks to the churches in the epistle while in Rev 22,17 the Spirit and the bride together address Christ.

        Finally we must ask what dimension of profundity is implied by the summons to come. It is hardly possible to demonstrate a clear reference to the Last Supper⁶⁷, for example, by way of the Aramaic prayer "Maranatha" (1 Cor 16,23; Did 10,6). Within the imagery, the water of life is linked to the reference to creation in Rev 22,1, which, because of the title in Rev 21,1, exists in the framework of a new creation. The old order is gone and a new being is there to see. The connotations of the imagery of a bridal summons come together seamlessly here. The summons to the bridegroom implies for the bride not only an intensified union but simultaneously the hope for the end of her preceding situation that, for the church addressed, in Rev is

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characterized by suffering and threat. Emerging from the desire for a change in status, the presence of Christ is thus implored equally as urgently as a thirsty person longs for water. The combination of the bride and water metaphors brings the reader to call one more meaning into association. Water (thirst) is often employed in Old Testament and early Judaic times as a metaphor for love or even sexual desire (see Prov 5,15-20)⁶⁸. The reciprocal determination of the lexemes bride and thirst/water could thus liberate precisely these sexual connota-tions. The bride’s summons will then, however, have received an erotic coloration for the reader. Thus, the summons of the bridegroom into the bridal chamber could become the expression of a passionate and impatient longing for Christ in the hopes of a speedy liberation.

VII. The Bride and harlot metaphors as a structural element
of the whole of Rev

        The analyses have made clear that nuptial metaphors are found throughout all of Rev. Below I would like to show, in conclusion, that the nuptial metaphor can be seen, precisely in its contrast to the metaphor of the harlot, as a characteristic structural element of Rev.

        The contrastive comparison of two female figures (harlot – bride) is familiar from the metaphoric traditions of OT prophets, in which the relationship of God to Israel is expressed through the metaphor of marriage ⁶⁹. This betrothal is shifted into an "eschatological" scope even in the oldest biblical writings with this contrastive theme. After the whorish behavior of the woman (Hosea) was first described in detail accompanied by a subsequent judgement, there is the promise of a future betrothal:

I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice, in loving kindness and in compassion. And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD (Hos 2,19-20).

        While this depiction of the new betrothal may seem colorless and simply tacked on in contrast to the graphic punishment for the harlot(s) in the older prophesies (Hos, Jer, Ez), it shifts into the center of the

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gender metaphor in Isa. While Protoisaiah still uses the image of Jerusalem as a faithless harlot (Isa 1,21), in Dtisaiah (Isa 47, compare Tyros) the counterpart Babylon is illustrated with the metaphor of fornication while Jerusalem and the people of Israel are now only the bride, about which JHWH as the bridegroom is pleased (Isa 62,4-5).

        When one attempts to perceive the relational gender metaphors in Rev within this background an overlapping picture appears. The metaphor shows up most clearly in the contrastively constructed complex of the two cities of Babylon and Jerusalem, compared as harlot and bride, in chapters 17–21. Babylon is not only the great harlot (Rev 17,1; 19,2) but she also seduces all the kings and peoples with the wine of fornication (Rev 17,2.4; 18,3; compare 17,15-16) and her name is even "Mother of Harlots" (Rev 17,5). However, it is clear from the beginning that the harlot has received her judgement (Rev 17,1) that brings about her destruction. Not only do all the goods of trade, jewelry, glory and all arts of seduction of the harlot disappear, but according to Rev 18,23 the voice of the bridegroom and bride is also silenced in the degenerating city. That which is very clearly enacted here can be demonstrated throughout the complete portrayal of the judgement. The depiction of the harlot is fashioned, even to the point of the individual formulations (compare introduction), as a contrasting foil to the bride of the celestial Jerusalem⁷⁰. After the judgement is finally handed down (Rev 19,2-3), the wedding of the Lamb can be announced with a loud voice as a countermove (Rev 19,6-8). The commencement of the reign of the eschatological king and the wedding come together here and take up the tradition of the royal bridegroom that, emerging from Ps 45, describes the royal messiah and eschatological savior with wedding motifs. The hymn-like style of this announcement can be understood either as doxological anticipation or as an "invitation to wedding" in which the presence of the wedding and the lack of its completion can be brought into a meaningful context. The praising of the wedding guests as fortunate (Rev 19,9) confirms this assumption. In addition to the (Godly)royal "bridegroom Lamb", which at first dominates, the bride is introduced in Rev 19,7-8. She then shifts into the center of interest in the sections Rev 21,2.9, which are linguistically related to Rev 19,7-8. Here the author creates a link to the metaphoric tradition of the

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female city, or more concretely the "bride of Zion", that then is implemented above all in view of her urbane aspects. The metaphor of the bride comes to its climax finally in the visionary presentation of the bride (Rev 21,2.9) and thereby is consciously connected to formulations from Rev 19,7.

        The achievement of the author lies in the fact that he has joined the tradition of harlot and bride or bridal city (Zion) to that of the messiah bridegroom. The wedding of the royal bridegroom is made into a turning point through its clever placement in Rev 19. The turning point thus shows the switch between harlot and bride. At the same time, the female figures are completed with male counterparts. While the bride in Rev 19,7-8 is given to the Lamb, the celestial-godly king, as the only bridegroom, the kings (plural!) of the earth have fornicated with harlots (Rev 17,2; 18,3.9). Further, ever more people are integrated into the story. The harlot gets the inhabitants of the earth (17,2) or all peoples (18,3, see 18,23) drunk and the merchants of the earth have become rich through her (18,3.11.15). On the other side, the virginal 144,000 (Rev 14,4) or the wedding guests (Rev 19,9) are assigned to the Lamb.

        It can not be doubted that various anticipatory events within the book prepare the contrast of the two cities (Rev 11,2.8;14,1.8; cp. 22,14.18). Corresponding to this all other gender metaphors found in this book remain closely related to the contrastive program of whoredom and wedding at the end. The sentence, repeated in several variations, that the great harlot has ruined the earth and all its peoples with her fornication (Rev 14,8; 18,3; 19,2) should be read programmatically. This is an idea that was also taken up in the title "mother of whores [mh/thr tw=n pornw=n] and of every obscenity on earth" (Rev 17,5). At the same time the figurative way of speaking makes it clear that fornication should not be here limited to sexual mores but rather stands within a traditional concept of metaphors that identifies fornication with the service of false gods. Based on the weight that is granted to this metaphor at the end of Rev, one will certainly be able also to understand the other use of formulations of fornication in the scope of this tradition. In this way, one can assume, with H.-J. Klauck, that this traditional assignment of pornei/a and the idolatry suggests the cult of the emperor ⁷¹. The harlot Babylon as an

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allegory for Rome and the Roman Empire leads to the cult of the emperor, which was classified as the worship of false gods. That which at first was displayed as exemplary in the false prophet Isebel is, nevertheless, just as valid for the "the rest of humans" that do not convert from fornication (9,21)⁷².

        However, the wedding of the Lamb is also being developed. The relationship of Christ to the churches has already been characterized in the epistles as a love relationship (2,4). The wreath of life (2,10; 3,11) can be understood as an allusion to the bridal wreath, while the knocking on the door (3,20) takes up a motif out of the meeting of the lovers in Cant 5,2-6⁷³ in order to express the longing for an early union, which then is taken up explicitly in the summons of the bride in Rev 22,17. As in the way, the polarizing contrast of the metaphors of harlot and love/bride occurs within the epistle, thus the central middle section of the visions (Rev 12,1–14,20)⁷⁴ is encompassed by gender metaphors that each look at collective quantities. The images of the celestial king and the woman giving birth in Rev 12 already express the tension between sovereignty and threat to the churches or the people of God and bring to light even more strongly the mother aspect as the man-woman relation. However, Rev 14,1-5 demonstrates, with its framing scenario and the description of the 144,000, a clear reference to Rev 19,1-10 and thus also to the sphere of bride. Instead of defilement and intoxication with fornication, the 144,000 who are saved can demonstrate "virginity" and "immaculateness" (Rev 14,4) — attributes that are demanded from a bride as prerequisites for a wedding.

        To what extent the image of the celestial city ultimately reaches into the life of the church becomes visible on the one hand in Rev 3,12 where the Christians who are proving themselves in Philadelphia, are designated with the name of the new Jerusalem descending from heaven. On the other hand in Rev 22,17, the image of the bride that up

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to now was reserved for the celestial Jerusalem is quite naturally transferred to the church assembled for the worship of God. Thus the polar foundation metaphor remains also at the end of the book. As in the city of Babylon when the happy voices of the bridal pair fall silent (Rev 18,23), the lascivious people are in analogue shut out of the community in the holy city (Rev 22,15). In contrast, the union of bride and bridegroom is upcoming because the longing summons of the bride (Rev 22,17) shows that the bridegroom has come to within summoning distance.

        The dualistic gender metaphors of fornication and wedding can be seen as one of the structural patterns of Revelation as a whole. That which is explicitly implemented in the culminating final vision of the judgement on the harlot and the wedding of the bride is prepared by the author in varying elements (see Table 2). The incorporation of the metaphor in the epistles (chap. 2–3)⁷⁵, as well as sections of visions and the end of the book have thus above all the function of linking that which is graphically displayed in the city codes explicitly to the addressees, here the Christian churches. In this way, the statements of fornication, to be seen as the worship of false gods, in Rev 2 and 3 are aimed clearly at the cult of the emperor, which is interpreted as unfaithful toward Christ. The female figure who is threatened in Rev 12 can also be understood as a figure of identification for the persecuted church while at the same time reminding of its sovereign origin that can be understood intertextually as the anticipation of the promised heavenly bride. Like the bride, the chosen ones who were previously placed into the figurative world of bride and wedding through door (3,20), crown (2,10; 3,11; 4,4; 9,7; 19,13) and above all clothes metaphors (see 3,5; 19,8; 22,14) are also described as undefiled and virginal (Rev 14,4).

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Table 2: The Contrastive Gender Metaphors in Rev

		Images of Fornication		Images of Bride and Love
				First love forsaken (2,4) (compare love relationship between Christ and the churches) wreath of life (2,10; vgl. 3,11)
Letters to the Churches (2–3)		Teachings of Bileam lead to fornication (2,14) Prophetess Isebel does not turn away from fornication and seduces into sexual acts (2,20–22)
				Door scene and supper com-munity (3,20)
Visionary middle section (4–16)		The rest of people do not turn away from fornication (9,21) (Not defiled with women)		The pregnant woman (12) The virginal, immaculate 144,000 (14,4-5) are ransomed
		Babylon wets all peoples with the wine of fornication (14,8) Judgement on the harlot Babylon (17–18): – great harlot (17,1) – kings of the earth fornicate with her (17,2; 18,3) – Wine of fornificaiton makes all peoples drunk (17,2; 18,3)
Dualistic Finale: Harlot Babylon and bride Jerusalem (17–21)		– Mother of harlots (17,5)		Voice of bride and bridegroom fall silent (18,23) The wedding of the bride Jerusalem (19–21): – Announcement/invitation to the wedding of the Lamb (19,6-9) – Preparation of the bride (pure linen) (19,7-8) – Praise of the wedding guests (19,9) – Presentation of the bride Jerusalem (21,2.9)
End of the book		Shutting out of the lascivious (22,15)		Summons of the bride (22,17)

SUMMARY

In this article is argued that the nuptial imagery of the Book of Revelation is not limited to chapters 19 and 21 but rather runs throughout the book. While the imagery is certainly most pronounced in the final part of the book, it also appears in the letters to the churches (bridal wreath in Rev 2,10; 3,11), in the scene depicting the 144,000 as virgins (Rev 14,4-5), and is encountered again in Rev 18,23 (silencing of the voice of bridegroom and bride) and Rev 22,17 (summons of the bride) at the end of the book. Thus the wedding metaphors can be seen as one of the structural patterns of Revelation as a whole directly in contrast to the metaphors of fornication.

© 2003 Biblica

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NOTES

^* Paper read on the SBL International Meeting in July 2002 at Berlin (Germany).

¹ See for example J. FEKKES III, "‘The Bride has prepared herself’: Revelation 19–21 and Isaian Nuptial Imagery", JBL 109 (1990) 269-287; K.E. MILLER, "The Nuptial Eschatology of Revelation 19–22", CBQ 60 (1998) 301-318; B.J. MALINA, "How A Cosmic Lamb Marries: The Image of the Wedding of the Lamb (Rev 19:7ff.)", BThB 28 (1999) 75-83; B.R. ROSSING, The Choice between Two Cities: Whore, Bride, and Empire in the Apocalypse (HThS 48; Harrisburg, PA 1999).

² On this see my study R. ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik und Gottesverhältnis. Traditionsgeschichte und Theologie eines Bildfelds in Urchristentum und antiker Umwelt (WUNT II/122; Tübingen 2001) 387-488.

³ See the crowns of the 24 Elders (Rev 4,4.10); the crowns of the grasshoppers (Rev 9,7), the crown of the son of man (Rev 14,14) or the astral crown of the pregnant woman (Rev 12,1). The New Testament further speaks of a "crown of righteousness" (2 Tim 4,8) or "crown of glory" (1 Pet 5,4).

⁴ For the bridal wreath of the Judaic bridal pair see J. CONRAD, "hlk", ThWAT, IV, 174-178; for the Greek tradition see M. BLECH, Studien zum Kranz bei den Griechen (RVV 38; Berlin 1982) 75-81. Also my summary in ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 243-244 and 251.

⁵ In the same document, Joseph is also described as a bridegroom with a "golden crown" on his head, see JosAs 5,5 according to C. BURCHARD, Joseph und Aseneth (JSHRZ II/4; Gütersloh 1983) 577-735, here 643.

⁶ See A. V. SALIS, "Die Brautkrone", Rheinisches Museum 78 (1920/24) 212-213; K. BAUS, Der Kranz in Antike und Christentum. Eine religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung mit besonderer Berücksichtigung Tertullians (Theophaneia 2; Bonn ²1965) 111.

⁷ See an epitaph from Asia Minor JRS 17 (1927) 51, n. 230; further JRS 18 (1928) 23 n. 234 (table 1), according to BAUS, Kranz, 112 n. 116.

⁸ "So she ran through all the battles of her children and hurried after them, filled with joy and happiness, as if she had not been thrown to the animals, but rather invited to a wedding" (53-54); "as a consequence of her unification (koinwni/a) with Christ she could not feel "that a wild steer impaled her with its horns", Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 5.3.4. Compare A. JENSEN, Gottes selbstbewußte Töchter. Frauenemanzipation im frühen Christentum (Freiburg i.Br. 1992) 195-196.

⁹ As, for instance, J. FREY, "Die Bildersprache der Johannesapokalypse", ZThK 98 (2001) 161-185, here: 170, as well as S. MOYISE, The Old Testament in the Book of Revelation (JSNTSS 115; Sheffield 1995); ID., "Does the author of Revelation misappropriate the Scripture", AUSS 40 (2002), 3-21; G.K. BEALE, John’s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation (JSNTSS 166; Sheffield 1998).

¹⁰ See J. Chrysostomus, Hom. in 1 Tim. 9,2 (PG 62,546). See also J. SCHRIJNEN, "La couronne nuptiale dans l¢antiquité chrétienne", MEFR 31 (1911) 309-319.

¹¹ For detail on this subject see my article: R. ZIMMERMANN, "Die Virginitäts-Metapher in Rev 14,4-5 im Horizont von Befleckung, Loskauf und Erstlingsfrucht", NT 45 (2003) 45-70.

¹² See also the overview by O. BÖCHER, Die Johannesapokalypse (EdF 41; Darmstadt ⁴1998) 56-63.

¹³ See A.Y. COLLINS, "Woman’s History and the Book of Revelation", SBLSP 1987 (ed. K.H. RICHARDS; Atlanta 1987) 80-91; K. BERGER, "Henoch", RAC 14 (1988) 473-545, here: 514-516; ID., Theologiegeschichte des Neuen Testaments. Theologie des Neuen Testaments (Tübingen ²1995) 585; D.C. OLSON, "‘Those who have not defiled themselves with Women’: Revelation 14:4 and the Book of Enoch", CBQ 59 (1997) 492-510.

¹⁴ In the Book of Giants from Qumran (1Q23; 1Q24; 4Q203; 4Q530-533; 6Q08). See L.T. STUCKENBRUCK, The Book of Giants from Qumran. Texts, translation, and commentary (TSAJ 63; Tübingen 1997).

¹⁵ See the translation from M. BLACK, The Book of Enoch or 1 Enoch. A New English Edition (SVTP 7; Leiden 1985).

¹⁶ OLSON, "Revelation 14:4 and the Book of Enoch", 501.

¹⁷ The religious treatment of the difference of the sexes was completed by 1) the evening out of sexuality (Mark 12,25par.; Gal 3,28; EvThom # 22; 2 Clem 12,2) and 2) by the spiritualized unification of the sexes (Gen 2,24; 1Cor 6,16-17; Eph 5,30; 2 Clem 14; EvPhil), see ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 672.

¹⁸ One assumes that "to commit fornication" was regarded as an equally concrete offence as the eating of food sacrificed to idols; a reference to the decree suggests itself also in the formulation "to impose a burden" (Rev 2,24) which occurs with the same terminology in Acts 15,28. See on this BERGER, Theologiegeschichte, 585-586.

¹⁹ See Deut 22,13-21; Sir 7,24; Tob 3,14; Philo, Spec.Leg. 3,80; Josephus, Ant. 4,244.246-248; further b. Ket 46a; compare also G. SCHÖLLGEN, "Jungfräulichkeit", RAC 19 (2001) 523-592; also in Eph 5,27 the immaculateness of the bride is emphasized, see m. Ket 7,7-8.

²⁰ See i.e. M 20 (Muraba’at): "If you are taken away as a prisoner, I will ransom you and bring you back to your homeland", text according to K. BEYER, Die aramäischen Texte vom Toten Meer samt den Inschriften aus Palästina, dem Testament Levis aus der Kairoer Genisa, der Fastenrolle und den alten Talmudischen Zitaten (Göttingen 1984) 309-310.

²¹ See m. Ket 4,8 as special agreement to the marriage contract; further m. Ket 4,4; m. Hor 3,7; b. Ket 47b; 51b; 52a.b; t. Ket 4,5.

²² Based on the marital laws of Emperor Augustus, such as the Lex Iulia de maritandis ordinibus (On the Marriage among the Citizens, 18 B.C.) or the Lex Iulia et Papia Poppaea (4 B.C.) a real obligation to marriage, that promoted such actions, was proclaimed; on the marital laws of Augustus see A. METTE-DITTMANN, Die Ehegesetze des Augustus. Eine Untersuchung im Rahmen der Gesellschaftspolitik des Princeps (Historia 67; Stuttgart 1991) esp. 131-198.

²³ In the Lex Aelia sentia (4 A.D.) the release of a slave was permitted only after the age of 30 because conservative circles saw a political and social danger in liberti of the mass releases at the end of the Republic. On this see G. ALFÖDY, "Die Freilassung von Sklaven und die Struktur der Sklaverei in der römischen Kaiserzeit", Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte der römischen Kaiserzeit (ed. H. SCHNEIDER) (WdF 552; Darmstadt 1981) 336-371; A. WACKE, "Die Heirat freigelassener Frauen nach römischem Recht", Die Braut: Geliebt, verkauft, getauscht, geraubt. Zur Rolle der Frau im Kulturvergleich (ed. G. VÖLGER – K. V. WECK; Köln ²1997) 246-257; for precise reasons see ZIMMERMANN, "Virginitäts-Metapher".

²⁴ In the rabbinical tradition there is a linguistic construction that follows from the interpretation of Cant 3,11b in m. Taan 4,8 (R. Gamaliel). This construction describes the granting of the Torah on Sinai as an engagement or wedding of JHWH to Israel. See ShemR 33,7; 41; DevR 3 zu Deut 31,9. The basis could have been the linguistic ambiguity in Exod 19,10: " Hallow them to me". On this see ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 310-311.

²⁵ For detail on 2 Cor 11,2-3 see ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 300-325.

²⁶ Hegesipp (about 160 A.D.) also reports, according to the witness of Eusebius (Hist. eccl. 3.3277; 4.22.4.6), that the Jerusalem community was called "pure virgin" until the appearance of Thebutis and the martydom of Simeon because she had not been sullied by foreign teachings. Eusebius, Hist. eccl. 4.22.4: dia_ tou=to e)ka/loun th_n e)kklhsi/an parqe/non, ou!pw ga_r e!fqarto a)koai=j matai/aij; ibid., 3.3277: parqe/noj kaqara_ kai_ a)dia/fqoroj e!meine h( e)kklhsi/a)

²⁷ Otherwise only still in 1 Cor 8,7 in the NT. Also the metaphoric use in the tradition in the sense of "religious contamination" (See LXX Jer 23,11; Isa 65,4; Tob 3,15), on this see F. HAUCK, "moixeu/w ktl.", ThWNT, IV, 744-745.

²⁸ The LXX-Version shows o)smh_n mu/rou — "scent of the salve" instead of the "sound of the mill".

²⁹ The varying reading numfh/ instead of gunh/ in )², gig, cop (sa/ bo) and in Apringius Pacensis is therefore an understandable correction. On this see also D. E. AUNE, Revelation 17–22 (WBC 52c; Dallas, TX 1998) 1029-1030.

³⁰ See K.-P. JÖRNS, Hymnisches Evangelium. Untersuchungen zu Aufbau, Funktion und Herkunft der hymnischen Stücke in der Johannesoffenbarung (StNT 5; Güterloh 1971) 144: "hymnischen Finale". After a double Halleluja praise of a great throng in heaven (v. 1b.2 and 3), the "Amen. Halleluja" of the twenty-four elders and the four beasts can be heard (v. 4), before all God-fearing slaves are called upon to celebrate (v. 5) and to sing the Halleluja praise for the fourth time. This quadruple Halleluja is, according to rabbinical tradition, reserved for the summons to the last judgement: it will ring out over the judgement of the transgressors (b. Ber 9b) or after the construction of the celestial Jerusalem (see Tob 13,21).

³¹ See the classification of F. CRÜSEMANN, Studien zur Formgeschichte von Hymnus und Danklied in Israel (WMANT 32; Göttingen 1969), that differentiates between "imperative" und "participial hymns". Similarly K. SEYBOLD, Die Psalmen. Eine Einführung (Stuttgart e. a. 1986) 97-98.

³² For details on the ‘messianic’ interpretation of the Psalm see F.-L. HOSSFELD – E. ZENGER, Psalmen 1–50 (NEB 29/1; Würzburg 1993) 278-284, here: 279: "Dem messianischen König wird nun eine neue ‘Königstochter’ zugeführt: die Tochter Zion."

³³ Cant 3,11 speaks of the crowning of Solomon on the day of his wedding. The allegorical interpretation of this text according to m. Taan 4,8 (wedding day = granting of the Torah) can be seen as the initial of the allegorical Cant interpretation; in Tg. Cant the lover of the Song of Songs was also interpreted messianically (see Tg. Cant 7,14; 8,1.2.4.).

³⁴ On this see my article R. ZIMMERMANN, "Bräutigam als frühjüdisches Messiasprädikat? Zur Traditionsgeschichte einer urchristlichen Metapher", BN 103 (2000) 85-100; see also according to Mark 2,18-22 ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 227-299.

³⁵ See references in J. BEHM, "dei=pnon ktl.", ThWNT, II, 33-35.

³⁶ A man (master of the house) comes back home after a wedding and knocks on the door (see Rev 3,20). The servants who are awake and who open the door for him are then invited to a meal during which the master of the house himself serves.

³⁷ See, for example, H. RITT, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (NEB 21; Würzburg 1986) 96; BERGER, Theologiegeschichte, 608.

³⁸ Cf. M. KARRER, "Sprechende Bilder: Zur Christologie der Johannesapokalypse", Metaphorik und Christologie (ed. J. FREY – J. ROHLS – R. ZIMMERMANN) (TBT; Berlin – New York forthcoming); on the later metaphorical Christology see E. GRÜNBECK, Christologische Schriftargumentation und Bildersprache. Zum Konflikt zwischen Metapherninterpretation und dogmatischen Schriftbeweistraditionen in der patristischen Auslegung des 44.(45.) Psalms (Leiden 1994).

³⁹ Otherwise gunh/ was used for looking at the prophet Isebel with clearly negative connotations (Rev 2,20); in Rev 9,8 woman’s hair serves as a contrastive point of comparison to the grasshoppers, while in Rev 14,4 the virginal have not defiled themselves with women. In Rev 17,3.4.6.7.9.18 the harlot Babylon is consciously addressed as a woman.

⁴⁰ Individually, the following assignments are possible: 21,2–21,9-11; 21,3–21,22-23 and 22,3; 21,4–22,2; 21,6–22,1; 21,7–22,4; 21,8–21,26 and 22,3.

⁴¹ Based both on the interactive interpretation of metaphor and the parallel use of comparison and identification in Joh (see Rev 5,6 with 5,12 and 13,8; 4,6 and 15,2a with 15,2b) no difference to Rev 21,9 exists here.

⁴² On this see in detail in ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, § 4 2.2. "Jerusalem / Zion als Frau", 117-137.

⁴³ For example see the term "mother" in Sumerische und akkadische Hymnen und Gebete (ed. A. FALKENSTEIN – W. VON SODEN) (Zürich 1953) 192-213; ANET², 611-619; other sources also assign Inanna as a city goddess to Akkade.

⁴⁴ For example the colossal statue of the city Tyche of Antioch, a work of Eutychides (approx. 300 B.C.), that still exists in many copies, was world famous. See E. CHRISTOF, Das Glück der Stadt. Die Tyche von Antiochia und andere Stadttychen (Frankfurt a.M. 2001); P. PROTTUNG, Darstellungen der hellenistischen Stadttyche (Charybdis 9; Münster 1995); for the traditional background see A. FITZGERALD, "The Mythological Background for the Presentation of Jerusalem as a Queen and False Worship as Adultery in the OT", CBQ 34 (1972) 403-416, here 413-414; ID., "BTWLT and BT as Titles for Capital Cities, CBQ 37 (1975) 167-183.

⁴⁵ For background on ancient oriental wearers of wall crests see J. BÖRKER-KLÄHN, "Mauerkronenträgerinnen", Assyrien Im Wandel der Zeiten. Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale 6.–10. Juli 1992 (ed. H. V. WAETZOLD – H. HAUPTMANN) (HASO 6; Heidelberg 1997) 227-234 (Table 13.16), for the reception in Hellenism see M. MEYER, "Neue Bilder", Hellenismus (ed. B. FUNCK) (Tübingen 1996) 243-254 with Figs. 1-4.7-12.

⁴⁶ See IGLS, 13,1 Nr. 9006-9009.

⁴⁷ See O.H. STECK, "Zion als Gelände und Gestalt. Überlegungen zur Wahrnehmung Jerusalems als Stadt und Frau im Alten Testament", ZThK 86 (1989) 126-145.

⁴⁸ For feminist critique see for example R. JOST – E. SEIFERT, "Das Buch Ezechiel. Männerprophetie mit weiblichen Bildern", Kompendium. Feministische Bibelauslegung (ed. L. SCHOTTROFF – M.-Th. WACKER) (Güterloh ²1999) 278-290; further G. BAUMANN, Liebe und Gewalt. Die Ehe als Metapher für das Verhältnis JHWH – Israel in den Prophetenbüchern (SBS 185; Stuttgart 2000).

⁴⁹ PsSal is dated between 48 and 43/42 B.C., which can be determined from allusions to events that took place at that time (murder of Pompeius, but not yet the death of Caesar), see for example J. SCHÜPPHAUS, Die Psalmen Salomos. Ein Zeugnis Jerusalemer Theologie und Frömmigkeit in der Mitte des vorchristlichen Jahrhunderts (Leiden 1977) 106.

⁵⁰ See P. SÖLLNER, Jerusalem, die hochgebaute Stadt. Eschatologisches und himmlisches Jerusalem im Frühjudentum und im frühen Christentum (TANZ 25; Tübingen 1998) 81-82.

⁵¹ See the approximate consensus of researchers such as SCHÜPPHAUS, Psalmen Salomos, 4; R.B. WRIGHT, "Psalms of Salomon", The OT Pseudepigrapha (ed. J.H. CHARLESWORTH, New York 1985) II, 640.

⁵² On this comprehensively ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 219-226.

⁵³ According to SÖLLNER, Jerusalem, 191.

⁵⁴ From this perspective the frequently held debate of a preexistence is made superfluous; more detail on this in SÖLLNER, Jerusalem, 192.

⁵⁵ On this see, for example, B.C. OLLENBURGER, Zion. The City of the Great King. A Theological Symbol of the Jerusalem Cult (JSOTSS 41; Sheffield 1987).

⁵⁶ For example Jörns, Hymnisches Evangelium, 154; U.B. MÜLLER, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (ÖTK 19; Gütersloh ²1995) 318.

⁵⁷ Söllner names contradictions, immanent in the text, that speak against a unilateral identification of the celestial Jerusalem with the holy congregation. See Söllner, Jerusalem, 257-259.

⁵⁸ Thus it is understandable that the celestial Jerusalem and the concept of the female city grew in the later tradition as the image of the church. However a tangible church constitution (i.e. offices), institutional in the sense of later developments, is not yet visible in Rev.

⁵⁹ See MÜLLER, Offenbarung, 367.

⁶⁰ See K. BERGER, Formgeschichte des Neuen Testaments (Heidelberg 1984) 313-314. According to Berger, the calls for help and salvation stem from the Hellenistic audience style, but can already be found in early Judaic literature. See similar formal structure in Jub 10,3-8.9; 12,19-24; PJ 1,5-6/1,7; 3,6-7/3,8; 3,9/3,10; ActThom 158.121.

⁶¹ See the practically identical vocabulary tij diya=| e)rxe/sqw ... u!datoj zw=ntoj (Joh 7,37-38); similarly also in John 4,14.

⁶² See FEKKES III, Prophetic Tradition.

⁶³ On this see the portrayal in this author, Geschlechtermetaphorik, Exkurs 4, 230-257, as well as R. ZIMMERMANN, "Das Hochzeitsritual im Jungfrauengleichnis. Sozialgeschichtliche Hintergründe zu Mt 25,1-13", NTS 48 (2002) 48-70.

⁶⁴ See m. Ket 5,2; m. Nid 10,5; b. Ket 57b.

⁶⁵ See Bill., II, 398-399.

⁶⁶ With AUNE, Revelation, III, 1228: "Here the bride must be the personification of the church".

⁶⁷ As for example in J. ROLOFF, Die Offenbarung des Johannes (ZBK 18; Zürich ³2001) 212. However there could be an intertextual reference to the suppers mentioned above in Rev 3,20 and Rev 19,9, each of them with connection to the nuptial imagery.

⁶⁸ On this see the observations in M. and R. ZIMMERMANN, "Brautwerbung in Samarien?", ZNT 2 (1998) 40-51.

⁶⁹ On this see BAUMANN, Liebe, 91-228; further ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 104-152.

⁷⁰ See the lists in SÖLLNER, Jerusalem, 251-253; ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 390.

⁷¹ So H.-J. KLAUCK, "Das Sendschreiben nach Pergamon und der Kaiserkult in der Johannesoffenbarung", Bib 73 (1992) 153-182.

⁷² Although the central term here within a catalogue of vices can be understood also in the literal sense, the almost identical formulation in 9,21 shows a direct reference to the above:

⁷³ See A. FEUILLET, "La mystique nuptiale et la réponse de l¢homme à l¢amour divin d¢après Ap. 3,20 et Ct 5,2-5", Carmel 41 (1986) 2-14; also ZIMMERMANN, Geschlechtermetaphorik, 445-447.

⁷⁴ The section Rev 12,1–14,20 can be seen as the inner middle of the apocalytical main section, as MÜLLER, Offenbarung, 225.

⁷⁵ Here J. Fekkes’ too one-sided view that on the one hand recognizes the unity of beginning and end ("fundamental relationship of anticipation and fulfillment between Revelation 1–3 and 19–22"), but on the other hand reserves the nuptial imagery for the final section ("It is only natural that John reserve the nuptial imagery for the latter stage, where it serves to underline the community’s transition from temporary hardship and faithful preparation to eternal glory and companionship with the Lord") can be contradicted. See FEKKES III, "Bride", 287, n. 51.