Ruben Zimmermann, «Nuptial Imagery in the Revelation of John», Vol. 84 (2003) 153-183
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.
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