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.

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