Gonzalo Rojas-Flores, «The Book of Revelation and the First Years of Nero’s Reign», Vol. 85 (2004) 375-392
In this article I try to demonstrate that the Book of
Revelation was written in the first years of Nero’s reign, because (a) there
is an important patristic tradition in favor of Nero and (b) the internal
evidence shows that the text was redacted after Nero’s ascension to the throne
in 54 and before the earthquake of Laodicea in 60.
The Book of Revelation and the First Years of Nero’s Reign 381
the holy people will not need the material Temple anymore, because
God himself will be their spiritual Sanctuary, whose lamp will be the
Messiah (23). It is exactly what is stated in Rev 21,22-23: the new
Jerusalem will be enlightened by the glory of God, with the Lamb as
its lamp. There will not be a Sanctuary, because God and the Lamb
will be its new Sanctuary (cf. John 2,19-21). Therefore, it is not
necessary to suppose from Rev 21,22 that at the time John described
the new Jerusalem, the Temple was already destroyed.
2. The flight to Pella
The siege of Jerusalem was announced by Luke (21,20) by
following an old prophetic tradition (Jer 6,6). The command of leaving
Jerusalem is found in the three synoptic gospels (Mark 13,14-19; Matt
24,15-21; Luke 21,20-24). But in the Book of Revelation John asserts
that the believers will stay inside the Sanctuary, surrounded by
gentiles profaning the exterior court and the Holy City (Rev 11,1-2).
Maybe he was inspired by 1 Macc 6,48-54.
In the passage Rev 11,1-13, John places the death of the “two
witnesses†in a context of war, of the siege of Jerusalem. That context
does not have any relation to the rebellion from 66 to 70. If John had
written during or after those years, he would have known that most
radical rebels had the control of the Temple during almost the entire
rebellion. At first the sicarii or assassins — under the command of
Menahem, a descendent of Judas the Galilean, the founder of the
zealot party — transformed the Temple into their headquarters.
Shortly after the murder of Menahem, the zealots regrouped and
regained control of the Temple by transforming it into a bastion for
their fight against the High Sacerdotal party. They successfully
resisted behind the walls the attacks of the troops of another rebel,
Simon bar Giora. But the defenders of the Sanctuary split up very
soon. John of Gischala, leader of the most numerous faction, kept the
control of the exterior court of the Temple, while Eleazar, son of
Simon, and the minority zealot faction entrenched themselves inside
the interior court and in the sancta sanctorum. Despite the violent
struggles among the three rebel factions, the sacrifices in the Temple
never ceased. The priests and the suppliants had clear access to the
altar, after being checked for weapons. However many of them died
because of the large quantities of projectiles and arrows cast. When
(23) FLUSSER, Judaism, 464.