I argue that some ancient Jewish sects, specifically the community at Qumran and the early Christians, did in fact write against, speak out against, and interpret ancient tests as being against their fellow Jews, the Temple, Jerusalem or all three. Given the time in which these occurred, I argue that those sects believed that the Roman Empire would be means in which their god would punish/destroy Jews that did not believe as they did, the Temple that did not represent what they thought it should, and Jerusalem as they believed it had become a sinful city. I examine the writings and persons of the Greek Bible. I examine specifics such as the Parable of the Tenants and demonstrate that this was delivered against Jewish leadership and the Olivet Discourse that, like the book of Jubilees, presents a series of tribulations that will fall on a wicked generation, specifically the one living in Jerusalem during the first century C.E. I also demonstrate how the motif of these writings affected the book of Revelation. I examine the prophetic books of the Hebrew Bible and show how the author used them as allusions in regards to the Whore of Babylon that appear in the book of Revelation. In doing so, I demonstrate that the Whore of Babylon is correctly identified as the city of Jerusalem. Additionally I show that the author used Babylon, the ancient foe of Israel, as a metaphor to demonstrate what he believed Israel had become. Lastly, I examine the author, a man named John, and the social world he lived in and the time he wrote during. I demonstrate that the commonly held belief of persecution against the early Christians and the use of Roman religion, such as the imperial cult, has been over stated and has led not only to a misinterpretation of chapters 17 and 18 in the book of Revelation, but they have led to an overall misunderstanding of the book as a whole.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:unt.edu/info:ark/67531/metadc407768 |
| Date | 12 1900 |
| Creators | Wheatley, Warren |
| Contributors | Fuhrmann, Christopher, Johnson, Ken, Roberts, Walt |
| Publisher | University of North Texas |
| Source Sets | University of North Texas |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | Text |
| Rights | Public, Wheatley, Warren, Copyright, Copyright is held by the author, unless otherwise noted. All rights Reserved. |
Page generated in 0.0023 seconds