Findings, Seals, Trumpets, And Bowls: Variations Upon The Theme Of Covenant Rupture And Restoration In The Book Of Revelation -- By: Gordon Campbell

Journal: Westminster Theological Journal
Volume: WTJ 66:1 (Spring 2004)
Article: Findings, Seals, Trumpets, And Bowls: Variations Upon The Theme Of Covenant Rupture And Restoration In The Book Of Revelation
Author: Gordon Campbell


Findings, Seals, Trumpets, And Bowls:
Variations Upon The Theme Of Covenant Rupture And
Restoration In The Book Of Revelation

Gordon Campbell

[Gordon Campbell is Professor of New Testament at the Free Faculty of Reformed Theology in Aix-en-Provence.]

I. Introduction

Despite the lack of a scholarly consensus concerning the formal complexities of the Book of Revelation, many interpreters agree that in chs. 116 a basic structural framework is provided by a compositional sequence of four successive septets and their interlocking texts: The risen one delivers seven verdicts to churches, after which in three largely parallel series of sevenfold calamities the Lamb opens seals and seven angels blow trumpets and pour out bowls.1

The present article offers a literary-theological reading of Rev 116 that assumes the uncontroversial formal unity of the sequence (four septets) and argues for its corresponding thematic cohesiveness (variations upon one programmatic idea). By a musical analogy, I treat the inaugural septet of oracles as being both formally and thematically an overture for which the seals, trumpets, and bowls provide threefold symphonic variations. I contend that both the formal idea (four septets) and the controlling theme (covenant violation, repentance, and renewal) originate in the Old Testament, in a literary antecedent in the Pentateuch. Therefore, in pursuing an inner-textual thematic trajectory through the entire sequence, I will consider simultaneously Revelation’s sophisticated inter-textual assimilation of prior revelation.2

I submit that the essential formal template and basic thematic content reproduced and greatly expanded by Revelation’s four septets derive from the second part of Lev 26.3 The chapter culminates in two passages focusing on the Lord’s covenant provision for Israel. The first (Lev 26:9–13) assumes Israel’s obedience to the terms of the covenant, for which Lev 26:1–8 details some of the benefits, but the second (Lev 26:40–45) envisages the Lord’s remembering and renewing his covenant faithfulness to a people engaged in persistent rebellious violation of covenant responsibilities. Her...

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