Unlocking Revelation Class 2

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The Alexandrian Forum

Unlocking Revelation

Class 2 - A Literary Study of Chapters 4-18

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Joshua’s Battle at Jericho as the Narrative
Background to Revelation

By common agreement there is no book of the New Testament more challenging
than Revelation. Interpretations in the commentary literature are more diverse, opinions
respecting its use of the Old Testament are more divided, and the highly allusive and
figurative character of the book itself is more disputed than any other received text from
the first century.

Clearly no consensus has emerged among Revelation scholarship. The procedure
of most scholars seems to be centered on trying to determine the context by which the
book can make sense, both with respect to its genre and to its interpretive frame.

The Book of Joshua and its influence on Revelation has so far escaped the radar
of modern scholarship, although it was widely recognized among the church fathers as a
book prefiguring the end of the age. In particular, it is the account of Joshua’s battle
against Jericho that attracted the attention of the fathers.1 They understood the profound
significance of Joshua’s battle against Jericho as a prefiguration of Jesus’ battle against
Jerusalem. They read the Septuagint account wherein the Greek text ascribes the battle to
“Jesus” (Gk. Iesous). They understood the profound significance of the “Joshua” name
of Jesus.2 They saw in Rahab a type of the church.3 Finally, they understood Joshua’s
battle against Jericho to foretell the battle of Jesus against Jerusalem.4

While modern scholarship has looked predominantly to the latter prophets,
Daniel, Ezekiel, and Isaiah especially,5 to find a prophetic context for the most
challenging book of the New Testament, we raise the question whether the larger
interpretive framework might actually be among the Old Testament history books,
namely the Book of Joshua.6 The narrative drama of Revelation, that is its great theme, is
that of the holy war Jesus wages against the Great City that is doomed to fall before him.
Let’s begin by noting some of the most striking similarities that would have been noted
by first century believers who saw in Jesus a new Joshua.

1 See Jean Danielou, S.J., “The Fall of Jericho and the End of the World,” From Shadows to Reality:
Studies in the Biblical Typology of the Fathers, (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, originally published in 1960
by Continuum), 276-286.
2 Danielou, 229-243.
3 Danielou, 244-261. The apostles themselves taught the church fathers. It is therefore striking to note that
Rahab is given an outsized prominence in the New Testament as well. Rahab is mentioned in only two
chapters in Joshua (2 and 6), but she is named in the royal genealogy of Jesus (Matt 1:5), hers, rather than
the expected name of Joshua, is cited in the list of faith heroes in Hebrews (Heb 11:31), and she is given
equal dignity with Abraham in the matter of faith by James (Jas 2:25). Clearly the focus on Rahab in the
church fathers is anticipated already by the apostles in the New Testament.
4 Danielou, 276-286.
5 See G. K. Beale, John’s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation (Sheffield, Eng.: Sheffield Academic
Press, 1998), 15-29.
6 We should keep in mind, however, that Joshua is the first book among the “prophets” in the Hebrew
Bible.

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Joshua’s battle against Jericho, the great city, is significant because he must win
his battle against this city before the people of God can receive their inheritance in the
land of promise. The city is walled up against him. It is a city rich in gold and silver and
merchandise (garments) from Shinar (i.e., Babylon, Josh 6:21). In the city lives a
whore, whose scarlet marks her house. Joshua sends two spies into the city to bring him
a witness report. A divine Warrior comes from heaven with a sword drawn for battle.
Joshua falls at his feet and receives the battle order. The people purify themselves for a
campaign that is to be a holy war marked by the sounding of seven trumpets followed by
a shout. There are three series of sevens. The people march around the city each day for
six days. On the seventh day, the people circle the city seven times. Then on the seventh
circuit, the priests sound seven trumpets and the people shout. The great city falls down
before them. The family of righteous Rahab is rescued before the city is put to the sword
and burned.

The dramatic narrative of Revelation is strikingly similar. The entire book appears
to be driven by this most fundamental retelling of Joshua’s battle against Jericho. The
extent of shared vocabulary and the overlap of unique and specific language between the
Septuagint account of Jericho and Revelation are certainly far more compelling than
interpretive models taken from the later prophets. Although much exquisite allusion has
been documented from other Old Testament books by modern critics in interpreting this
profoundly rich New Testament portrait of Jesus in Revelation, what Old Testament book
can compete with the vision of Joshua’s holy war waged upon the battlefield of Jericho?
Where is the specificity that compares with the two texts interwoven by the scarlet of a
whore, the great city appointed to fall before Joshua (Jesus), the two witnesses sent
into the city, the appearance of the divine Commander with a sword come from
heaven, the sounding of seven trumpets, and the rescue of the family of faith before
the city is destroyed as the people of God receive their inheritance?7

The narrative drama itself displays a complexity that moves beyond the realm of
any judgment of randomness. To see this, let’s look at the following picture displaying
the battlefield (what our German friends call a Kampfplatz) of Jericho.

7 We have pointed out the specificity of the overlapping language and the complexity of the dramatic
narrative between the two books to suggest the clear intent of John to give us a portrait of Jesus as a new
Joshua. The specificity and complexity exceed the possibility of mere randomness, it seems to us. A
comparison would be to understand the difference between randomness and complex specificity as like that
between New Hampshire’s Old Man of the Mountain, which is a natural rock formation analogous to a
human face, and the figures carved into South Dakota’s Mount Rushmore. No one viewing the circle-
rimmed spectacles of the figure of President Roosevelt could reasonably doubt that the image was
deliberately carved into the mountain. By the same logic, it appears indisputable that the complex,
dramatic narratives of Revelation along with the specific vocabulary constituting a striking interleaving
require a recognition of Revelation’s large dependence upon Joshua.

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Moving from right to left in the picture, we notice the Jordan River on the far
right, the boundary that marks the entrance of the people of God into their inheritance.
Joshua had commissioned the chieftains of the twelve tribes to build a mound of twelve
stones taken from the river to memorialize their crossing. The place, Gilgal, is where
Joshua circumcised the people and reinstituted Passover, and so by removing the
uncleanness of the people made them competent to wage holy war. The image of a
woman giving praise to God is Rahab, who has been rescued from her whoredom and the
fiery judgment of her city. She wears a crown to show the full dimension of her
redemption, for she will seek regular marriage and so become one of the mothers of the
kings of Judah.

In the distance can be seen her window marked by her scarlet. The walls of the
city have fallen down as judgment of sword and fire come upon the great city. The two
spies are seen on the road leading into the city. Seven trumpets along with the Ark are
shown, which portend the judgment of the city. There had been a series of three sevens:
seven marches on seven days, seven marches on the seventh day, and seven trumpets on
the seventh march. To the far left of the picture is the figure of the Commander come
from heaven with a sword. Joshua has fallen upon his feet before the divine warrior.

We can now take this very battlefield and transform it into the dramatic stage of
Revelation. Beginning from left to right, we recall that the Lord Jesus appears from
heaven to John, who falls at his feet. The Lord comes with a sword proceeding from his

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mouth for he has come to wage holy war against the Great City. The Lord gives
instructions to his churches to leave behind their uncleanness and to prepare themselves
for holy war that they might receive their inheritance in the bridal city. The battle plan
proceeds by three series of sevens: seven seals are opened and the seventh seal becomes
seven trumpets, the seventh trumpet becomes seven vials of judgment.

The two witnesses recall the two spies against the city. The judgment begins when
the great city falls. Fiery judgment overtakes the city, but before it can be burned a voice
comes from heaven calling forth “My people” from the wicked city. They, like Rahab,
have been rescued from the city which is the mother of harlots. They have left their old
life to become the espoused of the Lord. Their inheritance will become the New
Jerusalem, built on the banks of the Crystal River. The city has twelve foundations of
precious stones. The city and her gates recall the twelve tribes of Israel as well as the
twelve apostles of Jesus.

[…]

The great gospel theme is announced in a dream vision to Joseph of Bethlehem
when he is told, “you shall call his name ‘Joshua,’ (Gk. Iesous), for he will save his
people from their sins” (Matt 1:21). It is the saving name of Joshua (Jesus), which is
given to the One who rescues those like Rahab, caught in notorious sin, and yet who are
the blessed ones who have been given precious and justifying faith and who therefore
rescue others (Heb 11:31; Jas 2:25). This book is written for all the blessed ones, those
who have been given the grace to see themselves in the same desperate need as was
Rahab, the need to be delivered from sin and judgment, for all those who can hear in the
trumpets not the blast of judgment but the sound of the coming of the One who brings
rescue, all who long for the day when they will be with their Joshua forever among the
great company of the people of faith. All our sins, like Rahab’s, were scarlet. But our
Joshua has come and we have washed our garments in his blood and now we are dressed
in garments of his righteousness, whiter than snow. Truly our Joshua has saved us from
our sins!

Excerpted from “Introduction,” Gospel Typology in Joshua and Revelation, Warren A. Gage, © 2013.

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What is a Chiastic Pattern?

A chiasm involves two parallel series of words, phrases, or ideas,
which—in the second series—are described in reverse order from the first.

A chiasm can be simple: Or more complex:

2 Corinthians 8:9 Romans 10:8-10

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, “This is the word of salvation we proclaim (A):
If you confess (B)
that though he was rich (A),
With your mouth (C)
yet for your sake he became poor (B),
Jesus as Lord (D)
that you through his poverty (B’)
And believe (E)
might become rich (A’).
In your heart (F)

God has raised him from the dead (G)
Mark 2:27 You will be saved. (G’)

And he was saying to them, For with the heart (F’)
One believes (E’)
“The Sabbath (A)
Unto righteousness (D’)
was made for man (B)
And with the mouth (C’)
and not man (B’)
Confession is made (B’)
for the Sabbath.” (A’)
Unto salvation (A’)”
Chiastic patterns are very common in ancient writings, and they occur frequently in the Bible as
well. Although some chiasms, like the ones above, are limited to a single verse or two, others
encompass entire Biblical narratives (the Flood of Noah in Genesis 6-9) or books of the Bible
(the Gospel of John when read together with Revelation). In larger chiasms such as these,
because a chiasm forms a ring or concentric structure, the central word or idea is often the most
important.

The chiasm is named after the Greek letter χ (pronounced Chi) because it forms a literary image
of a cross-like X. Consider 2 Corinthians 8:9 as an example:
…that though he was rich (A)
  might become rich (A’)

that you through his poverty (B’) yet for your sake he became poor (B)

In this example, Paul is painting a literary picture of where the transition of Christ taking on
our poverty and giving us his riches takes place. The chiasm evokes the image of the cross.

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The Gospel of John: A Neglected Key
to the Book of Revelation? (Part 2)

Introduction

We have suggested that John’s Gospel and Revelation are linked by an elaborate pattern
of consecutive or parallel correspondence.1 But there is another comprehensive pattern of literary
linkage that overlays the two great books of John—a chiastic pattern.

Chiastic Correspondences

A chiasm is a literary pattern that involves an inverted parallelism of words or ideas. In
chiastic patterning, the beginning of one book contains clusters of shared vocabulary and themes
with the end of the second book; and similarly, the beginning of the second book contains
paralleled vocabulary and themes found at the end of the first book. The Gospel of John and
Revelation are written throughout in an elaborate chiastic pattern, producing the effect of
each book being a mirror image of the other. Together, the consecutive and the chiastic patterns
constitute the warp and woof of the Johannine interweaving.

Now John’s use of chiastic patterning is not precisely ordered and mechanical, just as we
observed with the consecutive pattern of correspondence. It is more artistic than mechanically
predictable. Nevertheless, the overall pattern of chiastic correspondence is clearly one of John’s
major structural devices.

Moving in reverse directions within John’s Gospel and Revelation, we will work our way
forward in the Gospel and backward in Revelation, noting as we go in paralleled charts how the
two books are joined together so as to enlighten and interpret each other by the use of this
ancient literary pattern. The mirror imaging that occurs between these two books will describe a
diagram much like the following.

The Book of Revelation
Chapter 1_______________________________________Chapter 22

Chapter 1____________________________________________________Chapter 21
The Gospel of John

1 See Handout 1, “The Gospel of John: A Neglected Key to Revelation? (Part 1).”

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John-Revelation Chiastic Correspondence Charts

The Word and the Old Creation The Word and the New Creation
1:1 “In the beginning was the Word” 22:13 “I am…the beginning and the end”
1:3 “all things were made by Him” 21:5 “behold, I make all things new”

1:5, 9 “the light shines in darkness…He (Jesus) 22:5 “there shall be no night there; they need no
was the true light which gives light to every man” lamp nor light, for the Lord God gives them light”1

1:14 “the Word became flesh, and tabernacled 21:3 “the tabernacle of God is among mankind
among us” and He will tabernacle among them”2

1:17 “grace and truth came by Jesus Christ” 22:21 “grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you”
1:28, 48 “these things took place…beyond the 22:1-2 “And he showed me the river of the water of
Jordan… ‘when you were under the fig tree, I saw life…and the tree of life”
you.’”

1:29 “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of 22:3 “there is no more curse; the throne of God and
the world” the Lamb is there”3

1:32 “I beheld the Spirit descending out of heaven 21:2 “And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem,
like a dove, and He remained upon Him (whom John descending out of heaven from God, made ready
identifies as the Bridegroom, 3: 29) as a bride adorned for her husband”

1 It will be seen that the chiastic pattern comprehends several themes initiated in the beginning of the Gospel and
concluded at the end of the Revelation. The darkness, which is the emblem of the power of chaos, is at war with the
light in the opening of the Gospel (John 1:4-5). Only at the end of Revelation is the war finished, and the darkness
at last is overtaken by the light (Rev 22:5).
2 The Gospel begins with the declaration that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (John 1:14), and
Revelation concludes with the glorious announcement that in the consummation of all things God pitches His
tabernacle forever among men (Rev 21:3).
3 The promise of John the Baptist at the River Jordan, that the Lamb of God would take away the sin of the world
(John 1:29), is realized in the vision of John of Patmos, who sees the river of paradise flowing from the throne of
God and the Lamb, with the curse of sin having been taken away (Rev 22:3).

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1:39, 46 Jesus says, “Come and see!” Philip, who 22:17 “the Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’” and
hears, says, “Come and see!” “let him who hears say, ‘Come!’”4

1:42 Peter, one of the apostles, is given a new name, 21:14, 19 the New Jerusalem has twelve foundation
“Cephas,” meaning “stone” “stones,” inscribed with the names of the apostles.5
1:45, 49 “Behold, a true Israelite in whom there is no 19:11, 16 “Behold,…One (Jesus) called Faithful
guile…You (Jesus) are the King of Israel” and True… ‘King of Kings’”
1:51 “you (pl.) shall see heaven opened and the 19:11 “now I saw heaven opened and...He who...
angels of God ascending and descending upon the is called Faithful and True” The first “angel”
Son of Man” shows “the beast ascending” (17:8). The last
“angel” shows “the holy city descending” (21:10).6

The Wedding in Cana The Wedding of the Lamb

2:2 “Jesus and His disciples were invited to the 19:9 “Blessed are those who are invited to the
wedding” wedding”7
2:3 Jesus makes wine. “When they ran out of wine, 19:15 Jesus makes wine. “He treads the winepress of
the mother of Jesus said to Him, ‘They have no the wine of the rage of the wrath of Almighty God.”8
wine.’”

4 It is noteworthy that the Gospel opens with a twofold invitation to “come” to Jesus. Revelation concludes with a
similar twofold invitation to “come” to the Water of Life.
5 Peter’s promise in the Gospel that he would be a “stone” is serendipitously fulfilled in Revelation as he becomes a
“precious stone!”
6 The Gospel account of Nathanael, the true Israelite, recalls a fig tree (John 1:48), the tree whose leaves could not
hide the knowledge of God in Genesis. Similarly, Revelation foretells a vision of the tree of life, whose leaves are
for the healing of the nations who make up the city of God (Rev 22:2). Furthermore, the promise to Nathanael, that
he should see the heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man (John
1:51) is never fulfilled in the Gospel. Only in Revelation does John see the heaven opened and angels ascending
and descending around a vision of the Lord of Lords (Rev 17:8-21:10).
7 The beginning of the Gospel and the ending of the Revelation are filled with wedding imagery. The wedding of
Cana in the Gospel sustains many literary connections with the wedding of the Lamb in Revelation. John the
Baptist describes Jesus as a Bridegroom in the Gospel’s beginning. But there is no description of the bride in the
Gospel. John the Evangelist describes the bride of the Lamb at the end of Revelation. But there is no description of
the Bridegroom in Revelation. The two books of John, like a husband and wife, require each other to be complete.
8 According to the wedding custom, the bridegroom should set forth first the good wine, and only afterward, when
the guests are drunk, is the worse wine served (2:10). When the wedding of Cana (John 2:1) is read in light of the

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