(Preface)
BIBLICAL APOCALYPTICS
Milton
Terry
©1898
by
Eaton & Mains, New York
THAT
God has at many times and in many ways revealed himself to men is a
doctrine fundamental to the Christian faith, and the canonical writings of
the Old and New Testaments are believed to be a truthful presentation of
such divine revelations. These scriptures comprise a great variety of
literature. In them we find ancient ballads, national songs, sacred lyrics,
family records, theocratic history, lively narrative, charming romance,
poetical dramas, visions and dreams of signal import, impassioned oracles of
prophecy, and epistles and memoirs of the early Christian Church. Nearly
every form of literary composition known to men is represented in the
unique volume. Fables, riddles, enigmas, allegories, parables, types,
symbols, and idealistic pictures worthy of the most transcendent genius
appear in great number and variety. It would seem that infinite Wisdom
intended to appropriate every form and class of human writing in order to
make each in some way contribute its portion to the preparation of an
authoritative textbook for instruction in righteousness.
This great variety of composition and modes of thought among the
sacred writers has been too often overlooked. The Bible as a whole has been
extolled for its supernatural contents to such an extent that not a few seem
to have concluded there can be nothing really human about it. Such
presumptions of absolute perfection in a book act as barriers against a
thorough scientific investigation of its contents and are prejudicial to the
interests of truth. All ideas of a normal progress in the revelation are
excluded, and apologists, assuming that the morality of the patriarchs and
judges of Israel must needs be consistent with Christian ethics, have
become entangled in inextricable difficulties. The result has been a one-sided
and misleading trend of thought, which has furnished occasion for all manner
of vagaries in biblical interpretation. The opening chapters of Genesis have
been supposed to be an infallibly correct deliverance of the Creator himself
on cosmology, geology, astronomy, and natural science, and many have taken
in hand to reconcile the record and the facts. In a similar way it has been
presumed that the Book of Revelation contains detailed predictions of the
Roman papacy, the wars of modern Europe, and the fortunes of Napoleon.
Criticism, on the other hand, has too often gone to the extreme of
ignoring the divine element in the Scriptures, and has in recent years so
persistently looked after the original sources whence the biblical writers
derived their material that the higher purpose of the sacred penman has been
lost from sight. Gunkel, for example, in his Schöpfung
und Chaos (Göttingen,
1895), takes great pains to show that the first chapter of Genesis is
inconsistent with the lofty concept of all creation by one God which appears
in Isa. 40:22; 42:5; 44:24; 45:7, 12. He finds there, on the contrary,
numerous ideas and expressions which he considers so many echoes of most
ancient times and fragments of cosmogonic myths. The chaos of darkness and
the brooding of the Spirit over the waters are a reminiscence of the
world-egg among the Indians, Egyptians, and Plicenicians. He concludes that
Gen. 1 is mainly of Babylonian origin, and Gen. 2 a fragment of old
Canaanitish thought. In the various Old Testament allusions to the monsters
of the waters, leviathan, Rahab, and the serpent, he finds traces of
primeval myths which the biblical writers have worked into their compositions.
Also in the symbols of Rev. xii he seems concerned only to, prove a mythical
origin for the ideas of the woman, the man child, the red dragon, the war in
heaven, the great eagle, and the flight into the wilderness. That the
analogies are often striking is apparent to every observer, and such
investigation into the origin and subsequent history of mythical ideas is
of much archeological interest. How far the biblical writers, first and
last, appropriated material from mythical and legendary sources is simply a
question of fact and presents a legitimate field of scientific inquiry. But
the real meaning and purpose of the Scriptures may be quite independent of
that question. It matters not whence the material of Gen. 1 and 2 has been
derived as to its possible primitive sources, nor how much the authors of
Job and Isaiah knew about the myths of Rahab and the dragon in the sea; nor
whether John, in Rev. 12, associated with the great red dragon and the war
in heaven any well-defined ideas of the mythology of the ancient world. The
one paramount question with the true interpreter of these Scriptures is,
What ideas did the biblical writer intend to impart to his readers? It is
not necessary to know all about a particular metaphor or the history of a
familiar emblem in order to understand the purpose for which an author may
employ it. All human speech is to a great extent a dictionary of forgotten
figures of thought. There is a traditional element in a thousand familiar
concepts which have passed from age to age, from race to race, and even from
one religion to another. When, therefore, biblical criticism busies itself
almost solely with questions of the origin of documents, and the more or
less probable sources of particular figures of thought and of speech, it is
apt to become one-sided and to miss the real object of the sacred writers.
Our continuous inquiry in the present volume is not, Whence did the
biblical writers derive their literary material? nor, How far did they
modify older compositions to suit their plan? nor, What ancient myths and
legends have they embodied in their books? but rather, What use have they
made of their material, such as it is, for the higher purposes of divine
revelation and instruction? We shall have no controversy with the methods or
results of scientific criticism. We gratefully accept the facts and
side-lights which archeological research has brought forth to the help of
biblical study; but our work is constructive rather than analytical. Our
chief aim is to show that the great religious lessons of these Scriptures do
not depend for their value on questions of sources, and authorship, and
dates of composition. The imperishable treasure of the Word remains, and may
even be enhanced in its manifold capabilities by being thus enshrined in
vessels noticeably human. Thus indeed may one see that “the highest human
is divine.”
In accordance with this general view I have chosen for exposition
those portions of the Holy Scriptures which are remarkable for symbolical
presentations of the works and ways of God. Happily it is no longer claimed
among intelligent divines that all portions of the Bible are of equal value.
A considerable number of the books are of a composite character, and some
parts of single books as well as some entire books are better adapted than
others to inculcate religious doctrine and morals. The relative importance
of the different parts may be differently estimated, but it will scarcely be
disputed that those scriptures which purport to contain particular
revelations of the works and purposes of God are entitled to special
consideration. The apocalyptic element in the Old Testament occupies a
larger place than is commonly supposed. The Pentateuch and the Psalms, as
well as the Prophets, contain a large amount of pictorial symbolism, and the
Book of Genesis exhibits a symmetry of structure comparable to that of the
Apocalypse of John. These apocalyptic portions of the Old Testament are
essential to a proper understanding of the contents and structure of the
New Testament Book of Revelation.
A careful study of these scriptures as a distinctive class of
writings will show that the New Testament Apocalypse is the normal conclusion
of a series of biblical revelations, which from beginning to end make known,
reiterate, and emphasize the fundamental truth that God is the Creator and
Ruler of the heavens and the earth. He is the first and the last, and his
holy purposes contemplate all the ages and conditions of the world. Clouds
and darkness are round about him, his ways are in many places past finding
out, but truth and righteousness are the basis of his throne, and he will
surely punish the wicked and glorify the pure and good.
The exposition of John's Apocalypse naturally occupies the largest as
well as the concluding portion of the present volume. A rational
interpretation of this remarkable production of inspired genius is one of
the great needs of our time. The vagaries of literalist and
"world-historical" expositors on the one hand have been offset by
the conflicting theories of analytical criticism on the other, and the
general confusion has thereby become worse confounded. Our work will
naturally be looked upon with disfavor by both these classes of writers. One
will be scandalized by the fact that our exegesis finds nowhere in the
prophecies of this book a prediction of Turkish armies, or papal bulls, or
the German Reformation of the sixteenth century. The other class will find
fault with the relatively small space given to the discussion of recent
critical hypotheses of the composite structure of the book. In respect to
all these criticisms we must let our interpretation speak for itself. If it
is in the main sound and tenable all conflicting theories are thereby seen
to be at fault, and it would be a bootless task to fill our pages with
polemics which could be of no practical use to the common reader. If we are
fairly successful in showing that the Apocalypse of John is a fitting
conclusion to the biblical apocalypses and dependent mainly for its imagery
on what is clearly traceable in the Hebrew Scriptures, and that it is in
substance and scope only a symbolico-propbetic amplification of our Lord's
eschatological discourse as preserved in the synoptic gospels, we are
thereby sufficiently vindicated against the charge of not paying detailed
attention to other expositions.
The Old Testament apocalypses are a necessary introduction to the
interpretation of Jesus' eschatological sermon on the Mount of Olives and to
that of the Apocalypse of John. If the reader will take pains to examine our
references he will find ample proof that the principal sources of the New
Testament prophetic language and imagery are the Hebrew Scriptures. Little
help for valid exposition is to be found in the apocryphal apocalypses.(1)
They are all
at best but weak imitations, and move in a lower realm of thought. There is
no evidence that the biblical revelations were in any considerable degree
dependent upon that class of literature. Much less are we to search in
heathen mythology for an immediate source of the imagery employed in the
revelations of Daniel and John. That the war of nature's elements, and the
concepts of dragons and monsters of the abyss have their varying
mythological analogies in the traditions of ancient peoples, is simple
matter of fact; but it is quite a different proposition to affirm that a New
Testament writer appropriated such myths as a direct source of his
symbolism. Whatever may have been their remote origin in the prehistoric
times, and however the Israelitish people first or gradually came into
contact with them, generations of Hebrew psalmists and prophets had so far
consecrated them to the uses of a lofty theistic conception of the world
that in the time of our Lord they had lost, for the devout Jew, their
polytheistic connotation. John's Revelation is no loose compilation of
documents, no incongruous structure of fragments. The author was a sublime
genius, easily comparable with Dante and Milton, who found the suggestions
of his imagery in the Hebrew Scriptures, but had the native ability and the
divine inspiration to adapt his material to the scope and plan of his
apocalypse. His originality is seen, not in the invention of all his
symbols, but in the unique structure and the sublimity of his completed
work.
It is not the purpose of the present volume to furnish a textual
commentary on the portions of Scripture here brought into discussion. The
nearest approach to a full exposition is made in the treatment of the
Apocalypse of John. No other method seemed so suitable for presenting in
detail the import of that most notable revelation of
“things about to come to pass.” Being the consummation
and crown of all the biblical apocalypses, it properly called for fuller
treatment, and for the convenience of the reader the text (in the main that
of the Anglo-American Revised Version) has been inserted in immediate
connection with the exegesis. It was part of my original plan to incorporate
a new translation, accompanied with critical and exegetical footnotes, of
all the Old Testament apocalypses, but this was soon found to be
impracticable within the limits of a single volume. My purpose is rather to
write a comprehensive and readable book, adapted to serve as a suggestive
help toward the proper understanding of those scriptures which are regarded
as peculiarly obscure. In carrying out this purpose I have also kept in view
the hope of showing every candid and thoughtful reader that the divine
purpose and the abiding lessons of
these holy writings are not endamaged by the results of scientific
criticism.
For the sake of any who may feel regret that I concede so much to the
findings of modern higher criticism I take this opportunity to say that I
have in some instances allowed the claims of a radical criticism, which I am
personally far from accepting as established, for the very purpose of
showing that the great religious lessons of the scripture in question are
not affected by critical opinions of the possible “sources,” and date,
and authorship, and redaction. To me and to many it is a pitiable spectacle
to behold devout and learned men wasting their energy in the maintenance of
a traditional theory of the origin of such books as Genesis and Isaiah and
Daniel, as if the divine purpose and sole value of these scriptures must
needs rest upon a questionable hypothesis of their human authorship. We
cannot believe that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has any
respect for a tradition of the elders that cannot commend itself by open,
manly, convincing argument, but presumes rather to hold its ground by
dogmatic assertion and ecclesiastical oppression. For the Church's sake, for
the sake of an untrammeled Gospel, for Christ's sake, let devout and
conscientious criticism be at liberty to perform its legitimate work. God
will smite that whited wall of a Protestantism which boasts its encouragement
of a free and fearless searching of the Scriptures, and yet dishonors its
throne of judgment by imposing stripes on the truth-loving disciple of
Jesus, who studies with all diligence to present himself approved unto God
and to handle aright the word of truth.
It has long been my purpose to write three volumes on biblical
interpretation and doctrine. The first of these, entitled Biblical
Hermeneutics, appeared
fourteen years ago (1883), and forms one of the volumes of the “Library of
Biblical and Theological Literature,” edited by Crooks and Hurst. The
present treatise is the second in my plan, and, in nature and scope, is
supplementary to the Hermeneutics,
being an extended application and illustration of
the principles of interpretation set forth therein. The remaining volume,
on Biblical Dogmatics, will be an essay toward a luminous, simple,
and systematic statement of the principal doctrines of the Old and New
Testaments.
End
Notes
-
A
brief account of apocryphal apocalypses is given in the Appendix to this
volume. However valuable for other purposes, none of them are capable of
shedding any considerable light on the canonical Scriptures. Their
secondary and inferior character serves rather by its obvious contrast
to enhance the real dignity and originality of the biblical apocalypses.
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