Author:
DAMAGING DARN CAVEMAN
|
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
Date Posted: 06:25:08 02/14/06 Tue
In reply to:
Beorge Gush
's message, "Dick Cheney Loved Spiro Agnew & Karl Mundt" on 06:03:16 02/14/06 Tue
The first is King Herod. Herod converted to Judaism for political, not religious, reasons. He was a tyrant who impoverished his people to enrich himself and his cronies through heavy taxation. He flaunted the Jewish law; he set up statues to Caesar and worshipped him as a god. He ignored the Jewish teachings and had his own sons executed in defiance of the commandment that says 'Thou shalt do no murder.' His power struggles brought conflict, strife, and injustice upon his people and we associate his power with that of death, for Herod is best remembered for the slaughter of the innocents.
Azazel in the Apocalypse of Abraham
In the Apocalypse of Abraham, Azazel is portrayed as an unclean bird which came down upon the sacrifice which Abraham prepared. This is in reference to Genesis 15:11 "Birds of prey came down upon the carcasses, and Abram drove them away." "And the unclean bird spoke to me and said, 'What are you doing, Abraham, on the holy heights, where no one eats or drinks, nor is there upon them food for men. But these all will be consumed by fire and ascend to the height, they will destroy you.' And it came to pass when I saw the bird speaking I said this to the angel: 'What is this, my lord?' And he said, 'This is disgrace, this is Azazel!' And he said to him, 'Shame on you Azazel! For Abraham's portion is in heaven, and yours is on earth, for you have selected here, (and) become enamored of the dwelling place of your blemish. Therefore the Eternal Ruler, the Mighty One, has given you a dwelling on earth. Through you the all-evil spirit (is) a liar, and through you (are) wrath and trials on the generations of men who live impiously." - Apocalypse of Abraham 13:4-9
The Apocalypse of Abraham also associates Azazel with Hell. Abraham says to him "May you be the firebrand of the furnace of the earth! Go, Azazel, into the untrodden parts of the earth. For your heritage is over those who are with you" (14:5-6) There is also the idea that God's heritage (the created world) is largely under the dominion of evil. It is "shared with Azazel" (20:5) Azazel is also identified with the serpent which tempted Eve. His form is described as a dragon with "hands and feet like a man's, on his back six wings on the right and six on the left." (23:7)
Finally, the Apocalypse of Abraham says that the wicked will "putrefy in the belly of the crafty worm Azazel, and be burned by the fire of Azazel's tongue." (31:5) Here again, there is another reference to Azazel as being Hell.
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are mentioned in the Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation, which predicts that they will ride during the Apocalypse. The four horsemen are traditionally named War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. However, this is slightly at odds with the conventional interpretation of the Bible, which actually only names one: Death.
Consequently, it is not possible to definitively state the intended interpretation of the horsemen; in fact, interpretations frequently reflect contemporary values and issues.
White Horse
Opinions differ on whether the first horseman, riding the white horse, represents Christ, the Antichrist, or the False Prophet, but the general consensus of conservative biblical scholars is that he is the Antichrist. One argument against this horseman representing Christ is that each horseman is released due to the opening of a seal, and the seals represent God's curses upon the world, it is unlikely that the author would consider Christ's return as a curse. (However, it could be conceived as a curse by those who oppose Christ.) Moreover, interpreting this seal judgment as Christ's return is at variance with the unambiguous description of his return in Revelation 19:11-16.
Liberal Christian scholarship does not interpret this figure as either Christ or Antichrist. M. Eugene Boring's commentary on Revelation suggests that the image is drawn from the current events of the first century which the Christians in the Roman Empire would have recognized. In 62 AD the Parthians had beaten a Roman army in the Tigris valley and people throughout the empire viewed them with the same unrealistic dread as westerners in modern times had for the yellow peril. The Parthians were the only mounted archers of the 1st century and white horses were their mount of choice. The passage can thus be interpreted as 'conquest from without' without assigning any specific identity to the rider.
Red Horse
The rider of the second horse is generally held to represent War. The red color of his horse represents blood spilt on the battlefield. He carries a sword, which represents battle and fighting.
Black Horse
The third horseman, riding the black horse, is popularly called Famine. The black color of the third horse could be a symbol of death and famine. Its rider was holding a scale, which means scarcity of food, higher prices, and famine, likely as a result of the wars from the second horseman. Food will be scarce, but luxuries such as wine and oil will still be readily available.
The "a measure of wheat for a penny" from the King James Version might not sound like a famine to modern ears, but in the NIV we read "a quart of wheat for a day's wages", which is a little clearer.
Pale Horse
The fourth horseman (on the pale, or sickly horse, which may be the source of the notion of "pestilence" as a separate horseman) is explicitly named Death. The pale greenish color of the fourth horse means fear, sickness, decay, and death. The imagery of the horses and riders is similar to a passage in Zechariah.
Alternative interpretations
An alternate interpretation, likely based on differing translations, holds the first Horseman to represent War and/or the Antichrist, the second to represent Pestilence (sometimes called Plague), while the third and fourth riders remain Famine and Death, respectively.
Yet another interpretation is that the Four Horsemen are the Four Beasts mentioned in the visions of The Book of Daniel, representing four kings (or kingdoms), the last of which devours the world. The more conventional integration of this portion of Daniel with Revelation, however, is that the eleventh king (arising in the fourth kingdom) is the Antichrist.
Some Christian scholars do not interpret Revelation as prophecy of future events so much as a revealing of God's presence in the current events of the first century. While Rome appears to be all powerful and in control, the images of the horsemen are a grim reminder that even the powerful persecutor is helpless before the power of God.
In this light the white horseman is a symbol for a conquering force from without. This is symbolized using the image of the feared Parthian mounted archer on his white horse and given the crown of a conquerer. The red rider who takes peace from the earth is the civil strife that ended the pax romana. The black rider is the famine that follows anytime there is foreign invasion or civil war. The final rider is the death that accompanies conflict and famine and the pestilence that springs up in the aftermath of these other tragedies.
While these images, and especially the Parthians, are specific to the Roman Empire of the early Christian era, there is a universality about them. Each new century, Christian interpreters see ways in which the horsemen, and Revelation in general, speaks to contemporary events.
The Shepherd of Hermas (sometimes just called The Shepherd) is a Christian work of the second century, considered a valuable book by many Christians, and occasionally considered canonical by some of the early Church fathers.
The Shepherd had great authority in the 2nd and 3rd centuries, was cited as Scripture by Irenaeus and Tertullian and was bound with the New Testament in the Codex Sinaiticus, and was listed between the Acts of the Apostles and the Acts of Paul in the stichometrical list of the Codex Claromontanus. The book was originally written in Rome, in the Greek language, but a Latin translation was made very shortly afterwards; some say, by the original author as a sign of the authenticity of the translation, though others dispute this. Only the Latin version has been preserved in full, of the Greek the last fifth or so is missing.
Armageddon refers, generally, to end times or Earth ending catastrophes in various religions and cultures. "Armageddon" also refers to any great loss of life in battle, etc. The word armageddon is derived from Mount (Har in Hebrew) Megiddo, the site of the Battle of Megiddo and other battles.
Interestingly, the only mention in the Bible was in Revelation 16:16: "And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon" (KJV). This bible prophecy reference is ambiguous as to whether any event actually takes place here or whether the gathering of armies is only to be seen as a sign. In fact, a gathering of the Roman army occurred at this place as a staging ground for one of their assaults on Jerusalem in AD 67. This is consistent with the preterist interpretation that the events of Revelation 16:17-21 refer to events culminating in the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70.
[
Next Thread |
Previous Thread |
Next Message |
Previous Message
]
|
Feedback: 
ΝΙΨΟΝΑΝΟΜΗΜΑΤΑΜΗΜΟΝΑΝΟΨΙΝ