Sárospataki Füzetek 15. (2011)

2011 / 4. szám - TANULMÁNYOK

Paradise Motifs in the book of Revelation

nion, but it is clear from Daniel 7 that this will be a dominion over the whole world. It also shows the manner of this dominion: not under God, but together with him. For ever and ever (literally, ages of ages: eíg toüg aicovag xcov atwvcov: Rev. 22:5) is a fitting conclusion to this part of the book. Jerusalem is to be a royal city again, for all eternity.

5. Free access to the tree of life

In point 1, we already paid attention to the promise contained in the letter to the church at Ephesus, that those who overcome may freely “eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7). That is a remarkable usufruct! Given the Ephesian context, Hemer sees this as an allusion to the cult of Artemis.26 Originally, this virginal goddess of the hunt was worshipped in a primitive sacred grove. The tree of Artemis adorned the coat of arms of the city of Ephesus, and is to be seen on numerous Ephesian coins of the time. Still, the reference to the tree of life points in the first place to the situation in paradise (in Gen. 2:9 and 3:22 and 24, LXX has i(6kov, ‘wood’, instead of SsvSpov, the more usual word for ‘tree’). The reverse of this promise is also found in Revelation: God may take away from any transgressor ‘his share in the tree of life, and in the holy city, which are described in this book’ (Rev. 22:19).

In paradise, there were two trees: the tree of knowledge and the tree of life (Gen. 2:9). The paradise narrative concentrates mosdy on what happened with the tree of knowledge. The key was discerning between good and evil. To eat from the tree of knowledge was to exchange good for evil, so transgressing the boundary God had set. The human desire for autonomy led to a conflict with the Creator. And as a punishment for this sin, the first couple was banished from the tree of life (for to eat from that tree, as had previously not been forbidden, would have led to eternal life; that privilege was now revoked). At that time already, God began to carry out the sentence pronounced over mankind: to be kept away from life means death. Scripture also refers to wisdom and righteousness as trees of life (Prov. 3:18, 11:30, cf. 13:12 and 15:4). This shows that ‘life’ is more than just a continued existence, but a life in communion with the Creator.

In the future paradise of God, there will no longer be a tree of knowledge. It is the tree of life that has been given a central place in the new city of God; not just one, it seems, but more than one (Rev. 22:2). In the new Jerusalem, John sees a whole avenue of trees of life, planted on either side of the river that flows down the middle of the street of the great city. Inhabitants may freely pick of their fruit (because of the underlying imagery from Ezekiel 47: 7,12, the singular ^ukov is generally regarded as a collective noun, as in ‘a wood’ — unless perhaps we ought to think of two trees, one on either side of the river). These trees are spectacularly fruitful, one crop in each and every month.27 Again, a remarkable usufruct! Ezekiel

26 Colin J. Hemer, The Tetters to the Seven Churches of Asia in their Local Setting (Sheffield, JSOT Press, 1986), 41-50.

27 Whether this reference is to a harvest of twelve different kinds of fruits (Richard Bauckham, The Climax of Prophecy. Studies on the Book ofP^velation [Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1993, 316] is not altogether clear. The reading ‘twelve crops of fruit’ could also be understood as ‘one crop of fruit in each month’.

2011/4 Sárospataki Füzetek 19