One might be hard pressed to call Revelation a form of wisdom literature, though it certainly has the earmarks of the more "mantic" wisdom traditions.
Defining and debating what exactly "mantic" wisdom is would typically warrants a lengthy discussion, but suffice it to say that some scholars argue that most "apocalyptic" forms of literature, such as 2 Esdras and 1 Enoch, are a combination of wisdom and prophecy. Revelation falls into the categories of apocalypse, prophecy, and epistle.
As an apocalypse, it thus potentially also falls into the category of "wisdom" literature. Given "wisdom" is pictured in Proverbs 8 as standing in the city gates crying out against injustices like the prophets of the Old Testament, the link between wisdom and prophetic literature is easily blurred.
"Wisdom," however, clearly makes her mark in several places throughout Revelation, first as part of what Tina Pippin classifies as "Hymns to the Throne of Wisdom" in 5:12 and 7:12, and in 13:18 the people of God are called upon to utilize wisdom to aid them in discerning that which is from God and that which is from the beast. However, it is in the "personified" form that wisdom and folly take on their most readily recognizable forms.
Wisdom as the Mother and Bride
One is able to recognize the woman pursued by the dragon in Revelation 12 as wisdom when it is compared and contrasted with the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon's description: "She [wisdom] is more beautiful than the sun, and excels every constellation of the stars. Compared with the light she is found superior for it is succeeded by the night, but against Wisdom, evil does not prevail." (Wisdom 7:29)
"A great portent appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars...So when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child...but the earth came to the help of the woman, it opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth." (Revelation 12:1, 13-16)
Like in Wisdom of Solomon, evil (the dragon) does not prevail against the fair lady. This passage in Revelation also relates her having given birth, bringing up the image of a mother figure, and is later referenced as a bride (21:2).
Wisdom, likewise, has been seen as both a mother and a bride. (See Wisdom of Solomon 8:2, 7:12 and Sirach 15:2). But the correlations continue, for within the bride references of Revelation, she is also seen as the holy city, Jerusalem. (21:2, 21:9-10) In the apocryphal/apocalyptic book of 2 Esdras, there is also a woman representative of the the holy city. (2 Esdras10:27)
This woman being equated with a city has strong connections to Proverbs 9:1,"Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table." The slaughtering of animals brings to mind temple imagery, and the table that has been set seems reminiscent of the great marriage feast. (Revelation 19:7)
Folly as The Harlot
Continuing to parallel Proverbs, John pits wisdom/the Mother-Bride and her purity against folly, or "the loose woman/adulteress."
The garish portrayal of the harlot adorned with jewels and drunk on the blood of the saints finds its equal in the form of the "loose woman/adulteress" in Proverbs 5:3-5 and 7:10-18 (compare with Revelation 17:1-6) Revelation further expands upon the whore by describing the riches that have been found in her, similar to the Proverbs 7 text, and that she is eventually laid waste and destroyed as Proverbs 5:5 stated, her "feet go down to death."
Like the bride, who represents new Jerusalem, the holy city of God's people, the harlot is associated with Babylon, one of Israel's greatest enemies and oppressors.
Distinguishing Between the Two Women
As in Proverbs, John warns the reader against the temptations of the prostitute. The choice is being laid out: wisdom or folly? Bride or prostitute? New Jerusalem or Babylon? Which woman will the inhabitants of the earth follow? John is not introducing us to a new ethical dilemma - it is one that has been there since the beginning of sin itself, but the lines have become blurred.
Craig Koester points out in his book Revelation and the End of All Things that, "John did not make such a sharp contrast because the distinction between good and evil was obvious to his readers. For many, the problem was precisely the opposite. John castigates those who seem unable to discern the difference between the true God and the surrogate gods, or to distinguish faithfulness from unfaithfulness."
While Koester aptly notes John's usage of satire to make that would seem beautiful look garish and ridiculous so it loses its appeal, if the reader of Revelation is familiar with their wisdom literature they would easily see the correlations John has drawn between the the harlot and folly. This indeed does call for wisdom.
Sources:
- Tina Pippin, “Wisdom and Apocalyptic in the Apocalypse of John: Desiring Sophia,” In Search of Wisdom: Essays in Memory of John G. Gammie, eds. Leo G. Perdue, Bernard Brandon Scott, William Johnston Wiseman (Louisville: Wesminster/John Knox Press, 1993), p.288.
- Craig R. Koester, Revelation and the End of All Things, (Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, UK: William B. Eerdmans, 2001), p. 155.
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