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110-464: Jacob, later called Israel, was the second-born son of Isaac and Rebecca , the younger twin brother of Esau , and the grandson of Abraham and Sarah . According to biblical texts, he was chosen by God to be the patriarch of the Israelite nation. From what is known of Jacob, he had two wives, sisters Leah and Rachel , and two concubines, Bilhah and Zilpah . The twelve sons form the basis for

220-510: A "gift" to Abraham (6:84; 14:49–50), and 24:26–27 adds that God made "prophethood and the Book to be among his offspring", which has been interpreted to refer to Abraham's two prophetic sons, his prophetic grandson Jacob, and his prophetic great-grandson Joseph . In the Quran , it later narrates that Abraham also praised God for giving him Ishmael and Isaac in his old age ( 14:39–41 ). Elsewhere in

330-594: A Prophet, and one of the righteous. Although the biblical patriarchs' names such as Jacob , Issachar , and Asher can be found in Middle Bronze Age (MBA), which is a period that most biblical scholars believe that the Biblical Patriarchs lived in, text like 13th Dynasty Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446 and there were Semitic tribal group named Benjamin in Syria at that time , this does not prove

440-905: A book of the Bible", and it was the only New Testament book on which John Calvin did not write a commentary. As of 2015, Revelation remains the only New Testament book not read in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church , though Catholic and Protestant liturgies include it. There are fewer manuscripts of Revelation than of any other part of the New Testament. As of 2020, in total, there are 310 manuscripts of Revelation. This number includes 7 papyri, 12 majuscules, and 291 minuscules. But, in fact, not all of them are available for research. Some of them have burned down, vanished, or been categorized wrongly. While it

550-406: A child and was believed to be barren. Isaac prayed for her and she conceived. Rebekah gave birth to twin boys, Esau and Jacob . Isaac was 60 years old when his two sons were born. Isaac favored Esau, and Rebekah favored Jacob. The narratives about Isaac do not mention his having concubines. Isaac moved to Beer-lahai-roi after his father died. When the land experienced famine, he moved to

660-529: A group of such prophets, and was accepted by the congregations to whom he addresses his letter. The New Testament canon has four other " Johannine works " ascribed to authors named John, and a tradition dating from Irenaeus ( c.  130  – c.  202 AD) identifies John the Apostle as the author of all five. The modern consensus is that a Johannine community produced the Gospel of John and

770-586: A list of books of scripture presented as having been reckoned as canonical by the Council of Rome (AD 382). This list mentions it as a part of the New Testament canon. The Synod of Hippo (in AD 393), followed by the Council of Carthage (397) , the Council of Carthage (419) , the Council of Florence (1442) and the Council of Trent (1546) classified it as a canonical book. The Apostolic Canons , approved by

880-536: A modified historicist method of interpreting prophecy, is identified in the teachings of the Bahá'í Faith . ʻAbdu'l-Bahá , the son and chosen successor of Bahá'u'lláh, has given some interpretations about the 11th and 12th chapters of Revelation in Some Answered Questions . The 1,260 days spoken of in the forms: one thousand two hundred and sixty days, forty-two months, refers to the 1,260 years in

990-454: A prophet, of the righteous", and that God blessed them both ( 37:112 ). In a fuller description, when angels came to Abraham to tell him of the future punishment to be imposed on Sodom and Gomorrah , his wife, Sarah , "laughed, and We gave her good tidings of Isaac, and after Isaac of (a grandson) Jacob" ( 11:71–74 ); and it is further explained that this event will take place despite Abraham and Sarah's old age. Several verses speak of Isaac as

1100-457: A righteous servant of God . Isaac, along with Ishmael , is highly important for Muslims for continuing to preach the message of monotheism after his father Abraham . Among Isaac's children was the follow-up Israelite patriarch Jacob , who is also venerated as an Islamic prophet. Isaac is mentioned seventeen times by name in the Quran , often with his father and his son, Jacob. The Quran states that Abraham received "good tidings of Isaac,

1210-411: A second son by Sarah named Isaac, with whom a new covenant would be established. In response, Abraham began to laugh, as both he and Sarah were well beyond natural child-bearing age. Some time later, three men who Abraham identifies as messengers of God visit him and Sarah, and Abraham treats them to food and niceties. They repeat the prophecy that Sarah would bear a child, promising Isaac's birth within

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1320-523: A translation and an anglicisation of the original Koine Greek word ἀποκάλυψις , which can also mean "unveiling". In the original Greek, the word is singular, so the name "Revelations" sometimes found in English is often considered erroneous. The author states in Rev 1:9 that he is on Patmos , and so he is conventionally called John of Patmos . He was a Jewish Christian prophet, probably belonging to

1430-489: A tribe. The sons of Jacob were born in Padan-aram from different mothers, as follows: Deuteronomy 27:12–13 lists the twelve tribes: Jacob elevated the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh (the two sons of Joseph and his Egyptian wife Asenath ) to the status of full tribes in their own right due to Joseph receiving a double portion after Reuben lost his birth right because of his transgression with Bilhah. In

1540-554: A victory over this reality by offering an apocalyptic hope. In the words of professor Adela Collins , "What ought to be was experienced as a present reality." There is also theological interpretation that the book mainly prophesies the end of Old Covenant order, the Jewish temple and religious economy. Revelation was among the last books accepted into the Christian biblical canon , and to the present day some churches that derive from

1650-540: A way to fulfill God's promise that Abram would be father of many nations, especially since they had grown old, so she offered Hagar to Abram to be his concubine. On the eighth day from his birth, Isaac was circumcised , as was necessary for all males of Abraham's household, in order to be in compliance with the Jewish covenant. After Isaac had been weaned, Sarah saw Ishmael playing with or mocking him (the Hebrew term

1760-416: A year's time, at which point Sarah laughs in disbelief. God questions why the pair laughed in disbelief at his words, and if it is because they believe such things were not within his power. Now afraid, they futilely deny ever having laughed at God's words. Time passes as Isaac is born. Isaac was Abraham's second son and firstborn of Sarah who was then Sarai. Sarai had been barren for a long time and sought

1870-491: Is a "complete lack of consensus" among scholars about the structure of Revelation. The following is therefore an outline of the book's contents rather than of its structure. Outline of the book of Revelation: Revelation has a wide variety of interpretations, ranging from the simple historical interpretation, to a prophetic view on what will happen in the future by way of God's will and the Woman's (traditionally believed to be

1980-526: Is a manual of spiritual development and not, as conventionally interpreted, a cryptic history or prophecy." Such diverse theories have failed to command widespread acceptance. However, Christopher Rowland argues: "there are always going to be loose threads which refuse to be woven into the fabric as a whole. The presence of the threads which stubbornly refuse to be incorporated into the neat tapestry of our world-view does not usually totally undermine that view." The radical discipleship interpretation asserts that

2090-508: Is ambiguous), and urged her husband to cast out Hagar the bondservant and her son, so that Isaac would be Abraham's sole heir. Abraham was hesitant, but at God's order he listened to his wife's request. At some point in Isaac's youth, his father Abraham took him to Mount Moriah . At God's command as the last of ten trials to test his faith, Abraham was to build a sacrificial altar and sacrifice his son Isaac upon it. After he had bound his son to

2200-603: Is an allegory of the spiritual path and the ongoing struggle between good and evil. The book's commonest English name is "[Book of] Revelation". It is also called "[Book of] the Apocalypse" (for example in the Catholic Church ), "Revelation to John", or "Apocalypse of St. John". Abbreviations of these are "Rev." (traditional), "Rv" (shorter), or "Apoc." These names come from the book's opening words , Rev 1:1 : "Revelation" and "Apocalypse" are respectively

2310-604: Is associated with the covenant of grace, into which her son Isaac enters. The Epistle of James chapter 2, verses 21–24, states that the sacrifice of Isaac shows that justification (in the Johannine sense) requires both faith and works. In the Epistle to the Hebrews , Abraham's willingness to follow God's command to sacrifice Isaac is used as an example of faith as is Isaac's action in blessing Jacob and Esau with reference to

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2420-503: Is based on Genesis chapter 24, verse 63 ("Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide"). Isaac was the only patriarch who stayed in Canaan during his whole life and though once he tried to leave, God told him not to do so. Rabbinic tradition gave the explanation that Isaac was almost sacrificed and anything dedicated as a sacrifice may not leave the Land of Israel . Isaac was

2530-619: Is derived from the first word of the text: apokalypsis , meaning 'unveiling' or 'revelation'. The Book of Revelation is the only apocalyptic book in the New Testament canon . It occupies a central place in Christian eschatology . The author names himself as simply "John" in the text, but his precise identity remains a point of academic debate. Second-century Christian writers such as Papias of Hierapolis , Justin Martyr , Irenaeus , Melito of Sardis , Clement of Alexandria , and

2640-494: Is especially relevant to believers in the days preceding the second coming of Jesus Christ. "The universal church is composed of all who truly believe in Christ, but in the last days, a time of widespread apostasy, a remnant has been called out to keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." "Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus." As participatory agents in

2750-489: Is found in the Roman catacomb frescoes . Excluding the fragments, Alison Moore Smith classifies these artistic works in three categories: Abraham leads Isaac towards the altar; or Isaac approaches with the bundle of sticks, Abraham having preceded him to the place of offering ... Abraham is upon a pedestal and Isaac stands near at hand, both figures in orant attitude ... Abraham is shown about to sacrifice Isaac while

2860-450: Is most frequently attested in the early 2nd millennium BCE rather than in later periods. The biblical historian A. Jopsen believes in the connection between the Isaac traditions and the north, and in support of this theory adduces Amos 7:9 ("the high places of Isaac"). Albrecht Alt and Martin Noth hold that, "The figure of Isaac was enhanced when the theme of promise, previously bound to

2970-675: Is not extant in the Codex Vaticanus (4th century), it is extant in the other great uncial codices: the Codex Sinaiticus (4th century), the Codex Alexandrinus (5th century), and the Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus (5th century). In addition, there are numerous papyri , especially 𝔓 and 𝔓 (both 3rd century); minuscules (8th to 10th century); and fragmentary quotations in

3080-716: Is structured after creation, fall, judgment and redemption. Those who hold this view say that the Temple's destruction (AD 70) had a profound effect on the Jewish people, not only in Jerusalem but among the Greek-speaking Jews of the Mediterranean. They believe the Book of Revelation provides insight into the early Eucharist, saying that it is the new Temple worship in the New Heaven and Earth. The idea of

3190-406: Is that of difference between the ancestors and the indigenous Canaanites… In fact, the theme of the differences between Judah and Israel, as personified by the ancestors, and the neighboring peoples of the time of the monarchy is pressed effectively into theological service to articulate the choosing by God of Judah and Israel to bring blessing to all peoples. According to Martin Noth , a scholar of

3300-631: Is the only book of the New Testament that is not read during services by the Byzantine Rite Churches, although it is read in the Western Rite Orthodox Parishes , which are under the same bishops as the Byzantine Rite. Similar to the early Protestants, Adventists maintain a historicist interpretation of the Bible's predictions of the apocalypse. Seventh-day Adventists believe the Book of Revelation

3410-591: Is the symbolism meant to be pictured realistically. Pope Benedict XVI taught that Revelation "should be understood against the backdrop of" the early church's persecutions and inner problems, that "the Lamb who is slain yet standing" symbolizes Jesus' paschal mystery and Jesus being the meaning of life , that the vision of the woman and child symbolizes both Mary and the Church, that the New Jerusalem symbolizes

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3520-434: Is widely known among all ancient peoples. Archaeology has found that many of these personal names of ancestors originally were the names of clans, tribes, localities, or nations. [...] if the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are those of mythological ancestors and not of historical persons, then many stories of the patriarchal and Mosaic age lose their historic validity. They may indeed partly reflect dim reminiscences of

3630-522: The Church of the East reject it. Eastern Christians became skeptical of the book as doubts concerning its authorship and unusual style were reinforced by aversion to its acceptance by Montanists and other groups considered to be heretical. This distrust of the Book of Revelation persisted in the East through the 15th century. Dionysius (AD 248), bishop of Alexandria and disciple of Origen , wrote that

3740-581: The Easter rites, of early Christianity as background and context for understanding the Book of Revelation's structure and significance. This perspective is explained in The Paschal Liturgy and the Apocalypse (new edition, 2004) by Massey H. Shepherd , an Episcopal scholar, and in Scott Hahn 's The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth (1999), in which he states that Revelation in form

3850-586: The Eastern Orthodox Council in Trullo in 692, but rejected by Pope Sergius I , omit it. Doubts resurfaced during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation . Martin Luther called Revelation "neither apostolic nor prophetic" in the 1522 preface to his translation of the New Testament (he revised his position with a much more favorable assessment in 1530), Huldrych Zwingli labelled it "not

3960-649: The Islamic Calendar (AH 1260 or AD 1844). The " two witnesses " spoken of are Muhammad and Ali . The red Dragon spoken of in Revelation 12:3 – "And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads" – are interpreted as symbolic of the seven provinces dominated by the Umayyads : Damascus, Persia, Arabia, Egypt, Africa, Andalusia, and Transoxania. The ten horns represent

4070-456: The New Testament . In the gospels of Matthew ( 19:28 ) and Luke ( 22:30 ), Jesus anticipates that in the Kingdom of God his disciples will "sit on [twelve] thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel". The Epistle of James ( 1:1 ) addresses his audience as "the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad". The Book of Revelation ( 7:1–8 ) gives a list of the twelve tribes. However,

4180-554: The Philistine land of Gerar where his father once lived. This land was still under the control of King Abimelech as it was in the days of Abraham. Like his father, Isaac also pretended that Rebekah was his sister due to fear that Abimelech would kill him in order to take her. He had gone back to all of the wells that his father dug and saw that they were all stopped up with earth. The Philistines did this after Abraham died. So, Isaac unearthed them and began to dig for more wells all

4290-552: The Tribe of Dan is omitted while Joseph is mentioned alongside Manasseh . In the vision of the Heavenly Jerusalem , the tribes' names (the names of the twelve sons of Jacob ) are written on the city gates ( Ezekiel 48:30–35 & Revelation 21:12–13 ). In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a patriarchal blessing usually contains a declaration of the lineage of the recipient of blessing in relation to

4400-573: The Tribe of Levi ) are descendants of a single Levite ancestor who came to Europe from the Middle East roughly 1,750 years ago. The growth of this specific lineage aligns with the expansion patterns seen in other founding groups of Ashkenazi Jews. This means that a relatively small number of original ancestors have had a large impact on the genetic makeup of today's Ashkenazi population. Attributed arms are Western European coats of arms given retrospectively to persons real or fictitious who died before

4510-460: The Virgin Mary ) victory over Satan (" symbolic interpretation"), to different end time scenarios ("futurist interpretation"), to the views of critics who deny any spiritual value to Revelation at all, ascribing it to a human-inherited archetype . This interpretation, which has found expression among both Catholic and Protestant theologians, considers the liturgical worship, particularly

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4620-501: The 'period of the Judges' is widely considered doubtful. The extent to which a united Kingdom of Israel ever existed is also a matter of ongoing dispute. Living in exile in the sixth century BC, the prophet Ezekiel has a vision for the restoration of Israel, of a future in which the twelve tribes of Israel are living in their land again. According to Joshua 13–19 , the Land of Israel was divided into twelve sections corresponding to

4730-511: The 60s, as there was a widespread belief in later decades that Nero would return . Revelation is an apocalyptic prophecy with an epistolary introduction addressed to seven churches in the Roman province of Asia, in what is now western Turkey. The seven cities where churches were located are close together, and the Island of Patmos is near the western coast of Turkey. The term apocalypse means

4840-618: The Apostles' Creed , Pope Innocent I (AD 405) in a letter to the bishop of Toulouse and John of Damascus (about AD 730) in his work An Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Book IV:7) listed "the Revelation of John the Evangelist " as a canonical book. The Council of Laodicea (AD 363) omits it as a canonical book. The Decretum Gelasianum , which is a work written by an anonymous scholar between 519 and 553, contains

4950-412: The Bible, the twelve tribes of Israel are sons of a man called Jacob or Israel, as Edom or Esau is the brother of Jacob, and Ishmael and Isaac are the sons of Abraham . Elam and Ashur , names of two ancient nations, are sons of a man called Shem . Sidon , a Phoenician town, is the first-born of Canaan ; the lands of Egypt and Abyssinia are the sons of Ham . This kind of mythological geography

5060-405: The Book of Revelation could have been written by Cerinthus although he himself did not adopt the view that Cerinthus was the writer. He regarded the Apocalypse as the work of an inspired man but not of an Apostle (Eusebius, Church History VII.25). Eusebius , in his Church History ( c.  AD 330 ), mentioned that the Apocalypse of John was accepted as a canonical book and rejected at

5170-422: The Book of Revelation is best understood as a handbook for radical discipleship; i.e. how to remain faithful to the spirit and teachings of Jesus and avoid simply assimilating to surrounding society. In this interpretation the primary agenda of the book is to expose as impostors the worldly powers that seek to oppose the ways of God and God's Kingdom. The chief temptation for Christians in the 1st century, and today,

5280-488: The Book of Revelation should not be read as an enigmatic warning, but as an encouraging vision of Christ's definitive victory over evil. In the Coptic Orthodox Church , Armenian Apostolic Church and Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church the whole Book of Revelation is read during Apocalypse Night after Good Friday . Biblically Ugo Vanni and other biblical scholars have argued that the Book of Revelation

5390-409: The Book of Revelation was written to comfort beleaguered Christians as they underwent persecution at the hands of an emperor. This is, however, not the only interpretation; Domitian may not have been a despot imposing an imperial cult, and there may not have been any systematic empire-wide persecution of Christians in his time. Revelation may instead have been composed in the context of a conflict within

5500-572: The Christian community of Asia Minor over whether to engage with, or withdraw from, the far larger non-Christian community: Author Mark B. Stephens posed that the Revelation chastised those Christians who wanted to reach an accommodation with the Roman cult of empire. This is not to say that Christians in Roman Asia were not suffering due to withdrawal from and defiance of the wider Roman society, which imposed very real penalties; Revelation offered

5610-445: The Church fathers of the 2nd to 5th centuries and the 6th-century Greek commentary on Revelation by Andreas. Divisions in the book seem to be marked by the repetition of key phrases, by the arrangement of subject matter into blocks, and associated with its Christological passages, and much use is made of significant numbers, especially the number seven, which represented perfection according to ancient numerology. Nevertheless, there

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5720-468: The Church in its glory on Judgment Day , and that the prayers in Revelation reflect 1st century Jewish-Christian liturgy and Jewish-Christian understanding of the heavenly liturgy. According to Catholic Answers , the author of Revelation identifies the beast as the Roman Empire, the dragon as Satan, and Babylon as Rome. The meaning is that Rome "cannot win. It will be completely overthrown, and

5830-434: The Church is sure to triumph. This prophecy is as it were the hub of the Apocalypse. Around it John gradually unfolds the plan God has for the future of his Church." Eastern Orthodoxy treats the text as simultaneously describing contemporaneous events (events occurring at the same time) and as prophecy of events to come, for which the contemporaneous events were a form of foreshadowing. It rejects attempts to determine, before

5940-456: The Eucharist as a foretaste of the heavenly banquet is also explored by British Methodist Geoffrey Wainwright in his book Eucharist and Eschatology (Oxford University Press, 1980). According to Pope Benedict XVI some of the images of Revelation should be understood in the context of the dramatic suffering and persecution of the churches of Asia in the 1st century. Accordingly, they argue,

6050-569: The Forgiveness of Sins, but in no vicarious sacrifice for sin ... they accepted Christ in the full realisation of the word; his life, not his death, was the keynote of their doctrine and their practice." James Morgan Pryse was an esoteric gnostic who saw Revelation as a western version of the Hindu theory of the Chakra . He began his work, "The purpose of this book is to show that the Apocalypse

6160-593: The Hebrew Bible, the narratives of Isaac date back to an older cultural stage than that of the West-Jordanian Jacob. At that era, the Israelite tribes were not yet sedentary. In the course of looking for grazing areas, they had come in contact in southern Philistia with the inhabitants of the settled countryside. It has also been argued that the form of Isaac's name as found in the Hebrew Bible

6270-543: The Hebrews' tribal past, but in their specific detail they are fiction." Norman Gottwald argued that the division into twelve tribes originated as an administrative scheme under King David. Additionally, the Mesha Stele (carved c. 840 BCE) mentions Omri as King of Israel and also mentions "the men of Gad ". Recent studies of genetic markers within Jewish populations strongly suggest that modern Ashkenazi Levites ( Jewish males who claim patrilineal descent from

6380-475: The Israelite national founding myth : the number 12 was not a real number, but an ideal number, which had symbolic significance in Near Eastern cultures with duodecimal counting systems, from which, among other things, the modern 12-hour clock is derived. Biblical scholar Arthur Peake saw the tribes originating as postdiction , as eponymous metaphor giving an aetiology of the connectedness of

6490-457: The New Testament theme of Isaac as a type of Christ and the Church being both "the son of the promise" and the "father of the faithful". Tertullian draws a parallel between Isaac's bearing the wood for the sacrificial fire with Christ's carrying his cross. and there was a general agreement that, while all the sacrifices of the Old Law were anticipations of that on Calvary, the sacrifice of Isaac

6600-661: The Patriarchs" ( 2:136 ; 3:84 ). In the Quran's narrative of Abraham's near-sacrifice of his son ( 37:102 ), the name of the son is not mentioned and debate has continued over the son's identity, though many feel that the identity is the least important element in a story which is given to show the courage that one develops through faith. The Quran mentions Isaac as a prophet and a righteous man of God . Isaac and Jacob are mentioned as being bestowed upon Abraham as gifts of God, who then worshipped God only and were righteous leaders in

6710-475: The Quran, Isaac is mentioned in lists: Joseph follows the religion of his forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob ( 12:38 ) and speaks of God's favor to them ( 12:6 ); Jacob's sons all testify their faith and promise to worship the God that their forefathers, "Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac", worshiped ( 2:127 ); and the Quran commands Muslims to believe in the revelations that were given to "Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob and

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6820-631: The Serpent , and the Beast , which culminate in the Second Coming of Jesus . The obscure and extravagant imagery has led to a wide variety of Christian interpretations. Historicist interpretations see Revelation as containing a broad view of history while preterist interpretations treat Revelation as mostly referring to the events of the Apostolic Age (1st century), or, at the latest,

6930-451: The age of 180. According to local tradition, the graves of Isaac and Rebekah , along with the graves of Abraham and Sarah and Jacob and Leah , are in the Cave of the Patriarchs . In rabbinical tradition , the age of Isaac at the time of binding is taken to be 37, which contrasts with common portrayals of Isaac as a child. The rabbis also thought that the reason for the death of Sarah

7040-541: The altar and drawn his knife to kill him, at the last moment an angel of God prevented Abraham from proceeding. Instead, he was directed to sacrifice a nearby ram that was stuck in thickets. Before Isaac was 40 (Genesis 25:20), Abraham sent Eliezer , his steward, into Mesopotamia to find a wife for Isaac, from his nephew Bethuel 's family. Eliezer chose the Aramean Rebekah for Isaac. After many years of marriage to Isaac, Rebekah had still not given birth to

7150-588: The ancestor worshipped in Beersheba and the oldest tradition about him might be an ancestor myth dating back to at least 8th century BCE as shown in Amos 7:9, while proposing that the story about him conflicting with Abimelech, king of Gerar, and Philistines, which is the story that has possibility that Abraham cycle could have vampirized or vice versa, could have been originated and have background in 7th century BCE, and could be made to aim at justifying and legitimizing

7260-452: The ancestors and peoples who were part of Israel's political world at the time the stories began to be written down (eighth century B.C.E.). Lot is the ancestor of the Transjordanian peoples of Ammon and Moab, and Ishmael personifies the nomadic peoples known to have inhabited north Arabia, although located in the Old Testament in the Negev. Esau personifies Edom (36:1), and Laban represents the Aramean states to Israel's north. A persistent theme

7370-401: The author of the Muratorian fragment identify John the Apostle as the John of Revelation. Modern scholarship generally takes a different view, with many considering that nothing can be known about the author except that he was a Christian prophet. Modern theological scholars characterize the Book of Revelation's author as " John of Patmos ". The bulk of traditional sources date the book to

7480-409: The biblical canon as a whole. Rather, an open and ongoing dialogue between God and the modern-day Prophet and Apostles of the LDS faith constitute an open canon of scripture. Christian Gnostics are unlikely to be attracted to the teaching of Revelation because the doctrine of salvation through the sacrificed Lamb, which is central to Revelation, is repugnant to Gnostics. Christian Gnostics "believed in

7590-428: The biblical narrative the period from the conquest of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua until the formation of the United Kingdom of Israel passed with the tribes forming a loose confederation, described in the Book of Judges . Modern scholarship has called into question the beginning, middle, and end of this picture and the account of the conquest under Joshua has largely been abandoned. The Bible's depiction of

7700-417: The claim of Judah over the Judahite territories that are transferred to the Philistine cities by Sennacherib because of several reasons: it was time when Gerar ( Tel Haror ) had the special importance and fortified Assyrian administration center; there was king of Ashdod , Ahimilki, whose name is similar to that of Abimelech; the Kingdom of Judah could have gotten back parts of Judahite territories while Judah

7810-458: The cults of the 'God the Fathers' was incorporated into the Israelite creed during the southern-Palestinian stage of the growth of the Pentateuch tradition." According to Martin Noth, at the Southern Palestinian stage of the growth of the Pentateuch tradition, Isaac became established as one of the biblical patriarchs, but his traditions were receded in the favor of Abraham. Israel Finkelstein and Thomas Römer have proposed that Isaac might be

7920-403: The early Hebrew pastoralist experience". The Cambridge Companion to the Bible makes the following comment on the biblical stories of the patriarchs: Yet for all that these stories maintain a distance between their world and that of their time of literary growth and composition, they reflect the political realities of the later periods. Many of the narratives deal with the relationship between

8030-490: The eponymous ancestors, and even whether the earliest version of this tradition assumes the existence of twelve tribes. Biblical lists of tribes, not all of which number 12, include the following: Scholars such as Max Weber (in Ancient Judaism ) and Ronald M. Glassman (2017) concluded that there never was a fixed number of tribes. Instead, the idea that there were always twelve tribes should be regarded as part of

8140-535: The fact, if the events of Revelation are occurring by mapping them onto present-day events, taking to heart the Scriptural warning against those who proclaim "He is here!" prematurely. Instead, the book is seen as a warning to be spiritually and morally ready for the end times, whenever they may come ("as a thief in the night"), but they will come at the time of God's choosing, not something that can be precipitated nor trivially deduced by mortals. Book of Revelation

8250-523: The fall of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Futurists , meanwhile, believe that Revelation describes future events with the seven churches growing into the body of believers throughout the age, and a reemergence or continuous rule of a Greco-Roman system with modern capabilities described by John in ways familiar to him; and idealist or symbolic interpretations consider that Revelation does not refer to actual people or events but

8360-408: The father of Jacob and Esau , and the grandfather of the twelve tribes of Israel . Isaac's name means "he will laugh", reflecting the laughter, in disbelief, of Abraham and Sarah, when told by God that they would have a child. He is the only patriarch whose name was not changed, and the only one who did not move out of Canaan . According to the narrative, he died aged 180, the longest-lived of

8470-576: The following categories: Additionally, there are significant differences in interpretation of the thousand years (the "millennium") mentioned in Revelation 20:2. According to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops the Book of Revelation contains an account of visions in symbolic and allegorical language borrowed extensively from the Old Testament. Symbolic descriptions are not to be taken as literal descriptions, nor

8580-457: The future promised by God to Abraham. In verse 19, the author views the release of Isaac from sacrifice as analogous to the resurrection of Jesus , the idea of the sacrifice of Isaac being a prefigurement of the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross . Islam considers Isaac ( Arabic : إسحاق , romanized :  Isḥāq ) a prophet , and describes him as the father of the Israelites and

8690-399: The good things We have provided you.' And they did not wrong Us, but they used to wrong [only] themselves." For thousands of years, Christians and Jews have accepted the history of the twelve tribes as fact. Since the 19th century, however, historical criticism has examined the veracity of the historical account; whether the twelve tribes ever existed as they are described, the historicity of

8800-417: The historicity of Patriarchs' narratives as these are the common Semitic names that were used in the later periods as well. Some scholars have described Isaac as "a legendary figure" or "as a figure representing tribal history, or "as a seminomadic leader". The stories of Isaac, like other patriarchal stories of Genesis, are generally believed to have "their origin in folk memories and oral traditions of

8910-604: The latter stands or kneels on the ground beside the altar. Sometimes Abraham grasps Isaac by the hair. Occasionally the ram is added to the scene and in the later paintings the Hand of God emerges from above. Book of Revelation The Book of Revelation or Book of the Apocalypse is the final book of the New Testament (and therefore the final book of the Christian Bible ). Written in Koine Greek , its title

9020-480: The news of their son's eventual birth. He laughed because Sarah was past the age of childbearing; both she and Abraham were advanced in age. Later, when Sarah overheard three messengers of the Lord renew the promise, she laughed inwardly for the same reason. Sarah denied laughing when God questioned Abraham about it. After God changes Abram and Sarai's names to Abraham and Sarah , he tells Abraham that he will bear

9130-399: The oldest of the biblical patriarchs at the time of his death, and the only patriarch whose name was not changed. Rabbinic literature also linked Isaac's blindness in old age, as stated in the Bible, to the sacrificial binding: Isaac's eyes went blind because the tears of angels present at the time of his sacrifice fell on Isaac's eyes. The early Christian church continued and developed

9240-531: The reader stops many times and the people respond; additionally the entire book is read in a liturgical setting that culminates with the Eucharist) shows great support for this biblical hypothesis, albeit with some notable difference. Additionally, the Book of Revelation permeates many liturgical prayers and iconography within the Coptic Church. Most Christian interpretations fall into one or more of

9350-490: The references stem from Daniel , Ezekiel , Psalms , and Isaiah , with Daniel providing the largest number in proportion to length and Ezekiel standing out as the most influential. Because these references appear as allusions rather than as quotes, it is difficult to know whether the author used the Hebrew or the Greek version of the Hebrew scriptures, but he was often influenced by the Greek. Modern understanding has been that

9460-540: The reign of the Roman emperor Domitian (AD 81–96), which evidence tends to confirm. The book spans three literary genres: the epistolary , the apocalyptic , and the prophetic . It begins with John, on the island of Patmos in the Aegean Sea , addressing letters to the " Seven Churches of Asia ". He then describes a series of prophetic visions , including figures such as the Seven-Headed Dragon,

9570-407: The revealing of divine mysteries; John is to write down what is revealed (what he sees in his vision) and send it to the seven churches. The entire book constitutes the prophecy—the letters to the seven individual churches are introductions to the rest of the book, which is addressed to all seven. While the dominant genre is apocalyptic, the author sees himself as a Christian prophet: Revelation uses

9680-400: The sacrifice and was revived. According to many accounts of Aggadah , unlike the Bible, it is Satan who is testing Isaac as an agent of God . Isaac's willingness to follow God's command at the cost of his death has been a model for many Jews who preferred martyrdom to violation of the Jewish law . According to the Jewish tradition, Isaac instituted the afternoon prayer. This tradition

9790-622: The same time: The Apocalypse of John is counted as both accepted (Kirsopp. Lake translation: "Recognized") and disputed, which has caused some confusion over what exactly Eusebius meant by doing so. The disputation can perhaps be attributed to Origen. Origen seems to have accepted it in his writings. Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 348) does not name it among the canonical books (Catechesis IV.33–36). Athanasius (AD 367) in his Letter 39 , Augustine of Hippo ( c.  AD 397 ) in his book On Christian Doctrine (Book II, Chapter 8), Tyrannius Rufinus ( c.  AD 400 ) in his Commentary on

9900-406: The second-youngest son, received double the inheritance of his brothers, treated as if he were the firstborn son instead of Reuben, and so his tribe was later split into two tribes, named after his sons, Ephraim and Manasseh. The Israelites were the descendants of twelve sons of the biblical patriarch Jacob . Jacob also had at least one daughter, Dinah , whose descendants were not recognized as

10010-671: The start of the age of heraldry in the latter half of the 12th century. Attributed arms of the Twelve Tribes from the Portuguese Thesouro de Nobreza , 1675 Isaac Isaac is one of the three patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions , including Judaism , Christianity , and Islam . Isaac first appears in the Torah , in which he is the son of Abraham and Sarah ,

10120-469: The symbolism contained in the Book of Revelation. Topics include: the sea of glass, the four beasts and their appearance, the 24 elders, the book with seven seals, certain angels, the sealing of the 144,000, the little book eaten by John, and the two witnesses in Chapter 11. Members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints believe that the warning contained in Revelation 22:18–19 does not refer to

10230-555: The ten names of the leaders of the Umayyad dynasty: Abu Sufyan, Muawiya, Yazid, Marwan, Abd al-Malik, Walid, Sulayman, Umar, Hisham, and Ibrahim. Some names were re-used, as in the case of Yazid II and Yazid III and the like, which were not counted for this interpretation. The Book of Mormon states that John the Apostle is the author of Revelation and that he was foreordained by God to write it. Doctrine and Covenants , section 77, postulates answers to specific questions regarding

10340-401: The three Johannine epistles , while John of Patmos wrote the Book of Revelation separately. The book is commonly dated to about AD 95, as suggested by clues in the visions pointing to the reign of the emperor Domitian . The beast with seven heads and the number 666 seem to allude directly to the emperor Nero (reigned AD 54–68), but this does not require that Revelation was written in

10450-598: The three patriarchs. The anglicized name "Isaac" is a transliteration of the Hebrew name יִצְחָק ‎ ( Yīṣḥāq ) which literally means "He laughs/will laugh". Ugaritic texts dating from the 13th century BCE refer to the benevolent smile of the Canaanite deity El . Genesis ascribes the laughter to Isaac's parents, Abraham and Sarah , instead. According to the biblical narrative, Abraham fell on his face and laughed when God (Hebrew, Elohim ) imparted

10560-573: The title the Sunday of the Forefathers . Isaac is commemorated in the Catholic Church on 25 March or on 17 December. The New Testament states Isaac was "offered up" by his father Abraham, and that Isaac blessed his sons. Paul contrasted Isaac, symbolizing Christian liberty , with the rejected older son Ishmael, symbolizing slavery; Hagar is associated with the Sinai covenant, while Sarah

10670-530: The tribal names are "not personal names, but the names of ethnic groups, geographical regions, and local deities. E.g. Benjamin , meaning "son of the south" (the location of its territory relative to Samaria ), or Asher , a Phoenician territory whose name may be an allusion to the goddess Asherah ." Historian Immanuel Lewy in Commentary mentions "the Biblical habit of representing clans as persons. In

10780-410: The tribe to others in the Israelite confederation. Translator Paul Davidson argued: "The stories of Jacob and his children, then, are not accounts of historical Bronze Age people. Rather, they tell us how much later Jews and Israelites understood themselves, their origins, and their relationship to the land, within the context of folktales that had evolved over time." He goes on to argue that most of

10890-400: The twelve tribes of Israel, listed in the order from oldest to youngest: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. Jacob was known to display favoritism among his children, particularly for Joseph and Benjamin, the sons of his favorite wife, Rachel, and so the tribes themselves were not treated equally in a divine sense. Joseph, despite being

11000-497: The twelve tribes of Israel. The Quran (7th century CE) states that the people of Moses were split into twelve tribes. Surah 7 ( Al-A'raf ) verse 160 says: "We split them up into twelve tribal communities, and We revealed to Moses , when his people asked him for water, [saying], 'Strike the rock with your cane,' whereat twelve fountains gushed forth from it. Every tribe came to know its drinking-place. And We shaded them with clouds, and We sent down to them manna and quails: 'Eat of

11110-530: The twelve tribes of Israel. However, the tribes receiving land differed from the biblical tribes. The Tribe of Levi had no land appropriation but had six Cities of Refuge under their administration as well as the Temple in Jerusalem . There was no land allotment for the Tribe of Joseph , but Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh , received their father's land portion. Thus the tribes receiving an allotment were: The twelve tribes of Israel are referred to in

11220-400: The way of God: And We bestowed on him Isaac and, as an additional gift, (a grandson), Jacob, and We made righteous men of every one (of them). And We made them leaders, guiding (men) by Our Command, and We sent them inspiration to do good deeds, to establish regular prayers, and to practise regular charity; and they constantly served Us (and Us only). And WE gave him the glad tidings of Isaac,

11330-472: The way to Beersheba , where he made a pact with Abimelech, just like in the day of his father. Isaac grew old and became blind. He called his son Esau and directed him to procure some venison for him, in order to receive Isaac's blessing. While Esau was hunting, Jacob, after listening to his mother's advice, deceived his blind father by misrepresenting himself as Esau and thereby obtained his father's blessing, such that Jacob became Isaac's primary heir and Esau

11440-468: The word in various forms 21 times, more than any other New Testament book. The predominant view is that Revelation alludes to the Old Testament , although it is difficult among scholars to agree on the exact number of allusions or the allusions themselves. Revelation rarely quotes directly from the Old Testament, yet almost every verse alludes to or echoes ideas of older scriptures. Over half of

11550-483: The work of salvation for all humankind, "This remnant announces the arrival of the judgment hour, proclaims salvation through Christ, and heralds the approach of His second advent." The three angels of Revelation 14 represent the people who accept the light of God's messages and go forth as his agents to sound the warning throughout the length and breadth of the earth. By reasoning analogous with Millerite historicism, Bahá'u'lláh 's doctrine of progressive revelation ,

11660-628: Was a compliant vassal of Assyria under Manasseh . In addition, Finkelstein and Römer proposed that Abraham might be the ancestor worshipped in Hebron, and Jacob might be the ancestor worshipped in Israel, but the earliest tradition of Jacob, the tradition about him and his uncle Laban the Aramean establishing the border between them, might be originated in Gilead. The earliest Christian portrayal of Isaac

11770-422: Was left in an inferior position. According to Genesis 25:29–34, Esau had previously sold his birthright to Jacob for "bread and stew of lentils". Thereafter, Isaac sent Jacob into Mesopotamia to take a wife of his mother's brother's house. After 20 years working for his uncle Laban , Jacob returned home. He reconciled with his twin brother Esau, then he and Esau buried their father, Isaac, in Hebron after he died at

11880-809: Was so "in a pre-eminent way". The Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church consider Isaac as a saint along with other biblical patriarchs . Along with those of other patriarchs and the Old Testament Righteous, his feast day is celebrated in the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Byzantine rite of the Catholic Church on the Second Sunday before Christmas (December 11–17), under

11990-415: Was the news of the intended sacrifice of Isaac. The sacrifice of Isaac is cited in appeals for the mercy of God in later Jewish traditions. The post-biblical Jewish interpretations often elaborate the role of Isaac beyond the biblical description and primarily focus on Abraham's intended sacrifice of Isaac, called the aqedah ("binding"). According to a version of these interpretations, Isaac died in

12100-515: Was written with the intention to be read entirely in one liturgical setting with dialogue-elements between the reader (singular) and the hearers (plural) based on Rev 1:3 and Rev 1:10. Beniamin Zakhary has recently shown that the structure of the reading the Book of Revelation within the Coptic rite of Apocalypse Night (this is the only biblical reading in the Coptic church with a dialogue in it, where

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