Seven Bowls of Wrath: the ecological relevance of Revelation

Biblical Theology Bulletin, Summer, 2008 by Richard Woods

For late Judaism and early Christian circles, angels mediate the presence and action of God, preserving both the divine transcendence and also God's sovereign freedom, only a portion of judgment being revealed or enacted in each intervention. Angels figure not only more prominently in Revelation than any other work of the New Testament, they find in it their most detailed treatment. (The Greek word aggelos and its cognates appear 175 times in the New Testament, 66 times in Revelation alone.) The angelus interpres usefully serves to illuminate obscure visions for the seer. Seven great angels (the term "archangel" does not appear in Revelation) stand in the presence of God and proclaim sentence. The four "Living Beings," sometimes but gratuitously called Cherubim in commentaries (Aune II, 868, 879, Beale 812), deliver the libation bowls of God's anger to the seven administering angels. The destroying angel, Apollyon or Abaddon, who is the only named angel other than Michael (Rev. 12:7) has custody of the Abyss (Rev 9:1 I). Other angels charged with carrying out the will of God exercise a multitude of tasks, not least being jurisdiction over various portions of the natural world--water, air, the winds, etc. Ultimately, however, the bowls of wrath are full of the anger of God, not of angels, whether or not one interprets that anger and its effects as permissive (as do for instance, Aune, and Harrington).

Libation Bowls of Wrath

The image of the golden libation bowls, Gr. phialai (paterae in Latin), evokes images of sacrifice and oblation. But primarily in Revelation these vessels contain the anger of God, a theme from ancient Hebrew scripture (Aune II, 879-80, 883; Beale, 813). A large shallow bowl, Heb. mizraqot or Gr. phialai (although other terms were used inter changeably in either language) were used to pour or splash offerings of wine or blood in Temple ceremonies (Exod 27:3, 38:3, Num 4:14, 1 Chr 28:17, etc.). In Revelation, however, the image is blended with that of the cup, Heb. kos, Gr. poterion, of the anger of God (Pss 11:6, 75:8; Is 51:17, Jer 25:15, Rev 14:10, etc.), with the seven angels acting as cultic ministers. These terms indicate that for John, what we know as chapters 15-17 is part of a great liturgy of destruction, a sacrificial ceremony enacted in the presence of God and the court of heaven.

"Plagues" as the Wounds of Creation

The immediate effect of the pouring of the contents of the libation bowls is physical and spiritual hurt to the natural systems of the world but especially its human inhabitants. It is worth noting that plege, the Greek word for "plague," means much more than "a deadly contagious disease," its modern connotation. In classical Greek as well as the New Testament, it meant, first of all, a blow, wound, or beating (see Luke 10.30 and Acts 16.23, 33, etc.). Elsewhere in Revelation, it refers to a lethal wound (see Rev 13.3, 12). Despite the incomplete parallels with the Ten Plagues of Egypt, the Seven Plagues of Revelation could more accurately be called "the Seven Wounds of Creation."