And the wall of the city had twelve
foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Rev
21:14)
I discuss
Rev 21:14 in my book After the Order of
the Son of God: The Biblical and Historical Evidence for Latter-day Saint
Theology of the Priesthood (2018), pp. 214-17. In her book, based on her
PhD thesis, Andrea Robinson offered the following comments about the Old
Testament background to this verse:
Foundation Stones (Rev 21:14; Ezek 40:30-34)
As in Ezekiel, the gates in Revelation bear
the names of the tribes of Israel. However, John adds his own innovation in
that the foundations of the walls bear the names of the twelve apostles (Rev
21:14). John’s addition of the apostles’ names is conspicuous. “Here, an
element is added in a passage which otherwise is radically simplified and
abridged” (Vogelgesang, “Interpretation of Ezekiel,” 90).
Yet the names on the foundation stones do not
represent a different purpose than names on the gates in Ezekiel 38:30-34, but
rather the consummation of Ezekiel’s hope. “Israel’s divine purpose from the
beginning was fulfilled. For John, Jerusalem is one way to tell the two-stage
story of the people of God, from nation to incarnation. The movement from
historical Jerusalem to eternal Jerusalem is the story of the twelve tribes,
Messiah, and the twelve apostles” (Stevens, Revelation,
535).
Nonetheless, Ezekiel made no mention of
foundation stones. As noted above, Isaiah 54:11 is the most likely precursor
for John’s foundation stones. In Revelation 21:14, the stones are identified
with the apostles, much like the author of the Isaiah Pesher identified the
stones of Isaiah 54:11 with the founding members of the sectarian community
(4QpIsa I, 5-6). Thus, both Revelation 21:14 and the Isaiah Pesher reflect a
similar understanding of Isaiah 54. “Furthermore, both texts associate the city
gates of Isa. 54.12 with the gates belonging to the twelve tribes from Ezek
48.30-35” (Mathewson, New Heaven,
145).
John seemed to be working within a circle of
tradition that utilized building imagery to describe a community of people. He
combined passages such as Ezekiel 40-48, which has no precious building
materials, with other OT prophecies such as Isaiah 54:11-12 to describe the
glory of the future Jerusalem. “Indeed, John’s city is a temple-city, and the redeemed eschatological community is the spiritual
temple in which God and the Lamb dwell and are worshipped. Thus, when viewed through
the prism of building imagery, the costly ingredients of the city may represent
the eternal glory, purity, and durability of the perfected community” (Fekkes, “Bride
has Prepared Herself,” 286). Additionally, the significance of the twofold
twelve is that John, rather than privileging one people group over another,
unites peoples and makes the blessings promised to Israel available to all the
saints (Beale, Book of Revelation,
1090).
In sum, the imagery of foundation stones
clearly alludes to Isaiah 54:11. Yet, John almost certainly drew upon the gates
of Ezekiel as well. He utilized imagery from both passages “to redefine the
people of Israel as those faithful to God and the Lamb” (Palmer, “Imagining
Space in Revelation,” 43).
Thus, the allusion to Ezekiel 48:30-35 can be
classified as possible, based on similar concepts. Greater certainty is not
possible due to the absence of parallel lexemes. The contextual function is
literary prototype, due to the continued references to architectural elements
found in Ezekiel. (Andrea L. Robinson, Temple
of Presence: The Christological Fulfillment of Ezekiel 40-48 in Revelation
21:1-22:5 [Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2019], 147-49)
