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The Dragon Spitting Frogs: On the Imagery of Revelation 16.13–14

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2008

STEPHAN WITETSCHEK
STEPHAN WITETSCHEK
Affiliation:
Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge, West Road, Cambridge, CB3 9BS, England
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Abstract

In Rev 16.13–14 we encounter minor characters of the book's diabolic bestiary, ‘three unclean spirits like frogs’ that proceed from the mouths of the Dragon and the two Beasts. This article attempts to understand this detail in relation to the metaphorical connotations other ancient Greek and Jewish writers attributed to frogs: they were mostly connected with silliness and loquaciousness. In this context, the picturesque detail of frog-like demons belongs to John's strategy of reassuring his audiences by ridiculing the Dragon and the Beasts and the powers they represent.

Keywords

Revelation 16frogsbeasts‘Kings of the Earth’Psalm 2joke
Type
Articles
Information
New Testament Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 4 , October 2008 , pp. 557 - 572
Copyright
2008 Cambridge University Press

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Footnotes

This article is based on lectures given at the University of Aberdeen (21 March 2007) and at the SBL International Meeting in Vienna (22–26 July 2007). I am grateful to the participants on both occasions for their helpful questions and comments.