Coping with Revelation 2:20-23

This contribution concerning Revelation 2:20–23 as a “troubling text” focuses on the negative stereotyping of the prophetess Jezebel and the punishments announced for her and her followers. The bed referred to in 2:22 may function as locus of fornication and adultery and the appropriate punishment for these crimes, which implies that Jezebel would deserve the death penalty like her followers. A plausible historical context of the passage is that Jezebel acted as a leader among the Jesus followers at Thyatira who claimed to have a prophetic inspiration and competed with John’s group. She was of a non-Jewish origin, which could mean that the accusations against her boil down to her approval of marriages between Jews and non-Jews and the consumption of non-Jewish food. In that case would the death penalty be excessive. The final section proposes three reading strategies which may help to cope with the violence in this text.