3 - The Lamb on the Divine Throne

Summary

Chapter 3 focuses on the Lamb’s place on a heavenly throne, which is viewed in light of the ancient practice of divine throne-sharing. Widely attested in the ancient Mediterranean world, throne-sharing occurred when one entity shared the throne of a deity or occupied a throne in close proximity to a deity. Most often throne-sharers were kings, and the king’s place on a divine throne functioned to demonstrate the divine legitimacy of their rule. Chapter 3 surveys the evidence for throne-sharing in various ancient Mediterranean contexts in order to shed light on the appropriation of this ideology in Revelation. In short, the Lamb’s position on the heavenly throne thus designates the Lamb as a divinely-elected king. At the same time, it functioned as an implicit rejection of imperial claims of the divine legitimacy of the emperor’s rule.