The Maritime Wars of 4Q285 and Revelation

Abstract This article is a brief discursive comparison of the eschatological maritime battles of 4Q285 (Sefer haMilhamah) and John’s Apocalypse. The depictions of eschatological warfare in these texts share elements which indicate common traditions, a shared catalogue of sacred authoritative writings, and together speak to the Jewish underpinnings of Christian apocalypticism. While legitimate textual comparisons of nearly any sort may be made across vast differences in genre, culture, and historical periods, the connective lines between the yahad community of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) and that of the early Christian movement are not so distant as to render such comparisons insignificant to the interests of the study of Christian origins and early Christian history.