Jesus, Root and Seed of David

Jesus speaks His final words to John in Revelation 22:16: I Jesus sent my angel to witness to you these things in the churches. I am the root and offspring of David, the star, the dazzling one of morning. It’s a beautifully composed verse.

Jesus begins with an emphatic ego, and in the verse uses the Greek form of the divine name, ego eimi. I, Jesus . . . I am. It’s Jesus’ self-identification with the God of Israel. And that identification, as elsewhere in Revelation, is given literary expression in the following clause, which contains twelve words: ego Iesous epempsa ton aggelon mou marturhsai humin tauta epi tais ekklesiais. Jesus, who embodies Israel, who is both “I am” and Israel in one, sent His angel to witness to the church that is the new Israel.

The second clause of the verse contains 14 words (2 x 7, a Sabbatical motif): ego eimi he riza kai to venos david ho aster ho lampros ho proinos. Or, we might note that the verse is written in two 12-word clauses, with ego eimi, “I am” at the center, rippling back to the beginning of the verse and on to the end. The “I am” is the Jesus who sent the angel to the churches, and He is the divine root and the human offspring of David. 

The twelve words of the description at the end of the verse again gives literary expression to a Jesus-as-Israel Christology. David the king already embodied and represented the people; Israel the son represented in the filial king. Jesus is the fulfillment of that, since the twelvefold description of Jesus-as-David also contains a hint that David is also king-as-Israel.  The numerology also reaches back to the first son of God, Adam: There are six nouns or adjectives in the final description: root, offspring, David, star, dazzling, morning. Jesus is Israel and David, also the man of the sixth day, the Last Adam.

There is an intriguing progression in the final description. The “I am” who is Jesus begins as a root (under ground); He is the offspring, seed, of David, coming to life from the earth; but the ascent doesn’t stop with the “resurrection” of root to seed. In the end, Jesus is the star of morning, the star announcing new day.