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The Role of Biblical Scholarship at Waco:
One Attempt to Avert Disaster

by James D. Tabor
Associate Professor
Department of Religious Studies
University of North Carolina at Charlotte

Copyright March 1994 by James D. Tabor.
Permission is granted for non-commercial replication of or
excerpting from this material, provided that appropriate notice
is included of its copyright status, as above.

=====
These materials also available from the ccat gopher, University of
Pennsylvania, follow these procedures:
telnet gopher.upenn.edu
select UPenn gophers
select ccat.sas

follow the menus -- for example
select CCAT Text Archives
select Religion
select Koresh MSS

=====

THE ROLE OF BIBLICAL SCHOLARSHIP AT WACO:
     ONE ATTEMPT TO AVERT DISASTER


It was 7:25 p.m. on Sunday, February 28, 1993.  My attention was
suddenly riveted to an unfamiliar voice, edged with an appealing
intensity, coming over CNN on the television in the next room.
Anchorman David French had someone on a phone hookup who was
quoting Biblical passages in a steady stream.  A photo of a young
man with glasses and long wavy hair, which was later to become
familiar around the world, was on the TV screen against a
backdrop of a map of Texas with a place marked as ``Mt. Carmel,''
near Waco.  Regular CNN programing had been interrupted.  It was
obvious that some emergency situation was unfolding.  I had not
yet heard of the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Bureau raid on Mt.
Carmel that very morning at 9:55 a.m. which resulted in a two
hour gun battle with the Branch Davidians, the religious group
which lived there, leaving four AFT agents dead and 15 wounded.
For the moment my attention was drawn to two things which
fascinated me.  The young man from Texas called himself David
Koresh, and he was talking about the ``Seven Seals'' of the book
of Revelation.  As a Biblical scholar I knew that Koresh was the
Hebrew word for Cyrus, the ancient Persian King who destroyed the
Babylonian empire in 539 B.C.E.  I was intrigued that anyone
would have such a last name.  Also, I was quite familiar with the
mysterious Seven Seals in the last book of the Bible, and how
they unfolded in an apocalyptic sequence leading to the Judgment
Day and the End of the World. Like any good newsperson, CNN
anchorman French kept trying to get David Koresh to talk about
the morning raid, how many had been killed or wounded from his
group, and whether he planned to surrender.  Koresh admitted he
was wounded badly, that his two year old daughter had been
killed, and some others were killed and wounded from his group.
But it was clear that he mainly wanted to quote scriptures,
mostly from the book of Revelation.  He said he was the Lamb,
chosen to open the Seven Seals.  He challenged religious leaders
and Biblical scholars from around the world to come to Texas and
engage in debate with him on the Bible, and particularly to try
and match his understanding in unlocking the mystery of the Seven
Seals.

The phone conversation over CNN went on for about 45 minutes.  I
was utterly taken with this whole scene.  Here we were in the
year 1993 and this young Cyrus, would-be challenger of modern
Babylon, was actually delving into the details of the book of
Revelation at prime time, over a worldwide television network.  I
pulled out a Bible and turned to Isaiah 45, where I recalled that
the ancient Persian king Cyrus was addressed by God Himself:

   Thus says the LORD to his <e>anointed</>, to Cyrus (<h>Koresh</>),
   whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him
   and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him.

Here Cyrus is actually called ``messiah,'' that is, one who is
anointed. The Greek translation of this Hebrew word,
<h>mashiach</>, is ``Christos,'' from which we get our term
``Christ.''  So, one could accurately say that this ancient
Persian king was called Christ.  David Koresh also claimed to be
such a ``Christ.''  This biblical terminology led to endless
confusion and miscommunication between the secular media and the
FBI on the one hand, and the followers of Koresh who lived and
breathed these ancient texts.  It was widely but incorrectly
reported, even by the most responsible media, that David Koresh
claimed to be Jesus Christ, or even God himself.  This confusion
resulted from a lack of understanding of the biblical use of the
term ``anointed.''  In Biblical times both the high priests and
the kings of Israel were anointed in a ceremony in which oil was
poured over the head and beard (see Psalm 133).  In other words,
in this general sense of the term the Bible speaks of many
``christs'' or messiahs, not one.  The word comes to refer to one
who is especially selected by God for a mission, as was the
Persian king Cyrus.

It was in this sense that David Koresh took the label ``Christ''
or messiah. He believed he was the chosen one who was to open the
Seven Seals of the book of Revelation and bring on the downfall
of ``Babylon.''  The early Christians were quite fond of the same
kind of coded language.  They routinely referred to the Roman
empire as ``Babylon.''  The letter of 1 Peter closes with such a
reference: ``She who is at Babylon (i.e. Rome), who is likewise
chosen, sends you greetings'' (1 Peter 5:13).  The book of
Revelation is essentially a cryptic account of the destruction of
``Babylon,'' which was understood to be Rome (Revelation 19).  I
was later to learn that the children of the Branch Davidians
routinely referred to the FBI and any other ``outsiders,'' as
Babylonians.

Over the next few days, as the FBI took over control of the siege
of the Mt. Carmel complex, it became clear to me that neither the
officials in charge, nor the media who were sensationally
reporting the sexual escapades of David Koresh, had a clue about
the <e>biblical</> world which this group inhabited. Their entire
frame of reference came from the Bible, especially from the book
of Revelation and the ancient Hebrew prophets.  I realized that
in order to deal with David Koresh, and to have any chance for a
peaceful resolution of the Waco situation, one would have to
understand and make use of these biblical texts.  In other words,
one would need to enter into the apocalyptic world of David
Koresh and his dedicated followers.  It was obvious that they
were willing to die for what they believed, and they would not
surrender under threat of force.  I decided to contact the FBI
and offer my services.

I called my friend Phillip Arnold, director of Reunion Institute
in Houston, Texas.  Dr. Arnold, like me, is a specialist in
biblical studies and we share a special interest in both ancient
and modern forms of <e>apocalypticism</>. The term comes from the
Greek word <g>apocalypsis</>, which means ``to uncover, to
reveal.''  The book of Revelation is often called the Apocalypse.
An apocalyptic group is one which believes that the end of
history is near and that the signs and secrets of the final
scenario have been revealed to them. The followers of Jesus are
properly understood as an apocalyptic movement within ancient
Judaism, as was the group which produced the Dead Sea scrolls.
Since the 3rd century B.C.E. many such groups, first Jewish and
later Christian, have proclaimed the imminent ``end of the
world'' on the basis of their understanding of biblical prophetic
texts.  Dr. Arnold agreed with me that it was urgent and vital
that someone who understood the biblical texts become involved in
the situation.

The first FBI agent Dr. Arnold contacted in Waco admitted that
they were hopelessly confused when David Koresh went into one of
his lengthy expositions of scripture, which occurred regularly in
their daily telephone negotiations. In later interviews with
survivors of the Waco tragedy the one point that they made
repeatedly and consistently was that the source of their
attraction to David Koresh was his knowledge of the Scriptures,
particularly the book of Revelation.  The FBI does not routinely
pack Bibles when facing what they had categorized as a hostage
situation.  This FBI agent told us how they had been frantically
reading through the book of Revelation in the Gideon Bibles in
their hotel rooms.  This image struck me as almost comical, but
at the same time frightening.  The agent also told us they found
the book of Revelation and David Koresh's extended biblical
monologues, wholly incomprehensible.  He asked, ``What is this
about the Seven Seals?''  We began to explain to him this
reference to a mysterious scroll mentioned in the book of
Revelation, which was sealed with wax stamps, and could only be
opened by a figure variously referred to as the Lamb, the
anointed one (i.e., Christ),or the Branch of David.  David Koresh
claimed to be this person, sent to the world before the end of
the age and empowered to finally open this scroll.  He saw
himself as the ``sinful messiah'' mentioned in Psalm 45.  This
Psalm, which was vital to his whole self understanding, speaks of
one riding a white horse and conquering, marrying many daughters
of Israel, and raising up descendants on the earth.  David
understood this Psalm to be the key to interpreting the first
Seal which pictures a mysterious rider on a white horse
(Revelation 6:1-2).  He felt he had literally fulfilled this
prophecy, and that the first four Seals had already unfolded.  He
interpreted these Seals by the use of the Psalms, which he called
the ``key of David'' (Revelation 3:7).

Over the next few weeks Dr. Arnold and I spent many hours in
technical and lengthy discussions with Livingston Fagan, an
articulate member of the Branch Davidians who had been sent out
of the compound by David Koresh as a spokesperson and was being
held in jail.  With our knowledge of the prophetic texts of the
Bible, and especially the book of Revelation, we slowly began to
attain some understanding of David Koresh's interpretation.

It became obvious to us that the Branch Davidian group understood
itself to be actually living through the events of the Seven
Seals, found primarily in chapter six of the book of Revelation.
We became persuaded that they understood themselves to be ``in
the fifth seal.''  The text reads:

   When he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls
   of those who had been slaughtered for the word of God and for
   the testimony they had given; they cried out with a loud
   voice, ``Sovereign Lord, holy and true, <e>how long will it
   be</> before you judge an avenge our blood on the inhabitants
   of the earth?''  They were each given a white robe and told to
   wait <e>a little season</>, until the number would be complete
   both of their fellow servants and of their brothers who were
   <e>soon to be killed</> as they themselves had been killed
   (Rev 6:9-11).

We discussed the chilling implications of these verses with the
FBI.  For the Koresh group the book of Revelation was like a
script, setting forth in vivid detail what would transpire, and
instructing them as to what they should do.  The reason they
refused to come out of their compound was that they felt God was
telling them in these verses to wait ``a little season.''  But
the verse goes on to predict that they, like the others in the
February 28th ATF raid, would then be killed.  David Koresh once
told the federal agents, ``I knew you were coming before you knew
you were coming.''  On the morning of that initial raid David had
said to an undercover ATF man who was spying on the group, with
whom David had studied the Bible even though he knew the man was
a federal agent, ``What thou doest, do quickly'' (John 13:27).
It was as if the entire situation in Waco was locked into a
predetermined pattern, set forth in a book written around 96
C.E., during the reign of the Roman emperor Domitian.  What
worried us all was the very real possibility of a self-fulfilling
prophecy.  If the Koresh group found itself living ``in the fifth
seal'' did that mean it was inevitable that the remaining eighty-
seven men, women, and children in the Mt. Carmel compound must
also die?  Might they not provoke a violent end to things simply
because they felt it was the predetermined will of God, moving
things along to the sixth seal, which was the great Judgment Day
of God?  We were fascinated by the way in which the literal words
of this text dominated the entire situation.  David Koresh
insisted to the FBI that God had told him to ``wait'' an
unspecified time, and the FBI constantly pushed him, asking ``how
long?''  The entire drama was being played out according to a
biblical script.

The book of Revelation, or Apocalypse, does provide just such a
script.   Parts of the text seem to date before the fall of
Jerusalem in 70 C.E., although scholars date the book as a whole
in the time of emperor Domitian (81-96 C.E.). The author, whose
name is John (Revelation 1:1 and 22:8), is imprisoned on the
island of Patmos when he receives the vision which he is told to
write in a book.  Scholars doubt that this particular John is the
same as John the son of Zebedee, brother of James, the fisherman
who becomes one of the twelve apostles of Jesus (Mark 1:16-20).
He is apparently another John, known to us in later church
traditions, associated with the area around Ephesus in Asia
Minor.  The book claims to reveal ``what must soon take place''
and declares that the ``time is near'' (Revelation 1:1,3).

The core of the book, chapters 6-19, presents an unfolding drama
of end-time events, leading to a final Judgment Day and the
millennial reign of Christ which is to follow.  These events are
shrouded in mysterious and symbolic language which is purposely
cryptic.  Like other apocalyptic works of that general time, such
as the book of Enoch or 2 Esdras, only the ``wise'' are said to
be able to understand the hidden meanings (Daniel 12:9-10).
Nonetheless, it  is clear that the scenario of the end progresses
in three sequential stages: the opening of the Seven Seals
(chapters 6-7), the blowing of Seven Trumpets (chapters 8-11),
and the pouring out of Seven Bowls of Wrath (chapters 15-16).
The utter destruction and fall of ``Babylon'' is detailed in
chapters 18 and 19.  There are eight major ``characters'' in the
end-time drama of the book of Revelation: a seven-headed Beast; a
two horned Beast, also called the False Prophet; a Dragon who is
identified as Satan; a Woman clothed with the stars; two prophets
who are called the two Witnesses; a Harlot who rides the first
Beast; and a Rider on a White Horse.  The Beasts in the author's
time clearly represent the Roman empire, led by the emperor, and
identified with the cryptic number 666. Based on the ancient
Jewish code called <h>gematria</>, in which words are given
numbers based on the sum of the values of their letters, the
reference is most likely to <h>Neron Kasar</>, or Nero Caesar,
spelled in Hebrew.  The terror filled and turbulent years from
Nero's reign (54-68 C.E.) through the reign of Domitian form the
backdrop of the book of Revelation.  Not only were Christians at
Rome being killed, but the bloody Jewish revolt (66-73 C.E.) in
Palestine fueled apocalyptic speculation.  Indeed, Josephus, the
contemporary Jewish historian, says that the primary inspiration
for the revolt was based on speculations drawn from the
apocalyptic book of Daniel, upon which Revelation is largely
based (<s>War</> 6.310-14).  Clearly, the David Koresh situation
in Waco, Texas was only the latest in a long sequence, stretching
back over 2000 years, in which Jewish and Christian groups
received inspiration and direction from such apocalyptic texts.

The book of Revelation presented problems for the Christian
church from the earliest times.  When the New Testament was
canonized in the 3rd and 4th centuries C.E., there were disputes
as to whether it should even be included in the list of inspired
writings.  It presents two major difficulties.  First, since it
is written in veiled and symbolic language, it lends itself to
countless interpretations, often wild and uncontrolled by the
normal tenets of biblical exegesis.  Second, it contains
unequivocal statements about the impending end of the age which
were never literally fulfilled and thus demanded constantly
revised interpretation.  Ironically, these two problems fit hand
in glove to allow the book inclusion in the canon, preservation,
and even perpetual popularity.  The imprecise symbolic language
of the book actually made possible the process of ongoing
revisions of interpretation and ingenious reapplications to the
events of subsequent periods and situations.  In other words, the
book of Revelation became a timeless ``script'' of the end-time
scenario, ever flexible and mobile through time and place.  It
has provided countless movements and groups with interpretations
of their own situations and has fueled the hopes, dreams, and
schemes of a perpetually revised apocalyptic agenda.

Once it was safely included in the canon of the New Testament,
the Christian church provided three major types of
interpretation.  The one which has received the most official
sanction has been the ``spiritual'' or allegorical method.
According to this approach the book is not to be taken literally
at all, and should never be applied to any precise historical
setting.  It was seen as a symbolic, timeless, allegory of the
ongoing battle between good and evil, with the triumph of Christ
assured at some unspecified period in the future.  For example,
the ``Beast'' power of Revelation 17 would be understood to refer
to any and all secular governments throughout history which
oppose the ways of God. In the past two hundred years, since the
rise of biblical criticism, a second method, the historical, has
been prevalent, particularly among the more scholarly inclined.
This approach understands the book as thoroughly tied to the
first century C.E., with all direct applicability restricted to
that period. In other words, the book says nothing about any
subsequent march of history and would be worthless at providing
an end-time scenario.  According to this view, the ``Beast''
power refers to the Roman empire in the time of Nero and
Domitian, and to those specific times and events, but to no
successive time.

However, with many groups and individuals who give the book a
simple, straightforward reading, the futurist method has had
great appeal.  This approach understands the book as a sure guide
and ``map'' of the last days of history.  Its referents, though
symbolic, are applied to the most concrete situations and events,
inevitably in the life and world of the latest interpreter.  In
other words, the book of Revelation becomes a manual for an
immediate end-time scenario.  The power and appeal of this
futurist view of the book has been extraordinary.  The book has
served as a catalyst for a specific apocalyptic dynamic.
Developments in history, and in the life of the interpreters, are
understood to be directly mentioned in the book.  The interpreter
looks constantly at the book, comparing it with the outside
world, seeking to find a ``fit'' between symbol and event.  More
often than not interpreters have found themselves, or their
movement, playing a key role as predicted in the book.  It was
obvious to Dr. Arnold and me that David Koresh was just such an
interpreter.  Through hours of conversations with Branch Davidian
members who were outside the Mt. Carmel compound we slowly began
to map out the apocalyptic scenario or ``script'' that David
Koresh and his followers were expecting.  We were absolutely
convinced that David would never surrender from pressure or
harassment.  Given his understanding of himself as the messenger,
or ``anointed one,'' who had been given the secret of the Seven
Seals, he would only act as he felt God was leading him.  And the
text of the book of Revelation was his primary guide.  According
to his reading of the Seven Seals, five had now been fulfilled
and God was telling him to wait.  Given such a view, he simply
would not come out and surrender as the FBI demanded.  To Koresh
and his followers such a move, before the proper time, would have
been inconceivable.  They would have seen it as disobedience to
God.  Slowly we formulated a plan to approach David Koresh with
an alternative scenario, seeking to meet him within his own
interpretive world.

Our first step was a radio broadcast over KGBS, the Dallas radio
station which Koresh and his followers tuned to each morning on
their battery operated transistor radios.  It was April 1st, 33
days since the siege had begun.  The talk show host, Ron
Engelman, who had been critical of the federal authorities since
the February 28th ATF raid, allowed us full use of air time to
begin a dialogue with Koresh.  Dick DeGuerin, Koresh's attorney
who had been meeting with him for the past four days, was clued
into our plan.  He assured us that Koresh and his followers would
be listening to our discussion.  What we presented, in give and
take dialogue form, was a rather technical discussion of an
alternative interpretation of the book of Revelation, which we
thought David Koresh might accept.  As academics, we were not
presenting this interpretation as our own personal view.  Rather,
our approach was hypothetical -- given Koresh's general world view,
and the interpretation he was following of the Seven Seals, what
about an alternative understanding?  Three days later, on Sunday,
April 4th, Dick DeGuerin also took a cassette tape we had made of
our discussion of the book of Revelation into the Mt. Carmel
compound so that David Koresh and his followers would have it to
listen to and study.  Passover was approaching, an eight day
holiday which the Branch Davidians observed.  Koresh had
announced that following the Passover festival he would announce
his plan for surrender.

On Wednesday, April 14th, just five days before the fire that
consumed the compound, David Koresh released a letter through his
lawyer.  It was to be his last.  He said that at long last his
wait was over; that he had been instructed by God to write an
exposition expounding the secrets of the Seven Seals of
Revelation.  He wrote:

   I am presently being permitted to document in structured
   form the decoded messages of the Seven Seals.  Upon the
   completion of this task, I will be freed of my waiting
   period.  I hope to finish this as soon as possible and stand
   before man and answer any and all questions regarding my
   activities. . . I have been praying for so long for this
   opportunity to put the Seals in written form. I want the
   people of this generation to be saved.  I am working night
   and day to complete my final work of writing out these
   seals.  I thank my Father, He has finally granted me this
   chance to do this.  It will bring new light and hope for
   many and they won't have to deal with me the person. . .
   As soon as I can see that people like Jim Tabor and
   Phil Arnold have a copy, I will come out and then you can
   do your thing with this beast.

Dr. Arnold and I were elated.  We felt we had been successful at
last.  In our tapes to David Koresh we had argued this very
point.  We had tried to convince him that he was not necessarily
``in the 5th Seal'' of Revelation chapter six, which would
mandate the death of the group.  We also argued that the ``little
season'' mentioned in Revelation 6:11 could be an extended
period. It was logically correlated with the ``delay'' of
Revelation 7:1-3, which we maintained, given such a literal
interpretation, could last several years. Further, on the basis
of chapter ten we had stressed the idea of a message written in a
``little book'' which would be given to the world (Revelation
10:11).  We had pointed out to David Koresh that although he had
appeared on the covers of <p>Time</>, <p>Newsweek</>, and
<p>People</> magazines all in the same week, and was being
mentioned hourly on CNN and daily on the network news reports, no
one remotely had a clue as to his message.  We told him that most
people had the idea that he was an insane sex pervert who
molested children and claimed to be Jesus Christ, or even God.
He had apparently accepted our arguments.  We, along with the
attorneys, were absolutely convinced he would come out and that
this writing of the Seven Seals, in his mind, was the answer from
God he had been talking about for the past six weeks.  This has
to do with the dynamics of apocalypticism.  It always operates
through a complex play between the fixed text or ``script,'' the
shifting circumstances of outside events, and the imaginative
casting of the interpreter. We had not been trying to manipulate
David, but we did honestly feel that given his literalist view of
the text, there were other viable alternatives.

The FBI had a different reaction.  Following Passover week they
had stepped up their pressure tactics, demanding once for all
that Koresh and his people surrender.  They took this latest move
on David's part as one more in a long series of delay tactics.
In their daily press briefings over the next few days they
belittled Koresh as a grade school drop-out who would hardly be
capable of writing a book.  They said he was a manipulating
madman who thought he was God, who interpreted the Bible through
the barrel of a gun.  Nonetheless they did allow writing supplies
to be delivered to the Mt. Carmel compound on Sunday evening,
April 18th, the every evening before the tear gas assault.  The
authorities had clearly lost all patience.  At 5:50 a.m., Monday
morning they called the compound and informed the group that if
they did not surrender the place would be gassed.  What took
place in the Mt. Carmel compound from that point on is uncertain.
One survivor of the fire with whom I talked told me that the last
time he saw David Koresh was about 5 a.m. that morning.  David
had come down from his room and looked very tired.  He said he
had been working most of the night on his manuscript on the Seven
Seals.

When the FBI began their tear gas assault that Monday morning
David must have been profoundly disappointed and confused.  He
had become convinced that God not only was going to graciously
allow him to write this most important explanation of the Seven
Seals for the world, but that this was part of the apocalyptic
script.  In a split second, as the buildings shook, the walls
were punched with holes, and the tear gas was injected, he must
have thought to himself, ``Well, I guess I was right all along.
We are in the Fifth Seal after all, and we must die like the
others.''  It is obvious that one does not write a manuscript if
the walls of ones home are being broken down.  The actions of the
FBI forced David to revise his apocalyptic understanding.  Any
fulfillment of Revelation 10:11, which he had become convinced
would now take place, became impossible. There was not a chance
in the world that he or is followers would ``come out and
surrender to proper authority'' as the FBI loudspeakers urged
them that morning. To them the only proper authority was God, not
the forces of the wicked Babylonians.  In their minds, based on
Revelation 6:11, they saw their deaths as a necessary martyrdom,
a self sacrifice which would lead to the final collapse of the
enemy and the coming of Jesus Christ.

There is a final bit of historical irony in the Waco tragedy.
The defenders of Masada had also died at precisely the same time
of year, a few days after Passover in the year 73 C.E., after a
lengthy siege by the Roman military forces.  Like David Koresh
they were serious students of the prophecies of Daniel, the text
upon which the book of Revelation is mainly based.  Daniel 11:33
says that in the final battle the remnant of God's true people
would die ``by sword and by flame.''  David knew about Masada.
He also said he was familiar with the newly released Dead Sea
scrolls and had been following the debates surrounding them.  It
is worth noting that one of the most disputed texts, by one
possible translation, speaks of a ``Branch of David'' being
wounded and killed by the authorities.

There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that David Koresh
would have surrendered peacefully when he finished his
manuscript.  After the fire some federal agents said they doubted
that he was even working on such a project. They took David's
talk about being allowed by God to finally write the
interpretation of the Seven Seals as a ploy to further delay
things.  We now know this was not the case.  Ruth Riddle, one of
the survivors of the fire, had a computer disk in the right
pocket of her jacket.  She had been typing David's handwritten
manuscript the day before the fire.  On that disk was his
exposition of the first Seal.  The disk is in the possession of
the federal authorities.

PostScript: The disk was later turned over to lawyers for Ruth
Riddle and subsequently given to Professors Tabor and Arnold.
They released it to be public and the academy in November, 1994.
It has now been made available through the Gopher at
ccat.sas.upenn.edu (University of Pennsylvania).

//end//