Zechariah 14 as common background of John 7:37–39; 10:1–18 and Revelation 7:9–17; 21:1–8

[Zechariah 14 as common background of John 7:37–39; 10:1–18 and Revelation 7:9–17; 21:1–8]

::Resources
Lee, Gwangsoo. “Reading John 7:37–39 in light of Zechariah 14.” In Stromata 60 no. 1 (2019): 41–52.
__________. "Reading John 10:1–18 in Light of Zechariah 9–14." Unpublished, 2018.
__________. “A Study on the Shepherd Motif in the Book of Revelation: An Intertextual Analysis of Zechariah 14, Revelation 7:9–17 and 21:1–8.” Th.M. diss., Westminster Graduate School of Theology, 2014.

1. My research history
The shepherd imagery in Revelation 7 is the starting point of my current concerns. I have been exploring the shepherd-king tradition of the Gospel of John since the Calvin Theological Seminary.

The provisional title of the doctoral dissertation is "Jesus the Good Shepherd in John 10: A Comparative Study between Jewish Tradition and Johannine Community of Messianism."

2. Zecahriah 14

According to my observation, Zechariah 14 uses the shepherd-king tradition and specifies the compliance with the Sukkot (= the Feast of Tabernacles).

8 On that day living water will flow out from Jerusalem, half to the eastern sea and half to the western sea, in summer and in winter.
9 The LORD will be king over the whole earth. On that day there will be one LORD, and his name the only name.

16 Then the survivors from all the nations that have attacked Jerusalem will go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD Almighty, and to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

3. John 7:37–39 and 10:1–18
John 7:37–39 does not use the shepherd-king tradition or shepherd imagery, but it has a close thematic resemblance with 10:1–18. As you can infer from each title, I argue that both texts use Zechariah 14 as common background.

John 7:37–39 refers to the Sukkot, and heralds Jesus' death. Note the word "the living river" below.

37 On the last and greatest day of the Feast, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.
38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, streams of living water will flow from within him."

John 10 uses the shepherd-king tradition to predict Jesus' death. The good shepherd discourse is in the background of the Sukkot.

10 I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.
17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life--only to take it up again.

4. Revelation 7:9–17 and 21:1–8

According to my observation, Revelation 7:9–17 implies the Sukkot and uses the shepherd-king tradition. Note the words "palm branches" (v. 9), "tent" (v. 10), "springs of living water" (v. 17) below.

9 After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.
15 Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them.

17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."

The connection between the Lamb and the shepherd is dim in the Gospel of John; here is the difficulty of my research. However, Revelation combines these two terms and applies them to Jesus. I assume the ideas of ​​the Lamb and shepherd in the Gospel of John make progress in the Revelation of John.

I argue 21:1–8 is a parallel with 7:9–17. Note the word "springs of living water" below.

8 He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.

We can imagine this passage link with John 7:37–39.

5. Conclusion
After these discussions, we can draw two conclusions: first, the similarity between the Gospel of John and the Revelation of John; second, the town authors use Zechariah 14 as background.