The Woman with the Man-Child. Chap. 12 Revelation 12:1-6 1. _a great wonder_ Should be SIGN, as in the margin, both here and in Revelation 12:3. _a woman_ Who is this? The two answers most commonly given are (1) the Virgin Mary, (2) the Church. Neither seems quite satisfactory. There can indeed be... [ Continue Reading ]
_and she … pained to be delivered_ There is probably a reminiscence of Genesis 3:16, and perhaps of St John 16:21, as well as of Micah 4:10, to which the main reference is. Cf. also St Matthew 24:8, St Mark 13:1.... [ Continue Reading ]
_dragon_ The word in classical Greek means simply "serpent," though perhaps it was always specially applied to the larger or more formidable kinds. But in St John's time the conception seems to have been familiar of a half-mythical kind of serpent, to which the name was appropriated: it had not gone... [ Continue Reading ]
_And his tail drew_ The great serpent crawls along the vault of the sky, and the wrigglings of his tail remove the stars from their places. "_Drew_" is literally DRAWETH. _stood_ Perhaps more accurately STANDETH. _for to devour her child_ Symbolises the enmity of the serpent against the seed of th... [ Continue Reading ]
_a man child_ Lit. A SON, A MALE, the latter word being neuter. _who was to rule_ Lit. WHO IS TO RULE. This designation of the Son proves beyond question who He is, see Revelation 2:27 as proving, if there could be any doubt about it, how Psalms 2:9 is understood in this book. _to God, and to his... [ Continue Reading ]
_into the wilderness_ Did she descend to earth? she had appeared in heaven before. See on Revelation 10:9. _where she hath a place_ Most of the historical interpretations that have been advanced for this part of the vision proceed on the assumption that the Woman is the Christian Church. As interpre... [ Continue Reading ]
The War in Heaven, Revelation 12:7-12 7. _there was war in heaven_ This must refer to an event subsequent to the Incarnation not, therefore, to the "Fall of the Angels," as readers of _Paradise Lost_are apt to assume. Milton may have been justified in using this description as _illustrating_or _sug... [ Continue Reading ]
_cast out_ "Out" is not expressed the sense is rather "cast down." _that old serpent_ Genesis 3:1. This is the only place in canonical Scripture (see, however, Wis 2:24) where we are told that the Tempter in Eden was the Devil: but it cannot be doubted that we _are_so told here. _the Devil and Sata... [ Continue Reading ]
_a loud voice_ See on Revelation 6:6: and cf. Revelation 11:12: the word "loud" here is literally "great" as there. Here, "our brethren" seems to imply, that it is a number of angels that speak. _salvation, and strength_ Rather, THE SALVATION AND THE MIGHT AND THE KINGDOM OF.…" _power_ Differs fro... [ Continue Reading ]
_by the blood_ More literally BECAUSE OF THE BLOOD … AND BECAUSE OF THE WORD. _they loved not their lives_ St John 12:25, St Luke 14:26 are the closest parallels among the similar sayings of our Lord. Here, as in all of them, the word for "life" is that elsewhere rendered "soul" not the same as tha... [ Continue Reading ]
_Therefore_ Because of the coming of "the salvation and might and kingdom," in which the victory of "our brethren" is included. _that dwell_ Lit. THAT TABERNACLE. _Woe to the inhabiters of_ We should read, WOE TO THE EARTH AND THE SEA! the sense is clear, though the construction is peculiar, which... [ Continue Reading ]
The Deliverance of the Woman, Revelation 12:13-17 13. _he persecuted the woman_ The reference is probably in the first instance to the Roman persecution of the Jews, in and after the wars of Titus and Hadrian: both the bitterness with which those wars were conducted (Josephus probably exaggerates t... [ Continue Reading ]
_two wings_… _eagle_ Should be "THE two wings of THE great eagle." The word is, however, no doubt used generically. Some suppose "the great eagle" to symbolise the Roman empire, but that did _not_protect the Jewish Church, though to some extent it did the Christian. _her place_ Revelation 12:6.... [ Continue Reading ]
We have not means for interpreting this description in detail. All we can say certainly is, that it describes the providential foiling of Satanic attempts at the destruction of Israel. Perhaps the most plausible suggestion of a definite meaning of the "flood" [better translated RIVER] is that the Ch... [ Continue Reading ]
_the woman … the remnant of her seed_ Genesis 3:15. The sense must be, that the Devil attempts to frustrate God's counsels, not now by attacking the old Israel, but the new "Israel of God." Titus, we are told, resolved to destroy the Temple, "in order that the religion of the Jews _and Christians_mi... [ Continue Reading ]