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It is generally agreed by the most learned expositors that the narrative we have in this and the two following chapters, from the sounding of the seventh trumpet to the opening of the vials, is not a prediction of things to come, but rather a recapitulation and representation of things past, which, as God would have the apostle to foresee while future, he would have him to review now that they were past, that he might have a more perfect idea of them in his mind, and might observe the agreement between the prophecy and that Providence that is always fulfilling the scriptures. In this chapter we have an account of the contest between the church and antichrist, the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. I. As it was begun in heaven, Re 12:1-11. II. As it was carried on in the wilderness, Re 12:12-17, etc.

The woman clothed with the sun, and in travail, Revelation 12:1, Revelation 12:2. The great red dragon waiting to devour the child as soon as born, Revelation 12:3, Revelation 12:4. The woman is delivered of a son, who is caught up unto God; and she flees to the wilderness, Revelation 12:5, Revelation 12:6. The war in heaven between Michael and the dragon, Revelation 12:7, Revelation 12:8. The dragon and his angels are overcome and cast down to the earth; whereupon the whole heavenly host give glory to God, Revelation 12:9-11. The dragon, full of wrath at his defeat, persecutes the woman, Revelation 12:12, Revelation 12:13. She flees to the wilderness, whither he attempts to pursue her; and he makes war with her seed, Revelation 12:14-17.

Before I introduce the comment mentioned at the close of the preceding chapter, I think it necessary to state that the phraseology of the whole chapter is peculiarly rabbinical, and shall insert a few selections which may serve to illustrate some of the principal figures.

In Sohar Exod., fol. 47, col. 187, we find a mystical interpretation of Exodus 21:22 : If men strive, and hurt a woman with child, so that her fruit depart - he shall be surely punished, as the woman's husband will lay upon him. "If men strive, i.e. Michael and Samael, and hurt a woman with child, i.e. the Israelitish Church, so that her fruit depart, hoc fit in exilio, he shall surely be punished, i.e., Samael. As the woman's husband, that is, the holy and blessed God."

INTRODUCTION TO Revelation 12

This chapter contains a vision of two wonders or signs seen in heaven, a woman and a dragon, and an account of what followed thereon, war both in heaven and earth. The vision of the woman is in Revelation 12:1, who is described by her being clothed with the sun; by her having the moon under her feet; by a crown of twelve stars on her head; and by her pregnancy, travail, pains, and cry. The vision of the dragon is in Revelation 12:3, who is described by his size, a great one; by his colour, red; by the number of his heads and horns, and the crowns on the former; by the force and strength of his tail, drawing and casting: down to the earth the third part of the stars of heaven; and by his position, standing before the woman, in order to devour her child when born. Next follows an account of the birth of her child, and what became of that and her: the child is said to be a man child, is described as a monarch, and as advanced to great honour and dignity; but she flies into the wilderness, where a place is prepared for her of God, and where she is hid for the space of 1260 days, Revelation 12:5; upon this ensues a war in heaven; the combatants on one side were Michael and his angels, and on the other the dragon and his; the issue of which was, that the latter were conquered, and cast out into the earth, Revelation 12:7, on account of which victory a triumphant song is sung by the inhabitants of heaven, because of salvation and strength that were come to them; and because of the kingdom and power of Christ, which now took place; and because of the ejection of Satan, the accuser of their brethren; in which song also notice is taken of the manner in which Satan was overcome by those he accused, by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by their death; and it is concluded with an apostrophe to those that dwell in heaven, calling on them to rejoice, and to the inhabitants of the earth denouncing woe to them, because the devil was among them, whose wrath was great, his time being short, Revelation 12:10. Next follow the dragon's persecution of the woman, and her flight into the wilderness, and the care took of her there, as before described, Revelation 12:13; then the method the serpent took to annoy her, the help she received from the earth, and the wrath of the dragon upon that; which put him upon making war with the remnant of her seed, who kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of Jesus, Revelation 12:15.

XII.

We now enter upon the third group of visions (or, the fourth section of the book, if we include the epistles to the seven churches), which occupy chapters 12, 13, and 14, and close with the solemn scene of the harvest and the vintage (Revelation 14:14-20). The close of each series of visions is in harmony with their general intention, and, as such, affords a key to their meaning. The seals end in peace; the trumpets end in victory; the present visions end in harvest. We have been shown that toil and trouble shall end in rest and conflict in triumph; now we are to be shown that there is to be a harvest at the end of the world, when the fruits of the conflicting principles of life will have ripened, and when whatsoever a man hath sown that shall he also reap: and men will be seen as they are. This set of visions accordingly moves in a different plane from the earlier groups; starting from the same point as the others, it reviews the ground with a different purpose. It deals with the spiritual conditions of the great war between evil and good; it disrobes the false appearances which deceive men; it makes manifest the thoughts of men’s hearts; it shows that the great war is not merely a war between evil and good, but between an evil spirit and the Spirit of God: and that, therefore, the question is not only one between right and wrong conduct, but between true and false spiritual dispositions. Men look at the world, and they acknowledge a kind of conflict between evil and good; their sympathies are vaguely on the side of good; they admire much in Christianity; they are willing to think the martyred witnesses of the Church heroes; they think the reformers of past ages worthy of honour; they would not be averse to a Christianity without Christ or a Christianity without spirituality. They do not realise that the war which is raging round them is not a war between men morally good and men morally bad, but between spiritual powers, and that what the Gospel asks is not merely a moral life, but a life lived by faith in the Son of God, a life in which the spiritual dispositions are Godward and Christward. The Apocalypse, in this set of visions, unveils the spiritual aspects of the conflict, that we may know that the issue is not between Christianity and un-Christianity, but between Christianity and anti-Christianity. Hitherto we have seen the more outward aspects of the great war. Now we are to see its hidden, secret, spiritual—yes, supernatural aspects—that we may understand what immeasurably divergent and antagonistic principles are in conflict under various and specious aspects in the history of the world. Accordingly, we are shown the child encountered by the dragon, the woman in conflict with the dragon, the wild beast as the adversary of the lamb. We see no longer the battle under human forms, as the struggle for the possession of the Temple; but we see clearly and unmistakably the real issue which is being fought out, and we see the real spiritual work which the Church is designed to accomplish in the world. The motto of this section might well be, “He that is not with me is against me”—“He that gathereth not with me scattereth;” for only those who are truly with Christ will avoid falling under the yoke of one of the three enemies of Christ— the dragon and the two wild beasts animated and inspired by him.

The procedure of the writer here is very much the same as in ch. 11. (see above). The oracle of 12. is not an allegorising version of history, nor an exegetical construction of O.T. texts, nor a free composition of the author, but the Christianised reproduction of a Jewish source (possibly from the same period as the basis of Revelation 11:1-13, or at least from the same βιβλαρίδιον), or at any rate a tradition, which described the birth of messiah in terms borrowed from such cosmological myths as that of the conflict between the sun-god and the dragon of darkness and the deep. The psychological origin of such a Jewish adaptation would be explained if we presupposed a tradition similar to that of the later Talmud (Jer. Berach. fol. 5, 1) which described the messiah as born at Bethlehem and swept away from his mother by a storm-wind, just after the fall of Jerusalem. But this messiah is merely removed, not raised to heaven. And as we have no clear evidence that the stress of 68–70 A.D. excited such a messianic hope among the Pharisees, it is hazardous to use this (as e.g., Jülicher and Wellhausen still do) to prove that the date of the source is the same as that of Revelation 11:1 f. The structure of the passage is equally ambiguous. 4 a presupposes something equivalent to Revelation 11:7-9, while 13–16 is an expansion or variant of 6; and yet 13 is the natural sequel to 9 (12). These features have led to a variety of literary reconstructions. Spitta, e.g., takes Revelation 11:6 as the Christian editorial anticipation of 13 f., and finds another Christian touch in Revelation 11:11 (Weyland in 11 and 17 c). J. Weiss puts 1–6 and 13–17 together, regarding 7–12 as an independent continuation of the third woe (editorial notes in 3, 11, and 17). Wellhausen (Analyse, 18 f) bisects the oracle into two parallel but incomplete variants ([915] = 1–6, [916]= 7–9, 13, 14), with 15–17 as an editorial conclusion. Others (e.g., Schon and Calmes) find a Christian editor only in 10–12 (with 17 c of course)’ while Weizsäcker regards 13–18 as the expansion of 1–12 (a Jewish-Christian fragment of 64–66 A.D.). Some of the incoherencies of the description are due, however, to the alterations necessitated by messianic belief in the circle of such ethnic traditions. The latter made the mother’s flight precede the child’s birth (as in 4, 5). But, on the messianic scheme, it was the child’s birth which roused the full fury of the enemy and turned it into an outburst of baffled revenge upon the mother (Revelation 11:6; Revelation 11:13 f.), after the child’s escape. Furthermore, this activity of the devil on earth had to be accounted for by his dislodgement from heaven, as a result of the messianic child’s elevation to heaven (7 f.). Hence the apparent inconsistencies, the shifting standpoint, and the amount of repetition and confusion are due to the presence of a messianic conception employing terms of earlier and inadequate mythology for its own purposes, rather than to any literary rearrangement such as the transposition of part of the trumpet-visions to 7–12 (Simcox, J. Weiss). The interest of the prophet in this source or tradition, as in that of Revelation 11:1-13, centres in the outburst of the evil power which shows that the end is imminent. There the beast’s attack on messiah’s heralds is ultimately foiled. Here the dragon’s attack on messiah himself is not only defeated but turned into a rout which obliges him to shift the scene of his campaign to a field where his deputies are presently to be annihilated.

[915] Codex Alexandrinus (sæc. v.), at the British Museum, published in photographic facsimile by Sir E. M. Thompson (1879).

[916] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

CHAPTER 12

Revelation 12:2. κράζει. So A, Elz., Beng., Griesb., Tisch. א: καὶ κράζει [W. and H.]. The well-attested reading καὶ ἔκραζεν (C, 2, 3, al., Primas, Andr., Vulg., Syr., Matth.—but without καὶ,

Lach.) is apparently, like the ill-attested ἕκραζεν, a modification. Also in Revelation 12:4, Primas, Vulg., substitute the imperf. for σύρει.

Revelation 12:5. Instead of the most generally supported ἄρρενα (א, Elz., Beng., Griesb., Matth., Tisch. 1854), Lach., whom Tisch. 1859 and IX. follows, has written, in accord with A, C, ἄρσεν. The incorrectness (De Wette) of this so strongly attested reading is not greater than, e.g., Revelation 11:4; besides, the preceding and succeeding τὸ τέκνον may, to an extent, explain the incorrect combination υἱὸν ἄρσεν, in which the one conception appears to be in a certain apposition with the other.

Revelation 12:6. The Hebraizing (cf. Revelation 3:8, Revelation 7:2) ἐκεῖ after ὅπου ἔχει (A, א, 2, 4, 6, al., Compl., Plant., Genev., Beng., Griesb., Matth., Tisch. [W. and H.]) is altogether absent in C (Elz., Lach.); but even if one wished to admit of no intentional avoidance of the Hebraism, the accidental omission alongside of ἐχει appears easy.

Revelation 12:7. τοῦ πολεμῆσαι μετὰ. So Beng. already, according to decided witnesses. The modification ἐπολέμησαν κατὰ (Elz.) has no critical authority whatever. In א the τοῦ is lacking, but only by an oversight. Indorsed by Tisch. IX.

Revelation 12:10. ἐβλήθη. So A, C, א, 2, 4, al., Beng., Matth., Lach., Tisch. [W. and H.]. Incorrectly, Elz.: κατεβλ.

κατηγορῶν αὐτοὺς. A, 28, Erasm., 1, 2, 3, al., Beng., Lach. Tisch. The well-attested αὐτῶν (C, א, Elz., Griesb., Matth.) is suspicious because of its regularity; cf. Winer, p. 191.

Revelation 12:12. τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν. Unattested is the manifest gloss: τοῖς κατοικοῦσι τὴν γ. καὶ τὴν θαλ. (Elz.). But even the reading, indorsed by Beng., Griesb., Matth., Lach. (small ed.), Tisch., 1854, τῇ γῇ κ. τῇ θαλάσσῃ (B, 2, 4, 6, al., Vulg., Syr., Copt., Aeth., edd. Compl., Plant., Genev.) appears to be a modification (cf. Revelation 8:13), while the accus., proposed by A (especially τὴν ἀγάπην κ. τὴν θαλ.) and C, commends itself just by its difficulty, and has been received besides into the Elz. recension. Treg., Lach. (large ed.), and Tisch. 1859 and IX. [W. and H.], have the accus., which is by no means inexplicable (against De Wette). א interprets: εἰς τ. γ.

Revelation 12:17. The ἐπὶ before τῇ γυν. (A, א, Elz., Tisch.) is lacking in C (Lach.), and is at least suspicious.

Rev 12:18. ἐστάθη. See on Revelation 13:1.

The fulfilment of the mystery of God impending, Revelation 10:7, in the days of the seventh trumpet is celebrated by the inhabitants of the earth as having already occurred[3011] after the seventh angel, Revelation 11:15, has sounded his trumpet, but is not actually shown as yet to the seer; nevertheless, he has already (Revelation 11:19) beheld such signs as cause the expectation of that end. That this, together with his eternal glory and blessedness, cannot come without preceding divine judgments, is self-evident,[3012] and is indicated also at the close of Revelation 11:19, by threatening signs. Revelation 11:17 also refers to the infernal nature that is operative in human hatred to Christ and his believers, and with respect to which, no less than to human antichristianism, the Lord comes to judgment; but if that judgment for which the Lord comes is to be otherwise stated with correct fulness and proof, not only must the most profound satanic basis of all antichristianism incurring the judgment be first discovered, but also the most essential forms in which this enters the world from the ultimate foundation of satanic antichristianism must also be stated. The former occurs in ch. Revelation 12 : Satan, who had in vain persecuted Christ himself, turns with his antichristian fury against Christ’s believers.[3013]

[3011] In a proleptical way.

[3012] Cf. Revelation 6:10.

[3013] Cf. Revelation 12:17.

Re 12:1-17.

VISION OF THE WOMAN, HER CHILD, AND THE PERSECUTING DRAGON.

1. This episode

(Re 12:1-15:8)

describes in detail the persecution of Israel and the elect Church by the beast, which had been summarily noticed,

Re 11:7-10,

and the triumph of the faithful, and torment of the unfaithful. So also the sixteenth through twentieth chapters are the description in detail of the judgment on the beast, &c., summarily noticed in

Re 11:13, 18.

The beast in

Re 12:3,

&c., is shown not to be alone, but to be the instrument in the hand of a greater power of darkness, Satan. That this is so, appears from the time of the eleventh chapter being the period also in which the events of the twelfth and thirteenth chapters take place, namely, 1260 days

(Re 12:6, 14; Re 13:5;

compare

Re 11:2, 3).

great--in size and significance.

wonder--Greek, "sign": significant of momentous truths.

in heaven--not merely the sky, but the heaven beyond just mentioned,

Re 11:19;

compare

Re 12:7-9.

woman clothed with the sun . . . moon under her feet--the Church, Israel first, and then the Gentile Church; clothed with Christ, "the Sun of righteousness." "Fair as the moon, clear as the sun." Clothed with the Sun, the Church is the bearer of divine supernatural light in the world. So the seven churches (that is, the Church universal, the woman) are represented as light-bearing candlesticks

(Re 1:12, 20).

On the other hand, the moon, though standing above the sea and earth, is altogether connected with them and is an earthly light: sea, earth, and moon represent the worldly element, in opposition to the kingdom of God--heaven, the sun. The moon cannot disperse the darkness and change it into-day: thus she represents the world religion (heathenism) in relation to the supernatural world. The Church has the moon, therefore, under her feet; but the stars, as heavenly lights, on her head. The devil directs his efforts against the stars, the angels of the churches, about hereafter to shine for ever. The twelve stars, the crown around her head, are the twelve tribes of Israel [AUBERLEN]. The allusions to Israel before accord with this: compare

Re 11:19,

"the temple of God"; "the ark of His testament." The ark lost at the Babylonian captivity, and never since found, is seen in the "temple of God opened in heaven," signifying that God now enters again into covenant with His ancient people. The woman cannot mean, literally, the virgin mother of Jesus, for she did not flee into the wilderness and stay there for 1260 days, while the dragon persecuted the remnant of her seed

(Re 12:13-17)

[DE BURGH]. The sun, moon, and twelve stars, are emblematical of Jacob, Leah, or else Rachel, and the twelve patriarchs, that is, the Jewish Church: secondarily, the Church universal, having under her feet, in due subordination, the ever changing moon, which shines with a borrowed light, emblem of the Jewish dispensation, which is now in a position of inferiority, though supporting the woman, and also of the changeful things of this world, and having on her head the crown of twelve stars, the twelve apostles, who, however, are related closely to Israel's twelve tribes. The Church, in passing over into the Gentile world, is (1) persecuted; (2) then seduced, as heathenism begins to react on her. This is the key to the meaning of the symbolic woman, beast, harlot, and false prophet. Woman and beast form the same contrast as the Son of man and the beasts in Daniel. As the Son of man comes from heaven, so the woman is seen in heaven

(Re 12:1).

The two beasts arise respectively out of the sea (compare

Da 7:3)

and the earth

(Re 13:1, 11):

their origin is not of heaven, but of earth earthy. Daniel beholds the heavenly Bridegroom coming visibly to reign. John sees the woman, the Bride, whose calling is heavenly, in the world, before the Lord's coming again. The characteristic of woman, in contradistinction to man, is her being subject, the surrendering of herself, her being receptive. This similarly is man's relation to God, to be subject to, and receive from, God. All autonomy of the human spirit reverses man's relation to God. Woman-like receptivity towards God constitutes faith. By it the individual becomes a child of God; the children collectively are viewed as "the woman." Humanity, in so far as it belongs to God, is the woman. Christ, the Son of the woman, is in

Re 12:5

emphatically called "the MAN-child" (Greek, "huios arrheen," "male-child"). Though born of a woman, and under the law for man's sake, He is also the Son of God, and so the HUSBAND of the Church. As Son of the woman, He is "'Son of man"; as male-child, He is Son of God, and Husband of the Church. All who imagine to have life in themselves are severed from Him, the Source of life, and, standing in their own strength, sink to the level of senseless beasts. Thus, the woman designates universally the kingdom of God; the beast, the kingdom of the world. The woman of whom Jesus was born represents the Old Testament congregation of God. The woman's travail-pains

(Re 12:2)

represent the Old Testament believers' ardent longings for the promised Redeemer. Compare the joy at His birth

(Isa 9:6).

As new Jerusalem (called also "the woman," or "wife,"

Re 21:2, 9-12),

with its twelve gates, is the exalted and transfigured Church, so the woman with the twelve stars is the Church militant.