Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 12:16

"And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth." — Revelation 12:16 (ASV)

And the earth . . .—The translation is: And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and drank up the river, etc. This is generally understood as some earthly power that is raised up to protect the Church against persecution.

Just as Persia was raised up to aid Israel after they had been swept away by the flood of Babylonian conquest, so help comes to the persecuted Church through the cultured Roman world, or through some other worldly power, “barbarian and godless in its beginning, but destined in due time to embrace, in name at least, the faith once abhorred, and to introduce that new order of things which should make a nominal Christianity the religion of states and nations, and secure it forever against the risk of a repetition of bygone persecutions” (Dr. Vaughan).

The passage seems to require a wider interpretation. By “the flood” or “the river,” we understand all great popular movements against Christianity. The earth swallows these up; they diffuse themselves for a time, but mother earth absorbs them all, for the earth is the Lord’s and the fulness thereof, and no movement hostile to truth can permanently succeed. The eternal laws of truth and right are ultimately found stronger than all the half-truths, whole falsehoods, and selfishness that give force to such movements.

In a mysterious way, every devil-born flood of opinion, or violence, or sentiment, will sink beneath the surface; they rise like a river, they are tasted, and then rejected. The laws of the earth are against their permanent success. The finest epic of the world might have for its motto: The earth helped the woman. Creation is ultimately a witness for righteousness and truth. It is not one nation, nor one age, that is represented here; it is an eternal law.