Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 12

John sees a dazzling sight—a pregnant woman, “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet,” and wearing a victor’s “crown” (GK 5109; cf. 2:10; 3:11; 4:4,10; 6:2; 9:7; 14:14) of twelve stars. John calls the sight a great “sign” (GK 4956). This shows that the woman is more than a mere woman. She signifies something. Generally John uses “sign” to refer to something miraculous that points to a deeper spiritual significance (Jn 2:11, 18, et al.; Revelation 12:1, 3; 13:13– 14; 15:1; 16:14; 19:20).

The basic plot of the story was familiar in the myths and legends of the ancient world. A usurper doomed to be killed by a yet unborn prince plots to succeed to the throne by killing the royal seed at birth. The prince is miraculously snatched from his clutches and hidden away until he is old enough to kill the usurper and claim his kingdom. These stories were probably known to both John and his Asian readers.

While it is easy to point to parallels between the earlier myths and Rev 12, the differences are striking enough to eliminate the possibility that John merely borrowed pagan myths. Certainly John, who is so anti-pagan throughout his writings, would not draw on pagan mythology for his messages. Did he draw more directly on OT parallels? Some cite Ge 37:9–11, where the heavenly bodies of sun, moon, and eleven stars are associated together in Joseph’s vision, though there are enough differences to maintain that it is unlikely that John intended his readers to see Ge 37 in this chapter.

Others see a more conscious parallelism between the story and the activities of the emperor Domitian around 83 A. D. After the death of his ten-year-old son, Domitian immediately proclaimed the boy a god and his mother, the mother of god. Some coins of this period show the mother Domitia as the mother of the gods standing with the scepter and diadem of the queen of heaven. Another coin shows the mother with the child before her. In his left hand is the scepter of world dominions, and with his right hand he is blessing the world. Still another coin shows the dead child sitting on the globe of heaven, playing with seven stars, which represent the seven planets, symbolic of his heavenly dominion over the world. On a fourth coin he represents the imperial Zeus child, who has been exalted to be lord of the stars and who will usher in the age of universal salvation. Such parallel imagery is hardly accidental. But whereas the coinage of Domitian glorifies the son of Domitia as the lord of heaven and savior of the world, Revelation 12 presents Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, as the One who will rule all nations with a rod of iron (v.5). John, as it were, demythologizes the Domitian myth by presenting Christ as the true and ascended Lord of heaven, the coming Ruler and Savior of the world. The Dead Sea Scrolls have a story about the birth of the Messiah through the suffering messianic community, using imagery taken from the OT (see Isa 9:6-7; 26:17; 66:7; Micah 5:2). Elsewhere in the OT, the image of a woman is often associated with Israel, Zion, or Jerusalem (Isaiah 54:1–6; Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16:8–14; Hosea 2:19–20). This background seems to provide a much closer link to the intended significance of ch. 12 than any other proposed parallels. In any case, while there does seem to be in ch. 12 a blending of elements from OT concepts, Jewish materials, ancient mythical stories, and possibly the Domitian child myth, John here reinterprets these older stories and presents a distinctively Christian view of history. Who then is the woman? While it is not impossible that she is an actual woman, such as Mary, the evidence shows that she, like the woman in ch. 17, has symbolic significance. At the center of ch. 12 is the persecution of the woman by the dragon, who is definitely identified as Satan (v.9). This central theme renders it virtually certain that the woman could not refer to a single individual (cf. the persecution of the “rest of her offspring”; v.17). Some identify the woman exclusively with the Jewish people, the nation of Israel. This view seems supported by the reference to the woman giving birth to the Messiah or “male child” (v.5); the twelve stars would refer to the twelve tribes (Genesis 37:9–11). But there are internal problems with this view. The dragon’s persecution of the woman after the Messiah’s birth could hardly refer to the devil’s attack on the nation as a whole but could apply only to the believing part of the people. The whole intent of the passage is to explain the persecution of the believing community, not the persecution of the nation of Israel as a whole. Since the context indicates that the woman under attack represents a continuous entity from the birth of Christ until at least John’s day or longer, her identity in the author’s mind must be the believing covenant-messianic community. This group would include the early messianic community, which under John the Baptist’s ministry was separated from the larger Jewish community to be the people prepared for the Lord (Mark 1:2–3). Later this group merged into the new community of Christ’s disciples called the church, or less appropriately, the new Israel, composed of both Jews and Gentiles. John does not at this point seem to distinguish between the earlier almost totally Jewish community and the one present in his day. Their continuity in identity is so strong that whatever ethnic or other differences they have does not affect his single image representing one entity. The woman’s dazzling appearance like the sun relates her to the glory and brilliance of her Lord (1:16) as well as to her own light-bearing quality (1:20). With the moon under her feet signifying her permanence (89:37; cf. Matthew 16:18) and a crown of twelve stars on her head indicating her elect identity (cf. comments on 7:4ff.), she appears in her true heavenly and glorious character despite her seemingly fragile earthly history (vv.13–16). The church viewed as a woman is found elsewhere in the NT (cf. 2 Corinthians 11:2; Ephesians 5:25–27, 32; 2Jn 1, 5, 13).

The woman is in the throes of childbirth. The emphasis on her pain and suffering, both physically and spiritually, signifies the suffering of the faithful messianic community as a prelude to the coming of the Messiah himself and the new age (Isaiah 26:17; Isaiah 66:7–8; Micah 4:10; Micah 5:3). The “birth” itself does not necessarily refer to the actual physical birth of Christ but denotes the travail of the community from which the Messiah has arisen.

The second “sign” now appears. It likewise is a heavenly sign and introduces us to the second character, the ultimate antagonist of the woman. The “dragon” is clearly identified with the “ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan” (v.9; cf. 20:2–3). His description as an “enormous red dragon” symbolically suggests his fierce power and murderous nature. He is further described as having “seven heads and ten horns and seven crowns on his heads.” Except for the exchange of the crowns from the heads to the horns, the same description is used for the beast from the sea in ch. 13 and the beast of ch. 17. It is a picture of the fullness of evil in all its hideous strength (cf. the monsters in Ps 74:13–14; Isaiah 27:1, 51:9–10; Daniel 7:7, 8:10). The diadem crowns on the heads may indicate fullness of royal power (13:1; 19:12).

So great is the dragon’s power that his tail can even sweep away a large number of the stars and cast them down to the ground (for “a third,” see comment on 8:7). This probably represents the dragon’s power, not over some of the angels (sometimes called stars), but over the saints of God (cf. Daniel 8:10, 24). Satan has placed himself before the woman, thus expecting certain victory over the messianic child. Through this figure the church shows her awareness that Satan is always threatening the purposes of God. Although the attack of Herod against the children of Bethlehem and many incidents during the life of Jesus (cf. Lk 4:28-39) must also be included, the greatest attempt to devour the child must certainly be the Crucifixion.

This verse records the first element of the story. The messianic child comes, finishes his mission, is delivered from the dragon, and is enthroned in heaven. John again refers to the destiny of the child by alluding again to Ps 2:9: “Who will rule all the nations with an iron scepter” (Revelation 2:27; Revelation 19:15). Some exegetes, using passages such as Da 7:13–4, 27 (which seems to fuse the individual son of man with the people of God) and Rev 1:5-6; 2:26–27; 11:15 (which alternates between the rule of Christ and the rule of the saints), see a collective identity in the birth of the male child. It is, however, difficult to see how the child as well as the woman could be a group of believers. Through Christ’s resurrection and ascension, the dragon’s attempt to destroy God’s purposes through the Messiah have been decisively defeated.