Tool Beta
The Ancient World Behind the Text
Pick a passage anywhere in the New Testament. See the customs and ideas a first reader knew without being told.
Revelation 12:1-6, the woman, the child and the dragon
A radiant woman, crowned with twelve stars and standing on the moon, labors to give birth while a great red dragon waits to devour her child. The child, destined to rule the nations, is caught up to God's throne, and the woman escapes to the wilderness, where she is kept safe for 1,260 days.
Revelation 12:1-6, in every translation this tool compares.
A sign appears in the sky: a woman dressed in sunlight and crowned with stars, about to give birth. A monstrous dragon, with many heads and horns, drags down a third of the stars and waits to devour her baby as soon as it arrives. Her son, who is destined to rule the nations, is taken up to God's throne, and she flees to a safe place God has prepared for her in the desert. Who the woman is, what the third of the stars are, and whether the 1,260 days are symbolic or a future span are all debated.
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-satan\/","n":"The satan, the tempter","s":"The accuser, tempter and deceiver of Jewish belief, seen as the power behind human and political evil. In the Gospels he tests Jesus and is the strong man Jesus binds, and John calls him the ruler of this world.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/the-sea\/","n":"The sea","s":"To ancient Israel the sea stood for chaos and danger that only God could command. The Gospel stories on the lake of Galilee lean on that old picture.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/messiah\/","n":"The Messiah, son of David","s":"The anointed king most Jews expected from David's line, who would free Israel from its enemies. Nobody expected him to be killed.","r":""}
- {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-ideas\/wilderness\/","n":"The wilderness","s":"The dry, empty country beyond the Jordan where John preached, Jesus was tested and a crowd was fed. It was hard ground, and it was where Israel's story with God began.","r":""}
Hearers knew the myth of Python hunting pregnant Leto until her son Apollo killed it, or Typhon pursuing Isis (Keener; Beale; the cultural backgrounds article Symbolism in Revelation 12:1-6). Emperors posed as Apollo, putting the emperor on the dragon's side (Keener). Keener thinks Scripture and Jewish texts could supply every detail; Heiser, with Beale, roots the birth in Genesis 3:15; for Beale, John retells the pagan story as the true one. The article holds that "John's signs do not, however, communicate astrological meaning"; Heiser's Reversing Hermon reads 12:1-7 as a real sky sign. Joseph's dream (Genesis 37:9) and Zion in labor (Isaiah 66:7-10) make the woman Israel for most; for Heiser, God's people; for the CSB Study Bible, a Jewish remnant in a future tribulation. The third of the stars are angels fallen at the first rebellion (the ESV and CSB Study Bibles; the Zondervan dictionary), the revolt against Jesus (Keener), or the faithful struck down, after Daniel 8 (Beale; Heiser). The 1,260 days span the age between Jesus' comings (Keener; the article Time in Revelation, which calls this debated), a future tribulation's second half (the CSB Study Bible), or, for Heiser, both: begun at the ascension, persecution still ahead.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, introduction to Revelation 12:1-6, and on 12:1, 12:2, 12:3, 12:4, 12:5 and 12:6
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, notes on Revelation 12:1-2, 12:3, 12:4, 12:5 and 12:6
- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation: A Commentary on the Greek Text, on Revelation 12:1 and 12:4, and Introduction, The Myth of Nero's Reappearance
- N. T. Wright and Michael F. Bird, The New Testament in Its World, ch. 34, The Story of the Book of Revelation, section 8
- N. T. Wright, Revelation for Everyone, comment on Revelation 12:1-6
- Michael S. Heiser, Reversing Hermon, ch. 4, section Revelation 12 as Astral Prophecy
- ESV Study Bible, study notes on Revelation 12:1-2, 12:4 and 12:6
- CSB Study Bible, notes on Revelation 12:1-2, 12:4 and 12:6
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, articles Symbolism in Revelation 12:1-6 and Time in Revelation
- Zondervan Illustrated Bible Dictionary, entry Satan
- Michael S. Heiser, Revelation 12: The Woman, the Child, and the Dragon, video lecture (Naked Bible Revelation series)
- Michael S. Heiser, Naked Bible Podcast, Revelation series, audience question-and-answer episodes (about 401-406)
