Reading for May 3rd

THE WAR OF THE COSMOS In 12.1-11.5: The focus shifts from what God is doing to the counterview what Satan is doing, waging war on the saints. Read Revelation 12.1-17 In 12.1-17: The attack of the dragon on the woman. Three actons are shown: the birth of the son, the war in heaven, and the war on earth. In verses 1-6: The birth of the son. A potent is taken or omen or astrological sign (here perhaps Virgo). Here is the sky. Twelve stars recall both the zodiac and the number of God's poeple: Gen 37.9. The woman here is clearly the mother of the messiah, but this could be understood three ways: Mary, Israel, Eve (see Gen 3.15), or perhaps all three at once. The story of the endangered birth also echoes myths associated with Isis, Leto, and Roma. In verse 2: The birth pangs recall both the story of Eve (Gen 3.16) and the promise of the new age (Mt 24.8). In verse 3: The dragon is God's primal enemy in ancient Near eastern mythology, Leviathan is Jewish tradition (Isa 27.1; Ps 74.14; see also Dan 7.7); as an astrological sign, perhaps Scorpio, which follows Virgo. In verse 4: The stars propbably refer to fallen angels, again echoing the Lucifer myth (see 9.1); this may also be the same event described at 8.12. In verse 5: The messiah was the one who would rule (literally shepherd) the nations (Ps 2). In verse 6: The wilderness is both the place of safety after the Exodus and the place where salvation was to begin; see Isa 40.3 and Mk 1. One thousand two hundred sixty days is the time of evil; see 11.2-3. In verses 7-12: The war in heaven. Michael is the prince of Israel (Dan12.1), hence the heavenly counterpart to Israel-or, in our idiom, the inner relaity of Israel. Paradoxically, this war both establishes God's kingdom (v.10) and unleashes Satan's power on earth (v.12). In verse 11: This rests on the greater paradox: Satan's defeat is by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony. Testimong here is "martus" (witness), and it is close to it coh=gnate meaning martyr. In verses 13-17: The war on earth. The escape on the wings of the great eagle is an exodus motif (Ex 19.4): The flood is appropriate to the ancient sea monster. In verse 16: The earth is feminine, thus, contrary to the expectation that the hero will come to the rescue, we see the rather remarkable picture of one woman being rescued by another. In verse 17: The rest of her children now come under attack, defined more precisely as law-observant followers of jesus. Most of the rest of the story deatails this attack. Comments or Questions..