Reading for July 4th

 THE WAR OF THE COSMOS

In 12,1-22.5: The focus shifts from what God is doing to the counter view, what Satan is doing waging war on the saints.

Read 12.1-17. In 12.1-17: The attack of the dragon on the woman. These actions 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 portent is a token or omen or astrological sign (here perhaps Virgo). Here heaven is the sky. Twelve stars recall the zodiac and the number of God's people; Gen 37.9. The woman here is clearly the mother of the messiah, but this could be understood three ways: Maty, 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 in 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 probably refer to fallen angels, again echoing the Lucifer myth (see 9.1); this may also be the the same event described in 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; Mark 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 (Dan 12.1), hence the heavenly counterpart to Israel or, in our idiom, the inner reality 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. Testimony here is "martus" (witness), and it is close to its cognate 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). In verse 15: 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 details this attack. Comments or Questions.