PMW 2023-077 by Kenneth L. Gentry, Jr.

This my second study looking into the woman in Revelation 12. Please read the previous posting for context. But now, let us return to the study.

THE WOMAN AS PREGNANT

Before we can specifically identify this glorious woman and explain the significance of her clothing, we must consider the further important descriptive information found in the next verse: she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth (12:2). Many scholars note that here we discover another OT backdrop from which John primarily draws for both 12:2 and 5, that is, Isa 66:7–8 (e.g., Russell 450; Kiddle 222; Caird 149; Ford 189; Aune 682; M. Wilson 318; Witherington 167; Osborne 458). In that Isaianic reference we find the pregnant-mother and birth-son symbolism: “Before she travailed, she brought forth; / Before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy. / Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? / Can a land be born in one day? / Can a nation be brought forth all at once? / As soon as Zion travailed, she also brought forth her sons. / ‘Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?’ says the LORD. / ‘Or shall I who gives delivery shut the womb?’ says your God.” Other texts present Israel as a woman enduring birth pains: Isa 21:3; 26:17–18; 37:3; Jer 4:31; 6:24; 13:21; 22:23; 30:6; Mic 4:9.

But who is this glorious woman here in Revelation? The matter has been long and vigorously debated. A view widespread in Roman Catholic exegesis (and first suggested by Oecumenius) holds that this pictures Mary, the mother of Jesus (e.g., Feuillet 257–58). We may quickly dismiss this interpretation for: (1) The text speaks of “the rest of her children [lit. “seed,” spermatos]” in 12:17, referring there to persecuted saints. The woman is obviously a corporate image producing many children. (2) The larger passage (including 12:4–5) clearly reflects Isa 66:6–9 which refers to Zion (see argument below). This suggests that corporate Israel rather than an individual (Mary) is in view. (3) Mary has too modest a role in Scripture for such a dramatic picture. She is barely mentioned after the Gospel record: in Acts she appears once (Ac 1:14); no one mentions her elsewhere in the NT.

Olivet Discourse Made Easy (by Ken Gentry)

Verse-by-verse analysis of Christ’s teaching on Jerusalem’s destruction in Matt 24. Shows the great tribulation is past, having occurred in AD 70, and is distinct from the Second Advent at the end of history.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

Many commentators argue that she represents the whole church, “the community of faith in both the Old and New Testament ages” (Beale 631; cp. Stuart 2:252; Giblin 126; Boring 158; Beale 625; Boxall 178; Lupieri 189; Witherington 167, 169; Brighton 319, 327). Yet another, more narrow view is preferable: she is “Israel, the chosen people of God” (Morris 189; cp. Bleek 263, 266; Kiddle 210; Carrington 208; Morris 189; Metzger 74; Keener 313, 314, 324; D. Johnson 180; Mayo 153; Lupieri 189). More specifically, this woman pictures Israel in her ideal form, Israel as God intends her to be.
Four reasons push us away from the universal-church view and toward the more narrow ideal-Israel view.

FOUR ARGUMENTS AGAINST IDEAL-ISRAEL
First, John’s sources suggest Israel herself is in view. As noted above, in his reference to the “twelve stars” he alludes to Ge 37:9 which pictures the eleven sons of Jacob bowing before the twelfth son (Joseph). This dream clearly deals with historical Israel (Ge 37:10–11). Another source coloring John’s vision is Isa 66:7–8. This powerful prophecy speaks of Zion (Israel) and is particularly close to Rev’s portrayal of the woman and her situation (12:2, 4–5). Isaiah’s passage actually prophesies the birth of the new covenant church from out of Israel, for as Young (1965: 524) explains: “the old order passes away, the ancient nation will perish and the Zion of Old Testament times disappear; but from the old Zion there will suddenly come forth a seed, the Gentiles who will enter the household of faith” (cp. Alexander 1875: 565–66; K-D 7: 630; NBC 607).

Second, John’s whole style strongly suggests that this pictures old covenant Israel ideally conceived, for Rev is extremely Judaic in style and tone and OT-oriented in source and content (see my Introduction). Given John’s Hebraic cast he could easily be picking up on this OT image of Israel.

Third, elsewhere John shows a deep interest in ideal Israel. In 7:4–8 he pictures the sealing (the protecting and preserving) of the remnant of Israel which appears there as twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes. The remnant of Israel also appears in 11:1–2, where the inner temple pictures the core of Israel (Jewish Christians) while the rest of Israel becomes the cast-out outer court (non-Christian Jews). There, however, he does not expressly mention the twelve tribes. We also see his interest in Israel in 21:12, where the gates of the new Jerusalem have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel on them. He distinguishes them from the foundation stones which have the names of the twelve apostles on them (21:14).

Fourth, John’s own picture forces us to distinguish the woman from her child. As a “woman” (12:1) she is not the same as her “son, a male child” (12:5). John even uses words that strongly contrast the sex of the woman (gunē) with her son, providing a double emphasis on his being a male son (huion arsen; 12:5). This term “probably stresses the ‘manliness’ of the son” (Ford 200), for it has “a strong emphasis on the sex” (BAGD 135). Nor should she we identify the woman with her other offspring in 12:17, who represent the persecuted (first-century) church elsewhere in the Roman empire beyond Israel. Thus, as presented in 12:2, 4–5, she does not picture the universal Christian church, the whole people of God. Rather she pictures the mother of the Christian church, ideal Israel.

Perilous Times: A Study in Eschatological Evil (by Ken Gentry)

Technical studies on Daniel’s Seventy Weeks, the great tribulation, Paul’s Man of Sin, and John’s Revelation.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com

Keener (313) perceptively suggests that the woman is the “antecedent of the faithful bride of Christ, the new Jerusalem.” She does seem to reflect the new Jerusalem in 21:10–11, for there John associates the new Jerusalem with light, including the sun and moon (as in 12:1) and she has “the glory of God” and “her brilliance was like a very costly stone” (21:10–11). Indeed, we learn that the new Jerusalem “has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it,” “the nations will walk by its light,” and “there will be no night there” (21:23–25). As the antecedent of the new Jerusalem this woman is her forerunner and anticipates her. Again, she is ideal Israel, the mother of Christianity. Carrington (208) argues that John presents the glory of the ideal Israel in ch 12 immediately after speaking of the judgment of the corrupted Israel in ch 11: “God’s people have failed him and are rejected; but there has always been an inner circle, a faithful remnant of visionaries and idealists, who remain true to him”

By viewing this “woman” as “in heaven” (12:1a) John is further underscoring her ideal form: notice her glory as the sun, moon, and stars (12:1). Milligan (210) puts it well: she is here “set before us in her ideal aspect, in what she is in herself, rather that in her historical position.” This is much like the NT speaking of the new covenant phase of the church as located in heaven (Jn 17:16; Eph 1:3; 2:6; Php 3:20; Col 3:1–3). And this heavenly new covenant church flows out of the remnant of Israel which also is heavenly. This ideal conception of Israel is much like the ideal conception of the tabernacle/temple system itself, for it is understood as ultimately from heaven (Heb 8:5; 9:11, 23–24; cp. Ex 25:9, 40; 26:30; 27:8; Ac 7:44).

Though the heavenly bodies describing the woman derive immediately from Joseph’s dream in Ge 37:9, they ultimately reflect the creation of the sun, moon and stars (and in the same order) in Ge 1:14–16 (cp. Ps 74:16; 136:7-9; Jer 31:35; cf. Eze 32:7; Zec 14:6). There God creates these luminaries to give light to the world. Thus, in John’s vision the woman is “arrayed in light from head to foot” (Milligan 1903: 198), i.e., from her head where appears “a crown of twelve stars” to “under her feet” where we see the moon (12:1). This image well suits ideal Israel, for in the OT God appoints Israel “as a covenant to the people, / As a light to the nations” (Isa 42:6; cp. 49:6; 51:4; 60:1–3).

Survey of the Book of Revelation

(DVDs by Ken Gentry)
Twenty-four careful, down-to-earth lectures provide a basic introduction to and survey of the entire Book of Revelation. Professionally produced lectures of 30-35 minutes length.

See more study materials at: www.KennethGentry.com