The final segment of 12:13-17 contains some poignant symbols that refer to both a familiar Old Testament story and some real events within the seven churches to which John wrote. The Old Testament reference is the Exodus from Egypt when the Israelites were pursued by the Egyptian army, but saved by the intervention of God. Specifically the reference in vs. 14 to eagle’s wings aiding the woman’s escape is to Ex. 19:4.
In vs. 15 another obscure image of the serpent spewing out a river of water to engulf the woman refers to a little known detail of the Egyptian Pharaoh’s command that the Israelite midwives drown all Hebrew males in the Nile (Ex.1:22). Several Psalms and passages from Isaiah, all with reference to the Exodus, lie behind vs. 16 where the earth swallowed the river which the dragon has spewed from his mouth (Pss. 32:6; 18:4; 124:4; Isa. 42:15; 43:2; 50:2).
When John wrote in vs. 17 of the dragon waging war on the rest of the woman’s children, he spoke directly to the circumstances the seven churches were dealing with at that time: slanderous attacks from outside (Rev. 2:9; 3:9) and false teaching corrupting the faith to destroy it within (2:6, 14-15).
Throughout history, the great enemies of church have always been the tendency for those who oppose it to accentuate negative aspects of its life and work, or to corrupt its faith from within. John defines the only real security the church has as “keeping God’s commandments and holding to the testimony of Jesus.”
Being faithful under such duress, however, is by no means simple.
John concluded this section saying that the dragon had withdrawn to the seashore to find reinforcements.
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