Cothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,?

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Montie_Claunch

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In revelation 12:1 when it is talking about Mary, I assume the twelve stars has something to do with the Church but, I don’t quite understand what. Could someone explain what all the symbolism around the crown of tweleve star and being “Clothed with the sun, and the moon udner her feet,” (KJV)? thanks and God bless.
 
There is an article here in This Rock catholic.com/thisrock/1997/9705chap.asp which might answer some of your questions.

I read somewhere that the 12 stars represent bothe the twelve tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles.

This is also seen in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe where OL is clothed with the sun, standing on the moon, and adorned with stars. http://www.apparitions.org/pictures/guada.gif
Also, the image OL showed to St Catherine Labouré, from which we get the Miraculous Medal . http://www.marys-touch.com/Saints/medal/rays.JPG
 
The twelve stars would have to represent the twelve tribes of Israel which Christ reconstituted in forming the Church.

The Sun and the Moon? No clue.

By the way, I’ve seen a marvelous website describing our “Lady of Guadalupe” which touches on the Sun and the Moon being Mary crushing the Pagan Gods of the Aztecs (Quoetzacoutl and somone else), but I don’t think Revelations 12:1 was geared toward the conversion of the Aztecs.

Does anyone have a good link to “Our Lady of Guadalupe” which explains the significance of the image?

Notworthy
 
I’m sure that an article someone linked to would cover this but I’ll throw what I remember from my religion class last year.

The sun brings light to the world, obviously Christ said He was the light of the world (John 8:12). The moon reflects the light of the sun “magnifying” it (The sun being Christ remember.) Thus one could say that the moon “magnifies the Lord”. Who’s soul magnifies the Lord? Luke 1:46 answers this question: “And Mary said, ‘My soul magnifies the Lord…’”. Thus the moon is Mary.
 
The meaning of both sides of the miraculous medal"

The Meaning of the Front Side of the Miraculous Medal

Mary is standing upon a globe, crushing the head of a serpent beneath her foot. She stands upon the globe, as the Queen of Heaven and Earth. Her feet crush the serpent to proclaim Satan and all his followers are helpless before her (Gn 3:15). The year of 1830 on the Miraculous Medal is the year the Blessed Mother gave the design of the Miraculous Medal to Saint Catherine Labouré. The reference to Mary conceived without sin supports the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of Mary—not to be confused with the virgin birth of Jesus, and referring to Mary’s sinlessness, “full of grace” and “blessed among women” (Luke 1:28)—that was proclaimed 24 years later in 1854.

The Meaning of the Back Side of the Miraculous Medal

The twelve stars can refer to the Apostles, who represent the entire Church as it surrounds Mary. They also recall the vision of Saint John, writer of the Book of Revelation (12:1), in which “a great sign appeared in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.” The cross can symbolize Christ and our redemption, with the bar under the cross a sign of the earth. The “M” stands for Mary, and the interleaving of her initial and the cross shows Mary’s close involvement with Jesus and our world. In this we see Mary’s part in our salvation and her role as mother of the Church. The two hearts represent the love of Jesus and Mary for us. (See also Lk 2:35).
 
Genesis 37
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

The only place in scripture were sun, moon and stars had symbolic meaning besides Rev 12 that I can think of is Genesis 37:9-10 where the sun and moon were Joseph’s parents and the stars were his brothers.

So, it is possible the stars represent the apostles, and the sun and moon could be Mary’s parents or maybe two persons of the Godhead?

:confused:
 
I don’t think that the twelve stars refer to the twelve tribes of Israel, ad neither does the Woman refer to Israel, as Protestants, just so as to avoid attributing to Mary any role in our salvation, interpretet the verse.

According to Saint Catherine Laboure and the visions of the Miraculous Medal, the twelve stars refer to the Church and the twelve apostles (because from them came and spread the other Priests and Bishops), while the woman is the Blessed Virgin Herself. The same woman of Revelation and Genesis (“I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and your seed and her seed; She shall crush thy head, and thou shalt lie in wait for Her heel.” Gen 3:15).

If the Woman of revelation referred to Israel then Christ instituted the Catholic Church for nothing if Judaism is the one that needs help.
 
NotWorthy said:
The Sun and the Moon? No clue.
Notworthy
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my two sents, but I also heard a priest say this, not as doctrine, but as also his two cents…

anywhere in the bible where the phrase “under your feet”, at “your footstool” “beneath the feet”, is suggesting that somethings has or will conquer and defeat something else…

today the moon is symbolic of Islam. One only needs to watch the news and notice that Christianity and Islam, or the persecution of Christians by Islam is around the corner.

but we know who wins this ultimate battle.

Second, Mary clothed as the sun might only indicate her residence in heaven, as those in heaven wear white garments (as if they are glowing), Jesus appeard to Paul as a light, burning bush, etc…
 
NotWorthy said:
The Sun and the Moon? No clue.
Notworthy
Click to expand...
I know I wrote this 4 years ago, but it would seem to me that the “Sun and Moon” may represent all of the Heavens. Mary is the Queen of Heaven.

As Average Joe indicated, this is my two cents worth as well.
 
Montie_Claunch said:
“Clothed with the sun, and the moon udner her feet,” (KJV)? thanks and God bless.
Click to expand...
Sun and moon… both night and day… all of Heaven.

Mary is the Queen of all of Heaven.

-Tim-

PS, sorry, didn’t see NW’s response above.
 
The interpretation of Revelation 12 is multi-layered as is the rest of the book. Rev 12 can and does refer to the Church, Israel, and the blessed virgin Mary. The twelve stars, on one level, represent the twelve tribes of Israel or the twelve apostles. In reference to Mary the twelve stars represent a crown in accordance with queen ship. There are twelve stars because the number twelve represents perfection and fullness.

God bless.
 
Daniel_Marsh said:
Genesis 37
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”

10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.

The only place in scripture were sun, moon and stars had symbolic meaning besides Rev 12 that I can think of is Genesis 37:9-10 where the sun and moon were Joseph’s parents and the stars were his brothers.

So, it is possible the stars represent the apostles, and the sun and moon could be Mary’s parents or maybe two persons of the Godhead?

:confused:
Click to expand...
The sun, moon, and stars call to mind the family of Israel. The pangs and anguish of child birth recalls Isaiah’s description of Daughter Zion, a maternal figure that represents the holy remnant of Israel groaning for dedemption.

**As a woman about to give birth writhes and cries out in her pains, so were we in your presence, O LORD. (Is 26:17)

Now why do you cry out so? Are you without a king? Or has your counselor perished, That you are seized with pains like a woman in travail? Writhe in pain, grow faint, O daughter Zion, like a woman in travail; For now shall you go forth from the city and dwell in the fields; To Babylon shall you go, there shall you be rescued. There shall the LORD redeem you from the hand of your enemies. (Mic 4:9-10)**

The twelve apostles of Jesus represent the believing remnant of the twelve tribes. Mary is the Queen Mother of the Davidic kingdom reestablished by Jesus.
 
As far as I know, the sun symbolizes Jesus in which she is clothed with. She is clothed with his glory, brightness and majesty.

She has a crown of twelve stars which means that she is Queen of Heaven and of the twelve tribes of Israel or Earth. This is my personal view point of what might the moon beneath her fight might mean: evil. All evil is below her feet. The moon is related to darkness and she shines (with the glory and power of the sun) and keeps all darkness beneath her feet since 'she is clothed with the sun or Jesus ’ and has power to expell all evil influence. Satan is under her feet since he is the King of darkness.

Notice that the moon is ‘beneath her feet’ which means that she stands above some sort of influence, person or other representation.
 
There’s also the Song of Songs 6:10 –

“Who is she that comes forth as the morning rising, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as an army set in array?”

Which goes along with the description of the Queen in Psalm 44/45:
“The queen stood at your right hand, arrayed in gold of Ophir…
The king’s daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is wrought with gold…”
 
Remember though, that the old law of Moses was only a figure of the Catholic Church, so what the old prophets say regarding Zion should be interpreted as either referring to Mary or to the Church.
 
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