Who do Protestants say the woman in Rev. 12 is?

[Semper_Fi_1]

Theodora:

Does anyone has an explanation for v.6 where it says that *the woman fled into the wilderness. *Anyone has an idea what this could represent?

It is a reference to when St. Joseph and St. Mary travelled into Egypt to avoid King Herod. Check this: we see in Genesis when the woman will crush the head of the serpent (indirectly, thru Christ) and in Revelation we see where it has happened.

Check Genesis 3:15

I will put enmities between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: she shall crush thy head (talking about Satan), and thou shalt lie in wait for her heel.

Now check out Rev. 12 in that context

 

[Schabel]

Catholic Dude:

AFAIK??

Sorry – that’s “web-ese” for As Far As I Know.

 

[Mickey]

Schabel:

Sacred Tradition, AFAIK, interprets her as BOTH TheBlessed Virgin AND Israel. But this is so easy to see, since MARY represents the nation of Israel!

So, the woman represents Mary who represents Israel, thus combining the interpretations.

 

[Theodora]

Semper Fi:

It is a reference to when St. Joseph and St. Mary travelled into Egypt to avoid King Herod. Check this: we see in Genesis when the woman will crush the head of the serpent (indirectly, thru Christ) and in Revelation we see where it has happened.

Check Genesis 3:15

Now check out Rev. 12 in that context

Thank you for your answer above.

One more time, if you don’t mind. I have a few more questions regarding v.6

1. Is Egypt then considered the wilderness where the Holy Family stayed for two thousand two hundred and sixty days?
2. T*wo thousand two hundred and sixty days *is approx. 6+ years calculated in today’s time. Does this time mash with the return to Nazareth, Jesus’ presentation in the Temple (or was this temple in Egypt?)
3. And who is the *they *that nourished her for that length of time?
   Are *they *angles?

I hope I am not hijacking this thread. If I am, let me know.

 

[Schabel]

Theodora:

Thank you for your answer above.

One more time, if you don’t mind. I have a few more questions regarding v.6

1. Is Egypt then considered the wilderness where the Holy Family stayed for two thousand two hundred and sixty days?

You mean ONE thousand two hundred and sixty days, no?

1. T*wo thousand two hundred and sixty days *is approx. 6+ years calculated in today’s time. Does this time mash with the return to Nazareth, Jesus’ presentation in the Temple (or was this temple in Egypt?)

No. Jesus was presented at the Temple at the time of His circumcision, at the age of 8 days (Luke 2:21). This had to be before the Holy Family fled to Egypt.

1. And who is the *they *that nourished her for that length of time?
   Are *they *angles?

I don’t know.

 

[Semper_Fi_1]

Theodora:

Thank you for your answer above.

One more time, if you don’t mind. I have a few more questions regarding v.6

1. Is Egypt then considered the wilderness where the Holy Family stayed for two thousand two hundred and sixty days?
2. T*wo thousand two hundred and sixty days *is approx. 6+ years calculated in today’s time. Does this time mash with the return to Nazareth, Jesus’ presentation in the Temple (or was this temple in Egypt?)
3. And who is the *they *that nourished her for that length of time?
   Are *they *angles?

I hope I am not hijacking this thread. If I am, let me know.

I do not know how long the Holy Family stayed in Egypt for and I’m not sure if it’s a subject of Sacred Tradition or Sacred Scripture. Also, as you know, a lot of numbers in Scripture are used figuratively so it’s entirely possible that it could be literal or figurative.

In Mat 2:13 we see that they stayed in Egypt until Herod died. It’s entirely possible that it was three years or so. I’ve heard that it’s possible that Mary & Joseph stayed with a Jewish community in Egypt when they were there because they would have had to obey Jewish dietary laws and in order to not bring suspicion to themselves they would have probably stayed with a Jewish community.

 

[Pryority7]

I read a long time ago when I was bought in by all the Fundamentalist end time propaganda that the woman in Rev 12 represented the nation of Israel, that the dragon persued the woman in the form of the mass persecutions the Jews as a people went through throughout history. It makes sense, but not strong enough. I believe that the woman does represent Mary and even the Church as the new Israel who is always being persecuted by the Dragon.

 

[exoflare]

Darrel:

One other question with regards to the protestant idea that the woman is Israel.

Why would Israel be clothed in the sun? In scripture when these descriptions are seen they are all with regards to a single being. In the KJV it is often called countenance ie glow. It is used to described angels etc. Why would Israel be described in such a way by the author in this case?

Example:

Matthew 28:3 (King James Version)

His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow

-D

That’s a really good point! I’d be curious to know this as well.

 

[flameburns623]

The Woman of Revelation 12 is understood to be BOTH Israel AND the Church by those who hold to the single-covenant understanding of soteriology. (As opposed to Dispensationalism, for example, which suggests there are two or more covenants between God and humanity).

So far as the issue of ‘literalism’: it’s a theological term which generally refers to ‘literal in the sense intended by the original author’. Poetic, allegoric, or symbolic language is understood by Protestants to be something which should be distinguished from straightforward prose. Revelation is a book couched in apocalyptic language, i.e. filled with allegories, symbols, similes, and so forth. No part of the book was intended by the author to be taken in a wooden, literal sense, and the book is nearly 50% based upon direct or indirect references to the Old Testament which the author assumed his readers would be familiar with, and which modern Christians seldom ARE familiar with. Understanding the close links between the Old Testament and the book of Revelation is key to unlocking the meaning intended by the original author. Superimposing late theories upon the text–such as that the Beast is the Pope or the Woman is Mary the Mother of Jesus–are simply eisegesis.

 

[Gottle_of_Geer]

PaulGH:

Hello,

I have a question for any Protestants who may be reading this forum, or for anyone else who may have insight into this question: When Protestants read Revelation, chapter 12, who do they believe that the woman mentioned here is? Do they identify her as Mary? Or as some other specific person? Or as a symbol which represents someone/something? Or some other option?

I ask this because I am genuinely curious. I am not interested in starting a debate on this topic, I’m just asking for information. And of course I realize that there most likely is not one single monolithic Protestant answer to this question, and I will certainly keep that in mind for any answers that are given. Thanks!

Paul

Israel or the Church or some sort of combination, quite often.​

Just to put that in context: among Catholics, the interpretation of the woman as Mary more than either of them is relatively new - the Haydock Bible of 1814 remarks that “most commentators” take the woman as the Church, with a possible reference to Mary. As of 1957, a count of eighty-eight post-Tridentine Catholic interpreters showed that twenty-six had seen the woman as being predominantly Mary, and sixty-two interpreted seen the figure as the Church - see Hilda Graef’s book “Mary”.

As the book was one of the last to be canonised, it has a shorter history of being commented on than many. ##

 

[Texan_in_DC]

As a former fundamental I was taught that the Church is the anti christ because it is from Rome.

The protestants tend to still think that Rome is pagon, but forget that Rome was finnally made Christian.

Because we call ourselves Roman Catholic they see Roman being evil, but let us remember that Vatican Hill is not in Rome, it lies on the other side of the river.