Revelation 12:17

And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(17) And the dragon . . .—Translate, And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and departed (not merely “went,” but departed, as one baffled in his attempt to carry the woman away by the river) to make war with the rest of her seed, who Keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus. Omit the word Christ. The attempt to sweep away the Christian Church is vain. The wrath of man has always been found to turn to God’s praise; the earth has always helped the woman; out of a thousand seeming defeats the Church of Christ has arisen; the banner of the Lord has been lifted up over every flood. But the foe will not give up his attacks. He can make war upon individual Christians; he may cease to assail the collective Church of Christ, but he can assail Christians by a thousand discomforts, by petty opposition, by undermining their morals, by making them unpopular, not as Christians, but as “very particular” Christians: for those thus assailed are they who “keep the commandments of God and the testimony of Jesus.” It is the old combination of a holy life and a fidelity to their Master which is the test of true loyalty. They take heed to themselves; they abide in Christ; they take heed to the teaching, that Christ’s word may abide in them. They keep His word, and they witness to Him in lip and life.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:12-17 The church and all her friends might well be called to praise God for deliverance from pagan persecution, though other troubles awaited her. The wilderness is a desolate place, and full of serpents and scorpions, uncomfortable and destitute of provisions; yet a place of safety, as well as where one might be alone. But being thus retired could not protect the woman. The flood of water is explained by many to mean the invasions of barbarians, by which the western empire was overwhelmed; for the heathen encouraged their attacks, in the hope of destroying Christianity. But ungodly men, for their worldly interests, protected the church amidst these tumults, and the overthrow of the empire did not help the cause of idolatry. Or, this may be meant of a flood of error, by which the church of God was in danger of being overwhelmed and carried away. The devil, defeated in his designs upon the church, turns his rage against persons and places. Being faithful to God and Christ, in doctrine, worship, and practice, exposes to the rage of Satan; and will do so till the last enemy shall be destroyed.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And the dragon was wroth with the woman - This wrath had been vented by his persecuting her Revelation 12:13; by his pursuing her; and by his pouring out the flood of water to sweep her away Revelation 12:15; and the same wrath was now vented against her children. As he could not reach and destroy the woman herself, he turned his indignation against all who were allied to her. Stripped of the imagery, the meaning is, that as he could not destroy the church as such, he vented his malice against all who were the friends of the church, and endeavored to destroy them. "The church, as such, he could not destroy; therefore he turned his wrath against individual Christians, to bring as many of them as possible to death" (DeWette).

And went to make war with the remnant of her seed - No mention is made before of his persecuting the children of the woman, except his opposition to the "man child" which she bore, Revelation 12:1-4. The "woman" represents the church, and the phrase "the remnant of her seed" must refer to her scattered children, that is, to the scattered members of the church, wherever they could be found. The reference here is to persecutions against individuals, rather than a general persecution against the church itself, and all that is here said would find an ample fulfillment in the vexations and troubles of individuals in the Roman communion in the dark ages, when they evinced the spirit of pure evangelical piety; in the cruelties practiced in the Inquisition on individual Christians under the plea that they were heretics; and in the persecutions of such men as Wycliffe, John Huss, and Jerome of Prague. This warfare against individual Christians was continued long in the papal church, and tens of thousands of true friends of the Saviour suffered every form of cruelty and wrong as the result.

Which keep the commandments of God - Who were true Christians. This phrase characterizes correctly those who, in the dark ages, were the friends of God, in the midst of abounding corruption.

And have the testimony of Jesus Christ - That is, they bore a faithful testimony to his truth, or were real martyrs. See Revelation 2:13.

The scene, then, in this chapter is this: John saw a most beautiful woman, suitably adorned, representing the church as about to he enlarged, and to become triumphant in the earth. Then he saw a great red monster, representing Satan, about to destroy the church: the pagan power, infuriated, and putting forth its utmost energy for its destruction. He then saw the child caught up into heaven, denoting that the church would be ultimately safe, and would reign over all the world. Another vision appears, It is that of a contest between Michael, the protecting angel of the people of God, and the great foe, in which victory declares in favor of the former, and Satan suffers a discomfiture, as if he were cast from heaven to earth. Still, however, he is permitted for a time to carry on a warfare against the church, though certain that he would be ultimately defeated. He puts forth his power, and manifests his hostility, in another form - that of the papacy - and commences a new opposition against the spiritual church of Christ. The church is, however, safe from that attempt to destroy it, for the woman is represented as fleeing to the wilderness beyond the power of the enemy, and is there kept alive. Still filled with rage, though incapable of destroying the true church itself, he turns his wrath, under the form of papal persecutions, against individual Christians, and endeavors to cut them off in detail.

This is the general representation in this chapter, and on the supposition that it was designed to represent the various forms of opposition which Satan would make to the church of Christ, under paganism and the papacy, it must be admitted, I think, that no more expressive or appropriate symbols could have been chosen. This fact should be allowed to have due influence in confirming the interpretation suggested above; and if it be admitted to be a correct interpretation, it is conclusive evidence of the inspiration of the book. Further details of this opposition of Satan to the church under the papal form of persecution are made in the subsequent chapters.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

17. wroth with—Greek, "at."

went—Greek, "went away."

the remnant of her seed—distinct in some sense from the woman herself. Satan's first effort was to root out the Christian Church, so that there should be no visible profession of Christianity. Foiled in this, he wars (Re 11:7; 13:7) against the invisible Church, namely, "those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus" (A, B, and C omit "Christ"). These are "the remnant," or rest of her seed, as distinguished from her seed, "the man-child" (Re 12:5), on one hand, and from mere professors on the other. The Church, in her beauty and unity (Israel at the head of Christendom, the whole forming one perfect Church), is now not manifested, but awaiting the manifestations of the sons of God at Christ's coming. Unable to destroy Christianity and the Church as a whole, Satan directs his enmity against true Christians, the elect remnant: the others he leaves unmolested.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And the dragon was wroth with the woman: the devil hath been defeated in two designs against the whole church; he could not wholly root it out by the ten persecutions under the Roman emperors, nor by the water thrown out of his mouth, pestilent doctrines which he influenced some to broach; but he was angry still, his rage was not extinguished.

And went to make war with the remnant of her seed; he gives over his design to ruin the whole church, as not practicable, but resolves to do all the mischief he could to the remnant of her seed, to particular Christians; those especially, which kept closest to the doctrine of faith, called here

the testimony of Jesus Christ, and to the rule of a holy life, which is meant by keeping

the commandments of God. Hence antichrist’s rage hath not been against Christians in general, as was the pagans’, but only against such Christians as he hath not been able to bring over to him, in a compliance with his corruptions in doctrine, worship, and discipline.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And the dragon was wroth with the woman,.... The devil was very angry with the church, because he could not destroy her by the Arian persecution he had raised; and because he could not carry her away with the flood, either of errors and heresies, or of the barbarous nations; and because he could not, by any means, come at her, and indeed did not well know where she was, a place being prepared for her of God in the wilderness, where she was taken care of: wherefore he took another method as follows,

and went to make war with the remnant of her seed; which refers to the war the beast, to whom he gave his power, seat, and authority, is said to make with the saints; and which was entered into and carried on by his instigation, of which there is an account in the following chapter: the persons with whom he went to make war are described as "her seed"; the seed of the church, her spiritual offspring, the sons and daughters she brought forth to Christ; between which seed, and Satan and his seed, there always was an enmity: and these are "the remnant" of her seed, a few persons scattered up and down, a remnant according to the election of grace; who were not in bodies, or in church states, regularly formed, as heretofore, but in private families, and some here, and some there; and who were called out to bear a testimony for Christ in corrupt times: and these are further described as such

who keep the commandments of God: and not the traditions of men: nor are the commands of the moral law of God so much designed, though it is true that these were kept by the seed of the church; but rather the ordinances of the Gospel, the commands of God our Saviour, such as baptism and the Lord's supper; which were kept by these faithful ones, as they had been delivered, when they began now to be sadly corrupted by the antichristian party:

and have the testimony of Jesus Christ; the Gospel, which is a testimony concerning him; See Gill on Revelation 1:2. This they had in their hearts, a spiritual knowledge and saving experience of it; and this they had in their hands, they made a profession of it, they held it forth, and held it fast; all which was the reason of Satan's enmity against them, and war with them.

Geneva Study Bible

{22} And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

(22) Being set on fire by this means, he began to be more mad, and because he perceived that his purpose against the Christian Church of the Jewish remnant was come to nothing, he resolved to fall on her seed, that is, the Church of the Gentiles, gathered by God and the holy members of the church. This is that other part, as is said in Re 12:13 in which the purpose of Satan is shown in Re 12:17 and his attempt, in Re 13:1.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Revelation 12:17. The dragon, inflamed only to greater rage (καὶ ὠργίσθη τῇ γυναικὶ) against the fleeing woman (Revelation 12:16), because of the frustration of his last attack, applies himself to a conflict with “the rest of her seed which keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus.”

For the correct explanation of the expression τ. λοιπῶν τοῦ σπέρματος αὐτης, κ.τ.λ.,—and also for the determination thence, according to the context, of the idea of the γυνή,—we must first of all maintain, against Ebrard, that the σπέρμα αὐτῆς is not a seed from which also the woman springs, but only the seed springing from the woman, i.e., born of her, can be designated; so that the λοιποὶ τοῦ σπερμ. αὐτης could in no way be those “who belong to the same seed with the woman.” In violation of the context, Auberlen[3187] further judges the λοιπ. τ. σπ. αὐτ. to be “the disciples of the Lord who have survived the earlier persecutions” (Revelation 12:13-16); for if the hostility described in Revelation 12:13-16 is directed against the woman herself, not her seed, that hostility remains entirely unsuccessful,[3188] so that the subject here cannot be “survivors” in general. This also against Hengstenb., who concedes two different references: “The rest are they who survive the hostile inundation in Revelation 12:15, or are not touched by it.”

A guide to the more specific determination of the λοιποὶ τ. σπέρμ. αὐτ. is contained in the words τῶν τηροῦντων

Ἰησοῦ, if the sense be correctly stated by Ewald, whom Züll. follows: “Of those uniting with the more eager and wholesome study of Mosaic laws firm faith in Jesus the Messiah;” but the expression is entirely too general,[3189] than that thereby merely Jewish Christians be designated.

The relation, especially presented by the context, of the statement Τ. ΛΟΙΠῶΝ ΤΟὐ ΣΠΈΡΜΑΤΟς ΑὐΤ., viz., to the man-child which, according to Revelation 12:5, belongs to the seed of the woman as the firstborn, has been acknowledged with complete definiteness only by Zull.;[3190] yet while he has correctly explained only the form, but not, at the same time, the subject, he enables us to recognize the occasion because of which this most simple contrast of “the rest” of the seed of the woman, and that firstborn brother, the Messiah himself,[3191] has not been obvious to expositors, viz., the difficulty of correctly conceiving of the woman in the relation as well to the man-child (Revelation 12:5) as also to “the rest of her seed.” The ΓΥΝΉ herself, her ΥἹΌς, and the ΛΟΙΠΟῚ ΤΟῦ ΣΠΈΡΜΑΤΟς ΑὐΤῆς, are three ideas so essentially connected that the misunderstanding of one necessarily hinders the correct explanation of the rest. In general, there is no doubt possible as to the fact that the son of the woman is the Messiah; but, nevertheless, that the Virgin Mary is not on this account to be understood by the woman,—even though the ideal contemplation of the writer of the Apoc. always gives the historical person of the Virgin a certain support,

Andr., in agreement with Methodius, has already noted. Any such reference to the person of Mary is rendered impossible, on the one hand, by the ideal description of the γυνή herself, and the events pertaining to her; on the other, by her relation to “the rest of her seed.” By the latter statement—as the ΛΟΙΠΟῚ Τ. ΣΠ. ΑὐΤ. is designated not only by the final clause of Revelation 12:17, but also by what succeeds in ch. 13, as, at all events, believers in Christ—the expositors are led with essential unanimity to recognition of the fact that the ΓΥΝΉ designates the “Church,” in analogy with the mode of contemplation, according to which, in the O. T., the congregation of God’s people appears as the wife of Jehovah, and in the Apoc. itself[3192] as the bride of the Lord. If now the question be as to the more specific comprehension of this, in general, obvious idea of the ΓΥΝΉ, as well according to the measure of significant features in the description of the ΓΥΝΉ herself,[3193] as also in relation to her man-child, and the rest of her seed; in the first place, all the expositors err who, in the ΓΥΝΉ, wish to recognize the Christian Church, whether they expressly distinguish it from the Jewish or O. T. Church,[3194] and limit the description to the antichristic period at the end of the world,[3195] or regard the N. T. Church in essential connection with that of the O. T., the latter not without its N. T. continuation, and both as one inseparable comprehensive Church.[3196] A characteristic sign that these two modifications of the exposition essentially cohere, lies in the fact that men like Vitringa and Auberlen share the error that the twelve stars (Revelation 12:1) refer to the twelve apostles.[3197] But the view that the woman is the N. T. Church, inevitably miscarries in Revelation 12:5; for it is impossible[3198] to refer the birth of the Messiah to Christ’s attaining life and form in believers.[3199] For this reason,[3200] the reference to the O. T. Church has been received; but, on the one hand, the difficulty concerning the original exposition arising from Revelation 12:5[3201] is not properly removed, and, on the other, a new difficulty is developed. For, if the γυνή be the O. and N. T. Church universal, who are then the λοιπ. τ. σπ. αὐτ., Revelation 12:17? The opinion of Bleek, De Wette, and Hengstenb., also of Klief.,—according to which an actual distinction could not be made between the woman and the rest of her seed, since the woman herself is nothing but the sum of her children, and by ἡ γυνή the whole, while by οἱ λοιπ. τ. σπ. αὐτ. the particular members of the whole, are designated,[3202]

Auberlen[3203] defends upon the ground that only in this way can it be explained why the dragon who was enraged with the woman turns against her seed. But the text does directly the opposite in offering a distinction between the woman and her seed. The woman (Revelation 12:16) is hidden from injury on the part of the dragon; just because he sees that he cannot reach the woman herself, he inflicts his wrath, which undoubtedly is directed against the woman, upon another subject still within reach, viz., the rest of the woman’s children. Is it not very readily to be understood, if the dragon wishes now to distress the mother by injuring her children?

The γυνὴ who bore the Messiah (Revelation 12:5), and has still other seed (Revelation 12:17), can be only the O. T. Church of God, the true Israel.[3204] John was taught already by the ancient prophetic representation, to ascribe seed to this Church, and to regard her as mother of her children, the believing and godly;[3205] the description, also, in Revelation 12:2; Revelation 12:5, has originated not without an allusion to Micah 5:1 sqq. But nevertheless, in the writer of the Apocalypse, the view, with all its analogy to the ancient prophetic types, appears peculiarly defined, viz., because he represents heathen Christians (the λοιπ. τ. σπ. αὐτ., Hofm., Ebrard), as belonging to the seed of the woman, and in so far the brethren of the Messiah.[3206] Here John would have a very suitable model in Micah 5:3, as the יֶחֶר אֶחָיך[3207] designates the growth of the Church from the heathen, who are added to the mother Church as though born of her seed. For the evangelical-prophetical fundamental view, cf. Isaiah 2:2 sqq.; Zechariah 8:20 sqq.; John 4:22, etc. Against this conception, it dare not be said, that nevertheless not only believers from the heathen are brethren of the Messiah, that consequently—beneath the acknowledgment of the reference of ΟἹ ΛΟΙΠΟῚ Τ. ΣΠΈΡΜ. ΑὐΤ., to the child of the woman mentioned in Revelation 12:5—the ΛΟΙΠΟΊ are, in any case, to be regarded Jewish and heathen Christians; for the ordinary view, according to which all believers are brethren of the Lord, is not presented here as certainly as is the ideal person of the γυνή, the mother of the Messiah, the O. T. Church of God, in whose complete unity Jewish Christians are regarded as the genuine Israelites. [See Note LXIX., p. 359.]

[3187] p. 298.

[3188] Cf. Revelation 12:17.

[3189] Cf. Revelation 14:12, Revelation 22:14. Concerning the correct meaning of ἕχ. τ. μαρτ. Ἰησ., cf., against Ewald especially, Revelation 6:9, Revelation 19:10.

[3190] “The rest of her seed, the Zionites on earth, in contrast with the child above removed.”

[3191] Cf. Matthew 28:10; Hebrews 2:11-12.

[3192] Revelation 22:17.

[3193] Cf. Revelation 12:1.

[3194] Beda, N. de Lyra, Aret., Hammond, Calov., Vitr., Beng., etc.

[3195] C. a Lap., Stern.

[3196] Victorin., Andr., De Wette, Hengstenb., Auberien, Christiani: “The Church of the last time.” Cf. also the inconsistencies of Coccejus, who, in Revelation 12:14, suddenly speaks of the N. T. Church, although he had referred what preceded to the O. T.; of Eichh., who already, in Revelation 12:5, inserts “the Christian Church which proceeded from Judaism,” etc.

[3197] “The apostolic Church” (Vitr., p. 566).

[3198] To say nothing as to the proposition that the “birth” of Christ may be his return to judgment, as the result of the course of the Christian Church through time, as Klief. (Zeitschr., a. a. O. S., 547) indicates by understanding by the γυνή the people of God in Christendom. Cf. on Revelation 12:11.

[3199] Against Beda, Stern, etc.

[3200] Cf., e.g., Auberlen, p. 277: “By the woman who bore Jesus, we are naturally to understand the Church of God in its O. T. form;” on the other hand, p. 280: “The Church also in its N. T. form.”

[3201] For, the more earnestly the essential unity of the O. and N. T. Church of God is asserted, the less proper is it to ascribe that exclusively to the first part of this Church which cannot be ascribed to the second part.

[3202] Cf., on the other hand, Ewald.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Revelation 12:17. The baffled adversary now widens his sphere of operations.—τ. λ. an apocalyptic term = the derelicti or relicti of 4 Esdras (cf. Volz, 319). These represent to the Christian editor the scattered Christians in the Empire; by adding this verse (or at least καὶ ἐχ.… Ἰησοῦ) to the source, he paves the way for the following saga of 13. which depicts the trying situation of Christians exposed to the attack of the devil’s deputies. The devil keeps himself in the background. He works subtly through the Roman power. This onset on the faith and faithfulness of Christians by the enforcement of the Imperial cultus is vividly delineated in Ep. Lugd. which incidentally mentions the experience of Biblias who, like Cranmer, repented of a recantation. “The devil, thinking he had already swallowed up [918]., one of those who had denied Christ, desired to condemn her further by means of blasphemy, and brought her to the torture [i.e., in order to force false accusations from her lips].… But she, reminded by her present anguish of the eternal punishment in Gehenna [cf. Revelation 14:9 f.], contradicted the blasphemous slanderers, confessed herself a Christian, and was added to the order of the martyrs.” Blandina, the heroic slave-girl, survived several conflicts ἵνα νικήσασα τῷ μὲν σκολιῷ ὄφει ἀπαραίτητον ποιήσῃ τὴν καταδίκην.

[918] Codex Vaticanus (sæc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

The keynote of the situation hinted in Revelation 12:17 f. is struck in Revelation 13:2. The dragon has given his authority to the beast; what God’s people have now to contend with is no longer the O.T. Satan merely (Revelation 12:9-10) but his powerful and seductive delegate on earth. In the Imperial cultus the Christian prophet could see nothing except a supreme and diabolically subtle manœuvre of Satan himself (cf. on Revelation 13:1; Revelation 13:5). The Danielic prophecy was at last on he verge of fulfilment! Mythological and cosmological elements (S. C. 360 f.) were already present in the Danielic tradition, but the prophet (or the source which he edits) readapted them to the historical situation created by the expectation of Nero’s return from the under world and the enforcement of the Imperial cultus. For the hypothesis of a Caligula-source in this chapter, cf. Introd § 6.

Revelation 12:17 to Revelation 13:18 : the saga of the woman and the red dragon (a war in heaven) is followed by the saga of the two monsters from sea and land (a war on earth), who, with the dragon, form a triumvirate of evil. First (Revelation 12:17 to Revelation 13:10) the monster from the sea, i.e., the Roman Empire.

Rev 12:18. The scene is the sea-shore, ex hypothesi, of the Mediterranean (Phœdo, 109 b, 111 a, etc.), i.e., the West, the whole passage being modelled on Daniel 7:2-3; Daniel 7:7-8; Daniel 7:19-27, where the stormy sea from which the monsters emerge is the world of nations (cf. 4 Esd. 11:1: ecce ascendebat de mari aquila, also 4 Esd. 13:1)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

17. the woman … the remnant of her seed] Genesis 3:15. The sense must be, that the Devil attempts to frustrate God’s counsels, not now by attacking the old Israel, but the new “Israel of God.” Titus, we are told, resolved to destroy the Temple, “in order that the religion of the Jews and Christians might be more completely abolished” (Sulp. Sev. ii. 30, supposed to embody a quotation from Tacitus). Hadrian, on the contrary, seeing that the Christians had separated their cause from that of the rebel Jews, extended to them a tolerance not merely contemptuous. But thenceforward the best and ablest emperors, from M. Aurelius to Diocletian, recognising the independent power of the Church, thought it necessary to persecute it. At last, Julian completely reversed the policy of Titus, seeking to discredit the Gospel by patronage to the Jews. This policy, apparently, will be carried out by Antichrist: but will be baffled when the Jews, whom he has restored to their land as unbelievers, are converted by the martyrdom and resurrection of the two prophets (see notes on the preceding chapter).

which keep the commandments] Revelation 14:12.

have the testimony] Revelation 6:9. The word “Christ” should be omitted.

Bengel's Gnomen

Revelation 12:17. Μετὰ τῶν λοιπῶν, with the remnant) These are the faithful scattered in the lands of the unfaithful.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 17. - And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed; waxed wroth... went away to make, etc. (Revised Version). Having failed to prevent the mission of' the man child - Christ Jesus - and having been foiled in his attempts to overwhelm the Church of God, Satan proceeds to attack the individual members of the Church - the seed of the woman. The method by which he endeavours to do this is related in the following chapters. Wordsworth points out an analogy between the means which Satan employs to destroy the Church as described here, and those described in the seals. The "rest of her seed" (Revised Version) signifies all the children of the woman, excluding the man child of ver. 5. All members of the Church of God are thus referred to, those who are brethren of Christ (cf. Hebrews 2:11, "For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren"). Which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ (nearly all manuscripts omit "Christ"); hold the testimony (Revised Version). This plainly points out who are the "rest of the seed" - they are those who are God's faithful servants. We may see in the description a reference to the Church of God, both Jewish and Christian. The members of the Jewish Church were they to whom "the commandments of God" were specially revealed, and Christians are they who specially "hold the testimony of Jesus." (For an explanation of the latter phrase, see on Revelation 1:2.) We have now reached another stage in the history of the warfare carried on by the devil against God. Vers. 7-12 of this chapter describe the origin of the hostility of Satan towards God; vers. 4 and 5 relate the attempts of the devil to destroy Christ and to thwart his mission; vers. 13-16 refer to the attacks of Satan upon the Church of God, by which he hoped to destroy it as a whole, before there was time for the "seed" to spring up. Having failed in every attempt, the dragon now sends other agents by whom he hopes to destroy the individual members of the Church - the other seed of the woman - the brethren of Christ.



Revelation 12:17

Vincent's Word Studies

Jesus Christ

Omit Christ.

The best texts add to this chapter the opening words of ch. 13 (A.V.), "And I stood upon the sand of the sea." Some, however, change ἐστάθην I stood, to ἐστάθη he stood, referring to the dragon. So Rev.