And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
14. two wings eagle ] Should be “the two wings of the great eagle.” The word is, however, no doubt used generically. Some suppose “the great eagle” to symbolise the Roman empire, but that did not protect the Jewish Church, though to some extent it did the Christian.
her place ] Rev 12:6.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle – The most powerful of birds, and among the most rapid in flight. See the notes on Rev 4:7. The meaning here is, that the woman is represented as prepared for a rapid flight; so prepared as to be able to outstrip her pursuer, and to reach a place of safety. Divested of the figure, the sense is, that the church, when exposed to this form of persecution, would be protected as if miraculously supplied with wings.
That she might fly into the wilderness – There is here a more full description of what is briefly stated in Rev 12:6. A wilderness or desert is often represented as a place of safety from pursuers. Thus David 1Sa 23:14-15 is represented as fleeing into the wilderness from the persecutions of Saul. So Elijah 1Ki 19:4 fled into the wilderness from the persecutions of Jezebel. The simple idea here is, that the church, in the opposition which would come upon it, would find a refuge.
Into her place – A place appointed for her; that is, a place where she could be safe.
Where she is nourished – The word rendered here nourished is the same – trepho – which occurs in Rev 12:6, and which is there rendered feed. It means to feed, nurse, or nourish, as the young of animals Mat 6:26; Mat 25:37; Luk 12:24; Act 12:20; that is, to sustain by proper food. The meaning here is, that the church would be kept alive. It is not indeed mentioned by whom this would be done, but it is evidently implied that it would be by God. During this long period in which the church would be in obscurity, it would not be suffered to become extinct. Compare 1Ki 17:3-6.
For a time, and times, and half a time – A year, two years, and half a year; that is, forty-two months (see the notes on Rev 11:2); or, reckoning the month at thirty days, twelve hundred and sixty days; and regarding these as prophetic days, in which a day stands for a year, twelve hundred and sixty years. For a full discussion of the meaning of this language, see the notes on Dan 7:25; and Editors Pref. For the evidence, also, that the time thus specified refers to the papacy, and to the period of its continuance, see the notes on that place. The full consideration given to the subject there renders it unnecessary to discuss it here. For it is manifest that there is an allusion here to the passage in Daniel; that the twelve hundred and sixty days refer to the same thing; and that the true explanation must be made in the same way. The main difficulty, as is remarked on the notes on that passage, is in determining the time when the papacy properly commenced.
If that could be ascertained with certainty, there would be no difficulty in determining when it would come to an end. But though there is considerable uncertainty as to the exact time when it arose, and though different opinions have been entertained on that point, yet it is true that all the periods assigned for the rise of that power lead to the conclusion that the time of its downfall cannot be remote. The meaning in the passage before us is, that during all the time of the continuance of that formidable, persecuting power, the true church would not in fact become extinct. It would be obscure and comparatively unknown, but it would still live. The fulfillment of this is found in the fact, that during all the time here referred to, there has been a true church on the earth. Pure, spiritual religion – the religion of the New Testament – has never been wholly extinct. In the history of the Waldenses, and Albigenses, the Bohemian brethren, and kindred people; in deserts and places of obscurity; among individuals and among small and persecuted sects; here and there in the cases of individuals in monasteries, the true religion has been kept up in the world, as in the days of Elijah God reserved seven thousand men who had not bowed the knee to Baal: and it is possible now for us, with a good degree of certainty, to show, even during the darkest ages, and when Rome seemed to have entirely the ascendency, where the true church was. To find out this, was the great design of the Ecclesiastical History of Milner; it has been done, also, with great learning and skill, by Neander.
From the face of the serpent – The dragon – or Satan represented by the dragon. See the notes at Rev 12:3. The reference here is to the opposition which Satan makes to the true church under the persecutions and corruptions of the papacy.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
NOTES ON CHAP. XII., BY J. E. C.
Verse 14. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle] Of THE great eagle. The great eagle here mentioned is an emblem of the Roman empire in general, and therefore differs from the dragon, which is a symbol of the HEATHEN ROMAN empire in particular. The Roman power is called an eagle from its legionary standard, which was introduced among the Romans in the second year of the consulate of C. Marius; for before that time minotaurs, wolves, leopards, horses, boars, and eagles were used indifferently, according to the humour of the commander. The Roman eagles were figures in relievo of silver or gold, borne on the tops of pikes, the wings being displayed, and frequently a thunderbolt in their talons. Under the eagle, on the pike, were piled bucklers, and sometimes crowns. The two wings of the great eagle refer to the two grand independent divisions of the Roman empire, which took place January 17, A.D. 395, and were given to the woman, Christianity being the established religion of both empires.
That she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, c.] The apparent repetition here of what is said in Re 12:6 has induced Bishop Newton to consider the former passage as introduced by way of prolepsis or anticipation for, says he, the woman did not fly into the wilderness till several years after the conversion of Constantine. But that there is no such prolepsis as the bishop imagines is evident from the ecclesiastical history of the fourth century; for the woman, or true Church, began to flee into the wilderness a considerable time before the division of the great Roman empire into two independent monarchies. The word translated fled is not to be taken in that peculiar sense as if the woman, in the commencement of her flight, had been furnished with wings, for the original word is . The meaning therefore of verses 6 and 14, Rev 12:6; Rev 12:14 when taken in connection with their respective contexts, is, that the woman began to make rapid strides towards the desert almost immediately after her elevation to the heaven or throne of the Roman empire, and in the course of her flight was furnished with the wings of the great eagle , that she might FLY, into that place prepared of God, where she should be fed a thousand two hundred and threescore days. It is said here that the period for which the woman should be nourished in the wilderness would be a time, times, and a half; consequently this period is the same with the twelve hundred and sixty days of Re 12:6. But in no other sense can they be considered the same than by understanding a time to signify a year; times, two years; and half a time, half a year; i.e., three years and a half. And as each prophetic year contains three hundred and sixty days, so three years and a half will contain precisely twelve hundred and sixty days. The Apocalypse being highly symbolical, it is reasonable to expect that its periods of time will also be represented symbolically, that the prophecy may be homogeneous in all its parts. The Holy Spirit, when speaking of years symbolically, has invariably represented them by days, commanding, e. gr., the Prophet Ezekiel to lie upon his left side three hundred and ninety days, that it might be a sign or symbol of the house of Israel bearing their iniquity as many years; and forty days upon his right side, to represent to the house of Judah in a symbolical manner, that they should bear their iniquity forty years, The one thousand two hundred and threescore days, therefore, that the woman is fed in the wilderness, must be understood symbolically, and consequently denote as many natural years. The wilderness into which the woman flies is the Greek and Latin worlds, for she is conveyed into her place by means of the two wings of the great eagle. We must not understand the phrase flying into her place of her removing from one part of the habitable world into another, but of her speedy declension from a state of great prosperity to a forlorn and desolate condition. The woman is nourished for one thousand two hundred and threescore years from the face of the serpent, The empires in the east and west were destined, in the course of the Divine providence, to support the Christian religion, at least nominally while the rest of the world should remain in pagan idolatry or under the influence of this dragon, here called the serpent, because he deceiveth the whole world. The words of the prophecy are very remarkable, The Christian Church is said to be supported by the eastern and western empires, two mighty denominations; and at the same time situated in the wilderness, strongly denoting that, though many professed Christianity, there were but very few who “kept the commandments of God, and had the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And to the woman; to the sincerer part of Christians, represented by the woman, Rev 12:1, and by the temple, and altar, and them that worship therein, viz. in the oracle where the altar stood, Rev 11:1.
Were given two wings of a great eagle: the eagle being the ensign of the Roman empire, and Theodosius having two sons, Honorius and Arcadius, between which he divided the empire, making Honorius the emperor of the west, and Arcadius of the east, leadeth some very judicious interpreters to expound this passage of the providence of God (by this division of the empire about the year 390) in some measure securing his church from the great troubles that presently ensued. For in the year 411, Alaricus king of the Goths took Rome, and continual troubles so ensued, that by the year 480 the western empire was quite extinguished, ending in Augustulus, who, because of his manifold afflictions, is supposed to be the star mentioned Rev 8:10,11, called Wormwood, who fell upon the sounding of the third trumpet.
That she might fly into the wilderness: by the wilderness is here undoubtedly meant some places which were like a wilderness for solitariness, where the church might have some rest.
Into her place; the place said to be by God prepared for the church, Rev 12:6.
Where she is nourished; where God hid, and protected, and provided for his people a certain time, expressed in the next words. I know not whether we need be so critical or no, or whether it be not safer to expound all the foregoing words more generally, viz. that God graciously provided for his people hiding-places against the storm now coming upon the whole Roman empire, bearing them, as it were, on eagles wings, as he did his old Israelites when he brought them out of the land of Egypt. It is the very phrase used by God, Exo 19:4.
For a time, and times, and half a time: it is apparent, that the same space of time is here meant that is mentioned Rev 12:6, and called a thousand two hundred and threescore days. Most interpreters agree, that it signifieth three years and a half, consisting each of them of three hundred and sixty prophetical days, that is, years; for although we count three hundred and sixty-five days to the year, (and there are strictly so many, besides some odd hours), yet anciently they counted but three hundred and sixty, leaving out the five odd days, as we do now the odd hours and minutes, which in four years make up an odd day, which makes every fourth year leap year. Now three times three hundred and sixty make up a thousand and eighty, to which add one hundred and eighty for the half year, it makes just a thousand two hundred and sixty, the number of days mentioned Rev 12:6. If any inquire why what was expressed by one thousand two hundred and sixty days there, is thus expressed here? It is answered: To make this comport with the prophecy of Daniel, Dan 7:25; 12:7, where it is thus expressed.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
14. were givenby God’sdeterminate appointment, not by human chances (Ac9:11).
twoGreek, “thetwo wings of the great eagle.” Alluding to Ex19:4: proving that the Old Testament Church, as well as the NewTestament Church, is included in “the woman.” All believersare included (Isa 40:30; Isa 40:31).The great eagle is the world power; in Eze 17:3;Eze 17:7, Babylon andEgypt: in early Church history, Rome, whose standardwas the eagle, turned by God’s providence from being hostileinto a protector of the Christian Church. As “wings”express remote parts of the earth, the two wings may here meanthe east and west divisions of the Roman empire.
wildernessthe land ofthe heathen, the Gentiles: in contrast to Canaan, the pleasantand glorious land. God dwells in the glorious land; demons(the rulers of the heathen world, Rev 9:20;1Co 10:20), in the wilderness.Hence Babylon is called the desert of the sea, Isa21:1-10 (referred to also in Rev 14:8;Rev 18:2). Heathendom, in itsessential nature, being without God, is a desolate wilderness.Thus, the woman’s flight into the wilderness is the passing of thekingdom of God from the Jews to be among the Gentiles (typified byMary’s flight with her child from Judea into Egypt). The eagle flightis from Egypt into the wilderness. The Egypt meant isvirtually stated (Re 11:8) tobe Jerusalem, which has become spiritually so by crucifying ourLord. Out of her the New Testament Church flees, as the OldTestament Church out of the literal Egypt; and as the true Churchsubsequently is called to flee out of Babylon (the woman become anharlot, that is, the Church become apostate) [AUBERLEN].
her placethe chiefseat of the then world empire, Rome. The Acts of the Apostlesdescribe the passing of the Church from Jerusalem to Rome. The Romanprotection was the eagle wing which often shielded Paul, the greatinstrument of this transmigration, and Christianity, from Jewishopponents who stirred up the heathen mobs. By degrees the Church had”her place” more and more secure, until, under Constantine,the empire became Christian. Still, all this Church-historical periodis regarded as a wilderness time, wherein the Church is in partprotected, in part oppressed, by the world power, until just beforethe end the enmity of the world power under Satan shall break outagainst the Church worse than ever. As Israel was in the wildernessforty years, and had forty-two stages in her journey, so the Churchfor forty-two months, three and a half years or times[literally, seasons, used for years in HellenisticGreek (MOERIS, theAtticist), Greek, “kairous,” Dan 7:25;Dan 12:7], or 1260 days (Re12:6) between the overthrow of Jerusalem and the coming again ofChrist, shall be a wilderness sojourner before she reaches hermillennial rest (answering to Canaan of old). It is possible that,besides this Church-historical fulfilment, there may be also anulterior and narrower fulfilment in the restoration of Israel toPalestine, Antichrist for seven times (short periods analogical tothe longer ones) having power there, for the former three and a halftimes keeping covenant with the Jews, then breaking it in the midstof the week, and the mass of the nation fleeing by a second Exodusinto the wilderness, while a remnant remains in the landexposed to a fearful persecution (the “144,000 sealed ofIsrael,” Rev 7:1-8;Rev 14:1, standing with theLamb, after the conflict is over, on Mount Zion: “thefirst-fruits” of a large company to be gathered to Him) [DEBURGH]. These detailsare very conjectural. In Dan 7:25;Dan 12:7, the subject, as perhapshere, is the time of Israel’s calamity. That seven times do notnecessarily mean seven years, in which each day is a year, that is,2520 years, appears from Nebuchadnezzar’s seven times (Da4:23), answering to Antichrist, the beast’s duration.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle,…. By which are meant, not the two testaments, by which she was supported under afflictions, trials, and persecutions, and against Satan and all his efforts; nor the two graces of faith and hope, by which she rose, and dwelt on high, in the view of invisible things, and with contempt of the world, its frowns or flatteries; nor, as others think, prayer and good works, by the former of which she flew to God for supplies of grace and protection, and by the latter was useful and profitable to men, and gave glory to God, and escaped the just censures of the world; nor are two powerful kingdoms, within the dominions of the dragon, intended, as others have thought, who take them to be France and Spain, to which Britain was an appendix; when they were in the possession of Constantius Chlorus, the father of Constantine the great, where the Christians had refuge in the persecution under Dioclesian; but this was before the war in heaven, and the downfall of Paganism in the empire, and before the above persecution; rather these two wings of the eagle design the eastern and western divisions of the Roman empire: it is not unusual in Scripture for a monarchy, or monarch, as the Assyrian king and kingdom, to be signified by an eagle, and the wings of eagles,
Eze 17:3; and it is well known that the eagle is the ensign of the Roman empire, to which the allusion is in Mt 24:28; and at the death of Theodosius the empire was divided, as has been observed before, into two parts; the eastern empire was given to one of his sons and the western to another; and this was between the Arian persecution, and the irruption of the Goths and Vandals, when the church was fleeing and gradually disappearing; and these two empires both went under the Christian name, and supported the outward visible church, though much corrupted, and still more and more corrupting; by which means the pure members of the church, though few and very obscure were preserved. In a word, these wings may denote the swiftness in which the church proceeded to disappear, having lost her former simplicity and glory for which eagles’ wings are famous, Pr 23:5; and more especially that divine strength and support by which she was bore up, and carried through, and delivered out of sore afflictions and persecutions; see Isa 40:31. The allusion is to God’s deliverance of the people of Israel out of Egypt when he bore them as on eagles wings, and carried them though the wilderness, Ex 19:4, so here it follows,
that she might fly into the wilderness; a place desolate, and full of serpents and scorpions, uncomfortable, and destitute of provisions, and yet a place of safety as well as of solitariness and retirement; and chiefly designs the obscure and invisible state of the pure church in the times of the antichristian apostasy;
[See comments on Re 12:6].
Into her place; which was prepared of God for her, as in Re 12:6;
where she is nourished by the ministers of the word the two witnesses that prophesy in sackcloth who feed the church with knowledge and understanding; with the words of faith and good doctrine, with the Gospel, and the truths of it, which are sweet, comfortable and nutritive; and with the ordinances of the Gospel, the entertainment of Wisdom’s house, the feast of fat things, and the breasts of consolation; and with Christ the hidden manna, the food of the wilderness: and that
for a time, and times, and half a time; that is, all the times of antichrist, the forty two months of his reign; during which time the holy city is trodden under foot, and in a desolate and afflicted condition outwardly, as may be learnt by comparing together Da 7:25
Re 13:5; and until the end of wonders, or when time shall be no longer or till the seventh angel has sounded his trumpet as appears from Da 12:7. This date is the same with 1260 days in Re 12:6, for “time” signifies a prophetic year, or 360 years; and “times” two years, or 720 years; and half a time, half a year, or 180 years, in all 1230 years; and which are to be reckoned, not from the beginning of the church’s flight in Constantine’s time, or from the Arian persecution, but from her entering into her wilderness state, or entire disappearance upon the prevalence of the antichristian apostasy; which might be when the bishop of Rome took upon him the title of universal bishop: and here and during this time she is hid
from the face of the serpent; that is, from his wrath so as that he cannot utterly destroy her. God having reserved a sealed number for himself; see Re 6:16, or from the sight of the serpent as the Arabic version renders it, so as that he could not discern with all his quick sight where the church was.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
There were given (). As in Rev 8:2; Rev 9:1; Rev 9:3.
The two wings of the great eagle ( ). Not the eagle of 8:13, but the generic use of the article. Every eagle had two wings. Probably here, as in Mt 24:28, the griffon or vulture rather than the true eagle is pictured. For the eagle in the O.T. see Exod 19:4; Isa 40:31; Job 9:26; Prov 24:54.
That she might fly ( ). Purpose clause with and present middle subjunctive of , old verb, to fly, in N.T. only in the Apocalypse (Rev 4:7; Rev 8:13; Rev 12:14; Rev 14:6; Rev 19:17). Resumption of the details in verse 6 (which see) about the “wilderness,” her “place,” the redundant with , the “time and times, and half a time” ( ), 1260 days, but with (present passive indicative) instead of (general plural of the present active subjunctive), and with the addition of “from the face of the serpent” ( ), because the serpent rules the earth for that period. “To the end of the present order the Church dwells in the wilderness” (Swete), and yet we must carry on for Christ.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Two wings. The definite article aiJ the should be added : “the two wings.” Compare Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11; Psa 36:7.
The great eagle. The article does not point to the eagle of ch. 8 13, but is generic.
A time and times and half a time. Three years and a half. See on ch. Rev 11:2.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And to the woman were given “ (kai edothesan te gunaikai) “and there were given to the woman “to Israel, to God’s wife in divorcement, Jer 3:11-14; Jeremiah 20-23. Israel, like a sweetheart, was “graven upon God’s hand,” not to be forgotten, Isa 49:16.
2) “Two wings of a great eagle,” (hai duo pteruges tou aetou tou megalou) “the two wings of the great eagle,” power to soar above and away from earthly danger incited by the wrath of the Devil.
3) “That she might fly into the wilderness,” (hina petetai eis ten eremon) “in order that she might fly into the desert, wilderness, or uninhabited place,” prepared for her. This place is believed to be the pink-rock city of Petra located at the southeast end of the Dead Sea, Rev 12:6; Isa 26:20.
4) “Into her place,” (eis ton topon autes) “yet fly into her place,” the place having been prepared and preserved for her, thought to be Petra. This Israel is the true spiritual Israel of natural descent, the 144,000 who were sealed against death, Rev 7:3-4.
5) “Where she is nourished,” (hopou trephetai ekei) where she is nourished, fed, cared for out there,” as Israel was in the wilderness, Exo 16:35, until God’s wrath, over rebellious Israel and the wicked of the earth under Satan, is passed by as it once did in Egypt, Exo 12:22-23; Psa 54:7; Isa 26:20.
6) “For a time and times, and half a time,” (kairon kai kairous kai hemisu kairou) “for a season, two seasons, and half a season,” as relates to Israel’s 70th week, three and one half years, Dan 7:25; Dan 9:26-27; Dan 12:1; Dan 12:6-13.
7) “From the face of the serpent,” (apo prosopou tou opheos) “from face to face presence or encounter of the serpent,” the devil, from his harm, Heb 13:5; Heb 7:25.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(14) And to the woman . . .Better, And there were given to the woman (the) two wings of the great eagle (the definite article is used before great eagle), that she might fly into the wilderness, unto her place, where she is nourished there for a season, and seasons, and half a season, from the face of the serpent. The woman is persecuted and driven into the wilderness: yet it is with the eagle wings given her by her Lord that she flies; the serpent drives her into the wilderness: yet it is in the wilderness that her place is prepared by God. The way that seems hard is the way that is most blest. The opposition of the dragon brings her blessings that she never would have received except in persecution; neither the eagle power nor the heavenly sustenance had been hers without the serpents hate. Thus is the trial of faith precious in bringing us to know the priceless blessings of heavenly help and heavenly food. She is given eagles wings. God had spoken of the deliverance of Israel under a similar emblem, Ye have seen . . . how I bare you on eagles wings and brought you unto myself (Exo. 19:4; comp. Deu. 32:10-12). There is a difference as well as a resemblance in the emblem here. In Exodus God is said to have borne Israel on eagles wings: here the wings are given to the woman. The strength of the earlier dispensation is a strength often used for, rather than in, the people of God; the strength of the latter is a strength in them: They mount up with wings as eagles (Isa. 40:31). The place is not a chance spot: it is prepared of God; it is in the wilderness, but still it is the place God prepared for her. It is always a delight to faith to mark how the ordering of God works in and through the wilfulness and wickedness of the enemy: the Son of man goeth, as it was written, though there is a woe against the man by whom He is betrayed. The wicked one can never drive us from Gods place, but only to it, unless we are enemies to ourselves. She is nourished in the wilderness. (See Notes on Rev. 12:6.) The length of her sojourn is here called a season, seasons, and half a season; it was called twelve hundred and sixty days in Rev. 12:6. The period is in both cases the same in length, viz., three years and a halfi.e., the season (one year), the seasons (two years), and the half season (half a year). This is the period of the Churchs trouble and persecution. It is not to be sought by any effort to find some historical period of persecution corresponding in length to this, lasting three years and a half, or twelve hundred and sixty days or years. No such attempt has hitherto been crowned with success. The period is symbolical of the broken time (the half of the seven, the perfect number) of the tribulation of Gods people. There may be some future period in which the vision may receive even more vivid fulfilment than it has hitherto received; but the woman has been nourished in the wilderness in the ages that are gone, and her sustenance there by God is an experience of the past, and will be in the future. It is not only in one age, but in every age, that God gives His children bread in the day of adversity, during the season that the pit is being dug for the ungodly. In many an era the servant of God can exclaim: Thou preparedst a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
14. Two wings of a great eagle wilderness There seems to be a double allusion here: to Israel’s sojourn in the wilderness, and to the flight of the blessed mother of Jesus through the same wilderness to Egypt, as driven by Herod. Of the former, Jehovah said to Moses, approaching Sinai, Exo 19:4, “Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.” The woman came down from her high place in heaven, but it was on Jehovah’s wings, in order to be borne to a place of security as well as humiliation. Not that she is carried by the eagle; but the eagle’s wings are put on her, and she flies with them of herself, eagle-winged.
That she might fly in regard to the flight of the woman into the wilderness we may note, 1. That it was under fear of paganism, even after the pagan dragon was overthrown. Even under the Christianized empire, therefore, there was a powerful pagan influence repressive of a pure Christianity. This arose from two sources: First, The remains of pagan principle and practice in the national Church assuming the various forms of Mariolatry, wafer-worship, saint-adoration, pope-worship, and ritual. Second, The paganism of the nations of Northern Europe, who filled the atmosphere of the world with a pagan malaria. 2. The wilderness is at once the repressed power of the Church at home and her difficulty in struggling with the pagan nations of Europe for their conversion. 3. But her flying is mentioned twice, Rev 12:6; Rev 12:14. The first is a fleeing in fear, and refers to the humble and persecuted, yet spiritually-prospering, obscurity of the Church before the pagan downfall, and in anticipation of her 1260-day period. The second is a divine flying, with God-given wings, into the wilderness, with a divinely-provided nourishment. This alludes to the missioning of Christianity, especially northward, by which she not only, with obscure perseverance, converted the tribes that settled in Italy, but spread her power through the forests of central and northern Europe. Thus she fled from the dragon in fear; she flew to the wilderness, both spiritual and literal, of Europe with hope; she was divinely sustained, and was helped to prosperity and even victory by the very pagan earth. Yet the spirit and power of paganism contrived to overlie the Church, even after these victories, and her wilderness state remained through the “dark ages.” Though thus borne on eagles’ wings, yet her home is the wilderness. For Rome is still Babylon. Even after a Christian emperor was seated on the throne, a quasi-paganism was still able to struggle for ascendency, and at court a semi-pagan Christianity but too much prevailed. The pure Church, therefore, retired like raven-fed Elijah to the mystic wilderness.
For a time, and times, and half a time That is, for a season, (or year,) two seasons, and half a season; that is, three years and a half; or (Rev 12:6) 1260 days. This 1260-day period appears five times in the apocalypse. The origin of this use of this period seems to be found in the famine in Israel in the time of Elijah, which our Lord in Luk 4:25, and Jas 5:17, fix at three years and a half. But this could only be an approximation; for a famine neither begins nor ends on an exact day. And similarly, when adopted as a measurement in prophecy, the events will be found in their nature equally gradual in their commencement and termination, and the number must be viewed as simply an approximation. A similar period is adopted by Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7.
Elliott and others maintain that these five passages in the apocalypse designate the same time and train of events. But plainly two of them (Rev 12:14-15) designate the period of the dragon’s terrene troubling of the Church, and three of them (Rev 11:2-3; Rev 13:5) the supremacy of the beast.
This dragon-period is the time after the firmamental overthrow of the dragon in which he oppresses the Church, Rev 12:13; Rev 12:17. That is, it includes the time of the power of paganism in and over the Church, after paganism had ceased to rule imperially supreme. And certainly, measuring from the downfall of paganism under the reign of Constantine, we find that an approximate 1260-year period will bring us to the Reformation. And the Reformation was the establishment of an anti-pagan Church. The Roman “beast” still sustained a paganism in his own domain, for his period of domination was yet continuing. But the reformed Church completely expelled paganism from her limits. Christianity became established beyond all danger in the Roman empire about A.D. 325; and in 1588 the defeat of the Spanish armada placed the permanence of the Reformation beyond question. Constantine published the edict of Milan, by which Christianity was freed from persecution, in 313; and 1260 years bring us to 1573, when Protestantism was in full possession of all those States that became permanently Protestant.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
‘And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream, and the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the monster cast out of his mouth.’
The water like a river coming from the dragon’s mouth can, in the first place, be compared with the fire from the locust’s mouths (Rev 9:18). It is something spiritually destructive. An ironic contrast may be intended between believers from whose innermost being flow rivers of living water (Joh 7:38), and the Temple from which flowed the water of life (Ezekiel 47), and Satan from whose mouth flows a river of destructive waters. Thus it may refer to a flood of ‘false ideas’ seeking to turn God’s people from their faith, a flood which was somehow diverted ‘by God’.
At the time when large numbers of Jews were preparing to take up arms against the Romans tremendous pressure was being put on fellow Jews to participate in the insurrection. Christian Jews who had fled into the wilderness might indeed have been sought out to persuade them to participate, and John may even have known of a particularly nasty situation where this was prevented by some natural occurrence such as an earthquake, or by assistance from non-Christians giving them refuge. ‘The earth’, in contrast to Heaven, may represent such people – for in Revelation non-Christians are ‘those who dwell on earth’. (The methods used to gain support were sometimes particularly nasty for those who were obdurate. Men can easily lose control when patriotism and religious feeling go hand in hand).
Alternatively, in Isa 43:2 waters and rivers are pictures of tribulation and hardship that will come on the people of God, and there He promises, ‘I will be with you — they shall not overflow you’ (compare Psa 66:12). Thus this may refer to the waters of persecution which Satan tried to bring on those whom God was protecting. The earth is then seen as opening up to protect His people in fulfilment of His promise. Again there may be in mind non-Christian sympathetic assistance, ‘swallowing them up’ and enabling them to avoid pursuers.
Alternately it may have in mind a flood of soldiers as described in Jer 46:8 above. The river of Satan being likened to ‘the river of Egypt’, and seeking to overwhelm the fleeing ‘Israel’ as at the Exodus. The earth opening up may then be referring to some natural phenomenon that diverted the soldiers from their grim duty, as the waters of the reed sea swallowed up Pharaoh’s host.
Indeed all three ideas may have been in John’s mind, the river depicting Satanic attack from all sources. Apocalyptic ideas are all embracing.
The idea of the earth or ground opening up to swallow something is found in Gen 4:11; Num 16:30. They have no direct connection with this passage, but possibly the seed idea may have sprung from those passages. The emphasis is on the fact that the intervention was not a direct act of God but something natural, it was the earth and not directly Heaven that intervened. Although of course God was seen as behind the deliverance.
Whichever is in the mind of John the important fact is that Satan did his worst and God protected His people.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Rev 12:14 . Already in the . (Rev 12:13 ), lies the presupposition afforded by the preceding account (Rev 12:6 ), concerning the flight of the woman; but now as the subject is properly concerning the fate of the woman, that which in Rev 12:6 is touched upon only in the main point, and by anticipation, is expressly described. For Rev 12:14 does not speak of something entirely different from Rev 12:6 , as Ebrard thinks, who finds in Rev 12:6 the flight of the woman to heaven, i.e., the emblem of the dispersion of Israel on earth, but in Rev 12:14 the flight into the desert on earth, i.e., a miraculous deliverance of converted Israel on the actual earth; an interpretation which already fails, in that, in Rev 12:6 , it takes heaven together with the wilderness misplaced therein by Ebrard figuratively, but in Rev 12:14 , on the other hand, the earth (cf. Rev 12:13 ), in the proper sense, while the wilderness found in the same must again be understood figuratively, although it is manifest that all these local designations must, at all events, be understood in the same way, but that Rev 12:14 gives the proper execution, and that, too, in the natural place of the connection, of that which was shortly before in Rev 12:6 removed not without reason, [3163] results from a comparison of the two verses. Precisely the same is the goal of the flight; the in the wilderness is the place prepared there for the woman on God’s part; [3164] the same in meaning are the schematic dates for the determination of 3 times, i.e., years (derived also, according to the expression, [3165] from the figurative passages, Dan 7:25 ; Dan 12:7 ), agrees with the 1,260 days (Rev 12:6 ); [3166] the same, also, as to what is meant with the brief . ., . . . , Rev 12:6 , is the detailed description, Rev 12:14 : . ., . . . The certainty of the flight arranged by God depends upon the fact, that to the woman two wings of a great eagle are given, in order that for such is the intention of God in his deliverance, by causing wings to be given the woman she might fly to the place prepared for her on God’s part in the wilderness. The idea itself has grown by the plastic art of the writer of the Apoc. from the figure given in Exo 19:4 : [3167] As God formerly bore his people, when they fled from the Egyptians, on eagles’ wings, so, for her sure escape, a pair of eagle’s wings is given the woman fleeing from the dragon. Yet it dare not be said that the art. ., . , makes the eagle named here appear identical with that mentioned (Exo 19:4 ), [3168] for in that figurative passage a particular eagle is not designated. Ewald’s former opinion, also, that the art. in the Hebrew way [3169] designates superlatively a very great eagle, is not admissible, because the analogy even though it corresponded better than is actually the case would give only a purely superlative idea. [3170] Ebrard has developed from his view, that the art. designates the very eagle mentioned already in Rev 8:13 , the thought that “the rescue of the woman would follow in the moment when the final extraordinary developments of the fifth and sixth trumpets are to begin;” or, as he also says, that the woman “shall be sustained by the strength of the eagle which is to bring judgment upon the godless world.” But even apart from the two interpretations, lying at the basis of the false presumption that the soaring of the woman away into the wilderness is, according to fact and time, to be entirely distinguished from the escape into the wilderness, neither the one nor the other interpretation is possible, because in this passage that eagle cannot be meant, which in Rev 8:13 appears for a very special end, and one entirely foreign to what is stated in this passage. What is said can be concerning no particular eagle; the art. is intended generically, [3171] as Rev 1:1 . [3172] Two wings, like those of the great eagle, were given the woman, for rapid and sure escape. On this account, also, we are not to think of the eagle mentioned in Eze 17:3 ; Eze 17:7 , where, in a parable, the kings of Babylon and Egypt are represented as eagles; the thought accordingly developed by Auberlen [3173] from this passage, that the secular power itself more specifically, “the two parts of the Roman Empire in the East and West, especially since Constantine” must afford the woman, i.e., the Christian Church, a secure place by means of Roman civil and legal order, is consequently with as little foundation in the phraseology of the text, as the point of vision in general, which this form of exposition assumes, corresponds with the intention and contents of the entire ch. 12
, . . . As the nature of the escape, viz., by flying on eagle’s wings, so is also the place of refuge described according to the model of the deliverance of Israel out of Egypt in the wilderness. To the privations incident to the abode in the wilderness, the , . . ., does not refer; [3174] the only point made, is that the place prepared by God in the wilderness, for the fleeing woman, is a sure place of refuge against the persecution of the dragon, and that as God formerly nourished his people in the wilderness the woman would be nourished in this place of refuge, during the time determined on the part of God.
. This determination is not to be combined with the remote , [3175] but with the immediately preceding , . . ., [3176] and, therefore, to be explained like the Heb. , Jdg 9:21 : [3177] “out of the sight of the serpent,” i.e., far and concealed from it. No addition is to be made, at least as Hengstenb. does: “at its flight or in its fear;” the concise mode of statement presupposes the flight as already accomplished, and states how the escaped woman now tarries in security.
[3163] Beng., Ewald, De Wette, Hofm., Hengstenb., Auberlen.
[3164] The pres. , whose definite relation Ewald, Hofm., etc., try to invalidate, is just as intelligible as the pres. ; Rev 12:6 . In the meaning of John, the woman is present in her place in the wilderness; there she remains concealed during the entire time of trouble for believers (cf. Rev 12:17 ), which continues for just three and one-half times.
[3165] Cf. Winer, p. 167.
[3166] Cf. also Rev 11:2-3 .
[3167] Cf. also Deu 32:11 ; Psa 36:8 .
[3168] Zll., Ew. ii.
[3169] Jdg 6:15 ; 1Sa 17:14 .
[3170] “The absolutely great, i.e., the greatest.”
[3171] De Wette.
[3172] . .
[3173] Cf. Aret., Beng.
[3174] Against Hengstenb., etc., who, like Auberlen, wants to find it indicated that the “time of the Church’s desolation,” i.e., the “entire heathen-Christian, or Church-historical period,” is only a time of pilgrimage to the glory of the heavenly Canaan.
[3175] Vitr., Zll.
[3176] Beng., Ew., De Wette, Hengstenb.
[3177] LXX.:
.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
14 And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
Ver. 14. Two wings of a great eagle ] That is, sufficient means of safety and protection from peril, Exo 19:4 . By this great eagle, some mighty personage seems to be designed,Eze 17:3-7Eze 17:3-7 . And this may very well be Constantine, whose peculiar surname was Great: but yet so (saith Mr Forbes) as that the great honour and riches, wherewith, as with wings, he upon good intention endowed the Church, is an occasion to make her flee to the wilderness, all true and sincere religion by degrees decaying in the visible Church.
Where she is nourished for a time ] See Trapp on “ Rev 8:9 “
A time, times, and a half time ] That is, a year, two years, and half a year, even three years and a half, as Rev 11:9 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 12:14 . “The two wings of a huge griffon-vulture” ( either generic article, or a Hebraism, or more likely an allusion to the mythological basis). In traditional mythology the eagle opposed and thwarted the serpent at all points ( cf. reff.). In the Egyptian myth the vulture is the sacred bird of Isis (Hathor). Any allusion to Israel’s deliverance (as in Exo 19:4 ; Deu 32:11 ) is at best secondary.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
two = the two.
a = the.
great eagle. Great is emph. Compare Deu 32:11, Deu 32:12.
might = may.
fly. Greek. petomai. See Rev 12:6. Compare Exo 14:5. Psa 35:1-5. Isa 11:16. Eze 20:33-38. Hos 2:14, Hos 2:15. Zep 2:3. Mat 24:15-28. Mar 13:14-23.
time, &c. See Rev 11:2 and App-195.
from, &c. See Septuagint of Jdg 9:21 for same Figure of speech Idioma (App-6).
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Rev 12:14. ) The Hebrew dual does not always involve the number two: but it is used even in the description of four or six wings, Ezekiel 1 and Isaiah 6. Whence in the Septuagint is never expressed by . Therefore in this passage it is said not without great significance, , those two wings. The great eagle itself is the Roman empire: the two wings, the power over the east and the west.- , into her place) This place[130] comprises very large regions, Poland, Russia, Hungary, Transilvania, etc., by the addition of which to the church, A. 965, and thenceforward, the Christian power reached, in a continuous tract, from the Eastern to the Western Empire.- ) So Dan 7:25, ; ch. Rev 12:7, . In each passage the subject is the calamity of the holy people. The plural, , denotes two times. The plural number is to be taken most strictly. In this manner of speaking, after years, the space of two years is signified, l. 17, 3. Digest, de manum. test. Being indefinitely commanded to be free after years, he shall be free after the space of two years: and that interpretation both the favour of liberty demands, and the words admit. Thus ten, two decades, that is, twenty. According to the rule of the ancient Hebrew doctors, usually employed in expounding the Sacred Writings, the plural number is to be understood of two, if there is no reason to the contrary. Guil. Surenhusius de Alleg. V. T. in N. T., p. 589. And in this passage, indeed, the taking, in a strict sense, is admissible even on this account, because there is an interval between the one and the half. In an indefinite sense several are a . Mris the Atticist, , , . Ammonius and Thomas Magister, , , .[131] In the Apocalyptic sense a time has a definite length, as is plain from the distribution of this very period into a time, and times, and the half of a time. This period begins before the number of the beast, and extends beyond it: nor however does the whole of it far exceed it. It has 777 7/9 years. By such a method, even a Chronus has a definite length, and comprises five or times: although Leop. Frid. Gans Nobilis de Putlitz determines that has eighty years, and a Chronus 240 years, and thus he takes three for Chronus. Through a time, and times, and the half of a time, the Church is nourished, being removed from the serpent, and assailed by the river, i.e. the attack of the Turks, and not however overwhelmed: therefore those times are terminated by the captivity of the serpent, and are conveniently divided by the parts joints of the Turkish history. The beginning of the captivity, as is shown in its place, will be in A. 1836. Therefore the time is 2222/9 years, from A. 1058 to 1280; and in the middle of the eleventh century, a new kingdom arose among the Turks, and shortly afterwards inundated the eastern part of the Christian world; but, at the close of that century, the city of Jerusalem was taken from them, which not long after they took again. The times are 4444/9 years, from A. 1280 to 1725. In that interval they greatly desolated the Church, having taken Constantinople, having long had possession of Buda, and having more than once besieged Vienna. The half a time consists of 1111/9 years, from A. 1725 to 1836. Before the end of this half a time, and indeed considerably before, the earth swallows up the last attacks of the river.- ) construed with . Comp. , 2Ki 16:18, and Jud. 9:21, where the Hebrew accent plainly renders it a parallel expression: and Nehemiah 4 :(9)3.
[130] In der Erkl. Offeneb. Ed. II., p. 642, the place of the wilderness, in the singular, Germany, is much more definitely distinguished from the wilderness which comprises these countries. (Comp. p. 639), so that the eastern wing might especially subserve her flight into the wilderness, the western (wing) her flight into the place.-E. B.
[131] and are indefinite time. , definite term, generally short; , the opportune time. , the indefinite flow of time without the notion of an end: , time in its actuality, by which we perceive the succession of things; it is a sort of aggregate of times. , a specific time, and, as opportunity is fleeting, that time, of short duration: in Rev 12:14, a year, not literally but applied to the time of a year. See Tittm. Syn.-E.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
to the: Exo 19:4, Deu 32:11, Deu 32:12, Psa 55:6, Isa 40:31
she might: Rev 12:6, Rev 17:3
for a time: Rev 11:2, Rev 11:3, Dan 7:25, Dan 12:7
Reciprocal: 1Ki 17:3 – hide thyself Pro 22:12 – eyes Son 3:6 – this Jer 48:9 – wings Eze 4:6 – each day for a year Eze 20:35 – I will Dan 4:16 – seven times Dan 8:14 – Unto Dan 11:36 – till Hos 2:14 – and bring Mic 4:10 – shalt thou Mat 2:13 – Arise Rev 12:9 – that Rev 13:5 – and power
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 12:14. This is a repetition of verse 6 with the additional information about the two wings that were given her. They are symbols and refers to the Old and New Testament, for it is the word of God that sustains the church in all the trying scenes of this world. It is by this word the woman (the church) was to be nourished (given spiritual food) while she is in the wilderness. The length of her exile in the wilderness is the same actual period that has been stated elsewhere, only it is indicated with different figurative terms. The word “time” in figurative language means “year;” this is indicated in Dan 4:16 Dan 7:25 Dan 12:7. Our verse calls for time (one), times (two) and half a time. It sums up three and a half times or years. Multiply 360 by three and a half and you have 1260, the period of the Dark Ages.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 14.
7. Where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent–Rev 12:14. In this wilderness, or place prepared of God, where Jesus instructed the disciples who later formed the Jerusalem church to flee, the verse states concerning the woman that she was nourished for a time, times and a half time. This nourishment of the woman in “her place” compares with the manna by which Israel was fed in the wilderness, upon which event this description is based. In the Old Testament experience it was the result of the flight from Egypt of the church of Moses in the wilderness of Sinai; in the experience of Revelation it was the church of Christ in the flight from Jerusalem to her place in the wilderness of Pella –that place prepared of God, where she was nourished by providential protection. The numerical designation for a time, and times and half a time was equivalent to the forty and two months (of Rev 11:2), and the thousand two hundred and threescore days of Rev 11:3 and Rev 12:6, and they were equal to the same thing. They all refer, as explained in the comments on their mention in the preceding verses, to the mathematically calculated period of twelve hundred and sixty days between Nero’s order to Vespasian in the declaration of war and the completion of the siege and destruction of Jerusalem which brought an end to the Jewish state and the system of Judaism.
The mystically phrased expression of time and times and half a time was related to the ebbing and flowing of the tide of the persecutions and was comparable to the reference in Rev 17:8 : “the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.” The beast was when the persecutor was active; the beast was not when there was an interval of time between the persecutions; and the beast was seen as being reactivated in the last expression yet is. In a similar way the time and the times, of Revelation 12, referred to the period of the persecution in stages, and the expression half a time was the symbolic reference to the shortening of the period of tribulation as indicated in Rev 11:9 in the expression three days and a half, and as foretold by the Lord in Mat 24:22. It is consistent that the time and times and half a time shall be considered to mean the same shortened period as indicated in the expression three days and an half, in both of which the exact period from the commencement of the siege to the termination of it was certainly designated. (See comments on Rev 11:9)
It is said in verse 14 that the woman was nourished for this time from the face of the serpent (verse 14), in a place far from, and safe from, the scene of the siege and its accompanying trials, humiliations and horrors.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
This description of the deliverance of the righteous reminds us of other faithful ones who were delivered. ( Exo 19:4 ; Deu 32:9-14 ; Isa 40:31 ) Time (1), times (2) and a half time is equal to 42 months or 1260 days.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Verse 14
The narrative of the persecutions of the woman, which had been left at Revelation 12:7, to explain the preceding circumstances in the history of the dragon, is now resumed.–A time, times, and a half; a year, two years, and a half; that is, three years and a half,–still another mode of varying the expression of the period already repeatedly designated in different forms. (Revelation 11:2,3,12:6.)
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
12:14 {18} And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her {c} place, where she is nourished for a {19} time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.
(18) That is, being strengthened with divine power: and taught by oracle, she fled swiftly from the assault of the devil, and from the common destruction of Jerusalem and went into a solitary city beyond Jordan called Pella as Eusebius tells in the first chapter of the third book of his ecclesiastical history: where God had commanded her by revelation.
(c) Into the place God had prepared for her.
(19) That is, for three and a half years: so the same speech is taken in see Geneva (q) “Dan 7:25”. This space of time is reckoned in manner from that last and most grievous rebellion of the Jews, to the destruction of the city and temple,for their defection or falling away, began in the twelfth year of Nero, before the beginning of which many signs and predictions were shown from heaven, as Josephus wrote, lib.7, chap.12, and Hegesippus lib.5, chap.44, among which this is very memorable. In the feast of Pentecost not only a great sound and noise was heard in the Temple, but also a voice was heard by many out of the Sanctuary which cried out to all, Let us depart from here. Now three and a half years after this defection by the Jews began, and those wonders happened, the city was taken by force, the temple overthrown, and the place forsaken by God: and the length of time John noted in this place.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The Israelites will receive divine assistance in fleeing from the dragon (passive "were given"). God bore the Israelites "on eagles wings" when He enabled them to escape from Pharaoh (Exo 19:4; Deu 32:11; cf. Isa 40:31). Therefore we should probably understand the eagle to be metaphorical describing the way God will save them, namely, with strength and safety. Another possibility is that the eagle represents angelic assistance (cf. Rev 8:13). The comparison between an eagle that can fly overhead and an earth-bound serpent implies the superior protection of God.
Evidently many Israelites will flee from Jerusalem into desolate places to escape Satan’s persecution (cf. Zec 14:1-8; Mat 24:16; Mar 13:14). Some commentators have felt that mountainous Petra in Edom (modern Jordan) is a place where all that God predicted here could take place (cf. Mat 24:16). However the Jews could flee to any mountainous region for safety. God will nourish these Israelites in their place of refuge, possibly as He fed the Israelites in the wilderness and Elijah by the brook Cherith.
The reference to a time, times, and half a time identifies this activity as taking place during the Great Tribulation (Dan 7:25; Dan 12:7; cf. Rev 11:2; Rev 12:6; Rev 13:5). "Times" refers to years as is clear from the Hebrew of Dan 11:13 that reads "at the end of times, even years." The various references in Revelation to a time, times, and half a time, three and one-half years, and 1,260 days all refer to the same period: the Great Tribulation. No one will be able to buy or sell during the Great Tribulation without the mark of the beast (Rev 13:17), so perhaps God’s provisions will again be miraculous.
The "serpent" is another name for the dragon (Rev 12:9). Even though this period will be a time of intense persecution of Jews, God will preserve many of them, as He explained here (cf. Rev 7:3-8; Zec 13:8-9).