a fabulous kind of serpent (perhaps as supposed to fasc… · noun — nominative singular masculine
out
ἔβαλενebalen
G906
to throw (in various applications · verb — second aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
of
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
his
αὐτοῦ.autou
G846
the reflexive pronoun self · personal pronoun — genitive singular masculine
mouth
στόματοςstomatos
G4750
the mouth (as if a gash in the face) · noun — genitive singular neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
1 Kings 17:6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook.
Exodus 12:35-36 And the children of Israel did according to the word of Moses; and they borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and…
2 Kings 8:9 So Hazael went to meet him, and took a present with him, even of every good thing of Damascus, forty camels’ burden, and came and stood befo…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 12:12–end
We have here an account of this war, so happily finished in heaven, or in the church, as it was again renewed and carried on in the wilderness, the place to which the church had fled, and where she had been for some time secured by the special care of her God and Saviour. Observe,
I. The warning given of the distress and calamity that should fall upon the inhabitants of the world in general, through the wrath and rage of the devil. For, though his malice is chiefly bent against the servants of God, yet he is an enemy and hater of mankind as such; and, being defeated in his designs against the church, he is resolved to give all the disturbance he can to the world in general: Woe to the inhabi…
flood--Greek, "river" (compare Exo 2:3; Mat 2:20; and especially Exo. 14:1-31). The flood, or river, is the stream of Germanic tribes which, pouring on Rome, threatened to destroy Christianity. But the earth helped the woman, by swallowing up the flood. The earth, as contradistinguished from water, is the world consolidated and civilized. The German masses were brought under the influence of Roman civilization and Christianity [AUBERLEN]. Perhaps it includes also, generally, the help given by earthly powers (those least likely, yet led by God's overruling providence to give help) to the Church against persecutions and also heresies, by which she has been at various times assailed.
Adam Clarke on Revelation 12:16
The earth helped the woman - "Nothing, and indeed," as Bishop Newton excellently observes, "was more likely to produce the ruin and utter subversion of the Christian Church than the irruptions of so many barbarous nations into the Roman empire. But the event proved contrary to human appearance and expectation: the earth swallowed up the flood; the barbarians were rather swallowed up by the Romans, than the Romans by the barbarians; the heathen conquerors, instead of imposing their own, submitted to the religion of the conquered Christians; and they not only embraced the religion, but affected even the laws, the manners, the customs, the language, and the very name, of Romans, so that the vic…
And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood. This earth is the holy flesh of the Lord, which, swallowing the death that temporarily prevailed over it, taught us also to swallow it. It can also be understood as the Church, whose admonitions and prayers of the mouth ward off the enemy's snares.
"And the earth helped the woman, and opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood which the dragon cast out of his mouth." That the earth opened her month and swallowed up the waters, sets forth the vengeance for the present troubles. Although, therefore, it may signify this woman bringing forth, it shows her afterwards flying when her offspring is brought forth, because both things did not happen at one time; for we know that Christ was born, but that the time should arrive that she should flee from the face of the serpent: (we do not know) that this has happened as yet.
But the earth helped the woman by opening its mouth and swallowing the river that the Dragon had spewed out of his mouth against the woman. The earth swallowing the river signifies that the temptation was accepted within her, that is, the Lord was put to death. But the Dragon was not helped by this; rather, in restoring the Lord again, He came to life after three days, having conquered death, since it was not possible for death to hold Him (see Acts 2:24), who is "the author of life," according to the divine Peter. (Acts 3:15) So that the composition might be so, and the earth helped the woman, it must be read completely; then, as if from a question, in what way did it help? It swallowed the river, that is, having received the Lord who was plotted against within itself, it gave Him back again, and in this it helped. Therefore, since the Dragon also failed in the second plot, what then does he do to the anointed sons and brothers of the Lord, that is, to the faithful?
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Adultery — Conjugal infidelity. An adulterer was a man who had illicit intercourse with a married or a betrothed woman, and such a woman was an adulteress. Intercourse between a married man and an unmarried…
Dragon — (1.) Heb. tannim, plural of tan. The name of some unknown creature inhabiting desert places and ruins (Job 30:29; Ps. 44:19; Isa. 13:22; 34:13; 43:20; Jer. 10:22; Micah 1:8; Mal. 1:3); probably, as…
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John Gill on Revelation 12:16
And the earth helped the woman,.... By opening itself, and taking in what the serpent cast out, so that it could not reach the woman, and annoy her, as follows:
and the earth opened her mouth; as it did when it swallowed up Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, Numbers 16:30; to which history this may have some respect:
and swallowed up the flood which the dragon east out of his mouth; if the flood refers to the Arian persecution, then the earth helping the woman, the church, and swallowing up this flood, may respect the Goths, who broke into the Roman provinces, under their king, Athanaricus, and fell upon the Arians, with great rage and cruelty, and infested the Roman provinces, which were nearer;…
John pictures Satan as Leviathan (cp. Job 41:1) trying to destroy God’s people (the woman; see study note on Rev 12:1). The protective earth responds and the waters of chaos are contained, as at creation (cp. Gen 1:2, 6-7, 9-10).
