The Woman and the Beast

With chapter 12 the book of Revelation begins a new section. It has already presented the septenary of the seals and then that of the trumpets; now the last part begins. It is properly focused on chapter 16 that contains the septenary of the cups. But there are some chapters that prepare the great vision of the third septenary.

In chapters 12, 13, 14 and 15 we find an interesting indication that John himself offers us speaking of three signs. Let's try reading the beginning of chapter 12. "A great sign appeared in the sky" (first sign): a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. Then another sign appeared: "Then another sign appeared in the sky; it was a huge red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and on its heads were seven diadems."

We found two great images coming closer; grandiose signs defined as ‘signs’. This word is found only in chapter 15 when John repeats the same scheme. “Then I saw in heaven another sign" (the third) great and awe-inspiring: seven angels with the seven last plagues”. Seven cups, the seven bowls with the latest plagues. Therefore, this section is structured as the analysis of three great signs. The first two show a woman and a dragon: they are the images of the conflict. Instead, the third sign evokes the solution; it is the sign that announces the solution of the conflict.

What is the conflict we are talking about? The clash between the woman and the dragon. What we translate as ‘dragon’ is properly the Greek word δράκων = ‘drakon’, which indicates a large snake; it could be a python, a boa, but it is not simply an animal, it is the symbolic image of evil, of the demon (diabolus) that in Hebrew is called ‘Satan’… the same text explains it a little later. It is the ancient serpent.

Therefore, the clash between the woman and the serpent, it clearly shows the primitive image of the biblical tradition; it is the primary clash of humanity and the devil. At the beginning of the story there was this clash that determined the course of all history. Therefore, in this woman dressed like the sun, we can see the image of primordial humanity, that is, of God's good plan for humanity, in front of which the snake was placed with the intention of devouring her son.

The woman is pregnant. It is a strange and powerful image. It is presenting humanity as the carrier of the Messiah, within herself, as her own son and suffers in this childbirth. It cries out of pain, and the snake is ready to devour her child. The son that humankind generates is kidnapped by God and taken away guarded by the throne, but the woman remains. The woman is in heaven and then falls to earth. The snake fails in its attempt to dominate, to destroy her son. Angels fight against him, angels faithful to God. They collide with the rebel angels.

The dragon's tail is said to have shot down a third of the stars in the sky. We have already found this image. In apocalyptic language, the stars represent angels. According to the old imagination, a third was the number of angels who had rebelled against God. The great dragon, with its tail, pulls down a third of the stars in the sky. It involves not half of the angels, but less than half; meanwhile, the angels faithful to God are two thirds, they are double.

It is an important note that should not be taken literally like a numerical count but it's a symbolic indication to show that good is stronger than evil. Forces faithful to God are much more numerous and powerful than forces rebellious to God. From this collision, the serpent is defeated and is thrown into the ground; the woman is also in the desert and the serpent begins to make war on the woman, pursues her in the desert, the serpent wanted to destroy her.

Here you can see a reference to the story of the ancient people of Israel; from the paradisiacal situation at the beginning, there is a fall in a desert, and in the desert is the great persecution. The serpent throws a river of water with the intention of immersing the woman, but the earth comes to the aid, the earth opens and swallows the water. We recognize a reference to the Exodus, to salvation through the waters.

God feeds the woman in the desert, where He prepared a place for her, He feeds her for a time: "one year and two and a half years." Three and a half years is half seven. Forty-two months = three and a half years ... 1260 days = always three and a half years. They are different numbers that in the book of Revelation have a symbolic value to indicate the limited duration of the power of evil.

In the end, the dragon is placed on the beach, which is the boundary between land and sea. Lays its foundations in the sand, it is unstable; and it is precisely at the limit that marks the domain of his pride because in the ancient mythical language the sea is the symbol of evil, of chaos, of the primal confusion; the sea monster is this snake, ancient dragon, the image of evil. But there is a limit that blocks it. When rough seas seem to swallow the earth, it crashes there and stops there.

It is the image of a dominated pride, of a limit that God imposes, but the fallen serpent wants to make war on the seed of the woman, the descendants, those who keep the word of God and then it calls a beast from the sea. And another one on earth. Two beasts: they are his collaborators; they are two great images that must be interpreted. The beast that rises from the sea is the image of corrupt political power; it is human strength; it is the organization of states, of empires; it is the power that becomes an instrument of the devil to ruin humanity.

And the other beast that arises from the earth is also the corruption of power, but it is the image of a spiritual power. It is the power of culture and the power of religion. It represents that mentality that in all empires and dictatorships have guaranteed the ideology of power. They are the magicians, the astronomers, the soothsayers. These are the assistants, the advisers, the intellectuals and people of religion who support power. It is the corruption of religious power that makes an alliance with corrupt political power and these two powers become the beasts dominated by the ancient serpent to crush the woman, humanity.

It is the apocalyptic image of a grandiose clash not between good and evil, but between humanity and evil. When in chapter 15 we find the third sign, great and wonderful, we find with the symbol of the solution to the conflict between humanity and evil. Faced with the conflict between humanity and evil, there is a solution.

The Christian apocalyptic has no doubts, the solution is Jesus Christ. It is the paschal mystery of his death and resurrection. But in a complex and dark way it appears in the septenaries of the cups. By saying ‘cups’ we think of chalices, that is, large glasses to drink whatever. Or also, in modern language, the ‘cups’ refer to trophies that are awarded as a prize to a winner. This is not what the text of the book of Revelation is trying to say.

In my opinion, the best translation, even if it is not very fine, could be the word ‘bucket’, ‘basin’ because the Greek term used to indicate the cup ‘φιάλας’ indicates a low container and capable of containing a lot of liquid. This technical term corresponds to another Hebrew technical term and indicates the "sprinklers". Do you have the bucket of holy water in mind? It is such a liturgical object, that is, it is a container where a liquid is poured, not to drink, but to be taken and thrown to bless, for purification.

We are used to doing these rites with water; instead, in the Jewish tradition, these bowls contained blood. When an animal was slain, an atoning sacrifice, the priest collected the blood of the dead animal in a container, in a basin, in a bucket, perhaps of precious metal. And this collected blood was scattered. There was a very important occasion in the liturgy of ancient Israel where this spraying was done. It was the Kippur day. Kippur means expiation. On the 10th of the month Tishri, which occurs between September and October, the high priest made an atonement sacrifice for the sins of all people. He collected this victim's blood in the bucket and carried the blood inside the sanctuary, to the holy of holies, where was the cover of the ark; and taking this blood with his hand, he sprinkled that sacred and mysterious object seven times, asking God to forgive all the sins of the people.

That is the blood of sprinkling; it is the blood that is shed for the forgiveness of sins. You can recognize here those phrases that we Christians also use, but when we talk about blood that redeems from guilt, that blots out sins, we don't think in the blood of an animal victim, from one of the many lambs slaughtered in the temple in Jerusalem. We think of a person; we think of Jesus Christ. It is his blood that makes the atonement, therefore, the seven angels dressed in linen, with the band to their chest, is exactly like the priests of the ancient Levitical rite who carry seven bowls. They symbolically represent the great Kippur.

That is, the final event of the atonement for sin. This great and wonderful sign recalls the liturgy that brings forgiveness of sins to fulfillment. Therefore, it is a reference to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ; the solution of the conflict between the woman and the snake. The third septenary of the bowls, shows the definitive atonement and says that this fight was won by humankind and the dragon, the ancient serpent, was defeated, it becomes powerless for humanity, and the possibility of returning to the sanctity of the first origin is given.

Perhaps you expected to hear something about the Blessed Virgin Mary, about the woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars. It is true that, in tradition, this image has been applied to the Virgin Mary. We read this text of the book of Revelation every year on August 15, on the feast of the Assumption of Mary into heaven. However, we must be careful not to oversimplify things.

The text of the book of Revelation does not speak directly of Mary. In this great theological picture of human history, John presents human nature created good by God, in the splendor of its originality. However, we recognize that, in Mary, that beautiful, perfect person, human nature has truly been realized. Mary is the realization of that project.

And reading this text on the feast of her Assumption to heaven, we do not want to say that the woman that John sees in the sky is Mary Assunta, but we want to say that in her the victory over evil has been realized as a definitive and complete victory, so much so that she was conceived without original sin, and she was ascended to the glory of heaven in body and soul.

In Mary, the project of God has been carried out from the beginning to the end. What she has already conquered, it is in progress for all humanity. We are waiting to see complete for us, what has already been fulfilled in her. The book of Revelation of John shows us the global image, and guarantees that good is stronger than evil and thanks to the blood of Christ, humanity will definitely defeat the ancient serpent.