The Stellar Tableau Behind The “Woman-Child-Dragon” Apocalyptic Vision Of Revelation
Comprehending the meaning behind the mysterious imagery in the Book of Revelation remains one of the most challenging facets of New Testament scholarship, and one scene in particular continues to confound theologians: the “Woman-Child-Dragon” vignette of Revelation 12:1-6: There a “great sign was seen in heaven,” consisting of a pregnant woman crying out in labor, who is “clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of 12 stars.” Suddenly another sign appears, a “great red dragon, with seven heads and ten horns, and seven diadems upon his heads.” After sweeping one-third of the stars of the sky to the earth with its enormous tail, the dragon stood before the woman, poised to devour her child the moment it was born. She gave birth to a son that was immediately “snatched away to God and to his throne”—thereby thwarting the red ophidian’s plan. She then fled into the wilderness, where God had prepared a place for her.
The Woman-Child-Dragon scene from Revelation 12:1-6 by Albrecht Dürer (1498) Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain)
Although Biblical scholars cannot agree on the basis of John’s vision, a key piece of the data lay with Verse 1:9. where the author of Revelation, John, confides that he has been exiled to the Greek Isle of Patmos due to his prophesizing for Jesus; testimony that was considered seditious under Roman law.
