Revelation 12:3

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(3) And there appeared . . .—Better, And another sign was seen in the heaven; and behold a great red dragon. This, too, is a sign, and has a meaning. The dragon stands for some dread and hostile power. “The dragon is that fabulous monster of whom ancient poets told, as large in size, coiled like a snake, blood red in colour . . . insatiable in voracity, and ever athirst for human blood”—a fit emblem of him whom our Lord declared to be a murderer from the beginning; for the dragon is intended here to describe him who, in Revelation 12:9, is also said to be that old serpent, called the Devil and Satan. The red colour is the colour of flame and blood, and the symbol of destruction and slaughter. The dragon is the emblem of the evil spirit, the devil, the perpetual antagonist of good, the persecutor of the Church in all ages (comp. Psalm 74:13): just as the dragon is sometimes employed to represent the Egyptian power, the ancient foe of Israel (Isaiah 51:9; Ezekiel 29:3).

Having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns (diadems) upon his heads.—This is the further description of the dragon. He is one, yet diverse; one, as an evil spirit; diverse, in the varieties of his power. The woman is hut one: but her foe is multiform; she has one trust to keep, one work to do, and can but fulfil it in her Master’s way: evil is bound by no law, regards no scruple, and exerts its power through any channel and by every means. Is there not also an assumption of divine similitude here in the use of the number seven? It is at least the representation of the great and world-wide power which he exercises as the prince of this world, whose kingdom is in much a parody of the true kingdom. The whole description should be compared with the account given of the beast in Revelation 17:3; Revelation 17:7; Revelation 17:10; Revelation 17:12. There the seven heads are explained as seven kings, and the heads here are crowned; the ten horns are also explained as ten kings. The sevenfold kingship and the tenfold power of the world are thus described as belonging to the dragon. The picture here, as the picture of the wild beast in Revelation 17, represents, as concentrated into a single hostile form, all the varying forces and successive empires which have opposed or oppressed the people of God, and sought to destroy their efforts for good: for all evil has its root in a spirit at enmity with God. Hence the dragon appears armed with all the insignia of those sovereignties and powers which have been animated by this spirit.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

12:1-6 The church, under the emblem of a woman, the mother of believers, was seen by the apostle in vision, in heaven. She was clothed with the sun, justified, sanctified, and shining by union with Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. The moon was under her feet; she was superior to the reflected and feebler light of the revelation made by Moses. Having on her head a crown of twelve stars; the doctrine of the gospel, preached by the twelve apostles, is a crown of glory to all true believers. As in pain to bring forth a holy family; desirous that the conviction of sinners might end in their conversion. A dragon is a known emblem of Satan, and his chief agents, or those who govern for him on earth, at that time the pagan empire of Rome, the city built upon seven hills. As having ten horns, divided into ten kingdoms. Having seven crowns, representing seven forms of government. As drawing with his tail a third part of the stars in heaven, and casting them down to the earth; persecuting and seducing the ministers and teachers. As watchful to crush the Christian religion; but in spite of the opposition of enemies, the church brought forth a manly issue of true and faithful professors, in whom Christ was truly formed anew; even the mystery of Christ, that Son of God who should rule the nations, and in whose right his members partake the same glory. This blessed offspring was protected of God.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And there appeared another wonder in heaven - Represented as in heaven. See the notes on Revelation 12:1. That is, he saw this as occurring at the time when the church was thus about to increase.

And behold a great red dragon - The word rendered "dragon" - δράκων drakōn - occurs, in the New Testament, only in the book of Revelation, where it is uniformly rendered as here - "dragon:" Revelation 12:3-4, Revelation 12:7,Revelation 12:9, Revelation 12:13, Revelation 12:16-17; Revelation 13:2, Revelation 13:4,Revelation 13:11; Revelation 16:13; Revelation 20:2. In all these places there is reference to the same thing. The word properly means "a large serpent"; and the allusion in the word commonly is to some serpent, perhaps such as the anaconda, that resides in a desert or wilderness. See a full account of the ideas that prevailed in ancient times respecting the dragon, in Bochart, Hieroz. lib. iii. cap. xiv., vol. ii. pp. 428-440. There was much that was fabulous respecting this monster, and many notions were attached to the dragon which did not exist in reality, and which were ascribed to it by the imagination at a time when natural history was little understood. The characteristics ascribed to the dragon, according to Bochart, are, that it was distinguished:

(a) for its vast size;

(b) that it had something like a beard or dew-lap;

(c) that it had three rows of teeth;

(d) that its color was black, red, yellow, or ashy;

(e) that it had a wide mouth;

(f) that in its breathing it not only drew in the air, but also birds that were flying over it; and,

(g) that its hiss was terrible.

Occasionally, also, feet and wings were attributed to the dragon, and sometimes a lofty crest. The dragon, according to Bochart, was supposed to inhabit waste places and solitudes (compare the notes on Isaiah 13:22), and it became, therefore, an object of great terror. It is probable that the original of this was a huge serpent, and that all the other circumstances were added by the imagination. The prevailing ideas in regard to it, however, should be borne in mind, in order to see the force and propriety of the use of the word by John. Two special characteristics are stated by John in the general description of the dragon: one is, its red color; the other, that it was great. In regard to the former, as above mentioned, the dragon was supposed to be black, red, yellow, or ashy. See the authorities referred to in Bochart, ut sup., pp. 435, 436. There was doubtless a reason why the one seen by John should be represented as red. As to the other characteristic - great - the idea is that it was a huge monster, and this would properly refer to some mighty, terrible power which would be properly symbolized by such a monster.

Having seven heads - It was not unusual to attribute many heads to monsters, especially to fabulous monsters, and these greatly increased the terror of the animal. "Thus Cerberus usually has three heads assigned to him; but Hesiod (Theog. 312) assigns him fifty, and Horace (Ode II. 13, 34) one hundred. So the Hydra of the Lake Lerna, killed by Hercules, had fifty heads (Virgil, Aen. vi. 576); and in Kiddushim, fol. 29, 2, rabbi Achse is said to have seen a demon like a dragon with seven heads" (Prof. Stuart, in loco). The seven heads would somehow denote power, or seats of power. Such a number of heads increase the terribleness, and, as it were, the vitality of the monster. What is here represented would be as terrible and formidable as such a monster; or such a monster would appropriately represent what was designed to be symbolized here. The number seven may be used here "as a perfect number," or merely to heighten the terror of the image; but it is more natural to suppose that there would be something in what is here represented which would lay the foundation for the use of this number. There would be something either in the origin of the power; or in the union of various powers now combined in the one represented by the dragon; or in the seat of the power, which this would properly symbolize. Compare the notes on Daniel 7:6.

And ten horns - Emblems of power, denoting that, in some respects, there were ten powers combined in this one. See the notes on Daniel 7:7-8, Daniel 7:20, Daniel 7:24. There can be little doubt that John had those passages of Daniel in his eye, and perhaps as little that the reference is to the same thing. The meaning is, that, in some respects, there would be a tenfold origin or division of the power represented by the dragon.

And seven crowns upon his heads - Greek, "diadems." See the notes on Revelation 9:7. There is a reference here to some kingly power, and doubtless John had some kingdom or sovereignty in his eye that would be properly symbolized in this manner. The method in which these heads and horns were arranged on the dragon is not stated, and is not material. All that is necessary in the explanation is, that there was something in the power referred to that would be properly represented by the seven heads, and something by the ten horns.

In the application of this, it will be necessary to inquire what was properly symbolized by these representations, and to refer again to these particulars with this view:

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

3. appeared—"was seen."

wonder—Greek, "semeion," "sign."

red—So A and Vulgate read. But B, C, and Coptic read, "of fire." In either case, the color of the dragon implies his fiery rage as a murderer from the beginning. His representative, the beast, corresponds, having seven heads and ten horns (the number of horns on the fourth beast of Da 7:7; Re 13:1). But there, ten crowns are on the ten horns (for before the end, the fourth empire is divided into ten kingdoms); here, seven crowns (rather, "diadems," Greek, "diademata," not stephanoi, "wreaths") are upon his seven heads. In Da 7:4-7 the Antichristian powers up to Christ's second coming are represented by four beasts, which have among them seven heads, that is, the first, second, and fourth beasts having one head each, the third, four heads. His universal dominion as prince of this fallen world is implied by the seven diadems (contrast the "many diadems on Christ's head," Re 19:12, when coming to destroy him and his), the caricature of the seven Spirits of God. His worldly instruments of power are marked by the ten horns, ten being the number of the world. It marks his self-contradictions that he and the beast bear both the number seven (the divine number) and ten (the world number).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; there appeared to John, being yet in his vision, another amazing sight, which was a sign or type of something differing from what it appeared like.

And behold a great red dragon: see Revelation 12:7,9,17. Most judicious interpreters, by the great red dragon, understand the Roman emperors that first persecuted: the Christian church, of which Claudius was the first; yet some understand it of the devil, the old serpent; but the most and best interpreters understand it of the pagan emperors, by whom the devil did this work, called a great dragon, because of the vastness of that empire; a red dragon, for their cruelty against the Christians.

Having seven heads; the Holy Ghost, Revelation 17:9, hath expounded these seven heads, by seven mountains. The

ten horns are thought to signify the ten provinces belonging to that empire, the governors of which ruled like ten kings. It is expounded by

ten kings, Revelation 17:12. Strabo tells us, that Augustus Caesar divided the whole empire into twenty provinces; ten of which, being more quiet, he gave to the people to govern, the other ten he reserved to his own government. The seven crowns are expounded by seven kings, Revelation 17:10, of which we shall speak more when we come so far.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And there appeared another wonder in heaven,.... Or "sign"; which represents the woman, or the church's adversary, Satan; not that he was in heaven, in the third heaven, the place of glory and happiness, for out of that he had been cast long ago; but in his great power and authority here on, earth, particularly in the Roman empire, where the church was labouring to bring forth her man child:

and behold a great red dragon; the devil, as it is explained in Revelation 12:9; though not he in person, but the Heathen Roman empire, or the Heathen Roman emperors, acted, influenced, directed, and presided over by him; so Pharaoh king of Egypt, and other cruel and persecuting monarchs and states, are called dragons in Scripture, Isaiah 27:1; all which places the Targum interprets of "a king", and particularly of Pharaoh king of Egypt; who is like to a great and mighty dragon: and the Roman Pagan empire, as under the influence of Satan, the god of this world, is fitly compared to a "dragon", for its policy and cunning in circumventing and ensnaring the professors of Christianity; and for its cruelty and inhumanity in persecuting of them; and for its poison of idolatry, will worship, and superstition: and it may be called a "great" one, for its strength and power, which lay in its immense treasure and riches, in numbers of men, in powerful armies, in strong cities, castles, &c. and for its large extent and jurisdiction; and a "red" one, because of the blood of the saints shed in it, by which it became of this colour; suitable to the character and bloody practices of the old serpent the devil, by whom it was influenced, who was a murderer from the beginning; and agreeably to one of the names by which the Jews (x) frequently call the Roman empire Edom, the name Esau had from the red pottage he sold his birthright for, and who himself was born red, Genesis 25:29; it seems there were red dragons; Homer (y) says of the dragon, that it is red upon its back:

having seven heads, and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads; the "seven heads" of the Roman empire either design the seven mountains, or hills, on which Rome, the metropolis of the empire, was built, as the seven heads of the beast on which the woman drunk with the blood of the saints sat, are explained in Revelation 17:9; or rather the seven forms of government which successively should obtain in the empire, as kings, consuls, decemvirs, dictators, tribunes, emperors, and popes; hence these heads are said to have "seven crowns" upon them, as expressive of the imperial power and dignity which were in them, and exercised by them: Mr. Daubuz thinks seven capital cities in the Roman empire are meant, as Rome, Carthage, Aege, Antiochia, Augustodunum, Alexandria, and Constantinople; and nothing is more common than to call chief cities the heads of the countries they belong unto, as Damascus the head of Syria, and Samaria the head of Ephraim, Isaiah 7:8. Pliny (z) calls Babylon the head of Chaldea; and Cornelius Nepos says (a) of Thebes, that it was the head of all Greece; and Syracuse is by Florus (b) called the head of Sicily, as Rome is in Livy (c), and other writers, the head of the world: and by the "ten horns" are meant either the ten kingdoms which should hereafter arise out of the Roman empire, and whose kings should give their kingdoms to the beast; or the ten Roman emperors, the persecutors of the Christians; or rather the ten provinces, or jurisdictions, which the empire was divided into while Pagan: Brightman out of Strabo has shown, that in the times of Augustus Caesar the Roman empire was distributed into two parts, the one was more immediately under the care of the emperor, and the other was governed by deputies; and each were divided into ten provinces; that which the emperor held consisted of Africa, France, Britain, Germany, Dacia with Mysia and Thracia, Cappadocia, Armenia, Syria, Palestine with Judea and Egypt, in all ten; and that part which was governed by deputies were the outermost Spain, and the isles by it, the innermost Spain, &c. Sardinia with Corsica, Sicily, Illyricum with Epirus, Macedonia, Achaia, Crete with Cyreniaca, Cyprus, Bithynia with Propontis; so that the Roman Pagan empire, as under the dominion of Satan, is manifestly designed by the dragon thus described. The Jews (d) speak of ten horns which the Israelites had, which when they sinned were taken from them, as it is written, Lamentations 2:3, and were given to the nations of the world, according to Daniel 7:20; "and of the ten horns that were in his head", &c.

(x) Vid. Buxtorf. Lex. Rab. in voce (y) Iliad. 2. l. 308. (z) Nat. Hist. l. 5. c. 26. (a) In Vita Epaminond. l. 15. c. 10. (b) Hist. Roman. l. 2. c. 6. (c) Hist. l. 21. c. 30. (d) Echa Rabbati, fol. 53. 2, 3.

Geneva Study Bible

And there appeared another wonder in heaven; {4} and behold a great red dragon, having {5} seven heads and ten {6} horns, and seven crowns upon his heads.

(4) That is the devil or Satan, see Re 12:9, mighty, angry and full of wrath.

(5) By this to withstand those seven churches spoken of, that is, the catholic church, and that with kingly objects and tyrannical magnificence: signified by the crowns set on his heads, as if they belonged to him by the proper right, without controversy: as also he boasted to Christ; See Mt 4:9 Re 13:1.

(6) More than the horns of the Lamb, or than the churches are: so well equipped does the tyrant brag himself to be, to do all manner of wickedness.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Revelation 12:3-4. By another sign now becoming visible, the mortal enemy of the woman and her child, i.e., the devil, is described to the seer. The idea of the devil (cf. Revelation 12:9) as a δράκων[3035] is based upon Genesis 3,[3036] to which the connection of ὁ δράκων ὁ μέγας with ὁ ὅφις ὁ αρχ., Revelation 12:9, and the interchange of the expressions ὁ δράκων and ὁ ὄφις, Revelation 12:13; Revelation 12:15, clearly refers. The great size of the dragon may be inferred from his dreadful power;[3037] he appears to be fiery red, either “because fire[3038] is the symbol of destruction and corruption,”[3039] or “because he is the ἈΝΘΡΩΠΟΚΤΌΝΟς ἈΠʼ ἈΡΧῆς,”[3040] and also “is intent upon the murder of the child of the woman, as well as the murder of all believers;”[3041] in favor of the last is especially the circumstance that the representation of the devil is given with concrete distinctness, viz., with respect to the Romish secular power which is drunken with the blood of the martyrs.[3042] The objection that ΠΥῤῬΟς is not blood-red[3043] is not pertinent.[3044]

ἜΧΩΝ ΚΕΦΑΛᾺς

ἙΠΤᾺ-G0- ΔΙΑΔΉΜΑΤΑ-G0-. The two questions as to in what manner the ten horns on the seven diademed heads should be regarded as distributed, and what is the proper meaning and reference of these heads, horns, and diadems, inseparably cohere, but are not to be answered from the context of ch. 12 alone, but only from ch. 13 compared with ch. 17. Upon a mere conjecture depend the views of Vitr., that the middle head (i.e., Diocletian) bore all the ten horns (i.e., governed ten provinces); and of De Wette, that three heads had double horns. The opinion also of Bengel, received by Hengstenb., Ebrard, etc., that one of the heads, viz., the seventh, bore all ten horns, cannot be derived from Revelation 17:12.

With respect to the meaning of the heads, etc., only a few among the older allegorists have misjudged that since the seven heads, ten horns, and ten diadems are common to the dragon and the beast furnished with power from the same, ch. 13, the interpretation there given by John himself must regulate the explanation also of ch. 12 The devil manifestly appears as the proper author, working in the deepest foundation of every antichristian being, in such form as corresponds to the form of the beast, i.e., of the antichristian power actually entering this earthly world, and serving the dragon as an instrument. Without any support, therefore, are all such expositions as that of Tirinus, who understands the seven heads of the dragon as the seven deadly sins.[3045] But De Wette’s proposition also to explain the heads as an emblem of sagacity, and the horns of power, and the numbers seven and ten as the well-known mystical numbers without precise significance, in no way satisfies the analogy of ch. 13; the numbers also maintain their definite application in ch. 13. (and ch 11), and, therefore, cannot be taken in similar indefiniteness as that of the ΤῸ ΤΡΊΤΟΝ Τ. ἈΣΤ. directly afterwards in Revelation 12:4. It is[3046] the antichristian secular power of the Roman Empire which is beheld in ch. 13 under the form of the seven-headed and ten-horned beast;[3047] and, besides, the precise number of heads, horns, and diadems was based upon the historical relations of that empire;[3048] according to this is to be understood the analogous and, as it were, archetypal appearance of the dragon working by means of that secular power.[3049] Erroneous, therefore, are all the explanations which, instead of the concrete reference to the Roman Empire, either introduce extraneous specialties,[3050] or keep to indefinite generality.[3051] The latter applies especially also against Hofm.,[3052] Hengstenb., and Ebrard, who by a false explanation of properly adduced passages, Revelation 17:9 and ch. 13, and by an incorrect comparison of the ten horns of the dragon with the ten (still future) kings, Revelation 17:12, understand the seven dragon-heads of the seven phases of the godless secular power; but the ten horns, which (improperly) are regarded as on the seven heads, of the tenfold division of that ultimate secular power. Among the older allegorists, Calov. has correctly received the reference as made to Rome, but perverted it by not explaining the seven crowned dragon-heads from the relations of the imperial succession,[3053] but by regarding them as designations of the seven forms of government received in the entire history of Rome.[3054] The corresponding original form of the dragon must also be understood according to the standard, derived from chs. 13 and 17, of the beast in the service of the dragon, through which the Roman secular government with its emperors is symbolized. The ten horns correspond to ten personal rulers, who as emperors stand within the horizon of the prophet as possessors of the Roman Empire: (1) Augustus, (2) Tiberius, (3) Caligula, (4) Claudius, (5) Nero, (6) Galba, (7) Otho, (8) Vitellius, (9) Vespasian, (10) Titus. Thus also in Revelation 13:1 the ten horns of the beast, each of which bears a diadem, are meant; but in other respects the same fundamental view in chs. 13 and 17 is not applied and carried out with entire uniformity. The idea that one of the seven heads is mortally wounded, but again healed, applies indeed to the beast of ch. 13, but not to the dragon; and both descriptions, chs. 12 and 13, are distinguished from the statement of ch. 17 especially by the fact that in the former a genuine emperor, the last possessor of the Roman Empire, and ten kings still to come, who are distinguished throughout from those indicated by the ten horns of chs. 12 and 13, come within the sphere of the prophecy; while, on the other hand, ch. 17 makes no further reference to that which is designated in ch. 13 by the mortal wound of the one head, than by the inequality, common to all three chapters, between the number ten of the horns and seven of the heads. The seven heads are expressly designated as seven kings, i.e., emperors; John also says that the sixth is present.[3055] This peculiar relation between the number “ten” of the emperors and “seven” of the emperors, can only have the meaning which is indicated in another way also by the healed mortal wound, viz., that only with seven wearers of the diadem is the actual and true possession of the government found,—according to which a horn is to be regarded as on each of the seven heads of the dragon (and of the beast, Revelation 13:1),[3056]—while three among the ten wearers of the diadem, viz., the three chiefs, Galba, Otho, and Vitellius, by their rebellion possessed only an “uncertain and, as it were, unsettled imperial power.”[3057] The three horns, which recall these three usurpers, are on one of the seven heads neither in the dragon nor the beast. Where they are to be regarded, is not to be inferred in the same way from the idea of the forms of the dragon and the beast as the position of the seven (crowned, Revelation 13:1) horns on the seven (crowned, Revelation 12:3) heads; if John himself had had a precise view of the position of those three horns, he might have regarded them—corresponding to the historical condition—as between the fifth and the sixth crowned heads.

καὶ ἡ οὐρὰ, κ.τ.λ. By a highly dramatic stroke John portrays the track of the dragon, as by moving his dreadful tail hither and thither, he tore away a large (the third, Revelation 8:7 sq.) part of the stars of heaven, and cast them down to earth. An undoubted adumbration of this description is Daniel 8:10, where a horn that grew up to heaven cast down the stars. But in John the dragon appears ἘΝ Τῷ ΟὐΡΑΝῷ, like the woman, Revelation 12:1; the more readily suggested, therefore, is the conception, that while in an eager rage he lashes about his tail, it casts down from heaven the stars which it strikes.[3058] An attempt at false allegorizing lies in this feature of the description, in the fact that the seven heads, etc., have certainly a precise figurative reference; but the circumstance already that the numerical statement ΤῸ ΤΡΊΤΟΝ, Revelation 12:4, is to be taken only schematically, while the numbers Revelation 12:3 are to be taken with literal accuracy, gives the description another character. The allegorical explanations offered[3059] could be only arbitrary and fluctuating, because they depend entirely upon the error that they seek for a definitely ascribed prophetic thought, where the text gives only the expressive feature of a poetical description; a feature, however, which is important and characteristic in the entire presentation of the dragon, because thereby, in a way corresponding to the nature of dragons[3060] and the visionary locality (ἐν τ. οὐρανῷ), the rage and eagerness of the devil appearing as a dragon are made visible.

The dragon has in view, above all things, the child who is about to be born of the woman; he puts himself[3061] before the travailing woman, in order that, when she have given birth, he may devour the child.

[3035] Cf Kidduschim, p. 29, 2 b.; Wetst.: “A demon appeared to him in the form of a dragon having seven heads.”

[3036] Cf. 2 Corinthians 11:3.

[3037] Cf. Revelation 12:4 : κ. ἡ οὐρὰ, κ.τ.λ..

[3038] Cf. Revelation 9:17 sqq.

[3039] Ebrard.

[3040] John 8:44.

[3041] Vict., N. de Lyra, C. a Lap., Aret., De Wette, Hengstenb., etc.

[3042] Cf. Revelation 17:4; Revelation 17:6.

[3043] Ebrard.

[3044] Cf. on Revelation 6:4.

[3045] “The pride of the lion, the greed of the tiger, the luxury of the bear, the gluttony of the wolf, the enmity of the serpent, the wrath of the viper, the indolence of the ass.”

[3046] Cf. already Vict.

[3047] Cf. Daniel 7:7.

[3048] Cf. Revelation 13:1, Revelation 17:9 sqq.

[3049] Cf. Grot., Wetst., Ew.

[3050] N. de Lyra: “Khosroo, the Persian king, hostile to Christianity, is the seventh head; the six others are vassal kings, the ten horns, divisions of the army.” Cf. also Coccej., Beng., etc.

[3051] Beda: “The devil armed with the power of the earthly kingdom. The seven heads = all his kings; the ten horns = the whole kingdom.”

[3052] “The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes; the dragon has seven heads as a sign that his power is not indivisible; but the number of the powers into which his kingdom is dispersed is that of divine possibility. But his horns, i.e., the instruments of his strength, are ten, according to the number of human possibility.” Weiss: U. Erf., ii. p. 349.

[3053] Cf. Revelation 17:10, Revelation 13:3.

[3054] 1. Kings. 2. Consuls. 3. Decemviri. 4. Military tribunes. 5. Dictators. 6. Cæsars. 7. Odoacer, or even the Roman pontiffs.

[3055] Revelation 17:10.

[3056] The diadems are found, with the dragon, on the heads; with the beast, on the horns; corresponding in the one place to the number seven of actual emperors, and in the other to the number ten of all possessors of the government.

[3057] Cf. Sueton., Vesp., i.

[3058] Cf. Eichh., Ew.

[3059] Cf., e.g., Beda: “It indicates the strength and malice of the enemy, who by deceitful arts, as though with his tail, cast down an innumerable part of angels or men.” Aret.: “The tail is the end of time—the Papacy, for to this the Roman Empire at length degenerated.” Vitr.: “The devil, through the emperors of Rome, persecutors of the faith, caused the teachers of the gospel to be disturbed.” In like manner, Grot., who refers the οὑρά to Simon Magus, who led astray the third part, not only of Christian people, but also of the people. Calov., Beng., Stern, etc.: “The victory of earthly rulers.” Ebrard, etc.: “The seduction of the angels.” The best still, De Wette: “Violence perpetrated in the kingdom of light.”

[3060] “Dragons have their power, not in their teeth, but in their tails” (Solin, 30, in Wetst.).

Expositor's Greek Testament

Revelation 12:3. πυρρός, Vergil’s serpents which attack Laokoon have blood-red crests, and Homer’s dragon has a blood-red back, but here the trait (cf. above) is reproduced from the red colour of Typhon, the Egyptian dragon who persecuted Osiris (Plut. de Iside, 30–33). The seven heads are taken from the seven-headed hydra or mušmaḥḥu of Babylonian mythology. The devil’s deputy in Revelation 13:1 (= the composite mušruššu of Babylonia) has the same equipment of horns and heads, but the diadems adorn his horns. Here, to John’s mind at any rate (cf. Revelation 12:9), the dragon is not equivalent to any contemporary pagan power like Pompey (Ps. Sol. 2:29) or the king of Babylon.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

3. dragon] The word in classical Greek means simply “serpent,” though perhaps it was always specially applied to the larger or more formidable kinds. But in St John’s time the conception seems to have been familiar of a half-mythical kind of serpent, to which the name was appropriated: it had not gone so far as the mediæval type of “dragon,” with legs and wings, but the dragon was supposed to “stand” (see the next verse), hardly perhaps “on his rear,” as Milton imagines the Serpent of Eden to have done, before the curse of Genesis 3:14, but erect from the middle upwards; see Verg. Æn. II. 206–8. Whether this dragon bore visibly on him the primæval curse or no, there is an undoubted reference to the story of the Fall in this picture of the woman, the man, and the serpent. In Psalm 74:13-14 (14, 15); Job 26:13; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 51:9, we seem to find references to a “war in heaven,” either past or future, like that which follows here.

seven heads] Probably the vision avails itself of the imagery furnished by popular mythology: very likely Syria and Palestine had tales of seven-headed serpents, like the hydra of Lerna, or the cobras of modern Indian stories.

and ten horns] The only illustration of these is, that the beast of chaps. 13, 17 and of Daniel 7 has the like. But we must remember that the dragon is the archetype, not a copy, of the beast: and therefore the meaning here is probably more general: all unsanctified power is embodied in him (cf. St Luke 4:6), as all the power of holiness in the Lamb (chap. Revelation 5:6).

Bengel's Gnomen

Revelation 12:3. Πυῤῥὸς) Others read πυρὸς,[123] which the ancients formed from πῦρ, as though John should say, μέγαν πυρὸς δράκοντα. But πυρὸς is written for πυῤῥὸς, ch. Revelation 6:4. See Apparat. pp. 805, 820. [Ed. ii., pp. 524, 544.] The colour represents the fiery spirit of the dragon.—κεφαλὰς ἑπτὰ, seven heads) such as even history commemorates; and in this very city (Hamburgh) the skeleton of such a dragon with seven heads was formerly shown.—Joh. Diet. Winckler. Disquisition, p. 162.

[123] A Vulg. read πυῤῥός. BCh Memph. πυρός.—E.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 3. - And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and there was seen another sign in heaven (Revised Version). (See on ver. 1.) The appearance seen is not a representation of the devil as he actually is, but the sign - the dragon - is figurative and descriptive of the particular characteristics now about to be exhibited. In heaven - most likely merely in the space above, where he could be easily seen. Wordsworth, however, says, "Because the power here represented assails the Church, the kingdom of heaven." And behold a great red dragon. His identity is established by ver. 9, where he is called "the great dragon, the old serpent, the devil, Satan, the deceiver." Red; no doubt to enhance his terrible appearance; suggestive of his murderous, destructive character. "Dragon" (δράκων,) in the New Testament occurs only in this book. In the Old Testament the word is of frequent occurrence. In the LXX. δράκων is used seventeen times to express the Hebrew tannin (a sea or land monster, especially a crocodile or serpent); five times it stands for leviathan; twice it represents kephir (young lion); twice nachash (serpent); once attud (he-goat); and once pethen (python). Tannin (singular) is always rendered by δράκων except in Genesis 1:21, where we find κῆτος; but twice it is corrupted into tannim (viz. Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2). The latter word, tannim, is the plural of tan (a jackal), and is found only in the plural; but once it is found corrupted into tannin (Lamentations 4:3). There is no doubt as to the signification of the appearance. The dragon, is, in the Old Testament, invariably a symbol of what is harmful, tyrannous, murderous. It is a hideous, sanguinary monster, sometimes inhabiting the sea, sometimes the desolate places of the earth, always "seeking whom it may devour." In some passages it refers to Pharaoh (Psalm 74:13; cf. Ezekiel 29:3; Ezekiel 32:2); in others it is a type of what is noxious or desolate (Job 7:12; Isaiah 13:22; Isaiah 34:13; Psalm 44:19; Jeremiah 9:11, etc.). In Isaiah 27:1 we have the combination, "leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent;... the dragon that is in the sea." Having seven heads and ten horns. The description of the beasts in Revelation 12-17, is evidently derived from the vision of Daniel (7.), although the details differ. It seems reasonable to conclude, therefore, that the interpretation generally should follow the same lines as that applied to the Old Testament symbols, with which the writer was so familiar. The appearances described in Daniel are universally considered to typify various worldly powers which oppressed the Church and nation of the Jews. Similarly here the symbolism seems intended to portray the opposition of the devil to the Church of God, working through the power of the world. The heads and horns are both declared in Revelation 17:10, 12 to typify kingdoms - in what way we shall presently see (Revelation 17:10). The numbers seven and ten are both symbolical of completeness (see Revelation 1:4; Revelation 5:1; Revelation 13:1; Revelation 17:3). We have, therefore, in this picture of the dragon, the idea of the full and complete power of the world arrayed on earth against God and his Church. This power, connected with and derived from the devil, the prince of this world (John 12:31), is often alluded to by St. John as being opposed to, or in contrast with, the godly (see John 7:7; John 14:17; John 15; John 16; John 17; 1 John 2:15; 1 John 3:13; 1 John 5:4, etc.). And seven crowns upon his heads; seven diadems (Revised Version). That is, the kingly crown, the symbol of sovereignty, worn by the dragon to denote his power as "prince of this world." The word διαδήματα is found in the New Testament only here and Revelation 13:1 and Revelation 19:12. It is not the στέφανος, the crown of victory worn by the saints (see Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:11; Revelation 6:2, etc.). No account is given of the disposition and arrangement of the heads, horns, and diadems; nor is it necessary. The seven crowned heads signify universal sovereignty; the ten horns, absolute power. Probably those to whom St. John wrote understood the symbol as referring specially to the power of heathen Rome, which was at that time oppressing the Church; but the meaning extends to the power of the world in all ages (see on Revelation 13:1). Revelation 12:3

Vincent's Word Studies

Red (πυῤῥὸς)

See on Revelation 6:4.

Dragon (δράκων)

Satan. See Revelation 12:9. The word is found only in Revelation. In the Septuagint, of the serpent into which Moses' rod was changed. In Isaiah 27:1; Ezekiel 29:3, of the crocodile or leviathan of Job 41:1. In Jeremiah 51:34, of a dragon.

Crowns (διαδήματα)

The Kingly crown, not the chaplet (στέφανος). See on Revelation 2:10