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13 And [kai] when [hote] the dragon [drakon] saw [eido] that [hoti] he was cast [ballo] unto [eis] the earth, [ge] he persecuted [dioko] the
woman [gune] which [hostis] brought forth [tikto] the
man [arrhen] child. KJV-Interlinear
13 And when
the dragon saw that he was thrown down to the earth, he persecuted the woman
who gave birth to the male child. NASB
The dragon as we have
already been told, is Satan. The woman is the symbolic representation of the
nation of Israel. The male child is of course Jesus Christ who is the Son of
God, the humanity of Jesus was born the son of a carpenter through the miracle
pregnancy of Mary, both Jews, and descendants of David and descendants of Abraham.
Of all of the cultures
and peoples in history, the Israelites have been the most persecuted group of
people in all of human history.
Since the time of
Pharaoh, they have been persecuted with ruthlessness and death, even of new
born infants.
The nation was divided
due to unbelief, and the Northern nation of Israel was destroyed, followed by
the Southern nation of Judah, and then Rome destroyed them again in 70 A.D.
They were persecuted
during the crusades in 1095 A.D. and following. They were persecuted across
Europe circa 1100 A.D. King Edward I, banished all Jews from England in 1290. France
persecuted them in 1306, followed by Spain in the 1490’s. The Jews were blamed
for the Black Death, 1348-50. The Jews were blamed for the assassination of
Tsar Alexander II, 1881. Millions of Jews died during Stalin’s reign. Millions more
died during World War 2. And since 1948 they have been under constant persecution
and pressure from their neighbors on every side in the Middle East.
But the worst of times
is still future, when Satan is evicted out from heaven, and thus turns on Gods
chosen people, specifically the Jewish people, during the last half of the
Tribulation. Jeremiah calls this time, the time of Jacob's distress, Jer 30:7,
and Jesus calls this time, the great tribulation, Matt. 24:21.
The word for persecute, ‘dioko,’
means to hunt with a passion and vengeance with murderous intent.
So, you can take all of
human history past, and collect all of the atrocities that have occurred and
throw them out the window as childs play, and start anew with even more brutal
and horrendous atrocities yet to come. And that is the picture that is painted
here in this verse.
God will be judging all
unbelievers for their unbelief, in order to get them to turn to Christ. This
includes Jews who are unbelievers. But too, Satan will be persecuting all
Jewish peoples out of pure hate, and desperation. Satan’s entire eternal future
depends on his destruction of the Jews.