The idea
'As scholars widely recognize, the vision of the woman in heaven is directly based on the dream of Joseph, in which the sun, moon, and stars symbolize Jacob, Rachel, and their eleven sons.' Jacob himself decodes the moon as Joseph's 'mother.' Three consequences. Since to put something 'under one's feet' is royal dominion (Psalm 8), the Woman standing on the moon is 'exalted above all Israel, including the patriarchs and matriarchs of old.' A woman 'crying out in her pangs of birth' would recall, for any first-century Jew, the one woman whose birth-anguish the Bible describes — Rachel, whose 'hard labor' killed her and whose son is in Greek 'Son of my pain.' And as Rachel was the mother of Israel's persecuted children (Jeremiah 31:15), the Woman is mother of all who believe in Jesus and are persecuted (12:17). Jewish scholars saw the Rachel–Mary link before Pitre: Flusser — Rachel's pain 'is also symbolic for the suffering of Mary' — and Neusner, who calls Rachel 'Mary's ancient Israelite counterpart'; Pitre says he knows no New Testament scholar who noticed the cross-scene parallel.
Key verses
- Genesis 37:9 — sun, moon and eleven stars; 'thy mother.'
- Revelation 12:1 — the Woman with the moon under her feet.
- Psalm 8:6 — 'all things under his feet' — dominion.
- Genesis 35:16 — Rachel's hard labour.
- Revelation 12:17 — the Woman's persecuted offspring.
The connection
| Old Testament root | New Testament fulfilment | |
|---|---|---|
| Joseph's dream: the moon is Rachel; Rachel's anguish in labour | → | The Woman crowned with twelve stars, standing on the moon, in the anguish of birth |
Revelation 12 is the New Rachel text: its imagery is Joseph's dream, its labouring woman is Rachel's daughter, and its Woman is mother of the persecuted — as Rachel was. That two Jewish scholars reached the Rachel–Mary link independently is Pitre's confirmation.
Sources
- Modern scholars Pitre cites — David Flusser; Jacob Neusner; G. K. Beale; David Aune (pp 148–152)