And the dragon was angry with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
All Commentaries on Revelation 12:17 Go To Revelation 12
Bede
AD 735
commandments: To keep the commandments of God in the faith of Jesus Christ is to fight with the dragon, and provoke him to battle; and thanks be to God, Who has made the attempts of the cruel dragon of no effect. For, behold, while he endeavoured to annihilate the Lord incarnate, he is defeated by His resurrection. Afterwards, by striving to deprive the Apostles of their boldness in teaching, he was urgent, as it were, to take away from the world the woman, that is, the whole Church. But as he has laboured in vain to effect this, he assails indiscriminately every age of the faithful. And so it is, as follows. 18 sea. That is, the same enemy, when he is to excite plotting and war, stands upon the multitude of the people, "which the wind scattereth away from the face of the earth," and which is wont to accept his devices. <a