And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to be delivered, to devour her child as soon as it was born.
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Bede
AD 735
devour: The devil plots against the Church, and strives to extinguish the faith of Christ in the hearts of the faithful, that he may, as it were, kill him who has been taught, and to whom by teaching he has given birth. And a figure of this deceit was shewn in Herod, who, like an intestine foe, pretends that he desires to worship the Lord, in order that he may put Him to death. <a
tail: He intimates the power and malice of the enemy, whom the Church overcomes by the help of the Lord, for he has cast down an innumerable host of angels and men by deceptive testimony, as with a tail. For the tail is a part of the body which is removed from sight, and unclean; and which conceals the parts which are unclean by the covering which it affords, that they may not appear. Tichonius, as his manner is, interprets the third part of the stars which fell, to false brethren, so that another third would be the Church, and the enemies external to it a third.
His tail drew the third part of the stars: a great part of mankind. This is spoken with an allusion to the fall of Lucifer from heaven, with the rebellious angels, driven from thence by St. Michael. (Witham)
According to Pastorini, this passage refers to the angels whom Lucifer drew after him by sin to the earth. Menochius interprets it of those bishops and eminent persons who fell under the weight of persecution, and apostatized.
And the dragon stood before the woman The devil is always ready, as far as God permits him, to make war against the Church and the faithful servants of God. The woman, the Church, brought a man child, or rather many men children, stout and valiant in the profession of the true faith, able to resist and triumph over the attempts of the persecutors in all nations, not of themselves, but by the grace and power of Jesus Christ, their protector, who is able to rule all nations as it were with a rod of iron, to frustrate all their attempts, and turn their hearts ...
Now, that he says that the dragon's tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, this may be taken in two ways. For many think that he may be able to seduce the third part of the men who believe. But it should more truly be understood, that of the angels that were subject to him, since he was still a prince when he descended from his estate, he seduced the third part; therefore what we said above, the Apocalypse says.
And the dragon stood before the woman who was beginning to bring forth, that, when she had brought forth, he might devour her child. The red dragon standing and desiring to devour her child when she had brought him forth, is the devil—to wit, the traitor angel, who thought that the perishing of all men would be alike by death; but He, who was not born of seed, owed nothing to death: wherefore he could not devour Him— that is, detain Him in death— for on the third day He rose again. Finally, also, and before He suffered, he approached to tempt Him as man; but when h...
