Replies

The obvious difficulty with this whole scheme is that the woman spoken of in Rev. 12 is figurative (the book is, after all, a book in symbols; "signified" in Rev. 1:1).

We have no more reason to believe that the woman refers to a particular person (e.g., Mary) than we do believe that "the harlot" of Rev. 17 refers to a particular person.

In fact the rest of the imagery in Rev. 12 would lead us to an opposite conclusion. E.g.,
- The Woman is clothed with the sun, moon, and stars. A Jewish believer of the 1st century would recall the dream of Joseph where he describes his family (Israel) in these terms (Gen. 37). In fact this is what happened after he became an official in Egypt.
- The Woman is persecuted and is carried away into the wilderness for a definite period of time. An obvious reference to the bondage and protection of Israel as they fled from Egypt. True Israel, the church, was persecuted and forced to flee Jerusalem after Christ's ascension (Matt. 24:9; Luke 21:21).

The Israel imagery/connection in Rev. 12 cannot be ignored.

"The obvious difficulty with this whole scheme is that the woman spoken of in Rev. 12 is figurative (the book is, after all, a book in symbols; "signified" in Rev. 1:1)."

I would generally agree with this except in the passage in question (Rev. 12:1-17) all of the other characters are clearly identifiable individuals. For example. the male child is Jesus (vv 2, 4, 5 and 13), Michael the archangel is Michael the archangel (v 7) and the great dragon is "that ancient serpent, who is called the Devil and Satan, the deciever of the whole world (vv 3-4, 7, 9-10, 12-13, 15-18). This is of course, the individual Satan.

So in context, and in consistency with the rest of the passage, if all these are all individuals, then so is the woman, at least on one level (you can also admit an additional symbolic level). Furthermore, if we can acknowledge that the male child is the individual Jesus, which is plain, then the individual who gave birth to him (v. 5) is--surprise--Mary.