. . . having temporarily consoled his
readers, Jud want to show them that God’s Word is not heard without opposition.
The second portent, is thus, predictably enough, Lucifer himself with his seven
heads and ten horns, who represent his henchmen, who have always done
everything to harm true faith. Commenting on Apc 12.4-7 Jud notes that Satan,
who “stood in front of the woman,” initially tried to stop the progress of the
word of God through the disobedience of Israel. As Jerusalem was destroyed, the
holy word of God became adulterated by human reason. However, God’s goodness
prevailed over Satan’s power, and Christ was incarnated and born of the Virgin
Mary.
Although Jud thus overtly refers to
Christ’s virgin birth, it is important to note that his basic exegetical
framework has not undergone any shift. The female figure of the Apocalypse at
no stage becomes identified with the Virgin Mary. Jud simply says:
Then the child was born; God’s word
became man, truth was victorious, falsehood was laid low, the devil’s trick was
found out by God in his wisdom and made known to the world. This child, Christ,
the eternal word of God becomes man in the sacred bosom of the virgin Mary, was
accepted by God the Father in their mercy for all the sins of the world. (Jud, Offenbarung,
1542, aaa 2v)
Thus the divine Word of God, which was
female, became a man and was born of another woman, the Virgin Mary. Jud’s
intention was certainly not to give a gendered exegesis of Apc 12. He does,
however, constitute an exception among mediaeval and Renaissance commentators
in the importance he accords to the female element in the chapter. . . . Jud
maintains his interpretation of the woman as the Word of God (giving birth to
Christ in the hearts of the faithful), constantly attacked by Satan. (Irena
Backus, Reformation Readings of the Apocalypse: Geneva, Zurich, and
Wittenberg [Oxford Studies in Historical Theology; Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 2000], 91, 92)
