[[@page.3.12.16]][[@bible.87.12.16]]3.12.16 - Revelation [[12:16|bible.87.12.16]] 
the earth helped the woman
The earth itself is inanimate. This speaks of God's help manifested through nature, a common aspect of God's miraculous dealings with his people (Ex. [[9:23-25|bible.2.9.23-2.9.25]]; Jos. [[10:11|bible.6.10.11]]; Job [[38:22-23|bible.18.38.22-18.38.23]]; Isa. [[11:15|bible.23.11.15]]; Eze. [[38:22|bible.26.38.22]]). Perhaps the most dramatic example of the past is the parting of the Red Sea by an "unnatural" natural phenomenon: the east wind (Ex. [[14:21|bible.2.14.21]]). the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood
Swallowed is κατέπιεν [katepien] , a compound word meaning "drink down."1 Previously, God used the earth to literally swallow Korah and his household. "So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly" (Num. [[16:33|bible.4.16.33]] cf. Num. [[26:10|bible.4.26.10]]; Ex. [[15:12|bible.2.15.12]]). It seems likely that something similar will occur to those who pursue the woman.
Notes
1 Frederick William Danker, and Walter Bauer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2000), 416.
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