12:1. “…a woman clothed with the sun….”

2 Esdras 2:1-9: Note, p. 25: “The mother who bore them, Jerusalem (Is. 54:1; Gal.4:26-27)”…. Note on 2:15-32: “… Mother, probably a reference to the church.”  (OAA p.25).

 

2 Esdras 10: 27, 41-48: “And I looked, and behold, the woman was no longer visible to me, but there was an established city, [note v: ‘a city was being built’] and a place of huge foundations showed itself…. The woman who appeared to you a little while ago, whom you saw mourning and began to console — but you do not now see the form of a woman, but an established city [note x: ‘A city to be built] has appeared to you — and as for her telling you about the misfortune of her son, this is the interpretation: This woman whom you saw, whom you now behold as an established city, is Zion.  And as for her telling you that she was barren for thirty years, it is because there were three thousand years in the world before any offering was offered in it.  And after three thousand years Solomon built the city, and offered offerings; then it was that the barren woman bore a son.  And as for her telling you that she brought him up with much care, that was the period of residence in Jerusalem.  And as for her saying to you, ‘When my son entered his wedding chamber he died.’ and that misfortune had overtaken her, that was the destruction which befell Jerusalem.”

 

12:6. “…Wilderness….“

1 Maccabees 2:29: “Then many who were seeking righteousness and justice went down to the wilderness to dwell there.” [I.e., after Mattathias had called them out]

 

2 Maccabees 5:27:  “But Judas Maccabeus, with about nine others, got away to the wilderness, and kept himself and his companions alive in the mountains as wild animals do; they continued to live on what grew wild, so that they might not share in the defilement.”

 

12:14. “…time, times and half a time”

2 Esdras 6:7 shows that the “dividing of times” means: “the end of the first age and the beginning of the age that follows.”