The Hand of the Enemy: Antisemitism
Let us now turn to one of Joseph’s prophetic dreams, an important vision that the Apostle John echoes in the final book of the Scriptures, the Book of Revelation. There, John draws on the same imagery of the sun, the moon, and the stars to illustrate the history of Israel, spanning from Joseph’s time to the Second Coming of Yeshua.
In doing so, John beautifully weaves together the roles of Messiah ben Yoseph and Messiah ben David, while also revealing the origins of the suffering and persecution that have followed the Jewish people since the very beginning. Let us explore Joseph’s dream and see how John uses it and adds to it.
This dream is found in Genesis 37:9 where Joseph says, “Lo, I have had still another dream; and behold, the sun and the moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.” What is the meaning of this dream? The explanation is given by Jacob himself. When he heard these words he told Joseph in the next verse, “Shall I and your mother and your brothers actually come to bow ourselves down before you to the ground?”
So, in the dream, the sun is Jacob, the moon, Rachel and the eleven stars were Joseph’s brothers. This prophecy has a double reference. First, it brings us to the end of the story in Genesis when Joseph’s brothers, not realizing that it was their own brother, bowed down to him who was second in command to the Pharoah in Egypt.
The prophecy then has a second reference and brings us to the Second Coming of the Messiah, when all Israel and the world will bow down to Messiah and finally recognize the One they pierced. This is when, in Revelation, chapter 12, John the apostle sees the same vision. This is what he says: “A great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars; and she was with child; and she cried out, being in labor and in pain to give birth.”
The same elements in Joseph’s dream are brought back, however this time John adds an important detail: Now there are twelve stars. This is because Joseph himself is not the Messiah, but one among the brothers, who together form the woman representing Israel, something that John adds to the dream. Here she is clothed with the sun, a radiant symbol of glory and divine protection. But also see in this vision is the laboring of this woman as she brings forth a Son, the Messiah Himself. Here, Joseph’s dream is reinterpreted as a portrayal of the nation of Israel as the vessel through which our Redeemer, the Messiah, would come. But see that the path for Israel to bring forth the Savior would be accompanied by anguish, opposition, and relentless persecution.
Notice the Child, the Messiah, is born as the woman, Israel, is crying out in labor and in pain. This explains why Israel has endured such deep suffering throughout history and continues to face more today: she was chosen to bring forth the Messiah. Yet her mission is not over. Scripture tells us that Yeshua will one day return to her, and it is in Jerusalem that He will establish His kingdom. From Israel’s future restoration, He will reign over all the nations of the earth. Now we can better understand why there is so much said about Jerusalem, the Jews and Israel.
These two dreams together paint, in just a few words, the sweeping history of Israel. But who is the one behind the woman, behind Israel’s suffering and persecution? It is not Hamas, not Iran. Here John reveals another figure at the heart of this struggle, one who stands behind not only Israel’s suffering but the suffering of the entire world. And verse 3 identifies him. Then another sign appeared in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon having seven heads and ten horns, and on his heads were seven diadems. Who is this dragon? The translation is unfortunate, for this word dragon brings us to think of a mythological figure, typically a large serpentine and powerful creature seen today in cartoons.
But it is so much more serious. The Greek word drakon, is derived from the word serpent. In the Septuagint, in Exodus 7, the rabbis translated the word for serpents of the magicians and that of Aaron who ate the other serpents as drakons. It is then a serpent what John is speaking about, but who is this serpent? We do not have to look much further for his identity in found in vs.9, “And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world”.
He clearly identifies him. This drakon is the devil himself, the serpent of old, the one we read about in Genesis. He is the god of this world, the one who deceives the whole world. His force, his main strategy is to hide and make believe that he does not exist, but here in Revelation, he is fully revealed. The serpent then is the source of antisemitism and of the current persecution of Israel. Today he is trying to isolate and decimate Israel so to prevent the Second Coming of Jesus (Matthew 23:39, Luke 13:35, Zechariah 12:10).
This is what is explained to us in Revelation 12, 4b, “And the dragon stood before the woman who was ready to give birth, to devour her Child as soon as it was born.” This is what he did throughout the history of the woman, Israel, through whom the Messiah came. However, since he could not devour the Child, he now concentrates on the woman, Israel; This is where we can see the root of antisemitism. He stood before the woman, and there we see the roots of the hatred against Israel that fills the pages of our history and of our present time. Satan stood before the woman until she gave birth to the Child, but once the Child ascended to heaven, he still stands in front of the woman right until the end.
This chapter tells us that during the Tribulation, the final 7 years before the Second Coming of Yeshua, antisemitism will reach its paroxysm: this is how it describes how Satan sees that his time is near. We read in verse 17, “And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Messiah Jesus”. Are we beginning to witness the rise of this rage today? It is very possible for everything is in place for the Tribulation to begin.
The Scriptures say that he will be so angry at the end that God will have to hide a remnant of Israel from him as Revelation 12 further explains. It is then when John, using Joseph’s dream, points at the root of antisemitism. And what we learn is that just as the Messiah was rejected by His own people as the Son of Joseph, so too has Israel been rejected by the nations. The resemblance is unmistakable.
Click Here for the Video : The Life of Joseph – Part 2