Why are there two accounts of the Woman being nourished?
Imagery notwithstanding, there can be considerable confusion in the sequence of events here.
There are two instances of the woman being nourished for 3-1/2 years:
Then the woman fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared by God, so
that there she would be nourished for one thousand two hundred and sixty days. (Rev 12:6)
But the two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, so that she could fly
into the wilderness to her place, where she was nourished for a time and times and half a time, from the
presence of the serpent. And the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, so that he
might cause her to be swept away with the flood. But the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth
and drank up the river which the dragon poured out of his mouth. (Rev 12:14-16).
The figure of speech "the serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman"
(Rev 12:15) might be a reference to Daniel's prophecy of the 70th week
(Dan 9:26) and its first 3-1/2 years.
This imagery is consistent with Satan and his fallen angels, now confined to earth, bent on persecuting
Messianic Jews (Rev 12:13); but, they were thwarted. "Enraged with the
woman," they "went off to make war" with all Believers, "the rest of her seed, who keep the commandments of
God and have the witness of Jesus." (Rev 12:17).
Restatement is a Hebrew literary style in which the essential elements of an account are repeated with some
variation and introduce more specific information to emphasize or focus on the relevant elements of the account.
God used this same approach when He informed Moses about Creation especially the creation of man
(Gen 1:1-31; 2:4-25).