And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
Drew - present, 'drags down.' His dragging down the stars with his tail (lashed back and forward in fury), implies his persuading to apostatize, and become earthy, those angels and once eminent human teachers who formerly were heavenly (cf. Revelation 12:1; Isaiah 14:12; Revelation 1:20). Elliott makes Licinius, who upheld paganism ruling in the East, a third of the empire, to answer to the "third part of the stars," under Satan's influence, and Constantine, the Christian emperor, to be the man-child caught up to the imperial throne, which, as son of the Church, he held as the Lord's throne. But Satan did not draw Licinius and the third of the empire from the stars of heaven to the earth.
Stood - `stands' х hesteeken (G2476)].
Ready to be delivered - `about to bring forth.'
For to devour ... - `that when she brought forth he might devour her child.' So his agent Pharaoh (a name common to all the Egyptian kings, meaning crocodile, like the dragon, and an Egyptian idol) was ready to devour Israel's males at the nation's birth. The antitypical Israel, Jesus, when born, was sought for destruction by Herod, who killed all the males at Bethlehem.