@Re 9:1-21. THE FIFTH TRUMPET: THE FALLEN STAR OPENS THE ABYSS WHENCE ISSUE LOCUSTS. THE SIXTH TRUMPET. FOUR ANGELS AT THE EUPHRATES LOOSED.
1. The last three trumpets of the seven are called, from @Re 8:13,
the woe-trumpets.
fall--rather as Greek, "fallen." When John saw it, it was not in
the act of falling, but had fallen already. This is a connecting
link of this fifth trumpet with @Re 12:8,9,12,
"Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, for the devil is
come down," &c. Compare @Isa 14:12, "How art thou
fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!"
the bottomless pit--Greek, "the pit of the abyss";
the orifice of the hell where Satan and his demons dwell.
3. upon--Greek, "unto," or "into."
as the scorpions of the earth--as contrasted with the "locusts" which
come up from hell, and are not "of the earth."
have power--namely, to sting.
4. not hurt the grass . . . neither . . . green thing . . . neither
. . . tree--the food on which they ordinarily prey. Therefore, not
natural and ordinary locusts. Their natural instinct is supernaturally
restrained to mark the judgment as altogether divine.
those men which--Greek, "the men whosoever."
in, &c.--Greek, "upon their forehead." Thus this fifth
trumpet is proved to follow the sealing in @Re 7:1-8, under the
sixth seal. None of the saints are hurt by these locusts, which is not
true of the saints in Mohammed's attack, who is supposed by many to be
meant by the locusts; for many true believers fell in the Mohammedan
invasions of Christendom.
5. they . . . they--The subject changes: the first "they" is
the locusts; the second is the unsealed.
five months--the ordinary time in the year during which locusts
continue their ravages.
their torment--the torment of the sufferers. This fifth verse and
@Re 9:6 cannot refer to an invading army. For an army would
kill, and not merely torment.
6. shall desire--Greek, "eagerly desire"; set their mind on.
shall flee--So B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read. But A
and Aleph read, "fleeth," namely continually. In @Re 6:16, which is
at a later stage of God's judgments, the ungodly seek annihilation, not
from the torment of their suffering, but from fear of the face of the
Lamb before whom they have to stand.
7. prepared unto battle--Greek, "made ready unto war." Compare
Note, see on Joe 2:4, where the resemblance of locusts
to horses is traced: the plates of a horse armed for battle are an image
on a larger scale of the outer shell of the locust.
crowns--(@Na 3:17).
ELLIOTT explains this of the turbans of
Mohammedans. But how could turbans be "like gold?"
ALFORD understands it
of the head of the locusts actually ending in a crown-shaped fillet
which resembled gold in its material.
as the faces of men--The "as" seems to imply the locusts here do not
mean men. At the same time they are not natural locusts, for these
do not sting men (@Re 9:5). They must be supernatural.
8. hair of women--long and flowing. An Arabic proverb compares the
antlers of locusts to the hair of girls. EWALD in
ALFORD understands
the allusion to be to the hair on the legs or bodies of the locusts:
compare "rough caterpillars," @Jer 51:27.
as the teeth of lions--(@Joe 1:6, as to locusts).
9. as it were breastplates of iron--not such as forms the thorax of
the natural locust.
as . . . chariots--(@Joe 2:5-7).
battle--Greek, "war."
10. tails like unto scorpions--like unto the tails of scorpions.
and there were stings--There is no oldest manuscript for this reading.
A, B, Aleph, Syriac, and Coptic read, "and (they have) stings:
and in their tails (is) their power
(literally, 'authority': authorized power) to hurt."
11. And--so Syriac. But A, B, and Aleph, omit "and."
had--Greek, "have."
a king . . . which is the angel--English Version, agreeing
with A, Aleph, reads the (Greek) article before "angel," in which
reading we must translate, "They have as king over them the angel,"
&c. Satan (compare @Re 9:1). Omitting the article with B, we must
translate, "They have as king an angel," &c.: one of the chief
demons under Satan: I prefer from @Re 9:1, the former.
bottomless pit--Greek, "abyss."
Abaddon--that is, perdition or destruction
(@Job 26:6 Pr 27:20). The locusts are supernatural instruments in
the hands of Satan to torment, and yet not kill, the ungodly, under this
fifth trumpet. Just as in the case of godly Job, Satan was allowed to
torment with elephantiasis, but not to touch his life. In @Re 9:20,
these two woe-trumpets are expressly called "plagues."
ANDREAS OF
CÆSAREA, A.D. 500, held, in his
Commentary on Revelation, that the locusts mean
evil spirits again permitted to come forth on
earth and afflict men with various plagues.
12. Greek, "The one woe."
hereafter--Greek, "after these things." I agree with
ALFORD and
DE
BURGH, that these locusts from the abyss refer to judgments about
to fall on the ungodly immediately before Christ's second advent. None
of the interpretations which regard them as past, are satisfactory.
@Joe 1:2-7 2:1-11, is strictly parallel and expressly refers
(@Joe 2:11) to
THE DAY OF THE
LORD GREAT AND VERY TERRIBLE:
@Joe 2:10 gives the portents accompanying the day of the Lord's
coming, the earth quaking, the heavens trembling, the sun, moon, and stars,
withdrawing their shining: @Joe 2:18,31,32, also point to
the immediately succeeding deliverance of Jerusalem: compare also, the
previous last conflict in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and the dwelling of
God thenceforth in Zion, blessing Judah. DE
BURGH confines the locust
judgment to the Israelite land, even as the sealed in @Re 7:1-8
are Israelites: not that there are not others sealed as elect in
the earth; but that, the judgment being confined to Palestine,
the sealed of Israel alone needed to be expressly excepted from the
visitation. Therefore, he translates throughout, "the land" (that is,
of Israel and Judah), instead of "the earth." I incline to agree with
him.
13. a voice--literally, "one voice."
from--Greek, "out of."
the four horns--A, Vulgate (Amiatinus manuscript),
Coptic, and Syriac omit "four." B and CYPRIAN
support it. The four horns
together gave forth their voice, not diverse, but one. God's
revelation (for example, the Gospel), though in its aspects fourfold
(four expressing world-wide extension: whence four is the
number of the Evangelists), still has but one and the same voice.
However, from the parallelism of this sixth trumpet to the fifth seal
(@Re 6:9,10), the martyrs' cry for the avenging of their blood from
the altar reaching its consummation under the sixth seal and sixth
trumpet, I prefer understanding this
cry from the four corners of the altar to refer to the saints'
prayerful cry from the four quarters of the world, incensed by the
angel, and ascending to God from the golden altar of incense, and
bringing down in consequence fiery judgments. Aleph omits the whole
clause, "one from the four horns."
14. in, &c.--Greek, "epi to potamo"; "on," or "at the great
river."
Euphrates--(Compare @Re 16:12). The river whereat Babylon, the
ancient foe of God's people was situated. Again, whether from the
literal region of the Euphrates, or from the spiritual Babylon
(the apostate Church, especially ROME), four angelic ministers of
God's judgments shall go forth, assembling an army of horsemen
throughout the four quarters of the earth, to slay a third of men, the
brunt of the visitation shall be on Palestine.
15. were--"which had been prepared" [TREGELLES rightly].
for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year--rather as Greek, "for (that is, against)
THE hour, and day, and month, and year," namely,
appointed by God. The Greek article (teen), put once only before
all the periods, implies that the hour in the day, and the day in the
month, and the month in the year, and the year itself, had been
definitely fixed by God. The article would have been omitted had a
sum-total of periods been specified, namely, three hundred ninety-one
years and one month (the period from A.D. 1281, when the Turks first
conquered the Christians, to 1672, their last conquest of them, since
which last date their empire has declined).
slay--not merely to "hurt" (@Re 9:10), as in the fifth trumpet.
third part--(See on Re 8:7-12).
of men--namely, of earthy men, @Re 8:13, "inhabiters of the earth,"
as distinguished from God's sealed people (of which the sealed of
Israel, @Re 7:1-8, form the nucleus).
16. Compare with these two hundred million, @Ps 68:17 Da 7:10.
The hosts here are evidently, from their numbers and their appearance
(@Re 9:17), not merely human hosts, but probably
infernal, though constrained to work out God's will
(compare @Re 9:1,2).
and I heard--A, B, Aleph, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and
CYPRIAN omit "and."
17. thus--as follows.
of fire--the fiery color of the breastplates answering to the
fire which issued out of their mouths.
of jacinth--literally, "of hyacinth color," the hyacinth of the
ancients answering to our dark blue iris: thus, their
dark, dull-colored breastplates correspond to the smoke out of
their mouths.
brimstone--sulphur-colored: answering to the brimstone or
sulphur out of their mouths.
18. By these three--A, B. C, and Aleph read (apo for kupo),
"From"; implying the direction whence the slaughter came; not direct
instrumentality as "by" implies. A, B, C, Aleph also add "plagues" after
"three." English Version reading, which omits it, is not well
supported.
by the fire--Greek, "owing to the fire,"
literally, "out of."
19. their--A, B, C and Aleph read, "the power of the horses."
in their mouth--whence issued the fire, smoke, and brimstone
(@Re 9:17). Many interpreters understand the horsemen to refer
to the myriads of Turkish cavalry arrayed in scarlet, blue, and yellow
(fire, hyacinth, and brimstone), the lion-headed horses
denoting their invincible courage, and the fire and brimstone
out of their mouths, the gunpowder and artillery introduced into Europe
about this time, and employed by the Turks; the tails, like serpents,
having a venomous sting, the false religion of Mohammed supplanting
Christianity, or, as ELLIOTT thinks, the Turkish pachas' horse tails,
worn as a symbol of authority. (!) All this is very doubtful.
Considering the parallelism of this sixth trumpet to the sixth seal, the
likelihood is that events are intended immediately preceding the Lord's
coming. "The false prophet" (as @Isa 9:15 proves), or second beast,
having the horns of a lamb, but speaking as the dragon, who supports
by lying miracles the final Antichrist, seems to me to be intended.
Mohammed, doubtless, is a forerunner of him, but not the exhaustive
fulfiller of the prophecy here: Satan will, probably, towards the end,
bring out all the powers of hell for the last conflict
(see on Re 9:20, on "devils";
compare @Re 9:1,2,17,18).
with them--with the serpent heads and their venomous fangs.
20. the rest of the men--that is, the ungodly.
yet--So A, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic. B and Aleph read,
"did not even repent of," namely, so as to give up "the works," &c.
Like Pharaoh hardening his heart against repentance notwithstanding the
plagues.
of their hands--(@De 31:29). Especially the idols
made by their hands. Compare @Re 13:14,15, "the image of the
beast" @Re 19:20.
that they should not--So B reads. But A, C, and Aleph read "that
they shall not": implying a prophecy of certainty that it shall be
so.
devils--Greek, "demons" which lurk beneath the idols which
idolaters worship.
21. sorceries--witchcrafts by means of drugs (so the Greek).
One of the fruits of the unrenewed flesh: the sin of the heathen: about
to be repeated by apostate Christians in the last days, @Re 22:15,
"sorcerers." The heathen who shall have rejected the proffered Gospel
and clung to their fleshly lusts, and apostate Christians who shall have
relapsed into the same shall share the same terrible judgments. The
worship of images was established in the East in A.D. 842.
fornication--singular: whereas the other sins are in the plural.
Other sins are perpetrated at intervals: those lacking purity of heart
indulge in one perpetual fornication [BENGEL].