Revelation 9

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

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.

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].