Revelation 16:11-16

Revelation 16:12. The sixth bowl lets loose forces in the Far East, at or near the river Euphrates (Revelation 9:14 *), to attack and destroy the Roman Empire. Euphrates. dried up: the object of this is to make it easy for the nations of the Far East to swoop down on the Roman Empire.

Revelation 16:13. dragon. beast. prophet: Revelation 12:3 *, Revelation 13:1; Revelation 13:11 *; the prophet here is the beast that comes up out of the earth in Revelation 13:11. unclean spirits. frogs: metaphor for evil influences and impure impulses. [In Persian mythology frogs are regarded as agents of Satan. A. J. G.]

Revelation 16:14. unto the kings: to marshal the forces of unrighteousness to resist the doom of God.

Revelation 16:15. Here the story of doom is interrupted for the moment, and a word of comfort and exhortation is vouchsafed to the Christians.

Revelation 16:16. The prophet resumes, and pictures the mustering of the forces on the final battle-field at Har-Magedon (the more correct way of spelling the familiar Armageddon). The name Har-Magedon means the mountains of Megiddo. We should naturally have looked for a word signifying the plain of Esdraelon on which Megiddo was situated, since that place was the scene of many battles in which the armies of Israel were concerned, and merited the description of G. A. Smith, the classic battleground of Scripture. There were mountains near at hand, however, and the writer may have been influenced by Ezekiel 38:8; Ezekiel 38:21; Ezekiel 39:2; Ezekiel 39:4, where the forces of Gog meet their overthrow upon the mountains of Israel (cf. Isaiah 14:25).