CHAPTER IX. _The fifth angel sounds, and a star falls from heaven to _ _earth_, 1. _The bottomless pit is opened, and locusts come out upon_ _the earth_, 2, 3. _Their commission_, 4-6. _Their form_, 7-10. _Their government_, 11, 12. _The sixth angel sounds, and the four angels bound in the_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:2. _HE OPENED THE BOTTOMLESS PIT_] το φρεαρ της αβυσσου _The pit of the bottomless deep_. Some think the angel means _Satan_, and the bottomless pit _hell_. Some suppose _Mohammed_ is meant; and Signior _Pastorini_ professes to believe that _Luther_ is intended! _THERE AROSE A SM... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:3. _LOCUSTS_] Vast hordes of military troops: the description which follows certainly agrees better with the _Saracens_ than with any other people or nation, but may also apply to the Romans. _AS THE SCORPIONS OF THE EARTH HAVE POWER._] Namely, to hurt men by _stinging_ them. Sco... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:4. _THEY SHOULD NOT HURT THE GRASS_] Neither the common people, the men of middling condition, nor the nobles. However, this appears rather to refer to the prudent counsels of a military chief, not to destroy the _crops_ and _herbage_ of which they might have need in their campaig... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:5. _TO THEM IT WAS GIVEN_] That is, they were _permitted_. _THAT THEY SHOULD BE TORMENTED FIVE MONTHS_] Some take these months _literally_, and apply them to the conduct of the Zealots who, from _May_ to _September_, in the year of the siege, produced dreadful contests among the... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:6. _IN THOSE DAYS SHALL MEN SEEK DEATH_] So distressing shall be their sufferings and torment that they shall long for death in _any form_, to be rescued from the evils of life. There is a sentiment much like this in _Maximianus_, Eleg. i., ver. 111, commonly attributed to _Cornel... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:7. _THE LOCUSTS WERE LIKE UNTO HORSES_] This description of the locusts appears to be taken from Joel 2:4. The whole of this symbolical description of an overwhelming military force agrees very well with the troops of Mohammed. The Arabs are the most expert horsemen in the world:... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:8. _HAIR AS THE HAIR OF WOMEN_] No razor passes upon their flesh. Their _hair long_, and their _beards unshaven_. _THEIR TEETH WERE AS_ THE TEETH _OF LIONS__._] They are ferocious and cruel.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:9. _THEY HAD BREASTPLATES-OF IRON_] They seemed to be invulnerable, for no force availed against them. _THE SOUND OF THEIR WINGS_] Their hanging weapons and military trappings, with the clang of their shields and swords when they make their fierce onsets. This simile is borrowed... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:10. _THEY HAD TAILS LIKE UNTO SCORPIONS_] This may refer to the consequences of their victories. They infected the conquered with their pernicious doctrines. _THEIR POWER_ WAS _TO HURT MEN FIVE MONTHS__._] The locusts make their principal ravages during the _five_ summer _months_... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:11. _A KING OVER THEM_] A supreme head; some think Mohammed, some think Vespasian. _THE ANGEL OF THE BOTTOMLESS PIT_] The chief envoy of Satan. _ABADDON_] From אבד _abad_, he destroyed. _APOLLYON._] From απο, _intensive_, and ολλυω, _to destroy_. The meaning is the same both in... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:12. _ONE WO IS PAST_] That is, the wo or desolation by the symbolical scorpions. _THERE CAME TWO WOES MORE_] In the trumpets of the sixth and seventh angels.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:13. _THE FOUR HORNS OF THE GOLDEN ALTAR_] This is another not very obscure indication that the Jewish temple was yet standing.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:14. _LOOSE THE FOUR ANGELS_] These four angels _bound_-hitherto restrained, in the Euphrates, are by some supposed to be the Arabs, the Saracens, the Tartars, or the Turks; by others, Vespasian's four generals, one in Arabia, one in Africa, one in Alexandria, and one in Palestine.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:15. _FOR AN HOUR, AND A DAY, AND A MONTH, AND A YEAR_] We have in this place a year resolved into its component parts. Twenty-four _hours_ constitute a _day_, seven _days_ make a _week_, four _weeks_ make a _month_, and twelve _months_ make a _year_. Probably no more is meant than... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:16. _TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND THOUSAND_] Δυο μυριαδες μυριαδων· _Two myriads of myriads_; that is, _two hundred millions_; an army that was never yet got together from the foundation of the world, and could not find _forage_ in any part of the earth. Perhaps it only means _vast number... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:17. _BREASTPLATES OF FIRE-JACINTH, AND BRIMSTONE_] That is, _red, blue_, and _yellow_; the first is the colour of _fire_, the second of _jacinth_, and the third of _sulphur_. _AND THE HEADS OF THE HORSES_] Is this an allegorical description of great _ordnance_? Cannons, on the mo... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:18. _BY THESE THREE WAS THE THIRD PART OF MEN KILLED_] That is, By these was great carnage made.... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:19. _THEIR POWER IS IN THEIR MOUTH_] From these the destructive _balls_ are projected; _and in their tails_, the _breech_ where the _charge_ of _gunpowder_ is lodged. _THEIR TAILS_ WERE _LIKE UNTO SERPENTS, AND HAD HEADS_] If cannons are intended, the description, though allegori... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:20. _YET REPENTED NOT_] The commission which these horsemen had was against idolaters; and though multitudes of them were destroyed, yet the residue continued their senseless attachment to dumb idols, and therefore heavier judgments might be expected. These things are supposed to... [ Continue Reading ]
Verse Revelation 9:21. _NEITHER REPENTED THEY OF THEIR MURDERS_] Their cruelties towards the genuine followers of God, the Albigenses, and Waldenses, and others, against whom they published crusades, and hunted them down, and butchered them in the most shocking manner. The innumerable murders by the... [ Continue Reading ]