Teks -- Revelation 9:1-11 (NET)

9:1 Then the fifth angel blew his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth, and he was given the key to the shaft of the abyss. 9:2 He opened the shaft of the abyss and smoke rose out of it like smoke from a giant furnace. The sun and the air were darkened with smoke from the shaft. 9:3 Then out of the smoke came locusts onto the earth, and they were given power like that of the scorpions of the earth. 9:4 They were told not to damage the grass of the earth, or any green plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their forehead. 9:5 The locusts were not given permission to kill them, but only to torture them for five months, and their torture was like that of a scorpion when it stings a person. 9:6 In those days people will seek death, but will not be able to find it; they will long to die, but death will flee from them. 9:7 Now the locusts looked like horses equipped for battle. On their heads were something like crowns similar to gold, and their faces looked like men’s faces. 9:8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9:9 They had breastplates like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots charging into battle. 9:10 They have tails and stingers like scorpions, and their ability to injure people for five months is in their tails. 9:11 They have as king over them the angel of the abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon.

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per frasa)

Robertson: Rev 9:1 - Fallen

Fallen ( peptōkota ).

Perfect active participle of piptō , already down. In Luk 10:18 note pesonta (constative aorist active, like a flash of lightning) after etheōroun and in Rev 7:2 note anabainonta (present active and linear, coming up, picturing the process) after eidon .

Robertson: Rev 9:1 - Of the pit of the abyss

Of the pit of the abyss ( tou phreatos tēs abussou ).

Abussos is an old adjective (alpha privative and buthos , depth, without depth), but hē abussos (supply chōra place), the bottomless place. It occurs in Rom 10:7 for the common receptacle of the dead for Hades (Sheol), but in Luk 8:31 a lower depth is sounded (Swete), for the abode of demons, and in this sense it occurs in Rev 9:1, Rev 9:2, Rev 9:11; Rev 11:7; Rev 17:8; Rev 20:1, Rev 20:3. Phrear is an old word for well or cistern (Luk 14:5; Joh 4:11.) and it occurs in Rev 9:1. for the mouth of the abyss which is pictured as a cistern with a narrow orifice at the entrance and this fifth angel holds the key to it.

Robertson: Rev 9:2 - Opened

Opened ( ēnoixen ).

First aorist active indicative of anoignumi . With the "key"(kleis ).

Robertson: Rev 9:2 - As the smoke of a great furnace

As the smoke of a great furnace ( hōs kapnos kaminou megalēs ).

The plague of demonic locusts is here turned loose. Kaminos is old word for a smelting-furnace, already in Rev 1:15.

Robertson: Rev 9:2 - Were darkened

Were darkened ( eskotōthē ).

First aorist passive indicative of skotoō , old causative verb from skotos , in N.T. only here, Rev 16:10; Eph 4:18.

Robertson: Rev 9:2 - By reason of

By reason of ( ek ).

"Out of,"as a result of (Rev 8:13).

Robertson: Rev 9:3 - Locusts

Locusts ( akrides ).

Also Rev 9:7 and already in Mat 3:4; Mar 1:6 (diet of the Baptist). The Israelites were permitted to eat them, but when the swarms came like the eighth Egyptian plague (Exo 10:13.) they devoured every green thing. The smoke was worse than the fallen star and the locusts that came out of the smoke were worse still, "a swarm of hellish locusts"(Swete).

Robertson: Rev 9:3 - The scorpions

The scorpions ( hoi skorpioi ).

Old name for a little animal somewhat like a lobster that lurks in stone walls in warm regions, with a venomous sting in its tail, in N.T. in Luk 10:19; Luk 11:12; Rev 9:3, Rev 9:5, Rev 9:10. The scorpion ranks with the snake as hostile to man.

Robertson: Rev 9:4 - It was said

It was said ( errethē ).

First aorist passive indicative of eipon .

Robertson: Rev 9:4 - That they should not hurt

That they should not hurt ( hina mē adikēsousin ).

Sub-final (object clause subject of errethē ) with hina mē and the future active of adikeō as in Rev 3:9; Rev 8:3. Vegetation had been hurt sufficiently by the hail (Rev 8:7).

Robertson: Rev 9:4 - But only such men as

But only such men as ( ei mē tous anthrōpous hoitines ).

"Except (elliptical use of ei mē , if not, unless) the men who (the very ones who)."For this use of hostis see Rev 1:7; Rev 2:24; Rev 20:4.

Robertson: Rev 9:4 - The seal of God upon their foreheads

The seal of God upon their foreheads ( tēn sphragida tou theou epi tōn metōpōn ).

Provided for in Rev 7:3. "As Israel in Egypt escaped the plagues which punished their neighbours, so the new Israel is exempted from the attack of the locusts of the Abyss"(Swete).

Robertson: Rev 9:5 - That they should not kill them

That they should not kill them ( hina mē apokteinōsin autous ).

Sub-final object clause (subject of edothē ) with hina mē and the subjunctive of apokteinō either present (continued action) or aorist (constative, form the same), the usual construction with hina . The locusts are charged to injure men, but not to kill them.

Robertson: Rev 9:5 - But that they should be tormented

But that they should be tormented ( all' hina basanisthēsontai ).

Sub-final clause again with hina , but this time with the first future passive indicative (like Rev 3:9; Rev 6:4; Rev 8:3; Rev 13:12) of basanizō , old verb, to test metals (from basanos , Mat 4:24) by touchstone, then to torture like Mat 8:29, further in Rev 11:10; Rev 12:2; Rev 14:10; Rev 20:10.

Robertson: Rev 9:5 - Five months

Five months ( mēnas pente ).

Accusative of extent of time. The actual locust is born in the spring and dies at the end of summer (about five months).

Robertson: Rev 9:5 - Torment

Torment ( basanismos ).

Late word for torture, from basanizō , in N.T. only in Rev 9:5; Rev 14:11; Rev 18:7, Rev 18:10, Rev 18:15. The wound of the scorpion was not usually fatal, though exceedingly painful.

Robertson: Rev 9:5 - When it striketh a man

When it striketh a man ( hotan paisēi anthrōpon ).

Indefinite temporal clause with hotan and the first aorist active subjunctive of paiō (Mat 26:51), old verb, to smite, "whenever it smites a man."

Robertson: Rev 9:6 - Men

Men ( hoi anthrōpoi ).

Generic use of the article (men as a class).

Robertson: Rev 9:6 - Shall not find it

Shall not find it ( ou mē heurēsousin auton ).

Strong double negative ou mē with the future active indicative according to Aleph Q, but heurōsin (second aorist active subjunctive) according to A P (either construction regular). The idea here is found in Job 3:21; Jer 8:3. "Such a death as they desire, a death which will end their sufferings, is impossible; physical death is no remedy for the basanismos of an evil conscience"(Swete).

Robertson: Rev 9:6 - They shall desire to die

They shall desire to die ( epithumēsousin apothanein ).

Future active of epithumeō , a climax to zētēsousin (they shall seek), to desire vehemently. Paul in Phi 1:23 shows a preference for death if his work is done, in order to be with Christ, a very different feeling from what we have here.

Robertson: Rev 9:6 - Fleeth

Fleeth ( pheugei ).

Vivid futuristic present active indicative of pheugō . Even death does not come to their relief.

Robertson: Rev 9:7 - The shapes

The shapes ( ta homoiōmata ).

Old word from homoioō , to make like (from homoios , like), likeness, in N.T. only here, Rom 5:14; Phi 2:7, "the likenesses were like"(homoia ). Homoiōma is "midway between morphē and schēma "(Lightfoot).

Robertson: Rev 9:7 - Unto horses

Unto horses ( hippois ).

Associative-instrumental case, as is the rule with homoios (Rev 1:15; Rev 2:18; Rev 4:6.; Rev 9:10, Rev 9:19; Rev 11:1; Rev 13:2, Rev 13:11), but with the accusative in Rev 1:13; Rev 14:14. So also homoioi chrusōi (like gold) in this same verse.

Robertson: Rev 9:7 - Prepared for war

Prepared for war ( hētoimasmenois eis polemon ).

Perfect passive participle of hetoimazō . This imagery of war-horses is like that in Joe 2:4. "The likeness of a locust to a horse, especially to a horse equipped with armour, is so striking that the insect is named in German heupferd (hay horse), and in Italian cavalett a little horse"(Vincent).

Robertson: Rev 9:7 - As it were crowns

As it were crowns ( hos stephanoi ).

Not actual crowns, but what looked like crowns of gold, as conquerors, as indeed they were (Rev 4:4; Rev 6:2; Rev 12:1; Rev 14:14). These locusts of the abyss have another peculiar feature.

Robertson: Rev 9:7 - As men’ s faces

As men’ s faces ( hōs prosōpa anthrōpōn ).

Human-looking faces in these demonic locusts to give added terror, "suggesting the intelligence and capacity of man"(Swete). Vincent actually sees "a distinct resemblance to the human countenance in the face of the locust."

Robertson: Rev 9:8 - They had

They had ( eichan ).

Imperfect active, late form as in Mar 8:7 in place of the usual eichon .

Robertson: Rev 9:8 - As hair of women

As hair of women ( hōs trichas gunaikōn ).

That is long hair (1Co 11:15), with no reference to matters of sex at all, for anthrōpōn just before is used, not andrōn (men as distinct from women). Perhaps the antennae of the locust were unusually long.

Robertson: Rev 9:8 - As the teeth of lions

As the teeth of lions ( hōs leontōn ).

Supply hoi odontes (the teeth) before leontōn . See Joe 1:6. The locust is voracious.

Robertson: Rev 9:9 - As it were breastplates of iron

As it were breastplates of iron ( hōs thōrakas siderous ).

The thōrax was originally the breast (from the neck to the navel), then the breastplate, only N.T. usage (Rev 9:9, Rev 9:17; 1Th 5:8; Eph 6:14). The armour for the breastplate was usually of iron (siderous , Rev 2:27), but with the locusts it only seemed to be so (hōs ). However, the scaly backs and flanks of the locusts do resemble coats of mail. "The locusts of the Abyss may be the memories of the past brought home at times of Divine visitation"(Swete).

Robertson: Rev 9:9 - The sound of their wings

The sound of their wings ( hē phōnē tōn pterugōn ).

Graphic picture of the onrush of the swarms of demonic locusts and the hopelessness of resisting them.

Robertson: Rev 9:9 - As the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war

As the sound of chariots, of many horses rushing to war ( hōs phōnē harmatōn hippōn pollōn trechontōn eis polemon ).

Both metaphors here, the clatter and clangour of the chariot wheels and the prancing of the horses are found in Joe 2:4. Trechontōn is present active predicate participle of trechō , to run. Cf. 2Ki 7:6; Jer 47:3.

Robertson: Rev 9:10 - Tails

Tails ( ouras ).

Old word, in N.T. only in Rev 9:10, Rev 9:19; Rev 12:4.

Robertson: Rev 9:10 - Like unto scorpions

Like unto scorpions ( homoias skorpiois ).

Aleph A wrongly have homoiois (agreeing with skorpiois instead of with ouras ). It is a condensed idiom for "like unto the tails of the scorpions"as we have it in Rev 13:11 (cf. Mat 5:20; 1Jo 2:2).

Robertson: Rev 9:10 - Stings

Stings ( kentra ).

Old word from kentreō (to prick, to sting), in N.T. only here, Act 26:14 (about Paul); 1Co 15:55 (about death). It is used "of the spur of a cock, the quill of the porcupine, and the stings of insects"(Vincent). It was the goad used for oxen (Pro 26:3; Act 26:14).

Robertson: Rev 9:10 - In their tails

In their tails ( en tais ourais autōn ).

This locates "their power to hurt"(hē exousia autōn adikēsai , infinitive here, hina adikēsousin in Rev 9:4) in their tails. It might have been in other organs.

Robertson: Rev 9:11 - As king

As king ( basilea ).

Predicate accusative and anarthrous. In Pro 30:27 it is stated that the locust has no king, but this is not true of these demonic locusts. Their king is "the angel of the abyss (Rev 9:1) whose orders they obey."

Robertson: Rev 9:11 - His name is

His name is ( onoma autōi ).

"Name to him"(nominative absolute and dative, as in Rev 6:8).

Robertson: Rev 9:11 - In Hebrew

In Hebrew ( Ebraisti ).

Adverb as in Rev 16:16; Joh 5:2; Joh 19:13, Joh 19:17, Joh 19:20; Joh 20:16. Abaddōn . A word almost confined to the Wisdom books (Job 26:6; Psa 88:11; Pro 15:11). It is rendered in the lxx by Apōleia , destruction.

Robertson: Rev 9:11 - In the Greek tongue

In the Greek tongue ( en tēi Hellēnikēi ).

With glōssēi or dialektōi understood. As usual, John gives both the Hebrew and the Greek.

Robertson: Rev 9:11 - Apollyon

Apollyon ( Apolluōn ).

Present active masculine singular participle of apolluō , meaning "destroying,"used here as a name and so "Destroyer,"with the nominative case retained though in apposition with the accusative onoma . The personification of Abaddon occurs in the Talmud also. It is not clear whether by Apollyon John means Death or Satan. Bousset even finds in the name Apollyon an indirect allusion to Apollo, one of whose symbols was the locust, a doubtful point assuredly.

Vincent: Rev 9:1 - Fall

Fall ( πεπτωκότα )

Lit., fallen . The star had fallen before and is seen as fallen. Rev., properly construes star with from heaven instead of with fallen . Compare Isa 14:12; Luk 10:18.

Vincent: Rev 9:1 - Of the bottomless pit

Of the bottomless pit ( τοῦ φρέατος τῆς ἀβύσσου )

Rev., of the pit of the abyss . See on Joh 4:6, and compare Luk 14:5. It is not however a pit that is locked, but the long shaft leading to the abyss, like a well-shaft, which, in the East, is oftener covered and locked.

Vincent: Rev 9:2 - Smoke of a great furnace

Smoke of a great furnace

Compare Gen 19:28; Exo 19:18; Mat 13:42, Mat 13:50.

Vincent: Rev 9:3 - Locusts

Locusts ( ἀκρίδες )

The idea of this plague is from the eighth plague in Egypt (Exo 10:14, Exo 10:15). Compare the description of a visitation of locusts in Joel 2. There are three Hebrew words in the Old Testament which appear to mean locust, probably signifying different species. Only this word is employed in the New Testament. Compare Mat 3:4; Mar 1:6.

Vincent: Rev 9:3 - Scorpions

Scorpions

See Eze 2:6; Luk 10:19; Luk 11:12. Shaped like a lobster, living in damp places, under stones, in clefts of walls, cellars, etc. The sting is in the extremity of the tail. The sting of the Syrian scorpion is not fatal, though very painful. The same is true of the West Indian scorpion. Thomson says that those of North Africa are said to be larger, and that their poison frequently causes death. The wilderness of Sinai is especially alluded to as being inhabited by scorpions at the time of the Exodus (Deu 8:15); and to this very day they are common in the same district. A part of the mountains bordering on Palestine in the south was named from these Akrabbim , Akrab being the Hebrew for scorpion.

Vincent: Rev 9:4 - Green

Green

See on Rev 6:8.

Vincent: Rev 9:4 - Men which

Men which ( ἀνθρώπους οἵτινες )

The double relative denotes the class. Rev., such men as have , etc.

Vincent: Rev 9:5 - They should be tormented

They should be tormented ( βασανισθῶσιν )

See on torments , Mat 4:24.

Vincent: Rev 9:5 - Striketh

Striketh ( παίσῃ )

Dr. Thomson says that the scorpion cannot strike sideways. All accounts agree as to the fearful pain from its sting.

Vincent: Rev 9:6 - Men

Men

Rather, the men: those tormented.

Vincent: Rev 9:6 - Shall desire

Shall desire ( ἐπιθυμήσουσιν )

Ἑπι has the force of vehemently , earnestly .

Vincent: Rev 9:6 - Shall flee

Shall flee ( φεύξεται )

Read φεύγει fleeth . Aeschylus says: " Not justly do mortals hate death, since it is the greatest deliverance from their many woes" (" Fragment" ). Herodotus relates the address of Artabanus to Xerxes, when the latter wept on beholding his vast armament. " There is no man, whether it be here among this multitude or elsewhere, who is so happy as not to have felt the wish - I will not say once, but full many a time - that he were dead rather than alive. Calamities fall upon us, sicknesses vex and harass us, and make life, short though it be, to appear long. So death, through the wretchedness of our life, is a most sweet refuge to our race" (vii., 46).

Vincent: Rev 9:7 - Shapes

Shapes ( ὁμοιώματα )

Lit., likenesses .

Vincent: Rev 9:7 - Horses

Horses

Compare Joe 2:4. The likeness of a locust to a horse, especially to a horse equipped with armor, is so striking that the insect is named in German Heupferd hay-horse , and in Italian calvaletta little horse .

Vincent: Rev 9:7 - Crowns

Crowns

Not actual crowns, but as crowns. Milligan remarks that any yellow brilliancy about the head of the insect is a sufficient foundation for the figure.

Vincent: Rev 9:7 - As the faces of men

As the faces of men

There is a distant resemblance to the human countenance in the face of the locust. Men (ἀνθρώπων ) is to be taken not as distinguishing sex, but in the generic sense: human faces.

Vincent: Rev 9:8 - Hair of women

Hair of women

The antennae of the locust. There is said to be an Arabic proverb in which the antennae of locusts are compared to girls' hair.

Vincent: Rev 9:8 - Teeth of lions

Teeth of lions

Compare Joe 1:6.

Vincent: Rev 9:9 - Breastplates

Breastplates

The breast of the locust resembles the plates of a horse's armor.

Vincent: Rev 9:9 - Sound of their wings

Sound of their wings

Olivier, a French writer, says: " It in difficult to express the effect produced on us by the sight of the whole atmosphere filled on all sides and to a great height by an innumerable quantity of these insects, whose flight was slow and uniform, and whose noise resembled that of rain." For a graphic description of their numbers and ravages, see Thomson, " Land and Book, Central Palestine and Phoenicia," 295-302.

Vincent: Rev 9:9 - Of chariots of many horses

Of chariots of many horses

That is, of many-horsed chariots . The Rev., by the insertion of a comma, apparently takes the two clauses as parallel: the sound of chariots , (the sound) of many horses .

Vincent: Rev 9:9 - Tails like unto scorpions

Tails like unto scorpions

The comparison with the insect as it exists in nature fails here, though Smith's " Bible Dictionary" gives a picture of a species of locust, the Acridium Lineola , a species commonly sold for food in the markets of Bagdad, which has a sting in the tail.

Vincent: Rev 9:9 - Stings

Stings ( κέντρα )

Originally any sharp point . A goad . See on pricks , Act 26:14. Plato uses it of the peg of a top (" Republic," 436). Herodotus of an instrument of torture . Democedes, the Crotoniat physician, having denied his knowledge of medicine to Darius, Darius bade his attendants " bring the scourges and pricking-irons (κέντρα ) (3, 30) Sophocles of the buckle-tongues with which Oedipus put out his eyes.

" Woe, woe, and woe again!

How through me darts the throb these clasps (κέντρων ) have caused."

" Oedipus Tyrannas ," 1318 .

Of the spur of a cock , the quill of a porcupine , and the stings of insects .

For the A.V., there were stings in their tails , read as Rev., and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt .

Vincent: Rev 9:11 - They had a king over them

They had a king over them ( ἔχουσιν ἐφ ' αὐτῶν βασιλέα ).

Render, as Rev., they have over them as king . Compare Pro 30:27. Hence distinguished from the natural locusts.

Vincent: Rev 9:11 - In Hebrew

In Hebrew ( Ἑβραΐ̀στὶ )

Used only by John. Compare Joh 5:2; Joh 19:13, Joh 19:17, Joh 19:20; Rev 16:16.

Vincent: Rev 9:11 - Abaddon

Abaddon

Meaning destruction . Compare Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Pro 15:11. Here the Destroyer , as is evident from the Greek equivalent Ἁπολλύων Apollyon destroyer . Perdition is personified. It is after John's manner to give the Hebrew with the Greek equivalent. Compare Joh 1:38, Joh 1:42; Joh 4:25; Joh 9:7; Joh 11:16, etc.

Wesley: Rev 9:1 - And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star

Far different from that mentioned, Rev 8:11. This star belongs to the invisible world. The third woe is occasioned by the dragon cast out of heaven; the second takes place at the loosing of the four angels who were bound in the Euphrates. The first is here brought by the angel of the abyss, which is opened by this star, or holy angel.

Wesley: Rev 9:1 - Falling to the earth

Coming swiftly and with great force.

Wesley: Rev 9:1 - And to him was given

when he was come.

Wesley: Rev 9:1 - The key of the bottomless pit

A deep and hideous prison; but different from "the lake of fire."

Wesley: Rev 9:2 - And there arose a smoke out of the pit

The locusts, who afterwards rise out of it, seem to be, as we shall afterwards see, the Persians; agreeable to which, this smoke is their detestable idolatrous doctrine, and false zeal for it, which now broke out in an uncommon paroxysm.

Wesley: Rev 9:2 - As the smoke of a great furnace

where the clouds of it rise thicker and thicker, spread far and wide, and press one upon another, so that the darkness increases continually.

Wesley: Rev 9:2 - And the sun and the air were darkened

A figurative expression, denoting heavy affliction. This smoke occasioned more and more such darkness over the Jews in Persia.

Wesley: Rev 9:3 - And out of the smoke

Not out of the bottomless pit, but from the smoke which issued thence.

Wesley: Rev 9:3 - There went forth locusts

A known emblem of a numerous, hostile, hurtful people. Such were the Persians, from whom the Jews, in the sixth century, suffered beyond expression. In the year 540 their academies were stopped, nor were they permitted to have a president for near fifty years. In 589 this affliction ended; but it began long before 540. The prelude of it was about the year 455 and 474: the main storm came on in the reign of Cabades, and lasted from 483 to 532. Toward the beginning of the sixth century, Mar Rab Isaac, president of the academy, was put to death. Hereon followed an insurrection of the Jews, which lasted seven years before they were conquered by the Persians. Some of them were then put to death, but not many; the rest were closely imprisoned. And from this time the nation of the Jews were hated and persecuted by the Persians, till they had well nigh rooted them out.

Wesley: Rev 9:3 - The scorpions of the earth

The most hurtful kind. The scorpions of the air have wings.

Wesley: Rev 9:4 - And it was commanded them

By the secret power of God. Not to hurt the grass, neither any green thing, nor any tree - Neither those of low, middling, or high degree, but only such of them as were not sealed - Principally the unbelieving Israelites. But many who were called Christians suffered with them.

Wesley: Rev 9:5 - Not to kill them

Very few of them were killed: in general, they were imprisoned and variously tormented.

Wesley: Rev 9:6 - The men

That is, the men who are so tormented.

Wesley: Rev 9:7 - And the appearances

This description suits a people neither throughly civilized, nor entirely savage; and such were the Persians of that age.

Wesley: Rev 9:7 - Of the locusts are like horses

With their riders. The Persians excelled in horsemanship.

Wesley: Rev 9:7 - And on their heads are as it were crowns

Turbans.

Wesley: Rev 9:7 - And their faces are as the faces of men

Friendly and agreeable.

Wesley: Rev 9:8 - And they had hair as the hair of women

All the Persians of old gloried in long hair.

Wesley: Rev 9:8 - And their teeth were as the teeth of lions

Breaking and tearing all things in pieces.

Wesley: Rev 9:9 - And the noise of their wings was as the noise of chariots of many horses

With their war - chariots, drawn by many horses, they, as it were, flew to and fro.

Wesley: Rev 9:10 - And they have tails like scorpions

That is, each tail is like a scorpion, not like the tail of a scorpion.

Wesley: Rev 9:10 - To hurt the unsealed men five months

Five prophetic months; that is, seventy - nine common years So long did these calamities last.

Wesley: Rev 9:11 - And they have over them a king

One by whom they are peculiarly directed and governed.

Wesley: Rev 9:11 - His name is Abaddon

Both this and Apollyon signify a destroyer. By this he is distinguished from the dragon, whose proper name is Satan.

JFB: Rev 9:1 - 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 Rev 12:8-9, Rev 12:12, "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!"

JFB: Rev 9:1 - the bottomless pit

Greek, "the pit of the abyss"; the orifice of the hell where Satan and his demons dwell.

JFB: Rev 9:3 - upon

Greek, "unto," or "into."

JFB: Rev 9:3 - as the scorpions of the earth

As contrasted with the "locusts" which come up from hell, and are not "of the earth."

JFB: Rev 9:3 - have power

Namely, to sting.

JFB: Rev 9:4 - 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.

JFB: Rev 9:4 - those men which

Greek, "the men whosoever."

JFB: Rev 9:4 - in, &c.

Greek, "upon their forehead." Thus this fifth trumpet is proved to follow the sealing in Rev 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.

JFB: Rev 9:5 - they . . . they

The subject changes: the first "they" is the locusts; the second is the unsealed.

JFB: Rev 9:5 - five months

The ordinary time in the year during which locusts continue their ravages.

JFB: Rev 9:5 - their torment

The torment of the sufferers. This fifth verse and Rev 9:6 cannot refer to an invading army. For an army would kill, and not merely torment.

JFB: Rev 9:6 - shall desire

Greek, "eagerly desire"; set their mind on.

JFB: Rev 9:6 - shall flee

So B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read. But A and Aleph read, "fleeth," namely continually. In Rev 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.

JFB: Rev 9:7 - 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.

JFB: Rev 9:7 - crowns

(Nah 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.

JFB: Rev 9:7 - 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 (Rev 9:5). They must be supernatural.

JFB: Rev 9:8 - 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.

JFB: Rev 9:8 - as the teeth of lions

(Joe 1:6, as to locusts).

JFB: Rev 9:9 - as it were breastplates of iron

Not such as forms the thorax of the natural locust.

JFB: Rev 9:9 - as . . . chariots

(Joe 2:5-7).

JFB: Rev 9:9 - battle

Greek, "war."

JFB: Rev 9:10 - tails like unto scorpions

Like unto the tails of scorpions.

JFB: Rev 9:10 - 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."

JFB: Rev 9:11 - And

So Syriac. But A, B, and Aleph, omit "and."

JFB: Rev 9:11 - had

Greek, "have."

JFB: Rev 9:11 - 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 Rev 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 Rev 9:1, the former.

JFB: Rev 9:11 - bottomless pit

Greek, "abyss."

JFB: Rev 9:11 - Abaddon

That is, perdition or destruction (Job 26:6; Pro 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 Rev 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.

Clarke: Rev 9:1 - A star fall from heaven

A star fall from heaven - An angel encompassed with light suddenly descended, and seemed like a star falling from heaven

Clarke: Rev 9:1 - The key of the bottomless pit

The key of the bottomless pit - Power to inundate the earth with a flood of temporal calamities and moral evils.

Clarke: Rev 9:2 - He opened the bottomless pit

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

Clarke: Rev 9:2 - There arose a smoke

There arose a smoke - False doctrine, obscuring the true light of heaven.

Clarke: Rev 9:3 - Locusts

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

Clarke: Rev 9:3 - As the scorpions of the earth have power

As the scorpions of the earth have power - Namely, to hurt men by stinging them. Scorpions may signify archers; and hence the description has been applied to Cestius Gallus, the Roman general, who had many archers in his army.

Clarke: Rev 9:4 - They should not hurt the grass

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 campaigns

Clarke: Rev 9:4 - Which have not the seal of God

Which have not the seal of God - All false, hypocritical, and heterodox Christians.

Clarke: Rev 9:5 - To them it was given

To them it was given - That is, they were permitted

Clarke: Rev 9:5 - That they should be tormented five months

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 people; or to the afflictions brought upon the Jews by Cestius Gallus, when he came against Jerusalem, before which he lay one whole summer, or nearly five months - See Joseph., Bell. Jud., l. ii. c. 19

Others consider the months as being prophetical months, each day being reckoned for a year; therefore this period must amount to one hundred and fifty years, counting thirty days to each month, as was the general custom of the Asiatics

Clarke: Rev 9:5 - Their torment was as the torment of a scorpion

Their torment was as the torment of a scorpion - The phraseology here is peculiar, and probably refers to the warlike weapon called a scorpion, several of which, or men armed with them, Cestius Gallus brought with him in his army

Isidore describes this scorpion thus: Scorpio est sagitta venenata arcu vel tormentis excussa, quea, dum ad hominem venerit, virus qua figit infundit; unde et scorpio nomen accepit . "The scorpion is a poisoned arrow shot from a bow or other instrument, which, when it wounds a man, deposits the poison with which it is covered in the wound; whence it has the name of scorpion."Seneca, in his Hercules Oetaeus, act iv., ver. 1218, describes the torment which is occasioned by this species of poisoned arrow: -

Heu qualis intus scorpius, quis fervid

Plaga revulsus cancer infixus mea

Urit medullas ?

Clarke: Rev 9:6 - In those days shall men seek death

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 Cornelius Gallus: -

Nunc quia longa mihi gravis est et inutilis aetas

Vivere cum nequeam, sit mihi posse mori

O quam dura premit miseros conditio vitae

Nec mors humano subjacet arbitrio

Dulce mori miseris; sed mors optata recedit

At cum tristis erit, praecipitata venit

"Seeing that long life is both useless and burdensome When we can no longer live comfortably, shall we be permitted to die? O how hard is the condition on which we hold life! For death is not subjected to the will of man. To die is sweet to the wretched; but wished - for death flees away. Yet when it is not desired, it comes with the hastiest strides.

Job expresses the same sentiment, in the most plaintive manner: -

Why is light given to the miserable

And life to the bitter of soul

Who wait for death, but it is not

And dig for it more than hid treasures

They rejoice for it, and are glad

And exult when they find the grave

Job 3:20-22.

Clarke: Rev 9:7 - The locusts were like unto horses

The locusts were like unto horses - This description of the locusts appears to be taken from Joe 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: they live so much on horseback that the horse and his rider seem to make but one animal. The Romans also were eminent for their cavalry

Clarke: Rev 9:7 - Crowns like gold

Crowns like gold - Not only alluding to their costly tiaras or turbans, but to the extent of their conquests and the multitude of powers which they subdued

Clarke: Rev 9:7 - Their faces were as the faces of men

Their faces were as the faces of men - That is, though locusts symbolically, they are really men.

Clarke: Rev 9:8 - Hair as the hair of women

Hair as the hair of women - No razor passes upon their flesh. Their hair long, and their beards unshaven

Clarke: Rev 9:8 - Their teeth were as the teeth of lions

Their teeth were as the teeth of lions - They are ferocious and cruel.

Clarke: Rev 9:9 - They had breastplates - of iron

They had breastplates - of iron - They seemed to be invulnerable, for no force availed against them

Clarke: Rev 9:9 - The sound of their wings

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 from Joe 2:5-7.

Clarke: Rev 9:10 - They had tails like unto scorpions

They had tails like unto scorpions - This may refer to the consequences of their victories. They infected the conquered with their pernicious doctrines

Clarke: Rev 9:10 - Their power was to hurt men five months

Their power was to hurt men five months - The locusts make their principal ravages during the five summer months. But probably these may be prophetic months, as above, in Rev 9:5 - 150 years.

Clarke: Rev 9:11 - A king over them

A king over them - A supreme head; some think Mohammed, some think Vespasian

Clarke: Rev 9:11 - The angel of the bottomless pit

The angel of the bottomless pit - The chief envoy of Satan

Clarke: Rev 9:11 - Abaddon

Abaddon - From אבד abad , he destroyed

Clarke: Rev 9:11 - Apollyon

Apollyon - From απο, intensive, and ολλυω, to destroy. The meaning is the same both in the Hebrew and Greek.

Defender: Rev 9:1 - star fall from heaven

This falling (or fallen) star is an angel, not an actual star (angels are often referred to as stars in Scripture). His name, Abaddon (Greek equivalent to Apollyon - both meaning "destroyer," Rev 9:11), would indicate that he is either Satan or one of the principals in the Satanic hierarchy. Satan had fallen from heaven to the earth long ago (Isa 14:12; Luk 10:18), though he still has some access to the heavenly councils as "the accuser of our brethren" (Rev 12:10; see also Job 1:6-11; Luk 22:31).

Defender: Rev 9:1 - key

The Lord Jesus Christ, ever since His death and resurrection, has had jurisdiction over the "keys" to Hades where many fallen angels are confined, as well as the souls of the unsaved (Rev 1:18). Thus, at the sounding of the fifth trumpet, He will allow Abaddon to release a horde of these demonic spirits for a five-month period (Rev 9:5) to vent their hatred of mankind on those people on the earth who are still rebelling against God. The unsaved will have yet another incentive to repent and be saved.

Defender: Rev 9:1 - bottomless pit

The word for pit, abussos (Greek meaning "without a base") is translated "deep" in Luk 8:31 and Rom 10:7. Modern versions usually transliterate it simply as "abyss." This pit is apparently the lowest compartment of Hades, at the very center of the earth. Its "bottomless" description can thus be taken literally since all of its boundaries are, in effect, ceilings. It probably refers to the lowest hell where "the angels that sinned" (2Pe 2:4) are confined in "chains of darkness," awaiting their final judgment. It is probably these that will temporarily be released by Abaddon from the bottomless pit."

Defender: Rev 9:2 - smoke of a great furnace

The escaping smoke seems to indicate that there are, indeed, literal fires in Hades. Some have conjectured that somewhere on earth there is a great shaft (Num 16:33) through which are carried the souls of the unsaved dead and from which demons and the accompanying smoke will issue. The location, if this is true, is undoubtedly covered and hidden so that geologists could never locate it - only Christ has the key (compare Gen 19:28)."

Defender: Rev 9:3 - locusts

These are obviously not actual locusts, for they will attack only "unsealed" men and not the vegetation (Rev 9:4). To John, however, they could only be compared to swarms of locusts. No man has ever seen such terrifying insects before or since, with the teeth of lions and the stings of scorpions, yet with faces and armor like soldiers and hair like women (Rev 9:7-10). Demons have long had an obsessive desire for physical bodies (Gen 6:2; Luk 8:30, Luk 8:32), so God will give them, for this brief time, bodies appropriate to their true character, allowing them to exercise His judgment on the still-rebellious men."

Defender: Rev 9:4 - seal of God

The forehead "seal" had been inscribed on the 144,000 chosen Israelites (Rev 7:4); perhaps it will also be given to others who turn to Christ under these trumpet judgments."

Defender: Rev 9:7 - like unto horses

Joel, who prophesied very graphically of the coming day of the Lord, also had received a vision of this invading swarm of locust-like demons. Part of his prophecy deals with an actual invasion of the land by real locusts; but, as often happens in the Old Testament prophetical books, the immediate vision yields to a vision of far-future events, the first being a type of the much greater event yet to come (see note on Joe 2:4; also see Rev 9:9)."

Defender: Rev 9:8 - as the teeth of lions

The locusts seen by Joel, like those seen by John, had "the teeth of a lion" (Joe 1:6), the "appearance of horses" (Joe 2:4), and made a great sound "like the noise of chariots" (Joe 2:5). Joel also commented that "there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it" (Joe 2:2)."

Defender: Rev 9:10 - five months

As suddenly as they had come, these demons were gone, no doubt herded back into the bottomless pit to await the judgment. Quite probably, like the evil spirits who had drowned bodies of the swine they possessed (Luk 8:32, Luk 8:33), they left the carcasses of their locust bodies behind them on the ground. Joel says that "his stink shall come up, and his ill savor shall come up, because he hath done great things" (Joe 2:20)."

TSK: Rev 9:1 - the fifth // a star // to him // the bottomless

the fifth : Rev 9:12, Rev 9:13, Rev 8:6-8, Rev 8:10,Rev 8:12, Rev 11:14, Rev 11:15

a star : Rev 1:20, Rev 8:10; Isa 14:12; Luk 10:18; 2Th 2:3-8; 2Ti 3:1-5

to him : Rev 1:18, Rev 20:1

the bottomless : Rev 9:2, Rev 9:11, Rev 17:8, Rev 20:10; Luk 8:31; Rom 10:7 *Gr.

TSK: Rev 9:2 - there // and the sun

there : Rev 9:17, Rev 14:11; Gen 15:17, Gen 19:28; Isa 14:31; Joe 2:30; Act 2:19

and the sun : Rev 8:12; Exo 10:21-23; Joe 2:2, Joe 2:10

TSK: Rev 9:3 - locusts // as

locusts : Exo 10:4-15; Jdg 7:12; Isa 33:4; Joe 1:4, Joe 2:25; Nah 3:15, Nah 3:17

as : Rev 9:5, Rev 9:10,Rev 9:11; Deu 8:15; 1Ki 12:11; Eze 2:6; Luk 10:19

TSK: Rev 9:4 - that they // hurt // but // which

that they : Rev 6:6, Rev 7:3; Job 1:10,Job 1:12; Psa 76:10; Mat 24:24; 2Ti 3:8, 2Ti 3:9

hurt : Rev 8:7

but : Corrupt and idolatrous Christians; against whom the Saracens chiefly prevailed.

which : Rev 7:3, Rev 7:4, Rev 14:1; Exo 12:23; Job 2:6; Eze 9:4, Eze 9:6; Eph 4:30

TSK: Rev 9:5 - it was // they should not // they should be // five // and their

it was : Rev 13:5, Rev 13:7; Dan 5:18-22, Dan 7:6; Joh 19:11

they should not : That is, should not kill them as a political body, state, or empire; and accordingly, however they desolated the Greek and Latin churches, they could not extirpate them, nor gain possession of the empire. Rev 11:7; Job 2:6

they should be : Rev 9:10

five : Five prophetical months, each consisting of 30 days, and each day denoting a year, amount to 150 years; and accordingly, from the time that Mohammed began to propagate his imposture ad 612, the building of Bagdad, when they ceased from their ravages, ad 763, are just 150 years.

and their : Rev 9:3

TSK: Rev 9:6 - shall men

shall men : Rev 6:16; 2Sa 1:9; Job 3:20-22, Job 7:15, Job 7:16; Isa 2:19; Jer 8:3; Hos 10:8; Joh 4:8, Joh 4:9; Luk 23:30

TSK: Rev 9:7 - the shapes // their faces

the shapes : Joe 2:4, Joe 2:5; Nah 3:17

their faces : Dan 7:4, Dan 7:8

TSK: Rev 9:8 - hair // and their

hair : 2Ki 9:30; Isa 3:24; 1Co 11:14, 1Co 11:15; 1Ti 2:9; 1Pe 3:3

and their : Psa 57:4; Joe 1:6

TSK: Rev 9:9 - they had // and the

they had : Rev 9:17; Job 40:18, Job 41:23-30; Joe 2:8

and the : Job 39:25; Isa 9:5; Joe 2:5-7; Nah 2:4, Nah 2:5

TSK: Rev 9:10 - tails

tails : Rev 9:3, Rev 9:5

TSK: Rev 9:11 - they had // the angel // Abaddon

they had : Rev 12:9; Joh 12:31, Joh 14:30, Joh 16:11; 2Co 4:4; Eph 2:2; 1Jo 4:4, 1Jo 5:19

the angel : Rev 9:1

Abaddon : that is, a destroyer, Joh 8:44

Tafsiran/Catatan -- Catatan Kata/Frasa (per Ayat)

Poole: Rev 9:1 - And the fifth angel sounded // And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth // to him was given the key of the bottomless pit

Rev 9:1 At the sounding of the fifth angel a star falleth from

heaven, to whom is given the key of the bottomless pit,

Rev 9:2-11 he opens the pit, and there come forth locusts like

scorpions, who have power to hurt men for a time.

Rev 9:12 The first woe past.

Rev 9:13-21 At the sounding of the sixth angel four angels which

were bound are loosed, and bring great plagues on the

earth for a limited time.

And the fifth angel sounded the fifth of the seven angels mentioned Rev 8:2 , to whom were given seven trumpets. It denoteth the beginning of a new period of calamities and miseries to the earth, or to the church.

And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: what this star falling from heaven means, is not easy to resolve. Those who think it the devil, once a star, but fallen, forget that John is not here told a story of what was in the beginning of the world, but what should be, and that five hundred years after Christ’ s coming. And the same reason holds against those who think those seditious persons are meant, who did so much mischief in and about Jerusalem during the siege; this had been to have revealed to John those things which he knew were done many years before. Amongst those who think some particular eminent minister of the church, who apostatized, is meant, those seem to me to judge better, who think that Boniface the Third is meant, who, in the year 606, obtained the privilege of the pope’ s supremacy, than those who understand it of Arius or Pelagius, who both of them fell two hundred years before this. It seems very harsh to interpret it of Christ, or any good angel’ s descending from heaven, because the word peptwkota is rightly by us translated falling, and not to be interpreted so softly as descending. In all probability, therefore, the first apostacy of the bishop of Rome was here prophesied. But how

to him was given the key of the bottomless pit ( by which hell is meant here, as often in Scripture), is hard to say; unless we understand it of his instrumentality, to send many thousands to hell by that corrupt doctrine and worship, which by him then began to obtain. But his key was borrowed, (if God had not permitted him he could not have done it), and it turned but one way; he had only a power to open it, not (as Christ) both to open and shut it.

Poole: Rev 9:2 - And he opened the bottomless pit // And there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace // And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit

And he opened the bottomless pit he was a means of hell’ s breaking loose, by loosing Satan.

And there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace: I had rather interpret this generally of the great influence upon the world, that the devil, being loosed, had, in filling the world with ignorance, error, and wickedness, (for which this and the following age are infamous in all histories), and then particularly of the errors this time abounded with.

And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit this influence of the devil darkened the sun of the gospel, and the whole church of that age, with ignorance, error, and abominable superstition in the worship of God, attended with the lewdness and debauchery of men in their lives, which usually go together.

Poole: Rev 9:3 - And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth // And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power

And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth from the influence which the devil thus let loose had upon the world, came forth a generation of men, that in their practices resembled locusts. Who are to be understood by these locusts, is not easy to resolve. The locusts were an insect with which God sometimes plagued the Egyptians; they are much in the Eastcrn countries. It was an east wind which brought them upon Egypt, Exo 10:12,13 . God often hath punished people with them, they are therefore threatened, or mentioned as a judgment in case of disobedience, Deu 28:38,42 1Ki 8:37 Joe 1:4 Joe 2:25 . Two things are to be remarked of them:

1. They were wont to go in infinite numbers: Pro 30:27 : They go forth by bands: Nah 3:15 , Make thyself many as the locusts: without number, Psa 105:34 .

2. The mischief they do is expressed there, Psa 105:35 , to eat up the herbs of the land, and to devour the fruit of the ground: so they did in Egypt.

We have a little specimen of them in our caterpillars in times of drought, usually caused from the wind hanging long in the east. The psalmist, Psa 105:34 , joineth the locusts and the caterpillars together. By the following description of these locusts, and the mischief which they did, Rev 9:4,7-10 , it appeareth plainly that these were no natural, but metaphorical locusts, men that, for their numbers and the mischief they did in the world, did resemble locusts; but who these were is the question. I find but two opinions that have any probability: the one is of a late learned writer, who judgeth them the popish clergy, to whom, indeed, many things agree.

1. They come out of the smoke, that is, the great influence which the devil hath upon the world.

2. They are numerous.

3. Their king is Abaddon; they destroy every green herb, nipping religion, in all places, in the bud.

But I cannot see how two or three things can agree to them:

1. That they do no hurt to the Lord’ s sealed ones, whenas their particular malice is against the purest and strictest profession.

2. That they do not kill, but only torment men, Rev 9:5 .

3. And (which is the greatest) I cannot see how the period of time agreeth to them.

For this prophecy seemeth to respect the sixth and seventh age; and though all these things agree to the Romish clergy in later ages, especially since the Jesuits grew numerous, which is not much above one hundred and twenty years since, yet these three did not so agree to the Romish clergy in the sixth and seventh age. Their Benedictine orders began but in the year 530, and their orders of Dominicans, much more mischievous, not till upwards of the year 1200; the Jesuits, after the year 1500. I therefore rather agree with the learned and judicious Mr. Mede, with whom I also find John Napier and others agreeing, that by these locusts are meant the Turks and Saracens.

1. Their time agreeth; for they first appeared formidably to the world about the year 620.

2. They were always very numerous.

3. They came the locusts’ road, from Arabia, and the eastern parts.

The Arabians (which the Saracens are) are called the children of the east, and said to be like grasshoppers for multitude. Two things are objected:

1. That these locusts are commanded not to hurt the Lord’ s sealed ones.

2. That their commission is but for five months.

As to the latter, we shall speak to it when we come to that clause. As to the former, why may it not denote the liberty that in their conquests they generally give to all religions, so as they put none to death upon that account? How far other things will agree to them, I leave to be further considered in the next verses.

And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power that is, such a power as scorpions have. We shall have a more particular account of this, Rev 9:10 .

Poole: Rev 9:4 - And it was commanded them // That they should not hurt, &c.

And it was commanded them that is, these locusts; God so ordered it by his providence.

That they should not hurt, &c.: this makes it appear, that these locusts were no insects so called, but typical; for natural locusts live upon green things; they were only to hurt profane men, and hypocrites. It is a sure rule, that when things are attributed: to living creatures which do not agree to their natures, the terms are to be understood typically, not literally. Locusts use not to kill men; we may therefore be assured, that the locusts here intended, were men, not insects.

Poole: Rev 9:5 - that they should not kill them

Supposing the Saracens and Turks here meant by the locusts, here arise two difficulties:

1. How it can be said of them, that they had no power to kill, but only torment men.

2. How their time is set for five months, whereas they have already tormented the world more than a thousand years; and how long they shall yet continue to do so, God only knows: they are both great difficulties.

Alsted tells us: That Mahomet began in the year 622, and the Saracens entered Spain 714, where they were called Moors, and kept possession of that kingdom eight hundred years, and that in the year 719, they besieged Constantinople with a navy of three thousand ships and three hundred thousand land soldiers; that before this time they had made themselves masters of Arabia, Palestina, Syria, Persia, Egypt, Africa, and Spain; and in the year 726, carried into France an army consisting of three hundred and seventy-five thousand, where they were beaten by Charles Martell, father to King Pepin. Mr, Mede telleth us, that the Saracens grievously vexed the countries subject to the Roman emperor, but could not take either Rome or Constantinople. The latter was taken by the Turks, in the year 1457, commanded by Sultan Mahomet. This is but a hard interpretation of those words,

that they should not kill them which, it may be, hath made some other interpreters choose to interpret these locusts to signify the Roman clergy, who indeed did not kill men for religion, of many years. But both the one and the other tormented the world enough, and that like a scorpion, which pierceth a man with a venomous sting, and puts him to great pain. For the five months, we shall again meet with them, Rev 9:10 .

Poole: Rev 9:6

The calamities of those days shall be so great, that men shall be weary of their lives.

Poole: Rev 9:7 - And upon their heads were as it were crowns like gold // And their faces were as the faces of men

This whole description of these locusts speaks them no insects, but to be mischievous men; they were very terrible to look upon, like horses harnessed ready to fight; so Joe 2:4 .

And upon their heads were as it were crowns like gold this signified they should be great and rich conquerors.

And their faces were as the faces of men yet these were men.

Poole: Rev 9:8 - And they had hair as the hair of women // And their teeth were as the teeth of lions

And they had hair as the hair of women dishevelled, or hanging loose; the Arabians were wont to go so; or this may signify, that they were beautiful as well as terrible to look upon.

And their teeth were as the teeth of lions sharp and strong: see Joe 1:6 .

Poole: Rev 9:9 - And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron // And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle

And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron armed with the best armour of defence.

And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle like locusts, they moved very swiftly. This agreeth to the Saracens, who made such haste in their conquests, that (saith Mr. Mede) in little more than eighty years they had subdued Palestina, Syria, both the Armenias, almost all the Lesser Asia, Persia, India, Egypt, Numidia, all Barbary, Portugal, Spain; and within a few more, Sicily, Candia, Cyprus, and were come to the very gates of Rome; so as they had many crowns on their heads, and moved as with wings.

Poole: Rev 9:10 - And they had tails like unto scorpions // And their power was to hurt men five months

And they had tails like unto scorpions a kind of venomous serpents that have their

stings in their tails with which they presently kill both men and beasts.

And their power was to hurt men five months what these five months mean is very hard to say; certainly it is a certain number for an uncertain, and mentioned rather than any other time, because it is (as they say) the usual time of the life of locusts; though some observe, that five months have in them (counting as the Hebrews, thirty days to the month) one hundred and fifty days, and a day standing for a year, as in prophetical writings, it denoteth the just time the Saracens raged in Italy, from the year 830 to the year 980; as to which I refer my reader to search histories.

Poole: Rev 9:11 - Abaddon // Apollyon

Solomon saith, Pro 30:27 , The locusts have no king, yet go they forth by bands; according to which these locusts cannot be understood of insects so called; or, if they have a king, yet it is certain the devil is not their king, who is here called the angel of the bottomless pit.

Abaddon from dba he hath destroyed.

Apollyon that is, a destroyer; intimating that the whole business of this barbarous enemy should be to ruin and destroy nations.

PBC: Rev 9:1

Re 9:1 And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

We observe that this star fell from heaven [a heavenly place]. The temple was no longer being used as an acceptable place for the worship of God. Satan, whose purpose had been served by these self righteous Jews, was given full rein to open the bottomless pit. The fulness of the time had come and they had rejected the Saviour, who was the Bridegroom. Now coming into effect the words of Jesus when He said, " The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof." {Mt 21:43} The temple, in which they still took much pride, was being destroyed. The bottomless pit was their wickedness. Jesus had said to them, " It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves." {Mt 21:13} They had chosen to loose the powers of Satan by serving the lusts of the flesh. Now he would turn to their destruction.— Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 9:2

There is no ending of the depth to which suffering descends because of sin. When God’s people open the pits of hell, their vision is dimmed and their spiritual minds are darkened by reason of the fires of hell. We see the suffering of Jesus on the cross as an example of this. Our sins were laid upon Him. The suffering was of such great depth that He who had done no sin cried out in agony, " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" The great furnace is a symbol of the burning agony which consumed the sins of His people. We see much the same circumstances there at the day of the crucifixion as we see now described.— Eld. Charles Taylor

PBC: Rev 9:3

We have already mentioned that the power of Satan is being used to carry out the things which God has determined upon Jerusalem. These locusts which came out of the smoke are none other than the armies of Titus which had come to destroy Jerusalem. We find locusts mentioned seventeen times in Scripture using the plural meaning, and eleven times using the singular meaning. Usually, it refers to destruction by the locust’s devouring. The word scorpion is used only twice and means piercing.[1]  The devastation which was to come would completely devour the temple, piercing to the darkest corner and depth. Nothing would be left to testify of the innumerable animal sacrifices. The temple worship consisting of animal sacrifices would no longer be used in the kingdom of God in the earth.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] skorpios, skor-pee’-os; prob. from an obsolete skerpo and meaning to pierce; a "scorpion" (from its sting):—scorpion.

PBC: Rev 9:4

This refers to the seal mentioned in Re 7:4, " and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand[1] of all the tribes of the children of Israel." These were among those of whom Jesus was speaking when He told the apostles " Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not: but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." {Mt 10:5-6} These who were to be garnered out of the Jews would be the firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. Those who rejected Jesus were those " which have not the seal of God in their foreheads." {Re 9:14} Destruction was sure to them.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] Let us remember this is a symbolic number, and is used to show a type of completeness: all that God had chosen out of each tribe. We will find this same number shown as being a symbol of their completeness in the church kingdom, {Re 14:1} And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, {See Heb 12:22-24} and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.... These {Re 14:4} were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

PBC: Rev 9:5

Vespasian, the father of Titus and a great general of the Roman army, had been called from Alexandria to put down the revolt of the Jews. When he received word that Nero was dead, he withdrew his attack on Jerusalem until " the political waters of Rome were tested." He returned to Rome and was elevated to the office of Emperor. Titus was left to continue the war against the Jews.[1]  Less than six months passed from the time Titus gathered the legions (troops) in Cesarea to the siege at Jerusalem. During this time the seditious groups of Jews led by Eleazar, John, and Simon persecuted greatly those who were in Jerusalem. Could this have been the five months " that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months?"

During this time many of those who were gathered at Jerusalem would have deserted to the Romans, had it not been for the seditious groups mentioned above. They were held inside the city by the threat of death. Their persecution, according to Josephus, was of the worst kind. These who would have deserted were treated terribly by their own blood relatives.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] Josephus -War of the Jews, -Book Five, Page 772

PBC: Rev 9:6

Re 9:11 (Abaddon)[1]

Again the Bible uses symbolic language. This is the destroyer and his army. The fierceness of this Roman army is such that there is no withstanding their force nor destruction. There were many who were shut up in the temple area who would have gladly chosen death if it were possible. Yet they must suffer this period which was set by the Almighty. I have discussed earlier some terrible suffering which these people underwent because of famine, death, and other pestilences which came upon them during this time. The Jews had chosen to unlock the fiery darts of Satan in exchange for what they thought was their freedom under the law of Moses and the Roman government. Now the king of the bottomless pit leads these same legions to destroy them. His name is the destroyerSatan. This terrible destroyer is determined to afflict them as none had ever been afflicted before, neither shall be thereafter. This is the great holocaust which many still put in the future. There are so many prophecies that we dare not ignore them lest we be found in the same blind condition which these Jews were in.— Eld. Charles Taylor

[1] Abaddon, ab-ad-dohn’;of Hebrew; a destroying angel.

Haydock: Rev 9:1 - The fifth Angel....and I saw a star // To him

The fifth Angel....and I saw a star, &c. This again may be to represent the confusion of all things in antichrist's time, or it may signify the fall and apostacy of great and learned men from the Christian faith. Bossuet applies it to the fall of Theodotus, of Byzantium, towards the end of the second age; but certainly no great stress can be laid on such arbitrary applications, which it is no hard matter to invent, as may be seen by the different fancies we may meet with about the locusts, &c. (Witham) ---

Here is a description of the rise and progress of the reformation. This trumpet begins with announcing to us the fall of a star from heaven; a very just emblem of the apostacy of Luther, who in quality of a priest and religious man is styled a star, but renouncing the faith and vows, may truly be said to have fallen from heaven upon the earth. (Pastorini, hic.[here]) ---

To him (i.e. to the Angel, not to the fallen star) was given the key of the bottomless pit, which properly signifies hell. (Witham)

Haydock: Rev 9:2 - And the smoke // The sun was darkened

And the smoke, &c. Luther and his followers propagated and defended their new doctrines with such heat and violence, as to occasion every where seditions and insurrections, which they seemed to glory in. Luther openly boasted of it. "You complain," said he, "that by our gospel the world is become more tumultuous; I answer, God be thanked for it; these things I would have so to be, and woe to me if such things were not." ---

The sun was darkened, &c. The light of faith, which is the word of God, may well be represented by the sun, according to that of the Psalm cxviii. 105. "Thy word, O Lord, is a lamp to my feet, and a light to my paths." And as the air is the spring of man's respiration and life, it may be a just type of morality, which gives spiritual life and worth to all human actions. By the sun, therefore, and air being darkened, we are to understand faith and morality obscured and perverted by the novel doctrines of the reformers. (Pastorini, hic.[here])

Haydock: Rev 9:3 - There came out locusts

There came out locusts; devils, in antichrist's time, when the chief devil, Abaddon, the destroyer, shall be as it were let loose. Others by locusts, understand the Goths and those barbarous people that made an irruption into the Roman empire, in the time of Decius, about the year 250. Others again, by locusts, understand heretics, and especially those heretics that spring from the Jews, and with them denied the divinity of our Saviour Christ, as Theodotus, Praxeas, Noetus, Paul of Samosata, Sabellius, Arius, &c. These were the great enemies of Christian religion, and instruments of the devil: they tormented and infected the souls of men, stinging them like scorpions with the poison of their heresies. They had power for five months, by which is signified for a short term, but had no power to hurt those who were sealed with the seal of God in their foreheads. God protected, at least from sin, his faithful servants. It is to no purpose to give the reader divers fancies and inventions about their shape, their heads, tails, hair, teeth, &c. nor is it worth my while to confute such writers as Mr. Willet, who, Brightman-like, makes Abaddon the pope, and the locusts to be friars mendicant. With this fifth trumpet ended the first of the three woes, as we are told [in] ver. 12. (Witham) ---

The locusts are commonly understood of heretics. They are not able to hurt the green tree; that is, such as have a lively faith, working by charity; but only the reprobate. The latter are represented as prepared to battle, as being ever ready to contend; they wear counterfeit gold on their heads, for all is but pretence and fiction; in shape they are as men, in smoothness of speech as women; in fury and rage against all that opposes them, as lions; their breasts and hearts are as hard as iron; they are full of noise and shuffling; the sting of their pestiferous doctrine is worse than that of a scorpion; but their reign is generally but for a short time. (Challoner) ---

Heretics are compared to locusts, says St. Jerome, because they are a species of insects extremely hurtful to mankind, as they occasion famine, eat up the harvest, and even strip the trees and the vines. With very great propriety then may the locusts here mentioned be understood of the first reformers, not only on account of their rapacity, but also for their number. Luther was their leader, by allowing every one to be his own interpreter of Scripture, the effects of which we have described by Dudithius, a learned Protestant divine, in his epistle to Beza. "What sort of people are our Protestants, straggling to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, sometimes to this side, and sometimes to that? You may, perhaps, know what their sentiments in matters of religion are to-day; but you can never certainly tell what they will be to-morrow. In what article of religion do these churches agree, which have cast off the bishop of Rome? Examine all of them from top to bottom, and you will scarce find one thing affirmed by one, which is not immediately condemned by another for wicked doctrine." The same confusion of opinions is thus described by an English Protestant, the learned Dr. Walton: "Aristarchus heretofore could scarcely find seven wise men in Greece, but with us scarce are to be found so many idiots; for all are doctors, all are divinely learned; there is not so much as the meanest fanatic, or jack-pudding, who does not give you his own dreams for the word of God." (Pastorini, hic.[here])

Haydock: Rev 9:4 - Nor any green thing

Nor any green thing. The Greek and Latin texts express it every green thing; meaning, that though the locusts, or the sects of Protestants, are allowed by the Almighty to seduce some of all sorts from the Church, yet that the generality of the faithful will be preserved unhurt. (Pastorini)

Haydock: Rev 9:7 - And the shapes of the locusts // And on their heads

And the shapes of the locusts. We now come to the description of these locusts, which expresses the spirit of sedition and rebellion that animated the reformers and their proselytes. Luther proclaimed himself the leader in this as well as in other articles of the new discipline: see his works, particularly Contra statem ecclesiæ et falso nominatum ordinem Episcoporum, lib. contra Sylvest. Prieras, De Seculari potestate et Contra Rusticos, &c. Erasmus thus describes the effects of the inflammatory doctrine of these ministers of evangelical liberty: "I saw them (the people) come forth from their sermons with fierce looks and threatening countenances," like men "that just come from hearing bloody invectives and seditious speeches." Accordingly, we found "these evangelical people always ready to rise up in arms, and equally as good at fighting as at disputing." The learned Protestant historian, Dr. Heylin, in his Cosmography, (B. i.) says of the Calvinists: "Rather than their discipline should not be admitted, and the episcopal government destroyed in all the Churches of Christ, they were resolved to depose kings, ruin kingdoms, and to subvert the fundamental constitutions of all civil states." ---

And on their heads, &c. These crowns shew clearly their general spirit of independence; and their faces being as the faces of men, indicate the presumption with which they announced themselves as teachers of orthodox and holy doctrine. (Pastorini, hic.[here])

Haydock: Rev 9:8 - And they had hair as the hair of women // Teeth of lions

And they had hair as the hair of women. This latter allusion, unhappily for the sectaries, betrays too plainly their sensual disposition towards that sex, their shameful doctrine on that score, and the scandalous example of their practice. Luther, in despite of a vow he had solemnly made to God of observing continence, married; and married a nun, equally bound as himself to that sacred religious promise! But, as St. Jerome says, "it is rare to find a heretic that loves chastity." Luther's example had indeed been anticipated by Carlostadius, a priest and ringleader of the Sacramentarians, who had married a little before; and it was followed by most of the heads of the reformation. Zuinglius, a priest and chief of that sect which bore his name, took a wife. Bucer, a religious man of the order of St. Dominic, became a Lutheran, left his cloister, and married a nun. Œcolampadius, a Brigittin monk, became a Zuinglian, and also married. Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury, had also his wife. Peter Martyr, a canon regular, embraced the doctrine of Calvin; but followed the example of Luther, and married a nun. Ochin, general of the Capuchins, became a Lutheran, and also married. Beza, the most celebrated minister in the Calvinistic party, being asked in his old age, by an intimate acquaintance of his, (Deshayes, governor of Montargis) what was the leading reason which connected him so closely with the Calvinists? Beza called in his mistress, a beautiful young girl who lived with him, and said: "That is the principle reason which convinces me of the excellence of my religion." (Marsollier's Life of St. Francis de Sales, book iii.) ---

Thus the principal leaders in the reformation went forth preaching the new gospel, with two marks upon them---apostacy from the faith, and open violation of the most sacred vows. The passion of lust, it is well known, hurried Henry VIII. of England, into a separation from the Catholic Church, and ranked him amongst the reformers. (Pastorini, hic.[here]) ---

Teeth of lions. What is more known than the truth of this representation? Did not the reformers, wherever they got footing, pillage the churches, seize the church possessions, destroy the monasteries, and appropriate to themselves the revenues? Such was the case in Germany, in Holland, in France, in Switzerland, in Scotland, and in England; what a scene of rapine! Let it suffice to say, that in the reign of Henry VIII. were suppressed not less than 645 monasteries, 90 collages, 110 hospitals, and 2374 chantries and free chapels; (Baker's Chron.) the lands, &c. of all which were confiscated to the king. Is not this to devour with lions' teeth? The whole explication here given of the allegory of the locusts, we presume, appears so consonant with the history of the reformation, that the propriety will not be denied. The application is even so obvious, that the learned Protestant divine, Dr. Walton, used it for describing the multitudes of new sectaries that swarmed out of the English Church. Thus he speaks in the preface of his Polyglot: "The bottomless pit seems to have been set open, from whence a smoke has risen, which has darkened the heavens and the stars; and locusts are come out with stings, a numerous race of sectaries and heretics, who have renewed all the ancient heresies, and invented many monstrous opinions of their own. These have filled our cities, villages, camps, houses, nay our pulpits too, and lead the poor delude people with them to the pit of perdition." (Pastorini, Apocalypse ix.)

Haydock: Rev 9:10 - And their power was to hurt men for five months

And their power was to hurt men for five months. The duration of their power is here limited, but we dare not venture to explain what is meant by the dark expression, five months; time to come must clear up the difficulty. (Haydock)

Gill: Rev 9:1 - And the fifth angel sounded // and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth // and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit

And the fifth angel sounded,.... His trumpet:

and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: some take this star to be Jesus Christ, the bright and morning star; and understand by falling, no other than his descending from heaven to earth, in which sense the word is used in Gen 14:10; and that because he is not only said to have the keys of hell and death, Rev 1:18; but particularly the key of the bottomless pit, Rev 20:1; but then there is a wide difference in the use of the key by the star here, and the angel there, or between the opening of the pit, and letting out smoke and locusts, and the shutting it up, and Satan in it; the one well suits with Christ, the other not: nor is Satan here designed, as others think, who once was a bright star, and shone among the morning stars, but by sin fell from heaven, his first estate; and the fall of this Lucifer, son of the morning, was as lightning from heaven, Luk 10:18. But then this was a matter over and past, and what was well known to John; nor did he need a vision to represent this unto him: nor is Arius intended, who lived before any of the trumpets were blown; nor the Emperor Valens, who fell from the heavenly doctrine of Christ's divinity into the Arian heresy, which he encouraged and defended; whereby Christ, the sun of righteousness, was obscured, and the air, the church, enlightened by Christ, was darkened; in whose time the locusts, the Goths and Vandals, infected with Arianism, greatly distressed the eastern Christians; but his reign was long before the fifth angel sounded his trumpet, which was after the year 600: wherefore by this star is meant antichrist; but whether the western or eastern antichrist, the pope of Rome, or Mahomet, is a question: some interpreters go one way, and some another: Brightman thinks both are intended, seeing they both are antichrist, and rose to the height of their power much about the same time; and the characters and circumstances in this vision very. Well agree with them both: what is objected to Mahomet is, that he never was a doctor or teacher in the church, or had any dignity in it, which a star in this book most commonly signifies, and therefore could not be said to fall from it; but this may be observed, that the Arabians, among whom he lived, had received the Christian religion before his time; that he himself was conversant with the Scriptures, as appears by his wretched perversion of them in his Alcoran; and certain it is, that his accomplices were such as had professed Christianity, as Sergius, a Nestorian of Constantinople, and John of Antioch, an Arian, and he himself set up for a prophet: others think the pope of Rome is meant by the star, seeing the bishops of that city had shone out in great light and purity of doctrine and practice formerly, but now about this time most sadly apostatized; they had been indeed gradually declining for some time, but now they may be said openly to fall from heaven, when Phocas, who murdered his master, the Emperor Mauritius, and took the imperial crown to himself, gave to Pope Boniface the Third the title and power of universal bishop, about the year 859, which he and his successors exercised in a most haughty and tyrannical manner:

and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit; which shows that this could not be a star in a literal sense, but must design some man, or body of men, and agrees well with the popes of Rome: by "the bottomless pit" is meant hell, out of which the beast arose, and into which Satan will be cast, Rev 11:7; and by "the key" is designed the power of it, of opening and shutting it, of saving persons from it, or of casting them into it; and which the popes of Rome take to themselves, even all power in heaven, earth, and hell, signified by their triple crown; and which they arrogate to such a degree as to say, that if the pope should send many thousands into hell, no one ought to say, what dost thou? This is a different key from what were given to Peter; he had the keys of the kingdom of heaven, his pretended successors have the key of the bottomless pit; his were keys of knowledge, theirs of ignorance, and of the depths of Satan, let out of this bottomless pit, of which the antichristian religion, both Popish and Mahometan, consist; his were given by Christ, theirs by Phocas a murderer; or they had their power from the dragon, Rev 13:2; from Satan himself, according to whose working and influence they come forth, though by divine permission.

Gill: Rev 9:2 - And he opened the bottomless pit // and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace // And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit

And he opened the bottomless pit,.... With the key that was given him; he made use of his universal power over all bishops and churches, enacted laws, issued out decrees, made articles of faith, and imposed them on men's consciences, and obliged all to submit to his hellish principles and practices; and this, as it may be applied to Mahomet, the eastern antichrist, may regard the publishing of his Alcoran, and obliging all his followers to receive it as the infallible word of God:

and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; the Complutensian edition reads, "of a burning furnace"; and so the Syriac and Arabic versions; which may design false doctrine, and superstitious worship, which sprung from the decrees of popes and councils, and the Alcoran of Mahomet: and smoke being a dark thin vapour, and very troublesome to the eyes and nose, and of a perishing nature, which soon vanishes away, these are fitly expressed by it; for they are the hidden things of darkness, and the authors and abettors of them are such who darken counsel by words without knowledge; they are empty things, have no solidity and substance in them, are comparable to wood, hay, stubble, smoke, and wind; and are very troublesome and offensive to all enlightened persons, and who have the smell and savour of divine things; and will all perish with the using, being the doctrines and commandments of men, when the true Gospel is an everlasting one. Smoke sometimes designs great afflictions, punishments, and judgments upon men, Gen 15:17; and here may represent those judgments, both spiritual and temporal, which the antichristian doctrine and worship, brought upon the world, and which have been manifest in all ages since.

And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit; Christ, the sun of righteousness, was greatly obscured by the Romish antichrist, by his false doctrine and worship, in his offices, merits, and grace, he taking upon him to be head of the church, the infallible interpreter of Scripture, and to give out pardons and indulgences; and particularly by the doctrines of merit, of works of supererogation, and of justification by works, &c. as he also was by Mahomet, who represented him only as a mere man, and exalted himself above him as a prophet; and by both were "the air", the church which receives its light from Christ, darkened; or the Scriptures, which are the breath of God, are given by inspiration of him, these were most grievously beclouded, and most wretchedly perverted, both by the decrees of popes, and the Alcoran of Mahomet. And it is remarkable what Abulpharagius ^b, an Arabic writer, reports, that in the seventeenth year of Heraclius the emperor, which was the year 627, and the fifth of the Hegira, in which year Mahomet began to plunder and make war; for in this year was his plundering excursion into Dumato'l Jundal, and the battle of Bani Lahyan, that half of the body of the sun was darkened; and the darkness remained from Tisrin the first, to the month Haziran, so that very little of its light appeared; which might portend that darkness he was introducing by his wretched religion. And frequently the sun and air have been darkened at noonday by the locusts, as Pliny ^c relates; and of which we have had a late account from Transylvania; see Exo 8:15.

Gill: Rev 9:3 - And there came out of the smoke locusts the earth // And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power

And there came out of the smoke locusts the earth,.... Not literally, for these locusts might not meddle with the grass, nor any green thing, or tree, as locusts do, only men, Rev 9:4; and had a king over them, Rev 9:11; which locusts have not, Pro 30:27, though the allusion is to such, which spawn and breed in pits, and may be properly said to come out of them; hence in the Hebrew tongue they are called גבי, from גבא, "a pit", or "ditch": nor are devils intended, though they may be compared to locusts for their original, hell, or the bottomless pit; and for their numbers, we read of a legion of them in one man; and for their hurtful and mischievous nature: nor are the Goths and Vandals designed; these, though they harassed some parts of the eastern empire, yet chiefly the western; besides, they appeared under the former trumpets: but these are to be understood of the western and eastern locusts, especially the latter. The western locusts are the clergy of the church of Rome, cardinals, bishops, priests, monks, and friars, of every order; these were not instituted by Christ, but rose out of the bottomless pit, from the antichristian smoke of councils, decrees, and traditions; and are fitly compared to locusts for their number, which have been almost as the sand of the sea innumerable, and have spread themselves all over the nations of the earth, that have gone by the name of Christendom; and for their devouring nature, living in plenty and idleness, upon the fat of the land, in the best commons, glutting themselves with the spoils of others, devouring widows' houses, and impoverishing countries and kingdoms wherever they come. The eastern locusts are the Saracens, and who are chiefly designed; and who were to harass and distress the eastern empire, and prepare for its ruin, which is brought on under the next trumpet by the Turks. These are fitly signified by locusts, because the locusts generally come out of the eastern parts: it was an east wind which brought the plague of locusts into Egypt, Exo 10:13; and the children of the east, the Arabians, are compared to grasshoppers, or locusts, in Jdg 7:12; and one of the names of a locust is ארבה, "Arbeh", not much unlike in sound to an Arab. To which may be added, that it is a tradition of the Arabians, that there fell locusts into the hands of Mahomet, on whose backs and wings were written these words;

"we are the army of the most high God; we are the ninety and nine eggs, and if the hundred should be made perfect, we should consume the whole world, and whatever is in it.''

And it was a law established by Mahomet, ye shall not kill the locusts, for they are the army of the most high God; and the Mahometans fancy that the locusts were made of the same clay as Adam was: and besides the tradition before mentioned, they say, that as Mahomet sat at table a locust fell, with these words on its back and wings;

"I am God, neither is there any Lord of the locusts besides me, who feed them; and when I please I send them to be food to the people, and when I please I send them to be a scourge unto them;''

hence his Saracens may well go by this name. Now these Saracens sprung up in the times of antichristian darkness, both Papal and Mahometan, and may be said to come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit; and the religion of Mahomet, which they embraced, was no other; and like locusts they were innumerable, they went in troops and bands, as locusts do, Pro 30:27; pillaging and ravaging all they could and their sudden and frequent incursions, the desolations and ravages which they made in the eastern empire, are very aptly expressed by the running to and fro of locusts; see Isa 33:4.

And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power; that is, to torment then, by striking them with their stings in their tails, Rev 9:5. These are called "scorpions of the earth", to distinguish them from sea scorpions, which are a kind of fish: so Aristotle ^d and ^e Pliny speak of terrestrial scorpions, which are the most hurtful; these are of the serpentine kind have an innocent and harmless look, but are soon angry; have stings in their tails, which they are always striking with, that they may miss no opportunity of doing mischief, and with which they strike in an oblique way ^f; and which very fitly describes the Saracens, the race of the Ishmaelites, a generation of vipers, a subtle and treacherous sort of people, very furious and wrathful, and who lived by continual robbing and plundering of others at an unawares: and this may be applied to the western locusts, the monks and friars, who are the seed of the serpent; and who by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple, have a form of godliness, and speak lies in hypocrisy, and lie in wait to deceive; and being provoked, are full of wrath and anger, and strike very hard with their anathemas and excommunications, and other sorts of punishment, which they have power to inflict.

Gill: Rev 9:4 - And it was commanded them // that they should not hurt the grass of the earth // neither any green thing // Neither any tree // but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads

And it was commanded them,.... The locusts, by Christ, who has a sovereign power over all men, and lays them under the restraints of his providence:

that they should not hurt the grass of the earth: true Christians, private believers, it may be those of the lower class; who for their numbers, and for their flourishing estate under the dews of heavenly grace, and the distillations of the doctrine of grace, and the clear shining of the sun of righteousness upon them, and for their weakness, may be compared to grass; and yet as these being a company reserved by Christ for himself, who will not break nor bruise them, so neither will he suffer others to hurt them, and resents every offence done to these little ones:

neither any green thing; who have the truth of grace in them, are spiritually alive, and in prosperous circumstances, in a fruitful condition, being filled with the fruits of righteousness from Christ, the green fir tree, and whose leaves of profession continue green; and are themselves, as David says of himself; like a green olive tree in the house of God, Psa 3:8.

Neither any tree; any trees of righteousness, good and righteous who are often compared to trees planted by rivers of water, Psa 1:3 Jer 17:8; it may be the ministers of the Gospel, then of great grace and gifts, the tall cedars in Lebanon, may be intended; and so by these various expressions, Christians of every size, from the lowest to the highest class, may be signified. Green things and leaves of trees are what the locusts generally destroy, as appears from the plague of them in Egypt, Exo 10:5; and as they did in Syria in the year 1586, as Thuanus reports ^g. Now as grass, green things, and trees, are what locusts most desire to feed upon and hurt, so real believers, truly godly persons, are those which both the eastern and western locusts, the Mahometans and Papists, have been very desirous of rooting out and destroying; but Christ takes care of these; these are as the apple of his eye, his jewels, his sheep, his sealed ones; none shall hurt them, they shall never perish; he knows them that are his, and he will preserve them amidst fire and smoke, amidst all the corruptions and calamities in the world:

but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads; see Rev 7:2; the antichristian party, those of the Romish apostasy, the Papists; and these were they that suffered most by the Saracens, who abhorred image worship, and fell foul on the idolaters of this kind: and, on the other hand, the western locusts, the clergy of the church of Rome, had only influence over the reprobate part of mankind, and only wrought with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, who were giver, up to believe a lie, that they might be damned, but not upon any of the chosen ones, 2Th 2:11.

Gill: Rev 9:5 - And to them it was given that they should not kill them // but that they should be tormented five months // And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man

And to them it was given that they should not kill them,.... As the power of the locusts was limited with respect to the persons they should hurt, so with regard also to the mischief they should do; for even those whom they were suffered to annoy they might not kill, that is, utterly root out and destroy, so as that they were no more: and thus, though the Saracens killed great numbers in the eastern empire, by their frequent incursions and ravages, and made large conquests, yet they could never destroy the empire itself, or bring it in subjection to them; nor did they ever take Constantinople, the metropolis and seat of the empire, though they often besieged it. And as for the western locusts, the months, friars, &c. though they kill the souls, yet not the bodies of men that are under their power and influence:

but that they should be tormented five months; that is, not that the locusts should be tormented, but men by the locusts; and so the eastern empire was grievously teased and tormented by the Saracens, and many parts of it were conquered, plundered, and pillaged by them, though it was not killed and put an end to. In the year 628, Mahomet with his Saracens having obtained a place in Arabia Felix to dwell in, died in the year 631; from which time his successors, the Saracens, by little and little, subdued Palestine, Syria, and Egypt; and, in the year 640, took Persis, putting King Hormisda to flight; they laid siege to Constantinople seven years, but without success; in the year 698, Carthage was taken by them; and in following times many countries on the continent, and many of the islands, were grievously infested and distressed by them; though the empire itself did not fall into their hands; it was tormented by them, but not destroyed. And the western locusts have most dreadfully tormented men by their exorbitant dues demanded of them; and by obliging them to confessions, and to attend Mass; by enjoining them whippings, fastings, pilgrimages, and penances, and with the terrors of purgatory, and the like. The time that the locusts should torment men, which is "five months", seems not to design any determinate time; but only that seeing five months is the time that locusts live, and are in their strength and power, even the five, hottest months in the year, from April to September ^h, this seems to denote, that as long as the locusts live, the Saracens in the east, and the monks and friars in the west, so long men should be tormented by them; for it is certain that these have had power to torment men longer time than barely five months; yea, even though these should be understood, according to the prophetic style used in this book, of five months of years, or an hundred and fifty years; and though this should be doubled, seeing they are repeated, Rev 9:10; and so make up in all three hundred ears; for both the Saracens and the Romish clergy have distressed men, either of them, longer time than this: indeed, the flourishing condition of the Saracens was but about three hundred years, or two five months; but their empire or dominion lasted longer, even from the year 622, which was the year of the "Hegira", or flight of Mahomet, to the year 1057 ⁱ, when the Turkish empire succeeded it: though it is pretty remarkable, that from the year 612, in which Mahomet began to preach publicly, and so let out the smoke with the locusts, to the year 762, in which the city of Bagdad was built, when and where the Saracens settled, and made no more excursions of any consequence, were just an hundred and fifty years, or five months of years, as Mr. Daubuz observes; and I will not say that this is not intended by this prophecy. Noah's flood prevailed over the earth one hundred and fifty days, or five months, Gen 7:24.

And their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he striketh a man; which gives great pain, is very distressing, and their stings are poisonous and mortal: it signifies how troublesome and afflictive those locusts were; to be among them was to live among scorpions, as in Eze 2:6. As these locusts are like scorpions, so scorpions have been seen sometimes with wings like locusts; such an one, Pausanias ^k relates, was brought into Ionia by a Phrygian.

Gill: Rev 9:6 - And in those days men shall seek death // and shall not find it // and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them

And in those days men shall seek death,.... Or desire to die, as Job did:

and shall not find it; or shall not die:

and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them; death will be preferred to a miserable life; it will be chosen rather than life, Jer 8:3. The ravages of the Saracens, their incursions, and the invasions by them, struck such terror into the inhabitants of divers parts of the empire, that they made death more eligible to them than life.

Gill: Rev 9:7 - And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses // prepared unto battle // And on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold // And their faces were as the faces of men

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses,.... The heads of locusts, especially of some of them, are very much like the heads of horses: and here they are compared to horses

prepared unto battle; as they are in Joe 2:4. The horse is a warlike creature, swift, strong, and courageous, Job 39:21. Locusts sometimes have appeared in the form of armies, and have marched in great order with their leaders before them, and have pitched their camps very regularly; see Joe 2:7; of which we have lately had an account from Transylvania in our public papers. (This was published in 1747, Ed.) This part of their description may denote the wars of the Saracens, and the rapidity, force, and power with which they overran great part of the empire; and as it may be applied to the western locusts, the disputes, contentions, and quarrels raised by the Romish clergy.

And on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold; and in this shape some locusts have appeared, to which the allusion seems to be in, Nah 3:17, "thy crowned men are as the locusts". In the year 1542, it is said ^l, that locusts came out of Turkish Sarmatia, into Austria, Silesia, and other places, which had on their heads "little crowns"; see Eze 23:42. And the Arabians, as Pliny observes, go "mitrati" ^m, with mitres, turbans like crowns, on their heads. This may design the several victories and conquests which the Saracens obtained in Arabia, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, Spain, and many other places; and supposing this to have any reference to the western locusts, it may respect the triple crown of the head of then, the caps of the cardinals, the mitres of the bishops, and the shaven pates of the priests, in form of crowns.

And their faces were as the faces of men; which may be expressive of the affable carriage of Mahomet, and his followers, especially to the Christians, and of his great pretensions to holiness and religion, and of the plausible and insinuating ways, and artful methods, used by him, to gain upon men; and being applied to the clergy of the church of Rome, may denote their show of humanity, and their pretended great concern for the welfare of the souls of men, their flatteries, good words, and fair speeches, with which they deceive the simple and unwary.

Gill: Rev 9:8 - And they had hair, as the hair of women // And their teeth were as the teeth of lions

And they had hair, as the hair of women,.... Some locusts have smooth, others hairy heads ⁿ: this fitly points at the Arabians or Saracens, who, as Pliny says ^o, used to wear long hair without cutting it, and attired as women, and have their names also from women: they were called Hagarenes, from Hagar, Abraham's handmaid, by whom he had Ishmael, the father of these people; afterwards they took the name of Saracens, from Sarah, the wife of Abraham, whose posterity they would be thought to be; though they may have the latter name, either from סרק, to "rob" and "steal", with the Arabians, or from the same word, as it signifies to "comb", from the combing and plaiting: of their hair. This may also point at the effeminacy of the western locusts, the monks and friars, who dress more like women than men; and many of them claim the virgin Mary for their patroness; and may in general design the votaries of the church of Rome, who are under the vow of a monastic life, as those among the Jews, under a Nazarite's vow, wore long hair.

And their teeth were as the teeth of lions; so in Joe 1:6; which may denote the ravages and devastations of the Saracens in the empire, robbing, pillaging, and destroying all they met with; and is applicable enough to the devouring jaws of the Romish clergy, their plundering the estates of men, their cruelties and barbarities exercised by their Inquisition, &c. Pliny says ^p, that locusts will gnaw the doors of houses.

Gill: Rev 9:9 - And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron // and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle

And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron,.... Alluding to the hard skin of the locusts, with which nature has fenced it ^q; see Joe 2:8; and denotes the armour with which the Saracens were accoutred: and if to be understood of the western locusts, the hardness of their hearts, their seared consciences, or their protection by the princes of the earth, the many privileges they are possessed of, the laws made in their favour, and for their security; their breastplates were not breastplates of righteousness, faith, and love, nor in defence of truth, but against it. And some think the iron colour may denote the colour of their habit, their black garments:

and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle; see Joe 2:5. The sound of locusts, when they fly or march in large companies, is very great. Pliny says ^r, they make such a noise with their wings, when they fly, that they have been thought to have been other winged creatures; hence a locust, in Hebrew, is sometimes called צלצל, the same name that is given to the high sounding cymbal. The sound of them is said to have been heard six miles ^s. Aristotle ^t ascribes it to the rubbing of their legs or thighs one against another; and so the Ethiopic version here renders it, "the sound of their feet": this may be expressive of the swift and rapid incursions of the Saracens, and of the dreadful alarms to the nations which their invasions made; and may be applied to the noisy declamations, anathemas, excommunications, and interdicts of the Romish clergy.

Gill: Rev 9:10 - And they had tails like unto scorpions // and their power was to hurt men five months

And they had tails like unto scorpions,.... Locusts are said to have the tail of a serpent, and of the vipers of the earth ^u; See Gill on Rev 9:3, Rev 9:5. And there were stings in their tails; either in the baser sort of them, the Saracens and Papists; or in their doctrines, the prophet being the tail, Isa 9:15; with which both Mahomet, who set himself up for a prophet, and the Romish clergy, who set up their decrees and unwritten traditions above the word of God, have poisoned and destroyed multitudes of souls:

and their power was to hurt men five months; See Gill on Rev 9:5.

Gill: Rev 9:11 - And they had a king over them // which is the angel of the bottomless pit // whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon

And they had a king over them,.... Which natural locusts have not, Pro 30:27; by whom is meant the false prophet Mahomet, who was at the head of the Saracens, and led them on to commit the outrages they did; and is believed in by the Turks to this day, as the great prophet of God, and by them preferred to all prophets, not only to Moses, but to Jesus Christ; he is the king of the eastern locusts, as the pope of Rome is the king of the western ones; for the Romish antichrist reigns, or at least has reigned, over the kings of the earth, Rev 17:17;

which is the angel of the bottomless pit; to whom the key of it was given, Rev 9:1;

whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon; both which signify a "destroyer"; and are very applicable both to Mahomet, who by his imposture has been the cause of the destruction of multitudes of souls, as well as by his wars, and those of the Saracens and Turks, of the lives of millions, and of the ruin of many kingdoms, countries, cities, and towns. Abulpharagius ^w, an Arabic writer, relates, that in the times of the Chalif Al-walid, there was one Hejajus, who had caused to be slain, of the chief and illustrious men, an hundred and twenty thousand, besides others of the common people, and that fell in war; moreover, that there died in his prison fifty thousand men, and thirty thousand women: and the same writer reports ^x, that the famous Abu Moslem put to death six hundred thousand men, who were known, besides those that were unknown, and whom he slew in wars and battles: both these instances are taken notice of by Mr. Daubuz, who justly observes, that surely nothing can come near this "Abaddon", but the beast, the son of perdition, 2Th 2:3. And to him, the pope of Rome, may the name be truly applied, who has led thousands into perdition, and will go into it himself; and both he, and the false prophet, with the devil, will be east into the lake, which burns with fire and brimstone, and will be tormented for ever and ever, 2Th 2:4. "Abaddon", with the Jews, is one of the habitations or apartments of hell ^y, because it destroys all; "Apollyon" is the same with "Apollo", the god of the Heathens, who has his name from destroying ^z.