A VERSE BY VERSE COMMENTARY ON REVELATION CHAPTER 9.

1. REVELATIO 9 COMME TARY
EDITED BY GLE PEASE
1
The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw
a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth.
The star was given the key to the shaft of the
Abyss.
BAR ES, “And the fifth angel sounded - See the notes on Rev_8:6-7.
And I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth - This denotes, as was shown
in the notes on Rev_8:10, a leader, a military chieftain, a warrior. In the fulfillment of
this, as in the former case, we look for the appearance of some mighty prince and
warrior, to whom is given power, as it were, to open the bottomless pit, and to summon
forth its legions. That some such agent is denoted by the star is further apparent from the
fact that it is immediately added, that “to him (the star) was given the key of the
bottomless pit.” It could not be meant that a key would be given to a literal star, and we
naturally suppose, therefore, that some intelligent being of exalted rank, and of baleful
influence, is here referred to Angels, good and bad, are often called stars; but the
reference here, as in Rev_8:10, seems to me not to be to angels, but to some mighty
leader of armies, who was to collect his hosts, and to go through the world in the work of
destruction.
And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit - Of the under-world,
considered particularly of the abode of the wicked. This is represented often as a dark
prison-house, enclosed with walls, and accessible by gates or doors. These gates or doors
are fastened, so that none of the inmates can come out, and the key is in the hand of the
keeper or guardian. In Rev_1:18 it is said that the keys of that world are in the hand of
the Saviour (compare the notes on that passage); here it is said that for a time, and for a
temporary purpose, they are committed to another. The word “pit” - φρέαρ phrear -
denotes properly a well, or a pit for water dug in the earth; and then any pit, cave, abyss.
The reference here is doubtless to the nether world, considered as the abode of the
wicked dead, the prison-house of the guilty. The word “bottomless,” ᅊβύσσος abussos -
whence our word “abyss” means properly “without any bottom” (from Α a, the alpha
privative (not), and βύθος buthos, depth, bottom). It would be applied properly to the
ocean, or to any deep and dark dell, or to any obscure place whose depth was unknown.
Here it refers to Hades - the region of the dead the abode of wicked spirits - as a deep,
dark place, whose bottom was unknown. Having the key to this, is to have the power to
confine those who are there, or to permit them to go at large. The meaning here is, that
this master-spirit would have power to evoke the dead from these dark regions; and it

2. would be fulfilled if some mighty genius, that could be compared with a fallen star, or a
lurid meteor, should summon forth followers which would appear like the dwellers in the
nether world called forth to spread desolation over the earth.
CLARKE, “A star fall from heaven - An angel encompassed with light suddenly
descended, and seemed like a star falling from heaven.
The key of the bottomless pit - Power to inundate the earth with a flood of
temporal calamities and moral evils.
GILL, “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

3. 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.
HE RY, “Upon the sounding of this trumpet, the things to be observed are, 1. A star
falling from heaven to the earth. Some think this star represents some eminent bishop
in the Christian church, some angel of the church; for, in the same way of speaking by
which pastors are called stars, the church is called heaven; but who this is expositors do
not agree. Some understand it of Boniface the third bishop of Rome, who assumed the
title of universal bishop, by the favour of the emperor Phocas, who, being a usurper and
tyrant in the state, allowed Boniface to be so in the church, as the reward of his flattery.
2. To this fallen star was given the key of the bottomless pit. Having now ceased to be a
minister of Christ, he becomes the antichrist, the minister of the devil; and by the
permission of Christ, who had taken from him the keys of the church, he becomes the
devil's turnkey, to let loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ. 3. Upon the
opening of the bottomless pit there arose a great smoke, which darkened the sun and
the air. The devils are the powers of darkness; hell is the place of darkness. The devil
carries on his designs by blinding the eyes of men, by extinguishing light and knowledge,
and promoting ignorance and error. He first deceives men, and then destroys them;
wretched souls follow him in the dark, or they durst not follow him. 4. Out of this dark
smoke there came a swarm of locusts, one of the plagues of Egypt, the devil's emissaries
headed by the antichrist, all the rout and rabble of antichristian orders, to promote
superstition, idolatry, error, and cruelty; and these had, by the just permission of God,
power to hurt those who had not the mark of God in their foreheads. 5. The hurt they
were to do them was not a bodily, but a spiritual hurt. They should not in a military way
destroy all by fire and sword; the trees and the grass should be untouched, and those
they hurt should not be slain; it should not be a persecution, but a secret poison and
infection in their souls, which should rob them of their purity, and afterwards of their
peace. Heresy is a poison in the soul, working slowly and secretly, but will be bitterness
in the end. 6. They had no power so much as to hurt those who had the seal of God in
their foreheads. God's electing, effectual, distinguishing grace will preserve his people
from total and final apostasy. 7. The power given to these factors for hell is limited in
point of time: five months, a certain season, and but a short season, though how short
we cannot tell. Gospel-seasons have their limits, and times of seduction are limited too.

4. JAMISO , “Rev_9:1-21. The fifth trumpet: The fallen star opens the abyss whence
issue locusts. The sixth trumpet. Four angels at the Euphrates loosed.
The last three trumpets of the seven are called, from Rev_8:13, the woe-trumpets.
fall — rather as Greek, “fallen.” When John saw it, it was not in the act of falling, but
had fallen already. This is a connecting link of this fifth trumpet with Rev_12:8,
Rev_12:9, Rev_12:12, “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, for the devil is come down,”
etc. Compare Isa_14:12, “How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!”
the bottomless pit — Greek, “the pit of the abyss”; the orifice of the hell where Satan
and his demons dwell.
PULPIT, “Rev_9:1
And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth; a star from heaven
fallen unto the earth (Revised Version); not saw a star fall. (For the distinctive character of the last
three judgments, see on Rev_8:2.) "A star" sometimes signifies one high in position.
Thus Num_24:17, "There shall come a star out of Jacob;" Dan_8:10, "And it cast down some of the
host and of the stars to the ground." In Rev_1:20 "the stars" are "the angels of the seven
Churches;" in Job_38:7 the angels are called "stars;" in Isa_14:12 we have Satan referred to thus:
"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" It seems, therefore, that Satan
himself is here referred to under this symbol. The trumpet visions hitherto have portrayed troubles
affecting the outer man; now begin to be set forth these yet more terrible visitations which, affecting
his spiritual nature, are seen more directly to emanate from the devil. He has fallen "from heaven
unto the earth;" that is, whereas formerly heaven was his abode, the sphere of his work while yet
obedient to God, he now has no office or power, or entrance there, but is permitted to exercise what
influence he possesses on the earth (cf. Luk_10:18, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven").
This is the view of Tertullian, Aretbas, Bede, Vitriuga, Alford, believe an evil angel is meant;
Wordsworth thinks an apostate Christian teacher is signified; Andreas, Bengel, and De Wette
believe a good angel is intended; others see particular emperors, etc.; while Hengstenberg thinks
the figure represents not one, but a number of persons, including Napoleon. And to him was given
the key of the bottomless pit; of the pit of the abyss (Revised Version). That is, as Wordsworth
explains, of the aperture by which there is no egress from or ingress into the abyss. Christ holds the
key (Rev_1:18), but for a season Satan is permitted to exercise power. The abyss is the abode of
the devil and his angels; the present abode, not the lake of fire, into which they are subsequently
cast (Rev_20:10).
At the sound of the fifth trump, Lucifer is cast out of heaven with those
Enoch called the Grigori on the fifth level of the heavenly realms. Lucifer is
then given the key to free those bound on the second level called Tartarus.
In this chapter we begin a study of the three woe trumpets. These will be more severe
than the first four (corresponding to what was said in 8:13). The fifth angel sounded and
John sees a star fall from heaven to the earth. The star becomes personified for he
receives the key to open the bottomless pit. This star is probably not Satan as most
commentaries state, but is the angel which has the "key" of the bottomless pit (see Rev.
20:1). The bottomless pit ("pit of the abyss" ASV) as seen from other verses is the abode
of the devil (Rev. 17:8; 20:1-3). DAVID RIGGS

5. BARCLAY, “THE U LOCKI G OF THE ABYSS
Rev. 9:1-2
The fifth angel sounded a blast on his trumpet, and I saw a star failing from heaven
on the earth, and to him there was given the key of the shaft of the bottomless abyss;
and he opened the shaft of the abyss; and smoke went up from the shaft like the
smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by the smoke from
the abyss.
The picture of terror mounts in its awful intensity. ow the terrors coming upon the
earth are beyond nature; they are demonic; the abyss is being opened and
superhuman terrors are being despatched upon the world.
The picture will become clearer if we remember that John thinks of the stars as
living beings. This is common in Enoch where, for instance, we read of wandering
and disobedient stars being bound hand and foot and cast into the abyss (Enoch 86:
1; 88: 1). To the Jewish mind the stars were divine beings, who by disobedience
could become demonic and evil.
In the Revelation we read fairly often of the abyss or the bottomless pit. The abyss is
the intermediate place of punishment of the fallen angels, the demons, the beast, the
false prophet and of Satan (Rev. 9:1-2,11; Rev. 11:7; Rev. 20:1,3). Their final place
of punishment is the lake of burning fire and brimstone (Rev. 20:10,14,15). To
complete the picture of these terrors we may add that Gehenna--which is not
mentioned in the Revelation--is the place of punishment for evil men.
This idea of the abyss underwent a development. In the beginning it was the place of
the imprisoned waters. In the creation story the primaeval waters surround the
earth and God separates them by creating the firmament (Gen.1:6-7). In its first
idea the abyss was the place where the flood of the waters was confined by God
beneath the earth, a kind of great subterranean sea, where the waters were
imprisoned to make way for the dry land. The second step was that the abyss
became the abode of the enemies of God, although even there they were not beyond
his power and control (Am.9:3; Isa.51:9; Ps.74:13).
ext the abyss came to be thought of as a great chasm in the earth. We see this idea
in Isa.24:21-22, where the disobedient hosts of heaven and the kings of the earth are
gathered together as prisoners in the pit.
This is the kind of picture in which inevitably horror mounts upon horror. The most
detailed descriptions of the abyss are in Enoch, which was so influential between the
Testaments. There it is the prison abode of the angels who fell, the angels who came
to earth and seduced mortal women, the angels who taught men to worship demons

6. instead of the true God (Gen.6:1-4). There are grim descriptions of it. It has no
firmament above and no firm earth beneath; it has no water; it has no birds; it is a
waste and horrible place, the end of heaven and earth (Enoch 18: 12-16). It is
chaotic. There is a fire which blazes and a cleft into the abyss whose magnitude
passes all conjecture (Enoch 21: 1-10).
These things are not to be taken literally. The point is that in this terrible time of
devastation which the seer sees coming upon the earth, the terrors are not natural
but demonic; the powers of evil are being given their last chance to work their
dreadful work.
LA GE, “Rev_9:1. I saw a star fallen from the Heaven to the Earth.—Its fall is done; it has
fallen hither from Heaven to judgment, Luk_10:18; Isa_14:12. A star—therefore not
an Angel (Eichhorn); either good (Bengel) or bad (Düsterdieck); certainly not the devil (Bede,
against which view Rev_12:9 militates). According to Düsterdieck, the ideas of star and Angel are
confluent (Psa_103:21;Jer_33:22). Here, however, where distinct symbols or conceptions are
treated of, the two forms must be kept separate. If we suppose the locusts to be phantasies
originating in psychical gloom, we may take the star, which has fallen from Heaven, to be
repentance without faith, or the sorrow of this world—so-called Cain or Judas repentance—or the
remorse and penance of religious self-torment, whether clothed in a more ancient and mediaeval or
a more modern form. Comp. Joh_13:30; 1Jn_3:21.
To him was given, etc.—It is the key of the pit of the Abyss, and is given him only after his fall.
Repentance was in Heaven at first, but, through want of submission, fell to Earth, a fallen star,
receiving now the melancholy ability to open the pit of the Abyss, the demonic domain of the lower
realm of the dead. On the Abyss, comp. the Lexicons. The pit, öñÝáñ , denotes the mouth of the
Abyss; the mouth being significant of the close connection and readily opened communication
between human psychical life and the demonic domain.
Different interpretations of the star see in De Wette, p. 102:—(Lyra): Valens; (Grotius): Eleazar;
(Herder): Menahem, the son of Judas. The Abyss: the fortress Masada. Abaddon: Simon, the son of
Gorion. A singular interpretation is given by Alcasar: the Mosaic Law.
According to Hengstenberg, the star is an ideal person, a line of rulers, the last and grandest form
being Napoleon. Sander: Mohammed and his Islam. Gärtner: Arius. The Kreuzritter: The hierarch;
he regards the ascending smoke as enthusiasm and fanaticism.
[Barnes (on Rev_8:10): “A star is a natural emblem of a prince, of a ruler, of one distinguished by
rank or by talent. See Num_24:17 and Isa_14:12. A star falling from Heaven would be a natural
symbol of one who had left a higher station, or of one whose character and course would be like a
meteor shooting through the sky.” And in loc.: “This denotes a leader, a military chieftain, a warrior.
In the fulfillment of this, we look for the appearance of some mighty prince and warrior, to whom is
given power, as it were, to open the bottomless pit, and to summon forth its legions.”
[Alford: “The reader will at once think on Isa_14:12 : ‘How art thou fallen from Heaven, O Lucifer,
son of the morning!’ And on Luk_10:18 : I beheld Satan as lightning fall from Heaven.’ And
doubtless as the personal import of the star is made clear in the following words, such is the
reference here. We may also notice that this expression forms a connecting link to another
place,Rev_12:9, in this Book, where Satan is represented as cast out of Heaven to the Earth. It is

7. hardly possible, with Andr. Ribera, Bengel and De W., to understand a good Angel by this fallen
star.” Elliott agrees with Alford in regarding him as Satan, whom he looks upon as the inspirer of
Mohammed. (For other views see on pp. 201 sq.)—E. R. C.]
BIBLICAL ILLUSTRATOR, “I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth.
Moral evil in the universe
I. It is exposable (Rev_9:1). Moral evil, in its incipient state, so stupefies the faculties
and blinds the conscience that the subject only becomes aware of it by the advent of s
messenger from heaven—an angel from heaven uncovers it, makes it bare to the soul.
II. It is fathomless. “Bottomless pit.” Who can fathom its—
1. Origin.
2. Issues.
III. It is burning. “A great furnace.” Like all fire, it exists in two states—latent or active.
Where it becomes active it is consuming and transmuting: it consumers the good, and
transmutes its embers into evil, and in all it inflicts agony on the soul—the agony of
moral regrets for the past, and terrible forebodings for the future.
IV. It is obscuring.
1. How benighted men are on the eternal question of right!
2. How blinded men are to the eternal conditions of well-being!
V. It is alarming (Rev_9:3). What hellish squadrons, to terrify and destroy the soul, issue
from the fathomless abysses of moral evil! Terrible armies come in the memories of the
past and in the apprehensions of the mysterious future. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The fallen stars
A star falling from heaven may be interpreted as something bright that leaps from its
proper place, or may be used as the symbol of many things that are out of their true
position, and as the type of many persons who are wandering, or who have wandered, or
who will wander from their proper locality. It stands for broken plans, broken character,
for virtue turned upside down, and for a world filled with riot, confusion, and shame.
1. As we study history, we find, in each age, a large number of prominent men who
for a long season gave a brilliant light, and then all at once became eclipsed by their
sins, being struck from the celestial skies. Is there any sight more sad than this? It is
opportunity clipped, virtue smothered, consummate grandeur scorched, and a
posterity robbed of examples that might have been splendidly luminous beyond all
human estimate. Such men have struck a blow at humanity, and they stand unenvied,
in the niche of fame, as traitors to their race, aliens from God, and bad specimens of a
discrowned morality; and such is the penalty of a high position misused, of a great
trust betrayed, and of a grand possibility disgraced.
2. Again, great cities and countries that have become extinct are fallen stars—
Babylon, Nineveh, and Tyre, and others of like nature, which once led the world in
beauty, culture, commerce, and force, but which now are lost in the ashes that serve

8. as their mausoleum. No one could have foreseen their fate, because so stately, so
magnificent, and so glorious did they appear, and right royal in their beauty.
3. In each one’s personal history we discover that bright luminaries have fallen from
their place; for no one can look back upon a past life without detecting various
periods when awful slips were made. How innocent we once were! What bright
dreams of goodness flitted athwart the brain, crowned the soul, and illuminated a
possible future! Ah! “the spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.” We meant to do
that which was right, but temptation came, then we turned aside to the evil way; and
probably there is not a person in the world at the age of twenty-one who has not lost
somewhat of the freshness of early life, and we all moan over some good thing that
we have too easily let go. Are we as truthful as we once were? as honest? as pure? Ah!
the firmament of our souls has become strangely darkened, and many of the brilliant
lights that once studded it appear to have died out. Only here and there twinkles one
little star, very lonely, sad, obscure. Clouds and darkness are round about us, while a
thick vapour has thrown its fearful shroud over our original beauty. Yet, all this we
can remedy; and these choice constellations of early days, now so disguised, can be
made to shine with renewed glory, can once more proclaim their power, and can yet
again blaze with gorgeous splendour. And Jesus came on purpose to tell us how to
keep these starlike virtues in their orbit, how to call them back when they have
wandered, and how to summon up their original splendour. He did not wish us to be
freed from all temptation, that, merely by the absence of exposure, our innocence
might be eternally fortified, and that our goodness might be iron-clad—no, not that;
but He endeavoured to show us how to meet temptation, how to conquer it, how to
take our innocence and to push it into virtue, and how to change a mere passive
goodness into a decided, active, and glorious nobleness of character. (Caleb D.
Bradlee.)
Why should God permit this star to fall
Could not He who made the heavens have kept the constellations in their place, and have
saved from extinction those brilliant lights? If Be could only make them, but could never
control them after they were born, where was His omnipotence? If He could only make
them, and yet not know that they would rebel, where was His omniscience? Or, in other
words, why did God ever allow sin to attack the children of men? that old question that is
ever new, and that will ever come up to trouble us; for it has puzzled the human heart
ever since the human heart was made, yet is not the answer really very plain? Without
free will we should be machines; but with it there must be the possibility of our going
astray. God can, and does, prevent sin from injuring the world ultimately; but He cannot,
consistently with the freedom of the human mind, stop a human being from going astray
if that human being so desires. And if the star will fall from heaven, why it must fall; but
God will prevent it from scorching the world, while God, perhaps, in time will so inflame
it with His blessed love, pity, and grace that it will find again its place, regain its power,
and shine once more in splendour. (Caleb D. Bradlee.)
The evil effects of degeneracy: the fallen star
The evil effects are—
I. Widespread.

9. II. Destructively injurious.
III. Bitterly afflictive.
1. To him who falls.
2. To them whom he drags down with him.
3. To them whose sympathies being only with goodness are afflicted by anything that
tends to degeneracy of manners, to feebleness of faith, or to the lowering of the tone
and felicity of human life.
4. To the widespread, outlying multitudes, amongst whom the spread of goodness is
retarded by any act of unfaithfulness and any instance of defection. (R. Green.)
Abuse of the best things
The best things, when abused, become the worst; there is no devil like a fallen angel, no
enemy to the gospel like an apostate Christian, no hate like the “theological hate,” no war
like a religious war, and no corruption like religious corruption. The reasons are not far
to seek. The best things are the strongest; they can therefore do evil when used in an evil
way. (A. J. Morris.)
Shall men seek death, and shall not find Jr.—
The extremity of anguish
I. A state of misery in which death is sought.
1. Death is universally regarded amongst men as the greatest evil. The ravenous
beast, the furious storm, the destructive pestilence, the engulfing earthquake, are
only terrible because death is terrible.
2. The relief which men generally seek in this world in their sufferings is from death.
The mariner will forsake his ship with valuable cargo, the king will resign his
kingdom, the wounded will suffer amputation of every limb, if thought needful, to
avoid death.
II. A state of misery in which death is sought as a relief in vain. It is miserable to seek
relief in the most deeply felt evil, but to seek it in such an evil in vain adds wondrously to
the misery of the case. Fatigue, disappointment, the consciousness of lost energy, add to
the anguish. Earth runs from death; hell runs after it, and runs in vain.
III. Concluding inferences:
1. The fact that men are exposed to such a state of being implies that some sad
catastrophe has befallen our nature.
2. There is something in the universe to be dreaded by man more than death, and
this is sin.
3. Christianity should be hailed as the only means to deliver us from this extremity of
anguish. It destroys sin; it “condemns sin in the flesh.” (D. Thomas, D. D.)

10. As it were crowns like gold.—
The fictions of sin
These mystical locusts personify the lusts and passions which destroy the soul, and
which, destroying the soul, destroy all things. Our text suggests that sin affects great
things, it promises great things, and it never gives what it promises. “On their heads were
as it were crowns of gold.” It is not a real, solid, golden crown, but “as it were.” Sin
always acts by an infernal magic; it is full of illusion, imposition, and mockery. There is
indeed a Mephistophelean element in all sin; it saves its word whilst it lies, it gives a
spurious gift, it is ironical, scornful, and derisive. It is the supreme sophistry; the
supreme satire.
1. There is no reality in the greatness that sin promises. Sin promises distinction,
glory, fame. The devil is quite flush of crowns. But men always find at last that selfish
greatness, soiled greatness, unrighteous greatness is false greatness, and that it only
mocks those who have made such immense sacrifices on its behalf. Take a conqueror,
of whom Napoleon is the type. He was himself a locust, with a crown upon his head.
And just as the locusts strip the trees and leave rich and smiling landscapes desolate,
so did this imperial locust and his legions strip kingdoms and leave a track of blood
and ruin. But how empty was all his glory, and how little it came to! An exile at St.
Helena, you feel he got the crown, “as it were.” And to-day how utterly discredited he
is, and how beggared all his greatness! The world knows him as a colossal brigand.
Take a poet, and let Byron be our typical instance. How much of greatness and fame
did he seem to acquire, and yet his career was based on egotism, sensuality,
godlessness; and how poor he looks now! Take a politician. I have been reading the
biography of a notorious statesman. He was a brilliant man and he loved brilliance.
All his letters are about splendid events, gorgeous pageantries, eloquent speeches. He
breakfasts with wits, takes tea with duchesses, dines with the queen. You read about
literature, diplomacy, rank, but the great words of righteousness and
humanitarianism are hardly breathed. How poor it all looks now! How theatrical it
looks, how theatrical it was! How differently we look upon Wilberforce, who brought
men liberty; upon Cobden, who gave us bread; upon Shaftesbury, who made mercy to
distil upon waste places as the gentle rains drop upon the plains, beneath. Their
crowns are solid, they glow as they age; but as for my dramatic statesman, ms diadem
was dust before he was. It is always so. Wherever glory is built on egotism, violence,
unrighteousness, it possesses only an apparitional crown. “The burglar seizes
property, but in his hands it is no longer property, but pillage.” The sensual man
seizes love, but beautiful love thus seized instantly dies and becomes a ghastly corpse
—that we call lust. The ambitious man seizes greatness, but the moment that he
touches it in the spirit of egotism and pride the splendid crown becomes tinsel. “The
coveted thing, whatever it be, loses its essence when the lawless lust has got it.” If you
want greatness and glory seek for it in another and truer pathway. You young men,
be sure that you seek it in the ways of truth and wisdom and purity. “Wisdom is the
principal thing.” “She shall bring thee to honour.” You professional men. You justly
contemplate promotion and distinction in your calling, lawyer, physician, artist. Be
sure you make no compromise. Be ready to go without a crown that you may get one.
You municipal men. You political aspirants. Bring the religious and moral into your
life or some day you will be mocked by knowing the crown for which you struggled is
only a miserable counterfeit. And then we all hope for a larger glory and honour still.
It is astonishing what a faith we have in the possibilities of our nature; what an
instinct for greatness; what an appetite for glory! Years ago I remember a poor
woman dying; she was a very poor woman, and was carried to the grave from a lowly

11. cottage. But her children put this verse on her funeral card: “And a great sign was
seen in heaven; a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and
upon her head a crown of twelve stars.” They felt she was great enough to have the
sun for her robe, the moon for a footstool, and Orion, Venus, Sirius, Arcturus,
Aldebaran, for the stars of her forehead. And they were right. The most magnificent
things of the Apocalypse do not startle us. “It doth not yet appear what we shall be.”
But let us aim at true greatness—not mock greatness. We do not want the crowns of
the locusts—we want one of those other crowns, such as the elders wore, as the
angels wore, as the saints wore. The true crown is a crown of righteousness, it fadeth
not away.
II. There is no reality in the wealth that sin promises. Wealth without morality, without
humanity, without spirituality, is in an extraordinary degree unreal and tantalising. On
the Stock Exchange is what is known as “phantom gold.” Certain transactions in gold are
known by this name. It is gold that exists only on paper, and it is dealt in as a pure
speculation. But how much of the wealth of society is “phantom gold”! It is on paper
only; it is truly a visionary, speculative thing. There is no real solid joy in it. Look at
illegitimate wealth—wealth gotten by immoral means. Men sometimes get it, and then
they are detected and they are deprived of it. There are rogues in prison to-day who have
been deprived of their ill-gotten wealth. You have seen a mouse in a trap—it gets the
cheese “as it were.” And if they do not go to prison, wealth that comes badly has a trick of
melting away swiftly. They put it into a bag with holes, they get it and are poor, they
never have anything. Fairy gold turns to withered leaves and dust. And sometimes
conscience will not let them enjoy it. Look at Judas! He got the thirty pieces of silver “as
it were.” And there is much the same deception and disappointment with all selfish,
godless, unspiritual wealth. Men have it, and yet they have it not, they get the golden
prize, and then harndling it find it “as it were.” They have it, and it is a phantom. It is like
a man promising you money, and then showing you a five-pound note in a looking-glass.
Balzac, the French writer, built himself a splendid mansion, but when he had finished it
he had exhausted his resources, and so he proceeded to furnish it in imagination, Here a
ticket announced a great picture, there a cabinet, conch, table, etc. The realities were not
there, only labels. And it is often much the same with the selfish unspiritual rich, their
outward life overbrims with riches, lint their soul is empty. They have certificates, title-
deeds, parchments declaring that they have wealth and power and happiness, but the
realities are utterly wanting in their deepest, truest life. They can’t translate it into the
true riches of brain and heart, of character, experience, and hope. A friend of mine in
London is a jeweller for the theatres, and he was showing me the other day the jewels of
the stage. What a size those jewels are! Mammoth gems, mountains of light, stars of the
first magnitude. What colours those jewels have! Rich, burning, gorgeous hues. And
what a quantity! Pearls by the peck. Diamonds, rubies, emeralds, abound. Crowns,
mitres, diadems, necklaces on every side. The crown-jewels in the Tower look mean and
shabby compared with this treasury of gems. And yet one crown jewel would far more
than have bought them all. Clever, ingenious, plausible—they were still Brummagem.
One simple, small, modest gem of royalty outweighs all the gay and garish gems of the
mimic kings and queens of the gaslight. And it is much the same with Vanity Fair, with
all unspiritual glory, and fashion, and luxury. The rich and gay are but actors, their
purple brings them no self-respect, their gold no gladness, their splendour no
satisfaction of soul. Have no unrighteous wealth. It will only deceive and curse you. Do
not hold your wealth in the spirit of selfishness. Be the steward of God, using for His
glory, for high and generous purposes, whatever He gives you. And be sure of this, that
no wealth is truly yours until it is realised in the spiritual and godly. “The gold of this
land is good.”

12. III. There is no reality in the pleasure that sin promises. Pleasure that is not moral;
pleasure that is selfish; pleasure that has no thought of God in it is always fictitious. It is
imagination, illusion, falsehood. I remember a picture of the Prodigal Son, and there was
one fine touch in it. The poor fellow had come to the feeding of the swine, and the painter
had put in one of those poetic touches which mean so much a few poppies gave bits of
colour to the dismal picture. Yes, one deep lesson of the parable was there—the prodigal
had been under the power of opium, he had been the victim of illusion. And this illusion
had betrayed him to the far country, the swine, the hunger, the brink of despair. It is
always thus—the poppy plays the grand part. The devil makes men to see wondrous
delights in sensual, selfish, godless pleasures. But they prove sooner or later as the
podigal son did that it is illusion, that unrighteous and unspiritual enjoyment is a
miserable cheat. The African saw blocks of silver on the other side of the river, but when
he crossed the river they turned into black stones. He never gives you a crown of roses
but “as it were.” Brethren, seek for a real crown—greatness, wealth, pleasure. Make for
this. Don’t be deceived. And there is One who can give it. It is in the truth and grace and
power of Christ that you shall realise all the grand and beautiful and enduring
satisfactions of the heart. There is no “as it were” in Jesus Christ. It is reality; it satisfies,
abides. (W. L. Watkinson.)
Stings in their tails.—
The tail of a habit
“A beast escaped with a halter,” says Thomas Manton, “is easily caught again; so a lust
indulged will bring us into our old bondage.” Nothing is harder to bury than the tail of a
habit; but unless we do bury it, tail and all, the viper will wriggle out of its grave. A clear,
clean, and complete escape is the only true deliverance from an evil practice which has
long been indulged. A drunkard is not safe from the drink while he takes his occasional
glass with a friend. A man who allows himself any one sin will be sure to allow another;
where one dog comes into the room another may follow. A fish is not free for his life
while a hook is in his mouth, and a line holds him to the rod. However thin the
connecting medium, it will be the death of the fish, if it holds; and, however slight the
bond which links a man to evil, it will be his sure ruin. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
There come two woes more.—
Woes to come
To my own apprehension, while reading this in private, it seemed just such an utterance
as the angel of God might address to the soul of the ungodly when he leaves the body.
“Death is over,” saith the angel. “One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes
more hereafter.” Thou hast passed through the woes of death, but behold there comes a
judgment, and then comes a second death: “One woe is past; and, behold, there come
two woes more hereafter.”
1. The woe which is supposed to be passed is the woe of death. Death to the righteous
has lost its sting, but to the wicked death has all its terrors. Its horrors are not
diminished by anything that Christ hath done; yea, rather, death gathers more cause
of dismay; for the very Cross itself may fill the obdurate heart with consternation.
When the sinner dies impenitent, having rejected the mercy of Christ, death is woe
indeed. One of my predecessors, Mr. Benjamin Keach, has left on record an account

13. of a man that had been a trouble to his Church—for he had backslidden—and his
cries, shrieks, and tears, at the very prospect of death, were enough to make one’s
hair turn white and stand upon end. The poor wretched man seems to have had a
foretaste of perdition before he entered into its fire; and so it is ofttimes with the
wicked: thou hast had thy harvest; thy summer is ended; but thou art not saved; thou
hast been warned, but thou shalt not be warned again, and all the while conscience
says this is just—I knew my duty and I did it not; I knew it was my duty to repent, but
I steeled my heart against God, and I would not forsake my sins; I turned my back
upon the Cross to dance in a merry circle downwards to the pit. This shall make
death woeful indeed, when it shall be hurled into the mind; thou knewest thy duty,
but thou didst it not:
2. Of the two woes that loom in the future, I would now briefly but solemnly speak.
(1) The first woe of the man who dies in his sins is the woe of judgment; that is
terrible indeed. Scarce can a prisoner stand in the docks to be tried for his life by
his fellow-man without trembling; at least, it is a wonder if it should be so. But
conceive the great assize—the graves are opened! What horrors shall seize hold
upon the wicked at that moment!
(2) After the woe of judgment there comes the woe of hell. Oh, what a woe is that
in which all the woes of the lost are condensed! You cannot compare the pains of
this life with the agonies to be endured hereafter. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
HAWKER, “Revelation 9:1-12
(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. (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. (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. (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. (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. (6) And in those days shall men seek
death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them. (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. (8) And
they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions. (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. (10) And they had tails like unto
scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five
months. (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. (12) One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
The first thing to be noted in this account, by way of ascertaining the sense and meaning
of it, is what is said, that to this star was given the of the bottomless pit, which clearly
defines a person. For a star, literally considered, could not receive a key. So that here we
gain one point towards our discovery. The next light thrown upon the passage is, that he
is said to fall from heaven unto, the earth, that is, from the Church, frequently called

14. Heaven, Heb_12:22; Rev_21:2. Hence, the person alluded to must have been, by
profession at least, of the Church, (that is, one who in words acknowledged Christ,)
before his fall from it. No w, there is no character in all the history of mankind, to whom
it can be applied with such propriety as Mahomet, the false prophet. This impostor, as
appears by his history, for a time professed Christianity. And what he hath said of Christ
in his Alcoran, though most sadly perverted, shows what information he had acquired in
head knowledge, concerning the Lord Jesus. Some, however, have thought, that the Pope
of Rome is here meant. And some have thought, that both Mahomet and the Pope are
alike intended. Certain it is, that both arose much about the same time, at the opening of
the seventh century, about the year of our Lord God 600. But I think, that Mahomet is
principally, if not altogether intended; because the transactions under the fifth and sixth
trumpets, are chiefly, if not altogether, concerning the East; whereas the Pope’s heresy is
in the West. I confess, indeed, that the power here said to be exercised by him over the
bottomless pit, best corresponds with the Pope, since by his, claims respecting purgatory,
it should seem to be the most suited to him. But as the imposture of the false prophet, as
well as the Pope both sprung from hell, it suits either, or both of them.
There is somewhat very striking in the account here given of opening the bottomless pit,
and a smoke arising like the smoke of a furnace, to darken the sun and air. Whether
Mahomet, or the Pope, their counsel is from hell. And the temptations of Satan, do not
un-frequently darken the bright rays of Christ, the sun of righteousness, to his people’s
view. Not that Christ is himself obscured, for He shines forever the same. But his people,
by reason of the clouds, do not always alike see him; just as the clouds in nature, which
make sometimes a dark day. Angels above the clouds, in the clear atmosphere of the
heavens, look down upon them, and they are not dark. It is only to us, who inhabit the
regions below, which live under their influence, that are sensible of their quality.
I beg the Reader to make the same observation respecting these locusts as was before
made of the key of the bottomless pit, that they, mean the persons of men: called locusts
because of their number, and swarming as do those pernicious insects of the earth, and
because of their deadly quality in poisoning. But that men are meant by then is evident,
inasmuch as they were prohibited from hurting the grass, or herbage, or trees. It is men
they were to hurt, and them only that were unsealed. There is somewhat very blessed in
this information, for several reasons, and I pray the Reader not to overlook either.
First. It forms one of the sweetest thoughts, that the Lord had many then, and hath many
now, of his hidden ones, in this Eastern part of the world, where the Impostor set up his
standard, to oppose Christ; for otherwise, this precept, amounting to a prohibition, that
they should only hurt those men which had not the seal of God in their foreheads, would
have been unnecessary. I beg the Reader not to lose sight of this.
And, secondly. Let him take another precious thought from this passage, and observe,
that God had sealed his people, though he permitted them, for wise purposes we cannot
explain, to live under such governments.
And thirdly. Let him consider, that though now at this time, the awful delusion of this
imposture hath continued for more than twelve hundred years, and is as great in its
horrible tyranny over the consciences and bodies of men as ever; yet they of the Lord’s
people who are there still, are known to Christ, and known by Christ; and from time to
time, are gathered out, and gathered home to Christ, to whom the gathering of his people
must be, Gen_49:10.
Some have thought, and I see no reason to reject the observation, that by the grass which
these locusts were prohibited from hurting, is meant, the humble followers of the Lord,

15. who are low in the earth. And by the trees are meant the higher of the Lord’s people, who
are like the cedars of Lebanon. It may be so. But the most blessed thought is, that both,
and every other, their safety is in being sealed, secured, and everlastingly blessed, in
Christ. Come not near any on whom is the mark! Eze_9:6.
I do not mean to speak decidedly, when I say, I humbly presume, of what is said, that it
was given to those locusts not to kill them, (that is, the Lord’s people,) but that they
should be tormented five months, is meant, not in relation to their bodies; for, certain it
is, the false prophet slaughtered many who refused to abjure Christ; neither to their
souls, for their power reached not to this spiritual part; but to the electing grace of God
in Christ, on which account they were sealed. And this view of the subject, if I am right,
becomes a sweet and precious subject indeed! Was it not this (I ask the question,)
wherein Satan was prohibited, in the instance of Job? Behold! said God to the enemy, he
is in thine hand, but save his life; that is, his person, according to the margin in Isaiah.
Election is personal. Compare Job_2:6 with Isa_43:4.
What is said of the figure of the locusts, their shape, and head, and crowns, together with
their having a king over them, becomes only a confirmation that men are all along
intended, and not reptiles. And here again, this authority is so much in resemblance both
to Mahomet and the Pope, that it may be truly said, it is impossible to ascertain which it
suits most. They are both properly called Abaddon, or Apollyon, which signifies a
destroyer. Which hath destroyed most, is beyond all human knowledge to say; the
Impostor of the East, or the son of perdition, as the Pope is elsewhere called, of the West,
2Th_2:3. But both, we are told, shall be finally cast alive into a lake of fire, burning with
brimstone, Rev_19:20.
Reader let us pause for a moment, over the solemn subject! What awful events did the
fifth trumpet dispensation bring, in the permission of two such dreadful heresies to arise,
one in the East, and the other in the West. Who would have thought, when the empire
became Christian, though only in the name, and profession of it; that such events would
follow? And what a mystery it is, even now, that those antichristian powers should
remain down to the present era, through a period of more than twelve hundred years!
One word more, while we are in a world of mysteries. What a time Satan hath had, from
Adam’s Call, to the present hour, over the whole earth, yea, God’s children also, while
uncalled by grace; and what ten thousand sighs, and groans, hath he called forth by his
cruelty, from every heart of our nature, from the first of creation, to the end of the time-
state, for to that time his empire is to extend?
And doth the Reader ponder thee things with amazement, and do they appear to him
perfectly unfathomable? Let him then turn his thoughts within, and for a moment study
that world of iniquity; I mean his own heart. And, if so be that the Lord hath called my
Reader, by his regenerating grace, to a new, and spiritual life in Christ Jesus; he will
learn more at home, by way of explaining things abroad, than all the books upon earth
(excepting the Book of God) can teach him on the subject, to all eternity.
In false prophets, and lying deceivers, we behold the word of God fulfilled. They were of
old ordained to this condemnation: Jud_1:4. In Satan and his devices, we discover the
cause of his malice; the devil is come down upon the earth having great wrath, because
he knoweth that he hath but a short time, Rev_12:12. In all these, we discover from God’s
word, both cause and effect. But, when God chooseth the heart of a sinner for his temple,
and He who inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy, prefers to abide there, which
before was occupied by unclean devils; and instead of taking delight in making the
heaven for his throne, and the earth for his footstool, sets up his throne in the broken

16. and contrite heart, saying, here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein? here is a subject,
enough to set all the world a wondering, and can only be explained by the words of God
himself: my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the
Lord! Isa_55:8.
MEYER, ““OUT OF THE SMOKE OF THE PIT”
Rev_9:1-11
This chapter reminds us of the prophet Joel who, under the imagery of a swarm of
locusts, depicted the coming invasion of hostile nations. Whether these warriors are
intended for barbarian hordes which swept over the Roman Empire previous to its fall,
or whether they represent the Saracens, between whose appearance and the details of
this vision there is much in common, is not within our province to determine. The point
which specially concerns us is that only those escaped who had received the imprint of
God’s seal. Of old the destroying angel passed over the houses, on the lintels of which the
blood was visible.
But there are spiritual foes, against whose invasion we must seek the sealing of God’s
Spirit. “Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in whom ye were sealed unto the day of
redemption,” Eph_4:30. What is impressed with the royal seal is under special
protection; and when temptation assails you, you may assuredly claim that divine
protection, which shall surround you as an impenetrable shield. “The angel of the Lord
encampeth round about them that fear Him, and delivereth them,” Psa_34:7. We fight
not against flesh and blood, but against wicked spirits in heavenly places, and only the
spiritual can secure for us immunity against the spiritual.
2
When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it
like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The
sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from
the Abyss.
BAR ES, “And he opened the bottomless pit - It is represented before as wholly
confined, so that not even the smoke or vapor could escape.
And there arose a smoke out of the pit - Compare Rev_14:11. The meaning here
is that the pit, as a place of punishment, or as the abode of the wicked, was filled with
burning sulphur, and consequently that it emitted smoke and vapor as soon as opened.
The common image of the place of punishment, in the Scriptures, is that of a “lake that
burns with fire and brimstone.” Compare Rev_14:10; Rev_19:20; Rev_20:10; Rev_21:8.

17. See also Psa_11:6; Isa_30:33; Eze_38:22. It is not improbable that this image was taken
from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Gen_19:24. Such burning sulphur would
produce, of course, a dense smoke or vapor; and the idea here is, that the pit had been
closed, and that as soon as the door was opened a dense column escaped that darkened
the heavens. The purpose of this is, probably, to indicate the origin of the plague that was
about to come upon the world. It would be of such a character that it would appear as if it
had been emitted from hell; as if the inmates of that dark world had broke loose upon the
earth. Compare notes on Rev_6:8.
As the smoke of a great furnace - So in Gen_19:28, whence probably this image is
taken: “And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and all the land of the plain, and
beheld and lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.”
And the sun and the air were darkened, ... - As will be the case when a smoke
ascends from a furnace. The meaning here is, that an effect would be produced as if a
dense and dark vapor should ascend from the under-world. We are not, of course, to
understand this literally.
CLARKE, “He opened the bottomless pit - Το φρεαρ της αβυσσου· The pit of the
bottomless deep. Some think the angel means Satan, and the bottomless pit hell. Some
suppose Mohammed is meant; and Signior Pastorini professes to believe that Luther is
intended!
There arose a smoke - False doctrine, obscuring the true light of heaven.
GILL, “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.

18. 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.
LA GE, “Rev_9:2. And he opened the pit of the abyss.—The smoke. The region of the evil
conscience in the realm of the dead is a region of self-burning, like Gehenna, whence the smoke of
torment ascends. The Seer knows of a retroaction of the gloomy feelings of this region on the Earth,
the more since this region is even to be found in the back-ground of an unfree human soul-life in
this world. Hence there results a great darkening of the sun and air.
PULPIT, “And he openedthebottomlesspit; pit of the abyss, as above. This phrase is
omitted by à , B, Coptic, AEthiopic, and others. It is inserted by A, B, many cursives, Vulgate,
Syriac, Andreas.And therearosea smokeoutof thepit,as thesmokeof a greatfurnace.The
smoke of the incense (Rev_8:4) purified the prayers of the saints, making them acceptable before
God; the smoke which ascends from the abyss clouds men's minds and darkens their
understandings. And the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. The
air, becoming filled with the smoke, obscured the light of the sun, so that both appeared dark. This
darkening of the atmosphere may have been suggested by the description of the locust plague
(Exo_10:15), or by the account in Joe_2:1-32. But it is the smoke, not the locusts, which is here
said to cause the obscurity; the locusts issue forth out of the smoke. It is doubtful whether we ought
to seek any particular interpretation of the smoke; it is probably only accessory to the general
picture. If we may press the meaning so far, it is perhaps best to regard the smoke as the evil
influence of the devil, which darkens men's understandings, and from which issue the troubles
which are the result of heresy and infidelity, portrayed by the locusts (cf. 2Co_4:4, "In whom the god
of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving," etc.).
3

19. And out of the smoke locusts came down upon
the earth and were given power like that of
scorpions of the earth.
BAR ES, “And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth - That is,
they escaped from the pit with the smoke. At first they were mingled with the smoke, so
that they were not distinctly seen, but when the smoke cleared away they appeared in
great numbers. The idea seems to be, that the bottomless pit was filled with vapor and
with those creatures, and that as soon as the gate was opened the whole contents
expanded and burst forth upon the earth. The sun was immediately darkened, and the
air was full, but the smoke soon cleared away, so that the locusts became distinctly
visible. The appearance of these locusts is described in another part of the chapter,
Rev_9:7 ff. The locust is a voracious insect belonging to the grasshopper or grylli genus,
and is a great scourge in Oriental countries. A full description of the locust may be seen
in Robinson’s Calmet, and in Kitto’s Encyclo. vol. ii. pp. 258ff. There are ten Hebrew
words to denote the locust, and there are numerous references to the destructive habits
of the insect in the Scriptures. In fact, from their numbers and their destructive habits,
there was scarcely any other plague that was so much dreaded in the East. Considered as
a symbol, or emblem, the following remarks may be made in explanation:
(1) The symbol is Oriental, and would most naturally refer to something that was to
occur in the East. As locusts have appeared chiefly in the East, and as they are in a great
measure an Oriental plague, the mention of this symbol would most naturally turn the
thoughts to that portion of the earth. The symbols of the first four trumpets had no
special locality, and would suggest no particular part of the world; but on the mention of
this, the mind would be naturally turned to the East, and we should expect to find that
the scene of this woe would be located in the regions where the ravages of locusts most
abounded. Compare, on this point, Elliott, Horae Apoc. i. 394-406. He has made it
probable that the prophets, when they used symbolical language to denote any events,
commonly, at least, employed those which had a local or geographical reference; thus, in
the symbols derived from the vegetable kingdom, when Judah is to be symbolized, the
olive, the vine, and the fig-tree are selected; when Egypt is referred to, the reed is chosen;
when Babylon, the willow. And so, in the animal kingdom, the lion is the symbol of
Judah; the wild ass, of the Arabs; the crocodile, of Egypt, etc. Whether this theory could
be wholly carried out or not, no one can doubt that the symbol of locusts would most
naturally suggest the Oriental world, and that the natural interpretation of the passage
would lead us to expect its fulfillment there.
(2) Locusts were remarkable for their numbers - so great often as to appear like clouds,
and to darken the sky. In this respect they would naturally be symbolical of numerous
armies or hosts of men. This natural symbol of numerous armies is often employed by
the prophets. Thus, in Jer_46:23;
“Cut down her forests (i. e. her people, or cities), saith Jehovah,
That it may not be found on searching;
Although they surpass the locusts in multitude,
And they are without number.”
So in Nah_3:15;

20. “There shall the fire devour thee;
The sword shall cut thee off; it shall devour thee as the locust,
Increase thyself as the numerous locusts.”
So also in Nah_3:17;
“Thy crowned princes are as the numerous locusts,
And thy captains as the grasshoppers;
Which encamp in the fences in the cold day,
But when the sun ariseth they depart,
And their place is not known where they were.”
See also Deu_28:38, Deu_28:42; Psa_78:46; Amo_7:1. Compare Jdg_6:3-6;
Jdg_7:12; and Joe_1:2.
(3) Locusts are an emblem of desolation or destruction. No symbol of desolation could
be more appropriate or striking than this, for one of the most remarkable properties of
locusts is, that they devour every green thing and leave a land perfectly waste. They do
this even when what they destroy is not necessary for their own sustenance. “Locusts
seem to devour not so much from a ravenous appetite as from a rage for destroying.
Destruction, therefore, and not food, is the chief impulse of their devastations, and in
this consists their utility; they are, in fact, omnivorous. The most poisonous plants are
indifferent to them; they will prey even upon the crowfoot, whose causticity burns even
the hides of beasts. They simply consume everything, without predilection - vegetable
matter, linens, woolens, silk, leather, etc.; and Pliny does not exaggerate when he says,
fores quoque tectorum - ‘even the doors of houses’ - for they have been known to
consume the very varnish of furniture. They reduce everything indiscriminately to
shreds, which become manure” (Kitto’s Encyclopedia ii. 263). Locusts become, therefore,
a most striking symbol of an all-devouring army, and as such are often referred to in
Scripture. So also in Josephus, de Bello Jude book v. ch. vii.: “As after locusts we see the
woods stripped of their leaves, so, in the rear of Simon’s army, nothing but devastation
remained.” The natural application of this symbol, then, is to a numerous and
destructive army, or to a great multitude of people committing ravages, and sweeping off
everything in their march.
And unto them was given power - This was something that was imparted to them
beyond their ordinary nature. The locust in itself is not strong, and is not a symbol of
strength. Though destructive in the extreme, yet neither as individuals, nor as combined,
are they distinguished for strength. Hence, it is mentioned as a remarkable circumstance
that they had such power conferred on them.
As the scorpions of the earth have power - The phrase “the earth” seems to have
been introduced here because these creatures are said to have come up from “the
bottomless pit,” and it was natural to compare them with some well-known objects found
on the earth. The scorpion is an animal with eight feet, eight eyes, and a long, jointed tail,
ending in a pointed weapon or sting. It is the largest and the most malignant of all the
insect tribes. It somewhat resembles the lobster in its general appearance, but is much
more hideous. See the notes on Luk_10:19. Those found in Europe seldom exceed four
inches in length, but in tropical climates, where they abound, they are often found twelve
inches long. There are few animals more formidable, and none more irascible, than the
scorpion. Goldsmith states that Maupertuis put about a hundred of them together in the
same glass, and that as soon as they came into contact they began to exert all their rage
in mutual destruction, so that in a few days there remained but fourteen, which had
killed and devoured all the rest.

21. The sting of the scorpion, Dr. Shaw states, is not always fatal; the malignity of their
venom being in proportion to their size and complexion. The torment of a scorpion,
when he strikes a man, is thus described by Dioscorides, lib. 7:cap. 7, as cited by Mr.
Taylor: “When the scorpion has stung, the place becomes inflamed and hardened; it
reddens by tension, and is painful by intervals, being now chilly, now burning. The pain
soon rises high, and rages, sometimes more, sometimes less. A sweating succeeds,
attended by a shivering and trembling; the extremities of the body become cold, the
groin swells, the hair stands on end, the members become pale, and the skin feels
throughout the sensation of a perpetual pricking, as if by needles” (Fragments to
Calmet’s Dic. vol. iv. p. 376, 377). “The tail of the scorpion is long, and formed after the
manner of a string of beads, the last larger than the others, and longer; at the end of
which are, sometimes, two stings which are hollow, and filled with a cold poison, which it
ejects into the part which it stings” (Calmet’s Dic.). The sting of the scorpion, therefore,
becomes the emblem of what causes acute and dangerous suffering. On this comparison
with scorpions see the remark of Niebuhr, quoted in the notes on Rev_9:7.
CLARKE, “Locusts - Vast hordes of military troops: the description which follows
certainly agrees better with the Saracens than with any other people or nation, but may
also apply to the Romans.
As the scorpions of the earth have power - Namely, to hurt men by stinging
them. Scorpions may signify archers; and hence the description has been applied to
Cestius Gallus, the Roman general, who had many archers in his army.
LA GE, “Rev_9:3. Locusts.—Old Testament types, Exo_10:12-15; Joel 1, 2. In antithesis to
natural locusts, which desolate vegetation, these locusts leave unharmed all green things, attacking
solelythose men who have not the seal of God.
The scorpions of the earth.—(Of the earth; De Wette: in antithesis to the abyss.) See the
article Scorpion in Winer, particularly the distinction between the Oriental and the Italian species.
Interpretation of the locusts: Longobards, Vandals, Goths, Persians, Mohammedans, Jewish
zealots. Bede and others: The raging of heretics. The Pope and the monks; or, Luther and the
Protestants (ancient Protestant exposition—in opposition to Bellarmin and
others), etc. Hengstenberg: Martial hosts, see Düsterdieck, p. 328. “He who, like Hebert (Die zweite
sichtbare Zukunft Christi, Erlangen, 1850), looks for the literal fulfillment of all these visions,
expecting, for instance, the actual appearance of the locusts described in Rev_9:1 sqq., certainly
does more justice to the text than any allegorist; by reason of a mechanical conception of
inspiration and prophecy, however, he fails to recognize the distinction betwixt real prophetic matter
and poetic forms” (Düsterdieck). Remarkable words, if we consider that by allegorists are
understood such as regard the Apocalypse as a Book of allegoric figurative forms.
GILL, “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

22. ‫,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;''

23. 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 powerAnd unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have powerAnd unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have powerAnd 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.
JAMISO , “upon — Greek, “unto,” or “into.”
as the scorpions of the earth — as contrasted with the “locusts” which come up
from hell, and are not “of the earth.”
have power — namely, to sting.
PULPIT, “And therecameoutof thesmokelocustsupon theearth.The locust is constantly
referred to in the Bible, and various illustrations are drawn from their characteristic features. In the
East they appear in great numbers and men are helpless against their devastating power.
Sometimes an attempt is made to check their progress by lighting fires, and this practice may have
suggested the above description of the locusts proceeding from the smoke. The irresistible
destruction which they cause is alluded to in Deu_28:38; Joe_2:25; 2Ch_7:13; their number
in Psa_105:34;Nah_3:15. The air is sometimes tainted with their dead bodies (Joe_2:20). The
natural features of the locust are fully dwelt upon in Nah_3:7-10. As an illustration, we may quote
Niebuhr, who gives an Arab's description of the locust: "In head like the horse, in breast like the

24. lion, in feet like the camel, in body like the serpent, in tail like the scorpion, in antennae like a
virgin's hair." Three out of these five points of resemblance are mentioned in Nah_3:7-10.
The locusts here symbolize heretics and infidels. Some writers (e.g. Wordsworth) apply the symbol
to the Mohammedans (see Wordsworth, in loc., where the parallel is very fully worked out). But
though this may be, and probably is, a fulfilment of the vision, it would be wrong to thus restrict our
interpretation. Scarcely any one cause has contributed more to the trouble and destruction of men
than the violence which is the result of religious hatred. Whether it be the heathen idolater, the
warlike Mohammedan, or the Christian bigot, who is the agent, the effect is the same. It may be
said, too, that if the minds of Christians also had not been darkened by the prejudicial influence of
Satan, who is the cause of their unhappy divisions, heresies, and apostasies, these troubles could
scarcely have fallen upon mankind. The innumerable occasions of such violence may be well
illustrated by the countless number of the locusts; and the effect lives after the death of the authors,
tainting the moral atmosphere. It is true that the true Christian sometimes suffers also; but tidal is an
aspect which is set forth in the visions of the seals. Here another view is set forth, namely, that the
ungodly are themselves punished, and punished severely, by means of this evil influence of the
devil. Many other interpretations have been suggested:
(1) evil spirits (Andrea,);
(2) Roman wars in Judaea (Grotius);
(3) the Gothic invasion (Vitringa);
(4) De Wette and Alford believe that the interpretation is unknown.
And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. That is to say, just
as the natural scorpions of the earth have power to cause suffering, so these allegorical locusts of
the vision appeared to possess the means wherewith to plague mankind. The scorpion is "generally
found in dry and in dark places, under stones and in ruins, chiefly in warm climates. The sting,
which is situated at the extremity of the tail, has at its base a gland that secretes a poisonous fluid,
which is discharged into the wound ... In hot climates the sting often occasions much suffering and
sometimes alarming symptoms" (Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible ').
. From the time of Moses locusts have been instruments of divine judgment (Ex. 10:3-6;
Deut. 28:38-42; 1 Kings 8:37; Joel 2:1-11, 25).
BARCLAY, “THE LOCUSTS FROM THE ABYSS
Rev. 9:3-12
From the smoke locusts came forth upon the earth, and they were given power like
the power of the scorpions of the earth. They were told not to harm the grass of the
earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but only such men as had not the seal of
God upon their forehead. They were not permitted to kill them, but to torture them
for five months. Their torture was like the torture of a scorpion when it strikes a
man; and in those days men will seek for death and not be able to find it; and they
will long to die but death flees from them.

25. In likeness the locusts were like horses prepared for battle; on their heads were
what looked like crowns of gold. Their faces were like human faces and they had
hair like women's hair, and their teeth were like the teeth of lions. They had scales
like iron breastplates, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of many
chariots with horses running to battle. They have tails like scorpions with stings,
and in their tails is their power to hurt men for five months. As king over them they
have the angel of the bottomless abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in
Greek Appolyon. The first woe has passed. Behold, there are still two woes to follow
it.
From the smoke which emerged from the shaft of the abyss came a terrible invasion
of locusts. The devastation locusts can inflict and the terror they can cause is well-
nigh incredible. All through the Old Testament the locust is the symbol of
destruction; and the most vivid and terrible description of them and of their
destructiveness is in Jl.1-2 which are a description of an invasion of locusts; and it is
from these two chapters that John takes much of his material. They laid the vine
waste and stripped the bark from the trees; the field is wasted and the corn is
destroyed; every tree of the field is wasted and withered; and the flocks and herds
starve because there is no pasture (Jl.1:7-18). They are like a great strong people
who darken the very sky; they are as destructive as a flame of fire and nothing
escapes them; they are like horses and they run like chariots, with a noise like flame
devouring the stubble; they march in their ranks like mighty men of war; they scale
the mountains, climb into houses and enter in at the windows, until the very earth
shudders at them (Jl.2:1-11). The two chapters of Joel should be read in full and set
beside the description in the Revelation.
G. R. Driver in his commentary on Joel in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and
Colleges has collected the facts about locusts in his notes and in a special appendix;
and he has shown that the words of Joel and of the Revelation are no exaggeration.
The locusts breed in desert places and invade the cultivated lands for food. They
may be about two inches in length, with a wing span of four to five inches. They
belong to the same family as the household cricket and the grasshopper. They will
travel in a column a hundred feet deep and as much as four miles long. When such a
cloud of locusts appears, it is as if there had been an eclipse of the sun and even
great buildings less than two hundred feet away cannot be seen.
The destruction they cause is beyond belief. When they have left an area, not a blade
of grass is to be seen; the trees are stripped of their bark. Land where the locusts
have settled looks as if it had been scorched with a bush fire; not one single living
thing is left. Their destructiveness can best be appreciated from the fact that it is
recorded that in 1866 a plague of locusts invaded Algiers and so total was the
destruction which they caused that 200,000 people perished of famine in the days
which followed.

26. The noise of the millions of their wings is variously described as like the dashing of
waters in a mill-wheel or the sound of a great cataract. When the millions of them
settle on the ground the sound of their eating has been described as like the
crackling of a prairie fire. The sound of them on the march is like heavy rain falling
on a distant forest.
It has always been noticed that the head of the locust is like the miniature head of a
horse. For that reason the Italian word for locust is cavaletta and the German
Heupferd.
When they move, they move inexorably on like an army with leaders. People have
dug trenches, lit fires, and even fired cannon in an attempt to stop them but without
success; they come on in a steady column which climbs hills, enters houses and
leaves scorched earth behind.
There is no more destructive visitation in the world than a visitation of locusts, and
this is the terrible devastation which John sees, although the demonic locusts from
the pit are different from any earthly insect.
THE DEMO IC LOCUSTS
Rev. 9:3-12 (continued)
Hebrew has a number of different names for the locust which reveal its destructive
power. It is called gazam (HS 1501), the lopper or the shearer, which describes how
it shears all living vegetation from the earth; it is called 'arbeh (HS 0697), the
swarmer, which describes the immensity of its numbers; it is called hasil, the
finisher, which describes the devastation it causes; it is called caal`am (HS 5556),
the swallower or the annihilator; it is called hargol (compare HS 7270), the
galloper, which describes its rapid progress over the land; it is called tslatsal
(HS 6767), the creaker, which describes the sound it makes.
It is not the vegetation of the earth which they are to attack; in fact they are
forbidden to do that (Rev. 9:4); their attack is to be launched against the men who
have not the seal of God upon their foreheads.
The ordinary locust is devastating to vegetation but not harmful to human beings;
but the demonic locust is to have the sting of a scorpion, one of the scourges of
Palestine. In shape the scorpion is like a small lobster, with lobster-like claws to
clutch its prey. It has a long tail, which curves up over its back and over its head; at
the end of the tail there is a curved claw; with this claw the scorpion strikes and it
secretes poison as the blow is delivered. The scorpion can be up to six inches in
length; it swarms in crannies in walls and literally under almost every stone.
Campers tell us that every stone must be lifted when a tent is pitched lest a scorpion
be beneath it. Its sting is worse than the sting of a hornet; it is not necessarily fatal,
but it can kill. The demonic locusts have the power of scorpions added to them.

27. Their attack is to last for five months. The explanation of the five months is almost
probably that the life-span of a locust from birth, through the larva stage, to death
is five months. It is as if we might say that one generation of locusts is being
launched upon the earth.
Such will be the suffering caused by the locusts that men will long for death but will
not be able to die. Job speaks of the supreme misery of those who long for death and
it comes not (Jb.3:21); and Jeremiah speaks of the day when men will choose death
rather than life (Jer.8:3). A Latin writer, Cornelius Gallus, says: "Worse than any
wound is to wish to die and yet not be able to do so."
The king of the locusts is called in Hebrew Abaddon (HS 0011; GS 0003) and in
Greek Apollyon (GS 0623). Abaddon (HS 0011) is the Hebrew for destruction; it
occurs oftenest in the phrases "death and destruction," and "hell and destruction"
(Jb.26:6; Jb.28:22; Jb.31:12; Ps.88:11; Prov.15:11; Prov.27:20). Apollyon
(GS 0623) is the present participle of the Greek verb to destroy and itself means
The Destroyer. It is fitting that the king of the demonic locusts should be called
Destruction and The Destroyer.
BWS, “Locusts (ᅊκρίᅊκρίᅊκρίᅊκρίδεςδεςδεςδες)
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.
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.
4
They were told not to harm the grass of the
earth or any plant or tree, but only those
people who did not have the seal of God on
their foreheads.

28. BAR ES, “And it was commanded them - The writer does not say by whom this
command was given, but it is clearly by someone who had the direction of them. As they
were evoked from the “bottomless pit” by one who had the key to that dark abode, and as
they are represented in Rev_9:11 as under the command of one who is there called
Abaddon, or Apollyon - the Destroyer - it would seem most probable that the command
referred to is one that is given by him; that is, that this expresses one of the principles on
which he would act in his devastations. At all events, this denotes what would be one of
the characteristics of these destroyers. Their purpose would be to vex and trouble
people; not to spread desolation over vineyards, olive-yards, and fields of grain.
That they should not hurt the grass of the earth, ... - See the notes on Rev_8:7.
The meaning here is plain. There would be some sense in which these invaders would be
characterized in a manner that was not common among invaders, to wit, that they would
show particular care not to carry their devastations into the vegetable world. Their
warfare would be with people, and not with orchards and green fields.
But only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads - See
the notes on Rev_7:2-3. They commenced war against that part of the human race only.
The language here properly denotes those who were not the friends of God. It may here
refer, however, either to those who in reality were not such, or to those who were
regarded by him who gave this command as not being such. In the former case, the
commission would have respect to real infidels in the sight of God - that is, to those who
rejected the true religion; in the latter it would express the sentiment of the leader of this
host, as referring to those who in his apprehension were infidels or enemies of God. The
true interpretation must depend on the sense in which we understand the phrase “it was
commanded”; whether as referring to God, or to the leader of the host himself. The
language, therefore, is ambiguous, and the meaning must be determined by the other
parts of the passage. Either method of understanding the passage would be in
accordance with its fair interpretation.
CLARKE, “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.
Which have not the seal of God - All false, hypocritical, and heterodox Christians.
GILL, “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

29. 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.
JAMISO , “not hurt the grass ... neither ... green thing ... neither ... tree —
the food on which they ordinarily prey. Therefore, not natural and ordinary locusts.
Their natural instinct is supernaturally restrained to mark the judgment as altogether
divine.
those men which — Greek, “the men whosoever.”
in, etc. — 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.
PULPIT, “And it wascommandedthemthattheyshouldnothurtthegrassof theearth,
neitherany greenthing,neitheranytree.The force of this plague is to fall directly upon mankind,
not, as in the former judgments, upon the earth, and then indirectly upon men. This appears to be
stated with the greater plainness, because it might readily be inferred, from the nature of locusts,

30. that the immediate object of their destructiveness would be the vegetation of the world. Butonly
thosemenwhichhavenotthesealof God in theirforeheads;but only such men as have
not, etc. (Revised Version; cf. Rev_7:3, to which this is an allusion). Here, by proleipsis, the
servants of God are described as "those that have the seal of God in their foreheads." It is not
stated, nor is it necessarily implied, that the seal is visible to man at the time of the infliction of this
judgment upon the ungodly. In a similar way our Lord speaks of the elect (Mat_24:22), not thereby
implying that there is any visible manifestation by which the elect may be known to men, though
known to God. Thus also it is said in 2Ti_2:19, "The foundation of God standeth sure, having this
seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his." The frequent use of the term to denote those who were
sealed by baptism may have led to the employment of the expression in this place, as being
equivalent to "the servants of God" (cf. Eph_1:13; Eph_4:30; 2Co_1:22). The locusts may not hurt
God's servants (see on 2Ti_2:3). Thus we are taught that God in reality preserves his own, though
it may sometimes appear to man as though the innocent suffer with the guilty.
RWP, “It was said (errethē). First aorist passive indicative of eipon.
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).
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.
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).
NOTES
Do not destroy any of the earth’s nature and deceive only those who do not
have a firm foundation in the Lord; who cared not to understand their
Heavenly Father’s Word and His will.
Here they are commanded to hurt only those men which have not the seal of God in
their foreheads. In the book of Revelation we have:
Those who have the seal God on their foreheads (7:3-8).
Those who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (9:4).
Those who have the mark of the beast (13:16-17, 14:9,11; 16:2; 19:20).
Those who did not have the mark of the beast (15:2; 20:4).
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