Revelation of John 9:1-11
1. The last three trumpets of the seven are called, from Re 8:13, the woe-trumpets.
fall—rather as Greek, "fallen." When John saw it, it was not in the act of falling, but had fallen already. This is a connecting link of this fifth trumpet with Re 12:8, 9, 12, "Woe to the inhabiters of the earth, for the devil is come down," &c. Compare Isa 14:12, "How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!" the bottomless pit—Greek, "the pit of the abyss"; the orifice of the hell where Satan and his demons dwell.3. upon—Greek, "unto," or "into."
as the scorpions of the earth—as contrasted with the "locusts" which come up from hell, and are not "of the earth." have power—namely, to sting.4. not hurt the grass . . . neither . . . green thing . . . neither . . . tree—the food on which they ordinarily prey. Therefore, not natural and ordinary locusts. Their natural instinct is supernaturally restrained to mark the judgment as altogether divine.
those men which—Greek, "the men whosoever." in, &c.—Greek, "upon their forehead." Thus this fifth trumpet is proved to follow the sealing in Re 7:1-8, under the sixth seal. None of the saints are hurt by these locusts, which is not true of the saints in Mohammed's attack, who is supposed by many to be meant by the locusts; for many true believers fell in the Mohammedan invasions of Christendom.5. they . . . they—The subject changes: the first "they" is the locusts; the second is the unsealed.
five months—the ordinary time in the year during which locusts continue their ravages. their torment—the torment of the sufferers. This fifth verse and Re 9:6 cannot refer to an invading army. For an army would kill, and not merely torment.6. shall desire—Greek, "eagerly desire"; set their mind on.
shall flee—So B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read. But A and Aleph read, "fleeth," namely continually. In Re 6:16, which is at a later stage of God's judgments, the ungodly seek annihilation, not from the torment of their suffering, but from fear of the face of the Lamb before whom they have to stand.7. prepared unto battle—Greek, "made ready unto war." Compare Note, see on Joe 2:4, where the resemblance of locusts to horses is traced: the plates of a horse armed for battle are an image on a larger scale of the outer shell of the locust.
crowns— (Na 3:17). ELLIOTT explains this of the turbans of Mohammedans. But how could turbans be "like gold?" ALFORD understands it of the head of the locusts actually ending in a crown-shaped fillet which resembled gold in its material. as the faces of men—The "as" seems to imply the locusts here do not mean men. At the same time they are not natural locusts, for these do not sting men (Re 9:5). They must be supernatural.8. hair of women—long and flowing. An Arabic proverb compares the antlers of locusts to the hair of girls. EWALD in ALFORD understands the allusion to be to the hair on the legs or bodies of the locusts: compare "rough caterpillars," Jer 51:27.
as the teeth of lions— (Joe 1:6, as to locusts).9. as it were breastplates of iron—not such as forms the thorax of the natural locust.
as . . . chariots— (Joe 2:5-7). battle—Greek, "war."10. tails like unto scorpions—like unto the tails of scorpions.
and there were stings—There is no oldest manuscript for this reading. A, B, Aleph, Syriac, and Coptic read, "and (they have) stings: and in their tails (is) their power (literally, 'authority': authorized power) to hurt."11. And—so Syriac. But A, B, and Aleph, omit "and."
had—Greek, "have." a king . . . which is the angel—English Version, agreeing with A, Aleph, reads the (Greek) article before "angel," in which reading we must translate, "They have as king over them the angel," &c. Satan (compare Re 9:1). Omitting the article with B, we must translate, "They have as king an angel," &c.: one of the chief demons under Satan: I prefer from Re 9:1, the former. bottomless pit—Greek, "abyss." Abaddon—that is, perdition or destruction (Job 26:6; Pr 27:20). The locusts are supernatural instruments in the hands of Satan to torment, and yet not kill, the ungodly, under this fifth trumpet. Just as in the case of godly Job, Satan was allowed to torment with elephantiasis, but not to touch his life. In Re 9:20, these two woe-trumpets are expressly called "plagues." ANDREAS OF CÆSAREA, A.D. 500, held, in his Commentary on Revelation, that the locusts mean evil spirits again permitted to come forth on earth and afflict men with various plagues.