Rev 9:3-11 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for Rev 9:3-4: 9:3-4 The locusts ... from the smoke with their power to sting like scorpions are fiercer than those of the Egyptian plague (see Exod 10:14-15 ). Rather than eating plants, these locusts are like stinging scorpions that viciously attack people. Only people without the seal of God (see Rev 7:1-8 ) receive this painful judgment. While the stings cause painful torture, they are not life-threatening (9:5-6 ).

Summary for Rev 9:3-4: 9:3-4 ^a The locusts ... from the smoke with their power to sting like scorpions are fiercer than those of the Egyptian plague (see Exod 10:14-15 ^b). Rather than eating plants, these locusts are like stinging scorpions that viciously attack people. Only people without the seal of God (see Rev 7:1-8 ^c) receive this painful judgment. While the stings cause painful torture, they are not life-threatening (9:5-6 ^d).
9:5 ^e torture them for five months: This time period is a symbolically complete number based on the fingers on a hand. It is also the normal life span of locusts, suggesting that their entire purpose was to torture people.
Summary for Rev 9:7-10: 9:7-10 ^f While some see these locusts as symbolic of attack helicopters, missiles, or other modern armaments, they come from the “bottomless pit” rather than from human engineering. The description of these creatures, derived from the physical appearance of locusts, is intended to cause revulsion and terror.

• Their gold crowns indicate that their torment dominates much of the earth.
9:11 ^g The king of the locusts is identified in three ways: (1) as the angel from the bottomless pit (probably different from the fallen star, 9:1 ^h, who unlocked the abyss rather than coming from it); (2) as Abaddon (“destruction”), often paired with death (see Job 28:22 ⁱ; Ps 88:11 ^j); and (3) as Apollyon—the Destroyer (see 1 Cor 10:10 ^k).

• Although John makes no direct connection between the devil and this king of the locusts, the prince of demons is linked with Satan in the Gospels (Mark 3:22-26 ^l; see Matt 12:24-27 ^m; Luke 11:15-18 ⁿ). The New Testament also identifies the devil as the prince of this world (John 12:31 ^o; 14:30 ^p; 16:11 ^q) and as the prince of the power of the air (Eph 2:2 ^r), so he probably represents Satan. There is also a connection with the Roman emperor Domitian, whose patron god Apollo was symbolized by the locust.