---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible -  Revelation 9"
description: "CHAPTER 9   :-. THE FIFTH
TRUMPET: THE
FALLEN STAR
OPENS THE ABYSS
WHENCE ISSUE
LOCUSTS. THE
SIXTH TRUMPET.
FOUR ANGELS
AT THE EUPHRATES
LOOSED. 1. The la"
image: "/images/missing.jpg"
url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/revelation/9"
---

CHAPTER 9

. THE FIFTH
TRUMPET: THE
FALLEN STAR
OPENS THE ABYSS
WHENCE ISSUE
LOCUSTS. THE
SIXTH TRUMPET.
FOUR ANGELS
AT THE EUPHRATES
LOOSED.

**1.** The last three trumpets of
the seven are called, from [Revelation 8:13](../../../kjv/revelation/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 [Revelation 12:8](../../../kjv/revelation/12/8);
[Revelation 12:9](../../../kjv/revelation/12/9); [Revelation 12:12](../../../kjv/revelation/12/12),
"*Woe to the inhabiters of the earth,* for the *devil*
is *come down,*" c. Compare [Revelation 12:12](../../../kjv/revelation/12/12), "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 , 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 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 , 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 , 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**— (). 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* ([Revelation 9:5](../../../kjv/revelation/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," .
**as the teeth of lions**—
([Joel 1:6](../../../kjv/joel/1/6), as to locusts).

**9. as it were breastplates of
iron**—not such as forms the thorax of the natural locust.
**as . . . chariots**— ().
**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 ). 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 [Revelation 9:1](../../../kjv/revelation/9/1),
the former.
**bottomless pit**—*Greek,*
"abyss."
**Abaddon**—that is,
*perdition* or *destruction* ([Job 26:6](../../../kjv/job/26/6)
[Proverbs 27:20](../../../kjv/proverbs/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 [Proverbs 27:20](../../../kjv/proverbs/27/20), 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.

**12.** *Greek,* "*The*
one woe."
**hereafter**—*Greek,*
"after these things." I agree with ALFORD
and DE BURGH,
that these *locusts from the abyss* refer to judgments about to
fall on the ungodly immediately before Christ's second advent. None
of the interpretations which regard them as past, are satisfactory.
[Joel 1:2-7](../../../kjv/joel/1/2-7); [Joel 2:1-11](../../../kjv/joel/2/1-11),
is strictly parallel and expressly refers ([Joel 2:1-29](../../../kjv/joel/2/1-29)) to THE DAY OF THE
LORD GREAT AND VERY TERRIBLE:
[Joel 2:10](../../../kjv/joel/2/10) gives the portents
accompanying the day of the Lord's coming, *the earth quaking, the
heavens trembling, the sun, moon, and stars, withdrawing their
shining:* [Joel 2:18](../../../kjv/joel/2/18); [Joel 2:31](../../../kjv/joel/2/31);
[Joel 2:32](../../../kjv/joel/2/32), also point to the
immediately succeeding deliverance of Jerusalem: compare also, the
previous last conflict in the valley of Jehoshaphat, and the dwelling
of God thenceforth in Zion, blessing Judah. DE
BURGH confines the locust
judgment to *the Israelite land,* even as the sealed in [Joel 2:32](../../../kjv/joel/2/32) are Israelites: not that there are not others sealed as
elect in *the earth;* but that, the judgment being confined to
*Palestine,* the sealed of *Israel alone* needed to be
expressly excepted from the visitation. Therefore, he translates
throughout, "the land" (that is, of Israel and Judah),
instead of "the earth." I incline to agree with him.

**13. a voice**—literally, "*one*
voice."
**from**—*Greek,* "out
of."
**the four horns**—A,
*Vulgate* (*Amiatinus* manuscript), *Coptic,* and
*Syriac* omit "four." B and CYPRIAN
support it. The *four* horns together gave forth their voice,
not diverse, but *one.* God's revelation (for example, the
Gospel), though in its aspects fourfold (*four* expressing
*world-wide* extension: whence *four* is the number of the
Evangelists), still has but one and the same voice. However, from the
parallelism of this sixth trumpet to the fifth seal ([Revelation 6:9](../../../kjv/revelation/6/9);
[Revelation 6:10](../../../kjv/revelation/6/10)), the martyrs' cry for
the avenging of their blood from the altar reaching its consummation
under the sixth seal and sixth trumpet, I prefer understanding this
*cry from the four corners of the altar* to refer to the saints'
prayerful cry from the four quarters of the world, *incensed* by
the angel, and ascending to God from the golden altar of incense, and
bringing down in consequence fiery judgments. *Aleph* omits the
whole clause, "one from the four horns."

**14. in,** c.—*Greek,* "*epi
to potamo*" "on," or "at the great river."
**Euphrates**—(Compare ). The river whereat Babylon, the ancient foe of God's
people was situated. Again, whether from the literal region of the
Euphrates, or from the spiritual Babylon (*the apostate Church,*
especially ROME), four
angelic ministers of God's judgments shall go forth, assembling an
army of horsemen throughout the four quarters of the earth, to slay a
third of men, the brunt of the visitation shall be on Palestine.

**15. were**—"which had been
prepared" [TREGELLES
rightly].
**for an hour, and a day, and a
month, and a year**—rather as *Greek,* "for (that is,
against) THE hour, and
day, and month, and year," namely, appointed by God. The *Greek*
article (*teen*), put once only before all the periods, implies
that the hour in the day, and the day in the month, and the month in
the year, and the year itself, had been definitely fixed by God. The
article would have been omitted had a sum-total of periods been
specified, namely, three hundred ninety-one years and one month (the
period from A.D. 1281,
when the Turks first conquered the Christians, to 1672, their last
conquest of them, since which last date their empire has declined).
**slay**—not merely to
"hurt" ([Revelation 9:10](../../../kjv/revelation/9/10)), as
in the fifth trumpet.
**third part**—(See on [Revelation 9:10](../../../kjv/revelation/9/10)).
**of men**—namely, of
earthy men, [Revelation 8:13](../../../kjv/revelation/8/13),
"inhabiters of the earth," as distinguished from God's
sealed people (of which the sealed of Israel, [Revelation 8:13](../../../kjv/revelation/8/13), form the nucleus).

**16.** Compare with these two
hundred million, [Psalms 68:17](../../../kjv/psalms/68/17);
[Daniel 7:10](../../../kjv/daniel/7/10). The hosts here are
evidently, from their numbers and their appearance ([Daniel 7:10](../../../kjv/daniel/7/10)), not merely *human* hosts, but probably *infernal,*
though constrained to work out God's will (compare [Revelation 9:1](../../../kjv/revelation/9/1);
[Revelation 9:2](../../../kjv/revelation/9/2)).
**and I heard**—A, B,
*Aleph, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic,* and CYPRIAN
omit "and."

**17. thus**—as follows.
**of fire**—the *fiery
color* of the breastplates answering to the *fire* which
*issued* out of their *mouths.*
**of jacinth**—literally,
"of hyacinth color," the hyacinth of the ancients answering
to our *dark blue iris:* thus, their *dark, dull-colored*
breastplates correspond to the *smoke* out of their mouths.
**brimstone**—*sulphur-colored:*
answering to the *brimstone* or sulphur *out of their mouths.*

**18. By these three**—A, B, C,
and *Aleph* read (*apo* for *kupo*), "From";
implying the *direction* whence the slaughter came; not direct
instrumentality as "by" implies. A, B, C, *Aleph* also
add "plagues" after "three." *English Version*
reading, which omits it, is not well supported.
**by the fire**—*Greek,*
"*owing to* the fire," literally, "out of."

**19. their**—A, B, C and *Aleph*
read, "the power *of the horses.*"
**in their mouth**—whence
*issued* the *fire, smoke, and brimstone* (). Many interpreters understand the *horsemen* to refer
to the myriads of Turkish cavalry arrayed in scarlet, blue, and
yellow (*fire, hyacinth,* and *brimstone*), the *lion-headed
horses* denoting their invincible courage, and *the fire* and
*brimstone* out of their mouths, the gunpowder and artillery
introduced into Europe about this time, and employed by the Turks;
the tails, like serpents, having a venomous sting, the false religion
of Mohammed supplanting Christianity, or, as ELLIOTT
thinks, the Turkish pachas' horse tails, worn as a symbol of
authority. (!) All this is very doubtful. Considering the parallelism
of this sixth trumpet to the sixth seal, the likelihood is that
events are intended immediately preceding the Lord's coming. "The
false prophet" (as [Isaiah 9:15](../../../kjv/isaiah/9/15)
proves), or second beast, having the horns of a lamb, but speaking as
*the dragon,* who supports by lying miracles the final
Antichrist, seems to me to be intended. Mohammed, doubtless, is a
forerunner of him, but not the exhaustive fulfiller of the prophecy
here: Satan will, probably, towards the end, bring out all the powers
of hell for the last conflict (see on [Isaiah 9:15](../../../kjv/isaiah/9/15), on "devils"; compare [Revelation 9:1](../../../kjv/revelation/9/1);
[Revelation 9:2](../../../kjv/revelation/9/2); [Revelation 9:17](../../../kjv/revelation/9/17);
[Revelation 9:18](../../../kjv/revelation/9/18)).
**with them**—with the
serpent heads and their venomous fangs.

**20. the rest of the men**—that
is, the ungodly.
**yet**—So A, *Vulgate,
Syriac,* and *Coptic.* B and *Aleph* read, "did *not*
even repent of," namely, so as to give up "the works,"
c. Like Pharaoh hardening his heart against repentance
notwithstanding the plagues.
**of their hands**— (). Especially the idols *made by their hands.* Compare
[Revelation 13:14](../../../kjv/revelation/13/14) [Revelation 13:15](../../../kjv/revelation/13/15),
"the image of the beast" [Revelation 13:15](../../../kjv/revelation/13/15).
**that they should not**—So
B reads. But A, C, and *Aleph* read "that they shall not":
implying a prophecy of *certainty* that it shall be so.
**devils**—*Greek,*
"demons" which lurk beneath the idols which idolaters
worship.

**21. sorceries**—witchcrafts by
means of *drugs* (so the *Greek*). One of the fruits of the
unrenewed flesh: the sin of the heathen: about to be repeated by
apostate Christians in the last days, , "sorcerers." The heathen who shall have rejected
the proffered Gospel and clung to their fleshly lusts, and apostate
Christians who shall have relapsed into the same shall share the same
terrible judgments. The worship of images was established in the East
in A.D. 842.
**fornication**—singular:
whereas the other sins are in the plural. Other sins are perpetrated
at intervals: those lacking purity of heart indulge in *one*
perpetual fornication [BENGEL].

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