Revelation 16

Revelation 16:2

And the first angel did so; and there fell heavy plagues upon them, which swept away a multitude of heathens, and carnal temporizing Christians, both in the city of Rome and in other places: (see note [a].)

[a] upon the earth] What is here meant by ἡ γῆ, and ἡ θάλασσα, and οἱ ποταμοὶ καὶ πηγαί, the earth, or land, and the sea, and the rivers and fountains of waters, vv. 2, 3, 4, may appear by ver. 1, where the angels are appointed to pour out their vials upon the earth or land. That in all reason signifies the Roman empire, the thing represented in these visions, as before it signified the nation and people of the Jews, (note [b] on chap. vii.) And there is no reason to affix any nice critical notation to either of these single, that the land, ver. 2, should signify severally, and so the sea, ver. 3, and the rivers, ver. 4, but to take all together for that which was meant by the land, ver. 1, for so the series here requires, where the angels, that were commanded to pour out their

Revelation 16:3

And the second angel did likewise; and there fell great slaughters upon the city of Rome by the cruelty of the emperors, and on occasion of sedition, &c., and very great multitudes died thereby: (see note [a].)

s living creatures, ζων.

Revelation 16:4

And the third angel did likewise; and me-thought his vial fell on the other cities and provinces of the empire, and a great deal of war followed, (see note [a],) and a multitude were slain there also.

5—7. And this angel that poured out the vial upon the waters, ver. 4, God’s judgments on those other cities and provinces, did it as a just judgment on them for the blood of Christians that had been shed by them, and as an act of pity and relief to the persecuted, whose persecutions ended by this means: and so it was acknowledged by the souls of those that had been slain by them: (see note [e] ch. vi.)

Revelation 16:5

[a] temple of the tabernacle] What is here literally meant by ὁ ναὸς τῆς σκηνῆς τοῦ μαρτυρίου, ordinarily rendered the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony, may thus be collected: the tabernacle of the testimony clearly signifies that tabernacle among the Israelites in Moses’s time before the building of the temple, called אֲהַל מִיָּעַד, the tabernacle of meeting, Exod. xxvii. 1, and elsewhere the tabernacle of the testimony, Acts vii. 44, because God was there pleased to exhibit himself, and give testimony of his presence, Acts xxvii. 22. In that there were two regions; the first called the sanctuary, the second רָבִיר, or oracle, the holy of holies: and this is here, and ver. 6, called ναός, and so again, ch. xvi. 1 and 17, not as that signifies the whole temple, but a part of the tabernacle, viz. the holy place, or holy of holies. What ναός elsewhere signifies, see note [e] on Acts xix, and note [c] on Rev. xiv, out of the Scholiast on Nazianzen, Στηλετευτ. α’, who distinguishes ναός in the Christian church from σηκός and τίμνος: the two latter, saith he, signify ἱερὸν ὅλον, the whole temple or church, but the former the place where the communion table stands, which being divided from the rest of the quire, is to that as the holy of holies to the sanctuary. And in this sense of ναός it is that psalm lxxxii. 2, the vulgar Latin, and from thence the English in our Liturgy, read temple, where the Hebrew have רָבִיר, and from thence our Bibles read oracle. From this place God promises to speak to Moses of all things which he would give him in command to the people of Israel, Exod. xxv. 23. And accordingly this opening of this holy place, or this holy of holies, in this tabernacle of the testimony, is a representation of God’s revealing his will as from the oracle concerning heathen Rome; and so straight the seven angels came out from thence, habited like the high priest, (who alone was permitted to go into the holy of holies in the temple,) and as executioners of this decree have the seven plagues, or blows, or judgments, ver. 6, that is, come ready to act a complete destruction, such as was before meant by the ἱπτά βρονταί, seven thunders, in the vision about the Jews, note [a] on ch. x.

[b] and shalt be] Instead of ἰσόμενος, he that shall be, the copies generally read ὅσιος. That is answerable to the Hebrew חסר, pitiful and merciful, as that is more than צדקה, δικαιοσύνη, justice or righteousness, as hath oft been said. And so it is fitly superadded here to the δικαιος εἶ, thou art just or righteous, preceding. That the justice of God, here acknowledged in these vengeances on heathen Rome, denotes his punitive justice, there is no doubt, and accordingly follows, ὅτι ταῦτα ἔκρινας, because thou hast judged these. Where the ταῦτα seems to denote the persons neutrally set down, the inhabitants of the empire, which are here supposed to be judged, that is, justly punished, and of whom it follows, ὅτι αἷμα τῶν ἁγίων καὶ προφητῶν ἐξίχων, because they have shed the blood of thy saints and prophets, that is, of the Christians, and those that by their preaching would have wrought reformation among them, and so did act as prophets, and had the portion of prophets, were resisted and slain by them. But besides this punitive justice expressed by these judgments, there was also ὁσιότης, pity, compassion to the persecuted Christians, whose sufferings were abated and taken off by this means. Thus it is often to be observed in Eusebius’s story, particularly at the end of the great slaughters, and famine, and plague in Maximinus’s time, l. 9. c. 8, (mentioned note [a].) “Hereupon,” saith he, “God, the defender of Christians, having shewed his wrath and indignation against all mortals for their persecuting us, restored the pleasant and bright splendour of his providence toward us, so that from that time peace and light, with the great admiration of all, shined out and was revealed to us that sat in darkness before, shewing us that God hath the oversight of our affairs continually, chastising and afflicting us for a time, but after he hath disciplined us sufficiently, appearing favourable and propitious to us again.”

Revelation 16:7

And one of the four living creatures (attending and encompassing God’s throne, by which four apostles were understood, ch. iv. 6, and those there having power to foretell things to come) was therefore represented to give to these seven angels (executioners of God’s wrath) seven vials full of the wrath of the eternal God, that is, to give them commission for the pouring out of God’s wrath upon heathen Rome.

Revelation 16:8

And the place where this vision seemed to be, that is, the sanctuary in heaven, ver. 5, was filled with smoke, as an expression and consequent of this fire of God’s wrath and vengeance, which was like to prove so heavy, that the very representation of it was unsupportable, nobody could endure to come into the sanctuary whilst that was representing; noting that it would fall very terribly on all them that should come within the reach of it.

CHAP. XVI.

AND I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.

And the execution of the fourth angel was by bringing a great drought and famine on the empire, such as was in Maximinus’s time.

[c] with fire] If ἐν πυρὶ, by fire, were here literally to be understood, many completions there would be of it, by great fires, in the city of Rome especially, within the space referred to by this vision. One remarkable one hath been mentioned in Commodus’s time, note [a], out of Herodian, l. 1, falling on the temple of peace, and at length coming to the temple of Vesta, and burning many great houses, and so continuing for many days, till the rain from heaven put it out, and

Revelation 16:9

And though this famine tormented them exceedingly, yet were they so far from repenting or amending their ways, from receiving the faith of Christ, that they railed at the Christian religion as the author of all their miseries, and so were more aliened from it: (see note [c].)

Revelation 16:10

And the fifth angel’s vial was poured out, not upon the persons of men, but upon the government itself, which was sore afflicted and distressed (see Jer. xiii. 16, where for darkness the Targum reads tribulation or affliction) by the invasion of the barbarians, and the emperors were much troubled at it, but could not help it.

[d] seat of the beast] What θρόνος θηρίον, the throne, or seat, of the beast, signifies, may thus be gathered: θηρίον, the beast, signifies idol-worship, ch. xiii. 1; and as the throne of that may signify the place where it resides, so it may signify also that which sustains and supports it, a seat being that which sustains and holds up from falling that which rests upon it. This was the power of the Roman empire, the strength and dignity thereof, to which so great a part of the world

HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II. a q

Revelation 16:11

And as before, ver. 8, so now again, these invasions of the barbarians were imputed as a punishment inflicted on them for the permitting of Christianity, and so made them set themselves more violently against the Christians: so far were they from reforming or mending by this means.

Revelation 16:12

And the execution of the sixth angel was the destroying of Maxentius’s forces in Italy, and so weakening of Rome, the mystical Babylon, (noted here by Euphrates, the river that belongs to Babylon,) and making it capable of being taken, and possessed by Constantine and his sons, which were Christians.

[e] Euphrates] That it is agreeable to the calling of Rome Babylon (see note [a] on chap. xviii.) to set Euphrates, the river that belongs to Babylon, to signify Tiber, that belongs to Rome, hath been formerly shewed, note [e] chap. ix. And that it so signifies here, there is little doubt. From hence it follows, that the drying up of Euphrates, being an allusion to the history of Cyrus, prophetically set down, Jer. l. 38, and drought is upon her waters, and they shall be dried up; and ch. li, where is mention of the drying up her sea, and making her springs dry, ver. 36, it must in reason be interpreted thereby. There, in the taking of Babylon, Cyrus turned away the river Euphrates, and entered the city through the channel thereof. (See Orosius, l. 11. c. 6.) And so the drying of the river being the preparative to the taking the city, and the making that weak and accessible which otherwise was impregnable, this phrase of drying up the water of Euphrates is thought commodious to be made use of to express the weakening of the strength of Rome, and making it conquerable, or, as it here follows, that the way of the kings—might be prepared. To prepare a way, we know, is to remove difficulties and obstructions, to level and plain a passage, and that in the prophets expressed by exalting valleys, and bringing hills low, and plaining the rough places. And when rivers or waters are in the way, then the drying them up, is preparing the way, making them passable. And so the fitting the city of Rome for conquest by Constantine and his sons (who are here called kings from the rising of the sun, see note [f]) is the full interpretation of drying up Euphrates, that the way of the kings might be prepared. Of this the history is clear in Eusebius, Eccl. Hist. l. 9. c. 9, (and so in Zozimus also,) that Maxentius having fastened himself in Rome, (out of which he went not himself, having no confidence in the love and fidelity of the people,) “he fortified every place and region and city with armies for guards, and

[f] kings of the east—] What ἀνάτολῶν ἡλίου, from the rising of the sun, signifies, may be resolved by these two considerations: first, that the kings or magi that came to worship Christ, soon after his birth, whilst Herod designed the killing of him, are said to come

Q Q 2

Revelation 16:13

And methought I saw three diabolical spirits, like the frogs of Egypt, one coming from the devil, another from the heathen worship, and the third from the false prophet: 1. the response of the devils raised by Maxentius’s command; 2. the encouragement of the augurs, or, heathen priests, that divined by entrails; 3. some false predictions out of some passages of the Sibyls’ writings.

[g] unclean spirits] What is here meant by πνεύματα ἀκάθαρτα, unclean spirits, may in part be resolved by Eusebius in the story of Maxentius, Eccl. Hist. l. 9. c. 9, where the first thing that he saith of him is, that he “relied on magical arts in this whole matter, and thereupon kept himself up close in Rome, and would not go out of it.” So again, De Vita Constant., l. 1. c. 30, “At last he fell to magic and sorcery; sometimes cut up women great with child, sometimes ript up the bowels of tender infants, sometimes killed lions,” all to divine thereby: “he often used wicked adjurations to raise up devils,” saith he, “by whose help he might avert the violence of the war from him, hoping that they would help him to the victory.” Now these impure spirits are here said to be three, but the king’s MS. wants that word τρία, three. If we read it without three, then it is already explained that he made use of magic and augury. But if the word three be retained, then either may it signify that he betook himself wholly to these arts, (the number of three, as of seven, having oft no other importance in it but to signify a great deal,) or else peculiarly these three sorts: first, augury, or divination by entrails; secondly, calling up of devils, (both particularly mentioned by Eusebius;) and thirdly, the use of the Sibylline oracles, which the Roman sorcerers and diviners generally dealt in, and Maxentius made use of; see Zozimus, l. 2. Of these it is further said, that they were ὡς βάτραχοι, as frogs, referring to those creatures brought forth upon Egypt by the magicians at Pharaoh’s command, Exod. viii. 7. Of which, as it is known that they are impure creatures, breeding and dwelling in the mire, and so these impure spirits or arts are fitly compared to them; so it is also observable how useless and unprofitable they are; they croak, but do nothing else, and so they fitly resemble these magical arts, which made a great noise, but never brought him the least advantage, but rather hastened his ruin by relying on them. Then these frogs are said to come out of the mouth of the dragon, and the beast, and the false prophet: which again, if the word three be not retained, will conclude these magical arts, which he made use of, to proceed promiscuously from these three; but if the word τρία, three, be retained, then it will be proper to confine the responses of the devils, when they were raised by him, to the first of the three, those that came out of the mouth of the dragon, for that is everywhere the devil’s title in this book, (see note [d] on ch. xii. and

Revelation 16:14

And all these were made use of to deceive Maxentius, and give him confidence that he should prosper in his tyranny, and holding out against Constantine, which was the occasion of Constantine’s setting upon and destroying his army, of his entering Rome, and of that blow that befell idolatry by this means.

Revelation 16:15

(Such unexpected, sudden changes as these, such secret, undiscernible proceedings of God’s providence, may in all reason be admonitions to all to be watchful, and not to comply with the present prevailing power in any unchristian or uncomely manner, lest, when they have done so, that which they have designed as their greatest security be indeed their greatest danger.)

Revelation 16:16

And these evil spirits excited him and engaged him and all his armies in a fight, wherein they were utterly vanquished and destroyed: (see note [e].)

[h] Armageddon] What Armageddon, which is here said to be an Hebrew word, signifies, or of what composition it is, is a matter of some question. The learned H. Grotius conceives it to be הר מגדון, the mount of meeting, to note the place and battle where the armies met, viz. on Constantine’s side, 90,000 foot and 8000 horse, of Germans, Gauls, and Britons; on Maxentius’s side 170,000 foot and 18,000 horse, of Romans, Italians, &c., in Zozimus: and that this is here said in reference not to the valley of Megiddo, where Josias was slain, but to the waters of Megiddo, Judges v. 9, where the Canaanites were slain by Barac, which appears the more probable, because the Hebrew הר is in Greek rendered ‘Αρ, as ‘Αργαρίζω, in Eusebius Præp. for הר גריון, mount Gerizin. But another composition of the word may be yet more probable, viz. that of Drusius, that it be made up of הרכא and גרהון, the excision or destruction of their armies, as בר in Hebrew, or their fortunes, (all their former good successes,) as בר in Chaldee signifies. And so the clear meaning of the verse is this, that the evil spirits, ver. 14, the magicians and augurs, &c., gathered them together, (so it is said, ver. 14, συναγαγίω αὐτοῦ, and to them in the plural neuter belongs the συνήγαγαι in the singular,) caused them to fight this great battle with Constantine, which was the utter destruction of that great army of the heathens, and so a very heavy judgment or excision, the effect of the vial of the sixth angel. This victory of Constantine over Maxentius was so signal and considerable, that, as Onufrius tells us, Fast. l. 2, the indictions (that known way of computing of times among the Romans) were taken from thence: ab eaque die primam indictionem inchoari, saith Baronius, “and from that day the first indiction began;” ut liberatam a Maxentii tyrannide urbem et ecclesiam indicaret, “that it might proclaim and commemorate the freeing of the city and church from Maxentius’s tyranny.” By which it may appear how memorable a passage this was, and how fit to be the matter of this vision. See Abr. Bucholcer’s Chronology, an. Chr. 312.

Revelation 16:17

And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, (noting a decree of heaven now to be executed on the earth,) and presently, methought, I heard a proclamation come out of the holy of holies, from the throne of God, denoting the going out of God’s decree, which was delivered in these words, It was, or hath been; that is, Heathen Rome is now destroyed. (And this was after, in Honorius’s time, as will be more fully set down, ch. xvii.)