Revelation 9

Revelation 9:1

And upon the sounding of the fifth trumpet, I saw him that was before, (ch. viii. 10,) the leader of the seditious, or some other that succeeded in his place, and he became a ringleader of most hellish villainies, which, under the title of zealots, did all the mischief imaginable.

[a] a star fall] For the understanding of this ensuing chapter, and the interpretation of the other parts of this vision upon the sounding of these other angels, it will be useful to take the rise from the ἀστὴρ ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ πεπτωκὼς, the star which had fallen from heaven, for so πεπτωκὼς signifies in the præter, not present tense. This in all reason must relate to ch. viii. 10, where we read ἵπεσεν ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ ἀστὴρ μίγας, there fell from heaven a great star: who that was, was defined most probably ch. viii. note [e], viz. the army of the στασιασταί, or seditious, under Joseph, the son of Mattathias, that defended themselves against Vespasian, in the city Jotapata. For from these sprang the ζηλωταί, zealots, so much spoken of in Josephus, the forerunners and hasteners of the woes foretold in the end of the last chapter, and which made the latter siege so extremely miserable, and are

Revelation 9:2

And they marched up to Jerusalem, and seized upon the temple there, killed the high priests and the rest of the priests, and plundered the city.

Revelation 9:3

And these became as locusts, great wasters and devourers, and were in other respects peculiarly like locusts, which, having no king, go out by bands, Prov. xxx. 27; and such were these, a company of giddy, wild people, in great numbers, harassing and devouring all.

K k 2

Revelation 9:4

But by God’s providence disposing for the good of his servants, so it was, that this judgment of the zealots fell not upon the Christians, (see note [d] ch. viii,) but only upon the Jews themselves, (that were as contrary to Christianity as any,) only because they were not of the faction of those zealots.

[b] was commanded them] That ἐρρίθη, it was said, is a proper word to signify a command of God’s, appears by Matt. v., where the precepts of the Decalogue are set down in this phrase, ἐρρίθη ἀρχαίοις, it was said to them of old. Now all the wise and gracious acts of God’s providence, in protecting his servants, and restraining the malice of their enemies, is the most properly thus expressed, his will being of the same force to produce the effects as his commands ought to be. And accordingly that is here meant, that by God’s wise disposal so it was, that in the judgments that fell upon Jerusalem by the zealots, the Christians suffered not. For upon Cestius Gallus’s raising his siege, we know the Christians went out of Jerusalem, and fled to Pella, (see note [c] on ch. viii.), and so when the zealots came to Jerusalem, immediately before the siege by Titus, the Christians were gone out of their way, and all their violence fell on the unbelieving Jews, which accordingly continued there. And these are expressed by the phrase, οἵτινες οὐκ ἔχουσι τὴν σφραγίδα τοῦ Θεοῦ, as many as had not the seal of God on their foreheads, (see note [c] on chap. vii.), as the Christians by χόρτος, and πᾶν χλωρὸν, and δένδρον, the grass, and every green thing, and every tree, (see note [d] on ch. viii.)

Revelation 9:5

And the judgment that fell upon the Jews by these men was not so much a downright killing (though that also befell Annas and the priests, see note [a]), as plundering and pillaging and undoing them, and tearing their necessary food from the best citizens of Jerusalem, and thus continuing for five months’ space, till Titus came to besiege the city, by which means the siege became much the more cruel and intolerable when it came; and so this was most fifty compared to scorpions, as the whipping with them is the most cruel and terrible infliction, much more cruel than any other scourge, 1 Kings xii. 11.

[c] tormented] The famine, which the plundering of the zealots was to produce, is here very fitly expressed by βασανίζεσθαι, being tortured, as that is opposite to ἀποκτείνεσθαι, killing, because famine, as the torture, is a lingering racking death, doth not dispatch men easily or quickly, as the sword doth, but (as it were breaking one limb after another) tearing of the flesh from the bones, consuming and emaciating them. And indeed of the time of the siege, it is literally affirmed by Eusebius, out of Josephus, that these zealots, or seditious Jews in Jerusalem, tearing every man’s victuals from him, δεινὰς βασάνων ὁδοὺς ἐπενόουν πρὸς ἔρευναν τροφῆς, l. 3. c. 6, invented cruel ways of torture to find out food, when it was concealed from them by the possessors, or on conceit that it was concealed where indeed it was not. And he mentions some of their inventions of torment, Ὁρόβοις ἐμφράττοντες τοὺς ἀθλίοις τῶν αἰδοίων τοὺς πόρους, ῥάβδοις δὲ ὀξείας ἀναπείραντες τὰς ἕδρας, &c. A most horrible cruelty not fit to be translated; and, saith he, τὰ φρικτὰ καὶ ἀκοαῖς, it was terrible even to hear what some men suffered, to make them confess but one loaf of bread, when they had no more, perhaps not that. These he ordinarily styles there οἱ βασανισταί, the tormentors; and so that makes this representation here the more proper, and fit to express this matter of their plundering.

Revelation 9:6

This brought a great famine and want on the greatest and richest men, and that is far more miserable than death itself: (see note [a] ch. vi.)

[d] seek death] That which is here said, that men shall seek death, and shall not find it, is a most proper expression of a lingering tormenting death, and so of a famine, (which is most eminently such,) and of such vastations and plunderings which leave men life, but nothing to support or sustain it; and such was the effect of the cruelty of these zealots at this time. The very thing here said is after, in the time of the siege, set down by way of story or relation of the fact by Eusebius, l. 3. c. 6, out of Josephus. That when the στασιασταί, or seditious, were so lavish of their swords, that they would kill men, run them through, only ἐπὶ πείρᾳ τοῦ σιδήρου, to try their swords, or to keep them in ure; yet τοὺς ἱκετεύοντας χρῆσαί σφισι δεξιὰν καὶ ξίφος, τῷ λιμῷ κατέλιπον ὑπερηφανούντες, “when any being ready to famish desired them to lend them their hand and their sword, to put them out of their pain, they through arrogance and scorn of their miseries rejected their beseechings, and left them to the famine to use them more cruelly.”

Revelation 9:7

And these devouring wasters, the zealots, were in appearance like warriors, and pretended themselves to be redeemers of the people, and counter-conquerors of the Romans, (which is meant by their crowns like unto gold, false princes, false patriots;) and they took upon them to be saviours and benefactors, saith Josephus, would look like men, kind and friendly, when they wrought all this ruin to their brethren.

Revelation 9:8

And all this while these that thus devoured and preyed upon all they came near, and so were most terrible to those that could not resist, were most base, cowardly persons, these great plunderers, far from having any manliness or valour in them.

Revelation 9:9

And they were hardhearted, compassionless people, and in great troops, like grasshoppers or locusts, they flew about, and made all places resound with their noise and at the news of them, Joel ii. 5.

Revelation 9:10

And as scorpions wound and sting with their tails, so they, coming in with fair pretences of saviours and benefactors, when they depart, plunder and carry all along with them: and so they continue till the time of Titus’s siege, ver. 5, just five months’ space.

Revelation 9:11

And though they disclaim having any king over them but God, and upon that score pretend to

[e] Apollyon] That Apollyon here signifies the devil, is apparent by what is affirmed of him in the former part of this verse, that it is the angel of the bottomless pit. And accordingly the famous god of the heathens, called Apollo, (a word so lightly changed from this,) must be resolved to be the devil, this destroying angel, as he is oft called in scripture, employed altogether in destructions and mischiefs. To which purpose the 12th chap. of lib. 5. of A. Gellius is worth considering, where, having taken notice of two ancient names of heathen gods, Dijovis and Vejovis, and having deduced the former from an original which signifies benign or helpful, he determines the latter to belong to a god, qui non juvandi potestatem, sed vim nocendi haberet, “which had not the power of helping, but the force of doing mischief;” adding, that the image of this god is found to have arrows in the hand, prepared for slaughters and destructions; and therefore Apollo is thought to be signified by that title. To which purpose, saith he, it is considerable, that Virgil, a man very greatly skilled in ancient knowledge,

HAMMOND ANNOTT. VOL. II.

Revelation 9:12

And upon the sounding of the fourth, I saw the representation of a great judgment falling upon the holy city, a siege and attempt on Jerusalem itself.

And this is the first of those woes or pests foretold ch. viii. 13. And though this were a competent judgment on that nation, there are yet two more approaching them.

Revelation 9:13

And a prophet denouncing three horrible woes against the whole nation, which should particularly be set down in the three representations which should be ushered in by the three other angels still behind, which would not be long before they sounded; the first of them belonging to the forerunners immediately before the last siege and destruction of Jerusalem; the second, to that siege itself; the third, to the sad events following it.

CHAP. IX.

And upon the sounding of the sixth trumpet of the sixth angel, I heard a voice from the altar of incense, where the prayers of the saints or constant Christians are said to be offered up, ch. viii. 3, noting that the prayers of the exiled Christians (that to avoid this destruction were departed to Pella and many other places out of the land, and prayed for liberty to return to their country again) were come up before God, and in mercy to them the siege of Jerusalem, that now follows, was hastened.

Revelation 9:14

And methought that voice said to this sixth angel, that he should take off that restraint caused by the present affairs at Rome, and by the great changes there, which detained Vespasian from setting upon Jerusalem according to his purpose.

[f] Euphrates] What is here meant by Euphrates is somewhat uncertain. It may signify literally that known river; for it is said by Josephus, l. 5. c. 6, that the Syrian legions of the Roman army lay as far as Euphrates; and Philo, in his Embassy, mentions στρατόπεδα πρὸς Εὐφράτη, the armies reaching to Euphrates. But in the style of these visions it may also signify somewhat else: for the river Euphrates, we know, is that which runs through Babylon, and so that great river is fitly set to denote that city, as we ordinarily find Tiber to be used for Rome, the sea for Galilee, the region which it belongs to, and many the like. Now that Babylon in these visions signifies Rome heathen, will be hereafter shewn, (note [a] on ch. xviii.) And so ἐπὶ Εὐφράτη, may signify (not in, but) at, or about Rome, which being the seat of the empire, the great changes and affairs concerning the empire are fitly expressed by this phrase; and so we shall see Euphrates used, ch. xvi. 12, for the city of Rome. Next it must be remembered, that the angels being the officers and ministers of God, to execute his will, to inflict punishments, &c., the Roman commanders under Vespasian, that were such instruments in destroying Jerusalem, are accordingly called his angels. And so frequently this destruction of Jerusalem is expressed by Christ’s coming with his angels, visiting with or by these officers or instruments of his. And of these, it seems, there were four principal ones; or else this certain number is used for an uncertain, as the fourth and third part of the land are not to be thought that proportion exactly measured or numbered. Lastly, the binding of these angels must signify the detaining or stopping of them from doing that work. And so the plain meaning of this verse will be, that upon occasion of the affairs of the Roman empire, the Roman armies were stopt a while from their purpose of besieging Jerusalem. And thus it is evident in the story. When the zealots, after Vespasian’s subduing of Galilee, fled riotously into Jerusalem, and wrought those mischiefs there, (set down in the former part of this chapter,) and Vespasian seeing the Jews by their civil broils destroy one another, he made no great haste to set about the siege, till some multitudes that fled out of Jerusalem came and besought him, that he would in mere pity come and take them, and rescue them from this scourge of scorpions, the zealots. Vespasian upon this prepared to go up against Jerusalem with all his forces; but (which is the thing here foretold) hearing of the death of the emperor, deferred this expedition, saith Josephus, De Bell. Jud. l. 5. c. 6, expecting to see how the empire would be disposed of. And not only so, but Mutianus, president of Syria, and a chief promoter of Vespasian to the empire, went out from Syria with a great body of horse and foot into Italy, and came to Rome with them the next day after Vitellius was conquered and slain; see Josephus, De Bell. l. 5. c. μά'.

Revelation 9:15

And so they were let loose from that restraint, that is, permitted by the condition of affairs to march into Judæa, for which they were before ready, but had by the providence of God interposing some hindrances, as he thought fit, been kept for this point of time, to a day (as we say) which God hath determined as most agreeable to all his purposes of saving some and destroying the rest.

Revelation 9:16

And methought their armies of horsemen were presently mustered and the number of them found to be infinite and unimaginable, the Syrians, Arabians, Iturcans, &c. in vast numbers associating themselves unto them.

Revelation 9:17

And these troops of horse or horsemen were represented to me with breastplates shining like flaming fire, and their aspect most terrible, like that of lions gaping, and flaming fire issuing out of their mouths; or else, the front of this army, noted by their breastplates and heads, were very formidable.

⁸ The first, Mía: see Matt. xxviii. 1. ⁹ after these, μετά ταῦτα. ¹¹ fiery, and blue, and like brimstone. κυρίγους καὶ ὑακινθίγους καὶ θεώδεις.

[g] breastplates of fire] What is here said of the breastplates, or armour, and the several colours of it, may be thought to be interpretable literally, in respect of the several nations of which this army consisted, distinguished purposely by the colour of their armour, for such ways of differencing the soldiers are ordinary and useful in armies: or it may possibly denote no more than that they were of steel, which is observed to cast divers colours. But yet thirdly, these three colours may be set (as in prophetic style it is ordinary) only to describe a terrible appearance: for such is best and most commonly represented by a flaming consuming fire, (as when God in his judgments is so called, Heb. xii. 29, and his angels as executioners of his wrath are called a flaming fire, Heb. i. 7,) and such do these three colours make up, the lower part being of the colour of amber, ch. i. 15, and here πύριον, fire-colour, the next part of the flame, blue, and the uppermost of all, pale, or of the colour of brimstone, (see note [f] on ch. i.) And so in the greatest flames it is ordinary to be seen. And then it is agreeable to the Hebrew style, to express one thing by the enumeration of the severals that make it up, (see note [d] on 2 Pet. iii.) the flaming fire by these three parts of it. And so this may be the meaning of the whole phrase, this army, the captains whereof are called angels, ver. 14, came in a most dreadful, formidable appearance, like a flaming consuming fire. And to the same purpose all the following expressions may be expounded. Their heads were like the heads of lions; which sure signifies no more, but they looked very terribly, as we know lions’ heads are the most frightful part of that dreadful beast, especially when they gape: to which the next part of the description may relate, out of their mouths cometh out fire, and smoke, and brimstone, that is, flaming fire again; for the smoke here is all one with the blue above, (the colour of smoke,) as the fire and brimstone are again repeated here. As

• Hist. lib. 2.