---
title: "Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible"
author: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown"
languages: [en]
shelf: "Commentaries"
section: 907 of 927
url: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/907/
cite: "Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, section 907. Scriptura (scriptura.si), https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/907/"
---

# Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

*Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset and David Brown*

The Victorian standard commentary, critical and practical, from Genesis to Revelation.

## 907. Revelation · 13 of 33

Source: https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/907/ · cite a paragraph as https://scriptura.si/works/jamieson-fausset-brown-commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/907/#p-N

[¶0] all green grass--no longer a third, but all is burnt up.

[¶1] 8. as it were--not literally a mountain: a mountain-like burning mass. There is a plain allusion to [Jr 51:25]; [Am 7:4].

[¶2] third part of the sea became blood--In the parallel second vial, the whole sea (not merely a third) becomes blood. The overthrow of Jericho, the type of the Antichristian Babylon, after which Israel, under Joshua (the same name as Jesus), victoriously took possession of Canaan, the type of Christ's and His people's kingdom, is perhaps alluded to in the SEVEN trumpets, which end in the overthrow of all Christ's foes, and the setting up of His kingdom. On the seventh day, at the seventh time, when the seven priests blew the seven ram's horn trumpets, the people shouted, and the walls fell flat: and then ensued the blood-shedding of the foe. A mountain-like fiery mass would not naturally change water into blood; nor would the third part of ships be thereby destroyed.

[¶3] 9. The symbolical interpreters take the ships here to be churches. For the Greek here for ships is not the common one, but that used in the Gospels of the apostolic vessel in which Christ taught: and the first churches were in the shape of an inverted ship: and the Greek for destroyed is also used of heretical corruptings ([1Ti 6:5]).

[¶4] 10. a lamp--a torch.

[¶5] 11. The symbolizers interpret the star fallen from heaven as a chief minister (Arius, according to Bullinger, Bengel, and others; or some future false teacher, if, as is more likely, the event be still future) falling from his high place in the Church, and instead of shining with heavenly light as a star, becoming a torch lit with earthly fire and smouldering with smoke. And "wormwood," though medicinal in some cases, if used as ordinary water would not only be disagreeable to the taste, but also fatal to life: so "heretical wormwood changes the sweet Siloas of Scripture into deadly Marahs" [Wordsworth]. Contrast the converse change of bitter Marah water into sweet, [Ex 15:23]. Alford gives as an illustration in a physical point of view, the conversion of water into firewater or ardent spirits, which may yet go on to destroy even as many as a third of the ungodly in the latter days.

[¶6] 12. third part--not a total obscuration as in the sixth seal ([Re 6:12], ). This partial obscuration, therefore, comes between the prayers of the martyrs under the fifth seal, and the last overwhelming judgments on the ungodly under the sixth seal, at the eve of Christ's coming.

[¶7] the night likewise--withdrew a third part of the light which the bright Eastern moon and stars ordinarily afford.

[¶8] 13. an angel--A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read for "angel," which is supported by none of the oldest manuscripts, "an eagle": the symbol of judgment descending fatally from on high; the king of birds pouncing on the prey. Compare this fourth trumpet and the flying eagle with the fourth seal introduced by the fourth living creature, "like a flying eagle," [Re 4:7]; , : the aspect of Jesus as presented by the fourth Evangelist. John is compared in the cherubim (according to the primitive interpretation) to a flying eagle: Christ's divine majesty in this similitude is set forth in the Gospel according to John, His judicial visitations in the Revelation of John. Contrast "another angel," or messenger, with "the everlasting Gospel," [Re 14:6].

[¶9] through the midst of heaven--Greek, "in the mid-heaven," that is, in the part of the sky where the sun reaches the meridian: in such a position as that the eagle is an object conspicuous to all.

[¶10] the inhabiters of the earth--the ungodly, the "men of the world," whose "portion is in this life," upon whom the martyrs had prayed that their blood might be avenged ([Re 6:10]). Not that they sought personal revenge, but their zeal was for the honor of God against the foes of God and His Church.

[¶11] the other--Greek, "the remaining voices."

### Chapter 9

### Re 9:1-21. The Fifth Trumpet: The Fallen Star Opens the Abyss Whence Issue Locusts. The Sixth Trumpet. Four Angels at the Euphrates Loosed

[¶14] 1. The last three trumpets of the seven are called, from [Re 8:13], the woe-trumpets.

[¶15] 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 [Is 14:12], "How art thou fallen from heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning!"

[¶16] the bottomless pit--Greek, "the pit of the abyss"; the orifice of the hell where Satan and his demons dwell.

[¶17] 3. upon--Greek, "unto," or "into."

[¶18] as the scorpions of the earth--as contrasted with the "locusts" which come up from hell, and are not "of the earth."

[¶19] have power--namely, to sting.

[¶20] 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.

[¶21] those men which--Greek, "the men whosoever."

[¶22] 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.

[¶23] 5. they ... they--The subject changes: the first "they" is the locusts; the second is the unsealed.

[¶24] five months--the ordinary time in the year during which locusts continue their ravages.

[¶25] 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.

[¶26] 6. shall desire--Greek, "eagerly desire"; set their mind on.

[¶27] 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.

[¶28] 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.

[¶29] 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.

[¶30] 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.

[¶31] 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," [Jr 51:27].

[¶32] as the teeth of lions--([Joe 1:6], as to locusts).

[¶33] 9. as it were breastplates of iron--not such as forms the thorax of the natural locust.

[¶34] as ... chariots--([Joe 2:5-7]).

[¶35] battle--Greek, "war."

[¶36] 10. tails like unto scorpions--like unto the tails of scorpions.

[¶37] 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."

[¶38] 11. And--so Syriac. But A, B, and Aleph, omit "and."

[¶39] had--Greek, "have."

[¶40] 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.

[¶41] bottomless pit--Greek, "abyss."

[¶42] 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.

[¶43] 12. Greek, "The one woe."

[¶44] 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. Joe 1:2-7; 2:1-11, is strictly parallel and expressly refers ([Joe 2:11]) to THE DAY OF THE Lord great and very terrible: [Joe 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: [Joe 2:18], 31, 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 [Re 7:1-8] 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.