Revelation Chapter 9
Originally posted Friday December 19, 2008
Revelation, Chapter 9:1-11 The Fifth Trumpet
The fifth woe is
directed at the people of the earth with an instruction that neither grass nor
trees nor any other green growth are to be harmed. The image used in this
vision - the morning or day star, is drawn from the ancient Canaanite
mythology of Shahar (the brilliant one), son of Dawn (Day Star) and an
early Jewish Midrash (interpretation and commentary) on Gen. 6:1-4. It is used in Isa. 14:12-20 where the king of
Babylon is mocked for his aspiring to the divine throne but ends up being cast
into the pit (abyss) of Sheol. Isaiah taunts the king saying, "How you are
fallen from heaven, O Day Star." The falling star imagery is used in LK. 10:18 where Jesus says,
"I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of
lightening." 2nd Pet. 2:4 uses
the Genesis story of the fallen angels who were cast into hell (hell,
abyss and pit are all synonymous) where they are to be kept in chains
in the deepest darkness awaiting judgment. A number of Jewish Apocryphal
and Apocalyptic writings use the mythology of the angels who corrupted
humanity and were imprisoned in the abyss. Adding to this the Old Testament and
Jewish traditional identification of angels with stars (Job 38:7), we can see the combined ideas of a fallen angel and
the abyss (bottomless pit) in John's vision.
The star/angel that
had fallen from heaven was given a key to the shaft leading to the abyss.
That the key was given demonstrates God's involvement in this and all parts of
the judgment visions. Judgment belongs to God and each woe occurs only with
God's permission. With the key the fallen angel opened the shaft and out
poured black smoke as if from a "great furnace" (Joel 2:2, 10) darkening (and
polluting!) the air and blocking the light of the sun. Emerging from
the opened pit and black smoke were massive swarms of demonic locusts
spreading over the earth (Exod. 10:4).
Their powers have been under control while in the pit but now they are given
the authority of scorpions - to torture with their sting from which there is no
escape. Their task is the tormenting of human beings who did not have the
seal of God (7:3) but they are not
to kill them. They are not to "damage the grass, any green growth or any
trees." The locusts will be allowed to torment and torture for five
months.
John has
given a vivid description of the locusts. They are equipped with the
protective equipment worn by horses going into battle and with scaled
armor. They are wearing golden crowns (a parody of the martyrs in heaven),
have human faces; hair like that of a woman (long) and lions' teeth. They
make the noise of many horse drawn chariots charging into battle and have
tails with scorpion-like stingers. This vast horde has a king over
them, the angel of the abyss (bottomless pit). John give's this king's
name in Hebrew and in Greek. The Hebrew word "Abhaddon" means
"destruction" and is often translated as bottomless pit as in John
Milton's Paradise Lost. It is occasionally personified as a
reference to Satan. The Greek "Apollyon" means destroyer.
That Abhaddon is a
king provides a connection between John's vision and the actual situation
being experienced by the churches. The word for king - "basileus" is
also used in the New Testament and elsewhere for the Roman Emperor, an
important key for understanding some of the later symbolism of Revelation.
For John the Roman Emperor is destruction personified. The Greek word
Apollyon is from the root "to destroy utterly" and is also a frequent
synonym for the Devil. Here it serves as a not so subtle and
deliberate reference to the Greek and Roman god Apollo. Apollo just
happened to be the divine name adopted and used by the Emperor Domitian, the
real villain in Revelation. Also of interest is that the locust was a
symbol of Apollo. While some Emperors did not take seriously their being
divine, Domitian did and required his subjects to speak of and consider him as
divine. To refuse could result in execution.
Revelation, Chapter 9:13-21 The Sixth Trumpet
With the blowing of
the sixth trumpet John hears a voice from the four horns of the heavenly golden
altar which stands before God. The altar is probably the gold covered altar of
incense which stood in the outer portion of the temple sanctuary and not the
altar of burnt offering. It is described in Exod. 30:1ff and37:5 as
having four horns, one on each corner, covered with gold. In pre-temple Israel
there were a number of holy sanctuaries - such as Bethel, Schechem, Dan
and Beersheba, all having altars. A number of sites were classified as safe
locations and a person who had accidentally killed a person could flee to
the related sanctuary and take hold of the horns of the altar pleading for
sanctuary (Exod. 21:13-14; 1 Kings
1:50-51, 2:28-34).
The voice from the
horns of the altar tells the sixth angel who had blown the trumpet to release
four fallen angels who had been chained at the Euphrates River, apparently in
preparation for this precise moment. The purpose of the release is to kill a
third of humankind. The instrument of this massive massacre will be like
the feared Parthians of 6:1-2 in
a greatly expanded and demonic cavalry of 200 million. This demonic
cavalry charging from the east, across the Euphrates, are not riding
normal horses. They are of various colors with heads like lions heads,
breathing out "fire and smoke and sulfur. This is but one of the
three plagues delivered by the horses, added to the horses' jaws and a
serpent-like tail with a number of heads capable of inflicting death.
Keeping in mind that
in Revelation judgment is aimed at the Roman Empire in general and its
inhabitants who practice idolatry (and persecute Christians), we understand his
words regarding those who were not killed yet, despite the plagues, did not
repent. Their continued rebellion against God, as John sees it, has been
confirmed. They are powerless to resist the onslaughts released against
them but, like Egypt's Pharaoh they have become more entrenched in resistance.
They continue to worship demons and stone and wood idols and refuse to repent
of their ungodly acts and turn to God.
We should remember
that John's visions are aimed at the churches. They not only speak to the
realities of persecution and death among the churches, they are meant as
warnings to those who are flirting with the disaster of idolatry. A people
under persecution will be sorely tempted to allow themselves a little
accommodation with paganism, forgetting that a little is as ungodly as a lot.
One step into the temple of Apollo or one offering to the divine Emperor may
not seem like a big deal but in John's vision it is absolutely deadly.
Addiction comes one step at a time until the footprints are no longer visible.
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Note:
As a bit of trivia,
another symbol for Apollo was the snake. The Roman historian Suetonius, in
his Life of Augustus, reports the tradition that Augustus' mother
Atia, the niece of the deified Julius Caesar, went to a "solemn
service" in Apollo's temple in the middle of the night. She fell asleep
and as she slept a serpent slithered up to her briefly and then left. Nine
months later Augustus was born - the divine son of Apollo.
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