Revelation 9:1-12

The Fifth Trumpet or the First Woe. The seer sees a star fallen on the earth. The star seems to represent a person, possibly Satan (cf. Luke 10:18). abyss: the word properly means bottomless, and is used in OT of the abode of the dead, e.g. Psalms 71:20. The abyss is approached by a shaft or well, here translated pit, which is closed and kept under lock and key.

Revelation 9:3. out of the smoke came. locusts: cf. Exodus 10:13 and Driver's quotation of the observations of a modern traveller: we observed large dark clouds resembling smoke moving to and fro. One morning these clouds came down and proved to be locusts. (CB, Joel, p. 90). power was given to them: these locusts were specially endowed with the scorpion-like power of tormenting men.

Revelation 9:4. not hurt the grass: this conflicts with Revelation 8:7, where, as the result of the first trumpet, all green grass was burnt up. seal of God: Revelation 7:3 ff *.

Revelation 9:5. five months: this is supposed to represent the ordinary duration of a plague of locusts. The object of the plague is not to kill, but to torture and torment.

Revelation 9:7. like unto horses: this description is taken from Joel 2:4. crowns. men's faces: these two features seem to be peculiar to the locusts of the abyss; there is nothing about the ordinary locust to account for this description.

Revelation 9:11. They have. as king: In Proverbs 30:27 it is stated that locusts have no king, but these locusts belong to the abyss. Abaddon: the word only occurs in what is known as the Wisdom Literature (Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Psalms 88:11; Proverbs 15:11 *, etc.), where it means ruin or destruction, either on earth or in Sheol. Here Destruction is personified. Apollyon is the Greek equivalent for Abaddon.