Revelation 9:1

The Fifth Trumpet. First Woe. Chap. 9 Revelation 9:1-12

1. fall from heaven Rather, fallen. St John does not say that he witnessed the actual fall.

to him was given Clearly therefore the star is identified with a person: no doubt a "fallen angel," in the common sense of the term. For the identification of angels with stars, cf. Revelation 1:20, and Job 38:7: and of fallenangels in particular, Enoch xviii. 16, xxi. 3, &c. The fall of this star may legitimately be illustrated, as to the image by Isaiah 14:12, and as to the meaning by Luke 10:18; Luke 12:9 in this book: but it is not to be assumed that this passage refers to the same event as either of the two last, still less that the first does.

of the bottomless pit Lit. of the pit (or well) of the abyss: the depth of Hell, the home or penal prison of the demons (see Luke 8:31, where the word translated "the deep" is the same), is conceived as a pit in the earth's surface, no doubt literally bottomless, but of finite area, so that it can be fitted with a cover which can be fastened down with a padlock or seal. Cf. Revelation 11:7; Revelation 17:8, for the notion of evil beings issuing from the pit; Revelation 20:1; Revelation 20:3, for their being confined there. But notice (i) that this pit is nowhere identified with the "lake of fire," the finaldestination of the Devil and his angels: (ii) that we are not told that the Devil himself is cast into it yet; rather the contrary is implied.