An ominous introduction to the last three trumpets. An eagle, here as in Apoc. Bar. lxxvii. 17 22, lxxxvii. 1 (cf. Rest of Words of Bar. 7.) a messenger and herald of catastrophe (its associations are punitive and bodeful, Deuteronomy 28:49; Hosea 8:1; Habakkuk 1:8, Eurip. Rhes. 528 536) flies in the zenith, i.e., swooping exactly over the heads of men. For the eagle (Simurgh in Zoroastrianism) as the servant of Deity in ancient (Syrian) mythology, see E. Bi. “Cherub,” § 8, and Acts of Thomas (Hymn of Soul, 51). “Woe … for the rest of the trumpet voices.” The first woe finishes at Revelation 9:12, the second (after the interlude of Revelation 10:1 to Revelation 11:13) at Revelation 11:14, the third apparently at Revelation 12:12 though as usual one series of phenomena melts irregularly at the close into another.

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Old Testament