Stars (as σώματα ἐπουράνια) drop from heaven in the form of beasts (Enoch lxxxvi. 1 f.) and men (_ibid._ lxxxviii.) throughout Jewish apocalyptic (_cf. ibid_, xviii. 16, xxi. 1, 6, xl. 21, 24); even earlier (Judges 5:20; Job 38:7) they had been personified. On falling stars, associated as evil porte... [ Continue Reading ]
Revelation 9:1-12 : _The fifth trumpet_.... [ Continue Reading ]
For the following description of this destructive horde of weird locusts, see Joel 2. with Driver's notes and excursus (_C. B._) to which add the famous description of a locust-plague in Newman's _Callista_ (ch. 15). Naturally the sketch is far more idealised than that given by Joel; it often recall... [ Continue Reading ]
The dense smoke resolves itself into a swarm of infernal demons in the form of locusts but rendered more formidable by their additional power of stinging like scorpions. Instead of preying on their natural food (Exodus 10:15), already plagued (Revelation 8:7) they are let loose upon men unmarked by... [ Continue Reading ]
παίσῃ here, like ἐπάταξεν James 4:7, represents LXX, tr. of נכה in sense of reptile's bite; the scorpion with its long-fanged tail stings the prey which it has already gripped with its claws (_cf._ Sen. _Hercul._ 1218). Scorpions were a natural symbol for vicious and dangerous opponents (_cf._ Ezeki... [ Continue Reading ]
The withholding of death, instead of being an alleviation, is really a refinement of torture; so infernal is the pain, that the sufferers crave, but crave in vain, for death (Sibyll. iii. 208: καὶ καλέσουσι καλόν τὸ θανεῖν καὶ φεύξετʼ ἀπʼ αὐτῶν). It is singular that suicide is never contemplated, al... [ Continue Reading ]
Arabian poets compare locusts in head to the horse, in breast to the lion, in feet to the camel, in body to the snake, in antennæ to a girl's long, waving hair. The resemblance of the head in locusts and in horses has been often noticed (_Cavalleta, Italian_), and their hard scales resemble plates o... [ Continue Reading ]
A parenthetical remark of the author. ἔρχεται with plur. subj. following is not an irregularity due to Greek neut. as equiv. to Heb. fern. (Viteau, ii. 98 100), but an instance of the so-called “Pindaric” anacoluthon (_cf._ Moult, i. 58).... [ Continue Reading ]
The golden altar of incense stands before God, as in the original tabernacle and temple; the specially solemn invocation of the angel shows that the Parthian-like invasion constitutes the climax of this series of disasters. φωνήν as Revelation 1:10; Revelation 10:4, etc., the “bath qol” (Gfrörer, i.... [ Continue Reading ]
_The sixth trumpet blast_.... [ Continue Reading ]
The sixth angel takes part in the action. The Euphrates had been the ideal Eastern boundary of Israel's territory: it now formed the frontier between Rome and her dreaded neighbour, the Parthian Empire (Philo, _leg. ad_ _C_ [913] § ii.; Verg. _Georg_. i. 509; Tac. _Hist._ iv. 51). [913] _._ Codex E... [ Continue Reading ]
This quartette of angels (= complete ruin, Zechariah 1:18 f.) has been kept in readiness, or reserved for this occasion, though they are not to be connected (as by Spitta) with the four moments of time _hour, day, month_, and _year_. Like the use of δεῖ, μέλλει, and ἐδόθη, this touch of predestined... [ Continue Reading ]
The second woe is an irruption of fiendish cavalry.... [ Continue Reading ]
Here only the writer refers to his “vision”. ἔχοντας (horse and rider regarded as one figure: in the Persian heavy cavalry horses as well as men were clad in bright plate) κ. τ. λ., “they wore coats of mail, the colour of fire and jacinth and brimstone,” _i.e._, gleaming red, dark blue, and yellow,... [ Continue Reading ]
Heads attached to their serpentine tails are an allusion not only to the well-known tactics of the Parthians (_cf. Parad. Regained_, iii. 323 f.) but to a trait of ancient Greek mythology; on the altar of Zeus at Pergamos (_cf._ note on Revelation 2:12) the giants who war against the gods are equipp... [ Continue Reading ]
The impenitence of the surviving two-thirds of men, who persist in worshipping daemons and idols (Weinel, 3, 4). Hellenic superstition (Plut. _de defectu orac._ 14) attributed to malignant daemons these very plagues of pestilence, war, and famine. Plutarch is always protesting against the excessive... [ Continue Reading ]