Revelation 9:7-11

Revelation 9:7-11. The locusts are now more particularly described, and the description consists of three parts; the first general, the second special, the third the locust king.

The general description. Their shapes are like horses prepared for war. The same comparison is found in Joel 2:4; and the likeness of the locust to a horse is so marked that the insect is named in German Heupferd, and in Italian Cavaletta (Cheval).

The special description in seven particulars. 1. On their heads were, as it were, crowns like unto gold, not crowns but ‘as' crowns, so that any yellow brilliancy about the head of the insect is a sufficient foundation for the figure. The crowns are emblems of victory (Revelation 6:2), and the locusts are presented as a conquering host. 2. Their faces were as faces of men, again not actually human faces, but faces suggesting the likeness, which the face of the locust is said to do. It is a question whether the word ‘men' is to be understood in the general sense of human beings, or (in contrast with women) of the male sex only. Chap. Revelation 4:7 seems to determine in favour of the latter. Boldness and strength, perhaps even severity and fierceness, are suggested by the figure. 3. And they had hair as hair of women. There is said to be an Arabic proverb comparing the antennae of locusts to the hair of girls. If so, we have a sufficient foundation for this feature of the comparison. What the idea may be it is not easy to say. But softness and effeminacy, with their attendant licentiousness, are probably the point in view. 4. And their teeth were as teeth of lions. This feature, whether drawn from actual observation of the insect or not, is sufficiently accounted for by Joel 1:6. 5. And they had breastplates as it were breastplates of iron, a feature taken from the thought of the plate which forms the thorax of the locust, and which resembles the plates of a horse clad in ancient armour when prepared for war. 6. And the sound of their wings, etc. It is said that locusts in their flight make a fearful noise (Smith's Dict, of Bible, ii. 132). 7. And they have tails like unto scorpions, and stings; and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months. There is general agreement that, in this feature at least, comparison with the insect as it exists in nature fails; although, if the insect be the Acridium lineola, and if the plate in Smith's Bible Dict. (vol. 2 p. 129) is to be trusted, there is a distinct sting in the tail. In such a case the sting now spoken of is only magnified, and declared to be like a scorpion, in order to bring out its destructive power.

(3) Their king. Unlike the insect-locusts of whom it is expressly noted in Proverbs 30:27 that ‘they have no king,' these locusts have a king, the head of their kingdom (Matthew 12:26). They have over them as king the angel of the abyss. This ‘angel' is the expression of the abyss, in whom all its evil influences are concentrated. In other words he is Satan. It is no serious objection to this that we have found the ‘star' to be Satan (Revelation 9:1). We are not told that the king spoken of issued out of the abyss, and we may quite easily think of the locusts either as his hosts or as those of the ‘star.'

The name of the king is in Hebrew Abaddon. The word is used for the place of perdition in Job 26:6; Job 28:22; Psalms 88:12; Proverbs 15:11, but its first meaning seems to be perdition itself. Here, however, the idea of perdition is personified; and hence the mention of Apollyon, where the Greek term for perdition is so changed as to make it also a personification of the abstract idea. The character of the king and of his host appears in the name borne by the former. Their aim is not to save, but to destroy.

Before passing from this vision we have still to ask more particularly as to its meaning. All application to the host of the Mahomedans may be at once dismissed. The woe falls upon the whole world, not merely upon a part of it, and it is not permitted to affect the redeemed Church. At the same time it cannot find its fulfilment in mere war, or in the calamities which war brines. The woe is obviously spiritual. It issues from the abyss of hell; the smoke of it darkens the air; the torment which accompanies it is not one that brings death but that makes the soul weary of life. These circumstances point to a great outburst of spiritual evil which shall aggravate the sorrows of the world, make it learn how bitter is the bondage of Satan, and teach it to feel, even in the midst of enjoyment, that it were better to die than to live.