Revelation 9:7

Rev 9:7-9. The shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle — In this and the two following verses, the nature and qualities of these locusts are described, partly in allusion to the properties of natural locusts and the description given of them by Joel, and partly in allusion to the habits and manners of the Arabians, to show that not real but figurative locusts were here intended. The first quality mentioned is their being like unto horses prepared unto battle; which is copied from Joe 2:4. The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses, &c. Many authors have observed that the head of a locust resembles that of a horse. The Italians, therefore, call them cavalette, as it were little horses. The Arabians too have in all ages been famous for their horses and horsemanship. Their strength is well known to consist chiefly in their cavalry. Another distinguishing mark and character is their having on their heads as it were crowns like gold — Which is an allusion to the headdress of the Arabians, who have constantly worn turbans or mitres, and boast of having those ornaments for their common attire, which are crowns and diadems with other people. The crowns also signify the kingdoms and dominions which they should acquire. For, as Mede excellently observes, “No nation had ever so wide a command, nor ever were so many kingdoms, so many regions subjugated in so short a space of time. It sounds incredible, yet most true it is, that in the space of eighty or not many more years, they subdued and acquired to the diabolical kingdom of Mohammed, Palestine, Syria, both Armenias, almost all Asia Minor, Persia, India, Egypt, Numidia, all Barbary, even to the river Niger, Portugal, Spain. Neither did their fortune or ambition stop here till they had added also a great part of Italy, as far as to the gates of Rome; moreover, Sicily, Candia, Cyprus, and the other islands of the Mediterranean sea. Good God! how great a tract of land! how many crowns were here! Whence also it is worthy of observation, that mention is not made here, as in other trumpets, of the third part; forasmuch as this plague fell no less without the bounds of the Roman empire than within it, and extended itself even to the remotest Indies.” They had also faces as the faces of men, and hair as the hair of women — And the Arabians wore their beards, or at least mustaches, as men; while the hair of their heads was flowing, or platted like that of women; as Pliny and other ancient authors testify. Another property, copied from Joel, is their having teeth as the teeth of lions; that is, strong to devour. So Joel describes the locusts, (chap. Rev 1:6,) as a nation whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, &c.; and it is wonderful how they bite and gnaw all things, as Pliny says, even the doors of the houses. They had also breast-plates, as it were breast-plates of iron — And the locusts have a hard shell or skin, which hath been called their armour. This figure is designed to express the defensive, as the former was the offensive arms of the Saracens. And the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle — Much the same comparison had been used by Joe 2:5, Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap; and Pliny affirms that they fly with so great a noise of their wings, that they may be taken for birds. Their wings, and the sound of their wings, denote the swiftness and rapidity of their conquests; and it is indeed astonishing that in less than a century they erected an empire which extended from India to Spain.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

9:7-10 While some see these locusts as symbolic of attack helicopters, missiles, or other modern armaments, they come from the “bottomless pit” rather than from human engineering. The description of these creatures, derived from the physical appearance of locusts, is intended to cause revulsion and terror. • Their gold crowns indicate that their torment dominates much of the earth.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rev_9:7-10. Only now, after John has described how he has seen the miraculous locusts rise from the abyss, and what plagues they are to bring, does he proceed to describe the extraordinary phenomenon more minutely and fully. An essential feature in this description, Rev_9:10, has express reference to what is said in Rev_9:3-5 : in other respects the individual points of the description are not to be urged, as the context itself not only does not suggest a special interpretation, which must prove allegorical, but rather excludes it; e.g., there is no question as to something special according to Rev_9:3 sqq., either as to the teeth of lions, or the hair of women. The infernal locusts are to torment men only after the manner of scorpions (Rev_9:10); of a biting, as with the teeth of lions, nothing whatever is said. But if individual features be pressed in violation of the context, manifest preposterous interpretations follow; as, e.g., the reference of the teeth of lions to the erroneous doctrines and calumniations with which heretics have lacerated the orthodox church.[2560] That which is aimed at is the general impression in a description, in which the actual form of natural locusts lies, in a certain way, at the foundation. These infernal locusts, however dreadful their supernatural form, are nevertheless always to be known as locusts; only in what is described in Rev_9:10, they have a wonderful peculiarity of their form corresponding to the plagues committed to them (Rev_9:3 sqq.), which is without all natural analogy.

ΤᾺ ὉΜΟΙΏΜΑΤΑ ΤῶΝ ΑΚΡ. Incorrectly, Hengstenb. and Ew. ii.: their likeness. ΔΜΟΊΩΜΑ designates regularly[2561] the product of an ὈΜΟΙΟῦΝ, i e, the form so far as it is just like a model.[2562] The forms of the locusts were like ἽΠΠΟΙς ἩΤΟΙΜ. ΕἸς ΠΌΛ. This pertains to the forms as a whole. Cf. Joe_2:4. In books of travel, it is expressly noted, that the form of the locust has a certain resemblance to that of a horse.[2563] The similarity is especially manifest if we think of the horse as equipped (ἡτοιμασμ. εἰς πολ.), so that its head rises from the breastplate like the head of the locust from its thorax (Rev_9:9).

ἘΠῚ Τ. ΚΕΡ. ΑὐΤ. Ὡς ΣΤΈΦΑΝΟΙ ὍΜΟΙΟΙ ΧΡΥΣῷ. From the fact that the natural locust has nothing on its head that looks like a crown, it does not follow that the ΣΤΕΦΆΝΟΙ ὍΜ. ΧΡ. are nothing else than the polished helmets of soldiers, who are to be understood under the allegory of locusts.[2564] ΣΤΈΦ. does not mean helmets; and even if there were some ground, in general, for such allegory, yet, at all events, the individual features of the allegory as such could first be harmoniously comprehended, and afterwards be obtained in their individual points. But any mingling of (assumed) allegory and literal statement is to be rejected; and hence the exposition is entirely inadmissible which ascribes helmets, meant literally, to locusts, meant allegorically. The same fundamental principle applies to the other features of the description; so that, e.g., the hair, like the hair of women, ascribed to the locusts, could not be the long hair of barbarian warriors.[2565]

The supposition is readily suggested, that also the words Κ. ἘΠΙ ΤᾺς ΚΕΦ., Κ.Τ.Λ., contain an allusion to the natural form of the locust. But even if John says that upon the heads of the locusts there was something like gold-like crowns (Ὡς ΣΤ. ὍΜΟΙΟΙ ΧΡ., cf. Rev_4:6), he could scarcely have thought of the two antennae about an inch long;[2566] it is more probable,[2567] that the rather strong, jagged elevation, which of course is situated, not on the head, but in the middle of the thorax,[2568] but which in the popular view, not readily distinguishing the line of division between head and thorax, may appear as if upon the head of the insect, serves as the natural type. The yellowish-green brilliant coloring of that elevation of the thorax may then have given John the natural opportunity for describing that which is crown-like on the heads of the demoniacal locusts as ὅμ. χρυσῷ.

ΤᾺ ΠΡΌΣΩΠΑ ΑὐΤ. Ὡς ΠΡΌΣΩΠΑ ἈΝΘΡΏΠΩΝ. The expressly marked comparison dare be denied here as little as the other features of the description. Hengstenb, therefore, is incorrect when, like the older allegorists, not only mistaking the simple comparison for an (imaginary) allegory, but also confounding the literal with an allegorical interpretation, he says, Their faces were like the faces of men, since a fearful look, the dreadful look of men, shines through the look of locusts. In fact, they were actually faces of men. The text nowhere says this, but gives an idea of the faces of the demoniacal locusts by representing them as like the faces of men. This also has its natural foundation in the fact, that the head of the locust has actually a faint resemblance to the human profile.[2569] The more strongly this similarity is regarded, as expressed in the supernatural locusts whose entire form has in it something monstrous, the more dreadful must it appear.

ΚΑῚ ΕἿΧΟΝ ΤΡΊΧΑς Ὡς ΤΡΊΧΑς ΓΥΝΑΙΚῶΝ. This feature of the description also is to be apprehended in the same way as the preceding. The words Ὡς ΤΡΊΧ. ΓΥΝ. are intended only relatively; the point of comparison, however, can lie only in the length of the hair, since long hair is peculiar to women, not to men.[2570] In the description which is intended only to make visible the fact that the miraculous locusts have long hair like that of women, there is no special allegorical reference, either to the long hair as it is found in barbarian warriors,[2571] or to the fact that the spirits of darkness, or men serving as their instruments, look so mildly and tenderly from beneath the tresses of women, while back of these locks they conceal the teeth of lions.[2572] Every thing upon which such allegorical interpretation must lay importance has been improperly introduced. It may appear doubtful whether John, in representing the wonderfully long hair of the supernatural locusts, thinks of it according to the analogy of the antennae of the natural locusts,as is most simple,or whether he understands the hair in the other parts of the body, e.g., the legs;[2573] but it is certain, that if the context is otherwise to be regarded as harmonious and free from perplexity, every other reference, except that indicated by the simple comparison, is to be regarded out of place.

Κ. ΟἹ ΟΔΌΝΤΕς ΑὐΤ. Ὡς ΛΕΌΝΤΩΝ ἯΣΑΝ. Joel already (Rev_1:6) ascribes the teeth of lions to natural locusts. There, as here, nothing else is illustrated but the desolating voraciousness, but not the rage of the enemy.[2574] This feature is highly significant in order to answer to the figure of locusts as such, but, like what is said in Rev_9:7, is entirely irrelevant in reference to the particular plague which is to be brought by the infernal locusts (Rev_9:3 sqq.).

Κ. ΕΊΧ. ΘΏΡΑΚΑς Ὡς ΘῶΡ. ΣΙΔΗΡΟῦς. Incorrectly, Hengstenb.: The iron cuirasses show how difficult it is to approach these horsemen. Instead of the breastplate of natural locusts, to which natural history has given the significant name thorax,[2575] the supernatural locusts have a cuirass compared only with a coat of mail.

Κ. Ἡ ΦΩΝῊ Τ. ΠΤΕΡΎΓΩΝ, Κ.Τ.Λ. Like natural, these demoniacal locusts also have wings, whose rushing is very naturally[2576] illustrated by the comparison, ὡς φωνὴ ἁρμάτων ἵππων πολλῶν τρεχόντων εἰς πόλεμον. In these words neither the ἉΡΜΆΤΩΝ[2577] nor the ἽΠΠΩΝ[2578] is to be regarded as interpolated, since the idea as the sound of chariots of many horses running to war, is as readily understood as it is throughout suitable. Yet it dare not be said, that, while the rattling of the wagons corresponds to the whizzing of the locusts, the horses are specially mentioned, because the mass of riders, and not of wagons, are the proper antitype of the locusts.[2579] Already the expression, in which the ἉΡΜΆΤΩΝ belongs to ἽΠΠΩΝ ΠΟΛΛ. as its subjective genitive, forbids the distinction made in the interests of a perverted (allegorizing) collective view. The entire noise, which is caused as well by the chariot-wheels, as also by the hoofs of the horses driven in the chariots, is designated, since it is designedly that not the chariots alone are mentioned.

κ. ἔχουσιν οὐράς ὁμοίας σκορπίοις καὶ κέντρα. The Comparatio compendiaria[2580] states that tails of the locusts are like the tails of scorpions; in connection with which, the particular (καὶ κέντρα) is expressly marked, that is the special subject of consideration. Beng., Hengstenb.,[2581] are not willing, however, to acknowledge any breviloquence, but regard the locusts tails as the (entire) scorpions, and appeal to Rev_9:19. But in the latter passage, where the subject refers to heads and mouths situated in the serpent-like tails of the horses, not only the context in general, but also the special determination ἜΧΟΥΣ. ΚΕΦΆΛΑς, forbids us finding in the words ὉΜ. ὌΦΕΣΙΝ a comparatio compendiaria; while, in Rev_9:10, the intention and expression lead to this most simple mode of statement.

κ. ἐν τ. οὐραῖς αὐτ. ἡ ἐξουσία αὐτ. ἀδικῆσαι, κ.τ.λ. The inf. ἈΔΙΚ. explains the power in the tails furnished with scorpion-like stings.[2582] It is worthy of observation, how this last feature again reverts to the description of the same plagues as are commanded in Rev_9:3 sqq.;[2583] and thus the whole appears to be harmoniously rounded off. Also the designation ΜῆΝΑς ΠΈΝΤΕ is repeated from Rev_9:5, in order once more to emphatically mention that the infernal beasts, with their scorpion-like equipment and power, are to plague men after the manner of locusts during five full months. [See Note LVII, p. 292.]

[2560] Calov., etc.

[2561] Cf. Winer, p. 89.

[2562] Cf. Eze_1:16; Eze_10:21, where the Heb. דּֽמוּת stands; Rom_1:23; Php_2:7.

[2563] Cf. Winer, Rwb., i. 575.

[2564] Eichh., Heinr.

[2565] Against Vitr., etc.

[2566] Ewald.

[2567] Cf. Züll., De Wette.

[2568] Cf. Winer in loc.

[2569] Cf. Züll., Ew., De Wette.

[2570] Cf. 1Co_11:14 sq. Winer, Rwb., i. 527.

[2571] As even De Wette tries to establish, although properly rejecting the interpretation of the locusts as warriors.

[2572] Ebrard.

[2573] Ewald.

[2574] Hengstenb.

[2575] De Wette.

[2576] Cf. Joe_2:5. Winer, Rwb., in loc.

[2577] De Wette.

[2578] Ew. i.

[2579] Hengstenb.

[2580] Cf. Rev_13:11; Mat_5:20.

[2581] Cf. also Winer, p. 579; De Wette.

[2582] Cf. Rev_6:8.

[2583] Ewald, Hengstenb.

NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

LVII. Rev_9:7-10

For a very full and condensed statement of the devastations caused by locusts, and their peculiarities, in which some of the features here detailed appear, see Pusey on Joel 2. The significance of the individual features is thus briefly interpreted by Luthardt: At the basis of the description, there lies, for the most part, reality; but it is increased to what is monstrous and terrible. On their heads, as it were crowns of gold; i.e., they are mighty powers. Their faces were as the faces of men; i.e., they are intellectual beings, intelligences. They had hair as the hair of women; i.e., they are seductive powers. Their teeth were as the teeth of lions; i.e., back of their seductive appearance is inevitable destruction. Cf. Joe_1:6. They had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; i.e., they are unassailable. The sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle; i.e., they rush like military squadrons irresistibly. Cf. Joe_2:5. Tails like unto scorpions; i.e., malicious force inflicting injury backwards.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 9:7 . 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 of equine armour. The rest of the description is partly fanciful (“crowns gleaming like gold,” human faces; yet cf. Pl. H. N. vi. 28, Arabes mitrati degunt, aut intonsa crine), partly (Rev 9:8-9 ) true to nature (woman’s hair [ i.e. , abundant and flowing, a well-known trait of the Parthians and Persians], and lion-like teeth, scaly plates on the thorax, and rustling or whirring noises), partly (Rev 9:10 ) recapitulatory (= Rev 9:5 ; note ὁμοίας σκορπίοις , an abbreviated comparison like Homer’s κόμαι Χαρίτεσσιν ὁμοῖαι ), partly (Rev 9:11 ) imaginative ( cf. Pro 30:27 ). The leader of these demons is the angel of the inferno from which they issue. His name is Abaddon ( cf. Exp. Times , xx. 234 f.), a Heb. equivalent for שׁאול personified like death and Hades. The final syllable of the name is taken to represent as in Greek, a personal ending. Hence the LXX rendering ἀπώλεια probably suggested the synonym Ἀπολλύων , containing a (sarcastic?) gibe at Apollo with whom the locust was associated (“uelut proprium nomen Caesaribus,” Suet. Oct. 29); cf. Schol. on Aesch. Agam. 1085 and Plato’s Cratylus , 404, 405. Both Caligula and Nero aped the deity of Apollo, among their other follies of this kind, as Antiochus Epiphanes had already done.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The form of these hellish spirits and administers, is shadowed out by signs and visible figures in this sort: that they are very expert and swift: that wheresoever they are in the world, the kingdom of theirs: that they manage all their affairs with cunning and skill, in this verse, that making show of mildness and tender affection to draw on men withal, they most impudently rage in all mischief: that they are most mighty to do hurt, Verse 8, that they are freed from being hurt of any man, as armed with the color of religion, and sacred authority of privilege, that they fill all things with horror, Verse 9, that they are fraudulent: that they are venomous and extremely noisome, though their power be limited, Verse 10. All which things are properly in the infernal powers, and communicated by them unto their ministers and vassals.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

prepared unto battle--Greek, "made ready unto war." Compare Note, see on Joe 2:4, where the resemblance of locusts to horses is traced: the plates of a horse armed for battle are an image on a larger scale of the outer shell of the locust.

crowns-- (Nah 3:17). ELLIOTT explains this of the turbans of Mohammedans. But how could turbans be "like gold?" ALFORD understands it of the head of the locusts actually ending in a crown-shaped fillet which resembled gold in its material.

as the faces of men--The "as" seems to imply the locusts here do not mean men. At the same time they are not natural locusts, for these do not sting men (Rev 9:5). They must be supernatural.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 7. The locusts were like unto horses] This description of the locusts appears to be taken from Joe 2:4. The whole of this symbolical description of an overwhelming military force agrees very well with the troops of Mohammed. The Arabs are the most expert horsemen in the world: they live so much on horseback that the horse and his rider seem to make but one animal. The Romans also were eminent for their cavalry.

Crowns like gold] Not only alluding to their costly tiaras or turbans, but to the extent of their conquests and the multitude of powers which they subdued.

Their faces were as the faces of men.] That is, though locusts symbolically, they are really men.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) And the shapes . . .—Translate, And the shapes (or, forms) of the locusts were like horses made ready for war. The resemblance of the locust to the horse (especially in the head) has been remarked upon by travellers, and has found expression in the Italian and German names cavalletta and heupferd. The resemblance is more distinct when the horses are made ready for battle: the hard shell or scales of the locust having the appearance of armour. Hence it has been thought that the sacred writer here alludes to this horse-like appearance of the locust. It seems a little doubtful that this is the case, or that in this or any of the descriptions here there is any reference to the anatomical features of the locust. (See Note on Rev_9:10.)

And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.—Here again there has been a desire to find some physical appearance in the locust to suggest the crown of gold: the antennae, the rugged elevation in the middle of the thorax, have been imagined to have some resemblance to a crown; and the face of the locust, it has actually been said, bears under ordinary circumstances a distant (the adjective is most needful) resemblance to the human countenance.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. like unto horses] See Joe_2:4. Probably that passage is only a highly idealised description of a natural swarm of locusts, and the verse cited refers to the resemblance in shape of the locust’s head, and perhaps the legs, to a horse’s. It is doubtful whether the words “prepared unto battle” (more accurately “unto war”) suggest comparison between the frame of the locust and the plate-armour of a horse: such armour was rarely used in ancient times. More probably the comparison here is to the discipline of the locust host: as in Joe_2:7-8.

as it were crowns like gold] Lit. as it were crowns like unto gold—perhaps a mere golden mark, such as it is quite possible a real insect might have. But,

their faces were as the faces of men] Marks them distinctly as differing from real locusts. The word used for “men” means, in classical Greek at least, “human beings,” not necessarily males. But in Hellenistic Greek it is not infrequently used in opposition to women, and probably the next clause marks it so here.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses,.... The heads of locusts, especially of some of them, are very much like the heads of horses: and here they are compared to horses

prepared unto battle; as they are in Joe 2:4. The horse is a warlike creature, swift, strong, and courageous, Job 39:21. Locusts sometimes have appeared in the form of armies, and have marched in great order with their leaders before them, and have pitched their camps very regularly; see Joe 2:7; of which we have lately had an account from Transylvania in our public papers. (This was published in 1747, Ed.) This part of their description may denote the wars of the Saracens, and the rapidity, force, and power with which they overran great part of the empire; and as it may be applied to the western locusts, the disputes, contentions, and quarrels raised by the Romish clergy.

And on their heads were, as it were, crowns like gold; and in this shape some locusts have appeared, to which the allusion seems to be in, Nah 3:17, "thy crowned men are as the locusts". In the year 1542, it is said (l), that locusts came out of Turkish Sarmatia, into Austria, Silesia, and other places, which had on their heads "little crowns"; see Eze 23:42. And the Arabians, as Pliny observes, go "mitrati" (m), with mitres, turbans like crowns, on their heads. This may design the several victories and conquests which the Saracens obtained in Arabia, Persia, Syria, Egypt, Africa, Spain, and many other places; and supposing this to have any reference to the western locusts, it may respect the triple crown of the head of then, the caps of the cardinals, the mitres of the bishops, and the shaven pates of the priests, in form of crowns.

And their faces were as the faces of men; which may be expressive of the affable carriage of Mahomet, and his followers, especially to the Christians, and of his great pretensions to holiness and religion, and of the plausible and insinuating ways, and artful methods, used by him, to gain upon men; and being applied to the clergy of the church of Rome, may denote their show of humanity, and their pretended great concern for the welfare of the souls of men, their flatteries, good words, and fair speeches, with which they deceive the simple and unwary.

(l) Vid. Frentz. Hist. Animal. sacr. p. 5. c. 4. p. 799. (m) Nat. Hist. l. 6. c. 28.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

7 And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.

Ver. 7. Like unto horses] Fed and fierce, to run and rush into the battle, as being driven by the devil. Si videris persecutorem tuum nimis saevientem, scito quia ab ascensore suo daemone perurgetur. (Bernard.)

Were as it were crowns] Triple crowns, mitres, head tires, shaven crowns; which last is a ceremony so bald, that some priests in France are now ashamed of the mark, and few of them have it that can handsomely avoid it. (Spec. Europ.)

As the faces of men] "But beware of men," Mat 10:17. See the note there. Yea, beware of those that are looked upon as good men, who yet may act for Satan and not discern it, Mat 16:23. The temptation lies in this, when angels from heaven, men of singular parts and piety, preach other doctrines, Gal 1:6; 2Co 11:15.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for battle - The resemblance between the locust and the horse, dissimilar as they are in most respects, has been often remarked. Dr. Robinson (Bib. Research. i. 59) says: “We found today upon the shrubs an insect, either a species of black locust, or much resembling them, which our Bedouin called Farras el Jundy, ‘soldiers’ horses.’ They said these insects were common on Mount Sinai, of a green color, and were found on dead trees, but did them no injury.” The editor of the Pictorial Bible makes the following remarks: - “The first time we saw locusts browsing with their wings closed, the idea of comparing them to horses arose spontaneously to our minds - as we had not previously met with such a comparison, and did not at that time advert to the present text Joe 2:4. The resemblance in the head first struck our attention; and this notion having once arisen, other analogies were found or imagined in its general appearance and action in feeding. We have since found the observation very common. The Italians, indeed, from this resemblance, called the locust cavaletta, or little horse. Sir W. Ouseley reports: ‘Zakaria Cazvine divides the locusts into two classes, like horsemen and footmen - mounted and pedestrian.’ Niebuhr says that he heard from a Bedouin, near Bussorah, a particular comparison of the locust to other animals; but as this passage of Scripture did not occur to him at the time he thought it a mere fancy of the Arab’s, until he heard it repeated at Baghdad. He compared the head of the locust to that of the horse; the feet to those of the camel; the belly with that of a serpent; the tail with that of a scorpion; and the feelers (if Niebuhr remembered rightly) to the hair of a virgin” (Pict. Bib. on Joe 2:4). The resemblance to horses would naturally suggest the idea of cavalry, as being referred to by the symbol.

And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold - The writer does not say either that these were literally crowns, or that they were actually made of gold. They were “as it were” (ὡς hōs) “crowns,” and they were like (ὅμοιοι homoioi) “gold.” That is, as seen by him, they had a resemblance to crowns or diadems, and they also resembled gold in their color and brilliancy. The word “crown” - στέφανος stephanos - means properly a circlet, chaplet, encircling the head:

(a)As an emblem of royal dignity, and as worn by kings;

(b)As conferred on victors in the public games - a chaplet, a wreath;

(c)As an ornament, honor, or glory, Phi 4:1.

No particular shape is designated by the word στέφανος stephanos and perhaps the word “crown” does not quite express the meaning. The word “diadem” would come nearer to it. The true notion in the word is that of something that is passed around the head, and that encircles it, and as such it would well describe the appearance of a turban as seen at a distance. On the supposition that the symbolic beings here referred to had turbans on their heads, and on the supposition that something was referred to which was not much worn in the time of John, and, therefore, that had no name, the word στέφανος stephanos, or diadem, would be likely to be used in describing it. This, too, would accord with the use of the phrase “as it were” - ὡς hōs. The writer saw such head-ornaments as he was accustomed to see. They Were not exactly crowns or diadems, but they had a resemblance to them, and he therefore uses this language: “and on their heads were as it were crowns.” Suppose that these were turbans, and that they were not in common use in the time of John, and that they had, therefore, no name, would not this be the exact language which he would use in describing them? The same remarks may be made respecting the other expression.

Like gold - They were not pure gold, but they had a resemblance to it. Would not a yellow turban correspond with all that is said in this description?

And their faces were as the faces of men - They had a human countenance. This would indicate that, after all, they were human beings that the symbol described, though they had come up from the bottomless pit. Horsemen, in strange apparel, with a strange head-dress, would be all that would be properly denoted by this.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

And the shapes of the locusts. We now come to the description of these locusts, which expresses the spirit of sedition and rebellion that animated the reformers and their proselytes. Luther proclaimed himself the leader in this as well as in other articles of the new discipline: see his works, particularly Contra statem ecclesiæ et falso nominatum ordinem Episcoporum, lib. contra Sylvest. Prieras, De Seculari potestate et Contra Rusticos, &c. Erasmus thus describes the effects of the inflammatory doctrine of these ministers of evangelical liberty: "I saw them (the people) come forth from their sermons with fierce looks and threatening countenances," like men "that just come from hearing bloody invectives and seditious speeches." Accordingly, we found "these evangelical people always ready to rise up in arms, and equally as good at fighting as at disputing." The learned Protestant historian, Dr. Heylin, in his Cosmography, (B. i.) says of the Calvinists: "Rather than their discipline should not be admitted, and the episcopal government destroyed in all the Churches of Christ, they were resolved to depose kings, ruin kingdoms, and to subvert the fundamental constitutions of all civil states." --- And on their heads, &c. These crowns shew clearly their general spirit of independence; and their faces being as the faces of men, indicate the presumption with which they announced themselves as teachers of orthodox and holy doctrine. (Pastorini, hic.[here])

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

This whole description of these locusts speaks them no insects, but to be mischievous men; they were very terrible to look upon, like horses harnessed ready to fight; so Joe 2:4.

And upon their heads were as it were crowns like gold; this signified they should be great and rich conquerors.

And their faces were as the faces of men; yet these were men.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Shapes—A minute description of the locust-demons. In nearly every point there is some basis in the natural locust; but some additional trait both shows them supernatural and suggests the symbolic signification. Infernal, soul-corrupting errors and lies are belligerent like horses prepared for battle; are dominant as with crowns; have very intelligent and plausible-looking faces; are winning, like women, but biting as with teeth of lions; they are self-fortified, as with breastplates; their sounding wings indicate their infinite number and their readiness for moral but not slaughtering battle; their stings indicate what miseries they entail upon the unsealed and profane. Sin is often beautiful to sight, but has ever a sting in its tail.

Like unto… as… as—The repeated as in this whole description must be specially noted. It indicates in each case resemblance, not a reality.

These locusts were only as horses, not real horsemen, such as meet us in Rev_9:16. It is a moral, or rather immoral, army that is here symbolized. Naturalists have remarked the resemblance of the locust to a horse. Hence he is called in German a heupferd, a grass-horse. So Joel, (Joe_2:4,) describing locusts, says, “Their appearance is as the appearance of horses.”

Crowns like gold—”Probably means the horns (antlers, feelers) of the locust tipped with yellow, that is, with a golden colour, and these are in all probability here called crowns to show that they are the emblems of victorious and irresistible march.”

Faces… as… of men—However devilish or brutal in nature, error must wear an intelligent, rational, and humanized look. A distant resemblance in the locust to a human face is the natural base that suggests the symbol.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; rather, the likenesses of the locusts; that is to say, the general appearance. This similarity is brought out in Joel 2, and is alluded to in Job_39:20. The parallel is worked out at some length in Tristram"s "Natural History of the Bible," p. 314. In what way they appeared "prepared unto battle," is shown in ver. 9. And on their heads were as it were crowns like gold; crowns like unto gold. The language is carefully guarded so as to make it understood that this feature is altogether supernatural. The crowns of gold probably denote the conquering nature of the locusts, and thus they add to the power with which the locusts have already been invested. They may also signify the exalted temporal position of those symbolized by the locusts. Some writers believe the helmets of soldiers are typified, and others the turbans of the Mohammedans. And their faces were as the faces of men. Notwithstanding the general resemblance of the locusts to horses, which resemblance is most clearly shadowed forth in the structure of the head, yet their faces gave the seer the idea of the human countenance. How this was brought about we are not told. Probably St. John himself in his vision received the impression without knowing by what means. The circumstance seems to point decidedly to the fact that human agents are denoted by the locusts.

Vers. 7-11. The triumph of evil through unfaithfulness.

Satanic power is encouraged by human unfaithfulness. The utmost power of evil is let loose, and with destructive energy works only evil, and the direst evil, amongst the children of men. The evil character of the effects of unfaithfulness is represented by figures which suggest the greatest painfulness, and which are repulsive in the extreme. The sun and the air are darkened by "smoke" issuing from the opened "pit of the abyss the smoke "as of a great furnace." The power of "locusts" and "scorpions of the earth" reveals the most painful and repulsive effects, for "their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when it striketh a man." So great is this that men "seek death," though unavailingly. They are as "horses prepared for war," crowned with kingly power, having faces as of men, and hair as of women, and teeth "as the teeth of lions," covered are they with "breastplates of iron," and the sound of their wings as "the sound of chariots of many horses rushing to war;" they have "tails like unto scorpions, and stings," and in these is "their power to hurt men." The whole are leagued together under the leadership of "the angel of the abyss," whose name "in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon, i.e. Destroyer." Thus is set forth the evil, repulsive, and deadly power of those forces which are called into play by unfaithfulness and degeneracy. One falls, but he lets loose many forces of evil, which he, once having called into activity, cannot arrest. It is a bitter woe to the earth, such as it has suffered many, many times in the great history. The lesson is for all times; for in many times the sad scene has been enacted. This section of the "revelation" declares to us

I THAT IN THE DEPARTURE FROM TRUTH AND GOODNESS ERROR AND EVIL BECOME PREVALENT. Every false doctrine is a cloud of darkness upon the path of the human life.

II IN THE DIMINUTION OF THE HEAVENLY THE HELLISH POWERS PREVAIL. Finally, darkness shall be held back as in chains. But here it is let loose, and in the loss of the heavenly power the earthly, rather the hellish, gains ascendancy.

III IN A DEPARTURE FROM THE PEACEFUL OBEDIENCE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS THE DESTRUCTIVE AND PAINFUL EFFECTS OF SIN ARE PROVED. The ways of pleasantness and the paths of peace forsaken, there are only the hard ways of the transgressor to walk in.

IV THE BROKEN ALLEGIANCE TO GOD ISSUES IN THE TRIUMPH OF THE DESTROYER. The authority of the Prince of peace being rejected, another king, even Apollyon, usurps his throne. So men carelessly exchange good for evil, and sell life for an empty world. R.G.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And the appearances - This description suits a people neither throughly civilized, nor entirely savage; and such were the Persians of that age. Of the locusts are like horses - With their riders. The Persians excelled in horsemanship. And on their heads are as it were crowns - Turbans. And their faces are as the faces of men - Friendly and agreeable.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

That this is a metaphorical description of a terrible army of cruel men, seems very plain: some understand it of the Jewish Zealots, who appeared as warriors, and were devouring wasters; they looked like men, kind and friendly, and pretending to be redeemers of the people, saviours of, and benefactors to, their country; but at the same time plundering and carrying away the spoils of their brethren, without any tenderness or compassion.

Others apply all this to the papal clergy, numerous like locusts; well fed, like horses for battle; mighty, for earthly possessions; crowned like petty princes; alluring like women with their hair, and other ornaments, &c.

Others again make the application to belong to the Turks and Saracens, who are represented as having many crowns on their heads, and as moved with wings in regard of the many and vast conquests, says Mr. Mede, which they made in a short time, even in Palestine, Syria, Armenis, Asia the Less, and many others.

As to the king, named here Abaddon and Apollyon, some understand it to be the devil, others Mahomet, others the pope; to whom, to every of whom, the name of a destroyer too fitly belongs, as seeking and endeavouring to destroy men’s souls, and by blood and persecution to destroy and lay waste the church of Christ.

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7–11. And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared for war. The appearance of the locusts is described. They represent armies of horsemen. Crowns like gold. There was an appearance like golden crowns. An array of men wearing yellow turbans would have such an appearance. Faces of men. Faces covered with beard. Roman soldiers wore no beard, hence the beards would be a striking feature.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

General Information:

These locusts did not look like ordinary locusts. John describes them by telling how parts of them looked like other things.

crowns of gold

These were likenesses of wreaths of olive branches or laurel leaves, hammered out in gold. Examples actually made of leaves were given to victorious athletes to wear on their heads.

translationWords

horse

crown

gold

face

lions

breastplate

chariot

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

7. ὅμοια. A reads ὁμοιώματα; א ὅμοιοι.

7. ὅμοια ἵπποις. See Joe 2:4. Probably that passage is only a highly idealised description of a natural swarm of locusts, and the verse cited refers to the resemblance in shape of the locust’s head, and perhaps the legs, to a horse’s. It is doubtful whether the words ἡτοιμασμένοις εἰς πόλεμον suggest comparison between the frame of the locust and the plate-armour of a horse, see on Rev 9:9: such armour was still confined to the East in St John’s time. At any rate there is a reference here to the discipline of the locust host: as in Joe 2:7-8.

ὡς στέφανοι ὅμοιοι χρυσῷ. Lit. “as it were crowns like unto gold,” perhaps a mere golden mark, such as it is quite possible a real insect might have.

τὰ πρόσωπα αὐτῶν ὡς πρόσωπα ἀνθρώπων. ἄνθρωποι means, in classical Greek at least, “human beings,” not necessarily males. But in Hellenistic Greek it is not infrequently used in opposition to women, and probably the next clause marks it so here. Both in this clause and in the next we have the choice of making the description purely supernatural or supposing that a deeper meaning is given to features of natural locusts which had struck the popular fancy.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7.] The Apostle now returns to the description of the locusts themselves. And the shapes (so E. V., rightly: not, the likenesses. ὁμοίωμα is the product of ὁμοιόω: the finished form of any thing which is made like (ὅμοιον) to any pattern. See Winer, edn. 6, § 16. a. 2, α) of the locusts (were) like horses made ready for war (this resemblance,—cf. ref. Joel, ἡ ὅρασις αὐτῶν ὡς ὅρασις ἵππων,—has been noticed by travellers. Winer, Realw. art. Heuschrecken, refers to Niebuhr, Beschreibung, 173. Ewald gives other references, and says, “refert omnino animal equini corporis quædam similia, unde nostris etiam Heupferd dici notum est.” And especially does it hold good when the horse is equipped for war; the plates of the horse’s armour being represented by the hard laminæ of the outer shell of the locust: see below, ver. 9), and on their heads as it were crowns like unto gold (it is not easy to say what this part of the description imports. Elliott tries to apply it to the turban: but granting some latitude to στέφανοι, the ὅμοιοι χρυσῷ will hardly bear this. The appearance of a turban, even when ornamented with gold, is hardly golden. I should understand the words, of the head actually ending in a crown-shaped fillet which resembled gold in its material, just as the wings of some of the beetle tribe might be said to blaze with gold and gems. So we have below εἶχον θώρακας ὡς θ. σιδηροῦς: the material not being metallic, but only quasi-metallic. Eichhorn and Heinr. understand these crowns of soldiers’ helmets: but this is quite arbitrary and gratuitous): and their faces (were) as the faces of men (Düsterdieck well observes, that we must not suppose them actually to have had human faces, but that the face of the locust, which under ordinary circumstances has a distant resemblance to the human countenance, bore this resemblance even more notably in the case of these supernatural locusts. It is not τὰ πρ. αὐτῶν πρόσωπα ἀνθρ. but ὡς πρόσωπα ἀνθρ. Nor again can we agree with Mr. Elliott’s idea that ἀνθρώπων is here used to designate the male sex: an interpretation recommended to him by his wish to introduce the moustache of the Arabs. Wherever the general term ἄνθρωπος is used for the particular sex, it must, as in the case of our “man,” be necessarily so interpreted by the context, as is the case in every one of the passages cited by Mr. E. in support of his view, viz. Mat 19:3, Mat 19:5, Mat 19:10; 1Co 7:1; Gen 2:18; Exo 13:2; Lev 20:10; Est 4:10 (ἄνθρωπος ἢ γυνή); Ecc 7:28; Isa 4:1. But here there is no such necessity in the context: nay, it is much more natural to take ἀνθρώπων as the general term, their faces were like human faces, and then comes the limitation, not in the face, but in another particular), and they had hair as the hair of women (i. e. long and flowing, 1Co 11:14 f. De Wette quotes from Niebuhr an Arabic proverb in which the antlers of locusts are compared to the hair of girls. But perhaps we must regard the comparison as rather belonging to the supernatural portion of our description. Ewald would understand the hair on the legs, or on the bodies, of the locusts, to be meant, referring to יֶלֶק סָמָר, rough locusts, Jer_51 (28):27, where the LXX have merely ἀκρίδων, and the E. V. “rough caterpillars.”

To infer, from this feature, licentiousness as a characteristic in the interpretation, is entirely beside the purpose): and their teeth were as the teeth of lions (so also of the locust in Joe 1:6, οἱ ὀδόντες αὐτοῦ ὀδόντες λέοντος. Ewald rightly designates as very doubtful a fancied resemblance to a lion in the under jaw. We may observe that this, as some other features in the description, is purely graphic, and does not in any way apply to the plague to be inflicted by these mystic locusts), and they had breastplates as iron breastplates (the plate which forms the thorax of the natural locust, was in their case as if of iron), and the sound of their wings (was) as a sound of chariots of many horses (by the two genitives the sound of both, the chariots and the horses, is included. The chariots are regarded as an appendage to the horses) as they run to war. And they have tails like to scorpions (i. e. to the tails of scorpions: the construction called the comparatio compendiaria: see reff.), and stings (viz. in their tails: this is the particular especially in which the comparison finds its aptitude): and in their tails is their power to hurt men five months (see above on ver. 5). They have as king over them (or, “they have a king over them, viz.”.… the two accusatives being in apposition. It favours this last alternative, that in this particular, of having a king, they are distinguished from natural locusts: for Pro 30:27, ἀβασίλευτόν ἐστιν ἡ ἀκρίς) the angel of the abyss (we can hardly with Luther, render “an angel from the abyss:” ἄγγελος, though anarthrous, is necessarily defined by the genitive τῆς ἀβύσσου); his name is in Hebrew Abaddon (אֲבַדּוֹן, perdition, from אָבַד, periit, is used in the O. T. for the place of perdition, Orcus, in Job 26:6; Pro 27:20 (Keri: Chetib has אֲבֵדָה), in both of which places it is joined with שְׁאֹל,—Psa 88:12; Job 28:22. In all these places the LXX express it by ἀπώλεια. So that this is the local name personified: or rather perhaps that abstract name personified, from which the local import itself is derived), and in the Greek (scil. γλώσσῃ) he has for his name Apollyon (the name ἀπολλύων seems chosen from the LXX ἀπώλεια, see above.

It is a question, who this angel of the abyss is. Perhaps, for accurate distinction’s sake, we must not identify him with Satan himself,—cf. ch. 12:3, 9,—but must regard him as one of the principal of the bad angels). The one (first) woe hath passed: behold, there cometh (singular, the verb applying simply to that which is future, without reference as yet to its plurality) two woes after these things.

There is an endless Babel of allegorical and historical interpretation of these locusts from the pit. The most that we can say of their import is, that they belong to a series of judgments on the ungodly which will immediately precede the second advent of our Lord: that the various and mysterious particulars of the vision will no doubt clear themselves up to the church of God, when the time of its fulfilment arrives: but that no such clearing up has yet taken place, a very few hours of research among histories of apocalyptic interpretation will serve to convince any reader who is not himself the servant of a preconceived system.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Shapes [ομοιωματα] . Lit., likenesses.

Horses. Compare Joe 2:4. The likeness of a locust to a horse, especially to a horse equipped with armor, is so striking that the insect is named in German Heupferd hay - horse, and in Italian calvaletta little horse. Crowns. Not actual crowns, but as crowns. Milligan remarks that any yellow brilliancy about the head of the insect is a sufficient foundation for the figure.

As the faces of men. There is a distant resemblance to the human countenance in the face of the locust. Men [ανθρωπων] is to be taken not as distinguishing sex, but in the generic sense : human faces.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.