(8) And they had hair like the hair of women, and their teeth were like those of lions.

There are a great many species of locusts, and some of them are hairy. So Jer. 51: 27, ppb, the locust bristling with hair. Eichhorn "Coma deest in veris locustis;" in which, as the passage says: just quoted shows, he was much mistaken. Of course John would here choose that species of locust for comparison, which was of the most atrocious aspect. Ως τρίχας γυναικῶν, refers of course to the abundance, not to the quality, of their hair.

Qs Leóvrov your finds its model in Joel 1: 6, where the same comparison is repeated twice. The meaning is, that the teeth are such as are adapted to bite and wound in a very effectual manner; for such are the teeth of a lion.

(9) And they had breast-plates like iron breast-plates; and the noise of their wings was like the noise of many chariots of horses rushing into battle.

The breasts-plates are to be referred here to the hard and firm cuticle on the fore-part of the locust, which serves as a shield while it moves among the thorny and furzy vegetation; armavit natura cutem, Claudian, 83. 2, 3.-The noise of the locusts when they move, is spoken of by almost all travellers. Joel has magnificently described it, 2: 4, 5.

same.

. . eis

Φωνὴ ἁρμάτων . . . εἰς πόλεμον. The succession of Genitives here somewhat embarrasses the reader. We may render άquázov inлov, by horse-chariots; for these are distinguished from chariots drawn by mules, or other beasts of burden; and whether we take άquázov or innov as an adjective, matters not as to the substance of the sense; for horse-chariots and chariots of horses, i. e. drawn by horses, are the Ewald thinks innov spurious, because he finds difficulty in making out an appropriate sense from it. It does not seem to me, however, to labour under any serious difficulty. There is still another way of construing the sentence: Like the noise of chariots, while many horses rush into the battle; thus making the last clause a Gen. absolute. But the use of the Gen. absolute in this book, is scarcely to be found; and if adopted here, would not give any very tolerable sense. There might be horses rushing to battle without any chariots, i. e. cavalry such as is usual. The real idea of the author is not obscure; and it is given, as it seems to me, in the translation above.

Locusts, while they are young, fly but short distances at a time, like our grass-hoppers; but when fully grown, they will sustain a flight of some considerable distance. Their wings make a shrill tinkling noise; and since the air is sometimes filled with these animals so thickly that day is turned into night, (which is really the case), the descriptions in John and in Joel appear very appropriate and striking.

(10) And they have tails like scorpions; and stings were in their tails; and they had power to hurt men five months.

Here, in the last part of this particular description of the locusts, is developed the secret of their power to injure men, already adverted to but not described in v. 5 above. In this particular they differ from natural locusts, and disclose their origin from the bottomless pit. The writer does not tell us, on what they are supposed to feed; for as they are the progeny of the Abyss, they do not need the food of natural locusts. This verse is a resumption of the action of the piece as developed in v. 5, which had been suspended a while for the sake of describing the extraordinary nature of these locusts. The reader will note the historic Pres. in povo, and then the change into . See Gramm. § 136. 1. b. Note. As to five months, see on v. 5.

(11) And they have over them a king, the angel of the bottomless pit; his name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek he hath the name Apollyon.

The angel of the bottomless pit would seem here to mean Sammael, i. e. the chief of the evil angels. Abaddon lit. destruction; but here it means the destroyer, (abstract being put for concrete), which in this case is an appropriate name. In Greek, Apollyon corresponds and is equivalent. Abaddon is also a name sometimes given to Sheôl; e. g. in Prov. 15: 11. Job. 26: 6. The Hebrews seem to have denoted by it the lowest recesses of the pit or great abyss; and so the Rabbins employed the word. In Joel, the Almighty God himself leads on his great army (2: 11); but here the king of the abyss is the appointed head. The work is so appropriate to an evil angel, as well as the place from which the army comes, that a vɛvμa άxáðagror seems most probably to be here designated as the leader, rather than any one of the good angels.

(12) The first woe is past; behold! there come yet two woes hereafter.

Lit. the one woe, etc.; but our idiom does not well admit such a version here. As to the speaker in this verse, the words are those of the seer, and not of the angel, and are designed to give distinct notice of the progress of the catastrophe towards completion. Ovaí an indeclinable interjection, here employed as a noun sing. feminine, as the article shows. "Egzovtaι, are coming, and so (often) the Pres. is used in a Fut. sense; see Gramm. § 136. 1. c.

SECOND WOE-TRUMPET: CHAP. IX. 13—XI. 19.

[The sixth trumpet, or second woe-trumpet, is introductory of several important Occurrences. That which immediately concerns the progress of the catastrophe is first related. This is, the irruption of an overwhelming army of horsemen, under the guidance of evil demons, whose appropriate work is destruction. Not only are the riders engaged in the work of destroying, but the horses themselves are of such an extraordinary nature, that they breathe out slaughter on every side. Fire and brimstone and smoke issue from their mouth; and like the locusts, they are formed with tails which annoy with deadly violence.

This is the most remote of all the symbols which the author has employed, from the real objects of the natural world. Indeed, the taste of the occidental world can with difficulty accommodate itself to the relish of such imagery; so distant is it from the bounds of natural probability. Yet we know well that the oriental world delights in imagery of this nature; as the fictions of Persia, Arabia, and Hindustan, respecting good and evil Genii, abundantly testify. In making up our aesthetical judgment, then, respecting such a scene as that now before us, we must transport ourselves into the eastern world, and judge from the feelings, views, and taste there predominant. There is not elsewhere, in all the Scriptures, anything in the way of symbol which borders so near upon what we usually deem excessive and unnatural, (except perhaps a part of Ezek. i.), as the army of horsemen from the Euphrates. Even the number savours of hyperbole; for it is no less than 200,000,000. Such a state of the case, then, puts it out of all question whether we are to find here the mere prototypes of what is to be literally verified, or actually to take place as a matter of fact. A simple statement of what is actually said by the author, renders all argument unnecessary to show, that we can rationally suppose nothing more than mere symbol of overwhelming force to be presented here.

But why is this army brought from the region of the Euphrates? It was the Roman power, which was to lay waste the land of Judea, and which indeed was already attacking it when the Apocalypse was written. Why then does not the writer bring his army of horsemen from the West, and not from the East?'

For two reasons, 1 would reply, he omits doing this; at least, so the case presents itself to my mind. (1) The principal enemies and oppressors of the Jews, from time immemorial, had ever been from the cast. Assyria, Babylon, and Syria, had all overrun and laid waste Judea, and carried away great multitudes of captives. The east, moreover, abounded in cavalry; and this kind of troops were always the most harassing and destructive in overrunning a country. For this reason we may suppose the author to lay the scene of assembling his army of horsemen in the east. (2) It was to be calculated upon, and was matter of actual occurrence, that when Judea was attacked by the Romans, the latter would draw their supplies of troops from the neighbouring oriental countries under their sway. Thus Titus, when left by Vespasian to complete the conquest of Judea, drew troops from Syria and from the Euphrates; Jos. Bell. Jud. V. 1. 5, 6. It will be remembered, that at this time the dominion of the Romans extended to the Euphrates.

Ewald supposes the Parthians to be meant by the horsemen, in this case; and that the object attacked was the heathen of Rome and elsewhere. But this con

founds the first catastrophe with the second; and it would represent the writer as stopping short, when on the very finale of his first catastrophe, and changing entirely the whole scene of action, without giving any notice to the reader. There is something so improbable in all this, that it needs very cogent reasons to render it credible. There is, indeed, one circumstance here, which seems to plead for such a construction. This is the continued idolatry of those who survive the attack of the horsemen; which seems to be exhibited in v. 20. But as a literal sense of this passage does not seem to be necessary; and since the admission of Gentiles as the victims of the invading army, would make such entire confusion in the author's plan, I cannot persuade myself that Ewald has given a correct view of the general design of the passage. Something more will be said in relation to this subject, in the commentary which follows.

The account of the horsemen being concluded, the writer next introduces two episodes, before he advances to the consummation of the catastrophe. The first is in chap. x, where an angel appears, and makes proclamation in the most solemn manner of the speedily approaching consummation. The great importance of the event about to take place, seems to be the occasion of such an interposition on the part of the angel. At the same time, another purpose is answered by it. John was now brought near the end of his vision, in respect to the book of seven seals. These seals had not only been all broken, but the seven parts or successive series, into which the last seal is divided, are now completed, with the exception of only the final one. The first vision or catastrophe, therefore, must of course be very near its close. But still, the work of the seer is not completed. Other visions besides this are to be presented; other disclosures are to be made. As he has seen depicted, in lively representations, the impending fate of persecuting Judea, so he must also see that of the persecuting heathen nations. Accordingly the angel who proclaims the completion of the first catastrophe, gives to John a book in which is inscribed the destinies of the heathen, or the progress and consummation of the second catastrophe. With this book he receives the intelligence also, that he must prophesy still farther "respecting people and nations and tongues and many kings," 10:11. This corresponds so well with chap. xiixix, that I do not see any good reason to doubt, that the words just repeated have respect to the contents of those chapters.

The seer having been thus prepared still to continue his work after the first part of his prophetic task shall have been finished, nothing would seem to be wanting now, but the finishing or catastrophe itself. Yet, how can the once beloved people of God be destroyed! How can God's dwelling-place at Jerusalem be laid waste, and made the reproach of a scoffing world! As in chap. vii. we have an account of the manner in which Christians themselves are secured from impending ruin, so here the security is extended to all that is truly spiritual and valuable in the ancient worship. The externals of the temple are to be cast down to the ground and trodden under foot by the heathen; but the holy place, and the true spiritual worshippers therein, are to be preserved. Chap. 11: 1, 2.

And now what remains but the last trumpet? But still, before it sounds, newly committed and more aggravated crimes are brought to view, in order that all may see the long-suffering of God and the perfect justice of his proceedings. Christian witnesses, clothed with miraculous power, appear in the devoted city. There they exercise their office, for a short time. There they are finally slain, and exposed to open and repeated insult. Their death, however, only gives ultimate triumph to their cause. This is represented by the symbol of the two witnesses rising from the dead and ascending to heaven. A great earthquake succeeds this

event, by which a tenth part of the city is destroyed. The enemies of the church are constrained by terror to confess the hand of God in these events. But the earthquake appears to be principally an appropriate signal of what is to follow, under the sounding of the seventh and last trumpet.

Such are the contents of the second woe-trumpet. The delay, which was adverted to in chap. 6: 11, we have found, on various occasions, to be provided for by the writer. This last delay seems, indeed, to be the longest of all. It is natu ral that it should be so. The final stroke is one that requires in all respects entire and ample preparation. The offers of pardon, made during the ministry of the two witnesses, is to be brought into this account; for it is thus that the mind is favourably impressed with the long suffering of God. It is thus too, when justice at last arrives, that we are prepared to be fully satisfied with its demands and its penalties.]

(13, 14) And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar, which is before God, saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet: Loose the four angels who are bound by the great river Euphrates. Miay here zís, or equivalent to our English indefinite article a or an; see on els under 5: 5.

=

Ἐκ τῶν τεσσάρων κεράτων, where ex must be equivalent to από; for the Hebrew corresponds to both. The writer does not mean to say, that the voice went forth out of the horns of the altar, i. e. that the horns themselves spake, but that the voice came from the direction of the altar to him; or (if we must insist on ex) from the midst of the horns, which of course would be in the midst of the altar. In this case, however, if we only suppose the throne of God to stand behind the altar, (as in the temple), then the voice, being spoken from the throne, would come to John as if it were from the altar. I see no objection however to supposing, that the angel of the altar here speaks, as the herald of the throne.-Kɛgárov (see Ex. 27: 2. Amos 3: 14) means the prominences, in the way of ornament, placed upon the four corners of the altar; and which, Maimonides says, were of the form of turrets or pyramids, as they were constructed in the Jewish temple. Hence the name horns; comp. Is. 5: 1.

To Exro arrého, i. e. the sixth angel, who sounded the trumpet, is himself commissioned to execute the threatening which it indicated. O xov, see on oó μágzvs under 1: 5, as Nom. case.—Aũgov roùs . . . Evqoáry. That these are evil angels or demons, seems probable from the circumstances. The air, the abyss, and the desert, are the localities of evil spirits, i. e. they were popularly and familiarly spoken of in this manner among the Jews; see Exc. I. Evil Spirits, No. 5. That the desert is one of the places thus assigned, is plain from Is. 13: 21. 34: 14. Rev. 18: 2. Tobit 8: 3. Baruch 4: 35. Enoch 10: 6, 7, and very plainly from Matt. 12: 43; see Exc. ut supra, No. 5. b. That four angels are here mentioned, must be referred to the same reason as that which led to indicate four angels as holding in the winds, Rev. 7: 1, viz.,