D. The Fourth Trumpet (8:12)
D. THE FOURTH TRUMPET (8:12)
12. The sounding of the fourth trumpet was followed by effects in the heavenly luminaries (cf. the ninth plague in Egypt which was concerned with darkness). Sun, moon and stars were all struck. The proportion of a third is retained, though exactly what happened is not easy to see. The first part of the verse appears to mean that a third of all three failed, so that there was a third less light at any time. The latter part seems to mean that a third of the time there was no light at all by day and by night. But perhaps John is not greatly concerned with consistency. He is making the point vigorously that one-third of all light was gone. Again, some see a contradiction with 6:13 where ‘the stars in the sky fell to earth’. That verse, however, does not mean that all the stars, without exception, fell. There is no contradiction. But in any case we must insist that difficulty in harmonizing details should never worry us in this book. John is painting pictures, not writing scientific prose (see further on 1:17).