F. The Fifth Trumpet (9:1-12)
F. THE FIFTH TRUMPET (9:1-12)
As with the last three seals, with the last three trumpets we move into the realm of spirit. But whereas the seals were concerned with heaven and heavenly realities, the trumpets tell of the abyss and the demons. These visions are described in much greater detail than the first four. The symbolism of the locusts is horrible and strange. It is not surprising that it has been interpreted in a variety of ways. It is unwise to be dogmatic, but the most probable understanding of it starts from the preaching of the gospel. When people fail to respond to God’s gracious invitation and set themselves in opposition to his purposes, then they become the prey of horrifying demonic forces. They suffer the consequences of their choice. They are not defeating God. His sovereignty is clear to John. God is not mocked. Even in the demonic horrors he works out his purpose. But people must accept the results of their choice. This is so now and it will be so in the last days.
Torrance sees the passage like this: ‘St. John’s vision likens the Word of God to a star that falls out of Heaven and opens the bottomless pit of human nature.... Preach the Gospel and keep on preaching it, and either men are ashamed and converted or the bottomless pit is opened. Surely this is what has happened in the western world, in civilised Europe, as well as in the land of the Mau Mau, for example. The Cross of Jesus Christ has provoked such a reaction against it that all the latent evil in men has been pushed to the surface in unbelievable wickedness and bloodshed. The very bottomless pit has been opened in our midst, so that heaven and earth have been darkened with the fumes and the whole atmosphere of the world has been poisoned.’ This, I think, is true. There are possibilities of evil always latent in us and in the modern world all too often we see them realized.
But John is saying more than this. There are evil forces other than those latent in us, and those other forces, demonic forces, have scope when people turn away from God. ‘Such a picture etches forever on the soul one of the most terrible truths of life. It is this: whenever men go beyond their own humanity in committing their crimes, whenever they become so debased that they let themselves be possessed by a force of evil greater than human nature itself could conjure up, then human sin becomes inhuman, men are the offspring of beasts, and judgment lashes the soul with its most unspeakable terrors’ (Love).
There is another thought here, namely that repentance is in mind (v.20). God uses the evil results of our sins to call us to repentance. John sees the release of the demonic forces from one point of view as the result of human sin. But from another it is God’s chastening, and God’s chastening is not aimless. Rightly received it should lead to amendment. John sees God, not the demons, as in control.
1.
When the fifth angel sounded his trumpet John saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. Unlike the star in 8:10 this one was in some sense a person. Angels were sometimes called stars (cf.1:20) and it seems likely that this star was an angel. Some take fallen literally and think of a ‘fallen angel’. But this is probably reading too much into it. On the basis of certain apocryphal passages Charles argues that when the imagery is that of a star there is not much difference between falling (1 Enoch 86:1; 88:1) and descending (1 Enoch 86:3). So this verse will mean much the same as 20:1. The most diverse identifications of the star-angel are given. He might be Nero (Weymouth), a fallen angel (Simcox, Love), the ‘angel of the abyss’ (Orr), an evil spirit (Kiddle), even Satan himself (Hendriksen, Hoeksema, Atkinson; Swete thinks ’possibly Satan’). On the other hand he is seen as the Word of God (Torrance), an angel, possibly Uriel (Charles), our Lord himself (Berkeley). With the experts so divided it is unwise to be dogmatic. John does not identify him and we simply do not have enough information to do so.
‘To him’ a key was given, where grammatically ’him’ might refer to the fifth angel and some have accepted this view. But it is quite out of keeping with John’s method: the function of the fifth angel was to blow the trumpet, nothing more. ‘Him’ refers to the star-angel (as NIV). Was given is another way of bringing out God’s sovereignty; the star-angel had no independent authority. The Abyss is seen as a great pit with a narrow opening at the top, but broadening out further down. The narrow opening, the shaft, is locked, but its key is now given to the star. The abyss was the place to which the demons in the Gadarene swine expected they might be sent (Lk. 8:31), while in Paul’s one use of the term it is the abode of the dead (Rom. 10:7). All the other examples of the word are in Revelation (9:1,2,11; 11:7; 17:8; 20:1,3). Here it is a place inhabited by spirits, and firmly under God’s control (the key is ’given’ in this verse and that seems implied in 20:1). It is not the place of punishment, for that is described as a lake of fire (20:10, 14-15). Charles speaks of the abyss in this book as ‘the preliminary place of punishment’, but the idea of punishment does not seem to be implied in any passage where John uses the term. It is the place of incarceration of Satan (20:1-3), but torment is not implied. It is inhabited by beings hostile to God, but they are subject to his control.
2. The star-angel opened the shaft, whereupon smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace (cf. Gn. 19:28; Ex. 19:18) and the sun and sky (more accurately, ‘air’) were darkened (cf. Ex. 10:22). In 8:12 a third of the light was taken away, but there is no equivalent estimate of the effects here. The point is rather that so great was the quantity of smoke that even the light of the sun was blotted out. The air (mentioned again in 16:17) was held to be the abode of demons (cf. Eph. 2:2), though the thought is not stressed here.
3.
Out of the smoke locusts came down. It is not a cloud of locusts; locusts came out of it. Locusts formed the eighth plague in Egypt (Ex. 10:12-20), and a plague of locusts is behind the little book of Joel.89 To them was given (notice this verb again; the forces of evil have no independent authority) power (the word often means authority) like that of scorpions of the earth.
4. A command was given the locusts, but there is no indication of the speaker. This is a device John uses often. It indicates that the command came ultimately from God, but that it is unimportant who actually spoke the words. The content of the command was that the locusts were not to harm vegetation.
This is described under three headings. First is the grass of the earth (for the view that this conflicts with 8:7 see note on that passage). Next is any plant, which will denote plant life between grass and trees (the first and third groups). Finally comes or tree. This adds up to a total prohibition of action against any form of plant life, the natural food of the locust (contrast Ex. 10:15). Instead they are to hurt the people who were not sealed (7:3ff.). Like the other plagues in this series this is directed against the godless. God’s people are not included in the commission given the locusts (cf. Ex. 8:22-23, etc.). The world of demons has no power against them.
5. Once again given reminds us of the limitations on the power of evil. The demons can exercise only the power that is given them. On this occasion they have power to torment, but not to kill. The period of five months accords with the fact that the torture they inflicted was like that of the scorpion. The bite of the scorpion, though painful, is rarely fatal. The time mentioned may be due to the fact that the natural locust has a life span of about this period. Or the thought may be that of incompleteness. It lasted but five-twelfths of the year (cf. the use of one-third in earlier plagues). S Bk draws attention to the frequent use of the number five, as five sparrows (Lk. 12:6), five in a house (Lk. 12:52), five yoke of oxen (Lk. 14:19), five talents (Mt. 25:15), two groups of five virgins (Mt. 25:2), five days (perhaps meaning ‘a few days’, Acts 20:6; 24:1), five husbands (Jn. 4:18), five brothers of the rich man (Lk. 16:28), five barley loaves (Mt. 14:17), Paul’s five beatings (2 Cor. 11:24). Some of these examples are certainly not arbitrary. For example, if the market rate for sparrows was five for two pennies, then no other number was possible. But some of the other examples are certainly such as to leave the impression that sometimes ‘five’ was used in the sense ’a few’. If that is the meaning here the torment was of limited, but undefined duration.
6. People will be in considerable pain. Men (hoi anthr
poi, i.e. mankind at large) will seek out death, but not find it. The statement is given emphasis by being repeated in another form. Men will long to die, but death will elude them (this last verb is present tense, ‘death keeps running from them’). There is an interesting contrast with Paul, whose personal preference was for death, which he regarded as a gain, but who accepted life (Phil. 1:23-26).
poi, i.e. mankind at large) will seek out death, but not find it. The statement is given emphasis by being repeated in another form. Men will long to die, but death will elude them (this last verb is present tense, ‘death keeps running from them’). There is an interesting contrast with Paul, whose personal preference was for death, which he regarded as a gain, but who accepted life (Phil. 1:23-26).7. The locusts were of fearsome appearance. They are likened to horses, as in Joel 2:4 (a number of details in this description recall that in Joel). There are probably two points in the comparison: the shape of the locust’s head is not unlike that of the horse (as has often been pointed out), and the compact ranks of the locusts seem rather like cavalry lines. The comparison might be held to indicate that these locusts were of abnormal size but there is nothing else to indicate this in the entire description. As in Joel it is the appearance, not the size, that is in mind. They had on their heads something like crowns of gold. John does not say that they had crowns (as he does in other connections, e.g. 4:4; 6:2), but what looked like crowns. It is probably misguided to see a reference to the appearance of some kinds of locust. John is not describing the appearance of any naturally occurring insect, but of certain demons. Thus he goes on, their faces resembled human faces. This is not part of natural history.
8. Their hair was long, like women’s hair. Many commentators see a reference to the antennae of locusts (and cite an Arabian proverb with this detail), but this seems far-fetched. Their teeth were like those of lions (cf. Joel 1:6). We should think not of size but of ferociousness. They were very destructive.
9. The scales covering their bodies were like breastplates of iron, i.e. they were well-protected. Enemies so covered are difficult to destroy. The word thrax means ‘breastplate’, but here it applies to bodily covering in general. The number of these fearsome creatures is indicated by the noise made by their wings, like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle (cf. Joel 2:5).
rax means ‘breastplate’, but here it applies to bodily covering in general. The number of these fearsome creatures is indicated by the noise made by their wings, like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle (cf. Joel 2:5).10. John now uses the Greek present tense, ‘they have’ (not had), though previously he has used the past. The scene becomes increasingly vivid to him. He sees the locusts with tails like scorpions, complete with stings. It was doubtless this that gave them power to hurt people for the five-month period already mentioned. The repetition of this period from verse 5 indicates that it is significant.
11. The locusts are not a leaderless rabble. In contrast to natural locusts (cf. Pr. 30:27) they have (present tense again) a king. He is first called the angel of the Abyss, an expression which does not appear to occur anywhere else, though we read of Satan’s angels (12:9; Mt. 25:41; cf. 2 Cor. 12:7). S Bk draws attention to the positions ascribed to Uriel (as having authority over Tartarus) and Jeremiel (as presiding over the abyss and Hades) in Jewish thought. But the present passage is not concerned with a good angel, carrying out God’s commands. It is the leader of the demonic hordes. His name is given in two languages. Abaddon transliterates a Hebrew word meaning ‘destruction’ (Jb. 26:6; 28:22; Ps. 88:11; Pr. 15:11). The Greek equivalent is given as Apollyon, which means ’destroyer’. It is possible that this name is used rather than one of the other possible equivalents in order to convey a derogatory allusion to the god Apollo. What the Greeks worshipped as a god was no more than a demon. Beasley-Murray thinks there may be in mind the fact that Domitian saw himself as an incarnation of Apollo.
12. The eagle had announced that there would be woe to the inhabitants of the earth on account of the last three trumpets (8:13). So significant is this that the events in question are now characterized as woes rather than described with reference to the trumpets. The first is past. It is out of the way. But mankind’s troubles are not yet over. ‘Behold’ (which NIV omits) and the present tense in come make the scene vivid.