1At the sounding of the fifth angel a star falleth from heaven, to whom is given the key of the bottomless pit: 2he opens the pit, and there come forth locusts like scorpions, who have power to hurt men for a time. 12The first woe past. 13At the sounding of the sixth angel four angels which were bound are loosed, and bring great plagues on the earth for a limited time.
1AND the fifth angel sounded, and 1I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given 2the key of thea bottomless pit.
1 Some understand this star to be Mohammed with his followers, who, about the year six hundred and twenty, did rake together his ungodly doctrine out of Judaism, heathendom and Christendom, and brought the same to light out of the bottomless pit, and afterward did propagate the same by his Arabians and Saracens, as armed locusts, through a great part of the world, partly by deceit and partly by violence, as such armies are compared to locusts and grasshoppers, Judges 7:12; Isa. 33:4; Joel 1:4; 2:4, etc., from which places this description is for the most part taken. But since in this book the word stars is everywhere meant the overseers and teachers of the church, as is explained in Rev. 1:20, therefore here is far more aptly understood the bishop of Rome with his followers, who set up himself as an universal bishop among the Christians about the very same time, who, after the ruin of the Roman Empire, instead of minding only the spiritual care, has rather given himself to earthly and temporal care, and has set up a new dominion, and is therefore said to be fallen from heaven upon the earth.
2 That is, power to open the pit or the deepest part of the abyss, (that is, of hell, Luke 8:31), from which arose this thick smoke; which power was given to it by the just judgment of God for men’s unthankfulness, as is also said hereafter in verses 4 and 5, and as Paul speaks in 2 Thes. 2:9, 10, 11.
a Luke 8:31; Rev. 17:8.
2And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a 3smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; 4and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
3 That is, false and idolatrous doctrine, which Paul in 1 Tim. 4:1 calls doctrines of devils, consisting in the forbiddance of marriage, and of the use of meats, which God has created to be used with thanksgiving, as also of idolatry, image worship, their own merits and satisfactions, and other superstitions, as is expressed hereafter in verse 20.
4 That is, Christ and His doctrine, as previously in Rev. 8:12, and elsewhere.
3And there came 5out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
5 That is, these locusts have had their origin out of this idolatrous and superstitious doctrine. For, by the forbiddance of marriage and of certain meats, by the invention of purgatory, by the doctrine of their own merits and satisfactions, and the like, the multitude of monks and other so-called Religious Orders were also increased through all Christendom, as is well known.
4And it was commanded them 6that they should not hurtb the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men 7which have not thec seal of God in their foreheads.
6 That is, true believers, who grow and flourish on the Lord’s fields, Psalm 1:3; 92:12. This is said to show that here is not spoken of locusts properly so called, but of hypocritical and hurtful men, as their following description also shows.
b Rev. 6:6.
7 See of this seal of God in Rev. 7:3, 4.
c Ezek. 9:4; Rev. 7:3.
5And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be 8tormented 9five months: and their torment was as the torment 10of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
8 Namely, in their conscience, through the uncertainty of their salvation, through the uncertainty of the sufficiency of their merits, through fear of purgatory and the like, whereas those, who are marked with the seal of God’s Spirit, are free from these, as Paul testifies in Rom. 5:1, 2; 8:1.
9 That is, the time that the locusts are accustomed to be in the field in their vigor and strength, from the beginning of the spring till after harvest, or the time of the entire summer. Whereby is signified that these locusts shall not straightway be removed, or be hindered from vexing men, as the locusts were in the plague in Egypt, Exod. 10:19, but that they shall retain such property all the time that they are in their strength and vigor, and the entire time that God has appointed.
10 Namely, whose sting shall become worse more and more, unless it is not cured in the beginning.
6Andd in those days shall men seek 11death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
d Isa. 2:19; Jer. 8:3; Hosea 10:8; Luke 23:30; Rev. 6:16.
11 Namely, through anguish of their mind.
7Ande12the 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.
e Exod. 10:4.
12 This description shows that here is only spoken of hurtful men who are always ready to persecute those who are true Christians, and to make spiritual war against them, like horses which stand ready prepared for battle, with their shaven heads like crowns on their heads, do witness and declare before all their dominion, which they have under their superior, with his triple crown. Which with a fair countenance like men, captivate the hearts of many, and by their long hair as woman’s hair, do indeed feign mildness or meekness, but they have teeth like lions’ teeth, to hurt Christians by their inquisitions and other sharp and cruel procedures; who, over against all secular power, place their privileges and immunities, granted them by their king, as iron breastplates; and by the sound of their wings do exalt themselves above others, and make all the world afraid; lastly, who with their tails, that is, their superstitious doctrines, do exceedingly vex and torment those men, who have not the seal of God, as was declared in verse 5.
8And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
9And they had breastplates, as it were breastplates of iron; and the sound of their wings was as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
10And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.
11And they had a king over them, which is thef angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is 13Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
f Rev. 9:1.
13Abaddon in the Hebrew, and Apollyon in the Greek, signify destruction and destroyer, and agree with the name which the apostle Paul gives unto antichrist in 2 Thes. 2:3, 4, 9, when he calls him that man of sin, and the son of perdition, the opposer, and he who exalteth himself above all that is called God, whose coming is after the working of Satan, whereof see the exposition there.
12Oneg woe 14is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.
g Rev. 8:13.
14 Namely, in respect of the vision which was shown to the apostle. For, the thing itself came to pass a long while after, and shall be utterly abolished not until the appearance of the coming of Jesus Christ, as Paul testifies in 2 Thes. 2:8.
13And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice 15from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God,
15 This has respect to the altar of incense, which had four horns, and stood in the Holy place before the Holy of Holies, on which altar the priests did daily offer incense; but on these four horns the High Priest offered only once a year, Exod. 30:10. By which horns Christ’s power is understood, Who here pronounces this sentence for the punishment of those who as yet persecuted His church. See in Rev. 6:9.
14Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, 16Looseh the four angels 17which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
16 By these four angels is understood by the greater part of all expositors the sect of the Mohammedans, which chiefly consists in four nations, which subdued all others under them, namely, the Arabians, Saracens, Tartars and Turks, of which the Arabians and Saracens, from the year 620, used much violence against the Christians, and especially against the Roman Empire in the East and West; but were afterwards driven back again beyond the Euphrates by the Christians, till about the year 1300 when the anti-Christianity was at the highest, and the orthodox Christians were most oppressed, the Tartars and Turks, of both Armenias situated against the Euphrates, had broken through and ran over and subdued all Asia and Africa, and abolished the Grecian or Eastern Empire, whereof Constantinople was the metropolis. In these wars much blood was shed. And it seems that by these wars the kings, who had given their power unto the beast, were so full of employment that the orthodox teachers in the mean while erected new churches in divers countries, so that they could not be rooted out by all the persecutions of the antichrist, as it came to pass in France, England, Bohemia, Switzerland and other parts of the world by Waldus, Wycliffe, John Hus, Jerome of Prague and others besides, whereof more shall be prophesied in detail in the following chapters.
h Rev. 7:1.
17 Namely, by God’s Providence, till the measure of the sins of Christendom was filled up, as shall be testified in verse 20, and that in God’s just judgment the free reins shall be given to these nations, to execute their ambition and greedy desire after prey, as Isa. 10:5; Jer. 25:9.
15And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay 18the third part of men.
18 For, there were many hundred thousand Christians slain by these armies and many others brought to apostasy and thereby to spiritual death, as the histories of those times and experience testify.
16And the number of the army 19of the horsemen were 20two hundred thousand thousand: 21and I heard the number of them.
19 This is expressed, because their armies did most consist in cavalry, which were exceeding great, and did far surpass the armies of the Christians, whereby they also obtained the majority of their victories; as is expressed in the following verse.
20 That is, an exceeding great multitude; as by this phrase is also elsewhere understood. See Psalm 68:17; Dan. 7:10; and that these Turks and Tartars with some hundred thousands are wont to march into the field, is sufficiently known by the histories.
21 Namely, mentioned in this vision.
17And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of 22fire, and of jacinth,i and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the 23heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued 24fire and smoke and brimstone.
22 Since these nations used to carry very few iron weapons, therefore some do understand thereby their various liveries, which they used to wear of different colors. Others understand thereby their cruel hearts, which they bear towards Christians, and their horrid blasphemies which they are wont to belch out against them.
i deep-blue colored gemstone
23 That is, which are strong, swift and cruel, and are wont to rage, not only by smiting but also by biting and renting in pieces.
24 Some apply this to the great guns which they carried, whereof in the discharge there seem to issue fire, smoke and brimstone out of their mouths. Others understand hereby all manner of cruelty, which they would commit by their weapons.
18By these three was the third part of men killed, by the fire, and by the smoke, and by the brimstone, which issued out of their mouths.
19For their power is in their mouth, and 25in their tails: for their tails were like 26unto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.
25 Some apply this thereunto, that they knew how to shoot and hurt, not only forward in pursuing, but also backward in fleeing with their bows, and now with their guns.
26 Whose poison lies in their heads and in their tails, which also use to hurt most with these two, as there are also such serpents found, that have heads in their tails, and are called amphisbaena.
20And the rest of the men which were not killed 27by these plagues yet repented not of 28the works of their hands, that they should not 29worship devils, and 30idolsj of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: 31which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk:
27 Namely, which God had sent among them for their idolatry and other sins committed by them; which the following words require. From this it appears that this idolatry, which the Christians had set up in Greece and in all the countries of the East and had confirmed by their second Synod of Nicaea and other more, was the cause why God in His just judgment sent these plagues and punishments upon them; by whose example notwithstanding the Western churches took no warning, but still continued in the same idolatry.
28 That is, worship of images; for, not the devils, but images are the works of men’s hands.
29 Here is not spoken of the idolatry of the heathen; for, the Mohammedans did not really make war against the heathen, which long before were mostly destroyed by the Christian Emperors in the East and West, nor of the wars of the Mohammedans among themselves, for, they neither have nor worship images, but they have made war against the Christians. Also those who were not killed by them, but were left alive throughout Europe, were not heathen but Christians by profession. So that here by the worship of devils no reference is made to that which this remnant did in their profession, but to that which they in fact did; since those who depart from the true worship of God and set up an ornamental worship forbidden by God, do not serve God by it but the devil, what boasting so ever they make, as appears in 2 Chron. 11:15; Amos 5:25, 26; 1 Cor. 10:20, and as the apostle in 1 Tim. 4:1 calls them doctrines of devils, which they indeed esteem to be Divine doctrines, but, because they oppose God’s institution, are to be held to be no better than doctrines and services of the devil.
30 Or, images.
j Psalm 115:4, 5, 6, 7; 135:15.
31 This is taken from the 115th Psalm, which the apostle applies to the antichristian images, since they have no more power than the images of the Gentiles or Jews have in this case.
21Neither repented they of their 32murders, nor of their 33sorceries, nor of their 34fornication, nor of their 35thefts.
32 Hereof, besides others, the martyrs are sufficient witnesses, of whom they have slain so many thousands in many centuries by fire, the sword, the halter and others.
33 Or, poisonings, as this word signifies both, and as both are very much in vogue in the kingdom of the antichrist.
34 Whereof the public houses of whores, which are tolerated by them in great multitudes, and whereof they gather tribute and the concubinages of the priests, are among others sufficient proof.
35 Among which may justly be counted the removal of the inheritances from the right heirs unto their own cloisters, and appropriating the diversion of goods dedicated to the worship of God, towards the maintenance of lazy bellies and towards worldly splendor among many.