The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 236

haps ,l$Jlli to regard the smoke as the evil other mterpretatlons have· been suggested: in1lue™'e of the devil, which darkens men's (1) evil spirits (Andreas); (2) Roman waiB understandhigs, and from which , iMue the in Judala· (Groliu-s}: (S) the GothiQLmva,. troubles which are the result of heresy and siou (Vitringa); (4) De Watte 'and Mfo!d Wloelify, porlni.yed by the looust.s (cf, 2 believe that the interpretation i& urilmowlal Cor. iv, 4, "I.n whom the god of this world Anti unto them wu given 1M>Wer1:u 'the bath l:!linded the minds of the unbelieving," soorpion■ of the earth hil1'9-'p11Wtlr. c·ll'hGt etc.). . ill to aay, just as the natural l!iOl'piOO. '6f. Ver, S.-An.d there oame oat of ihe IDlOke the earth have wer' to· cause· llb&ft!it, se ~ upou the earth.. The- loewt is oon- stantlJ referred to in the Bible, and vuioua 1 these alle~rica locnsta of the 'tilieb , ~ pea.lild t.o possess tbe ·-means 1wh~~ii6 illust1'11,tion1 are drawn from their oharaoter- plague mankind. 'I'M BCOf'f)wrt u•~ istio fe,.tures. In the East they appear in rally found in dry and m darkpll:icee;''il'ndet peat .QJJ.mbers, and men are helpless against stones and in rniDll, chiefty 'in wan11t'blimate8. their . devastating power. . Sometimes an afi •. • • The sting, which ii situated the eJC• attempHs made to oheok their progress by tremity of tbe tail, bas ,;i its base ~ gland lighting ,:fires, a.nd this practice may have that eecretes a.poieonoua ftuid, whieh'ili dis- auggeated, the above desoription of the charged into the wound•••• In hot climates loeusta pl"QC60ding from the smoke. The the ■ting often oocasiona much suffilrinlf., inesistible-,destruction whioh tbey cause ia and sometimes alarming symptom■ ''(Sta'ith ■ alluded. to •in Dent. xxviii. 88; .Joel ii. 25; ' Dictionary of the Bible'). · ' :,, ' · i,Ghron. ·m.13; their number ·in Ps, cv. .Ver. 4.-'-And it waa oommandeil ·th&DI. tllM 8h, N&h. lii. -15. The air is sometimes they ■hould not hurt the gnu of i!le ·earth. •iJlted wHh their dead bodies (Joel ii. 20). neither any green thing, neuher '11Jl1'-1;ree; The .naturali features of the loousi are fully The force of this plaglle. is to fa11 direotly dwelt upon in vel'B. 7-10. As an illmtra- upon mankind. not, as in the former·Judg- tion, we may. quote Niebuhr, who gives an ments, upon the earth, and then indirectly Arab's delMlliption of the loouat: " In head upon men. Thill appears to he stated with like the ,hme, in breast like the lion, in the greater plainn011a, booalllie. U ni.ighi feet. like the:\ camel, in body like the ser- readily be inferred, from the ·nature 'ot pent, in tail like the aoorpion, in antennm locusts, thai the immediate· objeot t>fltheir like a -virgin'• hair." Three out of these destructiven8118 would be the vegetii.tion· of five points of teeemblanoe 111'8 mentioned in the world. . But only thoae 111.ell 'Wllia ~ vel'll,, 7-J0. -The locuata here symbolize not the eeal of God in their forelleatlf1 ·bllt h~ics and. infidels, Some writem (e.g. only BtUh. men ™ ha~ ,wt, et.c. ~vfllell· V• Wordsworth) apply the symbol to the sion; ef; eh. vii. 3, to which thi!t'is an''alfu;. :Mohammedan• (see Wordsworth, in loo., sion). Here, by proleipsis, the-.m• of where the parallel iB very , fully worked God are described as " those that· lie.ve -the oll.t). But thangb this may be, and pro- seal of God in their foreheiids.'1 lti'iB not bably is, a fulfilment of the vision, it would stated, nor is it necessarily implied.-,P.aHhe be wrong to thue .testr:lot 011r interpretation. seal ill visible to man at the tioie'oll' the'in- Seoroely any one oallll8 has oontributed more :lliction of this judgment upon the"UigodlY., to.the trouble and,,destruotion of men than In a similar way our Lord 11peakil•'Of 'the the Tiolenoe which is the result of religious elect (Matt. ::uiv. 22). not thereby itiiplying, hatred. Whether it be the heathen idola- that there is any visible manifestation by ter, the warlike Mohammedan, or the Chris- which the elect may be knoW'n to'.men. tian bigot, who is the agent; the effect ia the though known to God(ao also,Titlll' t 1· 18Dl8, It may be said, too, that if the minds :Mark xiii, 22, eic.). ThUB also it i11 1 811111 of Christians also had not been darkened in 2 Tim. ii. 19, "The·,foundation"of God by the prejudicial influence of Satan, who staudeth sure, having this l!8&l, Tile I.ord i& the e&Wl8 of their ':Unhappy divisions, knoweth them that are hi&." The· frequent heresies, and apostasies, these troubles could use of the term to denote those who were . - l y . have fallen upon mankind. The il8aled by baptism may have led to the em• innumerable oooasiona of such violence may ployment of the expression in this plaoe,, • be well illustrated by the·countlei!& number being equivalent to "the servant. of Goel" of ihe lOOWit.a; and the eft'eot lives after the cor. Eph. i 1a: i•. ao. a 0or. i •>- ·TIMI 264 THE REVELATION· 01!' ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. (oa. tt. 1-21.