The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 237

locUBta may not hurt God'• aervantB (eee on to dlt, ad dtath ,ball ll.ee from them; •hall ver. 3). Thua we are taught that God in in no VMf! ~ U . . . and death jleethjrom :reality prell8l'Ves his own, though it may IAeln ~ Venlon): a/ tivllprinrrn. "the 80llletimee appear to man aa though the men; that i1, the unaealed, who sutfer\hut lanooem 11rlf'er with the guilty. judgment. This fa a oharaoterlltlo biblical Ver. 5.-Alld to them. it wu given that method of expl'fllllling great anguish. Thus Oey lho'lllcl 11.os kill them, but that they Job iii. 20, 21, "The l>ltter in soul; which llaould. be torm.811.ted Ave monthl; and it long for death, but it cometh not " (of. also _, ai- tAmn [i.e. the loouste] that tM/} Jer. viii. 3; Job vii. I.'i; Luke nlii. 80; [ihe 1ooust&J a/aould not kill Oum [the un- and eh. vi. 16). The description portrays iealed], wt t1IIJI tkm,J [the uruiealed] ah&uld great anguish of mind, and 1houlcf not be be ~ jiN months. The devil and hi.I preased to a literal interpretation, though agent. have not unlimited power oommitted many have illustrated the ))IUl88ge bJ point- to them; they are restrained within limits ing_to actual occurrenCflll of the kind. by the will of God. The evils which follow V01'. 7.-Anrl the shape■ of the locuta In the tniD of heresy and infidelity a.re not were like unto horse■ prepaud unto battle; ae .JM permitted to kill (cf. Job i. 12), for rather, tAe lihMuel of thB lOCUBk; that ia to W.Judgment extends only to the natural say, the general &I>peamnce. This similarity life. man. God rese"es the final killing is brought out in Joel ii., and is alluded to to hbllllelf at the great judgment-day. This in Job uxix. 20. The parallel is worked out ia llbown in the limitation, "five months." at some Jena-tit in Tristram's 'Natural His- This apparently meaninglees period becomes tory of the 13ible,' p. 814. In what way they explleable, when we remember that the appeared "prepared unto battle," ii shown una1 d~on of a locust-plague ii fiw in ver. 9, And on their hew were u it mlltiU.,. viz. from April to September. The were orowna like gold; oromv lik8 unto gold. visitation is for the natural period of such The language is carefully guarded so 88 to ooounenOOB: the torment Js to extend to the make it understood that this feature is alto- natiual period of man'• sojoum on the earth. gether supernatural. The oroum, of gold U dOIB not extend into the next life; other probably denote the oonquering natur& of aad apeoial means are adopted for man'• the locust., and thUB they add to the power punilhment then, RS set forth under the with which the looustB have already been 1141venth trumpet Various other explana- invested. Theymayalso eignifytheexalted liom have been given of the five months. temporal position of those symbolized by the (1) Five yean of Gothic rule (Vitringa). loonsts. Some writers believe the helmets = (2) Five months 5 X 30 days; each day of soldiers are typifted, and others the tur- mpresenta one year,; therefore USO years are ban~ of the Mohammedans. And their f&eel signiied, viz. (a) of the Saracens, A.D. 830- were 88 the faeu of men. Notwithstanding A.D. 980(:Mede); (b) MoJiammed's oonqnests, the general resemblanee of the locllllta to A.D. 612--A.D. 762 (Elliott). (3) Hengsten- horses, which resemblanee is most clearly berg believes 5 to signify a part of the oom~ shadowed forth in the structure of the head, plete nnm.her 10, and thus to symbolize an yet their faces gave the seer the idea of the taoomplete period, rut compared with the human countenance. How this was brought period of the seventh trumpet. (4) Ben~l, about we are not told. Pmbably St. John following the principles assumed by him, himself in his vision received the impression ~ the ft,,e month8 to equal 79, natural without knowing by what means. The oir- yea.re, and ~igns the period to A.D. 510- oum1tance seema to point decidedly to the A.D. 589. (5) Others tu.ke the expression to fact that human agents are denoted by the mean "a, ahort time" merely. (6) Words- loonets. worth interprets it as meaning a limited Ver. 8.-And they had hatr u the hair of time permitted by God, and thinks the women. This (like the succeeding clauae) Mohammedan period is signified. And seems merely 1he enumeration of an ad- their . tormfllli. was u the torm81Lt of a ditional feature, in which these creatures 1COrpion, when he atriketh a man. "Their resembled loollSts, and whioh helped to torment," that Is, the torment of the un- establish their claim to the name. The NBled, according to Alford; the torruent of antenme of the insect arc probably referred the Ioouta (Tiz. that which they inflict), to. Wordsworth sees here an allusion to the llllOOrding to othera. In either case the flowing hair of llfohammed and the Saracens. m51ling is the BBD1e. The last elallBe, And their teeth were as the teeth ot liou. .. when he striketh a man," is perhaps added '.I' he powerful nature of the teeth of the in contradistinction to the injury naturally locust is a remarkable feature of the Insect; iDAioted by loousta, whose efforts are directed and it is here more fully referred to in order against tho vegetation. to enhance the general terror of their Ver. 6.-.And in those days sha.ll men seek ll$pect (cf, Joel i. 6). tleatbi and shall not find it ; and shall desire Ver. 9.-And they h&d breaatplatea, as iC oa. tt. 1-21.] THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. 265