The Pulpit Commentary — Revelation — Section 238

wan breutplatee of iron., Again, a natural world(Jobxm.6; xxviit.22; ProT.D.11; feature of the loouat is speoifteally alluded Ps.lxnviii.12). Apollyon(l&1roM6G1tJ1,prel8Dt to, in order to portray the t.errible nature of part!ciple) is the Greek l&-r•A•u1 (by which their appeannce. The horny 111bst.a.noe the LXX. renden Ji~~) penonuled. It is which appears behind the face of the loouet in conformity with St. John's usual practiee is not millke the platea of iron with which to give the two forms of the name (of. John the breast and shoulders of war-h018811 were i. 88,42; iv. 25; ix. 7; xi 16; m. 18, 17). proteoted. And the sound of their wings In. the name we have summed up the cho.- was u the sound of oha.riotl af many hones raoter of him who bears it. He ill the running to battle; the SOOAd of chariou, of "destroyer," the one who ea.uses "per- 111anr 1wnea mlhifl{I to war (Revised V81'8ion). dition" to mankind. Of. the words of our The IIOlU1ll of the two things together, viz. Lord given by St. John (John viii. 44), that of l'USbinR horses, and that of. ~e "He was a murderer from the beginning." chariots which tney draw. The same &i.mile Bengel and others contrast with "Jesus" u 1186d in Joel ii. 5. the " Saviour." Perhaps the height of ab- Ver. 10.-Aad th8J had tails like unto surdity ill reached by those writen (Bleek, ■aorpiom, and there were stiDga in their Volkme.r) who 1188 in the name Apollyon a tail.I; and °'6r 1MJce tail, l~ u n t o ~ . reference to (N)apoleon. and .Ung, (Revised V81'8ion). The next Ver. 12.-0ll.e WOii i1 past; the OM 1006, or words are included in the following clause. the flnt woe. "Woe" (,j obal) is feminine; Not that their tails poBl6lll!8d the appearance perhaps because expressing the idea of ~~u- of SCOl'piOBB (as Bengel, Hengstenberg, and lation, snob words being generally feminine othen), but that their tails were like the in the Greek. Some have thought .that taila of ll!Orpions in res~ of ha..-ing .~tings these words a.re a further announcement by in them. Cf. 2 Sam. :u:11. 84: Pa. Hill.. 88, the eagle of eh. viii. IS; but there is nothing "He maketh my feet like hinda,. (omit to lead us t.o suppose that they a.re not the "feet''): also eh. xiii. ll, "Two homa like words of the writer. And, behold, there oome a lamb" (see the description of the scorpion two woes more hereafter. Omit "and : " quoted above, under ver. S). And their Mhold, there cometh yet two woea hwea/ter. power was to hurt men !l.ve month&; and in The verb is singular in ~•, A, and others; 0.-r taa. la their po1ll6t' to hurt, etc. (Revised the plural is found in w•, B, P, and others. Version) (see the preceding ola.use). As no Alford says, "singular, the verb applying Greek manuscript gives the reading of the simply to that which is future, without Textus Receptus followed by the Authorized referenoe a.s yet to its plurality." Bnt pro- Version, the probability is that this is an bably obal, although written as a feminine example of a p&8IIBg6 in which the Greek of in the preoeding clause, being really inde- his edition was supplied by Erasmus, by the clina.ble, is treated u.s a neuter; and thus the simple process of retranalating into Greek singular verb is ma.de to agree with the the Vulgate Version. By the possession of neuter plural, in conformity with the rules the noxious sting, the locusts here described of Greek grammar. The second woe extends are repreeented as being yet more terrible from this place to eh. xi. H, e.ml the third than the natural locusts. (See the description woe is contained in eh. xi. H-19, especially of the loolll!tll given under ver. 8. For the in oh. xi. 18. signification of the "five months," see on Ver. 18.-And the Bixth angel sounded, ver. 5.) They limitthe period of this judg- and I heard a. voice; I heard 011e voice, ment to the time of man's sxistence on this perhaps in contradistinetion to the /our horns earth. next mentioned. From th11 four horna of Ver. 11.-And they had a king over them, the golden altar which is before God; the which is the pgel of the bottomle11 pit; golden altar bejOt'e God. The be.lance of Ui,ey haw m,er them u king the angel of the authority seems in favour of retaining ntT• abyN (Revised Version). Most commenta- tTJpo,v, "four," u.lthough the Revisers omit it. tors oontre.st with the condition of the It ill inserted in B, P, Andreas, Arethas, natural locusts, who have no king (Prov, Primasius, etc., but omitted in~". A, Syriac, :ux. 27). "The angel" evidently points to Coptio Bede, etc. Many commentators (e.g. the "star" of ver. I, who is Se.tan himself. Vitringa, Hengstenberg) lay special stress Some think a particular angel, not Satan, i1 upon it· and some represent the horns as intended, Alford unnece13111Ll'i.ly hesitates to the Jou~ Gospels, which speu.k with one decide that Satan is meant, owing to ah. xii. ..-oioe. The voice issues from the altar, 111 S. 9. Whose name in the Hebrew tongue is in eh. vi. 10; xvi. 7. The voice, i■Buing Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue he.th his from the resting-place of tru3 souls of the name Apollyon. Abaddon is the Hebrew martyrs, denounOllll the impending w~. Ji'I~~• a noun representing the ab11traot idea The altar is the golden altar of incense (oh. "deatruction" (Job xn.i. 12), but more fro. viii. 3) whieh is M/ore (the throne of) God, 1uenUy employed to designate the nether- aDd which, in tlie earthly teinple, ·stood 186 THE REVELATION OF ST. JOHN THE DIVINE. [oa. IX. 1-21.