Charles Ellicott Commentary Revelation 9:1

"And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star from heaven fallen unto the earth: and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss." — Revelation 9:1 (ASV)

And the fifth angel . . .—Translate, And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star out of the heaven fallen (not “fall,” as in the English version; the seer saw not a falling, but a fallen, star) upon the earth. The emblem of a fallen star is used elsewhere in the Bible. Isaiah (Isaiah 14:12) speaks of Lucifer fallen from heaven. Christ described Satan as lightning falling from heaven.

Some great power or ruler is represented, then, by this fallen star. He is, moreover, said to have fallen from heaven, and he is represented as having been given the key of the abyss. Does not this lead us to expect the working of some evil spirit and diabolical agency? The 11th verse confirms our expectation. We may compare Revelation 12:8-12, where Satan is described as defeated, cast down to the earth, and filled with wrath. To understand this fallen star as the representative of a good angel seems hardly possible.

And to him was given . . .—Literally, and there was given to him (that is, to the being represented as a fallen star) the key of (not “the bottomless pit”) the pit of the abyss. The abyss is the same word rendered “the deep” in Luke 8:31, where the demons implored our Lord not to send them into the abyss, or deep. It is the word which describes the dwelling of the evil spirits.

The verse before us suggests the picture of a vast depth approached by a pit or shaft, whose top, or mouth, is covered. Dante’s Inferno, with its narrowing circles winding down to the central shaft, is somewhat similar. The abyss is the lowest spring of evil, from where the worst dangers arise. (Revelation 17:8; Revelation 20:1–3.)