Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 11:9

"And from among the peoples and tribes and tongues and nations do [men] look upon their dead bodies three days and a half, and suffer not their dead bodies to be laid in a tomb." — Revelation 11:9 (ASV)

People from every nation—Jew and Gentile—will “gloat over” their corpses and refuse them the dignity of burial. To have a dead body lie in view of all was the worst humiliation a person could suffer (Psalms 79:3). Furthermore, the pagan world will celebrate the destruction of the witnesses and the victory over them by exchanging gifts, a common custom in the Near East (Nehemiah 8:10, 12; Esther 9:19, 22). Thus the beast will silence the witness of the church to the glee of the beast-worshiping world. The time of their silence corresponds in days to the time of their witness in years. It denotes only a brief time of triumph for the beast.