Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 16
Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary
Revelation 16
Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary
Revelation 16
"And I heard a great voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, Go ye, and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God into the earth." — Revelation 16:1 (ASV)
This chapter describes the “third woe” (see comment on 15:1–19:10) in the form of the outpouring of seven bowl judgments. They occur in rapid succession with only a brief pause for a dialogue between the third angel and the altar, accentuating the justice of God’s punishments (vv.5–7). This rapid succession is probably due to John’s desire to give a telescopic view of the first six bowls and then hasten on to the seventh, where the far more detailed judgment on Babylon occurs. Again, seven symbolizes fullness, this time fullness of judgment (cf. Leviticus 26:21). The striking parallelism between the order of these plagues and those of the trumpets (8:2–9:21), though clearly not identical in every detail, has led many to conclude that the two series are the same. The similarity, however, may be merely literary.
Each plague in both series (the trumpets and the bowls) is reminiscent of the plagues on Egypt before the Exodus. The first four of each cover the traditional divisions of nature: earth, sea, rivers, and sky. But in each of the bowls, unlike the trumpets, the plague on nature is related to the suffering of humankind. Furthermore, each bowl plague seems to be total in its effect (“every living thing... died” [v.3]), whereas under the trumpets only a part is affected (“a third of the living creatures... died” [8:9]). Therefore, it seems better to understand the trumpets and bowls as separate judgments. The final three plagues are social and spiritual in their effect and shift from nature to humanity. These descriptions should probably not be taken literally; the important point is that they depict God’s sure and righteous judgment that will one day be actually done in this world.
"And the first went, and poured out his bowl into the earth; and it became a noisome and grievous sore upon the men that had the mark of the beast, and that worshipped his image." — Revelation 16:2 (ASV)
The first bowl has no strict counterpart in the trumpets but recalls the sixth plague of boils under Moses (Exodus 9:10–11). As the antagonists of Moses were affected by the boils, so the enemies of Christ who worship the beast will be struck by this plague.
"And the second poured out his bowl into the sea; and it became blood as of a dead man; and every living soul died, [even] the things that were in the sea." — Revelation 16:3 (ASV)
The second bowl turns the sea into polluted blood . Genesis 1:21 is reversed; all marine life dies (cf. Exodus 7:17–21).
"And the third poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters; and it became blood." — Revelation 16:4 (ASV)
The third bowl affects the fresh waters of the earth, which are essential to human life. They too become polluted as blood (cf. Exodus 7:17–21).
"And I heard the angel of the waters saying, Righteous art thou, who art and who wast, thou Holy One, because thou didst thus judge:" — Revelation 16:5 (ASV)
Here the reference to blood calls forth the dialogue between the angel and the altar concerning the logic of the plagues. The blood that sinners drink is just requital for their shedding of the blood of the saints (15:1–4) and prophets (11:3–13; cf. 17:6; 18:20). With blood, God vindicates the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. People must choose whether to drink the blood of saints or to wear robes dipped in the blood of the Lamb.
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