Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 16:1

"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.