Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 16:10

"And the fifth poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom was darkened; and they gnawed their tongues for pain," — Revelation 16:10 (ASV)

The fifth bowl plunges the kingdom of the beast into darkness. This is not a reference to the fall of the Roman Empire or Caesar worship, though John’s words would include this level of meaning. In 2:13, John used the word “throne” to designate the stronghold of Satan at Pergamum. Thus “the throne of the beast” symbolizes the seat of the worldwide dominion of the great satanic system of idolatry (the Abyss? cf. 20:1). This system is plunged into spiritual darkness or disruption, bringing chaos on all who sought life and meaning in it. This bowl plague, while similar to the fifth trumpet, strikes at the very seat of satanic authority over the world; and the darkness is moral and spiritual rather than physical (cf. 21:25; 22:5; 12:35–36, 46; 2:8–10). Again the terrible refrain is repeated: “But they refused to repent of what they had done.” 12–16 The sixth bowl is specifically aimed at drying up the Euphrates River and so will allow the demonically inspired kings from the East to gather at Armageddon where God himself will enter into battle with them. The reference to the Euphrates in the sixth trumpet is a striking parallel to the sixth bowl plague (9:14). Thus many identify the two series as different aspects of the same plagues. But while the sixth trumpet releases demonic hordes to inflict death on the earth dwellers, the sixth bowl effects the assembling of the rulers (kings) from the East to meet the Lord God Almighty in battle.

The Euphrates was not only the location of Babylon, the great anti-God throne, but the place from which the evil hordes would invade Israel . Thus, by mentioning the Euphrates by name, John is suggesting that the unseen rulers of this world are being prepared to enter into a final and fatal battle with the Sovereign of the universe. It is a warfare of a primordial and eschatological order, more descriptive of contemporary actualities than political history. Thus John is not describing the invasion of the Parthian hordes advancing on Rome or any future political invasion of Israel, blow could such political groups be involved in the battle of the great day of God Almighty? Instead, in terms reminiscent of the ancient battles of Israel, John describes the final defeat of the forces of evil, represented by the kings from the East.

Further confirmation that these Eastern kings represent the combined forces of evil in the world is John’s reference to the three froglike evil (lit., “unclean”; GK 176; see NIV note) spirits that proceed out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet (frogs were considered unclean animals by the Jews; cf. Leviticus 11:10, 41). To the Egyptian, the frog was the symbol of the goddess Heqt, a goddess of resurrection and fertility. But to a Jewish mind, such gods were “demons” (v.14), Satan’s emissaries, and inseparable from idolatry (9:20; 18:2; 1 Corinthians 10:20–21). These demons produce miraculous signs like the false prophet (13:13–14), and this connects their activity to the deception of the earth’s kings. Since these demons come from the “mouths” of the figures, lying and deceptive words are implied (contrast the sword from Christ’s mouth that is equal to his word of truth). These kings are summoned to the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Under the sixth bowl, the kings are only gathered. Not until the seventh bowl do the confrontation and defeat actually occur (19:19–21).

Somewhat abruptly, but not inappropriately, a warning is issued. Those who worship and serve the Lamb must be constantly vigilant lest their loyalty to him be diverted through the Satanic deception (cf. Matthew 24:43ff.; 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 4). The Parousia (second coming) of Christ is here connected with the judgment of Armageddon and the fall of Babylon. After John has described the latter in more detail (chs. 17–18), he describes the vision of the return of Jesus (19:11–16). In v.15 the third of the seven beatitudes is pronounced (cf. 1:3; 14:13; 19:9; 20:6; 22:7, 14).

Similar to the exhortation given to those in the churches at Sardis (3:2–4)

and Laodicea (3:18), the warning about Jesus’ coming “like a thief” implies a need for alertness to the deception of idolatry and disloyalty to Jesus. Like a guard who watches by night, the true Christian will remain steadfast and prepared. One need not relate this warning only to the end time as in the context, since the appeal for the steadfast loyalty of Christians is relevant at any time. Such appeals, however, are associated in the Gospels with the return of Christ (Mark 13:32–37).

Many modern interpreters identify “Armageddon” with the Galilean fortified city of Megiddo and believe that a literal military battle will be fought in the latter days in that vicinity. While this sense is not impossible, it is better to take the name as being symbolic. In Hebrew har means hill or mountain, while megiddon could mean Megiddo, a Canaanite stronghold in the Jezreel Plain later captured by the Israelites (Joshua 12:21). Megiddo, however, is only a tell (an artificial mound—only seventy feet high in John’s day), not a hill or mountain, though the fact that over two hundred battles have been fought in this vicinity makes this site an appropriate symbol for the final battle against evil. Neither can it mean Mount Carmel near Megiddo, for such a designation is never used and would be totally obscure to the residents of Asia to whom John writes. Therefore it is better to understand the term symbolically in the same manner as “in Hebrew” in 9:11 alerts us to the symbolic significance of the name of the angel of the Abyss.

An argument from language yields the same conclusion. Magedon can be derived from the secondary sense of the Hebrew verb gadad, which means “to gather in troops or bands.” A simple way in Hebrew to make a noun from a verb is to prefix a ma to the verbal form. Thus we have maged, “a place of gathering in troops,” and the suffix o, meaning “his,” yielding “his place of gathering in troops.” This is almost equivalent to the expressions in vv.14, 16—“to gather them [the kings] for the battle on the great day of God Almighty”—and would allude to the prophetic expectation of the gathering of the nations for judgment (Joel 3:2, 12). In any case, the name is symbolic and probably does not refer to any geographical location, in Palestine or elsewhere; rather, it describes the final confrontation where God will meet the forces of evil in their final defeat. It does, however, refer to a real point in history and to real persons who will encounter God’s just sentence.

In Hebrew har means hill or mountain, while megiddon may mean Megiddo, which was a Canaanite stronghold in the Jezreel Plain. This picture shows the valley in front of the hill of Megiddo, where (according to some) the Battle of Armageddon will take place.