Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary Revelation 9:8

"And they had hair as the hair of women, and their teeth were as [teeth] of lions." — Revelation 9:8 (ASV)

The fifth trumpet: The first woe. John now focuses attention on the fifth and sixth trumpets (first and second woes) by giving more than twice the space to their description than he does to the previous four trumpets together. The fifth trumpet releases locusts from the Abyss. For five months these locusts torment the inhabitants of the earth who do not have the seal of God. John sees a “star” that has fallen to the earth. Since this star is given a key to open the Abyss, it is reasonable to understand it as being a symbolic reference to an angel. This is supported by v.11, where “the angel of the Abyss” is mentioned and named “Abaddon,” as well as 20:1, where reference is also made to “an angel coming down” who has the key to the Abyss, where Satan is thrown.

The “Abyss” (GK 12) is also referred to in 11:7 and 17:8 as the place from which the beast arises. This word refers to the underworld as (1) a prison for certain demons (cf. 2 Peter 2:4;Jude 6) and (2) the realm of the dead (Romans 10:7). When the Abyss is opened, huge billows of smoke pour out, darken the sky, and release horselike locusts on the earth.

Locust plagues are one of the severest plagues of humankind. The imagery of locusts, appearing like armies, advancing like a cloud, darkening the heavens, and sounding like the rattle of chariots, goes back to Joel’s vision of the locust army that came on Israel as a judgment from God (Joel 1:6; Joel 2:4–10). But the locusts of the Apocalypse inflict agony like scorpion stings (vv.3, 5,10). This, together with the fact that they do not eat grass (v.4), shows that these locusts are something other than ordinary earthly insects. Indeed, they have the special task of inflicting a nonfatal injury only on the beast worshipers, who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads (v.4; cf. comment on 7:3). This may imply that these locust-like creatures are not simply instruments of a physical plague (as in Moses’ or Joel’s day or under the first four trumpets) but are demonic forces out of the Abyss from whom the true people of God are protected (cf. John’s use of frogs to represent demonic powers in 16:13). The five months of agony (vv.5, 10) may refer to the life span of the locust (i.e., spring and summer). So severe is the torment they inflict that their victims will seek death (cf. Job 3:21; Jeremiah 8:3; Hosea 10:8).

John describes the locusts as an army of mounted troops ready for the attack (v.7). The heads of the locusts resemble horses’ heads. John does not say that the locusts had crowns of gold on their heads but that they wore “something like crowns of gold” on their heads. This may refer to the yellow green of their breasts. This, combined with their resemblance to human faces, suggests something unnatural, hence demonic. The comparison of their “hair” with that of women may refer to the locusts’ long antennae, while their lionlike teeth suggest the terrible devastation they can bring (cf. Joel 1:6–7). The “breastplates of iron” refers to their scales, which appeared as a cuirass of metal plates across the chest and long flexible bonds of steel over the shoulders. Their sound was like the rushing of war chariots into battle (v.9; cf. Joel 2:5).

This description creates an image of the fearful onslaught of demonic powers in the last days. Therefore, their leader is called “Abaddon” (GK 11 & 13) in Hebrew and “Apollyon” (GK 661) in Greek. The Hebrew term means “destruction” or “ruin” (cf. Job 26:6; Proverbs 27:20) and more often “the place of ruin” in Sheol (cf. Job 26:6; Proverbs 15:11; Proverbs 27:20), “death” (cf. Job 28:22), or “the grave” (cf. Psalms 88:11). The Greek term means “exterminator” or “destroyer” and does not occur elsewhere in the Bible. Some understand Apollyon as a separate angel entrusted with authority over the Abyss. Why John names the king of the Abyss in both Hebrew and Greek is open to question. Perhaps his readers’ background in Hebrew, on which John’s names and thoughts seem to turn (cf. 16:16), was so slender that an additional help here and there was necessary. This stylistic trait of giving information in bilingual terms is peculiar to Revelation and John’s Gospel (19:13, 17, 20; 20:16).