John Gill 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)

And they had hair, as the hair of women
Some locusts have smooth, others hairy heads ^F14 : this fitly points at the Arabians or Saracens, who, as Pliny says ^F15 , used to wear long hair without cutting it, and attired as women, and have their names also from women: they were called Hagarenes, from Hagar, Abraham's handmaid, by whom he had Ishmael, the father of these people; afterwards they took the name of Saracens, from Sarah, the wife of Abraham, whose posterity they would be thought to be; though they may have the latter name, either from (qro) , to "rob" and "steal", with the Arabians, or from the same word, as it signifies to "comb", from the combing and plaiting: of their hair.

This may also point at the effeminacy of the western locusts, the monks and friars, who dress more like women than men; and many of them claim the virgin Mary for their patroness; and may in general design the votaries of the church of Rome, who are under the vow of a monastic life, as those among the Jews, under a Nazarite's vow, wore long hair.

And their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions ;
so in (Joel 1:6) ; which may denote the ravages and devastations of the Saracens in the empire, robbing, pilling, and destroying all they met with; and is applicable enough to the devouring jaws of the Romish clergy, their plundering the estates of men, their cruelties and barbarities exercised by their Inquisition. Pliny says ^F16 , that locusts will gnaw the doors of houses.

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FOOTNOTES:

• F14: Gloss. in T. Bab. Cholin. fol. 65. 1.
• F15: Hist. Nat. l. 6. c. 28.
• F16: L. 11. c. 29.