The Locust Invasion

LOCUST ARMY
(The Reign & Rule of the Destroyer)

Apocalyptic Hypothetical Rendition
Fundamental Variables:

(1) Non-Supernatural Invasion
(a) No Evidence of Divine Intervention
(b) Source: Human Ingenuity
(2) Army of the Destroyer

REVELATION 9:1-11 “And the fifth angel trumpeted, and I (John) saw a (heavenly body) a star (a symbol of a leader visible in the night sky) a star out of heaven having fallen onto the earth (indicating his degradation in some way).”


Henry Commentary.- Having ceased to be a minister of Christ, he who is represented by this star becomes the minister of the devil; and lets loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ.
Some think this star represents some eminent bishop in the Christian church, some angel of the church; for, in the same way of speaking by which pastors are called stars, the church is called heaven; but who this is expositors do not agree.

Aune Commentary.- John does not say that he actually saw the star fall; he says only that he saw the star after it had fallen. Here the fallen star should be understood as a messenger and not to be identified with the angel of the abyss named Abaddon or Apollyon or Satan.

Thomas Commentary.- The idealist approach to Revelation usually tries to dodge the issue of identification by saying the star could be any one of a number of persons throughout history. Yet as much information is available here as has been for other trumpets where attempts to specify have been made. The suggestion that he is the Antichrist has very slim evidence.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 2 “And was given to it the key to the pit of the abyss (the unfathomable depths of many and bitter troubles which are without measure)…”

(Study Notes): “No angel retains permanent possession of the key of the abyss, so God had to give it to him for use on this special occasion. Here, the term abyss is the picture of a subterranean cavern connected to earth’s surface by a “shaft” or “well” whose opening has a secured lid of some type. Its inhabitants include the demonic prince (Abaddon or Apollyon) and the beast from the abyss (the Antichrist, seeking world dominion and rule).

Henry Commentary (Paraphrased).- To this fallen star was given the key of the bottomless pit. Having now ceased to be a minister of Christ, he becomes an antichrist, the minister of evil; and by the permission of Christ, who had taken from him the keys of the church, he becomes the devil's turnkey, to let loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ.

Boring Commentary (Paraphrased).- The vision opens with a fallen star-angel who opens the abyss which disgorges the swarm of demon locusts. The vision concludes with the declaration that the demon locusts are led by the “king/Emperor,” the angel of the abyss. The whole vision is thus framed with motifs from the myth of the fall of the evil angel.

The key was given to this star. When John saw the star, it was not in the act of falling, but had fallen already.

Stars.- The nearly seventy references to stars in the Bible highlight their status among the heavenly bodies. In a large number of instances, stars are mentioned with one or both of their familiar companions in the skies- the sun and the moon.
As physical features of the heavens, stars have from time immemorial seemed to the human imagination to be wanderers in vast space, and the Bible includes a reference to “wandering stars”.
Stars also become symbols of people. In Daniel’s apocalyptic vision, those who will awake to everlasting life “shall shine…like the stars forever and ever”(Dan. 12:3). False teachers/prophets who deviate from the truth are, as noted above, “Wandering stars” (Jude 13). –Dictionary of Biblical Imagery

God offered Abraham a posterity like the stars of heaven.

( Posssible Source of Falling Stars)
Renewal of Commitment to the Covenant
Moses rehearsed God’s dealings with Israel in the exodus and wilderness. He exhorted them to pledge themselves to covenant fidelity as the new generation chosen by the Lord to represent Him on the earth. Their commitment was to be personal and genuine. If not, the time of judgment would come in which the nations would question whether or not Israel was in fact the people of the Lord.

A STAR OF ISRAEL GOD WOULD NEVER BE WILLING TO FORGIVE
(Fallen Star Within the Nation Israel)
Moses gave this warning to all Israel: “…lest there should be among you man, or woman, or family, or tribe, whose heart turns away today from Jehovah our God to go (and) server the gods of those (pagan) nations; lest there should be among you a root that bears gall and wormwood; and it happens, when he hears the words of this curse, that he should bless himself in his heart, saying, ‘Peace I shall have, though in the stubbornness of my heart I walk, to snatch away the drunken (those offending against righteousness) with the thirsty (those thirsting for spiritual teachings in accordance to moral and ethical soundness); Jehovah will not be willing to forgive him, for then shall smoke the anger of Jehovah, and His zeal against that man, and shall lie upon him all the curses that area written in this book; and Jehovah shall blot out his name from under the heavens. And Jehovah shall set him apart unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which is written in this Book of the Law…” (Deuteronomy 29:17-20).

How to Identify a False Teacher
Deuteronomy 13:5 “If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, ‘Let us follow other gods’ (gods you have not knows) ‘and let us worship them,’ you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The Lord your God is testing you to find out whether you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul. It is the Lord your God you must follow, and Him you must revere. Keep His commands and obey Him; serve Him and hold fast to Him. That people or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery; He has tried to turn you from the way the Lord your God command you to follow.”

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 2 “And was given to it (hypothetically: a false teacher of Israel) the key to the pit of the abyss (the unfathomable depths of many and bitter troubles which are considered without measure to inundate the earth), and went up a smoke (blinding the eyes of men to the light of knowledge, while promoting ignorance and error of false teaching) out of the pit as smoke of a great furnace (as if the great ”aggravations and exasperations” bound up in error and cruelty of that dark world had broken lose upon the earth). And out of the smoke (of such smoldering residue) came forth locusts (a great and treacherous army).”

Thomas Commentary (Paraphrased).- The “fallen star” used the key give to him to unlock the shaft leading to the underground chamber. When he did so, smoke rose from the shaft as from an erupting volcano, but this was no volcano. In Revelation smoke may pertain to holy things, but most of the time it is in connection with judgment, doom, and torment. This unfavorable tone applies here too. The smoke is a vivid reminder of divine judgment at Sodom and Sinai. The volume of smoke compares to that produced by a large smelting furnace, usually used for purifying metals.

The volume is so great that it darkens the light of the sun and the air through which that light must pass. Under the previous trumpet the striking of the luminaries had obscured their light too, but this is a hindering of the sun’s effect, not an enfeebling of its ability to illuminate.

Thus shall rise the following of the Antichrist, and the effect of the rise of that formidable power. This, of course, synchronizes the beginning.

Barnes Commentary.- This woe is represented under the figure of calamities brought upon the earth by an immense army of locusts. A star is seen to fall from heaven-representing some mighty chieftain, and to him is give the key of the bottomless pit. He opens the pit, and then comes forth an innumerable swarm of locusts that darken the heavens, and they go forth upon the earth.

Mounce Commentary.- The one symbolized by the star has been variously identified. Some, interpreting the phrase “that had fallen” in a theological sense, taken the star to be a fallen angel. This is strengthened by reference to the nefarious (wicked) nature of his activity (unlocking the shaft of the Abyss and releasing its hordes).

Wilson Commentary.- The consequences (of the stars actions) are a plague unlike anything yet experienced on earth.
“And out of the smoke locust came down upon the earth.” Locusts were a common plague in the ancient world, and total devastation was usually left in their wake.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) “And it was said to them (the locusts) that they should not harm the grass (fig., the common man) of the earth, nor every green (prosperous and flourishing) thing, nor every tree (prominent man of high rank), except the men only (members among their own ranks- the “Forsakers of the Covenant” – counterfeit “Warriors of Christ” subscribed into their service) who (by such virtue do) not have the seal of God on the foreheads of them.”

Forsakers Of the Covenant
(Identification of Those Who Forsake the Covenant)
Deuteronomy 32:23-38 “’I (Jehovah) will increase upon them (the perverse and unfathful children of Israel) evils; I will use up My arrows on them. Exhaustion by famine, and burning by consumed heat (judgment) and bitter destruction, and the teeth of beasts (manifest in Revelation as the Anti-Christ and the Kingdom of Babylon), I will send upon them, with the venom of crawling things of the dust (those under the judgment of God consigned to the dust).
The sword shall bereave from without and terror from within; both the young man and the virgin, the suckling with the man of grey hairs. I said, ‘I will dash them to pieces; I will make cease from among men their memory. If not the provocation (provoking and aggravation) of an enemy I did fear least should misconstrue (misread or misconstrue) their adversaries (their opponents in the conflict), least they should say, ‘our hand is high’, and not Jehovah has done all this; for a nation void of counsel they (are); and there is in them no understanding. If they were wise they would understand this, they would comprehend their latter end. How shall one chase a thousand, and two put to flight ten thousand, it (it were) not for their God who sold them, and Jehovah had shut them up? For (is) not as our Rock their rock, even our enemies (being) judges. For of the vine of Sodom (is) their vine, and from the fields of Gomorrah; their grapes (are) grapes of gall; clusters (are) bitter for them. Their wine (is) the venom of serpents, and the venom of cruel asps. Is not it stored up with Me, sealed up in My treasuries? To Me (belongs) vengeance and retribution; in due time, shall slip their foot; for (is) near the day of their calamity, and are hurrying the things prepared for them. For Jehovah will bring His people justice, and on His servants He shall have compassion; for He sees that is gone (their) power, and only (remain) the imprisoned, and the abandoned.’”

Note: Consider the Prophecy of Daniel
Daniel 9:26-27 “And the (invading) people of a coming prince (the Antichrist) shall destroy the city and the sanctuary (devoted to the worship of Jehovah). And its end (shall be) with the (overwhelming) flood and (shall be) war until (the) end; desolations are determined. And he (the destroyer) shall confirm a covenant with the many (conspiring nations) (for) one week (i.e. seven years). And in half of the week (in the middle of the period of seven years, an important change would occur) he would make cease sacrifice and offering (ending the “deceitful refuge of impunity”), and upon a wing (the corner edges) desolating abominations (lifting the arbitration of punishment over and above obedience and moral purity in the ethical arena, resulting in judgments of horror), even until (the) end.”
Verse 27 “And that which was decreed (that which was determined, by divine Judgment of destruction) shall pour out on the desolator (the reigning band of terror).”
Wilson Commentary.- In Revelation, these locust do not devour their usual fodder but instead attack humans. These locust/scorpions are empowered to sting anyone missing the seal of God on their foreheads.

Thomas Commentary (Paraphrased).- The irresistible destructive power of locusts is proverbial in the Old Testament as is their seemingly limitless number.
But these locusts are different, and it remains to establish their identity. One perspective is that they signify human armies. The characteristics differentiating these locusts from ordinary ones are a serious obstacle to this view, however.
They have a form such as no human being has ever seen.

Mounce Commentary.- The key that is given to the angel unlocks the shaft leading down into a subterranean chasm called the Abyss. When the shaft is opened, out pour great clouds of smoke. From the smoke come evil spirits who have been imprisoned in the Abyss. Their mission is to torment the people who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. While there is no specific indication in Revelation that the Abyss is a place of torment, the rising smoke would normally be thought of as coming from fires below.
The dense clouds of smoke that rise up out of the Abyss recall the scene of God’s descent upon Mt. Sinai. Exod 19:18 says that the smoke of the mountain billowed up “like smoke from a furnace.” As the smoke rises, it blots out the sun and darkens the atmosphere of the earth. Here the darkening is brought about by the tremendous quantity of smoke that pours up out of the Abyss. While the Apocalypse uses metaphorical and figurative language with great freedom, it is not an allegory that must be decoded before it will yield its meaning. The experience itself is often “what is means.”
Out of the billowing smoke come a great horde of locust like creatures. Throughout the Old Testament the locust is a symbol of destruction. Bred in the desert, they invade cultivated areas in search of food. They may travel in a column a hundred feet deep and up to four miles in length, leaving the land stripped bare of all vegetation.

Barnes Commentary.- They (the locusts) have a command given them to do a certain work. They are not to hurt the earth, or any green thing, but they are sent against those men which have not the seal of God on their foreheads. Their main business, however, was not to kill them, but to torment them for a limited time- for five months.
At first the locusts were mingled with the smoke, so that they were not distinctly seen, but when the smoke cleared away they appeared in great numbers. The idea seems to be, that the bottomless pit was filled with vapor and with those creatures, and that as soon as the gate was opened the whole contents expanded and burst forth upon the earth. The sun was immediately darkened, and the air was full, but the smoke soon cleared away, so that the locusts became distinctly visible.
Locusts were remarkable for their numbers- so great often as to appear like clouds, and to darken the sky. In this respect they could naturally be symbolical of numerous armies or hosts of men. This natural symbol of numerous armies is often employed by the prophets.
Locusts are an emblem of desolation or destruction. No symbol of desolation could be more appropriate or striking than this, for one of the most remarkable properties of locusts is, that they devour every green thing and leave a land perfectly waste. They do this even when what they destroy is not necessary for their own sustenance. “Locusts seem to devour not so much from a ravenous appetite as from a rage for destroying. Destruction, therefore, and not food, is the chief impulse of their devastations. They reduce everything indiscriminately to shreds, which become manure.” Locusts become, therefore, a most striking symbol of an all-devouring army, and as such are often referred to in Scripture. The natural application of this symbol, then, is to a numerous and destructive army, or to a great multitude of people committing ravages, and sweeping off everything in their march.

Wall Commentary.- The church (keeping the commands and obeying God) is not harmed by the evils released from the Abyss; they “pass over” those who have the seal of God on their foreheads, corrupting only those who do not.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 5 “And it was given to them that not they should kill (destroy or annihilate them as a nation), but that they be tormented (with the resulting oppression and misery of their ravages) five months (symbolizing the season during which the locusts continue their ravage); and the torment of them (is) as (the) torment of a scorpion when it stings a man (diffusing misery, wretchedness- and general distress- through their acts of oppressive cruelties).”

Wall Commentary.- The meaning of five months is variously understood. Some commentators have suggested this period of time refers to the locust’s life cycle. This interpretation mixes together the symbolical locusts with biological ones. While we find John mixing the phrase is best read for its symbolic value, since elsewhere Scripture uses “five” to refer to the “short-term”. In this sense, then, the reign of locusts does not exact fatal or ultimate consequences-which may explain John’s next observation that People suffered agony…like that of a sting of a scorpion when it strikes a man. Their work is nasty but temporary.
In fact, from the locusts’ perspective, their mission is to torture people; from humanity’s perspective, their experience is sheer agony.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 6 “And in those days men will seek death (the permanent cession of such systematic use of terror and coercion), and they will not find it (within their ranks), and they will long to die (from the effectiveness of such a powerful forces and from subscription into their service), and death (associated with separation from the hand of their tormentors) will flee from them.”

Wilson Commentary.- The venom of these locusts is sufficiently toxic to torture the victims for five months. The period of time again indicates incompleteness. The pain, however, is so great that everyone seeks death but cannot find it.

Barnes Commentary.- “And unto them was given power.” This was something that was imparted to them beyond their ordinary nature. The locust in itself is not strong, and is not a symbol of strength. Though destructive in the extreme, yet neither as individuals, or as combined, are they distinguished for strength. Hence it is mentioned as a remarkable circumstance that they had such power conferred on them. “As the scorpions of the earth have power.” The phrase “the earth” seems to have been introduced here because these creatures are said to have come up from “the bottomless pit” and it was natural to compare them with some well-known objects found on the earth. The scorpion is an animal with eight feet, eight eyes, and a long, jointed tail, ending in a pointed weapon or sting. It is the largest and the most malignant of all the insect tribes. It somewhat resembles the lobster in its general appearance, but is much more hideous.
The torment of a scorpion, when he strikes a man is thus described:- “When the scorpion has stung, the place becomes inflamed and hardened; it reddens by tension, and is painful by intervals, being now chilly, now burning. The pain soon raises high, and rages, sometimes more, sometimes less. A sweating succeeds, attended by a shivering and trembling; the extremities of the body become cold, the groin swells, the hair stands on end, the members become pale, and the skin feel throughout the sensation of a perpetual pricking, as if by needles.” The sting of the scorpion, therefore, becomes the emblem of that which causes acute and dangerous suffering. Their purpose would be to vex and trouble men. Their warfare would be with men.
They commenced war. They were not the friends of God. The leader of this host was a infidel or enemy of God.
“That they should not kill them.” This is in accordance with the nature of the symbol. The locusts do not themselves destroy any living creature; and the sting of the scorpion, though exceedingly painful, is not usually fatal. The proper fulfillment of this would be found in that which would not be generally fatal, but which would diffuse misery and wretchedness. There may be included in the fair interpretation of the words, general distress and sorrow; acts of oppression, cruelty, and violence; such a condition of public suffering that men could regard death as a relief if they could find it. But, they should be tormented. This is, that they should be subjected to ills and troubles which might be properly compared with the sting of a scorpion.

Beale Commentary (Paraphrased).- The locusts impose a form of psychological suffering…
Likewise, the Exodus plagues demonstrated that the gods of Egypt were false and that Jehovah was the only true God. This realization caused Egyptians psychological turmoil because of the realization that their religious commitments were vain and that they were in opposition to God through their idolatry and their persecution of God’s people. This realization included an anxious conviction of sin, not accompanied by repentance. These events make people live in fear and terror in response to their hopeless plight, the reality of which has dawned dramatically on them.
The depiction in Revelation emphasizes that the locusts are fierce and horrific beings that affect people in a fierce, horrific, and destructive manner.

(Continuing Revelation 9:1-11) Verse 7 “And the likeness of the locusts (is) like [the strength of] horses [strong and mighty- appearing as an overwhelming military force of troops] having been prepared [for this specific service and made ready] for war, and on the heads crowns like gold [an ornament of honor or glory- alluding to the extent of their conquests and the multitude of powers which they subdued], and the faces [the outward disposition] of them as faces of men [having the cunning of intelligent beings- not simply using brute force, having the show of wisdom and sagacity]; and they had hairs of women [they were of a great number, though if to appear individually they would seem inconsequential and physically weak; though small- yet numerous; the image hints at the keenness of their precision], and the teeth of them were as lions [images of seemingly unconquerable, unstoppable power- whose teeth were ferocious instruments designed to break the power of those whom they intent on devour]; and they had breastplates [defensive armor] as iron breastplates [being impenetrable so to overcome resistance- serving for a shield or defense while moving in thorny shrub and brambles]; and the sound of the wings [the means of rapid movement] of them as sound (of) many chariots or horses [painting a picture of military might of great strength, denoting military superiority and fighting power on the battle field] running to war. And they have tails like scorpions [which causes acute and dangerous sufferings- dealing with men with the severity as a result of the afflictions proceeding from themselves], and the stings were in the tails of them, and the authority of them (is) to harm men five months [symbolizing the ordinary time during which locust continue their ravages].”


Verse 11 “And they (the locusts) have over them a king [the “false prophet”- the Antichrist sovereign commander], the angel [the administrator over the affairs] of the abyss [representing the dark side of existence synonymous for the abode of those spiritually separated and excluded from the presence and favor of God], name to him [the administrator over the affairs of the abyss; the underworld hierarchy- a man of seniority and power], in Hebrew, Abaddon (ah BAD un) [destruction], and in the Greek (the) name he has (is) Apollyon (A poll yon] (the persecutor of the church).”

Wilson Commentary.- The uncanny resemblance of locusts to horses was proverbial in antiquity. Hence their arrival was likened to that of an enemy army.

Barnes Commentary.- And their faces ere as the faces of men. They had a human countenance. This would indicate that, after all, they were human beings that the symbol described, though they had come up from the bottomless pit. Horsemen, in strange apparel, with a strange head-dress, would be all that would be properly denoted by this. And their teeth were as the teeth of lions. Strong; fitted to devour. The teeth of the locust are by no means prominent, though they are strong, for they readily cut down all substances that come in their way. But it is evident that John means to say that there was much that was unusual and remarkable in the teeth of these locust. They would be ravenous and fierce, and would spread terror and desolation like the lions of the desert.
The warriors referred to would be well clad with defensive amour. It was an army that was symbolized, and everything about them served to represent hosts of men well armed, rushing to conflict.
The quantity of these insects is incredible to all who have not themselves witnessed their astounding number; the whole earth is covered with them for the space of several leagues. The noise they make in browsing on the trees and herbage may be heard to a great distance, and resembles that of an army foraging in secret. And their power was to hurt men. Not primarily to kill men, but to inflict on them various kinds of tortures. The word here used, rendered to hurt- properly means to do wrong, to do unjustly, to injure, to hurt- conveying the idea that they would produce distress by doing wrong to others, or by dealing unjustly with them. It does not appear that the wrong would be by inflicting bodily torments, but would be characterized by that injustice towards others which produces distress and anguish. And they had a king over them. A ruler who marshaled their hosts. Locusts often , and indeed generally, move in hands, though they do not appear to be under the direction of any one as a particular ruler or guide. In this case it struck John as a remarkable peculiarity that they had a king – a king who, it would seem, had the absolute control, and to whom was to be traced all the destruction which would ensue from their emerging from the bottomless pit.
All those hosts were subject to one mind-to the command of the single leader named Abaddon, or Apollyon-Destroyer. This name would be appropriate to one who spread his conquests so far over the world; who wasted so many cities and towns; who overthrow so many kingdoms; and who laid the foundation of ultimate conquests by which so many human beings were sent to the grave. The description of the leader “as the angel of the bottomless pit,”- the spirit of darkness himself- what term would better characterize the leader?

He was one talented, sagacious, powerful, warlike, wicked and fitted to subdue the nations of the earth and to hold dominion of the people under his yoke.

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