Revelation 9 - Lake Erie Bible Church

Chapter 9
THE REVELATION TO JOHN
ANALYSIS VERSES 7 – 11:
1. Vss.7-11 now gives a detailed description of the demon locusts released upon
mankind.
2. The expanded illustration of details serves both a rhetorical and chronological
purpose.
3. Rhetorically it provides a second closer look at the event at hand in order to bring out
some important points.
4. Chronologically, it confirms that the primary period in view as it relates to the
trumpet judgments is 5 months (vs.10).
5. Some grammatical emphasis are seen throughout these verses to help the reader to
understand its descriptive nature to include:
A. The comparative nature of these descriptions as noted in:
1) The opening subject noun “appearance/o ` m o i , w m a – homoioma” only used 1x
in Revelation that originally meant “what is made similar/a copy”, but came to
mean the form of something or the outward appearance denoting a
resemblance rather than a hard copy.
2) The following cognate term “like/o]moioj – homoios” used 3x denoting a
likeness or similarity (vss.7 2x ,10).
3) The comparative conjunction “like/as it were/w ` j – hos” used 6x further
indicating similarities but not hard copies (vss.7 2x ,8 2x ,9 2x ).
4) These terms combined indicate that the descriptive nature of these demons is
presented in caricature rather than exact duplicates of the objects described.
5) They are designed to reveal certain characteristics of manner, personality,
form and function in their appearance coinciding with their method of
operation.
B. The consistent used of the feminine gender in the pronoun “their/a u v t o , j – autos”
that always refers back to their original manifestation as “locusts/avkri,j – akros
(feminine)” denoting the cohesive nature of all of these demons in likeness.
6. It is to be recognized that John is describing various characteristics of these creatures
by describing how they appeared physically.
7. There are 9 distinct characteristics ascribed to them with the first in vs.7a, “And the
appearance of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle”.
8. Interestingly enough, many have noticed that the head of the locust looks like a
horse’s head in miniature, which provides a built in caricature of symbolism.
9. The general understanding of this phrase relates to the fact that Roman war-horses
were very large, bred specifically for battle, taught to bite, and equipped with razor
sharp hooves.
10. Beyond that, their horses were equipped with various forms of armor for the head
and body including armor of lamellar that consists of small plates laced together to
form armor that could be made from hardened leather, horn, bone, layered felt, or in
some cases, iron.
11. John could also be referencing the fact that this group is lined up across the horizon in
battle array, just as military horses would be just before the charge into battle.
12. While both may be in view, the point of the symbolism here is that this army was an
incredibly fearsome spectacle and would strike fear into the heart of anyone that
observed it.
Lake Erie Bible Church
P-T Ken Reed
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