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John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 9:15

And the four angels were loosed ,.... The time being come, fixed by the decrees of God, making use of the Turks for the destruction of the eastern empire, the restraints of divine Providence were taken off from them, and they were suffered to pass the river Euphrates; they were let loose like so many furies, and in a little time overran and destroyed the whole empire, and settled their own, now called the Turkish or Ottoman empire; and which was done about the year 1301. Which were... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 9:16

And the number of the army of the horsemen ,.... This shows that the four angels before mentioned were men, and design generals of armies, or armies of men, even of horsemen; and manifestly point at the Turks, who were not only originally Persians, and had their name, as some say F5 Laonic. Chalcocondylas de reb. Turc. l. 1. p. 6. , from Turca in Persia, and פרש , from whence the Persians have their name, signifies an horseman; but the armies of the Turks chiefly consisted of horse,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 9:17

And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them ,.... In such numbers, and with horsemen on them, and in such order, and in appearance, as follows: having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth and brimstone ; which may be understood either literally of their external breastplates, which being of polished iron, according to the custom of these people, looked at a distance like sparkling fire, and seemed to be of the colour of hyacinth, or of a sky colour, and appeared as... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 9:18

And by these three was the third part of men killed ,.... The Alexandrian copy, and some others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, read, "by these three plagues": as the western Roman empire is in the preceding chapter frequently expressed by the third part of several things, see Revelation 8:7 ; so here the eastern Roman empire by the third part of men; vast numbers of the inhabitants of which were destroyed by the Turks, through the use of guns,... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 9:19

For their power is in their mouth ,.... In what proceeded out of their mouth, or seethed to do so; in their guns, and what came out of them: and in their tails ; which may design their foot soldiers, which were as the tail to their horse, and who sometimes did great service; or their way of fighting when they fled, by casting up arrows into the air, which would fall upon the heads and horses of those that pursued them; or their ambushments, by which they destroyed many; or their... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 9:20

And the rest of men which were not killed by these plagues ,.... By whom are meant the western antichristian party; and such of them as were not plagued, harassed, and destroyed by the Turks, as in Germany, at least some parts of it, France, Spain, Italy, &c.; yet repented not of the works of their hands : their idols, their images of saints departed, which their hands had made; the goodness of God in saving them from the depredations of the Turks, should have led them to repentance... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Revelation 9:21

Neither repented they of their murders ,.... Of the saints and martyrs of Jesus, with whose blood the western antichrist is made drunk, and which will be found in her, and for which she is answerable. Now, though the western parts of the empire escaped the scourge of the Turks, yet this did not bring them to repent of their murderous practices, but they went on to take away the lives of godly men; witness the persecutions of the Waldenses and Albigenses, the murders of John Huss and Jerom of... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 9:1

A star fall from heaven - An angel encompassed with light suddenly descended, and seemed like a star falling from heaven. The key of the bottomless pit - Power to inundate the earth with a flood of temporal calamities and moral evils. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 9:2

He opened the bottomless pit - Το φρεαρ της αβυσσου· The pit of the bottomless deep. Some think the angel means Satan, and the bottomless pit hell. Some suppose Mohammed is meant; and Signior Pastorini professes to believe that Luther is intended! There arose a smoke - False doctrine, obscuring the true light of heaven. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 9:3

Locusts - Vast hordes of military troops: the description which follows certainly agrees better with the Saracens than with any other people or nation, but may also apply to the Romans. As the scorpions of the earth have power - Namely, to hurt men by stinging them. Scorpions may signify archers; and hence the description has been applied to Cestius Gallus, the Roman general, who had many archers in his army. read more

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