Revelation 9:5

And it was given them that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when it striketh a man.

The "torment" of people who have swallowed some false idea is as amazing as it is pitiful. This writer was living in Washington, D.C., when the atom bomb spies who delivered nuclear weapons to the Russians were executed. People who had swallowed the locust-lie of Communism traveled long distances to march in front of the White House in protest; and it was pathetic to see old ladies, some of them in their 70's, marching in a freezing rain in 16 degree weather, hobbling along, shouting until they were hoarse, and dragging placards and banners with them. They were people clearly tormented by an idea. One sees similar dupes screaming, protesting, demonstrating, and snarling in almost every presentation of news media coverage of world events. There are a lot of "tormented" people today; and it should be kept in mind that this is only Phase I of the locust saga.

They should be tormented for five months ... There is a limitation here; but the more it is studied, the less comforting it is. What happens after the "five months"? Instead of disappearing, the hurt enters Phase II in the sixth trumpet (See under Revelation 9:13). The repetition of this "five months" in Revelation 9:10 "makes it doubly significant."[31] "The very fact that these monsters are not to kill indicates that this torment is only half of what is to occur."[32] The other half will appear in the next woe (Revelation 9:13f). Just as in the first four trumpets, the destruction was limited to "one third," here the restriction of "five months" is imposed. False ideas run their course and are discredited. No one today effectively preaches the doctrine of Aryan supremacy; but there are swarms of locusts, and as soon as one dies, a hundred others take its place. Satan has plenty of them!

Of course, some seek a specific, dated, historical fulfillment of these "five months." They have been viewed as: (1) five years of Gothic rule; (2) 150 years of Saracen control; (3) 79 1/2 natural years (A.D. 510-589); (4) Muslim conquests (A.D. 612-672); and (5) merely a short time, etc.[33] Lenski's suggesting that the ten plagues of Egypt are in mind, with the meaning that, "This is only half of what's going to happen,"[34] seems reasonable and fits the interpretation advocated here. The locusts of the fifth trumpet are just half of these two woe judgments in Revelation 9, there being a very definite connection between them.

Torment as the torment of a scorpion ... All of us have known people who were "stung" by some ridiculous false philosophy! See first paragraph under this verse. The mention of "scorpion" was explained thus by Roberson:

The scorpion takes its place with the snake, and other creatures hostile to man, and with them symbolizes the forces of spiritual evil which are active in the world.[35]

[31] R. C. H. Lenski. op. cit., p. 291.

[32] Ibid.

[33] A. Plummer, op. cit.. p. 264.

[34] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 292.

[35] Charles H. Roberson. op. cit., p. 58.