12The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come.
Dig Deeper
Jonathan Swift was a famous author of the 18th century. His most famous work was the deeply satirical novel, Gulliver’s Travels. In 1729 he wrote a short article entitled, "A Modest Proposal." In this article he suggested that the Irish, who were suffering from crop failure, famine, and stark poverty, should solve their problems by eating their young. He even proposed recipes for doing such a thing. Swift’s shocking article was actually a scathing satire, criticizing the societal structures and attitudes that had allowed conditions to get as bad as they had. Imagine, though, someone reading that article and not realizing that it was a satire, and taking it to be a literal proposal. Not only would Swift’s point be missed, the repercussions of such a mistake would be vast.
When I was younger, I was extremely fascinated by the book of Revelation. I read without really understanding it, but had been taught, as have most Americans in the last two hundred years or so, that Revelation was a prediction of the bleak future of mankind. In its mysterious pages were housed the horrific events and catastrophes that would bring about the end of the world. Of course, there was one problem with that. I didn’t know anything about Hebrew writing styles and genres, let alone their culture. Unfortunately when I did read books that purported to explain the Revelation, I read authors who, in retrospect, didn’t seem to know much about them either. It is vitally important to read literature in the genre and style in which it was written.
The book of Revelation is simply not a book of prophecy in the classic Hebrew style. It was written as an apocalyptic, a genre that is no longer in use today but was quite common in John’s day. The first and most important aspect of apocalyptic literature was that it was written to deal with contemporary issues. In his book "Biblical Interpretation: An Integrated Approach," W. Randolph Tate describes the difference between apocalyptic and prophetic literature:
Apocalypse is one literary genre while classical Hebrew prophecy is another. To interpret apocalyptic as prophecy is simply to misinterpret. . . . First, prophecy carries with it a contingency: the outcome in prophecy depends upon the actions of a certain group of people. This is not the case with apocalyptic. In apocalypse, this evil age is so far beyond redemption that a predetermined and unchangeable course has been mapped out for human history. Second, the prophetic future is a continuation of the present and is itself part of the course history. In apocalypse the future is a decisive break with the present age brought about by the direct intervention of God. . . And third, at least in written form, prophecy is poetic while apocalypse is narrative—albeit highly figurative—prose.
This all means that when we read the Revelation we must take care to read it as the highly symbolic and contemporary focused (that is, focused on the time it was written rather than the distant future) piece of literature that it was intended to be. The Revelation is not a book of prophecy predicting the end of the world but a book of apocalyptic describing the ending of the Old Covenant.
9:7-9 - The demon-locusts are very similar in many ways to the descriptions of the invading heathen armies given by the prophets (Jer. 51:27; Joel 1:6; 2:1-11). John seems to be indicating that these demon-locusts are imposters, wearing something like crowns of gold. He also tells us that their faces resembled human faces. What could John mean by this? If, as we stated earlier, he is referring to a demon army, then this would make sense as demons have the ability to possess human beings and influence their behavior (Luke 8:29).
The description of the demon-locust army may then, refer to the gangs of murderous Zealots who roamed around Jerusalem during the Roman siege in 70 AD. These thug gangs terrorized the people of Jerusalem. According to Josephus, the people had more to fear from the Zealots than they did from the Romans. He wrote in The Jewish War, "With their insatiable hunger for loot, they ransacked the houses of the wealthy, murdered men and violated women for sport; they drank their spoils with blood, and from mere satiety they shamelessly gave themselves up to effeminate practices, plaiting their hair and putting on women’s clothes. . . They copied not merely the dress, but also the passions of women, devising in their excess of licentiousness unlawful pleasures in which they wallowed as in a brothel. Thus they entirely polluted the city with their foul practices. Yet though they wore women’s faces, their hands were murderous." It is quite probable that John was referring to this band of demon-influenced Zealots who had given themselves over to all types of perverse and violent acts. This makes sense of John’s words, their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.
John, in describing the locust army, said the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. This is the same sound made by the wings of the angels in the Glory Cloud (Ezek. 1:24; 3:13; 2 Kings 7:5-7). The difference is that this sound is made by demons and the demon-influenced. John is drawing a comparison here, although demons and fallen angels are distinct beings. According to Genesis 6 and the book of Enoch (which was accepted as accurate by Jude, Peter, and universally embraced by the early Church Fathers) the demons were the Nephilim. The Nephilim were the offspring of fallen angels and human women who taught mankind all kinds of evil. The Nephilim, after their physical death, were sentenced to roam the earth as bodiless spirits until the end of all things.
9:10-12 - John describes these demons as having tails and stings like scorpions, thus identifying them with Satan, the ultimate serpent and scorpion. John identifies the king of these demons with both his Greek and Hebrew names, Apollyon and Abaddon. Both words mean Destruction and Destroyer. Abaddon is often used in the Old Testament as a symbol for the realm of the dead or the "place of destruction" (Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Ps. 88:11; Prov. 15:11; 27:20). This can be a bit confusing because we are dealing with so many symbols here. Basically, Abaddon, is a symbol of destruction. Destruction is a metaphor for the realm of the dead, which is Sheol in the Hebrew. Even though Satan has never been to Sheol, he is the destroyer and thus also symbolizes Sheol. Thus, when John says that Abaddon is the king of the demons, he is referring to none other than Satan. Satan is the ultimate personification of death and destruction (Heb. 2;14). This is not to imply that Satan is literally, nor has he ever been in the Abyss or in Sheol. Satan currently roams the earth (Job 1:7; 2:2; 1 Peter 5:8) and his ultimate fate is Gehenna, the Lake of Fire (Matt. 25:41). John is telling us that Satan’s minions are about to be let loose upon the Jewish nation. This would indeed be hell on earth. And yet, this is only the first of the three woes. This is not the worst of the woes. There are two yet to come.
Devotional Thought
This passage confirms Paul’s point in Romans 1 that because the world has been out of sorts ever since the rejection of God in the Garden of Eden: There is no end to the evil to which men can sink once they decide to reject God and embrace sin. Do you make a point to actively reject every appearance of evil in your life, or do you play with the fire of sin? In what areas of your life are you tempted to give Satan a foothold by not immediately rejecting evil thoughts or behaviors.
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