SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:12
Y mir cuando l hubo abierto el sexto sello, y he aquí fue hecho un gran terremoto; y el sol se puso negro como un saco de cilicio, y la luna fue hecha toda como sangre.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Revelation 6:12
Verse 12. The sixth seal] This seal also is opened and introduced by Jesus Christ alone. A great earthquake] A most stupendous change in the civil and religious constitution of the world. If it refer to Constantine the Great, the change that was made by his conversion to Christianity might be very properly represented under the emblem of an earthquake, and the other symbols mentioned in this and the following verses.
The sun - the ancient pagan government of the Roman empire, was totally darkened; and, like a black hair sackcloth, was degraded and humbled to the dust.
The moon - the ecclesiastical state of the same empire, became as blood - was totally ruined, their sacred rites abrogated, their priests and religious institutions desecrated, their altars cast down, their temples destroyed, or turned into places for Christian worship.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 12. And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal , etc.] Of the sealed book which the Lamb took out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne, in order to open it, and unloose its seals. About this seal interpreters much differ; some refer this to the destruction of Jerusalem, because of the likeness of expressions here used, and in ( Matthew 24:7,29 Luke 21:25,26 23:29,30); but this was past many years before this seal was opened; and besides, though that time was a day of wrath to the uttermost upon the Jewish people, and it was the Lamb's day of wrath, taking vengeance on them for their unbelief and rejection of him as the Messiah; yet they had no sense of the Lamb, nor any apprehension of his wrath at that time, nor have they now, but imputed their calamity to their divisions and quarrels among themselves. Others think this seal belongs to the destruction of the Roman empire by the Goths, Huns, Vandals, etc. but it should be observed, that the empire stood some hundreds of years after the end of the fifth seal and the opening of this; and it was after the seventh seal, and at the sounding of the trumpets, that that destruction came on; moreover, that calamity was by the savageness of some barbarous nations which overrun the empire, but this here spoken of comes from the wrath of the Lamb; add to which, that that calamity distressed the Christians in the empire, and them chiefly, whereas this falls only upon the enemies of the Lamb, and the persecutors of his people. Others are of opinion that this has respect to the strange change of affairs in the church of Christ, through the rise, power, and tyranny of antichrist; by the earthquake they suppose is meant the shaking of both church and state by the man of sin; who shook the doctrines, ordinances, and discipline of the church, and threw all into confusion, and introduced a new face of things; and also shook the kingdoms of the earth, and the thrones and crowns of princes: by the sun becoming black, they think is meant the sun of righteousness, Jesus Christ, who was obscured in the doctrines concerning him, as the one and only Mediator, and justification by his righteousness, and pardon through his blood, by introducing the mediation of angels and saints, the doctrine of justification by works, and the doctrine of merit, works of supererogation, indulgences, pardons, penance, and purgatory: by the moon they understand the church, which receives all its light, grace, righteousness, and holiness, from Christ, and which, like the moon, is changeable as to its outward form and circumstances; and this became as blood, through the persecutions, massacres, and cruelties of the Romish antichrist, who has been made drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs of Jesus: the stars they take to be the ministers of the word; either hypocritical ones, who were like unripe figs, destitute of true grace, and so were easily shaken with the wind of Papal power, and fell into the earth, and apostatized from the faith, and conformed to the corruptions of antichrist; or the true ministers of the Gospel, who were put to death, and that to an untimely and violent one, signified by the shaking of untimely figs by a mighty wind: by the heaven departing as a scroll rolled up, they suppose is designed either the church, which fled into the wilderness, and remained invisible during the Papal power and cruelty; or else the Scriptures, which the pope made himself sole judge and interpreter of and shut up from the common people in an unknown language, and forbid the laity the reading of them: by mountains they think are intended the kings and princes of the earth, who were obliged to submit to the Romish antichrist, and give their kingdoms to him, and receive their crowns and kingdoms from him, and be his vassals: and by the islands, the people their subjects, who were forced to acknowledge him as the supreme head, and receive his mark in their right hand or forehead, or they could not buy and sell: and by all ranks and degrees of men, as kings, etc. hiding themselves in rocks and mountains, and calling upon them to fall on them and cover them, they apply either to their invoking the virgin Mary, and other saints, to intercede for them, and screen them from the wrath of God and Christ, on account of their sins; or else to the persecutors of the saints, of every rank and in every age, and to the punishments that shall fall upon them. But however feasible this interpretation may seem to be, it is certain that this was not the face of things at the close of the fifth seal, or the Dioclesian persecution, and at the opening of the sixth, when Constantine came to the imperial throne, for then the church appeared as she is described in ( Revelation 12:1); which is just the reverse of this. There are others, who because of the very awful things here spoken of, and the very awful language in which they are expressed, conclude that this seal respects the day of judgment; not considering that the fifth seal ends about the year 313, at the close of the last of the ten persecutions, and that the sixth seal begins where that ends; and though above 1750 years have elapsed since that time, yet the day of judgment is not come, and we know not when it will; besides, here is another seal, a seventh seal, which follows, and introduces punishments on the Roman empire, and seven vials follow, which pour out plagues upon antichrist, all which can never be thought to be after the day of judgment; moreover, the account of the day of judgment stands in its proper place in ( Revelation 20:12); after the destruction of Babylon, the first resurrection, and the saints' thousand years' reign with Christ. But to proceed; the business which is the subject of this seal is the removing of Paganism, and Pagan governors out of the Roman empire; this was the thing the rider upon the white horse, under the first seal, set out upon to effect, and never ceased until he had accomplished it; and this is what ensued upon the close of the fifth seal, when Pagan persecution ceased, on Constantine, a Christian emperor, having the reins of power in his hands; and it cannot be thought, that so wonderful a change of things as this should be omitted in this prophetic history; and it is easy to observe that changes in kingdoms and governments, both as to the polity and religion of them, are sometimes expressed in such like figurative terms as here; (see Isaiah 13:9,10,13,17,19 34:4,5 Haggai 2:21,22); and which may be accommodated to this event as follows: and, lo, there was a great earthquake ; or shaking, both of the heavens and earth, and which, as it denotes in ( Haggai 2:6,7); compared with ( Hebrews 12:26,27); the removing of Jewish worship and ordinances, in order to make way for the Christian ordinances and institutions, which were to remain; so here it intends the removing of Pagan worship and idolatry, and of Pagan magistrates, that the Christian religion and Christian magistrates might take place. This, with what follows, concerning the darkness of the sun and moon, might be literally true; and it seems by historians, that there were such phenomena about those times; for it is asserted f200 , that a very great earthquake in Syria followed the Dioclesian persecution, which shook and caused to fall the tops of houses at Tyre and Sidon, and killed many thousands; and some such like happened at Rome, and at Spoletum, where above three hundred and fifty Pagans perished, as they were serving their idols. It is also observed f201 , that the moon was turned into blood in the times of Galerius, who succeeded. Dioclesian; and that the sun failed, and the stars shined for four hours, when Licinius was conquered by Constantine; but then these may be considered as symbols of the change in the empire. And the sun came black as sackcloth of hair ; which is made of black hairs; (see Isaiah 50:3); as when eclipsed. The sun was the chief deity worshipped by the Heathens, under various names, and this becoming black, may design the removing of their principal gods from their honour and glory, or the downfall of idolatry, which the Jews call hrz hdwb[ l hm , the sun of idolatry, which they suppose is meant in ( Song of Solomon 1:6). And Satan, the god of this world, who was worshipped in different forms, now fell, as Lucifer, the son of the morning, and as lightning from heaven, and was cast down from all his dignity, influence, and power, to the earth; for the casting out of the red dragon, the old serpent, and Satan, after his combat with Michael and his angels, in ( Revelation 12:3,7-9), refers to this very time; likewise the chief magistrate, the Heathen Roman emperor, may be included; and it is remarkable, that Dioclesian the emperor, who had now retired from the imperial government, and was under a cloud, under disgrace, and in distress, had, in the zenith of his glory, caused himself to be worshipped as a god, and as the brother of the sun and moon. And the moon became as blood ; as when obscured; the Alexandrian copy and some others, the Complutensian edition, the Vulgate Latin, and all the Oriental versions, read, the whole moon; this may design the next Heathen deity, or class of deities, for the moon was also worshipped by the Heathens under different names; and may likewise include the Pagan priesthood, which was next, and was annexed to the imperial dignity; and which was disused by, Constantine and his successors; and even the very title, and the robe which was a symbol of it, were laid aside as unworthy of Christian princes; see Mede upon the place.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 12-17 - When the sixth seal was opened, there was a great earthquake. The foundations of churches and states would be terribly shaken. Such bol figurative descriptions of great changes abound in the prophecies of Scripture; for these events are emblems, and declare the end of the world and the day of judgment. Dread and terror would seize on all sorts of men. Neither grandeur, riches, valour, nor strength, can support men at that time. They would be glad to be no more seen; yea to have no longer any being. Though Christ be a Lamb, he can be angry and the wrath of the Lamb is exceedingly dreadful; for if the Redeeme himself, who appeases the wrath of God, be our enemy, where shall we find a friend to plead for us? As men have their day of opportunity and their seasons of grace, so God has his day of righteous wrath. I seems that the overthrow of the paganism of the Roman empire is her meant. The idolaters are described as hiding themselves in their den and secret caves, and vainly seeking to escape ruin. In such a day when the signs of the times show those who believe in God's word, tha the King of kings is approaching, Christians are called to a decide course, and to a bold confession of Christ and his truth before their fellowmen. Whatever they may have to endure, the short contempt of ma is to be borne, rather than that shame which is everlasting __________________________________________________________________
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 ειδον 1492 5627 οτε 3753 ηνοιξεν 455 5656 την 3588 σφραγιδα 4973 την 3588 εκτην 1623 και 2532 ιδου 2400 5628 σεισμος 4578 μεγας 3173 εγενετο 1096 5633 και 2532 ο 3588 ηλιος 2246 εγενετο 1096 5633 μελας 3189 ως 5613 σακκος 4526 τριχινος 5155 και 2532 η 3588 σεληνη 4582 εγενετο 1096 5633 ως 5613 αιμα 129
Vincent's NT Word Studies
12. The sixth seal. "The Apocalypse is molded by the great discourse of our Lord upon 'the last things' which has been preserved for us in the first three Gospels (Matt. xxiv. 4; 25.; Mark xiii. 5-37; Luke xxi. 8-36; compare xvii. 20-37). The parallelism between the two is, to a certain extent, acknowledged by all inquirers, and is indeed, in many respects, so obvious, that it can hardly escape the notice of even the ordinary reader. Let any one compare, for example, the account of the opening of the sixth seal with the description of the end (Matt. xxiv. 29, 30), and he will see that the one is almost a transcript of the other. It is remarkable that we find no account of this discourse in the Gospel of St. John; nor does it seem as sufficient explanation of the omission that the later Evangelist was satisfied with the records of the discourse already given by his predecessors" (Milligan).
Earthquake (seismov). Lit., shaking. Used also of a tempest. See on Matt. viii. 24, and compare Matt. xxiv. 7. The word here is not necessarily confined to shaking the earth. In Matt. xxiv. 29, it is predicted that the powers of the heavens shall be shaken (saleuqhsontai, see on Luke xxi. 26). Here also the heaven is removed (verse 14). Compare Heb. xii. 26, where the verb seiw to shake (kindred with seismov) is used.
Black as sackcloth of hair (melav wv sakkov). Compare Matthew xxiv. 29; Isa. l. 3; xiii. 10; Jer. iv. 23; Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8; Joel ii. 31; iii. 15; Amos viii. 9, 10; Micah iii. 6. For sackcloth, see on Luke x. 13. The moon (h selhnh). Add olh whole. Rev., the whole moon.
