SEV Biblia, Chapter 9:3
Y del humo del pozo salieron langostas en la tierra; y les fue dada potestad, como tienen potestad los escorpiones de la tierra.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Revelation 9:3
Verse 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.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 3. And there came out of the smoke locusts the earth , etc.] Not literally, for these locusts might not meddle with the grass, nor any green thing, or tree, as locusts do, only men, ( Revelation 9:4); and had a king over them, ( Revelation 9:11); which locusts have not, ( Proverbs 30:27), though the allusion is to such, which spawn and breed in pits, and may be properly said to come out of them; hence in the Hebrew tongue they are called ybg , from abg , a pit, or ditch: nor are devils intended, though they may be compared to locusts for their original, hell, or the bottomless pit; and for their numbers, we read of a legion of them in one man; and for their hurtful and mischievous nature: nor are the Goths and Vandals designed; these, though they harassed some parts of the eastern empire, yet chiefly the western; besides, they appeared under the former trumpets: but these are to be understood of the western and eastern locusts, especially the latter. The western locusts are the clergy of the church of Rome, cardinals, bishops, priests, monks, and friars, of every order; these were not instituted by Christ, but rose out of the bottomless pit, from the antichristian smoke of councils, decrees, and traditions; and are fitly compared to locusts for their number, which have been almost as the sand of the sea innumerable, and have spread themselves all over the nations of the earth, that have gone by the name of Christendom; and for their devouring nature, living in plenty and idleness, upon the fat of the land, in the best commons, glutting themselves with the spoils of others, devouring widows' houses, and impoverishing countries and kingdoms wherever they come. The eastern locusts are the Saracens, and who are chiefly designed; and who were to harass and distress the eastern empire, and prepare for its ruin, which is brought on under the next trumpet by the Turks. These are fitly signified by locusts, because the locusts generally come out of the eastern parts: it was an east wind which brought the plague of locusts into Egypt, ( Exodus 10:13); and the children of the east, the Arabians, are compared to grasshoppers, or locusts, in ( Judges 7:12); and one of the names of a locust is hbra , Arbeh, not much unlike in sound to an Arab. To which may be added, that it is a tradition of the Arabians, that there fell locusts into the hands of Mahomet, on whose backs and wings were written these words; we are the army of the most high God; we are the ninety and nine eggs, and if the hundred should be made perfect, we should consume the whole world, and whatever is in it.
And it was a law established by Mahomet, ye shall not kill the locusts, for they are the army of the most high God; and the Mahometans fancy that the locusts were made of the same clay as Adam was: and besides the tradition before mentioned, they say, that as Mahomet sat at table a locust fell, with these words on its back and wings; I am God, neither is there any Lord of the locusts besides me, who feed them; and when I please I send them to be food to the people, and when I please I send them to be a scourge unto them; hence his Saracens may well go by this name. Now these Saracens sprung up in the times of antichristian darkness, both Papal and Mahometan, and may be said to come out of the smoke of the bottomless pit; and the religion of Mahomet, which they embraced, was no other; and like locusts they were innumerable, they went in troops and bands, as locusts do, ( Proverbs 30:27); pillaging and ravaging all they could and their sudden and frequent incursions, the desolations and ravages which they made in the eastern empire, are very aptly expressed by the running to and fro of locusts; (see Isaiah 33:4 Joel 2:9). And unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power ; that is, to torment then, by striking them with their stings in their tails, ( Revelation 9:5,10). These are called scorpions of the earth, to distinguish them from sea scorpions, which are a kind of fish: so Aristotle and Pliny speak of terrestrial scorpions, which are the most hurtful; these are of the serpentine kind have an innocent and harmless look, but are soon angry; have stings in their tails, which they are always striking with, that they may miss no opportunity of doing mischief, and with which they strike in an oblique way f270 ; and which very fitly describes the Saracens, the race of the Ishmaelites, a generation of vipers, a subtle and treacherous sort of people, very furious and wrathful, and who lived by continual robbing and plundering of others at an unawares: and this may be applied to the western locusts, the monks and friars, who are the seed of the serpent; and who by good words and fair speeches deceive the hearts of the simple, have a form of godliness, and speak lies in hypocrisy, and lie in wait to deceive; and being provoked, are full of wrath and anger, and strike very hard with their anathemas and excommunications, and other sorts of punishment, which they have power to inflict.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-12 - Upon sounding the fifth trumpet, a star fell from heaven to the earth Having ceased to be a minister of Christ, he who is represented by thi star becomes the minister of the devil; and lets loose the powers of hell against the churches of Christ. On the opening of the bottomles pit, there arose a great smoke. The devil carries on his designs be blinding the eyes of men, by putting out light and knowledge, an promoting ignorance and error. Out of this smoke there came a swarm of locusts, emblems of the devil's agents, who promote superstition idolatry, error, and cruelty. The trees and the grass, the tru believers, whether young or more advanced, should be untouched. But secret poison and infection in the soul, should rob many others of purity, and afterwards of peace. The locusts had no power to hurt thos who had the seal of God. God's all-powerful, distinguishing grace wil keep his people from total and final apostacy. The power is limited to a short season; but it would be very sharp. In such events the faithfu share the common calamity, but from the pestilence of error they migh and would be safe. We collect from Scripture, that such errors were to try and prove the Christians, 1Co 11:19. And early writers plainl refer this to the first great host of corrupters who overspread the Christian church.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 εκ 1537 του 3588 καπνου 2586 εξηλθον 1831 5627 ακριδες 200 εις 1519 την 3588 γην 1093 και 2532 εδοθη 1325 5681 αυταις 846 εξουσια 1849 ως 5613 εχουσιν 2192 5719 εξουσιαν 1849 οι 3588 σκορπιοι 4651 της 3588 γης 1093
Vincent's NT Word Studies
3. Locusts (akridev). The idea of this plague is from the eighth plague in Egypt (Exod. x. 14, 15). Compare the description of a visitation of locusts in Joel 2. There are three Hebrew words in the Old Testament which appear to mean locust, probably signifying different species. Only this word is employed in the New Testament. Compare Matt. iii. 4; Mark i. 6.
Scorpions. See Ezek. ii. 6; Luke x. 19; xi. 12. Shaped like a lobster, living in damp places, under stones, in clefts of walls, cellars, etc. The sting is in the extremity of the tail. The sting of the Syrian scorpion is not fatal, though very painful. The same is true of the West Indian scorpion. Thomson says that those of North Africa are said to be larger, and that their poison frequently causes death. The wilderness of Sinai is especially alluded to as being inhabited by scorpions at the time of the Exodus (Deut. viii. 15); and to this very day they are common in the same district. A part of the mountains bordering on Palestine in the south was named from these Akrabbim, Akrab being the Hebrew for scorpion.
