The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (301 page)

9:4 the seal of God:
A mark of protection on the righteous of Israel.
See note on Rev 7:3
. 
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9:5 five months:
Roughly equivalent to the life cycle of an actual locust. 
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9:11 his name:
Abaddon
is a Hebrew term that means "destruction", and
Apollyon
is a Greek term that means "destroyer". • The former is associated with the underworld in Job 26:6, Ps 88:11, and Prov 15:11. 
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9:13-21
The sixth trumpet unbinds four demons who rouse an army of fire-breathing horses into battle. Unlike the locusts (9:5), these beasts with lion heads and serpent tails are given permission to kill masses of human life (9:18). 
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9:13 the golden altar:
The heavenly altar of incense, where the prayers of the saints ascend before God (8:3). Like its earthly counterpart, it has four horns protruding from its four corners (Ex 37:25-28). 
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9:14 river Euphrates:
The longest river in ancient Mesopotamia. Along its banks lived the Babylonians, one of the traditional archenemies of Israel. 
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9:15 hour . . . day . . . month . . . year:
The plan of God unfolds according to a precise timetable determined in advance.
a third of mankind:
The same fraction is applied to the plagues unleashed by the earlier trumpets (8:7, 9-10, 12). 
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9:20 did not repent:
The survivors of the sixth trumpet remain hardened in their wickedness (16:9, 11) despite the merciful purpose of these judgments to discipline sinners and bring them back to God (Lev 26:14-33).
worshiping demons and idols:
The Bible equates idolatry with service to fallen spirits (Deut 32:16-17; Ps 106:36-37). Taunts against idols as lifeless and motionless images were proverbial (Ps 115:4-7; Dan 5:23; Hab 2:18-19). 
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10:1-11:14
An interlude separates the sixth (9:13-21) and seventh trumpet (11:15-19), just as an interlude separated the sixth and seventh seal (7:1-17). This one sets in motion the second half of the book by renewing the commission to John, charged at the beginning of the book with writing down the prophetic visions (1:11), to prophesy "again" (10:11). 
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10:1-11
An enormous angel descends to earth, its legs straddling the shoreline and its right arm raised to swear an oath. Its appearance radiates the glory of the Father (rainbow, 4:3), the Son (wrapped in clouds, 1:7; face like the sun, 1:16), and the Holy Spirit (pillars of fire, Ex 13:21). Perhaps this is the Lord's angel who conveys to John the revelations of the book (1:1; 22:6). • Elsewhere in Scripture the "angel of the Lord" swears an oath in the name of God (Gen 22:15-18) and commissions both Prophets and Judges (Ex 3:210; Judg 6:11-14; 1 Chron 21:18). The immediate background is Dan 10-12, where Daniel encounters a heavenly figure who stood over the Tigris River. This messenger, too, had a glorious appearance (Dan 10:5-6) and swore an oath that God's plan would be fulfilled in the future (Dan 12:7). John stands at the other end of this prophetic pledge: what was far distant in Daniel's day is fast approaching in his own (10:6). • The angel takes an oath, not because of any defect in himself, as if one could not trust his word, but in order to show that his utterance proceeds from an infallible ordinance of God (St. Thomas Aquinas,
Summa Theologiae
II-II, 89, 10). 
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10:1 another mighty angel:
Distinct from the first "strong angel" (5:2) who cried out in a "loud voice" (10:3). 
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10:2 little scroll:
Seemingly a different scroll from that in 5:1 (the Greek terms are different). 
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10:3 a lion roaring:
The angel speaks the words of Christ, the Lion of Judah (5:5; cf. Is 31:4; Hos 11:10; Amos 3:8).
seven thunders:
The mighty voice of the Lord (Ps 29:3-9). It may be linked with the Spirit, who earlier appears as "seven spirits" (1:4) and "seven torches" (4:5). 
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10:6 swore by him:
The posture of the angel (10:5) is related to the oath: his hand touches heaven, and his feet span land and sea when he swears to the Creator of heaven, earth, and sea. Raising the hand is one of many gestures connected with oath swearing in the biblical world (Deut 32:40). 
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10:7 the mystery of God:
Unveiled as the kingdom of God that comes with the blast of the seventh trumpet (11:15). • The link between "mystery" and the messianic "kingdom" is forged in Daniel (Dan 2:28, 44-47; 7:13-14). 
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10:9 Take it and eat:
A renewal of John's prophetic mission to speak the word of God (10:11). The message he receives is sweet because it promises hope but turns sour because it entails suffering for saints and sinners alike. • The scene is modeled on Ezek 2:8-3:3, where the prophet consumed a scroll inscribed with judgments against Israel. At first, the scroll was sweet (Ezek 3:3), but its words of lamentation and woe made his task a bitter one (Ezek 3:14). 
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10:11 again prophesy:
John is to prophesy what is recorded in the visions of chaps. 11-22. 
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11:1 measure the temple:
A prophetic action in which John measures the sanctuary with a reed but excludes the outer court. There is broad agreement that his action is symbolic and that a spiritual distinction is implied, e.g., believing Israel (or believers in general) is marked out for protection, while unbelieving Israel (or unbelievers in general) is given over to judgment. The
measuring
that precedes the seventh trumpet (11:15) thus parallels the
sealing
that took place before the seventh seal (7:1-8). There is less agreement over what is measured. Some take it to be the Herodian Temple in Jerusalem, which was encompassed by an outer courtyard called the Court of the Gentiles. Others note that John elsewhere speaks of the temple of God in heaven (11:19; 14:17; 15:5), in which case the trampling of the outer court may symbolize the Church being persecuted by the unbelieving world. • Measuring the dimensions of the temple with a reed draws on imagery from Ezek 40-42. 
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11:2 trample over the holy city:
Taken literally, this would refer to the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in
A.D.
70, as in Lk 21:24. Though mass numbers of Jews perished in the calamity, the Christians of Jerusalem fled safely to the Transjordan town of Pella (Lk 21:20-21; Eusebius,
Ecclesiastical History
3, 5). Taken symbolically, this could refer to the persecution of the saints, whose destiny is the holy city above (Rev 21:2, 10). • Jerusalem and its sanctuary were twice before trampled down by the Gentiles, once by the Babylonians (Is 63:18) and then again by the Syrians (1 Mac 3:45).
forty-two months:
A time of tribulation (13:5), also described as three and a half years (12:14) or 1,260 days (11:3; 12:6). Some interpret these figures literally; others read them figuratively, indicating a limited period of persecution or as representing the entire course of Church history. • The time frame is drawn from Daniel's vision of a tribulation to come upon the People of God in the future (Dan 7:25; 9:27; 12:7). This was foreshadowed by the Syrian desecration of Jerusalem from 167 to 164
B.C.
 
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