that should be killed as they and the sun became black as were, should be fulfilled. sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood: 12 And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and lo, there was a great earthquake; ored in the sight of all good men. All these things were to happen during that generation. 13 And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a civil commotions, in the metaphorical style of the sacred writers. See Rev. viii. 5; xi. 13, 19; xvi. 18. See, also, Isa. ii. 19; xiii. 13; Joel iii, 16; Haggai ii. 6, 21; and many other places. This style is carried into by Christ and his apostles; Heb. xii. 26, 27. Sun became black as sackcloth of hair. - Cloth woven of black hair is of a deep blackness. Sackcloth was often of hair; it was very coarse of a deep black; and was worn, therefore, in seasons of trouble. The sun became black in the revelator's imagination. In reality, such a thing never happened; but we have already asserted the fact, in the language of Bishop Lowth, (which is given as a sample of what might be quoted from many authors,) that the Jews were in the habit of representing great changes on earth, by changes in the heavenly bodies. The heavens sometimes, in their descriptions, are covered with blackness, as when a terrific cloud, shutting from our vision half the hemisphere, arises with fearful violence, heaven seems as if it were about to expend itself in wrath upon the earth. See 1 Kings xviii. 45; Isa. 1. 3; Jer. iv. 28. ¶ Moon became as blood.. 12. The sixth seal. The events under the sixth seal are described under the most glowing imagery. The ancients were remarkable for the New Testament, and used both this style of writing. It seems wild and extravagant to men in this age. There is nothing, however, more certain, than that changes in heaven and on earth-among the heavenly bodies and among the hills and mountains were used by the Jewish prophets to describe political or national changes, - the building up or the overthrow of nations. Bishop Lowth says, "The Hebrew poets, to express happiness, prosperity, the instauration and advancement of states, kingdoms and potentates, make use of images taken from the most striking parts of nature, from the heavenly bodies, from the sun, moon, and stars; which they describe as shining with increased splendor, and never setting; the moon becomes like the meridian sun, and the sun's light is augmented seven fold; (see Isaiah xxx. 26,) new heavens and a new earth are created, and a brighter age commences. On the contrary, the overthrow and destruction of kingdoms, is represented by opposite images: the stars are obscured, the moon withdraws her light, and the sun shines no more; the earth quakes and the heavens tremble, and all things seem tending to their original chaos." -(Note on Isaiah xiii. 10.) A great earthquake. - Our Lord, in his prophecy of the destruction of Jerusalem, associated earthquakes with famines and pestilences; Matt. xxiv. 7; Mark xiii. 8; Luke xxi. 11. Earthquakes, or shaking of the earth, are frequently put for moral and "The This is precisely the style in which the prophets foretold the destruction of Jerusalem. earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble; the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining;" Joel ii. 10. "The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and the terrible day of the Lord come;" 31. See, also, Matt. xxiv. 29, quoted below. 13. Stars of heaven fell. This, also, is precisely in the prophetic fig-tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. style. Ezek. xxxii. 7; Daniel viii. 10; Joel ii. 10; iii. 15. It represented civil or political commotions. The metaphor of stars falling like figs from a tree was used by Isaiah to represent the fall of the powers of Idumea; xxxiv. 4, 5. See below. 14. Heaven departed as a scroll. The metaphor here, also, from Isaiah; see the verse last quoted. The metaphors in the 12th, 13th and 14th verses are clearly a description of the events that attended the destruction of Jerusalem; and are given almost precisely in the language that our Lord applied to that event, and that ancient prophecy applied to the temporal judgments that God sent upon rebellious countries. In Matt. xxiv. 29, we read, "Immediately after the tribulation of those days, [referring to the tribulation of wars, pestilences and famines, of which he had been speaking,] shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken. Now, no intelligent commentator of the present day has any doubt, that in the use of these splendid metaphors, our Lord was speaking of the destruction of Jerusalem. "That event took place "immediately after the tribulation of those days;" and in verse 34 it is said, "This generation shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled." Now look at the passage in the sixth of Revelations, and see if there be not changes in the sun, moon and stars. "The sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell upon the earth, even as a figtree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind," and the heaven departed as a scroll, &c. These are the very figures employed by our Lord to describe the 14 And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain events attending the destruction of Jerusalem; and taken in connection with the preceding signs of war, pestilence and famine, the whole seems to denote, beyond a doubt, that it is that event which is spoken of in the sixth chapter of Revelations. Such, also, are almost the precise terms in which the prophet describes the destruction of Idumea. See Isaiah 34th chap. "All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll, and all their host [viz., the stars] shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig-tree;" Isa. xxxiv. 4. And yet all this splendid imagery is expressly said by the prophet to refer to the destruction of Idumea, ver. 5. We cannot forbear quoting the following very intelligent remarks from Dr. Lightfoot, on the whole series of events mentioned under the six seals: "The opening of the six seals in this chapter speaks the ruin and rejection of the Jewish nation, and the desolation of their city, which is now very near at hand. The first seal opened shows Christ setting forth in battle array and avengement against them, as Psa. xli. 4, 5. And this the New Testament speaketh very much and very highly of; one while calling it his coming in clouds,' another while, his coming in his kingdom,' - and sometimes, his 'coming in power and great glory;' and the like. Because his plaguing and destroying of the nation that crucified him, that so much opposed and wrought mischief against the gospel, was the first evidence that he gave in sight of all the world of his being Christ; for, till then, he, and his gospel, had been in humility, as I may say, as to the eyes of men, -he persecuted whilst he was on earth, and they persecuted after him, and no course taken with and island were moved out of their places. 15 And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and 16,] They shall say to the rocks, Fall on us,' &c., doth not only warrant, but even enforce us to understand and construe these things in the sense that we do; for Christ applies these very words to the very same thing; Luke xxiii. 30. And here is another, and to me a very satisfactory reason, why to place the showing of these visions to John, and his writing of this book, before the desolation of Jerusalem." - (Harmony of the New Testament, Works, Milman's Ed., iii. 335-337.) ¶ Every mountain and island. The mountains are usually places of strength and security. Lot was advised to escape to the mountains from the fires of Sodom and Gomorrah; Gen. xix. 17. Jesus directed his disciples, at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem, to "flee unto the mountains ;" Matt. xxiv. 16. But to signify times of great commotion and distress, the very mountains are moved. To express a high state of joy, the mountains and hills are sometimes personified. The mountains "skipped like rams, and the little hills like lambs ;" Psa. cxiv. 6. them that so used both; but now he awakes, shows himself, and makes himself known by the judgment that he executeth. The three next seals opening, shows the means by which he did destroy, namely, those three sad plagues that had been threatened so oft, and so sure, by the prophets, 'sword, famine, and pestilence.' The second seal opened, sends out one upon a red horse, to take peace from the earth, and that men should destroy one another; he carried a great 'sword.' The third seal opening, speaks of famine, when corn for scarcity should be weighed like spicery in a pair of balances. The fourth seal sends out one on a pale horse, whose name was Death. The opening of the fifth seal reveals a main cause of the vengeance, namely, the blood of the saints which had been shed, crying, and which was to be required of that generation. These souls are said to cry from under the altar, either in allusion to the blood of creatures sacrificed, poured at the foot of the altar, or according to the Jews' tenet, that all just souls departed are under the throne of glory.' Answer to their cry is given, that the number of their brethren that were to be slain was not yet ful-xlix. 13; lv. 12. But to denote the filled; and they must rest till that should be; and then avengement in their behalf should come. This speaks suitable to that which we observed lately, that now times were begun of bitter persecution, an hour of temptation,' the Jews and devil raging, till the Lord should something cool that fury by the ruin of that people. The opening of the sixth seal [ver. xii. 13] shows the destruction itself, in those borrowed terms that the Scripture useth to express it by, namely, as if it were the destruction of the whole world; the sun darkened, the stars falling, the heaven departing, and the earth dissolved; and that conclusion, [ver. Praise the Lord, mountains and all hills; fruitful trees, and all cedars ;" cxlviii. 9. See also Isa. xliv. 23; overthrow of nations, princes, lead- the rich men, and the chief cap-| tains, and the mighty men, and every bond-man, and every freeman, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains: the revelator said, "Every mountain and island were moved out of their places," it means, we think, as is expressed in the following verse, that the leaders, being in rebellion against God, were put down. 16 And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: 17 For the great day of his fear, the wrath of God and the Lamb. Hide us from it, they cry. This phraseology seems to make it the more certain that the revelator was treating of the woes coming upon Jerusalem; for our Lord applies the same, in his memorable prophecy, to the time of those woes. "But Jesus, turning unto them, said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. For, behold the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us;" Luke xxiii. 28 15. And the kings of the earth. · The kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the chief captains, the mighty men, and every bondman and every free-man, &c. These men, rulers high in power, represented by high mountains, were to be moved out of their places. Hid themselves in the dens. They were filled with fear; they sought to escape; and as dens are places of concealment, they hid themselves in the dens, among the rocks of the moun--30. tains. But why were they afraid? Why did they wish to hide themselves? See the following verse. - 16. Said to the mountains and rocks. - Here the mountains and rocks are personified; they are addressed as if they had intelligence and the power of motion. Fall on us and hide us.· We should think, at the first glance, that it could be no desirable thing to men to have the mountains fall on them. It would seem almost to make death certain and speedy. But let us be careful to get the right view of the matter. The mountains and hills are represented as being in motion; they are "moved out of their places;" there is a great commotion; some awful calamity is at hand; and the enemies of Jesus cry to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us." For what purpose? To "hide us," not to kill us. In thy falling, make dens and walls round about us. Fall in such a manner as to hide us from observation. From the face of him, &c. This was the cause of their 17. The great day of his wrath. The word day signifies season, or time, and not a day of twenty-four hours. The great time, or season, of his wrath is come. The time of a nation's punishment, by the visitation of God, is called the day of the Lord, because at that time God exercises justice on that people; hence, the phrase does not mean one and the same time whenever it occurs, but any time, or times, in which God punished certain nations for their sins by some tremendous visitation of judgment. To illustrate, we refer to several passages of Scripture. See Zeph. i. 12-18. This passage refers to the time of the destruction of the Jews by the Babylonians; and it is called the day of the Lord, because God was supposed by the prophet to have sent the armies of Babylon to destroy the nation of the Jews for their sins. It is called, by way of distinction, "that time," "the great day of the Lord," "a day of wrath," "a day of trouble and distress," "a wrath is come; and who shall day of wasteness and desolation," "a day of darkness and gloominess," "a day of clouds and thick darkness,' and "the day of the Lord's wrath," &c. Joel describes a punishment which was sent upon the Jews, in very similar language. See chap. ii. 1, 2: "Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain; let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand; a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains; a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations." be able to stand? sult Joel ii. 10, 30, 31; iii. 15; Isa. xiii. 10; xxiv. 23; Ezek. xxxii. 7, 8; Isa. xxxiv. 4; Amos viii. 9; Isa. lix. 9, 10; Jer. xv. 9; Isa. lx. 20. Compare Matt. xxiv. 29; Mark xiii. 24, 25; Luke xxi. 25; Acts ii. 19, 20. In this last passage, and in Joel, from which this is cited, there seems to be merely an indication of great and extraordinary changes; but in all the other passages of like tenor, the careful reader will perceive at once that calamitous events are indicated. Every one who knows what disasters the ancients connected with the appearance of eclipses, and of changes in the heavenly bodies, will easily perceive how forcible such language must be, when employed to designate occurrences yet future. An attentive consideration of the passages referred to, will show, moreover, that calamities of every kind, such as are actually brought about by locusts, war, pestilence, famine, &c., are symbol sents. Consequently, unless the context obliges to a different exegesis, (which is not the case here,) we may give to such figurative language a generic sense." (Com. on the place.) CHAPTER VII. 12-17. We have thus gone through with this chapter, and have illustrated and supported our views of it by many appropriate quotations from the word of God. In order, however, to show that our preconceived theo-ized by such imagery as the text prelogical opinions have not biased us, in the interpretation of the language, we have given the testimony of commentators of acknowledged learning and piety, who have interpreted it in the same manner, and whose opinions on some points were very different from what our own are. But we desire, after all, to add the weight of one more name, that of a modern author, — standing high in the affections and confidence of the dominant churches of New England; we mean Prof. Stuart. His interpretation of this section is precisely such as we have given, as will be seen by the following quotation: "Nothing is more frequent in the Scripture than the indication of great changes, especially great calamities, by a description of earthquakes, and tempests, and eclipses of the heavenly luminaries, or the mention of their bloody aspect, occasioned by a murky atmosphere. To obtain a full view of this usage, the reader must carefully con- I We showed, under the preceding chapter, that the events described therein, were such as were connected with the destruction of Jerusalem that the wars, pestilences and famines, which were to precede the overwhelming calamities of that city, were foretold in said chapter. These events had been previously foretold by our Lord, in the prophecy recorded in the 24th of Matth. But there was one thing mentioned by him in that prophecy, which did not occur in the description we found in the sixth chapter, viz., the preservation of the Christians during the extermination of the Jewish nation. This is the subject mentioned in the seventh chapter, |
