Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 9:1 - 9:1

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Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 9:1 - 9:1


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Rev_9:1. ἀστέρα ἐκ τ . οὐρ . πεπτωκότα εἰς τ . γ . Eichh. is incorrect in explaining the part. pf. as in form and meaning equivalent to καταβαίνειν . The star had already fallen from heaven to earth, and had become just as John saw it; the falling, also, is in no way a spontaneous descent,—possibly at God’s command for a definite purpose,[2519]—but the expression presupposes that the star was thrown down.[2520] But the “star” is neither to be regarded as changed into a human form,[2521] nor to be understood as a purely figurative designation of an angel,[2522] but the idea of a star mingles with that of an angel, as in the O. T. view of the[2523] öÀáÈà äÇùÑÈîÇéÄí . The star fallen from heaven appears, consequently, not as a good,[2524] but as a bad, angel,[2525] who must serve only to bring a plague of an infernal character upon the godless: καὶ ἐδόθη αὐτῷ , κ . τ . λ . This ἐδόθη would, of course, have its justification if the star were a heavenly servant; but in connection with the πεπτωκότα , the idea is significant that this infernal angel was expressly appointed a place in order to bring in the plagues inflicted by God otherwise than in Rev_20:1, where the angel “coming down” from heaven has in his hand the key of the abyss.[2526]

ἡ κλεῖς τοῦ φρέατος τἥς ἀβύσσου . The ἄβυσσος (viz., χῶρα ), i.e., bottomless, the abyss, designates—like the Heb. úÌÀçåí , which the LXX. often render by ἄβυσσος [2527]—the depths of the earth in the natural sense,[2528] then Sheol, Hades, i.e., the place of abode of the departed in those depths,[2529] but in the Apoc.,[2530] and Luk_8:31, the present[2531] abode of the Devil and his angels. From this ἄβυσσος , a φρέαρ (LXX. for áÀàÇø , “well,” Gen_21:30; Gen_26:15; cf. Joh_4:11), regarded as proceeding and discharging over the surface of the earth, appears like a shaft[2532] of some kind, possibly after the manner of wells or cisterns, to be closed; and hence the angel receives a key, in order, by descending into the deep, to open the shaft of the well, and thus to let out the smoke proceeding from the ἅβυσσος (Rev_9:2). [See Note LVI., p. 292.]

[2519] Cf. Rev_20:1.

[2520] Rev_6:13. Cf. Luk_10:18; Isa_14:12.

[2521] Vitr. Cf. Hengstenb.

[2522] “An angel imitating a star in bright light and splendor.”

[2523] Cf. Psa_103:21; Jer_33:22; Job_38:7. Ewald, who compares Rev_18:16, Rev_21:1-6, in addition to Enoch, 84 sqq., 139:32.

[2524] Beng., De Wette.

[2525] Beda, who, however, like many of the old interpreters, understands it directly of the Devil; Volkm.

[2526] Against Ew., etc.

[2527] Also in the plural; Psa_71:21; Psa_107:26.

[2528] Gen_1:2; Gen_7:11; Deu_8:7.

[2529] Psa_71:21; Psa_107:26; Rom_10:7.

[2530] Rev_9:11; Rev_20:1; Rev_20:3. Cf. Rev_11:7; Rev_17:8.

[2531] Cf., on the other hand, Rev_20:10.

[2532] The idea is otherwise in Psa_55:23, according to the Heb., as well as the LXX.

NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

LVI. Rev_9:1. τῆς ἀβύσσου

Cf. Gebhardt: “These expressions are based upon rabbinical representations, originating from such O. T. statements as Psa_81:10; Psa_107:26; Isa_14:15 (cf. Isa_5:14; Isa_30:33), according to which there is under the earth an abyss or bottomless pit, with a lake or sea in which brimstone and fire seethe together. From this abyss goes a channel with a mouth, after the manner of a cistern, a narrow passage, as from a scarcely visible spring, to the surface of the earth. This pit, like an ordinary cistern, can be opened and closed, or sealed.… The abyss in its signification is a perfect antithesis to heaven. The latter is an invisible, but real, ideal world, which one day with the new heavens and the new earth, and the new Jerusalem, will become a visible reality. So also the former is the invisible, but real, world of the anti-ideal and the ungodly, which will also become a visible (cf. ch. Rev_14:10) reality in the lake of fire and brimstone, with its torment and its smoke which ascends for ever and ever; just as the new Jerusalem is now in heaven, so the lake of fire and brimstone is now in the abyss.” Cremer: “It is just this antithesis to heaven that makes ἄβυσσος a synonym for ᾅδης , wherein that remoteness from heaven which is distinctive of Hades finds full expression. In Rev_9:1-2, τὸ φρέαρ τῆς ἀβύσσου (Rev_20:1) appears as the receptacle and prison of destructive powers, over which reigns ὁ ἄγγελος τῆς ἀβύσσου (Rev_9:11); cf. the petition of the demons (Luk_8:31). In Rev_17:8; Rev_11:7, ἀναβαίνειν ἐκ τῆς ἀβύσσου is said of the beast (Rev_13:18).”