In Revelation 9, Satan is said to βασανίζω or torment his own followers for five months at the end of time. It is described by John in Revelation as a locust like “a scorpion when it strikes a man.“ This is apocalyptic literature and I plan to re-study my notes and commentaries on this imagery to consider possible alternatives to physical pain.
The wise King Solomon chastised the children of God, according to Torah, likely based on this law. “If there is a dispute between men, and they come to court, that the judges may judge them, and they justify the righteous and condemn the wicked, then it shall be, if the wicked man deserves to be beaten, that the judge will cause him to lie down and be beaten in his presence, according to his guilt, with a certain number of blows. Forty blows he may give him and no more, lest he should exceed this and beat him with many blows above these, and your brother be humiliated in your sight.” (Deut 25:1-3) Forty stripes was a max.
But after Solomon's death, the children of Israel wanted his son, Rehoboam, to have a lighter hand on them. The elders recommended it, but this evil son of Solomon responded. “And now whereas my father did lade you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.’ (1 Ki 12:11 KJV)
This was not God’s Torah but rather man’s. It is therefore a part of Satan’s arsenal but I plan to follow the Revelation passages containing torment to final punishment.
“The ‘scorpion’ is a particularly cruel type of whip, ‘an instrument of scourging ... with barbed points [pieces of sharp metal] like the point of a scorpion's sting.’- The New Unger's Bible Dictionary. God wasn't referring to a whip however when He warned Ezekiel, although the pain could be as severe: ‘And thou, son of man, be not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions: be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house.’ (Ezek 2:6) So throughout the bible, the word ‘scorpion’ has come to be used as a metaphor referring to wicked or evil people getting in the way of one's call by God... Ah, but we've got a weapon of our own: ‘Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.’ (Luke 10:19) So, let's get back to work.... Interesting little thing here that explained a verse to me: ‘Or if he shall ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?’ (Luke 11:12) According to the dictionaries and commentaries, a scorpion can have the appearance of an egg, ‘so much so as to be with difficulty at times distinguished from it.’ (Easton's Dictionary) My study of scorpions naturally lead me to Revelation. In reviewing the material, I came to realize just how God will ‘turn the tables’ so to speak during the endtimes.“ (https://juchre.org/nor/scorpions.htm)
Revelation 9:1Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. 2 And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.
At the end, God will allow evil to reign. This evil comes from the earth. “Then the fifth angel”— even the Angel or Messenger of the Covenant who has the keys of heaven and hell— “sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To Him was given the key to the bottomless pit (abyss)." (Rev 9:5 ) — of the earth. "The word ‘abyss’ is used first in Genesis 1:2 with reference to the chaotic condition of the earth before the creation: 'And the earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep' ['Abyss' in the LXX] (cf. Gen. 7:11). In Jeremiah 4:23–30, it is used to refer to the desolated and uninhabited Palestine during the Exile. The abyss came to be a bottomless subterranean cavern where the disobedient host of heaven and the kings of the earth were confined as prisoners for a period of time, after which they would receive their punishment (Isa. 24:21–22). Elsewhere in the New Testament, the abyss or the bottomless pit (gr. Abysses) is described as a dark and chaotic prison abode of the fallen angels, the demons, who are under God's control (Luke 8:31, 2 Pet. 2:4; Jude 6; Rev. 20:1, 3)... and [later] the place of Satan's imprisonment during the millennium (Rev. 20:1-3) until he receives his final punishment in the lake of fire (20:10).” (Ranko Stefanovic)
"And He opened the pit of the bottomless deep and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace.” (Rev 9: 2a)— “false doctrine, obscuring the true light of heaven.” (Adam Clarke) “So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit.” (Rev 9:2b) “This obscuration is surely the diffusion on earth of evil thoughts and ideas, the spirit of falsehood and hate, hostility to truth, and enmity against God and man.” (C. J. Ellicott)
“Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.”(Rev 9:3) In Egypt, the locusts devoured the fields and the grain. (Exod 10:12) symbolic of men in the setting of an end-time harvest. They attack as flying scorpions, but the attack is only upon such as are not sealed by God. These will not be able to recognize the truth, in contrast with the righteous who have been given power to “tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy.” (Luke 10:19) “Infernal spirits are ever ready, when permitted, to increase the ignorance, wickedness, cruelty, and wretchedness of men." (Justin Edwards) "They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.' (Rev 9:4) “They can proceed no further than God, for wise and good reasons, sees fit to suffer them.” (Justin Edwards) They cannot hurt the grass, those having the seal of God. "Grass and green trees in the Bible are frequent symbols for God's people." (Ranko Stefanovic)
5 And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. 6 In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.
“Scorpion stings are rarely deadly but they are so excessively painful that men so affected wish that they could die. Five months is the life cycle of certain types of locust. The idea would seem to be that during the life cycle of these ‘locusts’ they continue to bring pain and agony to men (not necessarily through one ‘sting’). Even here there is a limit set by God on what these creatures can do (‘it was given to them’) and limits on their time of activity.
It is probable that the anguish is to be seen as spiritual rather than physical, torment in the mind and spirit rather than in the body, although such anguish often produces, or results from, physical consequences. ‘Like the torment of a scorpion’ describes piercing pain which makes a man writhe in anguish. As a result men will want to die, but they will be so ill that they will be unable to find that way out... The passage is heavy in symbolism… and we must recognise that they are almost certainly not seen by those they attack. They are described from heaven’s viewpoint. Earth sees nothing. It is just aware of their effects. They are spiritual beings, fallen creatures arising from the abyss where they have been imprisoned (cp. 2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6), and invisible to mortal eye. It is by their effects that they are known.”( Peter Pett)
7 The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle. On their heads were crowns of something like gold, and their faces were like the faces of men.
“The shape of the locusts was like horses prepared for battle.”— “A description of the locusts appears to be taken from Joel 2:4.” (Adam Clarke) While Adam Clarke relates this phrase to “the troops of Mohammed”, others relate it to Roman. Bottom line— “On their heads were crowns of something like gold,” — not the godly gold crowns belonging to the saints but ones "like" them, these subjects having a form of godliness, but denying the powers thereof.
They may have even had a good cause, but their trust is in their own strength— military might. They have gold-like crowns- “The wicked ideas are always advocated from premises of virtue and benevolence; false ideas promise all kinds of victories and utopias; but, alas, the crowns are not really gold at all, but tinsel." (Burton Coffman) “And their faces were like the faces of men.” — “that is, though locusts symbolically, they are really men.” (Adam Clarke) "Back of every evil on earth, in the last analysis, there looms the face of an evil man." (Burton Coffman) Thus “… John describes the power and influence of hell operating in the hearts and lives of wicked men." (William Hendriksen) ”Human agents are denoted by these locusts.” (A. Plummer)
8 They had hair like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth.
They had “hair like women’s hair”— for a covering (cp. 1 Cor. 11:15). This “speaking of subjection, reminds us of their total subjection to infernal, satanic authority.” (L. M. Grant)— "and their teeth were like lion’s teeth" (Rev 8:b)— "Despite the feminine appearance, the true nature of this horde is seen in the teeth, namely, that of utter destructiveness." (Burton Coffman)
9 And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle.
"And they had breastplates like breastplates of iron" (9a)- representing Judgement in the tabernacle lessons. It seemed as if no force would be able availed against them. But they had not that "breastplate of righteousness in place." (Eph. 6:14)— "and the sound of their wings was like the sound of chariots with many horses running into battle." (9b) "Their hanging weapons and military trappings, with the clang of their shields and swords when they make their fierce onsets. This simile is borrowed from Joel 2:5-7." (Adam Clarke)
10 They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails. Their power was to hurt men five months. 11 And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.
"They had tails like scorpions, and there were stings in their tails.” (Rev 9:10b)— "They infected the conquered with their pernicious doctrines." (Adam Clarke) — "And they have the power to hurt the evil men of the earth five months" (Rev 10:9b)— a long time, “but incidentally a definite time, fixed by the Lord, beyond which they did not dare to go… (Paul Kretzmann) “And they had a king over them - the angel of the bottomless pit, called in the Hebrew, Abaddon; and in Greek, Apollyon… "whom you may call, ‘the destroyer’: who drives the whole world both Jews and Gentiles into the destruction [of the second death] that belongs to himself." (Geneva Study Bible) “This is Satan; and so it appears that the devil himself was the tormentor of those who followed him. But that is his business and such are his methods. The wages of sin is death." (D. S. Clark)
12 One woe is past. Behold, still two more woes are coming after these things.
Now we have passage to the next "history of the time following…” (Geneva Study Bible)— the sixth and seventh trumpet woes.
13 Then the sixth angel sounded: And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, 14 saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” 15 So the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released to kill a third of mankind. 16 Now the number of the army of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them. 17 And thus I saw the horses in the vision: those who sat on them had breastplates of fiery red, hyacinth blue, and sulfur yellow; and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone. 18 By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed—by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which came out of their mouths. 19 For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.
“The angel that sounded the second ‘woe’ trumpet, was those faithful… ministers who in that age lifted up their voice like a trumpet against popish idolatry, image worship, and other superstitions of the Roman clergy. ‘And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God.’ This voice was the voice of Christ, who stands at the altar before God.” (Hanserd Knollys) “This altar is the altar of incense from which the prayers of God’s people are offered to God (Revelation 8:3). The altar is ‘before God’, where previously it was ‘before the veil’ (Exodus 30:6). This [language change] is because the veil has been removed in Christ (Hebrews 10:20).” (Pett)
“Release the four angels...” “As if he should have said, these till now have been bound by the power of God, that they could not freely run over all men as they lusted, but were held and restrained at that 'great river of Euphrates', that is, in their spiritual Babylon (or this is a paraphrase of the spiritual Babylon, by the limits of the visible Babylon long since overthrown) that they might not commit those horrible slaughters, which they long breathed after.” (Geneva Study Bible)
”In the Old Testament, the Euphrates, called the great river (Gen. 15:18; Deut. 1:7; Josh 1:4), stood for the boundary that separated God’s people from their enemies. Regions beyond the Euphrates were regarded as the symbol of the archenemies of God and Israel— Assyria and Babylon (Isa. 7:20; Jer. 46:10). The attack of these enemy nations on Israel is described in Isaiah as destructively abundant waters of the Euphrates overflowing its banks and sweeping over the land of Judah, reaching up to the very neck, named, Jerusalem (Isa.8:7-8). This is the sense in which John uses the symbol of the river Euphrates.” (Stefanovic) An army of two hundred million is permitted to attack. This great number of enemy forces, controlled by satan and his angels, is contrasted with the 144,000 sealed saints of Revelation 7. A third of mankind is killed by this co-called holy war.
God oft used Israel’s enemies for His purpose, as in Egypt, as well the Assyria and Chaldean invasions and captivities of Israel and Judea, respectively. The riders on these horses had breastplates of fire - jacinth, and brimstone - that is, red, blue, and yellow; the first is the color of fire, the second of jacinth, and the third of sulphur.” (Adam Clarke)— “and the heads of the horses were like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths came fire, smoke, and brimstone.” (17b) “The combination of fire, smoke, and sulfur in the Bible is always linked with judgments ion the wicked. In destroying Sodm and Gomorrah, the Lord rained sulphur and fire out of heaven, so that their smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace. (Gen. 19:24, 28; Luke 17:29). Elsewhere in the OT the elements are used for punishing the wicked (Ps. 11:6; Isa. 34:9-10; Ezek. 38:22). In Revelation, the receivers of the mark of the beast will be ‘tormented with fire and sulphur before the holy angels and before the Lamb. (Rev.14:10). These three elements are used for the destruction of Satan and his forces in the lake of fire at the final judgment (Rev. 20:10; cf. 19:20; 21:8).” (Ranko Stefanovic)
19 For their power is in their mouth and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents, having heads; and with them they do harm.
"Like the locusts that preceded them they do injury with their tails, taking up and propagating by force the same pestilent superstition.” (Justin Edwards) “The destructive power in this vision is in mouth and tail, in the last trumpet-vision it was in the tail only (Revelation 9:10). The devastating power is increased; the foes come swift as horsemen, strong as lions, venomous as serpents, breathing forth elements that blind and burn with deadly power. We have, then, forces which are mighty, malicious, and relentless, and which are bidden forth against mankind for their sins of worldliness. (See Revelation 9:20-21.)…” (C. J. Ellicott) bringing on them the end-time wrath of God.
20 But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk. 21 And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Just as the servants of God will be sealed in the foreheads, the enemies will have also been sealed. “The description of idolatry is taken mainly from Daniel 5:23, where it is emphasised that it prevents men from glorifying ‘the God Who gave them breath and in Whose hands are all their ways’… Paul pointed out that ‘the things which the Gentiles sacrifice (to idols) they sacrifice to demons and not to God (1 Corinthians 10:20). John agrees. In our day when sorcery, magic, ouija boards, planchettes, crystal gazing, contacts with spirits, witchcraft, etc. are on the increase these words are very apposite. Note that ‘demon worship’ comes first in the condemnation. The very evil spirits that men seek to contact and honour will be their destroyers… But we note that sexual misbehaviour and theft are also included in the denunciation.” (Peter Pett) "Having been taken together, these vices are the fruit of worshipping demons." ( Stefanovic) We must look unto the moral code of the Ten Commandments and the One who saves us from sin to avoid Satan's trap.