Seder 51: Exodus 10 and Revelation 9:1-11---Locust Plagues

 God used the plagues of the Exodus to free the Israelites, judge the Egyptians and their gods, and send important messages to Israel, Egypt, and other nations.  

Throughout the rest of the Bible. themes and images from the Exodus are used in situations where God is judging the rebellious and rescuing his people.  For example, in the visions of the book of Revelation, imagery from the plagues of the Exodus is prominent.  

Revelation 9:1-11 describes the judgment of the fifth trumpet, which sends out a kind of locust plague, an allusion to the eighth plague of the Exodus (Ex 10:1-20).  As in the plagues of the Exodus, the people of God were protected from this judgment (Rev 9:4), and God limited the extent of the judgment---it lasted for five months (Rev 9:5).   

In other ways, this was different from the locust plague of the Exodus.  The locusts in ancient Egypt devoured plants (Ex 10:14-15), while those in Revelation 9 were told to avoid plants.  

In fact, the ``locusts'' in Revelation 9 are not insects.  They come out of the abyss or "bottomless pit," a place of confinement for evil spiritual beings (Lk 8:31).  According to traditions recorded in 1 Enoch, the Watchers of Genesis 6 were held there.  In Revelation 9:1-2, an angel termporarily releases some of the beings confined there to carry out judgment on rebellious humans.  

Revelation 9:7-11 describes the ugliness of these beings.  A misguided popular approach to interpreting this passage tries to connect it with modern military technology.  Such images would not have been meaningful to John or his original readers.  Instead, we should realize that Revelation is full of allusions to passages from the Tanakh.  For example, ``their teeth like lions' teeth'' in Revelation 9:8 comes from Joel 1:6; "the locusts were like horses prepared for battle" in Revelation 9:7 refers back to Joel 2:4; and the comparison with the noise of chariots in Revelation 9:9 is similar to Joel 2:5.  The book of Joel likens an invading army to a locust plague, and something similar is happening in Revelation 9.