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- The opening of the seventh seal, 1.
- The seven
angels with the seven trumpets, 2-6.
- The first sounds,
and there is a shower of hail, fire, and blood, 7.
- The second sounds, and the burning mountain is cast into
the sea, 8,9.
- The third sounds, and the great
star Wormwood falls from heaven, 10,11.
- The
fourth sounds, and the sun, moon, and stars are smitten;
and a threefold wo is denounced against the inhabitants
of the earth, because of the three angels who are yet
to sound, 12,13.
CLARKE'S COMMENTARY - REVELATION
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Verse
1. The seventh seal
This is
ushered in and opened only by the Lamb.
Silence in heaven
This must be a mere metaphor, silence being put
here for the deep and solemn expectation of the
stupendous things about to take place, which the opening of
this seal had produced. When any thing prodigious or
surprising is expected, all is silence, and even the
breath is scarcely heard to be drawn.
Half an hour.
As heaven may signify the place in which all
these representations were made to St. John, the half
hour may be considered as the time during which no
representation was made to him, the time in which God was
preparing the august exhibition which follows.
There is here, and in the following verses, a strong
allusion to different parts of the temple worship; a
presumption that the temple was still standing, and the
regular service of God carried on. The silence here
refers to this fact-while the priest went in to burn incense
in the holy place, all the people continued in silent mental
prayer without till the priest returned. See Luke
1:10. The angel mentioned here appears to execute the
office of priest, as we shall by and by see.
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Verse
2. The seven angels which stood before
God
Probably the same as those called the
seven Spirits which are before his throne, Revelation
1:4, where see the note. There is still an allusion here
to the seven ministers of the Persian monarchs. See Tobit
12:15.
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Verse 3. Another angel
About to
perform the office of priest.
Having a golden
censer
This was a preparation peculiar to
the day of expiation. "On other days it was the custom
of the priest to take fire from the great altar
in a silver censer, but on the day of expiation
the high priest took the fire from the great
altar in a golden censer; and when he was come
down from the great altar, he took incense from one of the
priests, who brought it to him, and went with it to the
golden altar; and while he offered the incense the
people prayed without in silence, which is the silence in
heaven for half an hour." See Sir Isaac Newton.
Much incense, that he should
offer it
Judgments of God are now about to
be executed; the saints-the genuine Christians,
pray much to God for protection. The angelic priest
comes with much incense, standing between the living
and those consigned to death, and offers his incense to God
WITH the prayers of the saints.
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Verse
4. The smoke of the incense-with the
prayers
Though incense itself be an emblem
of the prayers of the saints, Psalms
141:2; yet here they are said to ascend before
God, as well as the incense. It is not said that
the angel presents these prayers. He presents the incense, and
the prayers ascend WITH it. The ascending of the
incense shows that the prayers and offering were
accepted.
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Verse
5. Cast it into the earth
That is, upon the land of Judea; intimating the judgments
and desolations which were now coming upon it, and which
appear to be farther opened in the sunding of the seven
trumpets.
There were voices
All these seem to point out the confusion, commotions,
distresses, and miseries, which were coming upon these people
in the wars which were at hand.
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Verse
6. Prepared themselves to sound.
Each took up his trumpet, and stood prepared to blow his
blast. Wars are here indicated; the trumpet was
the emblem of war.
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Verse
7. Hail and fire mingled with
blood
This was something like the
ninth plague of Egypt. See Exodus
9:18-24: "The Lord sent thunder and hail-and fire mingled
with the hail-and the fire ran along upon the ground." In the
hail and fire mingled with blood, some fruitful
imaginations might find gunpowder and cannon
balls, and canister shot and bombs.
They were cast upon the
earth
[Grk., Lat., etc.] Into that land;
viz., Judea, thus often designated.
And the third part of
trees
Before this clause the Codex
Alexandrinus, thirty-five others, the Syriac,
Arabic, AEthiopic, Armenian, Slavonic, Vulgate,
Andreas, Arethas, and some others, have
[Grk., Lat., etc.] And the third part of the land
was burnt up. This reading, which is undoubtedly
genuine, is found also in the Complutensian Polyglot.
Griesbach has received it into the text.
The land was wasted; the trees-the chiefs of
the nation, were destroyed; and the grass-the common
people, slain, or carried into captivity. High and low,
rich and poor, were overwhelmed with one general destruction.
This seems to be the meaning of these figures.
Many eminent men suppose that the irruption of the
barbarous nations on the Roman empire is here intended. It is
easy to find coincidences when fancy runs riot. Later writers
might find here the irruption of the Austrians and
British, and Prussians, Russians, and
Cossacks, on the French empire!
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Verse
8. A great mountain burning with
fire
Supposed to signify the powerful
nations which invaded the Roman empire. Mountain, in
prophetic language, signifies a kingdom; Jeremiah
51:25,27,30,58. Great disorders, especially when kingdoms
are moved by hostile invasions, are represented by
mountains being cast into the midst of the
sea, Psalms
46:2. Seas and collections of waters mean
peoples, as is shown in this book, Revelation
17:15. Therefore, great commotions in kingdoms and among
their inhabitants may be here intended, but to whom,
where, and when these happened, or are to happen,
we know not.
The third part of the sea became
blood
Another allusion to the Egyptian
plagues, Exodus
7:20,21. Third part is a rabbinism, expressing a
considerable number. "When Rabbi Akiba prayed, wept, rent his
garments, put of his shoes, and sat in the dust, the world was
struck with a curse; and then the third part of the
olives, the third part of the wheat, and the third
part of the barley, was smitten "Rab. Mardochaeus, in
Notitia Karaeorum, p. 102.
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Verse
9. The third part of the ships were
destroyed.
These judgments seem to be
poured out upon some maritime nation, destroying much of its
population, and much of its traffic.
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Verse 10. There fell a great star
from heaven
This has given rise to various
conjectures. Some say the star means Attila and his
Huns, others, Genseric with his Vandals falling on the city of
Rome; others, Eleazer, the son of Annus, spurning the
emperor's victims, and exciting the fury of the Zealots;
others, Arius; infecting the pure Christian doctrine with his
heresy, certainly cannot mean all these; and probably
none of them. Let the reader judge.
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Verse 11. The star is called
Wormwood
So called from the bitter
or distressing effects produced by its influence.
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Verse 12. The third part of the
sun-moon-stars, was smitten
Supposed to
mean Rome, with her senates, consuls,
Odoacer, king of the Heruli, and Theodoric, king
of the Ostrogoths, in the fifth century. But all this is
uncertain.
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Verse 13. I-heard an angel
flying
Instead of [Grk., Lat., etc.], an
angel flying, almost every MS. and version of note has
[Grk., Lat., etc.], an eagle flying. The eagle was
the symbol of the Romans, and was always on their ensigns. The
three woes which are here expressed were probably to be
executed by this people, and upon the Jews and their
commonwealth. Taken in this sense the symbols appear
consistent and appropriate; and the reading eagle
instead of angel is undoubtedly genuine, and Griesbach
has received it into the text.
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- Revelation 8:1.
Copyright Statement
The Adam Clarke Commentary is a derivative
of an electronic edition prepared by GodRules.net.
Bibliography
Information
Clarke, Adam.
"Commentary on Revelation 8". "The Adam Clarke
Commentary".
<http://www.studylight.org/com/acc/view.cgi?book=re&chapter=008>.
1832.
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