Revelation 9:20

{15} And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk: (15) Now remains the event (as I said on the first verse), see Geneva Re 9:1 which followed so many grievous judgments in the most wicked world, namely an impenitent affirmation of the ungodly in their impiety and unrighteousness, though they feel themselves most vehemently pressed with the hand of God: for their obstinate ungodliness is showed in this verse: and their unrighteousness in the verse following Re 9:21. So far has been the general history of things to be done universally in the whole world: which because it does not so much belong to the Church of Christ, is therefore not so expressly distinguished by certainty of time and other circumstances, but is woven, as they say, with a slight hand. Also there is no other reason why the history of the seventh angel is passed over in this place, then for that the same more properly appertains to the history of the Church. But this is more diligently set out according to its time, Re 11:16 as shall appear on those places.

Repented not of the works (οὔτε μετενόησαν ἐκ τῶν ἔργων) Lit., "out of the works." The preposition ἐκ out of with repent, denotes a moral change involving an abandonment of evil works. See on Matthew 3:2; see on Matthew 21:29. Works of their hands Not their course of life, but the idols which their hands had made. Compare Deuteronomy 4:28; Psalm 135:15; Acts 7:4. Devils (δαιμόνια) More properly, demons. See on Mark 1:34. Compare 1 Corinthians 10:20; 1 Timothy 4:1. See, hear, walk Compare Daniel 5:23.

Revelation 9:20-21 . And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues — That is, the Latin Church, which pretty well escaped these calamities; yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils — Daimonia, demons, or second mediatory gods, as it hath largely been shown before, saints and angels; and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and wood — From hence it is evident, that those calamities were inflicted upon the Christians for their idolatries. As the eastern churches were first in the crime, so they were first likewise in the punishment. At first they were visited by the plague of the Saracens, but this working no change or reformation, they were again chastised by the still greater plague of the Othmans; were partly overthrown by the former, and were entirely ruined by the latter. What churches were then remaining, which were guilty of the like idolatry, but the western, or those in communion with Rome? And the western were not at all reclaimed by the ruin of the eastern, but persisted still in the worship of saints and (what is worse) the worship of images, which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk — And the world is witness to the completion of this prophecy to this day.

Neither repented they of their murders — Their persecutions and inquisitions; nor of their sorceries — Their pretended miracles and revelations; nor of their fornications — Their public stews and uncleanness; nor of their thefts — Their exactions and impositions on mankind: and they are as notorious for their licentiousness and wickedness, as for their superstition and idolatry. As they therefore refused to take warning by the two former woes, the third wo, as we shall see, will fall with vengeance upon them.

20 . that they should not worship … idols ] This verse gives us the only clue we have to the interpretation. It is a plague on idolaters that is here described—neither on unfaithful Christians, nor on antichristian infidels of a more refined type—unless the latter shall in the last days, as in the age of the Roman persecutions, and one may almost say of the Renaissance and Reformation, ally itself against the Gospel with the vulgar or sensuous idolatry which it was its natural tendency to despise.

And the rest of the men which were not killed by these plagues; the two-thirds of men that should be left, for we read of one-third part destroyed; and this also must be understood of men dwelling in countries subject formerly to the Roman empire on this side of the Euphrates. Yet repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils: this leaves this applicable to none but papists; for there are none else but them who worship demons, Greek, daimonia, or idols of gold and silver. By devils are meant demons, that is, persons that are dead, whom the heathens made their petty gods, and worshipped as middle beings between them and the supreme gods, according to their notion; which is the same thing the papists are guilty of, with this only difference, (as Mr. Mede excellently observeth), that the heathens made many supreme gods, and these modern idolaters own but one in that notion, but as many deastri or demons as they did, which are all those saints to whom they pay an adoration, as to those who should present their desires to God, which, as Mr. Mede sufficiently proves from writers, was the very work the pagans allotted for those whom they canonized after death. From whence came the names of Baal and Bel, &c., but from Belus, who is said to have been the first prince, whom, being dead, they made a god, and adored? Which demons God in Scripture calleth devils.

Nor do any but they now worship images, the works of men’s hands, made of gold, silver, brass, and wood, who are here described in the same words as by the psalmist, Psalm 115:4 135:15 . Notwithstanding God’s great judgment executed upon the Grecian churches, yet they repented not of their idolatry and superstition; so as God hath brought them wholly under the power of those barbarous enemies; and though the Romish party seeth this, yet neither do they repent; which may give them cause to fear that God should make use of the same adversary to destroy them likewise; especially considering that neither to this day do they repent.

Revelation 9:20-21 . Οὔτε — καὶ οὐ ) A Predicate of two members—in Latin, neque, neque (neither, nor). There are similar particles, John 4:11 ; 3 John Revelation 9:10 ; Mark 5:3-4 . [Their repentance had been the aim of the plagues.—V. g.]— τὰ εἴδωλα , idols ) The worship of images was solemnly established in the East, A. 842.— τῆς πορνείας ) The plural, πορνεῖαι , is used, 1 Corinthians 7:2 ; and yet in this place the singular number is placed between plurals. Other acts of wickedness are performed by men at intervals: there is one perpetual πορνεία in the case of those who are without purity of heart.

Revelation 9:20-21 . The impenitence of the surviving two-thirds of men, who persist in worshipping daemons and idols (Weinel, 3, 4). Hellenic superstition (Plut. de defectu orac. 14) attributed to malignant daemons these very plagues of pestilence, war, and famine. Plutarch is always protesting against the excessive deference paid to such powers, and on the other hand against the rationalists and Christians who abjured them entirely. δαιμ ., either the gods of paganism (LXX) or the evil spirits of contemporary superstition. In Enoch 19:1, the spirits of the fallen angels “assuming many forms defile men and shall lead them astray to offer sacrifices to demons as to gods”; cf. Enoch 46:7 (of the kings and rulers) “their power rests on their riches, and their faith is in the gods which they have made with their hands”. (See Clem. Strom , vi. ver 39, 4)— ἀργυρᾶ , contracted form, as in 2 Timothy 2:20 (Helbing, pp. 34 f.).— φαρμ ., here in special sense of magic spells inciting to illicit lust (Artemid. ver 73), a prevalent Asiatic vice ( cf. Greg. Naz. Orat. iv. 31). But in the imprecatory (c. 100 B.C.) inscription of Rheneia (Dittenberger, Syll. Inscript. Graec . pp. 676 f.), punishment is invoked from tov τὸν κύριον τῶν πνευμάτων ( cf. Revelation 22:6 ) upon τοὺς δόλωι φονεύσαντας ἢ φαρμακεύσαντας the hapless girl.

The three vices of the decalogue occur here (as in Matt.) in the Hebrew order, not in that of the LXX ( Romans 13:9 ; Mark 10:19 ; Luke 18:20 ). cf. on Revelation 21:8 , and, for the connexion of polytheism and vice, Harnack’s Mission and Exp. of Christianity , i. (1908), pp. 290 f. Repentance here (as in Revelation 16:9 ; Revelation 16:11 ) is primarily a change of religion, but the prophet has evidently little hope of the pagan world. There is no polemic against the Egyptian worship of animals, and, in spite of the Jewish outlook upon the dolores Messiae , the Apocalypse ignores family disturbances and false messiahs as harbingers of the end.—Once more ( cf. Revelation 7:1 f.) between the sixth ( Revelation 9:13-21 ) and the seventh ( Revelation 11:15-19 ) members of the series, a passage (this time of some length) is intercalated ( Revelation 10:1 to Revelation 11:13 ), in which the personality of the seer now re-emerges (on earth, instead of in heaven). The object of Revelation 10:1-11 is to mark at once a change of literary method and a transition from one topic to another. The passage, which certainly comes from the prophet’s own pen (so Sabatier, Schon, and others), looks backward and forward. Now that the preliminaries are over, all is ready for the introduction of the two protagonists ( Revelation 9:11-13 .) whose conflict forms the closing act of the world’s history ( Revelation 15:1 to Revelation 20:10 ).