What is the meaning of Revelation 9:10? They had tails Revelation 9:10 opens with a startling picture: “They had tails….” The “they” are the demonic locusts released at the fifth trumpet (Revelation 9:1-4). Scripture presents them as literal beings—supernatural, yet real—tasked with judgment. • Their tails set them apart from ordinary insects, underlining that this plague surpasses the natural swarms God used against Egypt (Exodus 10:14-15). • John’s wording echoes Joel’s prophecy of a devastating, other-worldly army (Joel 2:4-6), reminding us that earlier revelations point to a future, climactic fulfillment. • By granting these creatures a distinctive anatomy, God makes it clear that He, not human imagination, defines the terms of end-time events (Isaiah 46:9-10). with stingers like scorpions The tails carry “stingers like scorpions.” Anyone who has felt a scorpion’s jab in desert lands knows its intense, burning pain (Luke 10:19). • In Scripture, scorpions symbolize painful discipline (Deuteronomy 8:15; Ezekiel 2:6). Here they picture judgment so severe that people will “seek death and will not find it” (Revelation 9:6). • The likeness (“like scorpions”) says these creatures are not figurative scorpions but employ a comparable method of torment—sharp, piercing, unforgettable. • Jesus promised authority over “scorpions” to His followers (Luke 10:19). That protection reappears when the locusts are forbidden to harm those sealed by God (Revelation 9:4). which had the power to injure people The sting has “power to injure”—literally to torment without killing (Revelation 9:5). • Judgment targets only the unrepentant, underscoring God’s precision (Revelation 9:4), much like the Passover distinction between Egypt and Israel (Exodus 11:7). • Even in wrath God imposes limits; Satan could not touch Job beyond the boundaries God set (Job 1:12; 2:6). Here too the demonic are leashed, showing divine sovereignty. • The injury serves a redemptive aim: driving people to repentance before the more severe trumpet and bowl judgments arrive (Revelation 9:20-21). for five months The torment lasts “five months,” roughly the natural life span of a locust from May to September in the Middle East. • This time frame matches Noah’s floodwaters prevailing 150 days (Genesis 7:24), another season-long judgment demonstrating God’s control over days and seasons. • Limiting the ordeal shows mercy amid wrath: God’s aim is correction, not annihilation (2 Peter 3:9). • A defined period reassures believers that suffering—whether disciplinary or eschatological—has an endpoint fixed by God (Revelation 2:10). summary Revelation 9:10 portrays a literal demonic army whose tails carry scorpion-like stingers. God allows them to inflict agonizing, non-lethal torment on the unsealed for five months. The verse teaches that divine judgment is real, precise, limited in duration, and designed to call the rebellious to repentance while preserving those who belong to the Lord. |
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