As I mentioned in earlier studies, real locusts don’t have a king (Proverbs 30:27), which further emphasizes that the locusts mentioned in Revelation 9 aren’t really locusts at all. They refer to something else, which I conclude was the Roman military machine, which did have a king. According to Revelation 9:11, his name was Abaddon in the Hebrew and Apollyon in the Greek. Both names point to destruction, but in the sense of ruin rather than obliteration.
Now, the real “king” or military general of the Roman armies that attacked the Jews in 67-70 AD was Vespasian, who became Emperor of Rome before the war was over. Therefore, the names Abaddon and Apollyon, although they refer to him, they have a symbolic significance. They aren’t the king’s real names but they refer to something about the king. Moreover, simply because the king of the locusts is described as the angel of the bottomless pit (Revelation 9:11) does not necessitate him being the fallen angel of Revelation 9:1, any more than Abaddon is the angel of Revelation 20:1-2 who threw the dragon into the bottomless pit.
While the name Apollyon (G3) is mentioned only here in the Bible, Abaddon (G3) in the Hebrew (H11) is mentioned six times in the Old Testament.[1] In Job 26:6 and Proverbs 15:11; 27:20 Abaddon is associated with Hell or Sheol (H7585), which is nothing more than the grave or death, which seems clear from Genesis 37:35. There Jacob says he will go to his grave (H7585) mourning for the death of his favorite son, Joseph. There is always a great mystery behind whatever is unknown. For example, James and John asked to sit one on the right of Jesus and the other on his left, when he came into his Kingdom. They had romanticized the idea of the Kingdom and wanted the best positions. However, Jesus said they didn’t know what they were asking. That is, they had no idea of the consequences of their request (cf. Mark 10:35-40). Similarly, when the fallen angel of Revelation 9:1 opened the pit, he had no idea of the consequences of his choice, but the Lord knew, and he was able to bring about his own will, even though the fallen star (the high priest) made the choice (cf. Job 26;6; Proverbs 15:11). The high priest brought destruction (Abaddon) and death (Sheol – H7585) upon himself and the Jewish nation.
By the time Vespasian was finished making war with the Jews, about a third were dead, a third went into captivity as slaves, and a third were dispersed among the nations. The Jewish nation was brought down to Sheol by the Destroyer (Abaddon). When the war was over, the Jewish nation didn’t exist anymore. It was cast into the pit of the abyss (G12) which bottomless and can never be full (cf. Proverbs 27:20).
The final three occurrences of Abaddon in the Old Testament appear twice in Job and once in Psalms. In Job 28:22 we are told that Abaddon and Death say that they have heard of the fame of wisdom (verse-20), but such is hidden from the eyes of the living (verse-21). In other words, in death and destruction (judgment) one understands his sin or rebellion against God, but then it is too late. It would have been much better if that one understood that the fear of the Lord is wisdom and to depart from evil is understanding (Job 28:28). In the context of the Fifth Trumpet, the fallen star refused to believe the Gospel, and he leaned upon his own understanding rather than the Lord. While he looked for salvation, he found Abaddon, because in his rebellion he reaped destruction instead of salvation (cp. Psalms 88:11). The Roman Emperor, Vespasian, became the Jews’ Destroyer (Abaddon) through judgment from the Lord.
Finally, Job describes Vespasian as a fire that consumes to destruction, i.e. Abaddon (Job 31:12), and in the context of the Fifth Trumpet, this would be like a prophecy foretelling the vanishing of the Jewish nation through death, slavery and dispersion among the nations. This is what lay before the Jews as Vespasian for five months prepared for the war (Revelation 9:5, 10), and many Jews would have preferred death to the coming slaughter they perceived was coming (Revelation 9:6).
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[1] Abaddon (H11) appears in Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12; Psalm 88:11; Proverbs 15:11; 27:20
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4 responses to “The King Called Abaddon or Apollyon”
Hi Eddie, I’ve gone through your previous post and this current one that both propose Vespasian as the fulfillment for this five-month period. It’s true that, timewise, Vespasian’s five months or so of gathering his troops together during the winter of AD 66 is a fairly good match for preceding the dates when the 6th and 7th trumpet judgments were fulfilled. However, there’s one thing you noted in your previous post that indicates Vespasian doesn’t really fit the tormenting conditions of the first woe very well (aka the 5th trumpet).
As you wrote, Vespasian was not directly engaged with the Jews during this five months time. In contrast, the “locust” activity of Rev. 9 seems to show an interaction with the Jews that was personally giving them torment in a face-to-face encounter. Rev. 9 portrays a real sense of malevolent intent by the “locusts” and their “king” called the destroyer, picturing an actively evil desire to cause utter misery. This is absent from Vespasian’s actions during his five months of gathering his troops together.
In contrast to Vespasian’s having no direct conflict with the Jews during his five months of preparation for invading Judea, we can read Josephus’ description of Governor Florus’ attitude towards the Jews and the provocative actions he took to intentionally incite a Jewish rebellion. There was genuine malice behind Florus’ plotting to inflame the Jews into open revolt that matches the anguish and hurt caused by the “locusts” and their destructive “king”. Were it not for this aggression and oppression by Governor Florus, the Jews would have probably continued to submit to their high priests who were pushing for cooperation with Rome to maintain the operations of the temple (and the profits they got from it).
The record of Florus’ treatment of the Jews during the five months from Passover until August of AD 66 is one long list of continually overbearing, barbarous actions which were so antagonistic that it was no wonder a rebellion broke out. That record can be found in the Wars 2.14-15 section of Josephus. A comparison to the Rev. 9 torment of the locusts with tails like scorpions is an apt metaphor for Florus and the Roman soldiers under his command at that time. Florus was eager to see a war with the Jews begin and was working in deadly earnest to gain this desired result.
By the time Vespasian got his commission, Jewish casualties had already been mounting in multiple cities BEFORE Nero selected Vespasian to quell the uprising. Cities such as Alexandria (50,000 dead by the Roman legions in one day), Caesarea (20,000 killed in one day due to Florus’ influence), Philadelphia, Heshbon, Gerasa, Pella, Scythopolis (30,000), Gadara, Hippos, Gaulanitis, Kedasa, Ptolemais (2,000), Gaba, Sebaste, Askelon (2,500), Anthedon, Gaza, and Joppa’s first attack by Gallus (8,400).
Those growing lists of casualties that occurred just BEFORE Vespasian was commissioned were a result of the previous five months of “locust” activity that did NOT have an emphasis on the killing of men during that time. So the order of events seems to be FIRST, the five months of torment under Florus and his troops that galvanized the Jews into a rebellion in August of AD 66; SECOND, the rebellion killed Romans at Masada and the Antonia fortress at Jerusalem, along with cancelling the daily sacrifice for Rome; THIRD, in retribution for these assaults against Roman oversight, Jews were then killed in multiple cities, with Nero then commissioning Vespasian to prepare for a massive invasion of Judea.
Greetings Patricia and thank you for your continued interest in my studies. Lord bless you.
I am aware of the barbarous treatment of both Florus and Albinus toward the Jews. But, think about it. What does that have to do with the fifth trumpet?
The very fact that their barbarous treatment included killing would exclude them from our consideration. I remember the days before Bush sent in the troops into Iraq. There was a lot of treats of “shock and awe”. Such treats had a very negative effect upon the Iraqi army. They feared us, which is why the actual war didn’t last long. I believe the same thing occurred during those five months of training. Josephus doesn’t say, but it’s only according to human nature that the mighty like to brag and threaten. A lot of chest pounding would have occurred at that time, in my opinion, and rumors would have spread quickly.
Hi again Eddie,
I hope you don’t think I’m trying to badger you about this…it’s just that if we get any of the ticky little details wrong, it tends to lead to further mistakes when we start interpreting other prophecies that impinge on the one we are debating about.
The main reason I hold out for Florus instead of Vespasian being the “king” over the Roman military “locusts” is that there seems to be no mistaking the dividing line that Josephus puts between the period of torment BEFORE the war and the time AFTER the war started. Florus belonged to the period BEFORE the war, and Vespasian arrived on the scene AFTER the war started in August of AD 66.
In Wars 2.17.2-409, Josephus states quite plainly (with regard to the attack on Masada at the same time when Eleazar stopped the daily sacrifice for the empire and the emperor), “AND THIS WAS THE TRUE BEGINNING OF OUR WAR WITH THE ROMANS; for they rejected the sacrifice of Caesar on this account.” Eleazar was the temple governor, as you know, who made the final break with Rome official by that action.
The only reason Judea had been allowed a certain level of autonomy and freedom to operate the temple system was because of their agreement with Rome to make a twice-daily sacrifice for the empire and the emperor; to allow foreigners to worship in their temple and offer sacrifices, and to maintain the tribute sent to Rome. These were the terms for their being considered a “religio licita” – an approved, state-sanctioned religion of the Roman empire, so to speak. Once the terms of that agreement were violated, Nero had no choice but to launch an offensive against the rebellion.
The five months of torment in Revelation 9:4-5 specifically excludes the physical destruction of the land of Israel itself during that time. (The grass, trees, and any green thing was not damaged yet in Israel by a massive army invading Judea, and devastating the landscape’s crops and vegetation.) This means that during those five months of torment and “hurt” that the actual war had NOT YET STARTED. It was five months of torment that LED UP TO THE WAR being launched in August of AD 66.
Once Eleazar finally convinced the priests to make that break with Rome, which was an obvious display of Israel’s independence from Rome (the actual re-emergence of Israel’s independent kingdom of the “Scarlet Beast” in Rev. 17), the damage to Roman/Jewish relations was irreversible at that point. The men of power and the high priests in Israel knew this, and sent ambassadors to Florus and Agrippa, pleading with them both to send an army to put down this revolt. This was exactly what Florus had been working towards with his tormenting treatment of the Jews. As Josephus said, “Now this terrible message was good news to Florus; and because his desire was to have a war kindled, he gave the ambassadors no answer at all.” (Wars 2:17.4-420).
It was at this point when the war was launched that the 42 months in Rev. 11:2 began, with many of the Zealots coming from “Galilee of the Gentiles” to tread the holy city Jerusalem underfoot (from August AD 66 until AD 70).
Vespasian preparing for the war fits in chronologically at the very beginning of this 42 months – not during the five months of torment leading up to the official beginning of the war in August of AD 66, if we rely on Josephus’ dates and description of events compared with Rev. 9’s prophecy. When Vespasian began conquering the cities around Galilee in AD 67 (which region seemed to be the home base for most of the Zealot activity), those Zealot refugees from the region of “Galilee of the Gentiles” fled to Jerusalem, where they only contributed to the civil war which was “treading the holy city underfoot” for those 42 months.
Greetings Patricia, and thank you once again for reading and for your comment. Concerning ‘badgering’, I’ve been badgered before, and you’re not doing that. Not a problem.
Once the bottomless pit was opened, the war had begun, whether or not blood was shed. Indeed, blood had been shed, which led to Cestius’ assault upon Jerusalem, but after surrounding Jerusalem with his armies, and then breaking down the northern wall, he retreated for no good military reason. Thus, Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled and Christians fled the city (as Josephus claims, but he didn’t label them as Christians).
The five months that followed Cestius’ retreat, has the locusts coming out of the smoke of the pit (Vespasian and his armies). No killing occurred, just as Revelation 9:5 claims. Neither was any vegetation destroyed, as claimed in verse-4. Although the war had begun there was no fighting, nor did Vespasian march into Jewish lands. The **fear** of him doing so loomed over all Jews who cried out to the rocks and the mountain to fall on them (Revelation 6:15-16; cp. Luke 23:30). Fear is the theme of the locusts’ power to hurt, not killing or destruction. During those days, Jews would have welcomed a peaceful, natural death to the terrible deaths recorded in Josephus that came later, and this is noted in Revelation 9:6.
There is nothing like the above recorded in Josephus concerning Florus. Even if I couldn’t pin the locusts on Vespasian, I couldn’t look to Florus. He simply isn’t a candidate for anything mentioned in the fifth trumpet.
While we may agree about the identity of the beast of Revelation 17 (don’t know), we probably disagree in how that beast fits in history, however. I’ll get to that in its proper order (about five months away).
The bottom line, however, is that the war begins with the opening of the pit (Revelation 9:1-2). If this is true, then your point about Florus is moot. He would have no part in what follows.
Lord bless you, Patricia.