Revelation 9:4 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Revelation 9:4
And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
a signet (as fencing in or protecting from misappropria… · noun — accusative singular feminine
God
θεοῦtheou
G2316
figuratively · noun — genitive singular masculine, a title
in
ἐπὶepi
G1909
properly · preposition
their
αὐτόςautós
G846
the reflexive pronoun self
foreheads
μετώπωνmetōpōn
G3359
the forehead (as opposite the countenance) · noun — genitive plural neuter
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Ezekiel 9:4 And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men t…
Revelation 7:2-4 And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to wh…
Revelation 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in…
Exodus 12:23 For the LORD will pass through to smite the Egyptians; and when he seeth the blood upon the lintel, and on the two side posts, the LORD will…
Ezekiel 9:6 Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women: but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at my san…
Revelation 6:6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see t…
Revelation 8:7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees…
Ephesians 4:30 And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 9:1-12
Upon the sounding of this trumpet, the things to be observed are, 1. A star falling from heaven to the earth. Some think this star represents some eminent bishop in the Christian church, some angel of the church; for, in the same way of speaking by which pastors are called stars, the church is called heaven; but who this is expositors do not agree. Some understand it of Boniface the third bishop of Rome, who assumed the title of universal bishop, by the favour of the emperor Phocas, who, being a usurper and tyrant in the state, allowed Boniface to be so in the church, as the reward of his flattery. 2. To this fallen star was given the key of the bottomless pit. Having now ceased to be a mini…
not hurt the grass . . . neither . . . green thing . . . neither . . . tree--the food on which they ordinarily prey. Therefore, not natural and ordinary locusts. Their natural instinct is supernaturally restrained to mark the judgment as altogether divine.
those men which--Greek, "the men whosoever."
in, &c.--Greek, "upon their forehead." Thus this fifth trumpet is proved to follow the sealing in Rev 7:1-8, under the sixth seal. None of the saints are hurt by these locusts, which is not true of the saints in Mohammed's attack, who is supposed by many to be meant by the locusts; for many true believers fell in the Mohammedan invasions of Christendom.
Adam Clarke on Revelation 9:4
They should not hurt the grass - Neither the common people, the men of middling condition, nor the nobles. However, this appears rather to refer to the prudent counsels of a military chief, not to destroy the crops and herbage of which they might have need in their campaigns.
Which have not the seal of God - All false, hypocritical, and heterodox Christians.
John Gill on Revelation 9:4
And it was commanded them,.... The locusts, by Christ, who has a sovereign power over all men, and lays them under the restraints of his providence:
that they should not hurt the grass of the earth: true Christians, private believers, it may be those of the lower class; who for their numbers, and for their flourishing estate under the dews of heavenly grace, and the distillations of the doctrine of grace, and the clear shining of the sun of righteousness upon them, and for their weakness, may be compared to grass; and yet as these being a company reserved by Christ for himself, who will not break nor bruise them, so neither will he suffer others to hurt them, and resents every offence done…
The Church Fathers
And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, nor any green thing. He shows that the locusts are men, who are sent not to harm the grass, but men. For grass here is simply understood as men.
Except those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They are said to have the seal of God on their foreheads, by whom it is properly held. Whose number above the angel who brought the seal of the living God from the rising of the sun has counted as inviolable and fixed. For he wished to use the manner of speaking here, by which it is said: No one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians XII), that is, perfectly and truly.
By "grass" he refers to those small ones who are content with the milk of the Christian faith. By "green vegetation" he refers to those who have begun to live according to the virtues and who are moving not toward dryness but toward a fruitful fertility. By "trees" he refers to those persons in the church who already give spiritual thanks by the production of fruit. Of the first kind, the small ones, we read, "Who spread out the earth upon the waters," that is, baptism. Of the second type, we read, "It shall rejoice in its drops when it comes forth." And concerning the third kind we read, "I am like a fruitful olive tree in the house of the Lord." The number of the elect is perfected from all of these kinds of persons, which the bite of the locusts cannot harm, except for those who do not have the sign of God upon their foreheads. For the apostle says, "For not all have faith." By such persons, it says, the sun will be darkened, however not extinguished, for although with the increase of iniquity the love of many will grow cold, "God's firm foundation stands," as it is written, "having this seal, 'The Lord knows who are his,' and 'Let every one who calls upon the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.' "
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Grass · Called: Grass of the earth — Called: Grass of the earth
Locust · SYMBOLI — SYMBOLI
Sealing Of The Holy Spirit · The wicked do not receive — The wicked do not receive
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The locusts . . . from the smoke with their power to sting like scorpions are fiercer than those of the Egyptian plague (see Exod 10:14-15). Rather than eating plants, these locusts are like stinging scorpions that viciously attack people. Only people without the seal of God (see Rev 7:1-8) receive this painful judgment. While the stings cause painful torture, they are not life-threatening (9:5-6).
