The Revelation of Jesus Christ - The Herald

inhabitants of the lands invaded by these Saracenic armies that it was literally true that
men became weary of their lives.
The words, "The forms of the locusts were like horses prepared for war," seem designed to
express similarity in their appearance; that is, St. John could think of nothing else in
human affairs to compare them with. In a general way, "their crowns, their faces, their
hair, their teeth, their breastplates, were symbolic of their dispositions, or the
characteristics of their agency, rather than descriptive of their persons, and denoted traits
by which the Saracens were most conspicuously marked, a daring pretense to right,
cunning, effeminateness, voracity and insensibility to the miseries of their victims." The
ravages of these Saracenic hosts covered the territory of the Eastern Roman Empire,
principally.
We have already referred to a Scripture (Nahum 3:15-17) where the simile of crowns is
employed: "The crowned princes are as the numerous locusts." The crowns would
symbolize the numerous kingdoms and dominions acquired by them in their conquests.
They are represented as having teeth as the teeth of a lion. In the same manner Joel
describes the locusts (Joel 1:6) as a nation whose teeth are as the teeth of lions, that is,
strong to devour. They are spoken of as having "breastplates as it were breastplates of
iron." In this description reference is made to the hard shell or skin of the natural locust,
which to them was their defensive armor. This figure is designed to describe the defensive,
as the teeth describe the offensive arms of the Saracens. The sound of their wings denotes
the general agitation, commotion, etc., which they caused, as also the swiftness of their
conquests.--See Joel 2:5.
They are three times compared to scorpions and to have had stings in their tails like the
scorpions. This refers to the fact that the invaders were always followed by a train of men
whose work was to spread the poison of their false degrading religion.
They are represented as having a king over them called the angel or messenger of the
Abyss, whose name in Hebrew was Abaddon, and in the Greek was Apollyon. All
lexicographers are agreed that the meaning of this name is that of destroyer or
exterminator. This evidently refers to Mohammed who was the instigator of all these
desolating wars carried on in their endeavors to propagate their false religion.
Mohammed, even after his death, continued to be their guide in the Koran, just as Christ is
the Christian's guide in the Scriptures.
We now come to consider the time feature connected with this locust woe. It is said that
they were to "torment men five months," or that "power was given them to torment men
five months." We have already noted that the usual length of time of a locust scourge was
five months. One eminent expositor of the Revelation explains this to mean that "they
continued their scorpion career as tormentors until, like the locusts, they had run the usual
course of conquerors. They ran their course through a period proportioned to that which
nations usually run from conquest to indolence, and from luxury to decay." However,
believing the period to be symbolical, we note that it is not said that the duration of