Revelation 8-9 - In Depth Bible Commentaries

902 903waters. 8.11 And the name of the star is called "The Worm-Wood," and the third part of902The phrase êá ð ôò ðçãò ôí äÜôùí, kai epi tas pegas ton hudaton, “andupon the springs of the waters,” is omitted by Alexandrinus. It may be that the eye of thecopyist skipped from the -wn at the end of ðïôáìí, potamon, “of rivers,” to the -wn at theend of äÜôùí, hudaton, “waters,” leaving out the material in between. Even if the phrase isomitted, it does not change the meaning of Revelation in any substantial way.Instead of the salty ocean waters, now the sources of fresh water are struck.Futurist Hal Lindsey holds that this star, like the burning mountain in verse 8, is anotherthermonuclear weapon, the explosion of which will result in contamination of all fresh watersources upon planet earth. (The Late Great Planet Earth, p. 133) But, we may ask, Howcould a nuclear weapon be aimed at, or strike, only springs and rivers? And what relevancewould this have for the seven churches of Asia, who are being addressed?Aune comments that “Since a single star [evidently he is thinking of a meteor] cannotfall on a third of the rivers and springs, this description cannot be construed literally; rather itmeans that the burning star affected a third part of the rivers and springs.” (P. 521) Ofcourse, a literal star would be far too large to fall to the earth and only do partial damage–for astar to approach anywhere near the earth would mean its instantaneous total destruction.903The noun Áøéíèïò, ho Apsinthos is here treated as a masculine noun, while theGreek dictionaries normally list it as either a neuter or feminine noun, suggesting that here it isreferred to as masculine because it is the name of a star (and the Greek noun avsth,r, aster ismasculine). It means "wormwood," which contains a very bitter substance. This name isgiven to any of several aromatic plants of the genus Artemisia, especially to absinthium, whichis native to Europe, and which yields a bitter extract used in making absinthe (a green liqueurhaving a bitter licorice flavor and a high alcoholic content) and in flavoring certain wines. SeeAune’s discussion on pp. 521-22.This noun is read simply Áøéíèïò, Apsinthos (without the article) by a corrector ofSinaiticus, Minuscules 2053, 2329 and some other Greek manuscripts. It is read without thearticle, but spelled differently, VAyi,nqion, Apsinthion, by the first writer of Sinaiticus, Minuscule2344, a few other Greek manuscripts, the Old Latin manuscript h, the Clementine LatinthVulgate, Tyconius (who died after 390 A.D.) and Beatus of Liebana (8 century A.D.). Thislast variant may be treating the noun as an adjective, “wormwood-like.” The variant readingsdo not change the meaning of Revelation.421