Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Revelation 8:8

The Second Trumpet Sounds The sounding of the second trumpet involves something that looks like a great mountain burning with fire being cast into the sea.

The Second Trumpet Interpreted as World War II – Irvin Baxter believes this is a prophecy of World War II. He teaches that to a first century writer, the image of the mushroom cloud from the atomic explosions over Japan could have easily been described as “a mountain burning with fire.” The fact that Japan in an island in the Pacific Ocean fits the image of this burning mountain being cast into the sea. His research revealed that 105,127 ships, either merchant or battleship, that participated in the war, and that 36,387 were destroyed. This would fulfill the statement that a third part of the ships were destroyed. There were fifty-two million people killed during World War II. Baxter feels this is an event important enough to be put into biblical prophecy. [76]

[76] Irvin Baxter, Jr., Understanding the End Time: Lesson 12 The Seven Trumpets (Richmond, Indiana: Endtime, Inc., 1986) [on-line]; accessed 1 October 2008; available from http://www.endtime.com/Audio.aspx; Internet.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Rev 8:8-9. As it were a great mountain burning, &c. In the style of prophesy, a mountain signifies a kingdom, and the strength of it, its metropolis or capital city. See Jer 30:24. Great disorders and commotions, especially when kingdoms are moved by hostile invasions, are expressed in the prophetic style, by carrying, or casting mountains into the midst of the sea. See Psa 46:2. The sea, in the Hebrew language, is any collection of waters: now as waters are expressly made a symbol of people in this prophesy, ch. Rev 17:15 the sea maywell represent the collection of many people and nations into one politic body or empire: and when a sea is considered as an empire, the living creatures in that sea will be the people or nations, whose union constitutes that empire. See Eze 29:3; Eze 29:21. Ships, from their use in trade, are a proper representation of the riches of a people; and as they are of use in war, especially to the maritime nations, they are proper emblems of strength and power. As ships were of both uses in the Roman empire, they may well be understood both of the riches and power of that empire. Thus we have a description, in this part of the second period of prophesy, of a judgment to come on the empire, in which the capital should suffer much; many provinces should bedismembered, as well as invaded, and the springs of power and riches in the empire should be very much diminished: and accordinglywe find in history, that this was indeed a most calamitous period. The year 400 is marked out as the most memorable and calamitous that had ever happened during the empire. The Alans, Vandals, and other barbarous people, in the year 406, made the most furious irruptions into Gaul, passedinto Spain, and thence into Africa; so that the maritime provinces became a prey to them; the riches and naval power of the empire were much diminished, and almost quite ruined: but the heaviest calamities fell upon Rome itself, besieged, and oppressed with famine and pestilence. After Alaric and his Goths, the next ravagers were Attila and his Huns, who, for the space of fourteen years, shook the East and West with the most cruel fear, and deformed the provinces of each empire with all kinds of plundering, slaughtering, and burning. They first wasted Thrace, Macedon, and Greece, putting all to fire and sword, and compelling the Eastern emperor, Theodosius, to purchase a shameful peace. Attila then turned his arms against the Western emperor, Valentinian III.; entered Gaul with seven hundred thousand men, took, plundered, and set most of the cities on fire. But, at length, being vigorously opposed, he fell upon Italy, took and destroyed Aquileia with several other cities, slaying the inhabitants, and laying the buildings in ashes; and filled all places between the Alps and Apennines with depopulation, slaughter, servitude, burning, and desperation. Such a man might properly be compared to a mountain burning with fire; who really was, as he called himself, the Scourge of God, and the terror of men; and boasted that he was sent into the world by God for this purpose; that, as the executioner of his just anger, he might fill the earth with all kinds of evils: and he bounded his cruelty and passion by nothing less than blood and burning.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Rev 8:8-9 . Upon the sound of the second trumpet, follows a sign which exercises its injurious effects upon the sea, together with creatures living therein and on ships.

. Ebrard’s view, that a volcano was torn away from its station along the seacoast by the force raging within, and cast into the sea, conflicts with the as well as with the idea lying in the connection, that the (cf. Rev 8:7 ) occurred by a special, wonderful, Divine working. [2476] The meaning of the was given already by N. de Lyra. [2477] By the comparison with a great mountain all on fire, only the dreadful greatness of the fiery mass is made manifest, which, if we consider its source in general, must be regarded as coming from heaven (cf. Rev 5:7 ). Hence it cannot in any way be said, [2478] that the form of the representation is taken from that of a volcano. An allusion to Jer 51:21 [2479] is entirely out of place. [2480] The effect (Rev 8:8 b , Rev 8:9 ) is described after the model of the Egyptian plague, Exo 7:20 sqq., only that here it is not as there all the water, but, in analogy with Rev 8:7 ; Rev 8:10 sqq., 12 sqq., a third that becomes blood, and likewise a third of living creatures and ships that is destroyed.

. The expression designates all living creatures. The nom. apposition to . . . stands like Rev 3:12 , Rev 9:14 , Rev 14:20 , without construction.

The allegorizing commentators guess here and there without any foundation, because the text throughout contains nothing allegorical. Beda [2481] explains the whole: “As the Christian religion grew, the Devil swollen with pride, and burning with the fire of his own-fury, was cast into the sea of the world.” On . . . he remarks: “those alive, but spiritually dead.” Luther: “Marcion, the Manichaeans, etc.” Grot, may be considered the representative of the expositors who make conjectures in general concerning the distresses of the Romano-Judaic war. According to him, , . . . , designates the citadel of Antony, i.e., the soldiers therein who threw themselves with madness ( . ) into the city ( . . . ), killed men ( , . . . ), and stole what was movable ( . ). Also Vitr., Beng., Stern, yea, even Hengstenb, understand the whole as referring to the devastation of war, while they interpret the details with lack of judgment like Grot., [2482] and only differ from him in that Vitr., etc., find the inroads of the Goths into the Roman Empire, and Hengstenb., wars in general, prophesied. Hengstenb, has the view in general, that, in all the trumpet-visions except the last, the same thing is represented, viz., war. [2483] According to Ebrard, the whole means that “the vulcanic, Titanic energy of covetous or pleasure-seeking egoism poisons the intercourse of men, the intellectual as well as especially the domestic.”

[2476] Cf. Hengstenb.

[2477] “A vast glowing globe.”

[2478] Vitr., Ew.

[2479] .

[2480] Against Vitr.

[2481] Cf. Zeg., etc.

[2482] The “ships,” e.g., are, according to Vitr., small states; according to Hengstenb., cities and villages; the “fish” are in Hengstenb., just as in Grot., men slain by the raging warriors.

[2483] Mat 24:7 .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

(8) And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; (9) And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

As the earth represents the people, so the sea can mean no other. It is the scene of action, where these great things were to be transacted. Hence the great whore, hereafter spoken of is said to sit upon man y waters, Rev 17:1 . And so again, that we may not mistake, the angel which gave John his intimation, said to him, the waters which thou sawest where the whore sitteth, are people; and multitudes, and nations, and tongues, Rev 17:15 . So then, what is said under this second trumpet, is like the former, it refers to persons. And the casting of a great burning mountain into the sea, and the third part of the creatures in the sea dying, and the destruction of the ships, can have no reference whatever but to persons, on whom the Lord’s judgments alight, for their persecution of the Church. Some have thought, and perhaps rightly thought, that as the former punishment, under the first trumpet, had reference to the Arian heresy, in denying the Lord that bought them; so this of a burning mountain cast into the sea, might have respect to what hath ever accompanied the denial of the Godhead of Christ, I mean the denial of the Person, Godhead, and ministry of the Holy Ghost. Here also, as in the former judgment, we read of blood. And the history of those times were very bloody. We read of the Lord’s people hiding themselves in corners to avoid persecution. But when God hides his people; he manifests himself. And, it is very blessed, often now to remark, what gracious and wonderful interpositions, are sometimes shown, in the salvation of his chosen! That sweet scripture is fulfilled. The Lord knoweth, (though they know not,) how to deliver the godly out of temptation; while he will reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment, to be punished; 2Pe 2:9 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

Ver. 8. A great mountain ] Some notable heresiarch, possibly Pelagius, a monk of Bangor, Morgan by name, that is, in the Welsh tongue, a seaman. This Morgan travelling beyond sea to spread his heresy, called himself Pelagius, by a Greek word of the same signification; because it sounded better in the ears of foreign nations. Hence Augustine, Quid eo pelago (saith he) vult mergi Pelagius, unde per petram liberatus est Petras? (Lib. i. de Grat. Christ. advers. Pelag.)

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

8 .] And the second angel blew his trumpet: and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea (first, by the , that which was cast into the sea was not a mountain , but only a burning mass so large as to look like one. Then, it was this mass itself , not any thing proceeding from it, which was cast down. So that the introduction of a volcano into the imagery is quite unjustifiable. In the language (hardly in the sense) there seems to be a reminiscence of Jeremiah 28:25, . It is remarkable that there the should be characterized as : cf. our ch. Rev 11:18 ), and the third part of the sea became blood (so in the Egyptian plague the Nile and all the Egyptian waters. By the non-consequence of the result of the fiery mass falling into the sea (so De W., “ eine Wirkung ohne Analogie ”) is again represented to us that in the infliction of this plague from above, the instrument of it is merely described as it appeared ( ), not as it really was. So that all ideas imported into the interpretation which take the mountain , or the fiery character of it, as elements in the symbolism, are departures from the real intent of the description): and the third part of the creatures (reff.) ( that were ) in the sea (not, as Elliott, “in the third part of the sea,” but in the whole. Nor again must we stretch to mean the maritime coasts, nor the islands, nor the transmarine provinces: a usage not even shewn to exist by the examples cited by him, vol. i. p. 344 note: nor by Tacitus’s “ plenum exsiliis mare ;” any more than, if we were to say “the sea is full of emigrants from Ireland,” we should by “ the sea ” mean “ the ships ”) died (cf. Exo 7:17-21 ) those which have life (animal souls: see reff.: and for the appositional nominative, ch. Rev 2:20 reff.), and the third part of the ships were destroyed (another inconsequent result, and teaching us as before.

We may remark, at the end of this second trumpet, that the judgments inflicted by these first two are distinctly those which in ch. Rev 7:3 were held back until the servants of God were sealed: , . . . So that, as before generally remarked, the place of these trumpet-plagues must be sought after that sealing: and consequently (see there) in very close conjunction with the day of the Lord itself).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Rev 8:8-9 . A fiery mass, huge as a mountain, is flung into the sea a description which would recall the fiery volcanic bombs familiar to inhabitants of the Egean. The catastrophe includes, as in the first Egyptian plague, the turning of water into blood and the destruction of marine animals (4 Ezr 5:7 , Verg. Georg . iii. 541 f.), besides havoc among the shipping. Volcanic phenomena ( cf. Introd. 8) in the Egean archipelago ( e.g. , at Thera) are in the background of this description, and of others throughout the book; features such as the disturbance of islands and the mainland, showers of stones, earthquakes, the sun obscured by a black mist of ashes, and the moon reddened by volcanic dust, were the natural consequences of eruption in some submarine volcano, and Thera adjoining Patmos was in a state of more or less severe eruption during the first century. All this suggested the hideous colours in which the final catastrophe was painted by the imagination of pious contemporaries. In the eruption of 1573, the sea round Thera was tinted for twenty miles round, and even when the submarine volcano is quiescent, “the sea in the immediate vicinity of the cone is of a brilliant orange colour, from the action of oxide of iron”. In 1707 a large rock suddenly appeared in the sea, during the eruption, and owing to noxious vapours “all fish in the harbour died”.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 8:8-9

8The second angel sounded, and something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea; and a third of the sea became blood, 9and a third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life, died; and a third of the ships were destroyed.

Rev 8:8 “like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea” Once again the issue is the source of John’s imagery Roman, Jewish inter-biblical, or OT.

1. If it is the OT, then Psa 46:2 or Exo 7:20-21 is the reference.

2. If Jewish apocalyptic, then the reference is I Enoch 18:13-16 or possibly the Sibylline Oracles 5:158.

3. If Roman then possibly it is a historical allusion to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, which the Jews interpreted as God’s judgment on Rome for destroying Jerusalem.

The exact source of John’s metaphors is uncertain, but they do speak of God’s wrath toward a rebellious creation with the purpose of redemption in mind.

“and a third of the sea became blood” This is another allusion to the Egyptian plagues (cf. Exo 7:20-21).

Rev 8:9 “a third of the creatures. . .died” This is another allusion to the Egyptian plagues (cf. Exo 7:21).

“a third of the ships were destroyed” This has no parallel in the OT, in apocalyptic literature, or in first century Roman literature. Obviously commerce is affected and goods and food would be scarce. It does confirm God’s limited, progressive judgment. His judgment intensifies (1/4 in the seals, 1/3 in the trumpets) until in the bowls the time of repentance has passed and total, complete judgment occurs.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

8.] And the second angel blew his trumpet: and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea (first, by the , that which was cast into the sea was not a mountain, but only a burning mass so large as to look like one. Then, it was this mass itself, not any thing proceeding from it, which was cast down. So that the introduction of a volcano into the imagery is quite unjustifiable. In the language (hardly in the sense) there seems to be a reminiscence of Jeremiah 28:25, . It is remarkable that there the should be characterized as : cf. our ch. Rev 11:18), and the third part of the sea became blood (so in the Egyptian plague the Nile and all the Egyptian waters. By the non-consequence of the result of the fiery mass falling into the sea (so De W., eine Wirkung ohne Analogie) is again represented to us that in the infliction of this plague from above, the instrument of it is merely described as it appeared (), not as it really was. So that all ideas imported into the interpretation which take the mountain, or the fiery character of it, as elements in the symbolism, are departures from the real intent of the description): and the third part of the creatures (reff.) (that were) in the sea (not, as Elliott, in the third part of the sea, but in the whole. Nor again must we stretch to mean the maritime coasts, nor the islands, nor the transmarine provinces: a usage not even shewn to exist by the examples cited by him, vol. i. p. 344 note: nor by Tacituss plenum exsiliis mare; any more than, if we were to say the sea is full of emigrants from Ireland, we should by the sea mean the ships) died (cf. Exo 7:17-21) those which have life (animal souls: see reff.: and for the appositional nominative, ch. Rev 2:20 reff.), and the third part of the ships were destroyed (another inconsequent result, and teaching us as before.

We may remark, at the end of this second trumpet, that the judgments inflicted by these first two are distinctly those which in ch. Rev 7:3 were held back until the servants of God were sealed: , … So that, as before generally remarked, the place of these trumpet-plagues must be sought after that sealing: and consequently (see there) in very close conjunction with the day of the Lord itself).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Rev 8:8. , as a mountain) A mass of barbarian nations is meant; concerning the migration and irruption of which, attended with the greatest injuries, from the third century, history is so full, that it is needless to quote particular authors. The mountain thrown into the sea is aptly expressed from the Varia of Cassiodorius, where a sufficiently obvious mention is made at the same time of the Goths and Romans.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Rev 8:8-9

4. SOUNDING OF THE SECOND TRUMPET

Rev 8:8-9

8 And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; –The sounding of the second trumpet was the signal for the second vision to appear, indicating a second power that would contribute to the down-fall of pagan Rome. The words “as it were” show that it was not a real mountain, but appeared as one to John. It was burning with fire–probably volcanic–and when cast into the sea gave it the appearance of blood. Here it may be observed, as under the first trumpet, the “third part” of the sea may mean a large part, not exactly one-third. Since the picture could not represent the casting of a real mountain into the sea, the word must be used symbolically. In that sense it means “kingdom.” (Isa 22:3; Jer 51:24-25 ; Dan 2:35.) If “sea” and “water” mean the same thing, then in a figurative sense sea means “peoples.” (Rev 17:15; Jer 47:1-2.)

9 and there died the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, even they that had life; and the third part of the ships was destroyed.–If a literal burning mountain were cast into the sea, the natural result would be that fish and other sea animals would be killed and ships would be destroyed. While John saw all this in a vision, it must signify something else. The things represented, however, must be suggested by the things seen in the picture. The whole scene is one of carnage, bloodshed, and destruction. The burning of ships would indicate the destruction of maritime commerce and national protection. With the destruction of ships would go the lives of those who manned them. Placing this destruction on the sea instead of land, as in the first trumpet, shows that the attack on Rome would come from the sea; that is, the struggle would be in the waters near that part of the empire. The “third part” means not all would be destroyed, but a large part would.

In harmony with the line of interpretation of the expositors already mentioned, it is very probable that the vision of the second trumpet was fulfilled in the invasion of the Vandals under Genseric. If the explanation of the first trumpet is correct, this scourge of the empire came at the proper time. Something must be its fulfillment and nothing else seems more appropriate. Concerning Genseric, Gibbon says that in “the destruction of the Roman Empire” his name “has deserved an equal rank with the names of Alaric and Attila.” (Decline and Fall, Vol. III, p. 370.) In A.D. 429 he began his conquest in Africa, which ended in A.D. 439 when Carthage was taken. This whole province was lost to the empire. Speaking of Genseric’s ambition Gibbon says “he cast his eyes towards the sea; he resolved to create a naval power,” which resolve he carried into effect, and the “fleets that issued from the ports of Carthage claimed the empire of the Mediterranean.” In due time he cast anchor at the mouth of the Tiber, advanced from the port of Ostia to the gates of the city of Rome. The results, in part, are thus described by Gibbon: “But Rome and its inhabitants were delivered to the licentiousness of the Vandals and Moors, whose blind passions revenged the injuries of Carthage. The pillage lasted fourteen days and nights; and all that yet remained of public or private wealth, or sacred or profane treasure, was diligently transported to the vessels of Genseric.” This occurred in A.D. 455, and three years later the Roman emperor had prepared a navy of “three hundred large galleys, with an adequate proportion of transports and smaller vessels.” By a surprise attack by the Vandals the Romans were defeated, “many of their ships were sunk, or taken, or burnt; and the preparations of three years were destroyed in a single day.” (Decline and Fall, Vol. III, p. 482.)

The significant thing here is that the attack upon the western part of the empire was from the sea. A fact that does suitably correspond with the vision John saw.

Commentary on Rev 8:8-9 by Foy E. Wallace

The sea smitten–(the second trumpet)-Rev 8:8-9.

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.

1. The burning mountain. The mountain was used to signify a powerful monarchy, as in Amo 4:1 –and the mountain burning with fire in this symbol signified that the powers which hindered the church were seething in the fury of preparation for attack and destruction. The same imagery is used of Israels powerful enemies in Isa 40:1; Isa 41:5. In this vision of the tribulations which were so soon to overwhelm the church, the burning mountain symbolized the lust of war, and it was descriptive of the Roman and Jewish persecuting powers.

2. The mountain cast into the sea. The great burning mountain was seen in the vision as being cast into the sea. The Roman emperor was symbolized as the beast of the sea and was represented as coming up out of the sea: and this symbol evidently signifies that the government which would wage this war against the church would be the empire and its tributary powers.

3. The smitten sea. As earth referred to the Jewish powers in the land of the Jews, the sea signified the Roman powers. The smitten sea meant the destruction of the power of the sea beast–the Roman persecutors ceasing to make war against the church. The creatures of the sea died and the ships were destroyed; all of which were symbolic descriptions of the broken powers of persecution

Commentary on Rev 8:8-9 by Walter Scott

SECOND TRUMPET

Rev 8:8-9. – And the second angel sounded (his) trumpet: and as a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea; and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, which had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed. A great mountain burning with fire. Scripture itself gives the force of the figure. The mighty Babylonian monarchy is thus spoken of by the prophet Jeremiah (Jer 51:25), Behold, I am against thee, O destroying mountain, saith the Lord, which destroyest all the earth; and I will stretch out Mine hand upon thee, and roll thee down from the rocks, and will make thee a burnt mountain. Jehovah here threatens the Chaldean kingdom – apparently so firmly established in its might and greatness as to defy an overthrow – with consuming judgment, a burnt mountain. Again, the stone which no human hand or tool had touched falls with crushing effect upon the feet of the image, the figure of Gentile power, and then becomes a great mountain, and filled the whole earth (Dan 2:1-49). The world-wide dominion of the Son of Man is thus set forth. A mountain as a symbol represents a kingdom (Isa 2:2; Zec 4:7; Jer 51:25) or a firmly established power (Psa 46:2; Rev 6:14; Rev 16:20). The abstract idea, important to lay hold of in these prophetic symbols, is that of a strong, consolidated, established power, and this power itself the subject of Gods governmental vengeance, for the Seer saw it burning with fire, becoming in the divine hand the instrument of judgment upon the heathen. The weeping prophet, Jeremiah, exactly defines the force and value of the imagery in our text (Jer 51:25).

Rev 8:8. – Was cast into the sea. In the previous Trumpet (Rev 8:7) the earth was the scene of judgment; here it is the sea. The earth is the Roman world in general, the third part being the western portion of the empire. The sea sets forth a state of rebellion against constituted authority; of peoples in a condition of unrest, and consequently outside the limits of the Roman world. Within this latter, in the past as in the future, authority and government are upheld. The ever-restless sea (Isa 57:20; Dan 7:2-3; Rev 13:1; Rev 18:21) is here the chosen figure to denote the peoples of the earth in dire anarchy, owing to the want of a strong controlling power or firm hand. Civil and governmental authority are ordained of God (Rom 13:1). The state of things in the future amongst the nations outside the territorial limits of the revived Roman power may be compared to the condition of France during the reign of terror in the eighteenth century – a nation without God, without religion, and with but the semblance of government, controlled by the wild passions of the mob, the devils playground in Europe. The prophetic sea, therefore, represents the general condition of the nations without civil and spiritual government. Into the seething masses of mankind, of heathenism, this burning power is cast. We now witness the dire results produced. These are threefold, as in the first trumpet.

(1) The third part of the sea became blood. Does blood here symbolize a violent natural death, or does it refer to the spiritual death of apostasy? In our judgment these two forms of death are here combined. Those nations in political or in outward relation to the dominant power of the Roman empire are destroyed. The destruction of life amongst the Gentiles, in association with the guiltiest of the four universal empires, is what the symbol sets forth. Spiritual and physical death is the sure result of any connection with the apostate, blaspheming, and persecuting power of Rome.

(2) The third part of the creatures which were in the sea, which had life, died. That part of the world not brought into orderly subjection to constituted authority, but in external relation to the empire, is next seen in vision, as visited in judgment. Persons, and not peoples or nations in general, as in the first judgment, are in question. The term creatures would imply as much. Even in heathenism varying measures of responsibility and commensurate degrees of guilt exist. The third part, i.e., the worst is before us in this series of divine chastisements. The third part of the creatures which were in the sea, which had life, died. The interpretation of the Seals is a simple matter compared to that of the Trumpets. In the latter there is a purposed mysteriousness in the symbols employed which makes a minute examination somewhat difficult. Here, however, with Rev 2:23 and Rev 3:1 before us we are on firm ground. Moral, spiritual death is the undoubted force of the judgment here executed. Death towards God, towards principles of truth and righteousness, and, in fact, death viewed morally in its widest aspect and character.

(3) The third part of the ships were destroyed. Now this destructive power, whether a nation or a system, violently thrown into the unformed masses of mankind not only works awful destruction, physical and moral, on peoples and persons, it wrecks also the commerce and means of communication with distant countries. The third part of the ships were destroyed. But the tale of judgment is not yet told. The darkness thickens as the night wears on. Horror succeeds horror. Oh that Christendom would wake up to the stern reality that the Judge is at the door!

Commentary on Rev 8:8-9 by E.M. Zerr

Rev 8:8. The judgments of God against the Empire continue as thy second angel sounds his trumpet. Great mountain burning signifies thedownfall of some unit of the government. Cast into the sea symbolizes the people (represented by the sea) as feeling the effects of this political downfall. Sea became blood signifies that much bloodshed was suffered among the people caused by the internal disturbances.

Rev 8:9. All of this is figurative because the literal sea and its vessels of traffic were unharmed by the political confusion. But it gives a picture of what did occur, and in stating an exact percentage as dying we will understand that a great portion suffered but the government was not exterminated..

Commentary on Rev 8:8-9 by Burton Coffman

Rev 8:8-9

And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and there died the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, even they that had life; and the third part of the ships was destroyed.

The second judgment falls upon the sea. It is foolish to suppose that John is here merely making imaginative use of the imagery derived from volcanoes, etc. This language goes far beyond any natural phenomenon ever heard of. A literal picture of what is described here is impossible. A third of the ocean turned to blood, and yet two thirds of earth’s shipping still remaining active upon it, is an impossible conception. A third of the ships destroyed, and a third of the creatures in the sea destroyed – the preterists point to certain great naval battles of history; but in truth, no single event of all history could possibly fulfill so terrible a prophecy as this; and yet such interpreters seem to be correct in the view that great maritime disasters are here suggested. Any particular one? No. It would be an exercise in futility to fasten an identity with this trumpet judgment upon any one of them, except as an example.

As an example, we cite the wreck of the great Spanish Armada in 1588, not by a naval battle, but by a great storm, which preserved England from subjection to the regressive tyranny of Spain, and led to the first Thanksgiving Day ever observed in the English-speaking world, and from which our own Thanksgiving Day customs are derived. This is only an example of many maritime disasters, nor may we suppose for an instant that John consciously foretold this. It may be objected that John’s language here cannot be reconciled with such an event; but we ask, what event could be? Furthermore, any naval captain of the Spanish Armada would most likely have agreed that “a burning mountain” had been cast into the sea!

The destruction depicted in this vision may not be confined to any one time or locality. The trumpets do not follow the seals in a chronological sequence, but, “Both are being fulfilled side by side in the same epoch.”[49] That epoch, of course, is our own. We continue to be amazed at the exhaustive efforts of commentators to find parallels of this in the plagues of Egypt; but absolutely nothing in those judgments is worthy to be compared with these. Therefore, like Lenski, “We do not stress the resemblance of these judgments to those plagues.”[50]

We cannot leave this prophecy of the “burning mountain” cast into the sea without citing the only literal historical fulfillment of it that is known; and, even in this, the sea did not become blood. On August 27,1883, the 2,623-foot mountain Krakatoa in the Sunda strait of Indonesia literally exploded, burned up completely, and was cast into the sea, the waters where the mountain stood having been 1,000 feet deep ever since.[51] Following this event, atmospheric waves girdled the earth seven times; tidal waves are thought to have destroyed a million lives; some tidal waves reached England, more than 11,000 miles away; and the explosion was actually heard at Bangkok at a distance of 3,000 miles! Thus, within the memory of a few people who have just died, we still have the evidence that the trumpet of God still sounds above the waters of the sea.

Of course, we do not think that John prophesied this, nor any other particular disaster; but he surely conveyed the revelation that includes all such things; nor should we for an instant suppose that great maritime disasters belong to the past alone. How inadequate and limited are the interpretations of these prophecies which confine them to obscure events in the history of a single nation some sixteen centuries, or more, in the past!

Lenski, and many other respected commentators, applied these two verses (Rev 8:8-9) to, “Destructive religious delusion, not the old paganism, but a new delusion which will not accept the gospel.”[52] While this fits our own age well enough, it appears to us that it is more fittingly applied to the judgments of the trumpet woes. We cannot get away from the inference in these first four trumpets that the judgments do not fall upon people directly, but upon land, sea, river and air. Providential intervention in human environment is meant. “All of these four judgments show that the sin of man can and does adversely affect the rest of creation, which reacts disastrously upon man’s own life.”[53]

[49] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 234.

[50] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 278.

[51] Encyclopedia Britannica, 1961 edition, Vol. 13, p. 499.

[52] R. C. H. Lenski, op. cit., p. 279.

[53] F. F. Bruce, op. cit., p. 647.

Commentary on Rev 8:8-9 by Manly Luscombe

8 Then the second angel sounded: And something like a great mountain burning with fire was thrown into the sea, and a third of the sea became blood. The symbol of water is shown to represent people in 17:1 and 15. John is not concerned about the environment and pollution of our water in this text. He is apprehensive about the masses of people who are living on this earth. The severe persecution in the first century was causing many people to deny their faith and lose their spiritual life. The 2nd trumpet warns us that people of all ages can, in time of hardship, lose their spiritual life by giving in to the persecution, regardless of how severe it might be.

9 And a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed. The part of man, which is spiritual (soul or spirit), is destroyed. This is not saying that 33% of all Christians will die. This is a warning that yielding to the persecution can cost you your spiritual life with God. What is the meaning of the ships mentioned here? Listen to Paul as the literal ship taking him to Rome was about to sink. Except these abide in the ship, you cannot be saved. (Act 27:30-31) The spiritual parallel is that we must remain in the ship of believers, in the church, the ship of Zion, if we expect to be saved. Jumping overboard or abandoning ship will result in our spiritual death.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

angel

(See Scofield Heb 1:4).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

and as: Jer 51:25, Mar 11:23

burning: Amo 7:4

the third: Rev 8:7, Rev 16:3-21, Exo 7:17-21, Eze 14:9

Reciprocal: Exo 7:20 – all the waters Job 14:18 – the mountain

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Rev 8:8. The judgments of God against the Empire continue as thy second angel sounds his trumpet. Great mountain burning signifies the downfall of some unit of the government. Cast into the sea symbolizes the people (represented by the sea) as feeling the effects of this political downfall. Sea became blood signifies that much bloodshed was suffered among the people caused by the internal disturbances.

Rev 8:9. All of this is figurative because the literal sea and its vessels of traffic were unharmed by the political confusion. But it gives a picture of what did occur, and in stating an exact percentage as dying we will understand that a great portion suffered but the government was not exterminated.

Comments by Foy E. Wallace

Verses 8-9.

The sea smitten–(the second trumpet)–Rev 8:8-9.

“And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.”

1. The burning mountain. The mountain was used to signify a powerful monarchy, as in Amo 4:1 –and the mountain burning with fire in this symbol signified that the powers which hindered the church were seething in the fury of preparation for attack and destruction. The same imagery is used of Israel’s powerful enemies in Isa 40:1; Isa 41:5. In this vision of the tribulations which were so soon to overwhelm the church, the burning mountain symbolized the lust of war, and it was descriptive of the Roman and Jewish persecuting powers.

2. The mountain cast into the sea. The great burning mountain was seen in the vision as being cast into the sea. The Roman emperor was symbolized as the beast of the sea and was represented as coming up out of the sea: and this symbol evidently signifies that the government which would wage this war against the church would be the empire and its tributary powers.

3. The smitten sea. As earth referred to the Jewish powers in the land of the Jews, the sea signified the Roman powers. The smitten sea meant the destruction of the power of the sea beast–the Roman persecutors ceasing to make war against the church. The creatures of the sea died and the ships were destroyed; all of which were symbolic descriptions of the broken powers of persecution.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Rev 8:8-9. These two verses contain the second trumpet, at the sounding of which what resembled a great mountain, as it were a great mountain burning with fire was east into the sea. There is nothing in this part of the description to remind us of the plagues of Egypt, but in Jer 51:25 we read of a burnt mountain. It may be doubted, however, whether there is any reference to this, and the image may be only intended to convey to us the idea of a judgment frightful to behold, and terrible in its effects. That we are not to think of any particular object is evident from the want of all direct correspondence between the instrument of judgment and its effects. The casting of a burning mountain into the sea has no tendency to turn its waters into blood.In the description of the effect produced we are reminded of the first plague of Egypt (Exo 7:20-21). As before, and no doubt for the same reason, it is a third part of the sea, and of the creatures which were in the sea and of the ships, that suffers. The first becomes blood, the second die, the third are destroyed. The ships appear to be thought of apart from their crews.

This trumpet is distinguished from the first by its containing judgments on the sea instead of the land, but both sea and land can only be regarded as together making up the surface of the earth. They are not separately symbolical, the one of the mass of the Gentile nations, the other of the Jews.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe here, 1. The universality of the judgment inflicted; the former judgment was upon the earth, this upon the sea; that no place might escape, a storm of hail and blood falls upon the former, a mountain of burning fire is cast into the latter; both signifying increased wars and bloodshed by sea and land, according to some; the mighty prevalency of error and heresy, say others, and particularly of the Arian heresy, which puffs up and swells with pride, and is the harbinger and forerunner of ruin and destruction; as only by pride cometh contention, so after pride, or along with pride, cometh destruction.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Another calamity in nature is here used to describe a warning coming from God. Something like a great mountain on fire is cast into the sea and one-third is turned to blood, onethird of all creatures in the sea destroyed, along with one-third of all ships. God can use natural disasters to warn wicked men. When God was preparing to bring judgment down upon Babylon, he used similar words. ( Jer 51:24-25 ; Jer 51:42 )

Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books

Rev 8:8-9. And the second angel sounded, and, as it were, a great mountain burning with fire That is, a great warlike nation, or hero; for in the style of poetry, which is near akin to the style of prophecy, heroes are compared to mountains; was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood; and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea died The sea, in the Hebrew language, is any collection of waters, as Daubuz observes: now, as waters are expressly made a symbol of people in this prophecy, Rev 17:15, the waters which thou sawest are people, and nations, and tongues; the sea here may well represent the collection of many people and nations into one body politic, or empire; and when a sea is considered as an empire or a collection of people into one body, the living creatures in that sea will be the people or nations whose union constitutes this empire. And the third part of the ships were destroyed Ships, from their use in trade, are a proper representation of the riches of the people; and as they are of use in war, especially to maritime nations, they are proper emblems of strength and power. As ships were of both uses in the Roman empire, they may be well understood both of the riches and power of that empire. Thus we have a description, in this part of the second period of prophecy, of a judgment to come on the empire, in which the capital should suffer much, many provinces should be dismembered, as well as invaded, and the springs of power and riches in the empire should be very much diminished. And accordingly we find in history that this was indeed a most calamitous period. The year 400 is marked out as one of the most memorable and calamitous that had ever befallen the empire; and in the latter end of the year 406, the Alans, Vandals, and other barbarous people, passed the Rhine, and made the most furious irruption into Gaul that had yet been known; passed into Spain, and from thence over into Africa; so that the maritime provinces became a prey to them, and the riches and naval power of the empire were almost quite ruined. But the heaviest calamities fell upon Rome itself, besieged and oppressed with famine and pestilence. After Alaric and his Goths, the next ravagers were Attila and his Huns, who, for the space of fourteen years, shook the east and west with the most cruel fear, and deformed the provinces of each empire with all kinds of plundering, slaughter, and burning. They first wasted Thrace, Macedon, and Greece, putting all to fire and sword, and compelled the eastern emperor, Theodosius the second, to purchase a shameful peace. Then Attila turned his arms against the western emperor, Valentinian the third; entered Gaul with seven hundred thousand men, and, not content with taking and spoiling, set most of the cities on fire. But at length, being there vigorously opposed, he fell upon Italy, took and destroyed Aquileia, with several other cities, slaying the inhabitants, and laying the buildings in ashes, and filled all places between the Alps and the Appennines with flight, depopulation, slaughter, servitude, burning, and desperation. Such a man might properly be compared to a great mountain burning with fire, who really was, as he called himself, the scourge of God, and the terror of men, and boasted that he was sent into the world by God for this purpose, that, as the executioner of his just anger, he might fill the earth with all kinds of evils; and he bounded his cruelty and passion by nothing less than blood and burning.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

8. When the second angel sounds his trumpet, a great mountain, flaming with fire, is cast into the sea. Appalling are the consequences.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

8:8 {6} And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

(6) The second execution on the sea, in this verse and all things that are in Rev 8:9 .

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

The second trumpet 8:8-9

Following the blowing of the second trumpet something "like [cf. Rev 6:13] a great mountain" that was on fire came crashing down from heaven into the waters of one or more of the earth’s seas. This resulted in a third of the oceans, perhaps a third of the ocean waters, becoming blood. Whether the water became blood, or became a substance like blood, or simply looked like blood, is difficult to determine from the text (cf. Exo 7:20-21; Psa 78:43-44; Joe 2:31; Zep 1:3). Literally it could become blood. I understand that the only chemical difference between seawater and blood is that blood contains an iron molecule that is absent in seawater. Perhaps this mountain-like mass (a meteor?) will provide that molecule resulting in a change in the chemical composition of these seas. A third of the creatures living in the sea died, and a third of the ships on the sea perished. Beale took the mountain figuratively to represent a kingdom, specifically the Babylon referred to in chapters 11-18. [Note: Beale, p. 476, ]

"As of January 1, 1981 there were 24,867 ocean-going merchant ships registered. Imagine the shock waves that would hit the shipping industry if 8,289 valuable ships were suddenly destroyed! And what about their cargoes!" [Note: Wiersbe, 2:593.]

John was clearly describing supernatural interventions, not natural happenings.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)