And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
16. thrust in ] Lit. cast: but the word is used in much milder senses, e.g. of the Lord “putting” His fingers in the deaf man’s ears, St Mar 7:33. The A. V. can therefore be defended: but it is perhaps likelier, that He Who sat on the cloud threw down the sickle, for others (unnamed angels) to reap with.
the earth was reaped ] Comparing the parables in SS. Matthew and Mark, there is little doubt that the gathering of the harvest indicates the gathering of the Elect. In Jer 51:33, it is true, the image of harvest is used of the time of God’s vengeance, and so Joe 3:13, where, as here, it is combined with that of the vintage. But it would be pointless to have the two images successively worked out, if they meant exactly the same: while the vengeance of the other image is clearly defined in Rev 14:19-20, and there is nothing (like the threshing of Jer., l.c.) to indicate it here.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And he that sat on the cloud – The Saviour, Rev 14:14.
Thrust in his sickle on the earth – To cut down the harvest – that is, to gather his people to himself.
And the earth was reaped – So far as the righteous were concerned. The end had come; the church was redeemed; the work contemplated was accomplished; and the results of the work of the Saviour were like a glorious harvest.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 16. The earth was reaped.] The judgments were executed. But where, or on whom, who can tell?
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
According to the before mentioned different notion of the harvest, there is amongst them a different interpretation of this verse; some interpreting it of Gods calling in the Jews, or his elect, by the preaching of the gospel; others, of his vengeance upon antichrist and his adherents, more fully expressed, Rev 15:1-16:21.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
16. thrust inGreek,“cast.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth,…. He put forth, and made use of that power which he had in his hand, in answer to the entreaty of the angel, the time being fully come which was fixed for this great event:
and the earth was reaped; and the harvest of it was got in; reaping and harvest sometimes are used in an ill sense, and design the wrath of God, and his judgments inflicted upon men; see Isa 17:5. Hence some think, that both this and the vintage following intend the judgments of God upon antichrist, and that they are contemporary with the pouring out of the fifth and sixth vials upon the beast and his followers; and the rather, since the destruction of Babylon, literally taken, is expressed in such language, Jer 51:33 though these seem to have respect to times after the fall of the Romish Babylon, before declared in Re 14:8 and most interpreters refer the harvest to the last judgment at the end of the world; and which sense is greatly countenanced, and to be illustrated by the parable of the tares and wheat, in Mt 13:30 sometimes these phrases are used in a good sense, and intend the gathering in of souls by the preaching of the Gospel; as there are the appointed weeks of the harvest, so there is a time fixed for the calling and conversion of God’s elect; and when this time is come, and especially to any number of them in any particular place, it is an harvest, as in Galilee and Samaria in the times of Christ, Mt 9:37 the reapers are the ministers of the Gospel; such were the apostles of Christ, Joh 4:36 and the sickle is the Gospel, by which not only men are cut to the heart, and cut down, and removed from their old bottom, and principles and practices, but are gathered to Christ, and into his churches; and when large numbers are brought in, it is an harvest time, as in the times of Christ and his apostles; see Isa 9:1 hence some interpreters think that the harvest here has respect to the Reformation, which followed upon the preaching of Luther, Calvin, and others, when a large harvest of souls were gathered in, in Germany, France, England, and elsewhere; but rather it may be thought to refer to the conversion of the Jews, and the bringing in the fulness of the Gentiles in the latter day, in the spiritual reign of Christ, to which the preceding visions belong, as we have seen; the earth will be reaped indeed, and a great harvest it will be, when a nation shall be born at once, and the vast multitudes of the Gentiles shall be brought in, as in Isa 66:8 and the rather this may be judged to be the meaning of it, since the passage from whence these phrases are borrowed respects the bringing again the captivity of Judah and Jerusalem, Joe 3:1 though it seems best to understand it of the Lord’s wheat harvest at the end of the world, when the wheat of the earth shall be reaped, and gathered into Christ’s barn, or garner, or into his and his Father’s kingdom; this reaping of the earth is the removing of the saints out of it, not by death, but by the resurrection of them from the dead; for when Christ shall come in the clouds of heaven, and sit on the white cloud, or throne, the dead in him will rise first, and the living saints will be changed, and both will be caught up together, to meet the Lord in the air; so that the earth will be reaped, and be clear of them, and there will be none left in it but the wicked of the world; and what will become of them is declared in the following verses, under the representation of a vintage.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Cast (). Second aorist active indicative of . No violence by the use of as is seen in Mt 10:34 ( , to bring peace).
Was reaped (). First aorist passive indicative of . Both prophetic aorists again. Christ puts in the sickle as he wills with his own agents (Matt 9:37; Matt 13:39; Matt 13:41).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Thrust in [] . Lit., cast.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And he that sat on the cloud,” (kai ho kathemenos epi tes nepheles) “And the one sitting on the cloud,” about to come in power and great glory, Mat 24:30; Mat 26:64; Luk 21:27; 2Th 1:6-9.
2) “Thrust in his sickle on the earth,” (to drepanon ebalen autou epi ten gen) “Thrust (swung) his sickle (into the grain harvest) over the earth,” Joe 3:13. Judgment, final earthly tribulation Judgment of the wicked has come, “for their wickedness is great; typified in ancient Babylon, Jer 51:33.
3) “And the earth was reaped,” (kai etheristhe he ge) and the earth (or land) was reaped,” that is harvested, even where the anti-Christ has held sway and required self worship, Joh 5:43; Rev 13:12; Judgment awaits. Many shall cry at that hour “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not save; Jer 8:20; Rom 2:1-6; 2Th 1:6-9.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
‘And he who sat on the cloud cast his sickle on the earth and the earth was reaped.’
His action is the signal for the angels to gather out of His kingdom ‘all that offends and they who do iniquity’ (Mat 13:41).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
16 And he that sat on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth; and the earth was reaped.
Ver. 16. And he that sat on the cloud ] That is, Christ, who soon condescendeth to the suits of his servants. Iste vir potuit quod voluit, said one concerning Luther. The death of Arius was precationis opus, non morbi, the fruit of prayer, rather than the effect of his disease, saith another. He was brought to confusion by the prayers of Alexander, the good bishop of Constantinople.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Rev 14:16 . The (only here, Rev 14:14-19 , in Apocalypse; cf. C. B. P. ii. 652 f. for a Phrygian inscription ) is represented as a living thing, probably like the of Zec 5:1 (Wellhausen). The classical use of reaping to symbolise death and destruction is too common to need illustration. “The harvest of the earth is ripe and dry,” but this ripeness of paganism for judgment (Jer 51:33 ) is re-stated dramatically (Rev 14:17-20 ) in a parallel O.T. symbol from the wine-press. The angelic mise-en-scne recalls that of Rev 8:3-5 . Unlike the harvest-symbol, the vintage-symbol is worked out vividly ( cf. Gen 49:11 ; Isa 63:1 f.).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
thrust in = cast. Greek. ballo. Not the word in Rev 14:15.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
he: Rev 14:14, Mat 16:27, Joh 5:22, Joh 5:23
thrust: Rev 14:19, Rev 16:1-21
Reciprocal: Isa 30:30 – the flame Joe 3:13 – the sickle Tit 1:3 – manifested Rev 14:18 – and cried Rev 16:2 – upon the earth
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
In the sixteenth verse we have observable,
1. Christ’s ready answering of, and complying with, the desire of his people, to thrust in the sickle of his judgment, and reap the earth: he that sat on the cloud did thrust in his sickle. How ready is Christ to fulfill the desires of them that fear him, to hear their cry and help them in his own time, in the best and fittest season!
Observe, 2. The great and infinite power of our Lord Jesus Christ, that upon the thrusting in of his sickle, the whole earth was presently reaped. Behold the ability of Christ for judgment, as well as his impartiality in judging: such a Judge is he, as the power of the mightiest cannot daunt; such a Judge, as the riches of the wealthiest cannot bribe; such a Judge, as the subtilty of the wisest cannot deceive; in a word, such a Judge, as there is no appealing from, no repealing of, his sentence.
O great day; when the stiffest knee shall bow at the tribunal of Christ, and the strongest back shall bend under the insupportable burden of the wrath of the Lamb; when the Alexanders and Caesars, which once shook the earth, and caused the world to tremble, shall revere and lie prostrate at the foot of Christ! Behold then, and admire the wonderful power and dexterity of Christ in judging, that upon the thrusting in of his sickle the whole earth was presently reaped!
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
Verse 16
And the earth was reaped. This reaping by the Lamb represents, perhaps, the gathering of the good, as the second reaping (Revelation 14:17-19) plainly denotes the general summoning of the wicked to judgment and retribution.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
The Judge (Joh 5:27) then judged those on the earth. This judgment will occur at the end of the Tribulation (Rev 19:17-21). This is a proleptic description of what Revelation will describe further in its sequential unfolding of events. [Note: Robertson, 6:415.]
"The brevity of the statement dramatizes the suddenness of the judgment." [Note: Thomas, Revelation 8-22, p. 221.]