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.
4. that they should not hurt the grass, &c.] i.e. not to do the damage that natural locusts do these natural objects having been plagued already, Rev 8:7 but other damage, still more directly distressing the sinful world.
the seal of God ] See Rev 7:3 and note.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And it was commanded them – The writer does not say by whom this command was given, but it is clearly by someone who had the direction of them. As they were evoked from the bottomless pit by one who had the key to that dark abode, and as they are represented in Rev 9:11 as under the command of one who is there called Abaddon, or Apollyon – the Destroyer – it would seem most probable that the command referred to is one that is given by him; that is, that this expresses one of the principles on which he would act in his devastations. At all events, this denotes what would be one of the characteristics of these destroyers. Their purpose would be to vex and trouble people; not to spread desolation over vineyards, olive-yards, and fields of grain.
That they should not hurt the grass of the earth, … – See the notes on Rev 8:7. The meaning here is plain. There would be some sense in which these invaders would be characterized in a manner that was not common among invaders, to wit, that they would show particular care not to carry their devastations into the vegetable world. Their warfare would be with people, and not with orchards and green fields.
But only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads – See the notes on Rev 7:2-3. They commenced war against that part of the human race only. The language here properly denotes those who were not the friends of God. It may here refer, however, either to those who in reality were not such, or to those who were regarded by him who gave this command as not being such. In the former case, the commission would have respect to real infidels in the sight of God – that is, to those who rejected the true religion; in the latter it would express the sentiment of the leader of this host, as referring to those who in his apprehension were infidels or enemies of God. The true interpretation must depend on the sense in which we understand the phrase it was commanded; whether as referring to God, or to the leader of the host himself. The language, therefore, is ambiguous, and the meaning must be determined by the other parts of the passage. Either method of understanding the passage would be in accordance with its fair interpretation.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And it was commanded them; that is, these locusts; God so ordered it by his providence.
That they should not hurt, &c.: this makes it appear, that these locusts were no insects so called, but typical; for natural locusts live upon green things; they were only to hurt profane men, and hypocrites. It is a sure rule, that when things are attributed: to living creatures which do not agree to their natures, the terms are to be understood typically, not literally. Locusts use not to kill men; we may therefore be assured, that the locusts here intended, were men, not insects.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
4. not hurt the grass . . . neither. . . green thing . . . neither . . . treethe food on whichthey ordinarily prey. Therefore, not natural and ordinary locusts.Their natural instinct is supernaturally restrained to mark thejudgment as altogether divine.
those men whichGreek,“the men whosoever.”
in, c.Greek,“upon their forehead.” Thus this fifth trumpet isproved to follow the sealing in Re7:1-8, under the sixth seal. None of the saints are hurt by theselocusts, which is not true of the saints in Mohammed’s attack, who issupposed by many to be meant by the locusts for many true believersfell in the Mohammedan invasions of Christendom.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
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 to these little ones:
neither any green thing; who have the truth of grace in them, are spiritually alive, and in prosperous circumstances, in a fruitful condition, being filled with the fruits of righteousness from Christ, the green fir tree, and whose leaves of profession continue green; and are themselves, as David says of himself; like a green olive tree in the house of God, Ps 3:8.
Neither any tree; any trees of righteousness, good and righteous who are often compared to trees planted by rivers of water, Ps 1:3
Jer 17:8; it may be the ministers of the Gospel, then of great grace and gifts, the tall cedars in Lebanon, may be intended; and so by these various expressions, Christians of every size, from the lowest to the highest class, may be signified. Green things and leaves of trees are what the locusts generally destroy, as appears from the plague of them in Egypt, Ex 10:5; and as they did in Syria in the year 1586, as Thuanus reports g. Now as grass, green things, and trees, are what locusts most desire to feed upon and hurt, so real believers, truly godly persons, are those which both the eastern and western locusts, the Mahometans and Papists, have been very desirous of rooting out and destroying; but Christ takes care of these; these are as the apple of his eye, his jewels, his sheep, his sealed ones; none shall hurt them, they shall never perish; he knows them that are his, and he will preserve them amidst fire and smoke, amidst all the corruptions and calamities in the world:
but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads; see Re 7:2; the antichristian party, those of the Romish apostasy, the Papists; and these were they that suffered most by the Saracens, who abhorred image worship, and fell foul on the idolaters of this kind: and, on the other hand, the western locusts, the clergy of the church of Rome, had only influence over the reprobate part of mankind, and only wrought with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish, who were giver, up to believe a lie, that they might be damned, but not upon any of the chosen ones, 2Th 2:11.
g Hist. sui Temporis, par. 4. l. 84. p. 162. Ed. Francofurt.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
It was said (). First aorist passive indicative of .
That they should not hurt ( ). Sub-final (object clause subject of ) with and the future active of as in Rev 3:9; Rev 8:3. Vegetation had been hurt sufficiently by the hail (8:7).
But only such men as ( ). “Except (elliptical use of , if not, unless) the men who (the very ones who).” For this use of see Rev 1:7; Rev 2:24; Rev 20:4.
The seal of God upon their foreheads ( ). Provided for in 7:3ff. “As Israel in Egypt escaped the plagues which punished their neighbours, so the new Israel is exempted from the attack of the locusts of the Abyss” (Swete).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Green. See on ch. Rev 6:8.
Men which [ ] . The double relative denotes the class. Rev., such men as have, etc.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And it was commanded them,” (kai errethe autois) “And it was mandated (restricted by command) to them; The “them” commanded by restrictions were the locusts that had come up out of the smoke of the bottomless pit or abyss, Rev 9:2-3.
2) “That they should not hurt the grass of the earth,” (hina me adikesousin ton chorton tes ges) “in order that they shall not harm the grass of the earth; The judgment that was to be administered by the locusts was not upon vegetation, with causative harm coming thereafter to men and animals, as in preceding judgments, but directly on men of the earth.
3) “Neither any green thing, neither any tree,” (oude pan chloron oude pan dendron) “Nor any green (chlorophyl) stuff, nor even a tree; This type of judgment was totally to avoid any direct hurt or destruction to vegetation, but plague men only.
4) “But only to those men which have not the seal of God,” (ei me tous anthropous oitines ouk echousin ten sphigida tou theou) “Except or (but only) those men who have or hold not the seat (mark or identity) of God,” who have not the spirit: At least those hundred and forty four thousand of Israel who had been sealed in their foreheads against death and carried to their hiding place in the desert, Rev 7:3-4; Rev 12:14.
5) “In their foreheads,” (epi ton metopon) “Upon their foreheads; not one person having the seal of God upon their foreheads on earth is to be hurt or harmed by this judgment plague of scorpions. This sealed people seems to be of natural Israel only, of those remaining on earth, Eze 9:4. As God seals the 144,000 Satan shall kill all other redeemed who do not take his mark in their foreheads, Rev 13:16-17; Rev 20:4
THE STINGING SCORPION
“The mind that broods o’er guilty woes Is like the scorpion girt by fire; In circle narrowing as it glows, The flames around their victim close, Till, inly searched by thousand throes, And maddening in her ire, One sad and sole relief she knows: The sting she nourished for her foes, Whose venom never yet was vain, Gives but one pang, and cures all pain, And darts into her desperate brain. So do the dark in soul expire, Or live like scorpion girt by fire. So writhes the mind remorse hath riven, Unfit for earth, undoomed for heaven, Darkness above, despair beneath, Around it flame, within it death!”
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(4) And it was commanded . . .Translate, And it was commanded them that they shall not injure the grass of the earth, nor yet any green thing, nor yet any tree; but only (or, except) the men whosoever have not the seal of God on their foreheads. The locusts which are sent not to injure the vegetation are clearly not literal locusts, and the security of those who have the seal of God in their foreheads (those who were described as sealed, and so assured of safety against the tempest blast: see Rev. 7:1-3, et seq.) may confirm us in this view. Whatever the plague be, it is one which cannot injure Gods children. Nothing, Christ has said, shall by any means hurt you. I give you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy (Luk. 10:19). It is interesting and suggestive to notice that this promise of our Lord was given immediately after the saying, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven, as the safety of the sealed ones is mentioned here after the vision of the star fallen from heaven. The coincidence is hardly undesigned; at least, the sense in which we understand the danger from which Christ promised His disciples protection may afford us a guiding meaning here. Now, none have maintained that Christ promised His disciples entire freedom from danger, pain, and death. He said, They shall persecute you and kill you; ye shall be hated of all men for My names sake, but he that endureth to the end shall be saved. No real injury can happen to them; pain and death might be encountered, but all things work together for their higher good. They have a joy which no pain or peril can take away; they have a joy in this (it is the same chapter as aboveLuke 10), that their names are written in heaven. For such, death has no sting, the grave no victory. They meet famine and nakedness, and peril and sword; but in these they are more than conquerors. No plague can hurt those who have the seal of God in their foreheads. A plague from which those whose way is through tribulation are exempt can hardly be a physical one.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
4. Commanded Divine limitation over the powers of evil.
Not hurt the grass And so unlike the natural locusts. Their hurt was for men profane men without the seal of justifying grace. The blessed Spirit given through the atonement is the great preserver from sin and deliverer from hell.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rev 9:4. It was commanded them that they should, &c. This verse demonstrates, that these were not natural, but symbolical locusts. The like injunctions were given to the Arabian soldiers. When Yezid marched to invade Syria, Abubeker charged him expressly not to destroy the palm-trees, nor to burn any fields of corn, nor to cut down fruit-trees, nor do mischief to any cattle, unless what theykilled for eating. Their commission is, to hurt only those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads; that is, those who are not the true servants of God, but are corrupt or idolatrous Christians. Now from history it appears, that in those countries where the Saracens extended their conquests, the Christians so called were generally guilty of idolatry in the worshipping of saints, if not of images; and it was the pretence of Mohammed and his followers, to chastise them for it, and to re-establish the unity of the Godhead. The parts which remained most free from the general infection were Savoyand Piedmont; and it is very memorable, that, when the Saracens approached these parts, they were defeated with great slaughter by the famous Charles Martel, in several engagements.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Rev 9:4-5 . There is here a further description as to how this plague of the locusts, proceeding from the abyss, is entirely different from that which the ordinary earthly locusts bring.
., . . ., cf. Rev 6:11 . The ready recollection of the Egyptian plague of locusts [2539] makes the plague here appointed appear the more wonderful and dreadful. Not the grass and all the fresh verdure of field and trees, which are elsewhere devoured by locusts, are now regarded, [2540] but only [2541] men, those, viz., , . . . Only as those without the seal, [2542] are they subjected to the plague proceeding from the abyss. The allegorizing interpretation of Beda and many others, according to which the rage of heretics (locusts) against the orthodox is regarded as here represented, miscarries even though in its individual features it is refuted chiefly in that, according to this exposition, the godly (the sealed) must appear as they who suffer. The explanation also which refers the entire trumpet-vision to the Jewish war, and understands by the locusts the Zealots, is also embarrassed on this point, so that Heinr. must remark: “We are unwilling to inquire here whether the Zealots were really grievous and pestilential to the better or the worse part of the race. The poet certainly imagines the latter.”
The injury which, in Rev 9:4 , the locusts were commanded to inflict upon men, is more precisely defined in Rev 9:5 ; viz., that they are to torment men with the scorpionic power given them, but are not to inflict death.
. , . . . Cf. Rev 9:3 . That the not killing is to be strictly taken, but that it is not to be said that “only the not killed draw attention to themselves, because their number is the greater, and their lot the harder,” [2543] is shown by the tenor of the words, the antithesis , and the further description, Rev 9:6 .
. It harmonizes well with the change of subject, that the indic. fut. now follows . Cf. a similar change of inf. and indic. fut., Rev 6:4 .
. The allegorizing explanations depend, as always, upon extreme arbitrariness. Beda: “That heretics temporarily attack the good. For by five months it signifies the time of a generation, on account of the five senses which we use in this life.” Others reckon five mystical months, as 5 30, i.e., 150 mystical days; i.e., ordinary years, which time is referred by Vitr. to the dominion of the Goths, and by Calov. to the duration of Arianism. Bengel fixes five prophetic months as equal to 79 years, and proposes the sufferings of the Jews in Persia during the sixth century, which were of that length. Utterly out of place is the reference to Gen 7:24 ; [2544] or that to the five sins, Rev 9:20 sqq., [2545] for even if the number of sins were marked there in any way as five, it would nevertheless be preposterous if an entirely special feature of one vision found its significance not within this itself, but only in another. Yet the five months are not to be passed by as “mystical” without an explanation, as if this must be actually given only by its fulfilment. [2546] Besides, Hengstenb. says, arbitrarily, the number five “is absolutely the sign of the half, unfinished, as the broken number. Five months are mentioned, because only the five, in its relation to the twelve months of the year, gives the idea of relatively long duration and dreadfulness;” against which Ebrard already replies that to this sense the number six, the half of the twelve months, would most simply correspond. Eichh., Ew., De Wette, [2547] have properly recognized the designation of the five months as a feature in the vision, which is derived from the popular idea that the locusts usually appeared during the five months from May. [2548] As generally the entire description of visionary locusts, however supernatural they appear, depends upon the basis of a natural view, so, also, that natural conception lies at the foundation of the period given; yet even in this point the natural relation is heightened, as the locusts remain out of the abyss for fully five months, while, naturally, it is only within this time that occasionally a swarm of locusts may come.
. The is the gen. subj., as in the corresponding . . The subj. again is the , and has an active sense, as the form corresponds. [2549]
. , when he shall have struck a man. [2550] The correct Greek mode of expression regards a case naturally possible as having already occurred. Significant is the expression , which in the LXX., besides , [2551] corresponds to the Heb. . [2552] The Latins also speak forcibly of the scorpion’s stroke. [2553]
[2539] Exo 10:12-15 . Cf. also Joe 1:2 .
[2540] Cf. also Rev 8:7 .
[2541] . Cf. Mat 12:4 ; Gal 1:19 ; Gal 2:16 .
[2542] Cf. Rev 7:1 sqq.
[2543] Heugstenb.
[2544] Zll.
[2545] Hofmann.
[2546] Ebrard.
[2547] Cf. already Calov., Vitr., etc.
[2548] Cf. Bochart, Hieroz . ii. 495.
[2549] De Wette.
[2550] Cf. Winer, p. 289.
[2551] Jon 4:7 .
[2552] Num 22:28 ; 2Sa 14:6 .
[2553] Plin., H. N ., vi. 28.
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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.
Ver. 4. And as it was commanded ] As David charged his captains to handle the young man Absalom gently, so and much more solicitous is the Lord of his servants’ safety.
The grass of the earth, nor any green thing ] I say that under the Papacy was true Christianity, saith Luther (Contra Anabap.), yea, the very kernel of Christianity.
Which have not the seal of God, &c. ] Profession, that outward mark of a Christian; and of such there were in the worst of times, even in the darkest midnight of damned Popery, a considerable company. As in this day there are said to be even in Italy 4000 professed Protestants: as in Seville itself, a chief city of Spain, there are thought to be no fewer than 20,000 Protestants. (Spec. Europ.)
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
commanded = said.
that . . . not = in order that (Greek. hina). . . not (App-105).
neither. Greek. oude.
but. Greek. ei (App-118) me (App-105).
only. The texts omit.
men. App-123.
in = upon. Greek. epi. App-104.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
which had not
Rev 7:2; Rev 7:3 contra, Rev 13:16; Rev 13:17.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
that they: Rev 6:6, Rev 7:3, Job 1:10, Job 1:12, Psa 76:10, Mat 24:24, 2Ti 3:8, 2Ti 3:9
hurt: Rev 8:7
but: Corrupt and idolatrous Christians; against whom the Saracens chiefly prevailed.
which: Rev 7:3, Rev 7:4, Rev 14:1, Exo 12:23, Job 2:6, Eze 9:4, Eze 9:6, Eph 4:30
Reciprocal: Psa 105:33 – General Jer 32:10 – and sealed Amo 7:2 – when Act 28:5 – felt Rom 4:11 – a seal 2Co 1:22 – sealed Rev 7:1 – the wind
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 9:4. Here we have another instance where the Lord uses a literal object to symbolize a fact that is not literal, except that He uses the symbol contrary to its usual behavior. This is not the only instance where a performance in nature is used “contrary” to its usual manner. (See Rom 11:24.) The natural thing is for the locusts to eat the very things this verse says they did not hurt. They were to hurt men only and not all of them even. Their destructive work was to be against the men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. Such men were true servants of God and no kind of oppression could actually hurt them. But on the principle that. “evil sometimes works its own rebuke,” the Lord suffers the workers of iniquity to be scourged by their own leaders. It is a historical fact that the dupes of Rome often suffer many hardships at the hands of the clergy. The writer of this paragraph knew a family in which a small son was compelled to earn money, half of which was taken from him by the clergy though his widowed mother was much in need of it.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 4.
Hurt not grass, green thing, tree: “And it commanded them not to hurt the grass, or the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men who have not the seal of God in their foreheads”–Rev 9:4.
In Rev 8:7 the signal of the first trumpet was in the judgment against the land, symbolized by that which was in nature of it. But this first woe of chapter 9 does not have the destruction of the physical powers as its object, but the spiritual.
But only those who have not the seal: The “sealed of God” were the true disciples whom the scorpion power was commanded not to hurt; and it corresponds with Luk 21:25-28, “Look up, lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh.” Matthew describes in Mat 24:15-30, the escape of the disciples; and so does Luke in Luk 21:18.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 9:4. In one respect, indeed, there is a remarkable distinction between the ravages of the locusts mentioned here and those of the common locusts of the earth. Grass and trees and all green things are what the last lay desolate, but such things these locusts are forbidden to touch. It was said unto them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; and the prohibition may be so given in order to bring out, more strongly than would otherwise be done, the singleness with which their rage is directed against men,, as well as the degree to which that rage is increased by want of their ordinary food. Not all men, however, but only such men as have not the seal of God on their foreheads, are to be smitten by the plague; and the inference, in its bearing on the interpretation of the sealing in chap, 7, ought not to pass unnoticed. If we confine the sealing to the tribes of Israel, it will be impossible to extend the locust plague beyond that limit; yet no one will contend for such a view.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Rev 9:4-6. And it was commanded that they should not hurt the grass, &c. This verse demonstrates that they were not natural, but symbolical locusts. The like injunctions were given to the Arabian officers and soldiers. When Yezid was marching with the army to invade Syria, Abubeker charged him with this among other orders: Destroy no palm- trees, nor burn any fields of corn; cut down no fruit-trees, nor do any mischief to cattle, only such as you kill to eat. Their commission is to hurt only those men who had not the seal of God in their foreheads That is, those who were not the true servants of God, but were corrupt and idolatrous Christians. Now from history it appears evidently, that in those countries of Asia, Africa, and Europe, where the Saracens extended their conquests, the Christians were generally guilty of idolatry in the worshipping of saints, if not of images; and it was the pretence of Mohammed and his followers to chastise them for it, and to re-establish the unity of the Godhead. The parts which remained the freest from the general infection were Savoy, Piedmont, and the southern parts of France, which were afterward the nurseries and habitations of the Waldenses and Albigenses; and it is very memorable that when the Saracens approached these parts, they were defeated with great slaughter by the famous Charles Martel, in several engagements. To them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented, &c. As the Saracens were to hurt only the corrupt and idolatrous Christians, so these they were not to kill, but only to torment, and should bring such calamities upon the earth, as should make men weary of their lives. Not that it could be supposed that the Saracens would not kill many thousands in their incursions. On the contrary, their angel (Rev 9:11) hath the name of the destroyer. They might kill them as individuals, but still they should not kill them as a political body, as a state, or empire. They might greatly harass and torment both the Greek and the Latin churches, but they should not utterly extirpate the one or the other. They besieged Constantinople, and even plundered Rome, but they could not make themselves masters of either of those capital cities. The Greek empire suffered most from them, as it lay nearest to them. They dismembered it of Syria and Egypt, and some other of its best and richest provinces; but they were never able to subdue and conquer the whole. As often as they besieged Constantinople, they were repulsed and defeated. They attempted it in the reign of Constantine Pogonatus, A.D. 672; but their men and ships were miserably destroyed by the sea-fire invented by Callinicus, and after seven years fruitless pains they were compelled to raise the siege, and to conclude a peace. They attempted it again in the reign of Leo Isauricus, A.D. 718; but they were forced to desist by famine and pestilence, and losses of various kinds. In this attempt they exceeded their commission, and therefore they were not crowned with their usual success. The taking of this city, and the putting an end to this empire, was a work reserved for another power, as we shall see under the next trumpet.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
9:4 {6} 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.
(6) Here the power of the devils is described according to their actions and the effects of the same. Their actions are said to be limited by the counsel of God: both because they do not hurt all men, but only the reprobate (for the godly and elect, in whom there is any part of a better life, God guards by his decree) whom Christ shall not have sealed, in this verse: and also because they did not have all power nor at all time, no not over those that are their own, but limited in manner and time, by the prescript of God in Rev 9:5 . So their power to afflict the godly is none, and for the wicked is limited in act and in effect, by the will of God: for the manner was prescribed to them that they should not slay, but torment this wretched world. The time is for five months, or for a hundred and fifty days, that is, for so many years, in which the devils have indeed mightily perverted all things in the world: and yet without that public and unpunished license of killing, which afterwards they usurped when the sixth angel had blown his trumpet, as shall be said in Rev 9:13 . Now this space is to be accounted from the end of that thousand years mentioned in Rev 20:3 and that is from the reign of pope Gregory the seventh, a most monstrous Necromancer, who before was called Hidebrandus Senensis: for this man being made altogether of impiety and wickedness, as a slave of the devil, whom he served, was the most wicked firebrand of the world: he excommunicated the emperor Henry the fourth: went about by all manner of treachery to set up and put down Empires and kingdoms as he liked: and did not hesitate to set Rodolph the Swedon over the Empire instead of Henry, sending to him a crown, with this verse annexed to it: “Petra dedid Petro, Petrus diadema Rodolpho” that is, “The Rock to Peter gave the Crown, and Peter Rodolph doth renown”. Finally, he so finely bestirred himself in his affairs, as he miserably set all Christendom on fire, and conveyed over to his successors the burning brand of the same who enraged with like ambition, never ceased to nourish that flame, and to kindle it more and more: by which cities, commonwealths and whole kingdoms set together by the ears amongst themselves by most expert cut-throats, came to ruin, while they miserably wounded one another. This term of a hundred and fifty years, ends in the time of Gregory the ninth or Hugolinus Anagniensis (as he was called before) who caused Raimond his chaplain and confessor to compile the writings of Decretals, and by permission of the kings and princes, published them in the Christian world, and established them as Law: For by this trick at length the popes gave themselves licence to kill whom they would, while others were unaware: and without fear established a butchery out of many of the wicked Canons of the Decretals, which the trumpet of the fifth angel had expressly forbidden and had hindered until this time. The effects of these bloody actions are declared in Rev 9:6 that the miserable world languishing in so great calamities, should willingly seek death and prefer the it over life, by reason of the severity of the miseries that oppressed them.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
God commissioned these creatures to inflict severe pain on the earth-dwellers who did not have God’s mark of ownership and protection on their foreheads (cf. Rev 7:3-8). Normally locusts eat vegetation, but these creatures will afflict human beings. They were not to harm nature but humans.