Revelation 6:15

15 And the kings of the earth, and the rulers, and the chief captains, and the men of wealth, and the strong, and every servant and free man, took cover in the holes and the rocks of the mountains;

Revelation 6:15 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 6:15

And the king's of the earth, and the great men
The Roman emperors, and other principal magistrates, governors of provinces and cities:

and the rich men;
among the commonalty; these three may design perhaps more particularly the emperors, nobles, and senate of Rome: and

the chief captains;
or captains of thousands, that had the command of the Roman legions

and the mighty men;
the soldiers that were under them, men of strength, courage, and valour;

and every bondman, and every freeman;
which takes in all the inhabitants of the Roman empire, of every state and condition, and which was an usual distinction among the Romans: these

hid themselves in the dens, and in the rocks of the mountains;
where, through their cruel persecutions, they had forced multitudes of Christians to flee, and therefore, "lex talionis", the law of retaliation was righteously inflicted on them; and not to take notice of any other, this was remarkably true of their kings or emperors Dioclesian and Herculius Maximianus, who were emperors together, in the height of their imperial glory and grandeur, the one being at Nicomedia, and the other at Milan, did, on one and the same day, of their own accord, abdicate the empire, and divested themselves of their imperial crown and government, and retired to a private life; pretending in public, that old age, and the weight of business, were the cause, but to their friends they owned, that it was through despair, because they could not extinguish the Christian religion ^F16. Some ascribed this to frenzy and madness ^F17; but the true reason was, that the wrath of the Lamb was let into their consciences, and which they could not bear, and which obliged them to take this step, to the amazement of the whole world. Maximinus, who succeeded them, being overcome by Licinius, laid aside his imperial habit, and hid himself among the common people, and skulked about in fields and villages ^F18. Maxentius, another emperor, fled from Constantine, the instrument of the wrath of the Lamb, and the pouring it out upon his enemies, and fell into the river Tiber, from the Mylvian bridge, where he perished; and which was the very place in which he had laid snares for Constantine ^F19.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F16 Contur. Magd. cent. 4. c. 16. p. 909. Vid. Eutrop. l. 9.
F17 Euseb. Hist. l. 8. c. 13. & de Vita Constantin. l. 5. c. 25.
F18 lb. l. 9. c. 10.
F19 Ib. c. 9. & de Vita Constant. l. 1. c. 38. Vid. Aurel. Victor. de Caesaribus.

Revelation 6:15 In-Context

13 And the stars of heaven were falling to the earth, like green fruit from a tree before the force of a great wind.

14 And the heaven was taken away like the roll of a book when it is rolled up; and all the mountains and islands were moved out of their places.

15 And the kings of the earth, and the rulers, and the chief captains, and the men of wealth, and the strong, and every servant and free man, took cover in the holes and the rocks of the mountains;

16 And they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Come down on us, covering us from the face of him who is seated on the high seat, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

17 For the great day of their wrath is come, and who may keep his place?