Revelation 9:8

8 Their hair was like women's hair, their teeth were like lions' teeth. 1

Revelation 9:8 Meaning and Commentary

Revelation 9:8

And they had hair, as the hair of women
Some locusts have smooth, others hairy heads F14: this fitly points at the Arabians or Saracens, who, as Pliny says F15, used to wear long hair without cutting it, and attired as women, and have their names also from women: they were called Hagarenes, from Hagar, Abraham's handmaid, by whom he had Ishmael, the father of these people; afterwards they took the name of Saracens, from Sarah, the wife of Abraham, whose posterity they would be thought to be; though they may have the latter name, either from (qro) , to "rob" and "steal", with the Arabians, or from the same word, as it signifies to "comb", from the combing and plaiting: of their hair. This may also point at the effeminacy of the western locusts, the monks and friars, who dress more like women than men; and many of them claim the virgin Mary for their patroness; and may in general design the votaries of the church of Rome, who are under the vow of a monastic life, as those among the Jews, under a Nazarite's vow, wore long hair.

And their teeth were as [the teeth] of lions;
so in ( Joel 1:6 ) ; which may denote the ravages and devastations of the Saracens in the empire, robbing, pillaging, and destroying all they met with; and is applicable enough to the devouring jaws of the Romish clergy, their plundering the estates of men, their cruelties and barbarities exercised by their Inquisition Pliny says F16, that locusts will gnaw the doors of houses.


FOOTNOTES:

F14 Gloss. in T. Bab. Cholin. fol. 65. 1.
F15 Hist. Nat. l. 6. c. 28.
F16 L. 11. c. 29.

Revelation 9:8 In-Context

6 During those five months they will seek death, but will not find it; they will want to die, but death will flee from them.
7 The locusts looked like horses ready for battle; on their heads they had what seemed to be crowns of gold, and their faces were like human faces.
8 Their hair was like women's hair, their teeth were like lions' teeth.
9 Their chests were covered with what looked like iron breastplates, and the sound made by their wings was like the noise of many horse-drawn chariots rushing into battle.
10 They have tails and stings like those of a scorpion, and it is with their tails that they have the power to hurt people for five months.

Cross References 1

Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.