Revelation 9:8

8 Their faces seemed human and they had hair like women's hair, but their teeth resembled those of lions.

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 And at that time people will seek death, but will by no possibility find it, and will long to die, but death evades them.
7 The appearance of the locusts was like that of horses equipped for war. On their heads they had wreaths which looked like gold.
8 Their faces seemed human and they had hair like women's hair, but their teeth resembled those of lions.
9 They had breast-plates which seemed to be made of steel; and the noise caused by their wings was like that of a vast number of horses and chariots hurrying into battle.
10 They had tails like those of scorpions, and also stings; and in their tails lay their power of injuring mankind for five months.
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