Revelation 9:8

8 and they had hair as hair of women, and their teeth were as [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 in those days shall men seek the death, and they shall not find it, and they shall desire to die, and the death shall flee from them.
7 And the likenesses of the locusts [are] like to horses made ready to battle, and upon their heads as crowns like gold, and their faces as faces of men,
8 and they had hair as hair of women, and their teeth were as [those] of lions,
9 and they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and the noise of their wings [is] as the noise of chariots of many horses running to battle;
10 and they have tails like to scorpions, and stings were in their tails; and their authority [is] to injure men five months;
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.