And the sixth angel poured his vial on the great
river
Euphrates
Which is not to be understood literally of the river Euphrates,
which ran through Mesopotamia and Chaldea, and by the walls of
Babylon; and of the drying of it up to make way for the Jews in
the eastern parts of the world, to pass into their own land, and
possess it; when a like miracle will be wrought for them as was
when they came out of Egypt, by dividing the Red sea for them;
and as when they entered into Canaan's land, by laying the waters
of Jordan on heaps, so that they passed over as on dry land; in
favour of which sense the passage in ( Isaiah 11:15
Isaiah
11:16 ) is thought to be, which the Targum interprets of
God's smiting the river Euphrates; though the river Nile in Egypt
seems rather to be meant: but it does not appear that there is
any number of Jews beyond the river Euphrates; the far greater
number of them is in the western and northern parts of the world;
so that there will be no need for the drying up of this river for
their passage into their own land; nor, if there were any in
those parts, can any reason be given why they should be called
the kings of the east, who, wherever they are, are a poor
contemptible people, and have never had any ensigns of royalty
among them for many hundreds of years; nor can that river be
thought much to hinder, were all other impediments out of the
way, nor the drying of it up much facilitate their passage to
Judea, and much less affect their conversion: besides, this vial,
as the rest, is a plague on antichrist, in some branch or other,
or on some part or other, of the antichristian state; which, if
not designed here, is nowhere in the account of this vial, and
therefore this must be understood mystically; there is no doubt
an allusion to the draining of this river at the taking of
Babylon by Cyrus, according as was predicted in prophecy, (
Isaiah
44:27 Isaiah 44:28
) ( Jeremiah
50:38 ) ( Jeremiah
51:31 Jeremiah
51:32 Jeremiah
51:36 Jeremiah
51:37 ) who, making sluices and drains, turned the river
another way, and marched through it with his army, and surprised
and took the city at once, while Belshazzar and his nobles were
indulging themselves in rioting and drunkenness, as Daniel
relates, ( Daniel
5:1-30 ) . Now some, because that Babylon was situated upon
the river Euphrates, and Rome, or the Romish antichrist, is
mystical Babylon, think that is here designed, and is the object
of this vial; and that the drying up of this river designs the
withdrawing of nations and kingdoms, signified by waters, (
Revelation 17:15 )
from its jurisdiction and power, which will bring on its ruin;
and also the stoppage of dues and tithes, annates, Peter's pence,
and of all its traffic in indulgences, pardons whereby it will be
greatly impoverished, and brought to nothing: but it should be
observed, that the fifth vial affects Rome, the seat of the
beast; and as for the beast himself, he will not be destroyed
till the battle of Armageddon; and mystical Babylon, or the
antichristian state, in the whole compass of it, will not be
destroyed until the pouring out of the seventh vial; wherefore
rather the eastern antichrist, the Turks are meant, in whose
dominions this river is; for as the Assyrian monarch is signified
by the waters of this river, when he was in his glory, and had
his seat at Babylon, by which this river ran, ( Isaiah 8:7 Isaiah 8:8 ) so may the
Turks, who inhabit by this river, be intended by it; and the
rather, as this sense exactly corresponds with the sixth trumpet;
for as the sounding of that trumpet looses the four angels bound
in the great river Euphrates, which founded the Turkish empire,
as we have seen; so the pouring out of this sixth vial affects
the same empire, and brings it to ruin. Mr. Daubuz is of opinion
that this plague refers to the depopulation and destruction of
the Grecian empire, and the bringing of the Turks into Europe,
who have greatly distressed and tormented the corrupted
Christians or Papists.
And the water thereof was dried up;
the Ottoman empire will be extinct, just as the destruction of
the Babylonish monarchy is expressed by the drying up of its sea,
( Jeremiah
51:36 ) so the destruction of the Turkish empire is signified
by the drying up of the water of this river, which is in the
heart of it: and this is the passing away of the second woe, (
Revelation 11:14 )
that the way of the kings of the east might be
prepared;
which some understand of Christians in general, who are made
kings and priests unto God, and of Christian kings in particular,
whose way will be prepared, by the declining state of antichrist,
to express their hatred to the whore of Rome, and burn her flesh
with fire; but the Romish antichrist is not here intended: others
think, as before observed, that the Jews are designed; that the
Jews will be converted in the last days seems manifest from (
Hosea 3:5 ) (
Romans
11:25 Romans 11:26
) and other places; and that they will return to their own land
is suggested in abundance of prophecies, particularly in (
Ezekiel
37:21 ) ( Amos 9:14 Amos 9:15 ) and it must
be allowed that the eastern, as well as the western antichrist,
is a stumbling to them; and especially the advantage which the
Turks have gained over the powers that go under the Christian
name, and their possession of their land is an hinderance to
their return to it; so that the destruction of the Turkish empire
will undoubtedly make way for their conversion, and restoration
to their own land; but then this will be equally advantageous to
the Jews in the west as to those in the east, if there be any
numbers of them there, which does not appear, and therefore there
seems no reason why they should be pointed at, and be called the
kings of the east: rather therefore to me it seems, that, through
the fall of the Ottoman empire, way will be made for the kings
and princes of the east, literally understood, to have and
embrace the Gospel of Christ; for, the Turks being destroyed, the
Mahometan religion will decline, the Gospel will be carried into
the eastern parts of the world, into those vast kingdoms and
countries which lie in those parts, when they will become the
kingdoms of our Lord, and the kings and princes of them will come
to the brightness of Zion's rising; so that the ruin of this
monarchy will pave the way for the spread of Christ's kingdom
from sea to sea, and front the river, the river Euphrates, to the
ends of the earth; and this also will prepare the way, and lead
on for all the saints, who are kings, and shall reign with Christ
a thousand years, who is said to come from the east, ( Revelation
7:2 ) or from the rising of the sun, as these are said to do,
as the words may be rendered, to possess the kingdom under the
whole heaven: Philo the Jew F26 has some expressions
illustrating the literal sense of this, where he speaks of a
Roman army on the banks of Euphrates, which kept the passage of
"the eastern kings".