RSV ~ Revelation 16 Notes

Rev 16:1-21 | ISB Notes

One by one, the seven angels are summoned to dump the seven bowls of wrath upon the world. Unlike the sequence of seven seals and seven trumpets, where an interlude separated the sixth and seventh calamity, the seven bowls are poured in direct succession, without an intermission above or relief for those below.

• Several of the seven bowls are modeled on the Exodus plagues that ravaged Egypt. This can be seen in the sores (16:2, sixth plague, Ex 9:8-12), the water sources turned into blood (16:3-4, first plague, Ex 7:1721), the darkness (16:10, ninth plague, Ex 10:21-23), the demonic frogs (16:13, second plague, Ex 8:2-6), and the heavy hail (16:21, seventh plague, Ex 9:18-35). For similar connections with the trumpets, see note on Rev 8:7-11:19.

Rev 16:5 | ISB Notes

you who are and were: Part of the threefold title of God in 1:4, here without the future element: “who is to come”. For the significance of this, see note on Rev 11:17.

Rev 16:6 | ISB Notes

saints and prophets: Martyred in the “great city” destined to be destroyed (18:24).

Rev 16:7 | ISB Notes

the altar cry: The pleas of the martyrs are at last answered as God avenges their blood on those who killed them (6:9-11).

Rev 16:9 | ISB Notes

men were scorched: The wicked are seared by the sun, while the righteous are protected in the shade of God’s presence (7:16).

did not repent: Even the crushing weight of divine curses did not bring the wicked to their knees and induce them to mend their ways (16:11).

Rev 16:10 | ISB Notes

throne of the beast: The throne of the dragon, which he shares with the beast from the sea (13:2). Historically, the darkness that ensues may be linked with the death of Nero, whose suicide in June A.D. 68 sparked considerable upheaval in the Empire. See note on Rev 13:3.

Rev 16:12 | ISB Notes

river Euphrates: Runs through Mesopotamia, to the east of Israel beyond the northern Arabian desert. The Babylonian army had to cross this river when it advanced toward Jerusalem to destroy it in the sixth century B.C.

Rev 16:13 | ISB Notes

the false prophet: The land beast of 13:11.

Rev 16:15 | ISB Notes

Blessed is he: The third of seven beatitudes in Revelation. .

Rev 16:16 | ISB Notes

Armageddon: Means “mountain of Megiddo” in Hebrew. Megiddo was a fortified settlement in central Israel overlooking a broad plain that was used as a battlefield in biblical times. Revelation envisions another conflict staged near Megiddo, one destined to end with the devastation of the harlot city (chaps. 17-18) along with the defeat of the beast and the false prophet (19:11-21). Ultimately, this catastrophic event serves as a preview of the final battle between good and evil scheduled for the end of time (20:7-10).

•The plain of Megiddo evokes memories of victory and defeat. Here Israel routed the Canaanites and secured several decades of peace in the time of the Judges (Judg 5:19-21). Here, too, King Josiah of Judah stubbornly refused to stay out of a foreign skirmish and, as a result, fell on the battlefield and caused great mourning in Israel (2 Chron 35:20-25; Zech 12:11).

Rev 16:17-21 | ISB Notes

The seventh bowl brings the final crushing blow upon wicked Babylon. Forced to swallow every last drop of God’s wrath (16:19), it is at last shaken apart by an earthquake (16:18) and pounded to the ground with huge hailstones (16:21).