7 Angels

[Rev. 8:2] And I saw the seven angels which stood before G-d; and to them were given seven trumpets.
[These are announced by the blowing of seven trumpets in turn. The trumpets more or less repeat the revelation of the seven seals, though they present it more from G-d’s standpoint.
These seven angels are identified as the seven angels who stand before G-d. By this is meant not merely the angels who happened to be standing before the throne, but the seven who, according to Jewish tradition, formed a special group and were distinguished above the rest. This differentiation of the seven appears clearly in the apocryphal book of Tobit 12:15, written during the intertestamental period, “I am Raphael, one of the seven angels who stand ready and enter before the glory of the L-rd. The names of the other six, according to the Greek text of the book of Enoch chapter 20, are Uriel, Raguel, Michael, Sariel, Gabriel, and Remiel. These are the angels that John sees being given trumpets that will figure in the following series of judgments.]
[7] The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.
[Forty years after the words of Y’Shua in Lk. 13: 1-3, many of His followers including His mother and brothers are living in Jerusalem. As Galilee lies in flames, compare John’s writings and the predictions of the Dead Sea Scrolls: “The torrents of Satan shall reach to all side of the world (the known world). In all their channels a consuming fire shall destroy every green tree, green and barren, on their banks; unto the end of their courses it shall scourge with flames of fire, and shall consume the foundations of the earth and the expanse of the dry land. The bases of the mountains shall blaze and the roots of the rocks shall turn to torrent of pitch; it shall devour as far as the great Abyss.”(Psalm Scroll).
The last of the four horsemen had authority to harm a fourth of the earth in 6:8. At the sound of the first trumpet the destruction becomes more pervasive, for now one-third is affected. ]
[8] And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;
[With the second, third, and fourth trumpets there is a continuation of the affliction of the earth in terms of one-third: sea, sea creatures, ships, rivers, sun, moon, stars, fountains of water. At each of the four trumpets, three things have been touched after their sounding between 7-12.
The judgments that follow each of the first four trumpets are elemental forces of nature, which are directed against the cosmos and which affect humanity indirectly.
John finds some significance in the numbers three, four, and twelve.
3 = G-d head, the strongest form of union. Rev. 20:10; 1 Jn. 5:7; Eccl. 4:12
4 = Reference to the earthly creation;
four regions ( north, south, east, west),
four seasons ( winter, spring, summer, fall)
four horns on the altar
four winds. Matt. 24:31; Rev. 7:1
four world empires Dan. 2
12 = Israel is represented by the number 12.
Twelve tribes
Twelve apostles
The woman of Rev. 12 represents Israel wearing a crown with 12 stars
Twelve thrones
The tabernacle was twelve cubits wide
Twelve months
Twelve minor prophets
Twelve sons of Jacob
The imagery that John uses to described his visions may have been in part suggested by storms, earthquakes, and eclipses of the first century. Rev. was written after A.D. 79, when the sudden eruption of Vesuvius completely engulfed the city of Pompeii with molten lava and destroyed ships in the Gulf of Naples, than John’s readers, from reports they had heard of the catastrophe, would have had no difficulty picturing something like a great mountain, burning with fire, being thrown into the sea.]
[9] And the third part of the creatures which were in the sea, and had life, died; and the third part of the ships were destroyed.
[Vespasian sends a force against the port city of Joppa on the Mediterranean coast. Josephus describes these events by saying: “The inhabitants fled in terror to their ships, where they passed the night beyond reach of the enemy’s missiles. But Joppa has no safe harbor, only a crescent-shaped roadstead with two stony reefs. The next morning, a fierce wind called by sailors the black northern dashed the ships against each other or into the rocks. They could neither escape to the open sea, nor make for land, on account of the Romans, and so they foundered among the billows or were shattered on the shoals. Anyone swept to shore was immediately massacred by the Romans, and the blood of 4,200 corpses turned the sea red.” Another confirmation of John’s account of the sea turning to blood happened near Tiberias, on the Sea of Galilee, at a place called Magdala, the home of the woman, who in the New Testament, is known as Mary Magdalene. According to Josephus: “Vespasian then advanced upon Magdala, where many insurgents had fled…The Romans pursued them to their ships, but the revels sailed out only far enough to leave the Romans in range and attacked them by sea…when his rafts were ready, Vespasian embarked his troops and ordered them to attack the fugitives. In their small skiffs, the Jews could not cope with the well-armed Romans on the rafts, and merely threw stones at them from a distance, which rattled off their armor. The Romans boarded their vessels, or killed them from the rafts with arrows or long lances. If any clung to the side of a raft, their hands or their heads were cut off. The survivors were driven to the shore, where the Romans lining the beaches killed them, so that not a man escaped. The dead totaled 6,700. The shores were strewn with wrecks and swollen carcasses, which, in the following days, polluted the district with a horrible stench. The lake (Sea of Galilee) was red with blood.” Soon after this event Vespasian had the survivors rounded up in the stadium at Tiberias, where 1200 of the old and infirm were put to death. Vespasian declared: “Execute them! All but 6000 or the strongest and healthiest…send those to Nero, for gladiatorial combat.” Vespasian then sold another 30,400 as slaves, of which most were worked to death. The last holdout in northern Galilee was a rocky precipice east of the Sea of Galilee known as Gamala because it is shaped like the hump of a great camel, which in Hebrew is called a gamal. Gamala was an almost impregnable fortress in which the Jewish defenders heroically fought against the Romans. As Vespasian attacked Gamala, many of his men took refuge on the roofs of the houses, which lined the steep slopes of the city. But the houses collapsed under the weight and great numbers were buried in the rubble as the Romans continued their assaults. Josephus describes it by saying: “To seal their destruction, a storm arose that blew in the faces of the Jews, and accelerated the Roman arrows while rendering their harmless. The Romans mounted the crag and quickly surrounded and slaughtered them. Savage because of their former defeat, they spared not one, not even infants, whom they flung from the citadel. Multitudes threw themselves headlong down the precipices, and their despair was even more fatal than the rage of the Romans, since the Romans killed 4,000 while over 5,000 hurled themselves over the cliffs. No one escaped except two women who had hidden themselves. Thus Gamala fell.”]
[12] And the fourth angel sounded, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars; so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day shone not for a third part of it, and the night likewise.
[See Lk. 21:26. To understand these apocalyptic Jewish symbols remember that these powers in the heavens, as Y’Shua said, that are turning dark, falling and are being shaken, have a symbolic meaning representing the Aristocrats or the worthies of Jerusalem. One example of this in Jewish literature is seen in the book of Gen. Concerning the dream of Joseph, in which the sun, moon, and stars fall down before him. In Joseph’s dream these heavenly powers represent his mother, father and brothers. This is the same Jewish reasoning used in this story of the dignitaries of Jerusalem seen as the sun, moon and stars or powers of heaven. They became dark and fell, as these aristocrats were murders by the Zealot bandits. Josephus tells us that things got worse in Jerusalem as: “A turbulent and chaotic people, the Idumeans, mustered their forces and marched to Jerusalem, with and army of 20,000. Ananus, the high priest, who heard of their coming, closed the gated..and Y’Shua (a different one), the chief priest, next in age to Ananus, addressed the people from an adjacent tower.” The name Y’Shua was a popular name in Jerusalem and this was not Y’Shua of Nazareth. Y’Shua, the priest declared to the Idumeans: “We have not negotiated with the Romans…but we seek moderation. We ask you either to enter the city without weapons or depart.” Josephus tells us that the Idumeans did not listen to these two peacemakers and spared none, slaughtering all the guards. The next day dawned on 8,500 corpses. The invaders then rushed on the city looting all the houses and killing any who came in their way. The chief priest Ananus and Y’Shua were killed and their bodies thrown out without burial, although the Jews are usually so careful about funeral rites that even felons who have been crucified are taken down and buried before sunset. The capture of the city (by the Romans) virtually began with the death of Ananus. ]
[9:3] And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power.
[When the fifth angel blows his trumpet, a plague of demonic locusts is released from the bottomless pit. The leader of these demonic hordes is Abaddon, the destroyer.]
[14] Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.
[Just as ancient Babylon swallowed up Jerusalem and destroyed the Temple in the sixth century 586 B.E., so Roman stands poised as the New Babylon, ready to devour Judea in the first Century. To draw a closer illustration of Ancient Babylon, Rome had forged a harlotrous alliance with four kingdoms from the east from the area of the Euphrates River in Babylon.]
[15] And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.
[The Euphrates is significant as the eastern frontier of the Roman Empire, beyond which lay the Parthian menace. These demon-horsemen with their mounts, hitherto held in leash, are now let loose like avenging furies upon the Roman provinces at the hour, the day, the month, and the year appointed.]
[10:1] And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire:
[Rainbow was upon his head means that the angel is clothed with G-d’s power and mercy.]
[10] And I took the little book out of the angel's hand, and ate it up; and it was in my mouth sweet as honey: and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
[The angel is holding a little book in his hand, and John is told to take it, and eat – a way of saying that he is to read, learn, mark, and inwardly digest, even as we still speak of devouring a book, meaning that we read it with eagerness. This scroll, which is not the sealed scroll of chapter 5, is a special message from G-d to John.
In his mouth the scroll is sweet as honey, but in his stomach it is bitter, signifying that it is sweet to him to receive G-d’s message, but that its wrath and judgment fill him with sorrow. ]