Rev 9:3 “And there came out of the smoke *d Locusts upon the earth and unto them was given *e power, as the *f scorpions of the earth have power.”
Notes from the G Bible *d- Locusts are false teachers, heretics, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, doctors, bachelors & masters which forsake Christ to maintain false doctrine. (A few more words in this caption I couldn’t translate)
*e- false and deceivable doctrine which is pleasant to the flesh
*f- that is secretly, to persecute and to sting with its tail as scorpions does such is the fashion of the hypocrites
Fellow traveler, I find there is always more to learn. Each day I wake up to a new day of learning. The notes that u/Sassafras11 posted from the 1560 Geneva Bible is a new learning for me and connects with the meaning of 'Pharmakea'. These people who are in positions of authority (false teachers, heretics, patriarchs, archbishops, bishops, doctors, bachelors & masters which forsake Christ to maintain false doctrine) and are purposely leading the innocent astray, especially the children, and causing all to stumble, be inflicted and harmed, it is only fitting death is not their only punishment, but the Second Death, the Lake of Fire to which we just discussed.
What is especially eye-opening to me is the use of the word 'locusts'. In the Greek (G200) the word is 'akris' and is defined as:
"a locust, particularly that species which especially infests oriental countries, stripping fields and trees. Numberless swarms of them almost every spring are carried by the wind from Arabia into Palestine, and having devastated that country migrate to regions farther north, until they perish by falling into the sea."
Interesting that Strong's Concordance defines the geographic location. It mentions the "numberless swarms" of locusts to which perhaps the numbers are are numberless worldwide. In Rev. 9:3 "locusts" represents:
"A description of the malignant spirits invading the world, taken from their nature, power, form and order. From their nature, for that they are like unto certain locust, in quickness, subtilty, hurtfulness, number, and such like in this verse."
"From their power, for that they are as the scorpions of the earth, of a secret force to do hurt."
"Scorpions" comes from the Greek word (G4651), ' skorpios'. A scorpion, the name of a little animal, somewhat resembling a lobster, which in warm regions lurk, esp. in stone walls; it has a poisonous sting in its tail.
Strong's Concordance doesn't provide a metaphoric meaning to either "locust" and "scorpion". Strong's is also biased and not the best concordance to use. However, it is a good place to start. My thoughts are -- since the authors of the 1560 Geneva Bible are William Whittingham, Anthony Gilby, and Thomas Sampson, I'd like to know the source to their metaphoric understanding of this. It does indeed correlate to the actual meaning of 'Pharmakeia' (G5331), to which the word can be found in Revelations (9:21; 18:23) and Exodus 7:11; 7:22; 8:18, Isaiah 47:9, Galatians 5:20; 5:20.
From that the Geneva Bible notes state:
"For our battle is not here with flesh and blood, but with powers, Ephesians 6:12 . This place of the power of the Devils, generally noted in this verse, is particularly declared afterwards in the three next verses, Revelation 9:4-6.
Thank you for your response! You offer many great insights! I had to post when I saw the G notes describing people in positions in authority teaching false doctrine. It really hit me, that false doctrine isn’t necessarily just Biblical doctrine but any thing that is deceptive and FALSE. Now that you mention pharmakea (which is what will deceive all nations Rev 18:23), it’s clear to me what that is. I was trying to find the etymology of the words doctrine & medicine/medical and really wasn’t satisfied with what I came up with for medicine. Doctrine was from docere (to teach) and doctor stemmed from this I believe. For medicine, only one source said it came from Medea - Greek- Goddess of illusion. Which if you read about her she was very skilled in sorcery. So I made the connection.. Doctor is a teacher of (false doctrine) sorcery/medicine/Pharmakea. Now, False doctrine has been handed down over the centuries, not just medical but law, astronomy, religion etc. I was trained in health care etc, so I’m not calling out all people. The key is Christ, when we are born again in the Spirit, then we have the Spiritual discernment that others don’t have.. but you do have to Seek God for it! Many people are believers but maybe in the infant stage of belief. (I’m not lecturing lol, just most people I know are not interested in this like you and me)! Thanks again! I hope to exchange again! In hurry with this response so if it’s rambling I apologize