What do you make of the locusts with human faces that come out of a smoking hole to the Abyss with stingers that hurt so bad everyone wants to die for six months but can't?
I just looked up a couple of sources, and it looks like that part divine wrath against those who worship false gods, so I'd guess it mainly is talking about the Imperial cult worshippers (but not exclusively). The locust imagery comes from the OT prophets but is inverted--instead of plants with their mouths they kill humans with their tails; instead of smoke stunning them, they arise from smoke, etc.
Also the idea is that the false gods you worship are the ones that are actively harming you, so if we take an economic lens to it, it could mean that the economic system you (the wealthy) profit from is actively harming you.
We know the author of Revelation is conjuring up these images to address the wealthy because he literally says so in his letter to Laodicea (Rev 3:15-17): "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’" They're complacent because they're rich, so the author wants to show them that (a) they are gaining wealth at the expensive of people's lives (b) that they need to fucking shape up and start giving that wealth to the poor if they want to survive God's wrath
What do you make of the locusts with human faces that come out of a smoking hole to the Abyss with stingers that hurt so bad everyone wants to die for six months but can't?
:jesus-christ:
I just looked up a couple of sources, and it looks like that part divine wrath against those who worship false gods, so I'd guess it mainly is talking about the Imperial cult worshippers (but not exclusively). The locust imagery comes from the OT prophets but is inverted--instead of plants with their mouths they kill humans with their tails; instead of smoke stunning them, they arise from smoke, etc.
Also the idea is that the false gods you worship are the ones that are actively harming you, so if we take an economic lens to it, it could mean that the economic system you (the wealthy) profit from is actively harming you.
We know the author of Revelation is conjuring up these images to address the wealthy because he literally says so in his letter to Laodicea (Rev 3:15-17): "I know your works; you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were either cold or hot. 16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I am about to spit you out of my mouth. 17 For you say, ‘I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing.’" They're complacent because they're rich, so the author wants to show them that (a) they are gaining wealth at the expensive of people's lives (b) that they need to fucking shape up and start giving that wealth to the poor if they want to survive God's wrath