@nevi-goes

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A Great Locust Swarm examined:
Comparative Analysis: Revelation 9 (LSV) and 70 AD Events
Revelation 9 LSV describes a locust swarm as divine judgment, here argued to be the Zealots of 70 AD, not a mystical entity but a human army fulfilling covenant wrath. Below, each verse aligns with Josephus’ record.
Revelation 9:1 LSV: “And the fifth messenger sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star having fallen out of the heaven to the earth, and there was given to him the key of the pit of the abyss.”
Wars Parallel: The “star” and “key” signal judgment’s onset—70 AD’s siege begins with Titus’ arrival (Wars V.1.1, V.1-2), unleashing chaos as Zealots, already loosed, intensify internal ruin. The “abyss” opens with their unchecked fury.
Revelation 9:2 LSV: “And he opened the pit of the abyss, and there came up smoke out of the pit as smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened out of the smoke of the pit.”
Wars Parallel: Jerusalem’s burning—grain stores torched (Wars V.1.4, V.24), Temple fires later (Wars VI.4.5, VI.250)—casts smoke, though not literal sky-darkening. The “furnace” mirrors the city’s inferno; Zealot violence clouds all hope.
Revelation 9:3 LSV: “And locusts came forth out of the smoke to the earth, and there was given to them authority as the scorpions of the earth have authority.”
Wars Parallel: Zealots—Simon’s 15,000, John’s 6,000—emerge as “locusts,” their authority seen in relentless plunder (Wars V.1.5, V.34-35) and torture (Wars V.11.1, V.527-528), stinging like scorpions with arbitrary death.
Revelation 9:4 LSV: “And it was said to them that they may not injure the grass of the earth, nor any green thing, nor any tree, but the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads.”
Wars Parallel: Zealots raze trees (Wars V.11.2, V.513-519), defying this restraint, yet their true target is people—defectors slain (Wars V.7.2, V.289-290), no “seal” spared in their frenzy, a symbolic overrun of judgment’s bounds.
Revelation 9:5 LSV: “And it was given to them that they may not kill them, but that they may be tormented five months, and their torment [is] as the torment of a scorpion when it may strike a man.”
Wars Parallel: The siege’s five months (April–September) align precisely; Zealots torment, not just kill—famine (Wars VI.1.1, VI.193-200), executions (Wars V.8.1, V.344-345), and terror mimic scorpion stings, prolonging agony.
Revelation 9:7 LSV: “And the likenesses of the locusts [are] like to horses made ready to battle, and on their heads as crowns like gold, and their faces as faces of men.”
Wars Parallel: Zealots wield war engines (Wars V.6.3, V.266-267), “horses” of battle; “crowns” reflect their self-styled rule (Wars V.1.3, V.11-13); “faces of men” are human warriors, stark in their carnage.
Revelation 9:8 LSV: “And they had hair as hair of women, and their teeth [are] as of lions.”
Wars Parallel: John’s Zealots in 69 AD don “hair as hair of women” (Wars IV.9.10, IV.561-562), a prelude to 70 AD’s ferocity; “teeth as of lions” bite as they devour their own (Wars V.1.1, V.4-5), rending kin like prey.
Revelation 9:9 LSV: “And they had breastplates as breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings [is] as the sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.”
Wars Parallel: Zealots bear arms (Wars V.6.3, V.266), “breastplates” of resolve; their clashes—storming streets, manning towers (Wars V.8.1, V.347)—roar like “chariots… running to battle.”
Revelation 9:10 LSV: “And they have tails like to scorpions, and stings, and in their tails [is] their authority to injure the men five months.”
Wars Parallel: Their “tails” strike through prolonged terror—five months of famine, slaughter (Wars VI.3.3-4, VI.201-213), a sting of unrelenting pain.
Revelation 9:11 LSV: “And they have over them a king, the messenger of the abyss—his name in Hebrew [is] Abaddon, and in the Greek he has a name, Apollyon.”
Wars Parallel: Simon and John, dual “kings” of chaos, reign over this “abyss” of ruin—Abaddon, destroyer, fits their legacy as Jerusalem collapses (Wars VI.9.3, VI.420-421).
Covenant Judgment Framework
Jerusalem’s fall fulfills divine retribution for covenant infidelity. Isaiah 54:5 LSV declares, “For your Maker [is] your husband”—Israel, the wife, rejects Jesus, the Word made flesh (John 1:1, 14 LSV). His death, orchestrated by her leaders (Acts 3:15 LSV), invokes Mosaic Law’s judgment: “Moses… he who is accusing you is Moses” (John 5:45-46 LSV). Deuteronomy 28:49 LSV warns of “a nation… fierce of face”; Zealots embody this, their locust-like swarm sealing Israel’s fate in 70 AD.
Conclusion: An Inextricable Unity
The last five months of 70 AD, as chronicled in Wars V-VI, unveil a city consumed by its own—Zealots in women’s garb spilling blood (Wars IV.9.10), bodies heaping streets (Wars VI.9.2), famine birthing cannibalism (Wars VI.3.4), and leaders like Matthias (Wars VI.7.2) and Idumaeans (Wars VI.8.2) falling to factional blades. Revelation 9 LSV’s locusts—human, war-ready, tormenting five months—mirror this explicitly. Line by line, from “authority… as scorpions” (9:3 LSV) to “teeth as of lions” (9:8 LSV), the Zealots of Josephus and John’s vision align as one: a human army, not myth, executing God’s wrath on a covenant-breaking Jerusalem

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