Revelation 16:1-2; Plagues Like Those in Egypt
Revelation 16:1-2 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and uponthem which worshipped his image.
Throughout the Apocalypse, John bases his writing on allusions from and references to the Old Testament. In this chapter he clearly has in mind the plagues on Egypt. He is not following their sequence methodically, yet the similarity with respect to some of the plagues is obvious.
Not the sequence but the correspondence to the plagues in Egypt is significant. The first bowl causing sores on people (v2) parallels the plague that caused boils (Exodus 9:10).
Exodus 9:10 And they took ashes of the furnace, and stood before Pharaoh; and Moses sprinkled it up toward heaven; and it became a boil breaking forth with blains upon man, and upon beast.
The third bowl that turned the water of rivers and springs into blood (v4) is identical to the plague that changed all the water of Egypt into blood (Exod. 7:19).
Exodus 7:19 And the LORD spake unto Moses, Say unto Aaron, Take thy rod, and stretch out thine hand upon the waters of Egypt, upon their streams, upon their rivers, and upon their ponds, and upon all their pools of water, that they may become blood; and that there may be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in vessels of wood, and in vessels of stone.
The fifth bowl that occasioned darkness (v10) has its parallel in the plague that plunged all of Egypt into darkness (Exodus 10:22).
Exodus 10:22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days:
The sixth bowl that dried up the Euphrates and brought forth three evil spirits appearing as frogs (v13) is symbolic of the plague that caused frogs to cover the land (Exodus. 8:6).
Exodus 8:6 And Aaron stretched out his hand over the waters of Egypt; and the frogs came up, and covered the land of Egypt.
And the seventh bowl that hurled hailstones to the earth (v. 21) is analogous to the plague that brought hail to Egypt (Exodus 9:23–24).
Exodus 9:23-24 And Moses stretched forth his rod toward heaven: and the LORD sent thunder and hail, and the fire ran along upon the ground; and the LORD rained hail upon the land of Egypt. So there was hail, and fire mingled with the hail, very grievous, such as there was none like it in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
There is more. A comparison of the seven trumpets and the seven bowls reveals parallels that in abbreviated form appear as follows:
| Seven Trumpets | Seven Bowls |
| 1 earth (8:7) 2 sea (8:8–9) 3 rivers, springs (8:10–11) 4 sun, moon, stars (8:12) 5 pit of the Abyss (9:1) 6 river Euphrates (9:13–14) 7 lightning, hail (11:15, 19) | 1 earth (16:2) 2 sea (16:3) 3 rivers, springs (16:4–5) 4 sun (16:8) 5 throne of the beast (16:10) 6 river Euphrates (16:12) 7 lightning, hail (16:17, 21) |
The basic difference between the trumpets series and the bowls series is generally one of an increase in intensity. This becomes plain in comparing the trumpet and bowl scenes individually.
• In the first trumpet scene, the earth is affected but not the people, but in the scene of the first bowl, the people suffer from festering boils.
• The second trumpet involves only a third of the sea and its creatures, whereas the outpouring of the second bowl causes death for every living thing in the sea.
• The third trumpet is a warning, while the third bowl is God’s judgment.
• The fourth trumpet ushers in partial darkness, but the result of pouring out the fourth bowl is that the people are scorched by the sun.
• The fifth trumpet releases the hordes of evil angels that torture those people who do not have God’s seal on their foreheads, and the fifth bowl occasions darkness in Satan’s kingdom and suffering on the people who curse God.
• The sixth trumpet brings about the death of one-third of the human race in warfare, while in the scene of the sixth bowl this warfare engages the kings of the whole world.
• The seventh trumpet and the seventh bowl are almost identical except that in the bowl scene the words It is done sound forth from the throne to indicate finality.
Kistemaker, S. J., & Hendriksen, W. (1953–2001). Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Vol. 20, pp. 436–439). Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.