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The seventh seal broken: silence 1 And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven, as it were for half an hour. 8:1 The silence signifies both the angelic good order and piety, and also that which concerns the second coming of Christ is unknown even to the angels. The half an hour of time shows the shortness of time in which the plagues are brought on and the completion of these things on the earth occur, the kingdom of Christ will appear. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) Seven angels with trumpets 2 And I saw seven angels standing in the presence of God; and there were given to them seven trumpets. 3 And another angel came, and stood before the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given to him much incense, that he should offer of the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar, which is before the throne of God. 4 And the smoke of the incense of the prayers of the saints ascended up before God from the hand of the angel. 5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with the fire of the altar, and cast it on the earth, and there were thunders and voices and lightnings, and a great earthquake. 6 And the seven angels, who had the seven trumpets, prepared themselves to sound the trumpet. 8:2 seven trumpets: Some commentators think these things imply in an obscure way the variety of punishment of sinners in Gehenna, but these things mean rather the plagues prior to the end of the world. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) That the blowing of the Trumpet refers to the preaching or communication of divine truth is the interpretation of Haimo, Primasius, St. Ambrosius Autpertus, Francisco Ribera, Luis of Alcasar, Cornelius aLapide, Rabanus Maurus, and other authors. The trumpet usually signifies the voice of the Word of God and its precepts, as also any extraordinary preaching thereof. (Origen, St. Ambrosius Autpertus, St. Augustine, St. Gregory, St. Cyril) 8:3 another angel: Cornelius a Lapide is in this respect of the same opinion as Luis of Alcasar; for both affirm that this angel was different from any of the seven, and that he was not Christ, nor representative of him. Rupert of Deutz thinks it was the archangel Michael; Francisco Ribera that it was Gabriel or Michael. prayers of all saints: Prayer is offered to a person in two ways: first, as to be fulfilled by him, secondly, as to be obtained through him. In the first way we offer prayer to God alone, since all our prayers ought to be directed to the acquisition of grace and glory, which God alone gives, according to Ps. 83:12, "The Lord will give grace and glory." But in the second way we pray to the saints, whether angels or men, not that God may through them know our petitions, but that our prayers may be effective through their prayers and merits. Hence it is written that "the smoke of the incense," namely "the prayers of the saints ascended up before God." This is also clear from the very style employed by the Church in praying: since we beseech the Blessed Trinity "to have mercy on us," while we ask any of the saints "to pray for us." (St. Thomas Aquinas Sum Theo) The first four trumpets 7 And the first angel sounded the trumpet, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and it was cast on the earth, and the third part of the earth was burnt up, and the third part of the trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up. 8 And the second angel sounded the trumpet: and as it were a great mountain, burning with fire, was cast into the sea, and the third part of the sea became blood: 9 And the third part of those creatures died, which had life in the sea, and the third part of the ships was destroyed. 10 And the third angel sounded the trumpet, and a great star fell from heaven, burning as it were a torch, and it fell on the third part of the rivers, and upon the fountains of waters: 11 And the name of the star is called Wormwood. And the third part of the waters became wormwood; and many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter. 12 And the fourth angel sounded the trumpet, and the third part of the sun was smitten, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so that the third part of them was darkened, and the day did not shine for a third part of it, and the night in like manner. 8:7 From these, as we see, not less than one third of all the creatures living on earth will be killed in a perceptible manner, destroying by wars not only people, but also all the things that the earth brings forth. And the blessed Joel strengthens our own opinion regarding the thing set forth, saying that blood and fire and vapor of smoke are to come before the great day, Joel 2:30. (St. Andrew of Caesarea) 8:8-9 The burning mountain means the anger of God on them. But that here one of three parts become blood is because both on islands and on ships much slaughter is seen. All this is the beginning of the end. Just as the severity of winter gradually becomes stronger, so too the end of all things. (Nerses of Lambron) Thus Haimo says, it signifies the devil extolling himself in the height of pride. Similar is the interpretation of Viegas and Aquinas. Bede says that it signifies the devil swelling with pride and burning with the fire of rage; Richard of St. Victor, that the mountain signifies outswelling, and that it is called a great mountain by reason of the greatness of the outswelling; Nicholas of Lyra, that the mountain is called great by reason of elatedness, and burning by reason of ambition; 8:10-11 It seems to me to refer in sequence to the extinction of creatures. For just as the mountain destroyed the sea and the fire the earth, likewise too this star, which is God’s punishment, altered rivers and springs from their habitual nature. (Nerses of Lambron) Or by water turned into blood is understood carnal wisdom, which is converted into blood when it openly persuades to evil, not those only which are without the Church, but also heretics and false Christians, who, desiring to follow their own wills, endeavor to defend themselves by their 'wisdom' and empty philosophy. (Haimo of Auxerre) Or by water turned into blood is the wisdom of the flesh which is wont to kill the souls of those who are lost. (St. Ambrosius Autpertus) Wormwood: By wormwood, which is a most bitter herb, is understood the perverted teaching of heretics; who, by their falsity, have converted the sweetness of faith into the bitterness of faithlessness, error, and evil works; because all their works and teaching are turned into bitterness. (Haimo of Auxere) 8:12 Observe that this sign and those which follow are not after the General Resurrection, as Jerome and Chrysostom suppose, but previous to it, as is plain from Luke 21:26, and Joel 2:31. The sun will be darkened because God will take away from it, not its light indeed, but its power of illuminating, by which it shall come to pass that in the sun there will be light, but upon the earth nothing but darkness. Thus was it at the Passion of Christ. Again, God will hide the sun by means of thick clouds and smoke. Perchance also there will be extraordinary and miraculous eclipses, as may be gathered from Lactantius 7.16. Of this darkening of the sun at the end of the world, the calamities and prodigies which took place at the destruction of Babylon, Tyre, Egypt, Idumæa, etc., were types. When, therefore, the Prophets speak of them, they speak by catachresis of the horribleness of the destruction, by saying that the sun and moon and stars shall be darkened. For such dreadful calamities bring on men giddiness and blindness. Thus those overthrows were types and foreshadowings of the destruction of the world, when the heavenly luminaries will be literally darkened. the moon: For when the sun is darkened, the moon must necessarily be so likewise, since she derives her light from it. the stars: Because at the end of the world the stars also shall be darkened, so that they shall appear to men to have fallen from the heavens. For Holy Scripture often speaks of things not as they are in themselves, but as they appear unto men. stars: comets and such like bodies, which are formed in the atmosphere, shall then fall upon the earth. This may be gathered from Joel 2:30. (Cornelius a Lapide Com Mt 24:29) The three woes 13 And I beheld, and heard the voice of one eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice: Woe, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth: by reason of the rest of the voices of the three angels, who are yet to sound the trumpet. 8:13 eagle: According to St. Victorinus- the Holy Spirit; St. Andrew and Oecumenius- an angel; Tyconius- Word of God; St. Bede and Primasius- the Church. Some inferior manuscripts read 'angel', but probably an alteration by scribes who understood the eagle to be an angel. Cornelius A. Lapide and Fracisco Ribera are of opinion that by the eagle is here designated some holy and celestial prophet whom the Lord will raise up in the latter days to forewarn of these coming woes. (John Litteral) The Trumpets (Rev. 8-9)
The Trumpets are events that happen during the Great Tribulation that mostly have to do with judgment and punishment. There are seven angels that blow trumpets, which blowing a trumpet is probably meant symbolically as being set in motion by the angels. These events that come by way of these trumpets are not to be understood as happening in that order, such as the first trumpet being the first event that is followed by the second, and then the third and so on. Some of these events probably begin at the same time while some may happen before the first trumpet blown by the first angel. One thing that appears to happen first among the trumpets is the fifth trumpet, which is the release of Satan and the demons from the bottomless pit, while the seventh trumpet does come last, which is the final Judgment. There are some commentators who have suggested that the trumpets and the bowl judgments of Revelation 16 are the same thing, but there are plenty of distinctions among the two sets of events which makes them obviously distinct from one another. The major distinction between the two are the places where they resemble eachother the most, such as the second trumpet and the second bowl, the third trumpet and the third bowl. Both concern the same areas of the earth being struck with judgment, but where the trumpets mention a third of each of those areas being destroyed, the bowls say that those places will be completely struck down, which clearly shows that these will be two different events and two sets of judgments. The bowls bring some more intense punishment than some of the trumpets, and the bowls will probably happen more rapidly while some of the trumpets are spread out over a larger period of time. Here is a comparison of the trumpets and bowels side by side.
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