12. What definite period is mentioned under this trumpet?
“And they had tails like unto scorpions, and there were stings in their tails: and their power was to hurt men five months.” Verse 10. See also verse 5.
Notes.—“It was on the twenty-seventh of July, in the year 1299,” says Gibbon, “that Othman first invaded the territory of Nicomedia,” in Asia Minor, “and the singular accuracy of the date,” he adds, “seems to disclose some foresight of the rapid and destructive growth of the monster.”—“Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,” chap. 64, par. 14 This, then, we take to be the beginning of the period referred to.
A Bible month consists of thirty days; five months would be 150 days. Allowing a day for a year, 150 years from July 27, 1299, would reach to July 27, 1449. During this period the Turks were engaged in almost constant warfare with the Greek Empire, and yet without conquering it.
13. With what statement does the fifth trumpet close?
“One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.” Verse 12.
14. What command is given under the sixth trumpet?
“And the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.” Verses 13, 14.
Notes.—These four angels are understood to refer to the four leading Turkish sultanies—Aleppo, Iconium, Damascus, and Bagdad—of which the Ottoman Empire was composed, situated in the country watered by the river Euphrates.
As a striking parallel it may be noted that under the sixth plague (Rev. 16:12-16), the four angels of Rev. 7:1-3 will loose the winds of war, the waters of the river Euphrates (the Turkish Empire) will be dried up, and the armies of the nations will assemble for the battle of Armageddon.