Five months of political turmoil in Israel
9 The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the land. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. 2 When it opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. 3 And out of the smoke locusts came down on the land and were given power like that of scorpions of the land. 4 They were told not to harm the grass of the land or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. 5 They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. 6 During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
7 The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. 8 Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. 9 They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. 10 They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. 11 They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).
Revelation 9: 9-11
Let us unpack the meaning of these verses. In verse two the Greek word αὐτῷ is often translated as ‘he’ by Bible translators, creating the impression that the star that falls to the earth is an angel. However, this word can also be translated as ‘it’:
Strong’s Concordance
autos: (1) self (emphatic) (2) he, she, it (used for the third pers. pron.) (3) the same
Original Word: αὐτός, αὐτή, αὐτό
https://biblehub.com/greek/846.htm
Part of Speech: Personal Pronoun
Transliteration: autos
Phonetic Spelling: (ow-tos’)
Definition: (1) self (emphatic) (2) he, she, it (used for the third person pronoun) (3) the same
Usage: he, she, it, they, them, same.
I would argue that the star that falls to the earth from heaven is not a ‘he’ but an ‘it’. In other words, the star that opens the Abyss is not an angel, but is also some sort of revelation which comes down to the earth from Heaven and which is responsible for opening the Abyss. Therefore, verse two reads:
When it opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace.
Revelation 9:2
In verses one, three and four the Greek word γῆς needs to be translated as ‘land’. We can know that this takes place in the land of Israel because verse four says:
They were told not to harm the grass of the land or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
Revelation 9:4 NIV
The 144 000 people who have the seal on their foreheads are Jewish (Revelation 7:1- 4). So, it seems most likely that the events described here occur in the land of Israel.
These demonic entities are described as locust-like. This is a significant clue to the timing of this event. The description of the demonic entities as locusts pinpoints the time of the year in which the five months of torment fall.
When do locusts occur in Israel?
In his book about Revelation, Days of Vengeance, David Chilton notes that in Judea it was typical for locusts to appear in the land anytime between May and September, a period of five months. http://lastdayspast.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/1987_chilton_days-of-vengeance.pdf
However, locusts can attack Israel from as early as March:
Locust in Israel in March 2013: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21847517
https://www.palestine-studies.org/sites/default/files/jq-articles/JQ_56-57_The_1915_Locust_0.pdf
Based on what David Chilton says about the typical time of locusts and what I found out researching when locusts occur in Israel, we can place the time that locusts occur in Israel as between March and September.
Since the Nation State Bill was passed on 18 July 2018, we need to look at the next time of the locusts in Israel, to find the five month period spoken of in Revelation 9:5. This was March to September 2019. We, therefore, need to look for a five month period during this time, in which Israel was attacked by the demonic entities which were released from the Abyss.
Israel attacked by demonic entities during the time of the locusts in 2019
We are being told that this trumpet occurred during the time when swarms of locusts normally occur in the land of Israel. We can take this time as March to September. We are being told that the attack of the demonic entities will last for five months, during the time that locusts occur in Israel. If one examines what was happening in Israel during the time of the locusts in 2019, we see that it was a time of political turmoil. Two elections had to be held as a result of this turmoil. A five month period of political turmoil separated these two elections.
An early election had to be held on 9 April 2019 because of disputes about national service for the ultra-orthodox and impending corruption charges against the Israeli Prime Minister. Then, five months later, a snap election was held because of continued disagreements about the national service for the ultra-orthodox:
An early election is held on 9 April 2019:
Early legislative elections were held in Israel on 9 April 2019 to elect the 120 members of the 21st Knesset. Elections had been due in November 2019, but were brought forward following a dispute between members of the current government over a bill on national service for the ultra-Orthodox population, as well as impending corruption charges against incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu’s Likud tied with Blue and White alliance of Benny Gantz, both winning 35 seats. The balance of power was held by smaller parties, with a majority being right-wing and religious parties that had previously sat in coalition with Likud, which would have allowed Netanyahu to form the next government.
Due to continuation of the disagreements over the national service of the ultra-Orthodox, a snap election was called, and was held on 17 September 2019.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/April_2019_Israeli_legislative_election
September 2019 Election:
The upcoming elections for the 22nd Knesset were called under unprecedented circumstances: the previous Knesset (21st) , elected on April 9th , decided less than two months later on its early disbanding after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s failed to form a government. This is the first time in Israel’s history that two elections will be held in the same year, and for the tenth consecutive time Israel is holding early national elections. They will be held in the shadow of Attorney General Mandelblit’s announcement of his intent to indict Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, pending a hearing, at the height of the previous election campaign.
After surviving several coalition crises, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s fourth government (in office since May 2015) disbanded in December of 2018. The formal explanation for the early Knesset dissolution was the governing coalition’s inability to obtain a majority to push forward legislation that would authorize a proposed solution for the never-ending issue of ultra-Orthodox military service. This was also the reason behind the failure of the coalition talks after the elections: Lieberman opposed any compromise regarding the draft law. The Dispersion Law: The 21st Knesset, passed on May 29th and new elections will be held on September 17, 2019.
https://en.idi.org.il/israeli-elections-and-parties/elections/2019/
But Netanyahu later failed to gather them into a majority government after he lost support from his former defence minister, Avigdor Lieberman. To give himself another shot, Netanyahu forced parliament to dissolve, triggering repeat elections…
Ostensibly, it was over disagreements between Lieberman’s secular party and Jewish ultra-Orthodox politicians. Lieberman refused to join a coalition with them unless Netanyahu agreed to force seminary students to serve in the army. Israel’s deeply observant minority have long been allowed to avoid the draft to study, but the issue has irked non-religious Israelis.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/sep/16/israel-elections-why-is-country-going-to-polls-election-again
Therefore, in the five months between April 9, 2019 and September 17, 2019, there was a large amount of political uncertainty in the nation of Israel.
The mind and emotions are the main targets of demonic attack. I would like to suggest that the torture rendered by the demonic entities on the people in Israel, who did not have the seal of God, was of a mental and emotional nature, rather than a physical nature. The political uncertainty that the Israeli people were facing was exacerbated by the demons attacking their minds. The demonic entities would have stirred up contention and conflict making it impossible for agreement to be reached.
If that was not bad enough, on the 17 July 2019, Israel had a huge heatwave where temperatures went up to 49.9 degrees Celsius. This could be why men were wishing to die in verse six:
During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.
Revelation 9:6 NIV