NOTE: Please bear with the poor English of the author and be it known that this article may expand or change in form in the future.
(Rev 8:7) And the first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and they were cast upon 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.
Could the land of China, the former Communist Party of the Soviet Union, and the outcome of the current Ukraine-Russian war be the three events that the 1st Trumpet portrays? Before the writer goes to the topic proper, it would be better to have an idea about the timing of this particular trumpet which Rev 8:1 gives…
there was silence in heaven…
(Rev 8:1 KJV) And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
The Aramaic word for “silence” can also mean “veil.”
$tq noun sg. emphatic
štq, štqˀ (šṯeq, šeṯqā) n.m. silence
1 silence Syr, Man.
2 metaph.: veil Syr.
In the OT, a veil in the head or face could be a sign of mourning as in:
(2Sa 15:30 KJV) And David went up by the ascent of mount Olivet, and wept as he went up, and had his head covered, and he went barefoot: and all the people that was with him covered every man his head, and they went up, weeping as they went up.
(2Sa 19:1 LITV) And it was announced to Joab, Behold, the king is weeping and mourning over Absalom.
(2Sa 19:4 LITV) And the king had covered his face. Yea, the king cried with a loud voice, My son Absalom! Absalom my son, my son!
If applied after WW2, the last event of the Great Tribulation, “veil” as mourning would be appropriate for the victims of the Holocaust and the other servants of God killed in the war.
In the Jewish tradition, mourning for the dead is divided into several stages or periods.
Periods of Mourning
While shiva is a very specific period of mourning, there are stages before and after shiva that have particular significance. In fact, shiva is merely one of many defined periods of grieving within Judaism. Below is a list of the others, each of which is a milestone for a mourner who is grieving the loss of a loved one.
Aninut
The period between death and burial. The mourner during this period is called the ‘onen.’ Before commercial burials, the mourner was fulfilling the needs of the deceased in preparation for burial and therefore was exempt from other religious duties such as morning and evening prayers and putting on tefillin (scrolls containing verses from the Torah).Avelut
This is the Hebrew word for mourning, which consists of three periods: shiva, sheloshim, and the year of mourning.Shiva
The traditional seven-day period of mourning, following the burial, when mourners stay at home and receive guests to offer them comfort and participate in daily religious services.Sheloshim
The 30-day mourning period after the burial and including the first seven days of shiva. It is observed by the immediate family and is designed to allow the mourner to get over the shock of the death. The mourners return to work after the first seven days, but other restrictions remain, such as refraining from attending weddings, dances or parties.Year of Mourning
When the mourner is mourning a parent, the observances held in sheloshim are extended for one year from the day of burial.Yahrzeit
The yearly anniversary of a death, which is commemorated with the lighting of a candle that burns for 24 hours and the recitation of the Kaddish prayer.– http://www.shiva.com/learning-center/understanding/periods-of-mourning/
Of all the stages of mourning mentioned above, only the 7-day period is what the author can find in the Bible.
Gen 50:8-10 KJV
(8) And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father’s house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
(9) And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.
(10) And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
1Sa 31:12-13 KJV
(12) All the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bethshan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there.(13) And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
A quote about the 7-day period:
They fasted seven days – In imitation of the mourning for Jacob (marginal reference). They would give full honor to Saul though he was fallen.
– Albert Barnes
Another quote:
To testify their sorrow for the public loss of Saul, and of the people of God; and to entreat God’s favour to prevent the utter extinction of his people. But you must not understand this word of fasting strictly, as if they eat nothing for seven whole days; but in a more large and general sense, as it is used both in sacred and profane writers; that they did eat but little, and that seldom, and that but mean food, and drunk only water for that time.
– Matthew Poole
…for about half an hour
(Rev 8:1 KJV) And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour.
In Bible prophecies concerning duration of time, the 360-day period is the most used and referenced time-frame. If we are also going to use it in determining the actual duration of the Biblical “half an hour,” the computation would be similar to:
360 days / 24 = 15 days ≡ 1 hour
15 days / 2 = 7.5 days ≡ half an hour
7.5 days is the actual duration of time the “half an hour” is representing. Now, isn’t the word “about” in the verse when used to express time means that it could be exact or just near the exact time indicated? John did not hear the time duration, it seems that he felt or experienced it. The Aramaic word “about” in the verse has the definition:
)yk p01 = )yk p –> hyk p
hyk (hayḵ/hēḵ/ˀaḵ) prep. like
1 like Palm, JLAtg, PTA, CPA, Sam, Syr, JBAmb, LJLA, JudSyr. –(a) as is appropriate for Syr. –(b) according to Syr. –(c) ܐܝܟ ܙܢܐ ܕ just as Syr.
If this 7-day period is converted to years, a year for a day, that would span the years from 1945 to 1952. Why would the “silence in heaven” be mentioned at the opening of the 7th Seal and why would its duration be about the space of half an hour and not of the other periods or durations of mourning quoted above? Maybe, it has something to do with the timing of the 1st Trumpet.
The 1st Trumpet
The author doesn’t know the metaphorical meaning of voices, lightnings, and thunders at the start of the Trumpets (Rev 8:5). Also, there is something that must be considered in the 1st Trumpet and this is the word earth which can also be translated as land. As land, it can refer to the ground, land of Judea, land of the surrounding nations, or land of a nation mentioned. More likely, we can know to which the word is pointing to, depending on the context of the passage. As earth, it can point to the planet earth, ground, etc. As symbolic earth, it can refer to things as opposed to heavenly or spiritual things. NOW, if the word is part of the symbolic Biblical phrase heavens, earth, and sea, then, earth could be pointing to a particular people or peoples and/or their place on our planet just like the heavens and sea do.
In the case of the first four trumpets, the earth is part of the expression earth, sea, rivers and fountains of waters, and heavens which can be found in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th trumpets respectively. So, the earth in the 1st Trumpet could be pointing to a particular people or peoples and/or their place on our planet. Let’s continue.
(Rev 8:7) And the first sounded, and there followed hail and fire, mingled with blood, and they were cast upon 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.
The Three Figures of Destruction and Death
Each of the three figures hail, fire, and blood has more than one possible meaning. Here are some of their meanings which the author believes are appropriate for the context of the 1st Trumpet:
Hail as destruction:
(Psa 78:47 KJV) He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycomore trees with frost.
(Exo 9:24-26 LITV
(24) And there was hail, and fire flashing in the midst of the hail, very heavy, which never had been in all the land of Egypt since it became a nation.
(25) And the hail struck in all the land of Egypt, all that was in the field, from men and to livestock. And the hail struck every plant of the field, and it broke in pieces every tree of the field.
(26) Only in the land of Goshen, where the sons of Israel lived, there was no hail.
Fire as famine and pestilence:
(Eze 5:1 KJV) And thou, son of man, take thee a sharp knife, take thee a barber’s razor, and cause itto pass upon thine head and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weigh, and divide the hair.
(Eze 5:2 KJV) Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after them.
(Eze 5:12 KJV) A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.
Look at the correlations between the two verses above according to the color of the texts. Fire may be understood as famine and as pestilence. Read also Joel 1:16-20.
Blood as death:
(Num 35:33 KJV) So ye shall not pollute the land wherein ye are: for blood it defileth the land: and the land cannot be cleansed of the blood that is shed therein, but by the blood of him that shed it.
(Eze 5:17 KJV) So will I send upon you famine and evil beasts, and they shall bereave thee; and pestilence and blood shall pass through thee; and I will bring the sword upon thee. I the LORD have spoken it.
Water as danger and/or deep suffering:
In the Aramaic Peshitta rendering of Rev 8:7, the word blood is not present, instead, it is water:
Psa 69:1-3
(1) To the Chief Musician. Concerning the Lilies. A Psalm of David. Save me, O God! for the waters have come in on my soul.
(2) I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing; I have come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me.
(3) I am weary from my crying; my throat is dried; my eyes fail while I wait for my God.
The Three Events
…and the third of the earth was burnt up
What event or series of events after 1952 had taken place in which the third part of the earth was burnt up or destroyed (hail), caused famine and/or pestilence (fire), and resulted in tens of millions of deaths (blood) or unimaginable sufferings (water)? Since 1952, there were several great events that had occurred; here are some of them:
- The Great Leap Forward (2nd of the five-year social and economic development plans in China, 1958-1962)
- Vietnam War
- Six-Day War, June 5-10, 1967
- The Arab-Israeli War of 1973
The Cold War and the Korean War were not included because both events had already started before 1952.
The scale and intensity of destruction and famine together with the number of people killed which all resulted from the Chinese Great Leap Forward would put it as the most appropriate historical event that must be considered in regard to the 1st event of the 1st Trumpet.
There might be some readers who might think or say that China is not included in Bible Prophecies but maybe, these same persons or several of them will believe that the Two Myriads of Myriads horsemen are composed of Chinese troops. Let’s continue with the discussion.
There are many articles on the Internet describing the greatest peace-time environmental and ecological destruction ever done by man against nature so far. Just google for “Chinese Great Leap Forward.” Here’s one from the thesis of Michael Schoenhal: Man must conquer earth: three stages of CCP policies resulting in environmental degradation in China:
The Great Leap Forward resulted in a disaster on an unprecedented scale, bringing with it a three-year famine during which around 30 million people perished.30 For the environment, the legacy of the Leap is twofold: tangible consequences such as deforestation and ensuing soil erosion, and intangible consequences in the form of government policies, a Maoist mindset that persisted for the next few decades that would further exacerbate the degradation of the environment. Land reclamation, the filling in of lakes to create arable land was a practice that had existed since the Ming dynasty; with the Leap it was urged on a greater scale and would come to be further emphasised over the following two decades, even at the cost of local aquaculture and freshwater fisheries, leading to lowered ground water levels and destruction of ecosystems. The deforestation exacerbated flooding since without the plants shielding the soil the ground succumbed to erosion, which in turn lead to siltation of rivers and greater flooding. The overemphasis on grain would persist and gain momentum again with the Cultural revolution, regardless of the need to revert to more sustainable practices. Another aspect of the Leap that resulted in environmental degradation was sporadric industrial distribution: industry was located close to raw materials, and as a result factories such as steel mills, chemical distillations, tanning and dyeing industries were located in pristine wildernesses, while railroads were laid over the large areas to connect these to cities, all with devastating effects on ecosystems. Similarly, the same industries, all lacking any pollution abatement machinery, were also situated in the hearts of the cities, close to railway stations and main roads, often to let stand for many years despite apparent effects on inhabitants. An example was a chemical distillation in downtown Shijiazhuang (capital of Hubei) in Qiaoxi district, only closed in December 1979, despite lengthy protesting over the factory’s poisoning of groundwater.31 This goes to show not only a lack of environmental awareness to the policies, but a general lack of forethought, even understanding for long- term consequences.
– http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/1671690 page 13
Quote from Wikipedia:
The Great Leap also led to the greatest destruction of real estate in human history, outstripping any of the bombing campaigns from World War II.[102] Approximately 30 to 40 percent of all houses were turned to rubble.[103] Frank Dikötter states that “homes were pulled down to make fertilizer, to build canteens, to relocate villagers, to straighten roads, to make place for a better future beckoning ahead or simply to punish their owners.”[102]
– https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Leap_Forward#Impact_on_economy
Fire/Blood/Water
According to government statistics, there were 15 million excess deaths in this period. However, the Chinese government at this time was taken over by market reformers who were strongly opposed to the Great Leap Forward.[2] Unofficial estimates vary, but scholars have estimated the number of famine victims to be between 20 and 43 million.[3] Historian Frank Dikötter, having been granted special access to Chinese archival materials, estimates that there were at least 45 million premature deaths from 1958 to 1962, although far from all these deaths came about as a result of starvation.[4][5]
Chinese journalist Yang Jisheng concluded there were 36 million deaths due to starvation, while another 40 million others failed to be born, so that “China’s total population loss during the Great Famine then comes to 76 million.”[6] However, some scholars argue that the 40 million people who “failed to be born” should not actually be counted, since they never actually existed in the first place, except as pure statistical speculation on paper. The term “Three Bitter Years” is often used by Chinese peasants to refer to this period.[7]
Clearly, the metaphorical meanings of hail as destruction, fire as famine, and blood as death or water (Aramaic) as deep suffering can be seen from the catastrophe the Great Leap Forward had brought.
The destruction of the land was so great in almost every aspect. It can be said that China was burnt up during the 2nd five-year social and economic development plans in China, 1958-1962. Let’s compute the total land area of China, Mongolia, and the former USSR:
China: 9.6 million square kilometers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/China
Mongolia: 1.564 million square kilometers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mongolia
USSR: 22.400 million square kilometers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_Union
Total: 33.564 million square kilometers
28.6 % of the total is 9.599304
The actual land area of China is 28.6 % of the total – less than a third but more than a fourth of the earth. It is not expected, the author believes, that these thirds in the trumpets are exactly one-third of something.
It was shown in the article Revelation 12 how the USSR prophetically fit the historical description of the earth in Rev 12:15-16 which helped the Woman by swallowing the flood (German armies) spewed out by the red dragon.
According to the author’s understanding, the “earth” of the Biblical expression the heavens, earth, and sea points to the location of China, Mongolia, and the former Soviet Union (with some of its satellite states maybe). Mongolia was located between China and the former USSR; although its population is just a little over two million, it is the 18th-largest sovereign state in the world according to Wikipedia’s article about Mongolia.
…and the third of the trees was burnt up
The trees here are not literal because the grass is not and can’t be literal in the context of Rev 8:7. According to Isaiah, grass is:
Isa 40:6-8 KJV
(6) The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
(7) The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: because the spirit of the LORD bloweth upon it: surely the people is grass.
(8) The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
Trees are prominent as compared to grass which represent the common people, so trees could also be a class of people but with higher social status like government officials. Read Judges chapter 9.
Most probably, in the context of Rev 8:7, trees represent government officials or party members – the people who ruled China, Mongolia, and the former USSR. There was a time after World War 2 that all the three mentioned nations contemporaneously used a one-party system of government which was communism. Then in 1991, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) was dissolved and the USSR disintegrated.
Let’s have some computations to find a third of something. Let’s add the number of members of the CPSU and the number of members of the CCP in 1986 (the nearest year to 1991 the author could find that has info regarding the membership numbers of both ruling parties). Mongolia’s total number of members of their communist party can be ignored for their population in 1992 is just 2.3 million and besides the country’s form of government changed to a democratic multi-party system in 1990 but its communist party was not outlawed. I don’t know where to place the number of members of its communist party in the computation. Let’s proceed with just the numbers from China and the Soviet Union:
The numbers:
In 1986, the CPSU had over 19 million members
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_the_Soviet_Union#Membership
In 1986, the CCP had over 44 million members
http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-2641.html
The math:
19 million + 44 million = 63 million
63 million / 3 = 21 million
The number of all the members of the CPSU (1986) is just a little under a third (31%) of the entire communists of the earth except that of Mongolia’s and of the Eastern Bloc’s! Could these CPSU members be the third of the trees that were burnt up in the 1st Trumpet?
One of the figurative meanings of “burn” is “loss”:
(1Co 3:15) If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
…and all green grass was burnt up
“Fire” could also mean pestilence according to the definition given by Eze 5:12 (presented above), of the “fire” in Eze 5:2.
As of Jan 7, 2023, COVID-19 infections in China has reached record high which non-Chinese experts estimate it to be in hundreds of millions. Of course, its impact on the lives of EVERY people in Mainland China will not be easy to foretell.
What about the current Ukraine-Russian war with the economic sanctions, and the very real possibility of the use of low-yielding nukes? Let’s watch Russia and the other former members of U.S.S.R. and maybe, Mongolia.
The metaphorical meaning of all green grass was burnt up is not clear and its fulfillment may or may not consummate at the 2nd advent of the Lord Yeshua. The 2nd Trumpet MAY occur even before the burning of all green grass is complete.
What are we to expect at this time?
Let’s remember that the 2nd Beast of Revelation 13 will also impose economic sanctions: No Mark – No Buying or Selling and the 1st Beast of the same book and chapter will cause the fall of Babylon the great in Rev 17:16-18. Now, the message of the 1st Angel in Rev 14:8 says that:
(Rev 14:8 KJV) And there followed another angel, saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because she made all nations drink of the wine of the wrath of her fornication.
It implies that the Beast has already come out at this point in time.
The reader is suggested to read the subtopic The Fourth Section or Hidden Seals Section under the topic The Divisions of Revelation in the article Revelation And Its Mysteries to have an idea concerning the relationship between the Messages of the Three Angels and the first four Trumpets.
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Student of the Light 