“And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them.”
The number of the troops of cavalry was two hundred million; I heard their number — the vast army (dyo myriades myriadon, literally ten thousand times ten thousand, or 200 million) of cavalry represents overwhelming military force. The precision of the number (heard, not merely seen) emphasizes its symbolic reality; this is demonic militarism at apocalyptic scale.
Church Fathers on Revelation 9:16
“And I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is in the presence of God, saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels.” That is, the four corners of the earth which hold the four winds. “Which are bound in the great river Euphrates.” By the corners of the earth, or the four winds across the river Euphrates, are meant four nations, because to every nation is sent an angel; as said the law, “He determined them by the number of the…
Nicene & Post-Nicene / Ante-Nicene Fathers translations · public domain
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