"The angel of the Abyss was their king, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek, Apollyon [απολλυων]." (Rev 9:11)
The Greek name Apollyon is a sarcastic play on words with the name of one of the most famous gods of paganism, Apollo.
Therefore, Apollyon corresponds to the Greek Apollo, who was originally a Hittite-Babylonian god, and later became the protector god of the empire in Rome. The apostle John, purely in mockery, makes the protective deity of the empire into the destructive prince of the underworld.
Abaddon in Greek is called Apollyon, which means "destroyer". The word refers to the name Apollo, which the Greeks also derive from the verb apollymi. Apollo is the god who destroys with plague, his favorite animal is the locust. Augustus revered Apollo as a protective deity, and later, as the protector of the emperors, he was held in special honor, so we can see this as a veiled attack against the cult of the emperor.
In Greek mythology, Artemis and Apollo are twin siblings, and the symbol of Artemis' head was exactly the bastion, which is the symbol of the Watchtower Society, and which, after her birth, helped bring Abaddon/Apollo(i)on into the world :-))
Abaddon (Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן, 'Ǎḇaddōn, Greek: Apollyon, Latin: Exterminans, Coptic: Abbaton; from the Heb. abad, 'destroy'): the place of destruction, devastation. - Ps 88:12; Prov 15:11; Job 26:6; 28:22; 31:12: the underworld. Job 28:22 personifies it; it occurs in the book of Enoch (Ethiopian) and the Apocalypse of Elijah (10:7). Rev 9:11: the Hebrew name of the angel of the Abyss, the king of the locusts, the Greek equivalent is Apollyon (destroyer, bringer of ruin; allusion to Apollo?). In later rabbinic literature, one of the four parts of hell.
Job 26:6: The realm of the dead (abaddon, i.e., the place of devastation) is uncovered. That is, it is delivered to him, cf. 38:17; Prov 15:11; Ps 139:8.
Prov 15:11: Hell and perdition = the place of ultimate destruction.
Satan is the Star that fell from the sky. Because it is true that both Jesus and Satan came from heaven, but the former came by himself, respectfully, while the latter was thrown out.
In addition, there are several scenes in the Bible where God allows Satan to do harm. So, in the case of the key, you read in one case that it was originally with him, and in the other case that it was given to him.
Revelation 9, 1-11. At the sound of the fifth trumpet, an entire army of evil spirits comes forth from the underworld to torment and despair people with the gnawing of their conscience. The vision is fulfilled throughout the course of history.
1. The star that fell from the sky is Satan. (Luke. 10, 18; Rev. 12, 7-9.) The well of the abyss is hell; its key is the power over hell. - 2. Our verse means that the temptations of hell fill the whole world. This plague also strikes the fourth element of the ancients, the air, in symbolic description, - 3. Locusts are underworld creatures: evil spirits. The locusts in Joel chapters 1 and 2 are also instruments of divine punishment, albeit in a different sense. The scorpion is also a symbol of Satan. Verse 4 (and its continuation) speaks of the desperate guilt of the wicked. - 5. The scorpion is the astronomical sign of the month of October; from there to the end of the year according to the Greek calendar (the end of February) is a period of five months. So our verse means that the torment of conscience will torment the wicked all the way. According to other commentators, the sacred author mentions five months because in the East the locust plague is a frightening blow during the five hottest months of the year. - 6. The gnawing of conscience is more painful than physical death. - 7-10. The description of the locusts reminds of centaurs in popular imagination. Parts of the description highlight the strength, power, and cruelty of the evil spirits symbolized by the locusts. - 8. The woman's hair, according to some commentators, represents the sinful pleasure which the evil spirits lure people to enjoy. - 9. The breastplate like iron armor represents the heartless cruelty of the evil spirits. (Cf. Sir. 3, 65.) - 11. The king of the locusts is the fallen angel mentioned in verse 1. The abyss is hell; Abaddon (devastation) is, according to the rabbis, the name of the bottom of hell, The Greek name Apollion = destroyer) is undoubtedly a sarcastic pun on the name of one of the most famous gods of paganism, Apollo.
Verse 12 means that after the horrors of the fifth trumpet, even more terrible plagues will follow.
Rev 9,1 - Rev 9,12
At the sound of the fifth trumpet, a star falls from the sky. The star is synonymous with Satan, of whom Jesus Christ spoke: "I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven" (Lk 10,18). Satan has gained power over the underworld, hell, so he is given the key to the well of the abyss. A large army of underworld spirits pours out of the abyss, like smoke. In the Eastern man's conception, evil spirits were locked in an underground prison (Jude 6). John represents the evil spirits in the form of locusts. The locust was a well-known natural disaster (Ex 10,12-15), but also represented the enemy attacking on horseback (Joel 1,4). The scorpion, whose sting is very painful, lends a tail to the locust. It symbolizes the Parthians, who kept the Roman Empire in fear, and shot arrows even when turned back on horseback, just as a scorpion stings with its tail bent backward. The torment is the gnawing of conscience. Five months - this is usually how long the worst locust plague lasts on the border. Kings Abaddon = destruction, or Apollion = destroyer, and identical to Satan himself. Recently, he has been identified with the Greek Apollo, who was originally a Hittite-Babylonian deity, but later became the patron deity of the Roman Empire in Rome. John, out of sheer mockery, makes the patron deity of the Empire the destructive prince of the underworld.
At the sound of the fifth trumpet, an entire army of evil spirits came forth from hell to torment and despair people with the gnawing of their conscience. The star that fell from the sky is Satan. (Lk. 10,18, Rev. 12,7-9.) The locusts remind of centaurs in the people's imagination. Parts of the description express the tempting power and cruelty of the evil spirits. The king of the locusts is the fallen angel mentioned in the first verse. Abaddon, devastation, is the name of the depth of hell. Apollion, destroyer, is likely a pun on the pagan god Apollo's name.
According to Rev. 12,9, Satan is cast down to earth, and power is given to him to bring about ruin, and Christ Himself sees Satan fall like lightning from heaven (Luke. 10,18). Therefore, the star mentioned here is Satan, so the meaning of the verse is this: The fifth punishment consists in the power given to Satan to release the spirits of hell for the ruin of people. To give a key is to give power; the well of the abyss, its throat, is hell.
Hell, in symbolic speech, is a vortex of fire, which, when opened, smoke rises from it, as the result of fire.
Locusts come from the throat of hell with the smoke. Locusts, according to prophetic language, represent armies (Joel 1:4). This is how they appear here, because they are represented as armed warriors, empowered to harm (vv. 7–10), under one leader (v. 11); however, looking at the verbs of the text even in passing, it is immediately noticeable that these are not earthly warriors; for they do no harm to the country (v. 4), which is inevitable with earthly warriors; they do not kill, which cannot be said of earthly champions; but they only hurt people, and among them only those whom God did not take under his protection. It is clear from these signs that this army is hellish, the army of Satan, the army of evil spirits. They were given the power to tempt the Jews to the most terrible evil and the most heartless acts for a while, and at the same time to torture them in a terrifying way.
Scorpions are very venomous, they sting quickly, and their sting, if prompt help does not arrive, causes death.
"There is no sign of God on their foreheads" = they are not among the elect to be protected from the punitive judgment (Rev. 7,3).
"for five months" = for a while.
The scorpion torments when it hurts a person, that is, it does not kill immediately but tortures slowly.
For 9,6 see Rev. 6,15.16.
"horses prepared for battle" = a symbol of savagery.
"their heads were as if crowned with gold" is a symbol of victorious power.
"their faces, like human faces" they appeared to be human-shaped, yet they were scorpions.
They appeared to be gentle, yet they were predatory lions.
"their breastplates were as it were breastplates of iron" = a symbol of strength.
The angel of the abyss is one of the evil spirits who differ from each other in terms of power and authority (Eph. 6,12).
Abaddon = Apollion = Exterminans. The fulfillment of this prophecy about the hellish locust army can also be demonstrated in Jewish history. The Jews were already in the time of Christ, outwardly full of holy deeds, inwardly full of evil (Matthew 12,44.45). But their fallen state, after committing the horrendous Messiah murder, has been growing ever since, peaking just before and during the Jewish war. Totally divided into factions that persecute and torment each other, immersed in all evil, devoid of all virtue, trampling human and divine rights underfoot, and driven only by blind rage and the most unappeasable hatred, shortly before their complete destruction, they were true images of satanic evil and examples of such fear, despair, and spiritual abandonment, as only Satan could create. Flavius Josephus, also a Jew and partly an eyewitness to this misery, describes this terrible state. However, we should not overlook the fact that this punitive judgment also includes both the near future, outside the time of the Jewish war, and at the same time the distant one, the last time; because Satan's rage, the power given to him to tempt and torment people, in the extent presented here, will only literally and literally occur in the final era, shortly before the public trial (20. v.), so that everything he does before this era is just a prefiguration of his last and most violent efforts.
The events triggered by the fifth trumpet blast partly resemble the eighth Egyptian plague (Ex 10:1kk.), and partly the locust plague described in Joel 1-2. The image is coloured by demonic features of the eschatological situation and apocalyptic mode of expression, and is escalated to cosmic proportions. The star falling from heaven to earth depicts a celestial being (cf. Enoch 86:3; 88:1; cf. Rev 20:1). The angel was "given" the "key to the depths of the underworld." The abyss (which biblical tradition sometimes separates from Sheol, sometimes places together with it cf. Job 41:22kk.; Rom 10:7), according to apocalyptic literature, is the prison of evil spirits (cf. Enoch 10:4kk.; 18:11kk.; 19:1; 4 Ezra 7:36; cf. Lk 8:31). This key is in Christ's hand (cf. Rev 1:18). Now an angel has received it to open it and release the demons onto the human world. According to the ancient worldview, the universe is arranged in three layers: above is heaven, the dwelling place of God and celestial beings, in the middle is earth, the world of people and earthly life, plants and animals, and below, under the earth, is the world of the dead and evil spirits. There is fire in the depths. This worldview, which biblical people also take for granted from the spiritual heritage of antiquity, does not oblige us. For us, just as for the intermediaries of biblical revelation, it is not the form of expression, but its theological content that is important. In the end times, God allows evil to rage in the world as a punishment for sin.
According to the apocalyptic image, smoke first bursts from the depths, which blurs the sun and the air. The life-giving sunlight disappears as a sign of judgment. From the smoke, creatures similar to locusts emerge. These are not locusts, but, as can be seen from the description in verses 7kk., they are fantastic apocalyptic, demonic monsters. The basic image is the locust invasion and the locust cloud, which, in its destructive, terrifying, and irresistible reality, was an apocalyptic phenomenon for the Eastern man. These demonic monsters are not real locusts because they do not harm the vegetation, only the people. They only harm those people who "do not have the seal of God on their foreheads" (v. 4). The demonic world descends on those who obey evil, in a new, previously unknown form of torment. The torment caused by the demonic monsters is such as "the torment caused by a scorpion" (v. 5). A scorpion's sting in Palestine is fatal only to children. It only causes torment to adults. The torment caused by the demons is similar, but still quite different. It probably causes spiritual distress. It is possible that today the seer would describe this torment with different terms of neurosis. Because of the torment, people "seek death," they want to flee into death, but death "flees from them." Man cannot escape from God's judgment into death. There are questions that death does not solve. Verse 6. highlights the parainetic character of Revelation.
The power of the locust-like demonic creatures lasts for five months (v. 5). The five months is the lifespan of a locust, on the other hand, it is a specific round number (cf. Gen 7:24; cf. Mt 25:15; Lk 12:6; 14:19; 1Cor 14:19). There is a limit to the raging of demons. Their release does not mean their permanent rule. God remains the Lord in the world.
The seer describes in detail the appearance of the demonic creatures. They are similar to war horses, they have a crown on their heads, their faces are human faces, their manes are like women's hair, their teeth are lion's teeth, their clothing is like iron armor, their voices are like the sound of chariots rushing into battle. Attractive appearance, human face, and behind it lion's teeth, demonic distortion, which, however, also points to the essential features of sin and evil.
The demonic armies also have a king, his name is Abaddon. This name corresponds to the meaning of Sheol and abyss. Job 28:22 personifies it. In the Rabbinic and Mandaean literature, it is the deepest part of hell. The Hebrew name hides the secret of this angelic being appearing in royal form. That's why there is an explanation right next to it. In Greek, he bears the name Apollyon. Its meaning is "destroyer". The word points to the name Apollo, which the Greeks also derive from the verb apollymi. Apollo is the god who destroys with plague, his favorite animal is the locust. Since Augustus honored Apollo as a protective god, and later also as the protector of the emperors, he was given special honor, some exegetes identify Abaddon with the Roman emperor. However, the whole picture is so apocalyptic-mythological in character that it lacks any historical connection. At most, we can see an allusion against the emperor cult in it, but it would be a violence against the text to connect this vision to any historical date or person. The revelation has an eschatological meaning referring to the end times.
After the "five months" have passed, the plague subsides, but the judgment continues. The seer signals that the judgment has not yet reached its climax. One "woe", i.e., a wave of pain and terror has passed, but there are still two more to come.