Revelation 10:1 - Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

And After my former vision, related in the foregoing part of this prophecy, another scene was opened unto me introductory to a further revelation concerning the state of the church and the world. For I saw another mighty angel Another, different from that mighty angel mentioned Revelation 5:2; yet he was a created angel, for he did not swear by himself; come down from heaven Or divinely commissioned, Revelation 10:6; clothed with a cloud In token of his high dignity; and a rainbow upon his head A lovely token of the divine favour, and a symbol of God's covenant and mercy toward penitent sinners; and his face was as it were the sun Nor was this too much for a creature, for all the righteous shall shine forth as the sun, Matthew 13:43. Or this might be an emblem of the light of the gospel about to be diffused. And his feet as pillars of fire Bright and shining as flame. Intimating, perhaps, that the faithful, in the period about to be opened, should suffer persecution, and yet be preserved from the rage of their enemies. And he had in his hand His left hand, for he swore with his right, Revelation 10:6; βιβλαριδιον, a little book, different from the βιβλιον, or book, mentioned before: and it was open, that all men might freely read and consider it. It was indeed a codicil to the larger book, and properly cometh under the sixth trumpet, to describe the state of the western church after the description of the state of the eastern: and this is, with good reason, made a separate and distinct prophecy, on account of the importance of the matter, as well as for engaging the greater attention. And he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left on the earth To show the extent of his power and commission. This angel set his right foot on the sea toward the west, his left on the land toward the east, so that he looked southward. By the earth, says Sir I. Newton, the Jews understood the great continent of Asia and Africa, to which they had access by land; and by the isles of the sea they understood the places to which they sailed by sea, or the several parts of Europe: and hence, in this prophecy, the earth and sea he considers as put for the nations of the Greek and Latin empires. In this sense the angel's putting his right foot on the sea, and his left foot on the earth, will represent him as standing with one foot on Asia, and another on Europe, to signify that the prophecies which he was to reveal would relate to the empires of the east and west.