Commentators on the Second Woe

J. Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come

The sixth trumpet judgment, which is the second woe (9:13-19), is seen to be the great army turned loose to march with destructive force across the face of the earth. Concerning these two woe judgments Kelly writes: "First of all a tormenting Woe falls on the land, but not on those sealed out of the twelve tribes of Israel. Next the Euphratean horsemen are let loose on the western powers, overwhelming all Christendiom, and in particular that west as the special object of the judgment of God. The former is emphatically torment from Satan on the reprobate Jews; as the latter is a most scathing infliction of man's aggressive energy, though not this only, from the east on the corrupt and idolatrous western world. The killing of the third of men represents, not the merely physical end, but the destruction even of all confession of relationship with the only true God."

This suggests that the two woes will be great marching armies, one against Israel and one against Gentiles, which will destroy a third of the earth's population. Since Satan's weapon against Israel is the northern confederacy, it may be depicted by the fifth trumpet and Gentile warfare depicted by the sixth.