Demon Bride

Smoke ascends from the abyss, and out of the smoke come creatures that look like locusts but sting like scorpions (Revelation 9). John gives an extended seven- or eight-part description (vv. 7-10):

1) Appearance as horses.

2) Crowns of gold on head.

3) Faces like faces of men.

4) Hair like women.

5) Teeth like lions.

6) Breastplates like breastplates of iron.

7) Wings that sound like chariots and horses.

8) Tails with scorpion stings.

The form looks familiar. It’s a wasf, similar to the descriptive catalogs of the Bride in Song of Songs 4 and 7. As the descriptions of the Bride move from face down, the description of the demons moves from head to tail. The same features are enumerated in both: Hair, face, teeth, breast/breastplate. 

Of course, the similarities only highlight the contrast. The Bride’s teeth are like goats; the locusts have lion teeth. In place of breasts like twin fawns, the demons wear iron breastplates. 

But the similarities are close enough to suggest that John intended to elicit the reader’s memory of the Song. It suggests that the locusts are an abyssal inversion of the bride. Apollyon/Abaddon, king of the abyss, has his bride, as Jesus, king of heaven, has His.