Revelation 16:21 - Exposition

And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent ; cometh down upon, the present tense, rendering the description more graphic. Commentators usually quote 'Diodorus Siculus' (19:45), who mentions. as something marvellous, hailstones of a mina in weight; the mina being one-sixtieth of a talent; and also the account of Josephus, who speaks of stones a talent in weight being thrown by machines at the siege of Jerusalem (see Wetstein, ad loc. ) . "The men," though not pointing to any particular group of men who have been definitely mentioned, nevertheless necessarily refers to the wicked, were are the object of this punishment. "Hail" is frequently mentioned as a judgment of God and is added here to heighten the general effect of the description (cf. Exodus 9:1-35 .; Joshua 10:11 ; Psalms 78:47 ; Psalms 105:32 ; Isaiah 28:2 ; Isaiah 30:30 ; Ezekiel 13:11 ; Ezekiel 38:22 ; Haggai 2:17 ; also Revelation 8:7 ; Revelation 11:19 ). And men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great; is exceeding great ( vide supra ) . As in Revelation 16:9 , men repent not. Like Pharaoh, their hearts are hardened. These words end the general description of the vial judgments, but the events alludes to under the seventh vial are elaborated and particularized in the chapters which follow; the whole concluding at the end of Revelation 19:1-21 .