Chapter 16 – The Ten Horns

The sea beast had ten horns (Revelation 13:1) and fortunately, the angel helped identify these horns.

Revelation 17:12-14 (WEB) The ten horns that you saw are ten kings who have received no kingdom as yet, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. 13 These have one mind, and they give their power and authority to the beast. 14 These will war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and those who are with him are called chosen and faithful.

The ten horns of the Leviathan were ten kings who had yet to receive power. Hence, they could not include Nero or other entities that existed during the writing of Revelation. However, some time after Revelation was written, in late November 66 AD, after Roman general Cestius Gallus failed to conquer Jerusalem, the Jewish zealots elected ten generals from among the Jews to help fight Rome.¹

1. Joseph, the son of Gorion
2. Ananus, the high priest
3. Jesus, the son of Sapphias
4. Eleazar, the son of Ananias
5. Niger, the then-governor of Idumea
6. Joseph, the son of Simon
7. Manasseh
8. John, the Esscue
9. John, the son of Matthias
10. Josephus, the son of Matthias (the same Josephus who later became a historian and wrote “The War of the Jews”)

The above ten generals fulfilled all the prophecies of the ten horns of the sea beast. The symbology of the above Bible passage will be explained in detail in the following sections.

Power for an Hour

John said the ten horns obtained “authority as kings… for one hour” (Revelation 17:12 [WEB]).

Revelation 17:12 (WEB) The ten horns that you saw… they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour…

The ten Jewish generals ruled from late 66 AD to mid-70 AD, a brief period of less than three and a half years—a remarkably short reign for a king.

Surrender Their Power to the Beast

When Titus arrived for the final siege of Jerusalem, only three of the ten Jewish generals could fight against him.

Daniel 7:24 (WEB) As for the ten horns, ten kings will arise out of this kingdom. Another will arise after them; and he will be different from the former, and he will put down three kings.

These three “surrendered” to Rome (a more accurate translation according to Stephen S. Smalley²) and fulfilled the prophecy that they “hand over their power and authority to the beast.”

Revelation 17:13 (WEB) These have one mind, and they give [surrender] their power and authority to the beast.

The Ten Kings: Enemies of Christ

Ananus, the high priest and one of the ten Jewish generals, killed Jesus’ brother James and expelled the Christians from Jerusalem in 62 AD³ before becoming a general.

The Jewish zealots also mocked God by flagrantly breaking his law, breaking their oaths, and committing atrocities during the Sabbath.⁴ In this way, the ten horns of the beast made war against the Rider (Revelation 19:19).

Revelation 19:19 (WEB) I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and against his army.

A Roman and Jewish Leviathan

“How could these ten horns be Jewish if the beast was Roman?” As discussed, symbols in Revelation sometimes represent more than one thing. Just as the angel said the seven heads were seven hills, both Jerusalem and Rome were cities built on seven hills.⁵ Recall that in Revelation 17:3, the prostitute (apostate Jerusalem) was seated on the sea beast (Rome). The Romans and the ten Jewish generals played primary antagonists in helping to destroy Jerusalem.

During the war with Rome, the Jews were divided between those loyal to Rome and those wanting freedom from it.⁶ These two factions betrayed, killed, and hated each other.⁷ The seditious Jews hated their brethrens’ loyalty to Rome and helped to bring about the destruction of Jerusalem through their robberies, barbarity, and their provocations of Rome. Describing these seditious Jews, Josephus said, “Although these very men, besides the seditions they raised, were otherwise the direct cause of the city’s destruction also.”⁸ Thus, the ten horns, or ten Jewish generals, hated the prostitute and made her desolate.

Revelation 17:16 (WEB) The ten horns which you saw, they and the beast will hate the prostitute, will make her desolate, will strip her naked, will eat her flesh, and will burn her utterly with fire.

Since Revelation is primarily concerned about Christianity, not unbelieving Israel, the beast represented the zealots and Roman partnership against Christianity.

The Ten Kings Were Destroyed

The beast was captured and thrown into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20). Although Rome was thrown alive into the lake of fire at the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the ten horns of the beast, or the ten Jewish generals, were thrown alive into the lake of fire during the siege of Jerusalem. Most generals had fallen by the final siege, but those who remained were killed in Jerusalem’s flames or afterward when they were captured and put to death in Rome.

Summary

The ten Jewish generals, or ten kings, fulfilled all the prophecies concerning the ten horns of the sea beast.

• The ten Jewish generals, like the ten horns of the sea beast, did not have power when Revelation was written (between 62-64 AD, according to Ed Stevens⁹) and only received power later in November of 66 AD (Revelation 17:12).
• The ten Jewish generals reigned for “one hour” (Revelation 17:12) or just over three and a half years, short reigns for kings.
• They handed over their power to the beast (Revelation 17:13) by “surrendering” to the Romans.
• The ten generals sat upon the sea beast or Rome (Revelation 13:1; 17:3), hated their Jewish brethren who were loyal to Rome, helped destroy Jerusalem (Revelation 17:16), and worked with Rome to persecute Christianity (Revelation 13:7; 17:6; 19:19).
• The ten were thrown into a literal lake of fire (Revelation 19:20) during the siege of Jerusalem, although some later faced their deaths in Rome.

The ten Jewish generals elected in 66 AD fulfilled all the prophecies concerning the ten horns of the sea beast.

Following the vision of the sea beast and its ten horns, John saw a vision of a beast coming out of the land. Who was this beast?

Footnotes