They are seven kings. Five have fallen, the one is, and the other has not yet come. When he comes, he must continue a little while.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 10. Five are fallen, one is, and the other is not yet. The meaning of this is obscure. And perhaps it were better to own with Saint Augustine that we do not know the meaning, than to advance suspicions and conjectures. But it is not improbable that by these seven kings may be understood the collection of kings, in what are called the seven ages of the world, from its creations to its consummation. The first age, is reckoned from Adam to Noe, and the deluge: the second age, from Noe to Abraham; the third, from Abraham to Moses; the fourth, from Moses to David; the fifth, from David to Christ. These five were past, and fallen, when Saint John wrote. The sixth is, and is to last from Christ to antichrist. And another, the seventh, is not, being the time of antichrist, and only a short time. See A. Lapide on this verse. Witham.