4 And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down [be prostrated], as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree.

If taken literally, it is not easy to affix a definite idea to the word heavens as contradistinguished from the hosts of the heavens: but waiving this, it is not possible that the celestial luminaries should fall down to this earth, which is not half their size; and yet to fall down can mean nothing else: whereas, if taken for rulers and the systems in which they rule, the figure is clear and beautiful.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, April 1855

The threatening against the Idumean sovereignty is in the highly symbolic style of the sixth seal. Then follows the exposition...

5 For my sword shall be bathed in heaven [rulers will die]: behold, it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse, to judgment.

6 The sword of Yahweh is filled with blood, it is made fat with fatness, and with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams: for Yahweh hath a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Idumea.

The rainbowed angel

In this march, he arrives at Bozrah in Edom, where his presence confronts the forces of the Russo-Assyrian king;

"and all the men that are upon the face of the land shake at his presence."

He causes them to turn their swords against one another. He smites every horse with terror and blindness, and his rider with madness (Zech. xii. 4).

He pleads against them with pestilence and with blood; and rains upon him and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone (Ezek. xxxviii. 22).

This is the crisis which fairly inaugurates

"the war of that great day of the all-powerful Deity"

in the field of Armageddon (Apoc. xvi. 14,16);

"the great winepress of the wrath of Deity" (xiv. 19).

Eureka 10.6.

7 And the unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust made fat with fatness.

A sacrifice in Bozrah

The northeastern confederacy of peoples destined to antagonize the gogian,‭ ‬has also received a title by which its constituents and sovereignty are defined.‭ ‬It is styled

‭ "‬Sheba and Dedan,‭ ‬and the merchants‭ ‬of Tarshish,‭ ‬with all the Young Lions‭ ‬thereof".‭

Sheba,‭ ‬Dedan,‭ ‬and Tarshish are the countries east and southeast of the Holy Land,‭ ‬which will then all belong to‭ "‬the Merchants‭" ‬and‭ "‬Young Lions‭" ‬of the‭ ‬insular northwest.‭ ‬Sheba,‭ ‬Dedan,‭ ‬and Tarshish are Bible names for Aden,‭ ‬Muscat,‭ ‬and India.

...The British lion will still find their coöperation as an element of sovereignty in India convenient...it will all result in a double government at last...to marshal its blood-stained populations into moveable columns,‭ ‬in preparation for the grand rush of nations,‭ ‬when Europe and Asia,‭ ‬as the mountain billows of a raging and roaring sea,‭ ‬shall dash their‭ "‬many waters‭" ‬upon Yahweh's land,‭ ‬Isa.‭ ‬17:12,‭ ‬13.

The population of India have to present themselves‭ "‬in the Valley of Decision‭;" ‬and a master must be provided,‭ ‬whose policy and interest will be to lead them there.‭ ‬They would not go voluntarily‭; ‬they must,‭ ‬therefore,‭ ‬be compelled to go‭; ‬and the Unicorn is the power to coerce them.‭

This is Britain's mission—to present herself with India and her Dependencies before the Judge of all the earth,‭ ‬who,‭ ‬in the day of his vengeance,‭ ‬when he shall sacrifice in Bozrah,‭ ‬and slaughter the enemy in the land of Idumea,‭ ‬will overturn the unicorns,‭ ‬and the oxen with the bulls,‭ ‬and their land shall be soaked with blood,‭ ‬and their dust made fat with fatness,‭ ‬Isa.‭ ‬34:6‭–‬8‭; ‬Joel‭ ‬3:9‭–‬17.‭

This crisis is at hand to come.‭ ‬The merchants and the lion will consolidate,‭ ‬not divide.‭ ‬Their power in the East will become greater than ever‭; ‬and the mercantile element of the double government that founded and matured the dominion,‭ ‬will continue sovereign until merchant and lion are both abolished by the Lord of hosts.‭

Heaven speed the day that Hindoos,‭ ‬Mohammedans,‭ ‬and British,‭ ‬by Him delivered from the hypocrites and serpent generation that deceive them,‭ ‬may rejoice together in the jubilee of the earth‭!

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Feb 1858

[Tarshish] is styled Moab; because it will occupy that country in the crisis before us. In chapter 18:1, it is termed

"a land shadowing wide, with wings extending beyond to the rivers of Khush (Tigris and Euphrates,) that sendeth forth whirling things on vessels of fleetness upon the waters;"

and in chap. 34:7, it is symbolized by the Unicorn.

Ezekiel, in chapter 38:13, styles this maritime Moabitish Unicorn

"Sheba and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof."

So that he adds the Lion to the Unicorn and shows what other countries the Lion and Unicorn power should possess.

Daniel indicates the power in the words,

"but other (countries) shall escape out of his (the king of the north's) hand, Edom, and Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon,"

and points out its position in saying that

"the king of the north shall be troubled by tidings out of the east, and out of the north, and which shall cause them to go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many".—(Dan. 11:44.)

Here, then, are Tarshish, Dedan, Sheba, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Egypt for a time but not permanently (Dan. 11:42, ) assigned to the Lion and Unicorn as the antagonists to the Babylonish confederacy.

These Scripture geographical names indicate the modern countries of British India, Arabia, bounded by the Euphrates, Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean, and the Red Sea, and Syria.

The dominion of the Lion and Unicorn will extend over these countries, in addition to those which are propper to it in the north.

These, then, are the belligerents—Babylon of the one part, and the Lion and Unicorn of the east and north, of the other—who, when they put their hosts in motion for the conflict that must inevitably ensue before the fall of Babylon the Great, will move the world to arms.

Armageddon (which see) is the crisis delineated for these. The Lion and Unicorn must fall back from Egypt, Ephraim, and Judea, upon Ammon, Moab, and Edom. Beyond these it will not retreat. But then, while these mighty hosts are contending for Israel's land,

"Behold, I come as a thief," saith Jesus, "and I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment; for the day of vengeance is in mine heart and the year of my redeemed is come."

This is

"Yahweh's sacrifice in Bozrah, and great slaughter in the land of Idumea. And the Unicorns shall come down with them, and the bullocks with the bulls; and their lands shall be soaked with blood, and their dust be made fat with fatness. For it is the day of Yahweh's vengeance—the year of recompenses for the Controversy of Zion."—(Isa. 63:3, 4; 34:6–8; Rev. 16:15; 19:11–18.)

The Christadelphian, Dec 1872