The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 1

VI. Berengaud-Geographical Allocation of “Ten Horns”

Leaving the realms of art, we now come to the commentary of berengaud (probably late 9th century), which like others of the time was influenced by the Tichonius tradition. Nevertheless, it contains certain markedly original ideas. Little is known of this writer except that he was a monk of the Benedictine order. His Expositio Super Septem Visiones Libri Apocalypsis (Exposition of Seven Visions of the Book of Revelation) is found in Migne as an appendix to the work of Ambrose of Milan. ²⁹ PFF1 579.2

Migne places this with the works of Ambrosius because he is reprinting an edition which includes works attributed to Ambrose as well as genuine works. Berengaud is certainly much later, as he mentions the Saracens as having overrun Asia and the Lombards as established in Italy ³⁰ Originality marks much of his exposition, with a regular, connected, chronological plan. It is based on the frequently employed septenary division. PFF1 580.1

1. GIVES LOCATION OF TEN HORNS

It is in connection with his statement on the Lombards that there appears his very interesting specification of the ten horns mentioned in Revelation 17:12. These kingdoms he connects, significantly enough, with Daniel 7, and then gives the following list and allocation: The Saracens have subjugated Asia; the Vandals, Africa; the Goths, Spain; the Lombards, Italy; the Burgundians, Gaul; the Franks, Germany; the Huns, Pannonia; and the Alans and Suevi have depopulated many places ³¹ Berengaud is obviously one of the earliest expositors to attempt a definite historical designation of the ten horns as divisions of the Roman Empire. PFF1 580.2

2. BEGINS SEALS WITH CREATION

After expounding the seven epistles to the churches as lessons of warning and instruction to the church in general, Berengaud turns to the seven seals. His most singular departure is his beginning of the seals and the trumpets with creation. Prior to this most writers on the first seal had explained it as the early triumphs of the gospel. Here is Berengaud’s arrangement: PFF1 580.3

a. White horse-before the Flood. PFF1 580.4

b. Red horse-from the Flood to Moses. PFF1 580.5

c. Black horse-from Moses till the first advent of Christ. ³² PFF1 580.6

d. Pale horse-the prophets, who by their announcement of hunger, sword, and destruction made the people pale; and the horseman whose name is death is Jesus Christ. That even seems strange to Berengaud, but he explains that Christ is not only life for the elect but also death for all sinners, and therefore even this picture of Him is not out of place ³³ PFF1 580.7

e. The souls under the altar-the marytrs, in the first period of the church at the beginning of the New Testament era. PFF1 581.1

f. The sixth seal-the rejection of the Jews, the destruction of Jerusalem, and the incoming of the Gentiles. ³⁴ PFF1 581.2

3. TRUMPET ANGELS PARALLEL SEALS

The four angels of the sealing message are explained as the four world empires, climaxing with the Roman. Then he comes to the seven trumpet angels, divinely taught preachers-the patriarchs, Moses and the doctors of the law, the prophets, Christ’s own era, the primitive teachers of the church, the martyrs under pagan Rome, and the preachers living in the end of the world. ³⁵ PFF1 581.3

4. WITNESSES ARE MINISTERS; BABYLON, THE REPROBATE

With respect to the Witnesses, the measuring of the court and its worshipers is taken to be Christian ministers ministering. Babylon is all the reprobate, and the three and a half days are three and a half years ³⁶ Antichrist is the slayer of the Witnesses. And the travailing woman is the church, with Christ the child. ³⁷ PFF1 581.4

5. LEOPARD BEAST, ANTICHRIST; SECOND BEAST, HIS PREACHERS

Satan attacks the woman’s seed remaining at the end of the world, through the beast of Revelation 13, that is, Antichrist. This beast, he implies, is a person, an open infidel, an arrant advocate of licentiousness. The second beast he interprets as the preachers of Antichrist—the two horns being the Jewish and Gentile reprobates. Berengaud disclaims knowledge of the meaning of the 666. ³⁸ PFF1 581.5

6. THREE ANGELS ARE GROUPS OF PREACHERS

The 144, 000 are the elect on earth. The first of the three angel messengers of Revelation 14, Berengaud applies to Christ and His apostles and preachers before the beginning of the judgment. The second angel refers in a special way, he adds, to the doctors of the church who direct the church during the time of the last persecution. Babylon is here taken to be the “city” of the devil, that is, of all the wicked. Under the third angel Berengaud understands the true and upright preachers during the times of Antichrist, who will not bow before him. ³⁹ PFF1 581.6

7. SCARLET WOMAN IS ROME; SEVENTH HEAD, ANTICHRIST

The beast-riding harlot is explained to be, not only the city of the devil, that is, the whole mass of evildoers, but especially pagan Rome. ⁴⁰ The seven heads of the beast are the satanic forces all through the ages, which appeared in the evildoers before the Flood, in those who opposed Moses, in false prophets; the sixth head represents the pagans who persecuted and still persecute the church; and the seventh will be Antichrist. Those seven are only instruments in the hands of Satan ⁴¹ the eighth, however, is the devil himself with his demons ⁴² PFF1 582.1

Concerning the thousand years, he remains fully under the influence of Augustine, ⁴³ holding the present-millennium-on-earth concept. Although Berengaud had quite original ideas- or perhaps because of these original ideas-he did not exercise a marked or notable influence upon the exegesis of the Apocalypse during the Middle Ages. PFF1 582.2