B. The Vials Poured Out, Ch. 16:1‐12, and 17‐21
The vials or bowls in the vision, which are apparently the same as the basons used in the temple service for receiving the sacrificial blood and the wine of the drink‐offering, are made the symbolic receptacles of the judicial wrath of God against sin, called “the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” in verse nineteen, which is evidently conceived of as stored up through long periods to be suddenly and violently poured out. The golden bowls seem to indicate broad shallow vessels quite unlike our modern vials, probably of a deep saucer‐like shape so that their contents could be poured out at once and suddenly.(499) The name “vials” has, however, been retained in these notes, notwithstanding the change to “bowls” in the Revised Version, because of its associations and wide use in commentaries. The translation of φιάλας as “bowls” is doubtless more accurate, but the term used is relatively indifferent if the proper meaning be attached to it. They are not vials in the modern sense, but in the original sense of the word φιάλη in the Greek, which is the source of our English word “vial”, but which meant a shallow cup or bowl. The pouring out of the vials or bowls is the symbol of the execution of divine wrath upon the world. The vague description given in the vision of the nature of the inflictions which finally fall upon men as the result of the pouring out of the vials, forbids our attempting any very definite interpretation of them beyond the most general one that the world of nature and of men is made to abound with terrors which distress the evil. In this interpretation we can be absolutely confident, and the general effect seems to be the chief matter of importance. The abiding impression of the judgments of the vials, despite their obscurity, is one of deep and pervasive solemnity.
(1.) The Command to Pour Out the Vials, Ch. 16:1
Preceding the opening of the series a great voice is heard out of the temple, i. e. from the inner shrine of the temple in heaven, apparently from God himself, though possibly from one of the Angels of the Presence, saying to the seven angels, “Go ye and pour out the seven bowls [or vials] of the wrath of God into the earth”; and in obedience to this command each angel empties his vial into, or upon, an appointed object. The first three vials are poured _into_ the objects named, while the last four are poured _upon_ them, as indicated by the prepositions είς and ἐπὶ; but, so far as can be seen, no special purpose is served by this use.