Mugroot or Wild Wormwood: The meaning of Chernobyl and Bible [Ecumenical]

Various - Dictionaries/Bible | April 11, 2011

[topher]

In the Ukrainian Language, Chernobyl means mugroot or wild wormwood. In fifteen days, it will be the 25th Anniversary of the disaster in Chernobyl, Ukraine when that Nucler Reactor Complex caught on fire.

From a Christian point of view, there was no word for radiation two thousand years ago.

Could wormwood, which is found in the New Testament, be code word for radiation.

Here is the passage in question from the book of Revelation/Apocalypse:

(NIV) Revelation 8:10-11

When the third angel blew his trumpet, a large star burning like a torch fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water. The star was called "Wormwood," 7 and a third of all the water turned to wormwood. Many people died from this water, because it was made bitter.

The last part of this quote from the Bible states that people died because the water was made bitter.

Does that imply that bitter means poisonous?

[topher]

Meant for Bible discussion. If I could have posted another version (easily), I would have. NIV (which means New International Version) is the version I know how to find quickly on the Internet.

Maybe some Evangelicals might post other versions. It will not harm anything.

I do not know if there was a word in the Greek language for mugroot. But maybe the context of wild wormwood, i.e., a reactor on fire, might be appropriate.

[topher]

I originally heard about this meaning from a mystic from the Ukraine -- Josyp Terelya. I believe he talked about this on a VHS tape: that the meaning of Chernobyl was wormwood and that it referred to the Bible.

I am unble to find a reference to this in either of his books: Witness or In the Kingdom of the Spirit.

Note that even if this does refer to the book of Revelation, time in God's eye is very different than time in the eyes of man. What is a brief instant to God might be years to men.

[ModelBreaker]

I had always assumed “bitter” meant poisonous or polluted. Interesting that Chernobyl means Wormwood. OTOH, a third of the earth’s water has not been made poisonous and one would have to toss the timing in Daniel out the window, even had 1/3 of the earth’s water turned poisonous.

[sasportas]

If one reads the first four trumpets closely, I don’t see how anyone can say that this refers to Chernobyl...or Fukushima. It seems obvious to me that we are looking at some sort of asteroid or meteors hitting the earth (like a burning mountain hitting the sea), with the sort of aftermath that follows.

It might be good to realize that man is not the only one capable of mass destruction with his nuclear weapons, etc. God has got some potent weapons in his arsenal.

[Free Vulcan]

It’s possible. Either that or something highly toxic. Plutonium might fit the bill.

What’s interesting is that this thing spreads it’s poison/radiation to a third of the water supply of the earth. That’s not an easy thing to do. I can’t envision a scenario where that could happen myself, I couldn’t begin to speculate as to what it could be.

[topher]

Nuclear war is something that has been -- speculated on -- since the 1950s.

But the Hand of God certainly can be more powerful than that...

[Free Vulcan]

I’m thinking something like a satellite, or meteor. The interesting thing is that poison was known at the time but this was translated as something different.

[Revnant Dream]

The best reference Bible on line is the Blue Bible. Has every version including the Vulgate.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/

[Salvation]

NAB Revelation 8 with footnotes

NAB Revelation
Chapter 8

1

¹ When he broke open the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven ² for about half an hour.

2

And I saw that the seven angels who stood before God were given seven trumpets.

3

Another angel came and stood at the altar, ³ holding a gold censer. He was given a great quantity of incense to offer, along with the prayers of all the holy ones, on the gold altar that was before the throne.

4

The smoke of the incense along with the prayers of the holy ones went up before God from the hand of the angel.

5

Then the angel took the censer, filled it with burning coals from the altar, and hurled it down to the earth. There were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

6

The seven angels who were holding the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.

7

When the first one blew his trumpet, there came hail and fire mixed with blood, which was hurled down to the earth. A third of the land was burned up, along with a third of the trees and all green grass. ⁴

8

⁵ When the second angel blew his trumpet, something like a large burning mountain was hurled into the sea. A third of the sea turned to blood,

9

a third of the creatures living in the sea ⁶ died, and a third of the ships were wrecked.

10

When the third angel blew his trumpet, a large star burning like a torch fell from the sky. It fell on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water.

11

The star was called "Wormwood," ⁷ and a third of all the water turned to wormwood. Many people died from this water, because it was made bitter.

12

When the fourth angel blew his trumpet, a third of the sun, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars were struck, so that a third of them became dark. The day lost its light for a third of the time, as did the night.

13

Then I looked again and heard an eagle flying high overhead cry out in a loud voice, "Woe! Woe! Woe ⁸ to the inhabitants of the earth from the rest of the trumpet blasts that the three angels are about to blow!"

Footnotes:

¹ [1-13] The breaking of the seventh seal produces at first silence and then seven symbolic disasters, each announced by a trumpet blast, of which the first four form a unit as did the first four seals. A minor liturgy (Rev 8:3-5) is enclosed by a vision of seven angels (Rev 8:2, 6). Then follow the first four trumpet blasts, each heralding catastrophes modeled on the plagues of Egypt affecting the traditional prophetic third (cf Ezekiel 5:12) of the earth, sea, fresh water, and stars (Rev 8:7-12). Finally, there is a vision of an eagle warning of the last three trumpet blasts (Rev 8:13).

² [1] Silence in heaven: as in Zephaniah 1:7, a prelude to the eschatological woes that are to follow; cf Introduction.

³ [3] Altar: there seems to be only one altar in the heavenly temple, corresponding to the altar of holocausts in Rev 6:9, and here to the altar of incense in Jerusalem; cf also Rev 9:13; 11:1; 14:18; 16:7.

⁴ [7] This woe resembles the seventh plague of Egypt (Exodus 9:23-24); cf Joel 2:30.

⁵ [8-11] The background of these two woes is the first plague of Egypt (Exodus 7:20-21).

⁶ [9] Creatures living in the sea: literally, "creatures in the sea that had souls."

⁷ [11] Wormwood: an extremely bitter and malignant plant symbolizing the punishment God inflicts on the ungodly; cf Jeremiah 9:12-14; 23:15.

⁸ [13] Woe! Woe! Woe: each of the three woes pronounced by the angel represents a separate disaster; cf Rev 9:12; 11:14. The final woe, released by the seventh trumpet blast, includes the plagues of Rev 16.