Verse 6:[1] And in those days (Job 3:21; Is. 2:19; Jer. 8:3; Rev. 6:16) shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
[Men shall seek (or, wish for[2] [Grotius]) death] Because of the most grievous famine (Grotius), because of the highest anxiety (Durham), or anguish (Ribera), so that they might be freed from such evils (Gagnæus). That sting, therefore, will drive them mad, etc. (Pareus).
[And they shall not find it] As in Job 3:21. No one will be willing to kill them. Cyprian,[3] To those wishing to die it was not permitted to be killed.[4] Pliny, So many times was death invoked[5] (Grotius).
[And they shall desire to die, etc.] The same thing twice, after the fashion of the Hebrews, to signify the vehemence of the desire. In the place of φεύξεται, will flee, in a manuscript it is φεύγει, flees,[6] as if in the present (Grotius).
Shall men seek death: The calamities of those days shall be so great, that men shall be weary of their lives.
[1] Greek: καὶ ἐν ταῖς ἡμέραις ἐκείναις ζητήσουσιν οἱ ἄνθρωποι τὸν θάνατον, καὶ οὐχ εὑρήσουσιν αὐτόν· καὶ ἐπιθυμήσουσιν ἀποθανεῖν, καὶ φεύξεται ὁ θάνατος ἀπ᾽ αὐτῶν. [2] Greek: ζητήσουσιν. [3] Cyprian (died 258) served as Bishop of Carthage. He is noted for his refusal to readmit into the Church those who had “lapsed” under persecution. [4]Epistle 56. [5]Natural History 7:51. [6]Φεύξεται is the reading in the majority of Byzantine manuscripts; φεύγει is favored in Codex Alexandrinus and a few Byzantine manuscripts.
Dr. Dilday's Sermon: "The Burdensome Existence of Sufferers under Islam"
https://www.sermonaudio.com/sermoninfo.asp?SID=130141824102
1) Introduction
2) Analysis
a) Context
b) Verse 6
i) Exposition
ii) Historical fulfillment
(1) Historical outline
(2) Statistics
(3) Policy toward professing Christians
(4) Summation
3) Use: Let us pray for deliverance from the cruel oppressions and blasphemies of the Muslim.
WLC 191a: What do we pray for in the second petition? In the second petition [which is, Thy kingdom come,] acknowledging ourselves and all mankind to be by nature under the dominion of sin and Satan, we pray, that the kingdom of sin and Satan may be destroyed, the gospel propagated throughout the world, the Jews called, the fulness of the Gentiles brought in; the church furnished…
George Swinnock's Heaven and Hell Epitomized: 'The command of Caius Caligula to the executioner, after he had condemned a malefactor, was so to strike that they might feel themselves dying, and endure the pains of an enduring death. Such will be the everlasting death of the damned: they will be ever, ever dying, and never dead; they shall seek death, but not find it; follow after it, but it will flee from them, Revelation 9:6. '
William Tong (for Matthew Henry): 'Though it would be short, it would be very sharp, insomuch that those who were made to feel the malignity of this poison in their consciences would be weary of their lives, Revelation 9:6. A wounded spirit who can bear?'
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