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Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse – Death, Famine, War,
and Conquest, an 1887 painting by Viktor
Vasnetsov. The Lamb is visible at the top.
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The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New
Testament of the Bible,
called the Book of Revelation of Jesus
Christ to John of Patmos, at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a book
or scroll in God's right hand that is sealed with seven
seals. The Lamb of God opens the first four of the seven seals,
which summons four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses.
Though theologians and popular culture differ on the first Horseman, the four
riders are often seen as symbolizing Conquest or Pestilence (and less frequently, the Christ or the Antichrist),
War, Famine, and Death. The Christian apocalyptic
vision is that the Four Horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse
upon the world as harbingers of the Last
Judgment. One reading ties the Four Horsemen to the history of the Roman
Empire subsequent to the era in which the Book of Revelation was written.
That is, they are a symbolic prophecy of the subsequent history of the Empire.
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The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Use
the characteristics of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
[PHOTO
SOURCE: http://powerlisting.wikia.com/wiki/Four_Horsemen_Physiology]
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White
Horse
See
also: White horse (mythology)
Then I saw when the Lamb broke one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying as with a voice of thunder, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a white horse, and he who sat on it had a bow; and a crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer.— Revelation 6:1-2 New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Based
on the above passage, a common translation into English, the white rider is
generally referred to as "Conquest". The name could also be
construed as "Victory", as in the translation found in the Jerusalem
Bible (the Greek words are derived from the verb νικάω, to conquer or vanquish). He carries a bow, and
wears a victor's crown.
The
rider has also been called "Pestilence", particularly in popular
culture (see below).
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The
first Horseman, Conquest on the White Horse as depicted in the Bamberg Apocalypse (1000-1020). The first
"living creature" (with halo) is seen in the upper right.
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As
righteous
Irenaeus, an
influential Christian theologian of the 2nd century, was among the first to
interpret this Horseman as Christ himself, his white horse representing the successful
spread of the gospel.
Various scholars have since supported this notion, citing the later appearance,
in Revelation 19, of Christ mounted on a white horse, appearing as The
Word of God. Furthermore, earlier in the New Testament, the Book of
Mark indicates that the advance of the gospel may indeed precede and
foretell the apocalypse. The color white also tends to represent righteousness
in the Bible, and Christ is in other instances portrayed as a conqueror.
However,
opposing interpretations argue that the first of the Four Horsemen is probably
not the horseman of Revelation 19. They are described in significantly
different ways, and Christ's role as the Lamb who opens the seven seals makes
it unlikely that he would also be one of the forces released by the seals.
Besides
Christ, the Horseman could represent the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit was understood to have come upon the Apostles at Pentecost
after Jesus' departure from Earth. The appearance of the Lion in Revelation 5
shows the triumphant arrival of Jesus in Heaven, and the first Horseman could represent
the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus and the advance of the gospel of Jesus
Christ.
Other
interpretations relying on comparative religious research ascribe the
first Horseman as guiding for "the right path"; Mahabharata
Lord
Krishna was a charioteer to Arjuna by riding on white horses, while Arjuna himself was an archer.
As
infectious disease
Under
another interpretation, the first Horseman is called Pestilence,
and is associated with infectious disease and plague. It appears at least as
early as 1906, when it is mentioned in the Jewish Encyclopedia. The interpretation is
common in popular culture
references to the Four Horsemen.
The
origin of this interpretation is unclear. Some translations of the Bible
mention "plague" (e.g. the NIV) or "pestilence" (e.g. the RSV) in connection with the riders in the
passage following the introduction of the fourth rider; cf. "They were
given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine, plague, and by
the wild beasts of the earth." (Revelation
6:7-8 NASB). However, it is a matter of debate as to whether this passage
refers to the fourth rider, or to the four riders as a whole.
Vicente Blasco Ibáñez, in his 1916 novel The Four Horsemen
of the Apocalypse (filmed in 1921 and in 1962), provides an early
example of this interpretation, writing "The horseman on the white horse
was clad in a showy and barbarous attire. [...] While his horse continued
galloping, he was bending his bow in order to spread pestilence abroad. At his
back swung the brass quiver filled with poisoned arrows, containing the germs
of all diseases."
As
evil
One
interpretation held by evangelist Billy
Graham, casts the rider of the white horse as the Antichrist,[14]
or a representation of false prophets, citing differences between the white
horse in Revelation chapter 6 and Jesus on the white Horse in Revelation
chapter 19. In Revelation 19, Jesus has many crowns. In Revelation 6, the rider
has just one; a crown given, not taken. This indicates a third person giving
authority to the rider to accomplish his work.
As
empire prosperity
According
to Edward Bishop Elliott's interpretation, that
the Four Horsemen represent a prophecy of the subsequent history of the Roman
Empire, the white color of this horse signifies triumph, prosperity and health
in the political Roman body. For the next 80 or 90 years succeeding the
banishment of the apostle John to Patmos covering the successive reigns of the
emperors Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian and the two Antonines (Antoninus Pius and
Marcus Aurelius), a golden age of prosperity, union, civil liberty and good
government unstained with civil blood unfolded. The agents of this prosperity
personified by the rider of the white horse are these five emperors wearing
crowns that reigned with absolute authority and power under the guidance of
virtue and wisdom, the armies being restrained by their firm and gentle hands.[6]:129–131,134
This
interpretation points out that the bow was preeminently a weapon of the
inhabitants of the island of Crete and not of the Roman Empire in general. The
Cretans were renowned for their archery skills. The significance of the rider
of the white horse holding a bow indicates the place of origin of the line of
emperors ruling during this time. This group of emperors can be classed
together under one and the same head and family whose origins were from Crete.[6]:140,142–144
According
to this interpretation, this period in Greek history, remarkable, both at its
commencement and at its close, illustrated the glory of the empire where its
limits were extended, though not without occasional wars, which were always
uniformly triumphant and successful on the frontiers. The triumphs of the
Emperor Trajan, the Greek Alexander, added to the empire Dacia, Armenia,
Mesopotamia and other provinces during the course of the first 20 years of the
period, which deepened the impression on the minds of the barbarians of the
invincibility of the Roman Empire. Roman war progressed triumphantly into the
invader's own territory, and the Parthian war was successfully ended by the
total overthrow of those people. Roman conquest is demonstrated even in the
most mighty of these wars, the Marcomannic succession of victories under the
second Antonine unleashed on the German barbarians, driven into their forests
and reduced to Roman submission.[6]:131–133
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The second Horseman, War on the Red Horse as
depicted in a thirteenth-century Apocalypse manuscript
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Red Horse
When He broke the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come.” And another, a red horse, went out; and to him who sat on it, it was granted to take peace from the earth, and that men would slay one another; and a great sword was given to him.— Revelation 6:3-4 NASB
The
rider of the second horse is often taken to represent War (he is often
pictured holding a sword upwards as though ready for battle) or mass
slaughter. His horse's color is red (πυρρός, from πῦρ,
fire); and in some translations, the color is specifically a "fiery"
red. The color red, as well as the rider's possession of a great sword,
suggests blood
that is to be spilled. The sword held upward by the second Horseman may
represent war or a declaration of war, as seen in heraldry. In
military symbolism, swords held upward, especially crossed swords held upward,
signify war and entering into battle. (See for example the historical and
modern images, as well as the coat of arms, of Jeanne
of Arc.)
The
second Horseman may represent civil war as opposed to the war of conquest that the
first Horseman is sometimes said to bring. Other commentators have suggested
that it might also represent the persecution of Christians.
As empire division
According
to Edward Bishop Elliott's interpretation of the Four Horsemen as symbolic
prophecy of the history of the Roman Empire, the second seal is opened and the
Roman nation that experienced joy, prosperity and triumph is made subject to
the red horse which depicts war and bloodshed — civil war. Peace left the Roman
Earth resulting in the killing of one another as insurrection crept into and
permeated the Empire beginning shortly into the reign of the Emperor Commodus.[6]:147–148
Elliott
points out that Commodus, who had nothing to wish and everything to enjoy,
that beloved son of Marcus Aurelius who ascended the throne with
neither competitor to remove nor enemies to punish, became the slave of his
attendants who gradually corrupted his mind. His cruelty degenerated into habit
and became the ruling passion of his soul.[22]:86–87
Elliott
further recites that, after the death of Commodus, a most turbulent period
lasting 92 years unfolded during which time 32 emperors and 27 pretenders to
the Empire hurled each other from the throne by incessant civil warfare. The
sword was a natural, universal badge among the Romans, of the military profession.
The apocalyptic figure indicated by the great sword indicated an undue
authority and unnatural use of it. Military men in power, whose vocation was
war and weapon the sword, rose by it and also fell. The unrestrained military,
no longer subject to the Senate, transformed the Empire into a system of pure
military despotism.[6]:150–152
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| The third Horseman, Famine on the Black Horse as depicted in the Angers Apocalypse Tapestry (1372-82) |
Black Horse
When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; but do not damage the oil and the wine.”— Revelation 6:5-6 NASB
The
third Horseman rides a black horse and is popularly understood to be Famine as the
Horseman carries a pair of balances or weighing
scales, indicating the way that bread would have been weighed during a
famine. Other authors interpret the third Horseman as the "Lord as a
Law-Giver" holding Scales of Justice. In the passage, it is
read that the indicated price of grain is about ten times normal (thus the
famine interpretation popularity), with an entire day's wages (a denarius)
buying enough wheat
for only one person, or enough of the less nutritious barley for three,
so that workers would struggle to feed their families.
Of
the Four Horsemen, the black horse and its rider are the only ones whose
appearance is accompanied by a vocal pronunciation. John hears a voice,
unidentified but coming from among the four living creatures, that speaks of
the prices of wheat and barley, also saying "and see thou hurt not the oil and
the wine".
This suggests that the black horse's famine is to drive up the price of grain
but leave oil and wine supplies unaffected (though out of reach of the ordinary
worker). One explanation for this is that grain crops would have been more
naturally susceptible to famine years or locust plagues
than olive trees and grapevines, which root more deeply. The statement might
also suggest a continuing abundance of luxuries for the wealthy while staples,
such as bread, are scarce, though not totally depleted; such selective scarcity
may result from injustice and the deliberate production of luxury crops for the
wealthy over grain, as would have happened during the time Revelation
was written. Alternatively, the preservation of oil and wine could symbolize
the preservation of the Christian faithful, who used oil and wine in their
sacraments.
As Imperial Oppression
According
to Edward Bishop Elliott's interpretation, through this third seal, the black
horse is unleashed — aggravated distress and mourning. The balance in the
rider's hand is not associated with a man's weighing out bits of bread in
scanty measure for his family's eating but in association with the buying and
selling of corn and other grains. The balance during the time of the apostle
John's exile in Patmos was commonly a symbol of justice since it was used to
weigh out the grains for a set price. The balance of justice held in the hand
of the rider of the black horse signified the aggravation of the other previous
evil, the bloodstained red of the Roman aspect into the darker blackness of
distress.[6]:161,164–167,170The
black horse rider is instructed not to harm the oil and the wine which
signifies that this scarcity should not fall upon the superfluities, such as
oil and wine, which men can live without, but upon the necessities of life —
bread.
In
history, the Roman Empire suffered as a result of excessive taxation of its
citizens. During the reign of Emperor Caracalla,
whose sentiments were very different from the Antonines
being inattentive, or rather averse, to the welfare of the people, he found
himself under the necessity of gratifying the greed and excessive lifestyle
which he had excited in the Army. During his reign, he crushed every part of
the empire under the weight of his iron scepter. Old as well as new taxes were
at the same time levied in the provinces. In the course of this history, the
land tax, the taxes for services and the heavy contributions of corn, wine, oil
and meat were exacted from the provinces for the use of the court, army and
capital. This noxious weed not totally eradicated again sprang up with the most
luxurious growth and going forward darkened the Roman world with its deadly
shade.[22]:138–139
In
reality, the rise to power of the Emperor Maximin,
whose cruelty was derived from a different source being raised as a barbarian
from the district of Thrace, expanded the distress on the empire beyond the
confines of the illustrious senators or bold adventurers who in the court or army
exposed themselves to the whims of fortune. This tyrant, stimulated by the
insatiable desires of the soldiers, attacked the public property at length.
Every city of the empire was destined to purchase corn for the multitudes as
well as supply expenses for the games. By the Emperor's authority, the whole
mass of wealth was confiscated for use by the Imperial treasury — temples
stripped of their most valuable offerings of gold, silver and statues which
were melted down and coined into money.[22]:142–143
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Gustave Doré -The fourth Horseman, Death on
the Pale Horse (1865)
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Pale Horse
When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth.— Revelation 6:7-8 NASB
The
fourth and final Horseman is named Death. Known as "Θάνατος/Thanatos",
of all the riders, he is the only one to whom the text itself explicitly gives
a name. Unlike the other three, he is not described carrying a weapon or other
object, instead he is followed by Hades (the resting place of the dead).
However, illustrations commonly depict him carrying a scythe (like the Grim
Reaper), sword, or other implement.
The
color of Death's horse is written as khlōmos (χλωμός) in the original Koine
Greek, which can mean either green/greenish-yellow or pale/pallid. The
color is often translated as "pale", though "ashen",
"pale green", and "yellowish green" are other possible
interpretations (the Greek word is the root of "chlorophyll"
and "chlorine").
Based on uses of the word in ancient Greek medical literature, several scholars
suggest that the color reflects the sickly pallor of a corpse. In some
modern artistic depictions, the horse is distinctly green.
The
verse beginning "they were given power over a fourth of the earth" is
generally taken as referring to Death and Hades, although some commentators see
it as applying to all four horsemen.
Destroying an Empire
See
also: Crisis of the Third Century
This
fourth, pale horse, was the personification of Death with Hades following him
jaws open receiving the victims slain by Death. Its commission was to kill upon
the Roman Earth with all of the four judgements of God — with sword, famine,
pestilence and wild beasts. The deadly pale and livid appearance displays a hue
symptomatic of approaching empire dissolution. According to Edward Bishop
Elliott, an era in Roman history commencing within about 15 years after the
death of Severus Alexander (in 235 AD) strongly marks
every point of this terrible emblem.[6]:191–192
Edward
Gibbon speaks of a period from the celebration of the great secular games
by the Emperor Philip to the death of Gallienus
(in 268 AD) as the 20 years of shame and misfortune, of confusion and calamity,
as a time when the ruined empire approached the last and fatal moment of its
dissolution. Every instant of time in every province of the Roman world was
afflicted by military tyrants and barbarous invaders — the sword from within
and without.[6]:192
[22]:189
According
to Elliott, famine, the inevitable consequence of carnage and oppression, which
demolished the produce of the present as well as the hope of future harvests,
produced the environment for an epidemic of diseases, the effects of scanty and
unwholesome food. That furious plague (the Plague
of Cyprian), which raged from the year 250 to the year 265, continued
without interruption in every province, city and almost every family in the
empire. During a portion of this time, 5000 people died daily in Rome; and many
towns that escaped the attacks of barbarians were entirely depopulated.[6]:193
In
reality, the strength of Aurelian had on every side crushed the enemies of Rome, yet
after his death they revived with an increase of numbers and fury.[22]:246
During the following year, hosts of the Alani that spread themselves over
Pontus, Cappadocia, Cilicia and Galatia etched their course by the flames of
cities and villages they pillaged.[6]:197
As
for the wild beasts of the earth, according to Elliott, it is a well-known law
of nature that they quickly occupy the scenes of waste and depopulation — where
the reign of man fails and the reign of beasts begins. After the reign of
Gallienus and 20 or 30 years had passed, the multiplication of the animals had
risen to such an extent in parts of the empire that they made it a crying evil.[6]:194
One
notable point of apparent difference between the prophecy and history might
seem to be expressly limited to the fourth part of the Roman Earth, but in the
history of the period the devastations of the pale horse extended over all. The
fourth seal prophecy seems to mark the malignant climax of the evils of the two
preceding seals to which no such limitation is attached. Turning to that
remarkable reading in Jerome's Latin Vulgate which reads "over the four
parts of the earth,"[6]:201
[36]
it requires that the Roman empire should have some kind of quadripartition.
Dividing from the central or Italian fourth, three great divisions of the
Empire separated into the West, East and Illyricum under Posthumus, Aureolus
and Zenobia respectively — divisions that were later legitimized by Diocletian.[6]:202
Diocletian
ended this long period of anarchy, but the succession of civil wars and
invasions caused much suffering, disorder and crime which brought the empire
into a state of moral lethargy from which it never recovered.[6]:203
After the plague had abated, the empire suffered from general distress, and its
condition was very much like that which followed after the Black Death of the
Middle Ages. Talent and art had become extinct in proportion to the desolation
of the world.
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Interpretations
Prophetic interpretation
Some
Christians interpret the Horsemen as a prophecy of a future Tribulation, during
which many on Earth will die as a result of multiple catastrophes. The Four
Horsemen are the first in a series of "Seal" judgements. This is when
God will judge the Earth, and is giving the World a chance to repent before
they die.
Historicist interpretation
According
to E.B. Elliott, the first seal, as revealed to John by the angel, was to
signify what was to happen soon after John seeing the visions in Patmos and
that the second, third and fourth seals in like manner were to have commencing
dates each in chronological sequence following the preceding seal. Its general
subject is the decline and fall, after a previous prosperous era, of the Empire
of Heathen Rome. The first four seals of Revelation, represented by four horses
and horsemen, are fixed to events, or changes, within the Roman Earth.[6]:121,122
Preterist interpretation
Some
modern scholars interpret Revelation from a preterist
point of view, arguing that its prophecy and imagery apply only to the events
of the first century of Christian history.
In this school of thought, Conquest, the white horse's rider, is sometimes
identified as a symbol of Parthian forces: Conquest carries a bow, and the Parthian
Empire was at that time known for its mounted warriors and their skill with bow
and arrow. Parthians were also particularly associated with white horses. Some
scholars specifically point to Vologases
I, a Parthian shah
who clashed with the Roman Empire and won one significant battle in 62 AD.
Revelation's
historical context may also influence the depiction of the black horse and its
rider, Famine. In 92 AD, the Roman
emperor Domitian
attempted to curb excessive growth of grapevines and encourage grain
cultivation instead, but there was major popular backlash against this effort,
and it was abandoned. Famine's mission to make wheat and barley scarce but
"hurt not the oil and the wine" could be an allusion to this episode.
The red horse and its rider, who take peace from the earth, might represent the
prevalence of civil strife at the time Revelation was written; internecine
conflict ran rampant in the Roman Empire during and just prior to the 1st
century AD.
Other interpretations
Artwork
which shows the Horsemen as a group, such as the famous woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, suggests an
interpretation where all four horsemen represent different aspects of the same
tribulation.
American
Protestant Evangelical interpreters regularly see ways in which the horsemen,
and Revelation in general, speak to contemporary events. Some who believe
Revelation applies to modern times can interpret the horses based on various
ways their colors are used. Red, for example, often represents Communism,
the white horse and rider with a crown representing Catholicism,
Black has been used as a symbol of Capitalism,
while Green represents the rise of Islam. Pastor Irvin
Baxter Jr. of Endtime Ministries espouses such a belief.
Some
equate the Four Horsemen with the angels of the four winds. (See Michael, Gabriel, Raphael,
and Uriel, angels
often associated with four cardinal directions).
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Four
Horsemen of the Apocalypse, Saint-Sever Beatus, 11th century.
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Other
Biblical references
Zechariah
The
Book of Zechariah twice mentions colored horses;
in the first passage there are three colors (red, speckled/brown, and white),
and in the second there are four teams of horses (red, black, white, and
finally dappled/"grisled and bay") pulling chariots. The second set
of horses are referred to as "the four spirits of heaven, going out from
standing in the presence of the Lord of the whole world." They are
described as patrolling the earth, and keeping it peaceful. It may be assumed
that when the tribulation begins, the peace is taken away, so their job is to
terrify the places in which they patrol.
Ezekiel
The four living creatures of Revelation 4:6-8 are
very similar to the four living creatures in Ezekiel 1:5-12. In Revelation each
of the living creatures summons a horseman, where in Ezekiel the living
creatures follow wherever the spirit leads, without turning.
In Ezekiel 14:21, the Lord enumerates His
"four disastrous acts of judgment" (ESV), sword, famine, wild beasts,
and pestilence, against the idolatrous elders of Israel. A symbolic
interpretation of the Four Horsemen links the riders to these judgments, or the
similar judgments in 6:11-12.
See
also
- The Book with Seven Seals
- Events of Revelation (Chapter 6)
- Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in popular culture
- Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse, an analogous usage in the use of computers
The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-no3-2017-may/who-are-the-four-horsemen/]
The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
[PHOTO SOURCE: https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/watchtower-no3-2017-may/who-are-the-four-horsemen/]The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse
“I looked and behold, a white horse! And its rider had a bow, and a crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer” (v. 2).
John describes four colored horses that roughly correspond to the four colored horses that Zechariah saw. Since Revelation 6 specifically speaks of God’s judgment on the earth, we should see the horses in verses 1–8 as a picture of God’s judgment upon His and our enemies. Whether the foes John has in mind are the Romans or the Jewish authorities who rejected Jesus matters little. This is a word to comfort the persecuted church in every generation.
The significance of the number four in John’s vision matches the significance of the number four in Zechariah’s prophecy, namely, that God’s work through the horsemen is complete. But what do the horsemen do? The rider of the white horse conquers (Rev. 6:2). Conquering kings in the ancient world often rode white horses, so the image depicts the enemies of God defeated in battle. The rider of the red horse takes peace from the earth and encourages bloodshed (v. 4). Large-scale death of the Lord’s opponents is in view here, whether by earthly warfare or unmediated divine judgment.
Horse number three bears a rider who charges one denarius each for one quart of wheat and three quarts of barley (v. 5). The denarius was the normal daily wage, and the grain allotment was a Roman soldier’s daily food ration. One’s entire wage goes to food in John’s vision, leaving money for nothing else. Moreover, since a daily ration of food normally cost one-eighth of a denarius, the cost for grain in Revelation 6:5–6 represents an inflation rate of eight hundred percent. Economic catastrophe follows in the wake of God’s judgment. Finally, the fourth horseman brings with him famine and disease (vv. 7–8). Divine judgment reveals itself in physical afflictions.
How do these images develop what Zechariah 6:1–8 reveals? Remember that Zechariah’s prophecy indicates that all was quiet in the lands of Judah’s enemies in the initial postexilic period. The Jews had the freedom to build the temple because of this. The judgments revealed in Revelation 6 indicate that although enemies will rise up against God’s people, these foes will not finally be victorious. His church will continue to advance His kingdom—to build His temple—in the freedom and power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:20).
Coram Deo
In the words of the classic hymn: “Christ shall have dominion over land and sea; earth’s remotest regions shall his empire be.” Nothing will finally stand in the way of Christ’s kingdom. He will never allow a foe of the church to get so strong as to wipe out His gospel, and church history bears witness to this very fact. We should be confident in every circumstance because the Lord guarantees the success of His mission, which means His people will win in the end.Passages for Further Study
Job 25:2–3Micah 4:6–13
Romans 6:9
Revelation 22:1–5
INTERNET SOURCE: http://www.ligonier.org/learn/devotionals/four-horsemen-apocalypse/
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