Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are mentioned in the Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation. The four horsemen are traditionally named Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. However, this is slightly at odds with the conventional interpretation of the Bible, which actually only directly names the fourth: "Death".

Consequently, it is not possible to definitively state the intended interpretation of the horsemen; in fact, interpretations frequently reflect contemporary values and issues.

Horses and their riders

In summary, the horses and their riders as described in the Bible are as follows:

Horse	Horse Represents	Rider	Power	Rider Represents	Order
White	Pestilence (...and with the beasts of the earth...)	Carries a bow	Conquest	Conquest	First
Red	Slaughter (...to kill with sword...)	Carries a sword	War	War, or Persecution	Second
Black	Desolation, Scorched Earth (...and with hunger...)	Carries scales	Famine and Plague	Injustice to the poor and scarcity of food	Third
Pale	Death (...and with death...)	Followed by Hades	Death	Death	Last

Original text

From the King James Version of the Bible, Revelation chapter 6, verses 1 to 8 (emphasis added):

"

1. And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
3. And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
5. And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and saw a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of scales in his hand.
6. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7. And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth."

Interpretations

White Horse

Opinions differ on whether the first horseman, riding the white horse represents the Antichrist or False Prophet, on the one hand, or a Godly monarch, in some way reflecting Jesus, Who later on in the Apocalypse shows all the same details, plus signs of personal Deity. Among protestants, who make up a minority among those professing to be "Christian", the popular consensus is that he is the Antichrist, with an inexplicable pretext of the seemingly peaceful work of the Antichrist seen in the first half of his rule somehow being shown in this rider (however, this requires dissecting the rider in a way the passage mentioning him does not). There is, in service to this idea, an emphasis on the lack of arrows mentioned where the bow used for conquering is brought up. However, the Greek word for the crown he wears is Στέφανος (Stephanos), the very name of the first Christian Martyr, and also the crown awarded to all Martyrs by Jesus, as well as worn by the 24 Elders mentioned in the same Apocalypse. It is clearly not said that the rider acts in his own interest, and he is significantly not said to wear a crown of royalty (Greek "diadem") which we would expect Christ to wear - which is consistent with not possessing the presumption of antichrist, but the humility of one acting as an agent of the Lord Himself. He, unlike the little horn that is generally interpretted as antichrist in some way, is not described as boasting, nor as wearing blasphemous names or titles, to contradict what is written on Jesus' thigh when He returns with thge Armies of Heaven on a White Horse.

Historically, the view of the rider of the white horse as having some connection with Christ is the general one, with the contrary view arising late in Christian history, among fringe thinkers, then among protestants, soon afterward. Even among this minority there has been some residual remembrance of the ancient view, as evinced even among Jonathan Edwards, among others. Arguments against this horseman representing Christ include the release of each horsemen due to the opening of a seal opened by Christ and the unambiguous description of his return in Revelation 19:11-16. An argument that it might be Christ states that the Horsemen represent events which happen in specific time, as the seals represent things that should be opened in specific time. However, it is not a matter of either Christ Himself being this rider, or it having to be none other than antichrist. It is most logical to recognize the rider as one riding in service of Christ. After the victories of this rider, the Saints have enough auhtority over enough nations for the later appearing antichrist to have to physically and militarily go to war with them to overcome them. That they are then said to endure as Saints, thus not being spiritually defeated, pinpoints none other than a temporary defeat for the Saints that is in warfare. Only by subduing the world as left by the rider on the white horse - only by defeating the Saints, without overcoming their spirits - does the antichrist dominate the world. In Daniel chapter 7, we see the little horn described, who there also is said to overcome the Saints, only to later be defeated and destroyed by the Saints in their later battle victory.

Illuminated parchment, 1047 A.D., The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Other scholars do not interpret this figure as either Christ or Antichrist. M. Eugene Boring's commentary on Revelation suggests that the image is drawn from the current events of the first century which the Christians in the Roman Empire would have recognized (see also Preterism). In AD 62, the Parthians had beaten a Roman army in the Tigris valley and people throughout the empire viewed them with the same dread as westerners in more recent times had for the yellow peril. The Parthians were the only mounted archers of the 1st century, and white horses were their mount of choice. The passage can thus be interpreted as "conquest from without" without assigning any specific identity to the rider.

Yet other Christians see a similarity between events of the four horsemen and those of the beginning of birth pains which Jesus described in the Olivet discourse, (Matthew Template:bibleverse-nb). This view holds that the events of the four horsemen, once begun, will lead quickly to the end of the age and the return of Christ.

Red Horse

The rider of the second horse is generally held to represent War. The red color of his horse represents blood spilled on the battlefield. He carries a great sword, which represents battle and fighting. The Red Horse is also said to represent the Planet Mars. According to astrological beliefs, Mars has quite an ill effect on the Earth when its position is behind us to the Sun, especially when the Moon, The Pale Horse, is between Mars and the Earth. The red planet also represents the God of War in many pre-Christian religions, specifically the Mars of Roman mythology and the Ares of Greek mythology.

Black Horse

The third horseman, riding the black horse, is popularly called Famine. The black color of the third horse could be a symbol of famine. Its rider was holding a scale, which means scarcity of food, higher prices, and famine, likely as a result of the wars from the second horseman. Food will be scarce, but luxuries such as wine and oil will still be readily available.

The "a measure of wheat for a penny" from the King James Version might not sound like a famine to modern ears, but in the NIV we read "a quart of wheat for a day's wages", which is a little clearer.

Pale Horse

The fourth horseman (on the pale, or sickly horse, which may be the source of the notion of "pestilence" as a separate horseman) is explicitly named Death. Although Death is popularly represented carrying a scythe, this is not mentioned in the original text.

The Greek word interpreted here as "pale" is elsewhere in the New Testament translated as "green." The horse is sometimes translated as "pale," "pale green," or "green." The pale greenish color of the fourth horse could mean fear, sickness, decay, and death.

Alternative interpretations

An alternative interpretation holds the first Horseman to represent War or the Antichrist, the second to represent Pestilence (sometimes called Plague), while the third and fourth riders remain Famine and Death, respectively, though this interpretation is often considered flawed.

One interpretation rearranges the order in which the horsemen arrive to end the world, and a slight change to their personas. The first horseman to appear is Pestilence, who rides upon a sickly, decaying horse. Pestilence causes the decay and imminent destruction of the worlds crops and wildlife. In the wake of Pestilence comes Famine, a large and portly rider riding upon a thin and sickly horse, symbolizing gluttony and the lack of food. In the wake of Famine, due to immense fighting over the remaining food supplies, is War. War rides upon a red horse and wields a tremendous sword which he uses to slay the millions in his path. And in the wake of War, comes the black rider, Death. His horse is, as one would guess, jet black. He wields a large scythe and carries the remaining souls to their final destinations.

Another challenged interpretation is that the white horse represents foreign warfare or conquest ("went forth conquering, and to conquer"), the red represents civil war or domestic strife ("that they should kill one another"), the black represents famine ("A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine"), and the pale represents pestilence or disease in its various forms (" to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth").

Yet another interpretation is that the Four Horsemen are the Four Beasts mentioned in the visions of The Book of Daniel, representing four kings (or kingdoms), the last of which devours the world. The more conventional integration of this portion of Daniel with Revelation, however, is that the eleventh king (arising in the fourth kingdom) is the Antichrist.

Some Christian scholars do not interpret Revelation as prophecy of future events so much as a revealing of God's presence in the current events of the first century. While Rome appears to be all powerful and in control, the images of the horsemen are a grim reminder that even the powerful persecutor is helpless before the power of God.

In this sense the white horseman is a symbol for a conquering force from without. This is symbolized using the image of the feared Parthian mounted archer on his white horse and given the crown of a conqueror. The red rider who takes peace from the earth is the civil strife that ended the pax romana. The black rider is the famine that follows anytime there is foreign invasion or civil war. The final rider is the death that accompanies conflict and famine and the pestilence that springs up in the aftermath of these other tragedies.

While these images, and especially the Parthians, are specific to the Roman Empire of the early Christian era, there is a universality about them. Each new century, Christian interpreters see ways in which the horsemen, and Revelation in general, speaks 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, while Black has been used as a symbol of Capitalism. Pastor Irvin Baxter Jr. of Endtime Ministries espouses such a belief.

Not all interpretations agree that the horsemen are associated with contemporary events; one interpretation suggests that the horseman are each associated with one of the first, four opened seals. The white horse represents the first seal in which the city of Enoch is established in righteous conquest. The red horse represents the second seal in which bloodshed and wickedness reigns. The black horse represents the third seal in which famine, plague, and pestilence take hold of the world. The pale horse represents a time of escalated death and destruction. Further interpretation by scholars suggests that each horse represents a given time: the time of Enoch, the time of Noah, the time of Abraham, and the time of Christ. This interpretation is popular among Mormon scholars, but is not a part of Mormon doctrine.

Zechariah's Horses

Four sets of horses were also mentioned in The Book of Zechariah. The location of the passage, Chapter 6 verses 1-8, is notable to some commentators. (The original writers, of course, did not use the chapter and verse designations of modern Bibles.) The text is as follows, drawn from the King James Version.

"

1. And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold, there came four chariots from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass.
2. In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;
3. And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses.
4. Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord?
5. And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth.
6. The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country.
7. And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth.
8. Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country."

Relationship to the Four Horsemen

Zechariah is quoted in the Book of Revelation more than any other book in the Old Testament. The first nine chapters are considered apocalyptic (although the book itself is not) like the Book of Revelation. It is also quoted frequently by many other New Testament authors. These verses are sometimes used to determine whether or not the rider of the white horse is the Antichrist. In Zechariah, all of the horse and riders are servants of the Lord. If these are the same four horses and riders as the Four Horsemen, it would suggest that rider of the white horse is not the Antichrist.

In the King James version, all of the horses are possibly the same color. The fourth set, grisled and bay, are the ones seeing debate. Other translations use the word dapple (or bay) to describe their color. The word grisled is defined by the OED as being "awe-inspiring; horrible; grisly", closer to the "pale" mentioned in Revelation 6:8.

The "Fifth" Horseman, Christ

Christ's return riding on a white horse and wearing diadems (rather than a stephanos) is described in Revelation chapter 19, verses 11 to 16:

"

1. Then I saw Heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war.
2. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems; and he has a name inscribed which no one knows but himself.
3. He is clad in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, followed him on white horses.
4. From his mouth issues a sharp sword with which to smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron; he will tread the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
5. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name inscribed, King of kings and Lord of lords."

A similar occurrence happens in Hinduism. It is believed that at the end of the current Kali Age, the god Vishnu will incarnate as a rider on a white horse called Kalki to destroy evil and uphold good.

Although the concept of,"On his robe and on his thigh was inscribed king of kings and Lord of Lords," is popular, translation has been proven that the actual statement from Aramaic is "On his robe and his (banner) he had a name inscribed, King of Kings and Lord of Lords."

See also

• Antichrist
• apocalypse
• Book of Revelation
• death
• death (personification)
• eschatology
• famine
• Horsemen of Apocalypse (comics)
• pestilence
• Summary of Christian eschatological differences
• war

Notes

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