The mystery of the four horse men
In the book of Revelation in the Bible we see four horsemen or apocalyptic riders who bring war, famine and death to the whole world. But the first one causes a lot of headaches because he does not fit into the scheme and is controversially discussed.
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The text
Lets first have a look at the text
“I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest. 3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, ‘Come!’ 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword. 5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. 6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A kilogram of wheat for a day’s wages, and three kilograms of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’ 7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, ‘Come!’ 8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a quarter of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.” Rev.6/1–8
Interpretations
There are two main interpretations and both have their merits:
- The first rider is good, reflecting e.g. that the gospel is being preached all over the world.
- The first rider is bad, like the other riders.
First observations
When we look at the text we see three strong parallels
- A first text in the prophet Zechariah describing four horses of different colors to inspect the earth.
- Again, a few chapters later four chariots of different colors reflecting the winds of the earth.
- The description of the four plagues of God (sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence) have quite a similarity to the four horse activities here.
When we look at the horseman, we see similarities between them, but also differences.
- All four are called to do something, they don’t act on their own.
- Each rider is given something to act with.
- Only the first horseman is asked to perform his task (ride away to conquer), while for the others there is no description of them performing the task.
- The activity of the first rider is very vague (conquer), while for the others it is very clear (bring, war, hunger, death).
- The third rider does not have the clause “and it was given” (but he holds the instrument in his hands), which stands for a divine activity or authorization. Instead, there is a statement from the throne in the midst of the four living creatures.
The mystery of the third horseman
“When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, ‘Come!’ I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, ‘A kilogram of wheat for a day’s wages, and three kilograms of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!’”
To understand this, we need a little background:
- Food was often rationed (e.g. in the Bible describing a coming famine, the state of a concrete famine, prophetic view of a famine).
- For reference: one measure of wheat is enough for one person for one day, 3 measures of barley is enough for a family for three days (barley is used as animal food) -> so prices have gone up by a number of 8–16.
- Wine and oil are used as luxury goods in the context of Revelation (no relation in this book to anointing and the Lord’s Supper).
This passage does not describe a general famine, but rather an unfair threat to the poor. While the luxury goods are protected from damage (increased prices), the basic food has increased to an unbearable amount. Therefore, the voice of the four creatures is not a command from God, but rather a cry for justice.
The mystery of the first horseman
“I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, ‘Come!’ 2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.”
There are some good arguments why this horseman is good
- In the Psalms, there is a description of an Israelite king conquering his enemies with a bow, which is interpreted as messianic reference to Jesus.
- There are clear references to the one who looks like the Son of Man on a white cloud with a sickle to harvest the earth, or the victorious rider on a white horse with crown on his head, which of which both point to Jesus or at least an angel of God.
- The term conquest could refer to Jesus because he is the conqueror also in other passages of the book.
- He is a white rider and white is positive in other parts of the book.
- He does not do anything negative (conquer) while the others bring something negative, so it could refer to the proclaiming of the gospel before all the bad things happen.
On the other hand, there are some indications that point to the exact opposite:
- God will strike the bow out of the hands of Gog and Magogs, identifying the bow as the weapon of the end time enemy.
- Jesus is not the only one with a crown, also the demonic forces coming out of the earth also have one.
- Conquering is also used in other places to refer to the beast conquering the saints.
- As the reference to the four horses and carriages in Zechariah form a unity, the four horses here must also be a unity and all belong to God or all do not.
- Not only do the four horsemen form a literary unit, but the first four trumpets and the first four vials also form a unit. Therefore, the first four horsemen should be a unit.
This is confusing. Why are there the same references that point to both a good and an evil meaning? Let’s look at the last two references:
- The first use of a bow in the Bible comes from the story of Jacob and his deception of his father to get the blessing.
- The three speeches of Jesus about the end times in Mark, Matthew and Luke have a similar order as in Revelation: Was is always second, then comes always famine, and in Luke it is even followed by pestilence. And all of them start with something like, “Beware that you are not deceived, because many will come in my name”.
The resolution
So the first horseman is the one who is evil but pretends to be good and like Jesus. This also makes sense when we look at the context. In the chapter before Jesus was revealed as the one who is worthy to open the scroll, the devil is now revealed in his true nature which goes from a great promise (to conquer), to war (persecution of non-believers), to hunger with injustice (third horseman), to finally death and destruction. That is why the next seal right after that describes the cry of the righteous how long this will go on showing the evil nature of all this.
Now also the reference to God’s plagues (wild beasts, sword, famine, and pestilence) makes sense. We can map them
- The first horseman represents the wild beasts, as he calls the two beasts in chapter 13 and represents deception — he makes many promises.
- The second horseman represents the sword given to him — he attacks anyone who does not buy into the promises, like the first beast in chapter 13.
- The third horseman represents hunger as the poor will suffer — he puts economic pressure on the nonconformists as the second beast in chapter 13, which is related to the harlot in in chapter 17.
- The last horseman sums up the effect of the trinity shown.
So no matter how attractive the devil’s offer may be and how much it may look like Jesus. Don’t go for it, because it will end in disaster.