The mystery of the four horse men

In the Book of Revelation we see four horsemen or apocalyptic riders who bring war, famine and death to the whole world. But the first one does not fit into the scheme of things and causes a lot of headaches. This is a controversial topic.

You may want to read before

• Historical background of the book
• What type of book is this

The text

Lets first have a look at the Bible 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 embodies a good character, reflecting for instance that this represents him preaching all over the world.
• The first rider embodies an evil character, like the other riders.

First observations

When we look at the text we see three strong parallels

Firstly, a text in the prophet Zechariah describes four horses of different colors inspecting the earth.

Again, a few chapters later, four chariots of different colors reflect the winds of the earth.

The description of the four plagues of God (sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence) are quite similar to the activities of these four horses.

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 some item to act with.

Only the first horseman is asked to perform his task (ride away to conquer), yet no description of how the others are to perform their tasks.

The activity of the first rider is very vague (conquer), while for the others it is very clear (bring, war, hunger and death).

The third rider does not have the clause “and it was given”. Instead, he holds the instrument in his hands, which stands for a divine activity or authorization. Instead, a statement is issued from the throne from 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. due to a coming famine, the state of a concrete famine, or a prophetic view of a famine).

For reference: one measure of wheat is enough for one person for one day, three measures of barley is enough to last for a family for three days (barley is used as animal food). We can see that prices have gone up are 8–16 times the normal price.

In the context of Revelation, wine and oil are used as luxury goods (they bear no relation in this book to anointing and to 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 cost of 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 reasonable arguments why this horseman is good.

• In the Psalms, there is a description of an Israelite king conquering his enemies with a bow. This is interpreted as a 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. Both of these 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 a positive symbol in other parts of the book.
• He does not do anything negative (but conquers as the saints) but 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 Magog, identifying the bow as the weapon of the end-time enemy.
• Jesus is not the only one with a crown. The demonic forces coming out of the earth also have crowns.
• The them ofd conquering is used in other places to refer to the beast conquering the saints.
• As the four horses and carriages in Zechariah form a unit, the four horses in the Book of Revelation must also be a unity; taht is all either belong to God or all do not.
• Not only do the four horsemen form a unit, but the first four trumpets and the first four vials also form a unit. Therefore, the first four horsemen should be a unit as well.

This is confusing. Why are there 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 Jesus makes about the end times in Mark, Matthew and Luke follow a similar order in Revelation: All of them start with something like, “Beware that you are not deceived, because many will come in my name”. War is always second, then famines, and in Luke this is even followed by “pestilence”.

The resolution

It becomes cleat that the first horseman is evil but pretends to be good - to be like Jesus. This also makes sense when we look at the context. In the previous chapter Jesus was revealed as the only one worthy of opening the scroll. And now, the devil’s true nature is revealed: 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 very next seal describes the cry of the righteous: “How long this will go on?”. The evil nature of all for horsemen is now clear.

And now the reference to God’s plagues (wild beasts, sword, famine, and pestilence) also makes sense. We can map them as follows:

• 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 because the poor will suffer. This can also be seen as that he puts economic pressure on the nonconformists (and makes theem poor) as the second beast in chapter 13, which itself relates to the harlot in chapter 17.
• The last horseman sums up the effect of this evil trinity.

Remember, no matter how attractive the devil’s offer may be and how much it may look like it’s from Jesus. Don’t go for it, because it will end in disaster. Rather be wise as God will give wisdom.

Dig Deeper

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