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The
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are mentioned in the Bible
in chapter six of the Book
of Revelation, which predicts that they will ride during the Apocalypse.
The four horsemen are traditionally named War,
Famine, Pestilence,
and Death.
However, this is slightly at odds with the conventional interpretation of the
Bible, which actually only names one: Death.
Consequently,
it is not possible to definitively state the intended interpretation of the
horsemen; in fact, interpretations frequently reflect contemporary values and
issues.
In
summary, the horses and their riders as described in the Bible are as follows:
Horse | Horse | Rider | Power | Rider |
|---|---|---|---|---|
White | False | Carries | Conquers | Antichrist, |
Red | Blood | Carries | Brings | War, |
Black | Black, | Carries | Scarcity | Famine, |
Pale | Paleness | Death | Kills | Death |
It
should be noted that, while the rider of the white horse is often interpreted as
Antichrist, he is not named as
such in Revelation.
The
word used to describe the color of the 'pale' horse is the Greek word chloros or
green. It is meant to convey the sickly green tinge of the deathly ill or
recently dead. Since the literal translation 'green' does not carry these
connotations in English the word is rendered 'pale' in most English
translations.
From
the King James
Version of the Bible, Revelation chapter 6, verses 1 to 8 (emphasis added):
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.
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.
And
when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and
see.
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.
And
when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and
see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair
of balances in his hand.
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.
And
when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast
say, Come and see.
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.
Opinions
differ on whether the first horseman, riding the white horse, represents Christ,
the Antichrist, or the False
Prophet, but the general consensus of conservative biblical scholars is that
he is the Antichrist. One argument against this horseman representing Christ is
that each horseman is released due to the opening of a seal, and the seals
represent God's curses upon the world, it is unlikely that the author would
consider Christ's return as a curse. (However, it could be conceived as a curse
by those who oppose Christ.) Moreover, interpreting this seal judgment as
Christ's return is at variance with the unambiguous description of his return in
Revelation 19:11-16.
Liberal
Christian scholarship does 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. In 62
AD the Parthians had beaten a
Roman army in the Tigris valley and
people throughout the empire viewed them with the same unrealistic dread as
westerners in modern 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.
The
rider of the second horse is generally held to represent War. The red color of
his horse represents blood spilt on the battlefield. He carries a sword, which
represents battle and fighting.
The
third horseman, riding the black horse, is popularly called Famine. The black
color of the third horse could be a symbol of death and 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.
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. The pale greenish color of the
fourth horse means fear, sickness, decay, and death. The imagery of the horses
and riders is similar to a passage in Zechariah.
An
alternate interpretation, likely based on differing translations, 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.
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 light 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.
Four
sets of horses were also mentioned in The Book
of Zechariah. The coincidence of the location of the passage, Chapter 6
verses 1-8, is something to note. the text is as follows, drawn from the King
James Version.
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.
In
the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses;
And
in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay
horses.
Then
I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my
lord?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 must be used to determine whether or
not the white rider is the Antichrist.
In Zechariah all of the horses are spirits of the heavens, meaning that the
white horses cannot be set against God.
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 not in the
dictionary, however the closest word to it is grizzled, defined by the Cambridge
Dictionary as having hair that is grey or becoming grey, Closer to the
"pale" mentioned in Revelation 6:8.