Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

The "Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse" is a term used to describe four horsemen that appear in the Christian Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation. The verses traditionally describe the four horsemen as Conquest, War, Famine, and Death.

Horses and their riders

Name	Horse	Rider	Power	Original Greek Description
Conquest	White	Carries a bow (old Latin translation is standard)	Is given a Crown, goes forth conquering	ίππος λευκός (híppos leukós), [The] White Horse
War	Red	Carries a sword	To take peace from the earth, and let men kill one another.	ίππος πυρρός (híppos purrós), [The] Red Horse
Famine	Black	Carries a balance (weighing scale)	To bring famine.	ίππος μέλας (híppos mélas), [The] Black Horse
Death	Pale	Death, followed by Hades	Over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.	ίππος χλωρός, θάνατος (híppos khlōrós, thánatos), [The] Pale Horse

The White Horse

See also: White horse (mythology)

Revelation 6:1 - 6:2 - "...When the Lamb had opened the first of the seven 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 there was given to him a crown, and he departed as conqueror and to conquest."

The white horse of the apocalyptic four may represent polar qualities of evil or righteousness, depending on interpretation. The German-language Lutheran Stuttgarter Erklärungsbibel sees him as civil war and internal strife.

As evil

Some interpret the rider of the white horse to be the anti-christ, or a representation of false prophets, citing differences between the white horse in Revelation 6 and Jesus on the white Horse in Revelation 19. Revelation 19 Jesus has many crowns, but in Revelation 6 the rider has one. In Revelation 19, the rider on the horse is depicted as "The Word of God". The rider of the white horse may represent the second coming of Christ during which the end of the world/judgment day would occur. He may also just represent judgment of the living and the damned.

As righteous

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 Lamb in Revelation 5 shows the triumphant arrival of Jesus in heaven, and the white horseman could represent the sending of the Holy Spirit by Jesus and the advance of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Red Horse

The Second Horseman.

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 greatsword, which represents battle and fighting.

Revelation 6:4 - "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."

Black Horse

The Third Horseman.

The third horseman, riding the black horse, is called Famine. The black colour of the third horse could be a symbol of the dead.

Revelation 6:5 - 6:6 - “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 a quart of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.’”

Pale Horse

The fourth horseman, usually said to ride on a pale horse, is explicitly named Death. Of all the riders, he is the only one whose name is easily distinguishable. Generally, he is usually followed by Hades (Gravedom).

The natural colors of horse coats that could be indicated include dun, palomino, buckskin, or one of several color variants with dilution genes. The color of the horse has been translated as "ashen", "pale", or "pale green".

Revelation 6:7 - 6:8 - “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a pale horse; and he that sat on him was called Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, and that they (the four horsemen) should kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.”

Alternative interpretations

One 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 equate the four horsemen with the angels of the four winds. (See Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, angels often associated with four cardinal directions)

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.

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 colours are used. Red, for example, often represents Communism, 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.

Not all interpretations agree that the horsemen are associated with contemporary events. One interpretation suggests that the horsemen 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.

Yet another interpretation is that the horsemen are directly picturing events in the immediate history of the Roman Empire following the first century. The White Horse would represent the time of Trajan of Crete where the bow was the weapon of fame as opposed to the Roman sword, his reign along with the four following "Good" emperors of Rome were the time of conquering and victory. But the Red horse arises with Commodus who began a series of blood shed and civil war in the empire, 32 Emperors and 27 pretenders in 92 years. The Black Horse speaks of a time of famine and great poverty. Beginning with Caracalla Rome became a land of taxation, the Emperors became more and more ostentatious their taxation took the life from the Empire. These next years were accompanied and followed with the Pale Horse of death, who brought a time of sword, famine, war, and wild beasts eating the starving, a time when whole cities the Empire were left deserted because of the civil unrest. Thus all the Horsmen have ridden.

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").

Another interpretation is that the rider on the white horse is the Holy Spirit being sent forth into the world after the death of Jesus. That the Fiery Red horse represents the blood shed and the slaying of the Christian martyrs (starting with the stoning of Stephen in Acts 7:54-8:1). The Black horse represents the scattering of the Jewish nation during the time of the Roman Empire, in 70 AD. the Pale horse represents the Islamic nation (with direct correlation between the rider's name being Death and Hell followed with him [Revelation 6:8]).

Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death

This interpretation rearranges the order in which the horsemen arrive to end the world, and a slight change to their personae. Pestilence is portrayed as a distinct entity, separate from Famine, and takes Conquest's normal place in the lineup.

The first horseman to appear is Pestilence, who rides upon a white horse. Pestilence conquers the nations of the world, subjugating them to demonic powers of the world. In the wake of Pestilence comes War, riding a large, wild red horse and wielding a tremendous sword symbolizing continuing war over the domination of the world, killing millions in his path with his sword. In the wake of War, due to immense destruction because of War and Pestilence, is Famine. Famine is portly — riding upon a black, sickly horse — representing gluttony and hunger. And in the wake of Famine, comes the pale rider, Death. His horse is stark pale. He is followed by Hades and carries the remaining souls to their final destinations.

It is this interpretation which is most commonly used as the basis for pop culture's uses of the Four Horsemen concept.

And now I saw a pale horse, and its rider's name was Death. And there followed after him another horse whose rider's name was Hell. They were given control of one-fourth of the earth, to kill with war and famine and disease and wild animals.

Book of Revelation, 6:8, Living Bible version.

Other Biblical references

Zechariah also sees the Horsemen (Zech 6:1-5). During this, first come the Red, then Black, then White, and finally the "Grisled and Bay" (the Pale Horses by implication). They are referred to as "the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth."

See also

• Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in popular culture
• Antichrist
• Apocalypse
• Armageddon
• Book of Revelation
• Eschatology
• Horsemen of Apocalypse (comics)
• Summary of Christian eschatological differences
• The book with seven seals (oratorio)
• The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (film)
• The Four Horsemen (song)
• Good Omens
• Thief of Time
• Four Horsemen of the Infocalypse
• The Man Comes Around (song)

External links

Media related to Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse at Wikimedia Commons