The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are described in the last book of the New Testament of the Bible, called the Book of Revelation of Jesus Christ to Saint John the Evangelist at 6:1-8. The chapter tells of a "'book'/'scroll' in God's right hand that is sealed with seven seals". The Lamb of God/Lion of Judah (Jesus Christ) opens the first four of the seven seals, which summons forth four beings that ride out on white, red, black, and pale horses. Although some interpretations differ, the four riders are commonly seen as symbolizing Conquest,[1] War,[2] Famine[3] and Death, respectively. The Christian apocalyptic vision is that the four horsemen are to set a divine apocalypse upon the world as harbingers of the Last Judgment.[4][1]
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— 'Revelation 6:1-2˄ NIV
Due to the above passage (the most common translation into English), the White rider is referred to as Conquest[1] (not Pestilence, see below). The name could also be construed as "Victory," per the translation found in the Jerusalem Bible (the Greek words are derived from the verb νικάω, to conquer or vanquish). He carries a bow, and wears a victor's crown.
The exact nature and morality of the apocalyptic white rider is less clear. He has been argued to represent either evil or righteousness by multiple sources.
The other three horsemen represent evil, destructive forces, and given the unified way in which all four are introduced and described, it may be most likely that the first horseman is correspondingly evil. Artwork which shows the horsemen as a group, such as the famous woodcut by Albrecht Dürer, suggests an interpretation where all four horsemen represent different aspects of the same tribulation.[5]
The first horseman is often associated with military conquest.[3] One interpretation, which was held by evangelist Billy Graham—casts the rider of the white horse as the Antichrist,[6] or a representation of false prophets, citing differences between the white horse in Revelation 6 and Jesus on the white Horse in Revelation 19.[7] In Revelation 19 Jesus has many crowns, but in Revelation 6 the rider has just one.[8]
Irenaeus, an influential Christian theologian of the 2nd century, was among the first to interpret this horseman as Christ himself, his white horse representing the successful spread of the gospel.[3] Various scholars have since supported this theory,[9] citing the later appearance, in Revelation 19, of Christ mounted on a white horse, appearing as The Word of God. Furthermore, earlier in the New Testament, the Book of Mark indicates that the advance of the gospel may indeed precede and foretell the apocalypse.[3][10] The color white also tends to represent righteousness in the Bible, and Christ is in other instances portrayed as a conqueror.[3][10] However, opposing interpretations argue that the first of the four horsemen is probably not the horseman of Revelation 19. They are described in significantly different ways, and Christ's role as the Lamb who opens the seven seals makes it unlikely that he would also be one of the forces released by the seals.[3][10]
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.[11]
— Revelation 6:3-4˄ NIV
The rider of the second horse is often taken to represent[2]War or mass slaughter.[4][1] His horse's color is red (πυρρός, from πῦρ, fire). In some translations, the color is specifically a "fiery" red. This color, as well as the rider's possession of a great sword, suggests blood that is to be spilled.[3] The second horseman may represent civil war as opposed to the war of conquest that the first horseman is sometimes said to bring.[3][12] Other commentators have suggested it might also represent persecution of Christians.[10]
— Revelation 6:5-6˄ NIV
The third horseman rides a black horse and is generally understood as Famine.[3] The horseman carries a pair of balances or weighing scales, indicating the way that bread would have been weighed during a famine.[12] The indicated price of grain is about ten times normal, with an entire day's wages (a denarius) buying enough wheat for only one person, or enough of the less nutritious barley for three, so that workers would struggle to feed their families.[3]
Of the four horsemen, the black horse and its rider are the only ones whose appearance is accompanied by a vocal pronunciation. John hears a voice, unidentified but coming from among the four living creatures, that speaks of the prices of wheat and barley, also saying "and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." This suggests that the black horse's famine is to drive up the price of grain but leave oil and wine supplies unaffected (though out of reach of the ordinary worker). One explanation for this is that grain crops would have been more naturally susceptible to famine years or locust plagues than olive trees and grapevines, which root more deeply.[3][12] The statement might also suggest a continuing abundance of luxuries for the wealthy while staples such as bread are scarce, though not totally depleted;[12] such selective scarcity may result from injustice and the deliberate production of luxury crops for the wealthy over grain, as would have happened during the time Revelation was written.[2][9] Alternatively, the preservation of oil and wine could symbolize the preservation of the Christian faithful, who used oil and wine in their sacraments.[13]
— Revelation 6:7-8˄ NIV
The fourth and final horseman is named Death. Of all the riders, he is the only one to whom the text itself explicitly gives a name. Unlike the other three, he is not described carrying a weapon/object, instead he is followed by Hades. However, illustrations commonly depict him carrying a scythe (like the Grim Reaper), sword, or other implement.
The color of Death's horse is written as khlōros (χλωρός) in the original Koine Greek,[14] which can mean either green/greenish-yellow or pale/pallid.[15] The color is often translated as "pale", though "ashen", "pale green" and "yellowish green"[12] are other possible interpretations (the Greek word is the root of "chlorophyll" and "chlorine"). Based on uses of the word in ancient Greek medical literature, several scholars suggest that the color reflects the sickly pallor of a corpse.[3][16] In some modern artistic depictions, the horse is given a distinct green color.[17]
The verse beginning "they were given power over a fourth of the earth" is generally taken as referring to Death and Hades,[12][18] although some commentators see it as applying to all four horsemen.[1]
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Bibical texts
Book of Revelation |
Many Christians interpret the horsemen as a prophecy of a future Tribulation.[9]
Most modern scholars interpret Revelation from a preterist point of view, arguing that its prophecy and imagery apply only to the events of the first century of Christian history.[12] In this school of thought, Conquest, the white horse's rider, is sometimes identified as a symbol of Parthian forces: Conquest carries a bow, and the Parthian Empire was at that time known for its mounted warriors and their skill with bow and arrow.[3][12] Parthians were also particularly associated with white horses.[3] Some scholars specifically point to Vologases I, a Parthian shah who clashed with the Roman Empire and won one significant battle in 62 AD.[3][12]
Revelation's historical context may also influence the depiction of the black horse and its rider, Famine. In 92 AD, the Roman emperor Domitian attempted to curb excessive growth of grapevines and encourage grain cultivation instead, but there was major popular backlash against this effort, and it was abandoned. Famine's mission to make wheat and barley scarce but "hurt not the oil and the wine" could be an allusion to this episode.[12][16] The red horse and its rider, who take peace from the earth, might represent the prevalence of civil strife at the time Revelation was written; internecine conflict ran rampant in the Roman Empire during and just prior to the 1st century AD.[3][12]
According to the theology of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church), each of the seven seals opened in Revelation represents a specific thousand-year period in Asia.[20][21] Since the first horseman, Conquest, appears after the opening of the first seal, he is associated 4000–3000 years BC.[20] He is taken to be the prophet Enoch, whom Mormons believe founded the righteous city of Zion.[22] In this view, the first horseman is viewed as good, and his "conquering" represents a moral victory, not a literal war of conquest.[20] The second horseman is associated with the era of Noah (3000-2000 BC); the third horseman, the era of Abraham (2000-1000 BC); and the fourth horseman, 1000 BC to the birth of Jesus.[20] As in many other interpretations, these horsemen are believed to represent War, Famine and Death; Mormon theologians claim that each of these destructive forces was rampant in the millennium to which it is assigned.[20] Such sequential interpretations go back to the Middle Ages.[23]
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.[24] 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.[25]
Some equate the four horsemen with the angels of the four winds.[26] (See Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel, angels often associated with four cardinal directions)
This interpretation replaces Conquest with Pestilence (i.e., infectious disease), and is generally espoused by those unfamiliar with the actual Bible texts which describe the Four Horsemen. Though it is apocryphal, this interpretation remains most commonly used as the basis for popular culture's uses of the Four Horsemen concept, including in the famous woodcut by Albrecht Dürer.[27]
The origins of the name "Pestilence" as a distinct Horseman are unclear, though certain Bible versions, such as the Jerusalem Bible and the New International Version do mention plague in connection with the Pale—rather than the White—horse.
Zechariah also sees coloured horses (Zechariah 1:8-17˄, 6:1-8˄), although in the first case there are only three colours, and in the second there are teams of horses pulling chariots: Red, then Black, then White, and finally Dappled. They are referred to as "the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth." Zechariah's horses differ from Revelation's in that their colors do not quite match and do not seem to indicate or symbolize anything about their characters; also, the horses in Zechariah act as sentries, not as agents of destruction or judgment.[3]