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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse are the forces of man's destruction described in the Bible in chapter six of the Book of Revelation, the Original Greek Αποκαλυψις Ιωαννου (Apokalupsis Iōannou), "Revelation Of John". The four horsemen are traditionally named after the powers they represent: Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death. However, this is slightly at odds with the conventional interpretation of the Bible, which actually only directly names the fourth: "Death".
Consequently, it is not possible to definitively state the intended interpretation of the horsemen; in fact, interpretations frequently reflect contemporary values and issues.
Horses and their riders
In summary, the horses and their riders as described in the Bible are as follows:
| Name | Horse | Horse Represents | Rider | Power | Rider Represents | Original Greek Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pestilence | White | Victory; Pure Warfare | Carries a bow with no arrows which symbolizes a non-violent rise to power, wears a crown | Conquest | Parthian Warriors | ίππος λευκός(híppos leukós), [The] White Horse |
| War | Red | Blood spilled on the battlefield | Carries a sword | War | Roman Empire | ίππος πυρρός(híppos purrós), [The] Fiery Red Horse |
| Famine | Black | Desolation | Carries scales | Famine, Persecution,Enslavement | Injustice to the poor and scarcity of food as result of war | ίππος μέλας(híppos mélas), [The] Black Horse |
| Death | Pale | Paleness of skin in death, decay | Death, followed by Hades | Kills by plagues, slaughters, etc. | Death | ίππος χλωρός, θάνατος(híppos khlōrós, thánatos), [The] Pale Green Horse, [named] Death |
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.
Interpretations
White Horse
The rider of the white horse is very commonly and erroneously interpreted to be the antichrist figure, but such an interpretation ignores much of the imagery presented throughout the Revelation and many cross references of whom the Bible names as being given a crown. For instance, every other time the color white is used in the Revelation, it is always representative of righteousness and holiness, and whenever the author, John, depicts a malevolent force, he consistently shows it as evil (the two beasts of chapter 13, or the scarlet beast and the prostitute of chapter 17). Because of this, there is no reason to interpret the white horse as representing anything other than something/someone that is righteous and holy. Even the terminology “conquering and to conquer” alludes to a righteous person, as the Greek term used here is used throughout the New Testament as a word meaning “to overcome” and “to be victorious.” In the 23 other times it is used in the New Testament (15 times in the Revelation alone), 22 of those instances refer to Christ or to His followers overcoming evil. So, in this 24th instance of the word (one of 15 times in the Revelation), it should be taken to mean the same thing: a righteous or holy force who is able to overcome and gain victory. Also, considering the rider is given a crown (something only seen to be given to Jesus or the 24 elders -- Daniel 7:13, 14, 27; Luke 1:31-33; Revelation 4:4, 10; 14:14), one would come to the conclusion the rider of the white horse is an individual on the side of good.
Pairing this vision of a rider of a white horse with chapter 19's rider of a white horse (seen to be Jesus), a sensible conclusion would reveal the first of the four horsemen is Jesus Himself; a more complete interpretation of the vision is that this horseman probably represents the Holy Spirit -- Biblically referenced as the third part of the Holy Trinity wherein Jesus is "God the Son" -- whom Jesus promises his disciples will come to aid them after his departure from earth. (Acts 1:4-8) Further support of this belief comes from the book of Joel (in the Biblical Old Testament), wherein chapters 2 and 3 strike incredible parallels to the depictions of the end times in Revelations; in those chapters, the prophet Joel foretells of an "outpouring" of the Holy Spirit among God's people who are left in the earth in these last days, manifested as their empowerment to perform various supernatural acts. Given that according to the Biblical accounts from Acts onward the Holy Spirit (generally regarded as a teacher, counselor, and source of guidance to believers) indeed came after Jesus' departure from earth, since the scene in Revelation 5 likely references' Jesus triumphant return to heaven, it would chronologically and theologically be quite possible that this white horseman in the vision depicts the Holy Spirit.
Red Horse
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 great sword, which represents battle and fighting. The Red Horse is also said to represent the Planet Mars. According to astrological beliefs, Mars has quite an ill effect on the Earth when its position is behind us to the Sun, especially when the Moon, The Pale Horse, is between Mars and the Earth. The red planet also represents the God of War in many pre-Christian religions, specifically the Mars of Roman mythology and the Ares of Greek mythology.
Black Horse
The third horseman, riding the black horse, is popularly called Famine. The black color of the third horse could be a symbol of famine. Its rider holds a scale, which could be a representation of the 'scales of pitiless justice' which commonly represent inequality and corruption.
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.
Pale Horse
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. Although Death is popularly represented carrying a scythe (as he is in the above), this is not mentioned in the original text.
The Greek word interpreted here as "pale" is elsewhere in the New Testament translated as "green." The horse is sometimes translated as "pale," "pale green," or "green." The pale greenish color of the fourth horse could mean fear, sickness, decay, and death.
Alternative interpretations
An alternative interpretation holds the first Horseman to represent Quicksilver or the Antichrist, the second to represent Pestilence (sometimes called Plague), while the third and fourth riders remain Famine and Death, respectively, though this interpretation is often considered flawed[attribution needed].
One interpretation rearranges the order in which the horsemen arrive to end the world, and a slight change to their personas. The first horseman to appear is Pestilence, who rides upon a sickly, decaying horse. Pestilence causes the decay and imminent destruction of the worlds crops and wildlife. In the wake of Pestilence comes Famine, a large and portly rider riding upon a thin and sickly horse, symbolizing gluttony and the lack of food. In the wake of Famine, due to immense fighting over the remaining food supplies, is War. War rides upon a red horse and wields a tremendous sword which he uses to slay the millions in his path. And in the wake of War, comes the pale rider, Death. His horse is, as one would guess, pale green. He is followed by hades and carries the remaining souls to their final destinations.
Another challenged[attribution needed] 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").
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[citation needed].
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
Not all interpretations agree that the horsemen are associated with contemporary events; one interpretation suggests that the horseman are each associated with one of the first, four opened seals. [2] The white horse represents the first seal in which the city of Enoch[3] 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. This interpretation is popular among Mormon scholars, but is not a part of Mormon doctrine.
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