Four Horsemen

Text and Content

The passage appears in Revelation 6:1-8. Each time the Lamb opens one of the seven seals, one of the four living creatures in turn calls out, "Come and see," and each time a rider comes forth. The text does not call them "horsemen"; it describes each as "he that sat on him."

• White horse: The rider has a bow and is given a crown. He goes forth "conquering, and to conquer" (6:2).
• Red horse: The rider takes peace from the earth so that people kill one another, and he is given a great sword (6:4).
• Black horse: The rider holds a pair of balances. A voice is heard saying, "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" (6:6).
• Pale horse: The rider's name is "Death," and Hades (KJV "Hell") follows with him. Power is given to them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and with the beasts of the earth (6:8).

Background

The colors of the horses resemble the visions of variously colored horses in Zechariah 1 and 6. The plagues brought by the fourth rider correspond to the four judgments of Ezekiel 14:21: the sword, famine, the noisome beast, and pestilence.

The denarius (rendered "penny" in the KJV) was a coin equivalent to a laborer's daily wage (Matthew 20:2). For this reason, the passage concerning the third rider is commonly interpreted as describing a famine in which prices have risen so sharply that a day's wages could barely buy enough grain for one person. The Greek word chlōros, used for the color of the fourth horse, originally means pale green or a pallid hue and is understood to evoke the complexion of a corpse.

Some scholars regard the first rider's bow as an allusion to the Parthian mounted archers who threatened Rome's eastern frontier at the time.

Significance in the Broader Scriptural Context

The sequence of war, famine, and death is often read alongside the wars and famines that Jesus described as signs of the end (Matthew 24:6-8). All four riders are described as having been "given" their authority. For this reason, the passage is often interpreted as showing that even these calamities remain within limits set by God's rule.

Interpretations and Points of Debate

The chief point of disagreement concerns the identity of the rider on the white horse.

• Some connect him with Christ riding the white horse in Revelation 19:11 and see him as Christ or as the triumph of the gospel.
• Some see him as the Antichrist imitating Christ.
• Some see him, in keeping with the other three riders, as representing wars of conquest.

The meaning of the Four Horsemen also varies depending on how the Book of Revelation as a whole is read.

• The preterist interpretation, which sees them as events in the first-century Roman Empire
• The historicist interpretation, which maps them onto the course of church history
• The futurist interpretation, which sees them as events that will occur in the last days
• The symbolic (idealist) interpretation, which sees them as principles recurring throughout history

Dispensationalism generally follows the futurist interpretation, viewing these as events of the Great Tribulation and often identifying the first rider as the Antichrist.

In popular culture, the four riders are often called "War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death." However, only the fourth rider, "Death," is named in the text. Calling the first rider "Pestilence" likewise has no basis in the text. Albrecht Dürer's woodcut of about 1498 is regarded as one of the most representative artistic depictions of this scene.

In the Korean Church

The Four Horsemen are frequently treated in expository preaching on Revelation and in sermons on eschatology. Interpretations vary among denominations and preachers according to the perspectives outlined above.