Revelation chapter 6: 1 to 8 - 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse'

1 I watched as the Lamb opened the first of the seven seals. Then I heard one of the four living creatures say in a voice like thunder, "Come!"
2 I looked, and there before me was a white horse! Its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.
3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, "Come!"
4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other. To him was given a large sword.
5 When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand.
6 Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!"
7 When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!"
8 I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.

Possibly the most well-known (and most visually interpreted) section of the Book of Revelation, 'The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse', has provided inspiration for a plethora of artists, not least amongst whom are the English landscape painter, J.M.W. Turner and the Russian, Wassily Kandinsky. Surely this is due, in part, to its being a genuinely 'apocalyptic' image. Maybe this is the 'revelation' (above all others within the book of Revelation), that creates the greatest resonance for those who lived through the horrors of two World wars, and those of the Holocaust. Of all the images in the Book of Revelation it is, possibly, the most self-explanatory.

Regarding the accompanying image, four riders come into view - each on a differing colour horse, and each making its appearance as a result of ‘the Lamb’s’ opening, sequentially, four ‘seals’.

The opening of the first reveals a rider on a white horse. The text reveals that ‘its rider held a bow, and he was given a crown, and he rode out as a conqueror bent on conquest.’ Given my intent to be faithful to the text, since no mention is made of a quiver or arrows, none are included within the image.

The horse and - most importantly - its rider continue to arouse considerable debate regarding identity. In ‘Peake’s Commentary on The Bible’, its compiler, William Peake, succinctly presents the debate as follows:

‘A white horse’: the metaphor of the differently-coloured horses is suggested by Zechariah 6: 1-8. There has been much debate as to the interpretation of ‘the white horse’. Some scholars, on the strength of the reference to ‘the crown’, and the phrase ‘conquering and to conquer’, think that it can only refer to Christ. This interpretation is supported by Revelation 19:11, where one whose name is called ‘the Word of God’ is represented as riding on a white horse. Others think that it refers not to Christ Himself, but to His victorious Kingdom or Church.

But these views (Peake continues), separate ‘the white horse’ from the other three, and there is no indication that the writer intended to draw such a contrast. The ‘white horse’ is one of four. The other three clearly indicate woes that scourge humanity, and we are bound, therefore, to find a parallel meaning for the remaining one. ‘A vision of the victorious Christ would be inappropriate at the opening of a series which symbolizes bloodshed, famine and pestilence.’ We must therefore regard the “white horse” as portraying “conquest” or “triumphant militarism”.    

Although I have insisted that my aim is not to put any interpretation on the meaning of the visions - merely to interpret with visual loyalty that which is described in the text - whether that which is being envisioned represents either ‘good’ or ‘evil’ does suggest that its very ‘interpretation’ will be different. 

From my own reading, I am drawn to the conclusion that the rider on the white horse is intended to be understood as representing Jesus Christ who - despite his triumph on the cross over sin and its resultant evils - continues to battle against the ongoing consequences of such which will pursue both him and his followers until he ‘returns in glory’ - the very essence of the message of the Apocalypse.  

Since the Greek word ‘stephanos’ - although consistently translated as ‘crown’ - is often applied to the victor’s ‘garland’ - the laurel garland (and so, too, the crown of thorns worn by Christ prior to his crucifixion), it is a laurel garland which the rider on the white horse wears in my image.

The opening of the second seal reveals a fiery red horse, whose rider is ‘… given power to take peace from the earth and to make men slay each other.’ Clearly ‘the sword’ which he is also given is a metaphor for all forms and means of man-made destruction through history.

The black horse which follows the opening of the third seal has a rider who, carrying scales, is enigmatically accompanied by voices which emanate from among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" and most likely refers to famine - itself a consequence of the war and bloodshed which it follows. Peake also suggests that ‘the scales’ - carried by the rider on the black horse - are ‘… a sign of scarcity when food is sold by weight.’

In this regard he refers his readers to Leviticus and to Ezekiel:

“If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction but continue to be hostile toward me, I myself will be hostile toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. And I will bring the sword upon you to avenge the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague among you, and you will be given into enemy hands.

When I cut off your supply of bread, ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.”
Leviticus 26: 23-26

‘He then said to me: "Son of man, I will cut off the supply of food in Jerusalem. The people will eat rationed food in anxiety and drink rationed water in despair, for food and water will be scarce. They will be appalled at the sight of each other and will waste away because of their sin.”’  Ezekiel 4:16

The ‘form’ of the horse and rider which appear as a consequence of the opening of the fourth seal, is described by the Greek word ‘chloe’, meaning ‘wan’, or ‘washed-out’, and surely refers to its appearance rather than its strength. Even so, the word ‘chloe’ has - in its Greek connotation - the meaning of new, fresh, verdant life, and is used to describe the young, green grass in Mark 6: 39. Yet, in other ancient Greek contexts, is descriptive of the pallor of death. 

The majority of painters and illustrators have presented the horse and its rider as skeletal - death in its most grotesque and overt state. Turner, in his painting, 'Death on a Pale Horse', shows a strong, yet mystical, horse looming out of blood-red clouds, bearing an prostrate skeletal figure, lying on its back across the horse, with arm outstretched. Yet, surely, ‘death’ is the strongest of all the horses, it representing the state that ‘overtakes’ everyone.

The New Testament writer, the Apostle Paul, describes death as being ‘… the last enemy to be destroyed..." (1 Corinthians 15: 26). The English painter and poet, William Blake, represented death as a warrior, powerfully taking vengeance on humanity. Benjamin West, the American painter who settled in England, and became the second President of the Royal Academy, in his version of ‘Death on a Pale Horse’, portrays the strongest of horses and most fearsome of riders, wreaking vengeance on mankind to powerful effect.

His ‘artistic licence’ permitted the inclusion of a serpent weaving its way around the right arm of the rider, and is surely an illusion to the serpent of Eden, which, in Genesis chapter three, contradicted God's warning, by telling Eve, "You will not surely die".

The image which this text accompanies presents death as a strong horse (albeit with a somewhat ghost-like appearance and an ageing rider), poised to overtake the other horses and riders in his judgment on wayward humankind.

There is one further element to the text which, since it is somewhat enigmatic, I have necessarily portrayed ambiguously as a foil for my uncertainty. It arises from the closing verse of this chapter six:

‘I looked, and there before me was a pale (Gk: ‘chloros’ – here, clearly meaning pale) horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.’ Revelation 6: 8

For me, the principal question prompted by the end of the verse is whether the opening of the fourth seal releases just one horse with ‘Death’ as its rider, or two horses - the second of which receives no description - and yet has a rider with the name of ‘Hades’? The word ‘they’ reinforces my uncertainty. Although the Greek word ‘hades’ is frequently, in literature’ translated as ‘the god - or place - of the underworld’ - with all the inventive connotations placed on it by religious orthodoxy - the word simply means ‘the grave’ - a place for the dead.

Given my uncertainty, I have created a further ghost-like form which follows immediately after ‘Death’. It may be a horse and rider … or not. Even so, given that whatever it is is associated with the place of the dead, I have attempted to make a subtle visual link between this nebulous form and a pit beneath in which there is a suggestion of corpses.

It is very much a piece of ambiguous text, that presents the viewer with the reality of judgments past and judgments to come in the form of suffering and death.

Furthermore, the opening of the fifth seal provides a natural link with that of the fourth, for it reveals to the Apostle John a gruesome view of those who - in terms of literature - might be described as ‘the living dead’.

For the Apostle  ‘… saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain because of the word of God and the testimony they had maintained. They called out in a loud voice, "How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?" Then each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to wait a little longer, until the number of their fellow servants and brothers who were to be killed as they had been was completed.’ Revelation 6: 9-11