When the Lamb broke the fourth seal, I heard the fourth living being say, “Come!” I looked up and saw a horse whose colour was pale green. Its rider was named Death, and his companion was the Grave. These two were given authority over one-fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword and famine and disease and wild animals.
Revelation 6:7-8
This is the concluding statement to the last of the four horses and their riders. There are some little subtleties as with the others. This is the first of these similar statements where the rider is named. Death is personified and his companion, the grave or more literally Hades is following behind him. There is much debate among the commentators as to whether Hades is riding on the same horse with Death, following behind on another horse or walking behind and sweeping the corpses into the grave. And furthermore, who was given authority to kill all these people and sweep their bodies into Hades, the place of the dead? The text in Greek simply reads “They” – the plural pronoun. All other translations keep the indefinite sense of ‘they’ or ‘them’, while the NLT alone states ‘These two’ [Death and the Grave] were given authority over one-fourth of the earth. . .‘. There is another alternative to the intent of this sentence. It is highly likely that this stands as a closing statement to all four horses and horsemen. That ‘They’ has intentionally been used to act as a summary statement for all four horses and their judgments. The four horsemen together were given authority to kill a fourth of all the inhabitants of the whole earth. The idea is not that a quarter of the earth in a specific location on the globe suffered this fate. But rather the resultant mayhem from all four horses and horsemen reached around the globe. The end result of all four judgements was that a quarter of the world’s population was killed by all four judgments.
It struck me that these are exactly the same statements made in many other parts of the Bible. This is not a new concept which we meet for the first time in Revelation. The combination of these four judgements is wide spread. All the following verses include the triad of war, famine and disease:- Jeremiah 14:12; 21:9; 24:10; 27:8,13; 29:17-18. 32:24,36; 38:2; 42:17,22; 44:13. Ezekiel 6:11; 12:16; Deuteronomy 32:23-25. These following verses add ‘wild animals’ to the list of three:- Jeremiah 15:2-3; Ezekiel 5:16-17; 14:21. In the New Testament in Matthew 24:6-9, Mark 13:7-8 and Luke 21:9-12 this list is repeated again in the mouth of Jesus.
The Romans regarded plagues and earthquakes as punishment for breaches by humans in the relationship between the people and the gods. In fact they also talked of being blessed when there was an absence of wild animals, a sign that the gods were not angry with them. While it may seem strange to see wild animals added to the list, it is not surprising. After a period of time with war, famine and disease, it is highly likely wild animals would overrun the depleted population.
It is interesting that pale green is the colour chosen as the colour of death. In point of fact, a light greyish green is indeed representative of the pallor of death, or we might call it ash grey. The Greek word used for pale green is [χλωρός] chlōros, not the lush verdant green of life (chlorophyll) but the pale ashen colour of death. In the Greek Old Testament the words used for the fourth horse in Zechariah 6:3 are two adjectives [ποικίλοι] poikiloi and [ψαροί] psaroi, both of which mean spotted; piebald and dappled when applied to a horse. The combination results in a compound description of light coloured and spotty or blotchy, the colour or illness, disease and death.
Why is the description related to the last seal named with a companion? In the ancient world death was personified as the ruler of the underworld and the concept was that you were carried to the place of the dead (Hades) by the death angel or the prince or ruler of Hades. In Greek literature “to go the house of Hades” meant ‘to die’. Thanatos (death) was a personal entity who took you down to the underworld. The outcome is that the fourfold judgements result in death and the effect escalates with each judgement. The end result is a quarter of the total population of the world being killed.
I have one more aspect of this passage to comment on. A number of these actions are set in the imperfect tense expressing the on-going nature of the action. Don’t forget, this letter was addressed to the believers in the seven churches who received the letter. They experienced war, invasion and death by the sword, famine and disease . Many died by wild animals, not naturally but in the arena facing lions and other wild beasts. Not only under the Romans but ongoingly across the centuries. Hence the use of the on-going tenses. John is trying to capture the magnitude of the majesty and sovereignty of the God of Heaven who allows this to take place across the empires yet it is under control. The Lamb of God breaks the seals and the four living beings call evil out to do its worst. Victory is not an escape from death or martyrdom but victory through death. Ultimately we all must die. God’s victory is always through the cross and dying to self for us all.
Jesus made that clear when he said:
Do you remember what I told you? ‘A slave is not greater than the master.’ Since they persecuted me, naturally they will persecute you. And if they had listened to me, they would listen to you.
John 15:20
The last task for me in the context of the first four seals and the resulting judgements is to answer one more reader’s last-minute-question.
“Ian, I have noticed, following what you told us in Deeper Bible to take note when we see word switches. I see that John has used two different words for ‘sword’ in the midst of the opening of these first four seals and ensuing judgement. In Revelation 6:4 the word used for sword is ‘machaira’ whereas in Rev 6:8 the word used for sword is ‘romphaia’. What is the difference between these two words and is it significant?”
Peter
I love that you picked up on this Peter. Well done. The information available to you through E-Sword is as follows:
Machaira
Robert H. Mounce: – a large knife, dagger; a sword, Mat 26:47; Mat 26:51; the sword of the executioner,
Strongs Exhaustive Concordance: Probably feminine of a presumed derivative of the weapon ‘mache’; a knife, figuratively used in war, judicial punishment – sword.
Thayers Dictionary:
- 1) a large knife, used for killing animals and cutting up flesh.
- 2) a small sword, as distinguished from a large sword, a curved sword, for a cutting stroke.
- 2b) a straight sword, for thrusting.
Other sources available to me
Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the NT
- knife or sword, if a sword more likely a dagger or sabre with a curved blade.
- Use in the NT as the equivalent of a weapon, a small sword with double edged blade. Matt 26:52, Heb 4:12 – machaira
- Used 27 x in the NT, the standard word used for sword.
Romphaia
Robert H. Mounce – a Thracian broad-sword
Strongs Exhaustive Concondance: Probably of foreign origin; a sabre, that is, a long and broad cutlass; any weapon of the kind, literally or figuratively – a sword.
Thayer’s Dictionary
- 1) a large sword
- 2) properly a long Thracian javelin, also a kind of long sword normally worn on the right shoulder.
Other sources available to me.
Kittel’s Theological Dictionary of the NT
- A Thracian weapon more like a lance or spear than a sword. Rare usage in non-Biblical literature.
- In Biblical setting used as a synonym for machaira (7 x in the New Testament).
- Most often influenced by the usage of the Septuagint. eg Ezekiel 14:17 and Psalm 36:15 – influenced Luke’s usage of romphaia
Mounce’s Commentary
- There is no significant difference between the usage of machaira or romphaia.
- Both terms are synonyms for sword. It is more a matter of word choice by the author.
- John was heavily influenced by the text of Ezekiel when it comes to Revelation.
Conclusion – There is no real significance as to which of these words is used where. John tends to follow the lead of the passages in Ezekiel and so romphaia is used more in Revelation.
If you limit your story to the days between birth & death, you brace yourself for a sad ending. You are made for more than this life.
Max Lucado
The greatest tragedy is not death, but life without purpose.
Rick Warren
You are destined for the Life of the Age to Come, live as though you believe that.
Ian
God took the worst thing that man could do to his Son, and transformed it into the best thing He could do for mankind.
Sidney Mohede