I’ve been doing a little catch-up lately. A while back, I suddenly lost about half the channels I had been getting from my cable provider. When I called, they told me that I wasn’t supposed to have been getting those channels, that the cable installer had actually made a mistake, and given me a much more expensive package than what I had been paying for. When I inquired as to what it would cost to get those channels restored, I was quoted a price more than double the bill I was paying. Upon reflection, I decided that it was not worth paying the extra money, but then considered what I was actually watching on the channels I was still getting, and realized that the package I was getting was not worth what I was being charged, and cancelled my cable service altogether. In the interim, the programs that I missed have come out on DVD, so I am watching TV programs that are a year or two old, a few at a time (and I am paying less for DVD rentals than what I was paying for cable, anyway).
Interestingly enough, the book of Revelation came up twice in two different shows from two different seasons. Had I actually been watching the shows when they aired, I would have seen them far enough apart that I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but, they not only mentioned Revelation (although one of them consistently referred to it as Revelations), they mentioned Revelation 6, the four horsemen. One of the advantages of watching TV on DVD is that sometimes there are commentaries. Both of these shows did have commentaries by the writer. One of them admitted that he did not actually reference the Bible when he was writing the script, but that one of the actors corrected him from the set. He expressed gratitude that the actor knew the difference between the white horse and the pale horse, because someone watching the show would have caught it if they hadn’t caught it prior to filming.
I must confess, I would not have known the difference, myself. I have read Revelation more then once, but I haven’t really exerted a lot of brain grease trying to figure out what it means. I can’t help but think that, although John wrote down as accurately as he could what God had shown him, he was limited in what vocabulary existed, and that, at least in some instances, God had to show him things in a way that he could understand. In other words, the horses were conveyances, a means of getting to and from. If a modern day John were to be given the Revelation today, it is entirely possible that we would be discussing four SUV-drivers, or four airplane pilots, rather than four horsemen. My personal philosophy is that most of it (if not all of it) will be clear in retrospect, and that understanding Revelation is not a pre-requisite to understanding the rest of the Bible. Of course, if one lives life according to the teachings of Jesus, then one will be prepared for the events described in Revelation when they happen, whereas having an understanding of Revelation without living the life simply means that one knows exactly how bad one will have it as those events unfold.
Having said that, I did go look at the chapter in question, to see if I could glean any understanding of what it describes. The first horseman rides a white horse, and he carries a bow, and has a crown, and it is given to him to go and conquer. The second horseman rides a red horse, and he carries a sword, and he goes out to war against the earth. The third horseman rides a black horse, carries a set of balances, and a voice says, “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.” The fourth horseman is Death, and he rides a pale horse, and goes out to kill, with sword, and by hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
The easy stuff first: The first horseman represents someone, or perhaps many people, who wish to conquer either the whole world, or at least their part of it. The second obviously represents war. The third would represent commerce (or lack thereof). We generally think of the scales as representing justice, but in Biblical times, the scales were used extensively in trading, to measure out a specific amount (by weight) of wheat or barley, etc. Fortunately, the voice pretty much spells this out for us. Incidentally, the coin referred to here, a penny, is the same coin (even in Greek) that is used in the parable where Jesus talked about people working all day for a penny, so, apparently this is talking about people working all day to buy one measure of wheat. The fourth horseman requires no deduction: we are explicitly told that he is Death.
I got curious about the colors of the horses. Red is associated with war because it is the color of fire and of blood. Black and white, depending on the culture, generally mean life and death, or evil and purity. Of course, death of one being frequently means life for another. What color is pale, exactly? My first instinct was that a pale horse is probably light brown, or tan. I did some research, though. The Greek word that is translated as “pale” is actually chloros, which was derived from chloe. Chloe is an herb characterized by a pale, yellow-green color. The term chloros is used four times in the New Testament, and the other three times it is translated as green. Bible scholars say that the term can mean either green, or pale yellow. Apparently the translators decided that, in this case, it meant pale yellow (perhaps because they had a hard time with the idea of a green horse). Given that, in this case, pale actually means yellow, that makes our four colors black, white, red, and yellow. I can’t help but think that there is significance to the fact that people are usually described by the same colors: black, white, red, and yellow. I don’t mean to suggest that there is a correlation to a specific ethnic group and a method of destruction; simply that it seems to me that the horses in this passage represent us; we human beings are the means by which war has entered into the world, etc. I don’t think any particular ethnicity has a monopoly on nutcases with a thirst for world domination, or an ability to go to war, or a particular propensity for economic hardship, and we are all capable of dying, or of causing the death of others.
I have to also point out that a lot of people are looking for these things to come, but it occurs to me that these things have been among us for pretty much all of human history. I have no doubt that they will get worse, but I think that it is a mistake to think of the four horseman as a prophesy of some new kind of destruction, they simply represent an escalation of the things that we are already doing to ourselves.
Interestingly enough, the book of Revelation came up twice in two different shows from two different seasons. Had I actually been watching the shows when they aired, I would have seen them far enough apart that I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought, but, they not only mentioned Revelation (although one of them consistently referred to it as Revelations), they mentioned Revelation 6, the four horsemen. One of the advantages of watching TV on DVD is that sometimes there are commentaries. Both of these shows did have commentaries by the writer. One of them admitted that he did not actually reference the Bible when he was writing the script, but that one of the actors corrected him from the set. He expressed gratitude that the actor knew the difference between the white horse and the pale horse, because someone watching the show would have caught it if they hadn’t caught it prior to filming.
I must confess, I would not have known the difference, myself. I have read Revelation more then once, but I haven’t really exerted a lot of brain grease trying to figure out what it means. I can’t help but think that, although John wrote down as accurately as he could what God had shown him, he was limited in what vocabulary existed, and that, at least in some instances, God had to show him things in a way that he could understand. In other words, the horses were conveyances, a means of getting to and from. If a modern day John were to be given the Revelation today, it is entirely possible that we would be discussing four SUV-drivers, or four airplane pilots, rather than four horsemen. My personal philosophy is that most of it (if not all of it) will be clear in retrospect, and that understanding Revelation is not a pre-requisite to understanding the rest of the Bible. Of course, if one lives life according to the teachings of Jesus, then one will be prepared for the events described in Revelation when they happen, whereas having an understanding of Revelation without living the life simply means that one knows exactly how bad one will have it as those events unfold.
Having said that, I did go look at the chapter in question, to see if I could glean any understanding of what it describes. The first horseman rides a white horse, and he carries a bow, and has a crown, and it is given to him to go and conquer. The second horseman rides a red horse, and he carries a sword, and he goes out to war against the earth. The third horseman rides a black horse, carries a set of balances, and a voice says, “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.” The fourth horseman is Death, and he rides a pale horse, and goes out to kill, with sword, and by hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
The easy stuff first: The first horseman represents someone, or perhaps many people, who wish to conquer either the whole world, or at least their part of it. The second obviously represents war. The third would represent commerce (or lack thereof). We generally think of the scales as representing justice, but in Biblical times, the scales were used extensively in trading, to measure out a specific amount (by weight) of wheat or barley, etc. Fortunately, the voice pretty much spells this out for us. Incidentally, the coin referred to here, a penny, is the same coin (even in Greek) that is used in the parable where Jesus talked about people working all day for a penny, so, apparently this is talking about people working all day to buy one measure of wheat. The fourth horseman requires no deduction: we are explicitly told that he is Death.
I got curious about the colors of the horses. Red is associated with war because it is the color of fire and of blood. Black and white, depending on the culture, generally mean life and death, or evil and purity. Of course, death of one being frequently means life for another. What color is pale, exactly? My first instinct was that a pale horse is probably light brown, or tan. I did some research, though. The Greek word that is translated as “pale” is actually chloros, which was derived from chloe. Chloe is an herb characterized by a pale, yellow-green color. The term chloros is used four times in the New Testament, and the other three times it is translated as green. Bible scholars say that the term can mean either green, or pale yellow. Apparently the translators decided that, in this case, it meant pale yellow (perhaps because they had a hard time with the idea of a green horse). Given that, in this case, pale actually means yellow, that makes our four colors black, white, red, and yellow. I can’t help but think that there is significance to the fact that people are usually described by the same colors: black, white, red, and yellow. I don’t mean to suggest that there is a correlation to a specific ethnic group and a method of destruction; simply that it seems to me that the horses in this passage represent us; we human beings are the means by which war has entered into the world, etc. I don’t think any particular ethnicity has a monopoly on nutcases with a thirst for world domination, or an ability to go to war, or a particular propensity for economic hardship, and we are all capable of dying, or of causing the death of others.
I have to also point out that a lot of people are looking for these things to come, but it occurs to me that these things have been among us for pretty much all of human history. I have no doubt that they will get worse, but I think that it is a mistake to think of the four horseman as a prophesy of some new kind of destruction, they simply represent an escalation of the things that we are already doing to ourselves.
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