SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:2
Y miré, y he aquí un caballo blanco; y el que estaba sentado encima de él, tenía un arco; y le fue dada una corona, y salió victorioso, para que también venciese.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Revelation 6:2
Verse 2. A white horse] Supposed to represent the Gospel system, and pointing out its excellence, swiftness, and purity. He that sat on him] Supposed to represent Jesus Christ.
A bow] The preaching of the Gospel, darting conviction into the hearts of sinners.
A crown] The emblem of the kingdom which Christ is to establish on earth.
Conquering, and to conquer.] Overcoming and confounding the Jews first, and then the Gentiles; spreading more and more the doctrine and influence of the cross over the face of the earth.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 2. And I saw, and behold a white horse , etc.] Representing the ministration of the Gospel in the times of the apostles, which were just now finishing, John being the last of them, who saw this vision; and the “horse” being a swift, majestic, and warlike creature, and fearless of opposition and war, may design the swift progress of the Gospel in the world, the majesty, power, and authority with which it came, and opposition it met with, and which was bore down before it; and its “white” colour may denote the purity of Gospel truths, the peace it proclaims, the joy brings, and the triumph that attends it, on account of victories obtained by it, and which is afterwards suggested: white horses were used in triumphs, in token of victory f157 ; a white horse, in a dream, is a good sign with the Jews f158 ; and Astrampsychus says f159 , a vision of white horses is an apparition of angels; and so one of those angels which the Jews suppose to have the care of men, and the preservation of them, is said to ride by him, and at his right hand, upon a white horse; but the rider here is not an angel, but the head of all principality and power: and he that sat on him had a bow ; with arrows; the bow is the word of the Gospel, and the arrows the doctrines of it; (see Habakkuk 3:9 Psalm 45:5); so called for their swift motion, sudden and secret striking, piercing, and penetrating nature, reaching to the very hearts of men; laying open the secret thoughts and iniquity thereof; wounding, and causing them to fall, and submit themselves to the sceptre of Christ's kingdom: and a crown was given unto him ; by God the Father; expressive of Christ's regal power and authority, of his honour and dignity, and of his victories and conquests: and he went forth, conquering and to conquer ; in the ministration of the Gospel, which went forth, as did all the first ministers of it, from Jerusalem, to the several parts of the world; from the east, on which side of the throne was the first living creature, who called upon John to come and see this sight, as the standard of the tribe of Judah, which had a lion upon it, was on the east side of the camp of Israel; and out of Zion went forth the word of the Lord, which was very victorious, both among Jews and Gentiles, to the conversion of thousands of them, and to the planting of a multitude of churches among them, and to the setting up and advancing the kingdom of Christ; but inasmuch as yet all things are not made subject to him, he is represented as going forth in the Gospel, still conquering, and to conquer, what remain to be conquered: that Christ is designed by him that sat on the white horse, and is thus described, is evident from ( Revelation 19:11-13); with which compare ( Psalm 45:3,4), though as this emblem may respect the Roman empire, the white horse may be an emblem of the strong, warlike, and conquering state of it; and the rider which a bow and crown may design Vespasian, whom Christ made use of as an instrument to conquer his enemies the Jews, and who, in consequence thereof, had the imperial crown put upon him; and it may be further observed, that though his conquest of them was a very great one, yet they afterwards rose up in the empire, in great numbers, rebelled, and did much mischief, when they were entirely conquered by Trajan and Hadrian, who seem to be intended in the next seal.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-8 - Christ, the Lamb, opens the first seal: observe what appeared. A ride on a white horse. By the going forth of this white horse, a time of peace, or the early progress of the Christian religion, seems to be intended; its going forth in purity, at the time when its heavenl Founder sent his apostles to teach all nations, adding, Lo! I am with you alway, even to the end of the world. The Divine religion goes ou crowned, having the Divine favour resting upon it, armed spirituall against its foes, and destined to be victorious in the end. On openin the second seal, a red horse appeared; this signifies desolatin judgments. The sword of war and persecution is a dreadful judgment; i takes away peace from the earth, one of the greatest blessings; and me who should love one another, and help one another, are set upon killin one another. Such scenes also followed the pure age of earl Christianity, when, neglectful of charity and the bond of peace, the Christian leaders, divided among themselves, appealed to the sword, an entangled themselves in guilt. On opening the third seal, a black hors appeared; a colour denoting mourning and woe, darkness and ignorance He that sat on it had a yoke in his hand. Attempts were made to put yoke of superstitious observances on the disciples. As the stream of Christianity flowed further from its pure fountain, it became more an more corrupt. During the progress of this black horse, the necessarie of life should be at excessive prices, and the more costly thing should not be hurt. According to prophetic language, these article signified that food of religious knowledge, by which the souls of me are sustained unto everlasting life; such we are invited to buy, Is 55:1. But when the dark clouds of ignorance and superstition, denote by the black horse, spread over the Christian world, the knowledge an practice of true religion became scarce. When a people loathe their spiritual food, God may justly deprive them of their daily bread. The famine of bread is a terrible judgment; but the famine of the word i more so. Upon opening the fourth seal, another horse appeared, of pale colour. The rider was Death, the king of terrors. The attendants or followers of this king of terrors, hell, a state of eternal miser to all who die in their sins; and in times of general destruction multitudes go down unprepared into the pit. The period of the fourt seal is one of great slaughter and devastation, destroying whatever ma tend to make life happy, making ravages on the spiritual lives of men Thus the mystery of iniquity was completed, and its power extended bot over the lives and consciences of men. The exact times of these fou seals cannot be ascertained, for the changes were gradual. God gav them power, that is, those instruments of his anger, or thos judgments: all public calamities are at his command; they only go fort when God sends them, and no further than he permits.
Greek Textus Receptus
και 2532 ειδον 1492 5627 και 2532 ιδου 2400 5628 ιππος 2462 λευκος 3022 και 2532 ο 3588 καθημενος 2521 5740 επ 1909 αυτω 846 εχων 2192 5723 τοξον 5115 και 2532 εδοθη 1325 5681 αυτω 846 στεφανος 4735 και 2532 εξηλθεν 1831 5627 νικων 3528 5723 και 2532 ινα 2443 νικηση 3528 5661
Vincent's NT Word Studies
2. White horse. For white, see on Luke xix. 29. Horse, see Zechariah i. 7-11; vi. 1-8. All the figures of this verse are those of victory. The horse in the Old Testament is the emblem of war. See Job xxxix. 25; Ps. lxxvi. 6; Prov. xxi. 31; Ezek. xxvi. 10. So Virgil:
"But I beheld upon the grass four horses, snowy white, Grazing the meadows far and wide, first omen of my sight.
Father Anchises seeth, and saith: 'New land and bear'st thou war? For war are horses dight; so these war-threatening herd-beasts are.'" "Aeneid," iii., 537.
So Turnus, going forth to battle:
"He spake, and to the roofed place now swiftly wending home, Called for his steeds, and merrily stood there before their foam E'en those that Orithyia gave Pilumnus, gift most fair, Whose whiteness overpassed the snow, whose speed the winged air." "Aeneid," xii., 81-83.
Homer pictures the horses of Rhesus as whiter than snow, and swift as the winds ("Iliad," x., 436, 437); and Herodotus, describing the battle of Plataea says: "The fight went most against the Greeks where Mardonius, mounted on a white horse, and surrounded by the bravest of all the Persians, the thousand picked men, fought in person" (ix., 63). The horses of the Roman generals in their triumphs were white.
Bow (toxon). See Ps. xlv. 4, 5; Heb. iii. 8, 9; Isa. xli. 2; Zechariah ix. 13,14, in which last passage the figure is that of a great bow which is drawn only by a great exertion of strength, and by placing the foot upon it. Compare Homer's picture of Telemachus' attempt to draw Ulysses' bow:
"And then he took his place Upon the threshold, and essayed the bow; And thrice he made the attempt and thrice gave o'er." "Odyssey," xxi., 12425.
The suitors propose to anoint the bow with fat in order to soften it.
"Bring us from within An ample roll of fat, that we young men By warming and anointing may make soft The bow, and draw the cord and end the strife." "Odyssey," xxi., 178-80.
A crown (stefanov). See on chapter iv. 4.
