SEV Biblia, Chapter 6:4
Y sali otro caballo bermejo, y al que estaba sentado sobre l, le fue dado poder de quitar la paz de la tierra; y que se maten unos a otros; y le fue dada una gran espada.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Revelation 6:4
Verse 4. Another horse-red] The emblem of war; perhaps also of severe persecution, and the martyrdom of the saints. Him that sat thereon] Same say, Christ; others, Vespasian; others, the Roman armies; others, Artabanus, king of the Parthians, &c., &c.
Take peace from the earth] To deprive Judea of all tranquillity.
They should kill one another] This was literally the case with the Jews, while besieged by the Romans.
A great sword.] Great influence and success, producing terrible carnage.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 4. And there went out another horse, [that was] red , etc.] Which may be an emblem either of the suffering state of the church, being answerable to the Smyrnaean one, as the purity and power of the Gospel, represented in the former seal, may answer to the Ephesine church; or else of those contentions and divisions occasioned among men through the Gospel, which, though of a peaceable nature, yet, through the corruption and depravity of men, brings not peace, but a sword; or rather of those bloody wars within the period of time signified by this seal, which came as punishments on the enemies of the Gospel: and [power] was given to him that sat thereon ; not the Lord Jesus Christ, who is said to ride on a red horse, ( Zechariah 1:8); though indeed he presides over his church and people, and takes the care of them when the most desolating judgments are in the earth, and causes all things to work together for good; nor Satan, the red dragon, who was a murderer from the beginning, and delights in effusion of blood, and in stirring up of men to destroy one another, whenever he is permitted; but Trajan the Roman emperor, in whose reign John died; and who came from the west, and was a Spaniard, as was Hadrian his successor, who may be joined with him; which was the side, or quarter, on which the living creature was that spoke to John; and in the times of these emperors were very bloody and civil wars: wherefore power is said to be given him, to take peace from the earth ; that is, from the Roman empire, which is sometimes called the whole world; and which could not have been done, if power had not been given from him who makes peace, and creates evil: and that they should kill one another : which refers not to the havoc and slaughter which the Jews made one of another at the destruction of Jerusalem, but to the Jews murdering of the Greeks and Romans, and the Romans the Jews, in the times of the above emperors. In Trajan's time, the Jews who dwelt about Cyrene, under the conduct of one Andrew, fell upon the Romans and Greeks, and killed many, fed on their flesh, ate their bowels, besmeared themselves with their blood, and covered themselves with their skins; many of them they sawed asunder, from the crown of the head down to the middle; many of them they threw to the wild beasts, and many of them they forced to fight among themselves, till they had destroyed above two hundred and twenty thousand men; in Egypt and Cyprus they committed the same kind of outrages, their leader being one Artemion, where two hundred and forty thousand men perished f161 ; Lybia was almost emptied of men by them; so that Hadrian, the successor of Trajan, was obliged to send colonies to repeople the places they had made desolate. But at length they were overcome by Lupus, governor of Egypt, and by Marcius Turbo, and by Lucius, whom Trajan sent against them f162 , and destroyed great numbers of them; and for the space of about fourteen years they were quiet; but in Hadrian's time they rose again, and set one Bar Cochab, a false Messiah, at the head of them, whom they proclaimed king: when Hadrian sent forces against them, and with great difficulty subdued them, took the city Bither, where they were, and destroyed at times five hundred and eighty thousand of them f163 ; the Jews say, that he put men, women, and children to death in such numbers, that their blood ran down into the main sea, yea, that a horse might go up to his nose in blood f164 ; they say that he destroyed in Bither double the number of those that came out of Egypt, even twelve hundred thousand men f165 ; some of their accounts are very extravagant, and exceed all bounds f166 ; however, the slaughter was very great, that it may well be said, and there was given unto him a great sword ; to slay men with; though Hadrian on his death bed, amidst his pains, would fain have had a sword given to him to have dispatched his own life, and could not obtain one f167 ; the Jews say he destroyed all the land of Judea f168 .
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 εξηλθεν 1831 5627 αλλος 243 ιππος 2462 πυρρος 4450 και 2532 τω 3588 καθημενω 2521 5740 επ 1909 αυτω 846 εδοθη 1325 5681 αυτω 846 λαβειν 2983 5629 την 3588 ειρηνην 1515 απο 575 της 3588 γης 1093 και 2532 ινα 2443 αλληλους 240 σφαξωσιν 4969 5661 και 2532 εδοθη 1325 5681 αυτω 846 μαχαιρα 3162 μεγαλη 3173
Vincent's NT Word Studies
4. Red (purrov). From pur fire. Flame-colored. Compare 2 Kings iii. 22; Zech. i. 8. Only here and chapter xii. 3.
To take peace from the earth. Compare Matt. x. 34; xxiv. 7.
Kill (sfaxwsin). See on chapter v. 6.
Sword (macaira). Compare Matt. x. 34. In Homer, a large knife or dirk, worn next the sword-sheath, and used to slaughter animals for sacrifice. Thus, "The son of Atreus, having drawn with his hands the knife (macairan) which hung ever by the great sheath of his sword, cut the hair from the heads of the lambs.... He spake, and cut the lambs' throats with the pitiless brass" ("Iliad," iii., 271-292). It is used by the surgeon Machaon to cut out an arrow ("Iliad," xi., 844). Herodotus, Aristophanes, and Euripides use the word in the sense of a knife for cutting up meat. Plato, of a knife for pruning trees. As a weapon it appears first in Herodotus: "Here they (the Greeks) defended themselves to the last, such as still had swords, using them (vii., 225) Later of the sabre or bent sword, contrasted with the xifov or straight sword. Aristophanes uses it with the adjective mia single, for a razor, contrasted with macaira diplh, the double knife or scissors. This and rJomfaia (see on Luke ii. 35) are the only words used in the New Testament for sword. Qifov (see above) does not occur. In Septuagint macaira of the knife of sacrifice used by Abraham (Gen. xxii. 6,10).
