Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 6:5 - 6:6

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Heinrich Meyer Commentary - Revelation 6:5 - 6:6


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Rev_6:5-6. The meaning of the third seal-vision is to be determined according to the same norm as that of the second. The black color of the horse designates not the grief of those who have been afflicted by the plagues indicated by the entire image of the horseman,[2048] especially not the grief of the Church over heresy, as it is symbolized by the horse and horseman; but the black color must correspond to the destructive character of the image of the horseman itself.[2049] Yet it is not perceptible how, by this color, the particular nature of the plague announced, viz., famine, is expressed:[2050] it is sufficient to regard the black color[2051] as an indication that the figure appearing therein is one of a plague, a servant of divine judgment.

First, the special emblem ascribed to the horseman ( ἕχ . ζυγὸν , κ . τ . λ .), in addition to the unambiguous exclamation χοῖνιξ σίτου , κ . τ . λ ., makes us recognize in the third figure of a horseman the personification of famine.

ζυγόν . As to the expression, ζυγός means properly the beam which unites the two scales, cf. Pro_16:11; as to the subject itself, since by the weighing of the grain which otherwise is measured, famine is represented, cf. Lev_26:26, Eze_4:16.

ὡς before φωνὴν [2052] corresponds with the circumstance that, to John, the person from whom the voice proceeds[2053] remains unknown.[2054] “Audivi ut vocem,” a Latin would say; i.e., “I heard (something) like a voice.” That the cry sounds forth “in the midst of the four beings,” is, in itself, natural, since the unsealing of the book of fate occurs at the throne of God, which is in the midst of the four beings;[2055] but as it is not without significance that the four beings, as representatives of the living creatures on earth, cry out to John, ἕρχου , so is it likewise significant that in the midst of those beings the cry sounds forth, which accompanies the figure of a plague pertaining to living creatures[2056] The first half of the call sounds just as when any thing is offered for sale.[2057] The gen. δηναρίου is that of the price.[2058] The second sentence contains a command which prescribes to the horseman, not only as the personification of the famine, but as the bearer of the visitation, the limit of the plague ordained by the Lord. Oil and wine are to grow as ordinarily: μὴ ἀδικήσῃς , i.e., “Do them no harm, injure them not;”[2059] although wheat and barley, and therefore the unconditionally necessary means of subsistence, are to be so dear that a day-laborer for his daily labor receives a denarius,[2060] nothing more than daily food for himself,—a choinix of wheat, which is a man’s[2061] daily nourishment. If, therefore, the famine indicated do not reach the utmost extreme of hunger,[2062] yet the grievousness of the plague is obvious to every one who has learned to know the life of the people, viz., of the lower classes, in the neighborhood. That oil and wine remain exempted, is, of course, a mitigation of the famine; but on the other hand, by the plentiful presence of these two means of nourishment, even though in Oriental life they are luxuries far less than among us, the πειρασμός lying in the famine which had entered is essentially strengthened, and the critical force also of these plagues in an ethical respect, which belong to the signs preceding Christ’s coming,[2063] intensified.

[2048] De Wette, Hengstenb., etc.

[2049] Cf. Rev_6:2; Rev_6:4; Rev_6:8.

[2050] Beng.

[2051] Cf. Rev_6:12.

[2052] See Critical Notes.

[2053] Cf. Rev_1:12.

[2054] Cf. Rev_9:13, Rev_10:4; Rev_10:8, Rev_14:13, Rev_18:4.

[2055] Rev_4:6, Rev_5:6.

[2056] Cf. also Hengstenb.

[2057] Winer, p. 456.

[2058] Winer, p. 194.

[2059] Cf. Rev_7:2-3, Rev_9:4; Rev_9:10; Rev_9:19, Rev_2:11.

[2060] Mat_20:2.

[2061] Cf. Wetst.

[2062] Cf. Joe_1:10 sqq.

[2063] Mat_24:7. Hengstenb. incorrectly judges, that the famine, Rev_6:5-6, does not belong to the λιμοί , Mat_24:7, but is “the prelude of that fulfilment.”

The reference of Rev_6:5-6, to the famine under Claudius,[2064] or to any other particular dearth,[2065] is decidedly contrary to the sense of the text; since here, as also in Rev_6:3-4, and Rev_6:7 sqq., no special fact is meant, especially not one predicted only after its occurrence, but rather, in accord with the fundamental prophecy (Mat_24:7), a certain kind of plagues is described,[2066] which precede the coming of the Lord. Purely arbitrary is the allegorizing interpretation, e.g., in Beda,[2067] Vitr.,[2068] C. a Lap.,[2069] Stern,[2070] etc. N. de Lyra understands by the black horse, the Roman army; by the horseman, Titus; by the wheat and barley, Jews; by oil and wine, Christians. The acme of arbitrary interpretation is attained by those who, as even Böhmer, understand the wheat and barley properly, and the wine and oil figuratively as a designation of Christians. Any such distinction would have been indicated by the omission of the art. with σίτου and κριθῶν , whereas, on the other hand, it is found with ἕλαιον and οἶνον . But although the art. in the latter case designates simply the class as a whole, this is lacking in the former case just as naturally; since there not the kind of fruit as such, but a quantity, is mentioned, which therefore allows no other designation than that of the mass, which in simple composition is given as χοῖνιξ σίτου .

[2064] Grot., Wetst., Harenb., Herd., Böhm.

[2065] Cf. Calov., Bengel, Huschke.

[2066] Cf. De Wette, Hengstenb., Ebrard.

[2067] “The black horse is the band of false brethren, who have the balance of a right profession, but injure their associates by works of darkness.”

[2068] “Dearness of spiritual provision, viz., in the time from Constantine until the ninth century.”

[2069] ἵππος = a heretic, as Arius; ὁ καθήμ . = the Devil, or heresiarch; ζυγός and χοῖνιξ = Holy Scripture; δηναρ . = the merit of sound faith and of daily holy life; σιτ . = the gospel; κριθ . = the harsh old law; ἔλ . and οἶν . = the medicine of our Samaritan Christ.

[2070] Personified erroneous doctrine.

NOTES BY THE AMERICAN EDITOR

XLVIII. Rev_6:2. ἰππος λευκός

Luthardt: “That is, the Word of God, which was the first in the history of N. T. times to pass victoriously through the world, and whose words flew far like arrows, and penetrated the heart (Psa_45:6).” Alford: “The νικῶν might be said of any victorious earthly power whose victories should endure for the time then present, and afterwards pass away; but the ἳνα νικήσῃ can only be said of a power whose victories are to last forever.… We must not, on the one hand, too hastily introduce the person of our Lord himself; or, on the other, be startled at the objection that we shall be paralleling him, or one closely resembling him, with the far different forms which follow. Doubtless, the resemblance to the rider in Rev_19:11 is very close, and is intended to be very close. The difference, however, is considerable. There he is set forth as present in his triumph, followed by the hosts of heaven: here he is working in bodily absence, and the rider is not himself, but only a symbol of his victorious power, the embodiment of his advancing kingdom as regards that side of its progress where it breaks down earthly power, and makes the kingdom of the world to be the kingdom of our Lord and his Christ. Further, it would not be wise, nor, indeed, according to the analogy of these visions, to specify. In all cases but the last, these riders are left in the vagueness of their symbolic offices. If we attempt, in this case, to specify further, e.g., as Victorinus: ‘The white horse is the word of preaching sent with the Holy Spirit into the world. For the Lord says, This gospel shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall the end come,’—while we are sure that we are thus far right, we are but partially right, seeing that there are other aspects and instruments of victory of the kingdom of Christ besides the preaching of the word.” If the word “preaching” be limited to public discourses, or even to the public reading and private study of the word, Alford is quite right. But just as the sacraments are only the visible word, and are efficacious because of the word of God joined with them, so every agency for the diffusion of Christ’s kingdom may be reduced to the word of God under some form. Gebhardt (p. 238) regards the rider on the white horse as a personification of victorious war. His objection to the view adopted by Düsterdieck, that the Lamb could not have opened the seals, and at the same time have been represented in what the seal portrays, is not very formidable, and, at most, would not interfere with the conception above proposed of the Word as rider.