1.
And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2.
And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Verse 2
This symbol denotes plainly the onset of a victorious army.
3.
And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4.
And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
Verse 4
A symbol of war and slaughter.
Revelation 6:5,Revelation 6:6. Famine. The carrying of a pair of balances denotes the exactness of measurement attendant on scarcity. A measure of wheat was a very small quantity, and the penny was of much greater value than the English word indicates, (see Matthew 20:2; Luke 10:35;) so that these are famine prices for the necessaries of life; while the luxuries are represented as protected from injury.
5.
And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6.
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, 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.
7.
And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8.
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
Verse 8
The symbol of ruin and destruction. That these visions of the four horses accompanying the opening of the first four seals are intended, severally, to denote invasion, slaughter, famine, and destruction, as above explained, is clear; and it is probable that they are designed to prefigure the onset of these calamities in a general sense. Various attempts have been made by different commentators to give to each one an application to some particular event in history, but without much success; for, during several centuries after these predictions were recorded, perpetual storms of war, pestilence, and famine, ravaged the world; and there seems to be nothing to limit the application of the visions to any specific cases. Hence every independent commentator, who has attempted a limitation, has varied from the others in the selection of events to which he supposes the symbols to refer.
9.
And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
Verse 9
Under the altar; no altar is mentioned before. Emblematical visions like these are not to be expected to be coherent and consistent in their details.--The souls; the disembodied spirits.
10.
And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
Verse 10
And they cried, &c. This voice, and also the earthquake mentioned as taking place upon the opening of the sixth seal, (Revelation 6:12,) and the silence in heaven which marked the opening of the seventh, (Revelation 8:1,) show that these visions were not representations delineated in the book, as its several portions were successively unfolded, but that they were visions exhibited to the mind of John, in action the opening of the seals being, as it were, only the signals for their appearance.--Dost thou not judge and avenge, &c. This is not to be understood as expressing their personal desire for the punishment of their enemies, but as the voice of their blood crying for vengeance, just as, in the case of Cain, the voice of his brother's blood was said to cry to God from the ground. The meaning of the whole plainly is, that, though the servants of Christ must suffer trial and persecution for a long period, they should not be forgotten, but that their blood should be avenged in due time.
11.
And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.
12.
And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;
13.
And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind.
14.
And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places.
15.
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains;
16.
And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
17.
For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?
Verse 17
The great day of his wrath. This and other expressions indicate strongly that the vision arising under this seal was meant to prefigure the great final retribution, when the enemies of God should be overwhelmed with a most awful destruction, from which his friends, as particularly indicated in the Revelation 7:1-17, should be protected and saved, in the most marked and solemn manner. Many commentators have, however, applied this description to judgments and retributions of a minor character.