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.
Revelation 6:1
And
I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat
on him had a bow (Strong's 5115);
and a crown was given unto him: and he went
forth conquering, and to conquer. Revelation
6:2
From Strongs:
5115
toxon {tox'-on} from
the base of 5088; a bow (apparently as the
simplest fabric):--bow. See Greek-- 5088
Why should the correct
interpretation of John's first horseman of Revelation
be important to you? Because the horsemen follow in
order and if we do not correctly identify the first, how
can we expect to correctly identify and be watching for
the rest? It may be less important the exact
definition of "bow" as long as regardless of our choices
we arrive at the same place.
Some say the four horsemen are
the first four kingdoms of Daniel's Man, the head of gold,
arms and chest of silver, waist of bronze, and the legs of
iron. That would be the Babylonian, Medes
and Persians, Greek, and Roman empires. That would
also mean when John wrote down Revelation in around
95 AD that God had taken John into the past. Not
only that, but the lamb of God, Jesus
Christ, who was sacrificed for the sins of the world
and who opens the seals to release the four horsemen,
would not yet have been the lamb sacrificed for the
sins of the world. Doesn't make sense.
I say the four horsemen instead
represent the last kingdom of clay and iron before Jesus
Christ returns when four "kings" ride to try to rule
the last kingdom and fail, leading up till the LORD
returns. I say the first horseman was Napoleon,
the second was Hitler, the third will be "the lawless one"
whom his identity will be apparent to all when he is
revealed, and likewise for the fourth who will take his
place as the "pale prince". I say "the lawless one"
and the "pale prince", along with "false prophet" will
make up the unholy trinity that will unite to rule the
military, financial, and religious realms of the world of
the last kingdom in the 1260 days including some
shortened to two thirds of before, leading up to the
return of Jesus Christ.
First, I'd like to say that Mary
Haas makes a slam dunk in her 2/18 post.
She first points out that
Jesus Christ is the one who opens the seal in
Revelation 6:1 that releases the rider on the white horse
in Revelation 6:2. Then she asks for those who
believe that Jesus Christ is the rider on the white
horse, (such as the commentator Matthew Henry), how can
Jesus Christ be in a position to open the seal and
also be at the same time behind the seal waiting to
be released once the seal has been opened by
Himself? Doesn't make sense.
Prayerfully, if one held this
position that Jesus Christ, the two olive trees of
Zechariah who were poured into one candlestick, is
the rider on the white horse, one has now discarded it
and are now looking for a better
explanation. Hopefully you will prayerfully consider
the one proposed below.
Not to belabor the point,
but if "bow", as used in Revelation 6:2 and defined by
Strong's as "the simplest fabric", actually
means "rainbow" and should have been translated
that way, why in Revelation do we twice find the word
"rainbow" actually in the text being translated
from a different Greek word.
And he that sat was to look upon like a
jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow
(Strong's 2463) round about the
throne, in sight like unto an emerald.
Revelation 4:3
And I saw another mighty angel come
down from heaven, clothed with a cloud: and a rainbow
(Strong's 2463) was upon his
head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his
feet as pillars of fire: Revelation
10:1
2463 iris {ee'-ris} perhaps
from 2046 (as a symbol of the female messenger
of the pagan
deities); a rainbow ("iris"):--rainbow. See
Greek-- 2046
Now, if I told you I had wrapped a
Christmas present with a "bow", what
would you think? That I had attached a
rainbow or hunting bow to it? Hopefully
not. It is obvious to most readers what
"bow" means from the
context, simple loops of cloth around
the present.
But surely Strong's could be mistaken as
to using this particular definition. I
suppose there are judgment calls. Although
hunting as with a bow doesn't necessarily
preclude General Napoleon, a man of
war. Just like wearing a crown doesn't
preclude Emperor Napoleon, a ruler.
A hunting bow would preclude a
man of the "cloth", someone who does not
hunt. But then, a man of the "cloth" in
the Roman catholic church does not wear "simple"
fabric. They wear very elegant
clothing. This doesn't fit either. And
again, any man of the "cloth" I've seen does not
wear a "crown", but other various head
adornments.
So let's continue our
research. Doesn't the Bible refer to bows
and arrows throughout it so all we have to do is
check those definitions and they must refer to
"toxon"? Unfortunately, the only occurance of 5115
"toxon" is Revelation 6:2. And there is no
reference to a hunting bow in the New Testament
Greek. There is a word translated "darts" in
the New Testament which in Greek can mean
"arrow". This is Strong's Greek 956 and
sounds similar to "bow", as in "bolis".
There is also a word in the Greek which
is "toxikon" from which we get "toxicology" and is
thought to be related to "toxon" and means
the poison that arrows can be dipped.
Sure paints a vivid picture of someone on a white
horse going around with poison arrows.
But then Strong's tells us that "toxon"
actually has its origins from the Greek word
#5088, "tikto" which means to be born or bring
forth, not "toxikon".
Now, I think the picture of Napoleon
crossing the Alps upon a white horse, clothed for
warmth with the simplest of fabrics, a kind
of blanket billowing in the wind and "bowed"
around the rider, is the perfect example
of Napoleon fulfilling the description of the
first horseman.
And I saw, and
behold a white horse: and he that sat on him
had a bow
(Strong's #5115); and a crown (Strong's
#4735) was given unto him: and
he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
Revelation 6:2
And the fact that a "crown" was placed
upon his head by the Pope himself, fulfills the
prophecy to the exact detail.
The word for "crown"
used in Revelation 6:2 is best described as
not the golden crowns you see on the Kings
of England, but one made out of leaves like you
see on Julius Caesar, although one would expect
this royal one is made out of gold.
4735 stephanos {stef'-an-os} from an apparently primary stepho (to twine or wreathe); a chaplet (as a badge of royalty, a prize in the public games or a symbol of honor generally; but more conspicuous and elaborate than the simple fillet, 1238), literally or figuratively:--crown. See Greek-- 1238
In particularly a
"crown" made up of garland, i.e. leaves.
4725 stemma {stem'-mah from the base of 4735; a wreath for show:--garland. See Greek-- 4735
Come to think of it,
exactly like the crown shown in the
picture attached to my previous post
showing Napoleon.
What if one still doesn't
accept that "bow" can mean a simple fabric
as Strong's defines it? Well, one could
believe either that Dr. Strong purposely
distorted the definition or that he must
have just been incompetent. How would
we put forth either theory? Well, one
could believe the rumors that Dr. Strong was a
Mason so purposely distorted the definition
or that he wasn't familiar enough or fluent in
Hebrew or Greek to realize he made a
mistake. Both of these reasons have been
proposed.
So should we be concerned
if it is true that Dr. Strong was not fluent in
Hebrew or Greek? Well, many people are
under the mistaken impression that Dr. Strong
singlehandedly compiled Strong's Exhaustive
Concordance of the Bible. The truth is the
Strong's Concordance was compiled through
Dr. Strong directing the efforts of over
100 scholars who themselves knew both Hebrew and
Greek and over a period of 35 years
compiled the "Strong's"
Concordance.
But applying what we know
about the previous two horsemen should give us a
clue about the next. For one, the weapons
of war, if the weapon is a hunting bow, appear
to get more sophisticated. The first using
a bow, the second a sword, the third money
supply, and the fourth both military
and food supply.
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. 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. And when he had opened the
second seal, I heard the second beast say,
Come and see. 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.
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. 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. And when he had opened the fourth
seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast
say, Come and see. 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. Revelation
6:1-8
Let us prayerfully
watch as the third and fourth horsemen begin to
mount their horses and the false prophet takes
his allotted place.
- Shalom