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The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse 41

the significance of the horse as a Biblical symbol. For this information we must turn to the Old
Testament; for the horse is not mentioned in the New -- except in Revelation.

A study of the Old Testament will show that the horse is first of all the symbol of strength,
might,or force of a certain kind for conquest and for progress. Characterized as he is by strength
combined with speed and fearlessness, the horse aptly symbolizes that form of spiritual vitality and
power that sustains, energizes and carries forward -- despite all that opposes it. It represents a
GREAT SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT, whether good or evil. The horse especially typifies strength
and courage for conflict.

We should especially notice YEHOVAH God’s own description of the characteristics with
which He endowed the horse. Addressing Job, He said:

Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder? Can you
frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror. He paws in the valley, and
rejoices in his strength; he gallops into the clash of arms.He mocks at fear, and is not
frightened; nor does he turn back from the sword (Job 39:19-22).

Here YEHOVAH holds the horse up to admiration because of his strength, his utter
fearlessness, and his refusal to be turned back by any form of danger. YEHOVAH further speaks of
his irresistible determination and power to advance in the face of armed resistance:

He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; nor does he stand firm, because the
trumpet has sounded. At the blast of the trumpet he says, “Aha!” He smells the battle
from afar, the thunder of captains and shouting (Job 39: 24-25).

The symbol of the horse and rider is as old as Jacob’s prophecy in Genesis 49:17: “Dan shall
be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider shall fall
backward.” The same figure, in a similar sense, is found in the Song of Moses when the children of
Israel reached the far side of the Red Sea: “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to

The Berean Voice September-October 2002