RSV ~ Revelation 6 Notes

Rev 6:1-8 | ISB Notes

The breaking of the seals brings judgment upon the earth, which is stained with the righteous blood of the martyrs (6:11). These judgments parallel the eschatological woes that Jesus warned would lead up to the fall of Jerusalem: wars (6:2; Lk 21:9), international strife (6:4; Lk 21:10), famine (6:6; Lk 21:11), pestilence (6:8; Lk 21:11), persecution (6:9; Lk 21:12), earthquakes (6:12; Lk 21:11), and cosmic disturbances (6:12-14; Lk 21:25-26). History tells of an explosion of warfare, calamities, and upheaval in the years leading up to A.D. 70 and the final devastation of the city.

• Conquest, sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts (6:2, 4, 8) are forms of the sevenfold covenant curse stipulated in the Torah (Lev 26:1426). Though devastating, these catastrophes are merely a prelude to the worst judgment of all—the utter devastation of the land of Israel and the dispersion of its survivors (Lev 26:2733). This sevenfold vengeance of Yahweh is also the backdrop for the seven trumpets (Rev 8:6-11:19) and the seven bowls of wrath (Rev 15:1-16:21).

Rev 6:1-8 | ISB Notes

The vision of the four horsemen. Each one symbolizes the divine judgment he is authorized to execute, whether it be conquest (white horse), bloodshed (red horse), famine (black horse), or death (pale horse).

• The vision draws from Zech 1:8-17 and 6:1-8, where four chariots with colored horses patrol the earth after the Babylonian conquest of Israel in 586 B.C. Here the events that ensue are strangely reversed: Zechariah announced an end to the punishment of Israel, but Revelation envisions a new beginning of divine chastisement.

Rev 6:6 | ISB Notes

denarius: A full day’s wage (Mt 20:2) buys only a day’s ration of wheat for one person and a ration of barley for a small family. Limited food supplies and inflated prices are sure signs of famine.

oil and wine: Crops harvested in late summer (olives and grapes) are not to be devastated like the crops harvested in late spring (wheat and barley). A limit is set, lest the famine overrun the entire harvest season.

Rev 6:8 | ISB Notes

Death … Hades: Personify the satanic forces that bring death and destruction into the world. Both are under the authority of Christ, who conquered them by his rising (1:18) and doomed them to everlasting destruction (20:1314). sword … famine … pestilence …

beasts: The judgments of the fourth horsemen.

• The same four curses ravaged Jerusalem in the sixth century B.C. (Ezek 14:21) as punishment for its infidelity to the Lord (Deut 32:23-25).

Rev 6:9 | ISB Notes

the altar: The heavenly counterpart to the bronze altar of sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple (2 Chron 4:1). slain for the word The martyrs bear the likeness of Christ, the slain Lamb (12:11; Mt 23:34-35). Their pleas for justice sound from beneath the altar, recalling how the lifeblood (Lev 17:11) of sacrificial victims was poured out at the base of the Temple altar (Lev 4:7). Martyrdom is thus portrayed as a priestly act of sacrificing one’s life to God (Rom 12:1; Phil 2:17; 1 Pet 2:5).

Rev 6:10 | ISB Notes

how long: The martyrs long for God to redress their murders.

• They pray, not out of hatred for their enemies, but out of love for justice. Being near the Judge, they agree with him and pray for the coming judgment, in which the reign of sin shall be destroyed and their lifeless bodies raised (St. Bede, Explanation of the Apocalypse 6, 10) (CCC 2817).

Rev 6:11 | ISB Notes

white robe: Symbolic of victory and spiritual purity (3:5; 7:9, 14). White vestments were also worn by the high priests of Israel. See note on Rev 3:4.

should be complete: Jewish tradition spoke of a quota of martyrs determined in advance by God (1 Enoch 47, 1-4).

Rev 6:12-14 | ISB Notes

Scenes of apocalyptic disaster may be understood literally, as describing the end of the world and the consummation of history (2 Pet 3:10-13), or symbolically, as representing spiritual and political upheaval within history (Is 13:10-13; 34:4; 50:3; Joel 2:30-32; Hag 2:21-22). Though a literal fulfillment cannot be ruled out for the future, the woes unleashed by the seven seals are parallel to the eschatological woes that Jesus warned would seize the world just before the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 (see Lk 21:5-28).

Rev 6:15 | ISB Notes

kings … and free Judgment will fall on men of every rank. hid in the caves: Recalls the sinners in Is 2:19, who hide themselves in caves from the terror of God’s majesty.

Rev 6:16 | ISB Notes

Fall on us … hide us: Cries of distress from those engulfed in the tribulation seizing the world. See note on Rev 3:10.

• These cries come from Hos 10:8, where the people of Samaria groan in travail over the violent destruction of their city. On one occasion, Jesus put Hosea’s words on the lips of those doomed to witness the overthrow of Jerusalem (Lk 23:28-30).

Rev 6:17 | ISB Notes

who can stand: Standing is a sign of vindication on the Day of Judgment (Dan 12:13; Eph 6:13). The Lamb (Rev 5:6), the angels (7:11), and the saints (7:9) all appear in this posture in Revelation.

• Passages such as Nahum 1:6 and Mal 3:2 indicate that the question “Who can stand?” is rhetorical, implying that no sinner can hope to stand before the wrath of the divine Judge.