Revelation 6:2

νικῶν. A arm[231] read ὁ νικῶν (arm[232] omitting the following καί).

[231] Armenian.
[232] Armenian.

καὶ ἵνα νικήσῃ. א reads καὶ ἐνίκησεν; Primas[233] Et exiit ut vinceret et victor exiit.

[233] Primasius, edited by Haussleiter.

2. ἰδοὺ ἵππος λευκός. The image of these four horses is certainly suggested by the vision of four chariots (with perhaps four horses in each, and so related to this exactly as Ezekiel’s vision of the living creatures to that in ch. 4) in Zechariah 6:1-8; cf. ibid. Revelation 1:8. But that passage throws little light on this: it is in fact the obscurer of the two. Here, the colours of the four horses plainly symbolise triumph, slaughter, mourning, and death; we are told expressly who the fourth Rider is: and hardly anyone doubts that the second and third represent War and Scarcity respectively. But about the first there is controversy. His white horse and golden crown resemble His Who appears in Revelation 19:11, Whose Name is called the Word of God: and hence many think that this Rider is Christ, or at least the representative of Christ’s Kingdom. But is it possible that when He has come, the plagues that follow should come after Him? or why should the living creatures continue to cry to Him to come, if He be come already? It would be more credible, that the first Rider is a false Christ, just as Matthew 24:5 precedes Revelation 6:6-7. But on the whole it seems more reasonable to suppose that all four Riders symbolise the woes before Christ’s coming foretold in the two latter verses: and that the first is the spirit of Conquest:—the description is like that in ch. 19, because there Christ is described as a Conqueror, and here we have a Conqueror who is nothing more. Then what is the difference between the first and the second Rider? Conquest is necessarily painful—it may be unjust and cruel, but it may be beneficent even to the conquered: at least it is not necessarily demoralising to the conquerors, as war becomes when it sinks from conquest into mere mutual slaughter. This Rider has a bow, that a sword, which may mean more than a contrast between the national weapons of the East and the West: the first is prepared to fight, and slay if necessary, but he will do so without passion or cruelty—just as it is commonly observed, that fire-arms have tended to make war less brutal, by removing the soldiers from the excitement of a personal struggle.

ἔχων is a predicate, though λευκός is an epithet.

ἐδόθη αὐτῷ. Here, as in Revelation 6:4, we may ask, does the Rider receive the gift for the first time after his appearance to the Seer? This is not necessary here or in Daniel 7:4; Daniel 7:6; Daniel 7:14; Daniel 7:27, which no doubt suggested the phrase: it is safer to say that the gift is an event of the Vision than that the Seer actually sees it given; in Daniel 7:4 this would be impossible. Any way, the crown, see on Revelation 2:10; Revelation 3:11, is rather an earnest of future dominion than a guerdon of past achievements.

ἐξῆλθεν. If this stood alone we should suppose that the Rider departed out of the field of vision—perhaps out of Heaven—to carry his conquests over the earth. Most commentators assume that ἐξῆλθεν changes its sense with its place: if not, both Riders come forth from a secret place behind the Throne.

νικῶν, καὶ ἵνα νικήσῃ. He makes war successfully, but his purpose is the securing the victory, not the excitement of battle and carnage.