8 I saw, and behold, a pale horse. He who sat on him, his name was Death. Hades followed with him. Authority over one fourth of the earth, to kill with the sword, with famine, with death, and by the wild animals of the earth was given to them.
an Ashen horse – more properly, a “green horse.” χλωρός. This Greek word, chloros, is translated as “green” in all other verses of the New Testament, Rev 8:7, Rev 9:4, and Mark 6:39. It was correctly translated as “a grene horsse,” in the first complete English Bible, the Tyndale Bible, in 1535.
From the Greek word χλωρός, chloros, we get chlorophyll, that describes the green color of plants. The Greek word chloros can also describe someone’s face that is pale with fear. This is why a figurative translation as “pale” has been used by some, to describe the horse that brings death and hades.
Many do not fail to notice that the four colors of these horses, White/Red/Black/Green, are the four colors of Islam, that can be seen on the flag of all Islamic countries, who were the instrument of terror against the Pope (the beast) and his kingdom, from the 7th to the 15th century; the Islamic forces who rode on their horses, bearing the colors of Islam.
The 14th century Iraqi poet Safi Al-Din Al-Hilli, wrote: “White are our acts, black our battles, green our fields, and red our swords.”
In the Old Testament, God brought his punishment against Israel, through pagan nations. So it should not be a surprise that God also allowed Islam to punish the erring Christians.
“People of the Book, go not beyond the bounds in your religion, and say not as to God but the truth. The Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, was only the Messenger of God, and His Word that He committed to Mary, and a Spirit from Him. So believe in God and His Messengers, and say not, ‘Three.’ Refrain; better is it for you. God is only One God. Glory be to Him — That He should have a son (an yakuna lahu waladun)! To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and in the earth; God suffices for a guardian.”
Arberry Quran 4:171
“Fight them, till there is no persecution and the religion is God’s; then if they give over, there shall be no enmity save for evildoers.”
Arberry Quran 2:193
death and hades – this is the resulting effect of the first three horses. In the Judgment Day, in Rev 20:13, we are told that the sea, and “death and Hades gave up the dead.” The sea represents those who died in salvation. But “death and Hades” follows the errant.
authority was given to them – we find the same idea in Rev 13:2-5. The Dragon and the beast were given authority, because the people “did not receive the love of the truth so as to be saved,” (2 Thess 2:10). Here, God has fulfilled His promise to send four severe judgments against Jerusalem (New Jerusalem) – (Ezek 14:21) because of its idolatry, in worshiping the image of the beast.
a fourth of the earth – this describes Europe as the centre of Christianity until the Reformation. Looking from Israel, on the map above, you can see that known world of John’s day could be divided into four quadrants, NW, NE, SE, and SW. Christian Europe was very accurately described as “a fourth of the earth.”