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4 Hope of Israel Ministries BIBLE Correspondence Course Lesson 34

his campaigns of conquest WERE NOT CLOSE KING VOLOGASES who, in 62 A.D., forced a
AT HAND, but at a distance, far from the center Roman army to capitulate.
of government” (1985, p. 37). Not to be outdone Hermann Gunkel
To further complicate the issue Fred P. (German Old Testament scholar) was of the
Miller states, in Revelation: A Panorama of the opinion that this first horseman was originally A
Gospel Age, the following -- SUN-GOD: “His horse is white (as in the white
“In the fulfillment of these figures there horse of the divine slayer of the dragon; the
would naturally be a relation of the first four white horse of Mithras in the Avesta...” (A
symbols [the four horsemen] historically, with critical and Exegetical Commentary on the
the possibility of some overlapping in the fulfill- Revelation of St. John, by R.H. Charles).
ment. Remember then, the design of the book is The same volume states that “a great
that the first four symbols...are INTER- number of interpreters -- Victorinus, Primasius,
RELATED. 1. White: is a symbol of SOME- Bede, Bullinger, Paraeus, Grotius, Vitringa,
THING GOOD, the bow and crown of AR- Dusterdieck...have identified the first horseman
MORED AUTHORITY, and EXPANSION OF with the rider on the white horse in 19:11 sqq.,
TERRITORY in conquest. So the FIRST PERI- i.e. THE MESSIAH.”
OD OF TIME AFTER [EMPEROR] DOMI- It appears that there is NO END to the
TIAN should be characterized historically as an GUESSES or “interpretations” available for this
unusually ‘good’ (righteous) period associated white horse: “Found in Revelation 6:1, 2, the
with conquest and expansion. When we look in a first seal is an illustration of the general course of
secular history book the PERIOD FOLLOW- events, which are at this point beginning to come
ING DOMITIAN should say, ‘something about on earth. We see a CONQUERING IN-
good’” (1991, pp. 60-61). STIGATING WARFARE. This simply shows
The Commentator Erbes asserts that the that a war will break out. 490. The first seal
rider of the white horse is the PARTHIAN shows the INITIATION OF A SMALL
REGIONAL WAR”
Emperor Nerva (96-98) ruled in Emperor Trajan (98-117) also ruled in Through the Proph-
the period following Domitian. the period following Domitian. et’s Eye, by Marshall
W. Best. 2000, p. 404).
Note what the Je-
hovah Witnesses’ pub-
lication Then Is Fin-
ished the Mystery of
God has to say:
“The rider of this
white horse is identi-
fied for us by Psalm 45,
which is an inspired
poem concerning a
king. Verses 4-7, in
prophetic address to
this king, say: ‘In your
splendor go on to suc-
cess; ride in the cause
of truth and humility
and righteousness, and

The White Horse of Revelation 6:2