What does it mean that Death and Hades will be riding on a pale horse (Revelation 6:8)?

Rev. 6:7-8. — “And when He opened the fourth Seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and behold a pale horse, and he that sat upon it his name (was) Death, and Hades followed with him; and authority was given to him over the fourth of the earth to slay with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the earth.” Another power is now summoned. These initial judgments are increasing in severity. The pale horse implying a cadaverous hue is the new harbinger of approaching judgment.

In the three preceding Seals the riders are unnamed. Here the name of the horseman is Death. “The four Seals turn upon living men; and so death, by which they are carried off, is most prominently represented; but Hell (Hades) only in so far as he receives those who have been cut off by death, acting as death’s hearse, on which account no separate horse is assigned him.” Hades follows not after, but with death. These two are the respective custodians of the bodies and souls of men. At the close of the thousand years’ reign they give up their prisoners, and are themselves destroyed, are personified, and cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14). Hades refers to that condition immediately following on death, and one which resurrection necessarily closes, the state between death and resurrection. Death and Hades are here used in relation to the ungodly only. The latter word simply means “the unseen,” and therefore the English term “Hell” is no just equivalent for “Hades.” In this vivid description the king of terrors himself appears. The corpse-like colour of the horse is in keeping with the name and character of the rider. Death and Hades are inseparable companions. Together they act in judgment and divide the spoil.

The next rider under the fourth seal is named death. And Hades, the region of the unseen (not hell), is populated. Sword, hunger, death, that is pestilences and the beasts of the earth, claim an awful harvest (Ezek. 14:21). And so our Lord spoke of "pestilences." These four seal judgments are hardening judgments.

The judgments increase in severity. When the fourth seal is opened, a pale horse appears, its rider is Death, and Hell follows. This is very appalling: Death and Hell, or Hades, are afterwards cast into the lake of fire. (Chap. 20:14.) The different coloured horses and riders are clearly symbolic of a general character of things rather than of individuals. This fourth seal brings out God's "four sore judgments," as Ezekiel calls them, over a limited portion of the earth. Ezekiel, however, speaks of them in relation to Israel: "For thus saith the Lord God, How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast." (Ezek. 14:21.) What we are to understand by the judgments of this fourth seal being limited to a "fourth part of the earth" I know not; but it is terrible to think what power and authority will then be given to Death and Hades, to kill "with the sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." It is a time of distress of nations, with perplexity, of famines and pestilences in divers places; and these are but the beginning of sorrows."

"And when I had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, Come [and see]. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell [or Hades] followed with him. And power was given unto them [or him] over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death [or pestilence], and with the beasts of the earth." This crowns the misery of these four preliminary judgments. Conquest leading to blood-shed and famine, has wrought wholesale desolation and wretchedness. The pale horse, significant of haggard want and despair, has Death as its rider. Hades, the unseen world, follows in his train, as if to devour his victims, according to the vivid imagery of the prophet: "Therefore Hades has enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude and their pomp and he that rejoices, shall descend into it." (Isa. 5:14.) Death receives power over "the fourth part of the earth," there to descend with the "four sore judgments" of God — "the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence." (Ezek. 14:21.) Lands ravaged by the sword; the wretched survivors left with wasted fields and resources to die of hunger and plague; wild beasts quitting their lairs, and prowling over the desolated country; such is a picture of the woes hanging, probably at no distant period, over this world. How blessed the portion of those who, having kept the word of Christ's patience, will be kept from this "hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world!"

We are again reminded of the interesting fact that these judgments in their sequence, character, duration, and severity have their source in the throne of God. “Authority, ” we read, “was given to him,” not to “them.” The reading “him” or “them ” is disputed, but internal evidence would decide. Death acts upon living men. Hades claims the souls of the dead. Death necessarily precedes Hades. Death deals with the living, Hades with the dead.

Under the previous Seals one instrument of judgment under each is noted, but here there are four, the four by which Jehovah threatened guilty Jerusalem of old. “For thus saith the Lord God, How much more when I send my four sore judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and the famine, and the noisome beast, and the pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?” (Ezek. 14:21). The only difference between them is that in the apocalyptic judgments the “beasts” are last named; “death,” too, the third in the list, should be understood as “pestilence,” as in the margin of the Revised Version. The sword under the second Seal, and hunger under the third, are here reproduced under the fourth Seal coupled with two others. The unsheathed sword in the hands of the remorseless rider will not be withdrawn till its divinely-appointed task is finished. Hunger also will do its deadly work, a more protracted and painful death than by the sword. Then death or pestilence will ply its sickle with fatal effect and reap a full harvest. Lastly, “the beasts of the earth” will complete the destruction.

Fourth Seal. — The natural name and attendant of the fourth rider (whose horse was greenish-white), Death his name and Hades his pursuivant, give him (as well as the language in which he is described) distinction. His service is not under a formally given commission, even as the second, yet more is implied here, I think, than there. There it is said, "it was given to him to take peace from the earth and a great sword;" but here, "power was given to them [both] to kill on the fourth part of the earth with sword, and famine, and death, and the beasts of the earth." There the second rider set others to kill one another, here these two themselves are at the deadly work. Liberty and authority to stir up the bad passions of men seem to be less of commission than the communication of power to mow down a fourth of the earth, not only by the sword, which is in man's hand — in one sense at least — but also by famine, death, and the wild beasts, which are in God's. The pre-eminence of this rider also is seen in the power conceded to him to use those things over which the two preceding riders were set.

The fourth seal was a pale or livid horse, the hue of death. Accordingly the name of its rider is Death, and Hades followed with him. To make the force still plainer, it is said that authority was given to him over the fourth of the earth, to slay with the sword, and with hunger, and with death (pestilence perhaps), and by the beasts of the earth.

"And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, Come. And I saw, and, behold, a pale horse and he that sat upon him, his name death, and hades followed with him; and authority was given to him over the fourth of the earth to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." The fourth Seal shows a pale or livid horse, the hue of dissolution. It is a mixture of God's ordinary chastisements, falling concurrently on the earth, in the last of these four Seals to a limited extent. It is apparent that all the four are homogeneous.

Pestilence as plainly characterizes the fourth horse; for his colour is pale, and his name that sat on him was Death; and Hades, the abode of the dead, followed, as if, in the striking meaning of the figure, to gather up, as its prey, those whom death or the pestilence might destroy. There was, moreover, "power given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." (v. 8.) War, famine, pestilence, and the plague of wild beasts are now crowded together (as they have often been) as attendant upon, or the results of, the" judicial scourges. These are what Ezekiel calls God's four sore plagues (Rev. 14:21; compare also Rev. 5 and Rev. 6); and these are the weapons with which He will one day deal with the earth on account of her iniquity. We have said "the earth"; it is really the fourth part of the earth. The "third part" is a prophetic expression for the Roman Empire; and accordingly we gather that these fearful judgments will be limited in their area. that the whole of the Roman earth will not be visited. They will constitute, as preparatory inflictions, solemn warnings, God's call to those who can recognise His hand to humiliation and repentance. (Cp. Rev. 11:13.)

Pestilence as plainly characterizes the fourth horse; for his colour is pale, and his name that sat on him was Death; and Hades, the abode of the dead, followed, as if, in the striking meaning of the figure, to gather up, as its prey, those whom death or the pestilence might destroy. There was, moreover, "power given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth." (v. 8.) War, famine, pestilence, and the plague of wild beasts are now crowded together (as they have often been) as attendant upon, or the results of, the" judicial scourges. These are what Ezekiel calls God's four sore plagues (Rev. 14:21; compare also Rev. 5 and Rev. 6); and these are the weapons with which He will one day deal with the earth on account of her iniquity. We have said "the earth"; it is really the fourth part of the earth. The "third part" is a prophetic expression for the Roman Empire; and accordingly we gather that these fearful judgments will be limited in their area. that the whole of the Roman earth will not be visited. They will constitute, as preparatory inflictions, solemn warnings, God's call to those who can recognise His hand to humiliation and repentance. (Cp. Rev. 11:13.)