Horses of a different color

Submitted by Michael S (United States), Nov 9, 2015 at 05:42

Hi, Tovey.

You may have to elucidate your statement,

"A peculiar thing; though the horsemen of John's vision are intriguing, that they are replications of Zechariah's horsement in Zechariah's Chapter 6, which provided a contrast/comparision moment, a deciding distinction being they are sent for specific emblems of executing the LORD's edicts that leaves little need for imagination of determing His will in all matters, especially those concerning Israel."

I had not studied the horses in Zechariah 6. They indeed are similar in appearance to those in Revelation; but interpreting the Zech. horses doesn't seem to be an easy task. In Revelation, the horses are introduced in chronological order, each corresponding to oneof the first four trumpets and plagues. In Zechariah, however, they are not in chronological order but are described according to which direction they were sent. You went on,

"How do the 'Palestinians' figure in all of this as they attempt to exert their own agenda of usurping control of the promise to the rightful heirs of Abraham's son, the Son of David and His true followers."

That's a good question. The Palestinians are a people of mixed origin, being descended from Crusaders, Byzantines, Arabs, Kurds, Egyptians, Turks and all the other people who have passed through the area for the past few thousand years. The Jews of Israel are also a mixed group, genetically not too different from the Palestinians. In terms of the Biblical narrative, though, they function as natural enemies: The Jews represent the people of God, the bearers and practicers of Torah; wheras the Palestinians are the "people of the land" who opposed them and caused them to stumble throughout history.

Strongs shows a connection between the Canaanites, the Ishmaelites (ancestors of the Muslim Arabs) and "merchants":

Canaanite, merchant, trafficker

"Patrial from Kna'an; a Kenaanite or inhabitant of Kenaan; by implication, a pedlar (the Canaanites standing for their neighbors the Ishmaelites, who conducted mercantile caravans) -- Canaanite, merchant, trafficker."

I haven't thought much about the Palestinians. Zechariah 14, in speaking about the Messianic Age, says,

[20] In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD's house shall be like the bowl's before the altar.
[21] Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.

At the moment, the "Canaanites", in the person of the Wakf, control the Temple Mount. This will not be so after the Battle of Armageddon. I notice that Zech. 6, the chapter you cited re the horses, also speaks of the house of the LORS of hosts:

[10] Take of them of the captivity, even of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, which are come from Babylon, and come thou the same day, and go into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah;
[11] Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;
[12] And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:
[13] Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
[14] And the crowns shall be to Helem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedaiah, and to Hen the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of the LORD.
[15] And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the LORD, and ye shall know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of the LORD your God.

As I said, I haven't delved much into this passage. The most obvious reading of it, to me, is that the retuning Jewish exiles would rebuild the Temple. Today's Canaanites, the "Palestinians", freak out at the very thought that this will one day happen, just as their spiritual ancestors, the people of the land in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, opposed the rebuilding of the Temple. Some things never change.

Then you said,

"Now the horses that troop will be riding will be more impressive than the four of Chapter 6; for their presence is to witness the final WORD of power expressed over Jerusalem. The question remains: will one be trampled under foot during the release of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse;"

By my reckoning, the first (white) horse in Revelation was the Colonial powers, who went about conquering the world until the end of World War II. Since that time, a second horse had been operative, "taking peace from the earth, that men should kill one another". I would say that the ongoing "War on Terror" is testimony to the presence of that second (red) horse.

The third horse is contemporary with the third trumpet, which is the meteor "Wormwood". Astronomers arount the world are trying to spot it before it "spots" us and causes considerable death and destruction. You went on,

"or will one accept by faith the truth of the shed blood Yeshua and be mounted with the tens of thousands of the redeemed mounted on a white horse of our own when Jerusalem is received back into His kingdom."

That's a different horse, and it talks about the sime of the seventh seal, trumpet and vial. We are now living in the time of the second seal, and perhaps about to enter into the time of the third; so I think we need to "hold our horses" and take things as they come.

I'm glad I have someone (you) to talk to about these things. God bless and keep you and yours.

Michael :-)

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