Heads with which they inflict injury

CherubRam said:

Heads with which they inflict injury.


Revelation 9:17-19
17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.
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This is the interpretation:
The colors red, yellow, and blue are military designations. The horses are tanks, and the tails are trailers carrying mini nukes.

Nuclear warhead definition: A warhead containing a fission or fusion bomb.

Mini nuclear bombs: A tactical nuclear weapon (TNW) or non-strategic nuclear weapon is a nuclear weapon, generally smaller in its explosive power, which is designed to be used on a battlefield in military situations, mostly with friendly forces in proximity and perhaps even on contested friendly territory.

A neutron bomb: Officially defined as a type of enhanced radiation weapon (ERW), is a low yield thermonuclear weapon designed to maximize lethal neutron radiation in the immediate vicinity of the blast while minimizing the physical power of the blast itself.

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2PhiloVoid said:

How do you know it doesn't simply represent the invention of the cannon and the attending use of gun powder in the hands of some empire? Or maybe it just represents the military might and power of an entire people group who detests "the worshiping of demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk...murders, magic arts, sexual immorality or thefts"?

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awitch said:

That's the wonderful thing about old, translated texts that are so far removed from modernity. They can mean anything you want them to.

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2PhiloVoid said:

...Or maybe it just represents the military might and power of an entire people group who detests "the worshiping of demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk...murders, magic arts, sexual immorality or thefts"?

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17 The horses and riders I saw in my vision looked like this: Their breastplates were fiery red, dark blue, and yellow as sulfur. The heads of the horses resembled the heads of lions, and out of their mouths came fire, smoke and sulfur. 18 A third of mankind was killed by the three plagues of fire, smoke and sulfur that came out of their mouths. The power of the horses was in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails were like snakes, having heads with which they inflict injury.

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icxn said:

You are unto something there...

If I may fill the void...


In Mat. 15:18-20 the Lord says: "But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. 19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. 20 These are what defile a person;..."

Military weapons cannot inflict injury (defile a person) unless of course he is using them unjustly. Sin on the other hand is always injurious. With that in mind, I would interpret the passage from Revelation as follows:

The horses are souls of men and the riders are the demons that have control over them because of the sins of the former. Both are described as quick to anger (fiery red), ethereal (or spiritual, rational) in nature as the color of heaven (dark blue) and caustic like sulfur* on account of their passionate (or fleshly) desires. By means of these powers all possible sins are committed. Through anger, divisions, hatred, condemnation and murder. By means of falsehood, heresy, blasphemy and the like the mind, the eye of the soul is blinded, just like smoke blinds the bodily eyes. Finally through passionate desires, sins of gluttony, fornication, theft, love for power and glory are committed. Some of these sins are committed through the mouth while others through bodily action, the tail. That is why the power of the horses is said to be in these two members.


_______
* Sulfur burns the skin.

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2PhiloVoid said:

It's always possible that you're insights contribute to a relevant interpretation here. But, in looking at the patterns of referential meaning that you're describing, can you find anything analogous or parallel to them in the Old Testament?

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