Kill with Death

[Jake Arsenal]

Revelation 2:23
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Revelation 6:8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was 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.

The word translated as kill is Strong's G615 - apokteinō or ἀποκτείνω - meaning put to death, kill, or slay.

The word translated as with is Strong's G1722 - en or ἐν - meaning in, by, with etc.

The word translated as death is Strong's G2288 - thanatos or θάνατος- meaning death or deadly.

Some have said this refers to pestilence or disease, but those words were readily available and used elsewhere in the NT, so I think that is rather unlikely. Does anyone have an idea what this could mean?

 

[Davy]

Revelation 2:23
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Revelation 6:8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was 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.

The word translated as kill is Strong's G615 - apokteinō or ἀποκτείνω - meaning put to death, kill, or slay.

The word translated as with is Strong's G1722 - en or ἐν - meaning in, by, with etc.

The word translated as death is Strong's G2288 - thanatos or θάνατος- meaning death or deadly.

Some have said this refers to pestilence or disease, but those words were readily available and used elsewhere in the NT, so I think that is rather unlikely. Does anyone have an idea what this could mean?

"Death" capitalized like that suggests a certain person. That is pointing to Satan, since the power of death has been assigned to him per Hebrews 2.

Those Seals of Revelation 6 parallel the seven Signs of the end Lord Jesus gave in His Olivet discourse. The time of "great tribulation" is to be preceded by a time of war, chaos, pestilence, earthquakes, etc. The actual timing of the "great tribulation" is linked with the Sign of the "abomination of desolation" idol being placed in Jerusalem, and a time of world peace. So those events of Death riding on the pale horse links with the time just before that.

It would then represent Satan's servants gaining control over a 4th part of the earth, using wars, pestilences, famines, and political (beasts) to create that, all that just prior to the time of "great tribulation".

Matt 24:6-8
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.

7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.

8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.
KJV

Jesus said as long as we hear of wars and rumors of wars, don't be troubled for those things must be, but the end is not yet. What end? The time of "great tribulation" up to the day of His return at the end of it. That's the "end" He was pointing to.

What's the opposite of a time of 'wars and rumors of wars'? It's a time of peace. That is the kind of time the end time tribulation is to be, a time of world peace, the "Peace and safety" Apostle Paul warned of in 1 Thessalonians 5 that he said the deceived will be saying just before the sudden destruction (by Christ's coming on the "day of the Lord").

 

[ViaCrucis]

"For thus says the Lord GOD: How much more when I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast!" - Ezekiel 14:21

The word "pestilence" is the Hebrew דֶּבֶר (deber), and it means "pestilence" or "plague".

However the Septuagint translates the Hebrew here as such:

τάδε λέγει κύριος ἐὰν δὲ καὶ τὰς τέσσαρας ἐκδικήσεις μου τὰς πονηράς ῥομφαίαν καὶ λιμὸν καὶ θηρία πονηρὰ καὶ θάνατον ἐξαποστείλω ἐπὶ Ιερουσαλημ τοῦ ἐξολεθρεῦσαι ἐξ αὐτῆς ἄνθρωπον καὶ κτῆνος

The LXX has here translated the Hebrew deber as thanaton, death. This indicates that in antiquity, the use of "death" to mean plague, pestilence, etc; at least in contexts such as this.

Given that St. John of Patmos regularly borrows language from apocalyptic and proto-apocalyptic texts of the Old Testament, it shouldn't be surprising that he borrows the language of Ezekiel 14:21 here.

If this is the case, then John does intend thanato in Revelation 6:8 to mean pestilence, plague, etc--the same thing Ezekiel means when he uses deber.

Also, we ought to place ourselves in a pre-modern mindset in regard to what disease or plague is. They didn't have germ theory, they only observed death manifesting around them.

Plague was death. Even in our language we say this, the plague that wracked Europe in the high middle ages was called the Black Death.

-CryptoLutheran

 

[martymonster]

Revelation 2:23
And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works.

Revelation 6:8
And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was 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.

The word translated as kill is Strong's G615 - apokteinō or ἀποκτείνω - meaning put to death, kill, or slay.

The word translated as with is Strong's G1722 - en or ἐν - meaning in, by, with etc.

The word translated as death is Strong's G2288 - thanatos or θάνατος- meaning death or deadly.

Some have said this refers to pestilence or disease, but those words were readily available and used elsewhere in the NT, so I think that is rather unlikely. Does anyone have an idea what this could mean?

The death that is being referred to here, is spiritual death.

Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Those who are carnally cannot understand spiritual things. They are in the flesh and cannot please God. They will not inherit the kingdom of God, and will not be kings and priests. Spiritual things are the treasures that are hidden in scripture.

 

[Jake Arsenal]

The death that is being referred to here, is spiritual death.

Rom 8:4 That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
Rom 8:5 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit.
Rom 8:6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace.
Rom 8:7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.
Rom 8:8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.

Those who are carnally cannot understand spiritual things. They are in the flesh and cannot please God. They will not inherit the kingdom of God, and will not be kings and priests. Spiritual things are the treasures that are hidden in scripture.

I hadn't thought of that.