<p>6:8 <i>And I looked and beheld a pale horse, and he that sat upon him. His name was Death, and Hades followed behind him. And there was given to them authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with death and by the wild beasts of the earth</i>- The plural &quot;given unto <i>them&quot; </i>presumably refers to death and hades. It&rsquo;s unclear whether &quot;the fourth part of the earth&quot; is geographical, or refers to a quarter of the population. The idea which we meet in the Revelation of 'parts' of the land and people being damaged or killed is in line with the Koran, which speaking of judging &quot;the children of Israel&quot; says that Moslems are &quot;to cut off a part of those who disbelieve&quot; (Sura 7.127).</p><p>As it stands, it seems redundant to say that death and the grave <i>hades</i> kill with sword, famine, wild beasts and death. How can &lsquo;death&rsquo; be one of the four listed methods of killing? Perhaps it refers to some specific kind of death- a death penalty of execution (the word is used in this way in Mt. 10:21; 15:4; 20:18). Likewise how can any one horse rider have power over wild animals? The first century fulfilment was clearly in Christians being thrown to the lions; a related word is used for how Paul fought with wild beasts (1 Cor. 15:21). I would suggest that the latter day fulfilment will be in that those who refuse to convert will meet their end in one of four ways at the hands of this horse rider- death by the sword, i.e. in battle; by controlled and enforced starvation, as in the Nazi death camps; &ldquo;death&rdquo; in the sense of the death penalty; or death by being thrown to wild animals, as was done to the early Christians by the Romans.</p><p>The Greek word translated &ldquo;sword&rdquo; here is <i>rhompaia</i>, which has already been used of that proceeding from the mouth of the Lord Jesus (1:16; 2:12,16). It is connected not so much with killing in battle or war, but with deliberate, judicial, putting to death. This recalls the Islamic jihadist approach to killing those who will not convert to Islam- they are seen as being killed in a judicial sense, before a court of Moslems who are both judge, jury and prosecution, as well as the execution squad.</p><p>The four judgments mentioned here clearly allude to Ez. 14:21: &ldquo;I send upon Jerusalem my four disastrous acts of judgment, sword, famine, wild beasts, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast&rdquo;. The &lsquo;fourth part&rsquo; of the land that is thus judged is therefore likely to be Jerusalem. Again we see that the location of the &lsquo;earth&rsquo; is not the entire globe but the land promised to Abraham. The Ezekiel passage goes on to say that out of those judgments will come forth a repentant remnant- which is the same picture we have throughout latter day prophecy. It is this remnant which will enable the return of Christ to Israel. The same pattern is to be found in Ez. 33:27-29; the four judgments on the land, involving a total desolation, result in the repentance of the remnant: &ldquo;Thus says the Lord Yahweh: As I live, surely those who are in the waste places shall fall by the sword; and him who is in the open field will I give to the animals to be devoured; and those who are in the strongholds and in the caves shall die of the pestilence. I will make the land a desolation and an astonishment; the pride of her power shall cease and the mountains of Israel shall be desolate i.e. not producing food- leading to famine, so that none shall pass through. Then shall they know that I am Yahweh, when I have made the land a desolation and an astonishment, because of all their abominations which they have committed&rdquo;.</p>