8. pale--"livid" [ALFORD].
Death--personified.
Hell--Hades personified.
unto them--Death and Hades. So A, C read. But B
and Vulgate read, "to him."
fourth part of the earth--answering to the first four seals; his
portion as one of the four, being a fourth part.
death--pestilence; compare
Eze 14:21
with the four judgments here, the sword, famine, pestilence, and
wild beasts; the famine the consequence of the sword;
pestilence, that of famine; and beasts multiplying by
the consequent depopulation.
with the beasts--Greek, "by"; more direct agency. These
four seals are marked off from the three last, by the four living
creatures introducing them with "Come." The calamities indicated are
not restricted to one time, but extend through the whole period of
Church history to the coming of Christ, before which last great and
terrible day of the Lord they shall reach highest aggravation. The
first seal is the summary, Christ going forth conquering till
all enemies are subdued under Him, with a view to which the judgments
subsequently specified accompany the preaching of the Gospel for a
witness to all nations.
JFB.
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