4 Horsemen

This post really got me thinking about the Revelation and the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Apocalypse is the greek word for Revelation). So as a thought excercise, I asked myself what would happen if I took the 4 American presidents who were separated by those three 72-year spans and overlaid them with the descriptions, in order, of the 4 Horsemen?

These passages are taken from Chapter 6 of the Revelation, in Young's Literal Translation from Bible Gateway:

1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as it were a voice of thunder, `Come and behold!'

2 and I saw, and lo, a white horse, and he who is sitting upon it is having a bow, and there was given to him a crown, and he went forth overcoming, and that he may overcome.

George Washington overcame the British to establish America, becoming it's first president, and was famous for riding a white horse. (also Rev. 3:21 He who is overcoming -- I will give to him to sit with me in my throne, as I also did overcome and did sit down with my Father in His throne.)

3 And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, `Come and behold!'

4 and there went forth another horse -- red, and to him who is sitting upon it, there was given to him to take the peace from the land, and that one another they may slay, and there was given to him a great sword.

Abraham Lincoln was given the authority to take peace from America, that Americans might slay one another, in the greatest war that has ever been fought on American soil.

5 And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, `Come and behold!' and I saw, and lo, a black horse, and he who is sitting upon it is having a balance in his hand,

6 and I heard a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, `A measure of wheat for a denary, and three measures of barley for a denary,' and `The oil and the wine thou mayest not injure.'

Franklin D. Roosevelt was president during the dust-bowl famine of the 1930s, and famine is the fairly agreed-upon meaning of the black horse and balance symbolism.

7 And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature saying, `Come and behold!'

8 and I saw, and lo, a pale horse, and he who is sitting upon him -- his name is Death, and Hades doth follow with him, and there was given to them authority to kill, (over the fourth part of the land,) with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and by the beasts of the land.

Who knows? Perhaps someday, with 72 years of history helping me, I'll make some sense of it. But I hear a whisper that it's George W. Bush... and that that's a good thing.