Four chariots.... The four great empires of the Chaldeans, Persians, Grecians, and Romans. Or perhaps by the fourth chariot are represented the kings of Egypt and of Asia, the descendants of Ptolemeus and Seleucus.
6:2. In the first chariot were red horses, and in the second chariot black horses.
6:3. And in the third chariot white horses, and in the fourth chariot grisled horses, and strong ones.
6:4. And I answered, and said to the angel that spoke in me: What are these, my lord?
6:5. And the angel answered, and said to me: These are the four winds of the heaven, which go forth to stand before the Lord of all the earth.
6:6. That in which were the black horses went forth into the land of the north, and the white went forth after them: and the grisled went forth to the land of the south.
The land of the north.... So Babylon is called; because it lay to the north in respect of Jerusalem. The black horses, that is, the Medes and Persians: and after them Alexander and his Greeks, signified by the white horses, went thither because they conquered Babylon, executed upon it the judgments of God, which is signified, ver. 8, by the expression of quieting his spirit.—Ibid. The land of the south.... Egypt, which lay to the south of Jerusalem, and was occupied first by Ptolemeus, and then by the Romans.
6:7. And they that were most strong, went out, and sought to go, and to run to and fro through all the earth. And he said: Go, walk throughout the earth: and they walked throughout the earth.
6:8. And he called me, and spoke to me, saying: Behold they that go forth into the land of the north, have quieted my spirit in the land of the north.
6:9. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: