Commentary on 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.
| Vincent's Word Studies
Pale (χλωρὸς) Only in Revelation, except Mark 6:39. Properly, greenish-yellow, like young grass or unripe wheat. Homer applies it to honey, and Sophocles to the sand. Generally, pale, pallid. Used of a mist, of sea-water, of a pale or bilious complexion. Thucydides uses it of the appearance of persons stricken with the plague (ii., 49). In Homer it is used of the paleness of the face from fear, and so as directly descriptive of fear ("Iliad," x., 376; xv., 4). Of olive wood ("Odyssey," ix., 320, 379) of which the bark is gray. Gladstone says that in Homer it indicates rather the absence than the presence of definite color. In the New Testament, always rendered green, except here. See Mark 6:39; Revelation 8:7; Revelation 9:4. Hell Properly, Hades. The realm of the dead personified. See on Matthew 16:18. |
Related material:
Death toll climbs to 394 in Indonesian tsunami
See also, in this journal, Pale Rider and Hereafter.