Why does Revelation 19:18 mention commanders on horses when this future prophecy is likely to not have actual horses? [closed]

Question

The text:

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God,

so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.” ‭‭Revelation‬ ‭19‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭NASB1995‬‬

Jesus coming on the clouds of Heaven on a white horse to conquer makes sense (Revelation 1:7, Revelation 19:11-16).

However, if this is an actual future prophecy(Revelation 19:18) and it is still future, then why are horses mentioned when they are antiquated for war purposes? (I’m aware that Revelation has symbolism, but I’m doubtful that this is merely symbolic).

Q: Why doesn’t it mention modern transportation? Is this a problem with inerrancy?

Answer 1

The prophetic nature of the book of Revelation does not extend to including modern visual details. No other passage in the book contains anachronisms of the kind you are expecting to see here. Why should this one? Indeed, it is not the purpose of the book to describe future events in such literal visual detail.

The function of that passage is simply to convey the concepts of "battle" and "victory" to the mind of the original readers. The image of the summoning of the birds is a detail borrowed from Ezekiel's description of the defeat of Gog and his army, and it is a way of conveying in hyperbole the message "the other side has been defeated".

"Speak to the birds of every sort and to all the beasts of the field; 'Assemble and come, gather from all sides to the sacrificial feast which I am preparing for you... You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the princes of the earth... and you shall be filled at my table with horses and riders, with mighty men and with all kinds of warriors" Ezekiel ch39 vv17-20

In other words, this scene is one of the facets of the symbolic imagery.

Answer 2

Either the scenes in Rev 19 are literal or symbolic. The difference is easy to determine given the elements employed. However, we also note that John begins his book with a clear statement about the writing style in the first verse, Rev 1:1 -

• NKJV: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show His servants—things which must shortly take place. And He sent and signified it by His angel to His servant John,
• HCSB: The revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave Him to show His slaves what must quickly take place. He sent it and signified it through His angel to His slave John,
• BLB: The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants what things it behooves to take place in quickness. And He signified it through having sent His angel to His servant, John,
• ERV: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to shew unto his servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John;
• LSV: A revelation of Jesus Christ that God gave to Him to show to His servants what things must quickly come to pass; and He signified [it], having sent through His messenger to His servant John,
• YLT: A revelation of Jesus Christ, that God gave to him, to shew to his servants what things it behoveth to come to pass quickly; and he did signify it, having sent through his messenger to his servant John,

Thus, generally, we would expect the material in the book of Revelation to be written in signs and symbols.

Rev 19 contains several scenes:

• Rev 19:1-5 is about the destruction great "prostitute" (clearly symbolic) and the smoke rising forever, also symbolic
• Rev 19:6-10 is about the marriage of the Lamb (a symbol of Christ) to the bride (a symbol of the church)
• Rev 19:11-16 is about the rider on the white horse who is described in identical terms to that in Rev 1, a symbolic description of Jesus, whose robe is dipped in blood - another symbol of Jesus' sacrifice. The armies of heaven also ride white horses dressed in the same white linen which in V8 is "the righteous acts of the saints", another fitting symbol.
• Rev 19:17-21 - the great supper - see detailed analysis below.

Rev 19:17-21 - The Great Supper of God

Again, either the great supper is literal or symbolic. Based on the above material, we might expect it to be represented as symbolic, but what is the evidence? we have the following elements to the prophecy:

• an angels stands in the sun - clearly symbolic
• birds fly overhead of the angel - clearly symbolic
• the "supper" consists of eating the following food: flesh of kings, commanders, horses, mighty men, everyone, slave and free (note that if an angels stands in the sun, literally, he cannot cry out as his voice is in space where there is no atmosphere to carry the sound
• the beast is clearly symbolic
• the false prophet is symbolic because it is also the third lamb-like beast of Rev 13:11-18
• the beast and false prophet are thrown into the lake of fire which is also symbolic because death and Hades are also destroyed in this same "lake" (Rev 20:14)
• the others were killed with the sword from the mouth of Jesus/Lamb on the horse, also symbolic

The evidence is clearly that this scene in Rev 19:17-21 is symbolic. Making it literal would destroy the message and make it collapse under the weight of its own absurdities.

Answer 3

The white horse symbolizes-righteous war. The mention of horses at rev 19:18-symbolizes the destruction of all war supplies--There will be no more war after these events occur-Gods kingdom will be in full control-Peace forever.( satan does get loosed for a little while in Rev 20. But no war is mentioned just the destruction of the unfaithful. It will be peace for the righteous who have possessed the earth and reside forever upon it( Matt 5:5, Psalm 37:29)

Answer 4

Perhaps the best way to answer this question is with a few more questions:

• You note that you are doubtful this passage is not meant to be interpreted symbolically; do you have a clear criterion for how to distinguish between symbolic and literal passages of scripture?

Assuming this passage of scripture is meant to be read literally:

• How would someone from the ancient world try to describe things from the modern world which they had never before seen?
• How would someone from the ancient world describe things from the modern world if they were confined to using only ancient words existing in their language (modern words would not yet exist)?