English
And I saw heaven opened, and see, a white horse, and the one sitting on it was called Faithful and True, and he judges and wages war with justice. And his eyes are like a flame of fire, and he has many diadems on his head. He has a name written that no one knows except him. And he is dressed in clothes dyed with blood, and his name is called the word of God. And the armies in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure fine linen. And from his mouth went a sharp sword, so he could strike down the nations, and he will shepherd them with an iron rod. And he stomps the winepress of the wrath of God’s anger. And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: ‘king of kings and lord of lords.’
Interpretation
After having been hidden away in heaven after his birth, and briefly seen on Mount Zion with his army of elite Israelites, the Anointed One is finally revealed to the world, accompanied by his army for the holy war against the Roman Empire. The physical attributes here echo the depiction of Jesus in chapter 1, though the organized structure here suggests that the passage in chapter 1 was actually based on this one.
- He has a name written that no one knows except him.
- And he is dressed in clothes dyed with blood,
- and his name is called the word of God.
- And the armies in heaven followed him on white horses, clothed in white, pure fine linen.
- And from his mouth went a sharp sword, so he could strike down the nations, and he will shepherd them with an iron rod.
- And he stomps the winepress of the wrath of God’s anger.
- And he has a name written on his robe and on his thigh: ‘king of kings and lord of lords.’
The name known only to the Anointed One is that he is ‘king of kings and lord of lords’. This reserved knowledge is not in the sense of secret information, but that he alone ‘knows’ it in the sense that he uniquely bears the name. Contrary to an interpretation which desperately seeks to hold the Anointed One above violence by identifying the blood on his clothes as his own rather than the blood of his enemies (i.e. the self-sacrifice of a pacifistic Jesus), the blood on the clothing of the Anointed One is explicitly that of his enemies who fall under ‘the wrath of God’s anger’. The blood has been splattered on his clothes because he ‘stomps the winepress’ of divine wrath. This calls back to the end of chapter 14, where it was the residents of Rome who were crushed in the winepress, causing a horse-deep flood of their blood to cover the land. The Anointed One is called ‘the word of God’ because the power of his speech is like a ‘sharp sword’. The portrayal of the Anointed One slaying his gentile enemies—especially the satanically-empowered ruler of the final world empire—with his speech was a long-running motif in messianic streams of thought.
Parallels
Psalms
2.8–9 ‘Ask of me, and I will make the nations your heritage, and the ends of the earth your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron, and dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel.’
Isaiah
11.1, 4 A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots. … he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
49.2 He made my mouth like a sharp sword, in the shadow of his hand he hid me; he made me a polished arrow, in his quiver he hid me away.
Deuteronomy
33.2 Yhwh came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon us; he shone forth from Mount Paran. With him were myriads of holy ones
Zechariah
14.5 Then Yhwh my god will come, and all the holy ones with him.
1 Enoch
1.9 Look, he comes with the myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all
46.2–4 And I asked the angel of peace, who went with me and showed me all the hidden things, about that son of man—who he was and whence he was and why he went with the Head of Days. And he answered me and said to me, ‘This is the son of man who has righteousness, and righteousness dwells with him. and all the treasuries of what is hidden he will reveal; For the Lord of Spirits has chosen him, and his lot has prevailed through truth in the presence of the Lord of Spirits forever. And this son of man whom you have seen—he will raise the kings and the mighty from their couches, and the strong from their thrones. He will loosen the reins of the strong, and he will crush the teeth of the sinners.’
62.5 pain will seize them when they see that son of man sitting on the throne of his glory.
Sibylline Oracles
2.241–242 the Anointed One, imperishable himself, will come in glory on a cloud toward the imperishable one with the blameless angels.
8.248 An iron shepherd’s rod will prevail
Ascension of Isaiah
4.14 And after one thousand three hundred thirty-two days the Lord will come with his angels and with the armies of the holy ones from the seventh heaven
Wisdom
18.15–16 Your almighty word leapt from heaven, from the royal throne, into the midst of the land that was doomed, a stern warrior carrying the sharp sword of your authentic command
Psalms of Solomon
17.21–25, 32 See, O Lord, and raise up for them their king, the son of David, at the time which you chose, O God, to rule over Israel your servant. And gird him with strength to shatter in pieces unrighteous rulers, to purify Jerusalem from nations that trample her down in destruction, in wisdom of righteousness, to drive out sinners from the inheritance, to smash the arrogance of the sinner like a potter's vessel, to shatter all their substance with an iron rod, to destroy the lawless nations by the word of his mouth, that, by his threat, nations flee from his presence, and to reprove sinners with the thought of their hearts. […] And he shall be a righteous king, taught by God, over them, and there shall be no injustice in his days in their midst, for all shall be holy, and their king the Anointed One of the Lord.
Didache
16.7 as it has been said, ‘The Lord will come and all the holy ones with him.’
2 Thessalonians
2.8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will destroy with the breath of his mouth, annihilating him by the manifestation of his coming.
Ephesians
6.17 the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God.
Hebrews
4.12 Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Judah
14–15 It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘Look, the Lord is coming with myriads of his holy ones, to execute judgment on all’
4 Ezra
7.28 ‘For my son the Anointed One shall be revealed with those who are with him’
12.32–33 ‘the Anointed One […] will come and speak with them. He will denounce them for their ungodliness and their wickedness, and will display before them their contemptuous dealings. For first he will bring them alive before his judgment seat, and when he has reproved them, then he will destroy them.’
13.3–4, 10, 37–38 As I kept looking the wind made something like the figure of a man come up out of the heart of the sea. And I saw that this man flew with the clouds of heaven; and wherever he turned his face to look, everything under his gaze trembled, and whenever his voice issued from his mouth, all who heard his voice melted as wax melts when it feels the fire. […] he sent forth from his mouth something like a stream of fire, and from his lips a flaming breath, and from his tongue he shot forth a storm of sparks. […] ‘he, my son, will reprove the assembled nations for their ungodliness […] and will reproach them […] and will destroy them without effort by means of the law’
2 Baruch
29.3; 30.1 ‘And it will happen, when everything that should come to pass in those parts has been accomplished, that the Anointed One will begin to be revealed. […] And it will happen after these things, when the time of the appearance of the Anointed One has been fulfilled, that he will return with glory.’
40.1, 2 ‘and my Anointed One will convict him of all his wicked deeds. […] And afterwards he will kill him’
72.2 ‘when the nations are moved and the time of my Anointed One comes, he will call all nations, and some of them he will spare, and some of the he will kill.’
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