I saw by night, and behold a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle trees that [were] in the bottom; and behind him [were there] red horses, speckled, and white.
Ver. 8. I saw by night] The usual time for such revelations. It may note, moreover, the obscurity of the prophecy; hence also the mention of myrtle trees, low and shady, and that in a bottom, as Calvin conceiveth; and all this that he might give a taste of good hope to the Jews by little and little.
And behold a man riding upon a red horse] Not Alexander the Great, riding upon his horse Bucephalus, and translating the empire from the Persians to the Grecians, as Arias Montanus conceited it; but the man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2:5, the Captain of the Lord's host, Joshua 4:14, and of our salvation, Heb. ii. 0.
Riding upon a red horse] In the same sense, saith one, that this colour is given to his garments, Isaiah 63:1,3, and to the angel's horse, Revelation 6:4. The wild bull, saith another, of all things, cannot abide any red colour. Therefore the hunter for the nonce, standing before a tree, puts on a red garment; whom when the bull seeth, he runneth at him as hard as he can drive; but the hunter, stepping aside, the bull's horns stick fast in the tree; as, when David slipped aside, Saul's spear stuck fast in the wall. Such a hunter is Christ; he, lifted up upon the tree of his cross, had his garment dipped and dyed in his own blood, as one that cometh with red garments from Bozrah. Therefore the devil and his angels (like wild bulls of Bashan) ran at him with all their force (in that three-hours' darkness especially), but he, delivering himself as a mighty conqueror, their horns stick fast, as it were, in his cross; as Abraham's ram, by his horns, stuck fast in the brier.
And he stood among the myrtle trees that were in the bottom] Myrrh trees some render it. Here Christ, that horseman and head of his Church, keepeth himself, as touched with the feeling of our infirmities, Hebrews 4:15, as suffering and sorrowing with his people, who are fitly compared to myrtles, that grow in a shady grove, in valleys and bottoms, and by waters' sides, et amantes littora myrtos (Virg. Georg.). "Blessed are ye that sow beside all waters," Isaiah 32:20. Myrtles also are odoriferous, and precious, Isaiah 41:19; Isaiah 55:13; so are the saints, Isa 43:4 Colossians 4:6, they cast a good scent wherever they go, by the grace of God that is in them; as Alexander the Great is said to do, by the excellent temperament of his body. Lastly, Lev 23:40 cf. Nehemiah 8:15, the Jews, at their joyful feast of tabernacles, used myrtle branches among others, to testify their thankfulness for a settlement in the promised land, after so long wandering in the wilderness. The Gentiles also in their solemn feasts, interludes, and - cingebant tempera myrto, wore garlands made of myrtles. Let us keep the feast; let us keep holy day (εορταζωμεν), saith the apostle, 1 Corinthians 5:8, who himself did over abound exceedingly with joy, had an exuberance of it, at that constant feast of a good conscience, 2 Corinthians 7:4. Diogenes could say that a good man keeps holy day all the year about. Christ crowneth the calendar of his people's lives with continual, festivals here how much more in heaven! Pliny tells us that ex myrto facta est ovantium corona, subinde et triumphantium; of myrtle was made, among the Romans, the crown or garland of those that did shout for victory, or ride in triumph.
And behind him were there red horses] i.e. Horsemen: Nam nimis crassum est illud commentum, fuisse locatos equos, saith Calvin here. These horsemen are angels, as Zechariah 1:10, deputed to several offices and executions, for judgment, for mercy, or both; shadowed by the various colours of their horses.