The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible New Testament (299 page)

6:1-8
The vision of the four horsemen. Each one symbolizes the divine judgment he is authorized to execute, whether it be conquest (white horse), bloodshed (red horse), famine (black horse), or death (pale horse). • The vision draws from Zech 1:8-17 and 6:1-8, where four chariots with colored horses patrol the earth after the Babylonian conquest of Israel in 586
B.C.
Here the events that ensue are strangely reversed: Zechariah announced an end to the punishment of Israel, but Revelation envisions a new beginning of divine chastisement. 
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6:6 denarius:
A full day's wage (Mt 20:2) buys only a day's ration of wheat for one person and a ration of barley for a small family. Limited food supplies and inflated prices are sure signs of famine.
oil and wine:
Crops harvested in late summer (olives and grapes) are not to be devastated like the crops harvested in late spring (wheat and barley). A limit is set, lest the famine overrun the entire harvest season. 
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6:8 Death
 . . .
Hades:
Personify the satanic forces that bring death and destruction into the world. Both are under the authority of Christ, who conquered them by his rising (1:18) and doomed them to everlasting destruction (20:1314).
sword . . . famine . . . pestilence . . . beasts:
The judgments of the fourth horsemen. • The same four curses ravaged Jerusalem in the sixth century
B.C.
(Ezek 14:21) as punishment for its infidelity to the Lord (Deut 32:23-25). 
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6:9 the altar:
The heavenly counterpart to the bronze altar of sacrifice in the Jerusalem Temple (2 Chron 4:1).
slain for the word
The martyrs bear the likeness of Christ, the slain Lamb (12:11; Mt 23:34-35). Their pleas for justice sound from beneath the altar, recalling how the lifeblood (Lev 17:11) of sacrificial victims was poured out at the base of the Temple altar (Lev 4:7). Martyrdom is thus portrayed as a priestly act of sacrificing one's life to God (Rom 12:1; Phil 2:17; 1 Pet 2:5). 
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6:10 how long:
The martyrs long for God to redress their murders. • They pray, not out of hatred for their enemies, but out of love for justice. Being near the Judge, they agree with him and pray for the coming judgment, in which the reign of sin shall be destroyed and their lifeless bodies raised (St. Bede,
Explanation of the Apocalypse
6, 10) (CCC 2817). 
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6:11 white robe:
Symbolic of victory and spiritual purity (3:5; 7:9, 14). White vestments were also worn by the high priests of Israel.
See note on Rev 3:4
.
should be complete:
Jewish tradition spoke of a quota of martyrs determined in advance by God (
1 Enoch
47, 1-4). 
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6:12-14
Scenes of apocalyptic disaster may be understood literally, as describing the end of the world and the consummation of history (2 Pet 3:10-13), or symbolically, as representing spiritual and political upheaval within history (Is 13:10-13; 34:4; 50:3; Joel 2:30-32; Hag 2:21-22). Though a literal fulfillment cannot be ruled out for the future, the woes unleashed by the seven seals are parallel to the eschatological woes that Jesus warned would seize the world just before the Roman conquest of Jerusalem in
A.D.
70 (see Lk 21:5-28). 
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6:15 kings . . . and free
Judgment will fall on men of every rank.
hid in the caves:
Recalls the sinners in Is 2:19, who hide themselves in caves from the terror of God's majesty. 
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6:16 Fall on us . . . hide us:
Cries of distress from those engulfed in the tribulation seizing the world.
See note on Rev 3:10
. • These cries come from Hos 10:8, where the people of Samaria groan in travail over the violent destruction of their city. On one occasion, Jesus put Hosea's words on the lips of those doomed to witness the overthrow of Jerusalem (Lk 23:28-30). 
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6:17 who can stand:
Standing is a sign of vindication on the Day of Judgment (Dan 12:13; Eph 6:13). The Lamb (Rev 5:6), the angels (7:11), and the saints (7:9) all appear in this posture in Revelation. • Passages such as Nahum 1:6 and Mal 3:2 indicate that the question "Who can stand?" is rhetorical, implying that no sinner can hope to stand before the wrath of the divine Judge. 
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7:1-17
Chapter 7 is an interlude that follows the sixth seal and delays the opening of the seventh, just as 10:1-11:14 is an
interlude that follows the sixth trumpet and delays the blowing of the seventh. John sees the remnant of Israel (7:1-8) and the
saved of all nations (7:9-17). 
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7:1 the four corners:
Perhaps the earth is pictured as a four-cornered altar (cf. 9:13) upon which the martyrs shed their blood in sacrifice (6:9-11). 
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7:3 sealed:
A seal is a mark of ownership and protection (9:4). Here the seal of God is related to the seals of the scroll, giving protection to the believing remnant of Israel, who will pass through the tribulation. This may refer to a grace of spiritual perseverance rather than a guarantee of physical survival. In the broader context of Revelation, there is a contrast between the
seal
of God stamped on the foreheads of the righteous (7:2) and the
mark
of the beast inscribed on the brows of the wicked (13:16). The former bears the divine name of God (14:1; 22:4), while the latter bears the demonic name of the beast (13:17) (CCC 1296).
See note on 2 Cor 1:22
. • The entire scene parallels Ezek 9:1-7, where a messenger seals the foreheads of the righteous in Israel to protect them from the wrath of God poured out on Jerusalem. The seal was shaped like the Hebrew letter taw, which in ancient script looked like a cross (x or +). Marks of divine protection can be traced as far back as Cain in Gen 4:15. 
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7:4 a hundred and forty-four thousand:
The number of the tribes of Israel squared (12 x 12) and then multiplied by a thousand, signifying completeness (144 x 1000). 
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7:5-8
Two irregularities stand out in the enumeration of the twelve tribes.
(1)
The tribe of Judah heads the list, even though Judah was the fourth son of Jacob. The descent of Christ from Judah probably accounts for this (5:5; Mt 1:2-16).
(2)
The tribe of Dan is missing. It is possible that Dan was cut from the list because of the tribe's infamous love for idolatry (Judg 18:16-19). Others suggest that John is following an ancient tradition that held that the Antichrist would come from Dan. Whatever the reason for the omission, Israel was technically a family of 13 tribes (the tribe of Joseph splitting into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, Gen 48:1-20), and so one of the tribes had to be dropped to keep the symbolism of the number 12 intact (Rev 21:12). 
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7:9 a great multitude:
The saints in heaven who passed through the great tribulation without compromising their faith (7:14).
no man could number:
The uncountable throng represents the spiritual offspring of Abraham, i.e., those who imitated his faith (Rom 4:11-17). • The Lord had promised to make Abraham the father of many nations (Gen 17:5) and to give him progeny too numerous to count (Gen 15:5).
white robes:
The garments of the faithful who endured the purifying trials of tribulation (Dan 11:35; 12:10).
See note on Rev 3:4
.
palm branches:
Waved at the annual Feast of Tabernacles (Booths) in the liturgy of ancient Israel (Lev 23:40; 2 Mac 10:67). • The international celebration of Tabernacles has its background in Zech 14:16. 
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