At this point you might be wondering: Even taking different biblical translations into account, and the world “conquest” popping here and there in translation, how is it that “conquest” could ever become “pestilence”? In defense of referring to the first horseman as “Conquest,” The Gospel Coalition says that the horseman’s bow was a standard symbol of military power, and the white color somehow represents military conquest. The other horsemen and their horses’ colors follow from military violence, in order: red for blood, black for famine, and then pale for death, like a corpse. This makes sense, but again, it’s just one interpretation.
Out of all the backs-and-forths online and the multitude of sources chiming in on the topic, the site Social Studies might help explain the shift to pestilence. Pestilence, like the other horsemen — War, Famine, and Death — has always been a fear hanging over humanity’s head. The Black Death that struck Europe from 1347 to 1352, for instance, killed between 25 and 30 million people and between 30% and 50% of the populations of those areas that it struck. While we can’t pinpoint the shift from “Conquest” to “Pestilence” as starting with The Black Death, it makes sense that post-Black Death, people might have pestilence on the mind. Fast forward 150 years or so and we see artists like Albrecht Dürer cite Pestilence, War, Famine, and Death as the four horsemen. We can’t say for sure, but it’s a possibility.
