The Sword-Famine-Plague-Wild Beast Connection

[CWH]

Hi,

The Sword-Famine-Plague-Wild Beast calamity seems to be the Lord's favorite calamity against mankind. It is a 4 whammies altogether type of disaster guaranteed to come with very disastrous effect. It may not come in the exact sequence. Note that the Sword-Famine-Plague-Wild Beast calamity which is the 4th seal in Revelation will occur after the 3rd seal which is world famine caused b a wheat rust fungus. See my thread on the "1st to the 4th Seal of Revelation". 4 whammies at the same time!..who can stand?

Note the connections in Ezekiel and Revelation:

Ezekiel 5:17
I will send famine and wild beasts[ against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the LORD have spoken."


Ezekiel 14:21
"For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals!


Revelation 6:8
I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.


Many Blessings.

[gilgal]

Hi,

The Sword-Famine-Plague-Wild Beast calamity seems to be the Lord's favorite calamity against mankind. It is a 4 whammies altogether type of disaster guaranteed to come with very disastrous effect. It may not come in the exact sequence. Note that the Sword-Famine-Plague-Wild Beast calamity which is the 4th seal in Revelation will occur after the 3rd seal which is world famine caused b a wheat rust fungus. See my thread on the "1st to the 4th Seal of Revelation". 4 whammies at the same time!..who can stand?

Note the connections in Ezekiel and Revelation:

Ezekiel 5:17
I will send famine and wild beasts[ against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the LORD have spoken."


Ezekiel 14:21
"For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals!


Revelation 6:8
I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth.


Many Blessings.
The connection here is with the #4. Ezekiel is the 4th book and Revelation is the 4th seal. There are 4 methods in them.

[Victor]

The connection here is with the #4. Ezekiel is the 4th book and Revelation is the 4th seal. There are 4 methods in them.

That's exactly correct! Ezekiel is the fourth book of the Prophets and thus carries many themes that have everything to do with the Number 4 (just read chapter 1 for example). So God specifically mentions the "four dreadful judgments" in Ezekiel (14:21) and we find them again in the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse that appear in the first Four Seals, with the fourth one reiterating the four plagues ("they were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth").

[CWH]

That's really amazing! But it still does not answer why the number 4?

Many Blessings.

[Victor]

Excellent question, Cheow Wee Hock!

One of the reasons I would mention is that God's Creation is ordered and therefore His Word similarly exhibits an organized structure.

But there are also the reasons that pertain to the Number 4. Why not 3, 5 or some other number?

There is much emphasis placed on number symbolism in God's Word. In the Bible, the Number 4 naturally correlates with the archetype of the four directions, denoting expansion.

http://www.biblewheel.com/images/dual4.gif

The concept of four directions (http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/Spokes/Dalet_4dir.asp) often appear in Scripture, specially in Numbers (fourth book of the Torah) and Ezekiel (fourth book of the Prophets). These directions are mentioned in the vision of the horsemen in Zechariah and this very vision serves as a thematic template for the vision of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. It suggests that the plagues brought by the horsemen would expand and affect the "four corners" of the land. It implies totality of judgement.

We also find insight on the meaning of the Number 4 by studying the literal meaning of the Fourth Letter of the Hebrew Alphabet, Dalet. Dalet comes from the root dalal, which indicates humility and passivity. It links to the "four sore judgments" because the plages would humiliate and destroy those affected by them. That's why the horsemen culminate in Death and Hades.

The Number 4 is associated to Death - it reminds of the Cross, the ultimate symbol of Death. You can learn much more by studying the Acrostic Verses that begin with Dalet (http://www.biblewheel.com/Wheel/Spokes/Dalet_AV.asp). See also Fourth Seal: Death (http://www.biblewheel.com/wheel/spokes/Dalet_Death.asp).

[CWH]

Excellent Victor!

I do understand that 4 suggests the 4 corners of the earth meaning worldwide. But I have not known it suggests the 4 directions as well.

I did not know also is that 4 is associated with Death which is the symbol of the Cross, the ultimate symbol of Death. What interest me is that 4 in Chinese which is pronounced as si' (sounds like "sir") is the same pronunciation as death si' but with a lower tone. Furthermore it looks like a square, "The Number Four represents both an enclosure (four walls).....Death is like a SQUARE (4 = 2 x 2) " as stated in your reference to Acrostic Verses that begin with Dalet:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/四-order.gif

The Chinese character for four as above also looks like a door (Dalet). This is Amazing!

Many Blessings and Thanks :yo:

[Victor]

Excellent Victor!

I do understand that 4 suggests the 4 corners of the earth meaning worldwide. But I have not known it suggests the 4 directions as well.

Well, they are actually the same general idea. The four "corners" of the earth display the same concept implicit in the four directions. The Bible also mentions the "four winds," in a similar vein.


I did not know also is that 4 is associated with Death which is the symbol of the Cross, the ultimate symbol of Death. What interest me is that 4 in Chinese which is pronounced as si' (sounds like "sir") is the same pronunciation as death si' but with a lower tone. Furthermore it looks like a square, "The Number Four represents both an enclosure (four walls).....Death is like a SQUARE (4 = 2 x 2) " as stated in your reference to Acrostic Verses that begin with Dalet:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/四-order.gif

The Chinese character for four as above also looks like a door (Dalet). This is Amazing!

Many Blessings and Thanks :yo:

That's truly amazing!! This Chinese word that represents 4 is related both to Death (phonetically) and Square/Door (through ideographic representation)! That's why they consider it a "bad" number! I know many will change their mind when they learn about the Fourfold Cross! A "bad" thing that resulted in our good!

[CWH]

Hi Victor,

Wow, you seems to be knowledgeable in Chinese belief. Yes absolutely true, 4 is a bad number to the Chinese because it sounds like another Chinese character for death. I am not particularly superstitious in numbers. For more explanations to the Chinese superstitions in numbers, please refer :

http://www.radio86.co.uk/explore-learn/culture/1784/numbers-in-chinese-superstition

Please note an interesting excerpt from this website:

The number six, liù, is considered to be a very auspicious number because it is a homonym of the word for "flowing" or "smooth," liū. This is the reason why the Western ominous number combination 666 does not get the hairs on the back of Chinese people to stand up. The "devil's number" is a particularly lucky one in the Chinese language, as it sounds close to the words meaning "things are going smoothly." (Author's note: Does that suggests an Asian 666 from China?).......................................
The most fortunate number in the Chinese official language of Mandarin is the number eight, which means "prosperity," "fortune" or "wealth." That's about as lucky as you can get! The Beijing Olympics are due to commence on 08.08.2008, at eight o'clock in the evening, which will certainly guarantee that the Games will be carried out under the most auspicious of circumstances. (Author's note: 8 is also a good number in Christian belief)........................................... ........
As mentioned earlier, the most unfortunate number in the Chinese culture is the number four, due to its similar pronunciation with, among others, "death." Some companies even skip this number altogether when bringing out new versions of their products to the market..................................

This is amazing stuff.

Many Blessings.:)

[Victor]

Very good! There are several interesting phenomena in Chinese language.

The quoted article demonstrates how the same number can have both positive and negative connotations. It is the same with Bible number symbolism.

[gilgal]

Isn't direction in Hebrew DeReK?

[Victor]

Isn't direction in Hebrew DeReK?

Nice insight! Derek (Way) is the leading Dalet KeyWord in the Alphabetic Verses. Here is how Brown-Driver-Briggs defines it:

derek
1) way, road, distance, journey, manner
1a) road, way, path
1b) journey
1c) direction
1d) manner, habit, way
1e) of course of life (figuratively)
1f) of moral character (figuratively)
So there are four archetypical "ways" (directions) that map and define the world we live in.

Two curiosities: DeReK reminds of the word DiReCtion. And the gematria of Derek is 224, whose digital structure reminds of the four directions that are grouped in pairs: north/south, east/west. (2 + 2 = 4)

[gilgal]

Nice insight! Derek (Way) is the leading Dalet KeyWord in the Alphabetic Verses. Here is how Brown-Driver-Briggs defines it:

derek
1) way, road, distance, journey, manner
1a) road, way, path
1b) journey
1c) direction
1d) manner, habit, way
1e) of course of life (figuratively)
1f) of moral character (figuratively)
So there are four archetypical "ways" (directions) that map and define the world we live in.

Two curiosities: DeReK reminds of the word DiReCtion. And the gematria of Derek is 224, whose digital structure reminds of the four directions that are grouped in pairs: north/south, east/west. (2 + 2 = 4)

Also 224 falls of spoke 4. Just like 666 falls on spoke 6, 888 spoke 8, 153 spoke 21...
DeReK - DiReCtion.