This entry is part 6 of 6 in the series Horsemen

Anemos is Greek for Wind

The English word, “wind” is not always translated from the same Greek word. There are actually three different Greek words which are translated “wind”. Pneuma, which is actually spirit, pneo, which is a derivative of pneuma meaning breath, and anemos which is wind. The word anemos is the word used in Revelation 7:1 and in Matthew 24, and so for the purpose of this article, I will focus on anemos and use the Greek Septuagint so we can cross reference the correct use of wind in the old testament.

Winds of fortune

Anemos is primarily used in reference to judgment- specically scattering errant people like the wind scatters the chaff.

6 Ho, ho, [come forth], and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD.

4 The ungodly [are] not so: but [are] like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase [them].

42 Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind: I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets.

13 The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters: but [God] shall rebuke them, and they shall flee far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind, and like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.

16 Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the LORD, [and] shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.

13 When thou criest, let thy companies deliver thee; but the wind shall carry them all away; vanity shall take [them]: but he that putteth his trust in me shall possess the land, and shall inherit my holy mountain;

6 But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

24 Therefore will I scatter them as the stubble that passeth away by the wind of the wilderness.

21 And all his fugitives with all his bands shall fall by the sword, and they that remain shall be scattered toward all winds: and ye shall know that I the LORD have spoken [it].

12 A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the sword round about thee; and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them.

Other types of judgment or calamity are also described by wind.

29 He that troubleth his own house shall inherit the wind: and the fool [shall be] servant to the wise of heart.

10 Yea, behold, [being] planted, shall it prosper? shall it not utterly wither, when the east wind toucheth it? it shall wither in the furrows where it grew.

12 But she was plucked up in fury, she was cast down to the ground, and the east wind dried up her fruit: her strong rods were broken and withered; the fire consumed them.

25 Wilt thou break a leaf driven to and fro? and wilt thou pursue the dry stubble?

1 Thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will raise up against Babylon, and against them that dwell in the midst of them that rise up against me, a destroying wind;

When the ten plagues of Egypt were sentenced, the locusts were literally brought in by the wind.

13 And Moses stretched forth his rod over the land of Egypt, and the LORD brought an east wind upon the land all that day, and all [that] night; [and] when it was morning, the east wind brought the locusts.

19 And the LORD turned a mighty strong west wind, which took away the locusts, and cast them into the Red sea; there remained not one locust in all the coasts of Egypt.

The wind can also bring deliverance as when God parted the Red Sea with a strong east wind, and when he gathers his elect from the earth.

21 And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go [back] by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry [land], and the waters were divided.

26 He caused an east wind to blow in the heaven: and by his power he brought in the south wind.

31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. (see also Mar 13:27)

The Four Winds

But the FOUR winds are used mainly in prophetic passages and visions.

36 And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.

The four horns of the beast in Daniels vision were scattered to the cardinal directions

8 Therefore the he goat waxed very great: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken; and for it came up four notable ones toward the four winds of heaven.

4 And when he shall stand up, his kingdom shall be broken, and shall be divided toward the four winds of heaven; and not to his posterity, nor according to his dominion which he ruled: for his kingdom shall be plucked up, even for others beside those.

In Daniel’s vision the sea is tossed by the four winds when the beast emerges from the sea

2 Daniel spake and said, I saw in my vision by night, and, behold, the four winds of the heaven strove upon the great sea. 3 And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.

What role do the four winds have in Revelation 7?

Our primary verse we are trying to understand is Rev 7:1 KJV

“And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.”

So to provide a bit of context, Rev. 7 follows the passage about the opening of the seals and the four horsemen. It turns out that the four horsemen of Rev 6 have a deep connection to the four winds of Rev. 7. To better understand these horsemen and the connection to the four winds, we need to look at a cross reference passage in Zechariah. The word wind is actually NOT found in the KJV. It is however in the original Greek manuscript and the verse turns up in a search of the Greek word anemos used in Revelation 7. Here is the passage from the KJV and from Brenton’s translation of the Septuagint showing the anemos/wind.

Zec 6:1-8 KJV “And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came four chariots out from between two mountains; and the mountains were mountains of brass. 2 In the first chariot were red horses; and in the second chariot black horses; 3 And in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot grisled and bay horses. 4 Then I answered and said unto the angel that talked with me, What are these, my lord? 5 And the angel answered and said unto me, These are the four spirits of the heavens, which go forth from standing before the Lord of all the earth. 6 The black horses which are therein go forth into the north country; and the white go forth after them; and the grisled go forth toward the south country. 7 And the bay went forth, and sought to go that they might walk to and fro through the earth: and he said, Get you hence, walk to and fro through the earth. So they walked to and fro through the earth. 8 Then cried he upon me, and spake unto me, saying, Behold, these that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.”

The LXX says, “5 And the angel that talked with me answered and said, These are the four winds of heaven, and they are going forth to stand before the Lord of all the earth.”

The four winds ARE the four Horsemen

So, the Four Horses in Zechariah, are the same four horses in Revelation, and are also the four winds. Their job is to bring judgments on errant peoples so that they will repent and the wrath of God will be appeased. We will also see that they bring blessings as well in a bit. So these winds/ horses have been bringing judgment and opening the seals, which is not a good thing, obviously, and men are not repenting, God’s wrath is not turned back so the seals continue to open. Instead of repentance, the 5th seal reveals that God’s elect instead gets martyred. So, in our verse in Revelation, the horsemen, or four winds, or angels are going through the earth causing calamities, and then are restrained a holy angel while he goes and seals the elect remnant of Israel (not the church elect, but the Jews)

Rev 7:2-3 KJV 2 “And I saw another angel ascending from the east, having the seal of the living God: and he cried with a loud voice to the four angels, to whom it was given to hurt the earth and the sea, 3 Saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the sea, nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God in their foreheads.” Then after a description about how each of the tribes had 12,000 people sealed, there is this verse:

Rev 7:9 KJV 9 “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;”

This is not the Israelites that were just sealed because it says all nations and kindreds and people and tongues, and unlike the 144000, they cannot be numbered. This is the church. And we can see more information about this incident because Matthew 24 tells us that the elect will be gathered together from the four winds.

31 And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. “(Mar 13:27)

The four winds gather the church to be raptured

So, it is hard to tell by Rev 7 if the church is delivered FROM the four winds or BY the four winds, but we can cross reference a passage in Ezekiel for clues. Ezekiel saw a vision of a valley full of dead men’s bones. God commanded Ezekiel to command the wind to raise an army up from the bones. The four winds breathed life into the bones and the bodies were restored and became a great army.

9 Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.”

The vision here specifies Israel, but the precedent for the four winds to be commanded to breath life into the dead is revealed. Israel will also be resurrected after the 6th trumpet in a very similar passage that clarifies Jewish lineage of that congregation.

It would not be unprecedented for the wind to deliver after it has brought judgment. Remember the passage in Exodus where the wind brought the locusts, and then returned them to the sea.

The Matthew 24 and Revelation 7 passages have other signs that match up to make it an undeniable cross reference. See the article about the horsemen.

The four winds in antiquity

The book of Enoch gives some details about the four winds. It describes gates at the ends of the earth on all cardinal directions through which the winds pass through and the blessings and injuries they are responsible for.

And on the ends of the earth I saw for all the winds twelve portals opened, from which the winds come and blow over the earth. 2. Three of them are open on the face [i.e. the east] of the heavens, and three in the west, and three on the right [i.e. south] of heaven, and three on the left [i.e. north]. 3. And the first three are those towards the east, and three towards the north, and three behind those which are on the left, towards the south, and three in the west. 4. Through four of these come winds of blessing and of peace, and through those eight come winds of injury: when they are sent they bring destruction to all the earth and to the water on it and to all those who dwell on it and to everything that is in the water and on the land. 5. And the first wind from these portals, which is called the eastern, comes forth from the first portal which is towards the east, inclining towards the south; out of it comes destruction, dryness and heat and death. 6. And through the second middle portal comes forth the right mixture; there come forth rain and fruitfulness and peace and dew. And through the third portal, which is towards the north, come forth coldness and dryness. 7. And after these the winds towards the south come forth through three portals; firstly through the first portal of them, which inclines towards the east, there comes forth the wind of heat. 8. And from the middle portal, which is beside that one, there come forth a sweet incense and dew and rain and peace and life. 9. And through the third portal, which is towards the west, there come forth dew and rain and grasshoppers and destruction. 10. And after these northerly winds from the seventh portal, which is towards the east, inclining to the south, there come forth dew and rain, grasshoppers and destruction. 11. And out of the middle portal direct there come forth rain and dew and life and peace, and through the third portal, which is towards the west, which inclines towards the north, there come forth fog and hoar-frost and snow and rain and dew and grasshoppers. 12. And after these the winds which are towards the west: through the first portal, which inclines towards the north, there come forth dew and rain and grasshoppers and coldness and snow and frost. 13. And from the middle portal there come forth dew and rain, peace and blessing, and through the last portal, which is towards the south, there come forth dryness and destruction, burning and death. 14. Thereby the twelve portals of the four portals [directions] of heaven are completed, and all their laws and all their destructions and their virtues I have showed to you, my son Methuselah. CHAP. 77.—They call the first wind the eastern, because it is the first, and they call the second the southern because the Most High descends there, and especially does the Blessed One in eternity descend there. 2. And the name of the west wind is the diminishing, because there the luminaries of the heavens diminish and go down. 3. And the fourth wind, called the north, is divided into three parts, one of them is for the dwelling of men, the second for the seas of water and for the valleys and for the woods and for the streams and for the darkness and for the fog; and the third part with the garden of justice. * my mobile copy of Enoch has these chapters labeled 75 and 76 and the translation differs. Should you decide to investigate Enoch for yourself.

It is interesting that the tabernacle is modeled after the earth described in Enoch. On the four sides of the tabernacle there were doors for the four winds. At the doors were attendants or porters just like there are angels at the gates at the end of the earth in Enoch. The word “wind” is left out of the KJV, but anemos is used in the Septuagint.

1Ch 9:24 KJV In four quarters were the porters, toward the east, west, north, and south.

[I Chron 9:24 Brenton LXX] The gates were toward the four winds, eastward, westward, northward, southward

The four winds are angels or spirit entities

We have further evidence to connect the wind and the horses as spiritual entities.

Revelation 7 shows a relationship between the wind and angels, as does Psalm 35:5 when the people are said to be chased by an angel like chaff before the wind.

1 And after these things I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth, holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree.

5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.

The horse imagery of the four winds

Enoch remarks about the form of the fallen angels as being horse-like in a vision he received.

And behold a single star fell from heaven. Which being raised up, ate and fed among those cows (the cows are the humans from Adam and Eve). After that I perceived other large and black cows; and behold all of them changed their stalls and pastures, while their young began to lament one with another. (this means that they began to worship other gods – not abide in the pasture of God) Again I looked in my vision, and surveyed heaven; when behold I saw many stars which descended, and projected themselves from heaven to where the first star was, Into the midst of those young ones; while the cows were with them, feeding in the midst of them. I looked at and observed them; when behold they all acted after the manner of horses, and began to approach the young cows, all of whom became pregnant, and brought forth elephants, camels and asses.

And when I looked in the vision, behold, one of those four angels, who came forth, hurled from heaven, collected together and took all the great stars, whose form partly resembled that of horses; and binding them all hand and foot, cast them into the cavities of the earth.

Then the Lord called the first seven white ones, and commanded them to bring before him the first of the first stars, which preceded the stars whose form partly resembled that of horses; the first star, which fell down first; and they brought them all before him.

Horse imagery in the occult

We can also see some sources outside Christianity that will help to show that the horse/ angel/ wind connection is not a just Christian idea, but a matter of fact that was known at one time to mankind. Lets take a look at some Greek mythology. The Greek word for wind is ἄνεμος (anemos). The Anemoi (plural for wind in Greek) was the name given to the Greek gods of the winds. The Anemoi are sons of Aeolus. There names are Boreas, god of the north wind, Zephrus, god of the west wind, Notus, god of the south wind, and Eurus, god of the east wind. The Roman version of the wind gods also were assigned cardinal directions, including intercardinal directions and there were 12 gods.

Boreas was closely associated with horses. He was said to have fathered twelve colts after taking the form of a stallion

They were also sometimes depicted as horses kept in the stables of the storm god Aeolus, who provided Odysseus with the Anemoi in the Odyssey. The Spartans were reported to sacrifice a horse to the winds on Mount Taygetus. Notus (Νότος, Nótos) was the Greek god of the south wind. He was associated with the desiccating hot wind of the rise of Sirius after midsummer, was thought to bring the storms of late summer and autumn, and was feared as a destroyer of crops. So, it is interesting that our winds in the Bible bring judgments of famine and pestilence, and the wind gods of the Greeks and Romans also brought crop conditions.

Horse imagery in weather

This next article about the horse latitudes bringing little to no rain when they travel north or south makes sense of some modern maritime terminology.

The horse latitudes are associated with the subtropical anticyclone. The belt in the Northern Hemisphere is sometimes called the “calms of Cancer” and that in the Southern Hemisphere the “calms of Capricorn”.

The consistently warm, dry, and sunny conditions of the horse latitudes are the main cause for the existence of the world’s major non-polar deserts, such as the Sahara Desert in Africa, the Arabian and Syrian deserts in the Middle East, the Mojave and Sonoran deserts in the southwestern United States and northern Mexico, all in the Northern Hemisphere; and the Atacama Desert, the Kalahari Desert, and the Australian Desert in the Southern Hemisphere.

You see a connection with horses, winds and crop conditions.

Fun fact: a ship was said to be ‘horsed‘ when, although there was insufficient wind for sail, the vessel could make good progress by latching on to a strong current.

Horses, false gods, weather, fortune

Tibetan prayer flags are traditionally hung in high places to catch the wind so the prayer will be carried out to bless and bring good fortune to all sentient beings. Translated to English, the words on Wind Horse prayer flags say:

“May the rain fall at the proper time.

May the crops and livestock be bountiful.

May there be freedom from illness, famine, and war.

May all beings be well and happy.”

The wind horse is a symbol of the human soul in the shamanistic tradition of East Asia and Central Asia. In Tibetan Buddhism, it was included as the pivotal element in the center of the four animals symbolizing the cardinal directions and a symbol of the idea of well-being or good fortune. It has also given the name to a type of prayer flag that has the five animals printed on it. Again, associating the wind, the horse and the spirit and fortune.

The Conclusion

You can do your own research on the connection between horses, storms and spirits. It is truly creepifying. It is my conclusion that there are angels responsible for causing the winds to blow, control the storms, and blow in pestilence or other calamities or much needed rain so that men will turn to the Most High. These spirits resemble horses in some way, perhaps in their mannerisms or when they manifest themselves physically or in visions to men. At God’s command they open the seals of the book in Revelation and the ingathering of the church at the rapture.

Just as God set the celestial bodies in motion, He created the angels that they represent and the people of the world whether they acknowledge Him as supreme or not, still acknowledge the existence of the stars, He also created the winds and the angels that they represent and the people of the world recognize that on those winds are brought blessings or severities. They recognize the horse-likeness as well, perhaps from tales passed down from the events of Gen 6:4, where I suspect most supernatural tales originated. Perhaps part of the reason nations fly their flags which display the signet of the one they serve also wish to observe the winds that come because of that lord and their actions. One thing is certain, if we want to be the recipient of blessings from the four winds that they will bring us life and carry us to the Most High, we will abide in His pastures and raise up His flag so that the world will see whom we love.

Psalm 60:4 Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah.

Song of Solomon 2:4 He brought me to the banqueting house, and his banner over me was love.

Series Navigation<< The Pale Horse

Bible Prophecies of the End Time

What Are The Four Winds?