{And I saw} (kai eidon). As in  4:1  5:1 . The vision
unfolds without anything being said about opening the book and
reading from it. In a more vivid and dramatic fashion the Lamb
breaks the seals one by one and reveals the contents and the
symbolism. The first four seals have a common note from one of
the four z(9361) and the appearance of a horse. No effort will be
made here to interpret these seals as referring to persons or
historical events in the past, present, or future, but simply to
relate the symbolism to the other symbols in the book. It is
possible that there is some allusion here to the symbolism in the
so-called "Little Apocalypse" of  Mr 13  Mt 24f.  Lu 21 . The
imagery of the four horses is similar to that in  Zec 1:7-11  6:1-8  (cf.  Jer 14:12  24:10  42:17 ). In the Old Testament the
horse is often the emblem of war ( Job 39:25  Ps 76:6  Pr 21:31  Eze 26:10 ). "Homer pictures the horses of Rhesus as whiter than
snow, and swift as the wind" (Vincent). {When the Lamb opened}
(hote (886e)oixen to arnion). First aorist active indicative of
anoig(935c). This same phrase recurs in rhythmical order at the
opening of each seal ( 6:1,3,5,7,9,12 ) till the last ( 8:1 ),
where we have hotan (886e)oixen (hotan rather than hote calling
particular attention to it). {One} (mian). Probably used here
as an ordinal (the first) as in  Mt 28:1 . See Robertson,
_Grammar_, p. 671f. {Of} (ek). This use of ek with the
ablative in the partitive sense is common in the Apocalypse, as
twice in this verse (ek t(936e), etc.). So henos ek t(936e) (one of
the four living creatures) is "the first of," etc. {In a voice of
thunder} (en ph(936e)(8869) bront(8873)). Old word used of John and James
( Mr 3:17 ) and elsewhere in N.T. only  Joh 12:29  and a dozen
times in the Apocalypse. {Come} (Erchou). Present middle
imperative of erchomai, but with exclamatory force (not
strictly linear). The command is not addressed to the Lamb nor to
John (the correct text omits kai ide "and see") as in  17:1  21:9 , but to one of the four horsemen each time. Swete takes it
as a call to Christ because erchou is so used in  22:17,20 ,
but that is not conclusive.