Revelation 6:5&6

Rev 6:5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say , Come and see . And I beheld , and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. 6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say , A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. 








We need to remember that John is not seeing the end but the things that lead to the end.  These things are the signs and wonders leading up to the final conflict between Jesus and the Antichrist.


The black horse and rider represents famine. This fits in that famine will usually follow a world wide war. 


The crops of that time (John's time), as repeatedly mentioned in the Bible, is corn, wine and oil.  (see Deu 7:13 , 11:14, 28:51 and Hosea 2:8 & 22).(the word "corn" was used to refer to any grain , but especially for wheat. see godandsicence.org)


The olive oil and the grape plants are both deep rooted plants and can withstand a pretty severe drought.  Where the wheat, or "corn" is a shallow plant and cannot.  Therefore, the wheat would die off first.


The scales here are to represent the measure of wheat for a denarius or a full days wages.   The word measure here means, just enough to make a man one meal.  So what we are looking at is a days wages for one meal mad with wheat.   A danarius is also equivalent to three measures of barley,(lesser cheaper wheat) or three meals for that days wages.  These are really hard times, the wheat alone will cost all we have leaving nothing left to buy the other necessities of life.  Yes, the wine and oil will be plentiful but there will be no wages left to purchase them with.  Most of the remaining population will die of starvation.


There has been an interesting point made by Barclay in The Revelation of John vol. 2, that nature is also represented by the four living creatures who are giving the warning concerning famine.  The issue here is that nature has always produced plenty and that there still are many people who have more than enough but there are some who will never see abundance.  I am not advocating take from the rich and give to the poor.  I am saying that Christ has given all, on the cross, so that we may have everlasting life with him, surely we can share with those who do not have enough and be the true Christian HE wants us to be.


"Do not withhold good from those who deserve it, when it is in your power to act." - Proverbs 3:27-28