Bird's-eye view
In this passage, the Lamb of God continues to unroll the scroll of God's judgments against covenant-breaking Israel. The opening of the third seal unleashes the third of the four horsemen, a figure representing severe famine and economic collapse. This is not a random disaster, but a specific, targeted judgment, a covenant lawsuit in action. The first horseman was conquest (the gospel), the second was civil war, and now the third is scarcity. These judgments correspond directly to the covenant curses threatened in the Old Testament for apostasy and are also what Jesus predicted would befall "this generation" in the Olivet Discourse. The imagery is stark: a black horse, the color of gloom and starvation, and a rider holding scales, signifying the meticulous rationing of food that has become astronomically expensive. The voice from the throne specifies the grim economic reality, a full day's wage for a mere subsistence amount of grain. Yet, there is a limit to the judgment; the oil and wine, staples representing a measure of prosperity and gladness, are to be preserved. This indicates that the judgment, while severe, is not yet the final consummation of wrath. It is a measured, disciplinary stroke, aimed squarely at the heart of the unfaithful city, Jerusalem, which would experience this very kind of devastating famine during the Roman siege of A.D. 70.
This is God dismantling a rebellious world, piece by piece. He is sovereign over conquest, He is sovereign over civil strife, and as we see here, He is sovereign over the economy. He can bring about hyperinflation with a word. This passage serves as a potent reminder that our daily bread is a gift from His hand, and that covenant rebellion has real-world, tangible, and devastating consequences. For the first-century reader, this was not an abstract symbol but a prophecy of the approaching terror that would soon engulf their nation.
Outline
- 1. The Third Covenant Lawsuit Judgment (Rev 6:5-6)
- a. The Summons and the Sighting (Rev 6:5a)
- b. The Black Horse of Famine (Rev 6:5b)
- c. The Scales of Scarcity (Rev 6:5c)
- d. The Heavenly Proclamation of Hardship (Rev 6:6a)
- e. The Restraint on the Judgment (Rev 6:6b)
Context In Revelation
The first four seals in Revelation 6 unleash the famous four horsemen. It is crucial to see them as a unit, a sequence of interconnected judgments. The first horseman on the white horse is the victorious advance of the gospel, going forth to conquer. The reaction to this conquest among those who reject it is predictable: rage and internecine strife, represented by the red horse of civil war. The breakdown of civil order naturally leads to the breakdown of commerce and agriculture, which is what we see here with the black horse of famine. And these three together, conquest, war, and famine, culminate in the fourth rider on the pale horse, whose name is Death. This sequence is not arbitrary; it mirrors the covenant curses found in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28, and it directly corresponds to the tribulations Jesus described in the Olivet Discourse (Matthew 24, Mark 13, Luke 21). Jesus predicted false Christs (conquest), wars and rumors of wars (civil strife), and famines. John is seeing the heavenly perspective of the very judgments Jesus prophesied would come upon Jerusalem before that generation passed away. The breaking of the seals in heaven is the engine driving the historical events on earth that led to the destruction of the temple and the old covenant order in A.D. 70.
Key Issues
- The Symbolism of the Black Horse
- The Meaning of the Scales
- The Economic Reality of a Denarius for a Choinix of Wheat
- The Identity of the Voice from the Midst
- The Significance of Sparing the Oil and Wine
- The Fulfillment of the Prophecy in the Siege of Jerusalem
The High Cost of Rebellion
We live in a soft age that has forgotten that our God is a consuming fire. We have domesticated the Lion of Judah into a house cat. We assume that God's blessings, like rain, sunshine, and a stable economy, are simply the default settings of the universe. They are not. They are covenant blessings, and the inverse is also true. Covenant rebellion invites covenant curses. Famine is one of the Lord's "four severe judgments" that He threatened to send upon Jerusalem (Ezekiel 14:21), the other three being the sword, wild beasts, and pestilence, all of which are unleashed by these four horsemen. When a people forsakes God, He does not have to do anything spectacular to judge them. He can simply withdraw His hand of blessing from their food supply. He can let nature take its course. He can let economic laws play out to their bitter end. The voice from the throne room of the universe decrees a change in commodity prices, and a nation starves. This is a terrifying display of the meticulous sovereignty of God over all things, right down to the price of bread in the marketplace. The black horse rides when a nation's spiritual accounts are in the red, and the scales in the rider's hand are a picture of a just and precise reckoning.
Verse by Verse Commentary
5 And when He opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” Then I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sits on it had a pair of scales in his hand.
As with the previous two seals, the action is initiated by the Lamb, Jesus Christ. He is the one opening the seals; He is the Lord of history. One of the four living creatures, the cherubim who guard the throne of God, issues the summons to "Come." These creatures are intimately involved in executing God's judgments. John looks, and what he sees is a black horse. White was the color of victory, red the color of bloodshed, and black here is the color of dearth, gloom, and famine. The rider is not named, but his purpose is made clear by the instrument he carries: a pair of scales. In a time of plenty, you don't need to weigh out every grain. You measure grain by the bushel. But when food is scarce, it is rationed and sold by precise weight. The scales are a symbol of scarcity and meticulous, painful rationing. This is a picture of a society under the severe strain of economic collapse and famine.
6 And I heard something like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures saying, “One choinix of wheat for one denarius, and three choinix of barley for one denarius, and do not harm the oil and the wine.”
The voice comes from the very center of the throne room, from the midst of the living creatures. This is the voice of God, or a voice speaking with His absolute authority. The decree is specific and economic. A choinix of wheat was roughly equivalent to a quart, considered the minimum daily ration for one person. A denarius was the standard day's wage for a common laborer. So the proclamation means that a man would have to work all day just to earn enough to buy a tiny loaf of bread for himself, with nothing left over for his family, or for anything else. It is a picture of absolute subsistence, of grinding poverty enforced by hyperinflation. Barley was cheaper food, the food of the poor and of animals; you could get three times as much for the same price. This meant a man could feed his family of three a meager ration of the cheapest grain, but just barely.
This prophecy found a painfully literal fulfillment. The Jewish historian Josephus, describing the Roman siege of Jerusalem, wrote, "Many there were indeed who sold what they had for one measure; it was of wheat, if they were of the richer sort, but of barley if they were poorer." The black horse did indeed ride through the streets of first-century Jerusalem.
But then comes a curious limitation: "do not harm the oil and the wine." Oil and wine were also staples, but they represent more than just bare subsistence. They speak of gladness, festivity, and a measure of wealth. Why are they spared? This shows that the judgment is measured and limited. It is not yet the final, utter destruction. God is turning the economic screws, inflicting great pain, but He is not annihilating everything. There is still a chance to repent. It also may indicate that the wealthy, those with stores of oil and wine, were insulated from the worst of the famine, which fell most heavily on the common man trying to buy his daily bread. This kind of economic disparity is a common feature of societal collapse, and God is sovereign over that as well.
Application
The first and most obvious application is that we should not take our prosperity for granted. Our daily bread is a gift, and the complex web of agriculture, logistics, and economics that brings it to our table is upheld by the constant providence of God. When we pray "give us this day our daily bread," we should mean it. We depend on God for everything, and He can withdraw His blessing in a moment.
Second, this passage is a stark warning against the kind of covenant unfaithfulness that brings about such judgments. The people of Jerusalem were judged because they rejected their Messiah. They were the tenants of the vineyard who killed the Son. We who are part of the new covenant must take care not to make the same mistake. We must not presume upon the grace of God or treat the blood of the covenant as a common thing. When a culture, particularly a culture that has been as blessed by the gospel as ours has been, turns its back on God, it should not be surprised when the black horse of economic calamity begins to ride.
Finally, we see the precision of God's judgments. He tells the rider not to harm the oil and the wine. God's wrath is never a blind, uncontrolled rage. It is always measured, just, and purposeful. Even in His judgments, He is demonstrating His meticulous sovereignty. For the believer, this is a comfort. We know that whatever calamities may befall the world, they are within the wise and sovereign counsel of our Father. He knows how to preserve His people in the midst of judgment, just as He preserved a remnant from the destruction of Jerusalem. Our ultimate security is not in our pantries or our bank accounts, but in the finished work of the Lamb who alone is worthy to open the seals.