5-6 Following on the heels of war is the third angelic
rider, on a black horse, holding a pair of scales in his
hand, a symbol of famine from the prophecy of Ezekiel,
in which the starving inhabitants of Jerusalem were
forced to weigh their food carefully (Ezek. 4:10). This
Horseman brings economic hardship, a situation
described as completely chaotic. A voice from the
center of the living creatures – i.e., from God’s Throne
– says: A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three
quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not harm the
oil and the wine. This curse thus means a shortage of
the necessary staples – a measure of wheat rising to
more than 1000% of its former price, consuming an
entire day’s wages,12 so that a man’s entire labor is spent
in obtaining food. This is God’s curse on men whenever
they rebel: The land itself spews them out (Lev. 18:24-
28; Isa. 24). The Curse devours productivity in every
area, and the ungodly culture perishes through
starvation, disease, and oppression (Deut. 28:15-34).
This is how God controls the wicked: They must spend
so much time just surviving that they are unable to
exercise ungodly dominion over the earth. In the long
run, this is the history of every culture that departs from
God’s Word.13
Josephus describes the frantic search for food during the
final siege: “As the famine grew worse, the frenzy of the
insurgents kept pace with it, and every day both these
horrors burned more fiercely. For, since nowhere was
grain to be seen, men would break into houses, and if
they found some they mistreated the occupants for
having denied their possession of it; if they found none,
they tortured them as if they had concealed it more
carefully. Proof whether they had food or not was
provided by the physical appearance of the wretches;
those still in good condition were deemed to be well
provided with food, while those who were already
wasting away were passed over, for it seemed pointless
to kill persons who would soon die of starvation. Many
secretly bartered their possessions for a single measure
of wheat if they happened to be rich, barley if they were
poor. Then they shut themselves up in the darkest
corners of their houses; in the extremity of hunger some
even ate their grain underground, while others baked it,
guided by necessity and fear. Nowhere was a table laid
– the food was snatched half-cooked from the fire and
torn into pieces.”14
On the other hand, however, in this specific curse on
Jerusalem the luxuries of oil and wine are unaffected by
the general price rise; the black Horseman is forbidden
to touch them. The scales are the sign of Libra,
spanning September and October; Farrer surmises that
if the grain harvest failed in April and May, “men might
begin to tighten their belts in October. They would
then be just finishing the fruit-gathering, and might
observe the irony of nature, that grapes and olives had
gone unscathed; of the traditional triad corn, wine, and
oil, corn, at a pinch, will keep you alive without the
other two, but not they without the corn.”15 In all
likelihood, another dimension of this expression’s
import is that God’s messengers of destruction are kept
from harming the righteous: Scripture often speaks of
God’s blessings upon the righteous in terms of oil and
wine (cf. Ps. 104:15); and, of course, oil and wine are
used in the rites of the Church (James 5:14-15; 1 Cor.
11:25). This would then parallel those other passages in
which the godly are protected from destruction (cf.
7:3).
