The black horse (third seal)--6:5-6. The black horse was the color of distress, the portent of terror in the approaching calamity. It compares with the Old Testament figure in Joe 2:6 : “ The people shall be much pained, all faces gather blackness” ; and in Nahum 2:10 : “ The faces of them all gather blackness” ; and in Jeremiah 8:21 : “ For the hurt of my people am I hurt, I am black.” Jude 1:13 refers to the “ blackness of darkness forever.” It is the picture of the grim, dread calamity of famine in the land. The balances in the hand of the rider were scales and measures and indicated the scarcity in the land; the strict and small allowance of food to be issued by minute measure or exact weight with legislated care. It compares with Matthew 24:7, where Jesus foretold the famine that prevailed during the siege of Jerusalem. The voice in the midst of the four beasts (or beings) was in repetition of the voices heard in the visions, and impressed the hidden source of the revelations, adding to the portentous element of its apocalyptic character. The sound of this voice came from the midst of the four beings; hence, from within deep recesses of the throne, since the beings were in the midst of the throne; it was a voice of solemn authority, requiring reverence and heed. The measures of wheat and barley for a penny were according to the standard of the time. A measure of wheat was equal to approximately one quart. The penny is a translation of the Greek denarius, which the Bible Dictionaries say was equivalent to fifteen or twenty cents, and represented a regular full day’ s wages. The price for a measure of wheat, or a quart, in this vision amounted to a whole day’ s wages, and was therefore an extortionate price, the payment of a full day’ s work. (Matthew 20:2) Three measures of barley were less than a gallon for a day’ s wages, which indicates the extreme scarcity in the usually common and plentiful sources of food. The command to hurt not the oil and the wine was addressed to the rider of the black horse, holding the scales and measures, not to suppress the oil and the wine. The oil was an extract from olives and spices, having many uses in both the Old and New Testaments. It was used in the preparation of food (Exodus 29:2; Leviticus 2:4); for illumination, or lamps (Exodus 25:6; Matthew 25:3); for medicinal remedies (Isaiah 1:6; Mark 6:13); for a divine confection in the various legal and religious ceremonies and appointments. (Exodus 30:25; Ezekiel 28:14). The use of oil signified joy; the omission of it was a token of sorrow. (Psalms 92:10; 2 Samuel 14:2; Matthew 6:17) The wine has been the subject of sundry and divers views, based on variations of the Hebrew and Greek words; but it is a well known fact that the characteristic common to all wine is that of an exhilarating beverage. Its misuse is severely condemned in both testaments and in some cases and places expressly forbidden. The word is used to denote abundance of temporal good things (Genesis 27:28-37); and as a type of spiritual blessings (Isaiah 55:1); and as alleviation of trouble and sorrow (Proverbs 31:6). In the vision of the red horse, the voice commanded the rider not to hurt the oil and the wine, not to limit or ration the oil and the wine; though famine would dissipate all other commodities, oil and wine would be undiminished. It was evidently the symbol of the providential alleviation of suffering and mitigation of sorrow--with oil and wine he would bind up their wounds. It was the voice of promise in the midst of the living creatures, from within the throne, that the ransomed of the Lord should come to Zion with songs of everlasting joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing would flee away.