Revelation 6:5-6 5And when he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse, and the one sitting upon it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6And I heard like a voice in the midst of the four living creatures, saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius, and do not harm the oil and wine!”
As the Lamb broke the third seal, the third living creature grabbed John’s attention with the vision of a third rider on a black horse. The following description is the longest of the first four seals. This rider holds a pair of scales. Scales are symbolic of weighing and balancing justice and fairness. In our day, judges often wear black robes and are given the authority to weigh and balance justice. This rider appears to have a similar responsibility, but his job was unpleasant because of the dire situation. After the conquest and war, economic hardship and great famine result.
A voice helps John understand this vision. This rider appears to be measuring out food, but is not a good situation for the average person. The cost of a quart of wheat or three quarts of the lower-quality barley required a denarius, which was the common daily wage for a laborer. A person would have to work all day to earn enough to buy a loaf of bread. The economy had crashed, and inflation had outpaced wages. Every part of life will be affected when this rider goes throughout the world.
War often leads to the economic struggle of many people. It does not take much to interrupt the food supply in many nations, especially in large cities. If the distribution networks collapsed, it would only take a few days for a city to go into chaos because of a lack of food if such things as war or electricity go off. The calamities upon humanity continue to grow with the opening of each seal. Each seal offers humanity the opportunity to repent and see God’s hand at work. But people make excuses for every calamity, and their hearts harden even more.