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Context No. 21 of 4322 · Revelation

Context · Reflection

Revelation 6:1-6: in context

1I saw that the Lamb opened one of the seven seals, and I heard one of the four living creatures saying, as with a voice of thunder, “Come and see!” 2Then a white horse appeared, and he who sat on it had a bow. A crown was given to him, and he came out conquering, and to conquer. 3When he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” 4Another came out, a red horse. To him who sat on it was given power to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another. There was given to him a great sword. 5When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come and see!” And behold, a black horse, and he who sat on it had a balance in his hand. 6I heard a voice in the middle of the four living creatures saying, “A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenix of barley for a denarius! Don’t damage the oil and the wine!”

Revelation is a vision given to John, a Christian in exile, of history and its end, written in dense symbols. In heaven there is a scroll sealed with seven seals that only the Lamb, Christ, can open. As the Lamb breaks the seals one at a time, each looses something on the earth. This passage is the first three seals, and out of them ride the first three of what later readers called the four horsemen.

A white horse comes first, its rider crowned and holding a bow, riding out to conquer. Then a red horse, whose rider is given a great sword and the power to take peace from the earth, so that people kill one another. Then a black horse, whose rider holds a balance, a pair of scales, while a voice calls out prices: a quart of wheat for a denarius. Conquest, then war, then famine, in that order.

The scales and the prices are the point. A quart of wheat is about one person's grain for a day, and a denarius was a day's wage. In normal times a day's pay bought eight or ten times that much. Here it buys a single ration, while the oil and the wine, the costlier goods, are told to be spared. It is the plain arithmetic of famine: a full day's work for one day's bread, and nothing left over for a family. When things go hard, whose bread gets counted out to the ounce, and whose oil and wine do I quietly make sure are protected?

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