Revelation Now :
Daily Devotional Bible Studies in Revelation
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Black and Pale Horses: Day 28 
When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creatures say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse! Its rider was named Death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill by sword, famine and plague, and by the wild beasts of the earth. (Revelation 6.5-8)
The Third Black Horse
The third black horse is a symbol of severe famine, usually following war in antiquity, which causes great hardship. There is still wheat at a prohibitive price and the wine and the oil are still affordable. Olive oil and vine were luxury items carefully rationed.
Wine Oil and Corn
The three main crops in Palestine were corn, wine and oil and it is these three which are always mentioned when the crops of the land are being described . The rider of the black horse had the cross-beam of a balance in his hand. In the Old Testament, the phrase "to eat bread by weight" indicates the greatest scarcity in society. Instead of buying bread by the loaf which would be the norm, the bread is sold by the pound in pieces. In Leviticus it is the threat of God that, if the people are disobedient "they shall deliver your bread again by weight" (1). It is also the threat of God to Ezekiel: "I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem; they shall eat bread by weight and with fearfulness" (2).
There could however be wine and oil even when there was no corn. The olive and the vine were much more deeply-rooted than corn; and they could stand a much greater drought than the corn crop. When Jacob had to send down to Egypt for corn in the days of the famine in the time of Joseph, he was still able to send with his sons a gift of "the choice fruits of the land" (3) i.e. of grapes and of oil. A situation in which wine and oil were plentiful and corn prohibitively dear would be the equivalent of one in which luxuries were plentiful and necessities scarce.
Scarcity of Food
We can see the extent of the scarcity from the statement of the voice from amidst the four living creatures. A measure of wheat or three measures of barley was to cost a denarius. The measure was equivalent to two pints and consistently defined in the ancient world as a man's ration for a day. A denarius was the equivalent of four pence and was a working man's wage for a day. Normally one denarius bought anything from eight to sixteen measures of corn and three to four times as much barley. What John is foretelling is a situation in which a man's whole working wage would be needed to buy enough corn for himself for a day, leaving absolutely nothing to buy any of the other necessities of life and absolutely nothing for his wife and family. If instead of corn he bought the much inferior barley, he might manage to give some to his wife and family but again he would not be able to buy anything else.
Famine and Luxury
We have seen that, although John was telling of the signs which were to precede the end, he was nevertheless painting them in terms of actual historical situations which readers would recognize. In the time of Nero, there had been desperate famines which left the luxury of the rich untouched. There was an occasion when a ship arrived in Italy from Alexandria. The starving populace thought it was a corn ship, for all the corn ships came from Alexandria; and they rioted when they discovered that the cargo was not corn but a special kind of sand from the Nile Delta to spread upon the ground of the arena for a gladiatorial show.
This passage finds an amazing echo in certain events during the reign of Domitian, at the very time when John was writing. There was a very serious shortage of grain and also a superabundance of wine. Domitian took the drastic step of enacting that no fresh vineyards should be planted and that half the vineyards in the provinces should be cut down. At this edict, the people of the province of Asia, in which John was writing, came very near to rebelling for their vineyards were one of their principal sources of revenue. In view of the violent reaction of the people of Asia, Domitian rescinded his edict and actually enacted that those who allowed their vineyards to go out of cultivation should be prosecuted. Here is the very picture of a situation in which corn was scarce and it was yet forbidden to interfere with the supply of wine and oil.
The Pale Horse
The breaking of the fourth seal reveals a pale horse the color of a person's face white with terror or of someone about to die. It was a symbol of death and decay. Death is himself accompanied by Hades (the underworld) as his companion. It is now not just a case of scarcity but of famine.
Meditation
Imagine the horror of seeing the famine and the terrible horsemen of the Apocalypse?
Prayer
"Lord, make us thankful for all your provisions for us, whether wine or oil or wheat"
Notes
(1) Leviticus 26:26 (2) Ezekiel 4:16 (3) Genesis 43:11
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place."