Revelation 6:5-6

THE THIRD SEAL.

The first and second seals mark distinct epochs, clearly separated from each other. We can determine the exact number of years that belongs to each period. It is not possible to separate, with the same distinctness, the events indicated by the third and fourth seals. The prophecies are fulfilled with startling accuracy, and the occurrences symbolized by each seal follow each other in the same order as the seals, but the events overlap, and are related to each other as effects to cause. During the terrible period of civil commotion, indicated by the red horse, the era of blood and anarchy produces the events symbolized by the black horse, and as the combined result of the two preceding seals there follow the events indicated by the pale horse. The opening of the third seal is described in these words:

And when he had opened the third seal,. heard the third beast say, Come and see. And. beheld, and lo,. black horse; and he that sat on him had. pair of balances in his hand. And. heard. voice in the midst of the four beasts say,. measure of wheat for. penny, and three measures of barley for. penny: and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. 6:5, 6.

Again there appear. horse and. rider. Again the color of the horse is changed, as well as the instrument held in the hand of the horseman. If the white and red colors, the bow and the great sword, had. significance, this must be true also of the black color and the balances.

It has been found that the horse, whatever his color, is the symbol of war. The black horse makes it plain that the land is torn by calamitous war, and is filled with sorrow, mourning, and despair. Black is the color of mourning. The prophet (Jeremiah 14:2,) says: "Because of the drought Judah mourneth, and the gates thereof languish; they are in deep mourning (lit. black) for the land." This single illustration shows the idea attached to this gloomy color in all ages.

The things to be noted in this vision are,

1. the horse;

2. his color;

3. the balances in the hands of the rider;

4. the charge given to him.

As to the first and second of these, the meaning is plain. There is more difficulty about the last two items.

If the balances were alone, we would say that they were. symbol of justice, but in the hands of the rider of the black horse, and in the connection that follows, they are an indication of. scarcity of food. "Bread by weight" indicates scarcity. The following passages indicate the significance of' the weight in connection with food:

And when. have broken the staff of your bread, ten women shall bake your bread in one oven, and they shall deliver you your bread again by weight: and ye shall eat and not be satisfied. Leviticus 26:26.

Moreover he said unto me, son of man, behold,. will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall cat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment: That they may want broad and water, and be astonied with one another, and consume away for their iniquity. Ezekiel 4:16-17.

The balances were also, in those days, used in taxation.. portion of the produce was demanded in Judea, is still in Turkey, and was. part of the taxes extorted by the Roman Empire. The balances indicate. period of excessive taxation, as well as of scarcity. The prices of wheat and barley are famine prices. The "measure" was about. quart, and the term rendered "penny" is the Greek denarius, which was equivalent to about fourteen cents of our money.. bushel of wheat, at the price designated, would be worth four dollars and fifty cents, and of barley one dollar and fifty cents; but in those days the relative value of money was four or five times greater than at present.. denarius was the usual price of. day's labor. Hence, when we consider the changed value of money itself, the prices of wheat and barley must be placed at about twenty dollars, and six dollars per bushel, respectively. Nothing but. period of extreme scarcity could maintain such exorbitant prices. Oil and wine were the common articles of food for the people, but the voice prohibits their use. Taken in connection with the context it is implied that in this time of want they are no longer in use by the common people. There is designated. period of extreme taxation, of enormous prices, of great scarcity and want.

This is just what continued civil war would effect. Military expenses would multiply taxes. This was done even by our civil war of four, instead of ninety-two years. Lands would lie uncultivated, crops would be destroyed, and vast regions would be desolated by the march of contending armies. High prices, scarcity, and want, would necessarily be the result.

I will not consider the historical fulfillment of those features of this seal, which refer to scarcity and want, until. explain the next seal.. have already stated that these seals are in part coincident in time, and under the fourth seal, the seal of Death, famine is one of the awful agencies employed. The feature of crushing taxation is, however, peculiar to the third seal, and. will make quotations from our usual historical authority, Gibbon, and also from Lactantius,. historian of the fourth century. Gibbon notes in strong language the ruinous edicts promulgated in the reign of Caracalla (A. D. 211-217) and his successors, as being among the prominent causes of the decline and fall of the empire. He says:

Nor was the rapacious son of Severus (Caracalla) contented with such. measure of taxation its had appeared sufficient to his moderate predecessors. Instead of it twentieth, he exacted. tenth of all legacies and inheritances, and during his reign he crushed alike every part of the empire under the weight of his iron sceptre. Vol. I. p. 95.

In the course of this history, we shall be too often summoned to explain the land tax, the capitation, and the heavy contributions of corn (wheat), wine, oil, and meat, which were exacted of the provinces for the use of the army, the court, the capital.

Swarms of exactors sent into the provinces, filled them with agitation and terror, as though. conquering enemy were leading them into captivity. The fields were separately measured, the trees and vines, the flocks and herds were numbered, and an examination made of the men.. *. The sick and weak were borne to the place of inscription,. reckoning was made of the age of each, years were added to the young and subtracted from the old, in order to subject them to the higher taxation the law imposed. The whole scene was filled with wailing and sadness.-- Lactantius.

Could there be. more impressive symbol of such. period than is supplied in the vision and charge of the third seal?