The Rider on the Black Horse

 

When he opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, “Come!” And I looked, and behold, a black horse! And its rider had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard what seemed to be 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!” (Revelation 6:5-6 ESV).

 

The third horseman who is called with the breaking of the third seal rides a black horse. This rider also holds a pair of scales, which were used for everyday buying and selling. These scales, however, were rigged to inflate the costs of grain. The third horseman represents economic injustice, robbing many people of their daily bread and other basic needs. It is very clear in the calamity of the end times that there will be famine and great need. In this picture the Apostle John helps us sense the deep care and concern of God over unjust practices, because a day’s worth of wages for a small bag of grain or flour would have a big impact on most people for their survival.

 

Jesus knows the importance of having daily bread available for everyone. One of his most famous miracles was his feeding of many thousands of people when they were tired and hungry in a remote place. He refused to send the people away hungry (cf. Matthew 14:16). And when Jesus taught us to ask God our Father, “Give us today our daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), it was our basic needs for food, clothing, and shelter that he had in mind.

 

It might be of interest to all of that while living in the most advanced production center of the world the numbers of food insecure families in America has increased 500% since 2018. While there were just over 11 million families classified as food insecure, the most recent statistics indicate 53 million families in our country do not have enough money to buy food for their families. I know it’s easy to blame this on the poor choices of many of those who are hungry; however, that is not the attitude of God. It is a very complex problem that certainly has no easy answers. But if we are following Jesus’ example, we should live and work so that the scales for economic justice tip on the side of mercy and love. The rider on the black horse shows no care for the poor. But Jesus does! And he commands us to do likewise. Jesus also says to those who follow his example: “Come … [into] the kingdom prepared for you. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.” (Matthew 25:35-40). These are indeed days like those describe by John as “apocalyptic.” We can do so much more than we do!