Christian ministers need "the tongue of the learned to speak a word in
season to him that is weary," when the judgments of God are abroad in
the earth; for some of these press, most sensibly, on the poor. Such is
the character of the dispensation symbolized by the "black horse."
Scarcity of bread is the judgment represented here by the combined
symbols. "Our skin was black like an oven, because of the terrible
famine." (Lam. v. 10; Zech. vi. 2.)--The rider "had a pair of balances
in his hand." The word translated "balances," literally rendered,
signifies a _yoke_,--_pair_,--_couple_.--In popular use, it came to
signify an instrument for weighing commodities, from the counterpoising
(double) scales. This symbol indicated famine,--that people should "eat
bread by weight and with care;" (Ezek. iv. 16;) and this is confirmed by
the "voice in the midst of the four animals:"--"A measure of wheat for a
penny," etc. The quantity of food, and the price, as here announced,
would seem to the English reader to express plenty and cheapness. But
when it is understood that the "measure of wheat" was the ordinary
allowance for a laboring man, and "a penny" the usual wages for _one
day_; a little more than a _quart_, for about _fifteen cents_: it may be
asked, How could the laboring man procure food and clothing for himself,
his wife and children? It is said that three times the quantity of
"barley" could be had for the same money; but being a coarser and less
nutritious grain, it would reach but little farther in sustaining a
family. Famine usually falls heaviest on the middle and lower classes of
society. Even in such times the "rich fare sumptuously every day."
Accordingly, "the oil and the wine,"--some of the staple productions of
Canaan,--are exempted from the providential blight sent upon the
necessaries of life. (Gen. xliii. 11.)

According to history, from the year 138, till near the end of the second
century, a general scarcity of provisions was felt, notwithstanding all