While most people associate the third horseman with famine, this is only an aspect of his significant role in the shaking of the modern world.
READ TIME: 5-6 minutes
When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come.” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. And I heard something like a voice in the center of the four living creatures saying, “A quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.” – Revelation 6:5-6
The Purpose of the Third Horseman
If you read any commentators’ notes on the third horseman, you will read of famine and maybe economic strife. This interpretation comes from the two sentences in Revelation 6.
While this interpretation is not wrong, it only scratches the surface of the third horseman’s purpose. His true purpose is fully revealed through Revelation 4, Zechariah 6, Daniel 5, and Luke 21.
The horseman on the black horse is part of a team of four, with each one playing a role in a joint mission. Also referred to at times as the four winds or four spirits, these horsemen stir and scatter. At the end of this age, these four spirits will shake the established world, allowing sin to reach its peak, judgment to come, and the next age to arrive.
So let’s walk through these other scriptures to uncover the purpose of the third horseman on the black horse.
The Horseman on the Black Horse Helps Conquer Babylon
Near the end of the Babylonian exile of the Jews, Zechariah had a vision of the Lord sending the four horsemen on missions. He sends the horseman driving the black horses north, and the horseman with the white horses follows after him.
The vision ends with an angelic messenger stating that the ones who went to the north bought him peace about the northland. This statement likely refers to the Persian conquest of Babylon, which is the subject of the preceding and subsequent writings.
Because Daniel documented the night of Babylon’s conquest, we can gain more insight into the activities of the horsemen in these writings. Daniel describes the king, Belshazzar, throwing a feast for 1,000 nobles. This feast may have been a celebration of Belshazzar claiming the throne after, the Persians conquered the city where his father, Nabonidus, lived.
In his arrogance, Belshazzar ordered his servants to bring the Jewish temple’s vessels, and they drank wine from them. Upon this desecration of the temple vessels, a hand appeared and wrote mene, mene, teqel, and upharsin on the wall.
Daniel interpreted the words as follows,” ‘MENĒ’—God has numbered your kingdom and put an end to it. ‘TEKĒL’—you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient. ‘PERĒS’—your kingdom has been divided and given over to the Medes and Persians.“
Notice that Daniel’s interpretation includes one of the hallmarks of the third horseman. The third horseman’s most notable feature in Revelation 6 is that he carries a scale. The scales show up in Daniel’s interpretation of the word Teqel as “you have been weighed on the scales and found deficient.”
This clue further connects the third horseman to the fall of Babylon. But what exactly did the third horseman do in Babylon to help bring down the empire?
Famine and Revolt that Preceded the Conquering
Belshazzar’s father, Nabonidus, was not a popular king. The largest source of this consternation was Nabonidus’ worship of the moon god Sin, over the Babylonian god Marduk. Writings indicate that Nabonidus considered one of his greatest achievements to be the rebuilding of a temple in Ebabbar, in which he attributed many of the titles of Marduk to Sin.
Out of the playbook of the third horseman, a great famine marked Nabonidus’ reign. Between 560 BC and 550 BC, food prices increased by fifty percent. Nabonidus attributed the famine to Sin’s wrath for the people’s impiety, which likely angered them further. Conversely, the people may have seen the famine as wrath from Marduk for Nabonidus’ religious reforms.
The people’s nerves were frayed by famine and religious heresy, so when the Persians attacked the city of Opis on the Tigris, the people of the Akkad area revolted. To suppress the revolt, Nabonidus massacred his own subjects.
These conditions in Babylon likely allowed the Persians to take over Babylon with little resistance. The people may have even seen Cyrus as a liberator from Nabonidus’ policies.
See, it is not the famine itself that was the goal of the horseman with the black horses; it was the social upheaval and revolt that followed. These conditions prepared the way for the Persians to conquer Babylon, which was the mission of the horseman with the white horses.
In Revelation 6, the third horseman, who rides the black horse, brings famine. But is the third horseman’s goal famine, or is it social upheaval and revolt as in the case of Babylon?
To answer that, let’s dig deeper, starting with the living creature who summons the third horseman in Revelation 6.
The Third Living Creature Confirms the Third Horseman’s Mission
There is a connection between each living creature around the throne and the specific horseman that that living creature summons.
The first living creature was like a lion and represents Christ as King. The second living creature was like a calf and represents Christ as a sacrifice. And the third living creature has a face like a man, representing Christ’s humanity.
Each of the horsemen brings a negative version of these respective representations. The first horseman brings false Christs/ false kings. The second causes men to slay one another, And the third horseman causes consternation among humanity.
So the third living creature further shows that the third horseman’s mission is to bring social upheaval, even revolts.
Does the Bible support this conclusion elsewhere? Yes, from the mouth of Jesus.
Nation Against Nation
Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 document Jesus’ answer to his disciples’ question about the signs of the end of the age.
These signs mirror the six seals of revelation, including the roles of the four horsemen, in name and order.
“See to it that you are not misled; for many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am He,’ [first horseman] and, ‘The time is near.’ Do not go after them. When you hear of wars and disturbances [second horseman], do not be terrified; for these things must take place first, but the end does not follow immediately…. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom [third horseman], and there will be great earthquakes, and in various places plagues and famines [fourth horseman]…”
Luke 21
So what does Jesus mean by nation rising against nation? The Greek word for nations is ethnos, is related to races and peoples rather than countries. So we see here that the mission of the third horseman is not famine, but rather bringing races and peoples against those who are different than them. Just as in the case of Babylon, this horseman brings social upheaval and revolts.
You may be thinking, “But Revelation 6 mentions wheat, barley, and scales, not social upheaval.“
While this is true, we can pull more meaning from Revelation 6 than at first glance.
What the Voice Reveals
When the third horseman comes forth, something like a voice calls out from the midst of the living creatures. This “like a voice” states, “a quart of wheat for a denarius, and three quarts of barley for a denarius; and do not damage the oil and the wine.“
Clearly, this statement refers to the high cost of food. This is a time when a quart of wheat (enough to feed one person for one day) costs a whole day’s wage for the working class.
So during this time, a worker will barely be able to provide for their family. The Bible doesn’t tell us what causes the spike in food prices. Most likely the high prices would result from the global instability caused by the other horseman; wars between men, the conquering of nations, and pestilence, even drought.
But the oil and wine are not touched. Why?
The scales that the horseman carries give us further insight into this statement.
What the Scales Represent
Like the first two horsemen, the third horseman carries an item tied to his purpose. His item is a pair of scales. At first glance, these scales appear to relate to the price of wheat and barley, but they are not.
The traditional rationale for this conclusion is that merchants use scales to determine the weight of food. But, a quart (choinix) is a measure of volume, not weight.
Scales represent justice and balance. The third horseman will create an imbalance in humanity. The statement by the voice indicates that the famine will primarily impact the poor. Wheat for a day’s wages will greatly impact the working class but not affect the wealthy as significantly. The rich will absorb the price of grain and still enjoy the finer things; oil (for skin, appearances) and wine (pleasure, celebration). This imbalance will cause social upheaval, riots, and revolts; ethnos will rise against ethnos.
And like in the days of Belshazzar, those who have plenty and are not generous will be weighed (on the scales) and found deficient.
Is the third horseman riding today? Do we “see all these things” today?
The Third Horseman Rides Today
As in the days of Nabonidus’ reign in Babylon, we see some of the same conditions forming today.
Famine is gripping the world and will only increase with the historic jumps in food prices. As reported b the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization on March 4th, the world experienced a 20.7% annual increase in food costs. And they warned that this “sudden and steep reduction” in wheat, corn, and sunflower seeds in the coming 2022-23 season “will likely push international food and feed prices 22% higher, and a ‘considerable’ supply gap will linger going forward if the war persists and energy stays expensive.“
Together, these increases would total a price increase of over 47%. Remember the famine I mentioned in the years leading up to Babylon’s defeat? That famine caused a 50% food price increase over ten years. Today’s increases are far more intense.
Exorbitant food prices will further tip the scales that are already tilted towards social upheaval and revolt. Divisive groups like Black Lives Matter and Antifa have stirred and polarized society while curriculums, including critical race theory, teach our kids that whites are oppressors and other races are oppressed. Meanwhile, these same groups have successfully convinced liberal cities to cut back on policing. This is a formula for anarchy, vigilante justice, and even civil war.
Remember that these horsemen work together in a coordinated attack to tear down the corrupt old ways, allow sin to peak, and usher in the next age when Jesus Christ reigns over the earth.
Yes, we are seeing biblical prophecy manifest before our eyes. We are blessed with this wisdom, but it only matters if we do something about it. We can be the light of the world, especially as the world grows darker.
Related Posts:
Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Insights You Have Never Heard
The First Horseman of the Apocalypse: Past Victories Tell of What’s to Come
The First Horseman is Riding and Conquering Today
Wars of the Second Horseman and the Christian Call to Arms