3rd famine?

Revelation 6:5-6 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, a measure<5518> of wheat for a penny<1220>, and three measures<5518> of barley for a penny<1220>; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.

Since only 4 types of food are mentioned I’m not going to speculate here on what happens to other types of food; it is likely that if wine and olive oil are available then grapes, raisins, and olives would also be available, but I will only include the foods that are specifically mentioned. Also we only know the cost of wheat and barley; if famine is assumed then we also have to assume that oil and wine are readily available for a nominal amount since they are not hurt.

First off, some information on the nutritional value of wheat, barley, olive oil, and grape juice or wine (if grape juice is made into an alcoholic beverage the sugar is what is converted into alcohol). Serving size is 100 grams; all measurements are in grams except calories. Different web sites have slightly different values but they are all very close.

Nutritional value of wheat

Calories 340

Fat 2.5

Protein 13.2

Carbohydrate 72

Sugar .4


Nutritional value of barley

Calories 354

Fat 2.3

Protein 12.48

Carbohydrate 73.4

Sugar .82

Nutritional value of olive oil

Calories 881.5

Fat 103.7

Protein 0

Carbohydrate 0

Sugar 0

Nutritional value of grape juice

Calories 60

Fat .13

Protein .37

Carbohydrate 14.77

Sugar 14.2


Amount of nutrients needed per day for the average active adult male, amounts are less for women and children

Calories 2700 (easily obtained from olive oil)

Fat 88 (easily obtained from olive oil)

Protein 63 (would require 4.7 gallons of grape juice)

Carbohydrate 410 (would require less than 1 gallon of grape juice)

Sugar 37.5 (easily obtained from grape juice)

I Googled “which is more nutritious wheat or barley” and looked at foodstruct.com. This site had a very good break down of wheat vs barely. Based on 300 grams of product, vitamins and minerals are scored on how much the food fulfils a person’s daily need.

In vitamins Barley=27 Wheat=25.

In minerals Barley=52 Wheat=67.

In protein Barley=75% Wheat=82%.

In carbohydrates Barley=73% Wheat=71%.

In fat Barley=11% Wheat=11%.

According to many commentaries a measure of barley or wheat is about 1 quart or 907.2 grams (1 ounce = 28.35 grams). To be conservative let’s just call it 900 grams. If 1 measure is enough to feed 1 person for 1 day, then 900 grams of barley or wheat would give a little over the amount of calories needed, also an excess amount of minerals, protein, and carbohydrates, but not enough vitamins, fat, or sugar.

My first observation is that barley and wheat are so close to being equal nutritionally that if there was a famine and a person could purchase 3 times as much barley as they could wheat, most everyone would be purchasing barley. I am not sure why some commentaries state that barley is so much less nutritious than wheat, it’s just not true.

Second, all of the 5 basic nutritional needs can be easily obtained from grape juice and olive oil with the exception of protein (it would be physically impossible for most people to drink nearly 5 gallons of grape juice or wine per day due to the rate at which the kidneys can process).

If, as many commentaries suggest, a penny was a day’s wages for a laborer then a laborer could purchase 2700 grams of barley per day. That’s enough protein for 5.35 days if barley was the only source of protein. If a person would drink 1 gallon of grape juice per day, they would get about 13 grams of protein. That leaves 50 grams of protein a day needed from barley; which comes out to 400 grams of barley per day. That means that a day’s wages could buy enough barley to supply 6.75 days’ worth of protein. If instead of grape juice it was alcoholic wine, a person could let the alcohol along with some of the water evaporate away so they wouldn’t become alcoholics or have to consume as much sugar or liquid. If the grape juice or wine was reduced due to evaporation it’s easy to come up with 1 days’ work supplying the 3 measures of barley needed per person for 1 week.

If a laborer had a family of 5 people, including himself, and he was the only provider then he would perhaps have to work 4 days (women and children require less food) just for the barley to feed his family. This wouldn’t include the cost of the oil and wine. If he worked 6 days a week then they would probably be just barely getting enough food, depending on the cost of oil and wine. If however the wife or children were able to glean fields, make bread to sell, or some other economic activity (Aquila and Priscilla were both tent makers Acts 18:2-3 and Lydia was a seller of purple Acts 16:14) then they could very well be able to survive in the first century. From ancientcoinsforeducation.org it’s estimated that about 50% of income was spent on food in ancient Rome, the time when Revelation was written.

The penny being a day’s wages is often referenced using Matthew 20:1-16 which is the parable of the laborers in the vineyard. The problem with some commentaries is that they assume everyone’s wage is a penny. It certainly was true in the parable that all who worked in the vineyard received a penny; but during the first century there were carpenters, scribes, physicians, and many more professions. It’s still the same today; someone who picks fruit is considered a laborer and makes some of the lowest wages.

Currently the federal minimum wage in USA is $7.25 per hour, although some states and cities have higher minimums. If a person worked 6 days a week, 40 hours at $7.25 and 8 hours over time per week at $10.875 per hour, they would earn $377.00 per week. If this person was the only provider for a family of 5, that would leave $10.77 per person per day for food and any other living expenses. This situation isn’t much better than the example given above where a day’s wages equal 3 measures of barley.

Keeping in mind Matthew 26:11, where Jesus said for ye have the poor always with you, I can’t see the 3rd seal being a famine. Only a limited in scope famine (possibly a wheat shortage) at best can be assumed, and even that is very questionable. My conclusion is if the 3rd seal is interpreted as literal food being priced then it would appear that it’s related only to the poor and not famine or scarcity.

To be continued.

Now I would like to look at wheat, barley, oil, and wine using some speculation. Here I will assume that grapes and olives are readily available for purchase at a nominal price. I will also assume that wheat and barley are scarce along with other field crops such as corn and grass. This would mean that cattle, sheep, and other animals are not able to get enough food to eat. Fish wouldn’t necessarily be affected by this but I will assume that there is a siege and that fish also can’t be obtained.

From the original post olive oil and grape juice can supply the 5 basic nutritional needs except protein. If olives and grapes are available then grape seeds and olive pits are also available. Grape seeds and olive pits are edible and contain most of the protein produced by the plants. An olive pit is similar to a nut and the shell must be removed to get to the seed which contains the protein. I can’t find information on the exact amounts of protein in the seeds, probably because they are not commonly eaten, although grape seed extract is available and taken by some people as a supplement.

My conclusion here is that it is entirely possible that a person could live for quite some time on just the nutrients available from grapes and olives, so if they are available then famine and starvation is even less likely.

To be continued.

Now a look at some verses that many commentaries use to put forth the idea of famine and scarcity. Leviticus 26:26 and Ezekiel 4:16 both have a statement about eating bread by weight. The word for bread is <3899> which can also be grain such as wheat and barley. There can be little doubt that these verses are indeed referring to scarcity. In Ezekiel 4:9-10, Ezekiel is limited to what he can eat and how much he can eat which was the weight of 20 shekels per day. In Revelation 6:6 there is a measure of wheat and 3 measures of barley that cost 1 penny, this doesn’t imply that a person can’t buy more than a penny’s worth of food. So a person isn’t eating their food by weight here, they are eating their food by price. In Revelation bread would be scarce to a person only if they couldn’t afford the price and in Ezekiel the bread itself is scarce and limited by weight.

Also from Wikipedia a shekel weighed between 7 and 17 grams, with 11, 14, and 17 grams being the most common weights. If we assume the highest weight, then 20 multiplied by 17 grams equal 340 grams. Many commentaries state that a shekel weighed .5 ounces or 14 grams, which would put the total amount Ezekiel ate per day at 283.5 grams. 340 grams is about 2.5 times smaller and 283.5 grams is about 3.2 times smaller than the estimates of a measure in Revelation 6:6 which is about 900 grams. Ezekiel was eating food as if Jerusalem was in a siege and in amounts as if it was scarce. Since this amount doesn’t correspond to the amount in Revelation 6:6, it doesn’t seem likely that Revelation 6:6 is pointing toward a siege, scarcity, or famine.

Ezekiel could have lived on such a small amount because as it states in Ezekiel 4:8 he would be laying on his side and God would put bands on him. Because Ezekiel is basically inactive he would require fewer nutrients than a person who is physically active and working for a living.

In 2 Kings 7:16 after the siege by the Syrians was over, a measure of fine flour sold for a shekel and 2 measures of barley for a shekel. Clearly people are buying measures of flour and barley for a price and there is no distress or scarcity here, in fact there seems to be an overabundance because the Syrians left their tents and they were spoiled. The fact that food items are being weighed out and sold doesn’t necessarily mean there is scarcity or famine; nor does it mean that we should associated it with the events in Ezekiel 4.