What does it mean in Revelation 6:6 where the voice says, "Do not harm the oil and the wine"?

The prohibition, “Do not injure the oil and the wine,” is by some supposed to signify a mitigation of the famine as intimated in the preceding declarations. But that can hardly be. People could not subsist on oil and wine. Wheat and barley are essentials. Oil and wine were regarded as luxuries found alone on the tables of the rich (Prov. 21:17; Jer. 31:12; Ps. 104:15). Hence the chastisement under this Seal falls especially on the working classes. The rich, the wealthy, and the governing classes are markedly exempted. But they shall not escape. For under the sixth Seal (vv. 12-17) judgment is impartially meted out to all alike, from the monarch down to the slave.

The third horse is black, the hue of mourning. It is a colour chosen to show that there must next follow peculiar sorrows, caused not now by bloodshed, but by scarcity, and perhaps, we may add, to man's feeling, a most capricious famine.* Here we have the voice proclaiming (ver. 6), "A choenix of wheat for a denarius, and three choenixes of barley for a denarius; and see that thou hurt not the oil and the wine." The penny in our country would give the idea of something insignificant in value, but in those times and lands, a choenix of wheat for a denarius was very costly; for not long before men could procure seven or eight choenixes for the money. A denarius was given for the daily wage, and was barely enough for a man's daily food; for the choenix of wheat appears to have been a minimum, being the allowance given to a slave. But while there should be this scarcity of the very staff of life, there was a command not to touch the luxuries of life, the oil and the wine. What the richer Classes require was not to be touched, but only what people want of the prime necessaries of life. God is laying His hand upon the world.

*It is almost incredible the amount of discussion, if not of careful research, which has been expended on this verse, and especially on the import of "a measure of wheat for a penny" (i.e. a choenix, or about 1.5 pint English, for a denarius, or about 8d. of our money). Is a time of scarcity or abundance indicated? Or does the verse proclaim an authoritative adjustment of a due average price? It appears to me that, (1) occurring as the third seal does in a series of providential judgments, such a question ought not to have been raised by the least enlightened reader; for, in such a connection, how incongruous the idea of plenty or a fair price! And (2) are not these thoughts particularly contradicted by the details of the seal in question, as e.g. by the black or mourning colour of the horse, and by the balances in the hand of the rider? (Compare with the last Lev. 26:26.) The facts of the case are on the whole plain and decisive. Thus from Cicero's Orations, we learn that the Senate estimated wheat at four serterces the modius (= 8 times the choenix); and, what is more important, that the then market price in Sicily was two serterces, or at most three. "Hoc reprehendo, quod, cum in Sicilia HS II tritici modius esset … summum HS ternis … tum iste pro tritici modiis singulis ternos ab aratoribus denario exegit." (In Verr. Act. 2 lib. iv. 81.) The inference is that the extortion was, say, half the Apocalyptic price. Again, it is allowed that the ordinary price under the Emperor Julian and his successors (i.e. long after St. John) was moderate. From the Misopogon it seems that the price of the modius was then about 12d. of our money, and therefore the choenix = 1.5d. or less than a fifth of the Apocalyptic rate. But it is argued from a passage in the Natural History of the older Pliny (lib. xviii. 10), that in his time, which was a little before the Apocalypse was written, the medium price of wheat was about the same as in the text. This would be the more extraordinary, not only as opposed to Roman experience both before and after, but also because that laborious compiler does not speak of the prices then current as extravagant. We know that in nothing are MSS. less to be relied on than in numerals. Besides it would seem that several elements more or less mistaken have concurred to perplex the case. "The comparison of ancient and modern prices of corn is a difficult subject, and the results hitherto obtained are unsatisfactory." (English Cyclopaedia, Arts and Sciences, vol. iii. col. 251.) It is well known that Dr. Arbuthnot's tables no longer carry their former authority, and that modern scholars reject some of his premises, and most of his conclusions. Now it was on his computations chiefly that the author of the Horae Apoc. depended. But (1) if I understand Pliny, he speaks in the passage cited, not of the price of bread, but of flour, which then cost forty asses the modius. But it would appear that the similago or flour spoken of was by no means coarse, though there might be finer; for out of a peck of wheat came but a half peck of this flour, with a large residue of pollen, coarse meal, and bran. (2) There is no evidence that I am aware of in St. John's time to set aside the common Attic choenix, which was the eighth (not the fourth) part of a modius or peck. The verses of Fannius Rhemnius are not forgotten, nor the reading which Facciolati and others prefer, which reduces the quantum of the choenix one half, and thus harmonizes with other authors. And why were they cited if it be another scale, seeing that he lived a considerable time after not St. John only, but even the epoch to which the Protestant historical school would refer the accomplishment of the third seal? (3) The denarius, no doubt, in very early times equalled ten asses, whence the name was derived; but it is notorious that about the second Punic war, B.C. 214, it was by law made equivalent to sixteen asses, save in military pay, fines, etc., which were reckoned by the old standard. Who or what will the reader suppose is our authority for this? The very same work of Pliny (lib. xxxiii. 3). Nay, more, in the same chapter we are informed that, forty years later, the Papyrian law reduced the as one half. It is absolutely necessary to bear in mind these extensive changes in order to avoid the astounding results in which Dr. A. lands his followers. The true inference, it seems to me, is that the price in the Revelation shows decided and painful scarcity, as it exceeds that of the Cassian law eight times, and the actual Sicilian market price of Cicero's day yet more (xii. 76). It seems about as fair to cite on the one side the starvation price related by Caesar (De Bell. Civ. i. 52), as the poetical licence of Martial on the other. There is hardly a siege or a lengthened campaign, even now, without raising the price to a degree that would be fabulous under other circumstances.

"And when He had opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature 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 living creatures say, A measure [choenix] of wheat for a penny [denarius], and three measures [choenixes] of barley for a penny [denarius]; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine." The black horse signifies mourning and consternation. Devastating wars have brought in famine. The "pair of balances" in the rider's hand recalls the prophecy of Ezekiel concerning the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's army: "I will break the staff of bread in Jerusalem: and they shall eat bread by weight, and with care; and they shall drink water by measure, and with astonishment." (Ezek. 4:16.) It is a figure eminently suggestive of scarcity. The prices given also imply extraordinary dearness of the commonest necessaries of life; for it is calculated that they were about eight times the rate then current. This implies extreme suffering, not indeed among the rich, whose oil and wine are yet untouched, but among the poor, who find the cost of even the coarsest food, such as barley bread, almost beyond their reach.

Famine is set forth by the black horse, an almost invariable result, as history testifies, of prolonged wars and conflicts. The quantity of wheat and barley needful for the barest sustenance* would be sold for a penny; that is, a denarius. But in the midst of widespread desolation and want, God thinks of the needs of His creatures, and limits the effects of the famine by sparing the oil and the wine.

Famine is set forth by the black horse, an almost invariable result, as history testifies, of prolonged wars and conflicts. The quantity of wheat and barley needful for the barest sustenance* would be sold for a penny; that is, a denarius. But in the midst of widespread desolation and want, God thinks of the needs of His creatures, and limits the effects of the famine by sparing the oil and the wine.

The third seal is opened and the third living creature (with the face of a man) calls, “Come” (v. 5). The black horse that comes into sight bears a rider holding a pair of balances (for careful measuring) and a voice announces the high cost of wheat and barley (the food of the common people), while stating that the oil and wine (the luxury of the wealthy) is not to be affected. Famine is the usual result of the ravages of war, but it is the poor who suffer by it. The seals are not the direct outpouring of God's judgments (as are the upcoming inflictions of the vials or bowls), but a picture of God's sovereign working behind the scenes in providential action that is the forerunner of later solemn judgment.

(Vv. 5, 6) When the third seal is opened John sees a black horse with a rider holding a pair of balances. This clearly indicates that universal warfare will be followed by famine in which the masses will be deprived of the necessities of life even if the rich are still able to obtain their luxuries.

The Third Seal gives us the black horse and the pair of balances in his hand. This speaks of the usual outcome of a sanguinary war, namely, famine. Note the necessities of the poor—wheat and barley—are at prohibitive prices, whilst the luxuries of the rich—the oil and wine—are untouched.

Now follows what we might expect — God's judgment in the way of scarcity or famine. It is a further scene of mourning and sorrow, as indicated by a black horse, and the rider having a pair of balances in his hand. The voice in the midst of the four living creatures says, "A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny:" this shows a dearth or scarcity of the staff of life. "A penny," or denarius, would be the amount of a labourer's daily earnings, and "a measure of wheat," or a choenix of wheat, the smallest daily allowance granted to a slave. It has been thought by some, that because the barley and wheat harvests are earlier than the ingathering of the fruit of the vine and olive, this judgment of dearth would be limited to the two former; and therefore it is said, "Hurt not [or injure not] the oil and the wine." However this may be, it is clear that we are to understand that it is a scarcity of the necessaries of life, a time of famine.

3 The third seal is now removed, and with this we have the call of the human-faced cherub. At his call a black horse comes forth — the funereal color; and the rider has in his hand a balance, which a voice in the midst of the living beings interprets with the words "a measure of wheat for a shilling, and three measures of barley for a shilling." The measure, or choenix, was at most about a quart, although some would say but a pint and a half. The shilling, or denarius, (the "penny" of the Gospels,) was in fact neither of these, but about the half of a shilling sterling.* It was, as we see in the parable, the ordinary day's wages, when money was far more valuable than it is at present; and the choenix of wheat was considered the provision for a day. Ordinarily the denarius would purchase about eight quarts of wheat, but now all that a man could earn could scarcely feed himself. No doubt three measures of barley could be got for the same price; but this was not only coarser food, but would even yet imply great scarcity. Yet with all, the oil and the wine were not to be injured. One can see clearly how peace taken from the earth would involve what follows here; the oil and the wine being naturally less injured than the growth of the field, which constantly needs to be renewed. But here, of course, it is divine judgment; and the natural effect is therefore exceeded.