Revelation 6:6

6. Voice in the midst… beasts Stuart infers unwisely that this voice came from God, whose throne was in the midst of the four. It would be a strange communication for the divine voice. Rather we think it the common voice of the suffering world, represented by the four, addressed to the rider of the black horse, and cautioning him to exact no higher price, and not to hurt the oil and wine crops. A penny, according to Matthew 20:2; Matthew 20:9, was price of a day’s labour, and a penny would now buy one measure or choenix of wheat, nearly equal to one quart of our measure, or three choenixes of barley. This would probably be very tight living, but we know how prices advance in times of scarcity. The preservation of oil and wine indicates some mitigation of the scarcity, as these, though much used as aliment, were nevertheless rather luxuries.