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When the Lamb opened the third seal, I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, "A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!" (Revelation 6:5-6) |
Black: The dominant colour in the Black Tie dress code required to attend the social functions of the affluent.
Colour: Black
Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand: This rider is a merchant (Leviticus 19:36, Proverbs 11:1, Jeremiah 32:8-12, Hosea 12:7-8).
A quart of wheat for a day's wages, and three quarts of barley for a day's wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!: The merchant offers prospective labourers a porter's job ("do not damage the oil and the wine!") along with a miserable salary ("A quart of wheat for a day's wages"). This unflattering image of capitalism, for better or worse, coincides with the Marxist view of capitalist motivation,
The average price of wage-labour is the minimum wage, i.e., that quantum of the means of subsistence which is absolutely requisite to keep the labourer in bare existence as a labourer. What, therefore, the wage-labourer appropriates by means of his labour merely suffices to prolong and reproduce a bare existence.(K. Marx and F. Engels, 1848: Manifesto of the Communist Party, chapter II)
Youtube: Speech delivered by Argentinian president Javier Milei at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland (January 18, 2024).