5 When He broke the third seal, I heard the third living creature saying, “Come[a].” I looked, and behold, a black horse; and he who sat on it had a pair of scales in his hand. 6 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.”
The voice of
the living creature is the prophecy in the gospels concerning what should take
place at the last days.
“and in various
places there will be famines and earthquakes. 8 But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” –
Matthew 24:7b-8
Jesus predicted
"famines" would also take place amongst other events. Of these, the
principal one was that which Agabus foretold would happen in the days of
Claudius, as related in the Acts of the Apostles.
“One of them, named Agabus, stood up and through the Spirit predicted that a
severe famine would spread over the entire Roman world. (This happened during the reign of Claudius.) 29 The disciples, as each one was able, decided to provide help for the brothers and sisters living in Judea. 30 This they did, sending their gift to the elders by Barnabas and Saul.”
- Acts
11:28-30
The famine was
severe as it extended through Greece and even into Italy, but was felt most
severely in Judea and especially at Jerusalem, where many perished for want of
bread.
During the
siege of Jerusalem, the Romans found it impossible to enter the great walls of
Jerusalem. They changed strategy and decided to cut off food supply to
Jerusalem. With all provisions cut off from the city, there was soon great
famine and unburied corpses in the houses and the streets Because of
starvation, a number of Jews deserted to the Romans, where many were
mercilessly slaughtered.
In the book “The
war of the Jews” written by Josephus, he documented events that occurs leading
to the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple in AD70.
Chapter VI.
The Famine Which Oppressed Them.
1 Taking the
fifth book of the History of Josephus again in our hands, let us go through the
tragedy of events which then occurred.
2 "For
the wealthy," he says, "it was equally dangerous to remain. For under
pretense that they were going to desert men were put to death for their wealth.
The madness of the seditions increased with the famine and both the miseries
were inflamed more and more day by day.
3 Nowhere
was food to be seen; but, bursting into the houses men searched them
thoroughly, and whenever they found anything to eat they tormented the owners
on the ground that they had denied that they had anything; but if they found
nothing, they tortured them on the ground that they had more carefully
concealed it.
4 The proof
of their having or not having food was found in the bodies of the poor
wretches. Those of them who were still in good condition they assumed were well
supplied with food, while those who were already wasted away they passed by,
for it seemed absurd to slay those who were on the point of perishing for want.
5 Many,
indeed, secretly sold their possessions for one measure of wheat, if they
belonged to the wealthier class, of barley if they were poorer. Then shutting
themselves up in the innermost parts of their houses, some ate the grain
uncooked on account of their terrible want, while others baked it according as
necessity and6fear dictated.
6 Nowhere
were tables set, but, snatching the yet uncooked food from the fire, they tore
it in pieces. Wretched was the fare, and a lamentable spectacle it was to see
the more powerful secure an abundance while the weaker mourned.
7 Of all
evils, indeed, famine is the worst, and it destroys nothing so effectively as
shame. For that which under other circumstances is worthy of respect, in the
midst of famine is despised. Thus women snatched the food from the very mouths
of their husbands and children, from their fathers, and what was most pitiable
of all, mothers from their babes, And while their dearest ones were wasting
away in their arms, they Were not ashamed to take away froth them the last
drops that supported life.
8 And even
while they were eating thus they did not remain undiscovered. But everywhere
the rioters appeared, to rob them even of these portions of food. For whenever
they saw a house shut up, they regarded it as a sign that those inside were
taking food. And immediately bursting open the doors they rushed in and seized
what they were eating, almost forcing it out of their very throats.
9 Old men
who clung to their food were beaten, and if the women concealed it in their
hands, their hair was torn for so doing. There was pity neither for gray hairs
nor for infants, but, taking up the babes that clung to their morsels of food,
they dashed them to the ground. But to those that anticipated their entrance
and swallowed what they were about to seize, they were still more cruel, just
as if they had been wronged by them.
10 And they,
devised the most terrible modes of torture to discover food, stopping up the
privy passages of the poor wretches with bitter herbs, and piercing their seats
with sharp rods. And men suffered things horrible even to hear of, for the sake
of compelling them to confess to the possession of one loaf of bread, or in
order that they might be made to disclose a single drachm of barley which they
had concealed. But the tormentors themselves did not suffer hunger.
11 Their
conduct might indeed have seemed less barbarous if they had been driven to it
by necessity; but they did it for the sake of exercising their madness and of
providing sustenance for themselves for days to come.
12 And when
any one crept out of the city by night as far as the outposts of the Romans to
collect wild herbs and grass, they went to meet him; and when he thought he had
already escaped the enemy, they seized what he had brought with him, and even
though oftentimes the man would entreat them, and, calling upon the most awful name
of God, adjure them to give him a portion of what he had obtained at the risk
of his life, they would give him nothing back. Indeed, it was fortunate if the
one that was plundered was not also slain."
13 To this
account Josephus, after relating other things, adds the following: "The
possibility of going out of the city being brought to an end, all hope of
safety for the Jews was cut off. And the famine increased and devoured the
people by houses and families. And the rooms were filled with dead women and
children, the lanes of the city with the corpses of old men.
14 Children
and youths, swollen with the famine, wandered about the market-places like
shadows, and fell down wherever the death agony overtook them. The sick were
not strong enough to bury even their own relatives, and those who had the
strength hesitated because of the multitude of the dead and the uncertainty as
to their own fate. Many, indeed, died while they were burying others, and many
betook themselves to their graves before death came upon them.
15 There was
neither weeping nor lamentation under these misfortunes; but the famine stifled
the natural affections. Those that were dying a lingering death looked with dry
eyes upon those that had gone to their rest before them. Deep silence and
death-laden night encircled the city.
16 But the
robbers were more terrible than these miseries; for they broke open the houses,
which were now mere sepulchers, robbed the dead and stripped the covering from
their bodies, and went away with a laugh. They tried the points of their swords
in the dead bodies, and some that were lying on the ground still alive they
thrust through in order to test their weapons. But those that prayed that they
would use their right hand and their sword upon them, they contemptuously left
to be destroyed by the famine. Every one of these died with eyes fixed upon the
temple; and they left the seditious alive.
17 These at
first gave orders that the dead should be buried out of the public treasury,
for they could not endure the stench. But afterward, when they were not able to
do this, they threw the bodies from the walls into the trenches.
18 And as
Titus went around and saw the trenches filled with the dead, and the thick
blood oozing out of the putrid bodies, he groaned aloud, and, raising his
hands, called God to witness that this was not his doing."
19 After
speaking of some other things, Josephus proceeds as follows: "I cannot
hesitate to declare what my feelings compel me to. I suppose, if the Romans had
longer delayed in coming against these guilty wretches, the city would have
been swallowed up by a chasm, or overwhelmed with a flood, or struck with such
thunderbolts as destroyed Sodom. For it had brought forth a generation of men
much more godless than were those that suffered such punishment. By their
madness indeed was the whole people brought to destruction."
20 And in
the sixth book he writes as follows: "Of those that perished by famine in
the city the number was countless, and the miseries they underwent unspeakable.
For if so much as the shadow of food appeared in any house, there was war, and
the dearest friends engaged in hand-to-hand conflict with one another, and
snatched from each other the most wretched supports of life.
21 Nor would
they believe that even the dying were without food; but the robbers would
search them while they were expiring, lest any one should feign death while
concealing food in his bosom. With mouths gaping for want of food, they
stumbled and staggered along like mad dogs, and beat the doors as if they were
drunk, and in their impotence they would rush into the same houses twice or
thrice in one hour.
22 Necessity
compelled them to eat anything they could find, and they gathered and devoured
things that were not fit even for the filthiest of irrational beasts. Finally
they did not abstain even from their girdles and shoes, and they stripped the
hides off their shields and devoured them. Some used even wisps of old hay for
food, and others gathered stubble and sold the smallest weight of it for four
Attic drachmae.
23 "But
why should I speak of the shamelessness which was displayed during the famine
toward inanimate things? For I am going to relate a fact such as is recorded
neither by Greeks nor Barbarians; horrible to relate, incredible to hear. And
indeed I should gladly have omitted this calamity, that I might not seem to
posterity to be a teller of fabulous tales, if I had not innumerable witnesses
to it in my own age. And besides, I should render my country poor service if I
suppressed the account of the sufferings which she endured.
24
"There was a certain woman named Mary that dwelt beyond Jordan, whose
father was Eleazer, of the village of Bathezor (which signifies the house of
hyssop). She was distinguished for her family and her wealth, and had fled with
the rest of the multitude to Jerusalem and was shut up there with them during
the siege.
25 The
tyrants had robbed her of the rest of the property which she had brought with
her into the city from Perea. And the remnants of her possessions and whatever
food was to be seen the guards rushed in daily and snatched away from her. This
made the woman terribly angry, and by her frequent reproaches and imprecations
she aroused the anger of the rapacious villains against herself.
26 But no
one either through anger or pity would slay her; and she grew weary of finding
food for others to eat. The search, too, was already become everywhere
difficult, and the famine was piercing her bowels and marrow, and resentment
was raging more violently than famine. Taking, therefore, anger and necessity
as her counsellors, she proceeded to do a most unnatural thing.
27 Seizing
her child, a boy which was sucking at her breast, she said, Oh, wretched child,
in war, in famine, in sedition, for what do I preserve thee? Slaves among the
Romans we shall be even if we are allowed to live by them. But even slavery is
anticipated by the famine, and the rioters are more cruel than both. Come, be
food for me, a fury for these rioters, and a byeword to the world, for this is
all that is wanting to complete the calamities of the Jews.
28 And when
she had said this she slew her son; and having roasted him, she ate one half
herself, and covering up the remainder, she kept it. Very soon the rioters
appeared on the scene, and, smelling the nefarious odor, they threatened to
slay her immediately unless she should show them what she had prepared. She
replied that she had saved an excellent portion for them, and with that she
uncovered the remains of the child.
29 They were
immediately seized with horror and amazement and stood transfixed at the sight.
But she said This is my own son, and the deed is mine. Eat for I too have
eaten. Be not more merciful than a woman, nor more compassionate than a mother.
But if you are too pious and shrink from my sacrifice, I have already eaten of
it; let the rest also remain for me.
30 At these
words the men went out trembling, in this one case being affrighted; yet with
difficulty did they yield that food to the mother. Forthwith the whole city was
filled with the awful crime, and as all pictured the terrible deed before their
own eyes, they trembled as if they had done it themselves.
31 Those
that were suffering from the famine now longed for death; and blessed were they
that had died before hearing and seeing miseries like these."
Third rider
has already manifested. You have been redeemed from him as well as the other
riders that are war and death. We don’t need to have a fearful expectation of
our future as the Lord is our provision.
