REVELATION ITS GRAND CLIMAX AT HAND!/Chapter Sixteen - A Black Horse Plunges Forth -Continue

 What is implied by the statement, "Do not harm the olive oil and the wine? Some have viewed it as meaning that while many would be short of food and even starving, the luxuries of the rich  would not be harmed. But in the Middle East, oil and wine are not really luxuries.  In Bible times, bread, oil, and wine were viewed as staples. (Compare Genesis 14:18; Psalm 104:14, 15) Water was not always good, so wine was widely used for drinking  and sometimes for medicinal purposes.  (1 Timothy 5:23)  With regard to oil, in Elijah's day, the widow of Zarephath. poor as she was, still  had some oil left with which to cook her remaining flour.  (1 Kings 17:12)  Therefore, the command "do not harm the oil or the wine" appears to be advice not use up these basic commodities too quickly but to be sparing in their use.  Otherwise, they will be 'harmed,' That is, they will run out before the famine ends.

Next time: REVELATION ITS GRAND CLIMAX AT HAND!/Chapter Sixteen - A Black Horse Plunges Forth -Conclusion 

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