Wheat Penny

2021-12-14

In 1909, on the year of President Abraham Lincoln’s 100th birthday, Victor David Brenner designed the Lincoln cent. On the back of the cent, he put a pair of wheat ears. The design on the back continued until 1959, when they switched them out for the Lincoln Memorial, and again, in 2009, the centennial designs, and in 2010, the Union Shield, which continues to this day.

But this initial design is the most intriguing. This “wheat penny” was made for 50 years. What could he be possibly thinking about by putting wheat on a penny? Maybe it was this:

And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast 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 beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine. (Revelation 6:5-6)

In the last seven years before Christ establishes His kingdom, a worldwide famine will follow the Antichrist’s rise and a worldwide war. A penny, in the Scriptures, is a day’s wages. Is this what Brenner was thinking? What could possibly be his motivation?