Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 5:1
Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
1. I turned, and lift up mine eyes, and looked ] Rather, I lifted up mine eyes again and saw a flying roll. Its flight signified the swift coming of punishment; its flying from heaven that the sentence proceeded from the judgment-seat above.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Hitherto all had been bright, full of the largeness of the gifts of God; of Gods favor to His people ; the removal of their enemies ; the restoration and expansion and security of Gods people and Church under His protection ; the acceptance of the present typical priesthood and the promise of Him, through whom there should be entire forgiveness : the abiding illumining of the Church by the Spirit of God . Yet there is a reverse side to all this, Gods judgments on those who reject all His mercies. Augustine, de Civ. Del. 17:3. Ribera: Prophecies partly appertain to those in whose times the sacred writers prophesied, partly to the mysteries of Christ. And therefore it is the custom of the prophets, at one time to chastise vices and set forth punishments, at another to predict the mysteries of Christ and the Church.
And I turned and – Or, Again I lifted up my eyes Gen 26:18; 2Ki 1:11, 2Ki 1:13; Jer 18:14, having again sunk down in meditation on what he had seen, and behold a roll flying; as, to Ezekiel was shown a hand with a roll of a book therein, and he spread it before me. Ezekiels roll also was written within and without, and there was written, therein lamentation and mourning and woe Eze 2:9-10. It was a wide unfolded roll, as is involved in its flying; but its flight signified the very swift coming of punishment; its flying from heaven that the sentence came from the judgment-seat above (Ribera).
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Zec 5:1-4
And I turned . . . and looked, and behold a flying roll
The flying roll
The object of this discourse is to present to you the Scriptures as a phenomenon of the world around us.
Consider them as an appearance in the circle of our observation, a fact in the history of our race, and ask, what account is to be given of it? The attention of our age is taken up much and wisely with the study of phenomena. We may interpret the Scriptures in one way or another; we may study or neglect, revere or despise them; we may consider them to be the dictates of observation, or below the level of human intelligence; we may call them a word of delusion, or the Word of God; but in the extremest varieties of opinion no one can escape from this,–that they are a leading phenomenon in the history of civilisation and religious thought, in the aspect of the moral world as it now stands and moves before us. In the text an angel speaks in vision to one of the last of the prophets, and asks, as if in the very spirit of modern research, What seest thou? The prophet raises his eyes and sees a winged book, a flying roll. It is of gigantic dimensions. It is of restless speed. It goeth forth over the face of the whole earth. It was the roll of the Lords judgments–a consuming fire. In this respect the Bible corresponds with it only in one of its parts, but in that part perfectly: in its testimony against, unrighteousness, its sentence upon those who love and practise dishonour, its fiery law. Dealing with the flying roll more generally, what are the points that we discover in it?
1. The extraordinary dimensions of the book, its length twenty cubits, and its breadth ten. What a space does the Bible fill in the gaze of mankind, though it can be carried about in the hand of the feeblest wayfarer! Do we not speak truly of its wonderful dimensions when it holds on its ample pages such a widely scattered wisdom, and is discerned from so far?
2. Its preservation and continuance through so long a sweep of time. This is remarkable even at a first glance. Since faithful Abraham came out from Chaldaea vast tribes and strong nations have risen to renown and passed away into silence. Founders of states have not so much as secured the name of what they founded. Dispensers of religion have left neither a priest for their successor nor a shrine for their monument. Oracles of wisdom have grown forgotten as well as dumb. Genius and learning have gone down into the dust, and there is not a finger track of an inscription upon it for their posterity to read. Whole literatures have disappeared, their tongues having ceased, and their characters become illegible or blotted entirely out. But here is writing, from many hands, and in a long series of instructions, dating as far back as the school lessons of human improvement. It has defied time. It has repelled decay. The linen, or the parchment, or whatever frail material it was confided to, held fast its trust, while brazen trophies were melted down and marble columns were pulverised. The temple of the Lord protected its archives; though its huge stones were unable to hold themselves together, and its sacred vessels served at last but for the ornaments of a heathen triumph.
3. Its spread. It is, indeed, a flying roll. The Scriptures move rapidly. They are not only preserved, but incredibly multiplied. They were addressed for the most part to one people, and they now speak to all people. They were written in their own peculiar tongues, and now they call all tongues their own. Have they not gone forth over the face of the whole earth? They are among the studies of learned men, who find there a wisdom higher than all else they know; while the ignorant and the simple, reading as they run, are made wise to life everlasting.
4. The honour with which they have been received as they have flown along. They are recognised in the public worship of most of the civilised tribes now under heaven. They are enshrined in cathedrals. They are revered, at least with all outward forms of homage, in the courts of the proudest empires. They are sworn upon when the most solemn vows by which we can be bound are to be attested. The patient fingers of holy recluses could for centuries find no better task than to copy them; and countless presses are now perpetually busy, that they may be distributed over the globe. The rarest genius and the profoundest learning are employed upon the illustration of them. It may be objected that we have said nothing of the disrespect and derision with which the Scriptures are regarded by multitudes, and have always been. We may admit this, but press the consideration, that they have withstood even this trial. Familiarity and levity have not subjected them to contempt. Nothing could better show how deeply they are seated in the veneration of mankind.
5. Their influence, their surprising power. There may be a high repute without any true efficiency. But that roll of the Divine covenants has always been of a Divine force. It has acted upon communities, wherever it has been introduced, so as to accomplish the most astonishing consequences. Are you inquiring what overthrew many of the massy oppressions, the enormous abuses, of the elder times? It was its paper edges that smote upon all that dark strength, and before those thin leaves buttress and battlement went down. How much has it done for individual minds.
6. Their immeasurable superiority, as mere traditions, above everything that has been handed down to us from the ancient world. There is in their contents a deep spring of instruction, such as the old generations nowhere furnish, and the coming ones are not likely soon to exhaust. Your own minds will surely leap to the inference: the finger of God was here. You may be perplexed with many passages in your Bible. You may slight some things as unimportant, and repel others as uncongenial. You may think you discern great blemishes and errors here and there. But what of that? It should throw no mistrust over the spontaneous conclusion: the finger of God was here. Yes, the Divine providence ordained and protected this charter of mans truest liberty and highest good. Let us look thoughtfully at it, then, as it flies on its holy errand. (N. L. Frothingham.)
The flying roll
The import of this vision is threatening, to show that the object of the prophet was to produce genuine repentance. The parts are significant. A roll, probably of parchment, is seen, 30 by 15 feet, the exact dimensions of the temple porch; where the law was usually read, showing that it was authoritative in its utterance, and connected with the theocracy. Being a written thing, it showed that its contents were solemnly determined beyond all escape or repeal. It was flying, to show that its threats were ready to do their work, and descend on every transgressor. It was unrolled, or its dimensions could not have been seen, to show that its warnings were openly proclaimed to all, that none might have an excuse. It was written on both sides, to connect it with the tables of the law, and show its comprehensive character. One side denounced perjury, a sin of the first table, the other stealing, a sin of the second; and both united in every case where a thief took the oath of expurgation to acquit himself of the charge of theft. This hovering curse would descend in every such case into the house of the offender, and consume even its most enduring parts, until it had thoroughly done its work of destruction. The immediate application of this vision was to those who were neglecting the erection of Gods house to build their own, and thus robbing God and forswearing their obligations to Him. On such the prophet declares a curse shall descend that will make this selfish withholding of their efforts in vain, for the houses they would build should be consumed by Gods wrath. The teaching of this vision is that of the law. It blazes with the fire, and echoes with the thunder of Sinai, and tells us that our God is a consuming fire. We learn thus a lesson of instruction to those who have succeeded the prophets of the Old Testament, as the authorised expounders of Gods will under the New. It is needful to tell the love of God, to unfold His precious promises, and to utter words of cheer and encouragement. But it is also needful to declare the other aspect of Gods character. There is a constant tendency in the human heart to abuse the goodness of God to an encouragement of sin. Hence ministers of the Gospel must declare this portion of Gods counsel as well as the other. They must declare to men who are living in neglect of duty, that withholding what is due to God, either in heart or life, is combined robbery and perjury. For those who thus sin, God has prepared a ministry of vengeance. There is something most vivid and appalling in this image of the hovering curse. It flies viewless and resistless, poising like a falcon over her prey, breathing a ruin the most dire and desolating, and when the blind and hardened offender opens his door to his ill-gotten gains, this mystic roll, with its fire tracery of wrath, enters into his habitation, and, fastening upon his cherished idols, begins its dread work of retribution, and ceases not until the fabric of his guilty life has been totally and irremediably consumed. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)
The flying roll
I. The man who is marked as a special transgressor is marked also for special judgment. The curse went forth over the face of the whole earth, but it was to cut off the thief and the false swearer. In the Hebrew nation there were many sinners, but there, as everywhere else, there were sinners who had not yet filled up the measure of their iniquity, and there were others who had passed all bounds, whose transgressions were so great as to make them marks upon which the lightnings of Gods displeasure must fall.
II. Escape from the consequences of unrepented sin is impossible. It is not necessary that the sin should reveal itself in action to ensure the entail of the certain penalty. If it never passes the boundary of the inner man there will be a reaction upon the mans spirit as certainly as night follows day, and more so because, though God has suspended the laws of nature, we have no reason to suppose He has ever interposed to prevent the consequences of sin, unless the sinner has come under the power of another law,–the law of forgiveness by confession and repentance. However hidden the transgression, the curse will find out its most secret hiding place.
III. Theft and perjury include all other sins. The son who forges his fathers name includes in that one act every other crime that he can commit against him except that of taking his life. He only needs occasion to reveal his readiness for any other act of dishonour toward his parent. The man who deliberately appeals to God to uphold him in his false statements forges the name of the Eternal Himself, and seeks to turn the God of truth into the Father of lies.
IV. The special sins of some bring suffering upon many. The curse went forth over the whole earth, or land. It is a truth proclaimed by God and verified by experience, that many may suffer by the sin of the few to whom they are in no way related. See this principle, and its bright reverse, illustrated by St. Paul in Rom 5:18. (Outlines by London Minister.)
The flying roll
The threatenings here are directed against the defects and transgressions of the Jewish people at that time. God gives them to understand by this vision that whilst it was His purpose to make His promise good, in the establishment of His Church, He would by no means connive at their sins and corruptions, but would visit them with present punishment, and with future extirpation, if they persisted in their unbelief and rebellion.
I. The sins more especially condemned.
1. Theft and sacrilege.
2. Perjury and false swearing.
II. The punishment threatened. Partly personal and partly domestic.
1. A personal judgment is denounced. Everyone shall receive his reward and punishment according to his sins, and according to the sentence of the roll.
2. It was to extend to his relative and domestic interests. It shall enter into the house of the thief. It shall remain in the midst of his house. And shall consume it with the timbers thereof, and the stones thereof. This subject may well teach heads of families a lesson of religious caution, lest by an undue anxiety for their own worldly success, or that of their children, they frustrate their most cherished purposes, and entail a curse rather than a blessing. We shall do well to remember that no external evil which may befall a particular class of mankind, in consequence of the faults of their progenitors, renders any individual of that class less acceptable to God, if he turn from his wickedness and repent. But the very curse may become a blessing, if it operate to warn an individual against the sin by which it was brought down upon him. On the other hand, let no children of religious parents suppose that the piety of a long line of ancestors will avail in their behalf, unless they are themselves the possessors of religious principle. And since all are exposed to an infinite danger on account of sin, how deep should be our gratitude to that Divine Redeemer, who bore the curse for us, that we might escape the impending penalty, and inherit the unspeakable blessings of His salvation. (S. Thodey.)
The flying roll–Divine retribution
I. As following sin.
1. The particular sins which retribution pursues.
(1) Theft and sacrilege.
(2) Perjury and false swearing.
The sins here mentioned are not mere specimens, but root or fountain sins. The flying roll of Divine retribution followed sin with its curses. There is a curse to every sin, and this is not vengeance, but benevolence. It is the arrangement of love.
2. The way in which just retribution pursues them.
(1) Openly. The roll is spread open, and is written in characters that are legible to all Divine retribution is no secret to man. It is not some intangible, hidden, occult thing. It is open to all eyes. Every man must see the riving roll, not only in the history of nations and communities, but in his own domestic and individual life. The flying roll hovers over every sin.
(2) Rapidly. Retribution is swift. It is a flying roll. Retribution follows sins swifter than the sound of the swiftest thunder peal follows the lightning flash.
(3) Penetratingly. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name. Wherever the sinner is, it will find him out. No mountain so high, no cavern so deep, no forest so intricate and shadowy as to protect him from His visitation. It serves to illustrate retribution.
II. As abiding with sin. It shall remain in the midst of his house. Not only does it rule the house of the sinner, it remains in the midst of it like a leprosy, infecting, wasting, consuming, destroying. It abides in the house to curse everything, even the timber and the stones. Guilt, not only, like a ravenous beast, crouches at the door of the sinner, but rather, like a blasting mildew, spreads its baneful influence over the whole dwelling. The sin of one member of a family brings its curse on the others. The sins of the parents bring a curse upon the children. (Homilist.)
Judgment with consolation
The angel shows, in this chapter, that whatever evils the Jews had suffered, proceeded from the righteous judgment of God; and then he adds a consolation–that the Lord would at length alleviate or put an end to their evils, when He had removed afar off their iniquity. Interpreters have touched neither heaven nor earth in their explanation of this prophecy, for they have not regarded the designs of the Holy Spirit. Some think that by the volume are to be understood false and perverted glosses, by which the purity of doctrine had been vitiated; but this view can by no means be received. There is no doubt but that God intended to show to Zechariah that the Jews were justly punished, because the whole land was full of thefts and perjuries. As their religion had been despised, as well as equity and justice, he shows that it was no wonder a curse had prevailed through the whole land, the Jews having by their impiety and sins extremely provoked the wrath of God. This is the import of the first part. And then, as this vision was terrible, there is added some alleviation by representing iniquity in a measure, and the mouth of the measure closed, and afterwards carries to the land of Shinar, that is, into Chaldea, that it might not remain in Judea. Thus, in the former part the prophets design was to humble the Jews, and to encourage them to repent, so that they might own God to have been justly angry; and then he gives them reason to entertain hope, and fully to expect an end to their evils, for the Lord would remove to a distance, and transfer their iniquity to Chaldea, so that Judea might be pure and free from every wickedness, both from thefts and acts of injustice, by which it had been previously polluted. (John Calvin.)
This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth–
The Lords curse
This type is expounded to signify the Lords curse going forth to do execution in all the land of Judah, and to cut off sinners against the first and second tables of the Law. Doctrine–
1. Whatever be the particular punishment inflicted by God for sin, yet this is seriously to be laid to heart, that every such punishment hath in its bosom a curse, till the sinner, awakened thereby, flee to Christ, who became a curse, that His own may inherit a blessing.
2. The Lord is an impartial avenger of sin, when it is persevered in without repentance; and when other means are ineffectual, He will not spare to cut off the desperate sinner; for the curse goes forth over the face of the whole earth, or land; and everyone shall be cut off, without exception, who are guilty.
3. The Lord will not spare but indifferently punish sin, whether against the first or second tables, in avoiding of both which the Lords people are to testify their sincerity. This is signified by cutting off everyone that stealeth, and everyone that sweareth.
4. When a people are delivered out of sore troubles, and yet their lusts are not modified, they ordinarily prove covetous, false, and oppressing, as labouring by all means to make up these things that trouble hath stript them of; therefore is there a particular threat against everyone that stealeth, it being a rife sin at their return from captivity, for they went every man to his own house (Hag 1:9), were cruel oppressors (Neh 5:1-3), yea, and robbed God of tithes and offerings (Mal 3:8).
5. Covetous and false men, in their bargains with men, will make no bones of impiety and perjury, if that may help to gain their point; for with the former is joined everyone that sweareth, which is expounded, Zec 5:4, to be swearing falsely by Gods name. (George Hutcheson.)
It shall remain in the midst of his house–
A curse in the family
As certain as the ordinances of nature, is the law that ill-gotten gain will bring a curse. The following is a startling illustration of the truth, gathered from the history of a rural town:–In 1786, a youth, then residing in Maine, owned a jackknife, which he, being of a somewhat trading disposition, sold for a gallon of West India rum. This he retailed, and with the proceeds purchased two gallons, and eventually a barrel, which was followed in due time with a large stock. In a word, he got rich, and became the squire of the district, through the possession and sale of the jackknife, and an indomitable trading industry. He died, leaving property, in real estate and money value, worth eighty thousand dollars. This was divided by testament among four children, three boys and a girl. Luck, which seemed the guardian angel of the father, deserted the children; for every folly and extravagance they could engage in seemed to occupy their exclusive attention and cultivation. The daughter married unfortunately, and her patrimony was soon thrown away by her spendthrift of a husband. The sons were no more fortunate, and two died in dissipation and in poverty. The daughter also died. The last of the family, for many years past, has lived on the kindness of those who knew him in the days of prosperity, as pride would not allow him to go to the poor farm. A few days ago he died, suddenly and unattended, in a barn, where he had laid himself down to take a drunken sleep. On his pockets being examined, all that was found in them was a small piece of string and a jackknife! So the fortune that began with the implement of that kind left its simple duplicate. We leave the moral to be drawn in whatever fashion it may suggest itself to the reader; simply stating that the story is a true one, and all the facts well known to many whom this relation will doubtless reach. (A. J. Gordon, D. D.)
A plague in the house
How terribly those words have been fulfilled in the case of people and families we have known! It has seemed as though there were a plague in the house. The fortune which had been accumulated with such toil has crumbled; the children turned out sources of heartrending grief; the reputation of the father has become irretrievably tarnished. There is a plague spread in the house; it is a fretting leprosy, it is unclean. No man can stand against that curse. It confronts him everywhere. It touches his most substantial effects, and they pulverise, as furniture eaten through by white ants. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER V
The vision of the large flying roll, with the angel’s
explanation, 1-4.
The vision of the ephah, and of the woman sitting on it, with
the signification, 5-11.
NOTES ON CHAP. V
Verse 1. Behold a flying roll.] This was twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad; the prophet saw it expanded, and flying. Itself was the catalogue of the crimes of the people, and the punishment threatened by the Lord. Some think the crimes were those of the Jews; others, those of the Chaldeans. The roll is mentioned in allusion to those large rolls on which the Jews write the Pentateuch. One now lying before me is one hundred and fifty-three feet long, by twenty-one inches wide, written on fine brown Basle goat-skin; some time since brought from Jerusalem, supposed to be four hundred years old.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Then, or And, Heb. i.e. after I had seen those comfortable visions, and been instructed in the true meaning of them.
I turned; changed his posture, though the occasion of it be not mentioned, nor the posture into which he put himself.
Lifted up mine eyes; looked up into the air where the vision appeared.
Looked, very diligently, and discerned clearly.
A flying roll; a volume, or book, which in those days were not written as now our books are printed and bound, but were written, as deeds are now, on large or long parchments, and rolled up upon a neat round stick, or else rolled upon themselves; such the roll here seen: much as our large geographical maps are rolled upon rollers, sad lodged in a convenient cavity, so were their books of old. But probably here now the roll was spread out at large, flying in the air swiftly, perhaps with some noise, that might make the prophet look about him.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
1. flying rollof papyrus, ordressed skins, used for writing on when paper was not known. It wasinscribed with the words of the curse (Deu 27:15-26;Deu 28:15-68). Being writtenimplied that its contents were beyond all escape or repeal (Eze2:9). Its “flying” shows that its curses were readyswiftly to visit the transgressors. It was unrolled, or else itsdimensions could not have been seen (Zec5:2). Being open to all, none could say in excuse he knew not thelaw and the curses of disobedience. As the previous visions intimatedGod’s favor in restoring the Jewish state, so this vision announcesjudgment, intimating that God, notwithstanding His favor, did notapprove of their sins. Being written on both sides, “on this andon that side” (Zec 5:3)[VATABLUS] connects itwith the two tables of the law (Ex32:15), and implies its comprehensiveness. One side denounced”him that sweareth falsely (Zec5:4) by God’s name,” according to the third commandment ofthe first table, duty to God; the other side denounced theft,according to the eighth commandment, which is in the second table,duty to one’s neighbor.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then I turned, and lift up mine eyes, and looked,…. The prophet turned himself from looking upon the candlestick and olive branches, having had a full and clear understanding of them, and looked another way, and saw another vision:
and behold a flying roll, a volume or book flying in the air; it being usual for books, which were written on parchment, to be rolled up in the form of a cylinder; whence they were called rolls or volumes.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Zec 5:1. “And I lifted up my eyes again, and saw, and behold a flying roll. Zec 5:2. And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I see a flying roll; its length twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits. Zec 5:3. And he said to me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the whole land: for every one that stealeth will be cleansed away from this side, according to it; and every one that sweareth will be cleansed away from that side, according to it. Zec 5:4. I have caused it to go forth, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts, and it will come into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth by my name for deceit: and it will pass the night in the midst of his house, and consume both its beams and its stones.” The person calling the prophet’s attention to the vision, and interpreting it, is the angelus interpres . This is not specially mentioned here, as being obvious from what goes before. The roll (book-scroll, m e gillah = m e gillath sepher , Eze 2:9) is seen flying over the earth unrolled, so that its length and breadth can be seen. The statement as to its size is not to be regarded as “an approximative estimate,” so that the roll would be simply described as of considerable size (Koehler), but is unquestionably significant. It corresponds both to the size of the porch of Solomon’s temple (1Ki 6:3), and also to the dimensions of the holy place in the tabernacle, which was twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad. Hengstenberg, Hofmann, and Umbreit, following the example of Kimchi, assume that the reference is to the porch of the temple, and suppose that the roll has the same dimensions as this porch, to indicate that the judgment is “a consequence of the theocracy” or was to issue from the sanctuary of Israel, where the people assembled before the Lord. But the porch of the temple was neither a symbol of the theocracy, nor the place where the people assembled before the Lord, but a mere architectural ornament, which had no significance whatever in relation to the worship. The people assembled before the Lord in the court, to have reconciliation made for them with God by sacrifice; or they entered the holy place in the person of their sanctified mediators, the priests, as cleansed from sin, there to appear before God and engage in His spotless worship. The dimensions of the roll are taken from the holy place of the tabernacle, just as in the previous vision the candlestick was the mosaic candlestick of the tabernacle. Through the similarity of the dimensions of the roll to those of the holy place in the tabernacle, there is no intention to indicate that the curse proceeds from the holy place of the tabernacle or of the temple; for the roll would have issued from the sanctuary, if it had been intended to indicate this. Moreover, the curse or judgment does indeed begin at the house of God, but it does not issue or come from the house of God. Kliefoth has pointed to the true meaning in the following explanation which he gives: “The fact that the writing, which brings the curse upon all the sinners of the earth, has the same dimensions as the tabernacle, signifies that the measure will be meted out according to the measure of the holy place;” and again, “the measure by which this curse upon sinners will be meted out, will be the measure of the holy place.” With this measure would all sinners be measured, that they might be cut off from the congregation of the Lord, which appeared before God in the holy place.
The flight of the roll symbolized the going forth of the curse over the whole land. is rendered by Hofmann, Neumann, and Kliefoth “the whole earth,” because “it evidently signifies the whole earth in v. Zec 4:10, Zec 4:14, and Zec 6:5” (Kliefoth). But these passages, in which the Lord of the whole earth is spoken of, do not prove anything in relation to our vision, in which is unmistakeably limited to the land of Canaan (Judah) by the antithesis in Zec 5:11, “the land of Shinar.” If the sinners who are smitten by the curse proceeding over are to be carried into the land of Sinar, the former must be a definite land, and not the earth as the sum of all lands. It cannot be argued in opposition to this, that the sin of the land in which the true house of God and the true priesthood were, was wiped away by expiation, whereas the sin of the whole world would be brought into the land of judgment, when its measure was concluded by God; for this antithesis is foreign not only to this vision, but to the Scriptures universally. The Scriptures know nothing of any distribution or punishment of sins according to different lands, but simply according to the character of the sinners, viz., whether they are penitent or hardened. At the same time, the fact that denotes the whole of the land of Israel, by no means proves that our vision either treats of the “carrying away of Israel into exile,” which had already occurred (Ros.), or “sets before them a fresh carrying away into exile, and one still in the future” (Hengstenberg), or that on the coming of the millennial kingdom the sin and the sinners will be exterminated from the whole of the holy land, and the sin thrown back upon the rest of the earth, which is still under the power of the world (Hofmann). The vision certainly refers to the remote future of the kingdom of God; and therefore “the whole land” cannot be restricted to the extent and boundaries of Judaea or Palestine, but reaches as far as the spiritual Israel or church of Christ is spread over the earth; but there is no allusion in our vision to the millennial kingdom, and its establishment within the limits of the earthly Canaan. The curse falls upon all thieves and false swearers. in Zec 5:3 is defined more precisely in Zec 5:4, as swearing in the name of Jehovah for deceit, and therefore refers to perjury in the broadest sense of the word, or to all abuse of the name of God for false, deceitful swearing. Thieves are mentioned for the sake of individualizing, as sinners against the second table of the decalogue; false swearers, as sinners against the first table. The repetition of points to this; for mizzeh , repeated in correlative clauses, signifies hinc et illinc, hence and thence, i.e., on one side and the other (Exo 17:12; Num 22:24; Eze 47:7), and can only refer here to the fact that the roll was written upon on both sides, so that it is to be taken in close connection with : “on this side … and on that, according to it” (the roll), i.e., according to the curse written upon this side and that side of the roll. We have therefore to picture the roll to ourselves as having the curse against the thieves written upon the one side, and that against the perjurers upon the other. The supposition that mizzeh refers to is precluded most decidedly, by the fact that mizzeh does not mean “thence,” i.e., from the whole land, but when used adverbially of any place, invariably signifies “hence,” and refers to the place where the speaker himself is standing. Moreover, the double use of mizzeh is at variance with any allusion to ha’arets , as well as the fact that if it belonged to the verb, it would stand after , whether before or after the verb. Niqqah , the niphal, signifies here to be cleaned out, like in Mar 7:19 (cf. 1Ki 14:10; Deu 17:12). This is explained in Zec 5:4 thus: Jehovah causes the curse to go forth and enter into the house of the thief and perjurer, so that it will pass the night there, i.e., stay there ( laneh third pers. perf. of lun , from lanah , to be blunted, like zureh in Isa 59:5, and other verbal formations); it will not remain idle, however, but work therein, destroying both the house and sinners therein, so that beams and stones will be consumed (cf. 1Ki 18:38). The suffix in (for , cf. Ges. 75, Anm. 19) refers to the house, of course including the inhabitants. The following nouns introduced with are in explanatory apposition: both its beams and its stones. The roll therefore symbolizes the curse which will fall upon sinners throughout the whole land, consuming them with their houses, and thus sweeping them out of the nation of God.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Vision of the Flying Roll. | B. C. 520. |
1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. 2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. 3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. 4 I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
We do not find that the prophet now needed to be awakened, as he did ch. iv. 1. Being awakened then, he kept wakeful after; nay, now he needs not be so much as called to look about him, for of his own accord he turns and lifts up his eyes. This good men sometimes get by their infirmities, they make them the more careful and circumspect afterwards. Now observe,
I. What it was that the prophet saw; he looked up into the air, and behold a flying roll. A vast large scroll of parchment which had been rolled up, and is therefore called a roll, was now unrolled and expanded; this roll was flying upon the wings of the wind, carried swiftly through the air in open view, as an eagle that shoots down upon her prey; it was a roll, like Ezekiel’s that was written within and without with lamentations, and mourning, and woe,Eze 2:9; Eze 2:10. As the command of the law is in writing, for certainty and perpetuity, so is the curse of the law; it writes bitter things against the sinner. “What I have written I have written and what is written remains.” The angel, to engage the prophet’s attention, and to raise in him a desire to have it explained, asks him what he sees? And he gives him this account of it: I see a flying roll, and as near as he can guess by his eye it is twenty cubits long (that is, ten yards) and ten cubits broad, that is, five yards. The scriptures of the Old Testament and the New are rolls, in which God has written to us the great things of his law and gospel. Christ is the Master of the rolls. They are large rolls, have much in them. They are flying rolls; the angel that had the everlasting gospel to preach flew in the midst of heaven, Rev. xiv. 6. God’s word runs very swiftly, Ps. cxlvii. 15. Those that would be let into the meaning of these rolls must first tell what they see, must go as far as they can themselves. “What is written in the law? how readest thou? Tell me that, and then thou shalt be made to understand what thou readest.“
II. How it was expounded to him, Zec 5:3; Zec 5:4. This flying roll is a curse; it contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against those sinners especially who by swearing affront God’s majesty or by stealing invade their neighbour’s property. Let every Israelite rejoice in the blessings of his country with trembling; for if he swear, if he steal, if he live in any course of sin, he shall see them with his eyes, but shall not have the comfort of them, for against him the curse has gone forth. If I be wicked, woe to me for all this. Now observe here,
1. The extent of this curse; the prophet sees it flying, but which way does it steer its course? It goes forth over the face of the whole earth, not only of the land of Israel, but the whole world; for those that have sinned against the law written in their hearts only shall by that law be judged, though they have not the book of the law. Note, All mankind are liable to the judgment of God; and, wherever sinners are, any where upon the face of the whole earth, the curse of God can and will find them out and seize them. Oh that we could with an eye of faith see the flying roll of God’s curse hanging over the guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sun-beams of God’s favour from them, but big with thunders, lightnings, and storms, ready to destroy them! How welcome then would the tidings of a Saviour be, who came to redeem us from the curse of the law by being himself made a curse for us, and, like the prophet, eating this roll! The vast length and breadth of this roll intimate what a multitude of curses sinners lie exposed to. God will make their plagues wonderful, if they turn not.
2. The criminals against whom particularly this curse is levelled. The world is full of sin in great variety: so was the Jewish church at this time. But two sorts of sinners are here specified as the objects of this curse:– (1.) Thieves; it is for every one that steals, that by fraud or force takes that which is not his own, especially that robs God and converts to his own use what was devoted to God and his honour, which was a sin much complained of among the Jews at this time, Mal 3:8; Neh 13:10. Sacrilege is, without doubt, the worst kind of thievery. He also that robs his father or mother, and saith, It is no transgression (Prov. xxviii. 24), let him know that against him this curse is directed, for it is against every one that steals. The letter of the eighth commandment has no penalty annexed to it; but the curse here is a sanction to that command. (2.) Swearers. Sinners of the former class offend against the second table, these against the first; for the curse meets those that break either table. He that swears rashly and profanely shall not be held guiltless, much less he that swears falsely (v. 4); he imprecates the curse upon himself by his perjury, and so shall his doom be; God will say Amen to his imprecation, and turn it upon his own head. He has appealed to God’s judgment, which is always according to truth, for the confirming of a lie, and to that judgment he shall go which he has so impiously affronted.
3. The enforcing of this curse, and the equity of it: I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, v. 4. He that pronounces the sentence will take care to see it executed. His bringing it forth denotes, (1.) His giving it commission. It is a righteous curse, for he is a righteous God that warrants it. (2.) His giving it the setting on. He brings it forth with power, and orders what execution it shall do; and who can put by or resist the curse which a God of almighty power brings forth?
4. The effect of this curse; it is very dreadful, (1.) Upon the sinner himself: Every one that steals shall be cut off, not corrected, but destroyed, cut off from the land of the living. The curse of God is a cutting thing, a killing thing. He shall be cut off as on this side (cut off from this place, that is, from Jerusalem), and so he that swears from this side (it is the same word), from this place. God will not spare the sinners he finds among his own people, nor shall the holy city be a protection to the unholy. Or they shall be cut off from hence, that is, from the face of the whole earth, over which the curse flies. Or he that steals shall be cut off on this side, and he that swears on that side; they shall all be cut off, one as well as another, and both according to the curse, for the judgments of God’s hand are exactly agreeable with the judgments of his mouth. (2.) Upon his family: It shall enter into the house of the thief and of him that swears. God’s curse comes with a warrant to break open doors, and cannot be kept out by bars or locks. There where the sinner is most secure, and thinks himself out of danger,–there where he promises himself refreshment by food and sleep,–there, in his own house, shall the curse of God seize him; nay, it shall fall not upon him only, but upon all about him for his sake. Cursed shall be his basket and his store, and cursed the fruit of his body,Deu 28:17; Deu 28:18. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, Prov. iii. 33. It shall not only beset his house, or he at the door, but it shall remain in the midst of his house, and diffuse its malignant influences to all the parts of it. It shall dwell in his tabernacle because it is none of his, Job xviii. 15. It shall dwell where he dwells, and be his constant companion at bed and board, to make both miserable to him. Having got possession, it shall keep it, and, unless he repent and reform, there is no way to throw it out or cut off the entail of it. Nay, it shall so remain in it as to consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof, which, though ever so strong, though the timber be heart of oak and the stones hewn out of the rocks of adamant, yet they shall not be able to stand before the curse of God. We heard the stone and the timber complaining of the owner’s extortion and oppression, and groaning under the burden of them, Hab. ii. 11. Now here we have them delivered from that bondage of corruption. While they were in their strength and beauty they supported, sorely against their will, the sinner’s pride and security; but, when they are consumed, their ruins will, to their satisfaction, be standing monuments of God’s justice and lasting witnesses of the sinner’s injustice. Note, Sin is the ruin of houses and families, especially the sins of injury and perjury. Who knows the power of God’s anger, and the operations of his curse? Even timber and stones have been consumed by them; let us therefore stand in awe and not sin.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
ZECHARIAH – CHAPTER 5
THE EIGHTH VISION
Verses 1-4:
The Flying Roll Or Scroll, 8th Vision
Verse 1 tells of a flying roll or scroll that Zechariah turned to look upon in his eighth vision. The roll represents the written word of man, or of God, as presented Ezr 6:2; Jer 36:2; Jer 36:4; Eze 3:1-3. It was made of papyrus, or dressed skin, that was used for writing upon, before paper was known. It contained the words of the curse of the law of the Lord against sin, and was open that all might see or read, Deu 27:15-26; Deu 28:15-68; Eze 2:9.
Verse 2 relates the angel’s inquiry of Zechariah concerning what he saw. To this inquiry he replied that he saw a flying or open roll of twenty cubits (30 ft.) length and ten cubits (15 ft.) width. The term “roll” or “volume” is used of the law. The dimension of the roll was the same as that of the temple porch, where the law was usually read to the people, where its large size indicates that it was authoritative in judgment and contained the curses for sin in the theocracy; For the law can only curse, v. 3; Gal 3:10-14.
Verse 3 recounts the angel’s explanation of curses that were written on the scroll, for all who lived in the land. On one side was the curse, for those who stole his neighbor’s property, as expressed Exo 20:15; and on the other side of the scroll the curse was written that every one who repeatedly sware should be cut off or put to death, Exo 20:7; Exo 32:15; 1Ki 14:10; Eze 24:11. One side described man’s moral duty toward his fellow man, and the other revealed his duty of reverence toward and obedience to God, or the certainty of punishment for disobedience, Heb 10:18-19; Mal 4:6; Rom 2:15.
Verse 4 warns that the Lord will curse, with a destroying judgment, all in the land who engage in the sacrilege of theft, either from their neighbors, or by withholding the tithe of the land from the support of the Levites, as described, Jer 10:13; Neh 13:10; Mal 3:8. To withhold from God’s servants, or the use of His program of worship and service of tithes and offerings, is here described as robbing God. Those guilty of such reflect a covetous and fraudulent heart. And having covenanted to serve God and His work, they perjure themselves in withholding tithes and offerings from Him, Mal 3:5; Pro 30:9. The curse sent upon the house or residence of the covetous theft and fraudulent professor would cause God to send a plague of leprosy within the house, so that it would become so unclean that the wood and stone of it would be required to be burned, as set forth Lev 14:45; 1Ki 18:38.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
The angel shows in this chapter, that whatever evils the Jews had suffered, proceeded from the righteous judgment Of God; and then he adds a consolation — that the Lord would at length alleviate or put an end to their evils, when he had removed afar off their iniquity. Interpreters have touched neither heaven nor earth in their explanation of this prophecy, for they have not regarded the design of the Holy Spirit. Some think that by the volume are to be understood false and perverted glosses, by which the purity of doctrine had been vitiated; but this view can by no means be received. There is no doubt but that God intended to show to Zechariah, that the Jews were justly punished, because the whole land was full of thefts and perjuries. As then religion had been despised, as well as equity and justice, he shows that it was no wonder that a curse had prevailed through the whole land, the Jews leaving by their impiety and other sins extremely provoked the wrath of God. This is the import of the first part. And, then, as this vision was terrible, there is added some alleviation by representing iniquity in a measure, and the mouth of the measure closed, and afterwards carried to the land of Shinar, that is, into Chaldea, that it might not remain in Judea. Thus in the former part the Prophet’s design was to humble the Jews, and to encourage them to repent, so that they might own God to have been justly angry; and then he gives them reason to entertain hope, and fully to expect an end to their evils, for the Lord would remove to a distance and transfer their iniquity to Chaldea, so that Judea might be pure and free from every wickedness, both from thefts and acts of injustice, by which it had been previously polluted. But every sentence must be in order explained, that the meaning of the Prophet may be more clearly seen.
He says, that he had returned; (54) and by this word this vision is separated front the preceding visions, and those also of which we have hitherto spoken, were not at the same time exhibited to the Prophet, but he saw them at different times. We may hence learn that some time intervened before the Lord presented to him the vision narrated in this chapter. He adds, that he raised up his eyes and looked; and this is said that we may know that what he narrates was shown to him by the prophetic Spirit. Zechariah very often raised up his eyes though God did not immediately appear to him; but it behaved God’s servants, whenever they girded themselves for the purpose of teaching, to withdraw themselves as it were from the society of men, and to rise up above the world. The raising up of the eyes then, mentioned by Zechariah, signified something special, as though he had said, that he was prepared, for the Lord had inwardly roused him. The Prophets also, no doubt, were in this manner by degrees prepared, when the Lord made himself known to them. There was then the raising up of the eyes as a preparation to receive the celestial oracle.
(54) Some, such as Piscator, Drusius, Dathius, Newcome, and Henderson, think that the verb [ שוב ] is used here adverbally, which is sometimes the case, and render the sentence, “And I lifted up mine eyes again.” The Septuagint, Jerome, and our version, have rendered it, “I turned,” that is, from one vision to another, or from one direction to another. “Returned” seems not so suitable.— Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
THE FLYING ROLL AND THE WINGED WOMEN
Zec 5:1-11.
THIS fifth chapter of Zechariah contains the sixth and seventh visions of the Prophet. While, in character, these visions are more dark and discouraging than those which have preceded, they are yet vitally linked with them.
We know from a former study that the Lord was indeed to become A wall of fire round about Jerusalem, a glory in the midst of it.
But whenever God comes to dwell with His people, sin must depart. If His glorious presence means sure preservation, it also necessitates, always, the purging out of transgression; aye, even of the transgressor. And, as we give ourselves to the study of this chapter, we will find that fact marvelously symbolized by what Zechariah saw when again he had lifted up his eyes.
The first vision was
THE FLYING ROLL
In answer to the Angel, who asked What seest thou? the Prophet answers,
I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
Then said He unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth (Zec 5:2-3).
Gods curse against sin is spoken. Go back to the Book of Deuteronomy, the 27th chapter, and read Deu 27:15-26, and you will have before your eyes a part of what was written upon this scroll:
Cursed be the man that maketh any graven image * *.
Cursed be he that setteth light by his father or his mother * *.
Cursed be he that removeth his neighbours landmark * *.
Cursed be he that maketh the blind to wander out of the way * *.
Cursed be he that perverteth the judgment of the stranger, fatherless, and widow * *.
Cursed be he that lieth with his fathers wife; etc.
The twenty-eighth chapter of the same Book also, verses 15-68, catalogues another series of curses against transgressions of Gods holy Law. The doctrine that there is no sin had not then been born into the world. False prophets, fadists and flippant talkers had not learned to dub sin a dream, a delusion, an illusion, an error secretions of human nature, etc. The language of God was yet in the lips of men, and Satan had not taught that insidious philosophy by which, as Mr. Gladstone put it, They appear to have a very low estimate both of the quantity and quality of sin, of its amount, spread like a deluge over the world, and of the subtlety, intensity, and virulence of its nature. Think of a sentence like this falling from the lips of one of Gods ancient Prophets, or even escaping the mouth of the Son of Man,Evil is naught, is null, is silence implying sound, and yet it was penned by a prominent preacher!
Since God believed in sins He had His Laws against them, and His curses for those who, in willfulness, would commit them. And He says with reference to this flying roll, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth. If there is one thing in the world that is more certain than the shining of the sun, it is that God will not let men commit sin without also requiring of them that they endure the curse thereof.
In the further study of this figure, a second great thought is suggested:
God is faithful in the execution of judgment.
For every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
Whether one sinned against God, or against his fellows, this flying roll had its law printed on the one side, or on the other, speaking against the act. He adds,
I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of Hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My Name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof (Zec 5:4).
It is a serious thing indeed when a house falls into judgment and the whole house experiences utter destruction. When Jeroboam made unto himself molten images and cast God behind his back, the Lord affirmed, I will bring evil upon the house of Jeroboam, and will cut off from Jeroboam [every man child]; and him that is shut up and left in Israel, and will take away the remnant of the house of Jeroboam, as a man taketh away dung, till it be all gone (1Ki 14:10).
It is not an unusual thing for men to make money by immoral methods and build a palace of tarnished stone, create for themselves a fair reputation by hiding away their foul bargains,bringing up a family in luxury and ease,to see all collapse in some awful hour, the fortune gone, the reputation perished, the children turned prodigal, everyone, until, before the crash, the conviction came, which, under the Levitical system was expressed in these words,
There is * * a plague spread in the house, it is a fretting leprosy * *: it is unclean.
I saw the crash of such a house in Indianapolis not long since, because God, who had long delayed, eventually executed judgment against a delinquent.
When I was in Fort Worth, Texas, some years ago, the papers of that city published the pathetic story of James Stevens. Thirty odd years before, Stevens was a prosperous business man near Memphis, Tenn., with a fortune estimated at ninety-thousand. But the temptress came, and he deserted his little family, took with him the entire fortune, and fled to Europe. After some years, roving in foreign countries, he came back to this country again. His Delilah had deserted him; the last penny of his fortune was gone, and he drifted into Fort Worth, a wreck. While I was in that city he lost his mind and was sent to the poor house. Some members of his family remained, but, though he was employed in the same city with them, he never knew it and his house was to him a lost one.
The Modern Hero is a story of rapid rise from bastard poverty to sordid wealth, but its sinful, selfish subject finally faced the gallows.
Oh men,tempted by iniquity, ready perhaps to transgress the Law of God,let this flying roll speak to you of the faithfulness with which judgment will be executed if you trample righteousness under your feet, and yield yourselves to the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life!
F. B. Meyer says that such an one is condemned to hear, like another Job, the voices of successive messengers, announcing that they only are left to tell the story of irremediable disaster. Timber and stones, however, carved and chiseled, crumble to ash and dust! The house of a Satan-server is doomed.
Again,
Divine judgment begins at the house of God. There is a difference of opinion as to the symbolism of the length and breadth of this flying roll. Some students of the Word say this is the exact size of the holy place; while others remind us, and I think with greater reason, that this thirty feet in length and fifteen in breadth, refers to the dimensions of the Temple porch (1Ki 6:3) where the Law was wont to be read, as the people assembled to hear what God had to say. But whether you take the one interpretation, or the other, the lesson is the same,Judgment begins at the house of God.
When Peter penned his first Epistle he said, The time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?
When Jesus Christ was in the world He went into His Fathers Temple, and finding the moneychangers there, overthrew their tables, and, with a whip of small cord, purged them from the sacred place, and charged them with not only having converted His Fathers House into a place of merchandise, but also into a den of thieves.
When Jesus Christ was in the world He plainly told the Pharisee that his prayer in the Temple, God, I thank Thee, that I am not as other men, etc. was a pure mockery.
When Jesus Christ was in the world His first and fiercest exhortations fell upon Israel, the favored folk. And even now, beloved, the men to whom the Law of God has come in the Gospel of His Son Jesus Christ, who know the truth and do it not, are the ones beaten with the most stripes. If their chastisement does not result in their correction, yea, in their change of character, the time must come when Christ will seal their doom in a single sentence,Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.
Pretentions are in vain if the heart be foul. The fall of the hypocritical professor is more sure and his fate, if possible, more wretched, than that of the man who never heard of God.
Louis Albert Banks has spoken some words which visitors to Oregon find to be true. Out in the great forest on the Pacific coast he often sees a large fungus growth start from the side of a tree. One who is not acquainted with such things would not suspect that there was anything suggested by it as to the condition of the tree, but an experienced lumberman would at once know that that fungus would, in some mysterious manner, sap the life of the tree in that spot. When the fungus falls off in the autumn it leaves scarce a sign, but the whole character of the tree has been changed by this growth, and is now soft to the touch. And he affirms it a fact of observation that the first storm of autumn will send this tree crashing down to ruin.
Ah men, have you gone to the looking-glass to see whether sin had yet begun to tell upon your life? Have you studied your hair to say, It is not growing much gray as yet, and did you run your finger over your face to say, There is an unnatural flush, but men will not regard it bloat; Have you studied your steps to determine whether they are as firm as formerly, and does Satan come with his lying whisper, It is all right; this secret sin is very slowly sapping your life, if it is sapping it at all. You can go on yet many a year before you will be in danger of detection, or your absolute downfall is accomplished?
Let me remind you that there is an eye upon every spot that is festering; that there is One who knows that, as a glass of clear water is permeated in its every part by a single drop of ink, so sin has acted as a chemical upon your character in changing it! And that same One, out of His great love is pleading by the still small voice of His Spirit, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts ere the time come when judgment shall discover both, and there be an irremediable end.
When Phecas attempted to create for himself security by building a strong wall about his palace, he heard, in the night time, a voice calling to him, O Emperor; though thou build thy wall as high as the clouds, yet if sin be therein it will overthrow all. These are some of the suggestions of the flying roll.
THE MOVING EPHAH
Then the Angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.
And I said, What is it? And He said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
And He said, This is wickedness. Ana He cast it into the midst of the ephah; and He cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof (Zec 5:5-8).
It is not difficult for one who is familiar with the character of the Jew to divine the meaning of this moving ephah. This was the measure commonly employed in their commerce, just as the bushel is made use of in America: and the significance of the moving ephah is found in the study of their marts.
Commerce was corrupted by them. In their Levitical Law God had said,
Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment, in mete-yard, in weight, or in measure.
Just balances, just weights, a just ephah; and a just hin, shall ye have: I am the Lord your God (Lev 19:35-36).
But Amos tells us what had happened to the Jew in his greed, Making the ephah small, and the shekel great, and falsifying the balances by deceit (Amo 8:5).
It is doubtful whether this sin, which has ever characterized the Jewish people, and does today, is not also the most flagrant and far-reaching sin of the Gentile world. One cannot study the methods of money making, now in common vogue, without believing that all is getting ready for Laodicea when men shall say, [We] are rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; when error and loose morals are indeed spreading in every direction; when colossal corporations oppose men without pity, in order to increase their pile; and endow institutions, in the Name of Christ, to teach infidelity that undermines His cause, for the purpose of simulating passable character. It is certainly a state of affairs to be deplored when industrious, intelligent, frugal men affirm that you cannot make a living in the modern mart and be absolutely honest!
But that is not the worst phase of commercial sin. When one remembers that our saloons were operated only because men were so greedy of gain that they were, and still are, willing, for a price, to poison their fellows, body, soul and spirit; that our gambling dens exist because men are so greedy of gain that they are ready to fleece the inexperienced of the last penny, and never feel a throb of pity; that our houses of ill-fame exist because women are willing to part with virtue for silver and gold; aye, even that the churchman could, and once did, sell indulgences to sin in the Name of Christ and the Holy Church, affirming even, if Bunsen the historian may be relied upon, that whatever crime may have been committed, let the subject but pay well and he will receive pardon; then one sees the awful lengths to which this greed may go, and understands the Apostles language, Love of money is the root of all evil.
Beloved, unless we want the judgment to break, and that speedily; unless we are willing to part company with those who are now getting gain godlessly, never to see them again in eternity, it is high time that we preach honesty to men and call for a just ephah and a just hin; and call, and call again, until men hear and heed!
Charles Spurgeon tells of a woman who, when she was asked what she remembered of the sermon, said, I dont recollect anything of it. It was about short weight and bad measure, and I dont remember anything except that I must go home and burn our bushel.
That was a successful sermon. And if, by what I say now, I lead any man to go back to business tomorrow to deal with his fellows as he would if Jesus stood by his side and saw every transaction, I should praise God for what He taught me by the symbol of the moving ephah.
The spirit of such a mart was symbolized by the strange woman.
This is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
When I speak of a strange woman I do not mean a wondrous woman, I mean a wicked woman. Her position is that of the wicked woman. Tamar sat by the wayside when she watched for Judah to sin with him. Great Babylon is spoken of in the Revelation under the figure of a wicked woman, the mother of harlots, and she sat upon a scarlet colored beast. When lustful men hunt, they walk; when women hunt, they wait.
And when the strange woman is seated in the ephah, it is a marvelous symbol of her association with wicked commerce. What does she care about the way men make their money if only they spend it upon her, that she may sit down in luxury? What a pitiful illustration of this fact is that young woman, now in the tombs in New York, on trial for forgery, and who flippantly says, I had lived with my husband for some years and supposed that he made his money by gambling. Wives of others may be cold and hungry, and their little children neglected and destitute, but what matters it if I can be the woman * * arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls (Rev 17:4)?
When one reaches the point where she can sit down calmly in her sins, she is not far removed from being dead to their character and unconcerned regarding the awfulness of their commission. It is a long way from that perturbed state of mind which characterizes the young woman who has committed her first folly, to that ecstatic frame in which the hardened bargain-driver finds herself when she has fleeced the unsophisticated. And yet, some quickly cover the distance!
It is a long way from that state of the soul where a lustful thought grieves one and sends him to God in prayer, to that experience of planning the downfall of a too-confiding sister and to sleep soundly after it is accomplished, while she sobs through the night.
Melvill says, There are no tears in heaven, but when angels come down to earth it may be they can fall into companionship with humanity, and even learn to weep. And where is a spectacle which should wring tears from eyes which they were never meant to shed, if it be not the sight of that careless trifling with a thing so inestimably precious as the soul? Old men, buried with your gold,ungodly gain,angels weep over you! Young men, frittering away your days in vanities and pleasures, angels weep over you! Women, sitting in wait for victims, angels weep over you!
This sin encloses and oppresses its subjects.
And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
The weight of lead referred to was about one hundred and twenty-five pounds; the ephah referred to held seven and a half gallons, or a little less than a bushel. The woman is, therefore, diminutive in size, as seen here, and this lead, or weight, such as to securely shut her in. She could never lift it to escape therefrom even if she desired. What a marvelous putting of the truth that when once one consents to sit down in sin he should also expect to be shut up in that association, and to feel burdens, too heavy to be borne, pressing upon him. David learned this awful lesson, and said, Mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me (Psa 38:4).
Some of you have read John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress and you cannot forget the picture of Christian with the load upon his back; a load crushing, intolerable; a load from the weight of which he sought in vain to be free.
Ah men, some of you know the meaning of Bunyans allegory! Ah women, some of you under stand what a crushing weight sin is, and under the intolerable burden cry with Charles Wesley:
Depth of mercy! can there be Mercy still reserved for me?Can my God His wrath forbear,And the chief of sinners spare?
I have long withstood His grace;Long provoked Him to His face;Would not hear His gracious calls;Grieved Him by a thousand falls.
Jesus answer from above:Is not all Thy nature love?Wilt Thou not the wrong forget?Lo, I fall before Thy feet.
Now incline me to repent;Let me now my fall lament;Deeply my revolt deplore;Weep, believe, and sin no more.
Thank God this cry is met by
THE VISION OF THE WINGED WOMEN
Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was m their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
Then said I to the Angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
And He said unto me, To build it cm house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
God removes iniquity from His own people.
Whether these winged women with wings like the wings of a stork,an unclean bird,are to be regarded as Satans servants to bring additional wickedness to his seat at Babylon, or whether as servants of the Most High God, they are sent to remove the sins of His people, the result is the same,the sins are taken away.
You recall that under the Levitical system, when the plague came the second time into a house, the priest should come in and look, and, behold, if the plague [should] spread in the house, it [was] a fretting leprosy, * * unclean, and the priest was ordered to break down the house, the stones of it, and all the timbers thereof and mortar of the house, and carry them out of the city into an unclean place.
Such is Gods unwillingness to leave the leprosy of sin in the midst of His people; He promised to remove their iniquities as far from them as the east was from the west; and there is no more blessed thought than that He is willing to make good His Word to every man who sincerely desires it!
I do believe with Barnes-Lawrence that The Christian longs to be rid of sin. From the day when the Holy Spirit shone into his heart, he has seen sin in a new aspect, as personal and hateful. Like Job he cries, 7 have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and ashes.
Thus the vision of God is always the vision of sin. Sin hinders the Christians intercourse with God, checks his pursuit of holiness, and above all, wounds the heart of God. Deliverance from sin becomes therefore his most pressing need. Aye, also his deepest desire! How sweet the sentences of Scripture, I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins (Isa 44:22). The condition of receiving this blessing is made evident in the language of Peter, as in Solomons porch, after Pentecost, he said to the multitude, Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out.
Again,
God removes iniquity by irresistible power. These winged women lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. They took it then beyond the reach of men, and they bore it with the swift wings of the stork. So our sins are removed by superhuman powers. That besetting sin of yours, against which you have no ability, can yet be taken away. It may have defeated you ten thousand times, and you may have lost heart in the conflict, and felt that it would be useless to ever hope for freedom. But not so! When God wills it those sins will go, borne on swift wings indeed, and so far from you that you will never see them again, or feel their leprous sting. There are men here tonight who can testify to this truth: men who drank, and the iniquity would not down at their bidding, but oppressed them at every turn. But it is gone now, borne so far from them that they are beginning to recover even the fear of a fresh onslaught from this satanic habit! There are men here who once were dominated, yea, almost destroyed by their iniquities, but now they are free from their power, not because they conquered them, but because God spake, and the iniquities were carried away; and they stood up to learn that their old enemy had been removed from them by an irresistible force, for the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
And by powers of His own appointment men are not only freed from former captivity but kept in safety.
Charles Spurgeon says of the sins of those who trust God, They are as clean removed as ever were the gates of Gaza removed, posts, towers, and all. That is to say, every sin is gone, every sin of Gods people is forgiven.
There is pardon for transgression past;It matters not how black they are cast And oh, my soul, with wonder view For sins to come, there is pardon too!
One of the favorite hymns of our Sunday night service expresses for us this blessed thought:
My sins which were many in thought and deed,
O Jesus has taken them all;
And now from their bondage my soul is freed,
For Jesus has taken them all.
My sins which were many are washed away,
For Jesus has taken them all;
The Blood of my Savior atones today,
And Jesus has taken them all.
My sins which were many no more are mine,
For Jesus has taken them all;
And I have accepted His grace Divine,
So Jesus has taken them all.
Chorus:
Taken them all, taken them all,All beyond recall;Never again shall my sins enthrall;Jesus has taken them all.
Finally,
God removes iniquity to its own place.
Whither do these bear the ephah?
And He said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base? (Zec 5:10-11).
This land of Shinar is the place where sin was first attempted upon the most colossal scale. The Tower of Babel was the expression of a well-defined purpose to put God out of the earth and climb into Heaven without His help. The Plains of Shinar, or Babylon, was the place where Satan was worshiped. Fit spot, therefore, for the reception of all iniquity. In the plains of Shinar the antichrist will have his capitolSatan will find his city indeed. If, as we believe, the Revelation contains the plan of the ages, (see Revelation 21) here is implied a principle of justice which all men must admit; a justice in perfect accord also with the infinite love of God. Who has ever objected that Judas went to his own place? Who has ever resented Christs conduct in driving evil spirits from human flesh into the flesh of swine? Who thinks to remonstrate when it is prophesied of Satan for the last day that he shall be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are?
Ah, beloved, while we read the twenty-fifth chapter of the Book of Matthew to grieve in seeing unbelievers turned into eternal punishment, while the righteous enter into eternal life, yet let it be remembered that the choice of each was consulted, and their way determined by their own deliberate wills. And it is within the power of your own pleasure to determine the place where you will spend eternity, whether with your own loved ones, who have received the Lord Jesus, or apart from them, for eventually every person must go to his own place. Jerusalem and Babylon are but types of Heaven and hell.
A Godly father once dreamed that the day of judgment had come. The Judge Himself was on the Great White Throne with all nations gathered before Him. The father looked and his wife was at his side, but not a one of his children could he see. He turned his eye to the left, and lo, there they were wringing their hands in the utmost despair. When they saw him they cried, Oh, Father, save us; let us not be separated in eternity! He answered, My dear children, I will do my utmost to save you. So he went over to them and led them into the presence of the Judge. The Judge only said, What do thy children with thee now? They would not take thy warning when the day of thy salvation was on, and now they cannot share with thee the crown in Heaven. Depart from Me for I never knew you. And the crywrung from his childrenas they turned back to the awful fate which they had chosen for themselves, awoke the father out of his sleep, and when morning came he called his children about him and told them the dream, and God used it to break their hard hearts, and they cried, Father, we will not be separated from thee in eternity, but here and now yield ourselves to thy Saviour!
Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley
CRITICAL NOTES.] Flying roll] Vision sixth.
Zec. 5:2.] Ten yards long and five yards broad. The size intended to indicate the number of curses contained; and Flying] The velocity of judgments upon the wicked.
Zec. 5:3. Earth] Land of Judah first; ultimately, to all the earth. Stealeth] Sinners against the second commandment, false swearers against the first. Cut off] Lit. cleared, swept away as offensive (1Ki. 14:10; Eze. 24:11). Two sins put for the whole. This sidethat side] The scroll was written on both sides, as in Exo. 32:15. Henderson gives: From that place, whether on the right hand or on the left, he should be swept away by the Divine judgment. Nowhere should he find protection.
Zec. 5:4. Forth] Out of the treasure-house (Jer. 10:13). Enter and remain] Lit. lodge or stay; not idle, but consuming inmates, beams, and stones (cf. 1Ki. 18:38; Lev. 14:45).
HOMILETICS
THE UNCHANGING LAW AND ITS UNIVERSAL CURSE.Zec. 5:1-4
The series of visions now take another turn. In the two preceding chapters we have the elements of the gospel, in the destruction of Zions foes, the forgiveness of the people, the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and the finishing of the temple. Now we learn that God is holy, and cannot tolerate sinners in their wickednessthat all who remain impenitent or reject Gods mercy will be punished with a long and dreary exile, or visited with exterminating judgment. The white robes of innocence and the golden oil of the Holy Spirit disappear, and in their place comes a fearful curse, overshadowing the land and threatening an irrecoverable overthrow [Lange]. We learn from the connection of these words
I. That Gods law is not abrogated by change of circumstances. The Jews were restored to their land, forgiven in their sins, and aided in their work; but the law of God still observed, and would punish, their guilt. No place, time, nor circumstances can alter this law. It is from eternity to eternity. It is the revelation of God, and the standard of rectitude in all nations and ages. Unchangeable in its nature, demands, and design, it is designed to educate conscience, to keep alive a sense of sin, and to lead to repentance and faith. The law entered (came in by the way, i.e. provisionally, with the foreseen effect) that the offence might abound.
II. That the curse of Gods law will come upon all transgressors. This is the curse that goeth forth. There is a constant tendency in men to abuse Divine goodness, and encourage sin. But to all who see, the flying roll unfolds the knowledge of God. It is still a fiery law, pronouncing curses on those who disobey. Sinai still thunders forth its terrors to all who in spirit, word, or deed break its principles. They lay hold upon all, and where is the man that can escape? Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.
III. That Divine grace alone will secure a man from the curse of Gods law. The Jews were reminded that sin would hinder their workthat they were to forsake it, if God must continue to help them, and fix them in their own land. In other words, Gods favour alone would be the ground of their security. They are only safe who trust his mercy and obey his will. The lesson under a different form, says Wardlaw, was also, that the land to which they had been restored, must be held by the same tenure as before. God had given it originally by promise. By faith of the promise it was obtained. By the obedience of faith it was held. The inheritance was never of the law; was never held by any legal tenureby any kind of desertany right arising out of the doings of those who occupied it. Only in Christ are we free from condemnation. We are saved by grace, not by works. Not of works, lest any man should boast.
THE FLYING ROLL, OR SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT.Zec. 5:1-4
Taking this roll as representing the curse of God, ready to be executed upon transgressors, let us lift up our eyes and behold the sins which bring the curse, and provoke God to ruin men in personal and domestic affairs.
I. The sins. Some infer the Divine authority of the roll, from its size, just the dimensions of the temple porch, a place where the law was usually read; others infer, the great number of the sins and curses written upon it. Like Ezekiels roll it was written within and without, and full of lamentations, and mourning, and woe.
1. The sins were grievous. Two kinds are specified as indicating the whole. (a) Sins against man. Every one that stealeth. This means every kind of injustice and violence. (b) Sins against God. Every one that sweareth. False or profane swearing was common among the Jews. Stealing and perjury often together; for the covetous and fraudulent have no scruple in the use of Gods name (cf. Pro. 30:9). Innumerable methods of fraud and deceit are constantly practised, and scarcely considered criminal, because customary. But all who are guilty of injustice and dishonesty with their neighbours in whatever form, and all who withhold from God, in principle and action, the reverence due to his name, are under the curse of the law.
2. The sins were open. They were not only written on the roll, but the roll was open, and of extraordinary size. It was not rolled up and sealed, but fully expanded to view, that nothing it contained might be concealed, says one. Sins are written legibly on our moral constitution, in the sight of God and man, and are known and read of all men. Sin is self-revealing. It is impossible to hide wrong doing. Jupiter was supposed to write down the sins of men in a book. God keeps a record of human guilt, which will be unfolded on earth and in eternity. Some mens sins are open (manifest, clear,) beforehand, going (like heralds) before to judgment; and some men they follow after.
II. The punishment. This is the curse that goeth forth. The curse of the Divine law must be denounced against all transgressors. Its sanction must be set forth and not erased. The theology which denies Divine justice, and deludes the conscience, finds no place in the teaching of the prophet. The anathemas of Scripture are not a mere brutum fulmen, but a solid and terrible reality.
1. The curse was universal. Every one shall be cut off. It hangs over the face of the whole earth, ready to fall upon its objects.
2. The curse was inevitable. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord. Who can turn aside that which Almighty power sends forth? On this side, and on that, the ungodly are cut off.
3. The curse was swift. Its speed was not slow: I see a flying roll. Judgments sleep not, but suddenly break forth, and overtake the disobedient. The lightning from heaven is not more swift and irresistible. He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.
4. The curse was destructive. It penetrated the house, and consumed everything inside, like the plague of old. It shall enter into the house. (a) It destroys families. The homes of the thief and the false-swearer were attacked. The curse of God comes to the sinner where he thinks himself most protected and most secure. (b) It destroys possessions. Vengeance enters and remains in the house until it answers the end for which it is sent. It remains in the midst of it; abides like leprosy, infecting, wasting, and consuming all. Ahab multiplied his house, and defied the curse pronounced against it; but the stroke swept all away (1Ki. 21:20-22). The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked; but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zec. 5:1. Prophecies partly appertain to those in whose times the sacred writers prophesied, partly to the mysteries of Christ. And therefore it is wont of the prophets, at one time to chastise vices and set forth punishments; at another, to predict the mysteries of Christ and the Church [Aug. de Civ. Dei]. It was a wide, unfolded roll, as is involved in its flying; but its flight signified the very swift coming of punishment; its flying from heaven, that the sentence came from the judgment-seat above [Pusey].
Zec. 5:2. Its large size might denote two things:the large number and amount of the Divine denunciations it contained; and at the same time, there being room for writing them large, that they might be seen. It was at the same time flying. By which, also, two things might be denotedthat it was not meant for any particular city or locality, but to make a progress through the length and breadth of the land; and also, that the denunciations of Jehovah written in it would come speedily and surely on those against whom they were pointed [Wardlaw].
Zec. 5:3. Cut off: lit. cleansed away. The moral meaning of the Hebrew word suggests, the defiling and offensive nature of sin, and the several measures necessary to take it away. None who enter the porch of the visible Church may flatter themselves that they can escape Gods wrath and malediction, if they commit any of the sins condemned by the comprehensive commination of this flying roll, which may be compared to a net, co-extensive with the world, and drawn throughout the whole from side to side [Wordsworth].
Zec. 5:4. A mans house is termed his castle, but is unable to hold out against Divine judgments, which may be noticed
1. for terribleness;
2. suddenness; and
3. retributive end. Property and estates often cut off, families dried up root and branch, and doomed to perpetual curse (cf. Job. 18:14-15). It is a curse that embitters every sweet, and gives more than twofold intensity to every bitter. From this world it must accompany and follow a man to another, and settle with him there for ever. The special reference made to their houses, with the stones thereof and the timber thereof, forcibly points to the care which they had been taking of their own accommodation, in comfort and elegance, while Jehovahs house was neglected [Wardlaw].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
Zec. 5:3. Curse. The good make a better bargain, and the bad a worse, than is usually supposed, for the rewards of the one, and the punishments of the other, not unfrequently begin on this side of the grave [Coltons Laconics]. The wages that sin bargains with the sinner arelife, pleasure, and profit; but the wages it pays them with aredeath, torment, and destruction. He that would understand the falsehood and death of sin, must compare its promises and payments together [South].
Our pleasant vices make instruments to scourge us [Shakespeare].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXII
A VISION OF A FLYING SCROLL
Zec. 5:1-4
RV . . . Then again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on the one side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on the other side according to it. I will cause it to go forth, saith Jehovah of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name; and it shall abide in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
LXX . . . And I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked and behold a flying sickle. And he said to me. What seest thou? And I said, I see a flying sickle, of the length of twenty cubits, and of the breadth of ten cubits. And he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for every thief shall be punished with death on this side, and every false swearer shall be punished on that side. And I will bring it forth, saith the Lord Almighty, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that swears falsely by my name; and it shall rest in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, and the timber of it, and the stones of it.
COMMENTS
WHAT THE PROPHET SAW . . . Zec. 5:1-2
Zechariah lifted up his eyes. This is the phrase which introduces four of the prophets eight visions. In the present vision what is seen is described as a flying scroll measuring thirty feet long by fifteen feet wide.
The angel again asks what the prophet sees to which the prophet answers very literally by describing the flying scroll. Unlike the previous visions, the angel makes no attempt to get Zechariah to interpret this one. Whether this be because of the prophets inability to understand the others, or because of the extremely onerous nature of the meaning of the flying scroll we cannot be sure.
WHAT THE VISION MEANT . . . Zec. 5:3-4
At least in this instance Zechariah seems justified in not being able to understand. Here, for the first time, the Law is depicted as a curse.
The overwhelming significance of this truth and of its appearance in the Old Testament Scriptures cannot be overstated. For centuries both Jews, in attempting to justify their rejection of the Christian faith, and liberal theologians in their attempt to discredit the New Testament, have held that the evaluation of the law as a curse is the peculiar theology of Paul. (cf. Gal. 3:13) That Paul is not the originator of this thought becomes apparent here!
The curse of the law is that it makes no allowance for human infirmity. By it comes the accurate knowledge of sin, but by it comes no remedy for sin. By it comes the just wrath of God upon the sinner, but by it comes no forgiveness of sin. (cf. Rom. 7:7-24)
The curse of the law is not limited to the Jew alone. The scroll goes forth over the whole earth.
Paul will make this universal indictment of God against all men crystal clear. In Rom. 2:14-15, the apostle shows that all men are in fact under the law, aside from Christ. The Jew because he has the written oracle of God. The Gentile because, while not having the written law, he became a law unto himself. This is because every person has in his conscience the awareness of right and wrong. True, the Gentile without the revealed Law of God does not know what is, in fact, right or wrong. Nevertheless, he is aware that there is right and that there is wrong. He stands guilty because he does not live up to what he believes is right and wrong and in this failure violates the fundamental principle upon which the Law rests.
This is seen in the modern sociological fad called the New Morality. Based upon a philosophy called existentialism, the New Morality is the practical expression of situation ethics.
In simple terms, this amounts to the denial of established right and wrong as written in the Ten Commandments. It is at its root the denial of the authority if not the very existence of God. But the New Morality does not deny the basic principles of right and wrong. It simply says there is no pre-determined right and wrong. Right and wrong must be determined subjectively within the framework of the existing situation.
Paul would say that the situationist stands guilty of breaking the law in that, having become a law unto himself, he proceeds to violate even his own understanding of right and wrong.
No individual, whether he accepts the written law or becomes a law unto himself, consistently does in every situation of life what he believes is right. Thus the curse of the law covers the whole earth.
In Zechariahs vision, two particular commandment violations become the target of Gods wrath expressed in the curse of the law symbolized by the flying scroll. They are the infraction of the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal, and the ninth commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (cf. Exo. 20:15-16)
The latter, swearing falsely in the name of God, is an affront to the majesty of God. The former, entering a neighbors house to steal his personal property, is a violation of the dignity of the neighbors humanity! Jesus will teach that the very foundation of the law is the recognition of these two sacred truths.
According to Him, the whole law hangs on the first and second commandments, i.e. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and thy neighbor as thyself. (Mat. 22:34 -ff) To swear falsely in Gods name or to steal anothers personal possessions is to strike at the very foundation of morality as it is revealed by God in the Law.
The effect of this curse is deadly. The sinner himself will be cut off, and his household will be destroyed. The phrase cut off is a covenant term. (cp. Exo. 17:14; Exo. 12:15; Exo. 12:19, Lev. 7:20-21; Lev. 7:27; Lev. 17:4; Lev. 17:9; Lev. 17:14, etc.)
To violate the commandments of God is to be cut off from the covenant relationship with Him. A Jew in this condition was no different from a Gentile who was completely ignorant of the covenant. (cf. Eph. 2:11-12) Hence . . . there is no distinction. (Rom. 3:22)
Not only does the sinner suffer as a result of his own disregard for Gods majesty and human dignity, his family suffers also. Zechariah pictures the curse of the law as entering and abiding in the sinners home, even to the consuming of the wood and masonry.
The same principle is stated in Exo. 34:6-7. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the childrens children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
If we consider this in terms of the family being held accountable for the fathers sins, we shall miss the point altogether. What is intended is the self-evident truth that what effects a man effects his family also, and nothing effects a man more adversely than his own sin.
We deceive ourselves if we believe that the effects of our sinning are confined to ourselves. Deu. 8:15-18 spells this out in great detail. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee; Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Conversely, obedience to God brings blessings on others than ourselves. Pro. 3:33 says, The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just.
The man who deliberately, habitually blasphemes Gods name and/ or disregards the human dignity of his neighbor through the violation of his property rights brings the curse of God not only upon himself but those with whom he lives.
Chapter XXXIIQuestions
A Vision of a Flying Scroll
1.
Describe Zechariahs sixth vision.
2.
How is Zechariah justified in not being able to understand this vision?
3.
What is the significance of the depicting of the law as a curse in this particular passage?
4.
Discuss this in relation to Rom. 2:14-15.
5.
How is the universal acknowledgement of the fact of right and wrong demonstrated in the New Morality?
6.
How do such people break the law of God?
7.
What two commandment violations are the target of Gods wrath in the vision of the flying scroll?
8.
What is the effect of the curse symbolized in this vision?
9.
Compare Zec. 5:1-4 and Exo. 34:6-7.
10.
Are the effects of our sins confined to ourselves?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(1) Then I turned . . . eyes.Better, And I again lifted up my eyes. (Comp. Zec. 4:1.)
Flying roll.A scroll floating in the air. The form of the vision seems to be suggested by Eze. 2:9-10. LXX., omitting the final ah of the word for scroll, render , sickle.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
A SERIES OF SEVEN VISIONS.
Zec. 1:7 to Zec. 6:15. Between the commencement of Zechariahs prophetic labours and the incidents recorded in Zec. 1:7 to Zec. 6:15, the Prophet Haggai received the revelation contained in Hag. 2:10-23. On the four-and-twentieth day of the eleventh month, just five months after the re-building of the Temple was resumed, Zechariah sees a succession of seven visions in one night, followed by a symbolic action (Zec. 6:9-15).
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The sixth vision the flying roll, 1-4.
In meaning this vision is similar to the seventh, but there seems insufficient reason for thinking that the two are parts of one and the same vision. The prophet beholds flying through the air an immense roll. He is told by the interpreter that the roll symbolizes the curse of God, and that it will enter the houses of all evil doers and consume them utterly. In Zec 3:9, is promised the removal of iniquity from the land; this vision indicates one means by which this is to be accomplished, namely, the destruction of the wicked.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
1. The introductory formula is similar to that in Zec 2:1.
A roll Among the ancients written documents were preserved in the form of rolls. LXX., omitting the final letter of the Hebrew word, reads “sickle,” which would give good sense, but the dimensions given in Zec 5:2 favor the Hebrew text.
Flying Moving swiftly from the judgment throne above, where the destruction was decreed, to its destination upon earth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
THE EIGHT NIGHT VISIONS, Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:8.
About three months after Zechariah’s first utterance and five months after building operations on the temple were resumed (Hag 1:15) there came to Zechariah in one single night a series of symbolical visions. Their significance was made plain to him by a heavenly interpreter. The visions have one common purpose, “the encouragement of the Jews to continue the work of restoring the temple and rebuilding the city and the re-establishing of the theocratic government.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Sixth Vision. The Flying Scroll – God’s Moral Demands Go Forth to Bring Judgment ( Zec 5:1-4 ).
Together with the establishment of the High Priesthood and the building of the Temple, it is necessary for sin to be rooted out of the land. The purifying of the people must be made fact. And this occurs now as the curse which results from disobedience to the Law goes out among the people (compare Deu 30:7).
Zec 5:1-2
‘Then again I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.” ’
A scroll of ten cubits wide is a phenomenon (a cubit is from elbow to finger tip). Its size indicates that its source is God, and that it is divinely effective. The fact that it is flying indicates that what is written in it is being enacted or is about to be enacted. Thus here we have a scroll from God going among the people.
Zec 5:3-4
‘Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole land. For every one who steals will be purged out according to it on the one side, and everyone who swears (falsely) will be purged out according to it on the other side. ‘I will cause it to go forth’, the word of YHWH of Hosts, ‘and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely in my name, and it will remain in the midst of his house and will consume it with its timber and stones’.”
‘The curse’. The idea behind the word here is a curse resulting from obligation. It is used in Deu 30:7 where it is linked with the curses put on all those who do not obey God’s law. Its connection here with stealing and swearing falsely, two of the ten commandments, suggests that the idea is that God’s commands go forth as a curse on those who do not obey them. Indeed the idea of a curse on one or other of these types of dishonesty are found in Jdg 17:2 ; 1Ki 8:31-32; Job 31:29-30 compare Psa 24:4-5.
It is possible that theft and dishonesty before the courts of justice were two of the major problems that had to be dealt with at this time if their society was to prosper. It is distinctive of God’s word that honesty in word and action is always treated as of prime importance. We can contrast this with lands and parts of society where the word of God does not prevail and dishonesty is a way of life.
So God tells Zechariah that theft and false swearing must be dealt with severely even to the breaking down of the houses of those who continue in them so that they will leave the place (a Persian form of punishment, compare Ezr 6:11). And the assurance is that even if justice cannot track down the perpetrators, God Himself will. Thus this is a stern warning to those on the land that these things must be put aside for they will no longer be treated lightly.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Eight Night Visions And Accompanying Oracles ( Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:8 ).
Zechariah now goes on to describe eight night visions, which he appears to have had in one night, which are in the main accompanied by oracles. These portray the commencement of the new beginning and are as follows:
The Horsemen Scouts go through the whole earth and find it at rest – Jerusalem will be restored (Zec 1:7-17).
The Four Horns and the Four Smiths – the opposing nations will be pared back (Zec 1:18-21).
The Man With The Measuring Line to Measure Jerusalem – Jerusalem will be reoccupied and God will dwell among His people (Zec 2:1-13).
The Accusation and Cleansing Of Joshua the High Priest – the High Priesthood is restored and the promise is made of the coming Branch (Zec 3:1-10).
The Golden Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees – Zerubbabel, with Joshua, (the two anointed ones), will rebuild the Temple (Zec 4:1-14).
The Flying Scroll – a curse will go out that will rid the land of sin (Zec 5:1-4).
The Woman in the Ephah – wickedness is to be despatched to Shinar/Babylon (Zec 5:5-11).
The Chariots, which are the Four Winds from the Lord, will travel through the whole earth and especially bring quietness in the north (Zec 6:1-8), the source of past invasion. Jerusalem will dwell securely.
Thus the process of restoring and ensuring the security of Jerusalem, is to be accompanied by the restoration of the High Priesthood, the rebuilding of the Temple against all odds, the purification of the whole land, the removal of wickedness, and the ensuring of peace in the north (Mesopotamia).
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
Zec 5:2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
Zec 5:2
[7] Paul Crouch, Behind the Scenes (Santa Ana, California: Trinity Broadcasting Network), on television.
Zec 5:3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
Zec 5:3
Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures
The Vision of the Flying Roll
v. 1. Then I turned, v. 2. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll, v. 3. Then said he unto me, v. 4. I will bring it forth,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
EXPOSITION
Zec 5:1-4
8. The sixth vision: the flying roll.
Zec 5:1
Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes; i.e. I lifted up mine eyes again, and saw the vision that follows. The prophet had seen, in the fourth vision, how in the new theocracy the priesthood should be pure and holy; in the fifth how the Church should be restored; he is now shown that sinners should be cut off, that no transgression should be left in the kingdom of God. A flying roll; volumen volans (Vulgate): comp. Eze 2:9, Eze 2:10. The Hebrews used parchment and leather scrolls for writing; the writing was divided into columns, and when completed the document was rolled round one or two sticks and kept in a ease. In the present vision the scroll is unrolled and exhibited in its full length and breadth, showing that it was to be made known to all. Its flight denotes the speedy arrival of the judgment, and, as it is seen in the heaven, so the punishment proceeds from God. Theodotion and Aquila render the word, , “leather;” the Septuagint, by mistake, , “a sickle.”
Zec 5:2
He said. The angel-interpreter spoke (Zec 4:2). The length thereof, etc. Taking the cubit at a foot and a half, the size of the roll is enormous, and may well have aroused the prophet’s wonder. The dimensions given correspond to those of the porch of Solomon’s temple (1Ki 6:3), twenty cubits long by ten broad. These are also the dimensions of the holy place in the tabernacle, and of Solomon’s brazen altar (2Ch 4:1). The careful statement of the size of the roll indicates that some special meaning is attached to these measurements. We do not know that any symbolical signification was recognized in the porch of the temple; but these dimensions may well contain a reference to the sanctuary and the altar, as Knabenbauer explains, “The curse is of the same measure as that altar which was the instrument of expiation and reconciliation, and as that sanctuary which was the entrance to the holy of holies.” Others consider that the curse is pronounced according to the measure of the sanctuary, i.e. according to the Divine Law; or that all might thus know that it came from God, and that the possession of the temple did not secure the people from vengeance unless they were pure and obedient.
Zec 5:3
This is the curse. The roll contained the curse written upon it on both sides. (For the curse of fled upon guilty nations, comp. Isa 24:6; Dan 9:11.) Earth; land; for Judaea is meant. The curse was ready to fall on all who might come under it by their transgressions. This would be a warning also to exterior nations. Every one that stealeth every one that sweareth. Thieves and perjurers are especially mentioned as incurring the curse. Perjury is a chief offence in one table of the Law, theft in the other; so these sins may stand for all offences against the Decalogue (comp. Jas 2:10, etc.). But probably they are named because they were particularly rife among the returned Jews. Daring their long sojourn in Babylon they had engaged in commercial pursuits and had fallen into the lax morality which such occupations often engender. These bad habits they had brought with them and practised in their new home (comp. Zec 8:17, and note there). Shall be out off as on this side according to it; Revised Version, shall be purged out on the one side (margin, from hence) according to it; Ewald, “driven hence like it.” The reference is to the two sides of the roll, answering to the two tables of the Decalogue. Sinners shall be i.e. utterly consumed, cleansed away, i.e. according to the tenor of the roll. The Vulgate has judicabitur; the LXX; “shall be punished unto death.” That sweareth; i.e. falsely, as is plain from Zec 5:4; Septuagint, , “every perjurer.”
Zec 5:4
I will bring it forth. God will not keep the curse confined and inoperative (Deu 32:34, etc.), but it shall enter into the house of the thief. The curse shall not fall lightly and pass quickly by, but shall fix its abode with the sinner till it has worked out its fell purpose. It shall remain; it shall pass the nighttake up its lodging; LXX; . With the timber thereof, etc. A hyperbolical expression of the terrible effects of Divine vengeance, which consumes utterly like a devouring firean adumbration of the destruction at the day of judgment (comp. Deu 4:24; Mal 3:2; Mat 3:12).
Zec 5:5-11
9. The seventh vision: the woman in the ephah.
Zec 5:5
Went forth. While the prophet meditated on the last vision, the interpreting angel retired into the background or among the company of angels; he now comes into view again to explain a new revelation closely connected with the former. That goeth forth. That comes into sight from the surrounding darkness. As the preceding vision denoted that sinners should be extirpated, so the present vision shows how iniquity itself, the very principle of evil, should be removed from the Holy Land.
Zec 5:6
What is it? The prophet did not clearly discern the object, or his question may mean, “What does it signify?” An ephah; the ephah, as “the curse” (Zec 5:3). The ephah was the largest of the dry measures in use among the Jews, and was equal to six or seven gallons. It was, of course, too small to contain a woman. The LXX. calls it simply “the measure;” the Vulgate, amphora; and it must be considered as an imaginary vessel of huge size. It may have a tacit reference to dishonest dealings (comp. Amo 8:5; Mic 6:10). This is their resemblance; literally, this is their eye. The Authorized Version explains the meaning accurately. “Eye” is often used for that which is seen, as in Le 13:55, where the Authorized Version has “colour;” and Num 11:7, where in reference to the manna we read, “The eve thereof was as the eye of bdellium” (comp. Eze 1:4, Eze 1:16). So here the meaning is: This ephah and this whole vision represent the wicked in the land. Some take “the eye” to mean the object of sight, that to which they look. But the ephah was not sot forth for all the people to examine. The LXX. and Syriac, from some variation in the reading, have , “iniquity,” and some critics have desired to adopt this in the text. But authority and necessity are equally wanting.
Zec 5:7
There was lifted up a talent of lead. As the prophet gazed, the leaden cover of the ephah was raised, so that the contents became visible. The word rendered “talent” (kikkar) denotes a circle. It is used in Gen 13:10, Gen 13:12, for the tract of country of which the Jordan was the centre, and in 1Sa 2:36 for a round loaf. Here it means a disc or circular plate which formed the cover of the round shaped ephah. In the next verse it is called, “the weight of lead.” And this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah; and there was a woman sitting, etc. When the leaden lid was raised one woman (mulier una, ) was seen in the measure. She is called “one,” as uniting and concentrating in her person all sinners and all sins.
Zec 5:8
This is wickedness. This woman is the personification of wickedness. It is very common to find backsliding Israel represented as a faithless and adulterous woman (comp. Isa 1:21; Jer 2:20; Hos 2:5; and the parable of the two women in Eze 23:1-49.). He cast it; herthe woman. As the woman rose, or tried to rise, from the ephah, the angel flung her down into it. It is possible, as some commentators suppose, that the ephah into which wickedness is thrust represents the measure of iniquity which, being reached, constrains God to punish (see Gen 15:16, where the dispossession of the Amorites is postponed till their iniquity is full). The weight of lead; literally, as the LXX; the stone of lead; Vulgate, massam plumbeam. This is the cover of the ephah, that which is called the “talent of lead” in the preceding verse. This heavy cover the angel cast upon the mouth of the ephah, in order to confine the woman therein. Dr. Wright and some other commentators, referring the passage to theft and perjury alone, consider that the woman held in her hand the leaden weight with which she weighed her gains, and was sitting in the ephah which she used in her traffic; so that she represents dishonesty in the matter of weight and measure. She is punished by the means of the instruments she had used unrighteously; the weight is dashed upon her lying mouth, and the ephah, her throne, is made the vehicle that carries her out of the land. But it seems a mistake to confine the iniquity mentioned to the two special sins of theft and perjury; nor would the talent and the ephah be natural instruments of stealing and false swearing; and the point of the vision is not the punishment of wickedness, but its expulsion from the land. It is true that the pronominal suffix in the mouth thereof is feminine, and that the LXX. makes it refer to the woman, . But it may equally refer to ephah, which is also feminine.
Zec 5:9
Then lifted I up mine eyes. This is the conclusion of the vision. And looked; and saw. There came out (forth) two women. These two women who now come in sight have been supposed to represent the Assyrians and Babylonians, who wore the agents in the deportation of Israel; or else are considered abettors of the woman in the ephah, who for a time save her from destruction. This latter supposition proceeds on the erroneous idea that wickedness is herein rescued from punishment, whereas the notion that underlies the whole vision is that the Holy Land is purged of wickedness. That the two nations hostile to Israel are represented is an untenable suggestion; for why should they carry off iniquity from Jerusalem and fix it in their own land? Probably by the two women carrying away the evil woman is signified (if the details are capable of explanation) that iniquity brings with it its own destruction and works out its own removal. The wind was in their wings. They were borne along so quickly that they seemed to be carried by the wind; or the wind helped their flight. A stork; Septuagint, , “the hoopoe;” Vulgate, milvi. The Authorized Version is certainly correct. The stork is common enough in Palestine, and is reckoned among unclean birds in the Pentateuch (Le 11:19; Deu 14:18), for which cause some have thought it is here introduced as bearing the sin laden ephah. But its introduction more probably has reference to its migratory habits, the power and rapidity of its flight, and, as some think, to its skill in constructing its nest.
Zec 5:11
To build it (her) an house. The LXX. refers the pronoun to the ephah, but it seems more natural to refer it to a person, the woman. The feminine gender of the original would apply to either. She is carried away from Judaea to have a permanent dwelling in a land more suited to her. Pusey thinks that possibly a temple may be intended, “a great idol temple, in which the god of this world should be worshipped.” In the land of Shinar; i.e. the ideal land of unholiness, where the world power first arrayed itself against God in the attempt at Babel. Septuagint, , (Gen 11:2, etc.). Shinar, equivalent to Sumer in the Assyrian monuments, denotes Lower or Southern Babylon; Accad, Upper or Northern Babylon. And it shall be established. The house shall be firmly fixed there. Others render, “when it is ready.” And set there. The gender shows that the woman is meant, not the house: “And she shall be set there in her own place.” Thus from the spiritual Zion all wickedness shall be abolished (Zec 3:9) and sent to its own place prepared for the enemies of God and holiness. Doubtless, too, a warning is here conveyed to those Jews who still lingered in Babylon, that they were dwelling in a land accursed of God, and were liable to be involved in the fate which pursues ungodliness. Orelli and some others see in these two visions an analogy to the two goats on the Day of Atonement, of which one was sacrificed for the sins of the people, and the other bore away their iniquity to the demons’ abode, the wilderness (Lev 16:1-34.).
HOMILETICS
Zec 5:1-4
The reassertion of the Law.
“Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll,” etc. Most of the distinguishing privileges first given to Israel after leaving Egypt for Canaan were gradually restored to Israel on its partial restoration to Palestine after the captivity of Babylon. This illustrated, as noted before, as to the altar (Ezr 3:3); the daily sacrifice (Ezr 3:5); the Feast of Tabernacles (Ezr 3:4); the tabernacle or the temple itself (Ezr 3:10; Ezr 6:15). This also illustrated, as we have just seen, as to the revival of the Levitical priesthood (Zec 3:1-5); and also as to the rekindling of that temple “candlestick” which typified the restoration and maintenance of the Jewish Church as a witness for God amongst men (Zec 4:1-3, Zec 4:11-14). In the present passage we think we perceive a similar reassertion and, as it were, restoration of that written statement of man’s duty and God’s will which was given originally on Mount Sinai, on the two tables of stone; this second proclamation differing from that, however, according to the differences of the exigency and time. This we hope to show by considering the vision before us
(1) as to its general nature; and
(2) as to its special characteristics,
I. ITS GENERAL NATURE. As with the original Decalogue, so we are shown here in vision:
1. A message in writing from God; a message, therefore, like the other, peculiarly deliberate and explicit in its character, and peculiarly permanent in its form (Exo 34:1; 2Co 3:7; see also Isa 8:1; Jer 36:18; Jer 30:2; Luk 1:8, Luk 1:4; Act 15:23, etc.).
2. A message of judgment; in other words, containing a “curse,” or solemn declaration of anger against sin and wrong doing (Deu 27:26; Jer 11:3, Jer 11:4; Gal 3:10).
3. A message of great breadth and extent, being written on a roll of the same dimensions (so it has been noted) as the sanctuary, or temple, and applying, therefore, to the whole duty of man (see again Gal 3:10); or else, possibly, showing that this proclamation of God’s will, like the former one, had to do especially with his “house” (1Pe 4:17; Amo 3:1, Amo 3:2).
4. A message, however, of universal applicability, as shown by its “flying” “over the whole earth,” or land (comp. Rom 2:9, Rom 2:12-16).
5. A message of a twofold purport or formthe words written on one side of the “roll” referring to a commandment contained in the first table of the Decalogue, and those written on the other to a commandment in the second. On all these points we see there is a more or less marked similarity between those tables of stone and this flying roll.
II. ITS SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS. These to be seen, if we mistake not, somewhat remarkably:
1. In the special transgressions here denounced; being just those to which we have reason to believe, from other sources, that the post-Captivity Israelites were especially prone. Note, e.g; in the first table of the Law, with regard to the sin of “false swearing,” what evidences we find (as in Rom 2:17, Rom 2:23, Rom 2:24, and elsewhere) of their falsely professing supreme reverence for the very Name of Jehovah, even using a periphrasis instead of it, as in Mar 14:61; but how few evidences, if anyso different from pre-Captivity timesof open violations of the first and second commandments; and what an extreme solicitude, if to some extent a blind one, as to the outward observance of the fourth (Luk 13:14; Joh 5:16; Joh 9:16, etc.). Note also, in the second table of the Law, with regard to the sin of “stealing,” how many evidences we have, after the return from Babylon, of the special prevalence of that cruel spirit of covetousness which lies at the root of all theft (see Neh 5:1-13; Mal 3:5, Mal 3:8-10; Luk 12:15; Luk 16:14; Luk 20:46, Luk 20:47; to say nothing of the modern history of the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem).
2. In the special punishment here threatened, viz. just that which persons prone to such transgressions would be afraid of the most. The great objects aimed at by such in their lip worship and fraud (observe connection of thought in beginning of Luk 20:47) would be the establishment and enrichment of themselves and their “houses.” Instead of this, the very opposite, viz. the total destruction thereof, is described figuratively, but most graphically, as being the result. God himself should “bring forth” the appointed evil or “curse,” which should reach its appointed place; and stay there its appointed time; and thoroughly perform there its appointed work, destroying not the house only but its very materials (Mar 14:4). How strikingly suitable, how emphatic a method of re-enacting his Law!
See, in conclusion, from this view of the passage:
1. The immutability of God’s Law. In every successive dispensation alike, obedience to it is demanded. In the patriarchal, under Noah. In the legal, under Moses. Here, also after the Captivity; and that in closest connection, as just seen, with prophecies about the priesthood of Christ, and the work of his Spirit. And not less so, finally, in the gospel itself, with its blaze of mercy and love (Mat 5:17-20, etc.; Rom 3:31; Rom 8:4; Tit 2:12, Tit 2:13; Tit 3:8).
2. The elasticity of its application. In each several case God causes those parts of it which are most needed to be most emphasized too. So in the instance before us, as we think we have shown. So also, under Noah, as shown by comparing Gen 6:13; Gen 9:5,
6. Compare, again, as to Moses, the length and emphasis of the second commandment with Exo 32:1-6, and the subsequent history of the nation. And see, finally, under the gospel, how specially suited such language as that in Mat 22:36-40 was to the mere formalism of those times.
Zec 5:6-11
The vindication of Law.
“Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes,” etc. The last vision was one of warning. This, as we take it, is one of judgment. The subject appears, however, to be the same. What the prophet previously dreaded and threatened he now describes as fulfilled. In other words, in a mystical fashion, and in language only partially understood by himself, he foretells how the warning just uttered by him would be, on the one hand, completely despised by the Jewish people and Church; and, on the other hand, completely vindicated by the course of events.
I. THE WARNING DESPISED. This is predicted, in vision, by certain similitudes, which convey to our minds:
1. The idea of measure. An “ephah,” a common measure, sometimes put as a representative of all measures, is seen “going forth.” What for, except to be used? And how used, unless for measuring? As alsoif Dr. Pusey is right in speaking of it as the largest measure in usefor measuring something of very unusual magnitude.
2. The idea of national sin. Of sin, by what is said of the contents of this ephah, viz. (Zec 5:8), “This is wickedness.” Of nationality, by its being presented to us under the figure of a woman (see Isa 37:22; Eze 16:2, Eze 16:4; and other Scriptures; and comp. Isa 3:26 with the figure and legend of “Judaea Capta” on the coin struck in commemoration of the destruction of Jerusalem), and perhaps, also, by the remarkable declaration in end of Zec 5:6.
3. The idea of repletion. This large measure being so filled up as only to require the closing up of its mouth; and that with so heavy a closing as a “talent of lead,” as though never requiring to…be opened again. See what our Lord long afterwards said to the Jews in Mat 23:32 (comp. Gen 15:16), with apparent reference to this very prophecy, and, as some think (Mat 23:35), to this very prophet. Also compare what is said concerning the sin of “stealing,” in Mat 23:4 of this chapter, with what our Saviour also said to the Jews of that day in Mat 21:13; and see Dan 8:23; 1Th 2:16.
II. THE WARNING FULFILLED. This seems shown us by the following emblems:
1. The emblem of captivity. The “woman,” or nation, with its “wickedness,” being, as already noted, shut up in the ephah.
2. The emblem of settled purpose. As exhibited by the appearance of “two” persons to effect the same thing. Compare such passages as Amo 3:3; Gen 19:1; Gen 41:32; and note how “two” angels declare both the resurrection and the second coming of Christ (Joh 20:12; Act 1:10).
3. The emblem of irresistible removal. The “two women” spoken of are naturally able to overcome and lift up the one in the ephah (Ecc 4:9, Ecc 4:10). The same idea may also be conveyed by their having the “wings of a stork,” the most familiar of all birds of migration (Jer 8:7); also by their having “the wind” in their wings, their natural strength being made stronger still by the appointed course of events (comp. Psa 147:18; Psa 148:8); also once more, perhaps, by the ephah being so “lifted up from the earth” that nothing earthly could have the power to prevent its removal.
4. The emblem of permanent stay. The ephah being taken to “Shinar,” or Babylon, a land of long captivity to Israel in the past (Jer 29:4, Jer 29:5), and having a house “built” for it there, and being “established” there on a base of its own. All which seems to have been fulfilled when the Romans came, after the “filling up” of the sins of the Jews by their rejection of Christ, and took away their “place and nation” (Joh 11:48), carrying them away captive by irresistible might and evidently Divine assistance into their long exile in the great city of that mystical “Babylon,” which is also, spiritually, “called Sodom and Egypt” (Rev 11:8; Rev 14:8; Rev 17:1, Rev 17:5,Rev 17:18, etc.), and settling them there (so it possibly means) on a “base” of their “own,” i.e. in a kind of life and under a Divine dispensation peculiar to themselves (comp. Num 23:9, end).
We see, in this prophecy so viewed, in conclusion:
1. The cumulative nature of sin. As nations and men continue in disobedience, so also, and even more, does the amount charged against them, as by a terrible kind of compound interest, continue to increase. The sins of yesterday greatly aggravate the sins of today. Besides passages supra, see Rom 2:5; Jas 5:3; Deu 32:3, Deu 32:4.
2. The necessary limits of sin. Sin, in its ultimate essence, is simply rebellion against God (1Jn 3:4; Psa 51:4). Even in the case, therefore, of Israel, who was dealt with in especial mercy and love, there must be some boundary beyond which the accumulation of sin cannot be allowed to proceed. What becomes, else, of God’s rule? What of his holiness too? Judex damnatur cum nocens absolvitur (see Gen 18:25, end).
3. The ultimate issue of sin. If not repented of, if not atoned for, what can this issue be except “banishment”? And what can such banishment mean except “death” (Mat 25:41; Psa 16:11; Rom 6:23; Pro 29:1)?
HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH
Zec 5:1-4
Retribution.
I. PROVOKED. Sin is the transgression of the Law. Here two kinds singled out.
1. Sins against the second table. “Stealeth.” Fraud, injustice of all kinds. False to man.
2. Sins against the first table. “Sweareth.” Profanity. Self-will. False to God. These are samples of sins infinite in number and variety. Bold and flagrant offences, opposed to all law and order, defiant of God.
II. PROCLAIMED. Symbolically set forth. Sin will be judged, not according to custom or public sentiment, but by the measure of the sanctuary, the eternal Law of God. “Flying roll.”
1. Broad enough to cover all offences.
2. Swift to seize all transgressors in its fatal embrace. The warning comes in mercy. “Flee from the wrath to come.” See refuge under the shadow of the cross. Justice pursues the sinner, but it stops satisfied at Calvary.
III. INFLICTED. Sooner or later judgment will come. Inevitable and sure, just because God is God. Society must be purified. The bad will have to give place to the good. The earth will end with Eden, as it began.
“My own hope is, a sun will pierce
The thickest cloud earth ever stretched;
That, after last, returns the first,
Though a wide compass round be fetched;
That what began best can’t end worst,
Nor what God blessed once prove accurst.”
(Browning.)
F.
Zec 5:5-11
Worldliness in the Church.
I. SADLY PREVALENT. “This is their eye”what they mind and what they lust after. There is a climax. First two classes of sinners are figured, next one great indistinguishable mass. Then “wickedness” is personified, as one woman. This teaches how worldliness is:
1. Common.
2. Absorbing.
3. Debasingcorrupting all that is beautiful and fair.
II. SPECIALLY OFFENSIVE. Bad in the world; infinitely worse in the Church.
1. Opposed to the Spirit of Christ.
2. Incompatible with the service of God.
3. Obstructive to the progress of the gospel.
III. RIGHTEOUSLY DOOMED. Even now restrained. Limited as to place and power. But the end cometh. The judgment set forth implies:
1. Disinheritment. They defrauded others, and will themselves be impoverished. Like Satan, cast out. Like Esau, lose their birthright.
2. Banishment. Judgment based on sympathies. What is right in law is true to feeling. Society cleansed. The bad go with the bad. Ungodliness is driven to the land of ungodliness. Captivity leads to captivity. Judas went “to his own place.”
3. Abandonment. Judgment swift, thorough, irresistible. There is a terrible retention of character. “The wicked are driven away in their wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death.”F.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS
Zec 5:1-4
The flying roll: Divine retribution
“Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits,” etc. This is the sixth vision of the series of visions which the prophet had during the night. He now saw a “flying roll.” We have mention made of such rolls by Ezra, by Isaiah, by Jeremiah, and by Ezekiel. Ezra speaks of search being made in “the book of rolls,” the depository of the public archives or records, and of a “roll” being found there in which was recorded the decree of King Darius respecting the Jews; and Jeremiah speaks of “a roll of a book.” The book might be considered as consisting of several “rolls,” over each other, and forming one volume. This is illustrated by the book which John saw “in the right hand of him that sat on the throne,” which was “sealed with seven seals,” and of which the contents were brought to view as each of the seals was unfolded. “The ancients wrote on a variety of materialsthe papyrus, or paper reed, the inner bark of particular trees, and the dressed skins of animals, forming a kind of parchment. These, when written, were rolled up, for convenience and for preservation of the writing, either singly or in a number over each other. The roll seen by the prophet was a ‘flying roll,’ but not flying through the air in its rolled up state. It was expanded, and was of extraordinary size. Reckoning the cubit at a foot and a half, it was ten yards in length by five in width, the measurement being guessed by the prophet’s eye” (Wardlaw). “This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth.” This is the explanation given by the interpreting angel. Without presuming to give an accurate interpretation of all the particulars of the symbolic representation, I think it may be fairly and usefully employed to exhibit the sublimely awful subject of Divine retribution. And this subject it serves to illustrate in two aspects.
I. AS FOLLOWING SIN. Notice:
1. The particular sins which retribution pursues. They are:
(1) Theft and sacrilege. “Every one that stealeth.” Stealing, here, refers not only to any property taken from man, but especially to the appropriation of worldly wealth to the decoration of their “celled houses,” instead of applying it to the rebuilding of God’s house. Hence Jehovah said, “Ye have robbed me in tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with the curse, even this whole nation” (Mal 3:8). This is the worst of all robberies. In fact, it embraces all robberies, the applying to our own selfish purposes what belongs to God.
(2) Perjury and false swearing. Their sacrilegious conduct appears to have been sustained by false oaths, which increased the heinousness of their offence. The sins here noted are not mere specimens, but root or fountain sins. The “flying roll” of Divine retribution followed sin with its curses. There is a curse to every sin, and this is not vengeance, but benevolence. It is the arrangement of love.
2. The way in which just retribution pursues them.
(1) Openly. The roll is spread open, and is written in characters that are legible to all. Divine retribution is no secret to man. It is not some intangible, hidden, occult thing. It is open to all eyes. Every man must see the “flying roll,” not only in the history of nations and communities, but in his own domestic and individual life. The “flying roll” hovers over every sin.
(2) Rapidly. Retribution is swift. It is a “flying roll.” No sooner does a man commit a sin than he suffers in some form or other. The Nemesis is at the heels of the criminal. Retribution follows sins swifter than the sound of the swiftest thunder peal follows the lightning flash.
(3) Penetratingly. “I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my Name.” Wherever the sinner is, it will find him out. No mountain so high, no cavern so deep, no forest so intricate and shadowy, as to protect him from his visitation. “The flying roll” will reach the sinner everywhere. “There is no darkness or shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.”
II. AS ABIDING WITH SIN. “It shall remain in the midst of his house.” Not only does it rule the house of the sinner, “it remains in the midst of it,” like a leprosy, infecting, wasting, consuming, destroying. It is a curse that embitters every sweet, and gives more than twofold intensity to every bitter. It dooms to destruction the man and all his. possessions. And from this world it must accompany and follow him to another, and settle with him there forever. “The special reference made to their houses, with the ‘stones thereof and the timber thereof,’ forcibly points to the care which they had been taking of their own accommodation, in comfort and elegance, while Jehovah’s was neglected” (Wardlaw). It abides in the house to curse everything, even the timber and the stones. Guilt, not only, like a ravenous beast, crouches at the door of the sinner, but rather, like a blasting mildew, spreads its baneful influence over the whole dwelling. The sin of one member of a family brings its curse on the others. The sins of the parents bring a curse upon the children. “Between parents and children,” says Jeremy Taylor, “there is so great a society of nature and of manners, of blessing and of cursing, that an evil parent cannot perish in a single death; and holy parents never eat their meal of blessing alone; but they make the room shine like the fire of a holy sacrifice; and a father’s or a mother’s piety makes all the house festival, and full of joy from generation to generation.”
CONCLUSION. Sinner, wouldst thou escape the tremendous curses which Heaven has written on this “flying roll,” this book of Divine retribution? Then abandon a sinful life, exorcise the sinful temper, inhale the spirit of him who came to put away sin from humanity and to destroy the works of the devil.D.T.
Zec 5:5-11
A materialistic community.
“Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth,” etc. Here is another (the seventh) vision in the wonderful series of visions which the prophet had that night. This is one of the strangest of the whole, one, perhaps, admitting of no certain interpretationa “woman in the ephah.” We know what an “ephah” was. It was the greatest measure of capacity which the Hebrews had for dry goods, and was about the size of a cubic foot. It contained about an English bushel. The woman is generally regarded, and with probable accuracy used, as the symbol of a Jewish communitya community that had become by this time most mercenary. Mammon was their god. The interpreting angel said, “This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.” “Because it was wickedness or abhorrent worldliness that this woman symbolized, the angel threw her down in the midst of the ephah, and threw the weight of lead on the mouth of it” (Henderson). Utter mercenariness is an abhorrent object to an angel’s eye. The prophet still looks, and what does he see? “Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.” The meaning of this new scene may easily be discovered. The ephah, with the woman in it, is carried away between earth and heaven, i.e. through the air. Women carry it, because there is a woman inside; and two women, because two persons are required to carry so large and heavy a measure, that they lay hold of it on both sides. These women have wings, because it passes through the air; and a stork’s wings, because these birds have broad pinions, and not because the stork is a bird of passage or an unclean bird. “The wings are filled with wind, that they may be able to carry their burden with greater velocity through the air. The women denote the instruments or powers employed by God to carry away the sinners out of his congregation, without any special allusion to this or the other historical nation. This is all that we have to seek in these features, which only serve to give distinctness to the picture” (Keil and Delitzsch). “Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah. And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” There is no necessity for regarding Shinar here as designating any particular geographical spot, such as the laud which Nimrod founded. The idea may be that this utter worldliness bears men away forever from the Divine scenes of life. The most practical use I can turn this mysterious passage to is to employ it to illustrate the condition of a truly materialistic community.
I. SUCH A COMMUNITY IS ENCASED BY THE MATERIAL. This woman, the emblem of the worldly Jews, was not only “in the midst of the ephah,” but was closely confined there. “He cast the weight of the lead upon the mouth thereof.” To an utterly worldly man matter is everything. He is utterly shut out from the spiritual; there is no glimpse of it, no interest in it. Like the woman in the ephah, he is encompassed by that which shuts him in. The bright heavens and the green fields of the spiritual world are over and around him, but they are nothing to him. He is in the ephah.
1. Your secular scientist is in the ephah. He sees nothing but matter, believes in nothing but matter.
2. Your sensuous religionist is in this ephah. He judges after the flesh. He lives in the horrors of Sinai, in the tragedies of Calvary; his talk is of blood, and fire, and crowns, and white robes, etc. The spiritual is shut out from him, or rather he is shut out from it.
3. Your man of the world is in this ephah. All his ideas of wealth, dignity, pleasure, are material. He judges the worth of a man by his purse, the dignity of a man by his pageantries, the pleasures of a man by his luxuries. Verily a sad condition this for humanity. For a soul that was made to realize the invisible, to mingle with the spiritual, to revel in the infinite, to be shut up like this woman in the ephah of materialism, may well strike us with shame and alarm.
II. SUCH A COMMUNITY IS BEING DISINHERITED BY THE MATERIAL. This woman in the ephah, emblem of the worldly Hebrew, is borne away from Palestine, her own land, into a foreign region; borne away by two women who had “wings like a stork, and whose wings were full of wind.” Materialism disinherits man. His true inheritance as a spiritual, existent is “incorruptible, undefiled, and fadeth not away.” But materalism carries him away from itaway to the distant and the gross.
1. The process was rapid. No bird so fleet with wing and foot as the stork, and with this fleetness this woman in the ephah was borne. How rapidly do animalism and worldliness bear away the spirit of man from the realm of spiritual realities, from a love of the true and the beautiful!
2. The process was final. “And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.” “To be carnally minded is death.” “He that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption.” Materialism bears the soul away into the “bondage of corruption.” Well might the apostle say, “Many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies to the cross of Christ; whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things” (Php 3:19). “As you love your soul,” says Mason, “beware of the world; it hath slain its thousands and ten thousands. What ruined Lot’s wife? The world. What ruined Achan? The world. What ruined Haman? The world. What ruined Judas? The world. What ruined Simon Magus? The world. What ruined Demas? The world. And, ‘What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?'”D.T.
Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary
Zec 5:1. A flying roll See Eze 2:9. Rev 10:10. This flying roll inclosed an account of the sins and punishments of the people, and is described as flying, to denote the swiftness of God’s judgments.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
VISION 6. THE FLYING ROLL
Zec 5:1-4
A. A large Roll flying over the Land (Zec 5:1-2). B. It contains and executes a destructive Curse (Zec 5:3-4).
1 And I lifted up my eyes again,1 and saw, and behold a flying roll. 2And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I see a flying roll; its length twenty cubits and its breadth ten cubits. 3 And he said to me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off2 on this side according to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on that side, according 4to it. I have brought3 it forth, saith Jehovah of Hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth by my name to a falsehood, and it shall lodge4 in the midst of his house and consume it, both its wood and its stones.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
The series of visions here takes a sharp turn. All that preceded were of a consolatory character, setting forth the overthrow of Zions foes, the forgiveness of the people, their illumination and exaltation by the Spirit of God, and consequently the sure and speedy completion of the Temple, Now, however, the prophet is directed to show his countrymen that Jehovah is a holy God, and wickedness cannot dwell with Him. There is no toleration for sinners while they continue such. As many as still remain impenitent, or reject Gods provision of mercy, shall be visited with an exterminating judgment, or experience a captive exile far longer and more dreary even than that which their fathers had suffered in Babylon. This is set forth vividly and plainly in the two visions which follow, which, although entirely distinct in form and manifestation, yet are closely allied in subject and bearing.
The former of the two borrows the groundwork of its striking symbolism from the Mosaic Law (curse, roll), and sets forth with fearful energy the retributive consequences of sin.
(a.) The Flying Roll (Zec 5:1-2). Zec 5:1. I lifted up again. This implies an interval, longer or shorter, since the last vision. What he saw is described fully in the next verse.
Zec 5:2. And he said. That is, the interpreting angel said, as is obvious from what precedes. Roll=book-scroll or parchment; of course one so large as this must have been composed of many skins fastened together. It is seen flying over the earth unrolled, so that its size could be discerned. Its dimensions are ten yards long by five broad. Some (Khler, Henderson, et al.) consider these measurements as intended only to state that it was of considerable size. But as that could be so easily expressed in a simpler way, it is better regard the dimensions as significant. But of what? Hengstenberg, Hoffman, Umbreit, following Kimchi, assume a reference to the porch of the Temple which was of the same size (1Ki 6:3),and infer that the intention was to represent the judgment as a consequence of the theocracy, to which, however, it is justly objected that the temple-porch in itself had no symbolic significance, nor was it a meeting-place for Israel. Keil and Kliefoth say that the dimensions were taken from those of the holy place of the tabernacle (twenty cubits by ten), and explain, the measure by which this curse upon sinners will be meted out will be the measure of the holy place, i. e., it will act so as to cut them off from the congregation of the Lord which appeared before God in the holy place. I should prefer to take the dimensions as a suggestion of the scope of the impending judgment, namely, the covenant people.
(b.) Meaning of the Roll (Zec 5:3-4). Zec 5:3. This is the curse. Henderson compares our Lords words, This is (represents) my body. The whole land, i. e., of Israel, as the analogy of the preceding and following visions shows. The curse hovers over the entire region, ready to fall upon its destined objects. These are the thief and the false swearer, who are taken as examples, one from each table of the law; and therefore stand for all sinners. Such are to be cut off=driven out of the fellowship of Gods people, with the usual implication, in that phrase, of destruction. On this side, on that side, refer to the two sides of the roll (Exo 32:15), on one of which was the curse against one class of sinners, and on the other that against the other class. Then according to it (i. e., according to its terms) refers respectively to these two sides.
Zec 5:4. I have brought. To render this in the future, as E. V., is a needless departure from the original. God has caused it to come forth, as the prophet sees. He proceeds now to tell him what it will do. It will enter the house of the sinner, and come to stay. Lodge, literally, pass the night, and hence dwell permanently. Nor will it remain idle, but destroy until not only the contents but even the most durable parts of the house were consumed. Cf. 1Ki 18:38.
Footnotes:
[1]Zec 5:1.Again. For this meaning of , cf. 2Ki 1:11.
[2]Zec 5:3.=emptied, exhausted, here manifestly=destroyed.
[3]Zec 5:4. cannot he rendered, I will bring it forth.
[4]Zec 5:4. irregular for . It means, to pass the night, h. abide.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
CONTENTS
The Lord is still instructing the Prophet by vision. In this Chapter we have the sad judgment threatened to thieves and swearers, under the image of a flying roll. And also by a talent of lead cast into the midst of an Ephah, the wickedness of the earth is described.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
“Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. (2) And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. (3) Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and everyone that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. (4) I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.”
Observe in the opening of this vision, the Prophet is turned from beholding blessed visions, to look at solemn ones. The roll here described must have been very large indeed. And it should seem, that it was intended the Prophet should notice the size of it, for he was able to behold the measure of it. Twenty cubits by ten, is at least ten yards by five. If, as it may be supposed, the design was to impress upon the Prophets mind the greatness and extent of the law, and the awful denunciation of it, to everyone out of Christ, in order to shew the grace of the gospel, nothing could be more striking. The explanation of the angel is in point. This is the curse. Reader! is not the law the ministration of death? Doth it not pronounce a curse upon every soul of man that doeth evil; to the Jew first, and also to the Gentile? Rom 2:9 . In this view, the whole code of the law is like the roll of Ezekiel, when opened; written within and without, and full of lamentations, and mourning, and woe. Eze 2:10 . Hence the law is described, Deu 27:15-26 . and Deu 28:15-45 . Hence Peter’s account of it, Act 15:10 . Hence Paul’s, Gal 3:10-11 . Oh! Reader, think what a blessed thing it is, to be able to hear, and enter into the full enjoyment of those sweet scriptures: Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us. And again, God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself–For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Gal 3:13 ; 2Co 5:19 . to the end.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
XXVIII
THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH (CONTINUED) PART II
Zec 4:1-8:23
The fifth vision of Zechariah gave the people encouragement regarding their spiritual condition. The others gave them encouragement from the political and geographical standpoint, but this has reference to the inner, spiritual condition. This vision is for Zerubbabel, the messianic representative, the heir to the throne of David. The prophet says that he was wakened as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. This vision comes on the same night as the others, and apparently the prophet had fallen asleep between the former visions and this one. The same angel that had spoken to him before is still with him, and he says, “What seest thou? And I said, I have seen, and, behold, a candlestick all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof.”
This is his description of the seven-branched candlestick. There was a bowl above the candlestick probably in the center holding a large amount of oil. The seven branches of the candlestick spread on either side, and he says, “There are seven pipes to each of the lamps.” Seven signifies perfection, and therefore the supply will be never-failing, and all-sufficient to keep those lights burning. Again, there are other means by which this bowl is itself to be supplied with oil. Two olive trees stand by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side. The olive trees furnished the oil which was used for their lamps. Now the prophet does not understand the vision and he asks the question, saying, “What are these, my Lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my Lord. Then he answered and spake unto me,” giving a fuller description of the vision that had been presented to him, and the latter part of Zec 4:10 is a continuation of the description of the vision.
I read from Zec 4:6 , first part, and Zec 4:10 , latter part: “Then he answered and spake unto me saying, . . . These are the eyes of Jehovah,” the perfection of knowledge and oversight of God, “which run to and fro through the whole earth.” Those seven lights thus represent the omnipresence and omniscient activity of God. Zec 4:11 continues the description: “Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?” He does not answer at once, but the prophet asks again the question, “and I answered the second time, and said unto him, What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts that empty the golden oil out of themselves?” The olive branches acted as spouts for the olive trees carrying the olive oil from the trees to the golden bowl at the top, then through the seven pipes to each one of the lamps on the candlestick. “And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these things are? I said, No, my Lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” This refers to the two representatives of Jehovah among the people of Israel, Joshua, the religious leader, and Zerubbabel, the civil leader, one representing the regal and the other the priestly function of the theocracy as found in the hierarchy. These are the two olive trees which furnish the oil to the burning lamps.
Now let us see the application as we find it in the latter part of Zec 4:6 , to the first part of Zec 4:10 , bearing in mind this picture before the prophet of the two olive trees. What does it mean? “This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel.” This was on behalf of the civil government, and it was through Zerubbabel that this message should be fulfilled among the people of Israel in the rebuilding of the Temple and the establishment of the nation. It was to be by the power of the Spirit of Jehovah, not by an army nor by fighting, not by mere strength nor power of any kind, “but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah.” That is a great text, which has had its application all through the ages. Not by an army is this work to be done, Zerubbabel, not by your strength and prowess, not by anything but the Spirit of God, and this represents that operation: the two olive trees supply the oil which runs to the lamps and which keeps them burning. The process is unseen but its effects can be seen. That is the message to Zerubbabel.
Now the encouragement is in these words (Zec 4:7 ). “Who art thou, O great mountain?” A great difficulty seemingly insurmountable was before Zerubbabel. “Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it.” The mountain shall disappear, the difficulty shall vanish, because the mighty power of the Spirit of God is going to be felt in the hearts and spirits of men, and they are to come to thy help. The Temple shall be completed and he shall bring forth the top stone “with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it.” That was wonderfully encouraging to Zerubbabel, who must have been discouraged. Now the promise comes with great force: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house” (which was done under the preaching of Haggai); “his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me (the prophet Zechariah) unto you.” But there were some that despised this small beginning, this almost contemptible start of the building: “Who hath despised the day of small things?” Many people have done it, but they are going to change their minds; they are going to rejoice and be glad when they shall see the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel; when the prince shall begin the work of erection of the Temple.
The sixth is the vision of the flying roll, or the curse re-moved (Zec 5:1-4 ). People, priests and leaders have been encouraged. Now there comes a message saying that a certain class of people who are a nuisance and a trouble shall be removed out of their midst and they shall get rid of them once for all. This refers to the cleaning out of certain types of criminals among them. The prophet see” a roll, or scroll, flying in the air, and the angel speaks to him, “What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits and the breadth thereof ten cubits.” That was a large roll, or sheet of paper, twenty cubits by ten cubits, or fifteen by thirty feet, to see flying. “Then he said unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land.” What was the curse to do? Every one that stealeth shall be cut off and every one that sweareth shall be cut off. The roll represents the principle of law to be administered by Israel; the flying roll means the active principle of law; the written roll, a published principle of law; in heaven means that the law and its penalty were from God.
The vision teaches that as Judah and Jerusalem were troubled by these criminals, Jehovah would send a curse among them and consume their families, their homes, and their houses, extirpate them, and thus cleanse Jerusalem from such a troublesome element. This was to be a great blessing to the people, as it would be almost impossible for them to go forward with such criminals in their midst.
The seventh is a vision of the woman in the barrel, or wickedness removed from the land (Zec 5:5-11 ). It is a vision wherein God shows to Zechariah that the spirit and principle of sin which seems to be engraved in the people’s natures would be removed by the divine power from their midst. It is the picture of an ephah, a large measure about equal to our bushel measure, really a barrel with a round top and cover to it. In the barrel there is a woman sitting. This woman represents wickedness: the principle of sin that is so prominent among the people. The lid is upon it, and on the lid is a talent of lead, a great weight. The woman is forced down into the barrel, the lid is closed over it.
Two other women appear with wind in their wings, wings like those of a stork, and they lift up the ephah between earth and heaven. Then the prophet asks the question, “Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build her an house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.” Shinar, or the Plain of Babylon was the place where wickedness began, the plain where they attempted to build a tower into heaven and were scattered abroad; the plain which had been the means of Israel’s oppression. The idea is this: That sin must be removed, and it cannot be removed by a ritual or by a legal punishment. It must be removed by the action of the Almighty God himself. Human hands cannot carry away the sins of the people. That is a divine operation only and sin is represented here by a woman, not because a woman is more sinful or worse than a man, but because sin is so attractive. It must therefore be dealt with by God himself and banished from the land. According to this vision it is going to be done; evil is surely to be extirpated.
The eighth vision, or the chariots of the four winds, or spirits (Zec 6:1-8 ), is a vision of the universal providence of God; as the first vision was a vision of God’s providential scouts watching all that was upon the horizon of the world’s history, this is a vision of the universal providence of God visiting punishment upon the nations that have oppressed Israel. And in the first vision there were angels upon horses; here we have horses and chariots. He sees four chariots corresponding to the four points of the compass and representing the completeness of the operation of God’s providence. They came forth from between the mountains) and the mountains were mountains of brass. The mountains refer to Mount of Olives and Mount Moriah upon which Jerusalem was built. Brass represents the everlasting quality and strength of the mountains.
The first chariot had red horses attached to it, the second, black horses, the third, white horses, and the fourth grizzled or dappled horses. The brass mountains represent the invincible nature of the theocracy; the different kinds of horses correspond almost exactly to the four horses which John saw on Patmos as recorded in Rev 6 . The white horse there represents the gospel going forth in its conquests; the black horse represents the scarcity of the gospel when it was in the hands of certain ones who doled it out and starved the people; the red horse represents the conflict that arose wherever the gospel went; the grizzled or pale horse represents the persecutions that follow in the wake of the gospel.
These four chariots here represent the four winds, and the four winds represent the four great punishments or judgments of God that are to break forth upon all parts of the world, the analogue of what John sees in Rev 7 , where he represents the four angels as holding the four winds of the earth. Here are four chariots representing the four winds or universal providence of God upon the nations (see Revelation of “The Interpretation”) .
Now he sends them forth, the black horses and the white horses go forth to Babylonia and the natives adjoining to inflict the punishments of Jehovah upon those people. The grizzled horses go south to Egypt to inflict punishment upon her, because Israel had suffered at the hands of that nation also. The red horses want to know where they are to go, and they are told that they are to walk up and down, to and fro, through the earth, that is, they are to pass up and down through the land of Palestine and be the administrators of the divine providence in that region.
Then a question arises here concerning the mission of the chariots with the black horses and the white horses, which go toward the north. “Behold they that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.” What does that mean? It means that they have caused his anger and wrath to rest upon those nations in the north which have oppressed Israel; that they are to inflict God’s severe punishment upon those people in the north country, until they are exterminated, and God’s spirit will rest because those enemies are gone. In other words, it means that they have caused this providential visitation of God to come upon and abide upon that north country. History bears us out in this, and from this time on, Babylonia, Assyria, and Syria began to decay, and God’s providential judgments have ever since then been upon these peoples.
The result of the visions was the crowning of Joshua, the priest (Zec 6:9-15 ). Following these visions which have given encouragement to the people and the leaders, which have promised freedom from sin and iniquities, and which have given them a vision of God’s universal providence on their behalf, they are ready for the crowning of Joshua as joint-sovereign and ruler with Zerubbabel, the son of David.
This is not a vision by the prophet, but a symbolic action which the prophet himself performs. There appear before him in the daylight, men who have come recently from Babylon and the captivity, such as Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have come into the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, who dwells in the city. They are to bring silver and gold, such as they brought from Babylonia, and he is to make a crown, or crowns. The crown was a wreath, or diadem, which would encircle the brow of the priest, and it may have been made of two or three small wreaths, or rings, and put together would form one crown. That is probably the explanation of the word “crowns” mentioned here because there is only one man crowned, Joshua, which would necessitate only one crown, made of several small wreaths. Zerubbabel is ex officio entitled to a crown, being the direct heir of the line of David. Now Joshua is crowned.
Then comes the word regarding Zerubbabel: “Thus spake the Lord of hosts, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch.” Zerubbabel is the man mentioned in the fourth vision: “He shall grow up out of his place”; he shall come out of his obscurity and assert his royal dignity and power. The vision predicts that he is going to rise up and build the Temple of Jehovah, and, as it says in Zec 6:13 , “He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” They now have two crowned rulers, prince and priest. Zerubbabel is going to assert his place of power. Now, with the religious leader crowned, and the civil leader roused, the Temple is going to be built. Then these crowns that are here made are going to be preserved in the Temple as a memorial of those men who brought the silver and gold from Babylon, “And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of Jehovah your God.”
The larger fulfilment of this prophecy, the crowning of the prince and the crowning of the priest comes into vision as we look upon the one who represents both the priest and the prince. He represented in himself the priestly and the kingly authority, and he built the spiritual temple which shall abide to all eternity. Zechariah, however, is talking about building that Temple in Jerusalem, and his word has its application primarily to Joshua and Zerubbabel, but its larger application is to the priest-hood and kingship of Jesus Christ, the true Branch of the line of David. (For the typical significance of this crowning of Joshua see Rev 6:1 , of “The Interpretation.”)
Now we take up Zechariah 7-8, the theme of which is the true fasts, and we find that these are dated some two years later, in the fourth year of the reign of King Darius. There is an interval of almost two years between those two prophecies. The question arises, What was done in the meantime? Those two years were occupied with the work of rebuilding the Temple under the inspiration of the preaching of Haggai and those visions which Zechariah saw. Two years passed, probably of strenuous labor, and by that time the Temple was half erected, or more. Jt required about four years to complete it, and it was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, or 516 B.C., that it was dedicated.
With the erection of the Temple there arose in the minds of the people the question of the keeping of their ceremonial laws. That gave rise to certain questions in the minds of some people, and they came to Joshua and to the leaders in Jerusalem with the question as to whether they should observe certain facts that had been observed since the beginning of the exile, about seventy years previous. This question on the part of those inquirers, gave the prophet his opportunity, and he deals with their problems, and by means of that inculcates the performance of civic virtues and duties which they must soon resume.
We observe in the second verse that a delegation came from Bethel composed of Sharezer and Regemmelech and others, to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to speak unto the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts and to the prophets, probably Zechariah, and Haggai, and possibly others of whom we know nothing, and they came with a question regarding certain facts which they had been observing. He does not say whether they should observe the fast or not, but he proceeds upon broader lines and principles. As much as to say, “God did not institute that fast which you have been observing these seventy years in the fifth month. It was not his requirement. You men of Israel instituted the fast yourselves. It was in commemoration of an event which Almighty God would have prevented if he could have done so righteously. It is in commemoration of an event which was because of your sins. He then throws back the question to them: “When ye fasted in the fifth and seventh month, did ye fast unto me?”
The fast in the seventh month was in commemoration of the murder of Gedaliah, the Jewish governor who had been appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, governor over the last, small, miserable semblance of national life, left after the fall of the city. “Even these seventy years, when fasting on the fifth and seventh month, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?” Was that God’s requirement: The answer is evident. No, your fasting was not unto God. Ye did it not at his commandment. Therefore, ye need not raise the question whether you should continue it or not. But he goes on, “And when ye eat and when ye drink, do not you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?”
The point here is: Do you eat and drink to the glory of God? Then he makes an application of the historical episodes through which they had passed and which had burned themselves into the people’s memory. Rather than concern yourselves with this fasting in these months, or with eating and drinking, or not eating and drinking, he says in Zec 7:7 , “Should ye not hear the words which Jehovah hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the low lands were inhabited?” In other words, God sent his prophets; ye did not hearken to them, and therefore ye lost all; now learn by your history and give heed to the word of the former prophets. Then he branches out to discuss and inculcate civic righteousness instead of mere ceremonial fasting: “The word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Speak, saying, Execute true judgment and show mercy and compassion to every man his brother.” Zechariah here says, “Take warning by the past, op-press not the widow nor the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor,” and penetrating right to the very heart of the people and to their very motives, he says, “Let none of you imagine evil against his brother in his heart.” In Zec 7:11 he again refers to their past history and to the stubbornness of their forefathers; how they refused to hear; how they made their hearts as hard as adamant lest they should hear the law and the words of the former prophets. Because of that, great wrath came from Jehovah of hosts, so great that when they cried, God did not hear. He scattered them as a whirlwind among all nations whom they had not known. Because of that even the land was desolate and the pleasant land was laid waste. Here Zechariah was in line with Moses. Isaiah. Jeremiah. Jesus Christ, and Paul.
The Seed of Peace, or the Future Prophecy of Jerusalem, is the theme of Zec 8 . Here in this chapter we have ten brief oracles, each one beginning with the same statement, “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts,” and in these ten oracles he gives a picture of the future peace and prosperity of the Temple and the establishment of the nation upon its religious foundation again. He commends their heavy labor in this work, and on the supposition that they are going to heed his word, and take warning by their past history, he proceeds to give them this series of views of the glory that shall come to their city and nation, as follows:
Oracle 1. A renewed assertion of God’s jealousy for them (Zec 8:1-2 ). Like the true prophet, he begins with fundamentals. He brings before their minds again the thought of God’s eternal love and God’s eternal interest in those people. “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy.”
Oracle 2. Jehovah’s dwelling in Jerusalem, the city of truth and righteousness (Zec 8:3 ). “I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.” It means his continued presence and therefore their assured blessing.
Oracle 3. There shall be the aged and the young in the city (Zec 8:4-5 ). We can understand something of the meaning of this prophecy) when we look at the character of the population of Jerusalem. Many of the people returned from the exile, but there were comparatively few aged men and women. They had not been settled long in the land and there were comparatively few children, and Jerusalem had comparatively few inhabitants anyway, and what is a city or community unless there be the aged with their wisdom, their mellow and ripened years, and what is a city or community without the playing, prattling children in the streets? A community of middle-aged men or women is not complete. All sides of human life are not there represented. Now he says the time is coming when there will be the aged, and there will be the boys and girls: there shall be old men and old women in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age, and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing therein.
Oracle 4. The marvel of their prosperity will be no marvel to God (Zec 8:6 ). “If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of these people in those days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts.” There is nothing marvelous with God.
Oracle 5. Jehovah brings back his people (Zec 8:7-8 ). “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.” This was partly fulfilled then, but finds its larger fulfilment in Christianity.
Oracle 6. An exhortation to strengthen their hands (Zec 8:9-13 ). Zec 8:9 is an admonition, “Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words,” etc., which came by the mouth of Haggai as well as Zechariah himself. The Temple, he says, will be built, for that was the purpose of these prophecies. Before these words of the prophets came there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast, neither was there any peace to any that went in or out, because of the adversary. In Zec 8:11 he gives the contrast: “Now I will not be unto the remnant of this people as in the former days . . . There shall be the seed of peace; the vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. It shall come to pass that, as ye were a curse among the nations . . . so ye shall be a blessing.”
Oracle 7. Justice shall be their standard (Zec 8:14-17 ). He gives the reasons why he had planned evil before. He plans good now on this condition as given in verse 16: “Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate saith Jehovah.”
Oracle 8. Fasts turned into feasts (Zec 8:18-19 ). The fast of the fourth month was because Jerusalem was then taken by Nebuchadnezzar, of the fifth month because it was then burned; the fast of the seventh month was because Gedaliah was then slain, and the fast of the tenth month commemorated the blockade of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar a year and a half previous to its being taken. These four dire events in their history had been celebrated by fasts during the exile and up to this period of the return. “Now,” says the prophet, “this has been changed; these fasts shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts,” since the things that caused these fasts had passed away. “Therefore,” he says, “love truth and peace.”
Oracle 9. Peoples and nations shall come to Jehovah (Zec 8:20-22 ). “There shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of hosts.” This was partly fulfilled then, but the larger fulfilment is found in messianic times when all people shall come to the true Israel of God.
A tender and delicate touch is given here. They will say, “I will go also.” A very suggestive text. A mother and wife and the family prepare to go to church, the father stays at home and perhaps asks them to pray for him, but he doesn’t go. In a revival where many are coming to the Lord the application of this text can be made to the others. “I will go also.” That is what they are going to say, Zechariah says.
Oracle 10. Ten men shall follow one Jew (Zec 8:23 ). “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days, it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” It was fulfilled partially then; it was fulfilled more in the time when Christ was upon earth; it was fulfilled when Paul the great Jew brought the gospel to the heathen world, and if we substitute a Christian here for a Jew, for a Christian is the real descendant of the Jew, it is being fulfilled now. This figure signified dependence and love, as a child clings to the parent; so, it applies to the great fact that the religion of the world comes through the Jews. This will have its larger fulfilment in the millennium. QUESTIONS
1. What was Zechariah’s fifth vision, what was the meaning of the symbolism, what the message of this vision, and to whom?
2. What was the promise of this message, and what was the meaning and application of Zec 4:10 ?
3. Is there a type of Christ in this vision? If so, what?
4. What was Zechariah’s sixth vision, what was the interpretation of its symbolism, and what was the purpose of the vision?
5. What was the seventh vision of Zechariah, what was the interpretation of its symbolism, and what the encouragement here to God’s people?
6. What was Zechariah’s eighth vision, what was the meaning of its symbolism, and where do we find in the New Testament the vision of which this is an analogue?
7. What great symbolic act follows these visions and what is the interpretation of it?
8. What was the subject discussed in Zechariah 7-8, what was the date of this revelation, how long after the visions and what had occurred in the meantime?
9. How did this question arise, what was the meaning of the question, what was Jehovah’s reply, and what was the meaning of it?
10. What history does the prophet then recite to them and what was its lesson?
11. What was the special theme of Zec 8:12 and what ten oracles of this chapter introduced by “Thus saith Jehovah”?
12. What was the meaning and application of Jehovah’s jealousy of Zec 8:2 ?
13. What was the meaning and application of Jehovah’s dwelling in Jerusalem?
14. What was the meaning and application of the young and aged in the city of Jerusalem (Zec 8:4-5 )?
15. What is the meaning of Zec 8:6 ?
16. What is the meaning of Zec 8:7-8 ?
17. What was the prophet’s exhortation and encouragement in Zec 8:9-13 ?
18. What promise does he make to them and what requirements does he make of them in Zec 8:14-17 ?
19. Why were the fasts mentioned in Zec 8:18-19 kept by the Jews in the captivity and what was the announcement here concerning them and why?
20. What was the promise of Zec 8:20-22 and what the fulfilment of it?
21. What was the meaning and application of Zec 8:23 ?
Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible
Zec 5:1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
Ver. 1. Then I turned me, and lifted up mine eyes ] i.e. I prepared me to the receiving of a new vision; nothing so comfortable as the former, but no less necessary; that the people, by sense of sin and fear of wrath, might be taken off their wicked practices, redeem their own sorrows, and be accounted worthy to escape all those things that should (otherwise) come to pass, as Zec 5:11 , and to stand before the Son of man at that dreadful day, Luk 21:36 . This seemeth to be the mind of the Holy Ghost, in these two visions here recorded; which while some interpreters attend not, in toto vaticinio neque coelum, neque terrain attingunt, saith Calvin, they are utterly out.
And behold a flying roll
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 5:1-4
1Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying scroll. 2And he said to me, What do you see? And I answered, I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits. 3Then he said to me, This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side. 4I will make it go forth, declares the LORD of hosts, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and consume it with its timber and stones.
Zec 5:1 Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked This is the regular literary introduction for a new vision. See full note at Zec 1:8. This chapter contains two visions (cf. Zec 5:5).
a flying scroll This may imply an outstretched banner (VERB, BDB 733 I, KB 800, Qal ACTIVE PARTICIPLE and NOUN, BDB 166). From Zec 5:3 its message is characterized as a curse. This same negative connotation connected to a scroll is found in Jer 36:2 and Eze 2:9.
Zec 5:2 he said to me Apocalyptic literature is characterized by dialogue between a human and an angelic being. Zechariah has more angelic interaction than any other book of the OT.
1. angel guide
2. angel of the LORD
3. Satan
4. angel attendants
5. angels active in the visions themselves
twenty cubits. . .ten cubits A cubit (BDB 52) is equal to the length from a man’s elbow to his longest finger (see Special Topic: Cubit ). It was about eighteen inches. The size of this scroll is unusually large, 10 yards by 5 yards. Some commentators see it related to the dimensions of the Holy Porch of 1Ki 6:3, which was the place of religious teaching and judicial administration (cf. 1 Kgs. 7:67), but here it just seems to denote a readable message. Remember this is apocalyptic imagery!
Zec 5:3 the curse This Hebrew term (BDB 46) has two related covenantal meanings.
1. swear an oath (cf. Deu 29:12; Deu 29:14)
2. the oath broken turns into a curse (cf. Deu 29:18-21; Jer 21:10; Eze 16:59; Eze 17:16; Eze 17:18-19; Dan 9:11)
This term is used almost exclusively for God’s anger towards His people’s unfaithfulness and rebellion. The best summary of the covenant’s requirements and consequences is Deuteronomy 27-29. To whom much is given, much is required (cf. Luk 12:48).
the whole land This refers to Palestine because this verse and the next one relate to Decalog violations. See Special Topic: Land, Country, Earth .
NASBpurged away (twice)
NKJVexpelled (twice)
NRSVcut off (twice)
TEVbe removed
taken away
NJB, NIVbanished
This Hebrew word (BDB 667, KB 720) in the Niphal form means to be cleaned out or purged. The problem is that it can also mean cleansed from guilt or made innocent. However, Zec 5:4 confirms the negative connotation in Zec 5:3.
As Joshua was cleansed and restored to covenant purity in chapter 3, so too, must the people of God be. Those who refuse to conform (e.g., Zec 3:7) will be eliminated (cf. Zec 5:4).
the writing on one side The cultural symbol of writing on both sides of a scroll implies a full and complete curse (cf. Eze 2:9-10; Rev 5:1).
Zec 5:4 the one who swears falsely by My name This covenant violation (i.e., swear BDB 989) could involve two different ways of taking God’s name in vain.
1. during worship (cf. Deu 5:11; Deu 6:13; Deu 10:20)
2. falsehood in a court proceeding (cf. Exo 20:16; Exo 23:7; NJB, NEB, REB)
If in fact these two laws represent the two aspects of the Mosaic covenant, actions and attitudes toward YHWH and YHWH’s people (they symbolize the whole covenant), then #1 is better.
it The first it refers to the flying curse scroll. The scroll is personified as it enters the covenant violator’s house. The second it refers to the house (i.e., timbers and stones).
consume This Hebrew term (BDB 477, KB 476) in the Piel PERFECT form means to finish, to bring to an end, or complete. In this context it refers to a complete and total judgment. This same term is used in the covenant cursing and blessing passage in Deuteronomy (cf. Deu 28:21; see also Jer 14:12). Covenant breakers will be completely and totally destroyed and removed.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
looked = This is the sixth vision. See the Structure on p. 1281.
roll = scroll. Hence our word “volume”. Compare Eze 2:9 – Zec 3:11.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Chapter 5
So then I turned, and I lifted up my eyes, and I beheld a flying roll ( Zec 5:1 ).
Now this must have been a weird looking sight, a flying saucer kind of a thing.
And he said unto me, What do you see? And I answered, and said, I see a flying roll; and it’s about thirty feet long, and it’s about fifteen feet wide. Then he said unto me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that steals shall be cut off on this side according to it; and every one that swears shall be cut off as on that side according to it. And I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of the house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof ( Zec 5:1-4 ).
So there is judgment associated with this scroll, or the flying roll. Now beyond that I don’t know, because the scripture doesn’t tell us anything beyond that.
The last, or the ninth of the tenth visions.
Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now your eyes, and see what is going forth. And I said, What it is? And he said, This is an ephah ( Zec 5:5-6 )
Which is actually a bushel, equivalent to about a bushel and three pints.
that goes forth. And he said moreover, This is their resemblance through the whole earth. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is the woman that sits in the midst of ephah. And he said, This is wickedness ( Zec 5:6-8 ).
Now we are dealing, actually, with ephah and the talents with commercialism, and God’s view of it is, it’s wickedness.
And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of the lead upon the mouth thereof. Then I lifted up my eyes, and I looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and heaven. Then I said to the angel that talked with me, Where are they carrying the ephah? And he said unto me, To build it a house in the land of [Babylon] Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base ( Zec 5:8-11 ).
So God’s rebuke against the commercial system that would be headquartered in Babylon, that was headquartered in those days in Babylon, and does speak of the modern day commercial system that will be destroyed in Revelation, chapter 18.
When Zechariah gets out of these visions, and we have just one more, then you’ll find the reading a lot more clear, and your understanding will be a lot clearer once we get out of these visions. I have a little hard time with these visions. They’re sort of weird, some of them, and they do take explaining. And I’m glad that the Lord did explain them or else we would really be lost.
May the Lord bless you and keep you steadfast in the love of Jesus Christ our Lord. May you experience each day more of His love, more of His Spirit working in your life, as you yield yourself to God. May you know that power through the Holy Spirit, and may God thus enable you to do His work. May your life be blessed as you serve the Lord in the opportunities that He gives to you this week. Maybe they seem like very small things, but God help you to be faithful in the little things, and not to despise the days of small things. For if you are faithful in the little things, then God will place more responsibility upon you. But don’t force it, just flow with the Spirit, and have a beautiful week. In Jesus “
Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary
Zec 5:1-4
A VISION OF A FLYING SCROLL
Zec 5:1-4
WHAT THE PROPHET SAW . . . Zec 5:1-2
Zechariah lifted up his eyes. This is the phrase which introduces four of the prophets eight visions. In the present vision what is seen is described as a flying scroll measuring thirty feet long by fifteen feet wide.
The angel again asks what the prophet sees to which the prophet answers very literally by describing the flying scroll. Unlike the previous visions, the angel makes no attempt to get Zechariah to interpret this one. Whether this be because of the prophets inability to understand the others, or because of the extremely onerous nature of the meaning of the flying scroll we cannot be sure.
Zerr: The next item in the vision was a flying roll or “scroll”( Zec 5:1). Most likely, it represents either the Law of Moses, or more likely, God’s Law (His Will) for all of mankind.. In ancient times all documents were written on strips of the material selected and then rolled up. Flying roll (Zec 5:2) indicates that the roll was to be sent out through the land. Zechariah stated the dimensions of this roll to be 15 x 30 feet. The great size of ttie document would indicate the vast importance of it.
WHAT THE VISION MEANT . . . Zec 5:3-4
At least in this instance Zechariah seems justified in not being able to understand. Here, for the first time, the Law is depicted as a curse.
The overwhelming significance of this truth and of its appearance in the Old Testament Scriptures cannot be overstated. For centuries both Jews, in attempting to justify their rejection of the Christian faith, and liberal theologians in their attempt to discredit the New Testament, have held that the evaluation of the law as a curse is the peculiar theology of Paul. (cf. Gal 3:13) That Paul is not the originator of this thought becomes apparent here!
The curse of the law is that it makes no allowance for human infirmity. By it comes the accurate knowledge of sin, but by it comes no remedy for sin. By it comes the just wrath of God upon the sinner, but by it comes no forgiveness of sin. (cf. Rom 7:7-24)
The curse of the law is not limited to the Jew alone. The scroll goes forth over the whole earth.
Zerr: The angel explained the roll to be the curse or Judgment of God against evildoers (Zec 5:3). Before the captivity the leaders were guilty of much injustice against the poor. Now the Lord is going to head off any recurrence of such dealing. By announcing a curse upon all guilty ones they would be given a solemn warning to beware of conducting themselves as they previously did. This side and that side means to threaten a complete judgment against whoever thinks to resume the old fraudulent transactions. One that sweareth means the one who deals dishonestly and then tries to cover up the deeds by false oaths.
Paul will make this universal indictment of God against all men crystal clear. In Rom 2:14-15, the apostle shows that all men are in fact under the law, aside from Christ. The Jew because he has the written oracle of God. The Gentile because, while not having the written law, he became a law unto himself. This is because every person has in his conscience the awareness of right and wrong. True, the Gentile without the revealed Law of God does not know what is, in fact, right or wrong. Nevertheless, he is aware that there is right and that there is wrong. He stands guilty because he does not live up to what he believes is right and wrong and in this failure violates the fundamental principle upon which the Law rests.
This is seen in the modern sociological fad called the New Morality. Based upon a philosophy called existentialism, the New Morality is the practical expression of situation ethics.
In simple terms, this amounts to the denial of established right and wrong as written in the Ten Commandments. It is at its root the denial of the authority if not the very existence of God. But the New Morality does not deny the basic principles of right and wrong. It simply says there is no pre-determined right and wrong. Right and wrong must be determined subjectively within the framework of the existing situation.
Paul would say that the situationist stands guilty of breaking the law in that, having become a law unto himself, he proceeds to violate even his own understanding of right and wrong.
No individual, whether he accepts the written law or becomes a law unto himself, consistently does in every situation of life what he believes is right. Thus the curse of the law covers the whole earth.
In Zechariahs vision, two particular commandment violations become the target of Gods wrath expressed in the curse of the law symbolized by the flying scroll. They are the infraction of the eighth commandment, Thou shalt not steal, and the ninth commandment, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. (cf. Exo 20:15-16)
Zerr: It shall enter into the house of the thief (Zec 5:4) means the curse of God that is pronounced in this flying roil. The course was to remain in the house of this dishonest dealer until it was consumed and the stones destroyed or removed.
The latter, swearing falsely in the name of God, is an affront to the majesty of God. The former, entering a neighbors house to steal his personal property, is a violation of the dignity of the neighbors humanity! Jesus will teach that the very foundation of the law is the recognition of these two sacred truths.
According to Him, the whole law hangs on the first and second commandments, i.e. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God and thy neighbor as thyself. (Mat 22:34 -ff) To swear falsely in Gods name or to steal anothers personal possessions is to strike at the very foundation of morality as it is revealed by God in the Law.
The effect of this curse is deadly. The sinner himself will be cut off, and his household will be destroyed. The phrase cut off is a covenant term. (cp. Exo 17:14; Exo 12:15; Exo 12:19, Lev 7:20-21; Lev 7:27; Lev 17:4; Lev 17:9; Lev 17:14, etc.)
To violate the commandments of God is to be cut off from the covenant relationship with Him. A Jew in this condition was no different from a Gentile who was completely ignorant of the covenant. (cf. Eph 2:11-12) Hence . . . there is no distinction. (Rom 3:22) Not only does the sinner suffer as a result of his own disregard for Gods majesty and human dignity, his family suffers also. Zechariah pictures the curse of the law as entering and abiding in the sinners home, even to the consuming of the wood and masonry.
The same principle is stated in Exo 34:6-7. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the childrens children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. If we consider this in terms of the family being held accountable for the fathers sins, we shall miss the point altogether. What is intended is the self-evident truth that what effects a man effects his family also, and nothing effects a man more adversely than his own sin.
We deceive ourselves if we believe that the effects of our sinning are confined to ourselves. Deu 8:15-18 spells this out in great detail. But it shall come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee; Cursed shalt thou be in the city, and cursed shalt thou be in the field. Cursed shall be thy basket and thy store. Cursed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy land, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep.
Conversely, obedience to God brings blessings on others than ourselves. Pro 3:33 says, The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked: but he blesseth the habitation of the just. The man who deliberately, habitually blasphemes Gods name and/ or disregards the human dignity of his neighbor through the violation of his property rights brings the curse of God not only upon himself but those with whom he lives.
Questions
A Vision of a Flying Scroll
1. Describe Zechariahs sixth vision.
2. How is Zechariah justified in not being able to understand this vision?
3. What is the significance of the depicting of the law as a curse in this particular passage?
4. Discuss this in relation to Rom 2:14-15.
5.How is the universal acknowledgement of the fact of right and wrong demonstrated in the New Morality?
6.How do such people break the law of God?
7.What two commandment violations are the target of Gods wrath in the vision of the flying scroll?
8.What is the effect of the curse symbolized in this vision?
9.Compare Zec 5:1-4 and Exo 34:6-7.
10.Are the effects of our sins confined to ourselves?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The vision of the flying roll represents the principle of law as it will be administered by Israel when she fulfils the true ideal. It must be considered as a sequence following the realization of those preceding. Israel, cleansed and anointed by the Spirit, becomes again a moral standard and influence among the peoples. The law is a curse on evil in action and in speech, not merely pronounced, but active. Thus while Israel in realization is to stand as priest, mediating, and as light-bearer, illuminating, she is also to affirm and apply the principle of law in the world.
The vision of the application of law is immediately followed by one showing the result. The ephah is the symbol of commerce, and, according to the distinct prophecy, the woman sitting in the midst of the ephah is the personification of wickedness. Thus the principle of wickedness is to find its last vantage ground in commerce. This ephah dominated by wickedness is borne into the land of Shinar, where the tower of Babel was erected and the city of Babylon was built.
The teaching of the vision, therefore, is that even in the administration of the ultimate, the spirit of lawlessness will exist, finding its vantage ground, as we have seen, in commerce, but that it will be restricted in its operations, being compelled to occupy its own house in its own land on its own basis.
Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible
the Vision of the Flying Roll
Zec 5:1-11
This huge sheet of parchment, 30 by 15 feet, was covered with the solemn curses of the Law, on one side against the thief and on the other against false-swearing. The young community was notorious for these two sins. They brought the dry-rot with them, Zec 5:4. Their commercial life also, represented by the ephah, was full of wickedness. But it was to be eliminated. The swift stork wings would bear it away.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 5
The Flying Roll And The Ephah
The visions of glory which we have been contemplating in the last two chapters are succeeded by others of very diverse kind. If Judah and Jerusalem are to be blessed, it must be on the ground of sovereign grace alone. Merit there was none, but the very opposite. It is this the flying roll makes manifest. It speaks of unsparing judgment according to their works, which must fall on all who refuse to judge themselves according to the word of the living God. But it lets us know likewise that He, the Holy One, so grievously sinned against, has found a way to save in a righteous manner all who turn to Him and call upon His name; otherwise all should of very necessity be cut off.
There is no word or apparent hint of anything but wrath to the uttermost; yet, read in the light of the preceding symbols, our hearts are lifted up in holy exultation to the praise of the grace that saves.
We are told, Then I turned and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll: the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that go-eth forth over the face of the whole earth (or, land, R. V.; i. e., Palestine): for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it, with the timber thereof and the stones thereof (vers. 1-4).
I have quoted the account of both the vision and its interpretation in full; for it is of a most solemn character, and may well speak loudly to every heart, both of the sinners of the Gentiles and of the people of Israel. Primarily it refers distinctively to Judah. They will be restored to the land in unbelief when it has its fulfilment. Note well that the Revised reading, land, in verse 3, here, as generally in the Prophets, is much to be preferred to the more general earth of the A.V. In studying the seventeen books that make up the last part of the Old Testament, it is of prime importance to remember that throughout God has Israel as a people and Palestine as their land before His eyes. That apparently insignificant strip of country is, for Him, the centre of the earth, and of all His ways with men on the earth. He gave it by inviolable covenant to Abraham and his descendants. There His blessed Son was born, and lived and died. Thence He ascended to heaven. To that same land He shall descend in person to usher in the kingdom long foretold.
For centuries that land has been trodden ignominiously beneath the foot of the haughty Gentile conqueror, while its rightful inhabitants have, for their sins, been dispersed among the nations. But thither they shall return; yea, even now are returning in large numbers, though as yet in darkness of soul and unbelief. There, God will pass them through a trial of unequaled fierceness, called the time of Jacobs trouble, or the great tribulation, separating thereby the precious from the vile; destroying the sinners and transgressors from among them, and saving the repentant subjects of His grace, who shall form the nucleus for the kingdom in the day of His power.
Of this preparatory judgment the vision now claiming our attention speaks. Zechariah beheld in the heavens a vast scroll in majestic yet hurried notion, moving swiftly through the air, over all the land of Canaan. Closely observing, he saw that it was written on both sides with curses and judgments. On the one side was Gods word against those who wronged their neighbor, in accordance with the second table of the law (first mentioned, for man can best appreciate the wickedness of sin against his fellow); on the other side, the doom pronounced on those guilty of impiety, according to the first table.
That law, in itself holy, and just, and good, becomes their condemnation; for as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them (Gal 3:10). The Jew makes his boast in that law; yet it speaks only for his condemnation.
The flying roll is the answer to the foolhardiness of the people who cried at Sinai, All that the Lord hath spoken will we do. After a trial lasting through long centuries and millenniums, it is the witness against them, making manifest the solemn fact that they have failed at every point, so must be cut off in judgment.
Into every house where the thief or the false swearer is found the curse enters, bringing utter destruction in its wake. This is all the law can do for any sinner. It can only condemn and curse the violator of it.
And who has not violated it? Wherever it has been promulgated, it has found many to promise, but none to perform. No honest man can claim to have kept it; therefore on that ground, as righteousness he has not, salvation there cannot be.
But, blessed be God, He has found a ransom for men and women who have forfeited all title to His favor. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree (Gal 3:13). On the ground of an accomplished redemption, grace flows out now to every transgressor who owns his lost condition and trusts the sinners Saviour. On the same ground will the flying roll be turned aside from the houses of all the remnant of Judah in the last days, who turn to God in repentance, and, like their fathers on the passover night in Egypt, find shelter beneath the blood of atonement. This the wondrous vision of chapter three has already set forth.
Beginning with verse 5, we have another and a stranger symbol. Zechariah, evidently musing with downcast eyes on the awful portent we have been considering, was aroused by the interpreting angel, and called upon to observe the next remarkable vision. He saw a great ephah, a vessel for measuring merchandise, with a weighty piece of base metal, akin to lead, upon the top of it. This being lifted, he beheld a woman who was cast into the ephah, which was again covered with the lead. Two other women then appeared, with wings like those of a stork, who lifted up the measure between them and flew with it to the north. In reply to the seers question, Whither do these bear the ephah? the angel said, To build it a house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base (vers. 5-11).
Such was the strange portent beheld by the prophet. What is the meaning to be gathered from it?
It is noticeable that, as we go on with the series, there is less and less given in the way of interpretation. It is as though the Lord would give enough in regard to the earlier visions to lay a solid foundation for the understanding of the later ones. Thus the need of carefully comparing what we have here with what has already come before us.
Various interpretations have been suggested, many of which seem to be extremely fanciful. One of the most common is this: The ephah is a symbol of commercialism, setting forth the great characteristic mark of the Jewish race, who are a nation of keen bargainers. The woman sets forth iniquity in business, now come to the full. The carrying of the woman in the ephah to the land of Shinar indicates the revival of the ancient city of Babylon in great splendor as the commercial centre of the coming day. Interpreters of this stamp point to certain negotiations now going on for the opening up of Mesopotamia and the extension of railroad enterprise in that direction as sure indications that they are on the right track. But to our mind all this is pure speculation, and absolutely unsupported by Scripture. Both Jeremiah and Isaiah make it clear, in my judgment, that Babylon has fallen to rise no more.33 It has been literally burned with fire and utterly destroyed, and God Himself has solemnly declared that for that wicked city there shall be no healing nor revival.
Nor is there any solid reason for supposing that the ephah is in itself, of necessity, a symbol of great commercial enterprise. Is it not rather the recognized symbol of measurement, telling us that God shall weigh and measure Judahs sin, and the sin of the whole house of Israel, with unerring accuracy. When their iniquity has come to the full, in wondrous grace He will separate the wickedness from the preserved remnant, dealing with it in connection with the place of its origin, the land of Shinar. For the woman in the ephah sets forth unmistakably, I judge, wickedness of a religious character, as in the parallel cases of the woman hiding the leaven of evil teaching in the food of the people of God (Matt. 13), and the woman Jezebel corrupting the assembly at Thyatira, issuing in the awful impiety of the scarlet woman of Rev. 17.
Now, Israels great religious sin was idolatry. They had been separated from the nations to be Jehovahs witnesses to the unity of the Godhead. Instead of maintaining the place of testimony thus given them, they turned to the practices of the heathen, provoking their Rock and causing Him to fall upon them in indignation. Babylon was the mother of idolatry. It was the home of all that is false in a religious way. In the time of the end this spirit of wickedness will be separated from Judah and carried by stork-winged women (symbol surely of the unclean energy of the human mind, femininely lovely, but propelled by the energy of the prince of the power of the air) to the land of Shinar, where its house will be built. That is, there its habitation will be, and there will it be judged.
It is a moral continuity. In mystical Babylon literal Babylon finds her identity continued and her sin fully dealt with. With her sorcery have all nations been deceived, and in her shall be found the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth (Rev 18:24).
Thus shall Israel be purified and idolatry of every form meet its just and final doom, preparatory to the establishment of the world-kingdom of our God and His Christ.
Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets
CHAPTER 5
1. The sixth vision (Zec 5:1-4)
2. The seventh vision (Zec 5:5-11)
Zec 5:1-4. The three remaining night visions are of a different character. The first visions the prophet had were visions of comfort for Jerusalem and the dispersed nation, the overthrow of Babylon and all their enemies, divine forgiveness and the theocracy restored. Now follow the last three visions, and these are visions of judgment. Judgment precedes Israels restoration, and is very prominently connected with it.
The sixth night vision is the one of the flying roll. The prophets eyes seem to have been closed after the fifth vision, for we read, And I lifted up my eyes again. The flying roll he sees is twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad. The interpreting angel tells the prophet that it is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on this side according to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on that side according to it. The LORD of hosts has brought it forth and it is to enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth by His Name to a falsehood, and it shall lodge in the midst of His house and consume it, both its wood and its stone.
That this vision means judgment is evident at the first glance. Ezekiel had a similar vision. And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe Eze 2:9-10). Ezekiel was to eat that book. This reminds us at once of the books in Revelation (chapters 5 and 10), which are likewise connected with Gods judgments in the earth. The flying roll is written on both sides, signifying the two tables of stone, the law of God. Stealing and swearing falsely are mentioned because the one is found on the one side of the two tables of stone, and the other on the other side. However, it is no longer Thou shalt not, but on the flying roll are written the curses, the awful curses against the transgressors of Gods law which are now about to be put into execution. The curse is found in its awful details, as it refers to an apostate people in Deu 27:1-26; Deu 28:1-68. The roll is of immense size, and on it are the dread curses of an angry God. The vision must have been one of exceeding great terror. Imagine a roll, probably illumined at night with fire, moving over the heavens, and on it the curses of an eternal God–wherever it moves its awful message is seen; nothing is hid from its awe-inspiring presence. It reminds one of the fiery handwriting on the wall in the kings palace. Surely such an awful judgment is coming by and by, when our God will keep silence no longer. One of the sublimest judgment Psalms, the Fiftieth, mentions something similar to this flying roll. When thou sawest a thief then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speaketh against thy brother, thou slanderest thine own mothers son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself. but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes Psa 50:18-23. The flying roll stands undoubtedly in connection with wickedness, theft, and false swearing, as it is found in so many forms in unbelieving Israel, but it finds also a large application in the judgment of wickedness throughout the earth in the glorious day of His appearing.
Zec 5:5-11. The angel commands the prophet to lift up his eyes to behold another startling vision. What are the leading figures in the vision? An ephah–which is a Jewish measure standing here for commerce. The eyes of all the land (or earth) are upon it. Commercialism is very prominent in Revelation in connection with the full measure of wickedness, the climax of ungodliness. In Rev 18:1-24 merchants are mentioned who have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Then the merchants are seen weeping, for no man buys their merchandise any more. And then a long list follows, including all the articles of modern commerce. Compare this with the awful description of the last times in Jam 5:1-20. Rich men are commanded to weep and howl, for miseries are come upon them. They heaped treasure together for the last days, and it was a heaping together by fraud, dishonesty in keeping back the hire of the laborers. They lived in pleasure (luxuriously) and were wanton. Indeed, here is that burning question of the day, capital and labor, and its final outcome, misery and judgment upon commercialism, riches heaped up, and all in wickedness. In Hab 2:12 the woe of judgment of that coming glory of the Lord is pronounced upon him that buildeth a town with blood and established a city by iniquity! The people are seen laboring for the fire and wearying themselves for vanity. Luxuries increase, riches, etc., are mentioned in the second and third chapters of Isaiah, chapters of judgment. Other passages could be quoted, but these are sufficient for our purpose. They show us that the climax of wickedness as it is in the earth when judgment will come, and Israels time commences once more, will be connected with commerce, riches and luxuries. The ephah points to this.
In the second place let us notice that in the midst of the ephah there is seen a woman. She is called wickedness. The Hebrew word wickedness is translated by the Septuagint with anomia. We find that the Holy Spirit uses the same word in 2Th 2:8, and then shall be revealed in the wicked one (anomia) whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the Spirit of His mouth. The woman in the ephah personifies wickedness. She has surrounded herself with the ephah and sits in the midst of it. Have we not here the great whore having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication? Undoubtedly. This woman is the type of evil and wickedness in its highest form. Let us glance at that wonderful description of that woman in Revelation. She is the great whore sitting upon many waters. She sits upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet decked with gold, precious stones and pearls. Upon her forehead is seen her name, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations in the earth. She is drunk with the blood of the saints. The woman in the ephah represents the same great whore, Babylon the Great. This becomes at once clear when we take into consideration that the woman in the ephah is carried swiftly away an a house is built for her in the land of Shinar, and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base. Now the land of Shinar is Babylonia. But while in Rev 17:1-18 the mystical Babylon is seen, in the eighteenth chapter there is another Babylon, the final great political-commercial world system; it is still future, not very far away, for we see that the trend of modern events is towards such a combination. The vision of the ephah and the woman evidently sealed up in it may denote the overthrow and judgment of the final Babylon.
Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)
flying roll
A “roll,” in Scripture symbolism, means the written word whether of God or man Eze 6:2; Jer 36:2; Jer 36:4; Jer 36:6 etc: Eze 3:1-3. Zechariah’s eighth vision is of the rebuke of sin by the word of God. The two sins mentioned really transgress both tables of the law. To steal is to set aside our neighbor’s right; to swear is to set aside God’s claim to reverence. As always the law can only curse (Zec 5:3); Gal 3:10-14.
Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes
roll: Zec 5:2, Isa 8:1, Jer 36:1-6, Jer 36:20-24, Jer 36:27-32, Eze 2:9, Eze 2:10, Rev 5:1-14, Rev 10:2, Rev 10:8-11
Reciprocal: Isa 9:8 – sent a word Jer 36:4 – upon Dan 8:3 – I lifted Hab 2:9 – that coveteth an evil covetousness Zec 1:18 – lifted Zec 5:5 – Lift Zec 6:1 – I turned
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE OTHER SIDE of the picture meets us as we read chapter 5. In a sixth vision the prophet saw a flying ‘roll’; symbolically representing the law, extending its authority over all the earth, and bringing with it a curse. The two sins specified – stealing and swearing – both exceedingly common, represent sin against man and against God. The fact that God acts in grace does not mean that there is any condoning of sin, on which the curse lies. And as Gal 3:10 tells us, ‘As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse’. A proper sense of this only enhances our wonder, and appreciation of the grace of God.
The second part of this vision reveals what had to take place in view of this curse. An ephah was the common measure of trade and commerce, and a woman is several times used in Scripture as a symbol of a system; and systemized idolatry, linked with profitable business had lain at the root of the evils that had led to the captivity out of which the remnant had come; and the land of Shinar, where Babylon was situated, had been the original home and hotbed of all idolatry. It was this that had brought the curse upon the forefathers of the people. The whole system of this idolatrous evil had to be deported to its own base.
Now this is what in figure seems to be depicted here. It was not so much a personal matter, as presented in the cleansing of Joshua in chapter 3, but a national cleansing from the sin of idolatry. This did come to pass historically, as we know, and from about that time the Jews have not turned aside to the idols of the nations. If Mat 12:43-45, be read, we see how our Lord made reference to this act, and yet predicted how ultimately they will be dominated by this sin in an intensified form. But for the time being they were delivered.
Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary
Zec 5:1. The next item in the vision was a flying roll (“scroll”). Most likely, it represents either the Law of Moses, or more likely, God’s Law (His Will) for all of mankind.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 5:1. Then I turned and lifted up Or, again I lifted up, mine eyes For the verb , to return, is often used adverbially; and behold a flying roll That is, a roll of a book, as the expression is Jer 36:2; Eze 2:9; the ancient way of writing being upon long scrolls of parchment, which used to be rolled up. This roll contained an account of the sins and punishments of the people, and is described as flying, both because it was open, and to denote the swiftness of Gods judgments. Hitherto, from the beginning of this prophecy, all has been consoling, and meant to cheer the hearts of the Jewish people, by holding forth to them prospects of approaching prosperity. But, lest they should grow presumptuous and careless of their conduct, it was thought proper to warn them of the conditions on which their happiness would depend; and to let them see, that however God was at present disposed to show them favour, his judgments would assuredly fall upon them with still greater weight than before, if they should again provoke him by repeated acts of wickedness. Accordingly, this warning and information are given them by the visions of this chapter, which are of a very different kind from the preceding ones. Blayney.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 5:2. What seest thou? I see a flying roll. Hebrews meghilla, a parchment, a terrific scroll, twenty cubits in length, and ten in breadth, an oblong in measure like the courts of the temple. A banner which the hand of an angel only could wave and carry through the air. The writing was large, as on our flags, that the people might read the curse on the thief, and on the false-swearer. This couplet of crimes generally go together. The thief, who has carried off the wealth of the industrious, will swear to a thousand lies to cover his crimes. The Greeks swore , by Jupiter, by Hercules; the Romans by Csar, or by the gods; the papists swear by Jesus, by his blood and wounds, or by the holy virgin. Ah, little do they think that heaven will exact their oaths, and make the extortioner vomit up his riches. Job 20:15. Better to hear the oracle of truth, swear not at all. Mat 5:34. This banner is the harbinger of Theos, the allseeing God. He will bring the curse on him who swears falsely by the name of the Lord, as he did on the princes of Judah. Jer 31:18; Jer 39:6. See the case of Ruth Pearce, recited on Acts 5.
Zec 5:6. This is an ephah, the short bushel, that goeth forth. Exo 29:40. The bowl of Poland, the amphora of the Romans, and this dry measure of the Hebrews were nearly alike, and adapted to labour and trade. This ephah was to be seen in the air, so magnified as to hold a woman, the feminine representative of the jewish nation. Mythology has mostly preferred a goddess as a titular deity, Pallas for Athens, and Britannia for our Island. The vision designates the merchant accumulating a fortune by various unlawful gains, and then spreading his wings to fly away from a character that will not bear inspection: but he takes with him the talent of lead at the bottom of the bushel, which sinks his soul lower than the grave.
Zec 5:9. There came out two women, and the wind was in their wings. The LXX, my fury was in their wings. The woman imprisoned in the ephah was the jewish nation. The two women that bore her away to Shinar, the country about Babylon, seem to be emblematical of the double deportation of the jews; that of Jehoiakim fourteen years before that of Zedekiah, which followed after. Their wings were not like those of the eagle, but the more slow and heavy ones of the stork, the swan or the kite. The prophets were very exact and ingenious in the use of figures. Building the house in the provinces of Babylon denotes the long duration of the captivity. Jeremiah wrote to the jews to build houses and plant gardens: Jer 29:5.
REFLECTIONS.
Sin is the reproach of any people. The sins in trade develope the covetousness and pride of the heart. They hide and cover those latent sins, which the righteous Lord will publish to all the world, with a banner too large for mortal arms to bear; a banner loaded with execrations, which rouses the guilty conscience to arms.
Wicked men, detected in the sins of theft and fraud, and brought to a hearing, not only cover their crimes, but often deny them with perjuries. They call heaven to witness the truth of their words, as though the Holy One were a sinner like themselves. The thief, who carries off the hard earnings of industry, excites every revolting feeling in the man he robs; and though he steals under the cover of ingenious concealment, he cannot conceal his crime: every thing about him excites suspicion, and tends to detection. But the prophets views were higher than the rebuke of private delinquencies and frauds; he aimed his blows at a nation of robbers of God, and of perjured princes to the king of Babylon.
We learn also the severe and equal lesson, that the sins of the fathers attach temporally to their children, and even to the third and fourth generation. It was the grandchildren that returned from Babylon, though exceptions were made to a few aged men, who had seen the former temple. Punishments on earth, and torments in hell, are both united to deter mankind from acquiring riches by injustice.Oh that the Lord would write his purer law on our hearts, to love him with all our mind and strength, and our neighbour as ourselves. The only remedy for national crimes is regeneration, connected with all the institutions of religious charity and goodwill. The poor must all be employed, else the idle and hungry will rob and steal.
Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 5:1-4. A Flying, i.e. Ubiquitous Roll containing an Effectual Curse against Thieves and Perjurers.In Zec 5:3 b RV does violence to the Heb. Wellhausen with a slight emendation reads: for everyone that stealeth hath for a long time past been held guiltless, and everyone that sweareth falsely hath for a long time past been held guiltless. Zechariah here answers the complaint that, while the righteous suffer, sin is not punished, and affirms that henceforth the Lords curse will show itself active against all thieves and perjurers. [For the power of self-fulfilment inherent in a curse see Gen 9:25*.A. S. P.]
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
The Sixth Vision – A Flying Scroll
(vv. 1-4)
The five previous visions have beautifully emphasized the grace of God in His restoring great blessing to Israel after years of sorrow and desolation. The two visions (the sixth and seventh) in this chapter are of a different character. Not all “who are of Israel” will have part in Israel’s future blessing (Rom 9:6). Some will persist in their sin, as Isa 26:10 shows, “Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness; in the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of the Lord.” Therefore God will deal with this stubborn perversity in righteous judgment, not in forgiving grace. Sin must be purged from the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Zechariah looks up to see a large flying scroll, twenty by ten cubits. It was unrolled for him to discern the measurements, which are the same as the porch of Solomon’s temple (1Ki 6:3) and of the outer sanctuary of the tabernacle. Writing is seen on both sides, just as was true of the law on the tables of stone (Exo 32:15) and later in connection with the scroll of God’s judgments in Rev 5:1. The scroll shows that God keeps accurate accounts, and just as the law condemns every infraction against it and pronounces a curse against all who disobey it (Deu 22:15-26), so this scroll is designated as the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole land. The whole land of Israel had been contaminated by the disobedience of the people, and those who remained in their sinful state of rebellion would suffer the solemn judgment of this curse. The flying of the scroll indicates that when judgment comes it will come swiftly.
Only two classes of guilty people are mentioned here, those who steal and those who swear (v. 3). Verse 4 further designates the swearers as those who swear falsely by God’s name. Both would be judged by the curse, the one according to the one side of the scroll, the other according to the other side. This signifies that the one side of the scroll involves sin against mankind (stealing) and the other side sin against God (false swearing). In this case it answers to the summing up of the ten commandments in Luk 10:17, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” Whatever sin we commit against others has the element of stealing in it, and any sin we commit against God will always have some element of falsehood in it. Those who have not judged these roots of evil in their own hearts (those who are not saved) will not escape the curse of the judgment of God, but will be cut off.
It is the Lord of hosts who will bring forth the curse (v. 4). The thief may now enter other people’s houses, but the curse will enter his own house, not coming just for a brief visit, but remaining to destroy it to its very foundation. The destruction of its timber and stones is symbolical of the destruction of all the personal interests and possessions of the deluded unbeliever in Israel. This does not speak of the judgment of the lake of fire, but of the Lord, during the tribulation, purging out of His kingdom all things that offend. Therefore this judgment is carried out on earth. Long after that, these same unbelievers will have to stand before the Great White Throne and be judged according to their works (Rev 20:11-13).
THE SEVENTH VISION: THE EPHAH AND THE WOMAN
(vv. 5-11)
The angel now draws Zechariah’s attention to another vision, asking what he sees that “goes forth” (v. 5). The ephah was a standard of measurement, and the vessel of that size took the same name. It stands for the principle of trade and commerce, which should be honest (Eze 45:10), but in Israel was commonly perverted by greed (Amo 8:5) as we know it is everywhere today. Are things to remain this way? No! God had decreed that the ephah will go forth because “this is their resemblance throughout the earth.” All the land of Israel has been affected adversely by this perversion of the ephah, for the perversion was seen inside the ephah (v. 7). He saw a woman sitting. Women who maintain their scriptural role often are more godly and devoted than are the men, but a woman out of her role can corrupt herself more than the men do, as Jezebel the wife of Ahab illustrates (2Ki 21:25). Jezebel is used in the New Testament as the symbol of the wickedness of the false church (Rev 2:20), and similarly the false church, Babylon the Great, is pictured as a woman in Rev 17:4-5.
The woman here speaks of Israel given up to lust for gain through trade and commerce. She is personified as “Wickedness” and thrust down in the midst of the ephah, with a lead lid weighing a talent (well over 100 pounds or 45 kg.) put over the opening of the ephah. This illustrates what riches commonly accomplish. They become a terrible weight by which the victim is trapped without hope of extrication. Sin must be punished! This vision shows that the root principle of sin will be banished, but those who choose it will also suffer banishment from God.
Having seen in this vision a woman called Wickedness thrown into an ephah and a weighted lid put on its mouth, Zechariah then sees two women coming (v. 9), having wings like a stork, with the wind in their wings. These indicate civil authority and spiritual authority reduced to an evil state, in contrast to Zerubbabel (the civil authority) and Joshua (the spiritual authority) ordained by God for Israel’s blessing. By these corrupted authorities apostate Israel (the woman in the ephah) is carried rapidly away from Jerusalem (“the foundation of peace”). The wings of a stork (an unclean fowl of the air) signify satanic power that energizes these authorities.
Where do they carry the ephah? When Zechariah asks this question the angel who spoke with him answered, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar” (v. 11). This calls to mind the plain in the land of Shinar where the tower of Babel was built (Gen 11:2-4). Hence, the carrying of the ephah is the very essence of apostasy (a deliberate turning from the truth of God), indicating that the ungodly in Israel will revert to the same evil designs and intentions that gave birth to the building of the tower of Babel. The ephah will be established there on its own base, a contrast to God’s foundation which is in the holy mountains (Psa 87:1). How closely related is the lust for base gain (the ephah holding the corrupt woman) to the abhorrent principle of apostasy!
Apostasy can build a house to honor the lust of its greed, and give it high religious dignity, just as is seen in the false church Babylon the Great, in the New Testament (Rev 18:10-16). But its foundation is not God’s foundation, and total destruction is in store for it, just as “great Babylon” will suffer destruction from the hand of God in a coming day (Rev 18:1-24).
This chapter therefore shows that those in Israel who prefer their own sin will be judged; and the root principle of sin, seen in the rebellion of apostasy, will be relegated to the place where judgment will completely destroy it.
Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible
F. The flying scroll 5:1-4
The priests and the kings in Israel were responsible for justice in the nation (cf. Deu 17:9; 2Sa 15:2-3), though neither group could prevent wickedness from proliferating. The sixth and seventh visions deal with the removal of wickedness. This sixth one deals with the elimination of lawbreakers, and the next one with the removal of wickedness from the land. What God promised in the preceding two visions required the purging predicted in these two visions.
"At this point the series of visions takes a sharp turn from that which heretofore has been comforting, to a stern warning that the Lord (Yahweh) is a holy God and cannot brook evil." [Note: Unger, p. 83.]
". . . before the blessing of the first five visions will be actualized, there will intervene in the life of the nation a period of moral declension and apostasy. God must and will purge out all iniquity, though He has promised untold glory for the godly in Israel." [Note: Feinberg, God Remembers, p. 82.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The next thing Zechariah saw in his visions was an unrolled scroll flying through the air. This was a scroll that contained writing, the equivalent of a modern book.
"A scroll (or roll), in Scripture symbolism, denotes the written word, whether of God or man (Ezr 6:2; Jer 36:2; Jer 36:4; Jer 36:6, etc.; Eze 3:1-3, etc). Zechariah’s sixth vision is of the rebuke of sin by the Word of God. The two sins mentioned [in Zec 5:3] really transgress both tables of the law. To steal is to set aside our neighbor’s right; to swear is to set aside God’s claim to reverence." [Note: The New Scofield . . ., p. 967.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
THE SIXTH VISION: THE WINGED VOLUME
Zec 5:1-4
The religious and political obstacles being now removed from the future of Israel, Zechariah in the next two Visions beholds the land purged of its crime and wickedness. These Visions are very simple, if somewhat after the ponderous fashion of Ezekiel.
The first of them is the Vision of the removal of the curse brought upon the land by its civic criminals, especially thieves and perjurers-the two forms which crime takes in a poor and rude community like the colony of the returned exiles. The prophet tells us he beheld a roll flying, he uses the ordinary Hebrew name for the rolls of skin or parchment upon which writing was set down. But the proportions of its colossal size-twenty cubits by ten-prove that it was not a cylindrical but an oblong shape which he saw. It consisted, therefore, of sheets laid on each other like our books, and as our word “volume,” which originally meant, like his own term, a roll, means now an oblong article, we may use this in our translation. The volume is the record of the crime of the land, and Zechariah sees it flying from the land. But it is also the curse upon this crime, and so again he beholds it entering every thiefs and perjurers house and destroying it. Smend gives a possible explanation of this: “It appears that in ancient times curses were written on pieces of paper and sent down the wind into the houses” of those against whom they were directed. But the figure seems rather to be of birds of prey.
“And I turned and lifted my eyes and looked, and lo! a volume flying. And he said unto me, What dost thou see? And I said, I see a volume flying, its length twenty cubits and its breadth ten. And he said unto me, This is the curse that is going out upon the face of all the land. For every thief is hereby purged away from hence, and every perjurer is hereby purged away from hence, I have sent it forth-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-and it shall enter the thiefs house, and the house of him that hath sworn falsely by My name, and it shall roost: in the midst of his house and consume it, with its beams and its stones.”