Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 5:5
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.
5. went forth ] or, came forth. During the intervals between the visions, when the prophet was overpowered by, or lost in contemplation of, what he had seen, the Interpreting Angel falls into the background. In this case his coming forth again, or appearing on the scene, is expressly mentioned.
goeth forth ] or, cometh forth, i.e. from the surrounding darkness into clear view.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Then the angel went forth – From the choirs of angels, among whom, in the interval, he had retired, as before (Zep 2:3 (7 Hebrew)) he had gone forth to meet another angel.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Zec 5:5-11
And this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah
The woman in the ephah
This vision, like the preceding, is of a warning character, and somewhat more obscure in its symbolical apparatus.
A dim outline rises to the eye of the prophet, to which the angel calls his attention, but which he cannot at first distinctly make out. The angel tells him that it is an ephah, a very common dry measure, containing about three pecks. He then sees a mass of lead, containing about a hundredweight, lifted up above the measure, and on looking more closely he sees a woman in the measure. This woman is then violently thrust down into the measure, and the mass of lead laid upon its mouth, after which two winged women carry it away into the land of Shinar, where it was to be permanently deposited in a house prepared for it there. The general meaning of this is to show that when the measure of the peoples wickedness became full, then their punishment should come, and they should again be carried into the land of their enemies in exile, not for seventy years, but for a long time. As the flying roll symbolised the certainty and completeness of their punishment, so this vision indicated its swiftness and mode. The ephah is selected simply as a common dry measure, to symbolise the thought that there is a certain measure of sin beyond which the people cannot go with impunity. The woman sitting in it represents the Jewish people, by a common figure. The phrase, this is their appearance (Heb. eye) in all the land (Zec 5:6), simply means, this represents that to which the people are looking, or tending, namely, to fill up the measure of their sin, and when they have done that, God will lay upon them their punishment. When the prophet perceives the woman in the measure, he is told that this is (represents) wickedness, even that of the Jewish people. Henderson thinks that the wickedness here represented was idolatry, and that the vision predicted the removal of idolatry from Palestine to Babylon. But there is no reason at all to limit it thus, but rather the contrary. Idolatry had not been a sin of the Jews for a century, and would hardly be represented as an existing thing, as this vision does. It did not exist in the land, and so could not be removed out of it. Moreover, it was not removed to Babylon, in any sense, literally or figuratively, and did not remain there as the vision declares (Zec 5:11), for the Mohammedan occupants of that region were not idolaters. Hence the explanation that refers it to the entire wickedness of the Jewish people of all kinds, is more consistent with the preceding vision, and gives a better sense. The mass of lead symbolises the heavy judgments that God was holding over them, and which at the fulness of time He would allow to fall. Accordingly, the wicked woman is thrust down into the small measure, crushed and doubled together, and the heavy weight laid upon her to keep her thus prostrate. Then there appear two winged messengers, with outstretched pinions, as if the wind was raising them up, and their wings were strong for flight like those of the stork. There were two, because it required two persons to lift such a measure. They symbolised the messengers of Gods wrath that should desolate Judea, and banish the people. They were to carry it into Shinar, which is here the symbol for an enemys country, and not the exact country to which they were to be exiled. There it was to be put in a house, shut up, and this house to be built strongly and securely for a permanent habitation, to show that this exile would not be, like the first, a brief sojourn, but a long, weary, and enduring banishment from the land of their fathers; when their resting should not be on God, or on the rock Christ Jesus, but on their own base; they should be left to themselves, weighed down like lead with judicial blindness, stupidity, darkness, and hardness of heart. The vision predicted what happened four hundred years afterwards, when the measure of their iniquity being full by the rejection and murder of the Messiah, their hearts being gross, and their care heavy, the hour of vengeance came. Then appeared the Roman eagles, and after the most desperate struggle, the Jewish nation was crushed, and scattered to the four winds, wandering in enemies countries, not resting on the promise of God, but weighed down with leaden obstinacy, and resting on their own works and righteousness. Learn–
1. Every individual, and every nation, has a measure of sin; and until that measure is filled up, Gods longsuffering will wait for repentance and reformation.
2. There hangs above every sinner a crushing weight of wrath, poised and ready to descend with overwhelming destruction.
3. If the measure is filled up, the weight shall fall, and crush the sinner with its ponderous mass of punishment.
4. The finally impenitent shall be driven from God into loomy exile, and left to himself, to rest on his own base, to be subject to the thrall of his own lawless lusts that he has so long pampered into strength, and to reap as he has sowed, through a long and limitless banishment. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)
Vision of the ephah
There are some portions of Old Testament prophecy which, at first, appear in meaning. But upon closer examination they are found to contain important lessons, profitable for all times. Such a prophecy is Zechariahs vision of the ephah. Look–
1. At the symbol as seen by the prophet. The ephah was a well known Jewish measure, represented by our word bushel. The prophet saw such a measure moving forth as if it were a thing of life, and in the midst of it sat a woman with a talent of lead lifted up before her. The whole picture was a composite symbol, in which were prominent the measure, the woman, and the talent of lead.
2. The meaning of the symbol. In verse 8 the Hebrew emphatic ally declares–This is the wickedness. The most obvious suggestion is, that form of wickedness most likely to ensnare and ruin the people to whom Zechariah prophesied. The symbols point most naturally to the sin of unrighteous traffic, the root and essence of which is covetousness (1Ti 6:10; Col 3:5). Why a woman rather than a man appears in the symbol is somewhat difficult to say, but probably because of her power as a temptress. The ensnaring images which have been most prominent in the great systems of idolatry have borne the female form. This womans throne was an empty measure, and her sign an uplifted talent of lead, thus aptly representing the sin of those who would swallow up the needy, and cause the poor of the land to fail (Amo 8:4-6). This iniquity of unrighteous traffic appears to have ever been a besetting sin of the Jewish people. The preceding oracle of this prophet (verses 1-4) was directed against thieves, and those who swore falsely by Jehovahs name; and the obscure expression in verse 16 (lit., this is their eye in all the land) is perhaps best explained as alluding to the fact that in all the land the eyes of thieves, extortioners, and false swearers, turned longingly towards this tempting goddess of covetousness.
3. The removal of this ephah to the land of Shinar indicates some kind of retribution which will visit this form of wickedness. The woman was cast down into the empty measure, and the leaden weight was cast upon her mouth (or on the mouth of the ephah), and ephah, woman, and talent were lifted up, and carried off into a foreign land; and the removal was effected by two women, who had wings like the stork, and who were helped by the force of the wind. This part of the vision sets forth Gods penal judgment upon this sin and its devotees. Among the various elements of this judgment we note the following–
(1) Such wickedness as this composite symbol represented cannot abide in the holy land of Israel, or inherit the kingdom of God. There must be, and there will be, a renewal.
(2) The instruments of this womans sin are made to contribute to her punishment. Her being cast into the ephah, with the leaden stone upon her mouth, suggests the image of a covetous soul, cramped and crushed into the narrow world of self, with nothing else to know or talk about than weights and measures. Thus sold to covetousness one makes his own place, and goes to it; his heaven is made his hell. He is made to live inside his own little half bushel, and talk of nothing else than talents, stocks, bonds, corner lots, etc.
(3) By an irreversible law such natures are taken out of the fellowship of the pure and good, and removed far from them, by others of their own kind. The world will love his own, and when selfish interests are at stake, men and women of an adulterous and sinful generation aim to help those who have helped them. So this one woman was taken up and carried away by her like–aiders and abettors in unrighteous traffic. When the angel had cast her into the ephah and put the stone upon her mouth, these other women came to her rescue, and, for a season at least, remove her to a more congenial place. The stork is mentioned probably for no other reason than for being a well-known bird of passage, having notably large wings, and abounding in the land of Shinar, in the Euphrates valley. The money lovers of this world move rapidly in each others selfish interest, as if borne upon the wings of the wind.
4. The land of Shinar is to be understood as the opposite of the land of Israel, which in Zec 2:12 is called the holy land. It was the Babylonian plain, where the descendants of Noah settled after the flood, and builded the city and tower, which was the occasion of their being confused and scattered by the curse of Jehovah (Gen 11:2). It was a land of idolatry, whither the Jewish people had, according to Zec 2:6, been scattered as by the four winds of heaven. So this vision symbolised the penal scattering abroad into an unclean land of all whose eye admired the goddess of weights and measures more than Jehovah. The great moral lesson of the vision is therefore a warning against covetousness and unrighteous traffic. Where the love of money is so strong as to employ balances of deceit, and make the ephah small and the shekel great, there will come curse and exile. The covetous man will suffer in ways he little dreams of, and the very instruments of his sin may be turned into modes of punishment. He who will serve Mammon must leave the house and land of the Lord, and so all those Jews who loved the wages of unrighteousness might expect sooner or later to be again scattered as by the winds of heaven. Their aiders and abettors might come to their help, and even build for them a house in the foreign land; but, like the tower of Babel, built by selfish ambition in the plain of Shinar, even that house will be likely to prove a curse. This process of separating and removing the lovers of this world from truth and holiness is ever going on in the development of the kingdom of God. Judas loved silver, and was cut off and went to his own place. Demas forsook the Apostle Paul from love of the world. John, the apostle, speaks of those who went out from the godly because they were not of them (1Jn 2:19), and Jude significantly mentions the sensual, having not the Spirit, as they who separate themselves, or make separations. So, by the necessary antagonism of opposite natures, the covetous must remove from the holy; for the narrow-minded, self-centred worldling cannot inherit the kingdom of God. (Milton S. Terry, D. D.)
The woman in the ephah
The question of the angel, and the answer of the prophet, suggest–
1. That the medium of Divine thought may be obscure to human understanding.
2. That which we are to communicate to others must be seen clearly by ourselves.
3. That what is difficult to one servant of God may be clear to another. The vision probably refers to the general sin of the nation, which reached its height in the rejection of Messiah, after which the nation was entirely removed from the land. It suggests–
I. That time is needed for a nation to complete its destruction, as well as for its construction. The ephah is a measure of considerable size; the idea conveyed is that, when it is full, it is lifted up and carried away. The filling takes time, and the nation to which the vision pointed did not all at once fill up the measure of its iniquity. Wickedness is allowed to go on unchecked for a certain period, but only to give space for repentance.
II. Sin first imprisons the sinner, and then separates him from the Divine presence. A talent of lead shuts the woman into the ephah, which is then borne into the land of Shinar. This foretells the constant dwelling of the Jews among the Gentile nations. The man who finds himself in a condemned cell is really shut in and banished from his own choice. So it was with the Jewish nation, and so it is with every man who rejects Gods plan of regenerating him. He is self-imprisoned and self-banished.
III. Those who reject Gods plan of restoration will be left to their own. God offered to the Jewish nation a sure foundation upon which to rebuild their national greatness (see Isa 28:16). This they would not accept. Therefore they were banished from their land, and, in the words of this prophecy, set there upon their own base. They were left to be their own national architects and defenders, and the history of their bitter sufferings for many centuries, and their present inability to gather themselves into a national whole, shows how ill they succeed who prefer their own way to that which God offers to them. This truth applies equally to every man who rejects the only foundation upon which his character can be rebuilt into its original greatness. (Outlines by London Minister.)
A materialistic community
Utter mercenariness is an abhorrent object to an angels eye. The prophet still looks, and what does he see? The meaning of the new scene may be easily 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 storks 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.–Thiel and Delitzsch.
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.
(3) Your man of the world is in this ephah. All his ideas of wealth, dignity, pleasure are material.
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. Materialism disinherits man. His true inheritance as a spiritual existent is incorruptible, undefiled, that fadeth not away. But materialism carries him away from it, away 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. 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? (Homilist.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Went forth; or went on, proceeded, or, as we read it, went forth from some more retired place, though he do not tell us what it was, or where he was with the prophet when the last vision appeared.
Lift up now thine eyes: now the prophet was come forth with the angel, he is commanded to took up and observe what he seeth going forth from Jerusalem or the temple.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
5. went forthThe interpretingangel had withdrawn after the vision of the roll to receive a freshrevelation from the Divine Angel to communicate to the prophet.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Then the angel that talked with me went forth,…. From the place where he was, and had been interpreting the vision of the flying roll, unto another more convenient for showing and explaining the following one; and, as it should seem, took the prophet along with him:
and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what [is] this that goeth forth; either out of the temple or out of heaven, into some open place, where it might be seen.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
To this there is appended in Zec 5:5-11 a new view, which exhibits the further fate of the sinners who have been separated from the congregation of the saints. Zec 5:5. “And the angel that talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, what is this that goeth out there? Zec 5:6. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah going out. And He said, This is their aspect in all the land. Zec 5:7. And behold a disk of lead was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. Zec 5:8. And he said, This is wickedness; and he cast it into the midst of the ephah, and cast the leaden weight upon its mouth.” With the disappearing of the previous vision, the angelus interpres had also vanished from the eyes of the prophet. After a short pause he comes out again, calls the prophet’s attention to a new figure which emerges out of the cloud, and so comes within the range of vision ( ), and informs him with regard to it: “This is the ephah which goeth out.” , to go out, in other words, to come to view. The ephah was the greatest measure of capacity which really existed among the Hebrews for dry goods, and was about the size of a cubic foot; for the chomer , which contained ten ephahs, appears to have had only an ideal existence, viz., for the purpose of calculation. The meaning of this figure is indicated generally in the words , the meaning of which depends upon the interpretation to be given to . The suffix of this word can only refer to the sinners mentioned before, viz., the thieves and perjurers; for it is contrary to the Hebrew usage to suppose that the words refer to the expression appended, , in the sense of “all those who are in the whole land” (Koehler). Consequently does not mean the eye, but adspectus , appearance, or shape, as in Lev 13:55; Eze 1:4.; and the words have this meaning: The ephah (bushel) is the shape, i.e., represents the figure displayed by the sinners in all the land, after the roll of the curse has gone forth over the land, i.e., it shows into what condition they have come through that anathema (Kliefoth). The point of comparison between the ephah and the state into which sinners have come in consequence of the curse, does not consist in the fact that the ephah is carried away, and the sinners likewise (Maurer), nor in the fact that the sin now reaches its full measure (Hofm., Hengstenberg); for “the carrying away of the sinners does not come into consideration yet, and there is nothing at all here about the sin becoming full.” It is true that, according to what follows, sin sits in the ephah as a woman, but there is nothing to indicate that the ephah is completely filled by it, so that there is no further room in it; and this thought would be generally out of keeping here. The point of comparison is rather to be found in the explanation given by Kliefoth: “Just as in a bushel the separate grains are all collected together, so will the individual sinners over the whole earth be brought into a heap, when the curse of the end goes forth over the whole earth.” We have no hesitation in appropriating this explanation, although we have not rendered “the earth,” inasmuch as at the final fulfilment of the vision the holy land will extend over all the earth. Immediately afterwards the prophet is shown still more clearly what is in the ephah. A covering of lead ( kikkar , a circle, a rounding or a circular plate) rises up, or is lifted up, and then he sees a woman sitting in the ephah ( ‘achath does not stand for the indefinite article, but is a numeral, the sinners brought into a heap appearing as a unity, i.e., as one living personality, instead of forming an atomistic heap of individuals). This woman, who had not come into the ephah now for the first time, but was already sitting there, and was only seen now that the lid was raised, is described by the angel as mirshaath , ungodliness, as being wickedness embodied, just as in 2Ch 24:7 this name is given to godless Jezebel. Thereupon he throws her into the ephah, out of which she had risen up, and shuts it with the leaden lid, to carry her away, as the following vision shows, out of the holy land.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
| The Vision of the Ephah. | B. C. 520. |
5 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. 6 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. 7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. 8 And he 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. 9 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. 10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? 11 And he said unto me, To build it a house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
The foregoing vision was very plain and easy, but in this are things dark and hard to be understood; and some think that the scope of it is to foretel the final destruction of the Jewish church and nation and the dispersion of the Jews, when, by crucifying Christ and persecuting his gospel, they should have filled up the measure of their iniquities; therefore it is industriously set out in obscure figures and expressions, “lest the plain denunciation of the second overthrow of temple and state might discourage them too much from going forward in the present restoration of both.” So Mr. Pemble.
The prophet was contemplating the power and terror of the curse which consumes the houses of thieves and swearers, when he was told to turn and he should see greater desolations than these made by the curse of God for the sin of man: Lift up thy eyes now, and see what is here, v. 5. What is this that goeth forth? Whether over the face of the whole earth, as the flying roll (v. 3), or only over Jerusalem, is not certain. But, it seems, the prophet now, through either the distance or the dimness of his sight, could not well tell what it was, but asked, What is it? v. 6. And the angel tells him both what it is and what it means.
I. He sees an ephah, a measure wherewith they measured corn; it contained ten omers (Exod. xvi. 36) and was the tenth part of a homer (Ezek. xlv. 11); it is put for any measure used in commerce, Deut. xxv. 14. And this is their resemblance, the resemblance of the Jewish nation over all the earth, wherever they are now dispersed, or at least it will be so when their ruin draws near. They are filling up the measure of their iniquity, which God has set them; and when it is full, as the ephah of corn, they shall be delivered into the hands of those to whom God has sold them for their sins; they are meted to destruction, as an ephah of corn measured to the market or to the mill. And some think that the mentioning of an ephah, which is used in buying and selling, intimates that fraud, and deceit, and extortion in commerce, were sins abounding much among them, as that people are known to be notoriously guilty of them at this day. This is a proper representation of them through all the earth. There is a measure set them, and they are filling it up apace. See Mat 23:32; 1Th 2:16.
II. He sees a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah, representing the sinful church and nation of the Jews in their latter and degenerate age, when the faithful city became a harlot. He that weighs the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance measures nations and churches as in an ephah; so exact is he in his judicial dealings with them. God’s people are called the corn of his floor, Isa. xxi. 10. And here he puts this corn into the bushel, in order to his parting with it. The angel says of the woman in the ephah, This is wickedness; it is a wicked nation, else God would not have rejected it thus; it is as wicked as wickedness itself, it is abominably wicked. How has the gold become dim! Israel was holiness to the Lord (Jer. ii. 3); but now this is wickedness, and wickedness is nowhere so scandalous, so odious, and, in many instances, so outrageous, as when it is found among professors of religion.
III. He sees the woman thrust down into the ephah, and a talent, or large weight, of lead, cast upon the mouth of it, by which she is secured, and made a close prisoner in the ephah, and utterly disabled to get out of it. This is designed to show that the wrath of God against impenitent sinners is, 1. Unavoidable, and what they cannot escape; they are bound over to it, concluded under sin, and shut up under the curse, as this woman in the ephah; he would fain flee out of his hand (Job xxvii. 22), but he cannot. 2. It is insupportable, and what they cannot bear up under. Guilt is upon the sinner as a talent of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. When Christ said of the things of Jerusalem’s peace, Now they are hidden from thy eyes, that threw a talent of lead upon them.
IV. He sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed to death in it, carried away into some far country. 1. The instruments employed to do it were two women, who had wings like those of a stork, large and strong, and, to make them fly the more swiftly, they had the wind in their wings, denoting the great violence and expedition with which the Romans destroyed the Jewish nation. God has not only winged messengers in heaven, but he can, when he pleases, give wings to those also whom he employs in this lower world; and, when he does so, he forwards them with the wind in their wings; his providence carries them on with a favourable gale. 2. They bore it up in the air, denoting the terrors which pursued the wicked Jews, and their being a public example of God’s vengeance to the world. They lifted it up between the earth and the heaven, as unworthy of either and abandoned by both; for the Jews, when this was fulfilled, pleased not God and were contrary to all men, 1 Thess. ii. 15. This is wickedness, and this comes of it; heaven thrust out wicked angels, and earth spewed out wicked Canaanites. 3. When the prophet enquired whither they carried their prisoner whom they had now in execution (v. 10) he was told that they designed to build it a house in the land of Shinar. This intimates that the punishment of the Jews should be a final dispersion; they should be hurried out of their own country, as the chaff which the wind drives away, and should be forced to dwell in far countries, particularly in the country of Babylon, whither many of the scattered Jews went after the destruction of their country by the Romans, as they did also to other countries, especially in the Levant parts, not to sojourn, as in their former captivity, for seventy years, but to be nailed down for perpetuity. There the ephah shall be established, and set upon her own base. This intimates, (1.) That their calamity shall continue from generation to generation, and that they shall be so dispersed that they shall never unite or incorporate again; they shall settle in a perpetual unsettlement, and Cain’s doom shall be theirs, to dwell in the land of shaking. (2.) That their iniquity shall continue too, and their hearts shall be hardened in it. Blindness has happened unto Israel, and they are settled upon the lees of their own unbelief; their wickedness is established upon its own basis. God has given them a spirit of slumber (Rom. xi. 8), lest at any time they should convert, and be healed.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
The Ninth Vision
Verse 5 indicates that the interpreting angel had withdrawn from Zechariah, after an explanation of the flying roll vision, to receive a new vision and revelation from the Divine angel to communicate to the prophet Zechariah, Heb 1:14. The communicating angel then asked him to look again, and see what it was that now became visible to him, in this new vision.
Verse 6 explains that Zechariah asked the angel to explain what it was that he saw so that he might be Divinely accurate in what he should later preach and prophecy to the Jewish remnant, who were called upon to rebuild the temple of God. The angel explained that the central object in the vision was an ephah, a Hebrew dry measure of 7 1/2 gallons or about a bushel, Amo 8:5. The angel further declared that this was their resemblance through all the earth, meaning all the land of Palestine. The ephah represented the sins of the Jews, in the eyes of the people, Eze 1:4-5; Eze 1:16.
Verse 7 then describes a talent of lead (125 lb.) a round lid lifted from the ephah, to reveal a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah, or measuring container, shut up like a captured wild beast. The woman in the ephah was a personification of wickedness that was about to be removed from Judea. Wickedness is compared to a woman in her unclean state, Pro 2:16; Pro 5:3-4.
Verse 8 further states that this is wickedness or fruit of the wicked one, the Devil, 2Th 2:3. And he cast it (or her), the woman of the vision, into the midst of the ephah, and put the 125 pound troy weight lid on the container to secure her punishment, Pro 5:21; Pro 15:3; Jer 16:17; Heb 4:13.
Verse 9 recounts the testimony of Zechariah’s vision of two women flying in the wind, like a stork, descending to take the wicked woman in the ephah, as a bird picks up its prey to fly away to consume it. Two wicked ones were employed for one was not enough, to bear her away in the ephah. As two anointed witnesses stand before the Lord to do His work and will, Zec 4:14, so two wicked, winged women execute His Divine purpose in removing the embodiment of wickedness from Judea to Babylon, the land of idolatry and false religions, as expressed Rev 17:3-5, where the vile woman rides a scarlet colored beast, full of the blasphemy. Upon her forehead was written “mystery Babylon the great, the mother of harlots,” the abomination of the earth. In a bad ethical sense a woman is a symbol of that which is religiously out of place, as set forth Mat 13:33; 1Ti 2:12; Rev 2:20; Rev 17:1-6; Rev 18:3; Rev 18:11-20.
Verse 10 relates Zechariah’s request that the angel explain where these winged women were to carry the ephah, with the woman in it. If the vision was to be given to the people, Zechariah wanted to tell it like it was, be ready to answer any skeptical or serious inquiry of the people of Judah, 1Pe 3:15; 2Ti 2:15; Joh 5:39.
Verse 11 discloses the angel’s reply to Zechariah’s inquiry. The answer was that the winged, wind-born-stork-like women were to bear the ephod with the woman in it, to build an house, a permanent place for her, and set her down upon her own base in Shinar, or ancient Babylon, the epitome of ancient Babel that was destroyed by the Lord, Gen 10:10; Gen 11:1-9; Isa 11:11; Dan 1:2. It represents heathen idolatrous religions that oppose the Messiah, Jesus Christ as the only savior and mediator for sin between God and men; It is later personified in the scarlet woman, mother of harlots and spiritual harlotry, who teach her people to address their prayers to idolators, lifeless gods, and or dead, so-called saintized people; Who “know not anything that is being said or done, under the sun,” back on earth; Therefore they can not hear any prayer, even if and when wrongly addressed , Ecc 9:5-6; Act 4:12; Col 3:17; 1Ti 2:5. Prophetically, Babylon of the Revelation seems to embrace Roman Catholicism, with many of her harem of religious prostitutes who have rejected Jesus Christ as the only savior and intercessor and have invented to themselves other intercessory, mediator-gods, like: 1) so-called saints of Roman Catholicism, 2) Mary Baker Eddy of so-called Christian Science, 3) Joseph Smith of so-called Latter Day Saints, 4) James Rutherford and Charles Tisdale Russell of the so-called Jehovah Witness, whose end shall be in an eternal hell, though many of them deny its existence, Psa 9:17.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Here I stop; I intended to add all the verses, but I can hardly finish the whole today. It will be enough for us to understand that this is the second part of the vision, in which the Prophet, in order to relieve or in some measure to mitigate the sorrow of the Jews, shows, that God would not treat them with extreme rigor, so as to punish them as they deserved, but would chastise them with paternal moderation. Hence he says, that a measure appeared to him and a woman in the measure. The woman was wickedness; (57) there was also a covering of lead, a wide or an extended piece. The plate of lead was borne upwards when the woman was seen in the measure. He then says, that the measure was closed up, and that there impiety was kept hid as a captive in prison. He afterwards adds, that it was driven away into the land of Shinar, very far from Judea, and that wickedness was thus turned over to the enemies of the chosen people.
We see that God, as I have already noticed, gives here a token of favor; for he says that wickedness was shut up in a measure. Though then he had spoken hitherto severely, that he might shake the Jews with dread, it was yet his purpose soon to add some alleviation: for it was enough that they were proved guilty of their sins, that they might humble themselves and suppliantly flee to God’s mercy, and also that repentance might really touch them, lest they should murmur, as we know they had done, but submit themselves to God and confess that they had suffered justly. Since then the angel had already shown that the curse had deservedly gone over the face of the whole land, because no corner was free from wickedness, the angel now adds, that he came to show a new vision, Raise, he says, now thine eyes, and see what this is which goes forth. The Prophet was no doubt cast down with fear, so that he hardly dared to look any longer. As then the curse was flying and passing freely here and there, the Prophet was struck with horror, and not without reason, since he beheld the wrath of God spreading everywhere indiscriminately. This is the reason why the angel now animates him and bids him to see what was going forth. And he tells what was exhibited to him, for he saw a measure; which in Hebrew is איפה, aiphe: (58) and some render it measure or bushel; others, firkin or cask; but in this there is no difference. When the Prophet saw this measure, he asked the angel what it was: for the vision would have been useless, had he not been informed what the measure and the woman sitting in it signified, and also the lead covering. He therefore asked what they were.
(57) Impietas ; [ הרשעה ], rendered “wickedness” in our version, and by Newcome and Henderson; “the wicked one,” by Blayney; and [ ανομια ]—lawlessness, by the Septuagint. It is a general term, which means what is unjust, wrong, wicked or sinful, everything contrary to the will and command of God. Leigh renders the adjective “Ungodly, lewd, turbelent, wavering, irreligious towards God, debauched in morals, turbelent in the commonwealth, unsettled in all things.” So the noun here may be regarded as including sin universally, as committed against God and man. But Henderson thinks, and perhaps not without reason, that idolatry is what is especially intended, as the article [ ה ] is prefixed; and this had been the chief sin or wickedness of the people, the mother of many other sins: and this was certainly removed from the people after the Babylonian captivity, as they had never been since guilty of idolatry, though of many other sins.— Ed.
(58) It is translated “[ μετρόν ]—measure,” by the Septuagint, and “ modius —a bushel,” by Grotius; and he says that an ephah was a measure nearly the size of a bushel.— Ed.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
CRITICAL NOTES.]
Zec. 5:5.] Seventh vision. Wickedness driven from Judah to mingle with its kindred elements in Babylon.
Zec. 5:6. Ephah] A familiar dry measure, denoting unjust dealings in buying and selling (cf. Amo. 8:5). Resemblance] Lit. eye (i.e. that to which the eye was directed, their aim, viz. evil, some). The ephah was an image of the wickedness of the Jews in the land.
Zec. 5:7. Lifted] The ephah was covered. Talent] Lit. a round piece of metal, 125 lbs. weight. A woman] In miniature, perhaps; Lit. one woman personified wickedness (cf. Pro. 2:16; Pro. 5:3-4). Lit. the wickedness in its peculiar form.
Zec. 5:8. Cast] it within; caused her to contract herself within the compass of the vessel [Newc.]. Wickedness had risen up, but was cast down again, and sealed up in the ephah. The weight] Lit. the stone, round mass of lead, to secure her. No escape from judgments.
Zec. 5:9. Two women] removed the ephah with its contents. One not enough to carry the load [Maurer]. The Assyrians and Babylonians, by whom God removed idolatry in the persons of apostate Jews out of the land [Henderson]. Wings] like storks wings, strong and ample. Wind] To represent the swiftness of movement, flying before instead of struggling against wind [Wardlaw]. Lifted] up above hindrance and earthly power.
Zec. 5:11. Build] a permanent habitation. Shinar] An old historic name for Babylon (Gen. 10:10; Isa. 11:11; Dan. 1:2). Wickedness is to be punished by another exile, longer than the former one. Established] Wickedness cast out of Judah, will dwell long and firmly, but not permanently, in Babylon; a type of the final separation of the ungodly from the godly in time and eternity.
HOMILETICS
THE WOMAN IN THE EPHAH, OR THE WICKEDNESS AND PUNISHMENT OF THE NATION.Zec. 5:5-11
The scope of this vision is not much indicated by the angel, and is differently interpreted by commentators. In the former vision, God pursues personal sins with private calamities; in this, the nation fills up the measure of its iniquity, and is cast out of its land. Taking the woman as representing the Jewish nationthe Church of God, and the ephahthe wickedness, the corruption in which the nation had fallen; we have a prophetic warning or denunciation for the future. The two visions, distinct in form, are allied in meaning and purpose.
I. The wickedness of the nation. This is an ephah that goeth forth. Dr. Henderson regards the wickedness as meaning idolatry with all its accompanying atrocities. Wardlaw and others take the ephah as an emblem of worldly traffic or merchandise. This traffic was mixed up with fraud and treachery, and the ground of complaint and expostulation.
1. The wickedness was universal. This is their resemblance through all the land. Ye are cursed with a curse; for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation (cf. Mal. 3:9).
2. This wickedness was deeply rooted. The woman is represented as sitting in the ephah. Worldliness dwells in the Church. The love of this present world leads many astray.
3. This wickedness was measured. The ephah was gradually filled, and every one contributed to the full measure. All helped to make the heap, and ripen the nation for judgment. Sin was a common store, Divinely permitted and exactly measured (cf. Gen. 15:16). Fill ye up the measure of your fathers (Mat. 23:32).
II. The punishment of the nation. The nation was shut up with its sins in the measure; enclosed so that they could not escape; and carried where the retribution begins, but does not seem to end.
1. The nation was carried away. They might be permitted to build and work for God, but if they heeded not the warning, they would be lifted up out of their land, and dispersed to other countries.
2. The nation was openly carried away. They lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. The punishment was before the eyes of all, a public example of Gods vengeance to the world.
3. The nation was carried away by suitable agencies. Whatever the two women represent, they are set forth as agents, swift and sufficient, to execute the Divine purpose, without let or hindrance. Rapidly, inexorably, irresistibly, they flew and bore the ephah between heaven and earth. No earthly power could reach or rescue it [Pusey].
4. The nation was carried away to an appointed place. In the land of Shinar. Babylon was an emblem of restored and repeated captivity. A place which symbolizes the anti-christian or ungodly powers, who by violence, art, and falsehood war against the truth.
5. The punishment of the nation in this appointed place would be of long duration. The building of a house for the ephah, and the setting of it on its own base, represent the long duration of the second dispersion. For two thousand years the Jews have remained a distinct people in a scattered state, a proof of Gods faithfulness, and a warning to all nations. Unjust measures, whatever they be, will bring righteous retribution upon their possessors. The instrument of defrauding God and man will become the agent of punishment. Sinners will be driven away in their own wickedness, and sent to their own place. Let us seek our portion with the true Israel, and avoid the curse of Babylons doom. Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth (cf. Rev. 17:3-5).
Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast,
How shall ye flee away and be at rest?
The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind their countryIsrael but the grave [Lange]
HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS
Zec. 5:6. This is equivalent to see, there is a woman, &c. The strokes of punitive wrath do not fall at random or capriciously. There is ample reason in every case, so that one may always say, this (the ephah) is their object in all the land. Men go ceaselessly adding sin to sin, and, because judgment is not suddenly executed, think that there is impunity; whereas they are only filling the measure. God waits. There is an appointed time with him, and he will not anticipate [Lange]. We too are taught by this, that the Lord of all administers all things in weight and measure. So foretelling to Abraham that his seed should be a sojourner, and the cause thereoffor the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full, i.e. they have not yet committed sins enough (Gen. 15:16) to merit entire destruction, wherefore I cannot yet endure to give them over to the slaughter, but will wait for the measure of their iniquity [Pusey].
The ephah may therefore represent
1. The sins of the people. Every one contributing to fill up the measure.
2. Their ripeness for Divine judgment. The measure filled up.
3. The just retribution of their punishment. The unjust measure was one of Judahs leading sins, and thus, in just retribution, their punishment.
Zec. 5:6. They who had dealt treacherously with others, were dealt treacherously with themselves. What measure men mete to others, God metes to themselves (Isa. 21:2; Isa. 33:1) [Fausset].
Zec. 5:8. Lead on the mouth of it. The ephah was covered, and the heavy lid of lead carefully put down upon the mouth of it. This is a significant emblem of the impossibility of escape from the merited judgments of God. So the Jewish people, considered conditionally, as retaining their character, would be carried away in their worldliness, as the woman was borne in the ephah. The very ephah, the instrument of their merchandise and wealth, is represented as the means of confinement; so does the worldly-mindedness, the ambition, and covetousness of the Jewish people shut them up to retributive vengeance [Wardlaw].
Zec. 5:9 to Zec. 11:1. A people abusing afflictions and marvellous deliverances from it, by sinning yet more, may expect their afflictions to be returned upon them with harder measure; for a new and sorer captivity, and longer dwelling under it, is here threatened upon renewed provocations.
2. The Lord hath sufficient instruments at command to execute his judgments, who, being employed against his sinful people, shall find all things concurring with them in their work; two women enough to carry the ephah; wings, enabling them to flee and do their work violently and swiftly; high in heaven and earth, above the opposition of men; and wind in their wings, to indicate providence helping them forward.
3. Captivity and exile in profane nations, from the face of God, and the society of one another in his ordinances, is one of the sorest judgments by which the Lord plagues his Church; wickedness is carried to the land of Shinar.
4. As the Church is no place for sin to reign and get a biding habitation; so enemies to the Church are accounted by God as the common sink of wickedness, whom he will punish; for wickedness is carried from the holy land to Shinar, its own place, where all wickedness dwelt, from which the Jews might gather that, as he punished them so he would not spare their enemies [Hutcheson]. The prophet intimates to the Jews of his own age, that if they sin against God by the sins here mentioned, their restoration to Jerusalem is frustrate and abortive; they are not, in heart, in Zion, the city of peace, but in Babel, the city of confusion; and though they may pride themselves in building a city and temple at Jerusalem, yet their own proper place, where their own house is built, is the land of Shinar [Wordsworth].
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5
Zec. 5:7. Behold. The angel bids him behold the sins of the people Israel; heaped together in a perfect measure, and the transgression of all fulfilledthat the sins which escaped notice, one by one, might, when collected together, be laid open to the eyes of all, and Israel might go forth from its place, and it might be shown to all what she was in her own land [Pusey].
Zec. 5:8. Lead. Iniquity, as with a talent of lead, weighs down the conscience [St. Ambrose]. Escape is contrary to the laws of God and Gods universe. It is as impossible as that fire should not burn, or water run uphill. Your sins are killing you by inches; all day long they are sowing in you the seeds of disease and death [Canon Kingsley].
Zec. 5:9-11. This vision, like the other visions of Zechariah, extends to Christian times. In the Christian Church universal corruptions have arisen which may find a solemn warning here. The Church of Rome boasts herself to be Sion: but she is the mystical Babylon of the Apocalypse. Her sovereign pontiff is the lawless one of St. Paul (2Th. 2:3-12). This prophecy may be applied, and ought to be applied, as a warning to those who are tempted to communicate with her in her errors and corruptions. Her doom will be, to be removed from her place, and to be swept away by the whirlwind of Gods wrath, because she rebels against his will and word [Wordsworth].
Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell
CHAPTER XXXIII
A VISION OF A WOMAN IN A FLYING BASKET
Zec. 5:5-11
RV . . . 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 the ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance in all the land (and, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is Wickedness: and he cast her down into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.
LXX . . . And the angel that talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up thine eyes, and see this that goes forth. And he said, This is their iniquity in all the earth. And behold a talent of lead lifted up: and behold a woman sat in the midst of the measure. And he said, This is iniquity. And he cast it into the midst of the measure, and cast the weight of lead on the mouth of it. And I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and behold, two women coming forth, and the wind was in their wings; and they had storks wings: and they lifted up the measure between the earth and the sky. And I said to the angel that spoke with me, Whither do these carry away the measure? And he said to me, To build it a house in the land of Babylon, and to prepare a place for it; and they shall set it there on its own base.
COMMENTS
WHAT THE PROPHET SAW
The angel commands Zechariah to lift his eyes to receive the seventh in the series of visions, It, like the one just previous, will be seen in the sky.
In preceding visions the prophet occasionally had difficulty grasping the meaning of what appeared. This time he cannot believe his eyes! What is it . . . ? is his exclamation. There in the sky is a flying basket and in it sits a woman! Pressing upon her is a talent of lead weight. (An ephah is a basket of approximately 3 pecks. A talent weighs approximately 118 lbs. troy.)
The angel informs the prophet that this is the appearance of the ephah and the woman as they go forth over all the land.
So saying, he declares the woman to be Wickedness and, forcing her into the basket, he casts the lead weight in on top of her. Whereupon two winged women appear and lift the basket up into the sky.
In answer to the prophets inquiry, the angel says that they are bearing her away to build her a house in Shinar where she will set up her own place,
WHAT THE VISION MEANT!
Unlike the previous visions of Zechariah, the angel gives us very little explanation of the meaning of this vision, other than to say that the woman is wickedness (Zec. 5:8) and that the ephah bearing her is going forth over the whole land. We must therefore proceed with caution in our attempt to explain its meaning.
It has been. suggested that we have here a picture of Judah sending her sin to Babylon (Shinar . . . cp. Gen. 10:10, Dan. 1:2) where the ephah will be worshipped. This latter is based upon the assumption that house in verse eleven means temple. The ephah, whose liquid capacity is about six gallons, is taken to mean the base of an image upon which the woman will stand as a goddess.
Another interpretation sees the ephah as a small barrel with a leaden disk as a lid. The woman is trying to escape, which is why the angel pushes her into the ephah and casts the lead on top of her. The two flying females are considered demonic. Shinar, or Babylon, becomes the site of a temple where the woman will be worshipped as personified evil.
Yet another interpretation has the ephah alluding to the previous vision of theft and falsification. This is their appearance (Zec. 5:6) is thus seen as representing what the Jews have done and what they shall suffer.
Shinar is here seen, not as Babylon, but as the total Gentile world into which the Jews are to be totally dispersed.
In all this is seen the total removal of sin from the holy land. The house is seen as the capital of the world of wickedness as opposed to the kingdom of God and the woman is somehow identified as the man of sin. (2Th. 2:3)
What such interpretations show, more than anything else, is the ludicrous extremes to which mens theological systems take them in the study of apocalyptic Scriptures.
The angel does give us some insight into this vision, and it is here we must begin to understand it. In verse six he said, This is the ephah that goeth forth.
The ephah, as previously indicated, was a basket with the capacity of 3 pecks, just less than our standard bushel. The law made strict provision for its use, giving interpretation regarding just measure in trade. (Lev. 19:36) The ephah that goeth forth is the measure used in the trading or selling of such commodities as are sold at a certain price per ephah.
The angel indicates that the ephah is their appearance in all the land. The word appearance in the original is literally eye.
There was then lifted up a talent (literally a disc) of lead.
Concerning the woman, the angel said, This is wickedness. So saying he put her in the basket and placed the lead upon it. Notice, the woman is wickedness as an abstract principle, not wicked people.
So we have a legal measure filled with wickedness and upon it a heavy (118 lb.) lid, Obviously, the reason for such a lid is to prevent the escape of the baskets content, which is evil. This much is plain,
The angel gives no explanation as to the identity of the two women with storks wings. He does say they are bearing the full measure of evil to the land of Shinar where a house (or temple) is to be built in which the woman (evil) will be set in her own place (literally on her own base).
There is Scriptural evidence that Shinar is synonymous with Babylon. (cp. Gen. 10:10) The term Shinar is used for obvious reasons, Babylon was now in the hands of Darius, ruler of the Medo-Persian empire. To have used the common name would have been to incur, unnecessarily, the wrath of the emperor whose good offices had permitted the return of the exiles and who was encouraging the reconstruction of the temple. For our purposes, it is important only to know that Shinar is Babylon.
Babylon is used throughout the apocalyptic literature of the Bible to depict the false religion which is inevitably the source of evil and therefore the enemy of God and His people. She is associated with enforced evil and idolatry.
In Rev. 17:5 she is called mother of harlots, dressed in haughty splendor and drunken with the blood of the martyrs. The evils which have come out of her idol worship and opposition to Gods people are called the wine of her fornication. Her name there is Mystery, Babylon, the Great, Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the Earth.
Mystery alludes to the mystery religions which originated in Babylon. (See Chapter 4, Baal Worship) Babylon the Great to her temporal power (which in Revelation becomes symbolic of Rome), Mother of Harlots to the fact that she had spawned the false religions of the world, and the abominations of the earth to the overall offensiveness of Babylon before God.
So the full measure of the wickedness which spread across the land of Judah was to be sent back to its source where it would be set up on a pedestal and worshipped, as indeed it had always been, wickedness and immorality being the soul and expression of the idolatry throughout the ancient world.
Keeping in mind that the writing of the book of Zechariah was intended to move the people to the rebuilding of the temple, the force of this vision is obvious. The wickedness which the people have brought with them from Babylon must be recognized for what it is. It must be sent on the wings of the wind back, full measure, where it came from. In Babylon, wickedness is the object of worship. In Gods land among Gods people it has no place at all. It must therefore be removed.
Chapter XXXIIIQuestions
A Vision of a Woman in a Flying Basket
1.
Describe Zechariahs seventh vision.
2.
What is an ephah?
3.
What is the weight of the talent?
4.
Where did the woman in the flying ephah go?
5.
The woman in the ephah is declared by the angel to be _______________.
6.
What is the significant difference between this and the other visions as recorded by Zechariah?
7.
Discuss several possible interpretations of this vision as suggested above.
8.
What is shown by such interpretations?
9.
What is the significance of the fact that the ephah was a legal measure?
10.
Shinar is Scripturally synonymous with __________________.
11.
Babylon, throughout the Bible, especially in apocalyptic literature, is used to depict ___________________.
12.
Mystery alludes to _________________.
13.
The full measure of wickedness was to be sent ________________________.
14.
What was the force of this vision to those who had the task of rebuilding the temple?
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
(5) Angel . . . went forth.The first scene of the vision disappears, and with it, apparently, the angel-interpreter, who now went forth, i.e., appeared again (see Note on Zec. 2:3); so, too, that goeth forth means, that emerges from the region of the invisible into that of the visible.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
The seventh vision the woman in the midst of the ephah, Zec 5:5-11.
When the prophet lifts up his eyes again he beholds an ephah, in which is sitting a woman. Its opening is securely fastened with a heavy cover. As the prophet continues to gaze he sees two women with wings lifting up the vessel and carrying it through the air. Upon inquiry he is informed that the woman is to be established in the far-distant Shinar. As the vision unfolds the interpreter points out its symbolical meaning. The woman represents wickedness, which, according to Zec 3:9, is to be removed from the land. It is fastened securely in the ephah, but to make practically impossible the pollution of the land it is to be removed to the distant Shinar, there to be established forever. This removal will forever free the land from wickedness. It is evident, then, that the seventh vision is a continuation and complement of the sixth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
5, 6. The interpreting angel is the first to appear.
Went forth As in Zec 2:3. The several visions were separated from one another by intervals of inactivity, during which the prophet meditated upon the things seen and heard. During these intervals the angel was lost sight of, but when the moment for a new vision arrived he stood forth. The expression may mean, therefore, simply that the prophet again became aware of his presence. The vision itself is presented in a manner somewhat different from the preceding. Zechariah is exhorted to look; when he does so he becomes conscious of something, but fails to understand what it is; then his companion explains.
This is an ephah that goeth forth A free translation would express the thought more clearly, “that which goeth forth (that is, appears, comes into sight) is an ephah.” It is difficult to determine the exact capacity of the ephah (see on Amo 8:5), but, speaking in general terms, it may be compared to a bushel (compare Hastings’s Dictionary of the Bible, iv, p. 912). Since a measure of the size of a bushel cannot contain a woman, the word must be used here of an ephah-shaped measure, without reference to size.
Recognizing the mysteriousness of the vision, the angel immediately proceeds to explain it.
This is their resemblance through all the earth R.V., “This is their appearance in all the land.” Of the two, R.V. is to be preferred. Much ingenuity has been expended in the interpretation of this peculiar expression. Two attempts may be mentioned. “The ephah is the shape, that is, represents the figure displayed by sinners in all the land, after the roll of the curse has gone forth over the land; that is, it shows into what condition they have come through that anathema. Just as in a bushel the separate grains are all collected together, so will the individual sinners over the whole earth be brought into a heap, when the curse of the end goes forth over the whole earth” (Keil). A slightly different interpretation is suggested by Perowne: “This, namely, the ephah with all that you will see in the vision regarding it, is the resemblance or representation of the wicked through all the land and of what shall befall them.” These are only two out of a great number of suggested interpretations, all of which are more or less artificial and require a stretch of the text and of the imagination. The difficulty is entirely removed if we accept the LXX. reading, “their transgression,” for “their resemblance”; the whole clause, “this is their transgression in all the land.” The pronoun is explained by “in all the land,” equivalent to “the transgression of the inhabitants of all the land.” This transgression is symbolized by the ephah and its contents, though the latter have not yet been revealed to the prophet. This translation and interpretation of Zec 5:5-6 seem to give a satisfactory sense, though it may be admitted that the reading is not as smooth as it might be. The apparent awkwardness of the text leads Nowack and others to alter it so as to read, following Lift up now thine eyes, and see “what is this ephah that goeth forth? And I said, What is it? And he said, That is their transgression in all the land.”
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
The Seventh Vision. The Woman in the Measuring Vessel – Idolatry to be Removed From the Land ( Zec 5:5-11 ).
Not only must dishonesty and false witness be removed from the land, so also must all connections with idolatry and wickedness. In this vision Zechariah sees such things being removed to Babylon,
Zec 5:5-6
‘Then the angel who talked with me went forth and said to me, “Lift up your eyes now and see, what is this that goes forth?” And I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is the ephah that goes forth.” He said as well, “This is their eye in all the land.” ’
An ephah is a large unit of measurement (Lev 19:36) and became applied to the vessel of the correct size which contained an ephah (Lev 19:36; Deu 25:14). Here in Zechariah it is a measuring vessel with a lid. The ephah will be carried from the land to Shinar by two winged women (Zec 5:9-11).
Note how the prophet constantly questions the angel. He wants us to know that he took care to ensure he had understood the visions correctly.
‘This is their eye’. The idea may be that this ephah is a testing measure which acts like an eye, testing out and measuring the behaviour of the people. It may be the eye of heavenly beings (compare Zec 4:10) or the eye of the judicial authorities who represent the people. Or it may represent the idea of what is seen, and therefore of all seeing it.
The Septuagint translates ‘eye’ as ‘iniquity’. This may well rather be an interpretation although it may result from a different Hebrew reading. In that case we would see the ephah as the measure of wickedness (Zec 5:8). In both cases the idea is of behaviour measured and judgment carried out.
Zec 5:7-8
‘And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead, and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, “This is wickedness.” And he thrust her down in the midst of the ephah and he put the weight of lead on its mouth.’
The ‘talent of lead’ is a lid made of lead of that weight. When the lid is lifted up a woman is found to be inside. The angel describes her as representing ‘wickedness’. And he pushes her down to make sure she does not escape, and closes the lid firmly. The heavy weight of the lid suggests that the woman is eager to break free and must be firmly held. It possibly indicates that the power of God is keeping her in place.
‘This is wickedness.’ Women are often seen as representing evil, especially when related to idolatry. We can compare the ‘scarlet woman’ in Revelation 17. This may have been partly perhaps because of the failure of Eve (Genesis 3), partly because they are seen as being a temptation to man, but far more because idolatry was powerfully connected with goddesses and accompanying sexual depravity. A connection may also be seen with the way in which Jezebel was infamous as introducing the idolatrous worship of Baal Melkart to Israel. Goddesses were typical of idolatrous religion and acted as a snare to men, for so much of idolatrous religion was based on sex. This comes out in that Hebrew had no word for goddess. The idea was repugnant to them.
The picture would seem to represent the fact that measurement is being made, judgment is being carried out and the wickedness and idolatry thus discovered is contained in the ephah. Idolatry was not strictly a problem with the returnees themselves. But the inhabitants of the land partook in a syncretistic form of Yahwism which included idolatry, into which some could easily be attracted, and as Malachi will bring out a hundred years later there were women in the land who worshipped foreign gods and were attractive to the returnees because they held land rights. Thus it was necessary for YHWH to bring out that all who partake in such must recognise that they are thereby renewing their connection with Babylon, and might expect to be exiled there again.
Some, however, see the woman in the ephah as representing greed and a seeking after wealth which represented the spirit of Babylon and caused them to break or manipulate the covenant.
Zec 5:9-11
‘Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they bearing the ephah?” And he said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. And when it is prepared she will be set there in her own place”.’
The idea behind this picture would seem to be of the removal of idolatry from the land. Stealing and swearing falsely have already been dealt with. Now idolatry, and all connected with it, is also dealt with, including divination and the use of magical objects (Zec 10:2). It must be removed from the land and returned where it belongs, to Babylon. Babylon is always seen as the epitome of idolatry, the representation of all that is bad.
The two women. The description of them as women together with the woman in the ephah prevents us from seeing these as angels. They would appear to be all part of the same idea, that of idolatry, or at least of uncleanness. The stork was an unclean bird – Lev 11:19; Deu 14:18. Thus the emphasis may have been of uncleanness. Women necessarily spent much time as unclean due to menstruation.
Some have seen in this a deliberate caricature of Ezekiel 1. Just as YHWH rode in majesty on the Cherubim to the River Chebar, so now this imprisoned goddess is borne to Babylon.
‘To build her a house.’ That is, a Temple. There she is to be installed well away from the land of Judah. She is now in ‘her own place’. There is no place for her in the land where the Temple of YHWH is being built. This may indicate that the woman may have the Queen of Heaven in mind who was falsely worshipped before the Exile (Jer 44:17-19)
‘The land of Shinar.’ Babylon – see Gen 10:10; Gen 11:2; Isa 11:11; Dan 1:2.
The idea is that any connections with idolatry and its practises are to be removed once and for all so that when the Jerusalem Temple is built it may be completely free from the idolatrous connections which had destroyed the old Temple. The people of God and idolatry have nothing to do with each other. There must be no compromise. All must be tested out and any idolatrous connections expelled.
It must be recognised that idolatry is not just seen as a separate sin from others. Idolatry is abhorred by God because it demonstrates that man’s heart is firmly fixed on the flesh rather than the Spirit. Thus it is tied up with sexual depravity, carnal longings, seeking the future through occult practises, love of the world, its pleasures and its wealth, and commitment to what is ‘natural’ rather than spiritual. The natural man does not discern the things of the Spirit of God for they are foolishness to him (1Co 2:14). See Paul’s vivid description of idolatry and its results in Rom 1:18-32. Many modern persons would not look on themselves as idolaters, but their behaviour proves that they worship ‘Mammon’ or ‘nature’ with their offer of things of the flesh and nature’s invasion into the occult.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The Vision of the Woman in the Ephah
v. 5. Then the angel that talked with me, v. 6. And I said, What is it? v. 7. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead, v. 8. And he said, This is wickedness, v. 9. Then lifted I up mine eyes and looked, v. 10. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
v. 11. And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar,
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
VISION VII. THE WOMAN IN THE EPHAH
Zec 5:5-11
A. The Prophet sees an Ephah going forth (Zec 5:5-6). B. A Woman thrust down in it and shut in (Zec 5:7-8). C. The Ephah carried away to Shinar (Zec 5:9-11).
5And the angel that talked with me came forth, and said to me, Lift up thine eyes, I pray, and see what is this that goeth forth. 6And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goeth forth. And he said, This is their aim5 in all the land. 7And behold, a round piece6 of lead was lifted up, and this is a7woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. 8And he said, This is wickedness; and he cast her into the midst of the ephah, and cast the weight8 of lead into its mouth. 9And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, two women came forth and the wind was in their wings, and they had wings dike a storks wings; and they lifted9 up 10the ephah between earth and heaven. And I said to the angel that talked with me, Whither are these taking the ephah? 11And he said to me, To build for her10 a house in the land of Shinar; and it shall be established11 and settled there upon its own base.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
a. The Ephah (Zec 5:5-6). Zec 5:5. And goeth forth. This shows that we have a new vision here, and a continuation of the preceding one (Umbreit, Neumann, Keil). The two are closely allied, indeed, in tone and character, still they are distinct in form and as such were represented to the prophet.
Zec 5:6. What is it? The Prophet sees some vague form rising, as it were, out of mist, but is a not able to distinguish what it is. To his question he receives the reply that this is the ephah, i, e., the one which is to constitute the main feature of the vision. The ephah was one of the most familiar of dry measures among the Hebrews Its capacity cannot now be exactly determined; according to Josephus it contained something more than eight gallons and a half; according to the Rabbinists, a little less than four gallons and a half. Nothing in the interpretation depends upon its exact measurement. The latter part of the verse is difficult. is rendered by the LXX., Peshito, and Arabic, as if it were pointed (their sin). and these have been followed by Hitzig, Burger, and Frst (in Lex.). But for such a reading there is only one MS. authority, and besides, as Pressel says, in that case the ephah would be called unrighteousness in Zec 5:6, and the woman in it would receive that name in Zec 5:8. we must, therefore, accept the traditional pointing, and render their eye, but in what sense? Many from Luther down say that it means appearance, or as in E.V. resemblance i. e., the people are like the sin-containing ephah (Rosenmuller, Maurer, Bunsen, Keil). But this is an unusual sense of the world, and besides gives a frigid sentiment. It is better to take the term as designating the object to which mens eyes were directed (Umbreit, Hengstenberg, Khler, Pressel). The dwellers in all the land were looking to the ephah as a measure to be filled with sin. Their success and its unhappy results are set forth in what follows.
b. Its Contents (Zec 5:7-8) Zec 5:7. A round piece of lead. The symbol is still further developed, and the prophet sees now a circular mass of metal lifted up over the ephah. is often rendered talent elsewhere in cases where its meaning as such is determined by a following noun, but here it is better to adhere to the literal sense. This is. Now for the first time it appears that the ephah has an occupant. Hence the form of the expression This is, equivalent to, See, there is a woman, etc. is probably used merely for the indefinite article (1Ki 20:13); but if it is to be pressed as=one woman, it will then indicate that the sinners, although many in number, are considered as one living personality.
Zec 5:8. This is wickedness. On the meaning attached to this phrase turns the entire bearing of the vision. Many (Calvin, Khler, Pressel, Baum garten, Henderson), take it as=wickedness in itself, abstracted from its perpetrators, and this, they say, is confined, sealed up, and transported far off, so as to leave the land where it once dwelt pure; and thus the vision is one of promise. But this view is opposed by the tenor of the preceding vision which all admit to be closely allied to this one, as well as by its own intrinsic improbability, although Hengstenberg speaks far too strongly when he says It is only concrete sin that admits of being carried away. The transportation of sin apart from sinful individuals, is nonsense. How would that learned man have reconciled with his statement such language as that of the Psalmist (Psa 103:12), Far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us! But on this hypothesis it is difficult to conceive of any reason why Shinar rather than any other place should be mentioned as the place of deportation (Zec 5:11). It is better therefore to take the other view (Marck., Hengstenberg, Keil), which regards the woman as a personification of the ungodly Jewish nation. A somewhat similar usage is found in 2Ch 24:7, where (in Hebrew) Athaliah is called the wickedness. Consequently, the subsequent acts of the angel, in casting the woman down into the measure and then closing the same with the heavy solid lid, simply indicate the full provision made for the due punishment of the sinners thus carefully secured.
c. Its Removal (Zec 5:9-11).
Zec 5:9. Two women came forth, etc. The removal of the ephah with its contents is described. This is done by two women,women because it was a woman they were carrying away, and two, because the burden was too heavy for one to bear. They are furnished with wings, because the movement is to be through the air. The wings are specified as being those of a stork, not because the stork is a bird of passage (Umbreit, Baumgarten, etc.), for the movement here is not periodical; nor because it flies fast (Maurer), for other birds fly faster; nor because it was an unclean bird (Khler); nor because it was a pia avis (Neumann), which does not suit the object; but simply because it had broad pinions, and such were required to sustain so heavy a mass as the ephah with its leaden lid. The wind was in these wings to increase their velocity. The women have been supposed to represent Israel and Judah, or Ezra and Nehemiah, or the two last kings of Judah, or the two captivities, or Titus and Hadrian; but there is no need of strictly defining them, since they belong to the mere drapery of the symbol, and stand only as representatives of the powers employed by God to carry away the sinners of his people.
Zec 5:11. To build. Shinar. In reply to the Prophets question he is told that the abject of the two women is to prepare a permanent habitation for her, i. e., the woman in the ephah. Shinar is an old historic name (Gen 10:10), afterwards applied poetically to Babylon (Isa 11:11; Dan 1:2). Its occurrence here led Rosenmller to suppose that the entire vision referred to the past, and not to the future, which is simply impossible. There is no difficulty in explaining it by a reference to the usage of the Prophets, to represent future events by images drawn from the past, and at the same time transfer to the former the names which belong to the latter. This verse then simply foretells the punishment of wickedness by another exile,like that to Babylon, and therefore called by its name, but far more prolonged. This latter feature is expressed by the building of the house, but intensified by the final clauseestablished and settled on its own base. According to Keil, Shinar is not here a geographical epithet, but taken as an ideal designation of the sphere of ungodliness, and the symbol accordingly expresses the truth that the wicked will be removed out of the congregation of the Lord and permanently settled within the ungodly kingdom of this world. This distinction and separation will run on through the ages, and at last be completed in the general judgment. Henderson maintains that the woman in the ephah represented idolatry which was carried away by the two women, i. e., Assyria and Babylonia, to Chalda, where it was to commingle with its native elements and never be reimported into Canaan; in support of which he cites the fact that for two thousand years the Jews have never once lapsed into idolatry. But idolatry did not at this time exist in Judea, and therefore could not be removed out of it; and if it was taken to Babylon, it certainly did not remain there, for the Mohammedan occupants of that region are not idolaters. It agrees better with the original force of the word, with the connection, and with the preceding vision, to take the term as denoting the entire wickedness of the people of all kinds, or rather the people as such embodied wickedness. As thus understood, the vision was fulfilled centuries afterward, when the Jews as a whole, having rejected with scorn their Messiah, were given over to the stroke of vengeance. After a most desperate struggle, they were crushed by the Roman Emperors, and scattered to the four winds of heaven. And so they remain, shut up in the ephah, the tremendous weight of their own obstinacy forbidding the prospect of release. The corresponding passage to this one in the second part is couched in different terms (Zec 11:15-16). After the rejection of the good shepherd and the breaking of his staves of office, the wretched flock is given over to a foolish or wicked shepherd who does what he ought not to do, and fails to do what he ought, and so the poor sheep suffer in every way. But wholly different as the imagery is in the two passages, there is a remarkable sameness in the underlying idea.
THEOLOGICAL AND MORAL
1. In the two preceding chapters the constituent elements of the Gospel were presented; here we are brought face to face with the Law. 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. There is no contradiction, no inconsistency in this. The one message was as true and as pertinent as the other. Zechariahs design was not simply to urge on the rebuilding of the Temple at all costs and hazards, but to educate the national conscience, to keep alive the memory of sin, and lay deep the foundations of faith and repentance. When this was accomplished, all outward works would proceed of themselves. And there was at least a part of the people, who needed to be stimulated by the presentation of the sterner side of the divine character. There was a golden future in store for Israel, but not absolutely, not for all simply by virtue of their national origin. The day of the Lord was darkness as well as light (Amo 5:18), and sinners in Zion would find the messenger of the Lord like refiners fire and fullers soap (Mal 3:1-2).
Our Lord indicated this very plainly throughout his personal ministry. The remarkable Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) begins with a soothing strain of beatitudes pronounced upon the lowly, and meek, and sorrowful, etc., but very soon corrects any false impressions as to the object of the Messiah by setting forth the perpetuity of the law and his purpose to confirm and establish rather than abrogate its authority. While, therefore, he sweeps away the wretched evasions and glosses accumulated by mens perverse ingenuity, he reaffirms all its particulars as the unchangeable statute of his kingdom,both as regards precept and penalty. His ends are gained, and his grace is manifested, not by erasing the sanctions of Law, but by meeting and discharging them. He soothes conscience not by enervating or deluding it, but by satisfying its anxious cravings. The mawkish sentimentalism which denies hell, and refuses to hear of endless retributions, finds no precedent in his words or course.
2. But what was needful for Israel after the exile is equally needful in all ages of the Church. The moral law requires to be continually set forth in its sanction as well as in its precept, and it is an emasculated theology which dispenses with either. The Gospel loses its meaning if there be no such thing as Rectoral Justice. Calvary presupposes Sinai, just as ransom presupposes bondage. What need is there of forgiveness, if there is nothing to forgive? Hence the visions of Satan overthrown and of the luminous golden candelabrum have for their background this wide-spread roll of curses. God will visit for sin, for all sin, whether committed against himself directly or against his creatures. The two tables of the law stand on the same basis, and no man dare pick and choose to which he will render obedience. The anathemas of Scripture are not a mere brutum fulmen, but a solid and terrible reality. The lightning of heaven is not more certain and irresistible. Where the curse once enters, it takes up its abode and consumes all. The standing historical illustration of this truth is seen in that gloomy and death-like sea which is all that now remains of a region once bright with verdant plains and full of populous cities.
3. The strokes of punitive wrath do not fall capriciously or at random. There is ample reason in every case, so that one may always say, This [the ephah] is their object in all the land. Men go on ceaselessly adding sin to sin, and because judgment is not suddenly executed, think that there is impunity; whereas they are only filling the measure. God waits. There is an appointed time with Him, and He will not anticipate. He announced a general principle when he told Abraham that his seed could not take possession of the land of promise, for the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. The wicked are treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath. When the end comes, the symbolism of Zechariah is realized. Sinners are shut up with their sins in the measure, the weight of a talent shuts down the lid, and then they are carried where the retribution begins and does not end. Just like that deportation to the figurative Shinar. Its solitary example among the nations testifies of a permanent retribution.
Tribes of the wandering foot and weary breast,
How shall ye flee away and be at rest?
The wild dove hath her nest, the fox his cave,
Mankind their country, Israel but the grave.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
Moore: 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.. The finally impenitent shall be driven from God into gloomy exile, and left to himself, to rest on his own base, to be subject to the thrall of his own lawless lusts that he has so long pampered into strength, and to reap as he has sowed through a long and limitless banishment.
Wordsworth: 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 coextensive with the world and drawn throughout the whole from side to side.
Footnotes:
[5]Zec 5:6., lit., eye, here that to which the eye is directed=aim. The Genevan version gives sight. See Exeg. and Grit.
[6]Zec 5:7. . Margin of E. V. gives weighty piece, but the word denotes shape rather than size or weight. It Is another word that is rendered weight in the next verse.
[7]Zec 5:7.. This seems to be one of the cases in which the first numeral is employed as an indefinite article, as Exo 29:3.
[8]Zec 5:8.=stone, here lead-weight, just as in Zec 4:10 it is used with to mean tin-weight or plummet.
[9]Zec 5:9. In the quiescent is dropped (Green, H. G., 164, 2).
[10]Zec 5:11. The grammatical subject of the suffix in is of course the ephah, but logically it must refer to the woman it contains, as a house is not built for a measure. The marginal Masoretic note calls for a Raphe to mark the absence of a dagesh in the , but it is not found in the text.
[11]Zec 5:11. according to its gender is to be construed with , and with or the woman inclosed in it.
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
“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. (6) 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. (7) And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. (8) And he 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. (9) 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. (10) Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? (11) 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.”
We have here another vision. The Prophet is let to see an Ephah, a Jewish measure, and he is told that this is the resemblance of all the earth; meaning, it should seem that what the Prophet was about to learn from this figure, suited all mankind. The Prophet is next led in vision, to behold a talent of lead, and a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah, and is told that this is wickedness. Probably to denote, that as in the instance of our first parents’ transgression, the woman was first in it, sin is now become universal, and pervades the whole race. And it is possible, that the talent of lead, from its ponderous quality, might be meant to shew the total impossibility of our fallen and oppressed nature, ever of itself to arise from under the pressure. By the image of two women, like storks, carrying away the Zaphah to the land of Shinar, might be supposed to teach the thorough removal of wickedness into a land not inhabited; as the iniquity of Israel, on the day of atonement, was taken away. Lev 16:22 . I do not presume to account for the figure of two women, which had wings like storks. But if by the former woman, was meant that Eve was the first in the transgression; this might equally apply to the honor of the woman, in that the promise was, she should be saved in the child-bearing of the Redeemer, as that scripture by the Apostle hath it. 1Ti 2:13-15 . And in this sense the agreement is just; for as by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 1Co 15:21 . So also in respect of sin. See Rom 5:15-19 . In respect to the land of Shinar, all we know of it is, that it was a province of Babylon, where the Tower of Babel was built; and Amraphel was king of it in the days of Abraham. See Gen 11:2 . and Gen 14:1 . The Prophet Daniel saith, that here was the temple of Nebuchadnezzar’s idol, where he put the sacred vessels he took from Jerusalem. Dan 1:2 .
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Zec 5:5 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.
Ver. 5. Lift up now thine eyes and see ] No doubt. saith Calvin here, the prophet was frighted at the sight of the flying roll, full of curses “My flesh trembleth for fear of thee,” saith David, “and I am afraid of thy judgments,” Psa 119:120 . And Habakkuk, when he considered the cursed condition of the Church’s enemies, “my belly trembled,” said he, “when I heard it: nay lips quivered at the voice, rottenness entered into my bones,” Hab 3:16 . Daniel was more afflicted and troubled for Nebuchadnezzar’s calamity than himself was, Dan 4:19 . Here therefore the angel encourageth the prophet: and biddeth him look up and see a further vision; and not through dulness or dejectedness to let pass without due observation the notable works and witnesses of God’s providence and power. Curious artisans, when they set forth some special piece to public view, they take it ill when notice is not taken of it; so here. See Trapp on “ Zec 5:1 “
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 5:5-11
5Then the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth. 6I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah going forth. Again he said, This is their appearance in all the land 7(and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah. 8Then he said, This is Wickedness! And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening. 9Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. 10I said to the angel who was speaking with me, Where are they taking the ephah? 11Then he said to me, To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.
Zec 5:5 Lift up now your eyes and see This literary phrase (esp. see) introduces a new vision. See note at Zec 1:8.
Zec 5:6 What is it Again the prophet asked for an angelic interpretation of the vision, as he did in all but one of the six visions.
ephah This is the Hebrew term (BDB 35) for one of the largest dry measure used by the Jews. See Special Topic: Ancient Near East Weights and Volumes . There were possibly two types (cf. Deu 25:14; Pro 20:10). Modern scholarship puts it between five and ten gallons (cf. Eze 45:11). Here it functions in describing a large basket used as a cage. The NIV Study Bible, p. 412, makes an interesting suggestion, This one is undoubtedly enlarged (like the flying scroll of Zec 5:1-2) for like purpose of the vision.
NASBappearance
NKJVresemblance
NRSV, NIViniquity
TEVsin
NJB, NAB,
NEV, REBguilt
JPSOAeye
This Hebrew word could be what is seen (BDB 744, eye, cf. NKJV, NET, JPSOA) or some manuscripts have iniquity (BDB 730, cf. LXX, Peshitta, NRSV, TEV, NJB). The only difference between the two terms is between a waw and a yod. The understanding of iniquity fits the immediate context best (cf. Zec 5:8; Zec 5:11), however, the NET Bible asserts that eye in this verse is parallel with eye in Zec 4:10. This one’s evil is pervasive in the land as YHWH’s knowledge is pervasive in the land.
Zec 5:7 lead cover There are two views about the lead covered basket.
1. This could refer to a measuring stone used in commerce. This one was as heavy as lead. If this is so it strengthens the view that this vision concerns corrupt commerce and, thereby, fallen economic world systems (cf. Hos 12:7; Amo 8:5; Mic 6:11).
2. The more likely interpretation is that the lead was for the purpose of security. Wickedness was isolated and contained and would be removed from the Promised Land. She tried to escape, but could not (cf. Zec 5:6-8).
Zec 5:7-8 woman. . .Wickedness Wickedness is a FEMININE NOUN (BDB 958, often used in contrast to righteousness. This is probably why it is personified as a woman (cf. Rev 17:3-8; Rev 17:18). If the ephah is regular size, then this is a very small woman. Some see her as representing idolatry (cf. Zec 5:11), which means this parallels Zec 5:3-4. Wickedness will be removed from God’s people and God’s Promised Land.
Zec 5:8 he threw her down The woman tried to escape, but the angel forced her into the ephah. The context favors the symbol as sinful Jews (cf. Zec 5:3-4).
The same VERB (BDB 1020, KB 1527, Hiphil IMPERFECT) is used to describe how the angel handled both the woman and the lead weight.
the lead weight on its opening This is literally mouth (BDB 804), but here it refers to the lid of the ephah cage and not the woman’s mouth.
Zec 5:9 two women Some see them as helpers of wickedness (cf. Zec 5:11). Others see them as God’s servants removing the wicked from the Promised Land, but because the word wickedness is FEMININE, so too, are these angels. These are the only female angels mentioned in all of the Bible.
the wind in their wings Some relate the wind to the Spirit (cf. Zec 4:6). The word can mean this in both Hebrew (BDB 924) and Greek, but it is probably referring to the proverbial lifting power of stork wings or their speed. Storks were known for their strength and carrying ability.
Zec 5:11 To build a temple for her This may be sarcasm or typology. The faithful, obedient Jews will have a rebuilt temple to worship YHWH, so will the idolatrous, unfaithful Jews have an apostate place of worship.
Shinar This is an ancient name for Babylon (BDB 1042, cf. Gen 10:10; Gen 11:2; Gen 11:4; Gen 14:1; Isa 11:11; Isa 11:13-14; Isaiah 47; Jeremiah 50-51; Dan 1:2; Rev 14:8; Rev 16:19; Rev 17:1-7), which is a biblical metaphor for evil. Many relate this to the exilic experience (cf. Zec 2:6-7) and also to those Jews who did not return to Palestine!
she will be set This means (BDB 628, KB 679 Hophal PERFECT) set as an idol which cannot move. This is possibly a metaphor for the cleansing of the land of Palestine from idolatry and the setting of the stage for God’s judgment of the empires of the Fertile Crescent.
DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
This is a study guide commentary, which means that you are responsible for your own interpretation of the Bible. Each of us must walk in the light we have. You, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit are priority in interpretation. You must not relinquish this to a commentator.
These discussion questions are provided to help you think through the major issues of this section of the book. They are meant to be thought-provoking, not definitive.
1. Does this vision relate primarily to the future or the past?
2. Who is it addressing?
3. How is it related to the other visions? (Remember to try to relate all eight visions into one unified whole.)
4. To what temple does Zec 5:11 refer?
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
angel, See note on Zec 1:9.
see. This is the seventh vision. See the Structure on p. 1281.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Zec 5:5-11
A VISION OF A WOMAN IN A FLYING BASKET
Zec 5:5-11
WHAT THE PROPHET SAW (Zec 5:5-6)
The angel commands Zechariah to lift his eyes to receive the seventh in the series of visions, It, like the one just previous, will be seen in the sky.
In preceding visions the prophet occasionally had difficulty grasping the meaning of what appeared. This time he cannot believe his eyes! What is it . . . ? is his exclamation. There in the sky is a flying basket and in it sits a woman! Pressing upon her is a talent of lead weight. (An ephah is a basket of approximately 3 pecks. A talent weighs approximately 118 lbs. troy.)
The angel informs the prophet that this is the appearance of the ephah and the woman as they go forth over all the land.
Zerr: In Zec 5:5 the angel called the attention of the prophet to something else before him. The prophet is usually induced to inquire for the meaning of all the visions. He is told in the present case that what he sees is an ephah (Zec 5:6) which means a measuring device. Their resemblance means the evils that had been committed by the false dealers were as great as this measuring unit of the ephah.
So saying, he declares the woman to be Wickedness and, forcing her into the basket, he casts the lead weight in on top of her. Whereupon two winged women appear and lift the basket up into the sky.
In answer to the prophets inquiry, the angel says that they are bearing her away to build her a house in Shinar where she will set up her own place.
WHAT THE VISION MEANT! (Zec 5:7-11)
Unlike the previous visions of Zechariah, the angel gives us very little explanation of the meaning of this vision, other than to say that the woman is wickedness (Zec 5:8) and that the ephah bearing her is going forth over the whole land. We must therefore proceed with caution in our attempt to explain its meaning.
Zerr: A condensed comment on the rest of the chapter would be that it represents the sin of idolatry (Zec 5:7), that the people of God learned from the heathen. But the captivity in the land of Shinar (which represents Babylon) cured them and the abomination was left in that land when God’s people came away. I shall comment on this and the other verses in their order. Woman is the one who gives birth to living beings, and she is used in symbolic language to represent the propagation of sin as it was practiced by the people of Judah, That is why she is shown as sitting in the ephah, which we have previously learned represents the vast sins of the nation. But she was destined to be sealed up in this ephah and shipped off to a country that normally uses such a product. Strong defines the original word for talent as, a round loaf; also a talent (or large round coin). This was used as a cover for the ephah or measuring vessel that had the form of a large cask or barrel.
It has been. suggested that we have here a picture of Judah sending her sin to Babylon (Shinar . . . cp. Gen 10:10, Dan 1:2) where the ephah will be worshipped. This latter is based upon the assumption that house in verse eleven means temple. The ephah, whose liquid capacity is about six gallons, is taken to mean the base of an image upon which the woman will stand as a goddess.
Another interpretation sees the ephah as a small barrel with a leaden disk as a lid. The woman is trying to escape, which is why the angel pushes her into the ephah and casts the lead on top of her. The two flying females are considered demonic. Shinar, or Babylon, becomes the site of a temple where the woman will be worshipped as personified evil.
Zerr: This woman who represented wickedness was pushed down into the vessel and the talent or round coin” was clamped on to seal her in(Zec 5:8.). The package was then ready to he transferred to its proper destination.
Yet another interpretation has the ephah alluding to the previous vision of theft and falsification. This is their appearance (Zec 5:6) is thus seen as representing what the Jews have done and what they shall suffer.
Shinar is here seen, not as Babylon, but as the total Gentile world into which the Jews are to be totally dispersed.
In all this is seen the total removal of sin from the holy land. The house is seen as the capital of the world of wickedness as opposed to the kingdom of God and the woman is somehow identified as the man of sin. (2Th 2:3)
What such interpretations show, more than anything else, is the ludicrous extremes to which mens theological systems take them in the study of apocalyptic Scriptures.
The angel does give us some insight into this vision, and it is here we must begin to understand it. In verse six he said, This is the ephah that goeth forth.
The ephah, as previously indicated, was a basket with the capacity of 3 pecks, just less than our standard bushel. The law made strict provision for its use, giving interpretation regarding just measure in trade. (Lev 19:36) The ephah that goeth forth is the measure used in the trading or selling of such commodities as are sold at a certain price per ephah.
The angel indicates that the ephah is their appearance in all the land. The word appearance in the original is literally eye.
There was then lifted up a talent (literally a disc) of lead.
Concerning the woman, the angel said, This is wickedness. So saying he put her in the basket and placed the lead upon it. Notice, the woman is wickedness as an abstract principle, not wicked people.
So we have a legal measure filled with wickedness and upon it a heavy (118 lb.) lid, Obviously, the reason for such a lid is to prevent the escape of the baskets content, which is evil. This much is plain,
The angel gives no explanation as to the identity of the two women with storks wings. He does say they are bearing the full measure of evil to the land of Shinar where a house (or temple) is to be built in which the woman (evil) will be set in her own place (literally on her own base).
Zerr: Of course someone must convey this package to its destination and hence two women who were interested in the same sins as the other came to make the transference (Zec 5:9). Since Israel and Judah had gone, respectively, into Assyria and Babylonia, that would call for the two women. The wind would help any creature that flies, hence these women were given wings and a wind was raised so they could make their transit with all surety and speed.
There is Scriptural evidence that Shinar is synonymous with Babylon. (cp. Gen 10:10) The term Shinar is used for obvious reasons, Babylon was now in the hands of Darius, ruler of the Medo-Persian empire. To have used the common name would have been to incur, unnecessarily, the wrath of the emperor whose good offices had permitted the return of the exiles and who was encouraging the reconstruction of the temple. For our purposes, it is important only to know that Shinar is Babylon.
Babylon is used throughout the apocalyptic literature of the Bible to depict the false religion which is inevitably the source of evil and therefore the enemy of God and His people. She is associated with enforced evil and idolatry.
In Rev 17:5 she is called mother of harlots, dressed in haughty splendor and drunken with the blood of the martyrs. The evils which have come out of her idol worship and opposition to Gods people are called the wine of her fornication. Her name there is Mystery, Babylon, the Great, Mother of Harlots and of the abominations of the Earth.
Mystery alludes to the mystery religions which originated in Babylon. (See Chapter 4, Baal Worship) Babylon the Great to her temporal power (which in Revelation becomes symbolic of Rome), Mother of Harlots to the fact that she had spawned the false religions of the world, and the abominations of the earth to the overall offensiveness of Babylon before God.
Zerr: The prophet saw the women leave and inquired about their destiny (Zec 5:10). They were going to the land of Shinar (Zec 5:11) which represents Babylonia according to Gen 10:10. Be established . . . upon its own base. This signifies that such abomination as idolatry belongs in a country like Babylonia, and the history shows that when Judah left that country, she left her idolatry of all forms there forever. This testimony is presented in a long note in connection with the comments on Isa 1:25.
So the full measure of the wickedness which spread across the land of Judah was to be sent back to its source where it would be set up on a pedestal and worshipped, as indeed it had always been, wickedness and immorality being the soul and expression of the idolatry throughout the ancient world.
Keeping in mind that the writing of the book of Zechariah was intended to move the people to the rebuilding of the temple, the force of this vision is obvious. The wickedness which the people have brought with them from Babylon must be recognized for what it is. It must be sent on the wings of the wind back, full measure, where it came from. In Babylon, wickedness is the object of worship. In Gods land among Gods people it has no place at all. It must therefore be removed.
Questions
A Vision of a Woman in a Flying Basket
1. Describe Zechariahs seventh vision.
2. What is an ephah?
3. What is the weight of the talent?
4. Where did the woman in the flying ephah go?
5. The woman in the ephah is declared by the angel to be _______________.
6. What is the significant difference between this and the other visions as recorded by Zechariah?
7. Discuss several possible interpretations of this vision as suggested above.
8. What is shown by such interpretations?
9. What is the significance of the fact that the ephah was a legal measure?
10. Shinar is Scripturally synonymous with __________________.
11. Babylon, throughout the Bible, especially in apocalyptic literature, is used to depict ___________________.
12. Mystery alludes to _________________.
13. The full measure of wickedness was to be sent ________________________.
14. What was the force of this vision to those who had the task of rebuilding the temple?
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
the angel: Zec 1:9, Zec 1:14, Zec 1:19, Zec 2:3, Zec 4:5
Lift: Zec 5:1
Reciprocal: Gen 15:16 – not Isa 24:20 – and it Jer 24:3 – What Eze 8:5 – lift Dan 8:3 – I lifted Amo 8:2 – Amos Zec 1:18 – lifted Zec 6:4 – unto
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zec 5:5. The angel called the attention of Zedeklah to something else before him.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Zec 5:5-8. The angel that talked with me went forth Or rather, went on, as the verb often signifies; (see 2Ch 21:19; Jer 25:32;) and so it may signify at the end of this verse, and in the next, where it occurs again. And I said, What is it? What does this signify, or, what thing is this? And he said, This is an ephah An ephah was a measure containing somewhat less than our bushel, and consequently too small for a woman to sit in; we must therefore understand here a measure, in the form only of an ephah, but of a larger size, which was probably the reason why Zechariah did not know what it was: and being the measure whereby they bought and sold dry things, it seems to have been intended to denote the unjust dealings of the Jews in buying and selling; their fraud, deceit, and extortion in commerce, were sins abounding among them; as they are among that people at this day. He said moreover, This is their resemblance Or, as the LXX. render it, This is their iniquity (reading , instead of ) through all the earth Or, through all the land; that is, by this you may make an estimate of their unjust dealings all over the land. Besides the intimation given by this vision of the ephah, that the dealings of the Jews with each other were unjust, its largeness and its going forth corresponded with the iniquities that prevailed in the land, both as exceeding the ordinary measure, and also as continually increasing, so as already to have arisen to such a pitch as made it necessary to repress them. And behold there was lifted up a talent Or, a huge mass; of lead This seems to have been intended to denote the weight, or severity, of the judgments here threatened. And this is a woman, &c. What thou seest besides, is a woman sitting carelessly upon the ephah, and fearing no evil. So Grotius, super epha, superba et nihil mali metuens. That she appeared at first sitting upon the ephah, is evident from what is said in the following words, namely, that the angel cast her into the midst of the ephah; which implies that she was not there before. And he said, This is wickedness This woman denotes wickedness: or, this is iniquity itself, or corruption of heart, the mother or spring of thefts, perjuries, and all kind of crimes. Blayney renders it, This is the wicked one. Public states, or societies, are often represented by women, as the mothers of their people, as we see in the ancient coins. By the same analogy, corrupt societies are expressed by harlots, and women of lewd characters; so here, the corrupt state of the Jews is set forth by a wicked woman. And he cast it Rather, he cast her, into the midst of the ephah So the LXX., . So also the Vulgate. Newcome renders it, He cast her within the ephah, that is, (as he explains it,) caused her to contract herself within the compass of the vessel, denoting the check given to her further progress. And he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof That is, of the epah, ne quis esset exitus, says Grotius, that there might be no exit, or way of escape. Or to signify, that when a people have filled up the measure of their iniquities, they sink under the weight of their sins, and cannot escape the judgment of God, and that thus it should fare with the Jewish people.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 5:5-11. The Transference to Babylonia of Judahs Guilt (i.e. the cause of calamity).For their resemblance (Zec 5:6) read with LXX their iniquity (mg.) or rather their guilt. By the transference of Judahs guilt to Shinar (an intentional archaism for Babylon, see Gen 11:1-9) Zechariah foretells both the deliverance of Judah and the ruin of the great empire. But he looks for the removal not only of the guilt, the cause of the calamity, but also of wickedness, the cause of the guilt. Wickedness, being feminine in Heb., is naturally symbolised by a woman. It is remarkable that Haggai and Zechariah make no mention of Persia, but only of Babylonia, probably because the Jews were still in captivity in the latter country.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
G. The woman in the basket 5:5-11
The preceding vision described the future removal of individual sinners from the land through divine judgment, and this one pictures the eventual removal of all wickedness from the future "holy land" (Zec 2:12; cf. Zec 3:9).
"In line with the scope of all eight of Zechariah’s night visions, the fulfilment [sic] of this likewise extends into the millennial kingdom. Nevertheless the immediate application of the vision to the prophet’s time and to the conditions then prevailing is plain." [Note: Unger, p. 91.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
The angelic guide next proceeded to instruct Zechariah to view something else that was happening in his vision.
"So little is human nature capable of readily appropriating divine revelation that it is not only necessary for God to let the necessary visions appear but also to stimulate the recipient’s attention step by step lest, overcome by the power of the heavenly, he fail to appropriate all that God desires to offer." [Note: Leupold, p. 103.]