Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 5:8
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.
8. This is wickedness ] This woman that thou seest sitting in the ephah represents the wickedness of the whole land, gathered up, as it were, into one and personified.
the weight of lead ] Lit. the stone of lead; so called, either because stones were used as weights (comp. our English word “stone”), or because the leaden lid on the mouth of the ephah suggested by its size and weight the stone cover of a well. Gen 29:2.
upon the mouth thereof ] Lit. upon her mouth; but rightly rendered thereof, as the reference seems plainly to be to the ephah, on which the angel firmly fixed the lid, when he had cast down the woman into it.
A different, but less satisfactory, view of the vision has been taken. According to this the woman is seen “having in her hand the leaden weight with which she was wont to traffic, and sitting crouched down in an empty bushel or ephah, as if that were her true seat and throne. It was a special form of wickedness that was here pourtrayed, namely, unrighteousness as it manifests itself in matters of weight and measure, or, to designate it in our Lord’s own words, ‘unfaithfulness as regards the unrighteous mammon’ But ‘with the same measure that ye mete withal, shall it be measured to you again.’ The very instrument which the woman used for her unholy work was to be the means of her confusion. The ephah in which she sat was made the chariot in which she was removed from the land; and the angel, with righteous indignation, seized the woman herself, dashed her down into the ephah as she was about to rise from her sitting posture, and taking hold of the leaden weight, flung the heavy ‘stone of lead’ upon her mouth. Thus did the angel indicate that ‘wickedness’ would be a subject of Divine wrath. He smote her in the mouth wherewith she had so often uttered words of lying and fraud; and did so with the very instrument with which she was wont to measure her ungodly gain. Thus was her mouth stopped (Psa 107:42; Job 5:16), and the instrument of sin was made the instrument of her punishment.” (Rev. C. H. H. Wright.) The moral of the vision, however, is not the destruction, nor even the punishment of wickedness, but its expulsion from the holy land, that it may go to its own place.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And cast her into the midst of the Ephah – As yet then the measure was not full. Ribera: She had the lower part within the Ephah, but the upper, especially the head, without. Though the Jews had slain the prophets and done many grievous things, the greatest sin of all remained to be done. But when they had crucified Christ and persecuted the Apostles and the Gospel, the measure was full; she was wholly within the Ephah, no part remained without, so that the measure was filled.
And he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof – that is, doubtless of the Ephah; as in Genesis, a great stone was on the mouth of the well Gen 29:2, so that there should be no access to it.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Zec 5:8
And he said, This is wickedness
Worldliness
This is the ruin of thousands and tens of thousands.
It is not at all necessary to insure a mans perdition that he either steal or swear falsely. A man may be a thorough worldling, without the practice of these or any gross iniquities. Whatever shuts God out from His place in the heart as the object of fear and love, and from His place in the conscience as the authoritative regulator of the life, that, be it what it may, is the ruin of the man. In the parable of the marriage feast, the men who declined the invitation, and went away to their farms and to their merchandise, are not charged with any selfish and fraudulent dealings in the management of their farms or the prosecution of their merchandise. What was their sin? Worldliness. They preferred the world to God. They declined the blessings of the Gospel for something more to their taste. They chose the world and the things of the world–no matter in how innocent a form–even the sweets of domestic life itself–to God and the things of God. And in the enjoyment of these, as their chosen portion, they had their reward. Thus it was of old; thus it is still. Let no man deceive himself by fancying it necessary to his forfeiture of the blessings of Gods salvation, that he give himself up to the practice of dishonesty and of open vice. If his heart is in the world, with the world he must have his portion. Let Christians be on their guard against the love of this present world. It is as insinuating and perilous principle. In proportion as it gains upon the heart, it tends to enfeeble the energies, and deaden the sensibilities, of the Divine life in the soul. God will not have a divided heart. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. (Ralph Wardlaw, D. D.)
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Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
And he said; the angel unfolds the riddle.
This, this woman that sits in the ephah, represents the sinful nation of the Jews, is emblem of their wickedness.
Is wickedness, in the abstract, to express the greatness of the Jews wickedness, they will grow up to be most wicked.
He cast it; the angel cast down this woman, wickedness, from the seat she sat on, Zec 5:7.
And he east the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof; and now she is down the weight of lead, which she can never lift up, or remove, is laid upon the mouth of the ephah, she is shut up, as in a prison, to suffer the punishment of all her sins. This is their resemblance.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
8. wickednessliterally, “thewickedness”: implying wickedness in its peculiar development.Compare “the man of sin,” 2Th2:3.
cast itthat is, her,Wickedness, who had moved more freely while the heavy lid waspartially lifted off.
weightliterally,”stone,” that is, round mass.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he said, This [is] wickedness,…. A representation of wicked men, who are wickedness itself, as their inward part is, Ps 5:9 and particularly of the wicked one, the man of sin and son of perdition, the Roman antichrist and apocalyptic beast; who, though he is called by this title, “his Holiness”, his true and proper name is “wickedness”; , that wicked lawless one, 2Th 2:8 yea, wickedness itself, being extremely wicked, a sink of sin and of all abominations, Re 17:5.
And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; that is, wickedness; that it might be kept within bounds, and not exceed its measure to be filled up: this seems to denote some restraint on sinners, that they may not be able to go all the lengths they would; and some rebuke upon them, that they might not lift up their heads with impunity; and some check upon them, and their furious rage towards the people of God; and also the putting of an utter end to sin and sinners, and particularly the followers of antichrist; see Ps 104:35.
And he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof; either upon the mouth of the woman, or of the ephah; and, be it which it will, it was done to keep the woman within the ephah, and press her down there; and intends the judgments of God upon sinners; and shows that there is no escaping divine vengeance; that it falls heavy where it lights, and sinks to the lowest hell; and that it will continue, being laid on by the firm, unchangeable, and irrevocable decree of God. Cocceius understands this of the Saracens and Turks, and the barbarous nations, being cast into the Roman empire, to restrain the antichristian tyranny; but it seems better to apply it to the utter destruction of antichrist, signified by a millstone cast into the sea and sunk there, never to rise more; see Re 18:21 and with it compare Ex 15:10.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
Now the angel adds, that a thin piece of lead was cast over the mouth of the measure, and that wickedness was cast into the measure. The expression, that wickedness was thrown into the measure, may be explained in two ways — either that God would not permit so much liberty to the devil to lead the Jews to sin as before; for how comes it that men abandon themselves to every evil, except that God forsakes them, and at the same time delivers them up to Satan, that he may exercise his tyranny over them? or, that a bridle would be used to restrain foreign enemies, that they might not in their wantonness oppress the miserable people, and exercise extreme violence. God, then, intending to deliver them from their sins, or to check wrongs, shuts up wickedness, as it were, in a measure; and then he adds a cover; and it is said to have been a thin piece, or a weight of lead, because it was heavy; as though the Prophet had said, that whenever it pleased God iniquity would be taken captive, so that it could not go forth from its confinement or its prison. It afterwards follows —
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
8. The interpreter proceeds to explain the significance of the woman.
This is wickedness The wickedness of the whole land (Zec 5:6) is personified in the one woman. As the cover is lifted up she begins to rise, but the angel throws her back and makes escape impossible by replacing the lid upon the mouth, that is, the opening of the ephah.
Weight of lead Literally, the stone of lead; synonymous with “round piece of lead” in Zec 5:7.
Zec 5:9-10 describe the removal of the ephah from the land.
Then lifted I up mine eyes This phrase introduces not a new vision, but a new phase of the same vision. Looking up from the ephah, he beholds two new figures appearing upon the scene.
Two women These women have no special symbolical significance; they appear only as the agents appointed to remove the ephah. Women are selected rather than men because a woman is in the ephah, two women because one alone could not have carried the burden.
Wings To enable the women to move more quickly, they were supplied with wings. The air would offer fewer obstacles than the land; besides, the wind of heaven might assist creatures flying through the air in their movements.
Like the wings of a stork The stork is introduced not because he is an unclean bird (Lev 11:19), but on account of the great size of his wings.
The wind was in their wings That they might proceed with greater swiftness.
Between the earth and the heaven That is, in the air. Thus the women began their journey.
As they move away the prophet inquires where they are going, to which the angel makes answer. 11.
To build it [“her”] a house The pronoun refers primarily to the ephah, but includes the contents, the woman, for houses are built ordinarily for human beings. The building of a house implies that the stay is to be permanent.
In the land of Shinar Babylonia (Gen 10:10; Gen 11:2); the home of the long-time enemy of the people of God, the land of exile. Sin, which had brought serious disaster upon Judah, is to be removed to the land of the enemy, there to cause distress and destruction. That the stay is to be permanent is further indicated in the second half of the verse. R.V. is to be preferred: “and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.”
When it is prepared (R.V.) That is, the house.
She shall be set there (R.V.) The woman (and the ephah).
In her own place (R.V.) In the house erected for her use.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Zec 5:8. This is wickedness The wicked one. That is, the wicked one representing the wicked nation. Her being driven back within the ephah denotes the check given to her farther progress; and the weight of lead, the weight of God’s judgments falling upon her.
And he cast it And he drove her back, &c.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Zec 5:8 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.
Ver. 8. And he said, This is wickedness ] viz. This woman, a figure of the whole sinful nation of the Jews; as were Aholah and Aholibah, Eze 23:36 ; Eze 23:44 , and Babylon the Great, the mother of fornications and abominations, Rev 17:5 , to whom I may add that grand-daughter of hers, Katherine de Medicis, Queen mother; who by her wickedness wonderfully troubled all France for thirty years together.
And he cast it into the midst of the ephah
Casting the weight of lead into the mouth thereof
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
wickedness = the lawless [one]. Hebrew. rasha’, App-44. Adjective, feminine, singular = the embodiment of the principle of lawlessness. The religions aspect of 2Th 2:8-12. Rev 17.
it: i.e. the talent, which had been “lifted up “for the prophet to see, and then cast back “into” the ephah.
weight = stone; i.e. weight. This was “upon” the ephah, and is to be distinguished from the “talent”, which was within.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
This: Gen 15:16, Mat 23:32, 1Th 2:16
the weight: Zec 5:7, Psa 38:4, Pro 5:22, Lam 1:14, Amo 9:1-4
Reciprocal: Isa 64:6 – our iniquities Luk 22:19 – is my
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Zec 5:8. This woman who represented wickedness was pushed down into the vessel and the talent or round coin” was clamped on to seal her in. The package was then ready to he transferred to its proper destination.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
5:8 And he said, This [is] {i} wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon its mouth.
(i) Signifying that Satan would not have such power against the Jews to tempt them, as he had in times past, but that God would shut up iniquity in a measure as in a prison.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
The angel explained that the woman personified wickedness. Some have interpreted the woman as covenant-breakers, a particular form of wickedness. [Note: E.g., McComiskey, p. 1101.] The angel picked her up, threw her down into the middle of the basket, and shut the lead cover over her (cf. 2Th 2:6-8). Obviously some conflict was involved; "Wickedness" did not want to be restricted. Perhaps Zechariah saw a woman, instead of a man, because the word "wickedness" in Hebrew is feminine. It was not uncommon to represent wickedness as a woman (e.g., Proverbs 7; Revelation 17; et al.). Here the woman represents the sum total of Israel’s sins, wickedness being the opposite of righteousness (cf. Pro 13:6; Eze 33:12). Another view is that she represents Babylon (Revelation 17-18), but this seems unlikely since she ends up in Babylon (Zec 5:11).