1And I again lifted up my eyes and looked, and, behold, a flying scroll. 2And he said to me, What do you see? And I answered, I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits. 3And he said to me, This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the whole earth. For from now on everyone who steals shall be purged out according to it; and everyone who swears from now on shall be purged out according to it. 4And I will bring it forth, says Jehovah of Hosts. And it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. And it shall remain in the midst of his house and shall make an end to it, and its timber, and its stones. 5Then the angel who talked with me went out, and said to me, Now lift up your eyes and see what this is that goes forth. 6And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah that goes forth. And he said, This is their appearance throughout the earth. 7And, behold, a lead disk was lifted up, and a woman sitting in the middle of the ephah. 8And he said, This is wickedness. And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah; and he threw the lead stone over its opening. 9Then I lifted up my eyes and looked. And, behold, two women came out. And the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of the stork. And they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. 10And I said to the angel who talked with me, Where are they going with the ephah? 11And he said to me, To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; and it shall be prepared and set there on its own base.
Jamieson Fausset Brown Bible Commentary 1 SIXTH VISION. THE FLYING ROLL. The fraudulent and perjuring transgressors of the law shall be extirpated from Judea. (
Zech 5:1-
Zech 5:4)
flying roll--of papyrus, or dressed skins, used for writing on when paper was not known. It was inscribed with the words of the curse (
Deut 27:15-
Deut 27:26; Deu. 28:15-68). Being written implied that its contents were beyond all escape or repeal (
Ezek 2:9). Its "flying" shows that its curses were ready swiftly to visit the transgressors. It was unrolled, or else its dimensions could not have been seen (
Zech 5:2). Being open to all, none could say in excuse he knew not the law and the curses of disobedience. As the previous visions intimated God's favor in restoring the Jewish state, so this vision announces judgment, intimating that God, notwithstanding His favor, did not approve of their sins. Being written on both sides, "on this and on that side" (
Zech 5:3), VATABLUS connects it with the two tables of the law (
Exod 32:15), and implies its comprehensiveness. One side denounced "him that sweareth falsely (
Zech 5:4) by God's name," according to the third commandment of the first table, duty to God; the other side denounced theft, according to the eighth commandment, which is in the second table, duty to one's neighbor.
2 length . . . twenty cubits . . . breadth . . . ten cubits--thirty feet by fifteen, the dimensions of the temple porch (
1Kgs 6:3), where the law was usually read, showing that it was divinely authoritative in the theocracy. Its large size implies the great number of the curses contained. The Hebrew for "roll" or "volume" is used of the law (
Ps 40:7).
3 curse . . . earth-- (
Mal 4:6). The Gentiles are amenable to the curse of the law, as they have its substance, so far as they have not seared and corrupted conscience, written on their hearts (
Rom 2:15).
cut off--literally, "cleared away."
as on this side . . . as on that side--both sides of the roll [VATABLUS]. From this place . . . from this place (repeated twice, as "the house" is repeated in
Zech 5:4) [MAURER]; so "hence" is used,
Gen 37:17 (or, "on this and on that side," that is, on every side) [HENDERSON]. None can escape, sin where he may: for God from one side to the other shall call all without exception to judgment [CALVIN]. God will not spare even "this place," Jerusalem, when it sins [PEMBELLUS]. English Version seems to take VATABLUS' view.
according to it--according as it is written.
4 The "theft" immediately meant is similar sacrilege to that complained of in
Neh 13:10;
Mal 3:8. They robbed God by neglecting to give Him His due in building His house, while they built their own houses, forswearing their obligations to Him; therefore, the "houses" they build shall be "consumed" with God's "curse." Probably literal theft and perjury accompanied their virtual theft and perjury as to the temple of God (
Mal 3:5). Stealing and perjury go together; for the covetous and fraudulent perjure themselves by God's name without scruple (see
Pro 30:9).
enter . . . the house--In vain they guard and shut themselves up who incur the curse; it will inevitably enter even when they think themselves most secure.
consume . . . timber . . . stones--not leaving a vestige of it. So the "stones" and "timber" of the house of a leper (type of the sinner) were to be utterly removed (
Lev 14:15; compare
1Kgs 18:38).
The "ephah" is the Hebrew dry measure containing about thirty-seven quarts. Alluding to the previous vision as to theft and perjury: the ephah which, by falsification of the measure, they made the instrument of defrauding, shall be made the instrument of their punishment [GROTIUS]. Compare "this is their resemblance" (
Zech 5:6), that is, this is a representation of what the Jews have done, and what they shall suffer. Their total dispersion ("the land of Shinar" being the emblem of the various Gentile lands of their present dispersion) is herein fortetold, when the measure (to which the ephah alludes) of their sins should be full. The former vision denounces judgment on individuals; this one, on the whole state: but enigmatically, not to discourage their present building [PEMBELLUS]. Rather, the vision is consolatory after the preceding one [CALVIN]. Idolatry and its kindred sins, covetousness and fraud (denounced in the vision of the roll), shall be removed far out of the Holy Land to their own congenial soil, never to return (so
Zech 3:9;
Isa 27:9;
Isa 52:1;
Isa 60:21;
Jer 50:20;
Zeph 3:13). For more than two thousand years, ever since the Babylonian exile, the Jews have been free from idolatry; but the full accomplishment of the prophecy is yet future, when all sin shall be purged from Israel on their return to Palestine, and conversion to Christ.
5 SEVENTH VISION. THE WOMAN IN THE EPHAH. Wickedness and idolatry removed from the Holy Land to Babylon, there to mingle with their kindred elements. (
Zech 5:5-
Zech 5:11)
went forth--The interpreting angel had withdrawn after the vision of the roll to receive a fresh revelation from the Divine Angel to communicate to the prophet.
6 This is their resemblance--literally, "eye" (compare
Ezek 1:4-
Ezek 1:5,
Ezek 1:16). HENGSTENBERG translates, "Their (the people's) eye" was all directed to evil. But English Version is better. "This is the appearance (that is, an image) of the Jews in all the land" (not as English Version, "in all the earth"), that is, of the wicked Jews.
This--Here used of what was within the ephah, not the ephah itself.
7 lifted up--The cover is lifted off the ephah to let the prophet see the female personification of "wickedness" within, about to be removed from Judea. The cover being "of lead," implies that the "woman" cannot escape from the ponderous load which presses her down.
talent--literally, "a round piece": hence a talent, a weight of one hundred twenty-five pounds troy.
woman--for comparison of "wickedness" to a woman,
Pro 2:16;
Pro 5:3-
Pro 5:4. In personifying abstract terms, the feminine is used, as the idea of giving birth to life is associated with woman.
8 wickedness--literally, "the wickedness": implying wickedness in its peculiar development. Compare "the man of sin,"
2Thess 2:3.
cast it--that is, her, Wickedness, who had moved more freely while the heavy lid was partially lifted off.
weight--literally, "stone," that is, round mass.
9 The agents to carry away the "woman," are, consistently with the image, "women." God makes the wicked themselves the agents of punishing and removing wickedness. "Two" are employed, as one is not enough to carry such a load [MAURER]. Or, the Assyrians and Babylonians, who carried away idolatry in the persons, respectively, of Israel and Judah [HENDERSON]. As two "anointed ones" (
Zech 4:14) stand by the Lord as His ministers, so two winged women execute His purpose here in removing the embodiment of "wickedness": answering to the "mystery of iniquity" (the Septuagint here in Zechariah uses the same words as Paul and "the man of sin," whom the Lord shall destroy with the spirit of His mouth and the brightness of His coming,
2Thess 2:3,
2Thess 2:7-8). Their "wings" express velocity. The "stork" has long and wide wings, for which reason it is specified; also it is a migratory bird. The "wind" helps the rapid motion of the wings. The being "lifted up between heaven and earth" implies open execution of the judgment before the eyes of all. As the "woman" here is removed to Babylon as her own dwelling, so the woman in the Apocalypse of St. John is Babylon (
Rev 17:3-
Rev 17:5).
11 To build . . . house in . . . Shinar--Babylonia (
Gen 10:10), the capital of the God-opposed world kingdoms, and so representing in general the seat of irreligion. As the "building of houses" in Babylon (
Jer 29:5,
Jer 29:28) by the Jews themselves expressed their long exile there, so the building of an house for "wickedness" there implies its permanent stay.
set . . . upon her own base--fixed there as in its proper place. "Wickedness" being cast out of Judah, shall for ever dwell with the antichristian apostates (of whom Babylon is the type), who shall reap the fruit of it, which they deserve.