Zechariah Five

by Dr. Henry M. Morris

(taken from the Defender's Study Bible)

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Zechariah 5:1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.

Zechariah 5:2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

flying roll. This strange vision revealed a great scroll, with judgments written on both sides, flying throughout the earth to indicate the whole earth is under “the curse of the law” (Galatians 3:13).

Zechariah 5:3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.

cut off. Those who rejected God's grace, as shown in the previous visions, continuing in their sins, unrepentant and unforgiven, would be “cut off.” The two sins mentioned in Zechariah 5:4, taking God's name in falsifying the truth and stealing, involving the central commandment in each of the two tables of the law, in effect stand for breaking any of God's commands.

Zechariah 5:4 I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

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.

Zechariah 5:6 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.

Zechariah 5:7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

talent of lead. The talent was the largest measure of weight, as the ephah was the largest measure of volume, both symbolizing the system of weights and measures which provides the very heart of the world's commerce.

woman. As the circular weight was momentarily lifted from the mouth of the ephah, it revealed a woman evidently seeking to escape the container.

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.

wickedness. Although commerce (business, trade, finance, shipping, etc.) is not necessarily wicked, it can easily and quickly become such as it degenerates into covetousness and the worship of mammon. Ever since Babel, it has been the cause of most crime and most wars. Its “resemblance” is found “through all the earth” (Zechariah 5:6) and is seen here as a seductive woman attempting to escape her confinement in order to seduce the returned exiles away from their spiritual call to rebuild God's temple and reestablish His worship in “the holy land” (Zechariah 2:12), persuading them to build instead lives of luxury for themselves (compare Haggai 1:3-11).

Zechariah 5:9 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.

Zechariah 5:10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?

Zechariah 5:11 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.

land of Shinar. “Shinar” is Babel, where Nimrod first built his great anti-God empire based upon pantheistic evolutionism and idolatrous covetousness, thence to become the earth's “mother of harlots” (Revelation 17:5). In the last days, this Babylonian system of anti-God commercialism—perhaps apostate religion and political union of the Gentile nations will swiftly, on “wind-borne wings,” as it were, be carried back to its ancient home in Babylon. Babylon will then quickly be reestablished as the world's center of government, culture and commerce, the capital of the Beast. See notes on Revelation 17 and notes on Revelation 18. Babylon has already been partially rebuilt by the Iraqi government.