Zechariah 5

Chap. V. Ver.1—11. The flying roll, and the woman (wickedness) in an ephah.—The first vision, by the representation of a large flying roll, denotes that God’s judgments against the wicked are great and swift. The vision seems to intimate farther, that the Babylonian captivity happened in consequence of the wickedness committed by the Jews before that period, and that a like calamity might befall them, if they relapsed into their former crimes; some of which are mentioned. The chapter may be considered altogether as a solemn admonition that a multitude of curses, and particularly dispersion and captivity, should be the punishment of national depravity. The woman in the ephah is wickedness personified, with a particular reference to idolatry, which had been hitherto their master sin.

The cake of lead which covered the ephah, may denote the wrath of God against this sin; and the two women with wings powerful as those of storks, may represent (as the Chaldee Paraphrase seems to intimate) Israel and Judah, carrying back idolatry to the land of Shinar, which is Babylon, where it probably originated, and always reigned.

Notes on the verses

Chap. V. Ver. 1. A flying roll—i. e. a large sheet of parchment, written on both sides with the curses of God’s law against wickedness; alluding, probably, to the curses in (Deuteronomy 27)and xxviii., and to Ezekiel’s scroll, (Zechariah 2:9), &c. Ver. 2. The length twenty cubits, and the breadth ten; that is, on the lowest calculation, 30 feet by 15. Ver. 3. For every one that stealeth, &c.—See margin. To us it appears, that on one side was written the curses against fraud and oppression; and on the other, those against perjury, rage, and idolatry, or swearing by false gods. We would therefore read the following clause, (omitting the particle as,) ‘Every one that stealeth shall be cut off, according to it (the writing) on this side; and every one that sweareth, according to it on that side.”

Ver. 4, It shall consume it.—It shall be like the dry rot. Ver. 6. An ephah.—A dry measure of about three pecks, so that the figure of wickedness must appear like a diminutive hag, or pigmy, covered over with a talent of lead in a three peck measure.—This is their resemblance.—Dr. Stonard renders it “their eye,” “aspect,” or appearance; but Newcome, guided by the ancient versions, reads, “This is their iniquity;” and Boothroyd, “This (shows) their iniquity.” We think, however, that there is no necessity for either alteration. [“The meaning of this vision,” says Abp. Newcome, “seems to be, that the Babylonish captivity had happened on account of the wickedness of the Jews; and that a like dispersion would befall them, if they relapsed into like crimes.”]

The woman who sat in the ephah was an emblem of the Jewish nation; the casting the weight of lead on the mouth of the ephah, seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews, after they had filled up the measure of their iniquities by crucifying the Messiah; the “two women, with wings like a stork, and the wind in their wings,” seem emblematic of the Roman armies and the rapidity of their conquests; and their lifting up the ephah and carrying it through the air, to build it a house in Shinar, or Babylon, where it was fixed on its own basis, represents the taking of Jerusalem, the dispersion of the Jews, and the long continuance of that calamity, as a just punishment of their unbelief.—Bagster.

Ver. 7. A talent of lead.—3000 shekels, or 125 lb. We should call it a pig of lead. Dr. Stonard renders it “a cake.” Ver. 9. Came out.—Newcome, “Went forth.” Wings of a stork—whose wings are so strong that they will not often fly far, being birds of passage, but sometimes carry the parent birds (when old and infirm) upon their backs. Dr. Harris’s Nat. Hist. Ver. 11. In the land of Shinar—That is, Babylon. We are perfectly aware that Rome is, in the New Testament, called Babylon; but we are not aware it is so called in the Old, or during the existence of the ancient Babylon; nor can we persuade ourselves that the predictions of this chapter have any reference to Europe; much less that ‘the north country” (ch. vi. 6.) can possibly intend “the great western empire.” Stonard’s Comment.—Ver. 11. Upon her own base—That is, as we conceive, where it originated, or was reared.