Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll.
KJV
Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
Commentary
Commentary
Hitherto we have seen visions of peace only, and all the words we have
heard have been good words and comfortable words. But the pillar of
cloud and fire has a black and dark side towards the Egyptians, as well
as a bright and pleasant side towards Israel; so have Zechariah's
visions; for God's prophets are not only his ambassadors, to treat of
peace with the sons of peace, but heralds, to proclaim war against
those that delight in war, and persist in their rebellion. In this
chapter we have two visions, by which "the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." God
will do great and kind things for his people, which the faithful sons
of Zion shall rejoice in; but "let the sinners in Zion be afraid;" for,
I. God will reckon severely with those particular persons among them
that are wicked and profane, and that hated to be reformed in these
times of reformation; while God is showing kindness to the body of the
nation, and loading that with his blessings, they and their families
shall, notwithstanding that, lie under the curse, which the prophet
sees in a flying roll, ver. 1-4 .
II. If the body of the nation hereafter degenerate, and wickedness
prevail among them, it shall be carried off and hurried away with a
swift destruction, under the pressing weight of divine wrath,
represented by a talent of lead upon the mouth of an ephah, carried
upon the wing I know not where, ver. 5-11 .
1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and
behold a flying roll.
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.
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.
4 I will bring it forth, saith the L ORD 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.
We do not find that the prophet now needed to be awakened, as he did ch. iv. 1 .
Being awakened then, he kept wakeful after; nay, now he needs not be so
much as called to look about him, for of his own accord he turns and
lifts up his eyes. This good men sometimes get by their
infirmities, they make them the more careful and circumspect
afterwards. Now observe,
I. What it was that the prophet saw; he looked up into the air, and behold a flying roll. A vast large scroll of parchment which had
been rolled up, and is therefore called a roll, was now unrolled
and expanded; this roll was flying upon the wings of the wind, carried
swiftly through the air in open view, as an eagle that shoots down upon
her prey; it was a roll, like Ezekiel's that was written
within and without with lamentations, and mourning, and woe, Ezek. ii. 9, 10 .
As the command of the law is in writing, for certainty and perpetuity,
so is the curse of the law; it writes bitter things against the sinner. "What I have written I have written and what is
written remains." The angel, to engage the prophet's attention, and to
raise in him a desire to have it explained, asks him what he
sees? And he gives him this account of it: I see a flying
roll, and as near as he can guess by his eye it is twenty cubits
long (that is, ten yards) and ten cubits broad, that is,
five yards. The scriptures of the Old Testament and the New are rolls, in which God has written to us the great things of his
law and gospel. Christ is the Master of the rolls. They are large
rolls, have much in them. They are flying rolls; the angel that
had the everlasting gospel to preach flew in the midst of
heaven, Rev. xiv. 6 .
God's word runs very swiftly, Ps. cxlvii. 15 .
Those that would be let into the meaning of these rolls must first tell
what they see, must go as far as they can themselves. " What is
written in the law? how readest thou? Tell me that, and then thou
shalt be made to understand what thou readest. "
II. How it was expounded to him, v. 3, 4 .
This flying roll is a curse; it contains a declaration of the
righteous wrath of God against those sinners especially who by swearing
affront God's majesty or by stealing invade their neighbour's property.
Let every Israelite rejoice in the blessings of his country with
trembling; for if he swear, if he steal, if he live in any course of
sin, he shall see them with his eyes, but shall not have the comfort of
them, for against him the curse has gone forth. If I be wicked, woe
to me for all this. Now observe here,
1. The extent of this curse; the prophet sees it flying, but which way
does it steer its course? It goes forth over the face of the whole
earth, not only of the land of Israel, but the whole world; for those that have sinned against the law written in their
hearts only shall by that law be judged, though they have not the
book of the law. Note, All mankind are liable to the judgment of God;
and, wherever sinners are, any where upon the face of the whole earth,
the curse of God can and will find them out and seize them. Oh that we
could with an eye of faith see the flying roll of God's curse hanging
over the guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the
sun-beams of God's favour from them, but big with thunders, lightnings,
and storms, ready to destroy them! How welcome then would the tidings
of a Saviour be, who came to redeem us from the curse of the law by being himself made a curse for us, and, like the prophet, eating this roll! The vast length and breadth of this roll
intimate what a multitude of curses sinners lie exposed to. God will
make their plagues wonderful, if they turn not.
2. The criminals against whom particularly this curse is levelled. The
world is full of sin in great variety: so was the Jewish church at this
time. But two sorts of sinners are here specified as the objects of
this curse:--
(1.) Thieves; it is for every one that steals, that by fraud or
force takes that which is not his own, especially that robs God and
converts to his own use what was devoted to God and his honour, which
was a sin much complained of among the Jews at this time, Mal. iii. 8; Neh. xiii. 10 .
Sacrilege is, without doubt, the worst kind of thievery. He also that robs his father or mother, and saith, It is no transgression ( Prov. xxviii. 24 ),
let him know that against him this curse is directed, for it is against every one that steals. The letter of the eighth commandment has
no penalty annexed to it; but the curse here is a sanction to that
command.
(2.) Swearers. Sinners of the former class offend against the second
table, these against the first; for the curse meets those that break
either table. He that swears rashly and profanely shall not be held
guiltless, much less he that swears falsely
( v. 4 );
he imprecates the curse upon himself by his perjury, and so shall his
doom be; God will say Amen to his imprecation, and turn it upon
his own head. He has appealed to God's judgment, which is always
according to truth, for the confirming of a lie, and to that judgment
he shall go which he has so impiously affronted.
3. The enforcing of this curse, and the equity of it: I will bring
it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, v. 4 .
He that pronounces the sentence will take care to see it executed. His
bringing it forth denotes,
(1.) His giving it commission. It is a righteous curse, for he is a
righteous God that warrants it.
(2.) His giving it the setting on. He brings it forth with power, and
orders what execution it shall do; and who can put by or resist the
curse which a God of almighty power brings forth?
4. The effect of this curse; it is very dreadful,
(1.) Upon the sinner himself: Every one that steals shall be cut
off, not corrected, but destroyed, cut off from the land of the
living. The curse of God is a cutting thing, a killing thing. He shall
be cut off as on this side (cut off from this place, that is,
from Jerusalem), and so he that swears from this side (it is the
same word), from this place. God will not spare the sinners he finds
among his own people, nor shall the holy city be a protection to the
unholy. Or they shall be cut off from hence, that is, from the
face of the whole earth, over which the curse flies. Or he that steals
shall be cut off on this side, and he that swears on that
side; they shall all be cut off, one as well as another, and both
according to the curse, for the judgments of God's hand are exactly
agreeable with the judgments of his mouth.
(2.) Upon his family: It shall enter into the house of the thief and
of him that swears. God's curse comes with a warrant to break open
doors, and cannot be kept out by bars or locks. There where the sinner
is most secure, and thinks himself out of danger,--there where he
promises himself refreshment by food and sleep,--there, in his own
house, shall the curse of God seize him; nay, it shall fall not upon
him only, but upon all about him for his sake. Cursed shall be his
basket and his store, and cursed the fruit of his body, Deut. xxviii. 17, 18 .
The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, Prov. iii. 33 .
It shall not only beset his house, or he at the door, but it shall
remain in the midst of his house, and diffuse its malignant
influences to all the parts of it. It shall dwell in his tabernacle
because it is none of his, Job xviii. 15 .
It shall dwell where he dwells, and be his constant companion at bed
and board, to make both miserable to him. Having got possession, it
shall keep it, and, unless he repent and reform, there is no way to
throw it out or cut off the entail of it. Nay, it shall so remain in it
as to consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones
thereof, which, though ever so strong, though the timber be heart
of oak and the stones hewn out of the rocks of adamant, yet they shall
not be able to stand before the curse of God. We heard the stone and
the timber complaining of the owner's extortion and oppression, and
groaning under the burden of them, Hab. ii. 11 .
Now here we have them delivered from that bondage of corruption. While they were in their strength and beauty they supported, sorely
against their will, the sinner's pride and security; but, when they are
consumed, their ruins will, to their satisfaction, be standing
monuments of God's justice and lasting witnesses of the sinner's
injustice. Note, Sin is the ruin of houses and families, especially the
sins of injury and perjury. Who knows the power of God's anger, and the operations of his curse? Even timber and stones have been
consumed by them; let us therefore stand in awe and not sin.
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 Matt. xxiii. 32; 1 Thess. ii. 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.
INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH 5
This chapter treats of the judgments of God upon the wicked Jews for their sins and impieties, the measure of which was filled up, and of the execution of them, which are represented in two visions: the first is of a flying roll, which signifies the curse of God, and is described by its measure, the length being twenty cubits, and the breadth ten; and by the extent of it, it reaching to the whole earth, and particularly to thieves and false swearers, who shall be cut off by it; and by the certainty of its coming into the houses of such, and the utter desolation it should there make, Zec 5:1 and the other is the vision of an ephah, and a woman sitting in it, and a talent of lead cast upon the mouth of it, which signified wickedness, Zec 5:5 this "ephah" is seen to be lifted up between earth and heaven by two women, who are said to have wings like the wings of storks, and the wind to be in them; and who are said by the angel to carry the "ephah" into the land of Shinar, to build it a house, that it might be established and settled upon its own base, Zec 5:9.
Ver. 1. Then I turned, and lift up mine eyes, and looked,.... The prophet turned himself from looking upon the candlestick and olive branches, having had a full and clear understanding of them, and looked another way, and saw another vision:
and behold a flying roll, a volume or book flying in the air; it being usual for books, which were written on parchment, to be rolled up in the form of a cylinder; whence they were called rolls or volumes.
Zechariah 5:2
Ver. 2. And he said unto me,.... That is, the angel:
What seest thou? and I answered, I see a flying roll, the length whereof [is] twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits; so that it was a very large one, a volume of a very uncommon size, especially it may so seem to us; but in other nations they have very long rolls or volumes, even longer than this: the Russians write their acts, protests, and other court matters, on long rolls of paper, some twenty ells, some thirty, and some sixty, and more {x}: and this being the length and breadth of the porch before the temple, 1Ki 6:3 hence the Jewish writers conclude that this flying roll came from thence: it may design either the roll or book in which the sins of men are written; which is very large, and will quickly be brought into judgment, when it will be opened, and men will be judged according to it; which shows the notice God takes of the sins of men; the exact knowledge he has of them; his strict remembrance of them; and the certain account men must give of them another day: or, the book of God's judgments upon sinners, such as was Ezekiel's roll, Eze 2:9 which are many and great; are rolled up, and not at present to be searched into; but are flying, coming on, and will be speedily executed: or rather the book of the law, called a roll or volume, Ps 40:7 and which will be a swift witness against the breakers of it, as more fully appears from the explanation of it in the next verse Zec 5:3. It is a mere fancy and conceit of some that the Talmud is meant by this roll, the body of the Jewish traditions, which make void the commands of God, take away the blessing, and leave a curse in the land, as they did in the land of Judea.
{x} Eskuche apud Burkium in loc.
Zechariah 5:3
Ver. 3. Then said he unto me, This [is] the curse,.... So the law of Moses is called, because it has curses written in it,
De 27:15 which curse is not causeless, but is according to law and justice; it is from the Lord, and is no other than the wrath of the Almighty; and, wherever it lights, it will remain and continue for ever. Vitringa, on Isa 24:6 says, this is the curse which Isaiah there prophesies of, which had its accomplishment in the times of Antiochus; but there the prophet is speaking, not of the land of Judea, but of the antichristian states.
That goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: over the whole land of Judea, and the inhabitants of it, for their breach of the law, contempt of the Gospel, and the rejection of the Messiah; and which had its accomplishment when wrath came upon them to the uttermost, in the destruction of their nation, city, and temple; and is the curse God threatened to smite their land with, Mal 4:6 and this curse also reaches to the whole world, and the inhabitants of it, who lie in wickedness; and to all sorts of sinners, particularly those next mentioned:
for everyone that stealeth shall be cut off [as] on this side, according to it; as it is written and declared on one side of the roll:
and everyone that sweareth shall be cut off [as] on that side according to it; as is written and declared on the other side of the roll; which two sins of theft and false swearing, the one being against the second, and the other the first table of the law, show that the curse of the law reaches to all sorts of sins and sinners; to all who do not keep it in every respect: and, indeed, to all but those who are redeemed from it by the blood of Christ; and that it is proportioned according to a man's sins: and those two are particularly mentioned, because they are sins which prevailed among the Jews at the time Christ was on earth. Theft did, both in a literal and figurative sense,
Mt 23:14 and so did vain swearing, Mt 5:33.
Zechariah 5:4
Ver. 4. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts,.... The roll was come forth, and was flying abroad; but the curse and wrath of God, signified by it, is what God would bring forth out of his treasures, according to his purposes and declarations, and execute upon sinners; which shows the certainty of it, and that there is no escaping it:
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; when wrath is gone forth from the Lord, there is no stopping it; and where it takes place it will remain, there is no getting rid of it; it makes an utter desolation of goods and estates, and entirely destroys both body and soul in hell: there seems to be an allusion to the plague of the leprosy, Le 14:45. So the son of Sirach says,
"a man that swears much shall be full of iniquity, and the plague shall not depart from his house:''
and again,
"if a man swears in vain, he shall not be innocent or justified, for his house shall be full of calamities {y}.''
So the oracle in Herodotus {z}, which Grotius has observed, makes an utter destruction of a man's house and family, to be the punishment of the sin of perjury. Moreover, by the house of the thief and swearer may be meant the temple, as in the times of Christ, which was become a den of thieves and perjurers, and for their sins, became desolate,
Mt 21:13.
{y} Ecclesiasticus xxiii. 11. {z} Erato, sive l. 6. c. 86.
Zechariah 5:5
Ver. 5. 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.
Zechariah 5:6
Ver. 6. And I said, What [is] it?.... After he had lifted up his eyes and seen it, he desires to know both what it was, and what was the meaning of it:
and he said, This [is] an ephah that goeth forth; which was a measure much in use with the Jews, Ex 16:36 it is the same with the "bath", and held above seven wine gallons. The Targum interprets this of such who dealt in false measures, whose sin is exposed, and their punishment set forth; but rather it designs the measure of iniquity filling up, either in Judea, particularly in the times of Christ, Mt 23:32 or in the whole world, and especially in the antichristian states, Re 18:5: and
He said moreover, this [is] their resemblance through all the earth; or "this is their eye" {z}; what they are looking at, and intent upon, namely, this ephah; that is, to fill up the measure of their iniquity: or, as Kimchi and Ben Melech interpret it, this ephah, which thou seest, shows that there is an eye upon them which sees their works; and this is the eye of the Lord, which sees and takes notice of all the evil actions of men, not as approving them, but as observing them, and avenging them. Cocceius, by the "ephah", understands an abundance of temporal good things bestowed upon the Christian church in 's time and following, on which the eyes of carnal men were looking.
{z} Mnye taz "haec est oculus eorum", Pagninus, Montanus, Munster, Vatablus, Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Tarnovius, Cocceius.
Zechariah 5:7
Ver. 7. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead,.... By the angel; since he is afterwards said to cast it upon the mouth of the "ephah". A cicar, or talent of silver, with the Jews, was equal to three thousand shekels, as may be gathered from Ex 38:24 and weighed a hundred and twenty five pounds {a}; or, as others, a hundred and twenty {b}, and, according to the more exact account of Dr. Arbuthnot, a hundred and thirteen pounds, ten ounces, one pennyweight, and ten and two seventh grains of our Troy weight. A Babylonish talent, according to Aelianus {c}, weighed seventy two Attic pounds; and an Attic mina, or pound, weighed a hundred drachmas; so that it was of the weight of seven thousand two hundred such drachmas. An Alexandrian talent was equal to twelve thousand Attic drachmas; and these the same with a hundred and twenty five Roman libras or pounds; which talent is supposed to be the same with that of Moses. The Roman talent contained seventy two Italic minas, which were the same with the Roman libras {d}. But since the Hebrew word "cicar" signifies anything plain, and what is extended like a cake, as Arias Montanus observes {e}, it may here intend a plate of lead, which was laid over the mouth of the "ephah", as a lid unto it; though indeed it is afterwards called
trpwe Nba, "a stone of lead", and so seems to design a weight.
And this [is] a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah; who, in Zec 5:8, is called "wickedness"; and here represented by a "woman", because, say some, the woman was first in the transgression; or rather because sin is flattering and deceitful, and draws into the commission of it, and so to ruin: and this woman, wickedness, intends wicked men; all the wicked among the Jews, and even all the wicked of the world; who sit in the "ephah", very active and busy in filling up the measure of their sins, and where they sit with great pleasure and delight; very openly and visibly declare their sin, as Sodom, and hide it not; in a very proud and haughty manner, with great boldness and impudence, and in great security, without any concern about a future state, promising themselves impunity here and hereafter. This woman is a very lively emblem of the whore of , sitting as a queen upon many waters; ruling over kings and princes; living deliciously, and in great ease and pleasure filling up the measure of her sins. Kimchi interprets this woman of the ten tribes, who wickedly departed from God, and were as one kingdom.
{a} Epiphanius de Mensuris & Ponderibus. {b} Hebraei apud Buxtorf. Lex. Heb. in rad. rkk. {c} Var. Hist. l. 1. c. 22. {d} See Prideaux's Preface to Connexion, &c. vol. 1. p. 18, 19, &c. {e} Ephron, sive de Siclo, prope finem.
Zechariah 5:8
Ver. 8. 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"; o anomov, 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.
Zechariah 5:9
Ver. 9. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked,.... This is not a new vision, but a continuation of the former, as appears from the "ephah" seen in it:
and, behold, there came out two women; out of the same place the "ephah" did. The Targum explains these "two women" by two provinces; and Kimchi interprets them of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who had been carried captive into Babylon; and others of the two kings, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, who were the cause of the captivity; but Jarchi understands by them the Babylonians and Chaldeans, two nations as one, joined in Nebuchadnezzar's armies, which carried them captive: others think the two reformers, Ezra and Nehemiah, are meant, who were instruments of purging the Jews, returned from captivity, though but weak ones, and therefore are compared to "women"; yet what they did they did swiftly, and therefore are said to have "wings", and under the influence of the Spirit of God; hence the "wind", or "spirit" {f}, is said to be in their wings; and they acted from a tender regard to the glory of God and the good of their country; and therefore their wings were like the "wings of a stork"; a bird of passage, as appears from Jer 8:7 and so a fit emblem to be used in the transportation of the "ephah"; of whom Pliny {g} says, from whence they come, and whither they betake themselves, is yet unknown; and adds, there is no doubt that they come from afar; as it is plain they must, if that relation be true, which seems to have good authority, that one of these creatures, upon its return to Germany, brought a green root of ginger with it; which must come from the eastern part of the world; from Arabia, or Ethiopia, or the East Indies, where it grows {h}: and as it is a bird that takes such long flights, it must have wings fitted for such a purpose; and which are taken notice of in Job 39:13 to which the wings and feather of the ostrich are compared; for so Bochart {i} there renders the word, "the wing of the ostriches rejoices, truly the wing" as of "a stork, and the feather"; or, as others, "who gave wings to the stork and ostrich?" both remarkable for their wings: and Vatablus renders the word here an "ostrich"; which, according to Pliny {k}, is the largest of birds, and almost as big as a beast. In Ethiopia and Africa they are taller than a horse and his rider, and exceed the horse in swiftness; and their wings seem to be given them to help them in running; but which are not sufficient to lift them much above the earth, and so can not be meant here; but rather the stork, whose wings are black and white; and when they fly, they stretch out their necks forwards, and their feet backwards, and with these direct their course; when a tempest rises, standing on both feet, they spread their wings, lay their bill upon their breast, and turn their face that way the storm comes {l}. The Targum renders it an eagle, which is the swiftest of birds, and whose wings are very strong to bear anything upon them, as they do their young, to which the allusion is, De 32:11 and so, if meant here, to lift up and bear away the ephah between the earth and the heaven; but the word is never used of that bird. The Harpies or Furies, with the Heathens, are represented, as women having wings {m} as these women are said to have; but these are very different women from them. Though some think the Romans, under Vespasian and Titus, are intended; but it may be that the two, perfections of God, his power and justice, in punishing men for their sins, are meant, particularly in the last times, and at the day of judgment. The power of God will be seen in raising the dead; in bringing all to judgment; in separating the wicked from the righteous, and in the execution of the sentence denounced on them: and the justice of God will be very conspicuous in the judgment and destruction of them.
And the wind [was] in their wings; they had wings, as denoting swiftness, as angels are said to have; hence Maimonides, as Kimchi observes, thought that angels are here meant; but this denotes, that though God is longsuffering, and may seem to defer judgment, which is sometimes a stumbling to the righteous, and a hardening to the wicked; yet, as this is only for the salvation of his elect, so when once the time is up, and the commission given forth, power and justice will speedily execute the sentence: and the "wind" being in their wings shows the greater swiftness and speed in the dispatch of business, and the great strength and force with which they performed it:
for they had wings like the wings of a stork; which, being a creature kind and tender, show that there is no cruelty in the displays of the power and justice of God in punishing sinners:
and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven; which denotes the visibility of the whole measure of the sins of wicked men; they will all be made manifest, and brought into judgment: and also the visibility of their punishment; they will go into everlasting punishment, in the sight of angels and men; and which will be the case of the antichristian beast, Re 17:8.
{f} xwr "spiritus", V. L. Pagninus, Montanus, Calvin, Burkius. {g} Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 23. {h} Vid. Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 2. c. 29. col. 328, 332. {i} Ibid. c. 16. col. 247, 248. {k} Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 1. {l} Schotti Physica Curiosa, par. 2. l. 9. c. 26. p. 1162. {m} "Harpyiae et magnis quatiunt clangoribus alas." Virgil. Aeneid. l. 3. ver. 223.
Zechariah 5:10
Ver. 10. Then said I to the angel that talked with me;.... This the prophet said after he had seen the "ephah" come forth; the woman, wickedness, cast into it, and the talent of lead upon her; and the two women lifting up the ephah between heaven and earth:
Whither do these bear the ephah? he neither asks what the ephah signified, nor who were the women that bore it, but only whither they bore it.
Zechariah 5:11
Ver. 11. And he said unto me, To build it an house in the ,.... That is, in the province of Babylon, as the Targum paraphrases it; for Babel, or Babylon, was in the land of Shinar,
Ge 10:10 whither the Jews were carried captive, Da 1:2
Isa 11:11, and the bearing of the "ephah" thither may denote the cause of their captivity, the measure of sins filled up by them: though this some understand of the like injuries, oppressions, and vexations, brought upon the Chaldeans in the land of Shinar, which they before exercised towards and upon the Jews; and others of the rejection of wicked men from among the Jews, by Ezra and Nehemiah, transporting them as it were back to Babylon again: others of the dispersion of the Jews by the Romans, who chiefly settled after that in the eastern parts of the world; though indeed the whole world was a land of Shinar, or "shaking out" {n} unto them; they being shook out of their own land, and scattered about everywhere; which dispersion has been long and lasting, notorious and conspicuous; and they are now settled upon their own base, established upon their former principles of legality and self-righteousness, and rejection of the true Messiah; or rather this may be understood of the transfer of the ephah, or whole measure of iniquity, into mystical Babylon. The antichristian church of Rome is called Babylon; she is represented as a sink of sin, a mystery of iniquity, Re 17:5 and a house being built for this man of sin, antichrist, denotes the continuance of him; and being established on its own base, shows the false foundation on which the church of Rome is built, and her carnal security. So Cocceius, by the "two women", understands the two kingdoms or powers of antichrist, the civil and ecclesiastical powers; which support the man of sin, lift him up, and give him the highest place in the church, and fix his seat where idolatry and persecution reign, as formerly did in Babylon, in the land of Shinar. Though the whole may very well be applied to the last and everlasting punishment of sin and sinners, when the whole measure is filled up. The end of sin and sinners is death and everlasting destruction. The ephah, and the woman in it, are carried, not upwards to heaven, nor to the New Jerusalem, but to the land of Shinar, the land of shaking; to hell, where are utter darkness, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth; where a house is built for them, which denotes their continuance there; and which, being established on its own base, shows their punishment shall forever remain; their worm never dies; their fire is not quenched; the smoke of it ascends for ever and ever; their destruction is an everlasting destruction.
{n} renv Ura "terra excussionis", Menoch ins.
<ALIGN="CENTER"John Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible.
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are
rolls, in which God has written the great things of his law and
gospel; they are flying rolls. God's word runs very swiftly, Psalm
147:15. This flying roll contains a declaration of the righteous wrath
of God against sinners. Oh that we saw with an eye of faith the
flying roll of God's curse hanging over the guilty world as a thick
cloud, not only keeping off the sunbeams of God's favour, but big
with thunders, lightnings, and storms, ready to destroy them! How
welcome then would the tidings of a Saviour be, who came to
redeem us from the curse of the law, being himself made a curse
for us! Sin is the ruin of houses and families; especially the doing
hurt to others and false witness. Who knows the power of God's
anger? God's curse cannot be kept out by bars or locks. While one
part of the curse of God ruins the substance of the sinner, another
part will rest on the soul, and sink it to everlasting punishment. All
are transgressors of the law, so we cannot escape this wrath of
God, except we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us
in the gospel. WHBC 917.2
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are
rolls, in which God has written the great things of his law and
gospel; they are flying rolls. God's word runs very swiftly, Psalm
147:15.
All
are transgressors of the law, so we cannot escape this wrath of
God, except we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us
in the gospel. WHBC 917.2
Sources: Matthew Henry; Gill's Exposition; Matthew Henry Concise
Commentary
Commentary