The Sixth Vision. The Flying Roll, Zechariah 5:1-4. As the cleansing of the priesthood in the fourth vision prepared the way for the restored glory of the Church in the fifth, so the cleansing of the people, by the destruction of individual sinners in the sixth vision, and by the removal of iniquity itself from the land in the seventh, prepares the way for their deliverance, through the complete overthrow of their enemies, in the eighth.

Looking up again the Prophet perceives that the scene has changed once more. Instead of the Golden Candlestick and its accompaniments, which have passed out of view, he now sees a large roll flying through the air, Zechariah 5:1, and in answer to the enquiry of the Interpreting Angel, tells him what he sees and how great are its dimensions, Zechariah 5:2. The Angel explains to him that the roll is the vehicle of the curse, which it bears inscribed upon it, and which it is commissioned to execute upon impenitent sinners, whether against the first or second table of the law, Zechariah 5:3. The swift unerring messenger of Jehovah Himself, it shall enter into the house of every such man and consume it utterly, Zechariah 5:4.

1. I turned, and lift up mine eyes, and looked] Rather, I lifted up mine eyes again and saw a flying roll. Its flight signified the swift coming of punishment; its flying from heaven that the sentence proceeded from the judgment-seat above.

2. the length thereof &c.] The roll was unfolded and opened out. The dimensions of the roll seem merely to be mentioned as an expression of the prophet’s wonder at its size. The beholder of such a strange apparition in the heavens would not unnaturally say how large he took it to be.

3. earth] Rather land, i.e. the land of Judah.

every one that stealeth] The breach of one commandment of each table of the law, every one that stealeth, and so breaks the eighth commandment in the second table, every one that sweareth (i.e. falsely by God’s name Zechariah 5:4), and so breaks the third commandment in the first table, is singled out, perhaps because these were then the most prevalent sins amongst the Jews, as typical of all transgression. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all.” James 2:10-11.

on this side according to it] If we retain this translation (or, on the one side, on the other side, R. V.) it will mean that the roll was written on both sides, and that on the one side was inscribed the curse against those who broke the first table of the law, and on the other side the curse against those who broke the second table. Some however translate for every thief shall be driven out hence (from hence, R. V. margin), i.e. from this land, according to it, and every swearer shall be driven out hence according to it. The objection to this is, that in the following verse we learn that the mission of the curse is not to expel sinners from the land, but to consume them in it. If with Pusey we take the word “cut off,” A. V. to mean “cleansed away” (purged out, R. V.), as something defiled and defiling, which has to be cleared away as offensive, the objection would be removed. The sinner is cleansed away from the land when he is utterly destroyed.

4. it shall remain] abide, R. V., “until it has accomplished that for which it was sent, its utter destruction.” Pusey.

Mr Wright in his commentary quotes, in illustration of the curse abiding till it has accomplished its mission, the story of Glaucus (Herod. vi. 86), who consulted the oracle as to whether he were at liberty to perjure himself, and retain for his own use a sum of money which had been committed to his trust. The response was that though such a course would be for his present gain, “yet an oath hath a nameless son, handless and footless, yet swift in pursuit till he seize and destroy the whole race and house.” And accordingly, though Glaucus restored the money and asked forgiveness for the thought of his heart, it was observed that, since to design the evil was to incur the guilt of executing it, his family became extinct.

The Seventh Vision. The Woman in the Ephah, Zechariah 5:5-11. Invited again by the Interpreting Angel to contemplate what was coming into view, Zechariah 5:5, Zechariah sees an Ephah, or large measure, appearing on the scene, which he is taught to regard as a representation of the wicked and their doom, Zechariah 5:6. From the mouth of the ephah a circular lid or cover of lead is temporarily lifted up, and a woman is seen sitting in the midst of the ephah, Zechariah 5:7. This woman, the Angel explains, is a personification of wickedness; and he proceeds to cast her down again into the ephah, from which she had attempted to rise, and to press down the weighty leaden cover on the mouth of the ephah, so as to confine her securely within it, Zechariah 5:8. As the prophet gazes again, two women, furnished with stork-like wings, lift up the ephah and bear it swiftly through the air with the woman shut up in it, Zechariah 5:9. On his enquiring its destination, Zechariah 5:10, he learns from the Angel that it is to be carried into the land of Shinar, and there to find an abiding dwelling-place, Zechariah 5:11.

5. went forth] or, came forth. During the intervals between the visions, when the prophet was overpowered by, or lost in contemplation of, what he had seen, the Interpreting Angel falls into the background. In this case his coming forth again, or appearing on the scene, is expressly mentioned.

goeth forth] or, cometh forth, i.e. from the surrounding darkness into clear view.

6. an ephah] Lit. the ephah. Though it seems impossible to fix accurately the size of the Hebrew ephah (Dict. of Bible, Weights and Measures), there can be no doubt that it was not large enough to contain a woman (Zechariah 5:7). “This,” then, says the angel, “is the (ideal) ephah, or ephah-like vessel, that is coming forth to view.” Comp. for the connection of sin with a measure, Matthew 23:32, and see Genesis 15:16; Jeremiah 51:13.

This is their resemblance] Lit. their eye. So we read of the manna, “its eye (i.e. appearance) was as the eye of bdellium,” Numbers 11:7. Comp. Leviticus 13:55; Ezekiel 1:4; Ezekiel 1:16.

This is understood by some to mean: “this” ephah, which thou seest is “their resemblance” (i.e. the resemblance of the wicked) “in all the land,” inasmuch as they are now no longer scattered over it, as in the preceding vision, but gathered up in one, like the grains of corn in a measure. It is better, however, to give a wider meaning to the word “this,” viz. this ephah, with all that you will see in the vision regarding it, is the resemblance or representation of the wicked through all the land, and of what shall befall them.

the earth] Rather, the land.

7. a talent of lead] Rather, a circle of lead, i.e. a thick circular plate or lamina of lead, which formed the lid or cover of the ephah, Zechariah 5:8; round piece, R. V. margin. This the prophet saw in the act of being “lifted up” from the mouth of the ephah, in order to give him a view of its contents.

and this] which now comes into view as the lid is raised. To indicate the raising of the cover just at this moment, the R. V. prints the first part of Zechariah 5:7 within brackets.

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. Genesis 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 (Psalm 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.

9. looked] Rather, saw.

came out] or came forth (as in Zechariah 5:5-6), from the surrounding darkness upon the stage or scene of the vision.

No meaning need be sought for the details of this verse. They merely convey the fact, clothed in imagery in keeping with the vision, that wickedness was borne swiftly from the land. “Pertinent haec ad colorem imaginis.” Maurer.

11. To build it a house] The word “it” is feminine (lit. her), and may refer either to the ephah or to the woman, as the words, on her own base, at the end of the verse may also do. It is perhaps simplest to understand the reference in both cases to be to the woman, whose destination was by implication asked in the prophet’s question, Zechariah 5:10. The house may be either a dwelling-place, or possibly a temple, “as Dagon (1 Samuel 5:2-5), or Ashtaroth (Ib. 1 Samuel 5:10), or Baal (2 Kings 10:23), had their houses or temples, a great idol temple in which the God of this world should be worshipped.” Pusey.

in the land of Shinar] i.e. Babylonia, with a reference perhaps to “that first attempt to array a world-empire against God,” which took place in “the land of Shinar.” Genesis 11:2.

it shall be established] i.e. the house.

and set there] Rather, and she (the woman) shall be made to rest there. The whole verse will then read, as in R. V., To build her an house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.

The Eighth Vision. The Four Chariots, Zechariah 6:1-8. In this vision four chariots appear to the prophet coming upon the scene, along the valley or defile between two mountains of brass or copper, Zechariah 5:1. The chariots are drawn by horses of different colours, Zechariah 5:2-3. In answer to the prophet’s enquiry, Zechariah 5:4, the Interpreting Angel informs him that these chariots represent the four spirits or winds of heaven, which are coming forth from the immediate presence of God, charged with the commands which He had there laid upon them, Zechariah 5:5. Of three of these chariots, distinguishing them by the colours of the horses which are yoked to them, the angel then announces the destination. Passing by the first chariot to which red horses were attached, he says that the second which had black horses was on its way to “the north country,” the land of Babylon, to be followed thither by the third which was drawn by white horses. The fourth chariot, with its speckled, or piebald horses, was about to visit “the south country,” Zechariah 5:6; but inasmuch as its horses were specially “strong,” their commission was extended, and the whole earth granted them for their course, Zechariah 5:7. Upon this the Interpreting Angel cries aloud to the prophet in the name of Jehovah, that by the mission of these His messengers of wrath, His sore displeasure (chap. Zechariah 1:15) against His enemies and the enemies of His people in the north country is appeased, and His spirit quieted, Zechariah 5:8.