What is the significance of the ephah in Zechariah 5:11? Definition and Physical Measure The ephah (אֵיפָה, ʾêphāh) was the principal dry-volume measure in ancient Israel. Based on extant inscribed stone and ceramic standards unearthed at Tel Lachish, Hazor, and Tel Beersheba, the ephah averaged 22 L/0.62 bu.¹ The measure belonged to a triad of interlocking units: 1 ephah ≈ 10 omers ≈ ⅓ homer (Leviticus 23:10; Ezekiel 45:11). It functioned in daily commerce, sacrificial grain offerings, and tithes (Exodus 16:36; Leviticus 5:11; Ruth 2:17). Occurrence in Scripture An ephah appears forty-two times across the Hebrew canon. In narrative it records ordinary commerce (Amos 8:5) and hospitality (Judges 6:19). In ritual it denotes prescribed amounts for offerings (Numbers 15:4). Prophets employ it metaphorically for moral indictment (Micah 6:10-11). This semantic range primes Zechariah’s audience to recognize both its mundane and symbolic potential. Historical and Archaeological Corroboration Limestone weights inscribed “EPH” found at Tel Gezer and digitally scanned in the Israel Museum align within 3 % of the 22 L standard, confirming a regulated system contemporaneous with the late monarchic and post-exilic periods assigned by the conservative Ussher chronology to the 9th–5th centuries BC. Cuneiform texts from Babylon (e.g., the Murashû archives, c. 450 BC) record the Akkadian counterpart ēpu, allowing cross-validation of volume equivalence during Zechariah’s lifetime. The Dead Sea Scroll 4QXIIᵃ (c. 150 BC) transmits Zechariah 5:5-11 with no substantive variant, corroborating the Masoretic consonantal text and confirming that the prophet indeed chose the ephah image. Zechariah 5:1–11 Literary Context Following night-visions that promised temple restoration (Zechariah 3–4), the sixth vision presents a flying scroll condemning personal lawlessness (vv. 1-4) and, immediately, the ephah containing a woman called “Wickedness” (rĕšāʿâ) (vv. 5-11): “Then he said to me, ‘This is the ephah going forth.’ … He said, ‘This is Wickedness.’ And he thrust her down into the ephah and pushed the lead cover over its opening. Then I lifted up my eyes and saw two women coming with the wind in their wings … And they lifted the ephah between earth and heaven. ‘Where are they taking the ephah?’ I asked the angel. ‘To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,’ he told me. ‘When it is ready, the ephah will be set there on a pedestal.’ ” (Zechariah 5:6-11) Symbolic Significance in Zechariah 5:11 1. Measure of Sin. The ephah, normally a neutral standard, here encloses moral perversity. Scripture often links dishonest measures with covenant violation: “Shall I acquit a man with dishonest scales and with a bag of deceptive weights?” (Micah 6:11). Packing “Wickedness” into a measuring basket dramatizes sin quantified, contained, and judged. 2. Commercial Corruption. Post-exilic Judah wrestled with exploitative economics (Nehemiah 5:1-13). By personifying evil in a trading receptacle, the vision targets mercantile greed infecting a community tasked with rebuilding God’s house (Haggai 1:4-11). 3. Lead Cover. Lead (ʿăbarâ) is the heaviest common metal of antiquity; its 75 lb/sq ft density underscores finality. Sealing the ephah illustrates divine quarantine: the sin is not only measured but irrevocably restrained. 4. Aeriel Transport. Two winged women—unclean according to Leviticus 11:13-19 yet instruments of God here—hoist the ephah “between earth and heaven,” a liminal zone signalling that ultimate judgment transcends human agency (cf. Revelation 14:6). Shinar as Prophetic Geography Shinar (שִׁנְעָר) connotes Babel/Babylon (Genesis 11:2; Daniel 1:2). For Zechariah’s audience, it evoked the cradle of idolatry, tyranny, and market empire. Depositing Wickedness there echoes earlier prophecy: “Fallen, fallen is Babylon … For all the nations have drunk of the wine of the passion of her immorality” (Isaiah 21:9; Revelation 18:3). The “house” (Heb. bayit) prepared in Shinar parodies the Jerusalem temple; evil receives a shrine of its own, signifying localization and eventual destruction rather than omnipresence. Contrast with Mosaic Law of Honest Measures Leviticus 19:35-36 commands, “You shall do no wrong in measurement of weight or volume; you shall have honest scales, honest weights, an honest ephah.” Zechariah’s vision reverses the ideal. By turning the ephah into a container for iniquity, God exposes Judah’s deviation from covenant standards. The corrective: restoration of godly commerce under Messianic rule (cf. Zechariah 8:16-17). Eschatological and Messianic Implications The removal of wickedness to Babylon prefigures Revelation 18, where commercial Babylon collapses before the returning Christ. The Messiah later depicted in Zechariah 9:9-10 purges idolatry and institutes worldwide peace. Thus the ephah episode functions as a stage in God’s redemptive timeline that culminates at the cross and resurrection—historical events attested by multiple, early, eyewitness creed fragments (1 Corinthians 15:3-5) whose authenticity is secured by early manuscript clusters 𝔓⁴⁵, 𝔓⁴⁶, and Codex Vaticanus. Practical and Theological Applications • Integrity in Commerce: Believers must replicate Yahweh’s standard of honest measurement, reflecting His character in business (Proverbs 11:1). • Hope in Judgment: Evil is not merely opposed; it is measured, contained, and scheduled for removal. This provides pastoral assurance amid societal corruption. • Separation from Babylon: Christians are exhorted, “Come out of her, My people” (Revelation 18:4), mirroring the vision’s relocation of wickedness away from the holy land. • Temple Versus Anti-Temple: The building of a “house” for wickedness sharpens the believer’s resolve to maintain the body as “a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1 Corinthians 6:19). Consistency with New Testament Revelation The New Testament echoes Zechariah’s imagery: • A woman personifying moral defilement (Revelation 17:3-5). • Divine sealing of transgression (Revelation 20:1-3). • Final judgment on commercial idolatry (Revelation 18). This trajectory underscores the single, coherent storyline of Scripture—from measured sin to final eradication through the resurrected Christ who “made purification for sins” (Hebrews 1:3). ¹ See O. Borowski, “Weights and Measures in the Biblical Period,” NEA 60 (1997): 146-154. |
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