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.

Ver. 8. And he said, This is wickedness] viz. This woman, a figure of the whole sinful nation of the Jews; as were Aholah and Aholibah, Ezekiel 23:36; Ezekiel 23:44, and Babylon the Great, the mother of fornications and abominations, Revelation 17:5, to whom I may add that grand-daughter of hers, Katherine de Medicis, Queen mother; who by her wickedness wonderfully troubled all France for thirty years together.

And he cast it into the midst of the ephah] The angel, as an executioner of Divine justice, throws her down who before sat perking and priding herself; and claps her up close prisoner as it were in the ephah.

Casting the weight of lead into the mouth thereof] That is, of the ephah, or of the woman, according to that, Psalms 107:42 "The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth." Montanus, one of the Talmud, addeth, that this woman is compelled to take this lead into her mouth; that molten lead was poured down her throat, for a punishment of her frauds and thefts, Zechariah 5:3. But the wicked shall not be so excused; for upon them God shall rain snares, fire, brimstone, and a burning tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup, Psalms 11:6, and this is far worse than molten lead, or burning bell metal. Compare with this text Jer 51:64 Revelation 18:21; cf. Revelation 20:1. An angel, a strong angel, for better assurance of Rome's irreparable ruin, taketh a stone, a great stone, which he throweth, and with force thrusteth into the bottom of the sea, whence it cannot be buoyed up, whence nothing ordinarily is recovered, much less a millstone thrust from such a hand with such a force. "What do ye imagine against the Lord?" saith Nahum; "he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time," Nahum 1:9; that is, the wicked shall be totally and finally consumed at once; neither will God make another doing of it. "I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah," Amos 4:11 : wickedness is here crushed together, as it were, in a narrow vessel, covered with lead, and carried into a strange country.