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 iniqui... [ Continue Reading ]
_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.... [ Continue Reading ]
_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.... [ Continue Reading ]
_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... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 w... [ Continue Reading ]
_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. _goe... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 ves... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 con... [ Continue Reading ]
_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"), o... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 born... [ Continue Reading ]
_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 implicati... [ Continue Reading ]