Zechariah 5:1

Zec 5:1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.

Ver. 1. Then I turned me, and lifted up mine eyes] i.e. I prepared me to the receiving of a new vision; nothing so comfortable as the former, but no less necessary; that the people, by sense of sin and fear of wrath, might be taken off their wicked practices, redeem their own sorrows, and be accounted worthy to escape all those things that should (otherwise) come to pass, as Zec 5:11, and to stand before the Son of man at that dreadful day, Luk 21:36. This seemeth to be the mind of the Holy Ghost, in these two visions here recorded; which while some interpreters attend not, in toto vaticinio neque coelum, neque terrain attingunt, saith Calvin, they are utterly out.

And behold a flying roll] Or, volume, as Psa 40:7, or scroll of paper, or parchment, usually rolled up, like the web upon the pin, uti convolvuntur nostrae Mappae Geographicae, as our maps are rolled up, saith a Lapide; and as in the public library at Oxford the book or roll of Esther (a Hebrew manuscript) is at this day to be seen; but here flying, Volans velocissimum ultionis incursum significat (Chrysost.). Not only becanse spread wide open, as Rabshakeh’s letter, 2Ki 19:14, and as that book of the prophet Isaiah, Luk 4:17, but also as fleeting along swiftly, like a bird ready to seize on her prey. Nemo scelus gerit in pectore, qui non idem Nemesin in tergo. No man bears evil in his heart who does not show the same revenge on the outside. The heathens named Nemesis (their goddess of revenge, to take punishment of offenders) Aδραστεια, because no man can possibly escape her, οτι ουκ αν τις αυτην αποδρασαιτο. They tell us also that their Jupiter writeth down all the sins of all men in a book, or scroll, made of a goat’s pelt, which they call διφθερα; the very word whereby Aquila and Theodotion (two Greek translaters) do render the Hebrew of this text. {Dan 7:18 Rev 20:12} Symmachus turns it Kεφαλις, a chapter, or abstract of a larger book, full of sins and woes; and yet it is of an unheard of size, Zec 5:2, and of very sad contents, like that book of Ezekiel, Eze 2:9-10, lamentation, and mourning, and woe; or the first leaf of Bishop Babington’s book (which he turned over every morning), all black; to remind him of hell and God’s judgments due unto him for his sins.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Zec_5:1-4

And I turned . . . and looked, and behold a flying roll

The flying roll

The object of this discourse is to present to you the Scriptures as a phenomenon of the world around us.

Consider them as an appearance in the circle of our observation, a fact in the history of our race, and ask, what account is to be given of it? The attention of our age is taken up much and wisely with the study of phenomena. We may interpret the Scriptures in one way or another; we may study or neglect, revere or despise them; we may consider them to be the dictates of observation, or below the level of human intelligence; we may call them a word of delusion, or the Word of God; but in the extremest varieties of opinion no one can escape from this,--that they are a leading phenomenon in the history of civilisation and religious thought, in the aspect of the moral world as it now stands and moves before us. In the text an angel speaks in vision to one of the last of the prophets, and asks, as if in the very spirit of modern research, What seest thou? The prophet raises his eyes and sees a winged book, a flying roll. It is of gigantic dimensions. It is of restless speed. It goeth forth over the face of the whole earth. It was the roll of the Lords judgments--a consuming fire. In this respect the Bible corresponds with it only in one of its parts, but in that part perfectly: in its testimony against, unrighteousness, its sentence upon those who love and practise dishonour, its fiery law. Dealing with the flying roll more generally, what are the points that we discover in it?

1. The extraordinary dimensions of the book, its length twenty cubits, and its breadth ten. What a space does the Bible fill in the gaze of mankind, though it can be carried about in the hand of the feeblest wayfarer! Do we not speak truly of its wonderful dimensions when it holds on its ample pages such a widely scattered wisdom, and is discerned from so far?

2. Its preservation and continuance through so long a sweep of time. This is remarkable even at a first glance. Since faithful Abraham came out from Chaldaea vast tribes and strong nations have risen to renown and passed away into silence. Founders of states have not so much as secured the name of what they founded. Dispensers of religion have left neither a priest for their successor nor a shrine for their monument. Oracles of wisdom have grown forgotten as well as dumb. Genius and learning have gone down into the dust, and there is not a finger track of an inscription upon it for their posterity to read. Whole literatures have disappeared, their tongues having ceased, and their characters become illegible or blotted entirely out. But here is writing, from many hands, and in a long series of instructions, dating as far back as the school lessons of human improvement. It has defied time. It has repelled decay. The linen, or the parchment, or whatever frail material it was confided to, held fast its trust, while brazen trophies were melted down and marble columns were pulverised. The temple of the Lord protected its archives; though its huge stones were unable to hold themselves together, and its sacred vessels served at last but for the ornaments of a heathen triumph.

3. Its spread. It is, indeed, a flying roll. The Scriptures move rapidly. They are not only preserved, but incredibly multiplied. They were addressed for the most part to one people, and they now speak to all people. They were written in their own peculiar tongues, and now they call all tongues their own. Have they not gone forth over the face of the whole earth? They are among the studies of learned men, who find there a wisdom higher than all else they know; while the ignorant and the simple, reading as they run, are made wise to life everlasting.

4. The honour with which they have been received as they have flown along. They are recognised in the public worship of most of the civilised tribes now under heaven. They are enshrined in cathedrals. They are revered, at least with all outward forms of homage, in the courts of the proudest empires. They are sworn upon when the most solemn vows by which we can be bound are to be attested. The patient fingers of holy recluses could for centuries find no better task than to copy them; and countless presses are now perpetually busy, that they may be distributed over the globe. The rarest genius and the profoundest learning are employed upon the illustration of them. It may be objected that we have said nothing of the disrespect and derision with which the Scriptures are regarded by multitudes, and have always been. We may admit this, but press the consideration, that they have withstood even this trial. Familiarity and levity have not subjected them to contempt. Nothing could better show how deeply they are seated in the veneration of mankind.

5. Their influence, their surprising power. There may be a high repute without any true efficiency. But that roll of the Divine covenants has always been of a Divine force. It has acted upon communities, wherever it has been introduced, so as to accomplish the most astonishing consequences. Are you inquiring what overthrew many of the massy oppressions, the enormous abuses, of the elder times? It was its paper edges that smote upon all that dark strength, and before those thin leaves buttress and battlement went down. How much has it done for individual minds.

6. Their immeasurable superiority, as mere traditions, above everything that has been handed down to us from the ancient world. There is in their contents a deep spring of instruction, such as the old generations nowhere furnish, and the coming ones are not likely soon to exhaust. Your own minds will surely leap to the inference: the finger of God was here. You may be perplexed with many passages in your Bible. You may slight some things as unimportant, and repel others as uncongenial. You may think you discern great blemishes and errors here and there. But what of that? It should throw no mistrust over the spontaneous conclusion: the finger of God was here. Yes, the Divine providence ordained and protected this charter of mans truest liberty and highest good. Let us look thoughtfully at it, then, as it flies on its holy errand. (N. L. Frothingham.)

The flying roll

The import of this vision is threatening, to show that the object of the prophet was to produce genuine repentance. The parts are significant. A roll, probably of parchment, is seen, 30 by 15 feet, the exact dimensions of the temple porch; where the law was usually read, showing that it was authoritative in its utterance, and connected with the theocracy. Being a written thing, it showed that its contents were solemnly determined beyond all escape or repeal. It was flying, to show that its threats were ready to do their work, and descend on every transgressor. It was unrolled, or its dimensions could not have been seen, to show that its warnings were openly proclaimed to all, that none might have an excuse. It was written on both sides, to connect it with the tables of the law, and show its comprehensive character. One side denounced perjury, a sin of the first table, the other stealing, a sin of the second; and both united in every case where a thief took the oath of expurgation to acquit himself of the charge of theft. This hovering curse would descend in every such case into the house of the offender, and consume even its most enduring parts, until it had thoroughly done its work of destruction. The immediate application of this vision was to those who were neglecting the erection of Gods house to build their own, and thus robbing God and forswearing their obligations to Him. On such the prophet declares a curse shall descend that will make this selfish withholding of their efforts in vain, for the houses they would build should be consumed by Gods wrath. The teaching of this vision is that of the law. It blazes with the fire, and echoes with the thunder of Sinai, and tells us that our God is a consuming fire. We learn thus a lesson of instruction to those who have succeeded the prophets of the Old Testament, as the authorised expounders of Gods will under the New. It is needful to tell the love of God, to unfold His precious promises, and to utter words of cheer and encouragement. But it is also needful to declare the other aspect of Gods character. There is a constant tendency in the human heart to abuse the goodness of God to an encouragement of sin. Hence ministers of the Gospel must declare this portion of Gods counsel as well as the other. They must declare to men who are living in neglect of duty, that withholding what is due to God, either in heart or life, is combined robbery and perjury. For those who thus sin, God has prepared a ministry of vengeance. There is something most vivid and appalling in this image of the hovering curse. It flies viewless and resistless, poising like a falcon over her prey, breathing a ruin the most dire and desolating, and when the blind and hardened offender opens his door to his ill-gotten gains, this mystic roll, with its fire tracery of wrath, enters into his habitation, and, fastening upon his cherished idols, begins its dread work of retribution, and ceases not until the fabric of his guilty life has been totally and irremediably consumed. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)

The flying roll

I. The man who is marked as a special transgressor is marked also for special judgment. The curse went forth over the face of the whole earth, but it was to cut off the thief and the false swearer. In the Hebrew nation there were many sinners, but there, as everywhere else, there were sinners who had not yet filled up the measure of their iniquity, and there were others who had passed all bounds, whose transgressions were so great as to make them marks upon which the lightnings of Gods displeasure must fall.

II. Escape from the consequences of unrepented sin is impossible. It is not necessary that the sin should reveal itself in action to ensure the entail of the certain penalty. If it never passes the boundary of the inner man there will be a reaction upon the mans spirit as certainly as night follows day, and more so because, though God has suspended the laws of nature, we have no reason to suppose He has ever interposed to prevent the consequences of sin, unless the sinner has come under the power of another law,--the law of forgiveness by confession and repentance. However hidden the transgression, the curse will find out its most secret hiding place.

III. Theft and perjury include all other sins. The son who forges his fathers name includes in that one act every other crime that he can commit against him except that of taking his life. He only needs occasion to reveal his readiness for any other act of dishonour toward his parent. The man who deliberately appeals to God to uphold him in his false statements forges the name of the Eternal Himself, and seeks to turn the God of truth into the Father of lies.

IV. The special sins of some bring suffering upon many. The curse went forth over the whole earth, or land. It is a truth proclaimed by God and verified by experience, that many may suffer by the sin of the few to whom they are in no way related. See this principle, and its bright reverse, illustrated by St. Paul in Rom_5:18. (Outlines by London Minister.)

The flying roll

The threatenings here are directed against the defects and transgressions of the Jewish people at that time. God gives them to understand by this vision that whilst it was His purpose to make His promise good, in the establishment of His Church, He would by no means connive at their sins and corruptions, but would visit them with present punishment, and with future extirpation, if they persisted in their unbelief and rebellion.

I. The sins more especially condemned.

1. Theft and sacrilege.

2. Perjury and false swearing.

II. The punishment threatened. Partly personal and partly domestic.

1. A personal judgment is denounced. Everyone shall receive his reward and punishment according to his sins, and according to the sentence of the roll.

2. It was to extend to his relative and domestic interests. It shall enter into the house of the thief. It shall remain in the midst of his house. And shall consume it with the timbers thereof, and the stones thereof. This subject may well teach heads of families a lesson of religious caution, lest by an undue anxiety for their own worldly success, or that of their children, they frustrate their most cherished purposes, and entail a curse rather than a blessing. We shall do well to remember that no external evil which may befall a particular class of mankind, in consequence of the faults of their progenitors, renders any individual of that class less acceptable to God, if he turn from his wickedness and repent. But the very curse may become a blessing, if it operate to warn an individual against the sin by which it was brought down upon him. On the other hand, let no children of religious parents suppose that the piety of a long line of ancestors will avail in their behalf, unless they are themselves the possessors of religious principle. And since all are exposed to an infinite danger on account of sin, how deep should be our gratitude to that Divine Redeemer, who bore the curse for us, that we might escape the impending penalty, and inherit the unspeakable blessings of His salvation. (S. Thodey.)

The flying roll--Divine retribution

I. As following sin.

1. The particular sins which retribution pursues.

(1) Theft and sacrilege.

(2) Perjury and false swearing.

The sins here mentioned are not mere specimens, but root or fountain sins. The flying roll of Divine retribution followed sin with its curses. There is a curse to every sin, and this is not vengeance, but benevolence. It is the arrangement of love.

2. The way in which just retribution pursues them.

(1) Openly. The roll is spread open, and is written in characters that are legible to all Divine retribution is no secret to man. It is not some intangible, hidden, occult thing. It is open to all eyes. Every man must see the riving roll, not only in the history of nations and communities, but in his own domestic and individual life. The flying roll hovers over every sin.

(2) Rapidly. Retribution is swift. It is a flying roll. Retribution follows sins swifter than the sound of the swiftest thunder peal follows the lightning flash.

(3) Penetratingly. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name. Wherever the sinner is, it will find him out. No mountain so high, no cavern so deep, no forest so intricate and shadowy as to protect him from His visitation. It serves to illustrate retribution.

II. As abiding with sin. It shall remain in the midst of his house. Not only does it rule the house of the sinner, it remains in the midst of it like a leprosy, infecting, wasting, consuming, destroying. It abides in the house to curse everything, even the timber and the stones. Guilt, not only, like a ravenous beast, crouches at the door of the sinner, but rather, like a blasting mildew, spreads its baneful influence over the whole dwelling. The sin of one member of a family brings its curse on the others. The sins of the parents bring a curse upon the children. (Homilist.)

Judgment with consolation

The angel shows, in this chapter, that whatever evils the Jews had suffered, proceeded from the righteous judgment of God; and then he adds a consolation--that the Lord would at length alleviate or put an end to their evils, when He had removed afar off their iniquity. Interpreters have touched neither heaven nor earth in their explanation of this prophecy, for they have not regarded the designs of the Holy Spirit. Some think that by the volume are to be understood false and perverted glosses, by which the purity of doctrine had been vitiated; but this view can by no means be received. There is no doubt but that God intended to show to Zechariah that the Jews were justly punished, because the whole land was full of thefts and perjuries. As their religion had been despised, as well as equity and justice, he shows that it was no wonder a curse had prevailed through the whole land, the Jews having by their impiety and sins extremely provoked the wrath of God. This is the import of the first part. And then, as this vision was terrible, there is added some alleviation by representing iniquity in a measure, and the mouth of the measure closed, and afterwards carries to the land of Shinar, that is, into Chaldea, that it might not remain in Judea. Thus, in the former part the prophets design was to humble the Jews, and to encourage them to repent, so that they might own God to have been justly angry; and then he gives them reason to entertain hope, and fully to expect an end to their evils, for the Lord would remove to a distance, and transfer their iniquity to Chaldea, so that Judea might be pure and free from every wickedness, both from thefts and acts of injustice, by which it had been previously polluted. (John Calvin.)

This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth--

The Lords curse

This type is expounded to signify the Lords curse going forth to do execution in all the land of Judah, and to cut off sinners against the first and second tables of the Law. Doctrine--

1. Whatever be the particular punishment inflicted by God for sin, yet this is seriously to be laid to heart, that every such punishment hath in its bosom a curse, till the sinner, awakened thereby, flee to Christ, who became a curse, that His own may inherit a blessing.

2. The Lord is an impartial avenger of sin, when it is persevered in without repentance; and when other means are ineffectual, He will not spare to cut off the desperate sinner; for the curse goes forth over the face of the whole earth, or land; and everyone shall be cut off, without exception, who are guilty.

3. The Lord will not spare but indifferently punish sin, whether against the first or second tables, in avoiding of both which the Lords people are to testify their sincerity. This is signified by cutting off everyone that stealeth, and everyone that sweareth.

4. When a people are delivered out of sore troubles, and yet their lusts are not modified, they ordinarily prove covetous, false, and oppressing, as labouring by all means to make up these things that trouble hath stript them of; therefore is there a particular threat against everyone that stealeth, it being a rife sin at their return from captivity, for they went every man to his own house (Hag_1:9), were cruel oppressors (Neh_5:1-3), yea, and robbed God of tithes and offerings (Mal_3:8).

5. Covetous and false men, in their bargains with men, will make no bones of impiety and perjury, if that may help to gain their point; for with the former is joined everyone that sweareth, which is expounded, Zec_5:4, to be swearing falsely by Gods name. (George Hutcheson.)

It shall remain in the midst of his house--

A curse in the family

As certain as the ordinances of nature, is the law that ill-gotten gain will bring a curse. The following is a startling illustration of the truth, gathered from the history of a rural town:--In 1786, a youth, then residing in Maine, owned a jackknife, which he, being of a somewhat trading disposition, sold for a gallon of West India rum. This he retailed, and with the proceeds purchased two gallons, and eventually a barrel, which was followed in due time with a large stock. In a word, he got rich, and became the squire of the district, through the possession and sale of the jackknife, and an indomitable trading industry. He died, leaving property, in real estate and money value, worth eighty thousand dollars. This was divided by testament among four children, three boys and a girl. Luck, which seemed the guardian angel of the father, deserted the children; for every folly and extravagance they could engage in seemed to occupy their exclusive attention and cultivation. The daughter married unfortunately, and her patrimony was soon thrown away by her spendthrift of a husband. The sons were no more fortunate, and two died in dissipation and in poverty. The daughter also died. The last of the family, for many years past, has lived on the kindness of those who knew him in the days of prosperity, as pride would not allow him to go to the poor farm. A few days ago he died, suddenly and unattended, in a barn, where he had laid himself down to take a drunken sleep. On his pockets being examined, all that was found in them was a small piece of string and a jackknife! So the fortune that began with the implement of that kind left its simple duplicate. We leave the moral to be drawn in whatever fashion it may suggest itself to the reader; simply stating that the story is a true one, and all the facts well known to many whom this relation will doubtless reach. (A. J. Gordon, D. D.)

A plague in the house

How terribly those words have been fulfilled in the case of people and families we have known! It has seemed as though there were a plague in the house. The fortune which had been accumulated with such toil has crumbled; the children turned out sources of heartrending grief; the reputation of the father has become irretrievably tarnished. There is a plague spread in the house; it is a fretting leprosy, it is unclean. No man can stand against that curse. It confronts him everywhere. It touches his most substantial effects, and they pulverise, as furniture eaten through by white ants. (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Zec 5:1. Then I turned and lifted up — Or, again I lifted up, mine eyes — For the verb שׁוב, to return, is often used adverbially; and behold a flying roll — That is, a roll of a book, as the expression is Jer 36:2; Eze 2:9; the ancient way of writing being upon long scrolls of parchment, which used to be rolled up. This roll contained an account of the sins and punishments of the people, and is described as flying, both because it was open, and to denote the swiftness of God’s judgments. Hitherto, from the beginning of this prophecy, “all has been consoling, and meant to cheer the hearts of the Jewish people, by holding forth to them prospects of approaching prosperity. But, lest they should grow presumptuous and careless of their conduct, it was thought proper to warn them of the conditions on which their happiness would depend; and to let them see, that however God was at present disposed to show them favour, his judgments would assuredly fall upon them with still greater weight than before, if they should again provoke him by repeated acts of wickedness.” Accordingly, this warning and information are given them by the visions of this chapter, which are of a very different kind from the preceding ones. — Blayney.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 1-4. The sixth vision: the flying roll.

Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes; i.e. I lifted up mine eyes again, and saw the vision that follows. The prophet had seen, in the fourth vision, how in the new theocracy the priesthood should be pure and holy; in the fifth how the Church should be restored; he is now shown that sinners should be cut off, that no transgression should be left in the kingdom of God. A flying roll; volumen volans (Vulgate): comp. Eze_2:9, Eze_2:10. The Hebrews used parchment and leather scrolls for writing; the writing was divided into columns, and when completed the document was rolled round one or two sticks and kept in an ease. In the present vision the scroll is unrolled and exhibited in its full length and breadth, showing that it was to be made known to all. Its flight denotes the speedy arrival of the judgment, and, as it is seen in the heaven, so the punishment proceeds from God. Theodotion and Aquila render the word, difyera , "leather;" the Septuagint, by mistake, drepanon , "a sickle.

Vers. 1-4. The reassertion of the Law.

"Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll," etc. Most of the distinguishing privileges first given to Israel after leaving Egypt for Canaan were gradually restored to Israel on its partial restoration to Palestine after the captivity of Babylon. This illustrated, as noted before, as to the altar; (Ezr_3:3) the daily sacrifice; (Ezr_3:5) the Feast of Tabernacles; (Ezr_3:4) the tabernacle or the temple itself. (Ezr_3:10 Ezr_6:15) This also illustrated, as we have just seen, as to the revival of the Levitical priesthood; (Zec_3:1-5) and also as to the rekindling of that temple "candlestick" which typified the restoration and maintenance of the Jewish Church as a witness for God amongst men. (Zec_4:1-3, Zec_4:11-14) In the present passage we think we perceive a similar reassertion and, as it were, restoration of that written statement of man"s duty and God"s will which was given originally on Mount Sinai, on the two tables of stone; this second proclamation differing from that, however, according to the differences of the exigency and time. This we hope to show by considering the vision before us

(1) as to its general nature; and

(2) as to its special characteristics,

I ITS GENERAL NATURE. As with the original Decalogue, so we are shown here in vision:

1. A message in writing from God; a message, therefore, like the other, peculiarly deliberate and explicit in its character, and peculiarly permanent in its form. (Exo_34:1 2Co_3:7; see also Isa_8:1 Jer_36:18 Jer_30:2 Luk_1:8, 4 Act_15:23, etc.)

2. A message of judgment; in other words, containing a "curse," or solemn declaration of anger against sin and wrong doing. (Deu_27:26 Jer_11:3, 4 Gal_3:10)

3. A message of great breadth and extent, being written on a roll of the same dimensions (so it has been noted) as the sanctuary, or temple, and applying, therefore (so it may be intended), to the whole duty of man; (see again Gal_3:10) or else, possibly, showing that this proclamation of God"s will, like the former one, had to do especially with his "house". (1Pe_4:17 Amo_3:1, Amo_3:2)

4. A message, however, of universal applicability, as shown by its "flying" "over the whole earth," or land. (comp. Rom_2:9, Rom_2:12-16)

5. A message of a twofold purport or form the words written on one side of the "roll" referring to a commandment contained in the first table of the Decalogue, and those written on the other to a commandment in the second. On all these points we see there is a more or less marked similarity between those tables of stone and this flying roll.

II ITS SPECIAL CHARACTERISTICS. These to be seen, if we mistake not, somewhat remarkably:

1. In the special transgressions here denounced; being just those to which we have reason to believe, from other sources, that the post-Captivity Israelites were especially prone. Note, e.g. , in the first table of the Law, with regard to the sin of "false swearing," what evidences we find (as in Rom_2:17, Rom_2:23, Rom_2:24, and elsewhere) of their falsely professing supreme reverence for the very Name of Jehovah, even using a periphrasis instead of it, as in Mar_14:61; but how few evidences, if any so different from pre-Captivity times of open violations of the first and second commandments; and what an extreme solicitude, if to some extent a blind one, as to the outward observance of the fourth. (Luk_13:14 Joh_5:16 Joh_9:16, etc.) Note also, in the second table of the Law, with regard to the sin of "stealing," how many evidences we have, after the return from Babylon, of the special prevalence of that cruel spirit of covetousness which lies at the root of all theft. (see Neh_5:1-13 Mal_3:5, 8-10 Luk_12:15 Luk_16:14 Luk_20:46, Luk_20:47; to say nothing of the modern history of the Jews since the destruction of Jerusalem)

2. In the special punishment here threatened, viz. just that which persons prone to such transgressions would be afraid of the most. The great objects aimed at by such in their lip worship and fraud (observe connection of thought in beginning of Luk_20:47) would be the establishment and enrichment of themselves and their "houses." Instead of this, the very opposite, viz. the total destruction thereof, is described figuratively, but most graphically, as being the result. God himself should "bring forth" the appointed evil or "curse," which should reach its appointed place; and stay there its appointed time; and thoroughly perform there its appointed work, destroying not the house only but its very materials (ver. 4). How strikingly suitable, how emphatic a method of re-enacting his Law!

See, in conclusion, from this view of the passage:

1. The immutability of God"s Law. In every successive dispensation alike, obedience to it is demanded. In the patriarchal, under Noah. In the legal, under Moses. Here, also after the Captivity; and that in closest connection, as just seen, with prophecies about the priesthood of Christ, and the work of his Spirit. And not less so, finally, in the gospel itself, with its blaze of mercy and love. (Mat_5:17-20, etc.; Rom_3:31 Rom_8:4 Tit_2:12, 13 3:8)

2. The elasticity of its application. In each several case God causes those parts of it which are most needed to be most emphasized too. So in the instance before us, as we think we have shown. So also, under Noah, as shown by comparing Gen_6:13 Gen_9:5,

3. Compare, again, as to Moses, the length and emphasis of the second commandment with Exo_32:1-6, and the subsequent history of the nation. And see, finally, under the gospel, how specially suited such language as that in Mat_22:36-40 was to the mere formalism of those times.

HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH Vers. 1-4. Retribution.

I PROVOKED. Sin is the transgression of the Law. Here two kinds singled out.

1. Sins against the second table. "Stealeth." Fraud, injustice of all kinds. False to man.

2. Sins against the first table. "Sweareth." Profanity. Self-will. False to God. These are samples of sins infinite in number and variety. Bold and flagrant offences, opposed to all law and order, defiant of God.

II PROCLAIMED. Symbolically set forth. Sin will be judged, not according to custom or public sentiment, but by the measure of the sanctuary, the eternal Law of God. "Flying roll.

1. Broad enough to cover all offences.

2. Swift to seize all transgressors in its fatal embrace. The warning comes in mercy. "Flee from the wrath to come." See refuge under the shadow of the cross. Justice pursues the sinner, but it stops satisfied at Calvary.

III INFLICTED. Sooner or later judgment will come. Inevitable and sure, just because God is God. Society must be purified. The bad will have to give place to the good. The earth will end with Eden, as it began. "My own hope is, a sun will pierce The thickest cloud earth ever stretched; That, after last, returns the first, Though a wide compass round be fetched; That what began best can"t end worst, Nor what God blessed once prove accurst. (Browning) F.

HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-4. The flying roll: Divine retribution;

"Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, a flying roll. 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," etc. This is the sixth vision of the series of visions which the prophet had during the night. He now saw a "flying roll." We have mention made of such rolls by Ezra, by Isaiah, by Jeremiah, and by Ezekiel. Ezra speaks of search being made in "the book of rolls," the depository of the public archives or records, and of a "roll" being found there in which was recorded the decree of King Darius respecting the Jews; and Jeremiah speaks of "a roll of a book." The book might be considered as consisting of several "rolls," over each other, and forming one volume. This is illustrated by the book which John saw "in the right hand of him that sat on the throne," which was "sealed with seven seals," and of which the contents were brought to view as each of the seals was unfolded. "The ancients wrote on a variety of materials the papyrus, or paper reed, the inner bark of particular trees, and the dressed skins of animals, forming a kind of parchment. These, when written, were rolled up, for convenience and for preservation of the writing, either singly or in a number over each other. The roll seen by the prophet was a "flying roll," but not flying through the air in its rolled up state. It was expanded, and was of extraordinary size. Reckoning the cubit at a foot and a half, it was ten yards in length by five in width, the measurement being guessed by the prophet"s eye" (Wardlaw). "This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth." This is the explanation given by the interpreting angel. Without presuming to give an accurate interpretation of all the particulars of the symbolic representation, I think it may be fairly and usefully employed to exhibit the sublimely awful subject of Divine retribution. And this subject it serves to illustrate in two aspects.

I AS FOLLOWING SIN. Notice:

1. The particular sins which retribution pursues. They are:

(1) Theft and sacrilege. "Every one that stealeth." Stealing, here, refers not only to any property taken from man, but especially to the appropriation of worldly wealth to the decoration of their "celled houses," instead of applying it to the rebuilding of God"s house. Hence Jehovah said, "Ye have robbed me in tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with the curse, even this whole nation". (Mal_3:8) This is the worst of all robberies. In fact, it embraces all robberies, the applying to our own selfish purposes what belongs to God.

(2) Perjury and false swearing. Their sacrilegious conduct appears to have been sustained by false oaths, which increased the heinousness of their offence. The sins here noted are not mere specimens, but root or fountain sins. The "flying roll" of Divine retribution followed sin with its curses. There is a curse to every sin, and this is not vengeance, but benevolence. It is the arrangement of love.

2. The way in which just retribution pursues them.

(1) Openly. The roll is spread open, and is written in characters that are legible to all. Divine retribution is no secret to man. It is not some intangible, hidden, occult thing. It is open to all eyes. Every man must see the "flying roll," not only in the history of nations and communities, but in his own domestic and individual life. The "flying roll" hovers over every sin.

(2) Rapidly. Retribution is swift. It is a "flying roll." No sooner does a man commit a sin than he suffers in some form or other. The Nemesis is at the heels of the criminal. Retribution follows sins swifter than the sound of the swiftest thunder peal follows the lightning flash.

(3) Penetratingly. "I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my Name." Wherever the sinner is, it will find him out. No mountain so high, no cavern so deep, no forest so intricate and shadowy, as to protect him from his visitation. "The flying roll" will reach the sinner everywhere. "There is no darkness or shadow of death where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves.

II AS ABIDING WITH SIN. "It shall remain in the midst of his house." Not only does it rule the house of the sinner, "it remains in the midst of it," like a leprosy, infecting, wasting, consuming, destroying. It is a curse that embitters every sweet, and gives more than twofold intensity to every bitter. It dooms to destruction the man and all his. possessions. And from this world it must accompany and follow him to another, and settle with him there forever. "The special reference made to their houses, with the "stones thereof and the timber thereof," forcibly points to the care which they had been taking of their own accommodation, in comfort and elegance, while Jehovah"s was neglected" (Wardlaw). It abides in the house to curse everything, even the timber and the stones. Guilt, not only, like a ravenous beast, crouches at the door of the sinner, but rather, like a blasting mildew, spreads its baneful influence over the whole dwelling. The sin of one member of a family brings its curse on the others. The sins of the parents bring a curse upon the children. "Between parents and children," says Jeremy Taylor, "there is so great a society of nature and of manners, of blessing and of cursing, that an evil parent cannot perish in a single death; and holy parents never eat their meal of blessing alone; but they make the room shine like the fire of a holy sacrifice; and a father"s or a mother"s piety makes all the house festival, and full of joy from generation to generation.

CONCLUSION. Sinner, wouldst thou escape the tremendous curses which Heaven has written on this "flying roll," this book of Divine retribution? Then abandon a sinful life, exorcise the sinful temper, inhale the spirit of him who came to put away sin from humanity and to destroy the works of the devil. D.T.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CRITICAL NOTES.] Flying roll] Vision sixth.

Zec_5:2.] Ten yards long and five yards broad. The size intended to indicate the number of curses contained; and Flying] The velocity of judgments upon the wicked.

Zec_5:3. Earth] Land of Judah first; ultimately, to all the earth. Stealeth] Sinners against the second commandment, false swearers against the first. Cut off] Lit. cleared, swept away as offensive (1Ki_14:10; Eze_24:11). Two sins put for the whole. This side—that side] The scroll was written on both sides, as in Exo_32:15. Henderson gives: “From that place, whether on the right hand or on the left, he should be swept away by the Divine judgment. Nowhere should he find protection.”

Zec_5:4. Forth] Out of the treasure-house (Jer_10:13). Enter and remain] Lit. lodge or stay; not idle, but consuming inmates, beams, and stones (cf. 1Ki_18:38; Lev_14:45).

HOMILETICS

THE UNCHANGING LAW AND ITS UNIVERSAL CURSE.—Zec_5:1-4

The series of visions now take another turn. In the two preceding chapters we have the elements of the gospel, in the destruction of Zion’s foes, the forgiveness of the people, the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and the finishing of the temple. Now we learn that God is holy, and cannot tolerate sinners in their wickedness—that all who remain impenitent or reject God’s mercy will be punished with a long and dreary exile, or visited with exterminating judgment. “The white robes of innocence and the golden oil of the Holy Spirit disappear, and in their place comes a fearful curse, overshadowing the land and threatening an irrecoverable overthrow” [Lange]. We learn from the connection of these words—

I. That God’s law is not abrogated by change of circumstances. The Jews were restored to their land, forgiven in their sins, and aided in their work; but the law of God still observed, and would punish, their guilt. No place, time, nor circumstances can alter this law. It is “from eternity to eternity.” It is the revelation of God, and the standard of rectitude in all nations and ages. Unchangeable in its nature, demands, and design, it is designed to educate conscience, to keep alive a sense of sin, and to lead to repentance and faith. “The law entered (came in by the way, i.e. provisionally, with the foreseen effect) that the offence might abound.”

II. That the curse of God’s law will come upon all transgressors. “This is the curse that goeth forth.” There is a constant tendency in men to abuse Divine goodness, and encourage sin. But to all who see, the “flying roll” unfolds the knowledge of God. It is still a “fiery law,” pronouncing curses on those who disobey. Sinai still thunders forth its terrors to all who in spirit, word, or deed break its principles. They lay hold upon all, and where is the man that can escape? “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.”

III. That Divine grace alone will secure a man from the curse of God’s law. The Jews were reminded that sin would hinder their work—that they were to forsake it, if God must continue to help them, and fix them in their own land. In other words, God’s favour alone would be the ground of their security. They are only safe who trust his mercy and obey his will. “The lesson under a different form,” says Wardlaw, “was also, that the land to which they had been restored, must be held by the same tenure as before. God had given it originally by promise. By faith of the promise it was obtained. By ‘the obedience of faith’ it was held. The inheritance was never ‘of the law;’ was never held by any legal tenure—by any kind of desert—any right arising out of the doings of those who occupied it.” Only in Christ are we free from condemnation. We are saved by grace, not by works. “Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

THE FLYING ROLL, OR SIN AND ITS PUNISHMENT.—Zec_5:1-4

Taking this roll as representing the curse of God, ready to be executed upon transgressors, let us “lift up our eyes and behold” the sins which bring the curse, and provoke God to ruin men in personal and domestic affairs.

I. The sins. Some infer the Divine authority of the roll, from its size, just the dimensions of the temple porch, a place where the law was usually read; others infer, the great number of the sins and curses written upon it. Like Ezekiel’s roll “it was written within and without,” and full of “lamentations, and mourning, and woe.”

1. The sins were grievous. Two kinds are specified as indicating the whole. (a) Sins against man. “Every one that stealeth.” This means every kind of injustice and violence. (b) Sins against God. “Every one that sweareth.” False or profane swearing was common among the Jews. Stealing and perjury often together; for the covetous and fraudulent have no scruple in the use of God’s name (cf. Pro_30:9). Innumerable methods of fraud and deceit are constantly practised, and scarcely considered criminal, because customary. But all who are guilty of injustice and dishonesty with their neighbours in whatever form, and all who withhold from God, in principle and action, the reverence due to his name, are under the curse of the law.

2. The sins were open. They were not only written on the roll, but the roll was open, and of extraordinary size. “It was not rolled up and sealed, but fully expanded to view, that nothing it contained might be concealed,” says one. Sins are written legibly on our moral constitution, in the sight of God and man, and are “known and read of all men.” Sin is self-revealing. It is impossible to hide wrong doing. Jupiter was supposed to write down the sins of men in a book. God keeps a record of human guilt, which will be unfolded on earth and in eternity. “Some men’s sins are open (manifest, clear,) beforehand, going (like heralds) before to judgment; and some men they follow after.”

II. The punishment. “This is the curse that goeth forth.” The curse of the Divine law must be denounced against all transgressors. Its sanction must be set forth and not erased. The theology which denies Divine justice, and deludes the conscience, finds no place in the teaching of the prophet. “The anathemas of Scripture are not a mere brutum fulmen, but a solid and terrible reality.”

1. The curse was universal. “Every one shall be cut off.” It hangs over “the face of the whole earth,” ready to fall upon its objects.

2. The curse was inevitable. “I will bring it forth, saith the Lord.” Who can turn aside that which Almighty power sends forth? On “this side, and on that,” the ungodly are “cut off.”

3. The curse was swift. Its speed was not slow: “I see a flying roll.” Judgments sleep not, but suddenly break forth, and overtake the disobedient. The lightning from heaven is not more swift and irresistible. “He sendeth forth his commandment upon earth: his word runneth very swiftly.”

4. The curse was destructive. It penetrated the house, and consumed everything inside, like the plague of old. “It shall enter into the house.” (a) It destroys families. The homes of the thief and the false-swearer were attacked. The curse of God comes to the sinner where he thinks himself most protected and most secure. (b) It destroys possessions. Vengeance enters and remains in the house until it answers the end for which it is sent. It “remains in the midst of it;” abides like leprosy, infecting, wasting, and consuming all. Ahab multiplied his house, and defied the curse pronounced against it; but the stroke swept all away (1Ki_21:20-22). “The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked; but he blesseth the habitation of the just.”

HOMILETIC HINTS AND SUGGESTIONS

Zec_5:1. Prophecies partly appertain to those in whose times the sacred writers prophesied, partly to the mysteries of Christ. And therefore it is wont of the prophets, at one time to chastise vices and set forth punishments; at another, to predict the mysteries of Christ and the Church [Aug. de Civ. Dei]. It was a wide, unfolded roll, as is involved in its flying; but its flight signified the very swift coming of punishment; its flying from heaven, that the sentence came from the judgment-seat above [Pusey].

Zec_5:2. Its large size might denote two things:—the large number and amount of the Divine denunciations it contained; and at the same time, there being room for writing them large, that they might be seen. It was at the same time “flying.” By which, also, two things might be denoted—that it was not meant for any particular city or locality, but to make a progress through the length and breadth of the land; and also, that the denunciations of Jehovah written in it would come speedily and surely on those against whom they were pointed [Wardlaw].

Zec_5:3. Cut off: lit. cleansed away. The moral meaning of the Hebrew word suggests, the defiling and offensive nature of sin, and the several measures necessary to take it away. “None who enter the porch of the visible Church may flatter themselves that they can escape God’s wrath and malediction, if they commit any of the sins condemned by the comprehensive commination of this flying roll, which may be compared to a net, co-extensive with the world, and drawn throughout the whole from side to side” [Wordsworth].

Zec_5:4. A man’s house is termed his castle, but is unable to hold out against Divine judgments, which may be noticed—

1. for terribleness;

2. suddenness; and

3. retributive end. Property and estates often cut off, families dried up root and branch, and doomed to perpetual curse (cf. Job_18:14-15). “It is a curse that embitters every sweet, and gives more than twofold intensity to every bitter. From this world it must accompany and follow a man to another, and settle with him there for ever. The special reference made to their houses, with the stones thereof and the timber thereof, forcibly points to the care which they had been taking of their own accommodation, in comfort and elegance, while Jehovah’s house was neglected” [Wardlaw].

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 5

Zec_5:3. Curse. The good make a better bargain, and the bad a worse, than is usually supposed, for the rewards of the one, and the punishments of the other, not unfrequently begin on this side of the grave [Colton’s Laconics]. The wages that sin bargains with the sinner are—life, pleasure, and profit; but the wages it pays them with are—death, torment, and destruction. He that would understand the falsehood and death of sin, must compare its promises and payments together [South].

“Our pleasant vices make instruments to scourge us” [Shakespeare].

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Zac 5:1. "And I lifted up my eyes again, and saw, and behold a flying roll. Zac 5:2. And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I see a flying roll; its length twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits. Zac 5:3. And he said to me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the whole land: for every one that stealeth will be cleansed away from this side, according to it; and every one that sweareth will be cleansed away from that side, according to it. Zac 5:4. I have caused it to go forth, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts, and it will come into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth by my name for deceit: and it will pass the night in the midst of his house, and consume both its beams and its stones." The person calling the prophet's attention to the vision, and interpreting it, is the angelus interpres. This is not specially mentioned here, as being obvious from what goes before. The roll (book-scroll, megillâh = megillath sēpher, Eze 2:9) is seen flying over the earth unrolled, so that its length and breadth can be seen. The statement as to its size is not to be regarded as "an approximative estimate," so that the roll would be simply described as of considerable size (Koehler), but is unquestionably significant. It corresponds both to the size of the porch of Solomon's temple (Kg1 6:3), and also to the dimensions of the holy place in the tabernacle, which was twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad. Hengstenberg, Hofmann, and Umbreit, following the example of Kimchi, assume that the reference is to the porch of the temple, and suppose that the roll has the same dimensions as this porch, to indicate that the judgment is "a consequence of the theocracy" or was to issue from the sanctuary of Israel, where the people assembled before the Lord. But the porch of the temple was neither a symbol of the theocracy, nor the place where the people assembled before the Lord, but a mere architectural ornament, which had no significance whatever in relation to the worship. The people assembled before the Lord in the court, to have reconciliation made for them with God by sacrifice; or they entered the holy place in the person of their sanctified mediators, the priests, as cleansed from sin, there to appear before God and engage in His spotless worship. The dimensions of the roll are taken from the holy place of the tabernacle, just as in the previous vision the candlestick was the mosaic candlestick of the tabernacle. Through the similarity of the dimensions of the roll to those of the holy place in the tabernacle, there is no intention to indicate that the curse proceeds from the holy place of the tabernacle or of the temple; for the roll would have issued from the sanctuary, if it had been intended to indicate this. Moreover, the curse or judgment does indeed begin at the house of God, but it does not issue or come from the house of God. Kliefoth has pointed to the true meaning in the following explanation which he gives: "The fact that the writing, which brings the curse upon all the sinners of the earth, has the same dimensions as the tabernacle, signifies that the measure will be meted out according to the measure of the holy place;" and again, "the measure by which this curse upon sinners will be meted out, will be the measure of the holy place." With this measure would all sinners be measured, that they might be cut off from the congregation of the Lord, which appeared before God in the holy place.

The flight of the roll symbolized the going forth of the curse over the whole land. כּל־הארץ is rendered by Hofmann, Neumann, and Kliefoth "the whole earth," because "it evidently signifies the whole earth in v. Zac 4:10, Zac 4:14, and Zac 6:5" (Kliefoth). But these passages, in which the Lord of the whole earth is spoken of, do not prove anything in relation to our vision, in which כּל־הארץ is unmistakeably limited to the land of Canaan (Judah) by the antithesis in Zac 5:11, "the land of Shinar." If the sinners who are smitten by the curse proceeding over כּל־הארץ are to be carried into the land of Sinar, the former must be a definite land, and not the earth as the sum of all lands. It cannot be argued in opposition to this, that the sin of the land in which the true house of God and the true priesthood were, was wiped away by expiation, whereas the sin of the whole world would be brought into the land of judgment, when its measure was concluded by God; for this antithesis is foreign not only to this vision, but to the Scriptures universally. The Scriptures know nothing of any distribution or punishment of sins according to different lands, but simply according to the character of the sinners, viz., whether they are penitent or hardened. At the same time, the fact that כּל־הארץ denotes the whole of the land of Israel, by no means proves that our vision either treats of the "carrying away of Israel into exile," which had already occurred (Ros.), or "sets before them a fresh carrying away into exile, and one still in the future" (Hengstenberg), or that on the coming of the millennial kingdom the sin and the sinners will be exterminated from the whole of the holy land, and the sin thrown back upon the rest of the earth, which is still under the power of the world (Hofmann). The vision certainly refers to the remote future of the kingdom of God; and therefore "the whole land" cannot be restricted to the extent and boundaries of Judaea or Palestine, but reaches as far as the spiritual Israel or church of Christ is spread over the earth; but there is no allusion in our vision to the millennial kingdom, and its establishment within the limits of the earthly Canaan. The curse falls upon all thieves and false swearers. הנּשׁבּע in Zac 5:3 is defined more precisely in Zac 5:4, as swearing in the name of Jehovah for deceit, and therefore refers to perjury in the broadest sense of the word, or to all abuse of the name of God for false, deceitful swearing. Thieves are mentioned for the sake of individualizing, as sinners against the second table of the decalogue; false swearers, as sinners against the first table. The repetition of מזּה כּמוה points to this; for mizzeh, repeated in correlative clauses, signifies hinc et illinc, hence and thence, i.e., on one side and the other (Exo 17:12; Num 22:24; Eze 47:7), and can only refer here to the fact that the roll was written upon on both sides, so that it is to be taken in close connection with כּמוה: "on this side ... and on that, according to it" (the roll), i.e., according to the curse written upon this side and that side of the roll. We have therefore to picture the roll to ourselves as having the curse against the thieves written upon the one side, and that against the perjurers upon the other. The supposition that mizzeh refers to כּל־הארץ is precluded most decidedly, by the fact that mizzeh does not mean "thence," i.e., from the whole land, but when used adverbially of any place, invariably signifies "hence," and refers to the place where the speaker himself is standing. Moreover, the double use of mizzeh is at variance with any allusion to hâ'ârets, as well as the fact that if it belonged to the verb, it would stand after כּמוה, whether before or after the verb. Niqqâh, the niphal, signifies here to be cleaned out, like καθαρίζεσωαι in Mar 7:19 (cf. Kg1 14:10; Deu 17:12). This is explained in Zac 5:4 thus: Jehovah causes the curse to go forth and enter into the house of the thief and perjurer, so that it will pass the night there, i.e., stay there (lâneh third pers. perf. of lūn, from lânâh, to be blunted, like zûreh in Isa 59:5, and other verbal formations); it will not remain idle, however, but work therein, destroying both the house and sinners therein, so that beams and stones will be consumed (cf. Kg1 18:38). The suffix in כּלּתּוּ (for כּלּתהוּ, cf. Ges. 75, Anm. 19) refers to the house, of course including the inhabitants. The following nouns introduced with ואת are in explanatory apposition: both its beams and its stones. The roll therefore symbolizes the curse which will fall upon sinners throughout the whole land, consuming them with their houses, and thus sweeping them out of the nation of God.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

VISION 6. THE FLYING ROLL

Zec_5:1-4

A. A large Roll flying over the Land (Zec_5:1-2). B. It contains and executes a destructive Curse (Zec_5:3-4).

1      And I lifted up my eyes again,1 and saw, and behold a flying roll. 2And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I see a flying roll; its length twenty cubits and its breadth ten cubits. 3 And he said to me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off2 on this side according to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on that side, according 4to it. I have brought3 it forth, saith Jehovah of Hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth by my name to a falsehood, and it shall lodge4 in the midst of his house and consume it, both its wood and its stones.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

The series of visions here takes a sharp turn. All that preceded were of a consolatory character, setting forth the overthrow of Zion’s foes, the forgiveness of the people, their illumination and exaltation by the Spirit of God, and consequently the sure and speedy completion of the Temple, Now, however, the prophet is directed to show his countrymen that Jehovah is a holy God, and wickedness cannot dwell with Him. There is no toleration for sinners while they continue such. As many as still remain impenitent, or reject God’s provision of mercy, shall be visited with an exterminating judgment, or experience a captive exile far longer and more dreary even than that which their fathers had suffered in Babylon. This is set forth vividly and plainly in the two visions which follow, which, although entirely distinct in form and manifestation, yet are closely allied in subject and bearing.

The former of the two borrows the groundwork of its striking symbolism from the Mosaic Law (“curse,” “roll”), and sets forth with fearful energy the retributive consequences of sin.

(a.) The Flying Roll (Zec_5:1-2). Zec_5:1. I lifted up … again. This implies an interval, longer or shorter, since the last vision. What he saw is described fully in the next verse.

Zec_5:2. And he said. That is, the interpreting angel said, as is obvious from what precedes. “Roll”=book-scroll or parchment; of course one so large as this must have been composed of many skins fastened together. It is seen flying over the earth unrolled, so that its size could be discerned. Its dimensions are ten yards long by five broad. Some (Köhler, Henderson, et al.) consider these measurements as intended only to state that it was of considerable size. But as that could be so easily expressed in a simpler way, it is better regard the dimensions as significant. But of what? Hengstenberg, Hoffman, Umbreit, following Kimchi, assume a reference to the porch of the Temple which was of the same size (1Ki_6:3),and infer that the intention was to represent the judgment as “a consequence of the theocracy,” to which, however, it is justly objected that the temple-porch in itself had no symbolic significance, nor was it a meeting-place for Israel. Keil and Kliefoth say that the dimensions were taken from those of the holy place of the tabernacle (twenty cubits by ten), and explain, “the measure by which this curse upon sinners will be meted out will be the measure of the holy place,” i. e., it will act so as to cut them off from the congregation of the Lord which appeared before God in the holy place. I should prefer to take the dimensions as a suggestion of the scope of the impending judgment, namely, the covenant people.

(b.) Meaning of the Roll (Zec_5:3-4). Zec_5:3. This is the curse. Henderson compares our Lord’s words, “This is (represents) my body.” “The whole land,” i. e., of Israel, as the analogy of the preceding and following visions shows. The curse hovers over the entire region, ready to fall upon its destined objects. These are the thief and the false swearer, who are taken as examples, one from each table of the law; and therefore stand for all sinners. Such are to be cut off=driven out of the fellowship of God’s people, with the usual implication, in that phrase, of destruction. On this side, on that side, refer to the two sides of the roll (Exo_32:15), on one of which was the curse against one class of sinners, and on the other that against the other class. Then according to it (i. e., according to its terms) refers respectively to these two sides.

Zec_5:4. I have brought. To render this in the future, as E. V., is a needless departure from the original. God has caused it to come forth, as the prophet sees. He proceeds now to tell him what it will do. It will enter the house of the sinner, and come to stay. Lodge, literally, pass the night, and hence dwell permanently. Nor will it remain idle, but destroy until not only the contents but even the most durable parts of the house were consumed. Cf. 1Ki_18:38.

Footnotes:

[1]Zec_5:1.—Again. For this meaning of שׁוּב, cf. 2Ki_1:11.

[2]Zec_5:3.—נִקָּה=emptied, exhausted, here manifestly=destroyed.

[3]Zec_5:4.—הוֹצֵאתִיהָ cannot he rendered, “I will bring it forth.

[4]Zec_5:4.—לָנֶה irregular for לָנָה. It means, to pass the night, h. abide.

Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

CHAPTER 5

1. The sixth vision (Zec 5:1-4)

2. The seventh vision (Zec 5:5-11)

Zec 5:1-4. The three remaining night visions are of a different character. The first visions the prophet had were visions of comfort for Jerusalem and the dispersed nation, the overthrow of Babylon and all their enemies, divine forgiveness and the theocracy restored. Now follow the last three visions, and these are visions of judgment. Judgment precedes Israel’s restoration, and is very prominently connected with it.

The sixth night vision is the one of the flying roll. The prophet’s eyes seem to have been closed after the fifth vision, for we read, “And I lifted up my eyes again.” The flying roll he sees is twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad. The interpreting angel tells the prophet that it is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land; for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on this side according to it, and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on that side according to it. The LORD of hosts has brought it forth and it is to enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth by His Name to a falsehood, and it shall lodge in the midst of His house and consume it, both its wood and its stone.

That this vision means judgment is evident at the first glance. Ezekiel had a similar vision. “And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo, a roll of a book was therein; And he spread it before me; and it was written within and without: and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning, and woe Eze 2:9-10).” Ezekiel was to eat that book. This reminds us at once of the books in Revelation (chapters 5 and 10), which are likewise connected with God’s judgments in the earth. The flying roll is written on both sides, signifying the two tables of stone, the law of God. Stealing and swearing falsely are mentioned because the one is found on the one side of the two tables of stone, and the other on the other side. However, it is no longer “Thou shalt not,” but on the flying roll are written the curses, the awful curses against the transgressors of God’s law which are now about to be put into execution. The curse is found in its awful details, as it refers to an apostate people in Deu 27:1-26; Deu 28:1-68. The roll is of immense size, and on it are the dread curses of an angry God. The vision must have been one of exceeding great terror. Imagine a roll, probably illumined at night with fire, moving over the heavens, and on it the curses of an eternal God--wherever it moves its awful message is seen; nothing is hid from its awe-inspiring presence. It reminds one of the fiery handwriting on the wall in the king’s palace. Surely such an awful judgment is coming by and by, when our God will keep silence no longer. One of the sublimest judgment Psalms, the Fiftieth, mentions something similar to this flying roll. “When thou sawest a thief then thou consentedst with him, and hast been partaker with adulterers. Thou givest thy mouth to evil, and thy tongue frameth deceit. Thou sittest and speaketh against thy brother, thou slanderest thine own mother’s son. These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself. but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes” Psa 50:18-23. The flying roll stands undoubtedly in connection with wickedness, theft, and false swearing, as it is found in so many forms in unbelieving Israel, but it finds also a large application in the judgment of wickedness throughout the earth in the glorious day of His appearing.

Zec 5:5-11. The angel commands the prophet to lift up his eyes to behold another startling vision. What are the leading figures in the vision? An ephah--which is a Jewish measure standing here for commerce. The eyes of all the land (or earth) are upon it. Commercialism is very prominent in Revelation in connection with the full measure of wickedness, the climax of ungodliness. In Rev 18:1-24 merchants are mentioned who have grown rich through the abundance of her delicacies. Then the merchants are seen weeping, for no man buys their merchandise any more. And then a long list follows, including all the articles of modern commerce. Compare this with the awful description of the last times in Jas 5:1-20. Rich men are commanded to weep and howl, for miseries are come upon them. They heaped treasure together for the last days, and it was a heaping together by fraud, dishonesty in keeping back the hire of the laborers. They lived in pleasure (luxuriously) and were wanton. Indeed, here is that burning question of the day, capital and labor, and its final outcome, misery and judgment upon commercialism, riches heaped up, and all in wickedness. In Hab 2:12 the woe of judgment of that coming glory of the Lord is pronounced upon him that buildeth a town with blood and established a city by iniquity! The people are seen laboring for the fire and wearying themselves for vanity. Luxuries increase, riches, etc., are mentioned in the second and third chapters of Isaiah, chapters of judgment. Other passages could be quoted, but these are sufficient for our purpose. They show us that the climax of wickedness as it is in the earth when judgment will come, and Israel’s time commences once more, will be connected with commerce, riches and luxuries. The ephah points to this.

In the second place let us notice that in the midst of the ephah there is seen a woman. She is called wickedness. The Hebrew word wickedness is translated by the Septuagint with “anomia”. We find that the Holy Spirit uses the same word in 2Th 2:8, and then shall be revealed in the wicked one (anomia) whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the Spirit of His mouth. The woman in the ephah personifies wickedness. She has surrounded herself with the ephah and sits in the midst of it. Have we not here the great whore having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication? Undoubtedly. This woman is the type of evil and wickedness in its highest form. Let us glance at that wonderful description of that woman in Revelation. She is the great whore sitting upon many waters. She sits upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet decked with gold, precious stones and pearls. Upon her forehead is seen her name, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations in the earth. She is drunk with the blood of the saints. The woman in the ephah represents the same great whore, Babylon the Great. This becomes at once clear when we take into consideration that the woman in the ephah is carried swiftly away an a house is built for her in the land of Shinar, and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base. Now the land of Shinar is Babylonia. But while in Rev 17:1-18 the mystical Babylon is seen, in the eighteenth chapter there is another Babylon, the final great political-commercial world system; it is still future, not very far away, for we see that the trend of modern events is towards such a combination. The vision of the ephah and the woman evidently sealed up in it may denote the overthrow and judgment of the final Babylon.

Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

THE SIXTH VISION: THE WINGED VOLUME

Zec_5:1-4

The religious and political obstacles being now removed from the future of Israel, Zechariah in the next two Visions beholds the land purged of its crime and wickedness. These Visions are very simple, if somewhat after the ponderous fashion of Ezekiel.

The first of them is the Vision of the removal of the curse brought upon the land by its civic criminals, especially thieves and perjurers-the two forms which crime takes in a poor and rude community like the colony of the returned exiles. The prophet tells us he beheld a roll flying, he uses the ordinary Hebrew name for the rolls of skin or parchment upon which writing was set down. But the proportions of its colossal size-twenty cubits by ten-prove that it was not a cylindrical but an oblong shape which he saw. It consisted, therefore, of sheets laid on each other like our books, and as our word "volume," which originally meant, like his own term, a roll, means now an oblong article, we may use this in our translation. The volume is the record of the crime of the land, and Zechariah sees it flying from the land. But it is also the curse upon this crime, and so again he beholds it entering every thiefs and perjurers house and destroying it. Smend gives a possible explanation of this: "It appears that in ancient times curses were written on pieces of paper and sent down the wind into the houses" of those against whom they were directed. But the figure seems rather to be of birds of prey.

"And I turned and lifted my eyes and looked, and lo! a volume flying. And he said unto me, What dost thou see? And I said, I see a volume flying, its length twenty cubits and its breadth ten. And he said unto me, This is the curse that is going out upon the face of all the land. For every thief is hereby purged away from hence, and every perjurer is hereby purged away from hence, I have sent it forth-oracle of Jehovah of Hosts-and it shall enter the thiefs house, and the house of him that hath sworn falsely by My name, and it shall roost: in the midst of his house and consume it, with its beams and its stones."

William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.

5:1-4 Zechariah’s vision of the flying scroll reminded the leaders and people of postexilic Judah that they were still obligated to follow God’s commands. The blessings and curses of the law (Deut 28) were still in effect.

5:1 looked up again: This is the sixth of eight visions that Zechariah had in the same night. • A scroll, the equivalent of a book in biblical times, was usually made of rolled parchment or leather, but was sometimes made of papyrus, tin, or copper. This scroll was flying, unfurled like a banner for all to see.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

We do not find that the prophet now needed to be awakened, as he did Zac 4:1. 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, Eze 2:9, Eze 2:10. 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 14:6. God's word runs very swiftly, Psa 147:15. 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, Zac 5:3, Zac 5:4. 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 3:8; Neh 13:10. Sacrilege is, without doubt, the worst kind of thievery. He also that robs his father or mother, and saith, It is no transgression (Pro 28:24), 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 (Zac 5:4); 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, Zac 5:4. 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, Deu 28:17, Deu 28:18. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, Pro 3:33. 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 18:15. 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 2:11. 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.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

CHAPTER V

The vision of the large flying roll, with the angel's

explanation, 1-4.

The vision of the ephah, and of the woman sitting on it, with

the signification, 5-11.

NOTES ON CHAP. V

Verse 1. Behold a flying roll.] This was twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad; the prophet saw it expanded, and flying. Itself was the catalogue of the crimes of the people, and the punishment threatened by the Lord. Some think the crimes were those of the Jews; others, those of the Chaldeans. The roll is mentioned in allusion to those large rolls on which the Jews write the Pentateuch. One now lying before me is one hundred and fifty-three feet long, by twenty-one inches wide, written on fine brown Basle goat-skin; some time since brought from Jerusalem, supposed to be four hundred years old.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The angel shows in this chapter, that whatever evils the Jews had suffered, proceeded from the righteous judgment Of God; and then he adds a consolation — that the Lord would at length alleviate or put an end to their evils, when he had removed afar off their iniquity. Interpreters have touched neither heaven nor earth in their explanation of this prophecy, for they have not regarded the design of the Holy Spirit. Some think that by the volume are to be understood false and perverted glosses, by which the purity of doctrine had been vitiated; but this view can by no means be received. There is no doubt but that God intended to show to Zechariah, that the Jews were justly punished, because the whole land was full of thefts and perjuries. As then religion had been despised, as well as equity and justice, he shows that it was no wonder that a curse had prevailed through the whole land, the Jews leaving by their impiety and other sins extremely provoked the wrath of God. This is the import of the first part. And, then, as this vision was terrible, there is added some alleviation by representing iniquity in a measure, and the mouth of the measure closed, and afterwards carried to the land of Shinar, that is, into Chaldea, that it might not remain in Judea. Thus in the former part the Prophet’s design was to humble the Jews, and to encourage them to repent, so that they might own God to have been justly angry; and then he gives them reason to entertain hope, and fully to expect an end to their evils, for the Lord would remove to a distance and transfer their iniquity to Chaldea, so that Judea might be pure and free from every wickedness, both from thefts and acts of injustice, by which it had been previously polluted. But every sentence must be in order explained, that the meaning of the Prophet may be more clearly seen.

He says, that he had returned; and by this word this vision is separated front the preceding visions, and those also of which we have hitherto spoken, were not at the same time exhibited to the Prophet, but he saw them at different times. We may hence learn that some time intervened before the Lord presented to him the vision narrated in this chapter. He adds, that he raised up his eyes and looked; and this is said that we may know that what he narrates was shown to him by the prophetic Spirit. Zechariah very often raised up his eyes though God did not immediately appear to him; but it behaved God’s servants, whenever they girded themselves for the purpose of teaching, to withdraw themselves as it were from the society of men, and to rise up above the world. The raising up of the eyes then, mentioned by Zechariah, signified something special, as though he had said, that he was prepared, for the Lord had inwardly roused him. The Prophets also, no doubt, were in this manner by degrees prepared, when the Lord made himself known to them. There was then the raising up of the eyes as a preparation to receive the celestial oracle.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(1) Then I turned . . . eyes.—Better, And I again lifted up my eyes. (Comp. Zec_4:1.)

Flying roll.—A scroll floating in the air. The form of the vision seems to be suggested by Eze_2:9-10. LXX., omitting the final ah of the word for “scroll,” render δρέπανον, “sickle.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

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.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hitherto all had been bright, full of the largeness of the gifts of God; of God’s favor to His people ; the removal of their enemies ; the restoration and expansion and security of God’s people and Church under His protection ; the acceptance of the present typical priesthood and the promise of Him, through whom there should be entire forgiveness : the abiding illumining of the Church by the Spirit of God . Yet there is a reverse side to all this, God’s judgments on those who reject all His mercies. Augustine, de Civ. Del. 17:3. Ribera: “Prophecies partly appertain to those in whose times the sacred writers prophesied, partly to the mysteries of Christ. And therefore it is the custom of the prophets, at one time to chastise vices and set forth punishments, at another to predict the mysteries of Christ and the Church.”

And I turned and - Or, “Again I lifted up my eyes” Gen 26:18; 2Ki 1:11, 2Ki 1:13; Jer 18:14, having again sunk down in meditation on what he had seen, “and behold a roll flying;” as, to Ezekiel was shown “a hand with a roll of a book therein, and he spread it before me.” Ezekiel’s roll also was “written within and without, and there was written, therein lamentation and mourning and woe” Eze 2:9-10. It was a wide unfolded roll, as is involved in its flying; but its “flight signified the very swift coming of punishment; its flying from heaven that the sentence came from the judgment-seat above” (Ribera).

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Eyes of the soul. (Menochius) --- Volume. That is, a parchment, according to the form of the ancient books, which, from begin rolled up, were called volumes. (Challoner) --- Such are still used in the synagogues. They were usually written only on one side. (Calmet) --- Septuagint have read e at the end of megilla, and render "a scythe," (Haydock) indicating chastisement. Aquila and Theodoret have Diphtherea, and Symmachus Kephalis. (St. Jerome) --- The latter denotes the roller (Haydock) to which the parchment was sewed. (Menochius) --- The former signifies a book written on vellum, particularly that in which the poets say Jupiter marks the sins and punishments of mankind. The prophet saw a volume of this nature. (Calmet) --- The sins of the people, and the punishment designed for them, were described. It appeared flying, to shew that the decree came from heaven. (St. Chrysostom; Il. xxvii. ad pop.) (Worthington)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Then, or And, Heb. i.e. after I had seen those comfortable visions, and been instructed in the true meaning of them.

I turned; changed his posture, though the occasion of it be not mentioned, nor the posture into which he put himself.

Lifted up mine eyes; looked up into the air where the vision appeared.

Looked, very diligently, and discerned clearly.

A flying roll; a volume, or book, which in those days were not written as now our books are printed and bound, but were written, as deeds are now, on large or long parchments, and rolled up upon a neat round stick, or else rolled upon themselves; such the roll here seen: much as our large geographical maps are rolled upon rollers, sad lodged in a convenient cavity, so were their books of old. But probably here now the roll was spread out at large, flying in the air swiftly, perhaps with some noise, that might make the prophet look about him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Sixth and Seventh Visions

1-4. A flying roll inscribed with curses comes down upon the earth. The previous visions had promised many blessings to the people; and the sixth and seventh teach that wickedness will be removed from the land; for if evil still remained, the blessings would be worthless. The first part of this process consists in the punishment of evildoers. The flying roll signifies the sin of the evildoer coming home to roost.

5-11. The Seventh Vision: A woman (typifying the besetting sins of Israel) is shut up in an ephah-measure, and carried off to the land of Shinar, the detested and sinful place, where she finds a fitting abode.

1. A flying roll] Rolls were of skin or parchment, on which all writing was inscribed. The document was rolled up much in the same way as a wall-map is rolled now. This roll was evidently unfolded, flying like a bird of prey, and seemed of enormous size (Zec_5:2).

2. He] the attendant angel who is God's immediate messenger to Zechariah. Twenty cubits] over 30 ft.

3. Earth] RV 'land,' i.e. Palestine. For every one that stealeth, etc.] better, perhaps, 'for every thief shall be swept away from hence.' But the expressions are difficult. The exact meaning of the phrase 'on the one side according to it.. on the other side according to it' (RV) is most obscure. LXX renders, 'For every thief shall suffer death.' Some scholars refer the phrases to the roll, which does not seem likely. Others, by a very slight change in the Heb., render, 'For every thief has been too long unpunished, and every (false) swearer has been too long unpunished.' It is probable that there is a reference to certain people who did not subscribe to the rebuilding of the Temple, swearing (falsely) that they had no money.

4. Shall remain] RV 'shall abide,' but better, 'shall roost,' The idea is still of this roll as a huge bird of prey, descending upon the home of the evildoer and utterly consuming it. Zechariah's aim is still to encourage his desponding countrymen. Never again will the nation, as a whole, suffer for sin; only the sinner and his house shall perish.

6. Ephah] the greatest measure among the Jews, a round vessel holding about 7 gals. This vision describes the fulfilment of the promise given in Zec_3:9. Resemblance] A very slight change of one Heb. letter gives the reading, 'This is their transgression in all the land.' This makes much better sense. The prophet is referring to the deep consciousness of sin which weighs upon the people from the high priest downward.

7. A talent of lead] lit. 'a circle or round piece of lead,' the heavy lid of the ephah. The later use of the word is 'talent,' a Jewish weight somewhat over 1 cwt. When the lid was lifted, the woman was disclosed in the ephah.

8. Cast it into] RV, 'cast her down into.' The woman, typifying the sin of the nation, is thrust down into the ephah and covered with the lid.

9. The wind was in their wings] bore them along like long-winged birds ('storks') on a windy day.

11. Shinar] i.e. Babylonia: see Gen_10:10; Gen_11:2; Isa_11:11. Here regarded as the counterpart of Zion and the proper home of all that is evil, especially of sins such as fraud and false swearing. The vision is remarkable. God not only forgives the sins of His people, but carries them altogether away from their land, that they may deceive them no more. Sin is typified by the figure of a woman; but it is worthy of note that it is through women that the land is purified from its sin.

J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The sixth vision — the flying roll, 1-4.

In meaning this vision is similar to the seventh, but there seems insufficient reason for thinking that the two are parts of one and the same vision. The prophet beholds flying through the air an immense roll. He is told by the interpreter that the roll symbolizes the curse of God, and that it will enter the houses of all evil doers and consume them utterly. In Zec_3:9, is promised the removal of iniquity from the land; this vision indicates one means by which this is to be accomplished, namely, the destruction of the wicked.

1. The introductory formula is similar to that in Zec_2:1.

A… roll — Among the ancients written documents were preserved in the form of rolls. LXX., omitting the final letter of the Hebrew word, reads “sickle,” which would give good sense, but the dimensions given in Zec_5:2 favor the Hebrew text.

Flying — Moving swiftly from the judgment throne above, where the destruction was decreed, to its destination upon earth.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The vision of the flying roll, ver. 1-4. Of the ephah, the talent of lead, and the woman, ver. 5-11.

A flying roll - A volume, or book spread out at large, flying in the air, swiftly.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

flying roll

A "roll," in Scripture symbolism, means the written word whether of God or man Eze 6:2; Jer 36:2; Jer 36:4; Jer 36:6 etc: Eze 3:1-3. Zechariah’s eighth vision is of the rebuke of sin by the word of God. The two sins mentioned really transgress both tables of the law. To steal is to set aside our neighbor’s right; to swear is to set aside God’s claim to reverence. As always the law can only curse (Zec 5:3); Gal 3:10-14.

The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The Vision of the Flying Roll

v. 1. Then I turned, after an interval of some time, and lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold a flying roll, a book-scroll, or parchment, of great size, or consisting of many large leaves fastened together.

v. 2. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll, a parchment loose or unrolled moving through the air; the length thereof is twenty cubits and the breadth thereof ten cubits, the dimensions approximately ten yards by five yards.

v. 3. Then said he unto me, without waiting for a question on the part of the prophet, This Is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth, as written on the roll; 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, that is, the sinners who refuse to repent, who persist in their wickedness, must be cut off and removed; the holiness of God cannot rule in any other way.

v. 4. I will bring it forth, namely, the curse and the judgment in agreement with it, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name, these two classes of sinners being named as representatives of all unrepentant transgressors; and it shall remain in the midst of his house, lodging there, dwelling there permanently, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof, not leaving a vestige of it. These words are properly expressive of the curse and of the punishment of God upon every form of deliberate transgression. The Lord is like a consuming fire upon everything that is called sin

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Then I turned

The word "I" refers to Zechariah.

lifted my eyes

The word "eyes" represents the person who looks. AT: "looked up" (See: Synecdoche)

behold

The word "behold" here shows that Zechariah was surprised by what he saw.

twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide

A cubit is 46 centimeters. AT: "9.2 meters long and 4.6 meters wide" (See: Biblical Distance)

translationWords

scroll

angel

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

a flying scroll Our Sages explained [it] as “double,” and they said that the Torah was written on it. They deduced from here that the world is 1/3,200 of the Torah, as stated in Eruvin (21a). And Jonathan rendered: a flying scroll; i.e., flying in the air. According to the simple meaning of the chapter, it was a scroll of retribution; that was what Ezekiel (2:10) envisioned: “And in it was written lamentations and mourning and woe.”

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.