Zechariah 5:8

Zec 5:8 And he said, This [is] wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.

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

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

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

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_5:8

And he said, This is wickedness

Worldliness

This is the ruin of thousands and tens of thousands.

It is not at all necessary to insure a mans perdition that he either steal or swear falsely. A man may be a thorough worldling, without the practice of these or any gross iniquities. Whatever shuts God out from His place in the heart as the object of fear and love, and from His place in the conscience as the authoritative regulator of the life, that, be it what it may, is the ruin of the man. In the parable of the marriage feast, the men who declined the invitation, and went away to their farms and to their merchandise, are not charged with any selfish and fraudulent dealings in the management of their farms or the prosecution of their merchandise. What was their sin? Worldliness. They preferred the world to God. They declined the blessings of the Gospel for something more to their taste. They chose the world and the things of the world--no matter in how innocent a form--even the sweets of domestic life itself--to God and the things of God. And in the enjoyment of these, as their chosen portion, they had their reward. Thus it was of old; thus it is still. Let no man deceive himself by fancying it necessary to his forfeiture of the blessings of Gods salvation, that he give himself up to the practice of dishonesty and of open vice. If his heart is in the world, with the world he must have his portion. Let Christians be on their guard against the love of this present world. It is as insinuating and perilous principle. In proportion as it gains upon the heart, it tends to enfeeble the energies, and deaden the sensibilities, of the Divine life in the soul. God will not have a divided heart. Ye cannot serve God and Mammon. (Ralph Wardlaw, D. D.)

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

5:8 Wickedness refers to evil generally; whether moral or ceremonial, it is opposed to righteousness (see Prov 13:6; Ezek 33:12). The word wickedness (Hebrew rish‘ah) is similar in Hebrew to the name Asherah, the fertility goddess of the ancient Near East (see Deut 7:5; 16:21).

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

Signifying, that Satan should not have such power against the Jews to tempt them, as he had in time past, but that God would shut up iniquity in a measure as in a prison.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

wickedness--literally, "the wickedness": implying wickedness in its peculiar development. Compare "the man of sin," Th2 2:3.

cast it--that is, her, Wickedness, who had moved more freely while the heavy lid was partially lifted off.

weight--literally, "stone," that is, round mass.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Now the angel adds, that a thin piece of lead was cast over the mouth of the measure, and that wickedness was cast into the measure. The expression, that wickedness was thrown into the measure, may be explained in two ways — either that God would not permit so much liberty to the devil to lead the Jews to sin as before; for how comes it that men abandon themselves to every evil, except that God forsakes them, and at the same time delivers them up to Satan, that he may exercise his tyranny over them? or, that a bridle would be used to restrain foreign enemies, that they might not in their wantonness oppress the miserable people, and exercise extreme violence. God, then, intending to deliver them from their sins, or to check wrongs, shuts up wickedness, as it were, in a measure; and then he adds a cover; and it is said to have been a thin piece, or a weight of lead, because it was heavy; as though the Prophet had said, that whenever it pleased God iniquity would be taken captive, so that it could not go forth from its confinement or its prison. It afterwards follows —

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.

8. This is wickedness] This woman that thou seest sitting in the ephah represents the wickedness of the whole land, gathered up, as it were, into one and personified.

the weight of lead] Lit. the stone of lead; so called, either because stones were used as weights (comp. our English word “stone”), or because the leaden lid on the mouth of the ephah suggested by its size and weight the stone cover of a well. Gen_29:2.

upon the mouth thereof] Lit. upon her mouth; but rightly rendered thereof, as the reference seems plainly to be to the ephah, on which the angel firmly fixed the lid, when he had cast down the woman into it.

A different, but less satisfactory, view of the vision has been taken. According to this the woman is seen “having in her hand the leaden weight with which she was wont to traffic, and sitting crouched down in an empty bushel or ephah, as if that were her true seat and throne.… It was a special form of wickedness that was here pourtrayed, namely, unrighteousness as it manifests itself in matters of weight and measure, or, to designate it in our Lord’s own words, ‘unfaithfulness as regards the unrighteous mammon’ … But ‘with the same measure that ye mete withal, shall it be measured to you again.’ The very instrument which the woman used for her unholy work was to be the means of her confusion. The ephah in which she sat was made the chariot in which she was removed from the land; and the angel, with righteous indignation, seized the woman herself, dashed her down into the ephah as she was about to rise from her sitting posture, and taking hold of the leaden weight, flung the heavy ‘stone of lead’ upon her mouth. Thus did the angel indicate that ‘wickedness’ would be a subject of Divine wrath. He smote her in the mouth wherewith she had so often uttered words of lying and fraud; and did so with the very instrument with which she was wont to measure her ungodly gain. Thus was her mouth stopped (Psa_107:42; Job_5:16), and the instrument of sin was made the instrument of her punishment.” (Rev. C. H. H. Wright.) The moral of the vision, however, is not the destruction, nor even the punishment of wickedness, but its expulsion from the holy land, that it may go to its own place.

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.

And he said, This is wickedness,.... A representation of wicked men, who are wickedness itself, as their inward part is, Psa 5:9 and particularly of the wicked one, the man of sin and son of perdition, the Roman antichrist and apocalyptic beast; who, though he is called by this title, "his Holiness", his true and proper name is "wickedness"; , that wicked lawless one, Th2 2:8 yea, wickedness itself, being extremely wicked, a sink of sin and of all abominations, Rev 17:5.

And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; that is, wickedness; that it might be kept within bounds, and not exceed its measure to be filled up: this seems to denote some restraint on sinners, that they may not be able to go all the lengths they would; and some rebuke upon them, that they might not lift up their heads with impunity; and some check upon them, and their furious rage towards the people of God; and also the putting of an utter end to sin and sinners, and particularly the followers of antichrist; see Psa 104:35.

And he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof; either upon the mouth of the woman, or of the ephah; and, be it which it will, it was done to keep the woman within the ephah, and press her down there; and intends the judgments of God upon sinners; and shows that there is no escaping divine vengeance; that it falls heavy where it lights, and sinks to the lowest hell; and that it will continue, being laid on by the firm, unchangeable, and irrevocable decree of God. Cocceius understands this of the Saracens and Turks, and the barbarous nations, being cast into the Roman empire, to restrain the antichristian tyranny; but it seems better to apply it to the utter destruction of antichrist, signified by a millstone cast into the sea and sunk there, never to rise more; see Rev 18:21 and with it compare Exo 15:10.

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

And cast her into the midst of the Ephah - As yet then the measure was not full. Ribera: “She had the lower part within the Ephah, but the upper, especially the head, without. Though the Jews had slain the prophets and done many grievous things, the greatest sin of all remained to be done. But when they had crucified Christ and persecuted the Apostles and the Gospel, the measure was full; she was wholly within the Ephah, no part remained without, so that the measure was filled.”

And he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof - that is, doubtless of the Ephah; as in Genesis, “a great stone was on the mouth of the well” Gen 29:2, so that there should be no access to it.

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

He cast. Hebrew (Calmet) according to Theodotion, (St. Jerome) "She cast herself into the epha," &c. (Haydock)

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).

And he said; the angel unfolds the riddle.

This, this woman that sits in the ephah, represents the sinful nation of the Jews, is emblem of their wickedness.

Is wickedness, in the abstract, to express the greatness of the Jews’ wickedness, they will grow up to be most wicked.

He cast it; the angel cast down this woman, wickedness, from the seat she sat on, Zec 5:7.

And he east the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof; and now she is down the weight of lead, which she can never lift up, or remove, is laid upon the mouth of the ephah, she is shut up, as in a prison, to suffer the punishment of all her sins. This is their resemblance.

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

8. The interpreter proceeds to explain the significance of the woman.

This is wickedness — The wickedness of the whole land (Zec_5:6) is personified in the one woman. As the cover is lifted up she begins to rise, but the angel throws her back and makes escape impossible by replacing the lid upon the mouth, that is, the opening of the ephah.

Weight of lead — Literally, the stone of lead; synonymous with “round piece of lead” in Zec_5:7.

Zec_5:9-10 describe the removal of the ephah from the land.

Then lifted I up mine eyes — This phrase introduces not a new vision, but a new phase of the same vision. Looking up from the ephah, he beholds two new figures appearing upon the scene.

Two women — These women have no special symbolical significance; they appear only as the agents appointed to remove the ephah. Women are selected rather than men because a woman is in the ephah, two women because one alone could not have carried the burden.

Wings — To enable the women to move more quickly, they were supplied with wings. The air would offer fewer obstacles than the land; besides, the wind of heaven might assist creatures flying through the air in their movements.

Like the wings of a stork — The stork is introduced not because he is an unclean bird (Lev_11:19), but on account of the great size of his wings.

The wind was in their wings — That they might proceed with greater swiftness.

Between the earth and the heaven — That is, in the air. Thus the women began their journey.

As they move away the prophet inquires where they are going, to which the angel makes answer. 11.

To build it [“her”] a house — The pronoun refers primarily to the ephah, but includes the contents, the woman, for houses are built ordinarily for human beings. The building of a house implies that the stay is to be permanent.

In the land of Shinar — Babylonia (Gen_10:10; Gen_11:2); the home of the long-time enemy of the people of God, the land of exile. Sin, which had brought serious disaster upon Judah, is to be removed to the land of the enemy, there to cause distress and destruction. That the stay is to be permanent is further indicated in the second half of the verse. R.V. is to be preferred: “and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.”

When it is prepared (R.V.) — That is, the house.

She shall be set there (R.V.) — The woman (and the ephah).

In her own place (R.V.) — In the house erected for her use.

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

This is wickedness. This woman is the personification of wickedness. It is very common to find backsliding Israel represented as a faithless and adulterous woman. (comp. Isa_1:21 Jer_2:20 Hos_2:5; and the parable of the two women in Eze 23) He cast it; her the woman. As the woman rose, or tried to rise, from the ephah, the angel flung her down into it. It is possible, as some commentators suppose, that the ephah into which wickedness is thrust represents the measure of iniquity which, being reached, constrains God to punish. (see Gen_15:16, where the dispossession of the Amorites is postponed till their iniquity is full) The weight of lead; literally, as the LXX, the stone of lead; Vulgate, massam plumbeam. This is the cover of the ephah, that which is called the "talent of lead" in the preceding verse. This heavy cover the angel cast upon the mouth of the ephah, in order to confine the woman therein. (comp. Gen_29:2, which passage may explain why the cover is called "a stone Dr. Wright and some other commentators, referring the passage to theft and perjury alone, consider that the woman held in her hand the leaden weight with which she weighed her gains, and was sitting in the ephah which she used in her traffic; so that she represents dishonesty in the matter of weight and measure. She is punished by the means of the instruments she had used unrighteously; the weight is dashed upon her lying mouth, and the ephah, her throne, is made the vehicle that carries her out of the land. But it seems a mistake to confine the iniquity mentioned to the two special sins of theft and perjury; nor would the talent and the ephah be natural instruments of stealing and false swearing; and the point of the vision is not the punishment of wickedness, but its expulsion from the land. It is true that the pronominal suffix in the mouth thereof is feminine, and that the LXX makes it refer to the woman, to stoma authv . But it may equally refer to ephah, which is also feminine.

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

This - This woman represents the wickedness of the Jews. He cast it - The angel cast down this woman. On the mouth - And so shut her up, to suffer the punishment of all her sins.

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

This is Wickedness

The woman represents wickedness. AT: "This woman represents wickedness" (See: Symbolic Language)

He threw her ... he threw the lead cover

"He thrust her ... he forced the lead cover." The word "threw" indicates the force with which the angel did these things. He did not literally throw the woman or the cover.

I lifted my eyes

Here the word "eyes" represents the person who sees. AT: "I looked up" (See: Synecdoche)

wind was in their wings

This idiom means that they were flying. AT: "they were flying" (See: Idiom)

they had wings like a stork's wings

A stork is a type of large bird that has a wingspan of two to four meters. Zechariah compares the size of the women's wings with the size of the stork's wings.

They lifted up the basket between earth and heaven

The words "earth" and "heaven" form a merism that refer to the sky. It is implicit that the two women flew away with the basket. AT: "They lifted the basket up into the sky and flew away" (See: Merism and Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

evil

earth

heaven

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

And he said, “This is Wickedness.” This woman that you see in the midst of the ephah is the character of the way of wickedness, [the way] in which the wicked deport themselves. And behold, now they are placed in its midst to be punished in the midst of that very measure that they meted out, a measure for a measure.

And he cast her Heretofore she had been sitting, but he cast her and knocked her into its midst, symbolizing torments and punishments.

and he cast the lead weight into her mouth to weigh her down so that they achieve no more greatness and their voice is no longer heard robbing the poor and needy.

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.