Zechariah

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Zechariah 5 – Skeptic's Annotated Bible answered

A response and reply to the notes on Zechariah 5 in the Skeptic's Annotated Bible (SAB).

King James Version

SAB comment

My comment

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

(5:1-4) Zechariah sees a 30 foot flying scroll that burns down the houses of thieves and liars.

This still is a vision, where Zechariah is shown things in order that he and his readers would better understand them. And if we read these verses correctly, it is not the scroll that burns down the houses of thieves and liars, but the curse that is written upon it.

2 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.

3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: 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.

4 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: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.

5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.

6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.

7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

(5:7-8) "This is a woman. ... This is evil."
Evil is personified as a woman.

We also read about wisdom being personified by a woman (Prov. 8:1-2), so what does this mean? Nothing in particular about females in particular. It's just an image. In verse 9 two women are seen to help God carry out his judgement, just a different image, but it says just as much about women in particular as this verse does.

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.

9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.

(5:9-11) "There came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork."
Two women with wings like storks fly off with an ephah to the land of Shinar.

These two women take the ephah, which contained the wickedness (verse 8), and bring it to Shinar, which means land of shaking. John Gill comments:

the bearing of the "ephah" thither may denote the cause of their captivity, the measure of sins filled up by them

so they were brought out of their land into a land of shaking.
And again, it is a vision and should be read as such, not as a literal thing, but as a visual symbol.

10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?

11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.