Zechariah
Zechariah 5
1Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. 2He said to me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”
3Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the surface of the whole land; for everyone who steals shall be cut off according to it on the one side; and everyone who swears falsely shall be cut off according to it on the other side. 4I will cause it to go out,” says Yahweh of Armies, “and it will enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and it will remain in the middle of his house, and will destroy it with its timber and its stones.”
5Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes, and see what this is that is appearing.”
6I said, “What is it?”
He said, “This is the ephah basket that is appearing.” He said moreover, “This is their appearance in all the land 7(and behold, a talent of lead was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting in the middle of the ephah basket.” 8He said, “This is Wickedness;” and he threw her down into the middle of the ephah basket; and he threw the weight of lead on its mouth.
9Then I lifted up my eyes and saw, and behold, there were two women, and the wind was in their wings. Now they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah basket between earth and the sky. 10Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are these carrying the ephah basket?”
11He said to me, “To build her a house in the land of Shinar. When it is prepared, she will be set there in her own place.”
Commentary
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What others are saying
5 commentators · 31 notes on this chapter
Matthew Henry2
Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.
Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.
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…
The foregoing vision was very plain and easy, but in this are things dark and hard to be understood; and some think that the scope of it is to foretel the final destruction of the Jewish church and nation and the dispersion of the Jews, when, by crucifying…
John Gill11
The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.
Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.
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…
And he said unto me,.... That is, the angel: What seest thou? and I answered, I see a flying roll, the length whereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits; so that it was a very large one, a volume of a very uncommon size, especially it may so…
Then said he unto me, This is the curse,.... So the law of Moses is called, because it has curses written in it, Deuteronomy 27:15 which curse is not causeless, but is according to law and justice; it is from the Lord, and is no other than the wrath of the…
Adam Clarke6
The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.
Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.
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…
Every one that stealeth - and every one that sweareth - It seems that the roll was written both on the front and back: stealing and swearing are supposed to be two general heads of crimes; the former, comprising sins against men; the latter, sins against God…
Into the house of him - Babylon, the house or city of Nebuchadnezzar, who was a public plunderer, and a most glaring idolater.
Keil & Delitzsch3
The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.
Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.
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…
To this there is appended in Zac 5:5-11 a new view, which exhibits the further fate of the sinners who have been separated from the congregation of the saints. Zac 5:5. "And the angel that talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now thine eyes, and…
Zac 5:9. "And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold there came forth two women, and wind in their wings, and they had wings like a stork's wings; and they carried the ephah between earth and heaven. Zac 5:10. And I said to the angel that talked with me…
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown9
The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.
Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.
length . . . twenty cubits . . . breadth . . . ten cubits--thirty feet by fifteen, the dimensions of the temple porch (Kg1 6:3), where the law was usually read, showing that it was divinely authoritative in the theocracy. Its large size implies the great…
curse . . . earth-- (Mal 4:6). The Gentiles are amenable to the curse of the law, as they have its substance, so far as they have not seared and corrupted conscience, written on their hearts (Rom 2:15). cut off--literally, "cleared away." as on this side…
The "theft" immediately meant is similar sacrilege to that complained of in Neh 13:10; Mal 3:8. They robbed God by neglecting to give Him His due in building His house, while they built their own houses, forswearing their obligations to Him; therefore, the…
World English Bible — Public domain