ZECHARIAH 5: 5-11 (THE 7TH VISION)
WICKEDNESS REVEALED
[Revelations 17:1-6, 15-16]
Religious Lawlessness & the World Commercial System.
The previous vision of The Flying Scroll is related to this vision of The Woman in the Basket in that they refer to the judgment which flagrant, persistent sinners will receive when God’s curse against sin finally falls. Therefore this vision’s final fulfillment also occurs in the end time when religious wickedness or lawlessness is revealed as giving no safety from the wrath of God against ungodliness.
For not only will individual sinners be judged (the Flying Scroll vision) but wickedness itself will be removed from the land or earth. Though sinners may seem to prosper, they, and the whole system of religious, political and commercial ungodliness, that will so powerfully dominated the earth and its people, will also ultimately fail (CIM).
The religious system of the last days will gain power by teaming up with the world-wide commercial system and political system known as Babylon and for awhile escape its economic persecution. The Apostate Church which joins this world wide religious system will do its bidding. This religious system of wickedness will eventually be seen by even the political-commercial system which supports it to be completely bankrupt and will turn on it. Thus it eventually will find the liberation which it sold-out for short lived and treacherous.
The vision also had application to the prophet’s own time. The remnant of the land had only recently been exiled from Babylon. Outwardly they had put away pagan idolatry. However an intense commercial preoccupation gripped the people with greed for gain. The basic motivation of the people, what dominated their thinking and their living, was not loyalty or faithfulness to the LORD, but worldly gain.
[Haggai had rebuked them for it (Haggai 1:4). Nehemiah scathingly rebuked the nobles and rulers for extracting heavy interest from their impoverished brothers (Neh. 5:1-13). He called upon these selfish interest extractors to restore the vineyards, olive groves and houses of the brothers they had oppressed. The prophet Malachi would also have to confront the people with their robbing of God (Mal. 3:8-9).]
I. THE WORLD DOMINATION OF COMMERCIAL BABYLON, 5-7a.
II. THE RELIGIOUS HARLOT OF BABYLON, 7b-8.
III. THE TEMPORARY DELIVERANCE OF THE RELIGIOUS HARLOT, 9-11.
I. THE WORLD DOMINATION BY THE COMMERCIAL BABYLONIAN SYSTEM.
The new vision is marked by the interpreting angel returning to Zechariah in verse 5. Then the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, "Lift up now your eyes, and see what this is going forth."
The interpreting angel again advances to the foreground. He came forward to speak to the prophet in order to prepare him for the coming vision. He does this by commanding the prophet to look up and see. See is the object of the imperative lift up. So little is human nature capable of readily appropriating divine revelation that it is not only necessary for God to send a vision but it is also necessary to stimulate the recipient’s attention step by step while he is caught up in the powers of the heavenly appearance or He would fail to grasp all that God has to offer.
The command raise your eyes and see by the interpreting angel now has Zechariah’s attention fully aroused. He is told to see what is going forth. It is as if the prophet is looking at a scene set out before him, and something is coming closer from a distance. Again movement is an indication of action. Moral forces in the world do not remain stationary or stagnant; there is either progress or regression.
In verse 6 Zechariah once again asks for help in understanding the revelation. And I said, "What is it?" and he said, "This is the Ephah going forth." Again he said "This is their appearance (lit.-eye) in all the land (or earth)."
So striking was the object’s appearance and significance which the prophet now sees that he inquires concerning its identity. What is it? His question allows the interpreting angel to state its symbolic appearance, to describe its going forth and imply its function.
The interpreting angel identifies the large object as an ephah (container or basket). An ephah was the most common measure of dry goods or grain used among the Jews. An ephah measure contained ten omers (Ex. 16:36) which is equivalent to 1.05 bushels American measure or about 6-7 gallons (though this special one is enlarged - large enough to hold a person).
The ephah was the best possible symbol for large commercial trade (particularly agricultural). To the people of that time who saw it used every time large quantity trading was going on it would represent trade or commerce.
This measure is pictured as "going forth," thus it is symbolized as a principle of power. This ephah, or measuring container which represents commerce, goes forth or pervades with its influence the whole land (earth), which must mean it becomes the dominating economic power and stamps its character over the whole earth. (The Septuagint and Syrian versions read "this is their iniquity" which would fit the context also).
With the Jews banishment to Babylon and their subsequent dispersion a new period began for the Jewish people. The nation gradually transformed from an agricultural and pastoral people into a nation of merchants. The more powerful merchants who returned to Israel were at this time making people poor by their prices and interest charges and then taking their land as payment. Trade and commerce learned during the Babylonian captivity had a mighty formative influence upon the Jewish people. And this power of commerce has continued to grow not just among the Jews but among every nation and has been predicted by Scripture to one day bring all nations under its sway.
Although Zechariah saw only a glimpse of the coming satanic world system in its godless commercial and economic aspects other Scriptures describe it more fully. John 12:31, 14:30, 16:11, 1 Jn. 5:19, Rev. 2:13, Gal. 1:4, Col. 1:13, 2 Pet. 2:20, Jas. 4:4. James 5:1-8 describes economic greed’s terrible grip.
Godless, greedy commercialism, the uncontrollable love of gain, is an important aspect of political and commercial Babylon which Revelation 13:17 describes. "No one will be able to buy or to sale except the one who has the mark... of the beast...."
The ephah, which represents the materialistic ambitions that were corrupting the people, covering is opened in verse 7a. And behold a lead cover (talent -KJV) was lifted up.
Cover or talent (KJV) ( kik r) literally means a circle. Lead talents or a circular mass of lead, the most common heavy metal, were used as counter balancing weights for all commercial transactions in which scales were used. Thus the talent forming the circular cover of the ephah is another instrument and emblem of commerce.
It is a striking and noteworthy fact, which no intelligent person can fail to observe, that more and more commerce is bringing the nations under its sway. In all the earth and among all the nations commerce, which is here symbolized by the ephah and talent, is becoming the great controlling center of society. The power of the manufacturer, the distribution skill of the merchant, the controlling power of those who loan and/or trade in money pervade the outcome of commerce. These and other economic conglomerates when combined speak with a voice which no government can refuse to hear. Legislators and legislations both local and national (and soon globe) accommodate themselves to their demands. The ramifications of commercial interests are so extensive and varied that the mass of society is effectually reached and influenced by their control. And thus a power base is continuing to be consolidated the scope of which has never before existed.
Even in America today this commercial power works in harmony with the state or visa versa. Therefore it possesses not only its own intrinsic weight, but is acquiring to a greater and greater degree all the weight and authority with which government fortifies it. It takes little foresight to see that when the commercial and political systems affiliate they will effectively dominate the earth. Thus Revelations chapter 18 which describes the final down fall of the great commercial Babylon closes with "for your merchants were deceived by your sorcery" (18:23c).
Let me add that commerce is not evil in itself. It is only when the men involved falsify the principles of God and become lawless by sacrificing truth to conduct themselves solely by the profit motive that corruption arises.
II. THE RELIGIOUS HARLOT OF BABYLON, 7b-8.
The second half of verse 7 reveals a woman inside the symbolic basket representing. "And This is a Woman sitting inside the Ephah."
The lead talent or cover (which secured the contents) is lifted or exposed by God to reveal a woman sitting inside the ephah. The word sitting - yeshivoth from yashav- means "to sit down, to dwell, remain in a content relaxed position." The woman sitting or dwelling in the ephah is apparently enjoying the luxury and wealth with which the commercial system provide her. Thus the woman’s dwelling in the midst of the ephah denotes her intimate contact with worldly wealth and commerce by which she is supported.
A woman is used because she can more readily represent the enticing power of the temptress or the subtle influence of a mother which is obviously being used by the commercial system. But what does the woman symbolize? What is her identity? Who is she?
Immediately the angel recognizes the women and gives her identity in verse 8. Then he said, "This is Wickedness!" And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening.
The woman’s character is defined as or maybe the lifting up of the lead lid exposes - reveals her as Wickedness - the very embodiment of evil itself. The Hebrew word harish’ah ( ) could also be translated lawlessness. It is a general word denoting moral, religious and civil evil. It was a name given to Jezebel (2 Chron. 24:7).
But who or what does the woman symbolize or represent? (In Hebrew the feminine form is used in abstract ideas and) the Hebrew word wickedness is feminine. There is another symbolic woman in apocalyptic literature. In the 17th chapter of Revelation she is described as the great harlot.
17:1 - called the great harlot because of the breaking of all the commandments and laws of the groom she is supposed to be engaged to. - many waters.
17:2 - This religious system courts the favors of the political powers and takes a worldly compromising position.
17:3 - Again we see the woman "sitting" but on a scarlet colored beast which represents political Babylon.
17:4 - The religious system is made wealthy and given great prominence because of her promotion of immorality.
17:5 - False religion is the great promotor of evil.
17:6 - She not only made the nations drunk with immorality but was drunk herself with the blood of the saints.
The Woman represents ecclesiastical Babylon and is personified religious wickedness as in the great harlot of Babylon in Rev. 17:5. The end times ecclesiastical Babylon rides in power and prestige with - a religion-state union in which the religious power employs political power for her immoral ends.
But how does this immoral religious system come about? Turn to 2 Timothy 4:1-5, 2 Thess. 2:6-8; Matthew 24:9-12.
This religious system comes about by an apostasy of the church which not only conforms to the godless commercial political world system but gives it a special stamp of approval by justifying the system through its lawless-immoral beliefs, teachings and actions.
But this woman may even be representative of all apostate religious movements from their inception in the ancient Babylon of Nimrod (Gen. 10:8-10) to the final one controlled by the beast and the false prophet (Rev. 19:20 - Mt. 12:43-45). Some say she signifies the full measure of the world’s sin for which no forgiveness has been claimed and must be banished from the earth. The worship of mammon is represented by this woman because of the power she displays as a temptress exercising an enticing and dangerous influence over the souls of mankind.
At first the woman appears sitting or dwelling in the ephah which indicates a settled-down condition showing her contentment with and delight in the ungodly commercialism which supports her so she can maintain her compromised position. When the woman tries to escape she is cast back into the ephah by a strong angel and kept there under restraint by means of the lead covering. How can the woman be sitting content one minute in the ephah then wishing to escape from what has become a trap to her? John the Revelator saw this tragic ending - Rev. 17:15-16. "The waters which you saw where the harlot sits, are the peoples and multitudes and nations and tongues. "And the ten horns which you saw, and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked, and will eat here flesh and will burn her up with fire."
So after a season of lawless liberty in which she allures mankind to the destruction of their souls by her seductive attractiveness and luxury she will be judged. And she will no longer be able to repent and escape her deserved end. Read Rev. 22:11. "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy; and let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness; and the one who is holy, still keep himself holy." The commercial system which the covering of lead and ephah represent will turn from promoter to captor.
[The woman wants to be active among the restored community, but the angel with difficulty is able to confine her. The ‘stone or weight of lead’ shows that she was effectively imprisoned within the basket by the heavy closure. There was to be no escape from the confinement that God had imposed on her until the beast and false prophet release her.]
III. THE TEMPORARY DELIVERANCE OF THE
RELIGIOUS HARLOT, 9-11.
Verse 9 reveals two powerfully winged female beings. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.
Lifted up eyes occurs a second time in this vision to point out graphically a detail of arresting significance. Now if we recognize the woman as a religious system then we should recognize these two women as systems or components of some system, that are able to remove the religious harlot from her predicament (or simply take control of her). But what system or systems of evil do the rescuers represent?
Storks are numerous in Palestine during the migration season but the Israelites were not allowed to touch or eat them because they were an unclean bird (Lev. 11:19 & Deut. 14:18). These wings of the stork the rescuers possessed also had additional propelling power. The wind was in their wings. The wind represents a spirit. The spirit is not of God but it does aid the rescue (or relocation).
One cannot be certain who or what these women are ort whatever two systems they represent. They are ready to unite as sponsors and protectors of a system described as Wickedness which is able to deceive even the elect if that is possible (See Matthew 24:24). So it is certainly indicated since these women are helping unredeemable wickedness escape (or relocate) to "the land of Shinar" (Babylonia) that they too are evil.
In verse 10 Zechariah ask their destination. And I said to the angel who was speaking with me, "Where are they taking the ephah?" In verse 11 the purpose for their actions is given. Then he said to me, "To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal."
The prophet again asks the angel for information. God supplies the answer to the man who seeks for answers with earnest questions.
These women, who are also part of the evil system, deliver the woman who represents the adulterous religious system from the vengeance of the commercial Babylon which was about to destroy her to Shinar. Once in Shinar she sets herself up on her own pedestal to be worshiped. Shinar translated means Babylonia (Isa. 11:11; Dan. 1:2).
The name Shinar carries us back to an ancient power of the first great world empire of Babel or Babylon which was ruled by Nimrod around 2,350 B.C. [See Gen. 10:8-11a.] Nimrod unified the people to build a temple to the heavens and make a name for themselves (Gen. 11:1-9). This was the first great apostasy. There was a structure, a temple built at the time of this first great apostasy. It was called the Tower of Babel. The Temple represents man’s effort to reach God in and of his own merit and power. God punished them by confusing their language. And so again before the coming of the Lord a temple will be built again so false religion can attempt to reach God their own way. [Is this Ezekiel’s temple?]
CONCLUSION
Are you trying to reach God your own way? Have you yourself decided and set up within your own mind your own standard of what is right and wrong? Are you pleased that neither you nor your church offends the world system? Do you dislike and wish to avoid the righteous standard of God revealed in His Word, The Holy Bible? Do you want your religion to make you comfortable or Holy? Do you want to know the truth even if you are wrong and must therefore change your mind and your way of life? Is your religion so compatible with the world so that it sees no wrong with the world system?
Beware, there is strong delusion about that would seek to make humanist out of us all. Are you being deceived by the philosophies of the world (Col.2:8). If so, you are a prime candidate for apostasy as are your children who follow you also.
