Year 3, Day 264: Zechariah 5

The Vision of the Scroll

In this chapter we have two visions.  The first of the visions has to do with a flying scroll.  This scroll apparently has writing on both sides which will be used in judging different kinds of people.  Since Zechariah gives us length and width, we can assume that this scroll is not rolled up but unfurled as it goes through the air. 

Again we see that Zechariah sees the vision, but he doesn’t understand it immediately.  Zechariah must wait for an understanding and for an interpretation.  Like all of us, even the prophets had to wait to get their understanding from God.

There is some really neat symbolism that is happening here.  The fact that there is writing on both sides may hearken us back to the stone tablets of the Law (See Exodus 32:15).  In fact, if we recall those tablets and pick out the middle commandment of each half (3^rd and 8^th commandment) we get an amazing result (See Exodus 20:7 and Exodus 20:15).  The third commandment is that we should not take the name of the Lord in vain.  (Remember that in ancient cultures people made oaths – swearing – based upon the virtue of their god.)  The 8^th commandment tells us that we should not steal.  These are precisely the two topics to which the vision of the scroll refers us.

It is as if this vision is a reminder to Zechariah as the people come back from exile.  God wants Zechariah to remember with intention that the Law was given.  The Law is the standard against which we all shall be judged; and subsequently we shall all be found to desperately to be in need of the atonement that comes through His Messiah.  We can say with reasonable certainty that this vision was given to Zechariah so that he might know that all those who violate God’s Law are condemned.

This is poignant for the Hebrew people coming back from exile as well as for us.  The Hebrew people who went into exile thought themselves untouchable.  They were God’s “chosen ones.”  They were God’s holy people.  Certainly God wouldn’t judge them!  Yet, God did.  They were chosen not to be untouchable but rather to be obedient!  Any who are not obedient fall into judgment, even the chosen ones. 

Therefore, as the people come back from exile they need something to keep them from developing another invincibility complex.  It would be far too easy for them to say, “God brought us back; He must love us the most.”  No, that must be defeated.  Likewise, it is easy for those of us who live under God’s grace to say to ourselves, “I have Christ, I am invincible.”  No, that too must be defeated.  Christ is not an invincibility clause against God’s judgment.  Christ is a call to humble submission to God’s ways.

The Vision of the Woman in the Basket

First of all, while our modern English Bibles speak about a basket, we must not lose sight of the fact that the technical word used here is an ephah.  You might recognize that as a unit of measure among the Hebrew people.  In fact, it is the largest unit of measure for dry goods.  Do not overlook this fact, because in the vision God has to put wickedness in the largest unit of measure known to the Hebrew people.  What is God’s point?  God is saying that there is significant wickedness among the Hebrew people.  Just in case anyone is curious, this is true for us, too, not just the Hebrew people.

Also, I do want to make a very clear point here.  Do not read into the gender of “wickedness.”  In the Hebrew, the term for wickedness is a feminine noun.  Thus, wickedness was often made into analogy as a woman.  This is not a comment upon the nature of women; it is a linguistic issue and only a linguistic issue.

As we look upon this ephah, notice that there is a lid over the ephah and the lid had a lead weight upon it.  It wasn’t enough to contain wickedness; wickedness had to be kept in the ephah.  Wickedness wants to get out.  Wickedness will get out.  Unaccounted, wickedness will spread and escape and corrupt and pervert.  Wickedness must not just be contained, it must be vigilantly contained.

Also notice that the ephah is being taken away from the land.  Wickedness must have more done to it than simple containment.  It must be removed and taken away.  Wickedness that is simply locked up is not enough.  Wickedness is such a dangerous enemy that it must be imprisoned and removed.  I find this to be an incredibly deep truth that speaks into my life as I grow old.  It is far too easy to underestimate the power of wickedness.

The wickedness is being taken away to Shinar.  What is Shinar?  Shinar is a plain in southern Babylon.  Interestingly enough, Shinar is thought to also be the general location for the Tower of Babel story (See Genesis 11:2).  It would seem that God is making a judgment upon Babylon even in their defeat to the Persians.  Babylon captured Jerusalem and took the Hebrew people among them.  In doing so, God used Babylon to cleanse the Hebrew people of their wickedness.  However, the wickedness did not dissipate.  Instead, the wickedness stayed and resided in Babylon.  We must be careful, spiritually speaking, when we are actively bringing wickedness into our midst.  In most cases, it is extremely insipid – a reminder back to the lead weight upon the ephah.

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