Zec 5:5-11 | KingComments | STEP | It seems that the Angel has withdrawn after the vision of the scroll and now comes forward again with a new statement in a new vision ( ). He tells Zechariah to lift up his eyes to see what is going forth. This night vision, the seventh, is about “the ephah”, which is a size of probably between twenty and forty-five liters. The ephah symbolizes a profession and trade that must be done fairly ( ; ). God has measured sin precisely and also under control. Here the ephah represents the sinful system , while the previous vision is about sinful deeds . This sinful system is found and maintained throughout the land. Care is taken that this ruling system is not affected. It controls the entire spiritual climate.

‏ Zechariah 5:5-11

The Ephah

It seems that the Angel has withdrawn after the vision of the scroll and now comes forward again with a new statement in a new vision (Zec 5:5). He tells Zechariah to lift up his eyes to see what is going forth.

This night vision, the seventh, is about “the ephah”, which is a size of probably between twenty and forty-five liters. The ephah symbolizes a profession and trade that must be done fairly (Eze 45:9-11; Amos 8:5). God has measured sin precisely and also under control. Here the ephah represents the sinful system, while the previous vision is about sinful deeds. This sinful system is found and maintained throughout the land. Care is taken that this ruling system is not affected. It controls the entire spiritual climate.

The Woman Inside the Ephah

On the ephah there is a lead cover (Zec 5:7), which emphasizes the absoluteness of the prevailing wickedness, but at the same time prevents full revelation. This is how God indicates it here. The cover is not a hindrance for God to reveal what hidden power is at work behind the wickedness, which controls the wickedness. The cover is lifted up to let Zechariah and us look into it.

In the ephah is a woman sitting. The woman or the female as a symbol often represents a certain position that someone or something occupies. This woman symbolizes the position that idolatry has received in God’s people. Idolatry has been given a fixed place there. That the woman sits, means that she is in complete rest and that she controls the situation.

The woman is called “wickedness”. She represents wickedness (cf. Rev 17:3-5). This corresponds to what Paul calls “the mystery of lawlessness” (2Thes 2:7). The Septuagint – the Greek translation of the Hebrew Old Testament – uses the same words here in Zechariah as Paul uses in the second letter to the Thessalonians.

“Sin is lawlessness” (1Jn 3:5b), i.e. not recognizing any authority. In our days we see the forerunners of the great apostacy. The presence of the Holy Spirit still holds back the full development. Our moral norms are imperceptibly lowered to those prevailing in the world. This lowering has an effect on our service to the Lord.

This vision shows that in the people of God idolatrous principles are at work. This is not hidden from God, but many of God’s people do not see this. Zechariah gains insight into it, just as every believer who lives with the Lord gains this insight when he reads God’s Word.

Evil is here present in the bud. It is still restrained by the lead cover. God does not yet allow the full revelation of wickedness (2Thes 2:6-8).

Two Women and the Ephah

When Zechariah lifts up his eyes once more, he sees two women coming out. We can consider them as twin sisters. They represent civil and spiritual authority, or superstition and unbelief, or Pharisees and Sadducees. We can consider them as the demonic counterparts of Zerubbabel and Joshua. The idolatry has pushed Zerubbabel and Joshua from their God-given place as leaders of God’s people and has taken their place.

They are carried and propelled by the wind, a picture of demonic powers – ‘wind’ and ‘spirit’ are the same word – and lead the people to total apostacy. They have, so to speak, the wind in their sails and have prosperity in their evil enterprise. We often see that wicked people live in prosperity (Psa 73:2-5).

The women have “wings like the wings of a stork”. A stork is an unclean bird (Lev 11:19). Through these depraved powers, the ephah with the woman in it – the apostate Israel – is lifted up “between the earth and the heavens”. In that position no earthly power can reach it and do something with it. God can, but He allows evil to develop until the measure is full. The stork is a strong bird capable of covering a long distance.

The Ephah Taken to Shinar

The prophet does not ask what the ephah means, neither does he ask the meaning of the women who carry it, but only wants to know where the ephah is taken (Zec 5:10).

The answer goes beyond the question (Zec 5:11). The Angel answers the question of where the women take the ephah, and adds a few more details. The ephah is taken to the land of Shinar. In Shinar lies Babylon (Gen 10:10 ; Gen 11:2 ; 9). It is the land where man unites for the first time in rebellion against God. That is where the woman in the ephah belongs. The principles of idolatry belong in Babylon, but they are found under the remnant.

In the – now near – future these idolatrous principles will regain their true place, “her own pedestal”. In faith we must give them that place now. The building of a house presupposes a permanent dwelling place. That is where ungodliness came from. Wickedness is traced back to its origins.

Babylon does not deny God, but wants to make itself equal to God in its pride. It is a religious system that is always in rebellion against God. This system has great appeal to the people of God (Jos 7:21). How much of ‘Babylon’, the nominal Christian world, has been taken over by us in our service to God? It is idolatry and must be removed from the land.