Zec 5:7 | KingComments | STEP | On the ephah there is a lead cover ( ), 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. ). This corresponds to what Paul calls “the mystery of lawlessness” ( ). 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” ( ), 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 ( ).

‏ Zechariah 5:7

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).