Zechariah 5:5-115Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. 6And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. 7And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. 8And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. 9Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven. 10Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? 11And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base. (Zechariah 5:5‑11)
An ephah—a measure in common use at that day—is seen by the prophet, and when a talent of lead, apparently a weighty lid, was lifted up, a woman was seen sitting in the midst of the ephah. The prophet was told, “This is wickedness.”
The ephah being a measure in common use seems to point to the way the Jew has taken up commerce. When in captivity in Babylon they had given up idolatry, but acquired that spirit of commercialism which is such a marked feature of the nation today. Throughout the world the Jew is notorious, as on the one hand refusing Christ, and as a consequence they are scattered among the nations by the government of God; and on the other hand in making commerce their aim in a very intense way.
The weight of lead being cast in the mouth of the ephah speaks of God's hand in restraint, keeping wickedness within bounds.
The prophet sees two women, symbolical of evil again, the wind in their wings; that is, instead of restraint being placed upon them, providential circumstances are allowed to help them. They lift up the ephah between heaven and earth, and when the prophet asks whence they will bear it, the answer is given, “To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.”
As the woman is a symbol of “wickedness,” so the two women set forth two forms of wickedness. Bearing the ephah to the land of Shinar throws light on this.
Shinar is first mentioned in Scripture in Genesis 10:1010And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel, and Erech, and Accad, and Calneh, in the land of Shinar. (Genesis 10:10) as the home of Nimrod, and it was in that country that Babel (Greek-Babylon) was built. Babel was the place where man's speech was confounded, because of his impious attempt to be independent of God. Tracing Babel, or Babylon, through Scripture, we find it connected with two evils—idolatry and infidelity. These two are often connected, as witness the slavish idolatry of the Roman Catholic system, and its infidelity. These, then, will mark the Jew in the last days. There will be the Anti-christ, who will be infidel, that is, refusing God; and idolatrous, as setting up himself, and the image of the beast, to be worshipped.
These evils began in Babylon, and Babylon in that way is to characterize the Jew in the last days in one form, and the Roman Catholic system in another. For this latter see Revelation 17; 18.