Why is wickedness portrayed as a woman in Zechariah 5:7-8?

The next vision is more mysterious in its form and symbols, although its main significance is clearly seen. "Then 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. And 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 [or their look or aspect in all the land]. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of the lead upon the mouth thereof." (vv. 5-8.) This is the first part of the vision, the remaining verses comprising a distinct development, revealing the final consummation of the wickedness first seen among the Jews. And this may explain perhaps the term found so frequently in this chapter — "goeth forth" — a term indicating not only movement, but also, in relation to the subject of the visions, progress in or the development of evil. The beginnings, the germs, were visible in the days of Zechariah; and just as the apostle John speaks of many antichrists having already appeared and looks upon these as the certain precursors of the antichrist, so these germs are taken up in the vision as the foreshadowings of the complete manifestation of the evil which they go on to depict. The exact meaning of the ephah, beyond the fact that it was a measure in use among the Jews, is not revealed; but, in accordance with what has been said as to progress, its "going forth" would seem to point to the spread of evil throughout the land (Judea); and the fact that it was a known measure may signify that whatever its virulence and power the evil would be, in the government of God, confined within certain limits; or that there were determined bounds, beyond which the long-suffering of God would not pass. Our Lord speaks for example to the Jews, "Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. "

The evil itself was personified by a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. This is explained in verse 8: "This," said the angel, speaking of the woman, "is wickedness. And he cast it [i.e. the woman] into the midst of the ephah." So that the end of verse 7 gives the result of the action at the beginning of verse 8; that is, it is the angel who casts the woman (wickedness) into the midst of the ephah, and the prophet beholds her, as a consequence, sitting there. There is yet another action — the angel also "cast the weight of lead [probably the talent of lead named in verse 7] upon the mouth thereof" (of the ephah). A woman is a well-known symbol in Scripture for the expression of a system, sometimes personifying a nation — as, for example, the daughter of Zion and the daughter of Babylon — and sometimes, as in the Apocalypse, setting forth a religious organization. As an illustration of the latter meaning, we have the woman sitting upon a scarlet-coloured beast, arrayed in every kind of human glory and grandeur. with her. name written upon her forehead, "Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth." (Rev. 17:5.) And we know from verse 18 of that same chapter that Rome — the Romish system, what we understand by the Papal religion — is presented under the form of this woman. This enables us at once to perceive, and the more certainly from the fact that she is sitting in the midst of a Jewish measure, that the woman of our chapter is the expression of organized wickedness among the Jews of the last days. Having rejected Christ, and, as He foretold, having received another who will have come in his own name, they will become the sport and prey, as well as the dwelling-place, of the seven wicked spirits of idolatry, and thus their last state will be worse than the first. (See Matt. 12:43-45.) This then is wickedness — an organized system of idolatry. She sits in the midst of an ephah, as indicating the Jewish character of her outward form and habitation; and her "sitting" (compare Rev. 17:3, 9, 15) sets forth the fact of her supremacy over the Jewish nation, that Judaism is the seat of her throne and government.

It is more difficult to seize the precise meaning of the casting the weight of lead upon the mouth of the ephah, but we judge that it points to the immense energy of the wickedness as contained in the ephah. The great weight of lead was cast upon its mouth; some severe repression exercised, it may be, in the way of government, rather than directly, to hinder further expansion and development; and yet, as the remaining part of the vision shows, the wickedness was irrepressible, and flowed out in its true form and character. In a similar way evil is restrained at the present moment, according to that word in 2 Thess. 2: "And now ye know what withholdeth, that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth, will let, until he be taken out of the way, And then shall that Wicked be revealed," etc. (vv. 6-8) In like manner the weight of lead may represent the restraint for a time of the power of the wickedness, symbolized by the woman, through human government, or by other means, confining it to the Jewish ephah until God permits it to overflow and reveal its true origin and habitation. If this be so, verses 9-11 may not follow as to time immediately upon verse 8, but may refer, as before suggested, to the full development of the wickedness which in an organized form had found a home in Judaism. This is the more probable, as there is a distinct break in the vision, if it be not indeed the commencement of a new, though intimately connected, one in verse 9, as shown by the words, "Then lifted I up mine eyes" — words which so frequently are used as introductory to a new subject. (See Zech. 2:1; 5 Zech.: 1, 5)

When the prophet had again lifted up his eyes, he says, I "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. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And 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." (vv. 9-11) The primary feature of this vision is, that two women come out of the ephah where there had been but one; and, holding to the Scripture symbolism of the woman, the meaning will be, that two systems, united but distinct, are developed out of that which had been contained in the Jewish measure. Then it had a Jewish form as well as a Jewish home, but now its component parts are resolved into two, both of which are represented by a woman. And what are these? An examination of the state of the Jews, as unfolded in the Scriptures, leaves little doubt that they are the twin sisters, SUPERSTITION and INIFIDELITY. It was these our Lord Himself had to contend with in the form of the Pharisees and Sadducees, they are conjoined in their baleful work at this moment in the professing church, and nowhere more apparently than in Romanism, and they will be seen exercising all their frightful influence over the souls of men under the sway of the antichrist, who calls in superstition to his aid when he is permitted to make fire to come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men; and he avails himself of her sister infidelity when he opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God or is worshipped.

“And the Angel that talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goes forth. And 1 said, What is it? And He said, This is the ephah that goes forth. And He said, This is their resemblance in all the land. And behold, there was lifted up a round plate of lead; and this is a woman that sits in the midst of the ephah. And He said, This is Wickedness: and He cast her into the midst of the ephah; and He cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof” (v. 5-8).

The ephah generally represents the largest measure of contents, for the cor or homer, with a larger content is nothing else but a tenfold ephah. In the midst of that ephah sat a women, that is to say, she had established herself there. Subsequently the Angel cast her into the ephah, as a picture of judgment. He closed the ephah with a lead lid to indicate that the judgment had been irrevocably been sealed. This woman was called Wickedness, in the sense of unrighteousness. She possessed a nature that did not subject itself to a higher will, but acted according to its own will. She felt herself totally independent from God, and did acknowledge no other law that her own (1 John 3:4).

Therefore the woman in the ephah portrays the independency of man toward God. She had filled up the measure and was therefore judged in this irrevocable manner.

In God’s Word the woman often is found to be the personification of a moral or religious principle. So we find, for instance in Proverbs a woman as symbol of wisdom, and a woman representing corruption. These principles are often portrayed by a nation or a city.

Thus, in Revelation 12, the woman portrays a nation, the true Israel according to God’s counsels, and in Revelation 17:3 the woman is an apostate, religious system, a city, Babylon the Great (cf. v. 9). Jerusalem too is repeatedly seen as a moral and religious system portrayed by the image of a woman.

But then comes the second part of this chapter. We have had the double curse; but there is a figure appended which shows that God traced the iniquity to its source; and a very important principle this is in God's judgment. "Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goes forth. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goes forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sits in the midst of the ephah. And 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. Then 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. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said to me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base." The ephah was a well-known Hebrew dry or corn measure, equal nearly to an English bushel. This is their eye, ayinim (<span style="font-family: 'H ebraica'">µn:y[e</span>) * in all the land. This some take to indicate the intent of the heart set on evil; and others derive from it the sense of sight, and hence appearance or resemblance. It is again (verse 8) said to be wickedness, after the woman was shown sitting in the ephah. The meaning of the sign I take to be that idolatrous wickedness is here seen caught and shut up as it were by the leaden weight, and presently afterwards (verses. 9-11) transported rapidly to the mother source of idols — the land of Shinar — that it might be set there in its congenial haunt: why should it pollute the land of Jehovah?

Zech. 5:5-11. The seventh vision is that of "the Ephah with the woman sitting in it." This is a picture of wickedness — ajnomia — lawlessness. It is hidden — the woman in the ephah — and it is borne to the land of Shinar, its base, where it began its course. This we know; for Nimrod was the first great representative of the wicked or the lawless one, who is to be destroyed in the day of the Lord. This "wickedness" is hidden as here in an "ephah;" or, as in Matt. 13, in "three measures of meal" — hidden, I may say, under a profession, as of the religion of Israel, or of the name of Christendom. But it is really Babylon at the end as at the beginning, "the land of Shinar;" as we again see in Rev. 17, and many other Scriptures.

In the second place let us notice that in the midst of the ephah there is seen a woman. She is called wickedness. The Hebrew word wickedness is translated by the Septuagint with "anomia". We find that the Holy Spirit uses the same word in 2 Thess. 2:8, and then shall be revealed in the wicked one (anomia) whom the Lord Jesus will slay with the Spirit of His mouth. The woman in the ephah personifies wickedness. She has surrounded herself with the ephah and sits in the midst of it. Have we not here the great whore having a golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication? Undoubtedly. This woman is the type of evil and wickedness in its highest form. Let us glance at that wonderful description of that woman in Revelation. She is the great whore sitting upon many waters. She sits upon a scarlet colored beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman is arrayed in purple and scarlet decked with gold, precious stones and pearls. Upon her forehead is seen her name, Mystery, Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots and abominations in the earth. She is drunk with the blood of the saints. The woman in the ephah represents the same great whore, Babylon the Great. This becomes at once clear when we take into consideration that the woman in the ephah is carried swiftly away an a house is built for her in the land of Shinar, and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base. Now the land of Shinar is Babylonia. But while in Revelation 17 the mystical Babylon is seen, in the eighteenth chapter there is another Babylon, the final great political-commercial world system; it is still future, not very far away, for we see that the trend of modern events is towards such a combination. The vision of the ephah and the woman evidently sealed up in it may denote the overthrow and judgment of the final Babylon.

The seventh vision presents the woman sitting in the midst of the ephah and being personalised "Wickedness" (v. 8). This is suggestive of a system of idolatry. But religious evil can be tolerated no more than stealing or false swearing. Idolatry is traced back to Babylon (Shinar, v. 11), its source. As storks (v. 9) always return to their nests, idolatry is shown to have its origin and roots in Babylon. God does not overlook it but treats it as it is.

The second part of this vision reveals what had to take place in view of this curse. An ephah was the common measure of trade and commerce, and a woman is several times used in Scripture as a symbol of a system; and systemized idolatry, linked with profitable business had lain at the root of the evils that had led to the captivity out of which the remnant had come; and the land of Shinar, where Babylon was situated, had been the original home and hotbed of all idolatry. It was this that had brought the curse upon the forefathers of the people. The whole system of this idolatrous evil had to be deported to its own base.

THE SEVENTH VISION: THE EPHAH AND THE WOMAN (vv. 5-11)

The angel now draws Zechariah's attention to another vision, asking what he sees that “goes forth” (v. 5). The ephah was a standard of measurement, and the vessel of that size took the same name. It stands for the principle of trade and commerce, which should be honest (Ezek. 45:10), but in Israel was commonly perverted by greed (Amos 8:5) as we know it is everywhere today. Are things to remain this way? No! God had decreed that the ephah will go forth because “this is their resemblance throughout the earth.” All the land of Israel has been affected adversely by this perversion of the ephah, for the perversion was seen inside the ephah (v. 7). He saw a woman sitting. Women who maintain their scriptural role often are more godly and devoted than are the men, but a woman out of her role can corrupt herself more than the men do, as Jezebel the wife of Ahab illustrates (2 Kings 21:25). Jezebel is used in the New Testament as the symbol of the wickedness of the false church (Rev. 2:20), and similarly the false church, Babylon the Great, is pictured as a woman in Revelation 17:4-5.

The woman here speaks of Israel given up to lust for gain through trade and commerce. She is personified as “Wickedness” and thrust down in the midst of the ephah, with a lead lid weighing a talent (well over 100 pounds or 45 kg.) put over the opening of the ephah. This illustrates what riches commonly accomplish. They become a terrible weight by which the victim is trapped without hope of extrication. Sin must be punished! This vision shows that the root principle of sin will be banished, but those who choose it will also suffer banishment from God.

Having seen in this vision a woman called Wickedness thrown into an ephah and a weighted lid put on its mouth, Zechariah then sees two women coming (v. 9), having wings like a stork, with the wind in their wings. These indicate civil authority and spiritual authority reduced to an evil state, in contrast to Zerubbabel (the civil authority) and Joshua (the spiritual authority) ordained by God for Israel's blessing. By these corrupted authorities apostate Israel (the woman in the ephah) is carried rapidly away from Jerusalem (“the foundation of peace”). The wings of a stork (an unclean fowl of the air) signify satanic power that energizes these authorities.

From Shinar religious corruption came, and thither it must go, forcibly and swiftly carried off: such is the measure meted by Jehovah. This again seems to confirm the idea that it is the idolatrous evil of the Jew derived from and sent back to Babylon. This was particularly emphatic. The judgment of God which had transported the Jews to Babylon had not destroyed the iniquity for which they were carried there. The post-captivity prophet lets us know that, when God has traced the evil to its source, it has to be taken out of His land, and set upon its own base, where it really is at home, even in the land of Shinar, the plain on which Babylon was built. He does not speak of Babylon now, but simply the scene of it. It is all no doubt a symbolical prophecy. One may not agree with D. Kimchi and others of the Rabbinical commentators that the woman means the ten tribes, and the ephah Jeroboam's calves and the worship of Israel; but I am farther still from believing that the vision is God's sentence on modern commerce, borne on stork's wings from the east to the west. This seems to be the most unfounded and grotesque of all interpretations, though I do not deny the corrupting influence of commercial principles and effects.