Matthew Henry Commentary Zechariah 5
Matthew Henry Commentary
Zechariah 5
Matthew Henry Commentary
Zechariah 5
"Then again I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off on the one side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off on the other side according to it. I will cause it to go forth, saith Jehovah of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name; and it shall abide in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." — Zechariah 5:1-4 (ASV)
The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are scrolls, in which God has written the great things of his law and gospel; they are flying scrolls. God's word runs very swiftly (Psalms 147:15). This flying scroll contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against sinners. Oh, that we saw with an eye of faith the flying scroll of God's curse hanging over the guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sunbeams of God's favor, but full of thunders, lightnings, and storms, ready to destroy them!
How welcome then would the news of a Savior be, who came to redeem us from the curse of the law, being himself made a curse for us! Sin is the ruin of houses and families, especially harming others and false witness. Who knows the power of God's anger?
God's curse cannot be kept out by bars or locks. While one part of the curse of God ruins the sinner's possessions, another part will rest on the soul and sink it to everlasting punishment. All are transgressors of the law. Therefore, we cannot escape this wrath of God, unless we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us in the gospel.
"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 the ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their appearance in all the land (and, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead); and this is a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. And he said, This is Wickedness: and he cast her down into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there came forth two women, and the wind was in their wings; now they had wings like the wings of a stork; and they lifted up the ephah between earth and heaven. Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place." — Zechariah 5:5-11 (ASV)
In this vision, the prophet sees an ephah, something in the shape of a grain measure. This signified the Jewish nation. They are filling the measure of their iniquity; and when it is full, they will be delivered into the hands of those to whom God sold them for their sins. The woman sitting in the middle of the ephah represents the sinful church and nation of the Jews in their latter and corrupt age.
Guilt is upon the sinner like a weight of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. This seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews after they filled the measure of their iniquities by crucifying Christ and rejecting His gospel. Zechariah sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed in it, carried away to some distant country.
This suggests that the Jews would be hurried out of their own land and forced to dwell in distant countries, as they had been in Babylon. There the ephah will be firmly placed, and their sufferings will continue far longer than in their previous captivity. Blindness has come upon Israel, and they are settled upon their own unbelief.
Let sinners fear to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath, for the more they multiply their crimes, the faster the measure fills.
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