For those who may wish to ‘study’ this chapter, the following simple resources are provided for you. Each passage has a four-Part approach to help you take in and think further about what you have read.

Zech 5:1-4

1 I looked again, and there before me was a flying scroll.

2 He asked me, “What do you see?”

I answered, “I see a flying scroll, twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”

3 And he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the whole land; for according to what it says on one side, every thief will be banished, and according to what it says on the other, everyone who swears falsely will be banished. 4 The Lord Almighty declares, ‘I will send it out, and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of anyone who swears falsely by my name. It will remain in that house and destroy it completely, both its timbers and its stones.’”

A. Find Out

1. What did the prophet next see? v.1
2. How did he describe it? v.2
3. What was its general purpose? v.3a
4. What was on one side of it? v.3b
5. What was on the other side of it? v.3c
6. How will it work with what end consequence? v.4

B. Think:

1. What does the size of this scroll suggest to you?
2. How is it expressing God’s will for the Land?
3. How would you summarize what this is?  

C. Comment:

This short chapter opens in only a semi-spectacular way but by the end of this passage comes with a scaring declaration of the will and intent of God for certain expressions of sin in the Land of Israel.  It is a declaration of judgment that essentially declares that God is going to clean the Land up of these things.

We need to remember the general context of this book: Zechariah is a prophet alongside Haggai, both of whom have been sent to encourage those who have just returned from exile in Babylon after a number of decades. During the time of the Exile, the Lord had changed the hearts of the people to be open to Him so they could return, rightly holding the description, ‘the people of God’. But they aren’t the only occupiers of the land, there are clearly others there, as shown through the books of Ezra and Nehemiah who could not hold that description. But the Lord is not going to tolerate unrighteousness in the Land that might drag down the people of God, so He sends this warning through this picture.

The picture is first very simply of a great scroll that is flying over the land (v.1) The prophet is made to realize its great size (v.2), which would appear to describe it when it is unrolled, a great sheet. Then the angel who has continued with him (see back to 4:11) tells him what is on the scroll: it is a curse, a declaration of God’s judgement. On one side would appear to be listed every thief in the land (remember it’s a big scroll) and on the other, every liar – and God is going to remove all of them from the Land!

D. Application:

1. When God does a ‘clean-up’ He does it thoroughly.
2. Coming as a warning it gives opportunities for repentance first.

Zech 5:5-11

5 Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.”

6 I asked, “What is it?”

He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.”

7 Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! 8 He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it.

9 Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth.

10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me.

11 He replied, “To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.”

A. Find Out

1. What was he next shown, and its meaning? v.6
2. Who was in it? v.7
3. What did she represent? v.8
4. What was happening to it? v.9
5. What did it leave him wondering? v.10
6. Where was it to be taken? v.11

B. Think:

1. Why do you think all the ‘players’ here are women?
2. What is implied about the way wickedness will be dealt with?
3. What is implied about its destination?

C. Comment:

The vision changed from the scroll to a basket appearing from above (v.5) but the sense is similar to what has gone before. In the basket is a woman (v.7). The word for wickedness is a feminine noun in Hebrew and prophetic pictures were sometimes based in the grammatical gender of a woman (e.g. wisdom in Proverbs similarly).

Often women were seen to be the driving force in the family unit (see Prov 31:10-), sometimes for bad (e.g. Jezebel 1 Kings 16-). Here the woman, we are told, simply represents wickedness (v.8a) but she is restrained in the basket (v.8b) which is then (?appropriately) carried by two other women (v.9) who have wings to enable them to fly to Babylon (v.11) where a place is being prepared for it, where it will clearly remain in a place more suited for it. When wickedness is let loose and is unrestrained, it brings destruction within a nation, and perhaps this is God’s punishment on Babylon.

Again and again the returned remnant are being prodded to remind them that the heart transformation that had taken place while in exile, is to continue now they are in the Land which is being given a new lease of life, we might say, of righteousness, and thus this chapter is God’s declaration that He is going to ensure that it remains righteous. Observing the things that are recorded in Nehemiah and Ezra, it is clear that the heart or intent of the leaders, if not all the people as well, are set on ensuring they are in a right position with the Lord.

D. Application:

1. God’s intent is always to have a purified, righteous people.
2. That is still our calling today.