Scofield Reference Notes Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. [2] flying roll
A "roll," in Scripture symbolism, means the written word whether of God or man Ezek 6:2 Jer 36:2,4,6, etc: Ezek 3:1-3. Zechariah's eighth vision is of the rebuke of sin by the word of God. The two sins mentioned really transgress both tables of the law. To steal is to set aside our neighbor's right; to swear is to set aside God's claim to reverence. As always the law can only curse (Zech 5:3); Gal 3:10-14. 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 earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. Margin earth
Lit. land, i.e. Palestine. I will bring it forth, saith the LORD 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 remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
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. [1] What is it
In the vision of the ephah local and prophetic elements are to be distinguished. The elements are: an ephah or measure; a woman in the ephah; a sealing weight upon the mouth of the ephah confining the woman, and the stork-winged women whose only function is to bear the ephah and woman away into Babylonia (Shinar). The thing thus symbolized was "through all the land" (v.6). Symbolically, a "measure" (or "cup") stands for something which has come to the full, Song that God must judge it 2Sam 8:2 Jer 51:13 Hab 3:6,7 Mt 7:2 23:32. A woman, in the bad ethical sense, is always a symbol of that which, religiously, is out of its place. The "woman" in Mt 13:33 is dealing with doctrine, a sphere forbidden to her 1Tim 2:12. In Thyatira a woman is suffered to teach Rev 2:20. The Babylon phase of the apostate church is symbolized by an unchaste woman, sodden with the greed and luxury of commercialism. Rev 17:1-6 18:3,11-20. The local application of Zechariah's ninth vision is, therefore, evident. The Jews then in the land had been in captivity in Babylon. Outwardly they had put away idolatry, but they had learned in Babylon that insatiate greed of gain Neh 5:1-9 Mal 3:8 that intense commercial spirit which had been foreign to Israel as a pastoral people, but which was thenceforward to characterize them through the ages. These things were out of place in God's people and land. Symbolically He judged them as belonging to Babylon and sent them there to build a temple--they could have no part in His. The "woman" was to be "set there upon her own base" (Zech 5:11). It was Jehovah's moral judgment upon Babylonism in His own land and people. Prophetically, the application to the Babylon of the Revelation is obvious. The professing Gentile church at that time condoning every iniquity of the rich, doctrinally a mere "confusion," as the name indicates, and corrupted to the core by commercialism, wealth, and luxury, falls under the judgment of God (Rev. 18.). Margin earth Lit. land, i.e. Palestine. 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 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? Margin angel
See Scofield Note: "Heb 1:4". 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. Margin Shinar i.e. Babylonia. Dan 1:2 Scofield Reference Notes by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield [1917] Bible Hub |
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