In this vision the prophet saw an ephah go forth, the top of which was covered by a mass of lead. This lead was removed, and a woman was seen sitting within the ephah. The woman was lifted out of the ephah in order that the prophet might distinctly see her. This fact is implied rather than distinctly stated. Then the angel cast the woman back into the ephah, and placed the weight of lead upon the mouth of the ephah. Then there came two women having wings like those of a stork and the wind was in their wings. These women lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven that they might carry it to the land of Shinar, in which Babylon was situated, and that they might there build it a house and establish the ephah upon its own base. The ephah was the common measure of quantity in use among the Jews. It contained about one bushel, or thirty-five litres. God gave a special commandment that this measure should not be falsified. Lev. 19:35, 36; Eze. 45:10. He said that if they used just weights and just measures their days would be prolonged upon the land which God gave them. Deut. 25:15. But when they were about to be carried to Babylon, Jeremiah said of them, that from the prophet even to the priest every one was given to covetousness. Jer. 6:13; 8:10. The prophets and the priests were the two classes of men who were set apart by God to minister in holy things during the period of the Old Testament. When both these classes were given to covetousness, we can well understand what must have been the condition of the common people. Amos illustrates their covetousness by saying that they made the ephah small (this was the measure of quantity by which they sold), and that they made the shekel great (this was the measure of weight by which they received money as pay), so that they defrauded doubly in all their business transactions. Amos 8:4-7. The ephah, therefore, represents a just measure, like the shekel of the sanctuary, which was kept as a standard under the eye of the priest. Ex. 30:24; Num. 7:13, 19, 25. This ephah went forth as the eye of God, to condemn all those who practiced fraud in weight and measure. The vision of the ephah is therefore a fit supplement to the vision concerning the roll; for the roll went forth to pronounce the curse of God upon all who steal and upon all who swear falsely, and the ephah reaches and condemns the same classes, for those who do these things always defraud in measure. The mass of lead was lifted from the top of the ephah, and then the prophet saw a woman sitting within the ephah. The angel said: "This is wickedness." Verse 7. This must signify that the woman was shut up in the ephah because of evil conduct, that is, because of fraud in buying and selling, which a just ephah would condemn. This was a terrible punishment, inasmuch as an ephah is not large enough to contain a woman unless she were crushed into it, and because also that a mass of lead was placed upon the top of the ephah to force down the woman and to confine her therein. This talent of lead must signify the hand of God, that was extended to punish this woman because of her sin. The woman thus crushed and overwhelmed, was to be carried to the land of Shinar, where Babylon was situated. Verse 11; Gen. 10:10; 11:1-9. This must signify the carrying away of the Jewish nation into captivity in Babylon. Dan. 1:1, 2. And therefore we must understand that the woman in the ephah signified the Jewish nation, which in the Scriptures is called often the daughter of Zion. Jer. 6:2; Lam. 4:22; Micah 4:10; Zech. 2:7, 10. But if we consider how general was the dispersion and destruction of the Jewish nation at the time when Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem, and how few were actually carried to Babylon as the representatives of a nation which before this destruction numbered some millions, we can well understand why the captivity of the remnant of the Jews was represented by a woman shut up in so small a space as the interior of an ephah. Such of the royal family and of the priesthood as were not slain, were carried captive, and such of the vessels of the sanctuary as were not destroyed, were also carried away to Babylon. 2 Kings 25:7, 18-21; Jer. 52:10-27; 2 Chron. 36:18, 19. The feeble remnant that escaped the sword of Nebuchadnezzar and that were carried to Babylon, numbered only a few thousand. 2 Chron. 36:20; Jer. 52:28-30; 2 Kings 24:10-16. The nation thus diminished may be fitly represented by a woman crushed into an ephah beneath a mass of lead. Who then are represented by the two women having wings like those of a stork, who bear the ephah containing the woman to the land of Shinar, or Babylon? As the woman in the ephah must signify the Jewish nation crushed at the destruction of their city by Nebuchadnezzar, and then carried captive to Babylon, the two women with wings who carry her thither, must signify the two great nations which were united under Nebuchadnezzar to conquer and to carry captive the Jews. These were the Babylonians and Assyrians. The psalmist speaks of those who were carried captive to Babylon (Ps. 137:1-4), and says that it was the daughter of Babylon by whom this had been done. Verse 8. And Zechariah thus addresses the Jews at Babylon: "Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon." Zech. 2:7. The Assyrian nation also, as represented by Nineveh their capital, is called a woman. Nahum 3:1-5. These two nations were united under Nebuchadnezzar in such manner that he is sometimes called the king of Assyria (compare 2 Kings 25:29 with Jer. 46:2) and sometimes the king of Babylon. 2 Kings 25:1. The contrast is great between the woman shut up in the ephah beneath a mass of lead, and the two women who were able to fly through the air with the ephah. The one was a helpless captive, the others were her captors. Conquering nations are often represented as having wings, to signify, no doubt, the swiftness with which they made their attacks, and their ability to reach places that seemed inaccessible. Thus the kingdom of Babylon is represented as having wings. Dan. 7:4; Hab. 1:6-8; Jer. 48:40; 49:22. The kingdom of the Greeks is also thus represented. Dan. 7:6. The Romans are also represented in the same manner. Deut. 28:49. The woman in Rev. 12, representing the Christian church, received wings to enable her to fly from her persecutors. Verses 6, 14. If the woman in the ephah had received wings it would signify that she was enabled to make her escape from her captors, but she remained a helpless captive; while wings were given to those who had seized her, to enable them to carry her away in triumph.235It is remarkable that the entrance of the Hebrews into the promised land is represented as being on the wings of the eagle. Ex. 19:4; Deut. 32:9-12. This relates specially to the triumphant departure of the Hebrews from Egypt, and to their triumph over all those who opposed them, which might fitly be compared to a passage through mid-air on the wings of an eagle. But when God sent this people out of this good land, because of their sins, they go as helpless captives, represented by a woman shut up in an ephah, and it is their enemies that triumph as though they soared in the mid-air. It is said that the wind was in the wings of these women who flew through the air. In the prophecies the term wind is used to designate war, even as waters of the sea are used to represent nations. Compare Dan. 7:2; Rev. 7:1-3; 17:15. The four great kingdoms in Dan. 7 arose by the strife of the winds upon the great sea, that is, by wars among the great nations. So the wind which blew at the time of the transportation to Babylon signifies the great war of conquest which Nebuchadnezzar was then waging with the nations. But there is hope for the captive woman implied in the fact that those who carried her away are said to have the wings of the stork. The stork always returns at an appointed time to the same place whence she set out. Jer. 8:7. The Jews must be carried to Babylon, and must remain there a long period, so that their conquerors are represented as establishing them in that city as though it were to be their permanent home. And even God commanded the Hebrews to build houses for themselves in Babylon. Jer. 29:4, 5, 28. But at the end of seventy years they were to be returned to their own land, by the power of the king that should then rule Babylon. 2 Chron. 36:20-23; Ezra 1:1-11; Jer. 25:9-12; 29:10. The king of Persia that restored the Jews is called king of Babylon and king of Assyria. Ezra 5:12, 13; 6:22. These things were in the past when Zechariah had this vision, even as the birth and ascension of Christ were past when John had his vision of these events in A.D. 96. But this vision of the first destruction of Jerusalem and of the captivity of the Jews was given to remind them of their sin, that the second destruction of the city and the final dispersion of their nation might not take place. But this warning was not permanently heeded, for the later visions of Zechariah predict the final destruction of Jerusalem and the dispersion of the Jews, which was accomplished by the Romans under Titus, in A.D. 70.