Zechariah 5:9, commentary and pictures

The two women with wind in wings like a stork's lift the ephah containing Wickedness between the earth and the heaven to carry it to Shinar, where Babylon was situated, to set it there in a house upon its own base. The ephah is a standard measure of capacity, and the woman shut inside it is a corrupt church whose corruption enters among God's people, the measure of guilt that brings condemnation when full. The two women are powers that elevate, sustain, exalt and establish that apostate woman or mystic Babylon and make her continued existence possible, while they are also the Babylonians and Assyrians united to conquer the Jews and carry them captive to Babylon with the swift reach of conquering nations. Carried toward Shinar, which is Chaldea centered on Babylon, that wickedness is perpetuated and established there as a permanent institution on its own base, representing Babylon and its corruptions. The two women are also the Catholic and Protestant religious bodies that rose after the Reformation, lifting together the ephah as a false standard of measure and worship identified with Sunday observance to establish it permanently through law and give it legal authority in the nations.

Imagery and Historical Setting

Two women with wind in their wings like a stork's lift the ephah containing Wickedness between earth and heaven to carry it to Shinar, where Babylon was situated, to establish it there in a house on its own base. The word rendered wind is roo-agh in the sense of wind. The lifting of the ephah between heaven and earth recalls Babylonian idolatrous cosmology, which placed heaven above air and earth, and the name of the measure was associated with Babylon, where it was called pitu.

The vision concerns Jerusalem's first destruction and the Jews' captivity and warns them against the sin that could bring a second destruction and dispersion. That second destruction and dispersion later came when Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jews were dispersed by the Romans under Titus in A.D. 70. The stork-like wings carrying the ephah to Babylon signify that the captive would return to her place at the appointed time. The Jews would remain in Babylon seventy years and then return to their own land under the Persian king who ruled Babylon.

Meaning of Ephah and Women

The imagery as a whole represents wickedness whose appearance extends throughout the earth, while the two women and their wings in themselves are left without separate explanation. The ephah is a standard measure of capacity, and the woman shut inside it is a corrupt church whose corruption enters in among God's people. It is a just measure that exposes and condemns fraud in buying and selling, supplementing the roll's curse upon thieves and false swearers, because such persons also defraud others through false measures. Together the woman and ephah picture a corrupt church settled in commercialism, and the ephah is the measure of guilt that brings condemnation when full. The woman is a religious system formed by rebellion against God and misuse of Babylonian idolatrous practices, continuing onward in changing outward forms with the same spirit.

The two women who carry the ephah are its captors, in contrast to the helpless captive woman shut inside it. They are the Babylonians and Assyrians united under Nebuchadnezzar to conquer the Jews and carry the Jewish nation captive to Babylon. Their wings signify the swift reach and power of conquering nations, so that unlike the shut-in captive they are pictured flying in triumph. Their lifting of the ephah to the land of rebellion to establish it there is the action of a power that elevates, sustains, exalts, and establishes the apostate woman or mystic Babylon, making her continued existence possible. This mystic Babylon belongs to the time before the Christian age.

The two women are also the Catholic and Protestant religious bodies that rose in power and influence after the Reformation. Their stork-like wings filled with wind signify readiness for a long, high flight as they rise. Together they lift the ephah as a false standard of measure and worship, identified with Sunday observance. In united action they lift up that false standard to establish it permanently.

Removal to Shinar Established

The wickedness shut up in the ephah is lifted between earth and heaven and borne away toward Shinar to be perpetuated and set up there as a permanent institution on its own base. Shinar is Chaldea centered on Babylon, so the destination identifies the vision with Babylon and its corruptions. The ephah itself is a standard measure of capacity, and the woman inside it is a corrupt church whose corruption enters in among God's people.

The flight of the ephah through the air between earth and heaven shows iniquity and the church's false standard of measure being sent out over the earth. That movement depicts the spread and establishment of that false standard until it is imposed upon people. The wind in the wings of the bearers is war, commotion, and strife, for Babylon advances through earthly conflict and uses force to suppress those whose truth threatens it.

The carrying of the ephah pictures the corruption of God's light and truth by blending it first with Babylonian idolatry. The same pattern reappears in Christ's time as apostate Christianity blended with paganism, and in the present as Spiritualism joined to apostate Protestantism. This union gives the woman power and authority to continue in sin and rebellion.

The two women who unite to lift the ephah are the Catholic and Protestant religious bodies that rose in power and influence after the Reformation. Their stork-like wings filled with wind signify readiness for a long, high flight. Together they lift the ephah as a false standard of measure and worship identified with Sunday observance, seeking to establish it permanently in Shinar, or Babylon, a symbol of confusion. Their union seeks to establish that standard permanently through law, giving it legal authority in the nations.