Zechariah 5

THen Or, And, Hebr. i. e. after I had seen those comfortable visions, and been instructed in the true meaning of them. I turned Changed his posture, though the occasion of it be not mentioned, nor the posture into which he put himself., and lift up mine eyes Look't up into the Air where the Vision appeared, and looked very diligently, and discerned clearly., and behold a flying roll A Volume, or book which in those days were not written as now our Books are printed and bound, but were written as deeds are now on large or long Parchments, and rowled up upon a neat round stick, or else rowled up on themselves, such the roll here seen, much as our large Geographical Maps are rolled upon rollers, and lodged in a convenient Cavity, so were their books of old. But probably here now the Roll was spread out at large, flying in the Air swiftly, perhaps with some noise that might make the Prophet look about him..

And he The Angel, chap. 4. ver. 1, 5. said unto me, What seest thou O Z hariah,? And I answered, I see a flying roll, the length thereof is twenty cubits That is ten yards long by this it appears the roll was spread out, for had it been rolled up, he could not have seen the length, tho' he did the breadth, five yards., and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

Then said he The Angel which instructed the Prophet. unto me, This is the curse This Roll or Book containeth the Curse, the menaced Punishment due to sinners, of which too many were still among the Iews. that goeth forth That goeth speedily, for it flyeth. over the face of the whole earth Either the whole Land of Iudea, or over all the world, where ever these sins are found; this curse will come upon the sinners, unless they repen.: for every one that stealeth, Theft is here first mentioned, a sin that had abounded among them, and from which they were not free then, they rob'd one another, and they rob'd God, they were sacrilegious. shall be cut off Shall be punished with an extermination of his house, as well as with cutting off his Life. as on this side: according to it According to the just threats of the Law, and every one that sweareth Profanely, or alsly, the perjur'd person shall be cut off too., shall be cut off as on that side, aceording to it.

I will bring it forth So exemplarily will I execute this Judgment, that it shall appear I do it, my hand aith God shall be seen in it. says the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter None shall be able to keep it out, this curse shall come with commission from me, into the house where he laid up that he got by the t and thought to rejoice i it, or by house understand all his Estate and Goods with his Family and posterity. of the thief The Robbers of God, and of their Neighbours and every other notorious transgressour of the precepts of the second Table., and into the house of him that sweareth falsly by my Name This does explain that of the third verse, and 'tis plain that the perjur'd person is here threatned, every one that dares call God to witness to a falsehood, and imprecate themselves if they spea not truth.: and it shall remain This curse shall be a long curse, it shall stick close to them and theirs like Gehazi's Leprosie. in the midst As in the heart and center of their house like a sword in the midst of the Bowels, or like a Disease that seizeth the heart. of his house, and shall consume Though it do not destroy suddenly, it shall destroy surely. it with the timber thereof; and the stones thereof The strength of it, nothing shall remain as when both Timber and stones of a house are consumed and wasted. Such execution shall be done on those whose name and place shall be blotted out..

¶ Then the angel that talked with me went forth Or went on, proceeded, or as we read it went forth from some more retired place, though he do not tell us what it was, or where he was with the Prophet when the last Vision appeared., and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes Now the Prophet was come forth with the Angel, he is commanded to look up and observe what he seeth going forth from Ierusalem, or the Temple., and see what is this that goeth forth?

And I Zechariah knew not what this was he saw, so far was he from knowing what it meant. said, What is it? And he The Angel, said, This is an ephah that goeth forth Out of the Temple of Ierusalem.. He said moreover Having told the Prophet what the thing was, the Angel addeth once and above., This is their resemblance This how dark soever it may seem to be, is a clear Emblem of this people every where. Thus there is a limited time and measure for them whilest they sin and are filling up the Ephah with their sins, they will find that the Ephah of Wrath filled up also to be poured out upon them, or as the Hebr. Thi their eye as the Gallick Version. This the eye I have upon them, &c. i. e. God's eye observes how they fill their Ephah with sin, that he may sutably punish, that his Ephah of Wrath may f ll also. through all the earth. the greatest, say some, of measures with the Hebrews, but their Corus was much greater, it was a great measure, and many times taken for any measure, when strictly taken, it held some three bushels.

And behold Here is another part of this Vision, there was li t up Either lifted up from out of the Ephah, or brought thither to cover it. a talent of lead A large piece of Lead of a Talent weight, large as the mouth of the Ephah.: and this is a woman A Woman, the third in the Vision or Emblem. that sitteth Secure, shameless, and resolved of her way in increasing in in. in the midst of the ephah.

And he said The Angel unfolds the Riddle., This This Woman that sits in the Ephah represents the sinful Nation of the Iews, is Emblem of their wickedness. is Wickedness In the abstract, to express the greatness of the Iews wickedness, they will grow up to be most wicked., And he cast it The Angel cast down this Woman wickedness from the seat she sat on, ver. into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead on the mouth And now she is down the weight of Lead which she can never lift up, or remove is laid upon the mouth of the Ephah, she is shut up, as in a Prison to u er the punishment of all her sins. This is their res mblance. thereof.

Then lift I up mine eyes Vid. ver. 1. let. c., and looked ibid let. d., and behold, there came out From the same place whence the Ephah came. two women The sinful Nation was resembled to a Woman, and now to keep a decorum in the Vision. They who are to be God's Executioners, to punish that wicked Woman, are called Women; 'tis like enough to be meant of the Romans, a warlike and stout Nation., and the wind was in their wings They are set forth as having wings, like the wings of Storks, large and strong, and as flying before the wind with great swiftness, so should Divine Vengeance swiftly follow, and certainly overtake the Iewi h Nation when after their return out of Captivity they shall corrupt themselves, and fill up the measure of their sins. for they had wings like the wings of a stork and they lift up the ephah between the earth and the hea ven The Judgments came thus flying, and so bare away with them those that are to be punished: It is a secret intimation of a future deportation, or carrying the Iews into captivity again for sin..

Then When I saw the Ephah, Woman imprisoned, and lead too on the wings of those two Women in motion. said I Zechariah. to the angel that talked with me, Whither To what place, and how far. do these bear Not as a Nurse carryeth the Child, but as Criminals are carryed to punishment. the ephah?

And he said unto me, To build it an house Not in Mercy, but in Judgment as intending the next deportation should not be as the first for seventy years, but for ever, they should never return in the land of Shinar Of Babylon whither many of the Iews fled, and so by voluntary exile fulfilled this prophesie, whither others of them were forced by the Romans.: and it shall be establi hed and set there There they shall be confined without hope of release, upon her own base not on the foundation of God's Promise and Covenant, but the base of their sins.. The Angel gives him an answer fuller than his question, and first tells the Prophet what was to be done with it.