Project 119: Zechariah 5
| Project 119 | Amy Hirsch
I recently heard a friend tell the story of a time when she was disobedient as a child, and her mother’s response was to take her to her father’s office for what we would call back in North Carolina a “firm talking to.” My friend recalled feeling nervous because she knew that her father was gracious, but that he also took disobedience seriously. In some ways, the story, to me, is a picture of the character of God. God’s self-revelation in Exodus 34:6-7 echoes throughout Scripture, and we hold the truth that He is merciful and gracious in tension with the truth that He “will by no means clear the guilty.”
In Zechariah’s sixth and seventh visions, we see God’s justice against not only those who do evil, but against wickedness itself. In his sixth vision, Zechariah beholds a large scroll (probably 15 by 30 feet!) flying in the air. What is written on the scroll? It’s likely the curses for those who make a oath to follow God’s law but refuse to keep it (see Deuteronomy 28-29). The sins of theft and perjury, the first a sin against humanity and the second a sin against God, represent the gambit of iniquity. The message here is clear: God will not tolerate evildoers. God’s judgment will come against those who refuse to heed Him—and there’s nowhere they can hide! Their homes could be made of the strongest stones or the sturdiest bricks or the tallest trees, but nonetheless, God will find them and make His justice known.
The seventh vision is one that is a bit bizarre, I have to admit. Zechariah receives a vision of the personification of Wickedness—a woman in a basket, being sent off to Shinar, a foreign land. Now, at first, I got a little agitated that the picture of Wickedness was a woman—I mean, really? But it turns out that the Hebrew word for wickedness is a feminine noun. It’s also helpful to remember that so many of the Israelites’ problems came from false worship tainted with sexual immorality, and that false worship was allowed to enter the Promised Land because men chose to marry foreign women who did not follow the Lord. So, the image of Wickedness as a woman is actually really helpful because of how it reminds us of Israel’s history—it’s not because Zechariah was saying that there’s something inherently wicked about women because of their gender.
Notice that the basket is flown off by women who are portrayed like storks—off to a land called Shinar, a place otherwise known as Babylon. God sends Wickedness back to where she came from. You see, this is good news, because God takes disobedience seriously, but His goal isn’t just to punish those who do evil. Scripture points us forward to a day when God will have His just desserts against Wickedness herself, to a day when evil will no longer reign. And we hold this truth of God’s justice in tension with the truth of His mercy—that for those who are repent and believe the gospel, who choose to look “on Him whom they have pierced’ (Zechariah 12:10, ESV), who chose to trust in Christ for salvation—there is now therefore no condemnation. Their sins are removed as far as the east is from the west! Praise God—His mercy and justice will triumph over even evil in the end.
Zechariah 5 (ESV):
A Vision of a Flying Scroll
1 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll! 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.”3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cleaned out according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears falsely shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side.4 I will send it out, declares the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who swears falsely by my name. And it shall remain in his house and consume it, both timber and stones.”
A Vision of a Woman in a Basket
5 Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” 6 And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.” 7 And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! 8 And he said, “This is Wickedness.” And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening.
9 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. 10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” 11 He said to me, “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.”