mh_parser/vol_split/38 - Zechariah/Chapter 5.xml

<div2 id="Zech.vi" n="vi" next="Zech.vii" prev="Zech.v" progress="94.28%" title="Chapter V">
<h2 id="Zech.vi-p0.1">Z E C H A R I A H.</h2>
<h3 id="Zech.vi-p0.2">CHAP. V.</h3>
<p class="intro" id="Zech.vi-p1" shownumber="no">Hitherto we have seen visions of peace only, and
all the words we have heard have been good words and comfortable
words. But the pillar of cloud and fire has a black and dark side
towards the Egyptians, as well as a bright and pleasant side
towards Israel; so have Zechariah's visions; for God's prophets are
not only his ambassadors, to treat of peace with the sons of peace,
but heralds, to proclaim war against those that delight in war, and
persist in their rebellion. In this chapter we have two visions, by
which "the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all
ungodliness and unrighteousness of men." God will do great and kind
things for his people, which the faithful sons of Zion shall
rejoice in; but "let the sinners in Zion be afraid;" for, I. God
will reckon severely with those particular persons among them that
are wicked and profane, and that hated to be reformed in these
times of reformation; while God is showing kindness to the body of
the nation, and loading that with his blessings, they and their
families shall, notwithstanding that, lie under the curse, which
the prophet sees in a flying roll, <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p1.1" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.1-Zech.5.4" parsed="|Zech|5|1|5|4" passage="Zec 5:1-4">ver. 1-4</scripRef>. II. If the body of the nation
hereafter degenerate, and wickedness prevail among them, it shall
be carried off and hurried away with a swift destruction, under the
pressing weight of divine wrath, represented by a talent of lead
upon the mouth of an ephah, carried upon the wing I know not where,
<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p1.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.5-Zech.5.11" parsed="|Zech|5|5|5|11" passage="Zec 5:5-11">ver. 5-11</scripRef>.</p>
<scripCom id="Zech.vi-p1.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5" parsed="|Zech|5|0|0|0" passage="Zec 5" type="Commentary"/>
<scripCom id="Zech.vi-p1.4" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.1-Zech.5.4" parsed="|Zech|5|1|5|4" passage="Zec 5:1-4" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Zech.vi-p1.5">
<h4 id="Zech.vi-p1.6">The Vision of the Flying
Roll. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Zech.vi-p1.7">b. c.</span> 520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Zech.vi-p2" shownumber="no">1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and
looked, and behold a flying roll.   2 And he said unto me,
What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length
thereof <i>is</i> twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten
cubits.   3 Then said he unto me, This <i>is</i> the curse
that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one
that stealeth shall be cut off <i>as</i> on this side according to
it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off <i>as</i> on that
side according to it.   4 I will bring it forth, saith the
<span class="smallcaps" id="Zech.vi-p2.1">Lord</span> 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.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p3" shownumber="no">We do not find that the prophet now needed
to be awakened, as he did <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p3.1" osisRef="Bible:Zech.4.1" parsed="|Zech|4|1|0|0" passage="Zec 4:1"><i>ch.</i>
iv. 1</scripRef>. Being awakened then, he kept wakeful after; nay,
now he needs not be so much as called to look about him, for of his
own accord he <i>turns and lifts up his eyes.</i> This good men
sometimes get by their infirmities, they make them the more careful
and circumspect afterwards. Now observe,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p4" shownumber="no">I. What it was that the prophet saw; he
looked up into the air, and <i>behold a flying roll.</i> A vast
large scroll of parchment which had been rolled up, and is
therefore called a <i>roll,</i> was now unrolled and expanded; this
roll was flying upon the wings of the wind, carried swiftly through
the air in open view, as an eagle that shoots down upon her prey;
it was a <i>roll,</i> like Ezekiel's that was <i>written within and
without</i> with <i>lamentations, and mourning, and woe,</i>
<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p4.1" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.2.9-Ezek.2.10" parsed="|Ezek|2|9|2|10" passage="Eze 2:9,10">Ezek. ii. 9, 10</scripRef>. As the
command of the law is in writing, for certainty and perpetuity, so
is the <i>curse of the law;</i> it <i>writes bitter things</i>
against the sinner. "What I have written I have written and what is
written remains." The angel, to engage the prophet's attention, and
to raise in him a desire to have it explained, asks him <i>what he
sees?</i> And he gives him this account of it: <i>I see a flying
roll,</i> and as near as he can guess by his eye it is <i>twenty
cubits long</i> (that is, ten yards) and <i>ten cubits broad,</i>
that is, five yards. The scriptures of the Old Testament and the
New are <i>rolls,</i> in which God has <i>written to us the great
things of his law</i> and gospel. Christ is the Master of the
rolls. They are large rolls, have much in them. They are
<i>flying</i> rolls; the angel that had <i>the everlasting gospel
to preach flew in the midst of heaven,</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p4.2" osisRef="Bible:Rev.14.6" parsed="|Rev|14|6|0|0" passage="Re 14:6">Rev. xiv. 6</scripRef>. God's word <i>runs very
swiftly,</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p4.3" osisRef="Bible:Ps.147.15" parsed="|Ps|147|15|0|0" passage="Ps 147:15">Ps. cxlvii.
15</scripRef>. Those that would be let into the meaning of these
rolls must first tell what they see, must go as far as they can
themselves. "<i>What is written in the law? how readest thou?</i>
Tell me that, and then thou shalt be made to <i>understand what
thou readest.</i>"</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p5" shownumber="no">II. How it was expounded to him, <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p5.1" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.3-Zech.5.4" parsed="|Zech|5|3|5|4" passage="Zec 5:3,4"><i>v.</i> 3, 4</scripRef>. This flying roll is
a <i>curse;</i> it contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of
God against those sinners especially who by swearing affront God's
majesty or by stealing invade their neighbour's property. Let every
Israelite rejoice in the blessings of his country with trembling;
for if he swear, if he steal, if he live in any course of sin, he
shall see them with his eyes, but shall not have the comfort of
them, for against him the curse has gone forth. <i>If I be wicked,
woe to me</i> for all this. Now observe here,</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p6" shownumber="no">1. The extent of this curse; the prophet
sees it flying, but which way does it steer its course? It <i>goes
forth over the face of the whole earth,</i> not only of the land of
Israel, but the <i>whole world;</i> for those that have sinned
against the <i>law written in their hearts</i> only shall by that
law be judged, though they have not the book of the law. Note, All
mankind are liable to the judgment of God; and, wherever sinners
are, any where upon the face of the whole earth, the curse of God
can and will find them out and seize them. Oh that we could with an
eye of faith see the flying roll of God's curse hanging over the
guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sun-beams
of God's favour from them, but big with thunders, lightnings, and
storms, ready to destroy them! How welcome then would the tidings
of a Saviour be, who came to <i>redeem us from the curse of the
law</i> by being himself <i>made a curse for us,</i> and, like the
prophet, <i>eating this roll!</i> The vast length and breadth of
this roll intimate what a multitude of curses sinners lie exposed
to. God will make their plagues wonderful, if <i>they turn
not.</i></p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p7" shownumber="no">2. The criminals against whom particularly
this curse is levelled. The world is full of sin in great variety:
so was the Jewish church at this time. But two sorts of sinners are
here specified as the objects of this curse:—(1.) Thieves; it is
<i>for every one that steals,</i> that by fraud or force takes that
which is not his own, especially that robs God and converts to his
own use what was devoted to God and his honour, which was a sin
much complained of among the Jews at this time, <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p7.1" osisRef="Bible:Mal.3.8 Bible:Neh.13.10" parsed="|Mal|3|8|0|0;|Neh|13|10|0|0" passage="Mal 3:8,Ne 13:10">Mal. iii. 8; Neh. xiii. 10</scripRef>. Sacrilege
is, without doubt, the worst kind of thievery. He also that <i>robs
his father or mother, and saith, It is no transgression</i>
(<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p7.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.28.24" parsed="|Prov|28|24|0|0" passage="Pr 28:24">Prov. xxviii. 24</scripRef>), let him
know that against him this curse is directed, for it is against
<i>every one that steals.</i> The letter of the eighth commandment
has no penalty annexed to it; but the curse here is a sanction to
that command. (2.) Swearers. Sinners of the former class offend
against the second table, these against the first; for the curse
meets those that break either table. He that swears rashly and
profanely shall not be held guiltless, much less he that swears
falsely (<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p7.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.4" parsed="|Zech|5|4|0|0" passage="Zec 5:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>); he
imprecates the curse upon himself by his perjury, and so shall his
doom be; God will say <i>Amen</i> to his imprecation, and turn it
upon his own head. He has appealed to God's judgment, which is
always according to truth, for the confirming of a lie, and to that
judgment he shall go which he has so impiously affronted.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p8" shownumber="no">3. The enforcing of this curse, and the
equity of it: <i>I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of
hosts,</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p8.1" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.4" parsed="|Zech|5|4|0|0" passage="Zec 5:4"><i>v.</i> 4</scripRef>. He
that pronounces the sentence will take care to see it executed. His
bringing it forth denotes, (1.) His giving it commission. It is a
righteous curse, for he is a righteous God that warrants it. (2.)
His giving it the setting on. He brings it forth with power, and
orders what execution it shall do; and who can put by or resist the
curse which a God of almighty power brings forth?</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p9" shownumber="no">4. The effect of this curse; it is very
dreadful, (1.) Upon the sinner himself: <i>Every one that steals
shall be cut off,</i> not corrected, but destroyed, cut off from
the land of the living. The curse of God is a cutting thing, a
killing thing. He shall be cut off <i>as on this side</i> (cut off
from this place, that is, from Jerusalem), and so he that swears
from <i>this side</i> (it is the same word), from this place. God
will not spare the sinners he finds among his own people, nor shall
the holy city be a protection to the unholy. Or they shall be cut
off <i>from hence,</i> that is, from the face of the whole earth,
over which the curse flies. Or he that steals shall be <i>cut off
on this side,</i> and he that swears <i>on that side;</i> they
shall all be cut off, one as well as another, and both according to
the curse, for the judgments of God's hand are exactly agreeable
with the judgments of his mouth. (2.) Upon his family: <i>It shall
enter into the house of the thief and of him that swears.</i> God's
curse comes with a warrant to break open doors, and cannot be kept
out by bars or locks. There where the sinner is most secure, and
thinks himself out of danger,—there where he promises himself
refreshment by food and sleep,—there, in his own house, shall the
curse of God seize him; nay, it shall fall not upon him only, but
upon all about him for his sake. <i>Cursed shall be his basket and
his store, and cursed the fruit of his body,</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p9.1" osisRef="Bible:Deut.28.17-Deut.28.18" parsed="|Deut|28|17|28|18" passage="De 28:17,18">Deut. xxviii. 17, 18</scripRef>. The <i>curse of the
Lord is in the house of the wicked,</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p9.2" osisRef="Bible:Prov.3.33" parsed="|Prov|3|33|0|0" passage="Pr 3:33">Prov. iii. 33</scripRef>. It shall not only beset his
house, or he at the door, but <i>it shall remain in the midst of
his house,</i> and diffuse its malignant influences to all the
parts of it. <i>It shall dwell in his tabernacle because it is none
of his,</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p9.3" osisRef="Bible:Job.18.15" parsed="|Job|18|15|0|0" passage="Job 18:15">Job xviii. 15</scripRef>.
It shall dwell where he dwells, and be his constant companion at
bed and board, to make both miserable to him. Having got
possession, it shall keep it, and, unless he repent and reform,
there is no way to throw it out or cut off the entail of it. Nay,
it shall so remain in it as to <i>consume it with the timber
thereof, and the stones thereof,</i> which, though ever so strong,
though the timber be heart of oak and the stones hewn out of the
rocks of adamant, yet they shall not be able to stand before the
curse of God. We heard the stone and the timber complaining of the
owner's extortion and oppression, and groaning under the burden of
them, <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p9.4" osisRef="Bible:Hab.2.11" parsed="|Hab|2|11|0|0" passage="Hab 2:11">Hab. ii. 11</scripRef>. Now here
we have them delivered <i>from that bondage of corruption.</i>
While they were in their strength and beauty they supported, sorely
against their will, the sinner's pride and security; but, when they
are consumed, their ruins will, to their satisfaction, be standing
monuments of God's justice and lasting witnesses of the sinner's
injustice. Note, Sin is the ruin of houses and families, especially
the sins of injury and perjury. <i>Who knows the power of God's
anger,</i> and the operations of his curse? Even timber and stones
have been consumed by them; let us therefore stand in awe and not
sin.</p>
</div><scripCom id="Zech.vi-p9.5" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.5-Zech.5.11" parsed="|Zech|5|5|5|11" passage="Zec 5:5-11" type="Commentary"/><div class="Commentary" id="Zech.vi-p9.6">
<h4 id="Zech.vi-p9.7">The Vision of the Ephah. (<span class="smallcaps" id="Zech.vi-p9.8">b. c.</span> 520.)</h4>
<p class="passage" id="Zech.vi-p10" shownumber="no">5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth,
and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what <i>is</i>
this that goeth forth.   6 And I said, What <i>is</i> it? And
he said, This <i>is</i> an ephah that goeth forth. He said
moreover, This <i>is</i> their resemblance through all the earth.
  7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and
this <i>is</i> a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
  8 And he said, This <i>is</i> wickedness. And he cast it
into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon
the mouth thereof.   9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked,
and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind <i>was</i> 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.   10
Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear
the ephah?   11 And he said unto me, To build it a house in
the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon
her own base.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p11" shownumber="no">The foregoing vision was very plain and
easy, but in this are things <i>dark and hard to be understood;</i>
and some think that the scope of it is to foretel the final
destruction of the Jewish church and nation and the dispersion of
the Jews, when, by crucifying Christ and persecuting his gospel,
they should have filled up the measure of their iniquities;
therefore it is industriously set out in obscure figures and
expressions, "lest the plain denunciation of the second overthrow
of temple and state might discourage them too much from going
forward in the present restoration of both." So Mr. Pemble.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p12" shownumber="no">The prophet was contemplating the power and
terror of the curse which consumes the houses of thieves and
swearers, when he was told to turn and he should see greater
desolations than these made by the curse of God for the sin of man:
<i>Lift up thy eyes now,</i> and see what is here, <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p12.1" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.5" parsed="|Zech|5|5|0|0" passage="Zec 5:5"><i>v.</i> 5</scripRef>. <i>What is this that
goeth forth?</i> Whether over the face of the whole earth, as the
flying roll (<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p12.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.3" parsed="|Zech|5|3|0|0" passage="Zec 5:3"><i>v.</i> 3</scripRef>),
or only over Jerusalem, is not certain. But, it seems, the prophet
now, through either the distance or the dimness of his sight, could
not well tell what it was, but asked, <i>What is it?</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p12.3" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.6" parsed="|Zech|5|6|0|0" passage="Zec 5:6"><i>v.</i> 6</scripRef>. And the angel tells him
both what it is and what it means.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p13" shownumber="no">I. He sees an <i>ephah,</i> a measure
wherewith they measured corn; it contained <i>ten omers</i>
(<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p13.1" osisRef="Bible:Exod.16.36" parsed="|Exod|16|36|0|0" passage="Ex 16:36">Exod. xvi. 36</scripRef>) and was the
tenth part of a <i>homer</i> (<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p13.2" osisRef="Bible:Ezek.45.11" parsed="|Ezek|45|11|0|0" passage="Eze 45:11">Ezek.
xlv. 11</scripRef>); it is put for any measure used in commerce,
<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p13.3" osisRef="Bible:Deut.25.14" parsed="|Deut|25|14|0|0" passage="De 25:14">Deut. xxv. 14</scripRef>. And <i>this
is their resemblance,</i> the resemblance of the Jewish nation
<i>over all the earth,</i> wherever they are now dispersed, or at
least it will be so when their ruin draws near. They are filling up
the measure of their iniquity, which God has set them; and when it
is full, as the ephah of corn, they shall be delivered into the
hands of those to whom God has sold them for their sins; they are
<i>meted</i> to destruction, as an ephah of corn measured to the
market or to the mill. And some think that the mentioning of an
ephah, which is used in buying and selling, intimates that fraud,
and deceit, and extortion in commerce, were sins abounding much
among them, as that people are known to be notoriously guilty of
them at this day. This is a proper representation of them
<i>through all the earth.</i> There is a measure set them, and they
are filling it up apace. See <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p13.4" osisRef="Bible:Matt.23.32 Bible:1Thess.2.16" parsed="|Matt|23|32|0|0;|1Thess|2|16|0|0" passage="Mt 23:32,1Th 2:16">Matt. xxiii. 32; 1 Thess. ii.
16</scripRef>.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p14" shownumber="no">II. He sees a <i>woman sitting in the midst
of the ephah,</i> representing the sinful church and nation of the
Jews in their latter and degenerate age, when <i>the faithful city
became a harlot.</i> He that weighs the mountains in scales and the
hills in a balance measures nations and churches as in an ephah; so
exact is he in his judicial dealings with them. God's people are
called <i>the corn of his floor,</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p14.1" osisRef="Bible:Isa.21.10" parsed="|Isa|21|10|0|0" passage="Isa 21:10">Isa. xxi. 10</scripRef>. And here he puts this corn
into the bushel, in order to his parting with it. The angel says of
the woman in the <i>ephah, This is wickedness;</i> it is a wicked
nation, else God would not have rejected it thus; it is as wicked
as <i>wickedness</i> itself, it is abominably wicked. <i>How has
the gold become dim! Israel was holiness to the Lord</i> (<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p14.2" osisRef="Bible:Jer.2.3" parsed="|Jer|2|3|0|0" passage="Jer 2:3">Jer. ii. 3</scripRef>); but now <i>this is
wickedness,</i> and wickedness is nowhere so scandalous, so odious,
and, in many instances, so outrageous, as when it is found among
professors of religion.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p15" shownumber="no">III. He sees the woman thrust down into the
ephah, and a <i>talent,</i> or large weight, <i>of lead,</i> cast
upon the <i>mouth</i> of it, by which she is secured, and made a
close prisoner in the <i>ephah,</i> and utterly disabled to get out
of it. This is designed to show that the wrath of God against
impenitent sinners is, 1. Unavoidable, and what they cannot escape;
they are bound over to it, concluded under sin, and shut up under
the curse, as this woman in the ephah; <i>he would fain flee out of
his hand</i> (<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p15.1" osisRef="Bible:Job.27.22" parsed="|Job|27|22|0|0" passage="Job 27:22">Job xxvii.
22</scripRef>), but he cannot. 2. It is insupportable, and what
they cannot bear up under. Guilt is upon the sinner as a talent of
lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. When Christ said of the
things of Jerusalem's peace, <i>Now they are hidden from thy
eyes,</i> that threw a talent of lead upon them.</p>
<p class="indent" id="Zech.vi-p16" shownumber="no">IV. He sees the ephah, with the woman thus
pressed to death in it, carried away into some far country. 1. The
instruments employed to do it were <i>two women,</i> who had
<i>wings like</i> those <i>of a stork,</i> large and strong, and,
to make them fly the more swiftly, they had the <i>wind in their
wings,</i> denoting the great violence and expedition with which
the Romans destroyed the Jewish nation. God has not only winged
messengers in heaven, but he can, when he pleases, give wings to
those also whom he employs in this lower world; and, when he does
so, he forwards them with the wind in their wings; his providence
carries them on with a favourable gale. 2. They bore it up in the
air, denoting the terrors which pursued the wicked Jews, and their
being a public example of God's vengeance to the world. They
<i>lifted it up between the earth and the heaven,</i> as unworthy
of either and abandoned by both; for the Jews, when this was
fulfilled, <i>pleased not God and</i> were <i>contrary to all
men,</i> <scripRef id="Zech.vi-p16.1" osisRef="Bible:1Thess.2.15" parsed="|1Thess|2|15|0|0" passage="1Th 2:15">1 Thess. ii. 15</scripRef>.
<i>This is wickedness,</i> and this comes of it; heaven thrust out
wicked angels, and earth spewed out wicked Canaanites. 3. When the
prophet enquired whither they carried their prisoner whom they had
now in execution (<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p16.2" osisRef="Bible:Zech.5.10" parsed="|Zech|5|10|0|0" passage="Zec 5:10"><i>v.</i>
10</scripRef>) he was told that they designed <i>to build it a
house in the land of Shinar.</i> This intimates that the punishment
of the Jews should be a final dispersion; they should be hurried
out of their own country, <i>as the chaff which the wind drives
away,</i> and should be forced to dwell in far countries,
particularly in the country of Babylon, whither many of the
scattered Jews went after the destruction of their country by the
Romans, as they did also to other countries, especially in the
Levant parts, not to sojourn, as in their former captivity, for
seventy years, but to be nailed down for perpetuity. There the
<i>ephah</i> shall <i>be established, and set upon her own
base.</i> This intimates, (1.) That their calamity shall continue
from generation to generation, and that they shall be so dispersed
that they shall never unite or incorporate again; they shall settle
in a perpetual unsettlement, and Cain's doom shall be theirs, to
dwell in the land of shaking. (2.) That their iniquity shall
continue too, and their hearts shall be hardened in it.
<i>Blindness</i> has <i>happened</i> unto Israel, and they are
settled upon the lees of their own unbelief; their wickedness is
established upon its <i>own basis.</i> God has given them a
<i>spirit of slumber</i> (<scripRef id="Zech.vi-p16.3" osisRef="Bible:Rom.11.8" parsed="|Rom|11|8|0|0" passage="Ro 11:8">Rom. xi.
8</scripRef>), <i>lest at any time they should convert, and be
healed.</i></p>
</div></div2>