5 And the messenger who is speaking with me goeth forth, and saith unto me, 'Lift up, I pray thee, thine eyes, and see what 'is' this that is coming forth?' 6 And I say, 'What 'is' it?' And he saith, 'This—the ephah that is coming forth.' And he saith, 'This 'is' their aspect in all the land. 7 And lo, a cake of lead lifted up; and this 'is' a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah.' 8 And he saith, 'This 'is' the wicked woman.' And he casteth her unto the midst of the ephah, and casteth the weight of lead on its mouth. 9 And I lift up mine eyes, and see, and lo, two women are coming forth, and wind in their wings; and they have wings like wings of the stork, and they lift up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. 10 And I say unto the messenger who is speaking with me, 'Whither 'are' they causing the ephah to go?' 11 And he saith unto me, 'To build to it a house in the land of Shinar.' And it hath been prepared and hath been placed there on its base.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Zechariah 5:5-11
Commentary on Zechariah 5:5-11
(Read Zechariah 5:5-11)
In this vision the prophet sees an ephah, something in the shape of a corn measure. This betokened the Jewish nation. They are filling the measure of their iniquity; and when it is full, they shall be delivered into the hands of those to whom God sold them for their sins. The woman sitting in the midst of the ephah represents the sinful church and nation of the Jews, in their latter and corrupt age. Guilt is upon the sinner as a weight of lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. This seems to mean the condemnation of the Jews, after they filled the measure of their iniquities by crucifying Christ and rejecting his gospel. Zechariah sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed in it, carried away to some far country. This intimates that the Jews should be hurried out of their own land, and forced to dwell in far countries, as they had been in Babylon. There the ephah shall be firmly placed, and their sufferings shall continue far longer than in their late captivity. Blindness is happened unto Israel, and they are settled upon their own unbelief. Let sinners fear to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath; for the more they multiply crimes, the faster the measure fills.