Zechariah 5:7

And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead - the heaviest Hebrew weight, elsewhere of gold or silver; the golden talent weighing, 1,300,000 grains; the silver, 660,000; here, being lead, it is obviously an undefined mass, though circular , corresponding to the Ephah. The Ephah too was the largest Hebrew measure, whose compass cannot now, with certainty, be ascertained . Both probably were, in the vision, ideal. Theodoret: "Holy Scripture calleth the punishment of sin, lead, as being by nature heavy. This the divine David teacheth us, "mine iniquities are gone over my head: as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me" Psalm 38:4. The divine Zechariah seeth sin under the image of a woman; for most evils are engendered by luxury. But he seeth the punishment, like most heavy lead, lying upon the mouth of iniquity, according to a Psalm, "all iniquity shall stop her mouth" Psalm 107:42. Ambr. in Psalm 35. n. 9. Opp. i.:769: "Iniquity, as with a talent of lead, weighs down the conscience."

This is a woman - Literally, "one woman," all sin being concentrated and personified in one, as he goes on to speak of her as the, personified, wickedness. The sitting may represent her abiding tranquil condition in her sins, according to the climax in Psalm 1:1-6, "and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful" Psalm 1:1; and, "thou sittest and speakest against thy brother" Psalm 50:20; (Lap.), "not standing as by the way, but sitting, as if of set purpose, of custom and habit." "Whoso hath peace in sins is not far from lying down in them, so that, oppressed by a spirit of slumber, he neither sees light, nor feels any blow, but is kept down by the leaden talent of his obduracy."

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

7. lifted up—The cover is lifted off the ephah to let the prophet see the female personification of "wickedness" within, about to be removed from Judea. The cover being "of lead," implies that the "woman" cannot escape from the ponderous load which presses her down.

talent—literally, "a round piece": hence a talent, a weight of one hundred twenty-five pounds troy.

woman—for comparison of "wickedness" to a woman, Pr 2:16; 5:3, 4. In personifying abstract terms, the feminine is used, as the idea of giving birth to life is associated with woman.

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Here is another part of this vision.

There was lifted 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.

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 sin.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead,.... By the angel; since he is afterwards said to cast it upon the mouth of the "ephah". A cicar, or talent of silver, with the Jews, was equal to three thousand shekels, as may be gathered from Exodus 38:24 and weighed a hundred and twenty five pounds (a); or, as others, a hundred and twenty (b), and, according to the more exact account of Dr. Arbuthnot, a hundred and thirteen pounds, ten ounces, one pennyweight, and ten and two seventh grains of our Troy weight. A Babylonish talent, according to Aelianus (c), weighed seventy two Attic pounds; and an Attic mina, or pound, weighed a hundred drachmas; so that it was of the weight of seven thousand two hundred such drachmas. An Alexandrian talent was equal to twelve thousand Attic drachmas; and these the same with a hundred and twenty five Roman libras or pounds; which talent is supposed to be the same with that of Moses. The Roman talent contained seventy two Italic minas, which were the same with the Roman libras (d). But since the Hebrew word "cicar" signifies anything plain, and what is extended like a cake, as Arias Montanus observes (e), it may here intend a plate of lead, which was laid over the mouth of the "ephah", as a lid unto it; though indeed it is afterwards called , "a stone of lead", and so seems to design a weight.

And this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah; who, in Zechariah 5:8, is called "wickedness"; and here represented by a "woman", because, say some, the woman was first in the transgression; or rather because sin is flattering and deceitful, and draws into the commission of it, and so to ruin: and this woman, wickedness, intends wicked men; all the wicked among the Jews, and even all the wicked of the world; who sit in the "ephah", very active and busy in filling up the measure of their sins, and where they sit with great pleasure and delight; very openly and visibly declare their sin, as Sodom, and hide it not; in a very proud and haughty manner, with great boldness and impudence, and in great security, without any concern about a future state, promising themselves impunity here and hereafter. This woman is a very lively emblem of the whore of Rome, sitting as a queen upon many waters; ruling over kings and princes; living deliciously, and in great ease and pleasure filling up the measure of her sins. Kimchi interprets this woman of the ten tribes, who wickedly departed from God, and were as one kingdom.

(a) Epiphanius de Mensuris & Ponderibus. (b) Hebraei apud Buxtorf. Lex. Heb. in rad. (c) Var. Hist. l. 1. c. 22. (d) See Prideaux's Preface to Connexion, &c. vol. 1. p. 18, 19, &c. (e) Ephron, sive de Siclo, prope finem.

Geneva Study Bible

And, behold, there was lifted up a {g} talent of lead: and this is a {h} woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

(g) To cover the measure.

(h) Which represents iniquity, as in the next verse.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

7. a talent of lead] Rather, a circle of lead, i.e. a thick circular plate or lamina of lead, which formed the lid or cover of the ephah, Zechariah 5:8; round piece, R. V. margin. This the prophet saw in the act of being “lifted up” from the mouth of the ephah, in order to give him a view of its contents.

and this] which now comes into view as the lid is raised. To indicate the raising of the cover just at this moment, the R. V. prints the first part of Zechariah 5:7 within brackets.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 7. - There was lifted up a talent of lead. As the prophet gazed, the leaden cover of the ephah was raised, so that the contents became visible. The word rendered "talent" (kikkar) denotes a circle. It is used in Genesis 13:10, 12, for the tract of country of which the Jordan was the centre, and in 1 Samuel 2:36 for a round loaf. Here it means a disc or circular plate which formed the cover of the round shaped ephah. In the next verse it is called, "the weight of lead." And this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah; and there was a woman sitting, etc. When the leaden lid was raised one woman (mulier una, γυνὴ μία) was seen in the measure. She is called "one," as uniting and concentrating in her person all sinners and all sins. Zechariah 5:7

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

To this there is appended in Zechariah 5:5-11 a new view, which exhibits the further fate of the sinners who have been separated from the congregation of the saints. Zechariah 5:5. "And the angel that talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see, what is this that goeth out there? Zechariah 5:6. And I said, What is it? And he said, This is the ephah going out. And He said, This is their aspect in all the land. Zechariah 5:7. And behold a disk of lead was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. Zechariah 5:8. And he said, This is wickedness; and he cast it into the midst of the ephah, and cast the leaden weight upon its mouth." With the disappearing of the previous vision, the angelus interpres had also vanished from the eyes of the prophet. After a short pause he comes out again, calls the prophet's attention to a new figure which emerges out of the cloud, and so comes within the range of vision (היּוצאת הזּאת), and informs him with regard to it: "This is the ephah which goeth out." יצא, to go out, in other words, to come to view. The ephah was the greatest measure of capacity which really existed among the Hebrews for dry goods, and was about the size of a cubic foot; for the chōmer, which contained ten ephahs, appears to have had only an ideal existence, viz., for the purpose of calculation. The meaning of this figure is indicated generally in the words זאת עינם כב, the meaning of which depends upon the interpretation to be given to עינם. The suffix of this word can only refer to the sinners mentioned before, viz., the thieves and perjurers; for it is contrary to the Hebrew usage to suppose that the words refer to the expression appended, בּכל־הארץ, in the sense of "all those who are in the whole land" (Koehler). Consequently עין does not mean the eye, but adspectus, appearance, or shape, as in Leviticus 13:55; Ezekiel 1:4.; and the words have this meaning: The ephah (bushel) is the shape, i.e., represents the figure displayed by the sinners in all the land, after the roll of the curse has gone forth over the land, i.e., it shows into what condition they have come through that anathema (Kliefoth). The point of comparison between the ephah and the state into which sinners have come in consequence of the curse, does not consist in the fact that the ephah is carried away, and the sinners likewise (Maurer), nor in the fact that the sin now reaches its full measure (Hofm., Hengstenberg); for "the carrying away of the sinners does not come into consideration yet, and there is nothing at all here about the sin becoming full." It is true that, according to what follows, sin sits in the ephah as a woman, but there is nothing to indicate that the ephah is completely filled by it, so that there is no further room in it; and this thought would be generally out of keeping here. The point of comparison is rather to be found in the explanation given by Kliefoth: "Just as in a bushel the separate grains are all collected together, so will the individual sinners over the whole earth be brought into a heap, when the curse of the end goes forth over the whole earth." We have no hesitation in appropriating this explanation, although we have not rendered הארץ "the earth," inasmuch as at the final fulfilment of the vision the holy land will extend over all the earth. Immediately afterwards the prophet is shown still more clearly what is in the ephah. A covering of lead (kikkâr, a circle, a rounding or a circular plate) rises up, or is lifted up, and then he sees a woman sitting in the ephah ('achath does not stand for the indefinite article, but is a numeral, the sinners brought into a heap appearing as a unity, i.e., as one living personality, instead of forming an atomistic heap of individuals). This woman, who had not come into the ephah now for the first time, but was already sitting there, and was only seen now that the lid was raised, is described by the angel as mirsha‛ath, ungodliness, as being wickedness embodied, just as in 2 Chronicles 24:7 this name is given to godless Jezebel. Thereupon he throws her into the ephah, out of which she had risen up, and shuts it with the leaden lid, to carry her away, as the following vision shows, out of the holy land.