Zechariah 5:1-4 Then I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.… The threatenings here are directed against the defects and transgressions of the Jewish people at that time. God gives them to understand by this vision that whilst it was His purpose to make His promise good, in the establishment of His Church, He would by no means connive at their sins and corruptions, but would visit them with present punishment, and with future extirpation, if they persisted in their unbelief and rebellion. I. THE SINS MORE ESPECIALLY CONDEMNED. 1. Theft and sacrilege. 2. Perjury and false swearing. II. THE PUNISHMENT THREATENED. Partly personal and partly domestic. 1. A personal judgment is denounced. Everyone shall receive his reward and punishment according to his sins, and according to the sentence of the roll. 2. It was to extend to his relative and domestic interests. "It shall enter into the house of the thief." "It shall remain in the midst of his house." "And shall consume it with the timbers thereof, and the stones thereof." This subject may well teach heads of families a lesson of religious caution, lest by an undue anxiety for their own worldly success, or that of their children, they frustrate their most cherished purposes, and entail a curse rather than a blessing. We shall do well to remember that no external evil which may befall a particular class of mankind, in consequence of the faults of their progenitors, renders any individual of that class less acceptable to God, if he turn from his wickedness and repent. But the very curse may become a blessing, if it operate to warn an individual against the sin by which it was brought down upon him. On the other hand, let no children of religious parents suppose that the piety of a long line of ancestors will avail in their behalf, unless they are themselves the possessors of religious principle. And since all are exposed to an infinite danger on account of sin, how deep should be our gratitude to that Divine Redeemer, who bore the curse for us, that we might escape the impending penalty, and inherit the unspeakable blessings of His salvation. (S. Thodey.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.WEB: Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. |
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