Zechariah 5 commentary

The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are rolls, in which God has written the great things of his law and gospel; they are flying rolls. God's word runs very swiftly, Ps 147:15. This flying roll contains a declaration of the righteous wrath of God against sinners. Oh that we saw with an eye of faith the flying roll of God's curse hanging over the guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sunbeams of God's favour, but big with thunders, lightnings, and storms, ready to destroy them! How welcome then would the tidings of a Saviour be, who came to redeem us from the curse of the law, being himself made a curse for us! Sin is the ruin of houses and families; especially the doing hurt to others and false witness. Who knows the power of God's anger? God's curse cannot be kept out by bars or locks. While one part of the curse of God ruins the substance of the sinner, another part will rest on the soul, and sink it to everlasting punishment. All are transgressors of the law, so we cannot escape this wrath of God, except we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us in the gospel.

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.

Chapter 5

Lecture One Hundred and Forty-third

Zechariah 5:1-4

1. Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.

1. Et reversus sum et extuli oculos meos, et aspexi, et ecce volumen volans.

2. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

2. Et dixit mihi, Quid tu vides? Et dixit, ego video volumen volans; longitudo ejus viginti in cubito (hoc est, ad viginti cubitos,) et latitudo ejus decem in cubito (hoc est, ad decem cubitos.)

3. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.

3. Et dixit mihi, Haec est maledictio, quiae egreditur super faciem universae terrae; quia quisquis furatur, ex hac sicut illa punietur; et quisquis pejerat, ex hac sicut illa punietur.

4. I will bring it forth, saith the LORD 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.

4. Emittam (vel, producam) eam, dicit Iehova exercituum; et veniet ad domum furantis, et ad domum jurantis in nomine meo fallaciter; et residebit in medio domus ejus, et consumet eam et ligna et lapides ejus.

The angel shows in this chapter, that whatever evils the Jews had suffered, proceeded from the righteous judgment Of God; and then he adds a consolation — that the Lord would at length alleviate or put an end to their evils, when he had removed afar off their iniquity. Interpreters have touched neither heaven nor earth in their explanation of this prophecy, for they have not regarded the design of the Holy Spirit. Some think that by the volume are to be understood false and perverted glosses, by which the purity of doctrine had been vitiated; but this view can by no means be received. There is no doubt but that God intended to show to Zechariah, that the Jews were justly punished, because the whole land was full of thefts and perjuries. As then religion had been despised, as well as equity and justice, he shows that it was no wonder that a curse had prevailed through the whole land, the Jews leaving by their impiety and other sins extremely provoked the wrath of God. This is the import of the first part. And, then, as this vision was terrible, there is added some alleviation by representing iniquity in a measure, and the mouth of the measure closed, and afterwards carried to the land of Shinar, that is, into Chaldea, that it might not remain in Judea. Thus in the former part the Prophet’s design was to humble the Jews, and to encourage them to repent, so that they might own God to have been justly angry; and then he gives them reason to entertain hope, and fully to expect an end to their evils, for the Lord would remove to a distance and transfer their iniquity to Chaldea, so that Judea might be pure and free from every wickedness, both from thefts and acts of injustice, by which it had been previously polluted. But every sentence must be in order explained, that the meaning of the Prophet may be more clearly seen.

He says, that he had returned; Some, such as Piscator, Drusius, Dathius, Newcome, and Henderson, think that the verb [שוב] is used here adverbally, which is sometimes the case, and render the sentence, “And I lifted up mine eyes again.” The Septuagint, Jerome, and our version, have rendered it, “I turned,” that is, from one vision to another, or from one direction to another. “Returned” seems not so suitable.—Ed. and by this word this vision is separated front the preceding visions, and those also of which we have hitherto spoken, were not at the same time exhibited to the Prophet, but he saw them at different times. We may hence learn that some time intervened before the Lord presented to him the vision narrated in this chapter. He adds, that he raised up his eyes and looked; and this is said that we may know that what he narrates was shown to him by the prophetic Spirit. Zechariah very often raised up his eyes though God did not immediately appear to him; but it behaved God’s servants, whenever they girded themselves for the purpose of teaching, to withdraw themselves as it were from the society of men, and to rise up above the world. The raising up of the eyes then, mentioned by Zechariah, signified something special, as though he had said, that he was prepared, for the Lord had inwardly roused him. The Prophets also, no doubt, were in this manner by degrees prepared, when the Lord made himself known to them. There was then the raising up of the eyes as a preparation to receive the celestial oracle.

CHAPTER 5

Zec 5:1-4. Sixth Vision. The Flying Roll. The fraudulent and perjuring transgressors of the law shall be extirpated from Judea.

1. flying roll--of papyrus, or dressed skins, used for writing on when paper was not known. It was inscribed with the words of the curse (De 27:15-26; 28:15-68). Being written implied that its contents were beyond all escape or repeal (Eze 2:9). Its "flying" shows that its curses were ready swiftly to visit the transgressors. It was unrolled, or else its dimensions could not have been seen (Zec 5:2). Being open to all, none could say in excuse he knew not the law and the curses of disobedience. As the previous visions intimated God's favor in restoring the Jewish state, so this vision announces judgment, intimating that God, notwithstanding His favor, did not approve of their sins. Being written on both sides, "on this and on that side" (Zec 5:3) [Vatablus] connects it with the two tables of the law (Ex 32:15), and implies its comprehensiveness. One side denounced "him that sweareth falsely (Zec 5:4) by God's name," according to the third commandment of the first table, duty to God; the other side denounced theft, according to the eighth commandment, which is in the second table, duty to one's neighbor.

2. length ... twenty cubits ... breadth ... ten cubits--thirty feet by fifteen, the dimensions of the temple porch (1Ki 6:3), where the law was usually read, showing that it was divinely authoritative in the theocracy. Its large size implies the great number of the curses contained. The Hebrew for "roll" or "volume" is used of the law (Psa 40:7).

3. curse ... earth--(Mal 4:6). The Gentiles are amenable to the curse of the law, as they have its substance, so far as they have not seared and corrupted conscience, written on their hearts (Ro 2:15).

cut off--literally, "cleared away."

as on this side ... as on that side--both sides of the roll [Vatablus]. From this place ... from this place (repeated twice, as "the house" is repeated in Zec 5:4) [Maurer]; so "hence" is used, Ge 37:17 (or, "on this and on that side," that is, on every side) [Henderson]. None can escape, sin where he may: for God from one side to the other shall call all without exception to judgment [Calvin]. God will not spare even "this place," Jerusalem, when it sins [Pembellus]. English Version seems to take Vatablus' view.

according to it--according as it is written.

4. The "theft" immediately meant is similar sacrilege to that complained of in Ne 13:10; Mal 3:8. They robbed God by neglecting to give Him His due in building His house, while they built their own houses, forswearing their obligations to Him; therefore, the "houses" they build shall be "consumed" with God's "curse." Probably literal theft and perjury accompanied their virtual theft and perjury as to the temple of God (Mal 3:5). Stealing and perjury go together; for the covetous and fraudulent perjure themselves by God's name without scruple (see Pr 30:9).

enter ... the house--In vain they guard and shut themselves up who incur the curse; it will inevitably enter even when they think themselves most secure.

consume ... timber ... stones--not leaving a vestige of it. So the "stones" and "timber" of the house of a leper (type of the sinner) were to be utterly removed (Le 14:15; compare 1Ki 18:38).

Zec 5:5-11. Seventh Vision. The Woman in the Ephah. Wickedness and idolatry removed from the Holy Land to Babylon, there to mingle with their kindred elements.

The ephah is the Hebrew dry measure containing about a bushel, or seven and a half gallons. Alluding to the previous vision as to theft and perjury: the ephah which, by falsification of the measure, they made the instrument of defrauding, shall be made the instrument of their punishment [Grotius]. Compare "this is their resemblance" (Zec 5:6), that is, this is a representation of what the Jews have done, and what they shall suffer. Their total dispersion ("the land of Shinar" being the emblem of the various Gentile lands of their present dispersion) is herein fortetold, when the measure (to which the ephah alludes) of their sins should be full. The former vision denounces judgment on individuals; this one, on the whole state: but enigmatically, not to discourage their present building [Pembellus]. Rather, the vision is consolatory after the preceding one [Calvin]. Idolatry and its kindred sins, covetousness and fraud (denounced in the vision of the roll), shall be removed far out of the Holy Land to their own congenial soil, never to return (so Zec 3:9; Is 27:9; 52:1; 60:21; Jr 50:20; Zep 3:13). For more than two thousand years, ever since the Babylonian exile, the Jews have been free from idolatry; but the full accomplishment of the prophecy is yet future, when all sin shall be purged from Israel on their return to Palestine, and conversion to Christ.

5. went forth--The interpreting angel had withdrawn after the vision of the roll to receive a fresh revelation from the Divine Angel to communicate to the prophet.

6. This is their resemblance--literally, "eye" (compare Eze 1:4, 5, 16). Hengstenberg translates, "Their (the people's) eye" was all directed to evil. But English Version is better. "This is the appearance (that is, an image) of the Jews in all the land" (not as English Version, "in all the earth"), that is, of the wicked Jews.

This--Here used of what was within the ephah, not the ephah itself.

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.

8. wickedness--literally, "the wickedness": implying wickedness in its peculiar development. Compare "the man of sin," 2Th 2:3.

cast it--that is, her, Wickedness, who had moved more freely while the heavy lid was partially lifted off.

weight--literally, "stone," that is, round mass.

9. The agents to carry away the "woman" are, consistently with the image, "women." God makes the wicked themselves the agents of punishing and removing wickedness. "Two" are employed, as one is not enough to carry such a load [Maurer]. Or, the Assyrians and Babylonians, who carried away idolatry in the persons, respectively, of Israel and Judah [Henderson]. As two "anointed ones" (Zec 4:14) stand by the Lord as His ministers, so two winged women execute His purpose here in removing the embodiment of "wickedness": answering to the "mystery of iniquity" (the Septuagint here in Zechariah uses the same words as Paul and "the man of sin," whom the Lord shall destroy with the spirit of His mouth and the brightness of His coming, 2Th 2:3, 7, 8). Their "wings" express velocity. The "stork" has long and wide wings, for which reason it is specified; also it is a migratory bird. The "wind" helps the rapid motion of the wings. The being "lifted up between heaven and earth" implies open execution of the judgment before the eyes of all. As the "woman" here is removed to Babylon as her own dwelling, so the woman in the Apocalypse of St. John is Babylon (Re 17:3-5).

11. To build ... house in ... Shinar--Babylonia (Ge 10:10), the capital of the God-opposed world kingdoms, and so representing in general the seat of irreligion. As the "building of houses" in Babylon (Jr 29:5, 28) by the Jews themselves expressed their long exile there, so the building of an house for "wickedness" there implies its permanent stay.

set ... upon her own base--fixed there as in its proper place. "Wickedness" being cast out of Judah, shall for ever dwell with the antichristian apostates (of whom Babylon is the type), who shall reap the fruit of it, which they deserve.

Behold a flying roll - This was twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad; the prophet saw it expanded, and flying. Itself was the catalogue of the crimes of the people, and the punishment threatened by the Lord. Some think the crimes were those of the Jews; others, those of the Chaldeans. The roll is mentioned in allusion to those large rolls on which the Jews write the Pentateuch. One now lying before me is one hundred and fifty-three feet long, by twenty-one inches wide, written on fine brown Basle goat-skin; some time since brought from Jerusalem, supposed to be four hundred years old.

Every one that stealeth - and every one that sweareth - It seems that the roll was written both on the front and back: stealing and swearing are supposed to be two general heads of crimes; the former, comprising sins against men; the latter, sins against God. It is supposed that the roll contained the sins and punishments of the Chaldeans.

Into the house of him - Babylon, the house or city of Nebuchadnezzar, who was a public plunderer, and a most glaring idolater.

This is an ephah that goeth forth - This, among the Jews, was the ordinary measure of grain. The woman in the ephah is supposed to represent Judea, which shall be visited for its sins; the talent of lead on the ephah, within which the woman was enclosed, the wrath of God, bending down this culprit nation, in the measure of its sins; for the angel said, "This is wickedness;" that is, the woman represents the mass of iniquity of this nation.

There came out two women - As the one woman represented the impiety of the Jewish nation; so these two women who were to carry the ephah, in which the woman Iniquity was shut up, under the weight of a talent of lead, may mean the desperate Unbelief of the Jews in rejecting the Messiah; and that Impiety, or universal corruption of manners, which was the consequence of their unbelief, and brought down the wrath of God upon them. The strong wings, like those of a stork, may point out the power and swiftness with which Judea was carried on to fill up the measure of her iniquity, and to meet the punishment which she deserved.

Between the earth and the heaven - Sins against God and Man, sins which heaven and earth contemplated with horror.

Or the Babylonians and Romans may be intended by the two women who carried the Jewish ephah to its final punishment. The Chaldeans ruined Judea before the advent of our Lord; the Romans, shortly after.

To build it a house in the land of Shinar - The land of Shinar means Babylon; and Babylon means Rome, in the Apocalypse. The building the house for the woman imprisoned in the ephah may signify, that there should be a long captivity under the Romans, as there was under that of Shinar or Babylon, by which Rome may here be represented. That house remains to the present day: the Jewish woman is still in the ephah; it is set on its own base - continues still as a distinct nation; and the talent of lead - God's displeasure - is still on the top. O Lord, save thy people, the remnant of Israel!

A flying roll - A volume, or book spread out at large, flying in the air, swiftly.

This - This roll or book containeth the curse, due to sinners. The whole earth - Either the whole land of Judea, or all the world, wherever these sins are found. According to it - According to the threats inscribed thereon. Sweareth - Profanely, or falsely.

It shall enter - This curse shall come with commission from me. It shall remain - It shall stick close to them and theirs like Gehazi's leprosy. And the stones - Nothing shall remain, as when both the timber and stones of a house are consumed.

And behold - Here is another part of this vision. Lifted up - Brought thither to cover it. A talent - A piece of lead of a talent weight, as large as the mouth of the ephah. A woman - A woman, the third in the vision. Perhaps this vision was purposely obscure, least a plain denunciation of the second overthrow of the state and temple, might discourage them from going forward in the present restoration of them.

This - This woman represents the wickedness of the Jews. He cast it - The angel cast down this woman. On the mouth - And so shut her up, to suffer the punishment of all her sins.

There came out - From the same place whence the ephah came. Their wings - They had wings, like the wings of storks, large and strong, and flew before the wind with great swiftness. The judgments came thus flying, and so bore away with them those that were incorrigible.

To build - Not in mercy, but in judgment. Of Shinar - Of Babylon whither many of the Jews fled, and others of them were forced by the Romans. Set there - There they shall be confined without hope of release. Her own base - They are settled upon the lees of their own unbelief: their wickedness is established on its own bases.

1 THen I turned , and lift up mine eyes , and looked , and behold a flying roll .

Or, And, Hebr. i. e. after I had seen those comfortable visions, and been instructed in the true meaning of them.

Changed his posture, though the occasion of it be not mentioned, nor the posture into which he put himself.

Look't up into the Air where the Vision appeared

very diligently, and discerned clearly.

A Volume, or book which in those days were not written as now our Books are printed and bound, but were written as deeds are now on large or long Parchments, and rowled up upon a neat round stick, or else rowled up on themselves, such the roll here seen, much as our large Geographical Maps are rolled upon rollers, and lodged in a convenient Cavity, so were their books of old. But probably here now the Roll was spread out at large, flying in the Air swiftly, perhaps with some noise that might make the Prophet look about him.

2 And he said unto me, What seest thou ? And I answered, I see a flying roll, the length thereof is twenty cubits , and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

The Angel, chap. 4. ver. 1, 5.

O Z[illegible: 2 letters]hariah,

That is ten yards long▪ by this it appears the roll was spread out, for had it been rolled up, he could not have seen the length, tho' he did the breadth, five yards.

3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth : for every one that stealeth, shall be cut off as on this side: according to it , and every one that sweareth , shall be cut off as on that side, aceording to it.

The Angel which instructed the Prophet.

This Roll or Book containeth the Curse, the menaced Punishment due to sinners, of which too many were still among the Iews.

That goeth speedily, for it flyeth.

Either the whole Land of Iudea, or over all the world, where ever these sins are found; this curse will come upon the sinners, unless they repen[illegible: 1 letter].

Theft is here first mentioned, a sin that had abounded among them, and from which they were not free then, they rob'd one another, and they rob'd God, they were sacrilegious.

Shall be punished with an extermination of his house, as well as with cutting off his Life.

According to the just threats of the Law▪

Profanely, or [illegible: 1 letter]alsly, the perjur'd person shall be cut off too.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 span] doth.

4 I will bring it forth saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief , and into the house of him that sweareth falsly 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 .

So exemplarily will I execute this Judgment, that it shall appear I do it, my hand [illegible: 1 letter]aith God shall be seen in it.

None shall be able to keep it out, this curse shall come with commission from me,

where he laid up that he got by the[illegible: 1 letter]t and thought to rejoice i[illegible: 1 letter] it, or by house understand all his Estate and Goods with his Family and posterity.

The Robbers of God, and of their Neighbours▪ and every other notorious transgressour of the precepts of the second Table.

This doth explain that of the third verse, and 'tis plain that the perjur'd person is here threatned, every one that dares call God to witness to a falsehood, and imprecate themselves if they spea[illegible: 1 letter] not truth.

This curse shall be a long curse, it shall stick close to them and theirs like Gehazi's Leprosie.

As in the heart and center of their house like a sword in the midst of the Bowels, or like a Disease that seizeth the heart.

Though it do not destroy suddenly, it shall destroy surely.

The strength of it, nothing shall remain as when both Timber and stones of a house are consumed and wasted. Such execution shall be done on those whose name and place shall be blotted out.

Marginal references: chap. [illegible: 1 span]; See [illegible: 1 word] 45▪

5 ¶ Then the angel that talked with me went forth , and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes , and see what is this that goeth forth?

Or went on, proceeded, or as we read it went forth from some more retired place, though he do not tell us what it was, or where he was with the Prophet when the last Vision appeared.

Now the Prophet was come forth with the Angel, he is commanded to look up and observe what he seeth going forth from Ierusalem, or the Temple.

6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth . He said moreover , This is their resemblance through all the earth.

Zechariah knew not what this was he saw, so far was he from knowing what it meant.

The Angel,

Out of the Temple of Ierusalem.

Having told the Prophet what the thing was, the Angel addeth once and above.

This how dark soever it may seem to be, is a clear Emblem of this people every where. Thus there is a limited time and measure for them whilest they sin and are filling up the Ephah with their sins, they will find that the Ephah of Wrath filled up also to be poured out upon them, or as the Hebr. Thi[illegible: 1 letter] their eye as the Gallick Version. This the eye I have upon them, &c. i. e. God's eye observes how they fill their Ephah with sin, that he may sutably punish, that his Ephah of Wrath may f[illegible: 1 letter]ll also.

the greatest, say some, of measures with the Hebrews, but their Corus was much greater, it was a great measure, and many times taken for any measure, when strictly taken, it held some three bushels.

7 And behold there was li[illegible: 1 letter]t up a talent of lead : and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

Here is another part of this Vision,

Either lifted up from out of the Ephah, or brought thither to cover it.

A large piece of Lead of a Talent weight, large as the mouth of the Ephah.

A Woman, the third in the Vision or Emblem.

Secure, shameless, and resolved of her way in increasing in [illegible: 1 letter]in.

Marginal references: Or, [illegible: 1 span]

8 And he said , This is Wickedness , And he cast it into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead on the mouth thereof.

The Angel unfolds the Riddle.

This Woman that sits in the Ephah represents the sinful Nation of the Iews, is Emblem of their wickedness.

In the abstract, to express the greatness of the Iews wickedness, they will grow up to be most wicked.

The Angel cast down this Woman wickedness from the seat she sat on, ver.

And now she is down the weight of Lead▪ which she can never lift up, or remove is laid upon the mouth of the Ephah, she is shut up, as in a Prison to [illegible: 1 letter]u[illegible: 2 letters]er the punishment of all her sins. This is their res[illegible: 1 letter]mblance.

9 Then lift I up mine eyes , and looked , and behold, there came out two women , and the wind was in their wings for they had wings like the wings of a stork and they lift up the ephah between the earth and the hea[illegible: 1 letter]ven .

Vid. ver. 1. let. c.

ibid let. d.

From the same place whence the Ephah came.

The sinful Nation was resembled to a Woman, and now to keep a decorum in the Vision. They who are to be God's Executioners, to punish that wicked Woman, are called Women; 'tis like enough to be meant of the Romans, a warlike and stout Nation.

They are set forth as having wings, like the wings of Storks, large and strong, and as flying before the wind with great swiftness, so should Divine Vengeance swiftly follow, and certainly overtake the Iewi[illegible: 1 letter]h Nation▪ when after their return out of Captivity they shall corrupt themselves, and fill up the measure of their sins.

The Judgments came thus flying, and so bare away with them those that are to be punished: It is a secret intimation of a future deportation, or carrying the Iews into captivity again for sin.

10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?

When I saw the Ephah, Woman imprisoned, and lead too on the wings of those two Women in motion.

Zechariah.

To what place, and how far.

Not as a Nurse carryeth the Child, but as Criminals are carryed to punishment.

11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar : and it shall be establi[illegible: 1 letter]hed and set there upon her own base .

Not in Mercy, but in Judgment▪ as intending the next deportation should not be as the first for seventy years, but for ever, they should never return

Of Babylon whither many of the Iews fled, and so by voluntary exile fulfilled this prophesie, whither others of them were forced by the Romans.

There they shall be confined without hope of release,

not on the foundation of God's Promise and Covenant, but the base of their sins.

The Angel gives him an answer fuller than his question, and first tells the Prophet what was to be done with it.

Marginal references: [illegible: 1 word]. 2[illegible: 1 letter].5 23.

Zec 5:1-4

Zec 5:1. “And I lifted up my eyes again, and saw, and behold a flying roll. Zec 5:2. And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I see a flying roll; its length twenty cubits, and its breadth ten cubits. Zec 5:3. And he said to me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the whole land: for every one that stealeth will be cleansed away from this side, according to it; and every one that sweareth will be cleansed away from that side, according to it. Zec 5:4. I have caused it to go forth, is the saying of Jehovah of hosts, and it will come into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth by my name for deceit: and it will pass the night in the midst of his house, and consume both its beams and its stones.” The person calling the prophet’s attention to the vision, and interpreting it, is the angelus interpres. This is not specially mentioned here, as being obvious from what goes before. The roll (book-scroll, megillâh = megillath sēpher, Eze 2:9) is seen flying over the earth unrolled, so that its length and breadth can be seen. The statement as to its size is not to be regarded as “an approximative estimate,” so that the roll would be simply described as of considerable size (Koehler), but is unquestionably significant. It corresponds both to the size of the porch of Solomon’s temple (1Ki 6:3), and also to the dimensions of the holy place in the tabernacle, which was twenty cubits long and ten cubits broad. Hengstenberg, Hofmann, and Umbreit, following the example of Kimchi, assume that the reference is to the porch of the temple, and suppose that the roll has the same dimensions as this porch, to indicate that the judgment is “a consequence of the theocracy” or was to issue from the sanctuary of Israel, where the people assembled before the Lord. But the porch of the temple was neither a symbol of the theocracy, nor the place where the people assembled before the Lord, but a mere architectural ornament, which had no significance whatever in relation to the worship. The people assembled before the Lord in the court, to have reconciliation made for them with God by sacrifice; or they entered the holy place in the person of their sanctified mediators, the priests, as cleansed from sin, there to appear before God and engage in His spotless worship. The dimensions of the roll are taken from the holy place of the tabernacle, just as in the previous vision the candlestick was the mosaic candlestick of the tabernacle. Through the similarity of the dimensions of the roll to those of the holy place in the tabernacle, there is no intention to indicate that the curse proceeds from the holy place of the tabernacle or of the temple; for the roll would have issued from the sanctuary, if it had been intended to indicate this. Moreover, the curse or judgment does indeed begin at the house of God, but it does not issue or come from the house of God. Kliefoth has pointed to the true meaning in the following explanation which he gives: “The fact that the writing, which brings the curse upon all the sinners of the earth, has the same dimensions as the tabernacle, signifies that the measure will be meted out according to the measure of the holy place;” and again, “the measure by which this curse upon sinners will be meted out, will be the measure of the holy place.” With this measure would all sinners be measured, that they might be cut off from the congregation of the Lord, which appeared before God in the holy place.

The flight of the roll symbolized the going forth of the curse over the whole land. כּל־הארץ is rendered by Hofmann, Neumann, and Kliefoth “the whole earth,” because “it evidently signifies the whole earth in v. Zec 4:10, Zec 4:14, and Zec 6:5” (Kliefoth). But these passages, in which the Lord of the whole earth is spoken of, do not prove anything in relation to our vision, in which כּל־הארץ is unmistakeably limited to the land of Canaan (Judah) by the antithesis in Zec 5:11, “the land of Shinar.” If the sinners who are smitten by the curse proceeding over כּל־הארץ are to be carried into the land of Sinar, the former must be a definite land, and not the earth as the sum of all lands. It cannot be argued in opposition to this, that the sin of the land in which the true house of God and the true priesthood were, was wiped away by expiation, whereas the sin of the whole world would be brought into the land of judgment, when its measure was concluded by God; for this antithesis is foreign not only to this vision, but to the Scriptures universally. The Scriptures know nothing of any distribution or punishment of sins according to different lands, but simply according to the character of the sinners, viz., whether they are penitent or hardened. At the same time, the fact that כּל־הארץ denotes the whole of the land of Israel, by no means proves that our vision either treats of the “carrying away of Israel into exile,” which had already occurred (Ros.), or “sets before them a fresh carrying away into exile, and one still in the future” (Hengstenberg), or that on the coming of the millennial kingdom the sin and the sinners will be exterminated from the whole of the holy land, and the sin thrown back upon the rest of the earth, which is still under the power of the world (Hofmann). The vision certainly refers to the remote future of the kingdom of God; and therefore “the whole land” cannot be restricted to the extent and boundaries of Judaea or Palestine, but reaches as far as the spiritual Israel or church of Christ is spread over the earth; but there is no allusion in our vision to the millennial kingdom, and its establishment within the limits of the earthly Canaan. The curse falls upon all thieves and false swearers. הנּשׁבּע in Zec 5:3 is defined more precisely in Zec 5:4, as swearing in the name of Jehovah for deceit, and therefore refers to perjury in the broadest sense of the word, or to all abuse of the name of God for false, deceitful swearing. Thieves are mentioned for the sake of individualizing, as sinners against the second table of the decalogue; false swearers, as sinners against the first table. The repetition of מזּה כּמוה points to this; for mizzeh, repeated in correlative clauses, signifies hinc et illinc, hence and thence, i.e., on one side and the other (Exo 17:12; Num 22:24; Eze 47:7), and can only refer here to the fact that the roll was written upon on both sides, so that it is to be taken in close connection with כּמוה: “on this side ... and on that, according to it” (the roll), i.e., according to the curse written upon this side and that side of the roll. We have therefore to picture the roll to ourselves as having the curse against the thieves written upon the one side, and that against the perjurers upon the other. The supposition that mizzeh refers to כּל־הארץ is precluded most decidedly, by the fact that mizzeh does not mean “thence,” i.e., from the whole land, but when used adverbially of any place, invariably signifies “hence,” and refers to the place where the speaker himself is standing. Moreover, the double use of mizzeh is at variance with any allusion to hâ'ârets, as well as the fact that if it belonged to the verb, it would stand after כּמוה, whether before or after the verb. Niqqâh, the niphal, signifies here to be cleaned out, like καθαρίζεσωαι in Mar 7:19 (cf. 1Ki 14:10; Deu 17:12). This is explained in Zec 5:4 thus: Jehovah causes the curse to go forth and enter into the house of the thief and perjurer, so that it will pass the night there, i.e., stay there (lâneh third pers. perf. of lūn, from lânâh, to be blunted, like zûreh in Isa 59:5, and other verbal formations); it will not remain idle, however, but work therein, destroying both the house and sinners therein, so that beams and stones will be consumed (cf. 1Ki 18:38). The suffix in כּלּתּוּ (for כּלּתהוּ, cf. Ges. §75, Anm. 19) refers to the house, of course including the inhabitants. The following nouns introduced with ואת are in explanatory apposition: both its beams and its stones. The roll therefore symbolizes the curse which will fall upon sinners throughout the whole land, consuming them with their houses, and thus sweeping them out of the nation of God.

Zec 5:5-8

To this there is appended in Zec 5:5-11 a new view, which exhibits the further fate of the sinners who have been separated from the congregation of the saints. Zec 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? Zec 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. Zec 5:7. And behold a disk of lead was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah. Zec 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 Lev 13:55; Eze 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 2Ch 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.

Zec 5:9-11

Zec 5:9. “And I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold there came forth two women, and wind in their wings, and they had wings like a stork’s wings; and they carried the ephah between earth and heaven. Zec 5:10. And I said to the angel that talked with me, Whither are these taking the ephah? Zec 5:11. And he said to me, To build it a dwelling in the land of Shinar: and it will be placed and set up there upon its stand.” The meaning of this new scene may easily be discovered. The ephah with the woman in it is carried away between earth and heaven, i.e., through the air. Women carry it because there is a woman inside; and two women, because two persons are required to carry so large and heavy a measure, that they may lay hold of it on both sides (תּשּׂנה with the א dropped; cf. Ges. §74, Anm. 4). These women have wings, because it passes through the air; and a stork’s wings, because these birds have broad pinions, and not because the stork is a bird of passage or an unclean bird. The wings are filled with wind, that they may be able to carry their burden with greater velocity through the air. The women denote the instruments or powers employed by God to carry away the sinners out of His congregation, without any special allusion to this or the other historical nation. This is all that we have to seek for in these features, which only serve to give distinctness to the picture. But the statement in Zec 5:11 is significant: “to build it a house in the land of Shinar.” The pronoun לה with the suffix softened instead of לּהּ, as in Exo 9:18; Lev 13:4 (cf. Ewald, §247, d), refers grammatically to האיפה; but so far as the sense is concerned, it refers to the woman sitting in the ephah, since a house is not built for a measure, but only for men to dwell in. This also applies to the feminine form הנּתחה, and to the suffix in מכנתהּ. The building of a house indicates that the woman is to dwell there permanently, as is still more clearly expressed in the second hemistich.  הוּכן  refers to  בּית , and is not to be taken hypothetically, in the sense of “as soon as the house shall be restored,” but is a perfect with Vav consec.; and hūkhan, the hophal of kūn, is not to be taken in the sense of restoring, but, in correspondence with mekhunâh, in the sense of establishing or building on firm foundations. Mekhunâh: the firmly established house. In this the woman of sin is brought to rest. The land in which the woman of sin carried away out of the holy land is permanently to dwell, is the land of Shinar. This name is not to be identified with Babel, so as to support the conclusion that it refers to a fresh removal of the people of Israel into exile; but according to Gen 10:10 and Gen 11:2, Shinar is the land in which Nimrod founded the first empire, and where the human race built the tower of Babel which was to reach to the sky. The name is not to be taken geographically here as an epithet applied to Mesopotamia, but is a notional or real definition, which affirms that the ungodliness carried away out of the sphere of the people of God will have its permanent settlement in the sphere of the imperial power that is hostile to God. The double vision of this chapter, therefore, shows the separation of the wicked from the congregation of the Lord, and their banishment into and concentration within the ungodly kingdom of the world. This distinction and separation commenced with the coming of the Messiah, and runs through all the ages of the spread and development of the Christian church, until at the time of the end they will come more and more into outward manifestation; and the evil, having been sifted out by the judicial power of God and His Spirit, will form itself into a Babel of the last days, as Ezekiel 38 and 39 clearly show, and attempt a last struggle with the kingdom of God, in which it will be overcome and destroyed by the last judgment.

The Vision of the Flying Roll. (b. c. 520.)

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 is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. 3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. 4 I will bring it forth, saith the Lord 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.

We do not find that the prophet now needed to be awakened, as he did ch. iv. 1. 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 turns and lifts up his eyes. This good men sometimes get by their infirmities, they make them the more careful and circumspect afterwards. Now observe,

I. What it was that the prophet saw; he looked up into the air, and behold a flying roll. A vast large scroll of parchment which had been rolled up, and is therefore called a roll, 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 roll, like Ezekiel's that was written within and without with lamentations, and mourning, and woe, Ezek. ii. 9, 10. As the command of the law is in writing, for certainty and perpetuity, so is the curse of the law; it writes bitter things 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 what he sees? And he gives him this account of it: I see a flying roll, and as near as he can guess by his eye it is twenty cubits long (that is, ten yards) and ten cubits broad, that is, five yards. The scriptures of the Old Testament and the New are rolls, in which God has written to us the great things of his law and gospel. Christ is the Master of the rolls. They are large rolls, have much in them. They are flying rolls; the angel that had the everlasting gospel to preach flew in the midst of heaven, Rev. xiv. 6. God's word runs very swiftly, Ps. cxlvii. 15. 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. "What is written in the law? how readest thou? Tell me that, and then thou shalt be made to understand what thou readest."

II. How it was expounded to him, v. 3, 4. This flying roll is a curse; 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. If I be wicked, woe to me for all this. Now observe here,

1. The extent of this curse; the prophet sees it flying, but which way does it steer its course? It goes forth over the face of the whole earth, not only of the land of Israel, but the whole world; for those that have sinned against the law written in their hearts 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 redeem us from the curse of the law by being himself made a curse for us, and, like the prophet, eating this roll! 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 they turn not.

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 for every one that steals, 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, Mal. iii. 8; Neh. xiii. 10. Sacrilege is, without doubt, the worst kind of thievery. He also that robs his father or mother, and saith, It is no transgression (Prov. xxviii. 24), let him know that against him this curse is directed, for it is against every one that steals. 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 (v. 4); he imprecates the curse upon himself by his perjury, and so shall his doom be; God will say Amen 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.

3. The enforcing of this curse, and the equity of it: I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, v. 4. 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?

4. The effect of this curse; it is very dreadful, (1.) Upon the sinner himself: Every one that steals shall be cut off, 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 as on this side (cut off from this place, that is, from Jerusalem), and so he that swears from this side (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 from hence, that is, from the face of the whole earth, over which the curse flies. Or he that steals shall be cut off on this side, and he that swears on that side; 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: It shall enter into the house of the thief and of him that swears. 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. Cursed shall be his basket and his store, and cursed the fruit of his body, Deut. xxviii. 17, 18. The curse of the Lord is in the house of the wicked, Prov. iii. 33. It shall not only beset his house, or he at the door, but it shall remain in the midst of his house, and diffuse its malignant influences to all the parts of it. It shall dwell in his tabernacle because it is none of his, Job xviii. 15. 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 consume it with the timber thereof, and the stones thereof, 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, Hab. ii. 11. Now here we have them delivered from that bondage of corruption. 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. Who knows the power of God's anger, and the operations of his curse? Even timber and stones have been consumed by them; let us therefore stand in awe and not sin.

The Vision of the Ephah. (b. c. 520.)

5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth. 6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth. 7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. 8 And he said, This is 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 was 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.

The foregoing vision was very plain and easy, but in this are things dark and hard to be understood; 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.

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: Lift up thy eyes now, and see what is here, v. 5. What is this that goeth forth? Whether over the face of the whole earth, as the flying roll (v. 3), 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, What is it? v. 6. And the angel tells him both what it is and what it means.

I. He sees an ephah, a measure wherewith they measured corn; it contained ten omers (Exod. xvi. 36) and was the tenth part of a homer (Ezek. xlv. 11); it is put for any measure used in commerce, Deut. xxv. 14. And this is their resemblance, the resemblance of the Jewish nation over all the earth, 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 meted 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 through all the earth. There is a measure set them, and they are filling it up apace. See Matt. xxiii. 32; 1 Thess. ii. 16.

II. He sees a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah, representing the sinful church and nation of the Jews in their latter and degenerate age, when the faithful city became a harlot. 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 the corn of his floor, Isa. xxi. 10. And here he puts this corn into the bushel, in order to his parting with it. The angel says of the woman in the ephah, This is wickedness; it is a wicked nation, else God would not have rejected it thus; it is as wicked as wickedness itself, it is abominably wicked. How has the gold become dim! Israel was holiness to the Lord (Jer. ii. 3); but now this is wickedness, and wickedness is nowhere so scandalous, so odious, and, in many instances, so outrageous, as when it is found among professors of religion.

III. He sees the woman thrust down into the ephah, and a talent, or large weight, of lead, cast upon the mouth of it, by which she is secured, and made a close prisoner in the ephah, 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; he would fain flee out of his hand (Job xxvii. 22), 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, Now they are hidden from thy eyes, that threw a talent of lead upon them.

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 two women, who had wings like those of a stork, large and strong, and, to make them fly the more swiftly, they had the wind in their wings, 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 lifted it up between the earth and the heaven, as unworthy of either and abandoned by both; for the Jews, when this was fulfilled, pleased not God and were contrary to all men, 1 Thess. ii. 15. This is wickedness, 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 (v. 10) he was told that they designed to build it a house in the land of Shinar. This intimates that the punishment of the Jews should be a final dispersion; they should be hurried out of their own country, as the chaff which the wind drives away, 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 ephah shall be established, and set upon her own base. 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. Blindness has happened unto Israel, and they are settled upon the lees of their own unbelief; their wickedness is established upon its own basis. God has given them a spirit of slumber (Rom. xi. 8), lest at any time they should convert, and be healed.

CHAP. V.

Verſe 1. THen I turned me, and lifted up mine eyes] i.e. I prepared me to the receiving of a new viſion: nothing ſo comfortable as the former, but no leſſe neceſſary; that the people, by ſenſe of ſinne, and fear of wrath, might be taken off their wicked practiſes, redeem their own ſorrows, and be accounted worthy to eſcape all thoſe things that ſhould (otherwiſe) come to paſſe, as verſe 11. and to ſtand before the Son of man, at that dreadfull day. This ſeemeth to bee the mind of the Holy Ghoſt,Luke 21.36. in theſe two viſions here recorded: which while ſome Interpreters attend not, in toto vaticinio neque coelum, neque terram attingunt, ſaith Calvin, they are utterly out.

and behold a flying roll] Or, volume, as Pſal. 40.10. or ſcroll of paper, or parchment, uſually rolled up, like the web upon the pin, mi convolvuntur noſtrae Mappae Geographicae, as our Mappes are rolled up, ſaith A Lapide: and as in the publike Library at Oxford the Book or Roll of Eſther (an Hebrew Manuſcript) is at this day to bee ſeen:D. Prid. Orat. 4. Amem. Antibarb. lib. 3. Volans velociſſimum aſtion[illegible: 1 letter]s incurſum ſignificat. Chryſost. but here flying] Not onely becauſe ſpread wide open, as Rabſhakeh's letter, 2 King. 19.14. and as that Book of the Prophet Eſaias, Luke 4.17. but alſo as fleeting along ſwiftly, like a bird ready to ſeiz on her prey. Nemo ſcelus gerit in Pectore, qui non idem Nemeſin in tergo. The Heathens thens named Nemeſis (their Goddeſſe of Revenge to take puniſhment of offend ours) [non-Latin text not transcribed], becauſe no man can poſſibly eſcape her. They tell us alſo that their Jupiter writeth down all the ſinnes of all men in a book, or ſcroll, made of a goatspelt, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. which they call [non-Latin text not transcribed]: the very word whereby Aquila and Theodotion (two Greek Tranſlatours) do render the Hebrew of this Text. (See Dan, 7.18. Rev. 20.12.) Symmachus turnes it [non-Latin text not transcribed], a Chapter, or Abſtract of a larger Book, full of ſinnes, and Woes: and yet it is of an unheard of hugeneſſe, verſe 2. and of very ſad contents, like that book of Ezechiel, chap. 2.9, 10. lamentation, and mourning, and woe; or the firſt leaf of Biſhop Babingtons book (which he turned over every morning) all black: to inmind him of hell, and Gods judgements due unto him for his ſinnes.

Verſ. 2. What ſeeſt thou] q. d. Mark it well, and let thine eye affect thine heart; let theſe things be oculis commiſſa fidelibus.

I ſee a flying book] See the Note on verſe 1. Some read it, A double book, (according to the Chaldaick ſignification of the word) as containing double, that is, manifold menaces and puniſhments of ſinne. But the Chaldee Paraphraſt, Septuagint, and others, render it flying; as haſting, and hovering over the heads of wicked perſons.

the length thereof is twenty cubits, &c.] Ten yards long, and five broad. Neither let men ſay, that words are but wind, as they did Jer. 5.13. For, 1. Even wind, when gotten into the bowels of the earth, may cauſe an earth-quake; as when into the bowels of the body, an heart-quake. 2. God threateneth thoſe ſcoffers verſe 14. that he will make that word which they tearmed wind, to become fire, and themſelves fuel to feed it. And as fire flyeth upon fuell fully dried, Nah. 1.10. and conſumeth it in an inſtant: ſo Gods flying roll will lick up the evil-doers, no otherwiſe then the fire from heaven after it had conſumed the ſacrifice, the wood, the ſtones, and the duſt, licked up alſo the water that was in the trench, 1 King. 18.38. The threatnings of Gods Law (the ſame with this Roll) are (as Eraſmus ſaith of Ezek. 3.18.) fulmina non verba, lightbolts rather then words: or if words, yet they are (as One ſaith) Verba non legenda ſed vivenda, Words not to be read onely, but lived: at leaſt, not to be read as men do the old ſtories of forraigne warres; wherein they are nothing concerned (but as threatening themſelves in every threat, curſing themſelves in every curſe, &c.) nor as they read the predictions of an Almanack for wind and weather: which they think may come to paſſe, and it may be not: but be confident of this very thing, that God who hath denounced it will ſurely do it, and that he will execute the judgement written in this roll, Pſal. 149.9. yea every ſickneſſe and every plague which is not written in the book of this Law, them will the Lord cauſe to deſcend upon the diſobedient, untill they be deſtroyed, Deut. 28.61.

Verſe 3. This is the curſe] Or oath, with execration and curſing. Num. 5.21. [non-Latin text not transcribed]. ut & A[illegible: 1 letter]. Graecè, juramentum et execrationem ſignificat. Mercer. Curſing men are curſed men, and God hath ſworn that ſwearers ſhall not enter into his reſt.

that goeth forth] yea flyeth, verſe 2. more ſwift then an eagle, an arrow, a flaſh of lightening. Or, if not, yet Poena venit gravior, quo magè ſera venit.

over the face of the whole earth] Tribulation and anguiſh upon every ſoul of man that doth evil: but of the Jew ſirſt, (Ingentia beneficia flagitia, ſupplicia) who is therefore the worſe, becauſe he ought 'to have been better; and then,Rom. 2.9. of the Gentile alſo. Theodoret, Lyra, and Vatablus think that Iudaea is hinted in the meaſure of the book (twenty cubites long, and ten broad) as being twice ſo long (and ſomewhat more) as it is broad: witneſſe Hierom in his Epiſtle to Dardanus. Epiſt. 129. But let the whole earth here be taken in its utmoſt latitude, ſith the Gentiles that ſinne without the Law, are yet liable to the puniſhments of the Law. And ſome of them by the light of Nature ſaw the evil of ſwearing: but all generally of ſtealing; but eſpecially of perjury and ſacriledge, here principally meant. Confer Mal. 3.8. Neh. 13.10.

for every one that ſtealeth ſhall be cut off] By ſtealing underſtand all ſins againſt the ſecond Table: as by ſwearing, all againſt the firſt: and ſo the ſenſe is the ſame with that of the Apoſtle, Every tranſgreſſion and diſobedience receiveth a juſt recompence of reward Heb. 2.2. And curſed is every one, that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them, Gal. 3.10. Howbeit becauſe theſe two ſins were more frequently and more impudently committed in thoſe dayes, therefore are they (by a ſpecialty) inſtanced. The Jewes comming poor out of Babylon, held it no great ſin to ſteal for ſupply of their neceſſities: and then to forſwear themſelves for the better hiding of their theft, Give me not poverty, ſaid holy Agur, leſt being poore I ſteale, and (as one ſin drawes on another) I take the name of my God in vaine Prov. 30.9. See the Note there. Hunger is an evill counſellour, neceſſity an hard weapon, a ſore temptation: when it comes to this, Either I muſt ſteale or ſtarve. But then to this muſt be oppoſed that of the law, Thou ſhalt in no caſe ſteals. Thou muſt rather dye then do wickedly. Aut faciendum aut patiendum, Either obey the law, or ſuffer the curſe.

as on this ſide according to it] i. e. According to the curſe, deſcribed in the rowle, the theeſ ſhall be cut off as well as the ſwearer: they ſhall ſpeed alike. The tares ſhall be bound up in bundles, theeves with theeves, and ſwearers with ſwearers, and burnt in the fire Mat. 13.30, 40. According to the prediction ſhall be the execution. Whether on this ſide, that is in Judea (ſo ſome ſenſe it) or on that ſide, in other parts of the world, ſuch perſons appeare, they ſhall have their payment.

and every one that ſweareth Not only falſely as verſe 4. but lightly, vainely, cauſeleſly, in jeſt and not in judgement: whether by God, or by creatures and qualities; Judaeis & Phariſaeis vulgare vitium, ſaith Paraeus on Iam. 5.12. a common fault among the Jewes and Phariſees Mat. 5.34, 35. and 23.16.18. See the Notes there. Among the Chriſtians in Chryſoſtomes time, as appeares by his many ſermons againſt it at Antioch. And in theſe dayes, if ever, becauſe of oaths the land mourneth, God hath a controverſie Hoſ. 4.1, 2. We have lived to ſee iniquity in the fulneſſe of oaths and blaſphemies unparaleled darted with helliſh mouths againſt God and our Saviour ſo ordinarily and openly, that ſome of them are become very interjections of ſpeech to the vulgar, and other ſome meer phraſes of gallantry to the braver. I knew a great ſwearer (ſaith a great Divine) who comming to his death-bed Satan ſo filled his heart with a madded and enraged greedineſſe after that moſt gaineleſſe,Bol[illegible: 1 letter]on. and pleaſureleſſe ſin: that though himſelf ſwore as faſt and as furiouſly as he could, yet (as though he had bin already among the bannings and blaſphemies of hell) he deſperatly deſired the ſtanders by to help him with oaths, and to ſwear for him.

Verſe 4. I will bring it forth] ſc. out of my treaſuries or ſtore-houſes of plagues and puniſhments Deut. 32.34. Or, That which thou haſt ſeen in viſion, I will put in action: I will produce it into the open light, into the theatre of the world: their faults ſhall be written in their foreheads, their ſins ſhall go before to judgement, my viſible vengeance ſhall overtake them.

and it ſhall enter into the houſe of the theef] which he calleth his caſtle: and where he thinks himſelf moſt ſecure, as out of the reach of Gods rod: as i[illegible: 1 letter] he could mot up himſelf againſt Gods fire. But what faith Bildad? His confidence ſhall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it ſhall bring him to the king of terrours. It ſhall dwell in his tabernacle, becauſe it is none of his: brimſtone ſhall be ſcattered upon his habitation, Iob 18.14, 15. ſo, that if the fire of Gods wrath do but touch it, all's on a light flame.A. Gell. He will unkennel theſe foxes: and drag (acus out of his denn, to his deſerved puniſhment. Diocleſian the Perſecutour (one of thoſe Latrones publici, Euſub: de vit. Conſt. lib. 5. as Cato called them) giving over his Empire, after that he had ſufficiently feathered his neſt; decreed to lead the reſt of his life quietly. But he eſcaped not ſo: for after that, his houſe was wholy conſumed with lightening and a flame of fire that fell from heaven, he hiding himſelf, for fear of the lightening, died within a while after.

and into the houſe of him that ſweareth falſely by my name] Hence Ribera gathereth that by the whole earth in the former verſe is meant Judaea only: becauſe none but Jewes ſwore by the name of the true God, who is indeed the proper object of an oath Eſay 65.16. Ier. 12.6. Howbeit in lawfull contracts with an Infidel or Idolater, oaths by falſe gods may be admitted, and are binding. As for perjury, it is a provoking ſin; as containing three great evils. 1. The uttering or upholding of a lie. 2. The calling upon God to teſtifie and juſtifie a lie. 3. The praying for a curſe upon a mans ſelf: and beſeeching God to be a ſwift witneſſe againſt him, Mal. 3. as he was indeed againſt Zedekiah, Narciſſus in the eccleſiaſticall hiſtory, Earle Godwin in Polydor Virgil, Rodulphus Duke of Suevia, Ladiſlatis king of Hungary, Dr. London (Act. and Mon. fol. 1114.) Richard Long a ſouldier at Callice in K. Henry the 8. dayes: who depoſing falſely againſt Will: Smith Curat of Callice, ſhortly after, upon a diſpleaſure of his wife,Act. and Ma[illegible: 1 letter]. fol. 1117. deſperately drowned himſelf. And within the memory of man Feb. 11. An. Dom. 1574. Anne Averies forſwore, her ſelf at a ſhop in woodſtreet London; praying God ſhe might ſink where ſhe ſtood if ſhe had not paid for the wares ſhe took. Hereupon ſhe fell down preſently ſpeechleſſe, and with horrible ſtench died.

and it ſhall remaine in the middeſt of his houſe] And be a troubleſome inmate with him, ſuch as he cannot rid his hands of though never ſo fain: there it ſhall rooſt and reſt, in deſpite of him. If it diſtaſt not his dough or empty his basket, yet will it fill his ſtore with ſtriſe, or mix the wrath of God with his ſweet morſels: his meate ſhall be fauced, his drink ſpiced, as Iob 20.23. It is a moth in his wardrobe, murraine among his cattle, mildew[illegible: 1 letter]in his field, rot amongſt his ſheep, and oft-times maketh the fruit of his loines his greateſt heart-break.

with the timher thereof and the ſtones thereof] As in caſe of treaſon or other horrible c[illegible: 1 letter]i[illegible: 1 letter]nes, the very houſes of the offendours;Illam domum in qua fuerit inventus haereticus diruendam decernimus. were pulied down and made a jakes, Dan. 2.5. and 3.29. The Popiſh Councell of Tholoſe gathered together againſt thoſe Ancient Proteſtants the Alpigenſes, made a decree, that the very houſe wherein an heretick was found, ſhould be pulled down. The Mannour-houſe of Milcot in Warwick-ſhire, built by Lodovike Greevill deeply guilty of theſe two grand evils mentioned in the text, and lately burnt to the ground, is commonly lookt upon as a ſpeaking monument of Gods juſt judgement againſt Sacriledge and Perjury: whether men perſonally commit theſe ſins or love them in others Zach. 1.17. Rev. 22.15.

Verſe 5. Lift up now thine eyes and ſee] No doubt, ſaith Calvin here, but the Prophet was frighted at the ſight of the flying rowle, full of curſes.Pſa. 119.120, My fleſh trembleth for feare of thee, ſaith David, and I am afraid of thy judgements. And Habakkuk, when he conſidered the curſed condition of the Churches enemies, my belly trembled, ſaid he, when I heard it: my lips quivered at the voice. rottenneſſe entred into my bones chap. 3.6. Daniel was more afficted and troubled for Nebuchadnezzars calamity, then himſelf was, chap. 4.19. Here therefore the Angell encourageth the Prophet, and biddeth him look up and ſee a further viſion; and not through dulneſle or dejectedneſſe, to let paſſe without due obſervation the notable works and witneſſes of Gods providence and power. Curious Artiſans when they ſet forth ſome ſpeciall peece to publik view, they take it ill when notice is not taken of it: So here. See the Note on ver. 1.

Verſe 6. And I ſaid, What is it?] i.e. what meaneth it[illegible: 1 letter] for the viſion is very hard and myſterious: leſt (ſaith One) the plaine denunciation of the ſecond overthrow of temple and ſtate might diſcourage them too much, to go forward in the preſent reſtauration of both. Hugh Broughton on Dan. 2.4. obſerveth, that while the viſions are generall, and cauſe the Jewes no danger, ſo far Daniel writeth in the Syriack tongue, generall over the Eaſt. But when the oppreſſours be named, and the Jewes plainely deſcribed the people whom God defendeth, then the eighth chapter and all after, he writes in Hebrew (a tongue leſſe known and ſtudied) and hath a commandement to keep cloſe the plaine expoſition chap. 12.4. There is a great deale of wiſdome required of thoſe, that are intruſted with the diſpenſation of divine truths. Our Saviour ſpake as the people could heare, and not as he could have ſpoken. See Heb. 5.11, 12.

this is an Ephah that goeth forth] The Ephah was the greateſt and moſt common meaſure among the Jewes: and is therefore generally put for any meaſure whatſoever Deut. 25.14. By falſe meaſures (one kind of theſt) they had ſinned (whence the Chaldee here, Iſti ſunt populi qui accipiebant, & dabant menſurà falſâ, Theſe are the people that bought and ſold by falſe meaſures) by the ſame therefore, their puniſhment is ſet forth and ſignified; A peece of their puniſhment it was that they were bounded and limited: that wickedneſſe was confined and kept within her Ephah. The Vulgar tranſlates it Amphora a pitcher: which when it is once filled with the bitter waters of wickedneſſe, will ſoon ſink to the bottom. Sinners as they are ſtinted, ſo when they have filled up their meaſure, they are ſure to be puniſhed: when they are ripe in the field, God will come with his ſickle; when their grapes of Sodom are full ready, he will caſt them into the winepreſſe of his wrath Rev. 15.16. Gen. 15.16. Mat. 23.32.

this is their reſemblance thorough all the earth] Heb. their eye, their aſpect, their colour. This, that is, this Ephah, is their reſemblance: ſc. that when they have filled up their ſins, they ſhall have their fill of puniſhment. Or This, meaning ſome apparition repreſenting Gods providence ſhewed by the Angel to the Prophet;T[illegible: 1 letter]ch 3.9. and 4.10. and 9.1. is their eye, that is, the eye of the three perſons in Trinity, Gods univerfall providence, which preſideth over his judgements. Or thus: This Ephah or meaſure of their puniſhment, proportionate to their ſin, in killing Ch[illegible: 2 letters]ſt eſpecially Mat. 23.32. ſhall be their eye thorough all the earth, i. e. ſhall be conſpicuous and apparent to all ſorts: ſo that all men ſhall hate them, and hoot at them for a company of Kill-Chriſts, ſhall look upon them as a people of Gods curſe &c. Thus the Chaldee here, Behold they are made manif[illegible: 1 letter]ſt before all the inhatants of the earth: for all men ſhall be witneſles of their horrible both ſinns and plagues.

Verſe 7. And behold there was lift up a talent of lead] A lump of lead, the weightieſt metall: noting the immoveable and immutable dec[illegible: 1 letter]ee of God [illegible: 1 letter]or the puniſhment of the wicked.Eſay 3.11. Say to the wicked, tell him ſo from me, it ſhall go ill with him: Iniquity ſhall be his ruine. This lump of lead is fir[illegible: 2 letters] lifted up, and then let down upon the Ephah as an adequate covering: and betokeneth the grievouſneſſe and long continuance of the Jewes puniſhment and baniſhment for their parricide, [non-Latin text not transcribed]. 1 Theſ. 2.16. or rather deicide, in crucifying the Lord of glory. A day of grace they had, but they knew it not; therefore is wrath come upon them to the utmoſt, or, untill the end, or finally, ſo as it ſhall never be removed: ſo ſome interpret it.

and this is a woman that ſitteth in the middeſt of the Ephah] In medio modi: and ſo ſhe went forth or moved forward with an open face, and upper parts appearing, as not afhamed: the ſhew of her countenance witneſſed againſt her, ſhe declared her ſin as Sodom Eſay 3.9. and as Lots daughters who ſavoured too much of Sodom, when, glorying in their ſhame, they called their inceſtuous br[illegible: 1 letter]ts M[illegible: 1 letter] ab, that is the begotten of my father, and Benammi which ſounds to the ſame ſenſe. This woman is alſo ſaid to ſit, as reſolved of her courſe. Confer Pſal. 1.1. and 50.20. the Jewes are ſtill a ſtubborn and refractary people. Antiqu[illegible: 1 letter]m obtinent: O that the falvation of Iſrael were come out of Zion &c. Pſal. 14.7. Deus nos dignabitur clariſſimá viſione cum reducet Zion, ſaith Jachiades one of their Rabbines. I add, Fiat, Fiat.

Verſe 8. And he ſaid, this is Wickedneſſe] viz. this woman, a figure of the whole ſinfull nation of the Jewes: as were Aholah, and Aholibah Ezech. 23. and Babylon the great, the mother of fornications and abominations Rev. 17.5. to whom I may add that grand-daughter of hers Katherine de Medices Queen-mother: who by her wickedneſſe wonderfully troubled all France for thirty yeers together.

and he caſt it into the midſt of the Ephah] The Angel, as an executioner of divine juſtice, throwes her down who before ſat perking and priding her ſelf; and claps her upcloſe priſoner as it were in the Ephah.

caſting the weight of lead into the mouth thereof] that is of the Ephah, or of the woman, according to that Pſal. 107.42. the righteous ſhall [illegible: 1 letter]ee it and rejoyce, and all iniquity ſhall ſtop her mouth. Montanus one of the Talmud adde[illegible: 1 letter]h, that this woman is compel'd to take this lead into her mouth: that mo[illegible: 1 letter]ten lead was powred down her throat, for a puniſhments of her frauds and theſts ver. 3. But the wicked ſhall not be ſo excuſed: ſor upon them God ſhall raine [illegible: 1 letter]nares, fire, brimſtone, and a burning tempeſt: this ſhall be the portion of their cup, Pſal. 11.6. and this is farr worſe then molten lead, or burning bell-mettle. Compare with this text ler. 51.64. and Rev. 18.21. with 20.1. An Angel a ſtrong Angel, for better aſſurance of Romes irrepairable ruine, taketh a ſtone, a great ſtone. which he throweth, and with force thruſteth into the bottom of the ſea whence it cannot be boy[illegible: 1 letter]d up, whence nothing ordinarily is recovered, much leſſe a milſtone thruſt from ſuch a hand with ſuch a force. What do ye imagine againſt the Lord? ſaith Nahum: he will make an utter end: affliction ſhall not riſe up the ſecond time chap. 1.9. that is, the wicked ſhall be totally and finaily conſumed at once: neither will God make another doing of it. I have overthrown ſome of you, as God over threw Sodom and Gomorrah: Am. 4.11. wickedneſſe is here cruſhed together as it were in a narrow veſlell, covered with lead, and carried into a ſtrange countrey.

Verſe 9. Behold there came out two women] Winged women, and carried through the ayre with a pleaſant wind, to note their ready and ſpeedy obedience, prompt and preſent. Women they are ſaid to be, to keep proportion with the preſent viſion; leſt the meeting and mixing together of men and women in the ſame matter might miniſter occaſion to ſome impure ſurmiſings. But that they were men and not women, that are here meant, is agreed upon by all. Theſe were Ezra and Nehemiah, (ſaith Willet on Levit. 11. after Junius and Piſcator on the text) thoſe great Reformers of the Jewiſh Church. But this ſtand, not with the laſt verſe. I rather ſubſcribe to thoſe that expound the text of the Romanes, who with great celerity and violence deſtroyed the Jewes ſtate: and ſo, that which they feared befell them [illegible: 1 letter]oh. 11.48. The Romanes, ſaid they, ſhall come to take away both our place and our nation: and within a few yeers it proved accordingly: as if God had taken them at their word, as he did thoſe murmuring miſcreants Num. 14.28. As truly as I live, ſaith the Lord, as ye have ſpoken in mine cares, ſo will I do unto you. Hereunto the Chaldee Paraphraſt conſenteth, when by theſe two women thus deſcribed he underſtandeth, populos leves & expeditos, ſuch Agents and Inſt[illegible: 1 letter]uments, as God would imploy in the ſpeedy execution of his wrath upon the Jewiſh Nation: ſuch as were Titus, Veſpaſian, and A[illegible: 1 letter]lius Adrian. See my Trite treaſure chap. 7. ſect. 2. Diodate maketh theſe two women a figure of God, two properties, namely Mercy towards his Elect, and Juſtice towards his Enemies, wherewith he tranſports upon theſe laſt the judgements by which he had puniſhed his own people: which is done with admirable celerity. Thus He. Danaeus makes thoſe two women to be the Anger and Juſtice of God, which do alwayes follow and wa[illegible: 1 letter]t upon one another, and take vengeance on mens wickedneſſe. Jud[illegible: 1 letter]ium ſit penes lectorem.

and the wind was in their wings] A maſculine Affix reſe[illegible: 1 letter]red to a Feminine Noune: to intimate that theſe women were indeed types of men, ſaith Mr. Pemble. [illegible: 1 letter]he Romanes were men every inch of them, as the proverh is: and therefore of cowards they were wont to ſay that they had nothing Roman in them: and of Brutus, that he was the laſi of the Romans.

and they lift up the Ephah between the Earth and the heaven] This betokeneth a deportation and diſiection of the Jewiſh Nation: being toſſed as a tennis-ball into all nations, and ſcattered into the ſoure winds, as Ier. 48.32. Rupertus hence concludeth them rejected of both carth and heaven. Out of the earth they are as it were baniſhed, by a common conſent of Nations: and heaven admitte[illegible: 1 letter]n them not, as thoſe that pleaſe not God, and are contrary to all men 1 Theſſ. 2.15. And as their guide Judas, when they took Jeſus, was hang'd betwixt heaven and earth, being caelo terraeque peroſus; ſo fares it with that wretched people, and will do till God ſhall call them a people which were not a people, and her beloved, which was not beloved Rom. 9.25.

Verſe 10 Whither do theſe beare the Ephah?] that is, ſaith Ribera, Quamdiu duratura eſt populi hujus impietas? How long ſhall this peoples wickedneſſe laſt? like as Iſa. 6.10, 11. when the Prophet had heard, make the heart of th[illegible: 1 letter] people fat, and ſhut their eyes &c. he cryes out, How long Lord? the anſwer whereunto is the ſame in effect with this of the Angel: untill the cities be waſted without inhabitant, and the houſes without man, and the land be utterly deſolate; And the Lord have removed men farr away, and there be a great forſaking in the midſt of the land.

Verſe 11. To build it an houſe in the land of Shinar] That is, of Babylon, Gen. 10.10. and 11.2. where diverſe of the Jews ſtill remained in wilfull exile, as loth to leave their houſes and gardens, which they had builded and planted there, Jer. 29 5. preferring captivity before liberty. See 1 Chron. 4.22, 23. Hence, upon their finall diſperſion by the Romans, diverſe of them reſorted thither for entertainment. There Peter, the Apoſtle of the circumciſion, had collected an elected Church, 1 Epiſt. 5.13. and thence he writeth his Epiſtle to the ſojourning Jews ſcattered thorow thoſe Eaſtern parts chap. 1.10. from whence alſo thoſe kings of the Eaſt, Rev. 16.12. the converted Jews (as ſome expound it) are expected. And who can tell whether this land of Shinar be not the ſame with that land of Sinim, Eſay 49.12. Confer Eſay 11.16. Zach. 10.11. Or, by the land of Shinar here, may be meant exilium totius orbis, their generall rejection by all nations; the whole world being to them a Shinar, that is, a land of excuſſion.

and it ſhall be eſtabliſhed, &c.] This denoteth the diuturnity, or perpetuity of their puniſhment.