Zechariah 5

Why would it be that God would speak symbolically to His people through the prophet Zechariah? Is it just that He wants us to be able to remember things and that descriptive images are more easily remembered? While there may be something to that suggestion, it is unlikely to be a very helpful explanation for us. If we are not told the meaning of the images, what exactly would the Lord have us remember from the image? When visions are given without explanation it seems most likely that the Lord is concealing something even as He may be revealing something else. The most straightforward way to give complex truth is through clear explanation. Where this is lacking, we are normally dealing with something that God has determined only to hint at for the present moment, though He knows the fullness of it very well. With that said, we should certainly do our best to have a true understanding of His hint though we need to be cautious about over-interpreting things that God has chosen to keep concealed.

In this chapter we have two visions, the first of a flying scroll, and the second of a woman in a basket. The analogy of other passages in the Bible is not conclusive here, since there are no other texts that use precisely these images. There are many places in the Bible where we hear of scrolls or have visions of scrolls, but this a flying scroll. There are many places in the Bible where a singular woman personifies some idea or group, but here we have the details of a woman in a basket with a lid who is transported far away. What we are left with, in terms of understanding the clarity of the prophetic hint, is the larger context of Zechariah, and especially any explanations that are contained in the chapter itself.

A scroll is often the sign of written revelation from God or of God's eternal decrees. In Zechariah 5 we are especially talking about the Law of God. Some of the Ten Commandments are mentioned, stealing on one side, and false witness on the other. What is specifically noted is not the text of the Law, but the consequences of violating that Law. God in His infinite knowledge is going throughout the land. He sees thievery and promise-breaking, even when these are done within the private homes of people. The scroll seems to fly forth as an agent of the judgment of God through His providence. He brings sanctions upon the lives of people. His just curse against them has a corrosive impact upon their homes. This is the first vision.

In the second vision we see a basket that is going out from the land. The basket has a woman sitting inside and the woman has a name. She is Wickedness. There is a heavy cover over the basket to keep her inside. It is opened only for us to see this woman Wickedness. She would like to get out of the basket and cause much trouble throughout the land. But she is forced back into the basket and the lid is firmly shut. We would love to hear that all wickedness was carried away like this from the Lord's people, as long as we were able to stay after Wickedness was sent far away. We want to be able to live with God and His people, and to have all of our personal evil taken away from us.

It would appear to be a very good thing then, when this basket is removed far from us. It is good, though it does seem that the basket set up in some other place, perhaps for a later evil day. Two women with wings are pictured as taking this dangerous basket far away to Babylon. The land that they speak of with the ancient word "Shinar" is no longer a great world power, but it probably stands for the world system itself, a world that is against God and His Law, and a world that will surely be judged by God. God in His providence has a plan that allows for wickedness to exist, and He uses wickedness near and far according to His eternal plan, but only for a time. Eventually there will be a complete and permanent separation of the wicked and the righteous. There is also coming a day when there will be no remaining vestiges of wickedness among the people of the Lord. For now wickedness is allowed to be, but there is a time coming when we will no longer be bothered either by evil outside of us, or by the more troubling evil inside of us.

The hint from God to us in Zechariah 5 seems to be this: Though we have much to fear from a just God who knows about the sin that can so easily destroy our households and our lives, God has made a way to remove wickedness far from us according to His sovereign will. God knows how to contain wickedness. He can exercise complete control over it, and ultimately He will defeat it.

We would be afraid to give such a bold interpretation of these visions were it not for the fact that the clear testimony of these truths has so surely been given to us in the perfect revelation of God, the Word, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the living scroll from heaven. When we encounter Him, not only are we rightly convicted of our own sin and the curse that it deserves, we also are embraced by the assurance that this curse has been swallowed up in the victory of the cross. It is through Christ alone that our substantial wickedness has been sent far away from us. We long for the revelation of the perfected Land that is coming to us at His return. There we shall dwell with Him in peace, for we will have no reason to fear any enemy outside of our walls, and the enemy within will have been utterly defeated through the finished work of our redemption.