The Pulpit Commentary — Zechariah — Section 54

1 prec-eding vision denoted that sinners should It is possible, as some commentators aup- be extirpated, so the prel!ent vision shows r◊so, that the ephah into which wiolrndnese how iniquity itself, the very principle of 1s thrust represents the mcnsuro of iniquity evil, should be removed from the Holy which, being reached, coast.rains God to Lan,!. punish (ace Gen. xv. 16, whoro the ,lis- Yer. 6.-What is it! The prophet did possession of the Amorites is postponed till not clearly discern the object, or his ques- their iniquity is full). The weight of lead; tion may mean, "What does it signify?" literally, ns the LXX., the stone o.f lead; Vul• An ephe.h; the ep11ah, as "the curse" (vcr. gate, massam plumbeam. This is the cover 3). The ephab was the lar"est of the dry of the ephah, that which is called the measure;; in use among the Jews, and was " talent of lead " in the preceding verse. equal to six or seven gallons. It WAS, of This heavy cover the angel cast upon the course, too sma.!l to contain a woman. The mouth of tl10 ephah, in order to confine the LXX. calls it simply "the measure;" the woman therein (oomp. Gen. xxix. 2, whioh Vulgate, amphora; and it must be oonsidered passage may explain why the cover is called as cm imaginary vessel of huge size. It "a stone"). Dr. Wright und some other mav haYe n tacit reference to dishonest oommentators, referring the passage to theft dc~lings ( comp. Amos viii. 5; Micah vi. and perjury alone, consider the.t the woman 10). This is their resemblance; literally, held in her hand the leaden weight with ti, is is thefr eye. The Authorized Version which she weighed her gains, and was expl11ins the meaning accurately. "Eye" sitting in the epbah which she used in her is often used for 1hat which is seen, as in traffic; so that she represents dishonesty in Lev. xiii. 55, where the Authorized Version the matter of weight and measure. She is ha.a "colour;" and Numb. xi. 7, where in pwtished by the means of the instruments reference to the manna we read, " The eye she bad used unrighteously; the weight is thereof was as the eye of bJellium" (comp. de.shed upon her lying mouth, and the Ezek. i. 4, 16). So here the meaning is: ephab, her throne, is made the vehicle that This ephah and this whole vision represent carries her out of the land. But it seems a the wicked in the land. Some t.ake "the mistake to confine the iniquity mentioned eye" to mean the object or sight, that to to the two specie.I sins of theft e.nd perjury; which they look. But the ephah was not nor would the to.lent and the ephah be set forth for all the people to examine. natural instruments of stealing and fe.lse- The LXX. and Syriac, from some variation swearing; an,! the point of the vision is in the ree.ding, have a.'6,Kla, "iniquity," and not the punishment of wickedness, but its some critics have desired to adopt this in expulsion from the lllnd. It is true that, the text. But authority and necessity a.re the pronominal suffix in the mouth thereof equally wanting. is feminine, and that the LXX. makes it Ver. 7.-There was lifted up a talent of refer to the woman, .,.1, (J''TO/J-<L a;i,,-;js. But it lead. AB the prophet gazed, the lee.den may equally refer to ephah, which is also cover of the ephah was raised, so that the feminine. contents became visible. The word ren- Ver. 9.-Then lifted I up mine eyes. This dered "talent" (kikkar) denotes a circle. is the conclusion of the vision. And looked; It is used in Gen. xiii. 10, 12, for the tract and saw. • There oame out (forth) two of country of which the Jordan was the women. These two women who now come cen1re, and in 1 Sam. ii. 36 for a round loaf. in sight have been supposed to represent Here it means a disc or circular plate which the Assyria.ns Bll.d Babylonians, who were formed the cover of the round-shaped ephah. the agents in the deportation of Israel ; or In the next verse it is called. "the weight else a.re considered abettors of the woman of lead." And this is a woman that sitteth in the ephnh, -who for a time so.ve her from in the midst of the ephah ; and there 1Da8 destruction. This latter supposition pro- a woman sitting, etc. When the leaden lid ceeds on the erroneous idea that wickedness was raised one woman (mulier una, -yvn, ,,_la) is herein rescued from punishment, whoreBs was seen in the measure. She is called the notion that underlies the whole vision "one," us uniting and ooncentrating in her is that the Holy Land is purged of person all sinners and all sins. wickedness. That the two nations hostile Ver. 8.-This is wickedness. This S&man to Israel are represented is an untenable is the personification of wickedneBB. It is suggestion; for why should they carry off very common to tiud backsliding Israel iniquity from Jerusalem and fix it in their represented as a faithless and adulterous own land ? Probably by the two women womBll (comp. Isa. i. 21; Jer. ii. 20; Hoe. carrying a.way the evil woman is signified ii. 5 ; and the parable of the two women in (if the details a.re capable of explanation) Ezek. x.xili.). Ee ca1t it; her-the woman. that iniquity brings with it its own destruc- AB the woman rose, or tried to rise, frow tion and works out its own remove.I. The ilie ephe.h, the Bll.gel flung her down into Ur wind _WIil! in their wings. 'fhey were borne OH, V, 1-11,] THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH. 51