A VISION OF A FLYING SCROLL

INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH

The prophet Zechariah lived at the same time as Haggai and was interested in the same effort to induce the Jews to carry on the rebuilding of their neglected Temple. The prophecies are dated a few years later than those of Haggai. In contrast to the direct and simple language of Haggai, Zechariah employs many figures and symbols to enforce his message. He especially wished to give encouragement and help to the leader and governor of the people, Zerubbabel, and the priest Joshua.

In the latter part of the book there are many pictures of the glorious and happy future, which God had in store for His people and of the Deliverer, who was to come to rule over them. There will come a great day “when the Lord shall be King over all the earth.”

OUTLINE OF ZECHARIAH

The Oracle of the Lord of Hosts

INTRODUCTION, Zec_1:1-6

EIGHT VISIONS CONCERNING ISRAEL, JUDAH, AND JERUSALEM, Zechariah 1:7-6:15

2. The Four Horns and Four Smiths, Zec_1:18-21

3. The Man with a Measuring Line, Zec_2:1-13

Zechariah 1:18-21

4. The High Priest and the Adversary, Zec_3:1-10

5. The Candelabrum and Two Olive Trees, Zec_4:1-14
6. The Flying Roll, Zec_5:1-4

7. The Ephah, Zec_5:5-11

Zechariah 5:1-11

A VISION OF A FLYING SCROLL

Again I looked up, and I saw a scroll flying in the air!

And the angel said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits (thirty feet) and its width is ten cubits (fifteen feet).”

Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going out over the face of the whole land; for everyone who steals will be cut off according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears [oaths falsely] shall be cut off according to the writing on the other side. [Isa_24:6; Mal_3:8-9]

I will send the curse out,” declares the LORD of hosts, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night in that house and consume it, both its timber and its stones.”

A VISION OF A WOMAN IN A BASKET

Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and said to me, “Now look up and see what this is going forth.”

And I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is the ephah (grain basket) going forth. This,” he continued, “is their appearance throughout the land [Amo_8:5]

(and behold, a [round, flat] lead cover was lifted up); and there sat a woman inside the ephah.”

Then he said, “This is Wickedness (Godlessness)!” And he threw her back down into the middle of the ephah and threw the lead cover on its opening.

Then I looked up, and there were two women coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens.

I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?”

And he said to me, “To the land of Shinar (Babylon) to build a temple for her; and when it is prepared, she shall be set there on her own pedestal.”

F. B.Meyer
on
Zechariah 5:1-11
THE VISION OF THE FLYING ROLL

This huge sheet of parchment, 30 by 15 feet, was covered with the solemn curses of the Law, on one side against the thief and on the other against false-swearing. The young community was notorious for these two sins. They brought the dry-rot with them, Zec_5:4. Their commercial life also, represented by the ephah, was full of wickedness. But it was to be eliminated. The swift stork wings would bear it away.

By Philippus Schutte

New Covenant Israelite! "And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert grafted in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;  Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee."  Rom 11:17 -18

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