--- title: "Clarke" description: "Verse Zechariah 5:1. Behold a flying roll. — This was twenty cubits long, and ten cubits broad; the prophet saw it expanded, and flying. Itself was the ca" image: "/images/missing.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/zechariah/5" --- Verse [Zechariah 5:1](../../../kjv/zechariah/5/1). ***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. Verse [Zechariah 5:3](../../../kjv/zechariah/5/3). ***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. Verse [Zechariah 5:4](../../../kjv/zechariah/5/4). ***Into the house of him*** — Babylon, the house or city of Nebuchadnezzar, who was a public *plunderer*, and a most glaring *idolater*. Verse [Zechariah 5:6](../../../kjv/zechariah/5/6). ***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. Verse [Zechariah 5:9](../../../kjv/zechariah/5/9). ***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*. Verse [Zechariah 5:11](../../../kjv/zechariah/5/11). ***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! ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/zechariah/5#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/images/missing.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/images/missing.jpg","width":640,"height":370,"caption":"Clarke's Commentary - Zechariah 5"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/zechariah/5#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/zechariah/5","name":"Clarke's Commentary - Zechariah 5","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/commentaries/clarkes-commentary/zechariah/5#primaryimage"},"datePublished":null,"dateModified":null,"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Verse Zechariah 5:1. 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