Zechariah 5:1-6:15

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Zechariah 5:1-4

We do not find that the prophet now needed to be awakened, as he did Zech. 4:1. 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... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Zechariah 5:1

Then I turned, and lift up mine eyes, and looked ,.... The prophet turned himself from looking upon the candlestick and olive branches, having had a full and clear understanding of them, and looked another way, and saw another vision: and behold a flying roll , a volume or book flying in the air; it being usual for books, which were written on parchment, to be rolled up in the form of a cylinder; whence they were called rolls or volumes. read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - 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... read more

John Calvin

John Calvin's Commentary on the Bible - Zechariah 5:1

Verse 1 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... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zechariah 5:1

Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes; i.e. I lifted up mine eyes again, and saw the vision that follows. The prophet had seen, in the fourth vision, how in the new theocracy the priesthood should be pure and holy; in the fifth how the Church should be restored; he is now shown that sinners should be cut off, that no transgression should be left in the kingdom of God. A flying roll; volumen volans (Vulgate): comp. Ezekiel 2:9 , Ezekiel 2:10 . The Hebrews used parchment and leather... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zechariah 5:1-4

§ 8. The sixth vision: the flying roll. read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zechariah 5:1-4

The reassertion of the Law. "Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll," etc. Most of the distinguishing privileges first given to Israel after leaving Egypt for Canaan were gradually restored to Israel on its partial restoration to Palestine after the captivity of Babylon. This illustrated, as noted before, as to the altar ( Ezra 3:3 ); the daily sacrifice ( Ezra 3:5 ); the Feast of Tabernacles ( Ezra 3:4 ); the tabernacle or the temple itself ( ... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zechariah 5:1-4

Retribution. I. PROVOKED . Sin is the transgression of the Law. Here two kinds singled out. 1 . Sins against the second table. "Stealeth." Fraud, injustice of all kinds. False to man. 2 . Sins against the first table. "Sweareth." Profanity. Self-will. False to God. These are samples of sins infinite in number and variety. Bold and flagrant offences, opposed to all law and order, defiant of God. II. PROCLAIMED . Symbolically set forth. Sin will be judged, not according to... read more

Spence, H. D. M., etc.

The Pulpit Commentary - Zechariah 5:1-4

The flying roll: Divine retribution "Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, a flying roll. 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," etc. This is the sixth vision of the series of visions which the prophet had during the night. He now saw a "flying roll." We have mention made of such rolls by Ezra, by Isaiah, by Jeremiah, and by Ezekiel. Ezra speaks of search... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - Zechariah 5:1

Hitherto all had been bright, full of the largeness of the gifts of God; of God’s favor to His people ; the removal of their enemies ; the restoration and expansion and security of God’s people and Church under His protection ; the acceptance of the present typical priesthood and the promise of Him, through whom there should be entire forgiveness : the abiding illumining of the Church by the Spirit of God . Yet there is a reverse side to all this, God’s judgments on those who reject all His... read more

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