Zechariah 5:10

"Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build her a house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place."

The destination of the ephah borne on the wings of the two women is the principal revelation of these verses. It is "the land of Shinar." "Shinar is synonymous with `Babylon' (Genesis 10:10). The term `Shinar' is used for obvious reasons. Babylon was now (in Zechariah's day) in the hands of Darius, ruler of the Medo-Persian empire";[29] and, to have used the word Babylon, would have been to incur unnecessarily the wrath of the very ruler upon whose good will the rebuilding of Jerusalem was dependent.

Besides that, "Babylon" in this passage means far more than erie wicked city. What is seen here is the enthronement of Wickedness in the great world power that continuously throughout history has arrayed itself against God. The first attempt to array a world-empire against God was at Shinar; and "The use of that word here is an apt symbol of the antitheist and anti-Christian world."[30] Babylon in all the ages to come would stand for enthroned and worshipped Wickedness as opposed to God, as evidenced in Revelation 17, etc. The Messianic glimpse ere is undeniable, for there comes into view one of the earliest representatives of "Mystery Babylon the Great," the fall of which is depicted in Revelation and which occurs at the end of this dispensation of God's grace.

It seems incredible that any commentator would take the position that Zechariah's vision here was "prejudiced" and designed to "blacken an enemy"; but that is exactly the position of some. Speers attributed such motives to our prophet, stating that, "What we abominate, we say our enemies worship."[31]

"To build her a house ..." Scholars agree that "house" here means temple, upon which Wickedness will be enthroned. Thus, our vision dramatically emphasizes the vast gulf that separates God's people from the unregenerated peoples of mankind. An apostle warned us that "the god of this world" hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving (2 Corinthians 4:4); and the concurrent testimony of all ages confirms it as a fact. Zechariah's vision here of Wickedness being enthroned in Babylon is in perfect harmony with what Paul said, and did not originate in any unwholesome attitude on the part of the prophet. After all, the vision was not his, it was what God showed him. "In this vision, Shinar is not to be thought of as a geographical country, but as a symbol of Satan's world government."[32] "Doubtless too there is a warning here conveyed to those Jews who still lingered in Babylon."[33] They were living in a land devoted to the worship of evil, and all who remained there were in mortal danger of being contaminated by a poison which would be fatal. In line with this same thought, God's people of all ages are warned, "Come out of her, my people, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues" (Revelation 18:4).

PROBABLE MEANING OF THE VISIONS

1. The flying roll. This means that all of God's blessings are contingent upon honoring his sacred law. Violators will be punished.

2. The ephah borne to Babylon with the image of a woman in it means that Wickedness is enthroned in the evil city, and that God's people should leave the place. The spiritual application is that God's people should avoid all unspiritual environments that are destructive of faith. God's people totally reject idolatry.