he vision of a flying roll. (1-4) The vision of a woman and
an ephah. (5-11)
Verses 1-4: The Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are rolls, in
which God has written the great things of his law and gospel;
they are flying rolls. God's word runs very swiftly, (Ps
147:15). This flying roll contains a declaration of the
righteous wrath of God against sinners. Oh that we saw with an
eye of faith the flying roll of God's curse hanging over the
guilty world as a thick cloud, not only keeping off the sunbeams
of God's favour, but big with thunders, lightnings, and storms,
ready to destroy them! How welcome then would the tidings of a
Saviour be, who came to redeem us from the curse of the law,
being himself made a curse for us! Sin is the ruin of houses and
families; especially the doing hurt to others and false witness.
Who knows the power of God's anger? God's curse cannot be kept
out by bars or locks. While one part of the curse of God ruins
the substance of the sinner, another part will rest on the soul,
and sink it to everlasting punishment. All are transgressors of
the law, so we cannot escape this wrath of God, except we flee
for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before us in the gospel.
Verses 5-11: In this vision the prophet sees an ephah, something in the
shape of a corn measure. This betokened the Jewish nation. They
are filling the measure of their iniquity; and when it is full,
they shall be delivered into the hands of those to whom God sold
them for their sins. The woman sitting in the midst of the ephah
represents the sinful church and nation of the Jews, in their
latter and corrupt age. Guilt is upon the sinner as a weight of
lead, to sink him to the lowest hell. This seems to mean the
condemnation of the Jews, after they filled the measure of their
iniquities by crucifying Christ and rejecting his gospel.
Zechariah sees the ephah, with the woman thus pressed in it,
carried away to some far country. This intimates that the Jews
should be hurried out of their own land, and forced to dwell in
far countries, as they had been in Babylon. There the ephah
shall be firmly placed, and their sufferings shall continue far
longer than in their late captivity. Blindness is happened unto
Israel, and they are settled upon their own unbelief. Let
sinners fear to treasure up wrath against the day of wrath; for
the more they multiply crimes, the faster the measure fills.
he vision of a flying roll. (1-4) The vision of a woman and
an ephah. (5-11)