The houses of Zechariah 5

I've been thinking a little about what's going on in Zechariah 5, the vision with a giant flying scroll (5:1–4) and the woman in a basket (5:5–11).

The Scroll

The giant flying scroll is reminiscent of the scrolls elsewhere, such as the one eaten by Ezekiel and the scroll(s?) John encounters on his tour of heaven. But apart from being both giant and flying, it is double-sided, with one side being devoted to the destruction of thieves, and the other devoted to the destruction of those who swear falsely.

Although McComiskey (1998) says they refer to the eighth and third commandments (do not steal, do not blaspheme), and thus stand for all the Decalogue, the linguistic parallels seem to point rather to the eighth and ninth commandments (do not steal, do not lie). The sticking point is "by my name", which pushes one to the third, but the word "falsely" (שֶׁקֶר)  only occurs in the eighth commandment (and even then, only in Exodus). Incidentally, swear (שׁבע) does not occur at all in the Decalogue.

It makes more sense to me then that these are judgements not broadly against breaking all of the commandments, but against the ones which are mentioned. The question then is why these two?

If we think briefly about the punishment meted out, it is not the thieves or perjurers who are destroyed, but their houses. It will enter their houses, finish them off (in a bad way), both wood and stones.

My thought here is that there is a contrast to the house of Yhwh. The house of Yhwh remains unbuilt. Its rebuilding is not as big a theme as it is in the neighbouring book of Haggai (although see Zech 1:16), but tied up with the hope of the returning king is that he will rebuild the house of Yhwh (Zech 6:12vv). But those who steal and renege on oaths are getting rich at the expense of others, when they should rather be generously contributing to the house of Yhwh, so that the people of Yhwh may again worship him in his house—and stop focussing on building up their own (cf Hag 1:4).

It's also worth noting the verb in v4 in כלה, which most naturally means to bring to completion, but is used in the sense of destroying, "finish him" as the announcer said in Mortal Kombat. Because they have chosen to not aid the completion of the house of Yhwh through their own greed and also through depriving others, their houses will be completed in the other sense - of destruction

The Woman in a Basket

This reading of the judgement in the first half of Zechariah 5 helps make a bit more sense of the strange treatment of the woman in a basket, who, potentially as an idol (thus a goddess rather than an actual woman), instead of being destroyed, is returned to her rightful place in Shinar and, not just stood on her base (her stand?), but is built a house to dwell in.

But why is she not destroyed? This goes to the concept of filling up of judgement. It could be that I've been reading too much Revelation lately, but the concept of God giving people over to their sin, that their sins may reach a certain point before being judged (cf the promised land, the nations, the harlot) is in the background here. Rather than endorsing henotheism or the idea of a god for each locality, this is giving Babylon back her goddess, so that, rather than polluting the land of Israel, it may once again pollute the land of Babylon. In due course, as the sin comes up to Yhwh, Babylon will have their sin poured back upon them in wrath.

The Three Houses

We are left then with a contrast between three houses:

1. The house of the goddess, which is in Shinar, so that the sins of the Babylonians may continue and bring on their judgement,
2. The house(s) of the thief and the perjurer, which are to be fully destroyed, because of their greed and the sin which flows from that,
3. The house of Yhwh, which was fully destroyed, but is to be fully rebuilt, and will be a product of the pure (no idols) and holy (no sinners) people of Yhwh.

The Seven Acts of Revelation 12-15

I think I'm starting to get my head around Revelation 12-15. Especially if we think of it like the seven seals and trumpets beforehand, and seven bowls to follow.

These four sections break into two groups, 6-11; 12-16, where each overlap with each other, as follows:

6-11
seven seals begin at 6:1 until 8:5, but the
seven trumpets interject at 8:2, and then continue from 8:6 until 11:19.

12-16
seven acts begin at 12:1 until 15:5, but the
seven bowls interject at 15:1, and then continue from 15:5 until 16:20

Once you've got your head around the interjection, often called interlocking, then this section starts to make a bit more sense structurally. Add to that the very similar progression, from destruction, through judgement, to praise, and the four groups tell much the same story, just from different angles and with different emphases.


The mother, child, and other offspring in chapter 12 remains a little confusing. In the picture above I just wrote "the church", but I read a fascinating article by William Riley in the Proceedings of the Irish Biblical Association (18/1995) where he proposes the woman is Daughter Zion - or, as she's giving birth, Mother Zion. The twelve stars are thus the twelve tribes, and the child is Jesus - he is the king of the Jews after all. The other offspring (12:17) are all those who are the children of Israel and are attacked by the Roman state. This doesn't really change anything substantive, but it's a bit more nuanced than just "the church". Well worth checking out the article.