5 Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” 6 And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.” 7 And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! 8 And he said, “This is Wickedness.” And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening.
9 Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. 10 Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” 11 He said to me, “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.” – Zechariah 5:5-11 ESV
In the previous vision, Zechariah was shown a super-sized scroll containing the names of all those guilty of theft and swearing. Due to its enormous dimensions and subject matter, this scroll likely contained the names of every person living in Judah, including Zechariah, Zerubbabel, and Joshua. In a real sense, the entire nation stood condemned before Yahweh, because each of them was guilty of robbing Him of glory and failing to keep the oath they had sworn to obey His commands. Zerubbabel had led a small contingent of Judahites back to Judah for the express purpose of rebuilding the Temple and yet, the Temple remained unfinished. So God sent a message to Zerubbabel through Haggai the prophet.
“Why are you living in luxurious houses while my house lies in ruins?” – Haggai 1:4 NLT
They had failed to keep their word. The whole reason for their return was to build a house for God, but they had stolen from Yahweh by using their time and resources to build homes for themselves. So, God warned them to change their ways or suffer the consequences. He demanded heart change that results in transformed actions. Failure to do so would bring judgment and removal.
But Zechariah's visions were far from over. With the image of the scroll still in his mind, Zechariah looks up and sees a large basket. The Hebrew word is 'êp̄â or ephah, which was a unit of measurement. This basket or receptacle was a common tool of commerce used to measure goods for sale. It served as an ancient Hebrew unit of dry measure, roughly equivalent to a bushel, or approximately 5.8 gallons. Like the scroll, the basket was probably oversized and unrecognizable to Zechariah because it didn't have the dimensions of a normal ephah. In fact, this ephah was large enough to contain “the sins of everyone throughout the land” (Zechariah 5:6 NLT).
But as Zechariah looked on, the angel ordered the leaden lid of the basket to be lifted. Inside was a woman who the angel describes as “Wickedness.” She is meant to symbolize the iniquity of the people and represents the allure of evil that draws them away from God. Proverbs 6 contains the words of a father encouraging his son to listen to his instructions. He is attempting to prepare his son to face the temptations of the world, which he compares to an evil, adulterous woman.
For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light,
and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,
to preserve you from the evil woman,
from the smooth tongue of the adulteress.
Do not desire her beauty in your heart,
and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes. – Proverbs 6:23-25 ESV
The previous Proverbs contains an equally negative description of this “wicked” woman.
For the lips of a forbidden woman drip honey,
and her speech is smoother than oil,
but in the end she is bitter as wormwood,
sharp as a two-edged sword.
Her feet go down to death;
her steps follow the path to Sheol;
she does not ponder the path of life;
her ways wander, and she does not know it. – Proverbs 5:3-6 ESV
This image of the seductive and sin-tempting woman is found throughout Scripture. In the Book of Deuteronomy, God warns the Israelites not to give their sons in marriage to the daughters of the Canaanites, because, “they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD will burn against you, and He will swiftly destroy you” (Deuteronomy 7:4 BSB).
The Book of Ecclesiastes also paints a less-than-flattering picture of this female icon of sexual promiscuity and moral degradation.
I discovered that a seductive woman is a trap more bitter than death. Her passion is a snare, and her soft hands are chains. Those who are pleasing to God will escape her, but sinners will be caught in her snare. – Ecclesiastes 7:26 NLT
It should not be overlooked that both Ecclesiastes and Proverbs were authored by Solomon, the great king of Israel. As the son of David, Solomon succeeded his father to the throne of Israel and was blessed by God with great wealth and wisdom. But he had an Achilles Heel: His love for women. God had prohibited the kings of Israel from acquiring many wives for themselves because these women would end up distracting the king from his commitment to God and his concerns for the kingdom (Deuteronomy 17:17 ESV).
The Book of 1 Kings describes what happened to Solomon.
The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord. – 1 Kings 11:2-3 NLT
So when Solomon warned about the allure of the “seductive woman,” he did so from personal experience.
The Book of Revelation also provides a final, climactic warning about the allure of “wickedness.” In chapter 17, the apostle John describes a vision he was given of “the judgment that is going to come on the great prostitute, who rules over many waters” (Revelation 17:1 NLT). John is told that this “woman,” who is obviously symbolic, has negatively impacted on the world.
“The kings of the world have committed adultery with her, and the people who belong to this world have been made drunk by the wine of her immorality.” – Revelation 17:2 NLT
John is then given a vision of another woman, “sitting on a scarlet beast that had seven heads and ten horns, and blasphemies against God were written all over it” (Revelation 17:3 NLT).
The woman wore purple and scarlet clothing and beautiful jewelry made of gold and precious gems and pearls. In her hand she held a gold goblet full of obscenities and the impurities of her immorality. A mysterious name was written on her forehead: “Babylon the Great, Mother of All Prostitutes and Obscenities in the World.” I could see that she was drunk—drunk with the blood of God’s holy people who were witnesses for Jesus. I stared at her in complete amazement. – Revelation 17:4-5 NLT
From the days of Solomon to the end times, the “wickedness” that allures and entices the godly will continue to spread and grow. Even before the second coming of Christ, the seductive woman will attempt to seduce and destroy all those who believe in Him.
Yet, in his vision, Zechariah watched as two divine beings flew into view, picking up the basket and carrying it away. “Wickedness,” which symbolized the iniquity of the people, was being removed, but Zechariah was curious about its destination. The angel informed him that the basket and its evil content were being taken “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base” (Zechariah 17:11 NLT).
The land of Shinar was where Babylon was located. This imagery of the stork-like beings taking the sin-filled basket to Babylon was meant to remind Zechariah that God had punished the people of Judah for their sins by sending them into exile in Babylon. But they had returned. Their sins had been forgiven and God was giving them a second chance. But there is another sense in which this vision points to the future. Zechariah is being told that the rise of wickedness will ultimately culminate in the land of Shinar. In the end times, during the Great Tribulation, wickedness will grow rampant on the earth, and, under the reign of the Antichrist, the people of God will suffer great persecution.
In Zechariah’s day, wickedness would continue to be an ever-present problem. But God would not pour out His wrath as He did before. He would remove the penalty for wickedness, delaying its execution for a later date. Once again, John was given insight into these last-day events. God has a plan to deal with “wickedness” once and for all.
“Babylon is fallen—that great city is fallen!
She has become a home for demons.
She is a hideout for every foul spirit,
a hideout for every foul vulture
and every foul and dreadful animal.
For all the nations have fallen
because of the wine of her passionate immorality.
The kings of the world
have committed adultery with her.
Because of her desires for extravagant luxury,
the merchants of the world have grown rich.” – Revelation 18:2-3 NLT
And the kings of the world who committed adultery with her and enjoyed her great luxury will mourn for her as they see the smoke rising from her charred remains. They will stand at a distance, terrified by her great torment. They will cry out,
“How terrible, how terrible for you,
O Babylon, you great city!
In a single moment
God’s judgment came on you.” – Revelation 18:9-10 NLT
Zechariah was given a vision of God’s grand plan for the sins of the world. He had no idea what it all meant but he could have confidence that God knew what He was doing. The future was secure. All Zechariah needed to do was convey God’s message to the people and ensure they kept their commitment to rebuilding the Temple. God would take care of the rest.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Permanent Text Edition® (2016). Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
New Living Translation (NLT)
Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.