« And I saw that the round lid of lead was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting inside the container. 8 So he said: “This is Wickedness.” Then he threw her back into the ephah container, after which he thrust the lead weight over its mouth »
(Zechariah 5:7,8)
The ephah is a unit of measurement for quantifying flour or cereals. Obviously, in the enigma, the woman is inside the container made to measure the quantity of flour, with a lead cover on her, in order to be sent directly to Shinar, in Babylon. And it seems, so that she does not come back, they build a house for her, so that she stays there:
“Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and said to me: “Look up, please, and see what is going out.”
6 So I asked: “What is it?”
He replied: “This is the eʹphah container that is going out.” He continued: “This is their appearance in all the earth.” 7 And I saw that the round lid of lead was lifted up, and there was a woman sitting inside the container. 8 So he said: “This is Wickedness.” Then he threw her back into the eʹphah container, after which he thrust the lead weight over its mouth.
9 Then I looked up and saw two women coming forward, and they were soaring in the wind. They had wings like the wings of a stork. And they lifted up the container between the earth and heaven. 10 So I asked the angel who was speaking with me: “Where are they taking the eʹphah container?”
11 He replied: “To the land of Shiʹnar to build her a house; and when it is prepared, she will be deposited there in her proper place”” (Zechariah 5:5-11).
Moreover, this woman is called « wickedness », why?
The symbol of the woman could be explained by the kind of worship, namely to a female deity. This woman could represent this deity, the « Queen of Heaven ». In fact, the Israelites who had fallen into apostasy, made bread for this « Queen of Heaven »: « The sons are gathering wood, the fathers are lighting the fire, and the wives are kneading dough in order to make sacrificial cakes to the Queen of Heaven, and they are pouring out drink offerings to other gods to offend me » (Jeremiah 7:18).
By the time of Israel’s biblical history, before the Babylonian exile, the nation had fallen into apostasy. The woman and the ephah, is the illustration of this situation in making sacrificial cakes for the « Queen of Heaven ». The fact that a lead cover was put on the ephah and the woman was sent to Shinar (the place where Babylon was, the origin of the false worship (Genesis 11)), shows that henceforth, God would no longer tolerate impregnation of true worship, through false Babylonian worship, He would send it to Shinar, to stay there (Zechariah 5:9-11).
The « two women with stork wings », who bring « the woman and the ephah », seem to illustrate this principle written in Revelation 22:11: « He that is doing unrighteousness, let him do unrighteousness still; and let the filthy one be made filthy still; but let the righteous one do righteousness still, and let the holy one be made holy still ». The image could be sarcastic towards this deity, of which female angels in her service, with wings of a stork, an unclean animal, would bring her to where she must be, in Babylon, by building her a house, or a temple to stay there forever (Leviticus 11:19,20).
The current Christian teachers must remove from their teaching, those with Babylonian and Greco-Roman origin, which are the trinity, the immortality of the soul, fiery hell, purgatory, the worship of saints, the worship of the cross and rid Christian congregations of all pagan representations… According to Zechariah’s prophecy, not doing this will be considered an act of « wickedness » (Zechariah 5:8; 10:1-3; 13:1-3): « Therefore, if someone knows how to do what is right and yet does not do it, it is a sin for him » (James 4:17).
Reading Zechariah chapter 4, depicting the high priest Yeshua with dirty clothes, with Satan the devil at his right hand to oppose him, shows that the devil plays a decisive role in the progressive corruption and spiritual deviance that infiltrates Christian congregations:
“And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan was standing at his right hand to resist him. 2 Then the angel of Jehovah said to Satan: “May Jehovah rebuke you, O Satan, yes, may Jehovah, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this one a burning log snatched out of the fire?”” (Zechariah 3:1,2).
The angel’s declaration against Satan shows that we, as disciples of Christ, must denounce the devil’s schemes that corrupt the Christian congregation. The apostle Paul, like the angel of God, also denounced the devil’s subtle maneuvers to corrupt the Christian congregation through unscrupulous men: « For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps disguising himself as an angel of light. It is therefore nothing extraordinary if his ministers also keep disguising themselves as ministers of righteousness. But their end will be according to their works » (2 Corinthians 11:13-15).
The rest of the story shows that clean garments were given to Joshua the high priest and that his sin has been forgiven:
“Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 The angel said to those standing before him, “Remove his filthy garments.” Then he said to him, “See, I have caused your error to pass away from you, and you will be clothed with fine garments”” (Zechariah 3:3,4).
Likewise, spiritually speaking, as disciples of Christ, we must remove the filthy spiritual garments—the Babylonian practices mixed with biblical Christianity—and put on fine spiritual garments using the pure water of God’s word. In this way, God will forgive our past sins through Jesus Christ:
« Husbands, continue loving your wives, just as the Christ also loved the congregation and gave himself up for it, in order that he might sanctify it, cleansing it with the bath of water by means of the word, so that he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, without a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but holy and without blemish » (Ephesians 5:25-27).
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