9 Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women, coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. 10 So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?” 11 And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar; when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”
Verses 9-11 introduce a new vision with two women flying with a basket.
5:9
Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there were two women,
Zechariah raised his eyes again to see two women flying like a stork. This image is symbolic of future apostate religion. The ephod needs to be removed.
coming with the wind in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork,
“Wind in their wings” may indicate the ease whereby they flew. The “stork” was unclean according to the law, representing evil.
and they [two stork-winged women] lifted up the basket between earth and heaven.
The “basket” here is a measuring basket. However, the basket in the vision had to be larger to carry a woman.
5:10
So I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they carrying the basket?”
The women represented apostate Israel carried in exile to Babylon.
5:11
And he said to me, “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar;
“Shinar” was Babylonia, a wicked and idolatrous nation. This nation was where Israel was in exile. Babylon was the place of universal rebellion against God, making man the center of the universe.
when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”
Idolatry will return to the place of its origin in Babylon. This “house” may set the final judgment on Babylon (Re 17-18). The removal of idolatry from the nation Israel will prepare the way for the Second Coming of Christ and the establishment of the Millennial kingdom (Re 19-20).
PRINCIPLE:
One day God will judge a future Babylon.
APPLICATION:
One day God will judge commercial and apostate Babylon (Re 18) before the Messiah sets up His kingdom. The crass commercialism that executes usury on its people of the future will experience a great shock when God judges the whole system.
Judgment on usury had a dual fulfillment because people of Zechariah’s day, who returned from Babylon, were exceedingly greedy. They took advantage of impoverished Jews in Israel by charging them heavy interest for loans (Neh 5:1-13). Although they had left the gods of Babylon, they made another god of usury after their return. This self-centered approach is still true among some Christian businessmen. None of this will happen under Christ’s rule in the Millennium. When Christ comes, He will destroy the Satanic system (Re 20:1-3). When the apostle John cried, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” he announced the fall of the future world dictator (Re 18:1-5).
