v.5-11 I am very interested in the vision where Zechariah sees a basket and a woman sitting inside the basket. The woman is pronounced wicked and a lead cover placed over her, and two women with wings carried her to the area between heaven and earth, and then to Shinar.
Does anyone have any ideas about this? I am pretty sure the woman is the early church (maybe I mean a few of the early believers), but a part that apostasied to Babylonish behavior (Shinar), but who are the ones who carry her? Why is the basket she is in covered in lead?
TIA

From Adam Clarke's Commentary on Zechariah 5:6 quoted below:

This is an ephah that goeth forth - This, among the Jews, was the ordinary measure of grain. The woman in the ephah is supposed to represent Judea, which shall be visited for its sins; the talent of lead on the ephah, within which the woman was enclosed, the wrath of God, bending down this culprit nation, in the measure of its sins; for the angel said, “This is wickedness;” that is, the woman represents the mass of iniquity of this nation.

Do you think the woman could also be a type of the early church that fell away and apostate churches set up? And any idea why the two who took her away were described as women with wings?

Referring once again to Adam Clarke's Bible Commentary on Zechariah 5:9 I quote the following:

There came out two women - As the one woman represented the impiety of the Jewish nation; so these two women who were to carry the ephah, in which the woman Iniquity was shut up, under the weight of a talent of lead, may mean the desperate Unbelief of the Jews in rejecting the Messiah; and that Impiety, or universal corruption of manners, which was the consequence of their unbelief, and brought down the wrath of God upon them. The strong wings, like those of a stork, may point out the power and swiftness with which Judea was carried on to fill up the measure of her iniquity, and to meet the punishment which she deserved.

The book of Zechariah was written towards the end of the Babylonian captivity. The prophet was concerned about the indifference of the captives in returning home to Jerusalem and rebuilding the Temple. In fact, the entire book is consumed by it. "'Up, up! Flee from the land of the north,' says the Lord; 'for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven,' says the Lord. 'Up, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.'" Zech. 2:6-7

The visions of chapter 5 served as a warning to those who had fallen in love with their kidnappers, fallen captive to the comforts of Babylon:

• The flying scroll, the word of the LORD, which they purported to love was testifying against them in their houses, their very hearts. And the curse of God remained over their heads in that foreign land.
   
• The House of Shinar (Babylon) was the house of Wickedness, kept in store for retribution later. Why would anyone want to be associated with such when the day of judgement came for that House? LEAVE BABYLON!!! To build a Temple in that city is wrong, wrong, wrong!
   
• (The imagery of women was used because of the ephah, the measuring cup, to indicate the "cup of iniquity" that was going to grow heavy. Women were the ones who were associated with such domestic exercise. The wings in both instances symbolized rapidity and of Divine origin as in "sent by God Himself".)

It's interesting that the Jews clung to that ancient city, and where is it now? It is a lesson for us that this world is WICKEDNESS and will be consumed one day. Why dig deep to establish roots here? We have a city, the New Jerusalem, which God is preparing for us. Let us leave in our hearts and return to Him. It may not look like much now, but in that day, it will be more glorious than anything anyone had ever imagined.

"Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." -- Jesus Christ, Mat. 6:19-21

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I'm not sure what all the two women who carry the basket symbolize but in my view this is an end-time prophetic vision that runs from 1:7 to 6:8. So to understand the symbols I'd look at the vision as a whole and treat it like Daniel and Revelation where sometimes the visions repeat and expand and sometimes they are chronological. But I would especially rely on Revelation's descriptions of Babylon the Great to understand the impure woman in Zechariah.

The woman in the basket is confined and restricted by God. She can't come to power until God allows it. He allows the other two women to set her upon her power base in spiritual Babylon. These women have the winds of change in their wings. We may not understand what political/religious or other forces are responsible for establishing Babylon the Great so that she rides the beast until it happens.

Consider this comment:

Theophilus, I came across this allusion to the two women with wings like a stork in Don McLean's American Pie, #1 hit from 1972. All of it is amazingly prophetic of the rise of the anti-Christ which he refers to as "the day the music died". I've bolded the part that alludes to the two women. McLean applies it to a nuclear event that catapults the anti-Christ to power. Pop culture authors have interpreted his lyrics as applying to the past and that was likely one of his meanings but McLean himself, now in his seventies has never said what the lyrics mean.


If that's what he means, McLean could be right. Imagine the reaction of the world if a terrorist organization or nation detonates a nuclear bomb in a populated area in Europe or North America. Even now, the youth, high school teens and adolescents, in Europe are skipping classes to hold public rallies and protests to save the planet. What kind of zeal will they have if they're confronted with this? Youth, environmentalists, globalists, financiers and religious leaders will bond together to meet the emergency to save humanity and the planet.

But I tend to think McLean has it only partly right. I think it will be a startling series of events/disasters, human and superhuman, natural and supernatural, that cause global panic and a global man-made solution to save the planet. Notice the italicized statement in the quote below:


The world's reaction to this revelation that God is master of the situation is panic and rebellion. It brings about the birthing of Babylon the Great, carried by storks in a blanket (actually a well sealed basket) to it's new home, its base, the beast and its image and once again a woman rides the beast.

One element that will be a major factor in setting Babylon down on its base is the Environmental Movement. In the last month or two youth around the world have mobilized to force climate concerns to the front of the nation's legislative priorities. I'd encourage Maritime and family to keep an eye on this movement. It will, in my view, be the catalyst driving the creation of the image of the beast. Here's a list of what US youth are demanding according to the Youth Climate Strike website. The demands are similar globally:

- a national embrace of the Green New Deal
- an end to fossil fuel infrastructure projects
- a national emergency declaration on climate change
- mandatory education on climate change and its effects from K-8
- a clean water supply
- preservation of public lands and wildlife
- all government decisions to be tied to scientific research

The movement is in essence a misguided religion of planetary salvation. In 1986 I had the following dream of a high school youth movement. At no time between 1986 and now have I seen anything that appeared to precisely fulfill it. But what we're seeing today in my view is an ominously good fit. See what you all think.

I was in an attractive middle-class American neighborhood. It was a sunny, summery, late afternoon and I noticed that an unusually large number of people were outside on their lawns and in the street. Besides white people, there were a large number of blacks and Jews. The majority of those outside their homes were walking in the same direction. I was curious where everyone was going, and joined those around me. We soon reached our destination - the local high school where a good number of people had already gathered on the front lawn of the school. As we approached the school I saw a large, newly sculpted statue that the people had gathered around. It was clear that this statue, which was still under construction but nearing completion (its base required some finishing touches) was the reason for the gathering. The statue was the all-absorbing topic of discussion. Some were in favor of having it completed and some were opposed.

The statue itself was large and impressive - perhaps forty feet in height. It was of a large, handsome, muscular male. He stood upright like a Caesar with a self-assured bearing, his right hand raised as though addressing a crowd. A spiked crown was on his head, like the crown on the Statue of Liberty, but no torch was in his raised right hand. With my eyes I followed his form down towards his feet and I was surprised to see that this large image was being carried securely on the shoulders of another statue, also a man, but about one third the size of the first. This second man was dressed in the full armor of an ancient Roman legionnaire (foot soldier). The face of this soldier was what impressed me most. It had an intelligent, purposeful and determined look. I was given the impression that the material it was carved from - very hard stone - was an expression of its determined character or will.

I came closer to the base of the statue and noticed that it bore many inscriptions, none of which I understood, but which contained symbols of the occult. After looking at these, I found myself rising from the ground, being lifted up to the top of the statue, level with its head. The head mysteriously began to open above the left ear as though the top of the skull were hinged just above the right ear. I looked inside. But, even when open and exposed directly to the afternoon sunlight the inside of the skull remained ominously dark. The only distinguishable object inside the skull was what looked like a spider's web made of strong strands of steel spanning the inside. The skull seemed full of evil and in my dream I shuddered in horror.

The top of the skull closed then just as it had opened and I was lowered to the ground and placed near the front of the image. Something on my left then attracted my attention. I turned and saw a set of bleachers to the left of the statue and that a woman's choir dressed in their robes had gathered on them and was starting to sing. The choir was made up of women of different races, and as they sang, they made signs with their hands that reinforced the lyrics of their song. They sang with gusto and in beautiful harmony as though pleading a case against the completion of the statue. As the song built to a climax they held out their hands in the direction of the statue as though presenting the final plea and warning to the audience of the results of finishing it.

But after the climax, the song came to an abrupt end and the choir members hurriedly began to remove their robes and disperse in the direction of the school. I was now standing on the lawn between the main school doors and the choir bleachers. As the members of the choir approached where I stood on their way into the school, I asked some of them sympathetically about what they had sung. Most hurried quickly by into the school avoiding my question. Several acted embarrassed and irritated. Some were scornful towards the very ideas they had just sung about and awkwardly stated that they had never actually believed what they were advocating. Then I awoke. After awakening I was able to recall all the particulars of the dream, but the feeling of horror I experienced when looking inside the scull remained with me quite a while after waking.

PS: I send this message to Dennis Prager this morning, just now: