Zechariah 5:5-11

What does the woman in the basket represent?

Berean Standard Bible

5 Then the angel who was speaking with me came forward and told me, “Now lift up your eyes and see what is approaching.” 6 “What is it?” I asked. And he replied, “A measuring basket is going forth.” Then he continued, “This is their iniquity in all the land.” 7 And behold, the cover of lead was raised, and there was a woman sitting inside the basket. 8 “This is Wickedness,” he said. And he shoved her down into the basket, pushing down the lead cover over its opening. 9 Then I lifted up my eyes and saw two women approaching, with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. 10 “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking with me. 11 “To build a house for it in the land of Shinar,” he told me. “And when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its pedestal.”

What is the context?

The next vision presents a measuring basket with a lead cover and a woman inside. The angel explicitly identifies her as Wickedness and closes her in.

Two winged women then carry the basket toward Shinar, where a house and a place for it will be prepared. Wickedness is pictured as being removed and settled elsewhere.

The named woman represents Wickedness within this particular vision. The text does not declare that women as a class are evil; the carriers are also women.

The scene concerns the removal of evil from the restored community. It does not identify a modern ethnic population as permanently confined to unbelief.

How is this passage commonly understood?

Wesley interprets the basket as a picture of a full measure of wickedness and its removal. The vision’s own explanation of the central figure provides the clearest guide to her role; speculative identifications of later populations go beyond that explanation.

What is our position?

We don't have a position on this passage yet. When our study reaches a conclusion the text supports, it will appear here.

Where can I study this further?

No deeper study linked yet.

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