Zechariah presents two visions of God cleansing the land. If the people turn in their hearts to His holiness, He responds by granting even more holiness.
First comes a massive scroll floating in air. The wording refers to the common image of a judgment handed down from Heaven’s throne. Not merely the Land of Judah, but the whole earth is covered by the curses of God’s Law Covenants. The Angel notes the two representative sins selected from the middle of the two tables of the Decalogue. Theft is a sin against your fellow man and deception a sin against God. If the people of Judah will cling to the Covenant, their holy influence could change the whole world. God’s curse against sin could destroy everyone on earth who clings to evil, but the faithfulness of His people releases judgment against all sin.
In the next vision, the Angel of the Lord calls attention to something departing. He first points out the thing itself, a basket roughly the size of our modern bushel. Normally it would by holding grain, a standard symbol of commerce. The Angel notes this symbolizes the most important thing in the minds of most people: material wealth. There is a lid of lead on the basket weighing a talent (30kg) necessary to keep the contents inside: a tiny female figure. She tried to get out as soon as the lid was lifted, but the Angel pushed her back down and closed the lid. He referred to her as the symbol of wickedness.
Then we see this basket is born aloft by two women with large wings from a stork, a maternal bird. They were doing the right thing, observing their proper role. They were bearing this basket away to Babylon, where a temple would be built for the little goddess inside, and she was sure to like it. In symbolic logic, there is no place for female deities except on the side of Darkness. Women are forbidden to rule over men. All goddesses are evil; women cannot handle power without harm. In this case, we have a goddess of commerce, the symbol of Babylon’s ancient fascination with material wealth through commerce. That’s where she belongs.
It’s not hard to see where John got some of the symbols for his Apocalypse. God supplies all our needs; seeking the things themselves is inherently evil. This is the fundamental claim in the Law of Moses: Seek God and He will provide all needs. Seek your needs and you’ll forget God, ending up accursed.
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