I have found the many visions written in the book of Zechariah are really interesting and they tell us so much about God and His salvation.
I have chosen the vision in Zechariah 5: 5-11, notably called “the woman in the basket”. At first glance you will obviously see the themes of wickedness, judgment and the Temple restoration. (go to the end of this blog for the verses).
Lets start at the opening scene of this vision, it starts with a basket flying in the air. The basket is actually a measuring device and we find the basket has a woman in it who is trying to get out. But we read an angel is forcing the lid down onto the woman to contain her.
Following that we also see two woman with wings like storks that carry the basket away to another place called Shinar (Babylon) where it would be set on its base. Interestingly, Shinar was also the site of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:2).
The vision is in essence describing the expelling of wickedness from those people who were engaged in the building of God’s Temple. The woman in the basket represents wickedness and we see she is trying to get out of the basket but the Angel of the Lord forces down the heavy lid on wickedness. The two angels that have wings like storks are holding the basket and flying back to Babylon – back to the centre of wickedness.
Interestingly there is a woman called “Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth” (Revelation 17:5). Maybe this is a reference to the future, however, it was also a reference to the dispelling of wickedness in and around the New Temple.
So what does this vision tell us about God and His salvation for us?
Remember the context of this verse is the building of the Temple where God wants to dwell with His people. I believe this is the metaphor that is explained in the 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 that states “Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?”
Wickedness and God cannot dwell in the same place, as they are like Darkness and Light. Darkness cannot exist in the presence of Light. So we see God’s angels taking wickedness (sin) back to where it should be and that is represented by Babylon.
Knowing the context provides significance to the opening verses that say “Lift your eyes now”. It reminds me of two statements in the Bible. The first is Numbers “21:8-9 that states “Then the LORD said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a standard; and it shall come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, he will live.” and the second statement is when Jesus was talking to Nicodemus – John 3:14 “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,”
In Moses time, when someone was bitten by a poisonous snake they would go to the place where Moses had erected the pole which had a carved bronze snake upon it. If the people went there and lifted up their eyes towards it, they were healed.
This was a sign for the future, when Jesus was going to be lifted up on the cross for us, so that could be healed from the results of wickedness or sin.
When we lift our eyes to the cross and submit ourselves to God we are healed just like God’s chosen people were healed from a snake bite. It is clear there is nothing that we can to except lift up our eyes and be purified by Jesus.
You see the snake on the pole foretold Jesus death on the cross and because of His death and resurrection we can be healed.
When we submit to God, He will clean out our temple. God will clean out the wickedness in our temple and send it in a basket back to Babylon (the place of false worship, humanity without God and unadulterated wickedness) where it belongs.
This vision tells us that God loves us so much that He wants to dwell in us. He seeks us to “lift up our eyes” to the one sacrifice that can heal us. That is Jesus death on the cross. When He dwells in us (our temple) wickedness cannot coexist. You will be healed and cleansed by the filling of His righteousness.
Zechariah 5:5-11
Then the angel who talked with me came out and said to me, “Lift your eyes now, and see what this is that goes forth.”6 So I asked, “What is it?” And he said, “It is a basket[a] that is going forth.”He also said, “This is their resemblance throughout the earth: 7 Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket”; 8 then he said, “This isWickedness!” And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover[b]over its mouth. 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;[c] when it is ready, the basket will be set there on its base.”
My Biblical Thoughts 