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Selected Verse: Zechariah 5:7 - King James
Verse |
Translation |
Text |
Zec 5:7 |
King James |
And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. |
Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse
A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882] |
lifted up--The cover is lifted off the ephah to let the prophet see the female personification of "wickedness" within, about to be removed from Judea. The cover being "of lead," implies that the "woman" cannot escape from the ponderous load which presses her down.
talent--literally, "a round piece": hence a talent, a weight of one hundred twenty-five pounds troy.
woman--for comparison of "wickedness" to a woman, Pro 2:16; Pro 5:3-4. In personifying abstract terms, the feminine is used, as the idea of giving birth to life is associated with woman. |
Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834] |
And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead - the heaviest Hebrew weight, elsewhere of gold or silver; the golden talent weighing, 1,300,000 grains; the silver, 660,000; here, being lead, it is obviously an undefined mass, though circular , corresponding to the Ephah. The Ephah too was the largest Hebrew measure, whose compass cannot now, with certainty, be ascertained . Both probably were, in the vision, ideal. Theodoret: "Holy Scripture calleth the punishment of sin, lead, as being by nature heavy. This the divine David teacheth us, "mine iniquities are gone over my head: as an heavy burden, they are too heavy for me" Psa 38:4. The divine Zechariah seeth sin under the image of a woman; for most evils are engendered by luxury. But he seeth the punishment, like most heavy lead, lying upon the mouth of iniquity, according to a Psalm, "all iniquity shall stop her mouth" Psa 107:42. Ambr. in Ps. 35. n. 9. Opp. i. 769: "Iniquity, as with a talent of lead, weighs down the conscience."
This is a woman - Literally, "one woman," all sin being concentrated and personified in one, as he goes on to speak of her as the, personified, wickedness. The sitting may represent her abiding tranquil condition in her sins, according to the climax in Psa 1:1-6, "and hath not sat in the seat of the scornful" Psa 1:1; and, "thou sittest and speakest against thy brother" Psa 50:20; (Lap.), "not standing as by the way, but sitting, as if of set purpose, of custom and habit." "Whoso hath peace in sins is not far from lying down in them, so that, oppressed by a spirit of slumber, he neither sees light, nor feels any blow, but is kept down by the leaden talent of his obduracy." |
Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65] |
And behold - Here is another part of this vision. Lifted up - Brought thither to cover it. A talent - A piece of lead of a talent weight, as large as the mouth of the ephah. A woman - A woman, the third in the vision. Perhaps this vision was purposely obscure, least a plain denunciation of the second overthrow of the state and temple, might discourage them from going forward in the present restoration of them. |
3 For the lips of a strange woman drop as an honeycomb, and her mouth is smoother than oil:
4 But her end is bitter as wormwood, sharp as a twoedged sword.
16 To deliver thee from the strange woman, even from the stranger which flattereth with her words;
20 Thou sittest and speakest against thy brother; thou slanderest thine own mother's son.
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
1 Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.
3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.
4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away.
5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous.
6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.
42 The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth.
4 For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.