Zechariah 5-6

Zechariah’s prophetic visions continue in these perakim. The two visions in perek 5 are similar in style and content, and they describe items which are in the air and going from place to place. In the first vision (1-4), Zechariah sees a “flying scroll”, which God sends out across the land. The second vision (5-11) is more complicated and enigmatic. It is comprised of three stages. It describes an ephah (a type of measure) with a woman inside it symbolizing evil, which is carried through the air to the Land of Shinar, another name for Babylonia. The two visions symbolize the eradication of evil in the new state, and the distancing of evil from Jerusalem and Israel. The visions of Yechezkel which described the destruction of the Temple and the exile are the background to these visions. Here, too, we can use allusions and parallel texts in Tanakh to understand the symbolic meaning of these enigmatic visions.

The first part of perek 6 (1-8) describes the last vision which Zechariah saw- the vision of the chariots. This vision parallels the first vision which he saw, the vision of the horses which symbolize God’s messengers on Earth. The second part (9-15) also includes a symbolic act, but here Zechariah himself is commanded to do it- to make crowns which symbolize the joint rule of Yehoshua, the high priest, and Zerubavel, the political leader- the tzemach, the scion of the House of David.