Zechariah 5:5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said to me, Lift up now your eyes, and see what is this that goes forth.
Zechariah is instructed to look up in the sky.
Zechariah 5:6 I asked, "What is it?" He replied, "It is a measuring basket." And he added, "This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land."
The measuring basket - was an ephah, its size was about .65 bushel, 20.8 quarts (22 liters) It was used to measure grain. Here it is measuring the sins of the people. The people of Israel are pictured as grain. In this passage grain symbolizes materialism.
Zechariah 5:7 Here is a lead disc lifted up, and this is a woman sitting inside the basket";
Lead symbolizes G-d’s restraining power over sin.
There is a woman sitting inside the basket. Anytime a woman is pictured out of place in the scripture, there is an evil connotation. (See Matt 13:33; Rev 2:20; Rev 17)
Zechariah 5:8 Then he said, "This is Wickedness!" And he thrust her down into the basket, and threw the lead cover over its mouth.
Sin is not dormant because a lid is required to restrain it.
She is about to be destroyed. She seems to represent the political system, which is described in Revelation chapter 18.
See our notes on Revelation 18.
Zechariah 5:9 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.
The stork is an unclean bird.
Leviticus 11:19 And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
Because of this we know these women are also wicked. They protect the woman in the basket. They are agents of evil and may represent demons.
Zechariah 5:10-11 "Where are they taking the basket?" I asked the angel who was speaking to me. Then he said to me, "To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal."
The Land of Shinar - is referred to in Genesis 11. It is were the Tower of Babel was built. The tower of Babel was a symbol of opposition against G-d.
It is also referred to in Daniel Chapter 1 when Nebuchadnezzar took the vessels from G-d’s temple to the temple of his god. In other words the “Land of Shinar” was also known as Babylon and is now in modern day Iraq.
The basket with the woman is transported to this region possibly to a temple of a false god to be set on a pedestal.
The Babylonians influenced the Israelites. The sin of materialism will continue to influence them until the Messiah removes it.