B³. Vision Seven: The Woman in the Measuring Basket (5:5-11)

The previous vision dealt with the punishment of the criminal, but the principle of evil persisted. Jeremiah spoke in terms of a new heart (Jer 32:39-40), and Ezekiel thought of washing away uncleanness (Eze 36:25). Zechariah had already represented sin as filthy clothes to be removed and replaced by rich garments (3:4). In this vision, wickedness (riš'â, the counterpart to righteousness) was personified as a woman and entrapped in a measuring basket. Two other women (angel-like creatures) then appeared and bore the basket containing Wickedness to far-off Babylonia where she would be housed permanently. Babylonia is the counterpart to the Holy Land and represents antagonism to God’s purposes (Ge 11:1-9; Rev 18).

But the problem of sin is insufficiently solved by the punishment of crime and the expulsion of the criminal (5:1-4). The deeper problem of the human disposition to civil, ethical, and religious evil must be banished from the people of God (5:5-11). The sixth vision deals with the consequences of sin, and this vision with its prevention.