“Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, gliding on the wind. They had wings like a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew into the sky.” Zechariah 5:9 NLT
Whoa! Do you ever read God’s Word and wonder, whoa, wow, what did I just read? And, what does this mean? When I read this and think, ‘two women’ flying around in the sky, gliding on the wind, they have wings like a stork and then they even did something, they picked up a basket and flew back in the sky!
OK, help?
thedailylily.com 
Ok, Sara, I have footnotes for verses 1-11, read with me: “The judgement of the flying scroll was leveled against those who violated God’s law, specifically by stealing and lying (5: 1-4). The woman in a basket personified wickedness, and so this vision showed that wickedness would be not only severely punished (the vision of the flying scroll) but also banished (the vision of the woman in a basket, 5: 6-9). The woman in a basket was carried away ‘to the land of Babylonia,’ which had become a symbol for the center of world idolatry and wickedness. This woman was a picture to Zechariah that wickedness and sin would be taken away from Israel and one day sin would be removed from the entire earth. When Christ died, he removed sin’s power and penalty. When we trust Christ to forgive us, he removes the penalty of sin and gives us the power to overcome sin in our life. When Christ returns, he will remove all sin from the earth, allowing people to live in eternal safety and security.”
Needles did it say anything in your bible about the two winged women?
My Bible concordance says storks are large, long-legged migratiory birds and cites three scripture references. Says they are nesting (Psalm 104:17); migratory (Jeremiah 8:7); and unclean birds (Lev 11:19).
Looking them up, other info on them says their wing spans are approx 10.5 feet and mythology says they are associated w/ bringing babies to new parents.
Rena,
I only see mention of the “two winged women”, in the verse. Debi has done some interesting research on storks. Do you have any understanding about these winged women? I think Sara got it right….”do you ever read God’s Word…and wonder, what did I just read?”
I am still wondering,
SOME THEORIES; The two winged-women may have been angels, but maybe not God’s angels. They might have been agents of the prince of the power of the air, carrying the sinful contents of the barley-measured basket, (signified by a crouching woman inside the basket, maybe Israel) to a fitting place of idolatry and evil.
Another scenario; The winged women were God’s messengers sent to carry away a sinful church (signified by the crouching woman). And their wings were LIKE stork’s wings because of their huge wing span needed to carry the burden of sinfulness away to its proper place.
In the Gospels, Jesus Christ has taken the burden of sinful people, nations and continents and carried our sins away so that we, of the Church, do not have to live a life of idolatrous sinfulness as Needles notes tell us.
In researching the women and stork I found the following FROM JOHN GILL’S EXPOSITION OF THE BIBLE which is interesting but still not clear of the two women: The Targum explains these “two women” by two provinces; and Kimchi interprets them of the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin, who had been carried captive into Babylon; and others of the two kings, Jehoiakim and Zedekiah, who were the cause of the captivity; but Jarchi understands by them the Babylonians and Chaldeans, two nations as one, joined in Nebuchadnezzar’s armies, which carried them captive: others think the two reformers, Ezra and Nehemiah, are meant, who were instruments of purging the Jews, returned from captivity, though but weak ones, and therefore are compared to “women”; yet what they did they did swiftly, and therefore are said to have “wings”, and under the influence of the Spirit of God; hence the “wind”, or “spirit” F6, is said to be in their wings; and they acted from a tender regard to the glory of God and the good of their country; and therefore their wings were like the “wings of a stork”; a bird of passage, as appears from ( Jeremiah 8:7 ) and so a fit emblem to be used in the transportation of the “ephah”; of whom Pliny F7 says, from whence they come, and whither they betake themselves, is yet unknown; and adds, there is no doubt that they come from afar; as it is plain they must, if that relation be true, which seems to have good authority, that one of these creatures, upon its return to Germany, brought a green root of ginger with it; which must come from the eastern part of the world; from Arabia, or Ethiopia, or the East Indies, where it grows F8: and as it is a bird that takes such long flights, it must have wings fitted for such a purpose; and which are taken notice of in ( Job 39:13 ) to which the wings and feather of the ostrich are compared; for so Bochart F9 there renders the word, “the wing of the ostriches rejoices, truly the wing” as of “a stork, and the feather”; or, as others, “who gave wings to the stork and ostrich?” both remarkable for their wings: and Vatablus renders the word here an “ostrich”; which, according to Pliny F11, is the largest of birds, and almost as big as a beast. In Ethiopia and Africa they are taller than a horse and his rider, and exceed the horse in swiftness; and their wings seem to be given them to help them in running; but which are not sufficient to lift them much above the earth, and so can not be meant here; but rather the stork, whose wings are black and white; and when they fly, they stretch out their necks forwards, and their feet backwards, and with these direct their course; when a tempest rises, standing on both feet, they spread their wings, lay their bill upon their breast, and turn their face that way the storm comes “
“…gliding on the wind..”
My Bible refernce says wind can be figurative of different things; from empty speech and boasting and vanity to Gods’ discipline, judgement, dispersion, ruin, false teaching or the Holy Spirit.
Rena, most interesting expository by John Gill on this passage of scripture. It sure makes you stop and think about……
An online quote from http://www.christineboudreau.ca/newbold/read.html
The Harlot Church System – Charles Elliott Newbold, Jr…Newbold tells what he thinks the two woman represent:
The passage in Zechariah 5:5-11 concerning the “woman in the basket” is a picture of this unholy trinity.
An angel showed Zechariah a basket (ephah which is a dry measure vessel), and Zechariah observed that the appearance of the basket went forth throughout the whole earth.
The basket is like the church system which indeed has gone forth throughout the whole earth.
The angel lifted a lid of lead off of the basket, allowing Zechariah to see a woman in it. The angel identified the woman as “Wickedness.”
This Wickedness is like the matriarchal spirit that seeks to rule the churches. She is the personification of wickedness, the carnal mind, the abomination that makes the holy place (us) desolate, standing where it ought not. Mark 13:14.
The angel cast a lid of lead upon the mouth of the basket to hide her away. (Lead is heavy and is like the heaviness that is felt whenever the matriarchal spirit is present.) The angel thereby shut her up for a period of time.
The matriarchal spirit in the churches has been hidden until now, but will soon be revealed when she seats herself upon the throne in her own house.
Then Zechariah saw two women coming with the wind in their wings. Their wings were like those of a stork.
The two women are like the Jezebel and witchcraft spirits that work in concert with the matriarchal spirit.
These two women lifted up the basket with the woman, Wickedness, in it and took it to Shinar which is Babylon.
Shinar is like the Babylonian captivity of the church; namely, the harlot church system.
The two women took the basket to Shinar to build a house for Wickedness. It will be her own house, and it will be established. Once it is established, she will be put on her own pedestal (base, resting place, foundation). She will be the head of it.
The Jezebel and witchcraft spirits took this woman to Shinar, the place of the harlot church system, to build a house for her. Her house is a counterfeit to the temple of the Holy Spirit–all true believers–over which Christ is the head. When this house was prepared, Wickedness, the matriarchal spirit, would be set on her pedestal, apparently to receive all things to herself that she might be all in all. This counterfeits the destiny of Jesus who, when all things have been subjected to Him, shall also be subjected to God that God may be all in all. 1 Cor. 15:28.
One thing that stands out to me is that among other things, ‘She(matriarchal spirit that seeks to rule the churches) is …the carnal mind.’
Romans 8:5-8 says: “For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”
The seriousness of this scripture confirms that we can’t afford to have or tolerate a carnal mind…it produces nothing of value to God or others…only death…and according to what we read above, invites the wicked matriarchal spirit. Only having the spiritual mind of Christ will produce life and peace.
Paul further defines carnality in the church and warns us: “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men? For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not carnal?”
A carnal mind is very serious danger when we face it for what it is.
I Cor 3:1-3 NKJ
“In the Book of Daniel it says (1:2) that after the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Temple treasures were removed and brought to Shinar. The land of Shinar, which comprises ancient Mesopotamia, may somehow be related etymologically to the indigenous term “summer” in Sumerian near the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers.
it seems somewhat parallel that when the Lord’s temple was destroyed its treasures were brought to SHINAR. And when the false church is invaded and corrupted by evil and wickedness it is brought to its place in Shinar. And of course Shinar was where the tower of Babel was being built.
In reading Debi’s comments she writes of the carnal church and the dilemma the Body of Christ is facing concerning the carnal church. I recalled this Scripture from Jeremiah 48:11 which might describe what has happened to the “unpersecuted” church. In the Word of God we read of God’s work in time, a work of grace for His children. One of the most beautiful figures in God’s Word is found in Jeremiah 48:11. I found this in researching this Scripture. “We read there, ‘Moab hath been at ease from his youth, and he hath settled on his lees, and hath not been emptied from vessel to vessel, neither hath he gone into captivity: therefore his taste remained in him, and his scent is not changed.” Jeremiah, in the last chapters of his prophecy, foretells the judgment which is awaiting heathen nations. In chapter 48 he is talking about Moab. Moab was of the same bloodline as Israel. They were the descendants of Lot, Abraham’s nephew. But there was spiritual enmity between Moab and Israel. Moab had never ceased to plot against God’s people. Moab was, mostly, prosperous, fortified, wealthy. They had filled their coffers with the things of this earth. Our text says that Moab has been at ease from her youth. From her very childhood as a nation she had been left alone in prosperity. And she had trusted more and more in her strength and resources.
Then, using the figure of wine-making, God tells us that Moab had not been emptied from vessel to vessel but had been allowed to settle upon the lees or the dregs, and, therefore, they had become bitter in taste and sour in smelling. Left in their prosperity for the most part, given ease, they are now rocked in carnality. But it is implied that for God’s people the very opposite has been the case. God has not been dealing with them so, He has not left His people at ease, He has not allowed them to settle down upon the lees or the dregs of their own indifference. But He has been busy with them, emptying them from vessel to vessel. He has sent them into captivity. And their scent and their taste have changed. God there compares Himself to a master wine-maker, a master husbandman. God has been at work with His people. And out of love and mercy He has been refining them, purifying them, in order that they might come forth sweet-smelling and pleasant to His own taste. God has a purpose with time. God’s purpose is that especially through adversities and trials and through aging He will sift His people, He will mold and prepare His people in order that, at last, they might fill His courts with a holy scent and be pleasing to His taste.
I believe that is what God is doing, now. He is sifting and exposing, correcting and admonishing His people to prepare for the next move. If we allow ourselves to ‘settle” there is little hope for us.