In Zechariah 5:7-8, the prophet Zechariah receives a vision of a basket with a lead cover being lifted, revealing a woman sitting inside the basket. This woman is described as “Wickedness” and the angel tells Zechariah that she represents the wickedness of the whole land. This has led many to wonder why wickedness is being personified as a woman in this passage.
There are a few potential reasons why wickedness may be portrayed as a woman here:
1. Feminine word for “wickedness” in Hebrew
The Hebrew word translated as “wickedness” in this passage is a feminine noun – “rish’ah.” Since the word is grammatically feminine, it would make sense for it to be personified as a woman.
We see throughout the Old Testament that abstract concepts and virtues are often personified as women based on the grammatical gender of the underlying Hebrew word. For example, wisdom is portrayed as a woman in Proverbs because the Hebrew word for wisdom, “chokmah,” is feminine.
2. Connection to immorality
Sometimes in the Bible, women are associated with sexual immorality and idolatry as metaphors for unfaithfulness to God. For instance, in the books of Ezekiel, Jeremiah, and Hosea, Israel and Judah are compared to unfaithful, adulterous wives because of their idolatry.
Since wickedness and sin are metaphorically likened to adultery in the Bible, portraying wickedness as an immoral, unfaithful woman in Zechariah’s vision would tie into those established metaphors.
3. Depicting the prevalence of wickedness
The woman “Wickedness” is said to represent the wickedness over the whole land. Using the symbol of a woman, as opposed to a man, emphasizes how widespread wickedness is in this passage. It is as if wickedness has given birth and multiplied across the whole nation.
The metaphor of the woman underscores how the people’s sins have multiplied and spread throughout the society like an adulterous woman giving birth to illegitimate children.
4. Contrast with righteous remnant
Earlier in Zechariah, in chapter 3, Joshua the high priest is depicted standing before the Angel of the LORD with filthy clothes. This represents Israel’s sin. But God promises that He will remove Joshua’s filthy clothes and replace them with pure vestments.
Joshua likely represents the small righteous remnant within Israel that hopes in the Lord. The contrast between the wicked woman and the newly cleansed Joshua highlights the difference between the wicked majority and the faithful remnant.
5. Connection to “mother of harlots” imagery
In Revelation 17, a vision is given of another wicked woman, referred to as “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth’s abominations” (Revelation 17:5). She is portrayed as a seductive prostitute who leads people into idolatry and wickedness.
The immoral woman in Zechariah 5 could foreshadow this later Biblical imagery of an adulterous woman embodying sin and deception.
6. Signifying foreign religious influence
When Israel was exiled to Babylon because of their sin, they were heavily influenced by Babylonian culture, gods, and practices. Even after some returned to Judah, those foreign influences remained.
The woman named “Wickedness” may represent how Israel incorporated Babylonian idolatry, mysticism, superstitions, and other practices that were deemed wicked in God’s eyes.
Portraying this as a pagan woman from a foreign land would symbolize how Israel adopted outside religious customs that corrupted their worship of Yahweh.
7. Depicting the consequences of sin
The woman “Wickedness” is forcibly returned to Babylonia in the vision as judgement. Being sealed in the basket and weighed down with lead emphasizes how her sins make it impossible for her to escape God’s wrath.
The woman epitomizes the consequences of unchecked sin – it leads to inescapable judgement and exile from God’s blessing and presence. Her punishment underscores the fate of those who brazenly rebel against the Lord without repentance.
8. Fulfillment of God’s righteous judgement
When Zechariah asks about the woman in the basket, the angel says, “This is Wickedness” (Zechariah 5:8). The fact that an actual evil, symbolic woman has been manifested represents how Israel’s sins have materialized.
By personifying wickedness, the vision depicts how God’s righteous judgement against sin has been made tangible and real. Justice has been fulfilled as the people’s embraced wickedness has led to actual corruption and evil.
The immoral woman vividly personifies Israel’s sins coming to roost under God’s retribution. She visually encapsulates the Northern Kingdom’s accumulated wickedness.
9. Necessity of removing sin from God’s people
The woman “Wickedness” is forcibly removed in the vision to purify the land. This symbolizes the necessity of Israel turning from sin and rooting out moral compromise from their midst in order to find favor with God again.
Just as the woman is sent far away where she can no longer spread corruption, so too must Israel remove wicked influences from their culture and hearts. The vision reinforces how fundamentally opposed sin is to God’s purposes.
10. God removes wickedness, not His people
Often in the Old Testament, God threatens to abandon and remove Israel because of their sins. But the fact that Wickedness alone is exiled in Zechariah’s vision highlights that God’s ultimate desire is to remove evil from people, not to remove people themselves.
Though sin demands consequences, God’s wrath is focused on eliminating the sin itself – hence personifying it as a woman – rather than on destroying His beloved but wayward people.
This offers a glimpse of God’s redemptive heart even amidst judgement. He seeks to purge and restore, not demolish. There is hope when sin alone, not the sinner, bears the punishment.
11. Picture of complete removal of sin
The woman Wickedness is sealed inside the lead-covered basket, unable to escape God’s judgement. This imagery creates a picture of the total isolation and removal of sin from God’s people.
Just as the woman is fully cut off from influence through confinement in the weighted basket, so too will God’s judgement completely purge His people and the land of the corrupting presence of sin. Its removal will be complete and permanent.
12. Foreshadowing Christ’s redemption
Though Zechariah likely did not realize it, the vision of Wickedness’ removal foreshadows Christ’s future work on the cross. Jesus would bear God’s wrath for sin, sealing the guilt of wickedness in the tomb and rising to reconcile humanity.
The vision offers a glimpse of the redemptive plan of God to condemn sin itself, not just sinners, through Christ. He would atone for wickedness so that sinners could be righteously freed from its burden and bondage.
So ultimately, the prophet’s vision points to Jesus’ defeat of sin. The woman Wickedness is banished to make way for the daughter of Zion, the purified and redeemed people of God.
In conclusion, Zechariah’s vision uses the metaphor of an immoral woman to represent the widespread wickedness of Israel. This underscores the covenant unfaithfulness of God’s people, the need for holiness, and the promise of redemption found in Jesus Christ.
