Zechariah's Ephah Vision

A Short Study
By R.A. Coombes, Author of: "America, The Babylon"

Editor's Note: This study was initially posted in 2003, but was updated in December of 2005 by adding empirical content and images which helps the reader visualize the matchups between the woman of Zechariah 5 and of a nation in existence in 2005. If you know of someone who has always thought America was founded as a Christian nation then email them this article or link to this webpage and prepare them in advance with a warning that what they are about to read is unbelievable - but the documentation is without question. It comes straight from the US Government archives of the US Library of Congress and the office of The Architect of the Capitol. It doesn't get anymore authoritative than that. We expect those who are unfamiliar with this information who are patriotic American Christians are going to squirm in their seats as they read this and check out the weblinks that thoroughly document every claim made. Keep in mind that this is just the tip of the iceberg of information about America's Satanic birth. There is a lot more proof that America was born to Satan's cause and her founding fathers were primarily Satanists masquerading as pretend "Christians" called "Deists." Perhaps we'll have a separate article posted someday on the shocking secret writings of the key founding fathers of America. For more information though on how America is the Mystery Babylon of Bible Prophecy, read the book: "America, The Babylon: Volumes 1 and 2" with more than 600+ pages that prove America is the mysterious Babylon of the prophetic future. Visit the website by clicking here.

There is one interesting vision of Zechariah that some believe sheds light on the issue of a future Babylon in Biblical prophecy. This researcher has considered it for many years in pursuit of research into the Mystery Babylon subject. It has been considered by this researcher to be less relevant to the prophetic issue regarding the identity of Mystery Babylon because it simply lacks significant, direct details to the subject. It does however, perhaps help us realize that ancient Babylon's role in prophecy had itself ended. Of course such notions are subject to debate depending upon one's viewpoint on the issue itself of Mystery Babylon identity.

Zechariah 5: 5-11 has been a cornerstone of the theory by proposed by some that ancient Babylon must be restored to role of world leadership and thus become the Mystery Babylon. Zechariah 5: 5-11 is claimed by some to underscore their proof to such a theory. We would beg to disagree. Instead, we believe this passage points to the notion that the "mystery religion" of ancient Babylon abandoned that city for a future prophetic role in another geographical location in the "end times." We will prove this point during the course of this analysis.

Before we begin to take an in-depth look at the passage, it would serve us all to the best to take a broad overview of the context that the vision is set within. Once we have noted the context we can then proceed to examine the specific contents of the vision itself in detail.

Context of Zechariah's vision of 5:5-11
Zechariah most likely wrote this and the first chapters of the book in approximately 520 B.C. It is unclear as to where he was geographically when he wrote this book. We believe that he was in Jerusalem at the time of the writing of the book. The real question here though is this: Where was Zechariah physically when he beheld this vision found in chapter 5 verses 5-11? Was he located geographically in Jerusalem when he witnessed this vision or was he transported somewhere else like with the Apostle John in his visions of Revelation? We do not know conclusively. The text does not clearly tell us. It does however seem likely to us that the prophet was taken supernaturally into a special dimension of sorts to observe the event he would later write about. This seems to have happened with all the prophets and indeed, just two chapters earlier we see this when Zechariah sees Joshua and Satan standing before God. Indeed, in chapter 4 we note similar circumstances to that of Daniel in which Zechariah is seemingly aroused from a deep slumber. It is as if he's being hypnotized and then awakened to see the vision then put back to sleep with an ability to later remember all that he had seen. This seems to have carried forth into the next vision of the flying scroll and then again with the vision of the flying "ephah."

So that we should note again, where is Zechariah's vantage point when he observes this "flying ephah?" Is it from the vantage point of Jerusalem? Is it the vantage point of Babylon? Or is it the vantage point of an intermediate heavenly realm, not the the third heaven perhaps but the second heaven? We cannot be sure on any point but we do think that the ephah, which he saw had left the ancient Babylonian site. We think it was headed to a new Babylon, a new land of Shinar, a new Babylonia of the future -- at the time of the "end of the age" at the time of the coming of Messiah.

Before we begin our analysis, let's look at the actual text in question from the KJV.

Zechariah 5:5
Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what [is] this that goeth forth.

Verse 6
And I said, What [is] it? And he said, This [is] an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This [is] their resemblance through all the earth.

Verse 7
And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this [is] a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.

Verse 8
And he said, This [is] wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.

Verse 9
Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind [was] in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.

Verse 10
Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?

Verse 11
And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.


Textual Analysis Verse by Verse

Verse 5
Note that we have the angel directing Zechariah to "look up" and observe something "flying" through the air. We note that whatever it was, it must have been at some distance because it was hard for Zechariah to recognize it. Why do we say that? Look at verse 6.

Verse 6
Now apparently what transpires occurs after the object is brought down to ground level. Zechariah asks "what is it?" He wouldn't have asked if he'd known the answer. Note that the angel tells him it is an "ephah." An ephah was a basic unit of measurement linked to agriculture primarily. It was like our English equivalent of a 'bushel basket.' In fact it is reported that an ephah is equal to 1 and 1/12th of an English bushel basket in content. That means the object itself was not very big, at least on the outside. Now in noting this word's meaning we would be remiss if we did not also note that the word can be used for an object or vessel that contains something and it doesn't have to specifically refer to a measurement or specific size. To simplify our understanding here, the verse may be attempting to use the word at its most basic level of meaning, that of a container of an unknown size. We note that while Zechariah would be familiar with an ordinary "ephah" - he was unable to recognize the object as an ordinary unit of measurement. We can conclude that this object was not an ordinary unit of measurement type of container. It might have been smaller than the traditional "ephah" of measurement or it might have been larger, even substantially larger. We simply do not even know for sure the general size of the object that Zechariah saw.

Now, let us note something else. Ephahs are not flying objects in and of themselves. This helps us explain why Zechariah could not identify it. Zechariah was not used to seeing a flying bushel basket. If it were the traditional flying basket he still would likely have been able to identify it as such, but the text indicates that he had no clue as to what the object was and therefore he had to ask. Now, also note that he was asked to explain what it was by the angel. Why? I suspect the angel wanted to know if he could guess as to what it was. Apparently it was an object that truly did NOT look like the ordinary "ephah." (basket of measurement). So what was the object?

We would speculate that perhaps it was some sort of an unidentified flying object. Perhaps it was a space satellite or space capsule?

Now we should note something very curious in the second part of the verse.

Zechariah 5:6b
This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.

Now in doing extensive research on this passage, I happened to come upon a comment by the Protestant reformer, John Calvin. He noted in his commentary on the book that the term found in the KJV as "resemblance" is better translated as "eye." It is Strong's

Code # 5869 = "ah-yin"- Dr. Strong and Gesenius both point out its most literal meaning is "eye." So Calvin also agrees with two key lexographers on this point.

John Calvin's translation changes "resemblance" to "eye" because it is the more ancient in meaning.

This is the measure that goes forth, and this is their eye in all the earth.

Now we should ask a very important question. Who is "their" referring to? Note that it is a plural. Then we raise a second question. To whom does "eye" refer? Still a third question to be raised: Why is "eye" singular when the pronoun "their" is plural?

Below: Could it be referring to the 'eye' as shown below?

allseeingeye-003

 or the eye of the Illuminati? as seen below:

or the eye of the Illuminati? as seen below:

eye of the Illuminati

Could it be the "eye in the sky?" A satellite system. Here's the US NRO logo. Notice the dot on the ring around Earth. This represents the NRO as the "eye" in the sky or "satellite" as the NRO primarily is linked with satellite monitoring of Earth.

Could it be the "eye in the sky?" A satellite system. Here's the US NRO logo. Notice the dot on the ring around Earth. This represents the NRO as the "eye" in the sky or "satellite" as the NRO primarily is linked with satellite monitoring of Earth.

NRO Logo 


Question: "Eye" refers to who? - whose eye? And why is it SINGULAR?

Who is "their"? Why is it in a plural form and parked next to a singular noun? Why? Why? Why? To find the answer let us look again at the text for just the exact word utterance by the angel.

"This is the vessel that goes forth. This is their eye through all the earth"

Note the linkage between the noun (direct object) "vessel" (ephah) and the word "eye." The vessel is an "eye" and it belongs to "their." Who is "their?" "Their" apparently owns the "vessel" and it has an "eye" ability. The vessel is like an eye -- it can "see." Note that it can see "through" or "throughout" or all around the earth.

Now if this "vessel" can see all around the earth, and it can fly, can we get an idea of what it might actually be? I submit to you that it is at the most likely some sort of flying craft.

So again, who is "their?" It is some people that own a flying object that is able to see all around the planet earth. This at the minimum, would then imply the ability to be at a fair altitude. We suspect that it is at the least something able to climb to a fairly high altitude as with a helicopter or jet plane or a spacecraft of some sort. Now, whether that object is an actual manned craft or an unmanned satellite is not clear. We say this with the idea that the woman is the symbol of a nation but more on that idea at a later point.

We could also note that perhaps there is a linkage between the object and the idea that the object is a spy satellite. Spy satellites have been euphemistically referred to as an "eye" in the sky. Could this be what the text is referring to? We happen to think this is most likely the case.

We do note that the object must have been of some solid construction because it was able to support a lead talent of about 94 pounds in weight. We would guess that the actual object itself was constructed of some sort of durable but unidentified metal. Perhaps the object in question is a shipping crate of some unspecified size. It is apparently big enough to contain an adult female in a sitting position inside the object. The object is big enough to support a sizable lead talent that functions much like a lid or a 'hatch.' We suspect though that there is dual symbolism in the term "talent." We suspect that it also may refer to the coin called a "talent." If so, then the woman herself we suspect would have a likeness engraved on that talent-coin.

Below is a coin mold of an Ishtar coin - thought by experts to date to about or around 200 B.C. (but it could be later or earlier).Note that there are two tall females depicted as well as  two small beings one above the other. It also appears that some smaller entity is hovering or flying in front of one of the females. In the background left appears to be some sort of entity with a tail. We find it interesting that this picture displays a similar character to the Zechariah passage. Please note: The very first coin ever minted was from Ishtar's Temple in Babylonia. The Ishtar/Inanna religion invented the very concept of money and called "the shekel." Archaeologists date their finding to at least the 3rd Millennia B.C. if not earlier.  (Note: Inanna was an earlier dialect name for Ishtar.)

ishtarcoinmold

severalcarvingsofishtar 
Above: Several surviving relics depicting Ishtar

inannaofpower
Above: Ishtar of Power - holding a torch and headdress

astartewithwheatsheefs
Above: Ishtar again with sheafs of wheat - connecting again to the Zech 5 grain connection of scales

ishtartorchofliberty 
Above: Ishtar with the torch of Liberty, Enlightening the World

 ishtarrobedwithcup
Above: Ishtar with a cup - see Revelation 17:4-5

 libertascoin_claudius

Above is a Roman coin of the Roman Goddess Libertas - the first version of Ishtar of Babylon being worshipped by the Romans beginning about 600 B.C. Below: is another version of the Roman goddess Libertas/Ishtar. By 400 B.C. the limited Ishtar doctrines were merged with the rest of Ishtar's dogma and Libertas began to be worshipped primarily as Venus, although the Libertas cult remained through the first century A.D.  according to these coins. However, her origins were from Babylon's Ishtar, the goddess of Liberty and Freedom of Babylon and also known as "The MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS." Roman senator Cicero notes that the Libertas cult was devoted to religious prostitution and was the original goddess of Prostitutes. (see more details in "America, The Babylon: Volume 2")

Below: An American Coin of Ishtar of Babylon but called by her Roman goddess name of Libertas. This coin was struck by the founding fathers at the birth of the nation. Notice how on the reverse side, the goddess is dressed similarly to the Roman version and some Babylon versions with the headdress, spear, etc.

libertascoin

Below: The more famous version of the Goddess Libertas known as The Goddess of Liberty or the Statue of Liberty designed by Freemason Frederic Bartholdi who sculpted the statue to be his artistic interpretation of the Roman Goddess Libertas - who was the early Roman version of the Babylonian chief goddess Ishtar. For more on the Statue of Liberty connection to Ishtar-Mother of the Harlots - click here for Idols of America

americanlibertadcoin

It is now appropriate to consider the identity of this woman. We find that in verse 8 she is referred to as "wickedness." She is treated with disdain and appropriately so under the circumstance. But verse 8 does not really give us a clue as to her identity. In fact the only clue to her identity comes in verse 11, but let's not get ahead of our analysis.

Verses 9 tells us about two women who have the ability to fly in the atmosphere and are able to pick up and carry the "ephah" which contains the wicked woman. The women are described as having wings like that of a stork.

Verse 10 Zechariah asking where the women are taking the ephah. Verse 11 concludes the vision with the angel's answer. They are taking the woman in the ephah to the land of Shinar to build her a temple. When it is finished they will set the ephah on a "pedestal" or base. The implication here is that the woman is a goddess or statue of a goddess who will have a pedestal for her statue to stand upon. The building of a temple indicates that the land she is going to does not already have any temples for her.

statueandbase

ABOVE: Statue of Liberty and her "temple" or "base" Please note that the base of the statue is huge and houses the museum and tourist center for visitors. BELOW: An aerial view better showing the occult star symbolism of the pedestal of the statue of Liberty. The pedestal was also a Masonic design linking it with secret Babylonian occult symbolism in its layout. The base is a "temple" of its own to the statue - Ishtar, chief goddess of Babylon - also known by her worshippers as "THE MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS" - a holy term of great reverence for Ishtar worshippers in Babylon.

Statue Of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty is not the only statue likeness of Ishtar in America today. In fact, the Statue of Liberty is not the first sculptored impression of Ishtar in America. That distinction falls to what is known as the Statue of the goddess of Freedom/Liberty also known as more succintly as The Statud of Freedom which stands atop the US Capitol Dome. It was posted to the dome top of the Capitol in November of 1863 during the American Civil War. It was the work of another Freemason sculptor, Thomas Crawford.

Goddess Of Freedom
Above: The goddess of Freedom or goddess of Liberty in close-up. She stands atop US Capitol Dome

originalstatueoffreedom

Above: The original Statue of Freedom design - It was modified after Jefferson Davis complained the "liberty" hat might trigger an uprising of black slaves. So the entire sculpture was redesigned so as not to offend those who later became Confederates in the Civil War. Note how the original look is much like that of ancient renderings of Ishtar of Babylon. The sculptor, Thomas Crawford went back to the drawing board and envisioned how the goddess Libertas (Ishtar) might dress if in primitive, or colonial America.

capitol
Above: Broad view of US Capitol building and dome with goddess of freedom atop dome

Note that the US Capitol was called originally "The Temple of Justice and Faith" of which the goddess of Freedom/Liberty (also known as the goddess Libertas and Ishtar - MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS and chief goddess of Babylon ) stands 'guard' over her temple below.

Could it be that Zechariah 5: 11 is referring to the US Capitol Building and the Goddess of Freedom aka Ishtar atop the dome and her "Temple" below? If you think we're making this up, visit the US Library of Congress webpage link below and take a look for yourself at the "temple" terminlogy."

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/s3.html+US+Capitol+Mars&hl=en

Note the title of the page is "Temple of Justice and Faith" Later reference as Temple of Liberty

Thornton Sketches Free-Standing Temple Design William Thornton

Comparison Between Temple of Liberty and Nearby Log Cabins

 

FURTHER PROOF NEEDED????

Still stunned by this information coming directly from US Government official records? Don't feel bad. We were too, the first time we were exposed to it. BUT THERE'S MORE !

Check out this linked page below:
http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/s0.html

"Temple of Liberty - Building a Capitol for a New Nation"
Yes, the secret name - or the "Mystery Doctrine" name of the US Capitol Building is "Temple of Liberty" - which is the same as saying "The Temple of Ishtar" or "The Temple of the MOTHER OF THE HARLOTS."

But Wait - It gets Worse
The next link tells us that the building itself was designed to be a version of the pagan temple dedicated to all the gods of Rome - (Rome copied the idea from Babylon) So we really have a building called that is the combination of the Temple of Ishtar-Liberty and the temple dedicated to all of the ancient gods of Rome/Babylon. AND

WHOSE IDEA WAS THIS???

George Washington & Thomas Jefferson - see the link below:

"The Most Approved Plan"

"The entries were disappointing to the judges -- Washington, Jefferson, and the Commissioners of the District of Colombia."

"The Roman Pantheon -- the circular domed rotunda dedicated to all pagan gods -- was suggested by Jefferson, who later shepherded it through several transformations."

There is more than that quote-but that alone should be enough.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/s2.html

Ancient Roman Pantheon Inspires Jefferson's Capitol Design Antoine Desgodetz "Elevation de la face du Pantheon, a Rome," in Les edifices antiques de Rome. Paris: Claude-Antoine Jombert, 1779 Engraving in book Rare Book and Special Collections Division Library of Congress (33)

Washington Advises on Capitol Design Stephen Hallet [Elevation of Fourth Design for Capitol], 1793 Ink and Water color on paper Prints and Photographs Division Library of Congress (58)

Here below is another quote and link to a separate webpage from the official website of the office of The Architect of the Capitol. Here you'll find one short sentence admitting the design of the Capitol was made in mind of the Roman Pantheon.

"Conceived in the age of neoclassicism, the Rotunda was intended to recall the Pantheon, the ancient Roman temple."

http://www.aoc.gov/cc/capitol/rotunda.cfm

romepantheon
Above: The Roman Pantheon still stands today in Rome

And before construction was started, the cornerstone of the Capitol was laid in a special Occult-Masonic ceremony presided over by George Washington in his masonic apron. Below is a later engraving of that ceremony.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/seventy.jpg

BUT WAIT! There's MORE!

 capitolentrance

Above: Entrance to the US Capitol Bldg. To the right of the door is an inset of a statue of Baal one of the chief gods of Babylon. Below: A clearer picture of Baal who was known also as Mardok/Marduk/Merodach in Babylon. The Greeks borrowed the religion from the Babylonians and called him Mars as did the Romans. The scultpor of this work envisioned Baal/Mars/Ares dressed in Greek military attire.

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/ksixteen.jpg

baal-stands-guard 

Oh by the way, the first American symbol - even before the Revolution started was "the snake"

http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/us.capitol/one.jpg

Okay, Now Back To Our Textual Study of Zechariah 5
Now many commentators and prophecy experts have concluded that this passage is referring to the land of Shinar as being ancient Babylon. The woman of wickedness is also identified by most of these same experts as being the same woman found in Revelation chapter 17 and 18. We would agree with such a conclusion but would go further. We would identify the woman as being the original chief goddess of ancient Babylon called Ishtar (a.k.a. Inanna). She was also adopted later by the Greeks, Assyrians, Egyptians and Romans as their chief goddess. She went by the names of: Ashtoreth, Astarte, Aphrodite, Isis, Libertas, and eventually Venus. She held many titles in Babylon such as:

Mother of Harlots, Queen of Heaven, Goddess of Liberty/Freedom, Goddess of Love, Goddess of War, and many other titles too numerous to mention here.

Most significantly was her title as "Mother of Harlots" and also the goddess of Liberty and Freedom. She promoted the doctrine of salvation by holy sex. Yes, your sins would be forgiven by engaging in religious sexual relations with a surrogate for the goddess, a priestess (or priest). During such an activity, the worshipper became "one with the goddess" or united with the goddess and one's sins were 'washed away." As a result, the worshipper would provide a monetary donation into an offering box and thus was born the concept of prostitution. In its creation, prostitution was regarded as holy and a sinless activity. Only later in history when such activity was devoid of religious context connotation was it regarded as sinful in the eyes of the Babylonians. The Ishtar concept was a Satanic attempt to pervert the true gospel of salvation. Perhaps now you can see why it was considered so wicked and evil. It was an attack on God's plan of salvation.

Now as we consider the last verse more carefully we should note the following.

The two women were going to fly the goddess to a place that did not already have a temple or a pedestal/base for her. If this were ancient Babylon, then such facilities already existed. In fact, her temples still exist in parts of Iraq and Syria.

It may also be possible that the "eye" reference of verse 6 is referring to another doctrinal aspect of Ishtar that is found more prevalently today in the Egyptian aspects of her doctrine. As Isis (or Aphrodite/Astarte in Greek) she is connected to the "Eye of Horus/Baal in connection with the pyramid/ziggurat bearer of enlightenment of the sungod Utu/Shamesh. The seeing 'eye' of Horus is found in many United States of America symbols including the governmental seals and paper money. Take a look at your one dollar bill and on the back you will find a pyramid with the seeing 'eye' of Horus at the top. It is a Freemasonry symbol. It is even found on the new The Office of Information Awareness seal. (OIA).

dollarbill
usadollarbill-seeing-eye
allseeingeye
tia-logo

Above: You can readily notice the "seeing eye" concept in official American government symbolism. The latest example is the new Office of Information Awareness - an agency spawned in the wake of 9-11 to assist in fighting terrorism within the Homeland Security program.

Now having shown you all of the visuals relating the "woman" also known as Ishtar, chief goddess of Babylon and how America has picked up on her icons let's return and conclude our study..

Now why is it that this woman cannot be Ishtar going back to Iraq? In part because in Iraq, there are already temples for her and always have been. It doesn't make sense for the woman to be flown away to a place where she already lived.

After all if she represents Babylon, the temples are already there. Also, if Babylon were to stay in the same place she would have been placed in a pit to be uncovered at a later time during the rebuilding phase. There is no indication in the text of rebuilding. It only indicates NEW construction, and implies to a place previously unknown or unaware of her doctrines. The text implies she is going to a new residence in a new land of Babylon moving west of the old Babylon empire, which stretched out west of Egypt through portions of Libya to the northwest coast of Africa.

Isaiah 18:1 & 2 and Zechariah 5 had been referred to by some American Jewish rabbis [who helped found the city of Babylon, New York (on Long Island) in the 19th century as the "new Babylon" for Jewry] as a proof text. They interpreted the text to be indicating that a future Babylon would be built west of and far beyond the old outer empire boundaries of ancient Babylon. This is why the Isaiah 18:2 text references "beyond the rivers of Cush." The direction of reference is that of looking westward from Jerusalem and towards Egypt and Libya which were the westernmost boundaries of Babylon in its ultimate heyday when Nimrod took over the empire from his father Cush. Not that Cush made his home in Egypt and ran the original Babylonian empire from Egypt. Nimrod moved east and established the actual "Babel" city itself and incorporated his father's Egyptian portions upon inheritance. It was at this time that Babylon's westernmost border ran nearly to the western coasts of Africa and the Atlantic ocean.

Note that Isaiah18, verse 2 describes a future Babylon that is BEYOND the rivers of Cush or westwards from Jerusalem. It means that whatever is being referenced does lie westward beyond the outermost boundaries of Egypt/Libya and out of the old original borders of Babylon.

For a full study of the Mystery Babylon subject and understanding the identity of this future Babylon and what happens to it we refer you to the 2-volume work of more than 600 pages written by Mr. Coombes entitled:


"America, The Babylon."

Visit the book website for all the book details and ordering information.

Click Here for book website

 

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