We have been examining The Book of Numbers Chapter 5; (specifically in relation to other passages of scripture.) This is the scripture passage that gives Israel a test for a wife who is accused of being unfaithful by a jealous husband.
Our last four lessons went over the specifics of this test which would determine how faithful a wife had been according to God’s judgment; so please be sure to review them if you have not been following our lessons all along.
You can find the former lessons here if you need to review: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/god-is-setting-up-a-test-in-the-wilderness-come-as-a-child-lesson-257/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/test-for-a-wife-accused-of-adultery-come-as-a-child-lesson-258/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/test-for-adultery-and-the-golden-calf-story-come-as-a-child-lesson-259/ A TEST OF LOYALTY – A FLYING SCROLL AND A WOMAN HIDING INSIDE A BASKET – COME AS A CHILD – LESSON 260
Today we will discuss more of the many ways that the Book of Numbers, Chapter five plays right into the symbolism of some of the other passages of scripture, both from the New Testament and the Old Testament.
It seems that God is repeating something over and over again. Perhaps that means it is very important for us to grasp.
THIS IS A PROPHECY FOR THE FUTURE
Last week we peeked into a prophecy given by the prophet Zechariah. That passage is found in Zechariah Chapter Five. In it we saw that the first part of this prophecy for the future involved a flying scroll. That part of today’s passage is discussed in Lesson 260.
The second part of the vision of Zechariah gave an image of a woman inside a basket. Some read the wording here and immediately envision a Genie-in-a-bottle.
Here is the scripture we will consider today:
(Zechariah 5: 5-11)
Then the angel who was speaking to me came forward and said to me, “Look up and see what is appearing.” I asked, “What is it?” He replied, “It is a basket.” And he added, “This is the iniquity of the people throughout the land.” Then the cover of lead was raised, and there in the basket sat a woman! He said, “This is wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and pushed its lead cover down on it. Then I looked up—and there before me were two women, with the wind in their wings! They had wings like those of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between heaven and earth. “Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel who was speaking to me. He replied, “To the country of Babylonia to build a house for it. When the house is ready, the basket will be set there in its place.”
I’ve looked at this particular passage for years and I’ve always wondered what this “woman in the basket” stood for.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN?
Who is she?
And who are the other two women that Zachariah saw later; the women with wings like storks who had wind in their wings?
Who are they and what is in the basket that they carry?
Why are they there?
What does it all mean?
I’ve never quite understood; until the day I came across Numbers, Chapter 5 and the test for an unfaithful wife.
The two passages relate; in that this woman is an adulterous woman and she is being removed from the place where she lived; as if being “cast out” for being found guilty.
These scripture passages, when studied together, made many more parts of the bible become clear and less confusing.
UNDERSTANDING THE WOMAN IN THE BASKET
Can you see how much the “woman in the basket” described in Zechariah’s vision is like the woman we read about in Numbers Chapter five, when the priest overseeing the test for a woman accused of adultery writes her name and accusations down on a parchment scroll?
Remember now that we have already identified the scroll. Don’t forget to go back a lesson if you want to know more about this scroll. These two passages go together and relate to each other.
At first it is all a bit confusing; but here is what I soon discovered:
THE MYSTERY OF THE BASKET
Let’s think about the basket first.
It was a measuring basket; one used for measuring the grain of an offering.
An ephah was a unit of measurement the people used to measure grain that they brought to the temple as an offering to God.
We have studied a lot about the offering of first fruits; it would be an offering of your FIRST and you BEST; and you would bring it to God as an offering of thanksgiving before you even began to consume one bite of your abundant crops (which God provided) for your household.
GOD IS OUR PROVIDER
This offering gave thanks, It acknowledged that God is the provider of all blessings.
So when the early crops of barley were ripe in the fields the people would take a measure of barley grain to the priest and he would wave it before the LORD as the first fruits of an offering from the labor of their hands.
The offering was measured out in an ephah which was a woven basket made from the palm leaves of the palm trees.
So the basket holding the woman would look as if it were symbolic of a first-fruit offering; with the woman being the offering in the basket that would be brought before God.
AN OFFERING OF WICKEDNESS
As we all know first impressions can be deceiving.
This woman in the basket was said (by the angel speaking to Zechariah) to be the iniquity of the people and full of wickedness.
THE NATURE OF THE WOMAN MEASURED OUT
In other words; this offering was fake.
It was counterfeit.
It was very similar in nature to the offering that Cain brought before he slew Abel. It WAS NOT his first or his best. It was the worst and the least of his human nature.
He was giving and offering to God out of the wickedness of his own heart; and that is what this basket and woman seem to resemble; the measure of wickedness and iniquity of the hearts of mankind on the earth.
WAVING THE BASKET BEFORE GOD
In our original study from the passage in Numbers Chapter 5 we were told of the procedure for a woman who was thought unfaithful toward her husband. She was being given a test to let God decide her guilt or innocence.
We know that the woman was brought to a place in the tabernacle where she would stand before God with the offering in her hand.
This is similar to the priest waiving the offering of firstfruits before God. As a matter of fact the husband of the woman was to provide a “jealousy” offering for her to take for the priest to waive before God.
THE LID ON THE BASKET
This particular basket contained a lid made of lead.
It would have been too heavy for anyone to force off from the inside, and it would serve to keep the woman contained inside the basket until someone wanted to let her out of the basket.
The lid of lead seemed to be protecting the earth from this woman; but how long would it last?
What on earth could all of this mean?
Was this woman truly guilty or innocent?
Only God really knew, and only God would decide and bring judgment unto the household of the husband.
This is the test of the jealous husband for suspicions of adultery. The woman in the basket is being tested before God.
THE ACCUSATION ON THE SCROLL
In the test for adultery; a parchment scroll was taken up and the woman’s name and her accusations were written down in ink upon it.
We have already heard the angel proclaim these facts concerning her accusations to Zechariah. He used the words “iniquity of the people” and “wickedness.”
It would seem that widespread wickedness and evil had taken over the land because of this woman.
The evil and wickedness is so bad that the angel pushes the woman back inside the basket and quickly replaces the lead lid in order to contain her. His actions seem to keep more iniquity and wickedness from spreading through the earth.
WILL THE GUILTY BE PUNISHED?
Let’s now take a look at the scripture we find in Revelation 17:1-6:
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits by many waters. With her are the kings of the earth with whom she committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She had a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great; the mother of prostitutes, and of the abominations of the earth.
I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of God’s holy people, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
IDENTIFYING THE WOMAN
Is it possible that the angel who spoke to Zechariah was also one of the angels who will pour out the seven bowls full of God’s wrath at the end of time?
This could be related to the breaking of the seals of the scroll which we spoke about last week.
Seven times (seven seals) would equal completeness.
After seven times; the sins of the world would be finished – completed.
The seven times here reminds me of the seven weeks we go through each year from Passover to Pentecost; when we are counting the omer and preparing our hearts to come closer to God. There are 49 days (seven weeks containing seven days each) and the final day is day 50 – which is The Day of Pentecost.
THE WHORE OF BABYLON
It is very possible that the woman in the basket is the symbolic picture of The Whore of Babylon spoken of in the scriptures; the one who will ride the beast in the last days.
Why do we suspect this?
Because of the place where the angel tells Zechariah the woman will be taken to make herself a home.
She is going to a wilderness in Babylon.
The passage from Revelation which relates to the last days also speaks of such a woman and such a place.
REMEMBERING BABYLON
Of course, we all know that the place called Babylon was how sin originally started to spread rapidly across the whole earth.
The sins of that place became so great that God had to destroy the tower they were building; which was called The Tower of Babel.
It was in that place that God decided to divide them through different languages to the point that they could no longer speak to or understand each other.
The most detestable sins of this earth can all be traced right back to this place named Babylon; especially the sins of idolatry and false religion; which is associated with this whore of Babylon who is riding a beast in the end times.
THE GOLDEN CUP OF ABOMINATIONS
The woman has a golden cup in her hand.
Drinking this cup is similar in nature to what the woman from Numbers Chapter five was doing. She was drinking the mixture of the drink the priest had mixed for the test of the jealous husband. The same action was always required of any woman whose husband suspected adultery.
Remember how the priest would write the woman’s name down on the scroll?
Then he would also write out what she had been accused of on the same scroll. After the writing had dried; he would proceed to wash the ink off the scroll and down into the inside of the cup of bitter waters mixed from the tabernacle laver’s water combined with some dust from the tabernacle floor.
Then the woman would drink the cup which contained the residue of the ink from her accusations. If she became sick; she was assumed guilty.
This golden cup contained the name of the woman of Babylon; The Great Mother of Prostitutes. The luxurious cup contained her sins which were many abominable things along with the filth of her adulteries. Even as she drank the drink; she was drunk on the blood of the martyrs. She had the blood of God’s holy people on her hands.
WOMAN FOUND GUILTY AS CHARGED
As she drinks this cup of bitter water; she will become sick.
She is found to be guilty as charged.
The woman is then removed from her husband’s house and all of her sins go with her.
A PICTURE OF THE SINS OF THE CHURCH BEING REMOVED
God too; will return all sin to its origination point. Sin and death will be removed far away from the land of His people.
It is God’s wish for His people to dwell with Him. Sin and God cannot exist together in the same place.
Sin destroys holiness and God is holy.
At some point in time, all of the sins of God’s people will be removed and sent away to the wilderness.
Have you studied the Levitical priesthood ritual of the two goats that the priests lay hands on at the time of The Day of Atonement?
One goat is called the scapegoat.
This goat bears the sins of the people into the wilderness and never returns to the camp.
THE OTHER TWO WOMEN
There are two women with strong wings; similar to that of a stork.
These two women with wind in their wings have come to take the wicked woman away to a new place; a place in the wilderness of Babylon where she will establish a home (since she has been judged, found guilty and banished from the land she originally inhabits.)
But who are these two woman who help her to escape?
WINGS LIKE A STORK
Although a stork has many endearing qualities; we have to accept the fact that it is also on the list of abominations that God has forbidden his people to eat.
Storks, though they are tender to their young and treat their old with respect and also help to rid the land of snakes and locust; are also animals who feed on carnage that carry diseases.
Their nests often become infested with parasites and lice that eventually destroy them and all that lives around them.
The stork is a migratory bird and it returns to its same nest every year. The infestation of the nest (year-after-year) only gets worse and worse over time.
Once the infestation has started; there is no way to stop it. Hence; the stork was almost extent in many of its native lands for many years.
Lately though; the stork has been making a return to old and familiar territories.
How interesting to know this; as it is in a time that (like the stork’s nest) our world only grows more and more evil every day. The storks return to an infested nest is similar to the fate of the woman returning to Babylon.
ARE THE TWO WOMEN WHO RESEMBLE ANGELS ACTUALLY DEMONS IN DISGUISE?
The two women here do appear to be demons working with the Harlot of Babylon.
They hold her up and follow her works and support her in every way that they can.
You may have noticed that there is not one female angel presented in all of the scriptures of our bibles; but many demons are female in gender.
These demonic spirits take the woman to a place in the wilderness where they think she will build and establish a permanent home.
It is said that most storks cannot fly over water because they need a different type of air-flow for their wings. Following the air-streams over land only; they take the longer route to get to the land of Babylon. This is the route that goes through the wilderness.
They (the two women and storks) actually thrive on the hot dessert air-flow much better than over the moist surface of waters.
WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN FOR US TODAY
Other than the fact that this all ties in with the reading of Numbers; Chapter Five; we find so many parallels with the story of the test given by a jealous husband; what exactly should it mean to us today?
God is that jealous husband.
He has been preparing Israel to be a nation that will produce generations of people from whom will come His Son and also A Holy Bride for His Son.
The Son has come and conquered sin and is now getting ready to come to receive His Bride and establish His Kingdom on the earth.
But will that Bride be found as guilty as The Nation of Israel was at the time when God divorced her?
Yes; she will.
Yes; she is.
THE SINS ON THE SCROLL WERE BLOTTED OUT BEFORE THE TEST WAS DECLARED
But; Christ has now taken on the punishment for the sins of both His Bride and the Bride of God.
Those sins have now been blotted out of the books and removed as far as the east from the west. Just as the guilty woman has been taken out of the place where she was and removed to another place. The woman does not represent the repentant people; she only represents the sins of the people who have never repented, and the sins of those demons who have come against God’s people forever.
God’s people are found to be innocent.
The scroll is empty of any accusations against them!
THE GUILTY ARE PROCLAIMED INNOCENT
ANYONE (either from God’s Bride named Israel, or Jesus’s Bride called The Church) who has accepted, claimed and believed the truth of the sacrifice of Jesus which was made in our stead can now be proclaimed innocent before God.
The Angel of God has come and contained all of the sins inside an offering basket!
The lid has been sealed tight and we have been protected.
Those sins have been removed from our land.
We CAN pass the test!
In spite of our weak selves; we can pass the test!
Isn’t that the most amazing thing you have ever heard?
We only pass because we are now covered in the blood of Jesus which blots our sins out of God’s books.
WE MUST OVERCOME THE TESTS
But you know what; just like the woman in Numbers; Chapter 5; sometimes we have to go through the test in order to prevail.
We MUST learn to be over-comers.
Those who overcome will get to live in a whole new world. It will still be this earth; but this earth will be changed and made new again.
Everything that has caused the earth to deteriorate was caused by sin. The wages of sin is death. Sin and death will one day be removed completely. It is obvious from almost every story you read in the bible.
This removal of the basket which is filled with the sins of a woman called “Wickedness” is proof that God will again remove all sins from the earth. He will cleanse it as He did back in the days of Noah.
THE ANSWERS ARE IN THE JEALOUSY TEST
Once you know this test given by God to the Israelites; you know the answer to every situation.
The personification of all evil and wickedness will be taken far away; back to the land of its origination. We only have to wait and be patient and enduring.
Remember what happened to the Tower of Babel?
It fell.
When the people could no longer work together and they were disbursed throughout the earth – the tower deteriorated.
Its walls all fell and turned back to the dust of the earth until none of it was left as evidence that it had ever existed.
This is what will happen to the woman called wickedness, which appears to be the false church who is deep into the trenches of a spiritual adultery which will exist and be wide-spread in the time of the end.
Remember the passage we read when we studied the scroll in Zechariah’s vision?
It said that the woman would be returned to Babylon and she would be given a home there; but there is more to the story.