Face of the Land

In Zechariah 5, the prophet sees a scroll flying through the air and is told that it is the “curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land.”   That vision conjures several other passages and scenes in the Bible.

The phrase “face of the land” is used repeatedly in the flood narrative.  Men multiply on the face of the land (Genesis 6:1), but because of their wickedness the Lord determines to blot them out from the face of the land (6:7; 7:4), which He does (7:23).  After the flood, Noah sends out a dove to see if the water has receded from the face of the land (8:8).  A flying scroll full of curses carries the threat of another great flood that will blot out men from the face of the land.

“Face of the land” also echoes the original creation narrative, where the darkness over the “face of the deep” is reversed by the bright Spirit who hovers over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2).  The hovering, fluttering Spirit spread His wings over the waters and formed the ordered cosmos.  The scroll of the vision seems to be having the opposite effect: It flies over the face of the earth to un-create.

And it’s going to happen soon.  The scroll is evidently unrolled, since Zechariah knows it’s written on both sides.  An unrolled scroll is a scroll whose contents are about to be fulfilled (cf. Revelation 5:1ff).

The scroll is flying between heaven and earth; it is a firmament.  And this is linked to the image of Isaiah 34:4, where the sky rolls up like a scroll while the stars fall from the heavens like ripe figs.  But the image in Zechariah reverses the imagery of Isaiah.  Zechariah sees an unrolled scroll, a firmament spread out between heaven and earth.  Heaven and earth are still separated by the firmament-scroll full of curses.