I read your posts on the internet with great interest. But I have a question. The Bible frequently speaks of angels, which are implied to be male. However, I find an allusion to female angels in Zechariah 5. Will there be female angels and male angels in heaven?<\/p>\n
Thank you for your time and attention to this matter.<\/p>\n\t
“Then the angel who was speaking with me went out and said to me, “Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going forth.” I said, “What is it?” And he said, “This is the ephah going forth.” Again he said, “This is their appearance in all the land (and behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the ephah.” Then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he threw her down into the middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” Then he said to me, “To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”<\/em> ” (Zechariah 5:5-11).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Zechariah 5:5-11 is one of a series of visions Zechariah records for us. In the prophecy, the elements and actions paint for us a picture from which we are expected to learn something.<\/p>\n
All through Zechariah, there has been an angel present to help Zechariah understand the prophecies that he has been seeing. The angel steps forward and invites Zechariah to describe what he sees. Zechariah says he sees an ephah (a large basket about the size of a bushel basket) coming into view. The prior vision charged the Jews with thefts and false witnessing (Zechariah 5:3-4). The angel that this basket represents the Jews. Literally, in Hebrew, the angel says, “This is their eye,” which can mean how they are seen or that this is what the Jewish nation has been focused on. He then lifts the lead cover on the basket to reveal a woman. The angel declares that the woman represents wickedness. The woman is pushed back into the basket, and the lid is replaced, which weighs a talent of lead (about 125 pounds). Thus, the wickedness within Israel is bound so she cannot escape.<\/p>\n
Then, two women with wings like storks come and fly the basket to Shinar. When it is prepared, the woman will be set on a pedestal there. At the time Zechariah was written, the Jews had recently returned from captivity. The northern tribes were carried off by Assyria, and Judah was carried off by Babylon. Shinar is another name for the territory of Babylon. The two women likely represent Assyria and Babylon. Though those nations no longer exist, the vision is invoking a reminder of the Jews’ recent punishment for their sins. The wings of the women represent the swiftness of their actions. God is stating that because sin remains in Israel, He is going to take action once again to send Israel out of the land. He is sending Israel to Shinar because the people there honor wickedness.<\/p>\n
The prophecy was fulfilled when God destroyed Israel in A.D. 70 for the killing of His Son. The Jews lost their homes because they never removed the sin within them. The few who survived were scattered among the Gentile nations.<\/p>\n
Just because a symbol in a vision happens to have wings, it doesn’t automatically follow that the symbol is of an angel. An angel was speaking to Zechariah. But the women were not called angels.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: I read your posts on the internet with great interest. But I have a question. The Bible frequently speaks of angels, which are implied to be male. However, I find an allusion to female angels in Zechariah 5. Will there be female angels and male angels in heaven? Thank you for your time and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[1502,169,893],"class_list":["post-68141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-angels","tag-prophecy","tag-zechariah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":88836,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-the-ten-commandments-come-through-angels-or-god\/","url_meta":{"origin":68141,"position":0},"title":"Did the Ten Commandments come through angels or God?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear sir, Were the Ten Commandments delivered by angels or God Himself? I am somewhat confused by references such as Acts 7:53, Galatians 3:19, and Hebrews 2:2. Answer: \"Which one of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? They killed those who had previously announced the coming of the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1785,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-is-there-no-female-god-in-the-bible\/","url_meta":{"origin":68141,"position":1},"title":"Why is there no female god in the Bible?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 14, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Why is there no female god in the Bible? Answer: If this is in reference to false gods of idolatrous worship, then there are female gods mentioned in the Bible. 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