The angel responds: To build a temple for it in the land of Shinar; and when this is prepared, he will set the ephah down there on its base.\u2014establishing that the removed wickedness will be transported to Babylon (the land of Shinar) where a temple is being prepared to contain it, suggesting that wickedness will be expelled from the restored land and confined to the pagan land. The image of a temple for wickedness stands in ironic contrast to the temple being rebuilt in Jerusalem for God: while God's temple is established in the promised land, wickedness will be housed in the land of exile and paganism. Shinar represents Babylon, the imperial power that exiled Israel and embodied opposition to God's purposes; the fitting completion of the vision places wickedness in the land of Israel's oppressor. The establishment of the ephah on a base suggests permanence: wickedness is not merely transported temporarily but is settled and grounded in Babylon where it belongs. This conclusion assures the returning community that their restoration involves not merely personal forgiveness but the actual removal of wickedness from their midst: it will go to Babylon and remain there, no longer contaminating the restored land. The vision thus establishes that the restoration of Jerusalem involves the cleansing of the land of iniquity, removing not merely its effects but its source and substance.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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