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Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Zechariah 4:1

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And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,

Ch. Zec 4:1 . came again and waked me ] Or, returned and waked me, i.e. waked me again. Comp. Zec 5:1. “The prophet intimates that he lay as one weighed down with ecstatic sleep, through wonder and astonishment at the preceding vision.” Rosenm. Comp. Dan 8:18; Dan 8:27; Luk 9:32

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The Fifth Vision. The Golden Candlestick, Zec 4:1-14. Roused by the Interpreting Angel from a sleep or stupor, into which he appears to have fallen, Zec 3:1, the prophet sees a golden candlestick or lamp-stand. Like that originally placed in the Tabernacle, it has seven lamps, but they are fed by a bowl placed above them, from which the oil is conveyed into them by pipes, Zec 4:2. The bowl itself is supplied with oil by two olive-trees, standing one on either side of the lamp, which empty their oil into the bowl, each through a golden tube, Zec 4:3; Zec 4:12. At the request of Zechariah, Zec 4:4, the Interpreting Angel, with some show of surprise that explanation should be needed, Zec 4:5, explains to him the meaning of the vision. It is intended to encourage Zerubbabel in the work of re-building the Temple, by impressing upon him the truth, that as that candlestick gave forth its light, in silent, ceaseless splendour, unfed and untended by human agencies, so the work in which he was engaged, of restoring the material Temple and setting the golden candlestick in its place again, and so preparing the way, first for the Jewish Church, and then for the Christian Church, which that candlestick symbolised (Rev 1:20), to shine in the world, should be accomplished, not by human resources, but by the Spirit of God, Zec 4:6. The great principle involved in the symbol and thus enunciated is now applied to the case in hand. The mountain of difficulty, which stands in the way of Zerubbabel, shall sink down into a plain. With shouts of festive joy he shall set in its place the crowning stone of the edifice, Zec 4:7 Yet again, by a repeated assurance conveyed to the prophet through the Angel, Zec 4:8, Jehovah confirms the promise to Zerubbabel, that his hands which have begun shall complete the work, and prove in doing so the divine mission of the angel, Zec 4:9. Despicable as it might appear in its feeble beginnings in the sight of man, the eyes of Jehovah, which were not only fixed upon it with unceasing watchfulness (Zec 4:9), but ran to and fro through the whole earth to take cognisance of and deal with every hindering and every helping influence, rejoiced to see the progress of that house, Zec 4:10. Not satisfied with this exposition of its main scope, the prophet asks for information as to some of the details of the vision. What, he would fain know, is the significance of the two olive-trees, Zec 4:11, or yet more precisely, of the two branches of them, which through the two golden tubes empty their oil into the bowl of the lamp, Zec 4:12. The answer, again given with some show of surprise at the question, Zec 4:13, by the Interpreting Angel, is calculated by its obscurity rather to fix attention on the chief lesson of the vision, than to interpret the details to which reference is made. Suffice it to know that the olive trees represent agencies, by which the Lord of the whole earth is pleased to supply the requirements of His Church, Zec 4:14.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

The angel came again – The angel (as before Zec 2:3) had gone forth to receive some fresh instruction from a higher angel or from God.

And awakened me – As a man is awakened out of sleep. Zechariah, overwhelmed by the greatness of the visions, must have sunk down in a sort of stupor, as after the vision of the ram and he-goat, as Gabriel was speaking with him, Daniel says, I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground, and he touched me and set me upright Dan 8:18; and again at the voice of the angel, who, after his three weeks fast Dan 10:9, came to declare to him Dan 10:21 the scripture of truth; and at the Transfiguration, Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake, they saw His glory. Luk 9:32. Osorius: Wondrous and stupendous mysteries were they which were shown to the divine man. He saw the Branch of the Lord; he saw His invincible might; he saw His brightness of Divine Intelligence and Providence; he saw the amplitude of beauty and dignity. Nailed then and struck still with amazement, while he revolved these things in his mind, sunk in a sort of sleep, he is borne out of himself and, mantled around with darkness, understands that the secret things of Divine Wisdom cannot be perfectly comprehended by the mind of any. This then he attained that, his senses being overpowered, he should see nothing, save that wherein is the sum of wisdom, that this immensity of the divine excellence cannot be searched out. By this sleep he was seized, when he was roused by the angel to see further mysteries.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Zec 4:1-14

Behold a candlestick all of gold

The candelabrum and olive trees

That by the candelabrum was symbolised the Israelitish community, the people of the theocracy, may be regarded as generally conceded.

But Israel was itself a symbol and type; it was the visible manifestation of that invisible spiritual community, the Church of the living God, which embraces the faithful of all ages and places. But the light which the Church possesses is not from herself; it is light communicated and sustained by influences from above. Hence in the vision the lamps were supplied with oil, not by human ministration, but through channels and pipes from the olive trees which stood beside and were over the candelabrum. Oil is the proper symbol of the Holy Spirits influence. This is the oil by which the Church is sustained, is made to shine, and is enabled to accomplish the work she has to do in the world. Apart from the Divine Spirit the Church is dark and cold and feeble; but through the visitation of the Spirit she is animated and invigorated, becomes luminous and glorious, and is crowned with success as she labours to erect Gods temple on earth. They were taught by this vision not to be discouraged, for it was not by human might or power that the work was to be done, but by the Spirit of the Lord. Through His grace the light should be sustained in them; their hands should be strengthened for their work; and ere long they should see the consummation of that which had been so auspiciously begun. God sustains His Church by His grace. But this grace comes to men through certain appointed media. This was symbolised in the vision by the fruit-bearing branches of the olive trees, and by the conduits and pipes through which the oil was conveyed to the lamps. The branches represented the sacerdotal and civil authorities in Israel. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)

Man as a student of the Divine revelation and a doer of Divine work

I. As a student of the Divine revelations. I have looked, and behold a candle stick all of gold, etc. The ideal Church is all this. The candlestick may, I think, fairly represent the Bible, or Gods special revelation to man: that is golden, that is luminous, that is supernaturally supplied with the oil of inspiration. In fact, in the passage the interpreting angel designates this, candlestick, not as the Church, but as the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. I make two remarks concerning this revelation–

1. It has in it sufficient to excite the inquiry of man as a student. What are these, my lord? What wonderful things are in this Bible!

2. It has an Interpreter that can satisfy man as a student. The angel to whom the prophet directed his inquiry promptly answered. The prophet here displays two of the leading attributes of a genuine student of the Divine–

(1) Inquisitiveness. He inquires; and because he inquires he receives an answer. The Bible is an unmeaning book to the great mass of mankind, because they do not inquire into its significance. Truth is only got by genuine inquiry.

(2) Ingenuousness. The first reply of the interpreting angel to the prophet was, Knowest thou not what these things mean? and he said, No, my lord. At once he confesses his ignorance. The man who develops these two attributes in relation to Gods Word has a Divine Interpreter at his side, namely, the Spirit of God, who will lead us into all knowledge. This passage sets man before us–

II. As a doer of the Divine will Man has not only to study, but to work; not only to get Divine ideas, but to work them out. The work of the prophet was to convey a message from God to Zerubbabel, and the message he conveyed was a message to world. Man is to be a Worker together with God. I offer two remarks concerning man as a worker out of the Divine will

2. That though his efforts may seem feeble, his success will be inevitable.

(1) The feebleness of human efforts is here implied.

(a) It is common to despise small things.

(b) It is foolish to despise small things. All great things were small in their beginnings.

(c) It is contemptible to despise small things. Truly great souls never do so.

(2) The success of feeble efforts is here guaranteed. The temple should certainly be completed. So it will be with every true work to which a true man puts his hand in the name of God. It will he finished; there will be no failures, success is inevitable. (Homilist.)

The golden candlestick

1. The Church of God is composed of the most precious human material in the world. The man who walks day by day with the King Eternal, Immortal and Invisible, is of far more value to the world, and is regarded by God as of more worth, than the man of the greatest intellectual attainments.

2. The Church is a light giver, because its power to give light is sustained from a source outside itself. The life of the Church of God is not self-sustaining. Gad is the sustaining power by which the Church is kept alive, and only as she is supplied from Him with the holy off of the Divine Spirit can she give out that light which is the life of men. The most perfect machinery without this life-sustaining force is useless to accomplish the Divine purpose of making the Church a blessing to the world. This mysterious living principle is due to a life at the back of all that is apprehended by the senses, a life which some call the efficient cause, but which we think it more reasonable to call the living God.

3. Because of this all-sufficient source of life we are assured that small beginnings in the kingdom of God will issue in great results. There is no such thing in nature as instantaneous result. The blade comes before the ear. The law of the spiritual kingdom is to begin with the small and end with the great. Connection with the source of life ensures growth unto perfection. (Outlines by a London Minister.)

The vision of the candlestick

1. The temple here represents the Church to be enlightened by Christ, she being in herself but dark, and void of light and comfort, till He come and appear in her, and for her, and make her light.

2. The ministry appointed of Christ for the direction, edification, and comfort of the Church are here represented by the candlestick, who should be pure, that they may be precious in His sight as gold, and who ought to shine by purity and holiness of life, and be instrumental in making the Church a shining light in a dark world.

3. The bowl upon the top of the candlestick which immediately receives the oil doth fitly represent Christ as Mediator, the head and storehouse of the Church, to whom is intrusted all fulness of gifts and graces for the Churchs behoof.

4. The variety and sufficiency of gifts communicate by Christ, for the good and salvation of the Church is represented by seven lamps, all tending one common end of burning and shining.

5. The way of deriving grace from Christ to His servants, by ordained and sanctified means, especially by His covenant; our dependence, and the bands of communion betwixt Him and His people, is represented by seven pipes going betwixt the bowl and the lamps. (George Hutcheson.)

The candlestick

In order to make Gods meaning clearer the prophet was granted the vision of the candlestick (lampstand), the gist of which was that the wick, though necessary to the light, played a very inconsiderable part in its production. It had no illuminating power; it could only smoke, and char, and smoulder. At the best it could only be a medium between the oil in the cistern and the fire that burnt on its serried edge. Thus Zerubbabel might be weak and flexible as a wick, but none of his deficiencies could hinder him finishing the work to which he had been called, if only his spirit was kindled with the Divine fire, and fed continually by the gracious influences of the Holy Spirit. The candlestick was evidently fashioned on the model of that in the temple, the shape of which is still preserved to us on the Arch of Titus. According to the R.V., there were seven pipes to each lamp. Nor was this all. On either side of this massive candlestick stood an olive tree, from the heart of which, by a golden pipe, the oil was continually being poured into the reservoir; so that, even though it might be limited in its containing power, there could be no failure in its ability to meet the incessant demands of the lamps. So far as the Jews were concerned, the meaning of the vision was obvious. They were represented in the candlestick, of which the many lamps and the precious metal of its composition set forth their perfection and preciousness in the thought of God. Their function was to shed the light of His knowledge on the world, as it lay under the power of darkness; whilst, to aid them in fulfilling this mission, Divine supplies would be forthcoming from a celestial and living source, and brought to them through the golden pipes, of which one represented Joshua the priest, and the other Zerubbabel the prince. These men, therefore, were but mediums for Divine communications. Their sufficiency was not of themselves, but of God. The mission of Israel would be realised, not by them, but by the Spirit of God through them. They might seem altogether helpless and inadequate; but a living fountain of oil was prepared to furnish them with inexhaustible supplies (F. B. Meyer, B. A.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER IV

The prophet, overpowered by his last vision, is roused by the

angel to behold another, 1;

intended also to assure the Jews of the success of Joshua and

Zerubbabel in building the temple, and surmounting every

obstacle in the way; till at length, by the good providence of

God, it should be finished, amidst the joyful acclamations of

the spectators, 2-10.

The angel’s explanation of the golden candlestick, and of the

two olive trees, 11-14.

NOTES ON CHAP. IV

Verse 1. The angel – came again, and waked me] Abp. Newcome considers this vision as represented on the same night, Zec 1:8, with the preceding ones. See the latter part of Zec 4:10, compared with Zec 3:9. After some interval the prophet, overpowered with the vision which had been presented to him, was awakened from his prophetic trance as from a sleep.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

The angel that talked with me; Christ, who for some time had left Zechariah, and bestowed some time on new dressing, and cleansing, and adorning Joshua, the high priest.

Came again: this is the fourth time of Christs revealing his mind to this prophet by vision.

Waked me; either roused him out of a drowsy fit and bodily sleep, or out of an ecstasy, or wonder, that surprising him, he was as if asleep; or shaked him out of a sluggish negligence, or an observance of these things.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. waked meThe prophet waslying in a state of ecstatic slumber with astonishment at theprevious vision. “Came again, and waked me,” does not implythat the angel had departed and now returned, but is an idiom for”waked me again.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

And the angel that talked with me,…. See Zec 1:9:

came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep; into which he fell, after he had had the former vision; see Da 8:18.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Zec 4:1. “And the angel that talked with me returned and waked me, like a man who is waked out of his sleep.” After the prophet has seen four visions one after another, probably with very short intervals, and has heard the marvellous interpretation of them, he is so overpowered by the impression produced by what he has seen and heard, that he falls into a state of spiritual exhaustion resembling sleep, just as Peter and his companions were unable to keep awake at the transfiguration of Christ (Luk 9:32). He has not only fallen back into the state of ordinary human consciousness, but his ordinary spiritual consciousness was so depressed that he resembled a man asleep, and had to be waked out of this sleep-like state by the mediating angel, in order to be qualified for further seeing. It is evident from the expression (and he returned) that the angelus interpres had left the prophet after the termination of the previous visions, and now came back to him again. The fresh vision which presents itself to his spiritual intuition, is described according to its principal features in Zec 4:2 and Zec 4:3. Zec 4:2. “And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I see, and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its oil-vessel up above it, and its seven lamps upon it, seven pipes each for the lamps upon the top of it. Zec 4:3. And two olive trees (oil trees) by it, one to the right of the oil-vessel, and one to the left of it.” The second ( chethib ) in Zec 4:2 might, if necessary, be explained in the way proposed by L. de Dieu, Gusset., and Hofmann, viz., by supposing that the mediating angel had no sooner asked the prophet what he saw, than he proceeded, without waiting for his answer, to give a description himself of what was seen. But this is at variance with the analogy of all the rest of the visions, where the visions seen by the prophet are always introduced with or followed by (cf. Zec 1:8; Zec 2:1, Zec 2:5; Zec 5:1; Zec 6:1), and it remains quite inflexible; so that we must accept the keri , which is adopted by the early translators, and found in many codd., as being the true reading, and pronounce a copyist’s error. On the combination , in which the last two words are construed as a relative clause in subordination to m e norath , see Ewald, 332, c.

The visionary candlestick, all of gold, with its seven lamps, is unquestionably a figurative representation of the seven-branched golden candlestick in the tabernacle, and differs from this only in the three following additions which are peculiar to itself: (1) That is has its gullah ( for , with the feminine termination resolved; cf. Hos 13:2, and Ewald, 257, d), i.e., a can or round vessel for the oil, which was omitted altogether from the candlestick of the holy place, when the lamps were filled with oil by the priests, “at the top of it” ( ); (2) That it had seven mutsaqoth (pipes) each for the lamps, that is to say, tubes through which the oil poured from the gullah into the lamps, or was conducted to them, whereas the candlestick of the tabernacle had no pipes, but only seven arms ( qanm ), for the purpose of holding the lamps, which of course could not be wanting in the case of the visionary candlestick, and are merely omitted from the description as being self-evident. The number of the pipes is also a disputed point, viz., whether means seven and seven, i.e., fourteen, or whether it is to be taken distributively, seven each for the lamps, i.e., seven for each lamp, and therefore forty-nine for the seven. The distributive view is disputed by Hitzig and Koehler as at variance with the usage of the language: the former proposing to alter the text, so as to obtain seven pipes, i.e., one for each lamp; and the latter, on the other hand, assuming that there were fourteen pipes, and inferring from the statement “seven and seven,” instead of fourteen, that the second seven are to be sought in a different place from the first, that is to say, that the first seven led from the oil-vessel to the seven different lamps, whilst the second seven connected the seven lamps with one another, which would have been a very strange and perfectly useless provision. But there is no foundation whatever for the assertion that it is at variance with the usage of the language. For although a distributive relation is certainly expressed as a rule by the simple repetition of the number without any connecting Vav, such passages as 2Sa 21:20 and 1Ch 20:6 show quite indisputably that the repetition of the same number with the Vav cop. between is also to be taken distributively. When, for example, it is stated in 2Sa 21:20, with regard to the hero of Gath, that the fingers of his hands and the fingers (toes) of his feet were “ shesh vashesh , four-and-twenty in number,” it is evident that shesh vashesh cannot mean “six and six,” because six and six do not make twenty-four; and a division of the shesh between the hands and feet is also untenable, because his two hands had not six fingers on them, but twelve, and so his two feet had not six toes on them, but twelve. Consequently shesh vashesh must be taken distributively: the fingers of his (two) hands and the toes of his (two) feet were six each; for it is only 2 + 2 (= 4) x 6 that can give 24. This is shown still more clearly in 1Ch 20:6: “and his fingers were shesh vashesh , four-and-twenty.” It is in this distributive sense, which is thus thoroughly established, so far as the usage of the language is concerned, that is to be taken: seven pipes each for the lamps, i.e., forty-nine for the seven lamps; inasmuch as if fourteen pipes were meant, it would be impossible to imagine any reason why “seven and seven” should be written instead of fourteen. And we cannot be shaken in this conviction, either by the objection “that if there was any proportion between the pipes and the size of the oil-vessel, such a number of pipes could not possibly (?) spring from one oil-can” (Koehler), or by the statement that “forty-nine would be quite as much at variance with the original as fourteen, since that had only one pipe for every lamp” (Hitzig). For the supposed original for the pipes had no existence, inasmuch as the Mosaic candlestick had no pipes at all; and we can form no opinion as to the possibility of forty-nine pipes issuing from one oil-vessel, because we have no information as to the size either of the oil-vessel or of the pipes. (3) The third peculiarity in the visionary candlestick consists in the olive trees on the right and left of the oil-vessel, which supplied it with oil, and whose connection with the candlestick is first described in Zec 4:12. These three additions which were made to the golden candlestick seen by Zechariah, as contrasted with the golden candlestick of the tabernacle, formed the apparatus through which it was supplied with the oil required to light it continually without the intervention of man.

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

The Vision of the Golden Candlestick; The Building of the Temple Encouraged.

B. C. 520.

1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: 3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? 5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. 6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. 7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. 8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. 10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

Here is, I. The prophet prepared to receive the discovery that was to be made to him: The angel that talked with him came and waked him, v. 1. It seems, though he was in conference with an angel, and about matters of great and public concern, yet he grew dull and fell asleep, as it should seem, while the angel was yet talking with him. Thus the disciples, when they saw Christ transfigured, were heavy with sleep, Luke ix. 32. The prophet’s spirit, no doubt, was willing to attend to that which was to be seen and heard, but the flesh was weak; his body could not keep pace with his soul in divine contemplations; the strangeness of the visions perhaps stupefied him, and so he was overcome with sleep, or perhaps the sweetness of the visions composed him and even sung him asleep. Daniel was in a deep sleep when he heard the voice of the angel’s words, Dan. x. 9. We shall never be fit for converse with spirits till we have got clear of these bodies of flesh. It should seem, the angel let him lose himself a little, that he might be fresh to receive new discoveries, but then waked him, to his surprise, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. Note, We need the Spirit of God, not only to make known to us divine things, but to make us take notice of them. He wakens morning by morning, he wakens my ear, Isa. l. 4. We should beg of God that, whenever he speaks to us, he would awaken us, and we should then stir up ourselves.

II. The discovery that was made to him when he was thus prepared. The angel asked him, What seest thou? v. 2. When he was awake perhaps he would not have taken notice of what was presented to his view if he had not thus been excited to look about him. When he observed he saw a golden candlestick, such a one as was in the temple formerly, and with the like this temple should in due time be furnished. The church is a candlestick, set up for the enlightening of this dark world and the holding forth of the light of divine revelation to it. The candle is God’s; the church is but the candlestick, but all of gold, denoting the great worth and excellence of the church of God. This golden candlestick had seven lamps branching out from it, so many sockets, in each of which was a burning and shining light. The Jewish church was but one, and though the Jews that were dispersed, it is probable, had synagogues in other countries, yet they were but as so many lamps belonging to one candlestick; but now, under the gospel, Christ is the centre of unity, and not Jerusalem, or any one place; and therefore seven particular churches are represented, not as seven lamps, but as seven several golden candlesticks, Rev. i. 20. This candlestick had one bowl, or common receiver, on the top, into which oil was continually dropping, and from it, by seven secret pipes, or passages, it was diffused to the seven lamps, so that, without any further care, they received oil as fast as they wasted it (as in those which we call fountain-ink-horns, or fountain-pens); they never wanted, nor were ever glutted, and so kept always burning clear. And the bowl too was continually supplied, without any care or attendance of man; for (v. 3) he saw two olive-trees, one on each side the candlestick, that were so fat and fruitful that of their own accord they poured plenty of oil continually into the bowl, which by two larger pipes (v. 12) dispersed the oil to smaller ones and so to the lamps; so that nobody needed to attend this candlestick, to furnish it with oil (it tarried not for man, nor waited for the sons of men), the scope of which is to show that God easily can, and often does, accomplish his gracious purposes concerning his church by his own wisdom and power, without any art or labour of man, and that though sometimes he makes use of instruments, yet he neither needs them nor is tied to them, but can do his work without them, and will rather than it shall be undone.

III. The enquiry which the prophet made concerning the meaning of this, and the gentle reproof given him for his dulness (v. 4): I answered and spoke to the angel, saying, What are these, my lord? Observe how respectfully he speaks to the angel; he calls him my lord. Those that would be taught must give honour to their teachers. He saw what these were, but asked what these signified. Note, It is very desirable to know the meaning of God’s manifestations of himself and his mind both in his word and by his ordinances and providences. What mean you by these services, by these signs? And those that would understand the mind of God must be inquisitive. Then shall we know if we follow on to know, if we not only hear, but, as Christ, ask questions upon what we hear, Luke ii. 46. The angel answered him with a question, Knowest thou not what these be? intimating that if he had considered, and compared spiritual things with spiritual, he might have guessed at the meaning of these things; for he knew that there was a golden candlestick in the tabernacle, which it was the priests’ constant business to supply with oil and to keep burning, for the use of the tabernacle; when therefore he saw, in vision, such a candlestick, with lamps always kept burning, and yet no priests to attend it, nor any occasion for them, he might discern the meaning of this to be that though God had set up the priesthood again, yet he could carry on his own work for and in his people without them. Note, We have reason to be ashamed of ourselves that we do not more readily apprehend the meaning of divine discoveries. The angel asked the prophet this question, to draw from him an acknowledgment of his own dulness, and darkness, and slowness to understand, and he had it immediately: “I said, No, my lord; I know not what these are.” Visions had their significance, but often dark and hard to be understood, and the prophets themselves were not always aware of it at first. But those that would be taught of God must see and acknowledge their own ignorance, and their need to be taught, and must apply to God for instruction. To him that gave us the cabinet we must apply for the key wherewith to unlock it. God will teach the meek and humble, not those that are conceited of themselves and lean on the broken reed of their own understanding.

IV. The general intention of this vision. Without a critical descant upon every circumstance of the vision, the design of it is to assure the prophet, and by him the people, that this good work of building the temple should, by the special care of divine Providence, and the immediate influence of divine grace, be brought to a happy issue, though the enemies of it were many and mighty and the friends and furtherers of it few and feeble. Note, In the explication of visions and parables, we must look at the principal scope of them, and be satisfied with that, if that be clear, though we may not be able to account for every circumstance, or accommodate it to our purpose. The angel lets the prophet know, in general, that this vision was designed to illustrate a word which the Lord had to say to Zerubbabel, to encourage him to go on with the building of the temple. Let him know that he is a worker together with God in it, and that it is a work which God will own and crown.

1. God will carry on and complete this work, as he had begun their deliverance from Babylon, not by external force, but by secret operations and internal influences upon the minds of men. He says this who is the Lord of hosts, and could do it vi et armis–by force, has legions at command; but he will do it, not by human might or power, but by his own Spirit. What is done by his Spirit is done by might and power, but it stands in opposition to visible force. Israel was brought out of Egypt, and into Canaan, by might and power; in both these works of wonder great slaughter was made. But they were brought out of Babylon, and into Canaan the second time, by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts working upon the spirit of Cyrus, and inclining him to proclaim liberty to them, and working upon the spirits of the captives, and inclining them to accept the liberty offered them. It was by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts that the people were excited and animated to build the temple; and therefore they are said to be helped by the prophets of God, because they, as the Spirit’s mouth, spoke to their hearts, Ezra v. 2. It was by the same Spirit that the heart of Darius was inclined to favour and further that good work and that the sworn enemies of it were infatuated in their councils, so that they could not hinder it as they designed. Note, The work of God is often carried on very successfully when yet it is carried on very silently, and without the assistance of human force; the gospel-temple is built, not by might or power (for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal), but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts, whose work on men’s consciences is mighty to the pulling down of strong-holds; thus the excellency of the power is of God, and not of man. When instruments fail, let us therefore leave it to God to do his work himself by his own Spirit.

2. All the difficulties and oppositions that lie in the way shall be got over and removed, even those that seem insuperable (v. 7): Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. See here, (1.) How the difficulty is represented; it is a great mountain, impassable and immovable, a heap of rubbish, like a great mountain, which must be got away, or the work cannot go on. The enemies of the Jews are proud and hard as great mountains; but, when God has work to do, the mountains that stand in the way of it shall dwindle into mole-hills; for see here, (2.) How these difficulties are despised: “Who art thou, O great mountain! that thou shouldst stand in God’s way and think to stop the progress of his work? Who art thou that lookest so big, that thus threatenest, and art thus feared? Before Zerubbabel, when he is God’s agent, thou shalt become a plain. All the difficulties shall vanish, and all the objections be got over. Every mountain and hill shall be brought low when the way of the Lord is to be prepared,” Isa. xl. 4. Faith will remove mountains and make them plains. Christ is our Zerubbabel; mountains of difficulty were in the way of his undertaking, but before him they were all levelled; nothing is too hard for his grace to do.

3. The same hand that has begun this good work will perform it: He shall bring forth the head-stone (v. 7); and again (v. 9), The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, be it spoken to his honour (perhaps with his own hands he laid the first stone), and though it has been long retarded, and is still much opposed, yet it shall be finished at last; he shall live to see it finished, nay, and his hands shall also finish it; herein he is a type of Christ, who is both the author and the finisher of our faith; and his being the author of it is an assurance to us that he will be the finisher, for, as for God, his work is perfect; has he begun and shall he not make an end? Zerubbabel shall himself bring forth the head-stone with shoutings, and loud acclamations of joy, among the spectators. The acclamations are not huzzas, but Grace, grace; that is the burden of the triumphant songs which the church sings. It may be taken, (1.) As magnifying free grace, and giving to that all the glory of what is done. When the work is finished it must be thankfully acknowledged that it was not by any policy or power of our own that it was brought to perfection, but that it was grace that did it–God’s good-will towards us and his good work in us and for us. Grace, grace, must be cried, not only to the head-stone, but to the foundation-stone, the corner-stone, and indeed to every stone in God’s building; from first to last it is nothing of works, but all of grace, and all our crowns must be cast at the feet of free grace. Not unto us, O Lord! not unto us. (2.) As depending upon free grace, and desiring the continuance of it, for what is yet to be done. Grace, grace, is the language of prayer as well as of praise; now that this building is finished, all happiness attend it! Peace be within its walls, and, in order to that, grace. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon it! Note, What comes from the grace of God may, in faith, and upon good grounds, be committed to the grace of God, for God will not forsake the work of his own hands.

4. This shall be a full ratification of the prophecies which went before concerning the Jews’ return, and their settlement again. When the temple is finished then thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. Note, The exact accomplishment of scripture prophecies is a convincing proof of their divine original. Thus God confirms the word of his servant, by saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, Isa. xliv. 26. No word of God shall fall to the ground, nor shall there fail one iota or tittle of it. Zechariah’s prophecies of the approaching day of deliverance to the church would soon appear, by the accomplishment of them, to be of God.

5. This shall effectually silence those that looked with contempt upon the beginning of this work, v. 10. Who, where, is he now that despised the day of small things, and thought this work would never come to any thing? The Jews themselves despised the foundation of the second temple, because it was likely to be so far inferior to the first, Ezra iii. 12. Their enemies despised the wall when it was in the building, Neh 2:19; Neh 4:2; Neh 4:3. But let them not do it. Note, In God’s work the day of small things is not to be despised. Though the instruments be weak and unlikely, God often chooses such, by them to bring about great things. As a great mountain becomes a plain before him when he pleases, so a little stone, cut out of a mountain without hands, comes to fill the earth, Dan. ii. 35. Though the beginnings be small, God can make the latter end greatly to increase; a grain of mustard-seed may become a great tree. Let not the dawning light be despised, for it will shine more and more to the perfect day. The day of small things is the day of precious things, and will be the day of great things.

6. This shall abundantly satisfy all the hearty well-wishers to God’s interest, who will be glad to see themselves mistaken in despising the day of small things. Those that despaired of the finishing of the work shall rejoice when they see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, when they see him busy among the builders, giving orders and directions what to do, and taking care that the work be done with great exactness, that it may be both fine and firm. Note, It is matter of great rejoicing to all good people to see magistrates careful and active for the edifying of the house of God, to see the plummet in the hand of those who have power to do much, if they have but a heart according to it; we see not Zerubbabel with the trowel in his hand (that is left to the workmen, the ministers), but we see him with the plummet in his hand, and it is no disparagement, but an honour to him. Magistrates are to inspect ministers’ work, and to speak comfortably to the Levites that do their duty.

7. This shall highly magnify the wisdom and care of God’s providence, which is always employed for the good of his church. Zerubbabel does his part, does as much as man can do to forward the work, but it is with those seven, those seven eyes of the Lord which we read of ch. iii. 9. He could do nothing if the watchful, powerful, gracious providence of God did not go before him and go along with him in it. Except the Lord had built this house, Zerubbabel and the rest would have laboured in vain, Ps. cxxvii. 1. These eyes of the Lord are those that run to and fro through the whole earth, that take cognizance of all the creatures and all their actions (2 Chron. xvi. 9), and inspire and direct all, according to the divine counsels. Note, We must not think that God is so taken up with the affairs of his church as to neglect the world; but it is a comfort to us that the same all-wise almighty Providence that governs the nations of the earth is in a particular manner conversant about the church. Those seven eyes that run through the earth are all upon the stone that Zerubbabel is laying straight with his plummet, to see that it be well laid. And those that have the plummet in their hand must look up to those eyes of the Lord, must have a constant regard to divine Providence, and act in dependence upon its guidance and submission to its disposals.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

ZECHARIAH – CHAPTER 4

THE SEVENTH VISION

Verses 1-7:

The Golden Candlestick And The Two Olive Trees

Verse 1 relates that the angel that had talked with Zechariah, ch. Zec 1:8, came to him and waked him again, much as a man is awakened out of sleep. He seems to have been in a state of happy slumber, ecstatic in dozing over what he had just seen and heard in vision six, when he was aroused and told that there was more for him to see, to hear, and to share of God’s future purpose for his people, 1Co 2:9; Eph 3:10.

Verse 2 opens with the angel’s inquiry of Zechariah to tell him what he saw, a thing he was later to tell to his people, and write for you and me. To the inquiry Zechariah responded that he had seen a candlestick or chandelier of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and seven lamps or branches on the candlestick, with seven pipes to the seven lamps to furnish them oil to burn, to give forth light. The description is similar to that of the Mosaic tabernacle, symbolizing first the Jewish worship and second that of the church later, Exo 25:32; Exo 25:37; Mat 5:14-16; Php_2:15. The number seven denotes sufficiency of the Holy Spirit’s power to every believer, given in fullness, not by measure, a little at a time, Joh 3:34.

Verse 3 asserts that Zechariah also saw two olive trees, located one on either side of the candlestick, furnishing oil, media through which the Spirit gave light to the world, Rev 11:3-4. These two olive trees seem to represent the future purpose of God to receive full glory through: 1) Israel’s kingdom restoration, and 2) the church of Jesus Christ, our Lord’s two institutional witnesses or Witness bearers, Isa 43:10; Isa 44:8; Joh 15:16; Joh 15:27; Act 1:8.

Verse 4 relates Zechariah’s request that the angel of the Lord explain to him the meaning of what he had seen in this seventh vision. He simply conceded that he had been shown prophetic matters that he himself did not fully understand, even as angels saw and heard matters of Divine revelation that they did not understand, but desired to look into, 1Pe 1:10-12. We too are to search the Scriptures, assured that the Holy Spirit and informing angelic help is available to help us, 1Co 2:12-13; 1Co 2:16; Rom 8:14-16; Rom 8:26-27; Heb 1:14.

Verse 5 declares that the angel of the Lord that had awakened him, responded to his request for an explanation of the meaning of what he had beheld. The angel asked, do you not understand what these really are, or what they symbolize? The angel did not ask him this, either for information, or to humiliate him, but to motivate him to reflect on the mystery, hidden in their symbolism, of God’s purpose to receive glory through both Jews, the old olive tree, and through the church, called from among the Gentiles as a people for His name sake, and as His light reflector, in this and all future ages, Luk 1:17; Luk 15:14; Eph 3:3-6; Eph 3:8-10; Eph 3:21; Mat 5:14-16. To the angel’s inquiry this prophet replied that he did not grasp the meaning of the candlestick and two olive tree vision.

Verse 6 then affirms that the angel explained to him that the meaning of it was that of which Zerubbabel the governor had formerly testified. It was that Divine redemption and restitution existed, neither by physical might nor by physical power, but by or through the Spirit, as witnessed by the Lord (Jehovah) of hosts, Hag 2:15; Zec 12:10; Mal 2:15.

Verse 7 challenges Babylon as a great or destroyed mountain, that could not stand against Zerubbabel of Judah, but would be brought down like a flat plain. God will bring forth, in His own time, the headstone and capstone of grace and full glory to the Redeemer, Heb 12:2. A victory accompanied with shouting by the redeemed, Psa 118:22; Luk 1:14; Mat 21:9; Rev 19:1-6.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

Another vision is narrated here, — that a candlestick was shown to the Prophet, on which there were seven lights. He says that the candlestick was formed all of gold: and he says that to the seven lamps there were as many cruses, (infusoria — pourers,) or, as some think, there were seven cruses to each lamp: but the former view is what I mostly approve, that is, that every lamp had its own cruse. He further says, that there were two olive-trees, one on the right, the other on the left hand, so that there was no deficiency of oil, as the olive-trees were full of fruit. Since then there was a great abundance of berries, the oil would not fail; and the lamps were continually burning. This is the vision, and the explanation is immediately added, for God declares that his Spirit was sufficient to preserve the Church without any earthly helps, that is, that his grace would always shine bright, and could never be extinguished.

There is, moreover, no doubt but that God set forth to Zechariah a figure and an image suitable to the capacities of the people. The candlestick in the temple, we know, was made of gold; we know also, that seven lamps were placed in the candlestick, for it had six branches; and then there was the trunk of the candlestick. As then the seven lamps shone always in the temple on the golden candlestick, it was the Lord’s design here to show that this ceremonial symbol was not superfluous or insignificant; for his purpose was really to fulfill what he exhibited by the candlestick: and such analogy is to be seen in many other instances. For it was not the Lord’s purpose simply to promise what was necessary to be known; but he also designed to add at the same time a confirmation by ceremonial types, that the Jews might know that their labor was not in vain when they lighted the lamps in the temple; for it was not a vain or a deceptive spectacle, but a real symbol of his favor, which was at length to be exhibited towards them. But we may more fully learn the design of the whole, by considering the words, and each part in order.

He says that the Angel returned; by which we understand that God, without any request or entreaty on the part of the Prophet, confirmed by a new prophecy what we have already observed; for the Prophet confesses that he was as it were overcome with astonishment, so that it was necessary to awake him as it were from sleep. The Prophet was not therefore able to ask any thing of God when under the influence of amazement; but God of his own free will came to his aid, and anticipated his request. We hence see that the faithful were not in one way only taught to entertain confidence as to the restoration of the Church; but as there was need of no common confirmation, many visions were given; and it must at the same time be added, that though no one interposed, yet God was of his own self solicitous about his Church, and omitted nothing that was necessary or useful to support the faith of his people. And farther, as the Prophet says that he was awakened by the Angel, let us learn, that except God awakens us by his Spirit, torpor will so prevail over us, that we cannot raise our minds above. Since God then sees that we are so much tied down to the earth, he rouses us as it were from our lethargy. For if the Prophet had need of such help, how much more have we, who are far below him in faith? Nay, if he was earthly, are we not altogether earth and ashes? It must yet be observed, that the Prophet was not so overwhelmed with drowsiness as with astonishment; so that he was hardly himself, as it is the case with men in an ecstasy.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

THE CANDLESTICK AND THE TWO OLIVE TREES

Zec 4:1-14

THIS fourth chapter of Zechariah brings to us the Prophets fifth vision, for the reception of which he was roused by the angel as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. The language employed would indicate that he was in a sort of stupor, having been overwhelmed by the greatness of the visions which he had already experienced.

You will remember that when Daniel was addressed by Gabriel he says, I was afraid, and fell upon my face: * * I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright (Dan 8:17-18). And again, the Apostle Peter at the transfiguration of Jesus, together with those that were with him, is reported as heavy with sleep and when they awoke they saw His glory. It is little wonder, therefore, that Zechariah should be in kindred condition, for he had seen a succession of glorious visions; and a respite was essential before another could be apprehended; and God had given it to him. But now the Angel rouses him again with the question, What seest thou?

The vision vouchsafed to the Prophet was in perfect line with what he had already beheld:

I have looked and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:

And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof (Zec 4:2-3).

And when the angel explains this vision, lo, it is a promise from God that Zerubbabel is to complete the Temple, which he had begun, but weakly deserted through fear of foes.

If, by the fourth vision, God gave to Zechariah a true conception of the priesthood of his times, in showing Joshuaragged and filthy, and yet encouraged him by a change of raimentsymbol of an improved priesthoodso in this fifth vision Zechariahs sorrows over the weakness of his Prince Zerubbabel are brought to an end by Gods picture of a better princein the same man, when he shall become Spirit-filled. About the time that Peter denied his Lord with cursing and swearing the little company of believers must have thought that they had a poor prospect for the Church, if its success depended in any measure upon that cowardly disciple. But when Pentecost was fully come, and Peter was Spirit-filled, how changed the prospect!

The chief purpose of this fifth vision was to show Zechariah, the Prophet, Gods plan to perfect His Temple by the hand of Zerubbabel. But a careful study of all the appointments of the vision bring out the chief features of this revelation.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE SEVEN LAMPS

I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof.

This is not the first time this candelabrum has appeared in Scripture: and it is this same candlestick of pure gold, with the six branches going out of the sides thereof, three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side, which, together with the central stem, were finished in seven cups, all of which were to be made after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. It belonged, therefore, to the symbols of that Levitical system, and a good student of the Scriptures would expect it to appear again, and yet again, on the further pages of the Fathers Book, in order that its great lessons might be repeated until their truths were evident and deeply impressed. What this candlestick meant in Exodus it means in Zechariah; and what it sets forth in Zechariah it suggests again in Revelation.

There are appointments of this candlestick about which equally faithful students dispute. But some of its lessons are so clear that no instructed Christian will dissent from that expression of them which I now propose.

First of all:God will not leave His world without light. The first sentence attributed by inspiration to the lips of God is thisLet there be light: and there was light. And since that hour the physical world has never been without it. Gods treatment of the human worldthe world of mind and morals, the world of manhas not been less considerate. The antediluvians had their lightsAbel, Enoch, Noah; the postdiluvians had their lights Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, and so on.

But God did better for the ancients than send them a few Prophets of light. He raised up a luminous nation in Israel. How marvelous are the types of the Old Testament! Has it not occurred to you that when that awful time of thick darkness lay on the land of Egypt for three days reproof for Pharaohs sin,a darkness in which the Egyptians saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days, the Children of Israel had light in their dwellings.

Bible students seem to be agreed that as this candlestick dispelled the darkness round about it, so Israel is Gods candlestick to that long period of time between Abraham and Jesus; and the Church has been Gods new candlestick now almost two thousand years. That is why the ancient Prophet, remembering the very appointments of Israel, could call upon her in this language:

Arise, shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee.

Far, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee.

And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising (Isa 60:1-3).

That is why Jesus, in that marvelous sermon on the Mount, could say to His disciples Ye are the light of the world (Mat 5:14). That is why, when Jesus, in the Revelation, vouchsafed the glorious visions of the Apocalypse to the Apostle John, he saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, and afterward explained, The seven candlesticks * * are the Seven Churches. If one follows Revelation through he will find the Churches of Christ, the worlds luminariesand its only luminaries, until our Lord, who is indeed the Sun of Righteousness shall arise.

While the candlestick cannot dissipate all the darkness, who can tell what it means to the sons of men to have it? Dr. Talmage once asked these questions, What is the difference between London and Madras? What is the difference between Edinburg and Canton? We can answer,the difference was that the Church had been shining, through her members, in New York and London and Edinburg, as she had not shone in Pekin, Madras and Canton. There had been light in the former cities; and gross darkness in the latter. Thank God that these candlesticks are now being lighted in the darkest places of the earth. It is said that in the dark vaults, where the Czars of Russia are buried, candles used to be kept ever burning. But it is in vain that they throw their feeble rays upon the eyes of the dead men. Not so with the candlesticks of our text. In their light is life, and where they shine the eyes of the dead are opened and they rise to walk in that light until the day dawn, and the Day Star arise.

The Godly alone can be world-luminaries. You must have noticed how, in the further figure of this candlestick it is all of gold. You will find by consulting comparative texts that the very pipes leading to the lamps were also of beaten gold. Gold, as a symbol of the character of the saints, is common in sacred literature. Job said, When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold (Job 23:10); and Jeremiah in Lam 4:2 speaks of The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold. And when the Apostle writes to the Philippians, appealing to them in the name of the highest Christian living, he says,

Do all things without murmurings and disputings:

That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;

Holding forth the Word of Life (Php 2:14-16).

It is only the man of golden character who can do this to the praise of God. Oh, to live such a life as to have the light therefrom never obscured! Who does not covet it? To shine steadily in the home; to shine steadily in the shop and office; to shine steadily when we walk the very streets, this indeed is the will of God for those whom He has set as lights in the world!

The lights from these candlesticks burned without intermission, and were types, therefore, of those who live Godly in Christ Jesus and continue in the things learned of Him. Better a small but steady light than the most brilliant one if it but light the darkness in the hour when men have need thereof.

There is a beautiful story told of a girl who lived on one of the Orkney Islands where, off from her home, a great rock jutted to the very surface of the sea. One night her fathers boat was driven on it, and the next morning his dead body was washed up on shore. When the father was buried and night came again this girl, remembering his fate, said, I will try to save other fishermen from the same. So she took her little candle and set it in the window casement. All night long she kept her spinning wheel turning, taking, now and then, time to trim the candle, and when it was exhausted replacing it with a new one. After that, in the wild storms of winter and the moonless nights of the more peaceful summer, in the times of driving mists, or heavy fogs, the coast was never a single night without the candle in the window. The men out at sea, coming in, knew just where the danger was because that little light shown unceasingly to guide them.

Oh, men in humble station; oh, women, shut up to what you have supposed to be small spheres, and possessed of only medium talents and opportunities, grieve not that yours is not a brilliant life; what God needs in His world is the steady light of holy living.

Permit another remark concerning the significance of the seven lamps.

The secret of their shining is the fullness of the Spirit. The lights of Zechariahs vision never failed because the bowl on the top thereof, from which the pipes received the oil, was being constantly replenished. In the Scripture, oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. As this oil poured through the knob into these candlesticks and kept them ever burning, so the Holy Ghost, through Jesus Christthe Head of all the saintsvivifies the willing servant. There is all the difference between the believer who has not received the Holy Ghost for service, and one who has received Him, that there was between the smoking, charred wick without oil, and the bright flame when the wick was trimmed and the pipes were oil-filled. There is no more difficult endeavor, no more egregious failure than the attempt to serve God without the infilling of the Spirit. Jesus said, Without Me ye can do nothing. He also said, Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. If one wanted to know just what is the fullness of the Spirit-filled life let him read Joh 7:38-39, He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive).

Ah, beloved, if our lives are indeed luminous, continually luminous, it will only be by such vital connection with our HeadChristthat the Holy Ghost can come upon us for service. We are continually asking the secret of successful Christians; the secret of the Peters, the Pauls, the Johns, the Luthers, the Wesleys, the Spurgeons, the Moodys.

A writer speaks of having seen a portrait representing a fire burning brightly against a stone wall. There seemed to be no fuel upon it, and yet the flame never faltered or diminished, and all this in spite of the fact that a huge figure was standing by the fire and constantly pouring water into the flames. But with each bucketful the flames burst forth even more brightly. This is not understood until one gets a glimpse behind the stone wall, where stands an angel with a mighty reservoir of oil beside him. The tube, connecting this oil with the fire, is in his hand, and as the water is dashed on, this smiling angel opens the tube and a fresh supply of oil runs into the bosom of the flame, so that instead of being quenched the water is converted into steam and sends the flame higher.

What a significant picture this is of the Spirit-filled life! Who can extinguish the flame thereof? What enemy can obscure its shining? Ah, truly, When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. This, beloved, is the significance of the seven lamps!

THE TWO OLIVE TREES AND THEIR TYPICAL MEANING

Then answered I, and said unto Him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?

And I answered again, and said unto Him, What he these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

And He answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord.

Then said He, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth (Zec 4:11-14).

This is Jehovahs word to Zerubbabel and it says, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.

The two olive trees were types of priest and prince.

These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

Zechariahs questions concerning the two olive trees and the two olive branches are one question, as is evident from the answer, referring them to Joshua and Zerubbabelthe two sons of oil. The priest and the prince are Divine appointments for the advancement of Gods cause in the earth. They combined in Melchisedec, who was the type of Christ; and, although in the Old Testament dispensation the offices commonly existed separately, they joined in pointing to that time when they should exist in One,even in Jesus. Zechariah is, himself, our authority for this assertion, for did not the Word of Jehovah come unto him, saying,

Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest;

And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold the Man whose Name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the Temple of the Lord:

Even He shall build the Temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His thro fie: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both (Zec 6:11-13).

Today these offices are better apart. Let Gods minister keep to his priesthood and his prophecies, and let rulership alone. Aaron has no right in Moses seat; Ezekiel can afford to turn over to Daniel the rulership in Babylon, and Joshua can keep his hands off Zerubbabels office.

Savonarola succeeded better as a priest than when he attempted to be Prince in Florence; John Calvin was a better preacher than ruler, and, on the whole, his influence would have been more far-reaching had he let the political administration alone. But, blessed be God, when Christ shall come He can fill, to the full, both offices; as a Priest, sit upon His throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

Worthy is He that once was slain,

The Prince of Life that groaned and died,

Worthy to rise, and live and reign

At His almighty Fathers side.

Through these two God overthrows the enemy.

When you have a righteous priesthood and a Spirit-filled prince, mountains of difficulties are leveled before their faces. As one rehearses the history of Israel he will find that when the enemy came in like a flood and Israel turned from God, there was fault either with the prince or priest, or both,and it is so today. In England, in America, in every civilized country of the world the priest and the prince are determining the state of the people.

It is possible to have a true ministry, such as existed in the time of Paul and Peter, but with worldlings upon the throne, such as were some of the Caesars, wickedness will abound and Christ be crucified afresh. When, however, the ruler and the minister are alike Godly, as in the days when Winthrop governed in Massachusetts, and the Puritan preachers were Gods priests and prophets, the enemy of mountainous proportions is laid low, and there is found to be in this combination a Divine power for which unregenerate men are unable to account.

You will remember the oration which Wendell Phillips delivered in the old South Meeting House in 1876. Speaking of the times of the Revolutionary War, he said of Boston, It was a petty town of some twenty thousand inhabitants; but the rays of royal indignation collected upon it served only to illuminate and not to consume. Almost every one of its houses had a legend. Every public building hid what was treasonable debate or bore bullet-marks of bloodshedevidence of royal displeasure. It takes a stout heart to step out of a crowd and risk the chances of support, when failure is death. The strongest, proudest, most obstinate race and kingdom on one side; a petty town the assailant; its weapons, idea; its trust, God and the right.

Yet, I doubt if even Phillips saw the truth so truly suggested by this vision, that Boston and vicinity were able to stand against the worlds first kingdom and defeat it, because, forsooth, they had righteous priests and a righteous prince.

The strength of these two was not physical but spiritual. This is Jehovahs Word to Zerubbabel, and it says, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.

It is a lesson hard to learn, that God can take the weak things of the world and confound the mighty. And yet it is a lesson often affirmed in Scriptures; and just as often confirmed by history.

In the preceding picture we saw a ragged and filthy priest; and in this, a weak and irresolute prince. But God changed the raiment of the priest,evidence of the change which His Spirit had wrought in his character;and God casts cowardice from Zerubbabels heart and fills him with courage to the finger-tips, because God proposes through these men to finish His Temple.

What an illustration of the truth, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. When one learns this he will know how to pray and how to meet the mightiest adversary.

Asa had learned it, and when he was about to join battle with Zerah, the Ethiopian, who had an army of a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots; Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee (2Ch 14:9; 2Ch 14:11).

No wonder we read, So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled (2Ch 14:12). That is like our God!

Beloved, do you not get consolation out of the fact that our very weakness, in His hand, becomes an instrument of power. Think how He encouraged Jacob, saying, Fear not, thou worm Jacob, worm without strength,I will help thee, Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff (Isa 41:14-15).

Why then need Gods man be filled with fear when the enemies round about him are thick and strong? I do not know, beloved, what may be your apparent source of danger; but, oh, I do know that however great your weakness, if you link it to Gods strength, you will be more than a match for the mountains that come against you!

It is said that when Saladin looked at the sword of Richard Coeur de Leon he wondered that a blade so ordinary should have wrought such mighty deeds. The English King bared his arm and said, It was not the sword that did these things; it was the arm of Richard.

And so it was not Zerubbabel, not Joshua, but the arm of God, and that arm is not now shortened. The very same arm is bared in behalf of all believers. What occasion then for the Apostles words to the Hebrews, Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

THE TOP STONE AND ITS ETERNAL TRUTHS

And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it!

Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this House: his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent Me unto you,

For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall Rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel..

The top stone completed the Temple of God. It is not the foundation stone, but, as the text puts it, it is e(the top stone, the corner of the Temple. It was a stone in the form of a triangle, the sides of which lay along the walls.

There is a tradition to the effect that one stone was set aside by the builders as without a place into which it could be fitted, and they believed that it was a mistake. But when at last the building was completed, save for a single stone, this rejected one was discovered to fit perfectly, and it was used as the top stone.

This tradition seems to have been confirmed by the Psalmist when he says, The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. And also by Jesus Himself, who asked the Jews rejecting Him, Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner? (Mat 21:42); and by Peter, addressing the elders and people regarding Jesus Christ whom they had crucified, declaring unto them, This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

There is no conflict between making Jesus the head of the corner, and the foundation stone also, as Isaiah makes Him, for He is truly both foundation and finial to that spiritual temple into which we are builded as living stones. We rest on Him as our foundation; we are finished in Him as our Head. He is indeed, the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last.

This stone comes to its place with acclamations.

And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Have you never read how,

When the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.

And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the House of the Lord was laid (Ezr 3:10-11).

And now that the cap-stone is being placed, they greet it with song, Grace, grace unto if!

How suggestive to remember that when Jesus was born a babe in Bethlehem a chorus of angels celebrated the event; when He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the multitude that followed, and went before Him, cried, saying, Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.

So sang those who had to do with the laying of the foundation of our hope, for this is Jesus, the Christ.

But if one wants to know what will be its completion, let him turn to Rev 19:1, and listen with John to the great voice of much people in Heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God. And again, as the Seer adds, I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him (Rev 19:6-7).

His work indeed is worthy of acclamation!

To put the top-stone of the Temple into its place was important; but to finish the work of our salvation was more important. And as God declared concerning Zerubbabel, the prince, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it, so He has promised concerning the work of Jesus Christ.

If one once becomes acquainted with dispensational truth his spirit must glow within him as he approaches the end of the Book of Revelation and studies that picture of Christs glorious triumph, casting the old serpent into the abyss, and shutting it and sealing it over him that he should deceive the nations no more; of Christs reigning alone over the whole wide world, and getting ready for the new heaven and the new earth, whose glories beggar description; and then to be told that we, as saints, shall share it all with Him! Should we not shout unto the Christ, Grace, grace to Him, and cry to men and angels in the language of the saintly Edward Perronet:

All hail the power of Jesus Name!

Let angels prostrate fall;

Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all.

Crown Him, ye martyrs of our God,

Who from His altar call;

Extol the stem of Jesses rod,

And crown Him Lord of all.

Ye chosen seed of Israels race,

Ye ransomed from the fall;

Hail Him who saves you by His grace,

And crown Him Lord of all.

Sinners, whose love can neer forget

The wormwood and the gall;

Go, spread your trophies at His feet,

And crown Him Lord of all.

Let every kindred, every tribe,

On this terrestrial ball,

To Him all majesty ascribe,

And crown Him Lord of all.

O, that with yonder sacred throng,

We at His feet may fall;

Well join the everlasting song,

And crown Him Lord of all.

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES.] The golden candlestick a symbol of the pure and prosperous state of the Jewish Church. Waked] Overpowered by what he had seen and heard, the prophet needed quickening into spiritual consciousness.

Zec. 4:2. Candlestick] or chandelier. Like the seven-branched golden candlestick in the tabernacle (Exo. 25:37; Eze. 21:31); but this visionary candlestick is a designed enlargement. Bowl] i.e. can or round vessel for the oil. Seven lamps] united in one stem (Exo. 25:32). Seven pipes] Lit. seven and seven. Some say, seven and seven, i.e. fourteen; others, seven each for each lamp, i.e. forty-nine for the seven; this not impossible. The greater the number of oil pipes, the more brilliant the light.

Zec. 4:3. Trees] Supplying oil to the bowl. Explanation (Zec. 4:12-14).

Zec. 4:5. Knowest not] No reproof of ignorance, though the vision might easily be mistaken, but a stimulus to inquiry. No] How candid the confession!

Zec. 4:6. Might] Lit. army, power. The work undertaken will be finished, not by human strength of any kind, but by the Spirit of God (cf. Hag. 2:5). 7] The resources of the Jewish leader were few, and the hindrances formidable, but the great mountain] will be depressed into a level plain, every obstacle removed, and the work completed. Headstone] Refers to the finishing of the structure. Shoutings] of acclamation. The repetition of favour or grace is for the sake of intensity; and the ascriptions of this favour to the stone, implies that it was possessed of this quality, and was to be the medium of its conveyance to others. The prediction was clearly fulfilled in our Redeemer. Grace or favour was poured through his lips [Henderson].

HOMILETICS

THE CHRISTIAN CHURCH THE GOLDEN LIGHT-BEARER.Zec. 4:1-6

In the former vision there was a display of the means and grounds of the forgiveness of sin. In this we have communications of grace, to conquer obstacles and establish the work of God. The Church is symbolized by the candlestick. Streams of golden liquid flow into it from one centre, to feed and preserve the light. Without the aid of man, the oil is supplied freely and copiously to bless a sinful world. Notice

I. The design of the Christian Church. To give light. It is created and constituted to be the light of the world. The world is spiritually dark: for darkness covers the earth, and gross darkness the people. But truth, light, and life are found in the Church of God.

1. Its light is diffusive. All light is diffusive. The light in the Church must not be quenched nor hid under a bushel. Individually and collectively, we must diffuse knowledge, holiness, and joyshine forth for the benefit of men and the glory of God.

2. Its light is borrowed. It is only a light-bearer, not a creator of light. Like the moon, the Church shines with a borrowed light. She has no resources of her own, but depends upon Christ the Sun of Righteousness for every kind and degree of influence. If she forgets her end, neglects her mission, and disowns her dependence, her light may be extinguished. In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

II. The unity of the Christian Church. The seven lamps may indicate its unityone candlestick, but many branches; one body, but many members. All sections of Christians are united together in Christ the Head. All have their light and place, and in proportion as they are supplied with oil and diffuse the sanctifying influence of truth to others, do they answer the end of their own illumination (cf. Job. 25:3; Php. 2:15).

III. The vitality of the Christian Church. It was fed and sustained by virtues not its own.

1. It was Divinely fed. The lamps were not furnished with oil, nor kept by human agency. The two living olive-trees poured their oil into the central reservoir without the skill and labour of man. The Church thrives, and the cause of God triumphs, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.

2. It was freely fed. The oil spontaneously flowed from the olive-trees. Christ has received gifts for men, and from his priestly and regal offices they are freely bestowed upon the Church. And of his fulness have all we received.

IV. The value of the Christian Church. The candlestick was gold. Though few in number, obscure and imperfect in character, Gods people are precious in his sight. They are his jewels, pure and indestructible. If they lose purity of life and doctrine they will tarnish their character and dim their lustre. How is the gold become dim! how is the fine gold changed! The preciousness depends upon the purity, and the responsibility upon the honour, of the Christian Church. The kings daughter is all-glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold.

The purest treasure mortal times afford,
Isspotless reputation: That away,
Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay [Shakspeare]

NOT BY MIGHT NOR BY POWERZec. 4:6

The vision was an embodied prophecy, intended in the first instance for the guidance and comfort of Zerubbabel. The prophet, and through him the people, are informed in their despondency of Gods purpose and method concerning his work. They must not faint, but rely upon him, who is all-sufficient, and would preserve and furnish them with needful means to finish the work. Not by might, &c. Take the words generally

I. Not by might nor power in Christian life. Spiritual life is the direct act of God; born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. From beginning to end it is promoted by the Spirit of God. Carlyle speaks of the almost omnipotent power of education, and others commend the refinements of life; but these do not satisfy conscience nor touch the heart. Men are saved by the renewing of the Holy Ghost. This is the doctrine of Scripture, and the characteristic of spiritual life.

II. Not by might nor by power in Christian work. The temple was rebuilt not by the might of this world. God procured the edict of Cyrus, and touched the hearts of Darius and Artaxerxes. In the day of Pentecost, and at the Reformation, in the revivals and movements of the Church, we recognize the same truth. In the work of the Spirit, the redeeming energy of Christ and the agency of God are preserved through all generations. By the Holy Spirit the power of God is brought into the world. God has all hearts in his hand, and all agencies under his control. He inflames the zeal, inspires the prayers, and bestows the qualifications for the spread of his kingdom. We rely too much upon numbers, eloquence, and human agencies. The great want of the day is the Holy Spirit. If we depend upon him, then however few and feeble in effort, the progress of the work will never be impeded. Systems founded by power and spread by force will come to nought. All they that take the sword, shall perish with the sword. Gods presence must be sought, and his power trusted. Then, when human means are hidden, and the might of the Spirit enjoyed, all the glory will be given to him.

HOMILETIC HINTS AND OUTLINES

Zec. 4:1-2. The weary and sleepy prophet.

1. Indicative of Christian weakness. Believers are mortal, cannot long bear up in spiritual duties, and often astonished by wonderful revelations in hard times (cf. Daniels sleep, ch. Zec. 10:9; and Peters at the Transfiguration, Luk. 9:32).

2. A type of all who stand unconsciously, and live carelessly, in the presence of God and great events. There is a lethargy of soul in the whole sphere of Divine realities; and men try to live indifferent to, or entirely without, the light and friendly visitations of God.

3. A proof of Gods goodness in rousing men to duty. We require stirring up in natural indolence and spiritual weakness, to reap the benefit of Divine instruction; and when the revelations are given, we do not understand them. The angel that talked with me came again. He wakeneth morning by morning; he wakeneth mine ear to hear, as the learned.

Zec. 4:2-3. Observe the candlestick is golden, and the oil is called golden. The Church must be pure and holy; what she teaches must be pure and holy also; not adulterated with the admixture of any novel doctrines, such as those which have been added by some to the faith once delivered to the saints, and imposed as necessary to salvation [Wordsworth].

Zec. 4:4-5. An apt pupil and a wonderful teacher. I. The pupil. The prophet

1. Not ashamed to confess his ignorance. Ignorance may be wilful, but criminal when it can be removed. Knowest thou not, &c., as much as to say that he ought to know (cf. Joh. 3:10). Its removal difficult. We may search and attend, yet not properly understand. The prophet was warned, and took heed to the angel, but required further teaching.

2. Sought to be instructed by asking questions. The prophet pretends to no knowledge which he does not possess. Let us imitate the twofold example; both that of inquisitiveness and that of ingenuousness. Let us be on the alert in our inquiries after knowledge; and in order to our acquiring it, never foolishly, and to save our pride or vanity, affect to have what we have not [Wardlaw]. II. The Teacher, the angel. Notice

1. His method, by asking counter-questions; to excite, quicken, and suggest. This is Socratic and Christ-like. The wisdom of ancient philosophers, and the teaching of Jesus, have come to us in dialogue forms.

2. His willingness. The pupil was eager and earnest, the teacher was able and willing. There are many, says one, whose ignorance clings to them because they are unwilling to confess it, and so to forsake it; whilst, on the other hand, there are others who are as reluctant to drop a word of wisdom from their lips, as a miser is to surrender a guinea from his purse. If not taught by angels, be thankful for the Bible and the Holy Spirit.

3. But the degree of information was not great. Explanations were reserved, and the pupil had to ask again (cf. Zec. 4:12-13). Enough was given to him for present duty, and this must be communicated to the people. One revelation only prepares for another, and by giving what we know, we increase our own stock of learning. He that watereth others shall himself be watered.

ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 4

Zec. 4:1-4. Candlestick. All human souls, never so bedarkened, love light; light once kindled spreads till all is luminous [Carlyle]. We are all naturally ambitious to shine in the world. It is the foible of our race; but the fault lies not in the passion itself, but in mistaking the sphere and choosing improper objects. Many are proud to shine in the lustre of pomp, the elegance of dress, or the splendour of equipage; others again are ambitious of the voice of fame, or the acquisition of power. To such as act by the opinion of the world alone, fashion is above all other laws. They study nothing but appearance. This object absorbs other appetites, passions, principles, and duties. But religion alone will teach from what principle, in what manner, and by what means to shine [Baseley].

Zec. 4:4-5. What? Conviction of ignorance is the door-step to the temple of wisdom [Spurgeon]. Compare thyself with those that are more learned or wise than thyself, and then thou wilt see matter to keep thee humble [Sir Mt. Hale]. Ask the reason Why? [Arkwright].

Ignorance is the curse of God;
Knowledge the wing wherewith we fly to heaven [Shakespeare].

Zec. 4:6-7. Power. Dependence gives God his proper glory. It is the peculiar honour and prerogative of Deity to have a world of creatures hanging upon itstaying themselves upon it; to be the fulcrum, the centre of a lapsing creation [Howe].

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER XXXI

A VISION OF A MENORAH AND OLIVE TREES

ZECHARIAH, CHAPTER Zec. 4:1-14

RX . . . And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have seen, and, behold, a candlestick all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof; and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shouting of Grace unto it. Moreover the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? for these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel; these are the eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro through the whole earth. Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive-trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered the second time, and said, unto him, What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

LXX . . . And the angel that talked with me returned, and awakened me, as when a man is awakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, What seest thou? And I said, I have seen, and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its bowl upon it, and seven lamps upon it, and seven oil funnels to the lamps upon it: and two olive-trees above it, one on the right of the bowl, and one on the left. And I inquired, and spoke to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these things, my lord? And the angel that talked with me answered, and spoke to me, saying, Knowest thou not what these things are? And I said, no, my lord. And he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of the Lord of Zorobabel, saying, Not by mighty power, nor by strength, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord Almighty. Who art thou, the great mountain before Zorobabel, that thou shouldest prosper? whereas I will bring out the stone of the inheritance, the grace of it the equal of my grace. And the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zorobabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it: and thou shalt know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to thee. For who has despised the small days? surely they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet of tin in the hand of Zorobabel: these are the seven eyes that look upon all the earth, And I answered, and said to him, What are these two olive-trees, which are on the right and left hand of the candlestick? And I asked the second time, and said to him, What are the two branches of the olive-trees that are by the side of the two golden pipes that pour into and communicate with the golden oil funnels? And he said to me, Knowest thou not what these are? and I said, No, my lord. And he said, These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

COMMENTS

Zechariahs fifth vision presents the rebuilding of the temple against the backdrop of two traditional symbols of Israel, the menorah, or seven branched candlestick, and the olive trees.
Again, as in the first vision especially, the record divides itself naturally along the lines of the prophets questions and the angels answers. In this case, the angel seems somewhat surprised that the prophet could not answer his own question.

(Zec. 4:1) The angel rouses Zechariah from the ecstasy of the previous vision to show him the present one.

WHAT THE PROPHET SAW . . . Zec. 4:2-3

The menorah provided the sole source of light in the tabernacle, the fact which gave it its symbolic significance. As it stood in the south of the Holy Place, directly opposite the table of showbread, it illuminated both the table and the altar of incense which stood on the west side of the Holy Place just outside the veil which separated this first sanctuary from the Holy of Holies.
The menorah had occupied a similar station in the original temple where ten such lights illuminated the sanctuary. Along with the other sacred implements these menorahs had been returned by Cyrus at the end of the Babylonian exile. The lampstand would take its place in the new temple when the re-construction was finally completed.
In Zechariahs vision the form of the Menorah is changed. Rather than a single shaft with its branches forming a single seven branched lampstand, the symbolic menorah of the vision is constructed in such a way that each branch of the main shaft forms the center shaft of a smaller menorah. The effect is seven smaller menorahs branching off from the main menorah. The intent is obviously seven times seven, which is an emphatic statement of absolute perfection, Gods perfect word to Israel.

WHAT THE MENORAH IN THE VISION MEANT . . . Zec. 4:4-10

(Zec. 4:4-5) These verses form the bridge between the vision and its meaning as interpreted by the angel. First the prophet asks the meaning of the vision. Then the angel asks him if he doesnt know the answer to his own question. The prophet answers in the negative. The next verse marks the beginning of the angels answer.

(Zec. 4:6) The multiple menorah of the vision represents the word of God to Zerubbabel and through him to the people. The multiplied perfection symbolized by the forty-nine lamps springing from a central shaft emphasize the correctness of that word.

In the vision attention is called to the bowl of the central shaft out of which the lamps originated. (Zec. 4:2-3) The bowl was a container for the oil which fueled the lamps. In the original menorah of the tabernacle, specific instructions were given concerning this oil container.

The oil contained in this bowl symbolized the Spirit of God which was in reality the source of divine illumination just as the oil was the ultimate source of the light of the menorah.
It is to this that the angel directs the prophet in verse six. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith Jehovah of hosts.

This message is addressed specifically to Zerubbabel as chief civil authority. He is to rebuild the temple not by the use of an army (might) or by (human) power but by the Spirit of God. Haggai has pointed out that the work was to be done by the Spirit (Hag. 2:5). Therefore Zerubbabel is not to be discouraged by the human weaknesses with which he must contend.

As we have seen, these weaknesses largely manifested themselves as fear. There was a desire on the part of the people to build a wall before the temple, lest they be attacked by their neighbors. There was a desire to tend first to business and farming lest their physical needs not be met during the building. God will have them know that military protection and the supplying of their own needs through their own efforts are not necessary. If they will apply themselves, His Spirit will supply every protection and need.
It is appropriate that this message be addressed to Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was governor of Judah, appointed by Darius. He is mentioned in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai, as well as Zechariah. From these books we know that it was he who, with Joshua the high priest, led the little band of released captives from Babylon and began rebuilding the temple in the second year of Darius.
According to Josephus and the apocryphal book of I Esdras, he was a personal friend of Darius, having won the kings friendship by winning in his presence a contest to determine what was strongest in all the world . . . wine, kings, women, or truth. Zerubbabel demonstrated that truth was strongest of all and so won the kings admiration. With it he won permission to go up to Jerusalem and build the temple, the center for the spreading of truth.

With all his connections in high places, along with his own dynamic personality and wisdom, there is no doubt the governor needed Zechariahs reminder that Gods work does not depend upon such things but upon His Spirit.
Having made Joshua fit to serve as religious authority in the preceding vision, God now prepares Zerubbabel to serve as civil authority. In the eighth and final vision these two offices will be symbolically united as one to be filled ultimately by the Messiah.

(Zec. 4:7-10) Trusting the divine power of the Spirit of God, Zerubbabel is to find the great mountain of difficulty in rebuilding suddenly become a level plain. He would have the honor of completing the temple which he had begun and of placing the final coping stones to the accompaniment of the cheers and praises of the people.

Recognizing that the work has been completed in the power of the Spirit rather than human might and power, the people will shout, grace, grace, when the chisled top stone is brought forth and put in place as the final act of building.

Those who have despised small things (Zec. 4:10), i.e. who have looked with contempt on the beginning of reconstruction, will be silenced when the final stone is placed. Thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto you There can be no doubt of the divine origin of prophecy when it is fulfilled before their eyes. Isaiah, prior to the captivity, had predicted . . . saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built. (Isa. 44:26)

In the beginning of the reconstruction, some had despised the footers of the second temple because it seemed the end product would be inferior to that of Solomon (Ezr. 3:1-2). These shall be won to optimism when they see the governor himself at work with the plummet in his hand. They will recognize in the-plumbing of the work by Zerubbabel the all seeing eyes of Jehovah (Zec. 4:10(b)). He whose eyes run to and fro through the whole earth, i.e. who is in constant command of all things everywhere, will also be watching this work.

WHAT THE OLIVE TREES MEANT . . . Zec. 4:11-14

The explanation of the two olive trees (Zec. 4:3), as well as that of the menorah, begins with a question. This time the question is directed to the angel by Zechariah. The trees stood on either side of the menorah and the prophet did not grasp their significance.

(Zec. 4:12-13) Before the angel answers, Zechariah repeats the question this time noting that the two olive trees are pouring oil into the menorah.

Once more the angel indicates surprise, or at least concern, that the prophet cannot answer his own question. One is reminded of Jesus response to Nicodemus, Art thou a teacher of Israel and understands not these things. (Joh. 3:10)

In verse fourteen we come to the angels answer. The two olive trees are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. The two anointed ones are Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor. These have been set apart by God to the task of re-establishing His people in the holy land. Through them the power of Gods Spirit will complete the task of reconstruction. This is apparent from the fact almost overlooked by Zechariah in asking for an explanation, namely that the oil which supplied the menorah was being poured out by the two olive trees.
A word must be said here in regard to the Spirit of God in this text. One of the objections of the Jews through the ages to the Christian faith has been their inability to accept the so-called doctrine of the trinity, They have the impression that Christians worship three gods.
If we are to take our understanding of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit from the traditional creeds of Romanism and Protestantism, the charge certainly seems a valid one. Such creedal statements, however, are not Scripture.
In Zechariah are references to God from the view of three manifestations. These in effect amount not to three gods, but to one God in three relationships to His people. None would question that the frequent references to Jehovah in Zechariah answer to the manifestation of deity commonly called the Father.

In Zec. 2:10(b), Jehovah speaks. The conclusion of His statement in Zec. 2:11 (b) is and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto thee. Jehovah presents Himself as both sent and sender! This is precisely the relationship expressed by Isaiah and repeated by Matthew, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name, Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

In Zechariah, the Spirit is added to these relationships of God to His people. Chapter four, verse six, indicates that the rebuilding of the temple is to be done by the Spirit of Jehovah. In the symbolism of Zechariahs vision this Spirit is poured into the work through His two anointed servants. There is no essential difference between the Spirit of God here and the, Spirit of God promised to His people as a presence under the New Covenant.

The Spirit Who directed the re-building of the second temple through Joshua and Zerubbabel, today directs the building of the church through Jesus in Whom the civil and priestly offices are combined as the Anointed One. (cp. Eph. 3:14 -ff)

Chapter XXXIQuestions

A Vision of a Menorah and Olive Trees

What is the backdrop against which Zechariahs fifth vision is presented?

Describe Zechariahs fifth vision?

Describe the menorah used in the tabernacle.

Describe the menorah of Zechariahs vision.

What is symbolized by the multiple menorah of the vision?

The oil contained in the bowl of the menorah symbolized ___________ as the source of Gods light to His people.

The human weaknesses of those to whom Zechariah spoke were manifest largely as _________________.

Show the appropriateness of this part of Zechariahs message being addressed to Zerubbabel.

What was Zerubbabels relationship to Darius?

10.

Along with permission to build the temple, Zerubbabel was charged by Darius to ________________.

11.

Who are those who have despised small things?

12.

What is the meaning of the two olive trees in Zechariahs vision?

13.

How does the vision of the Menorah and the olive trees relate to the Jewish objection to the doctrine of the trinity?

14.

In the symbolism of this vision, the Spirit is poured into the work through ____________________.

15.

The Spirit who directed the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel also directs us today in the building of __________________.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

IV.
FOURTH VISION.THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK.

(1) Came again, and waked.Better, possibly, again waked me, the construction being similar to that of Zec. 5:1. But it is not impossible that the angel had gone forth, as before (Zec. 2:3), to receive some fresh instruction from a higher angel, or from God, and that now he came back again. From this verse it would appear that between some of the visions the prophet fell into a state of lethargy, and that the angel roused him; or it may be that all the visions are seen in a dream, and that he only seemed in his dream to be woke up. (See Note on Zec. 1:8.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

A SERIES OF SEVEN VISIONS.

Zec. 1:7 to Zec. 6:15. Between the commencement of Zechariahs prophetic labours and the incidents recorded in Zec. 1:7 to Zec. 6:15, the Prophet Haggai received the revelation contained in Hag. 2:10-23. On the four-and-twentieth day of the eleventh month, just five months after the re-building of the Temple was resumed, Zechariah sees a succession of seven visions in one night, followed by a symbolic action (Zec. 6:9-15).

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

The fifth vision the golden candlestick and the two olive trees, 1-14.

The fourth and fifth visions are closely connected; the former centers around the person of the ecclesiastical head, Joshua, the high priest, the latter around that of the civil head, Zerubbabel, the governor. In the vision Zechariah beholds a golden candlestick with seven lamps; on top was a reservoir of oil connected with the lamps by pipes. Beside it stood two olive trees; from the overhanging branches of these oil flowed continually into the reservoir and from it into the lamps.

It may not be possible to determine the meaning of every feature of the vision, but its general purpose is clear. (See p. 592.)

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

1. In this vision the interpreting angel appears first.

Came again The angel seems to have withdrawn temporarily; in the fourth vision he appears if at all only in Zec 3:1. Perhaps “he came again and waked me” is equivalent to “he waked me again,” to see a new vision. Evidently Zechariah recognizes that his condition during the visions is not the same as during the intervals that elapse between the separate visions.

Waked me What the prophet has seen and heard has overpowered him; he has become spiritually exhausted, and has fallen into a state resembling sleep (Luk 9:32); out of this condition the angel rouses him to show him the new vision.

What seest thou? The angel addresses this question to the prophet as soon as he opens his eyes (see on Amo 7:8; Amo 8:2; compare Jer 1:11; Jer 1:13).

The principal features of the new vision are described in Zec 4:2-3.

I have looked R.V., “seen”; perhaps better, I see.

A candlestick all of gold This candlestick may have been suggested by the candlestick in the tabernacle (Exo 25:31; 1Ch 4:20), which was of gold, but in some respects the candlestick in the vision differs from its prototype.

With a bowl upon the top of it This means a reservoir for the oil used in the lamps. The oil holder was absent from the candlestick in the tabernacle; there the oil was supplied daily by the priests. However, the bowl may have been suggested by the cups (Exo 25:31; Exo 25:33-34), though the Hebrew word used here is entirely different, and the cups served only as ornaments.

Seven lamps How they were attached is not stated.

Seven pipes To supply oil from the reservoir. This is another feature absent from the candlestick in the tabernacle. The Hebrew is literally “seven and seven pipes to the lamps,” which admits of a twofold interpretation; either, fourteen pipes to the seven lamps, that is, two to each, or, in a distributive sense, seven pipes to each one of the seven lamps (so R.V.), a total of forty-nine. The Hebrew permits either interpretation, and either is thinkable; the latter is more in accord with Hebrew usage. No indication is given how or where the pipes were connected with the lamps. LXX. and Vulgate omit one “seven” and read “seven pipes to the lamps,” that is, one to each, which simplifies the picture and may be original.

Which are upon the top thereof The meaning seems to be that the lamps are on the top of the candlestick; the same statement is made concerning the oil holder, which makes it very difficult to determine the exact relative position of the different parts of the candlestick. Some commentators favor the omission of the words as an erroneous repetition from the first part of the verse.

Two olive trees Another feature absent from the tabernacle (compare Rev 11:4). One was upon the left, the other upon the right side of the oil holder; in Zec 4:11 it is said that they were beside the candlestick, which is equally true. Two branches from these trees, one from each, supplied the oil for the lamps.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

THE EIGHT NIGHT VISIONS, Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:8.

About three months after Zechariah’s first utterance and five months after building operations on the temple were resumed (Hag 1:15) there came to Zechariah in one single night a series of symbolical visions. Their significance was made plain to him by a heavenly interpreter. The visions have one common purpose, “the encouragement of the Jews to continue the work of restoring the temple and rebuilding the city and the re-establishing of the theocratic government.”

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The Fifth Vision. The Living God Among His People – the Golden Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees ( Zec 4:1-14 ).

It will have been noted that the work of the Messiah has been connected with the High Priest and not with Zerubbabel the Prince. Clearly the work of cleansing and atonement was seen as being closely connected with the priesthood (compare Isa 52:15). Now, however, for the purpose of ensuring the building of the Temple Zerubbabel comes to the fore. It is he who is the present prince of Judah and it is for this that he has been raised up. But it should be noted that he does it in close connection with the High Priest Joshua, for it is these two who are represented as ‘the sons of oil’.

Zec 4:1-2

‘And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me as a man who is awoken from sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” ’

The idea here might be that Zechariah sees himself as being awoken to new truth. He had been ‘asleep’ and now he is ‘awake’. But more probably it indicates his awakening from his heavenly trance in which has been present at the heavenly court. Now he has been brought down to earth. We note that he is now restored to his old questioning self.

Zec 4:2

-3 ‘And I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on top of it and its seven lamps on it. There are seven lips to each of the lamps which are on the top of it. And two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on the left side of it.” ’

The prophet sees a golden lampstand with seven lamps on it each of which has seven lips in which the wicks would be placed. This must be seen as representing the sevenfold lampstand in the tabernacle (Exo 25:31-40) although it is very different in design. There is a greater intensification of seven indicating its divine perfection (for seven was seen as the number of divine perfection throughout the Near East).

Similar lampstands have been found at Ugarit, Dan, Gezer and Lachish. The ones at Ugarit had round bases with a bowl with seven spouts at the top.

In the tabernacle the lampstand was the representation of God as the light of Israel. No man, apart from ‘the Priest’ once a year, could enter the Holiest where God would sometimes reveal His presence in full glory. Thus the lampstand, sevenfold in its divine perfection, was the reflection of that glory.

Here in Zechariah the lampstand signifies the presence of the living God, and the all-knowingness of God (Zec 4:10). A man’s life was often called his ‘lamp’ (Job 21:17; Pro 20:20; Pro 24:20 see also 2Sa 21:17; 1Ki 11:36), and the lampstand, once removed, signified the death of the church (Rev 2:5). So the lampstand represents life. In that case the lampstand here represents the living God, ‘the Lord of the whole earth’, fully present and fully aware. He is ‘the Light of the world’, but it is a light that must first be known in Israel.

So the sevenfold lampstand indicates that God is present with His people and is ready to show His power in a divinely perfect way. The two olive trees, rather than feeding the lampstand, are themselves fed by it (‘golden oil’ for the golden lamp – Zec 4:12). The lampstand indicates the presence of God’s Spirit ready to act through the two ‘olive trees’ (Zec 4:6).

The olive trees in fact represent the two men who have been anointed with oil, the two ‘sons of oil’ (Zec 4:14), the High Priest and the Governor who stand beside the lampstand in the light of the omniscience and living power of God, just as later we are told that the two ‘sons of oil’ stand by ‘the Lord of the whole earth’ (Zec 4:14).

This contradicts the common view that the lampstand represents God’s people as a witness fed by the olive trees, but that view is not borne out by the narrative and the applications actually given here. Here it is describing the Spirit as empowering Zerubbabel (Zec 4:6). It is true that the seven lampstands in Revelation represent God’s witnesses (as the olive trees do here) but they have in the midst of them the glorious Son of Man as the lampstand is in the midst here. Then the church has become one with Him and is part of His revelation of Himself as the light of the world. But that is progressive. Here the golden lampstand, the living God, there the living Christ. Here the olive trees, the servants of God, there the lampstands. The final idea is similar.

Zec 4:4-5

‘And I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these my Lord?” Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No my lord.”

The prophet is puzzled by the vision and politely asks the angel for an explanation.

Zec 4:6

‘Then he answered and spoke to me saying, “This is the word of YHWH to Zerubbabel saying, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says YHWH of Hosts.’

The vision is a message to Zerubbabel and indicates that the power of God’s Spirit is at work through him. He must recognise that what he is to accomplish will not be by human strength or authority, but by God’s divine activity.

We should note, however, that the oil is elsewhere a symbol of dedication, not strictly a symbol of the Spirit. Anointing is always a symbol of dedication to God. It will be because he and Joshua are fully dedicated and obedient that the Spirit will be able to enable them to do His work. Their testimony will especially be made through the building of YHWH’s house (Zec 4:9).

Zec 4:7

‘Who are you, oh great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain. And he will bring forth the headstone with shoutings of “Grace, grace to it.” ’

The task that lies before him is like a great mountain to climb, but because God is at work He will succeed. That mountain will become a flattened plain easy to walk over. The prophet is aware that the huge task of building the Temple will not be easy. It will require great resourcefulness and dedication, but it will be successfully accomplished and the headstone, which signifies near completion of the task, will be laid to great shouts celebrating the grace of God.

The passage reminds us that there is a sense in which God’s moving forward of His work is dependent on our willingness to be dedicated. Whatever the task may be, if we are not ready then He will not act. But once we respond fully and the time is ripe then nothing will prevent the fulfilment of His work.

Zec 4:8

‘Moreover the word of YHWH came to me saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands will also finish it, and you will know that YHWH of Hosts has sent me to you.” ’

God gives His guarantee that what Zerubbabel is willing to commence God will bring to completion. Zerubbabel has acted in faith in relaying the foundations and now God will seal his faith with the finalisation of the work by his hand. This time nothing will be allowed to stop it. When that is done it will be evidence to all that the prophet was sent by YHWH.

But it important to note that while Zerubbabel will successfully build the Temple no other advances are connected with him. He is jointly responsible for a new beginning, but it is only a beginning. Whatever people’s messianic hopes may have been, they are not expressed here.

Zec 4:9

‘For who has despised the day of small things? For they will rejoice and will see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, even these seven who are the eyes of YHWH. They run to and fro through the whole earth.’

‘The day of small things.’ The beginnings may not seem very auspicious and may appear to be a small thing, but it would be a mistake to despise such a beginning. When the governor takes the plummet in his hand and lays the final headstone all will rejoice at the great success that has been achieved. But it is only the beginning. Greater things are yet to be. But we note that the seven eyes of YHWH rejoice in the plummet in Zerubbabel’s hand equally with the bringing forth of the Branch. For the humble work of the former will produce the sprouting of the latter.

And those who rejoice will not be just the earthly watchers, but ‘the seven who are the eyes of YHWH’ who cover the whole earth. This last may refer back to the scouts of chapter 1 who walked through the whole earth and saw that it was at rest. The idea behind seven is the divine perfection and completeness of the eyes. They are universal. And they will see the fulfilling of the triumphant purpose of God. (If they refer to the scouts, and if we want to be pedantic. this would then mean that beside the rider of the red horse there were two red horses, two sorrel horses and two white horses (Zec 1:8)). In our view the picture he gives full support to the rendering ‘eyes’.

However the number seven occurs in Zec 3:9 and Zec 4:2 referring to the facets on the stone in Joshua’s turban, specifically described as ‘seven eyes’ or ‘springs’, and the seven ‘lamps’ on the lampstand. This would seem also to indicate that the stone in Joshua’s turban and the seven lamps both indicate God’s omniscience and wide-ranging power and authority. It is because of these that both Joshua and Zerubbabel will be finally successful. Thus the seven eyes and the seven lamps symbolise the divine light and the divine life which reveal all and make it known. They indicate that nothing is hidden from the God Whom they serve.

Zec 4:11

‘Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lampstand and on its left side?” And I answered the second time and said to him, “What are these two olive branches which are beside the two golden spouts (or pipes) that empty the golden oil out of themselves?” And he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No my lord.” Then he said, “These are the two sons of oil who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” ’

The interpretation often made here is that the olive trees feed the lamps. But this is based on certain unsupported assumptions that are made and must be questioned. It can equally mean that the two olive trees are fed by the lampstand. This is supported by the fact that what is transferred is ‘the golden’ (oil is assumed). It is the lampstand which is associated with gold not the olive trees. Thus the idea is that it is the Lord of the whole earth Who ‘anoints’ the olive trees who represent Joshua and Zerubbabel.

(It is actually no more incongruous to have the lampstand feeding the olive trees than to have a lampstand directly fed by olive trees. Olive oil does not flow from olive trees, it is obtained from the fruit of olives. And these were not golden olives!).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Eight Night Visions And Accompanying Oracles ( Zec 1:7 to Zec 6:8 ).

Zechariah now goes on to describe eight night visions, which he appears to have had in one night, which are in the main accompanied by oracles. These portray the commencement of the new beginning and are as follows:

The Horsemen Scouts go through the whole earth and find it at rest – Jerusalem will be restored (Zec 1:7-17).

The Four Horns and the Four Smiths – the opposing nations will be pared back (Zec 1:18-21).

The Man With The Measuring Line to Measure Jerusalem – Jerusalem will be reoccupied and God will dwell among His people (Zec 2:1-13).

The Accusation and Cleansing Of Joshua the High Priest – the High Priesthood is restored and the promise is made of the coming Branch (Zec 3:1-10).

The Golden Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees – Zerubbabel, with Joshua, (the two anointed ones), will rebuild the Temple (Zec 4:1-14).

The Flying Scroll – a curse will go out that will rid the land of sin (Zec 5:1-4).

The Woman in the Ephah – wickedness is to be despatched to Shinar/Babylon (Zec 5:5-11).

The Chariots, which are the Four Winds from the Lord, will travel through the whole earth and especially bring quietness in the north (Zec 6:1-8), the source of past invasion. Jerusalem will dwell securely.

Thus the process of restoring and ensuring the security of Jerusalem, is to be accompanied by the restoration of the High Priesthood, the rebuilding of the Temple against all odds, the purification of the whole land, the removal of wickedness, and the ensuring of peace in the north (Mesopotamia).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Zec 4:1-14 Zec 1:1 to Zec 3:10 tells what great things God is going to do. The fourth chapter tells how God is going to do them, “by my Spirit.”

Zec 4:1-14 Zerubbabel leading Jews from captivity to Jerusalem is a type of Jesus coming to build church and eternal city of God.

Zec 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,

Zec 4:2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof:

Zec 4:2 “And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it” Comments – In Rev 1:20, the candlesticks symbolized the church, which is the body of Christ. The seven candlesticks in Revelations would represent both the Temple and the New Testament Church.

Rev 1:20, “The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches .”

Also, note:

1Co 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you , which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?”

Zec 4:2 “and his seven lamps thereon” – Comments – This represents seven spirits (Rev 4:5).

Rev 4:5, “And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God .”

Zec 4:6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Zec 4:6 “This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel” Comments – BDB says the Hebrew name “Zerubbabel” means “sown of Babylon.” He was a descendant of David (1Ch 3:19) who led many Jews from captivity back to Judah (Ezr 2:2), a leader with the high priest Joshua (Ezr 4:2-5)

1Ch 3:19, “And the sons of Pedaiah were, Zerubbabel , and Shimei: and the sons of Zerubbabel; Meshullam, and Hananiah, and Shelomith their sister:”

Ezr 2:2, “Which came with Zerubbabel : Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:”

Ezr 4:3, “But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel, said unto them, Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia hath commanded us.”

Ezr 5:2, “Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them.”

Zec 4:6 “Not by might, nor by power” Word Study on “might” Strong says the Hebrew word “might” ( ) (H2428) means, “a force, such as an army, wealth, virtue, valor, strength.”

Word Study on “power” – Strong says the Hebrew word “power” ( ) (H3581) literally means, “force,” and figuratively it mean, “capacity, means, produce,” and it comes from an unused root meaning, “to be firm, vigor.”

Comments – The king of Persia had made a decree for them not to build. This was the most powerful voice on earth at that time.

Zec 4:6 “but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts” Comments – Note the following examples of how God wrought by His Spirit.

1. Ezr 1:1 – God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus to restore Jerusalem and to build the temple.

Ezr 1:1, “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,”

2. Ezr 5:1-2 – After the work ceased, God helped them by sending the words of the prophets.

Ezr 5:1, “Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them.”

Hag 1:14, “And the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people ; and they came and did work in the house of the LORD of hosts, their God,”

Hag 2:4-5, “Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, saith the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all ye people of the land, saith the LORD, and work: for I am with you, saith the LORD of hosts : According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my spirit remaineth among you : fear ye not.”

Zec 4:6 Scripture References – Note a similar verse:

Psa 127:1, “Except the LORD build the house, they labour in vain that build it: except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain.”

Note the strength of God’s spirit:

Isa 31:3, “Now the Egyptians are men, and not God; and their horses flesh, and not spirit. When the LORD shall stretch out his hand, both he that helpeth shall fall, and he that is holpen shall fall down, and they all shall fail together.”

Zec 4:7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Zec 4:7 “and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings” Comments – The NBD says that this stone may refer to the a large stone laid in the foundation, or to the last stone laid in an arch, or the final stone on the top corner of a building. Jesus is chief cornerstone. Jesus is head of the church. Zec 4:7 represents the adversary trying to hinder the building of the church of Jesus Christ.

Psa 118:22, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.”

Act 4:11, “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.”

Eph 2:20, “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;”

1Pe 2:7, “Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,”

Zec 4:7 “crying, Grace, grace unto it” Comments – The pronoun “it” refers to the Temple. Today, God’s house is the Church. God gives His children grace, hence, “Grace to you,” (Rom 1:7).

Rom 1:7, “To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints: Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.”

The foundation of the second Temple was finished in Ezr 3:11. The Temple was finished in Ezr 6:15-18.

Ezr 3:11, “And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid .”

Ezr 6:15-18, “And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. And the children of Israel, the priests, and the Levites, and the rest of the children of the captivity, kept the dedication of this house of God with joy , And offered at the dedication of this house of God an hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs; and for a sin offering for all Israel, twelve he goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And they set the priests in their divisions, and the Levites in their courses, for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem; as it is written in the book of Moses.”

Zec 4:7 Comments – Note the power of the spoken word of faith:

Mat 21:21, “Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; it shall be done.”

Zec 4:8 Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Zec 4:9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you.

Zec 4:9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house” Comments – Note:

Ezr 3:8-10, “Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel , and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward , to set forward the work of the house of the LORD . Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites. And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD , they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.”

The temple had begun, but only the foundation had been laid before the decrees from their adversaries stopped the work (Ezr 4:1; Ezr 4:4; Ezr 4:24).

Ezr 4:1, “Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel;”

Ezr 4:4, “Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building,”

Ezr 4:24, “Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia.”

However, the result of passages like these in Haggai and Zechariah is that the people began to build by faith, not by sight (circumstances).

Zec 4:9 “his hands shall also finish it” – Comments – The Temple was finished in the sixth year of Darius in 515 B.C. (Ezr 6:15).

Ezr 6:15, “And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king.”

It had to be by faith despite the circumstances, and it was by God’s Spirit stirring up people to work and overcoming their adversaries. (Ezr 5:2; Ezr 6:1-11)

Zec 4:9 “and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you” Comments – Zechariah is saying that this is the evidence, or proof, that God has sent him to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and people (Deu 18:22).

Deu 18:22, “When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.”

Paul also had evidence that God had sent him to the Gentiles (1Co 2:4, 1Th 1:5).

1Co 2:4, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power:”

1Th 1:5, “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake.”

Zec 4:9 Comments – Zerubbabel represents Jesus. Jesus laid the foundation, His Gospel, and He will finish it, the task of building His church (Php 1:6). When God does the work, you know it is of Him.

Php 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:”

Zec 4:10 For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

Zec 4:10 “For who hath despised the day of small things” – Comments – Only the foundation had been laid for the Temple, so it was not very impressive. Who has despised, or not rejoiced at, the building of the Temple? (Hag 2:3, Eze 3:12-13)

Hag 2:3, “Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?”

Ezr 3:12-13, “But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.”

Zec 4:10 “for they shall rejoice” – Comments – In Zec 5:1-4 rejoicing turns into God’s indignation. Isa 66:14 mentions rejoicing (Zec 4:10) and indignation (Zec 5:1-4).

Isa 66:14, “And when ye see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like an herb: and the hand of the LORD shall be known toward his servants, and his indignation toward his enemies.”

Zec 4:10 “and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven” Comments – Webster defines a plummet is a plumb line or a plumb bob, and used by masons in building a masonry wall. A plumb bob consists of a line fastened to a narrow board at one end, and to an egg-shaped piece of lead at the other end, and hang down along the wall for vertical alignment, with the weight of the lead keeps the line straight; or, a plumb line may be drawn and pulled side ways to align a masonry wall horizontally.

The reference to the plummet means that Zerubbabel will be at work building the Temple, specifically the walls. The wall of the Temple was to be sixty cubits (90 ft.) high (Ezr 6:3), which is the height of a 9-story building.

Ezr 6:3, “In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits , and the breadth thereof threescore cubits;”

God is building a perfect house. His measuring stick (tape measure) is Justice, and His plumbline is Righteousness.

2Ki 21:13, “And I will stretch over Jerusalem the line of Samaria, and the plummet of the house of Ahab: and I will wipe Jerusalem as a man wipeth a dish, wiping it, and turning it upside down.”

Isa 28:14-17, “Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem. Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves: Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.”

Amo 7:7-8, “Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand. And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:”

Eph 2:20, “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone;”

Eph 4:1-16 – Unity

If it is not straight and in line, He uses a wrecking bar to remove the crooked lumber. God is the inspector. He inspects our hearts daily. His stamp, or seal, of approval is the Holy Spirit (Eph 1:13). God has already bought and purchased the materials, which is the church, bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. When God finds a crooked board, meaning one of His children, He makes an effort to straight it out, but if it cannot be straightened (no repentance), then God will remove it even though it is already nailed in place.

Eph 1:13, “In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,”

Zerubbabel represents Jesus (Hag 2:23). Zerubbabel was sent to build the Temple in Jerusalem. Jesus was sent to build or establish the Church here on earth.

Hag 2:23, “In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, will I take thee, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the LORD, and will make thee as a signet: for I have chosen thee, saith the LORD of hosts.

Scripture References – Note:

Amo 7:7-8, “Thus he shewed me: and, behold, the Lord stood upon a wall made by a plumbline, with a plumbline in his hand . And the LORD said unto me, Amos, what seest thou? And I said, A plumbline. Then said the Lord, Behold, I will set a plumbline in the midst of my people Israel: I will not again pass by them any more:”

Zec 4:10 Comments – The NLT says, “Do not scorn this small beginning.” This small beginning is like the Kingdom of God and the Parable of the Mustard Seed, since they began small (note Dan 2:34-35).

Dan 2:34-35, “Thou sawest till that a stone was cut out without hands, which smote the image upon his feet that were of iron and clay, and brake them to pieces. Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth .”

Zec 4:11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?

Zec 4:12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

Zec 4:12 Comments – Jesus is the Branch (Zec 3:8; Zec 6:12).

Zec 3:8, “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.”

Zec 6:12, “And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD:”

Zec 4:13 And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

Zec 4:14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

Zec 4:14 Comments – One of the anointed ones was Joshua, who stands by (or in the presence of) the Lord of the whole earth (Zec 3:6).

Zec 3:6, “And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.”

Joshua represents Jesus (Zec 3:8; Zec 6:12) and Zerubbabel represents Jesus (Hag 2:23) as High Priest and King of Kings, who intercedes and judges.

Zec 3:8, “Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.”

Zec 6:11-13, “Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”

In Rev 1:20 Jesus stood in midst of the seven candlesticks. He is the Olive tree and the Anointed One.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

The Vision of the Candlestick and of the Two Olive-Trees.

After the prophet had been a witness of the first four visions, he was so overwhelmed by the revelations vouchsafed him that he fell into a trancelike condition, somewhat like Peter and his companions on the Mount of Transfiguration. Cf Luk 9:32; Mat 17:5-6.

v. 1. And the angel that talked with me, he who acted as the interpreter of the Lord in making known the message concerning the future, came again and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, out of his state of exhaustion. The angel had evidently left the prophet for a short while and now returned for the purpose of interpreting further visions.

v. 2. And said unto me, What seest thou? thus calling the prophet’s attention to a new vision, whereas in the other instances Zechariah had asked for information. And I said, I have looked, he was even then observing very closely, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, a round vessel, or reservoir, for oil, and his seven lamps thereon and seven pipes to the seven lamps, or seven feed-pipes to each of the seven lamps, to insure a plentiful supply of fuel, which are upon the top thereof, the candlestick in general being formed after that in the Tabernacle, Exo 25:31-37;

v. 3. and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side thereof, this being a new feature, indicating the source of the oil for the lamps.

v. 4. So I answered, the prophet having meanwhile recovered to some extent from his dazed condition, and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? He could not quite grasp the significance of it all.

v. 5. Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? He was surprised that a man of Judah, and he of priestly descent, should not find some meaning in the vision of such a candlestick. And I said, No, my lord.

v. 6. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, that is, the force of armies, nor by power, namely, that of any earthly agency, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. The candlestick of the Tabernacle was a type of the congregation of the Old Testament, which was supposed to be a light shining in the darkness of the world. Its oil was a type of the Holy Ghost, and the high priests of the Old Covenant received the strength for the performance of the duties of their office from the Spirit symbolized in the light of the great candlestick. Thus the candlestick of the vision was a type of the Church of God to be established anew in the midst of Judah. Moreover, Zerubbabel, the governor of the people, was to be informed that the great work which he was to perform could be carried on only through the Spirit of the Lord.

v. 7. Who art thou, 0 great mountain? the building of the Temple being thus represented. Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, he would easily overcome all the difficulties connected with the completion of this momentous work; and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof, the uppermost stone of its walls, with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it! that is, May God grant grace to this stone and to the building which it represents, so that it may stand forever! But the Temple of Zerubbabel was only a type of the true Temple of Jehovah, the Church of the New Testament.

v. 8. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying,

v. 9. The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, this having been done some sixteen years before; his hands shall also finish it, as they did some four years later; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you, whence it follows that the entire situation has a deeper significance than that of a mere earthly temple, namely, that the Lord Jehovah, in the Word that was made flesh, was coming to the temple of His Church.

v. 10. For who hath despised the day of small things? It seemed indeed that the days in which Judah was then living were days of insignificant things, when the entire nation was living in deepest poverty and contempt; yet these days were the forerunners of the most momentous period in the history of the world. For they, the people concerned, shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, as the chief builder of the Temple, with those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth, Cf Zec 3:9. But if the eyes of God’s majesty rest upon this building with such evident joy and satisfaction, it surely must be a Temple of the greatest importance, and the days in which it is being built must not be despised.

v. 11. Then answered I and said unto him, anxious to get some further information on this most interesting point, What are these two olive-trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? The candlestick was in the center with its arms extended on either side, and next to these arms stood the two olive-trees which were puzzling the prophet.

v. 12. And I answered again and said unto him, What be these two olive-branches, literally, “ears,” because they were bunched to resemble ears of grain, which through the two golden pipes, special spouts, or funnels, placed under them, empty the golden oil out of themselves? so that the oil was fed directly from the trees into the pipes connecting with the reservoir of the candlestick.

v. 13. And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

v. 14. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, literally, “the two sons of oil,”. that stand by the Lord of the whole earth, as His servants. They were symbols of Zerubbabel and of Joshua, the temporal and the spiritual leader of the people, respectively, anointed by God for the performance of the work of their office. The meaning for our day and age is clear. The Church is the Lord’s candlestick, Mat 5:14, and therefore has a great and important duty to fulfil in this world. This duty may not be performed by the power and might of men, but solely and alone through the Spirit of the Lord given to His Church and to its ministers in and through the Gospel.

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Zec 4:1-14

7. The fifth vision: the golden candlestick.

Zec 4:1

The angel that talked with me. The interpreting angel is meant. Came again, and waked me. It is thought that the angel, who is said (Zec 2:3) to have gone forth, now rejoined the prophet and renewed his colloquy with him. But the expression in the text is probably only equivalent to “aroused me again” (comp. Gen 26:18; 2Ki 1:11, 2Ki 1:13, etc.). Absorbed in awe and wonder at the contemplation of the preceding vision, the prophet had fallen into a state of exhaustion and torpor, as Daniel slept after his great visions (Dan 8:18; Dan 10:8, Dan 10:9), and the apostles were heavy with sleep on the Mount of Transfiguration (Luk 9:32). From this mental prostration the angel arouses him to renewed attention. Or what is meant may be that the change wrought on the faculties by the Divine influence was as great as that between natural sleeping and waking.

Zec 4:2

What seest thou? The angel does not show the vision to the prophet, but makes him describe it, and then explains its import. This vision of the candlestick, with its seven lamps fed by two olive trees, signifies that the work of rebuilding the temple, and preparing the way for the Church of the true Israel, was to be accomplished by relying, not on human resources, but on Divine aid. Thus were Zerubbabel and his people roused to perseverance and energy in their good work, of which the final sucess is assured. I have looked; , “I have seen.” A candlestick all of gold. The candelabrum as described differs in some particulars from that in the tabernacle, though the same word, menorath, is used in both cases (Exo 25:31; Exo 37:17, etc.). In Solomon’s temple there were ten candelabra (1Ki 7:49), which were carried away to Babylon when Jerusalem was taken (Jer 52:19). The single candelabrum of Zerubbabel’s temple is mentioned in 1 Macc. 1:21; 4:49, 50. The one sculptured on the arch of Titus may be a truthful representation of that in Herod’s temple, but probably is not the same as that in the second edifice (comp. Josephus, ‘Ant.,’ 14:4, 4). The candelabrum in the vision differed from the original one in three particulars: it had a central reservoir; it had also seven pipes; and it was supplied with oil by two olive trees. With a (its) howl upon the top of it. The “bowl” (gullah) is a reservoir for oil placed at the top of the candelabrum; and from it tubes led the oil for the supply of the lamps. In the tabernacle each lamp was separate, and trimmed and filled by the ministering priests; the mystic lamps needed no human agency to keep them supplied. They were fed by the “bowl.” The word is translated in the Septuagint, : in the Vulgate, lampas; hence some have supposed that, besides the seven lamps, there was another large light in the centre; but the Greek and Latin rendering is mistaken, the word meaning “a fountain” (Jos 15:19), or “a ball” (1Ki 7:41), or “a round bowl” (Ecc 12:6). And seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof. The Hebrew is, literally rendered, seven and seven pipes to the lamps which are upon its top. The LXX. translates, , “And seven vessels for the lamps which are upon it;” so the Vulgate, Septem infusoria lucernis, quae erant super caput ejus. These versions imply that there was one supply pipe to each of the lamps, which seems most natural. In this case, the first “seven” in the text must be an interpolation. Commentators who regard the present reading as correct have taken various ways in explaining it. Some multiply the number into itself, and make the pipes forty-nine; but this is unwarranted by Hebrew usage (Henderson). Others add the numbers together, making fourteen; but here again the copulative vav, which implies diversity, is an objection. The Revised Version has, “There are seven pipes to each of the lamps, taking the words distributively; but the number of tubes seems here to be unnecessarily large. Dr. Wright considers that there were two pipes to each lamp, one set connecting each to the central bowl, and one connecting the several lamps together. One, however, does not see of what particular use the second set is. Dr. Wright, p. 84, gives a drawing of the candelabrum with its appurtenances, according to his notion of the vision. The Authorized Version seems to give the correct idea of the passage, whether we arrive at it by rejecting the first “seven,” or by considering that it is repeated for emphasis’ sake, as Cornelius Lapide and Pressel think: “Seven are the lamps upon itseven, I say, and seven the pipes.” Take it as we may, the point is that the oil is well and copiously supplied to the several lights.

Zec 4:3

Two olive trees. These, as explained in Zec 4:12, discharged the oil from their fruit-bearing branches into conduits which led to the central reservoir. Without man’s agency the oil is separated from the berry and keeps the lamps constantly supplied (comp. Rev 2:4).

Zec 4:4

What are these, my lord? The question may refer to the two olive trees, which were a novelty to the prophet, who, of course, was well acquainted with the form and use, if not the symbolism, of the candelabrum. But it may also be taken as desiring information about the whole vision.

Zec 4:5

Knowest thou not? The angel speaks not so much in surprise at the prophet’s slowness of comprehension (comp. Joh 3:10) as desirous of calling his most serious attention to the coming explanation.

Zec 4:6

This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. The Lord’s message unto Zerubbabel is the purport of the vision, viz. that his work will be accomplished through the grace of God alone. Not by might. Septuagint, “not by great might;” but the Vulgate, “not by an army.” The word is almost synonymous with the following, translated power; and the two together mean that the effect is to be produced, not by any human means, however potent. Doubtless Zerubbabel was dispirited when he thought how much there was to do, how feeble the means at his disposal (Neh 4:2), and how formidable the opposition; and nothing could better reassure him than the promise of Divine aid. But by my Spirit. The angel does not say expressly what is to be done; but the purpose that filled the minds of Zechariah and Zerubbabel applied the word. The operations of the Spirit are manifold, and his aid alone could bring these mighty things to pass. The oil is a figure of the grace of the Holy Spirit; and as the lamps are not supplied by human hands, but directly from the olives, so the good work now undertaken shall be supported by Divine means (see on verse 14).

Zec 4:7

Who art thou, O great mountain? The “mountain” is a figurative expression to denote the various difficulties that stood in Zerubbabel’s way and impeded the carrying out of his great design. Before Zerubbabel. The Vulgate affixes these words to the former part of the clause, but the accent is in favour of the Authorized Version. Thou Shall become a plain; literally, into a plain! A command. All obstacles shall be removed (comp. Isa 40:4; Isa 49:11; Mat 17:20; Luk 3:4, Luk 3:5). Septuagint, (intrans.), “that thou shouldst prosper;” “ut corrigas” (Jerome). He shall bring forth the headstone thereof. “He” is evidently Zerubbabel. He shall commence and put the finishing stroke to the work of rebuilding the temple. Many commentators take this stone to be the one that completes the building, “the topstone.” But it may well be questioned whether a building like the temple could have any such stone. An arch or a pyramid may have a crowning stone, but no other edifice; nor is there any proof that such a topstone was known or its erection celebrated. It may be a mere metaphor for the completion of the work. It is better, however, to take it as the cornerstone, to which we know great importance was attached (comp. Job 38:6; Psa 118:22, etc.). This stone, on which the building rests, Zerubbabel will bring forth from the workshop; as the next verses say, his hands have laid the foundation. That action, already past, is represented as future, the regular commencement of the work under Zerubbabel’s direction being intimated, and its happy conclusion promised. Septuagint, , “And I will bring forth the stone of the inheritance”the meaning of which is obscure, though Jerome explains it by considering it an allusion to Christ. With shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it! All the by standers, as the stone is placed, shout in acclamation, “God’s favour rest upon it!” (Ezr 3:10). The LXX. seems to have mistaken the sense, rendering, , “The grace of it the equality of grace” (Joh 1:16); and to have led St. Jerome astray, who translates, “Et exsaequabit gratiam gratiae ejus,” and comments thus: “We all have received of his fulness, and grace for grace, that is, the grace of the gospel for the grace of the Law, in order theft the Israelites and the heathen who believe may receive equal grace and a like blessing.” The Targum recognizes here a Messianic prophecy: “He will reveal the Messiah whose Name is spoken of from all eternity, and he shall rule over all the kingdoms.”

Zec 4:8

The word of the Lord came unto me. The word came through the interpreting angel, as is clear from the expression in Zec 4:9, “The Lord hath sent me unto you.” He explains more fully what had been already announced figuratively.

Zec 4:9

Have laid the foundation. Zerubbabel had commenced the rebuilding in the second year of the return, in the second month (Ezr 3:8); it had been hindered by the opposition of the neighbouring people (Ezr 4:1-5, Ezr 4:24), and was not resumed till the second year of Darius. Shall finish it. The temple was finished in Darius’s sixth year (Ezr 6:15). Thou shalt know, etc. The truth of the angel’s mission would be proved by the event, viz. the successful issue (comp. Zec 2:9, Zec 2:11; Zec 6:15; Deu 18:22). The completion of the material temple was a pledge of the establishment of the spiritual temple, the Church of God.

Zec 4:10

For who hath despised the day of small things? The “small things” are the weak and poor beginning of the temple (Hag 2:3); as the Targum glosses, “on account of the edifice, because it was small.” Small as the present work was, it was a pledge of the full completion, and was therefore not to be despised. So the question is equivalent to, “Can any one, after these promises and prophecies, presume to be doubtful about the future?” For they shall rejoice, etc. The subject of the verbs is that which comes last in position, the seven eyes of Jehovah; and the verse is best translated thus: “For (i.e. seeing that) these seven eyes of Jehovah, which run through all the earth, behold with joy the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.” The work is not contemptible, since the Lord regards it with favour, watches, and directs it. The LXX. and Vulgate (followed nearly by the Authorized Version) make the despisers the subject of the verbs, and lamely dissociate the final clause entirely from the preceding. The version given above is in accordance with the Masoretic accentuation. The plummet; literally, the stone, the tin; ; lapidem stanneum, “the stone of tin” (Vulgate). Tin is not found in Palestine; it was imported by the Phoenicians in great abundance, and from them the Jews obtained it. The supply must have come from Spain or Britain. With those seven. The preposition is an interpolation of the Authorized Version. It should be, “even these seven,” explaining who are “they” at the head of the clause. The eyes of the Lord. The “seven eyes” have been already mentioned (Zec 3:9, where see note). They are expressive of God’s watchful providence and care. Which run to and fro. This clause further enforces the previous image (2Ch 16:9; Pro 15:3).

Zec 4:11

Then answered I. The prophet had received a general explanation of the vision; he had probably understood that the candelabrum represented the theocracy, of whose restoration and life the temple was the symbol and vehicle. One point was still obscure, and he asks, What are these two olive trees? (Zec 4:3). To this question no answer is immediately forthcoming, the answer being delayed in order to augment the prophet’s desire of understanding the vision, and to induce him to make the question more definite.

Zec 4:12

The prophet perceives the chief point in the mystic olive trees, so he alters his question the second time, asking, What be these two olive branches? (shibbolim); Vulgate, spicae, “ears,” as of corn, so called, as Kimchi supposes, because they were full of berries, as the ears are full of grains of corn. Which through the two golden pipes, etc.; rather, which by means of two golden tubes are emptying the golden oil out of themselves. The oil dropped of itself from the fruit-bearing branches into two tubes, spouts, or channels, which conveyed it to the central reservoir. The Revised Version renders, “which are beside the two golden spouts;” like the Vulgate, quae sunt juxta duo rostra aurea. The LXX. has, (“beaks,” “noses”) where “in the hands” or “by the hands” may be a Hebraism for “by means of.” The golden oil; Hebrew, the gold. The oil is so called from its colour. The Greek and Latin versions lose this idea altogether, In quibus sunt suffusoria ex auro (Vulgate); “leading to the golden vessels”.

Zec 4:13

Knowest thou not? (comp. Zec 4:5). The angel wishes to impress upon the prophet whence came the power of the theocracy and the Divine order manifested therein.

Zec 4:14

The two anointed ones; literally, the two sons of oil; so the Revised Version; Vulgate, filii olei; Septuagint, , “sons of fatness” (comp. Isa 5:1). By them are intended the two powers, the regal and the sacerdotal, through which God’s help and protection are dispensed to the theocracy. Oil was used in appointing to both these offices (comp. Le 21:10; 1Sa 10:1). The expression, “son of,” in many cases denotes a quality or property, like “son of Belial,” “son of might;” so here Dr. Alexander considers that “sons of oil” means people possessed of oil, oil bearers, channels through which the oil flowed to others. Zerubbabel and Joshua are representatives of the civil and priestly authorities, but the text seems expressly to avoid naming any human agents, in order to show that the symbol must not be limited to individuals. Nor, indeed, must it be confined to the Jewish Church and state; it looks forward to the time when Jew and Gentile shall unite in upholding the Church of God. That stand by the Lord of the whole earth; i.e. ready as his ministers to do him service. There is a reference to this passage in Rev 11:4, where the “two witnesses” are called “the two olive trees.; standing Before the Lord of the earth” (Perowne). The vision, as we have seen, prefigures primarily the completion of the temple and the restoration of its worship, and secondly the establishment of the Christian Church by the advent of Messiah. The several parts of the vision may be thus explained. The candelabrum is a symbol of the Jewish Church and theocracy, in accordance with the imagery in the Apocalypse, where the seven candlesticks are seven Churches (Rev 1:20). It is made of gold as precious in God’s sight, and to be kept pure and unalloyed; it is placed in the sanctuary, and has seven lamps, to indicate that it is bright with the grace of God, and is meant to shed its light around at all times, as Christian men are bidden to shine like lights in the world (Mat 5:16; Php 2:15). The oil that supplies the lamps is the grace of God, the influence of the Holy Spirit, which alone enables the Church to shine and to accomplish its appointed work. The two olive trees are the two authorities, viz. the civil and sacerdotal, through which God communicates his grace to the Church; these stand by the Lord Because, instituted by him, they carry out his will in the ordering, guiding, extending, and purifying his kingdom among men. The two olive branches remit their oil into one receptacle, because the two authorities, the regal and priestly, are intimately connected and united, and their action tends to one end, the promotion of God’s glory in the salvation of men. In Messiah these offices are united; he is the channel of Divine grace, the source of light to the whole world.

HOMILETICS

Zec 4:1-7

The Church revived.

“And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me,” etc. The imagery of these verses is twofold; but their subject seems one. By the “candlestick” expressly mentioned in Zec 4:2 (comp. Rev 1:13; Rev 2:1; also Mat 5:14, Mat 5:15; Php 2:15), and by the temple tacitly referred to in Zec 4:7, we understand, spiritually, the same thing, viz. in the first instance certainly the Jewish Church of that time. And what this twofold imagery seems intended here to set before us respecting this Church is

(1) the secret, and

(2) the completeness of its restoration to life.

I. THE SECRET OF ITS RESTORATION TO LIFE. Under this head we have set before us the question:

1. Of Church work. What is the great duty of a Church in this world? Is it not, like a lamp or candlestick, to give light, to be a continued witness to men respecting things unseen and eternala standing testimony in favour of truth and righteousness, and against error and sin? in ether words (Art. XX.), “a witness and keeper of Holy Writ”? See again references supra; and note, in connection with this duty of spiritual light giving on the part of a Church, the various grounds of the praise or blame administered in Rev 2:1-29 and Rev 3:1-22.

2. Of Church needs. The returned remnant of the Captivity, with their altar again set up (Ezr 3:3), their feasts again begun (Ezr 3:1-13 :;4), their temple in course of re-erection (Ezr 3:10; Ezr 6:14), and their ancient priesthood again restored (Zec 3:1-5), had now become such a witness. They were a “candlestick” or lamp again “lighted.” How unequal in themselves to so important an office! How weak, how inexperienced, also how greatly endangered! Above all, how greatly needing that sacred unction, or “oil,” of God’s grace, of which we are told here (comp. also Act 10:38)!

3. Of Church supplies. How ample, according to the vision described in Rev 3:2, Rev 3:3, the provision made for supplying this revived lamp with this oil! What besides is meant by the different features of this vision the prophet knows not (Rev 3:4), and the angel tells not, at present. But, at any rate, they seem to signify that abundant provision is made.

(1) For supplying such oil. There are “two” olive trees, e.g; to yield a double supply. Two “trees,” also, things always growing and always producing, and able to yield, therefore, a continual supply.

(2) For storing it up, viz. in the “bowl” placed at the “top,” whence it could naturally flow out and down as required..

(3) For distributing it in every needed direction, viz. by means of the twice-seven pipes (or even, as some take it, the seven-times-seven pipes), to the seven lamps of which we are told. So mysterious, yet so sufficient, was the secret source of life in this case. Let Zerubbabel, as the successor of David, and earthly guardian of his Church, know this for his comfort (see Rev 3:6).

II. THE COMPLETENESS OF THIS RESTORATION. In the seventh verse, as noted before, the figure is changed. The Church of the restored Captivity is before us now under the metaphor of a building inhabited by God himself, as often in God’s Word (see Heb 3:6; 2Co 6:16; Eph 2:21, Eph 2:22; 1Ti 3:15; 1Pe 2:5). And the purport of this change seems that of representing, not only as before the adequacy, but also now the actual effectiveness, of the provision here made. It should eventually be with that spiritual house as with the material house which they were then building as its image and type. This true:

1. As to external obstacles. The greatest of these, even if like a “great mountain” itself in bulk, should become,” before Zerubbabel”baying the Spirit of God on his sidelike a plain.

2. As to final victory. To use a well known modern expression, there should be “the crowning of the edifice” of the Church. All that the pre-Captivity Jewish Church had really been in the world this restored Church should now be, up to the very “headstone”the last stone to be put in its placewith every mark of triumph (“shoutings”) and favour (“grace”) as well (Rev 3:7).

Observe, in conclusion:

1. How strikingly these promises were fulfilled. Besides all that we read concerning the days of the Maccabees (as referred to probably in Heb 11:35-38), how much more spiritual life remained in the Jewish Church even to the times of the gospel! See indications of this in Luk 2:25, Luk 2:38; Mat 27:53; Mar 15:43; Act 2:5, etc. See indications, also, as to the extent to which the witness or “light” of this Church had told on the Gentile world in Luk 7:5; Joh 12:20; Act 10:1; Act 13:43, Act 13:50 ( ); Act 17:4, Act 17:17.

2. How great a lesson this teaches. There was nothing in this Case but the secret working of God’s Spirit thus to keep this Church in existence; no “might,” no “power.” On the contrary, many obstaclespersecutions, enemies, corruptions, and so on. So plain is it how much can be done (and done only) in the way of Christian organization, labour, and progress by the sacred oil of God’s Spirit. “Utilis lectio, utilis eruditio, sed magis utilis unctio, quippe quae docet de omnibus.”

Zec 4:8-14

The Church sustained.

“Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house,” etc. These verses continue the metaphors of the previous portion, but in the opposite order. Zec 4:1-7 begin with the “olive trees” and end with the “house;” Zec 4:8-14 begin with the “house” (Zec 4:8-10) and conclude with the “trees.” We may look on this latter passage, therefore, as a kind of additional message (“moreover,” Zec 4:8) on the same general subject and to the same general purport as before. The principal difference is in connection with the questions of order and depth. As we learned before not a little, first as to the secret, and secondly as to the completeness, of the restored life of the Jewish Church, so here we learn very much more

(1) as to that same completeness, and

(2) as to that same secret, of this same restored life.

I. ITS COMPLETENESS. As conveyed, we suppose, by what is said respecting the material “house” (or typical Church) then in process of erection. We find this described in Zec 4:9, Zec 4:10. And of the promise contained therein we may notice:

1. How peculiarly explicit it is. Not only is the work which Zerubbabel had begun to be finished; it is to be finished by “his hands,” and therefore, of course, in his time. Not only, again, is it to be so far finished as to be capable, as it were, of habitation and use; but so far finished as to be ready for that most absolutely ultimate of all building processes, the process of testing the work done. How graphic the description of this! “They shall see the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel.”

2. How exceedingly deliberate it is. To start the work of erecting this templeto begin such a true spiritual Church restorationwas a great thing. To accomplish it, a still greater. If accomplished, indeed, that of itself would be a sufficient proof of a true mission from God (see the end of Zec 4:9; also, to some extent, 2Sa 7:12, 2Sa 7:13). Especially would this be so in that “day of small things,” when even well wisherspersons ready to “rejoice” in such a tiring, if really accomplishedas it were “despised” the idea. All this was known, all this was recognized, when the promise was given.

3. How fully assured it is. Was there not One “sent” to accomplish this, even that Angel-Jehovah represented by the “stone” of Zec 3:9? And was there not sent also, of necessity, together with him, a full supply of all that was necessary to accomplish these wonders? (See end of Zec 3:10, and the reference there to “those seven” eyes to be found on that “stone;” also Rev 5:6; 2Ch 16:9; and compare end of 2Ch 16:6 in this chapter.) To secure that “stone” is to secure that sevenfold blessing, and all it involves.

II. ITS SECRET. A yet further point, in regard to this, seems revealed to us in that which comes next. It is not enough to have the blessing referred to, so to speak, in reversion. If the Church is to shine as a living witness, some channel of communication must be in existence by which it can be always supplied therewith without fail. To understand the emblem employed (as before described in Zec 3:3) to represent this, we may notice:

1. The prophet‘s ignorance of its meaning. See this five times referred to, viz. in Zec 3:4, Zec 3:5, 11, 12, 13. Whatever he meant, therefore, it is evidently something the nature of which is so far occult and secret that even the eyes of a prophet might fail to discern it at first.

2. The angel‘s surprise at his ignorance. “Knowest thou not?”. The prophet ought to have discerned it, although he did not.

3. The explanation that follows. (Verse 14.) An explanation which seems to show us:

(1) Why the prophet ought to have understood the emblem, viz. because it represented an ordinance carefully ordered and arranged, even that of certain persons “anointed” for special service; an ordinance, also, ancient and settled (“stand by,” as a custom or habit); an ordinance of most extensive import, even affecting the whole earth.

(2) What we may understand thereby; viz. that God always maintains in the world a succession of special witnesses for him, who “stand by” him, as it were, so as to be informed of his will, and who are “anointed,” as it were, so as to keep alive in turn the general witness of his Church (see 2Co 5:18-20; 2Co 4:7; 2Ti 2:2; Gen 18:17; Amo 3:7); and who also, either as being always sufficient in number (2Co 13:1, and references; also Rev 11:3, Rev 11:4), or else as being usually divided, as were Zerubbabel and Jeshua, in the spirit of Luk 10:24 and 1Ti 5:17, are set forth to us as “two” in number. In these ways it is that it pleases God always to keep alive the life of his Church (1Co 1:21).

See illustrated here also, in conclusion:

1. God‘s great love for his people. He gives his Son for them in order, afterwards, to give them his Spirit as well (Joh 4:10; Gal 4:4-6). He buys these earthen vessels for a sum beyond cost, in order, then, to fill them with an ointment which is also beyond cost!

2. God’s great care for his Church. Whatever the objects of the “ministry of angels,” God has entrusted specially to men the duty of keeping alight among men the “candlestick” of his truth. How often this light has been all but extinct (Gen 6:5-8; Gen 12:1 compared with Jos 24:2; 1Sa 3:1; 1Sa 7:3; 1Ki 19:10, 1Ki 19:14; Psa 12:1; Isa 53:1; Mic 7:2; Rev 11:7-10)! Yet how wonderfully preserved throughout; and to be preserved to the end (Mat 16:18)!

HOMILIES BY W. FORSYTH

Zec 4:1-7

The Church in three aspects.

I. SYMBOLICALLY REPRESENTED. (Zec 4:2, Zec 4:3.) Candelabrum.

II. DEVOUTLY CONTEMPLATED. (Zec 4:5.) Humble, earnest, reverent inquiry.

III. DIVINELY INTERPRETED.

1. The unity of the Church.

2. The spiritual use of the Church.

3. The Divine care of the Church.

4. The future glory of the Church. The Church should be:

(1) Receptive of the Divine.

(2) Communicative of the Divine. “They empty themselves,” etc. Freely, constantly, rejoicingly.

(3) Reflective of the Divine. Life and work. Not only true of the Church as a whole, but of every individual member. “Let your light shine before men.”F.

Zec 4:2

On seeing.

The question, “What seest thou?” suggests

I. THE SLUMBER OF THE SOUL. (Zec 4:1.) Want of consciousness and activity. Delusions (Isa 29:7), Peril (Mar 13:36).

II. THE AWAKENING OF THE SOUL. (Zec 4:1.) “The angel” may be taken to illustrate the various ministries employed by God to quicken and rouse his people. Providence. Loss of health, property, friends, and such like incidents. Word of the truth. Law and gospel. The Spirit of Christ. (1Ki 19:11, 1Ki 19:12; Joh 16:8-13; Rev 1:10-20.)

III. THE GLORIOUS THINGS REVEALED TO THE AWAKENED SOUL. The question. Mark:

1. The time. When the soul was awakened; not before (Isa 1:4; Luk 9:32).

2. The purpose. To stimulate activity. “I have looked.” Must use our own faculties.

3. The reset. Manifold things revealed. As we are, so will our sight be. Press thee question, “What seest thou?” In nature.

“O lady, we receive but what we give,
And in our lives alone does nature live.”

(Coleridge)

Human life. Life all confused and dark, a maze without a plan, or the hand of God. Holy Scriptures. God. Truth. Immortality. Christ. “We see Jesus” (Heb 2:9).F.

Zec 4:5

The learner and the learned.

I. THE SPIRIT OF THE LEARNER. Humility. The first thing to know, as the ancient sage said, is that we know nothing. Love of truth. For its own sake. To be sought for as hidden treasurewith ardour and delight. Obedience. Not merely readiness to receive, but courage to act. Faithful carrying out of principles. Progress. Step by step, in the spirit of self-sacrifice “When first thine eyes unveil, give thy soul leave to do the like” (Vaughan).

Study is like the heaven’s glorious sun,

That will not be deep search’d with saucy looks;

Small have continuous plodders ever won,

Save base authority from others’ books.”
(Shakespeare.)

II. THE SPIRIT OF THE LEARNED.

1. Wisdom. Not mere knowledge, but insight into character, and capacity to turn knowledge to the best account.

2. Kindness. Hence patience with ignorance and prejudice. Loving endeavour to give to others what has been good and a joy to themselves.

3. Faithfulness. Not hiding what should be told; not making compromises of principle; not striving for the mastery, but for the victory of truth.

4. Humility is as much the character of the learned as of the learner (cf. Newton likening himself to a child gathering shells).

“Were man to live coeval with the sun,
The patriarch-pupil would be learning still,
And dying leave his lesson half unlearnt.”

Zec 4:6

The secret of power.

Power is indispensable. It is not in numbers, or organization, or method. These are good, hut not enough. It is not of man, though it is by man. Must look higher. It is of God. Life is from life. The highest life can only come from the highest life. “Not by might,” etc. Apply to

I. THE MINISTRY OF THE CHURCH. Talent, culture, wide sympathies, zeal and eloquence, not enough. Even truth not enough. Need more. “My Spirit.” There must be a right relation to God. There must be the quickening of the soul with the life of Godthe energizing and elevating of the natural powers to the highest capacity and use. This influence is necessary both for preachers and hearers.

II. THE WORSHIP OF THE CHURCH. In the Church God draws near to us and we draw near to God. As a Father to his children he speaketh unto us; as children unto a Father we should speak unto him.

1. Praise.

2. Prayer.

3. Hearing of the Word.

4. Communion.

5. Times of refreshing.

It is only as we are quickened from above that our worship is hearty and true (cf. Joh 4:23), acceptable to God, and profitable to ourselves.

III. THE WORK OF THE CHURCH. Life must precede work. As individuals, in the society to which we belong, and in our daily life, we are called to serve God. Every one has his place and his work. It is as we carry out faithfully the duty committed to us that the cause of the Lord will prosper, and “his kingdom come” at home and abroad.F.

Zec 4:7-10

Encouragement to Christian workers.

I. THOUGH THE WORK BE DERIDED, IT IS GOD‘S WORK. Therefore we are sure it is right and good. We can throw ourselves into it with all our heart. Patience. What is of God cannot fail.

II. THOUGH THE DIFFICULTIES BE GREAT, THEY ABE CAPABLE OF BEING OVERCOME, Difficulties are a test. They show what spirit we are of. They separate the chaff from the wheat. Remember “Formality” and “Hypocrisy” in the ‘Pilgrim’s Progress.’ Difficulties are a challenge. They put us on our mettle. Courage mounteth with occasion. Once we can say, “It is our duty,” nothing should daunt us (Act 5:29; Act 20:24). In A.D. 1800 Napoleon wanted to cross the Alps with his army into Italy. He asked Marescot, chief of the engineers, “Is it possible?” He replied, “Yes, but with difficulty.” “Let us, then, set out,” was the order of the great captain (1Co 9:25). Difficulties are our education. It is not ease but effort that makes men. “Our antagonist is our helper,” said Burke. “He who has battled, were it only with poverty and hard toil, will be found stronger and more expert than be who could stay at home from the battle, concealed among the provision waggons, or even resting uuwatchfully, abiding by the stuff” (Carlyle). So it is in all spheres of activity. “To overcome, we must conquer as we go.” Difficulties lead us to a deeper and truer appreciation of our dependence upon God (Rom 5:3-5; Rom 8:31, Rom 8:37).

III. THOUGH THE PROGRESS BE SMALL, ULTIMATE SUCCESS IS CERTAIN. God’s Word is sure. He is truth, and cannot lie. He is love, and cannot betray. He is almighty, and cannot be defeated. The laying of the foundationstone, in his Name, implies the completion of the structure; and, by faith, we already hear the shoutings and the jubilant cries as the work is finished. “Grace, grace unto it!”F.

HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS

Zec 4:1-10

Man as a student of the Divine revelation and a doer of Divine work.

“And the angel that talked with me,” etc. “It is needful to keep in mind that all these successive scenes were presented to the mind of the prophet in vision; and that each vision was distinct, forming a whole of itself, independently of the scenery of those which preceded it, although not so as to preclude connection in the lessons taught, and occasional reference (such as we shall find in the one now before us) to the earlier in the latter. The fourth in the series of visions, then, was now closed; and at the close of it, the prophet represents himself as having fallen into a kind of reverie arising from its disclosures, or from some particular Dart of them, by which his mind was absorbed and unconscious of aught that might be passing mound him. From this state he was roused, as the first verse indicates, by the touch and the voice of the ministering angel, and his attention arrested to a new scenic representation, and the explanation of its meaning” (Wardlaw). I have to confess that the more I look into this vision, as well as into the previous visions, the more I feel my utter inability to attach a satisfactory meaning to all the strange and grotesque symbols that are presented. And my sense of inability has been deepened as! have examined the explanations that have been put forth by biblical criticssome most fanciful and absurd, and many most conflicting. Indeed, it requires a Daniel to interpret dreams; the objects in a dream are generally so unnatural, grotesque, shadowy, a,d shifting, that men seldom try to attach any definite idea to them. I may regard this passage as setting before us man in two aspects, viz. as a student of the Divine revelation, and as a doer of the Divine purposes.

I. AS A STUDENT OF THE DIVINE REVELATION. “I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?” This candelabrum made of gold, with a bowl on the top, its seven lamps and seven pipes, etc; is taken by most expositors to represent the Church of God, and popular preachers go on to draw analogies between the candlestick and the Church. Of course, this is easy work. But the Church of God, as the phrase is, has not, alas! been very golden or very luminous. The ideal Church is all this. The candlestick may, I think, fairly represent the Bible, or God’s special revelation to man: that is golden, that is luminous, that is supernaturally supplied with the oil of inspiration. In fact, in the passage, the interpreting angel designates this candlestick, not as the Church, but as the “word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel.” I make two remarks concerning this revelation.

1. It has in it sufficient to excite the inquiry of man as a student. The prophet, on seeing these wonderful objects, exclaimed, “What are these, my lord?” He seemed to feel as Moses felt in relation to the burning bush, when he said, “I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not consumed.” What wonderful things are in this Bible! It is a museum of wonders; and the greatest of all wonders is God manifest in the flesh.

2. It has an interpreter that can satisfy man as a student. The angel to whom the prophet directed his inquiry promptly answered. “Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” The prophet here displays two of the leading attributes of a genuine student of the Divine.

(1) Inquisitiveness. He inquires; and because he inquires, he receives an answer. Had he not inquired, the object would have remained an unmeaning symbol. The Bible is an unmeaning book to the great masses of mankind, because they do not inquire into its significance. Truth is only got by genuine inquiry.

(2) Ingenuousness. The first reply of the interpreting angel to the prophet was, “Knowest thou not what these things mean? and he said, “No, my lord.” At once he confesses his ignorance. “Let us,” says Dr. Wardlaw, “imitate the twofold exampleboth that of inquisitiveness and that of ingenuousness. Let us be on the alert in our inquiries after knowledge; and in order to our acquiring it, never foolishly, and to save our pride and vanity, affect to have what we have not.” The man who develops; these two attributes in relation to God’s Word, has a Divine Interpreter at his side, namely, the Spirit of God, who will lead him into all knowledge.

II. AS A DOER OF THE DIVINE WILL. Man has not only to study, but to work; not only to get Divine ideas, but to work them out. “Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it! Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.” The work of the prophet was to convey a message from God to Zerubbabel, and the message he conveyed was a men, age to work. Man is to be a “worker together” with God. I offer two remarks concerning man as a worker out of the Divine will.

1. That though his difficulties may appear great, his resources are infinite. Zerubbabel, in rebuilding the temple, had enormous difficulties. Those difficulties hovered before him as mountains. But great as they were, he was assured that he had resources more than equal to the task. “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” By this is meant, not that human might and power are not required, or are utterly useless, but Divine might would give aid to all honest, effort and endeavour. The difficulties in a good man’s path of duty rise oftentimes like mountains before him; but let him not be disheartened; those mountains are nothing compared with the might that is guaranteed. “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove,” etc.

2. That though his efforts may seem feeble, his success will be inevitable.

(1) The feebleness of human efforts is here implied. “Who hath despised the day of small things?”

(a) It is common to despise small things. Proud man will only honour what seem to him great thingsconventionally great. A small house, a small business, a small book,these are despised.

(b) It is foolish to despise small things. All great things were small in their, beginnings.. London was once a little hamlet; the oaken forest once an acorn. We do not know what really are small things; what we consider small may be the greatest things in the universe.

(c) It is contemptible to despise small things. Truly great souls never do so.

(2) The success of feeble efforts is here guarenteed. “He shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.” Literally, the promise is that Zerubbabel, notwithstanding all the difficulties he had to contend with in rebuilding the temple, should see it completed, should see the crowning stone laid on the building, amid the hosannahs of the people: “Grace, grace unto it!” So it will be with every genuine work to which a true man puts his hand in the name of God. It will be finished; there will be no failure, success is inevitable. “As I live, saith the Lord, the whole earth shall be filled with my glory” (Num 14:21).D.T.

Zec 4:11-14

The olive trees and the candlesticks: model religious teachers.

“Then answered I, and said unto him,” etc. This is not another vision, but an explanation of the one recorded in the preceding verses. The explanation is that the two branches of the olive tree which, by means of the two tubes of gold empty their oil, is that they represented “two anointed ones,” or sons of oil. Perhaps Joshua and Zerubbabel are particularly referred to. “Because,” says Henderson, “when installed into office they had oil poured upon their heads as a symbol of the gifts and influences of the Holy Spirit, which alone could fit them rightly to discharge their important functions. Their services to the new state were of such value that they might well be represented as furnishing it, instrumentally, with what was necessary for enabling it to answer the purpose of its establishment.” I shall take these two “anointed ones” as types of model religious teachers. Three things are suggested.

I. THEY HAVE A HIGH ORDER OF LIFE IN THEM. They are represented by the olive branches. There are few productions of the vegetable kingdom that are of such a high order as the olive. Though not large, seldom rising higher than thirty feet, it has a rich foliage, beautiful flowers, abundant fruit, and withal is filled with precious oil. One tree contains often not less than a thousand pounds of precious oil. Its fatness was proverbial (Jdg 9:9); it is an evergreen, and most enduring. In short, it is marked by great beauty, perpetual freshness, and immense utility. It was one of the sources of wealth in Judaea, and its failure was the cause of famine. The emblems of a true teacher are not dead timber or some frail vegetable life, but an olive tree. Religious teachers should not only have life, but life of the highest order. They should be full of animal spirits, full of creative genius, full of fertile thought, full of Divine inspiration. Men whose vitality is of a low order are utterly disqualified to be public religious teachers. They should not be reeds, fragile, and with temporary foliage, but like a “green olive tree in the house of God.” The curse of the modern pulpit is its lack of vitality, freshness, and power.

II. THEY COMMUNICATE THE MOST PRECIOUS ELEMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE. They “empty the golden oil out of themselves.” Whether the expression “golden” here signifies merely the richness of its colour or the preciousness of its property, it scarcely matters. It has been observed by modern travellers that the natives of olive countries manifest more attachment to olive oil than to any other article of food, and find nothing adequate to supply its place. Genuine religious teachers feed the lamp of universal knowledge with the most golden elements of truth. They not only give the true theory of morals and worship, but the true theory of moral restoration. What a high value Paul set on this knowledge! “I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.” What are the true genuine religious teachers doing? They are pouring into the lamps of the world’s knowledge the choicest elements of truth.

III. THEY LIVE NEAR TO THE GOD OF ALL TRUTH. “Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” They “stand,“ a position of dignity; “stand,“ a position of waitingwaiting to receive infallable instructions, ready to execute the Divine behests. All true religious teachers live consciously near to God. To “stand by the Lord of the whole earth” is one thing, to be conscious of it is another. All “stand by” him; but few of the race are practically conscious o! the position and these few alone are the true teachers.

CONCLUSION. Let us, who are engaged in the office of public teaching, try ourselves by these criteria. The olive tree gave what it had in itgave out its nature. So must we. Manufactured discourses, intellectual speculations, rhetorical flourishes,these have no oil.D.T.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Zec 4:1. And waked me And roused me. It should seem as if the prophet was plunged into a deep reverie, musing on what he had already seen, when he was roused again by the angel to give his attention to what follows.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

VISION V. THE CANDLESTICK WITH THE TWO OLIVE TREES

Zechariah 4

A. A Golden Candelabrum and its Two Oil Feeders (Zec 4:1-5). B. Divine Grace the Source of Strength and Success (Zec 4:6-10). C. The Means by which that Grace is obtained (Zec 4:11-14).

1And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man who Isaiah 2 waked out of his sleep; And said to me, What seest thou? And I said,1 I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, and its oil-vessel2 upon the top of it and its seven lamps upon it, seven pipes each3 for the lamps which are upon the top of it; 3and two olive trees by it, one on the right of the oil vessel and the other on the left of it; 4And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? 5And the angel that talked with me answered and said to me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. 6And he answered and spake to me, saying: This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might and not by power,4 but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of Hosts. 7Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel?5 Be a plain!6 And he shall bring forth the top stone7 with shoutings, Grace, grace unto it! 8And the word of Jehovah came to me, saying, 9The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands shall finish it, and thou shalt know that Jehovah of Hosts 10hath sent me to you. For who despiseth8 the day of small things? And they rejoice and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, [even] those seven;9 the eyes of Jehovah, they go to and fro through the whole earth. 11And I answered and said unto him, What are these two olive trees on the right of the candlestick and on the left? 12And I answered the second time and said to him, What are the two branches10 of the olive trees, which by means of the two golden spouts11 empty 13the gold12 out of themselves? And he spake to me, saying, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. 14And he said, These are the two sons of oil which stand before13 the Lord of the whole earth.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

In the former vision there was a lively display of the means and ground of the forgiveness of sin. This one advances farther, and shows a positive communication of grace by which all obstacles are overcome and the establishment of Gods kingdom effectually secured.

a. The Vision (Zec 4:1-5). Zec 4:1. And the angel. out of his sleep. These words imply a pause between this vision and the preceding one, during which the interpreting angel had withdrawn, and the prophet had relapsed into the condition of ordinary consciousness. This condition, compared with the ecstatic state in which supersensual objects are seen, was like sleep compared with waking. Hence Zechariah needed to be aroused from his ordinary and normal state. This was done by the return of the interpreting angel. The new vision presented to him is striking. A candlestick of gold with an oil-vessel on top, from which the oil flows into each one of the seven lamps through seven tubes; and two olive trees by the side of the candlestick.

Zec 4:2. And I said the top of it. Upon the var. read. see Gram. and Text. The candlestick was formed after the pattern of the one in the tabernacle (Exo 25:31-37), but with some remarkable variations. The candelabrum the prophet saw had a round vessel on its top, and seven feeding-tubes for each lamp, and two trees at its sides, none of which were seen in the original pattern in the sanctuary. The precise meaning of the phrase rendered, seven pipes each, lit., seven and seven, has been much contested. Hitzig and Henderson propose an alteration of the text, omitting one of the sevens, in accordance with the LXX. and Vulgate. Pressel gains the same end by connecting the first seven with what precedes, which is harsh, and forbidden by the interpunction. Khler adds the two together, thus making the number of pipes fourteen, but if the prophet had meant that, he would have said so. It is better to take the text as it stands. Forty-nine tubes are very many to proceed from one oil-bowl, but as we know not the size of either the vessel or the pipes, no judgment can be expressed against the possibility of such a thing. That it was probable, seems to be clearly shown by the fact that the visionary candlestick is a designed enlargement of the real one made by Moses.

Zec 4:3. Two olive trees. The meaning of these trees is further explained in Zec 4:12-14. The candlestick represents the Church as the appointed light-bearer in a dark world. This is confirmed by such passages in the New Testament as Mat 5:14; Mat 5:16, Luk 12:35, Php 2:15, and by the express statement in Rev 1:20, the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches. The seven lamps indicated the fullness of the light that was shed, and the seven times seven tubes the number and variety of the channels by which grace was imparted to the luminary.

Zec 4:4-5. And I answered no, my Lord. I answered, i. e., to the statement suggested in the visionary scene. The counter-question of the angel implies that the prophet might have learned the object of the vision from the analogy of the golden candlestick in the holy place. Then the angel gives him the answer.

b. Divine Grace the Source of all Strength (Zec 4:6-10). Zec 4:6. This is the word, etc. The vision was an embodied prophecy intended in the first instance for the guidance and comfort of Zerubbabel; and its sum was given in the abrupt utterance: Not by might, etc. That is, the work which the Hebrew governor has undertaken will be carried out not by human strength in any form, but by the Spirit of God. The candlestick gave light, but it could not do this unless furnished with a plentiful supply of oil. So all that was needful for the maintenance of the Church of God on earth, including the restoration of its material centre at the time, the Temple, could be attained only by the same blessed agency. That the oil of the lamps should symbolize the Holy Spirit, is the less strange, as the anointing oil of consecration was understood always to mean this. The attempt of Kliefoth to establish a distinction between the two words and , as if the former always meant anointing oil, and the latter, illuminating oil, is altogether vain. Both are used promiscuously for either purpose, and both may have the same symbolic signification.

Zec 4:7. Who art thou, etc. As the resources of the Jewish leader were few, and the obstacles in the way numerous and formidable, the thought contained in Zec 4:6 is expanded in a striking form. The exclamation, Who art, etc., gives great vividness to the sentiment, and this is still further increased by the concise force of the appended command, Into a plain! Some understand by the mountain the Persian Empire, which is to be leveled to a plain (Chald., Jerome, Kimchi, Hitzig, Hengstenberg, Keil, etc.). But it is better to take it as a figure of the colossal difficulties which rose mountain high at the continuation and completion of the building of the temple. So Kliefoth, Neumann, and most interpreters. This view includes the other, and at the same time allows of an application of the assurance to the Church in all ages. That a mountain in prophecy usually symbolizes a kingdom, as Hengstenberg insists, surely does not compel us always to understand it in that sense. As one well says, the imagery of the Bible is not stereotype. And he shall bring, etc. The second half of the verse foretells the joyful completion of the Temple. The stone mentioned is not, as Hengstenberg and Henderson say (with whom agrees Dr. J. A. Alexander, in his comment upon Psa 118:22), the foundation-stone, for which a different phrase is used (Job 38:6, Jer 51:20), but the finishing or gable stone. Nor can the verb be rendered as a simple preterite (Hengstenberg), but in accordance with Vav cons., must be given as in E. V., And he shall bring, etc. The nominative to the verb is not Jehovah (Henderson), but Zerubbabel, as the next verse plainly shows. The Jewish leader shall at last bring forth the cope-stone amidst loud acclamations of the people, crying, Grace, grace unto it! i. e., May God grant his grace to the stone and the building it represents, so that it may stand forever.

Ver 8. An additional communication is now made to the Prophet. Its source is not mentioned, but the analogy of Zec 4:9 b with Zec 2:9-11 indicates the angel of Jehovah as the author.

Zec 4:9. The hands of. sent me. As Zerubbabel had laid the foundation of the house of God (Ezr 3:8-10; Hag 2:18), so should he finish it. A confirmation of this promise is given in the next verse.

Zec 4:10. For who despiseth. whole earth. The construction here is much disputed. Many (LXX., Targum, Peshito, Vulgate, Calvin, Ewald, etc.) make the second clause the apodosis of the first, thus, for whoever despises the day of small things, they shall see with joy, etc. But , cannot be rendered whoever, when followed by a preterite with Vav cons. Keil and Wordsworth retain the interrogation, but consider it=a denial; in the sense that no one who hopes to achieve, or does achieve, anything great, despises the day of small things. But this gets a meaning out of the text by first putting it in. It is better to take the clause as a general challenge, Who despises, etc., i. e., with reason. Then follows the ground of the question in the rest of the verse, the staccato Style of which is well explained by Pressel as a climax, of which the steps are three, namely, (1.) Those seven, already mentioned in the previous vision. (2.) They are the eye of Jehovah. (3.) They sweep through all the earth. These seven eyes, the seven-fold radiations of the Spirit of Jehovah (comp. on Zec 3:9), gladly see the plummet, etc. However discouraging the small beginnings may be in themselves, the willing coperation of the divine Spirit ensures success to the enterprise of Zerubbabel. The plummet in the hand indicates the work he is engaged in.

c. The means by which this aid is secured (Zec 4:11-14).

Zec 4:11. And I answered. left. The main portion of the symbol has now been explained, but there remains one feature untouched,the olive trees on either side of the candlestick. Accordingly the Prophet asks the interpreting angel. But without waiting for an answer, he renews the question with a slight modification. The repetition seems to indicate a conviction in his mind of the great significance of this new and peculiar feature of the candelabrum.

Zec 4:12. I answered the second time, etc. Here it is the branches of the oil trees he inquires about. These are emphasized, apparently, because they are the link of connection between the candelabrum and the trees, and because the peculiarity of this part of the symbol lay in the fact, that the supply of oil came without any intervening agency directly from the source in nature. These branches through spouts discharge at once their oil, which is called gold, because of its color or preciousness. A similar use of this word is found in Job 37:22, where it is said, Gold cometh out of the north, gold being put for the golden brightness of the sky (E. V., fair weather). The later critics incline to take the word literally.

Zec 4:13. To awaken his attention still more to the importance of this portion of the symbol, the angel asks the Prophet if he understood its meaning, and being answered in the negative, proceeds to give the necessary information.

Zec 4:14. These are the two sons of oil, etc. Sons of oil=supplied with oil, i. e., anointed ones. Stand before=are servants of. These sons of oil are not the believing members of Israel and the Gentiles (Kliefoth), for this would confound the olive trees with the candlestick; nor Haggai and Zechariah (Hoffman, Baumg., etc.), nor Joshua and Zerubbabel considered as individuals (Henderson, Pressel), for the supply of oil to the candlestick, i. e., the communication of grace to the Church, could not be made to depend upon the lives of two mortal men. The phrase rather denotes the regal and priestly offices which were the chief media in the Old Testament for conveying Gods gracious gifts to the Church, and which at the time of the vision were represented by Joshua and Zerubbabel. The appropriateness of the designation lies in the fact that unction was the ceremony by which persons were inducted into these offices.

The peculiar encouragement of this vision appears in the circumstance that the Church was still represented by a stately candelabrum, made as formerly of solid gold, but furnished with far more numerous pipes of communication, and supplied with oil, not by the daily service of the priests, but from living olive trees at its side which continually poured in a fresh and abundant stream of the golden liquid.

THEOLOGICAL AND MORAL

1. The Church is a golden light-bearer, and therefore at once precious and luminous. Precious in the sight of God as chosen and called and honored by Him. Zion is his peculiar inheritance, its members are his jewels, acquired by an immeasurable ransom. Notwithstanding, therefore, their fewness or obscurity or imperfections, they are properly symbolized by an article made of solid gold. But this article is as significant in its use as it is in its material. It is a candlestick or lamp-stand. Its object is to give light. Hence our Lord said to his followers, Ye are the light of the world. This has been one of the chief functions of the Church in all ages. For the greater part of the race has always been in the condition described by Isaiah (Isa 60:2), Darkness covers the earth and gross darkness the peoples. This was the natural and necessary result of depravity, their foolish heart was darkened. They often made great advances in civilization, but there was no corresponding growth in religious opinion or practice; on the contrary, professing themselves to be wise they became fools. All the true and pure light the ancient world enjoyed streamed out from the candlestick which God set up in his chosen people. With all their imperfections the Jews preserved the knowledge of the true God and of the mode of acceptable worship; and their sacred books were a torch from which many a minor light among surrounding nations was kindled. Still more largely was this the case when the new economy was established. It was intended to be diffusive and propagandist, but only by the force of light,the manifestation of the truth. It courted the day. It disowned the unfruitful works of darkness. It demanded intelligent faith and adherence. Never was there a more unscriptural maxim than that which claims ignorance as the mother of devotion. The Church is now, as she always was, a light-bearer, and seeks to accomplish her objects by mental and moral illumination. Nor is there the least ground for the not infrequent charge of unfriendliness to the progress of discovery in physical science. Zion holds firmly that the author of nature and of revelation is one and the same, and that it is quite impossible that there can be any real discordance between the two forms of Gods self-disclosure. She objects to hasty inferences and unsound deductions, but knowledge, true knowledge of all kinds, she welcomes as akin to her own nature, and subservient to those great ends for which the Most High has set up his golden candlestick in this dark world.

2. But the Church like the moon shines only with a borrowed light. She has no resources of her own. All depends upon the central Sun of Righteousness, not only for illumination, but for every other kind or degree of influence. This is a fundamental truth of Scripture and experience. In religious development, outward or inward, the efficient cause always lies back of what is seen. God uses human instruments, and rarely, if ever, operates independently of them, but when they effect their aim, the power comes from above. A sailing vessel perfectly appointed and manned, cannot move in a calm. The most ingenious machine accomplishes nothing, if motive power be withheld. In like manner the Church is helpless if forsaken of the Spirit of God. A new birth, a new creation, a resurrection from death in trespasses and sins,these are objects which mock all the array of mere human agencies. Only He who made the soul and breathed into it of his own inspiration can recast the broken mould and bring back the fair image so sadly marred by sin. Hence the unspeakable importance in all Christian work of giving due honor to the Spirit. Neither is he that planteth anything, nor he that watereth, but God that giveth the increase. The Apostles were held fast in Jerusalem until the Spirit was poured out from on high. Then and not before, the Word had free course and was glorified. And so it has been ever since. Whether in individual conversions or in mighty movements among races and nations, the effect is due to a divine and supernatural cause. In the great Reformation of the sixteenth century, so long as this truth was recognized, the work went on; but when an arm of flesh was introduced and reliance placed upon government or policy, a retrograde movement began. God is jealous for his honor; his glory He will not give to another. If his people will not receive the doctrine that all real advances are made by his Holy Spirit, then He teaches them by sore experience that nothing can be done by might or by power, by the very best human appliances. Leviathan is not so tamed. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood, and laugheth at the shaking of a spear. Only He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
3. The contempt of small beginnings especially in religious matters has been quite a common feeling. Yet such a feeling is rebuked by the whole experience of the Church of God. The prospect of a godly seed on the earth once lay wrapped up in a childless man, and him as good as dead; and yet there sprang from Abraham as many as the sand which is by the sea-shore innumerable. The stripling David was reproved by his brothers and derided by Goliath, yet a stone from his sling laid the giant low. The Psalmist sings of a handful of corn on a bleak mountain top, which yet yields a harvest that rustles like the lordly woods of Lebanon; and the Prophet tells of a worm Jacob which threshes the mountains. Samaritan scoffers laughed at the first feeble walls of restored Jerusalem, yet there came a time when to suppress the sedition of that city strained the last resources of imperial Rome. Twelve men went forth to give the Gospel to the world, and before the end of the first century, believers were found all the way from the shores of Britain to far Cathay. In the sixteenth century one man entered the lists against the anti-christian corruptions of the time, and Leo X. spoke contemptuously of , Brother Martin, but in the issue one half of Europe was emancipated from the papal yoke, and the Man of Sin received a fatal blow. The finest wit of Great Britain set the polite world on a broad laugh at the consecrated cobblers who commenced the work of East Indian missions; yet today the whole Church of Christ honors that heroic vanguard of Hindoo missionaries, and the friends of the wit would gladly sponge out his misplaced jests. The law of Providence is to begin with a day of small things. A little leaven hid in the measures of meal at last affects the entire mass. The smallest of seeds when planted grows into a tree upon whose branches the fowls of the air may lodge. No mature grain ever springs instantaneously from the earth. It is first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. The oak which has withstood the storms of a thousand years was once an acorn. The mighty river which fertilizes a continent began with a tiny streamlet which even an infants hand could divert. It becomes no one, least of all a believer, to deride a feeble beginning. No matter how small it may be, yet if carried forward in faith and prayer, neither man nor angel can tell whereunto it may grow.
4. The effusion of the Holy Ghost is not an arbitrary thing. Whitsunday stands in direct relation with Good Friday and Easter. The lamps of the candlestick give light because the manifold tubes convey oil in a constant flow from the central reservoir. But how is this reservoir kept full ? By living trees whose supply is perpetually renewed. These living trees are the priesthood and kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ. By his sacrifice the blessed Lord procured the measureless grace of the Holy Ghost, and by his enthronement at the Fathers right hand He has power to shed down the life giving influence in streams as mighty as those which made Pentecost forever memorable. These trees are living, ever-living. The blood of the one great ransom is ever new (, recens); it does not clot so as to be inefficacious; it belongs to an unchangeable priesthood; it endures to the uttermost in point of time. So the session on high is uninterrupted. Our Lord sat down forever on the right hand of God (Heb 10:12), and therefore always holds his ascension gifts to be dispensed at will for the preservation, the extension, and the exaltation of his Church. The oil of grace cannot fail, just because the Lord Jesus is an eternal priest and an eternal king. Here is a valid ground for faith, hope, and prayer. There is no machinery by which the most fervid evangelist can yoke the blessed Spirit to his methods and measures. But the varied and repeated and emphatic promises of the One Mediator (Joh 14:16-17; Joh 14:26; Joh 15:26; Joh 16:7-11; Joh 16:13-15) encourage every toiler in the vineyard, however feeble or obscure, to look up to the priest upon his throne, with an absolute conviction that his arm is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear. If the Saviour in the days of his flesh, had the Spirit without measure, how much more must He now, in his glorious exaltation far above all heavens! The wonders of Pentecost were explained by the Apostle Peter (Act 2:33) as an immediate gift of the ascended Saviour, who having received of the Father the promise of the Spirit, hath shed forth this which ye now see and hear. The supply of spiritual gifts depends upon the perpetual intercession within the veil; and in vain do we look for oil in the lamps if by conceit or neglect we neglect the olive-branches from which alone the supply is maintained.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

Calvin: The material of the candlestick was intended to set forth a mystery. It is indeed true that gold is corruptible; but as we cannot otherwise understand what exceeds the things of the world, the Lord, under the figure of gold and silver and precious stones, sets forth those things which are celestial, and which surpass in value the earth and the world. It was for this purpose that God commanded the candlestick to be made of gold, not that He needed earthly wealth or riches, or was pleased with them as men are.

Wordsworth: Observe the candlestick is golden and the oil is called gold; it is like liquid gold. The Church must be pure and holy; and what she teaches and ministers to the people must be pure and holy also; not adulterated with the admixture of any novel doctrines, such as those which have been added by some to the faith once delivered to the saints, and imposed as necessary to salvation.

C. Bradley: Observe, these Scriptures do not say that there are no enemies, no mountains, no difficulties. They do not make the salvation of the Church that light thing which some of us make it. On the contrary, they suppose it to be in itself a work of the utmost difficulty. But then, Christ, they tell us, is more than equal to. it; He is mighty to save; He can prepare his people for heaven and carry them there, in spite of everything.

John Foster: When good men despise the day of small things, it is because the grand essential of religion, Faith, is wanting. They lack faith in the unerring wisdom of the Divine scheme and determinations; faith in the goodness of God, the absolute certainty that infinite wisdom and power cannot be otherwise than good; faith in the promise of God, that his servants shall in the succession of their generations see his cause advance from the small to the great, though this be not granted to any one separately.

Payson: We ought not to despise the day of small things, because, (1) such conduct tends to prevent its becoming a day of great things. (2) Angels do not despise, etc., but rejoice over even one repenting sinner. (3) Our Saviour does not break the bruised reed, nor quench, etc. (4) God does not despise, etc., but noticed even some good thing found inthe son of Jeroboam. (5) The day of small things is the commencement of great things.

Gill: The lamp of a profession without the oil of grace is a dark and useless thing.

Footnotes:

[1]Zec 4:1The Kethibh must be considered a copyists error; the Keri, besides agreeing better with the connection and with usage, is found in numerous MSS., and also in the LXX., Itala, Vulg., Targum, and Peshito.

[2]Ver 2., which is pointed correctly, may stand for , as , Hos 12:2, which escapes the necessity of assuming a masculine , of which there is no other example.

[3]Zec 4:2 , seven and seven, must be taken distributively, for which there is an exact parallel In 2Sa 21:20.Cf. 1Ch 20:6.

[4]Zec 4:6.It seems impossible to establish any distinction between and . Both are used indiscriminately of physical or mental or moral power.

[5]Zec 4:7.The Masoretic interpunction requires before Zerubbabel to be connected with what goes before, and not, as E. V., with what follows.

[6]Zec 4:7.Be a plain ! is quite as correct a rendering of as to supply a future (E. V.), and surely far more spirited.

[7]Zec 4:7. The Raphe over the last letter of shows that this word is a feminine form of , and in apposition with .

[8]Zec 4:10. is one of the two instances in which verbs of this class take Pattach instead of Kamets. The other verb is .

[9]Zec 4:10.Those seven. The translation makes this phrase the subject of the verb rejoice. Professor Cowles objects to the violent inversion, but this is not worse than to disregard the accents and both the tense and number of the verb, by rendering who hath despised, etc., Let them rejoice.

[10]Ver.12., . ., lit., ears, here twigs or branches, so called because of their resemblance to ripe ears of grain, or (Frst) of their undulating motion.

[11]Zec 4:12.. This also is an . . It does not mean presses (Hengstenberg), which is sustained neither by etymology nor taste; nor receptacles (Pressel), which is too vague; but, as E. V., pipes, i. e., tubes or spouts through which the oil was discharged.

[12]Zec 4:12.There is a play upon words here. The shining oil is like liquid gold; hence it is said the golden spouts pour gold out of themselves.

[13]Zec 4:14 (as Henderson suggests) is elliptical for =before; or it may be (as 1Ki 22:19, Isa 5:2) lit., above him, which would naturally be the appearance if the Lord was sitting and they were standing.

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

CONTENTS

The Prophet is still in the relation of the visions of God. A golden candlestick, and two olive trees, are made emblems of the Church. Zerubbabel is introduced as a type of the Lord Jesus.

Zec 4:1 “And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, “

There is a great beauty in the manner in which this vision was opened to the Prophet. He tells us, that, the angel who talked with him, came again and awakened him, as from sleep. The Reader will perhaps recollect, without my reminding him, that Isaiah, prophesying of the Lord Jesus, speaks of the same awakenings. See Isa 50:4 . It should seem, that the faculties of the Prophet had been so exercised by the former visions, as to have occasioned their suspension. Thus the disciples were drenched with sleep at Christ’s transfiguration, and at his agony. Luk 9:32 ; Mat 26:40 . Reader! it is blessed to have the renewings of the Holy Ghost. Tit 3:5 . It must be the work of the Spirit to kindle afresh the grace of his own giving. Daniel experienced this. Dan 10:9 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Complete Temple

Zec 4

“And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep” ( Zec 4:1 ).

Here is the mystery of repetition. Even angels cannot deliver the whole message of God at once, or if they could do so, it is not in the power of man to receive the divine revelation in one gift. Moreover, we see different aspects of the same revelation. This mystery of aspect is often overlooked in estimating the orthodoxy of men. Zechariah did not see all the visions at once. Suppose that some other man came after him and saw the first vision whilst Zechariah was looking at the third, Zechariah was not at liberty to upbraid that man with indifference or ignorance or heterodoxy. All men must pass through their own visions; each man sees his own aspect of God, and realises his own theory of life and responsibility and destiny, and if so be the man be incorruptibly sincere God will see to it that his education is completed in his own way.

“And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof” ( Zec 4:2 ).

The candlestick is the seven-branched candlestick of the tabernacle; yet what variations are introduced for the purpose of showing that while God may retain the central or substantial truth, he reserves to himself the liberty and the right constantly to vary all the outbranchings and all the outshining of the candlesticks. It has been noted that the first variation here is the bowl on the top of the candlestick, containing the oil; then we have the pipes to conduct the oil into each lamp; then we have the two olive trees on either side of the bowl. All this multiplication of conduits shows that the action of the Lord in the Church is not an action once for all, but is continually proceeding, and continually varying. The candlestick itself was never changed, but many mechanical accidents pertaining to its construction and use were continually being re-arranged. So it is with the truth of God and its whole ministry. Is the progress of the world, then, to be determined by the continually-changing ingenuities of man? The answer is, that these changes were not made by human ingenuity, but were the result of divine appointment. Besides this, there is the sublime answer in the sixth verse, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” God will have everything his own way. God never vacates his own throne. Yet God uses the candlestick as well as the sun, the oil of human manufacture as well as the spark of uncreated glory. We are to look for the Spirit of God, when we have done the work of God. The Spirit could not be withheld from us, except God were to be unfaithful to his own government, when we have honourably and lovingly rendered obedience to his will. If you have prepared your work, God will do his part; if you have not prepared your work, you have no right to expect the Spirit of God to complete what has been left undone through indolence.

“Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it” ( Zec 4:7 ).

The powers that oppose God exalt themselves very highly, and boast loudly of their magnitude and importance. All this was foreseen by prophecy, and foredoomed. “Every one that exalteth himself shall be abased.” Appearances were wholly contrary to the probability of Jesus Christ making universal progress through the world; these appearances did not escape prophetic attention; hence we read, “Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain.” Prophecy does not overlook valley and mountain, crooked lines and rough places; all these are broadly recognised, and even specifically detailed, yet concerning the whole of them is the word of the Lord sure. Nothing shall stand before the great power of the risen Lord when he comes forth to complete the purpose of the Cross. The foundation of the temple had been laid long. It was by no means certain whether the people would be able to complete the temple, but Zechariah foretells that the temple should certainly be completed; the headstone thereof was to be brought on “with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it” all favour from God unto it, redoubled favours, grace upon grace. But the completion of the temple was only the completion, not the end. We only complete one temple that we may begin another. We only make the metropolis what it ought to be, that from it we may proceed to Christianise the whole land.

In Zec 4:10 a question is asked which often occurs in human speech, “For who hath despised the day of small things?” Without prying into the exact meaning of this inquiry in relation to apocalyptic vision, it is yet our duty to remember it as a practical guide of conduct. The mustard seed is small, but what of the mustard tree! The dawn may be feeble, but what of the midday glory! The whole action of God has been an action from the small to the great, from the visible to the invisible, and up again to the invisible and eternal. A child can play with the acorn, but what man can shake the oak! God is continually surpassing all that he has yet done. “Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?… The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” God always perfects his own strength in human weakness. Again and again men remind themselves that Joseph was raised from prison; David was brought forth from the sheep-fold; Daniel was delivered from bondage, and the world itself is under the evangelising influence of fishermen and tent-makers, who themselves were called to their work by One who became the Carpenter. Wise is the old proverb, “Wouldst thou be great? Become little.” A commentator has quoted the words of St. Theresa: “Whenever I am to receive some singular grace I first annihilate myself, sink into my own nothingness, so as to seem to myself to be nothing, be capable of nothing.”

Prayer

Let thy mercy be multiplied unto us, O God, according to our need. We may have all the light we want; thou givest liberally unto all earnest seekers, who make the Cross their altar, and thou dost not upbraid them. Thou art our Father, and thy name is thy character. Thou wilt not withhold any good thing from them that walk uprightly; but is not the condition severe? Who can be upright before God? Who can be righteous when tried by the standard of the sanctuary? Yet we know thy meaning well, for we can testify that thou sendest thy rain upon the just and upon the unjust; thou makest thy sun to shine also upon the evil and upon the good; thou art kind to them that are evil and unthankful. The whole world is a reservoir into which thou dost pour what it can hold of the ocean of thy love. We bless thee that we are sure of thy goodness, thy readiness to help; this is our light, our joy, our song, our strength. Because God is near we have no dread; because the Lord is at hand we can pray loudly or whisperingly, with a look or with a touch, and not one hint of all our meaning will be lost on the divine attention. Thou hast been with us, round about us, above us, on our right hand and on our left, our downsitting has been of consequence to thee, and thou hast watched our uprising as though it affected thy throne. The very hairs of our head are all numbered; our tears are put in God’s bottle, and there is not a word on our tongue, there is not a thought in our heart, but the Lord, the Father, the Eternal One, knoweth it altogether. This is a joy ineffable, this is a terror unspeakable; for if we do right how glorious to know that thou art looking on, but if we do wrong how overwhelming to feel that the eye of judgment is searching our innermost thought! Meet us as sinners, and pardon us. The blood of Jesus Christ thy Son cleanseth from all sin. May we know its healing and cleansing power. God be merciful to us sinners. Amen.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

XXVIII

THE BOOK OF ZECHARIAH (CONTINUED) PART II

Zec 4:1-8:23

The fifth vision of Zechariah gave the people encouragement regarding their spiritual condition. The others gave them encouragement from the political and geographical standpoint, but this has reference to the inner, spiritual condition. This vision is for Zerubbabel, the messianic representative, the heir to the throne of David. The prophet says that he was wakened as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. This vision comes on the same night as the others, and apparently the prophet had fallen asleep between the former visions and this one. The same angel that had spoken to him before is still with him, and he says, “What seest thou? And I said, I have seen, and, behold, a candlestick all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof.”

This is his description of the seven-branched candlestick. There was a bowl above the candlestick probably in the center holding a large amount of oil. The seven branches of the candlestick spread on either side, and he says, “There are seven pipes to each of the lamps.” Seven signifies perfection, and therefore the supply will be never-failing, and all-sufficient to keep those lights burning. Again, there are other means by which this bowl is itself to be supplied with oil. Two olive trees stand by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side. The olive trees furnished the oil which was used for their lamps. Now the prophet does not understand the vision and he asks the question, saying, “What are these, my Lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my Lord. Then he answered and spake unto me,” giving a fuller description of the vision that had been presented to him, and the latter part of Zec 4:10 is a continuation of the description of the vision.

I read from Zec 4:6 , first part, and Zec 4:10 , latter part: “Then he answered and spake unto me saying, . . . These are the eyes of Jehovah,” the perfection of knowledge and oversight of God, “which run to and fro through the whole earth.” Those seven lights thus represent the omnipresence and omniscient activity of God. Zec 4:11 continues the description: “Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?” He does not answer at once, but the prophet asks again the question, “and I answered the second time, and said unto him, What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts that empty the golden oil out of themselves?” The olive branches acted as spouts for the olive trees carrying the olive oil from the trees to the golden bowl at the top, then through the seven pipes to each one of the lamps on the candlestick. “And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these things are? I said, No, my Lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” This refers to the two representatives of Jehovah among the people of Israel, Joshua, the religious leader, and Zerubbabel, the civil leader, one representing the regal and the other the priestly function of the theocracy as found in the hierarchy. These are the two olive trees which furnish the oil to the burning lamps.

Now let us see the application as we find it in the latter part of Zec 4:6 , to the first part of Zec 4:10 , bearing in mind this picture before the prophet of the two olive trees. What does it mean? “This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel.” This was on behalf of the civil government, and it was through Zerubbabel that this message should be fulfilled among the people of Israel in the rebuilding of the Temple and the establishment of the nation. It was to be by the power of the Spirit of Jehovah, not by an army nor by fighting, not by mere strength nor power of any kind, “but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah.” That is a great text, which has had its application all through the ages. Not by an army is this work to be done, Zerubbabel, not by your strength and prowess, not by anything but the Spirit of God, and this represents that operation: the two olive trees supply the oil which runs to the lamps and which keeps them burning. The process is unseen but its effects can be seen. That is the message to Zerubbabel.

Now the encouragement is in these words (Zec 4:7 ). “Who art thou, O great mountain?” A great difficulty seemingly insurmountable was before Zerubbabel. “Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it.” The mountain shall disappear, the difficulty shall vanish, because the mighty power of the Spirit of God is going to be felt in the hearts and spirits of men, and they are to come to thy help. The Temple shall be completed and he shall bring forth the top stone “with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it.” That was wonderfully encouraging to Zerubbabel, who must have been discouraged. Now the promise comes with great force: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house” (which was done under the preaching of Haggai); “his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me (the prophet Zechariah) unto you.” But there were some that despised this small beginning, this almost contemptible start of the building: “Who hath despised the day of small things?” Many people have done it, but they are going to change their minds; they are going to rejoice and be glad when they shall see the plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel; when the prince shall begin the work of erection of the Temple.

The sixth is the vision of the flying roll, or the curse re-moved (Zec 5:1-4 ). People, priests and leaders have been encouraged. Now there comes a message saying that a certain class of people who are a nuisance and a trouble shall be removed out of their midst and they shall get rid of them once for all. This refers to the cleaning out of certain types of criminals among them. The prophet see” a roll, or scroll, flying in the air, and the angel speaks to him, “What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits and the breadth thereof ten cubits.” That was a large roll, or sheet of paper, twenty cubits by ten cubits, or fifteen by thirty feet, to see flying. “Then he said unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land.” What was the curse to do? Every one that stealeth shall be cut off and every one that sweareth shall be cut off. The roll represents the principle of law to be administered by Israel; the flying roll means the active principle of law; the written roll, a published principle of law; in heaven means that the law and its penalty were from God.

The vision teaches that as Judah and Jerusalem were troubled by these criminals, Jehovah would send a curse among them and consume their families, their homes, and their houses, extirpate them, and thus cleanse Jerusalem from such a troublesome element. This was to be a great blessing to the people, as it would be almost impossible for them to go forward with such criminals in their midst.

The seventh is a vision of the woman in the barrel, or wickedness removed from the land (Zec 5:5-11 ). It is a vision wherein God shows to Zechariah that the spirit and principle of sin which seems to be engraved in the people’s natures would be removed by the divine power from their midst. It is the picture of an ephah, a large measure about equal to our bushel measure, really a barrel with a round top and cover to it. In the barrel there is a woman sitting. This woman represents wickedness: the principle of sin that is so prominent among the people. The lid is upon it, and on the lid is a talent of lead, a great weight. The woman is forced down into the barrel, the lid is closed over it.

Two other women appear with wind in their wings, wings like those of a stork, and they lift up the ephah between earth and heaven. Then the prophet asks the question, “Whither do these bear the ephah? And he said unto me, To build her an house in the land of Shinar: and when it is prepared, she shall be set there in her own place.” Shinar, or the Plain of Babylon was the place where wickedness began, the plain where they attempted to build a tower into heaven and were scattered abroad; the plain which had been the means of Israel’s oppression. The idea is this: That sin must be removed, and it cannot be removed by a ritual or by a legal punishment. It must be removed by the action of the Almighty God himself. Human hands cannot carry away the sins of the people. That is a divine operation only and sin is represented here by a woman, not because a woman is more sinful or worse than a man, but because sin is so attractive. It must therefore be dealt with by God himself and banished from the land. According to this vision it is going to be done; evil is surely to be extirpated.

The eighth vision, or the chariots of the four winds, or spirits (Zec 6:1-8 ), is a vision of the universal providence of God; as the first vision was a vision of God’s providential scouts watching all that was upon the horizon of the world’s history, this is a vision of the universal providence of God visiting punishment upon the nations that have oppressed Israel. And in the first vision there were angels upon horses; here we have horses and chariots. He sees four chariots corresponding to the four points of the compass and representing the completeness of the operation of God’s providence. They came forth from between the mountains) and the mountains were mountains of brass. The mountains refer to Mount of Olives and Mount Moriah upon which Jerusalem was built. Brass represents the everlasting quality and strength of the mountains.

The first chariot had red horses attached to it, the second, black horses, the third, white horses, and the fourth grizzled or dappled horses. The brass mountains represent the invincible nature of the theocracy; the different kinds of horses correspond almost exactly to the four horses which John saw on Patmos as recorded in Rev 6 . The white horse there represents the gospel going forth in its conquests; the black horse represents the scarcity of the gospel when it was in the hands of certain ones who doled it out and starved the people; the red horse represents the conflict that arose wherever the gospel went; the grizzled or pale horse represents the persecutions that follow in the wake of the gospel.

These four chariots here represent the four winds, and the four winds represent the four great punishments or judgments of God that are to break forth upon all parts of the world, the analogue of what John sees in Rev 7 , where he represents the four angels as holding the four winds of the earth. Here are four chariots representing the four winds or universal providence of God upon the nations (see Revelation of “The Interpretation”) .

Now he sends them forth, the black horses and the white horses go forth to Babylonia and the natives adjoining to inflict the punishments of Jehovah upon those people. The grizzled horses go south to Egypt to inflict punishment upon her, because Israel had suffered at the hands of that nation also. The red horses want to know where they are to go, and they are told that they are to walk up and down, to and fro, through the earth, that is, they are to pass up and down through the land of Palestine and be the administrators of the divine providence in that region.

Then a question arises here concerning the mission of the chariots with the black horses and the white horses, which go toward the north. “Behold they that go toward the north country have quieted my spirit in the north country.” What does that mean? It means that they have caused his anger and wrath to rest upon those nations in the north which have oppressed Israel; that they are to inflict God’s severe punishment upon those people in the north country, until they are exterminated, and God’s spirit will rest because those enemies are gone. In other words, it means that they have caused this providential visitation of God to come upon and abide upon that north country. History bears us out in this, and from this time on, Babylonia, Assyria, and Syria began to decay, and God’s providential judgments have ever since then been upon these peoples.

The result of the visions was the crowning of Joshua, the priest (Zec 6:9-15 ). Following these visions which have given encouragement to the people and the leaders, which have promised freedom from sin and iniquities, and which have given them a vision of God’s universal providence on their behalf, they are ready for the crowning of Joshua as joint-sovereign and ruler with Zerubbabel, the son of David.

This is not a vision by the prophet, but a symbolic action which the prophet himself performs. There appear before him in the daylight, men who have come recently from Babylon and the captivity, such as Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah, who have come into the house of Josiah, the son of Zephaniah, who dwells in the city. They are to bring silver and gold, such as they brought from Babylonia, and he is to make a crown, or crowns. The crown was a wreath, or diadem, which would encircle the brow of the priest, and it may have been made of two or three small wreaths, or rings, and put together would form one crown. That is probably the explanation of the word “crowns” mentioned here because there is only one man crowned, Joshua, which would necessitate only one crown, made of several small wreaths. Zerubbabel is ex officio entitled to a crown, being the direct heir of the line of David. Now Joshua is crowned.

Then comes the word regarding Zerubbabel: “Thus spake the Lord of hosts, Behold, the man whose name is the Branch.” Zerubbabel is the man mentioned in the fourth vision: “He shall grow up out of his place”; he shall come out of his obscurity and assert his royal dignity and power. The vision predicts that he is going to rise up and build the Temple of Jehovah, and, as it says in Zec 6:13 , “He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.” They now have two crowned rulers, prince and priest. Zerubbabel is going to assert his place of power. Now, with the religious leader crowned, and the civil leader roused, the Temple is going to be built. Then these crowns that are here made are going to be preserved in the Temple as a memorial of those men who brought the silver and gold from Babylon, “And this shall come to pass, if ye will diligently obey the voice of Jehovah your God.”

The larger fulfilment of this prophecy, the crowning of the prince and the crowning of the priest comes into vision as we look upon the one who represents both the priest and the prince. He represented in himself the priestly and the kingly authority, and he built the spiritual temple which shall abide to all eternity. Zechariah, however, is talking about building that Temple in Jerusalem, and his word has its application primarily to Joshua and Zerubbabel, but its larger application is to the priest-hood and kingship of Jesus Christ, the true Branch of the line of David. (For the typical significance of this crowning of Joshua see Rev 6:1 , of “The Interpretation.”)

Now we take up Zechariah 7-8, the theme of which is the true fasts, and we find that these are dated some two years later, in the fourth year of the reign of King Darius. There is an interval of almost two years between those two prophecies. The question arises, What was done in the meantime? Those two years were occupied with the work of rebuilding the Temple under the inspiration of the preaching of Haggai and those visions which Zechariah saw. Two years passed, probably of strenuous labor, and by that time the Temple was half erected, or more. Jt required about four years to complete it, and it was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius, or 516 B.C., that it was dedicated.

With the erection of the Temple there arose in the minds of the people the question of the keeping of their ceremonial laws. That gave rise to certain questions in the minds of some people, and they came to Joshua and to the leaders in Jerusalem with the question as to whether they should observe certain facts that had been observed since the beginning of the exile, about seventy years previous. This question on the part of those inquirers, gave the prophet his opportunity, and he deals with their problems, and by means of that inculcates the performance of civic virtues and duties which they must soon resume.

We observe in the second verse that a delegation came from Bethel composed of Sharezer and Regemmelech and others, to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to speak unto the priests of the house of Jehovah of hosts and to the prophets, probably Zechariah, and Haggai, and possibly others of whom we know nothing, and they came with a question regarding certain facts which they had been observing. He does not say whether they should observe the fast or not, but he proceeds upon broader lines and principles. As much as to say, “God did not institute that fast which you have been observing these seventy years in the fifth month. It was not his requirement. You men of Israel instituted the fast yourselves. It was in commemoration of an event which Almighty God would have prevented if he could have done so righteously. It is in commemoration of an event which was because of your sins. He then throws back the question to them: “When ye fasted in the fifth and seventh month, did ye fast unto me?”

The fast in the seventh month was in commemoration of the murder of Gedaliah, the Jewish governor who had been appointed by Nebuchadnezzar, governor over the last, small, miserable semblance of national life, left after the fall of the city. “Even these seventy years, when fasting on the fifth and seventh month, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?” Was that God’s requirement: The answer is evident. No, your fasting was not unto God. Ye did it not at his commandment. Therefore, ye need not raise the question whether you should continue it or not. But he goes on, “And when ye eat and when ye drink, do not you eat for yourselves and drink for yourselves?”

The point here is: Do you eat and drink to the glory of God? Then he makes an application of the historical episodes through which they had passed and which had burned themselves into the people’s memory. Rather than concern yourselves with this fasting in these months, or with eating and drinking, or not eating and drinking, he says in Zec 7:7 , “Should ye not hear the words which Jehovah hath cried by the former prophets, when Jerusalem was inhabited and in prosperity, and the cities thereof round about her, and the South and the low lands were inhabited?” In other words, God sent his prophets; ye did not hearken to them, and therefore ye lost all; now learn by your history and give heed to the word of the former prophets. Then he branches out to discuss and inculcate civic righteousness instead of mere ceremonial fasting: “The word of Jehovah came unto Zechariah saying, Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Speak, saying, Execute true judgment and show mercy and compassion to every man his brother.” Zechariah here says, “Take warning by the past, op-press not the widow nor the fatherless, the stranger nor the poor,” and penetrating right to the very heart of the people and to their very motives, he says, “Let none of you imagine evil against his brother in his heart.” In Zec 7:11 he again refers to their past history and to the stubbornness of their forefathers; how they refused to hear; how they made their hearts as hard as adamant lest they should hear the law and the words of the former prophets. Because of that, great wrath came from Jehovah of hosts, so great that when they cried, God did not hear. He scattered them as a whirlwind among all nations whom they had not known. Because of that even the land was desolate and the pleasant land was laid waste. Here Zechariah was in line with Moses. Isaiah. Jeremiah. Jesus Christ, and Paul.

The Seed of Peace, or the Future Prophecy of Jerusalem, is the theme of Zec 8 . Here in this chapter we have ten brief oracles, each one beginning with the same statement, “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts,” and in these ten oracles he gives a picture of the future peace and prosperity of the Temple and the establishment of the nation upon its religious foundation again. He commends their heavy labor in this work, and on the supposition that they are going to heed his word, and take warning by their past history, he proceeds to give them this series of views of the glory that shall come to their city and nation, as follows:

Oracle 1. A renewed assertion of God’s jealousy for them (Zec 8:1-2 ). Like the true prophet, he begins with fundamentals. He brings before their minds again the thought of God’s eternal love and God’s eternal interest in those people. “I am jealous for Zion with great jealousy.”

Oracle 2. Jehovah’s dwelling in Jerusalem, the city of truth and righteousness (Zec 8:3 ). “I am returned unto Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem.” It means his continued presence and therefore their assured blessing.

Oracle 3. There shall be the aged and the young in the city (Zec 8:4-5 ). We can understand something of the meaning of this prophecy) when we look at the character of the population of Jerusalem. Many of the people returned from the exile, but there were comparatively few aged men and women. They had not been settled long in the land and there were comparatively few children, and Jerusalem had comparatively few inhabitants anyway, and what is a city or community unless there be the aged with their wisdom, their mellow and ripened years, and what is a city or community without the playing, prattling children in the streets? A community of middle-aged men or women is not complete. All sides of human life are not there represented. Now he says the time is coming when there will be the aged, and there will be the boys and girls: there shall be old men and old women in the streets of Jerusalem, and every man with his staff in his hand for very age, and the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing therein.

Oracle 4. The marvel of their prosperity will be no marvel to God (Zec 8:6 ). “If it be marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of these people in those days, should it also be marvelous in mine eyes? saith the Lord of hosts.” There is nothing marvelous with God.

Oracle 5. Jehovah brings back his people (Zec 8:7-8 ). “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country; and I will bring them, and they shall dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in righteousness.” This was partly fulfilled then, but finds its larger fulfilment in Christianity.

Oracle 6. An exhortation to strengthen their hands (Zec 8:9-13 ). Zec 8:9 is an admonition, “Let your hands be strong, ye that hear in these days these words,” etc., which came by the mouth of Haggai as well as Zechariah himself. The Temple, he says, will be built, for that was the purpose of these prophecies. Before these words of the prophets came there was no hire for man, nor any hire for beast, neither was there any peace to any that went in or out, because of the adversary. In Zec 8:11 he gives the contrast: “Now I will not be unto the remnant of this people as in the former days . . . There shall be the seed of peace; the vine shall give its fruit, and the ground shall give its increase, and the heavens shall give their dew; and I will cause the remnant of this people to inherit all these things. It shall come to pass that, as ye were a curse among the nations . . . so ye shall be a blessing.”

Oracle 7. Justice shall be their standard (Zec 8:14-17 ). He gives the reasons why he had planned evil before. He plans good now on this condition as given in verse 16: “Speak ye every man the truth with his neighbour; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates; and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against his neighbour; and love no false oath: for all these are things that I hate saith Jehovah.”

Oracle 8. Fasts turned into feasts (Zec 8:18-19 ). The fast of the fourth month was because Jerusalem was then taken by Nebuchadnezzar, of the fifth month because it was then burned; the fast of the seventh month was because Gedaliah was then slain, and the fast of the tenth month commemorated the blockade of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar a year and a half previous to its being taken. These four dire events in their history had been celebrated by fasts during the exile and up to this period of the return. “Now,” says the prophet, “this has been changed; these fasts shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts,” since the things that caused these fasts had passed away. “Therefore,” he says, “love truth and peace.”

Oracle 9. Peoples and nations shall come to Jehovah (Zec 8:20-22 ). “There shall come peoples, and the inhabitants of many cities; and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to entreat the favor of Jehovah, and to seek Jehovah of hosts.” This was partly fulfilled then, but the larger fulfilment is found in messianic times when all people shall come to the true Israel of God.

A tender and delicate touch is given here. They will say, “I will go also.” A very suggestive text. A mother and wife and the family prepare to go to church, the father stays at home and perhaps asks them to pray for him, but he doesn’t go. In a revival where many are coming to the Lord the application of this text can be made to the others. “I will go also.” That is what they are going to say, Zechariah says.

Oracle 10. Ten men shall follow one Jew (Zec 8:23 ). “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: In those days, it shall come to pass, that ten men shall take hold, out of all the languages of the nations, they shall take hold of the skirt of him that is a Jew, saying, We will go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” It was fulfilled partially then; it was fulfilled more in the time when Christ was upon earth; it was fulfilled when Paul the great Jew brought the gospel to the heathen world, and if we substitute a Christian here for a Jew, for a Christian is the real descendant of the Jew, it is being fulfilled now. This figure signified dependence and love, as a child clings to the parent; so, it applies to the great fact that the religion of the world comes through the Jews. This will have its larger fulfilment in the millennium. QUESTIONS

1. What was Zechariah’s fifth vision, what was the meaning of the symbolism, what the message of this vision, and to whom?

2. What was the promise of this message, and what was the meaning and application of Zec 4:10 ?

3. Is there a type of Christ in this vision? If so, what?

4. What was Zechariah’s sixth vision, what was the interpretation of its symbolism, and what was the purpose of the vision?

5. What was the seventh vision of Zechariah, what was the interpretation of its symbolism, and what the encouragement here to God’s people?

6. What was Zechariah’s eighth vision, what was the meaning of its symbolism, and where do we find in the New Testament the vision of which this is an analogue?

7. What great symbolic act follows these visions and what is the interpretation of it?

8. What was the subject discussed in Zechariah 7-8, what was the date of this revelation, how long after the visions and what had occurred in the meantime?

9. How did this question arise, what was the meaning of the question, what was Jehovah’s reply, and what was the meaning of it?

10. What history does the prophet then recite to them and what was its lesson?

11. What was the special theme of Zec 8:12 and what ten oracles of this chapter introduced by “Thus saith Jehovah”?

12. What was the meaning and application of Jehovah’s jealousy of Zec 8:2 ?

13. What was the meaning and application of Jehovah’s dwelling in Jerusalem?

14. What was the meaning and application of the young and aged in the city of Jerusalem (Zec 8:4-5 )?

15. What is the meaning of Zec 8:6 ?

16. What is the meaning of Zec 8:7-8 ?

17. What was the prophet’s exhortation and encouragement in Zec 8:9-13 ?

18. What promise does he make to them and what requirements does he make of them in Zec 8:14-17 ?

19. Why were the fasts mentioned in Zec 8:18-19 kept by the Jews in the captivity and what was the announcement here concerning them and why?

20. What was the promise of Zec 8:20-22 and what the fulfilment of it?

21. What was the meaning and application of Zec 8:23 ?

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

Zec 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,

Ver. 1. And the angel that talked with me ] See Trapp on “ Zec 1:9 “

Came again ] After some absence, as it may seem; and a new vision or revelation received from God to be imparted to the prophet.

And waked me, as a man that is wakened, &c. ] It fared with the prophet (notwithstanding the former visions) as with a drowsy person; who though awakened and set to work, is ready to fall asleep at it. So Peter, James, and John (those pillars, as they are called, Gal 2:9 ), fell asleep at their very prayers, Mat 26:40 , such dull metal are the best men made of; and so weak is the flesh, be the spirit never so willing; so ill disposed is our most noble and immortal part, the soul, to supernal and supernatural employments. Meditation and prayer are the creatures of the Holy Ghost, Jdg 1:20 ; and that we may not run out into extravagancies, or put up yawning petitions, we must watch and pray, Mat 26:41 , yea, watch while we are praying, meditating, &c., against corruption within (the sin that doth so easily beset us, Heb 12:1 ) and temptations without, whether from the world, the things whereof are so near us and so natural to us, or from the devil, who is ever busiest with the best, as flies are with sweetmeats, and with the best part of their best performances, as in the end of their prayers, when the heart should close up itself with most comfort.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Zechariah

THE SOURCE OF POWER

Zec 4:1 – Zec 4:10 .

THE preceding vision had reference to Joshua the priest, and showed him restored to his prerogative of entrance into the sanctuary. This one concerns his colleague Zerubbabel, the representative of civil power, as he of ecclesiastical, and promises that he shall succeed in rebuilding the Temple. The supposition is natural that the actual work of reconstruction was mainly in the hands of the secular ruler.

Flesh is weak, and the Prophet had fallen into deep sleep, after the tension of the previous vision. That had been shown him by Jehovah, but in this vision we have the same angel interpreter who had spoken with Zechariah before. He does not bring the vision, but simply wakes the Prophet that he may see it, and directs his attention to it by the question, ‘What seest thou?’ The best way to teach is to make the learner put his conceptions into definite words. We see things more clearly, and they make a deeper impression, when we tell what we see. How many lazy looks we give at things temporal as well as at things eternal, after which we should be unable to answer the Angel’s question! It is not every one who sees what he looks at.

The passage has two parts-the vision and its interpretation, with related promises.

The vision may be briefly disposed of. Its original is the great lamp which stood in the tabernacle, and was replaced in the Solomonic Temple by ten smaller ones. These had been carried away at the Captivity, and we do not read of their restoration. But the main thing to note is the differences between this lamp and the one in the tabernacle. The description here confines itself to these: They are three-the ‘bowl’ or reservoir above the lamp, the pipes from it to the seven lights, and the two olive-trees which stood on either side of the lamp and replenished from their branches the supply in the reservoir. The tabernacle lamp had no reservoir, and consequently no pipes, but was fed with oil by the priests. The meaning of the variations, then, is plain. They were intended to express the fuller and more immediately divine supply of oil. If the Revised Version’s rendering of the somewhat doubtful numerals in Zec 4:2 be accepted, each several light had seven pipes, thus expressing the perfection of its supplies.

Now, there can be no doubt about the symbolism of the tabernacle lamp. It represented the true office of Israel, as it rayed out its beams into the darkness of the desert. It meant the same thing as Christ’s words, ‘Ye are the light of the world,’ and as the vision of the seven golden candlesticks, in Rev 1:12 – Rev 1:13 , Rev 1:20 . The substitution of separate lamps for one with seven lights may teach the difference between the mere formal unity of the people of God in the Old Testament and the true oneness, conjoined with diversity, in the New Testament Church, which is one because Christ walks in the midst. Zechariah’s lamp, then, called to the minds of the little band of restored exiles their high vocation, and the changed arrangements for the supply of that oil, which is the standing emblem for divine communications fitting for service, or, to keep to the metaphor, fitting to shine, signified the abundance of these.

The explanation of the vision is introduced, as at Zec 1:9 , Zec 1:19 , by the Prophet’s question of its meaning. His angelic teacher is astonished at his dullness, as indeed heavenly eyes must often be at ours, and asks if he does not know so familiar an object. The Prophet’s ‘No, my Lord,’ brings full explanation. Ingenuously acknowledged ignorance never asks Heaven for enlightenment in vain.

First, the true source of strength and success, as shown by the vision, is declared in plain terms. What fed the lamp? Oil, which symbolises the gift of a divine Spirit, if not in the full personal sense as in the New Testament, yet certainly as a God-breathed influence, preparing prophets, priests, kings, and even artificers, for their several forms of service. Whence came the oil? From the two olive-trees, which though, as Zec 4:14 shows, they represented the two leaders, yet set forth the truth that their power for their work was from God; for the Bible knows nothing of ‘nature’ as a substitute for or antithesis to God, and the growth of the olive and its yield of oil is His doing.

This, then, was the message for Zerubbabel and his people, that God would give such gifts as they needed, in order that the light which He Himself had kindled should not be quenched. If the lamp was fed with oil, it would burn, and there would be a Temple for it to stand in. If we try to imagine the feebleness of the handful of discouraged men, and the ring of enemies round them, we may feel the sweetness of the promise which bade them not despond because they had little of what the world calls might.

We all need the lesson; for the blustering world is apt to make us forget the true source of all real strength for holy service or for noble living. The world’s power at its mightiest is weak, and the Church’s true power, at her feeblest, is omnipotent, if only she grasps the strength which is hers, and takes the Spirit which is given. The eternal antithesis of man’s weakness at his haughtiest, and God’s strength even in its feeblest possessors, is taught by that lamp flaming, whatever envious hands or howling storms might seek to quench it, because fed by oil from on high. Let us keep to God’s strength, and not corrupt His oil with mixtures of foul-smelling stuff of our own compounding.

Next, in the strength of that revelation of the source of might a defiant challenge is blown to the foe. The ‘great mountain’ is primarily the frowning difficulties which lifted themselves against Zerubbabel’s enterprise, and more widely the whole mass of worldly opposition encountered by God’s servants in every age. It seems to bar all advance; but an unseen Hand crushes it down, and flattens it out into a level, on which progress is easy. The Hebrew gives the suddenness and completeness of the transformation with great force; for the whole clause, ‘Thou shalt become a plain,’ is one word in the original.

Such triumphant rising above difficulties is not presumption when it has been preceded by believing gaze on the source of strength. If we have taken to heart the former words of the Prophet, we shall not be in danger of rash overconfidence when we calmly front obstacles in the path of duty, assured that every mountain shall be made low. A brave scorn of the world, both in its sweetnesses and its terrors, befits God’s men, and is apt to fulfil its own confidences; for most of these terrors are like ghosts, who will not wait to be spoken to, but melt away if fairly faced. Nor should we forget the other side of this thought; namely, that it is the constant drift of Providence to abase the lofty in mind, and to raise the lowly. What is high is sure to get many knocks which pass over lower heads. To men of faith every mountain shall either become a plain or be cast into the sea.

Then follows, on the double revelation of the source of strength and the futility of opposition, the assurance of the successful completion of the work. The stone which is to crown the structure shall be brought forth and set in its place amid jubilant prayers not offered in vain, that ‘grace’-that is, the protecting favour of God-may rest on it.

The same thought is reiterated and enlarged in the next ‘word,’ which is somewhat separated from the former, as if the flow of prophetic communication had paused for a moment, and then been resumed. In Zec 4:9 we have the assurance, so seldom granted to God’s workers, that Zerubbabel shall be permitted to complete the task which he had begun. It is the fate of most of us to inherit unfinished work from our predecessors, and to bequeath the like to our successors. And in one aspect, all human work is unfinished, as being but a fragment of the fulfilment of the mighty purpose which runs through all the ages. Yet some are more happy than others, in that they see an approximate completion of their work. But whether it be so or not, our task is to ‘do the little we can do, and leave the rest with God,’ sure that He will work all the fragments into a perfect whole, and content to do the smallest bit of service for Him. Few of us are strong enough to do separate building. We are like coral insects, whose reef is one, though its makers are millions.

Zerubbabel finished his task, but its end was but a new beginning of an order of things of which he did not see the end. There are no beginnings or endings, properly speaking, in human affairs, but all is one unbroken flow. One man only has made a real new beginning, and that is Jesus Christ; and He only will really carry His work to its very last issues. He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending. He is the Foundation of the true Temple, and He is also the Headstone of the corner, the foundation on which all rests, the apex to which all runs up. ‘When He begins, He will also make an end.’

The completion of the work is to be the token that the ‘angel who spake with me’ was God’s messenger. We can know that before the fulfilment, but we cannot but know it after. Better to be sure that the message is from God while yet the certainty is the result of faith, than to be sure of it afterwards, when the issue has shattered and shamed our doubts.

If we realise that God’s Spirit is the guarantee for the success of work done for God, we shall escape the vulgar error of measuring the importance of things by their size, as, no doubt, many of these builders were doing. No one will help on the day of great things who despises that of small ones. They say that the seeds of the ‘big trees’ in California are the smallest of all the conifers. I do not vouch for the truth of the statement, but God’s work always begins with little seeds, as the history of the Church and of every good cause shows. ‘What do these feeble Jews?’ sneered the spectators of their poor little walls, painfully piled up, over which a fox could jump. They did very little, but they were building the city of God, which has outlasted all the mockers.

Men might look with contempt on the humble beginning, but other eyes than theirs looked at it with other emotions. The eyes which in the last vision were spoken of as directed on the foundation stone, gaze on the work with joy. These are the seven eyes of ‘the Lord,’ which are ‘the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth’ Rev 5:6. The Spirit is here contemplated in the manifoldness of His operations rather than in the unity of His person. Thus the closing assurance, which involves the success of the work, since God’s eyes rest on it with delight, comes round to the first declaration, ‘Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit.’ Note the strong contrast between ‘despise’ and ‘rejoice.’ What matter the scoffs of mockers, if God approves? What are they but fools who look at that which moves His joy, and find in it only food for scorn? What will become of their laughter at last? If we try to get so near God as to see things with His eyes, we shall be saved from many a false estimate of what is great and what is small, and may have our own poor little doings invested with strange dignity, because He deigns to behold and bless them.

Fuente: Expositions Of Holy Scripture by Alexander MacLaren

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Zec 4:1-7

1Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is awakened from his sleep. 2He said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it; 3also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side. 4Then I said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, What are these, my lord? 5So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. 6Then he said to me, This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the LORD of hosts. 7’What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of Grace, grace to it!’

Zec 4:1 the angel who was speaking with me This refers to the angel guide (cf. Zec 1:9; Zec 1:19; Zec 2:3; Zec 4:1; Zec 4:4-5; Zec 5:5; Zec 5:10; Zec 6:4). These angel guides and interpreters are common in apocalyptic literature (cf. Eze 8:2-3; Eze 40:3-4; Dan 7:16; Dan 8:16-17; Dan 9:22; Dan 10:18-21).

returned Because of the use of this same word (BDB 996, KB 1427, Qal IMPERFECT) in Zec 5:1; Zec 6:1, and came again is a better understanding (cf. NKJV, NRSV, TEV, NJB). Possibly the angel had left so that the prophet could rest.

and roused me, as a man who is wakened from his sleep The prophet was resting. However, this was not a dream, but a vision.

Zec 4:2 What do you see This Hebrew word see (BDB 906, KB 1157) is a literary marker for a new vision. It is used two times in this verse. See full note at Zec 1:8.

lampstand This is the Hebrew word menorah (BDB 633), which is literally lamp. There are two temple precedents: (1) Exo 25:31-40; Num 8:1-4, a lampstand in the Tabernacle which had seven branches and (2) 1Ki 7:49, a lampstand in Solomon’s temple which had ten branches. However, this vision may be a different kind of lampstand. The description does not fit the menorah of the temple.

seven lamps Each of the branches was topped with a bowl which contained seven wicks.

NASBseven spouts

NKJVseven pipes

NRSVseven lips

TEVplaces for seven wicks

NJBseven openings

This Hebrew word (BDB 427) can refer to pipes (cf. NKJV) and thereby relate to Zec 4:12 or it refers to the indentions on the bowl’s outer rim into which wicks were laid (cf. NASB, NRSV, TEV, NJB).

Zec 4:3 two olive trees The lamps burned olive oil, so these are symbolically the two sources of YHWH’s abundant illumination, power, and provision (cf. Zec 4:11-14). These same two symbols, the lamp and olive tree, are also used in Rev 11:3-4.

Zec 4:4 This fifth vision returns to the pattern of one through four, where the prophet asked the interpreting angel for an interpretation of the vision (cf. Zec 1:9; Zec 1:19; Zec 2:2; Zec 5:6; Zec 5:10; Zec 6:4).

my lord This is the Hebrew term adoni (cf.Zech. Zec 3:5). See note at Zec 1:9.

Zec 4:5 The angel questions Zechariah (cf. Zec 4:3), the point being, that without supernatural help Zechariah (i.e., all humans) could not receive the revelation.

Zec 4:6 Zerubbabel There is some confusion connected with Zerubbabel.

1. his genealogy

a. son of Shealtiel (cf. Ezr 3:2; Ezr 3:8; Ezr 5:2; Neh 12:1; Hag 1:1; Hag 1:12; Hag 1:14; Hag 2:2; Hag 2:23)

b. son of Pedaiah (cf. 1Ch 3:17-19), a relative of Shealtiel

2. his relationship to Sheshbazzar

a. both were of the line of David (cf. Ezr 1:8)

b. both were governors of Judah appointed by the Persian court

c. both were involved in rebuilding the temple (cf. Ezr 5:14-16 vs. Hag 1:14)

He was apparently the grandson of the exiled Davidic king, Jehoiachin (cf. Ezr 3:2; Mat 1:12; Luk 3:27). He was born and raised in exile. He becomes the symbol (cf. Hag 2:23) of the restored Jewish Davidic leader (cf. 2 Samuel 7), but he was never king and he was not succeeded by a relative of David. His main task was the rebuilding of the second temple. He is usually mentioned in connection with Joshua (seed of the exiled high priest).

Not by might nor by power This is the Hebrew term (BDB 298) which usually refers to human physical strength, although it often refers to God’s gracious endowment of help to the needy and faithful. Here it is parallel with power (BDB 470). Human effort, ability, and ingenuity are not capable of fulfilling God’s plan. Only God’s power can accomplish His will but He chooses to use human instrumentality.

but by My Spirit This is an OT way of speaking of the very presence and power of God. It was often understood as the active force of God’s word and will (e.g., Num 11:17; Num 11:25; Num 11:29; Isa 63:11; Isa 63:14; Neh 9:20). From this developed the concept of the Spirit as God’s personal agent (cf. Hag 2:5). This was the recognition of the need for God’s power and presence to overcome all of the political, spiritual, and physical barriers. Only divine action could fulfill God’s promises.

It is possible that since the two olive trees are discussed in Zec 4:11-14, that here the oil itself is being discussed. If so, then the Spirit is identified with the oil. A special anointing oil was used to install leaders into office (priests, kings, and possibly prophets). The Spirit is the agent of the empowering for service.

So far in Zechariah we have been introduced to several powerful spiritual personalities.

1. LORD/YHWH (e.g., Zec 1:1)

2. LORD of hosts (e.g., Zec 1:6)

3. LORD/adon (e.g., Zec 1:9)

4. the angel of the LORD (e.g., Zec 1:11)

5. Satan (e.g., Zec 3:1)

6. those who were standing there (e.g., Zec 3:4)

7. My Servant the Branch (e.g., Zec 3:8)

8. My Spirit (e.g., Zec 4:6)

Some of these are different titles for God, while others refer to angelic beings. There is an incipient plurality in God expressed in different persons. See Special Topic: Spirit in the Bible .

SPECIAL TOPIC: THE TRINITY

Zec 4:7 What This Hebrew PRONOUN (BDB 566) may be who. The mountain is a metaphor for obstacles: physical, personal, and spiritual (e.g., Isa 40:4; Isa 41:15; Isa 45:11) and refers to the rebuilding of the second temple. However, it may refer to the Samaritan opposition (cf. Ezra 4) or to Jewish apathy (Haggai).

the top stone This refers to rebuilding of the temple, but also may relate to Zec 3:8-9, which links it somehow to the Messiah or the stone of Dan 2:44-45 (i.e., the eternal Messianic kingdom). See Special Topic: CORNERSTONE , especially I. D.

Grace, grace to it The Hebrew term (BDB 336) is doubled for emphasis. It is also used in Zec 12:10 for God’s grace or favor. This probably refers to God’s blessing on the rebuilt temple (cf. Ezr 3:10-11).

This Hebrew term can also mean beauty (cf. NEB, TEV). It is unsure if this is an affirmation to God or about God’s work.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

angel. See note on Zec 1:9.

man. Heb, ‘ish. App-14.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

Chapter 4

Now the angel that talked with me came again, and he waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and he said unto me, What do you see? And I said, I have looked, and behold there’s a candlestick of gold, and there’s a bowl on the top of it, and there are seven lamps, and the seven pipes are leading to the seven lamps, which are upon the top of it: And there are two olive trees by it, the one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? And the angel that talked with me said, Don’t you know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. And he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the LORD of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? for before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof shouting, Grace, grace unto it ( Zec 4:1-7 ).

So this next vision is like a Rube Goldberg contraption. One of the jobs of the priests was to daily fill the cups of the menorah, the lampstand, the golden lampstand in the tabernacle with oil. Because God commanded that the light should never go out. The golden lampstand within the tabernacle was a symbol that Israel was to be the light of the world, or that God would through them shine forth His light to the world. Even as Jesus said to the church, “Ye are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid, neither do men light a candle to put under a bushel, but on a candlestick that it might give light to all that are in the house. So let your light so shine before men, that when they see your good works, they’ll glorify your Father which is in heaven” ( Mat 5:14-16 ). God’s people He has always intended to be a light in this dark world. That is why God said, “Don’t ever let the light go out.” So every day the priests had to pour the oil into these cups, and any task that you do everyday can get monotonous. Dishes, diapers, whatever. You do it everyday, it becomes tedious. So man is always using his inventive mind to get out of work. We are always figuring out contraptions by which we can make our work a little easier. Isn’t that true? You’re working on some kind of a job, and you say, “Well, now, if I did this, and fastened this here, you know I could make this…” and always make it a little easier.

So Zechariah being a priest was struck with this brilliant idea, “If there were just plumbing, pipes connected to the olive trees, it would go right into the bowls, then the oil could flow right out through these pipes and keep the bowls full. There would be a constant supply of oil. So when Zechariah saw this contraption with the pipes coming from the olive trees into the bowls, he said, “What in the world is this? Constant supply of oil, never running out of oil?” He said, “Don’t you know what this is?” “No.” “This is the word of the Lord by Zerubbabel saying, ‘It’s not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord.'”

Now in allegories, parables, dreams, visions, oil is always symbolic of the Holy Spirit, that is why the Lord said, “It’s by My Spirit saith the Lord.” That is, there is a constant source available, power for you through the Spirit.

The work of God, for the filling of the oil and so forth was the work of the Lord assigned to the priest, but the work of God is not to be accomplished by might, or by power, but the work of God can only be accomplished by the Spirit of the Lord. Therefore, it is extremely important before we engage in any work for God, that we seek to discover the leading of the Spirit. The secret to any successful work for Jesus Christ is discover how the Spirit is moving and move with the Spirit. For it is not by might, nor by power.

The word might is the assembling of armies, the organizing of forces, or committees to organize forces. The word power is the word force itself. Now, we see so many people trying to force the work of God, trying to force the gospel on their friends, trying to force the issues. I’ve often said to people who’ve asked me, concerning how can you know the leading of the Lord, and how can you know what God wants to do? I’ve said, “God so often leads us through open doors, and if God opens the door, go through it. But if He closes it, don’t break it down.” That’s where we make our mistake. So often we think, “Oh, God wants me to do this.” And a door will close, and we say, “All right, I’ll bash that one down, and I’m gonna push it through. I’m gonna make it go.” More energy, and effort, and money has been spent in trying to make a dead program go.

I spoke a few years ago in Lubbock, Texas at a Southern Baptist church. Pastor Jones back there, and he said, “You know, I came to the place in my ministry when I was so tired of pushing a program, we decided that we weren’t going to give artificial support to any more programs in the church. If it didn’t run on it’s own initiative, we were gonna let it die a decent death.” And he said, “You’d be amazed at how many things died around here! Just not gonna push programs anymore. We’re just gonna let the Spirit operate and govern in the church that which He wants. If it doesn’t run on it’s own initiative, we’re just gonna let it die with dignity.” Their Sunday school even died. I said, “Well, what about that?” He said, “Great, we love it.” They’d gone to junior churches and all. But it’s, I think, legitimate. I think that the church has made a terrible mistake in trying to push programs, trying to force a program to work. Trying to organize, and mobilize the forces to get the work of God done. “It’s not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”

When we had built a little chapel a block away, and things were going great. Into triple services, had enlarged the sanctuary putting 500 chairs out on the patio, and the place was just jammed all three services on Sunday morning. We were faced with a dilemma. Winter was coming, “What are we gonna do?” Fellow in the church said, “I would put the syndicate, we bought ten acres over on Fairview, and we’ve just lost it.” He said, “We’ve been trying to make deals on it for years, nothing works.” He said, “I believe that God wants that for the church. I think that’s why the Lord had me go with the syndicate to just hold the thing four years ago so that the church could have it.” He said, “I would be very glad to just accept my losses if the church got that ten acres.” He said, “We just couldn’t keep up with the payments anymore.” In fact, they took a four-year note from the lady who owned it, and in four years he just didn’t have the money to go on.

They had purchased it four years earlier for $456,000 dollars. I said, “Well, we don’t have that kind of money. There’s no way we can afford ten acres.” Then I got to thinking, “Well, let’s see, if we sold off five acres, we could probably get our money back if we could buy it for a decent price. If we could, say, move into what their position was, even to buy it for $456,000, maybe we could sell off half of it, and all we need is five, that’s five acres more than we’d ever need for the church.” I had tremendous faith. One of the fellows in the church said, “Oh, that’s just too much money. We just don’t have it. We can’t do it. We just, you know, you can’t borrow. Churches have a difficult time borrowing money.”

So a fellow in the church came to me and he said, “I believe that the woman who owns that property would sell it for $300,000 cash.” He said, “You see, her taxes have lapsed, and she’s been living off of the money, the interest that these guys have been paying her, and now that she doesn’t have the money coming in. She’s in bad shape, and actually the taxes are due, and she can’t pay them. I think she’d take $300,000 cash just to get out of it, and that will last her well for the rest of her life, because she’s in her late seventies.” I thought, “Oh, she’d never take $300,000 cash, she just foreclosed on a $456,000 dollar note, and they bought it four years ago. The price has gone way up since then.” He said, “Would you give me permission to offer $300,000 cash in the name of the church?” I said, “Sure, of course, why not. Foolish man!” He called me up on the phone all excited, and he said, “She accepted it!” I said, “Great, what do we do now?” “Where do we get $300,000 cash?” He said, “Well,” he said, “I have a note that I think she’ll take. It’s a first trust deed on some apartments, and it’s for $90,000 and I’ll be glad to loan that to the church for one year interest free.” The church had $60,000 in the bank, and he said, “I think the savings and loan, because it’s such a good buy, will loan you half of it on a property loan for two years.” So we went down to the savings and loan and it was such a good buy they said yes they would loan us $150,000 for two years and 11% interest.” So we bought it.

Now, this was obligating us pretty heavy, because this was just bare farmland at that time. We knew that we had to put a parking lot; we had to put street improvements on Sunflower Boulevard, sidewalks over there. We had to put, you know, we had to put the buildings in and everything, and we knew it was gonna run a parcel of money. So I would drive home from church coming up Sunflower Ave. here, and I’d park at the left turn signal, to go on down Fairview. I would look over at this bare ten acres, and I’d start getting heart palpitations. I’d say, “Chuck, what are you doing obligating those people for that property? And the purchase of the property is just the beginning. What are you getting yourself into?” I’d begin to think, “I wonder if we can back out of it. I wonder if there’s something we can do to get out of it. What am I doing? What am I doing?” I just would start getting frantic thinking about the money that was gonna be needed for all of this. And as I was sitting there, my palms began to sweat. I thought, “Oh, please light, turn green. I can’t stand this! I can’t stand looking at that property over there! Wiping me out!”

The Lord would speak to me, and He’d say, “Whose church is it?” I said, “It’s Yours, Lord.” He said, “Then what are you worried about? If it’s My church, what does it matter to you if it goes broke? What difference does that make to you if it’s My church?” I said, “Well, I really don’t know, Lord. I guess it doesn’t make any difference. Your church? Fine. You created the problem, take care of it!” By the time I hit the San Diego freeway, I had such glorious victory just praising the Lord for His church!

I was driving up the street, parked at the corner, looking over here, and the first payment was coming due on the uh… we were paying interest only on the $150,000 that we borrowed from the savings and loan, and it was $1,100 a month, which wasn’t bad at all. It was well within our budget; we could handle it. But I said, “Lord, it’s Your church, huh? Do You think that’s a wise way to spend Your money? What are You getting from that? That’s just interest, Lord. That’s just going right into their coffer and You’re not going to see that again. Do You think that’s a wise way to spend Your money, Lord? As long as it’s Your church, why don’t You pay off the $150,000? You ought to be able to do that.”

I got home, and my wife said, “Honey, Ed Riddle called. He wants you to call him back.” Ed Riddle was the realtor who was in the syndicate that bought the property and lost it, told us about it. So I called Ed. He said, “Chuck, I just got a call from Shell Oil Company.” He said, “They looked on the records and they thought our syndicates still owned the property, and they want to buy the corner for $150,000.” He said, “Do you suppose the church would be interested in selling off the corner for $150,000?” You notice the Shell station on the corner.

I’ll tell ya, after that I didn’t worry again. His church, and He’s been doing a fantastic job taking care of it. It makes it so easy for me, because I can just kick back and watch the Lord develop His church. Because it’s not by might, not by our organized efforts, it’s not by our forcing issues, driving and forcing it, but it’s just the glorious power of the Holy Spirit. “By My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”

“And the mountains, they’ll become a plain before Zerubbabel, those mountains will disappear, those mountains will just level right out before him.”

You know, it’s glorious the way the Lord can level the mountains before you. It’s interesting that so much of our worry is about things that are yet in the future. “Yes, I’ve got enough for today, but oh, I don’t know what I’m gonna do next week! You know, God’s taken care of me up till now, I’m here. God’s taken care of me up till now, but it’s not right now I’m worried about. I’m worried about next week, next month!” But it’s interesting that so often those things that we spend so much time worrying about, by the time we arrive there, the mountain has already been removed and it’s just a plain; it’s flat land. How God can remove the mountains before us, it’s glorious when the Spirit of God is working in your life.

Now with Zerubbabel, the word of the Lord, it was a word of encouragement. He had been discouraged in the building of the temple. He had given up; they had quit. “Can’t be done.” They had organized the men. They had organized the efforts. They had men that were in charge of cleaning up debris, men that were in charge of carrying rocks, and they had organized the whole efforts. They were pushing and forcing the men. They weren’t doing anything. They weren’t getting the job done; they gave up. It was just too much. And the word of the Lord came and said, “Hey, it isn’t by your organized efforts. It isn’t by your force, but it’s by My Spirit saith the Lord.”

The women who were on their way to the tomb said, “Who is going to remove the stone?” They were worried as they talked among themselves, “Who’s gonna roll away the stone on the door of the sepulchre?” All worried about it. When they got there, what did they find? The stone was already rolled away. So typical of so many of our worries. “What are we gonna do when we get there?” We find that when we get there, the Lord’s been there already and took care, has taken care of everything for us. The mountains turn into plains before the Lord.

Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall finish it ( Zec 4:8-9 );

Zerubbabel had given up; he had quit working, but the Lord said, “Look, he started it, and he’s going to finish it.”

and thou shalt know that the LORD of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? ( Zec 4:9-10 )

Now this, of course, was one of the discouraging things. As they laid the foundations, the old men started wailing, “Oh, terrible,” because they remembered the glorious Solomon’s temple. Now these people are building this little dinky thing. All the young guys that had never seen Solomon’s temple, they were so excited, “Oh, look the foundation!” They were all excited, but the old men were there wailing and weeping. Quite a scene. But those who were wailing and weeping discouraged those that were building. “Oh, such a little thing. It’s nothing.” “And who hath despised the days of small things?”

Now there are many times we are wanting to get ahead of the work of God in our lives. God brings us in our spiritual growth along in a very important pace. But there are many times we’re not satisfied with the pace that God has set. We want to get ahead of it. So often we despise the days of small things in our own lives.

A person comes up to me and says, “You know, I really feel like I want to serve the Lord, and I’d like to serve the Lord here at Calvary Chapel.” I usually will say to them, “Wonderful, go over and talk to Mike in our Sunday school. We’re in need of Sunday school teachers, and there’s an excellent opportunity for you to serve the Lord.” “Oh, well, uh, that’s not what I had in mind. I was thinking if Romaine maybe wanted to quit, or if you wanted to resign, I could pastor Calvary Chapel.” They despise the days of small things. They want to do a big work for God. There are a lot of people sitting around not willing to do the little things. Waiting for the big door to open, waiting for Billy Graham to call and say, “I’m ready to step out, and I want you to come and take over, and preach at these great meetings.” “All right, I’ve been waiting for that!” Yes, but you’re not prepared for that, you see. God starts us out in the little things. I started out teaching Sunday school classes. Then I was advanced to teaching and leading a youth group. Started out in small things. Too many people despise the small things. But if you’re not faithful in the small things, God’ll never be able to raise you up to the bigger things. Don’t despise the days of small things. Whatever it is that God has called you to do, get in and do it for the glory of God. And if you are faithful in the little things, then God will make you ruler over the bigger things.

So there were those who despised the days of the small things, and that’s true today. That’s always sad, because you’ll always be restricted and limited. You’ll never grow. You’ll never develop until you’re willing to get in and to be satisfied with the least thing that God has called you to do and be faithful to those least things to which the Lord has called you. “For who hath despised the day of small things?”

they shall rejoice, and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; and these are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro throughout the whole eaRuth ( Zec 4:10 ).

These seven eyes are the seven spirits which stand before the throne of God in Revelation, chapter 5.

Then I answered, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? And I answered again, and said unto him, What are these two olive branches, which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out by themselves? And he answered me and said, Don’t you know what these are? And I said, No, my lord. Then he said, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole eaRuth ( Zec 4:11-14 ).

The two anointed ones; these are the two witnesses of the book of Revelation. Read it in chapter 11. These are the two olive trees, the branches that stand before the Lord of the earth there in Revelation. God’s two witnesses in the last days, and we pointed out that Malachi tells us that Elijah will be one of the two witnesses, and it is possible that Zerubbabel himself will be one of the other two witnesses according to the prophecies of Haggai. It would appear that perhaps Zerubbabel will be one of the other two witnesses in the last verse of Haggai, chapter 2, verse Zec 4:23 . “In that day saith the Lord of hosts, I will take thee O Zerubbabel, My servant, the son of Shealtiel, saith the Lord, and I will make thee as a signet, for I have chosen thee, saith the Lord of hosts.” He’s speaking of the last days, and the overthrow of the kingdoms of the world. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

Zec 4:1-14

A VISION OF A MENORAH AND OLIVE TREES

Zec 4:1-14

Zechariahs fifth vision presents the rebuilding of the temple against the backdrop of two traditional symbols of Israel, the menorah, or seven branched candlestick, and the olive trees. Again, as in the first vision especially, the record divides itself naturally along the lines of the prophets questions and the angels answers. In this case, the angel seems somewhat surprised that the prophet could not answer his own question.

(Zec 4:1) The angel rouses Zechariah from the ecstasy of the previous vision to show him the present one.

Zerr: Strong says the word for looked (Zec 4:1) has both a literal and figurative meaning, which accounts for the way it is used in this place. It means that the attention of Zechariah was aroused as he had been musing like being in a day dream over the profound revelations of the preceding chapter.

WHAT THE PROPHET SAW . . . Zec 4:2-3

The seven branched lampstand or menorah became the symbol of Israel at the time of the building of the tabernacle. Moses was instructed by God to place the menorah as the only source of light in the tent of worship. (Exo 25:31-40) Made of fine gold, it consisted of a shaft five feet tall. At three points on the shaft, two branches at each point curved out and upward from the central shaft. The branches so formed, rose to the level of the central shaft, thus forming, with the shaft, a cluster of seven candlesticks. The cluster measured three feet six inches across at the top. Its seven wicks were fed from a bowl of oil which formed its base. The menorah provided the sole source of light in the tabernacle, the fact which gave it its symbolic significance. As it stood in the south of the Holy Place, directly opposite the table of showbread, it illuminated both the table and the altar of incense which stood on the west side of the Holy Place just outside the veil which separated this first sanctuary from the Holy of Holies. The menorah had occupied a similar station in the original temple where ten such lights illuminated the sanctuary. Along with the other sacred implements these menorahs had been returned by Cyrus at the end of the Babylonian exile. The lampstand would take its place in the new temple when the re-construction was finally completed.

In Zechariahs vision the form of the Menorah is changed. Rather than a single shaft with its branches forming a single seven branched lampstand, the symbolic menorah of the vision is constructed in such a way that each branch of the main shaft forms the center shaft of a smaller menorah. The effect is seven smaller menorahs branching off from the main menorah. The intent is obviously seven times seven, which is an emphatic statement of absolute perfection, Gods perfect word to Israel.

Zerr: The revelations of the angel were continued in the form of a vision (Zec 4:2). The things Zechariah saw pertained to the service of the tabernacle under the Mosaic institution of government and religion (Exo 25:31-40). The oil that was used in the lamps (Zec 4:3) was olive oil. Hence the need for the olive trees which, were literal in the first application.

WHAT THE MENORAH IN THE VISION MEANT . . . Zec 4:4-10

(Zec 4:4-5) These verses form the bridge between the vision and its meaning as interpreted by the angel. First the prophet asks the meaning of the vision. Then the angel asks him if he doesnt know the answer to his own question. The prophet answers in the negative. The next verse marks the beginning of the angels answer.

Zerr: Zechariah asked for an interpretation of the olive trees (Zec 4:4-5). These questions might seem to be unnecessary, but they evidently were asked by way of focusing the attention of the prophet, and also to indicate an assurance that he would be given the desired information.

(Zec 4:6) The multiple menorah of the vision represents the word of God to Zerubbabel and through him to the people. The multiplied perfection symbolized by the forty-nine lamps springing from a central shaft emphasize the correctness of that word. In the vision attention is called to the bowl of the central shaft out of which the lamps originated. (Zec 4:2-3) The bowl was a container for the oil which fueled the lamps. In the original menorah of the tabernacle, specific instructions were given concerning this oil container. The oil contained in this bowl symbolized the Spirit of God which was in reality the source of divine illumination just as the oil was the ultimate source of the light of the menorah.

Zerr: The trees are explained to represent the spirit of the Lord (Zec 4:6). That was because spiritual light comes from that, source, even as oil furnishes temporal light.

It is to this that the angel directs the prophet in Zec 4:6 — Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith Jehovah of hosts.

This message is addressed specifically to Zerubbabel as chief civil authority. He is to rebuild the temple not by the use of an army (might) or by (human) power but by the Spirit of God. Haggai has pointed out that the work was to be done by the Spirit (Hag 2:5). Therefore Zerubbabel is not to be discouraged by the human weaknesses with which he must contend.

It is appropriate that this message be addressed to Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was governor of Judah, appointed by Darius. He is mentioned in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Haggai, as well as Zechariah. From these books we know that it was he who, with Joshua the high priest, led the little band of released captives from Babylon and began rebuilding the temple in the second year of Darius. According to Josephus and the apocryphal book of I Esdras, he was a personal friend of Darius, having won the kings friendship by winning in his presence a contest to determine what was strongest in all the world . . . wine, kings, women, or truth. Zerubbabel demonstrated that truth was strongest of all and so won the kings admiration. With it he won permission to go up to Jerusalem and build the temple, the center for the spreading of truth.

Along with the permission to rebuild the temple, Zerubbabel was given the office of governor, with the stipulation that he also serve as tirshatha, or tax collector, sending Judean tribute to the Medo-Persian king. With all his connections in high places, along with his own dynamic personality and wisdom, there is no doubt the governor needed Zechariahs reminder that Gods work does not depend upon such things but upon His Spirit.

Having made Joshua fit to serve as religious authority in the preceding vision, God now prepares Zerubbabel to serve as civil authority. In the eighth and final vision these two offices will be symbolically united as one to be filled ultimately by the Messiah.

(Zec 4:7-10) Trusting the divine power of the Spirit of God, Zerubbabel is to find the great mountain of difficulty in rebuilding suddenly become a level plain. He would have the honor of completing the temple which he had begun and of placing the final coping stones to the accompaniment of the cheers and praises of the people. Recognizing that the work has been completed in the power of the Spirit rather than human might and power, the people will shout, grace, grace, when the chisled top stone is brought forth and put in place as the final act of building. Those who have despised small things (Zec 4:10), i.e. who have looked with contempt on the beginning of reconstruction, will be silenced when the final stone is placed. Thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto you There can be no doubt of the divine origin of prophecy when it is fulfilled before their eyes. Isaiah, prior to the captivity, had predicted . . . saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built. (Isa 44:26)

Zerr: Mountain is used figuratively to represent a supposed great difficulty (Zec 4:7). Such a condition was apparent when the Jews got back from the captivity, and the local enemies tried to make that mountain still higher. But that condition of apparent distress was to be overcome, which is symbolized by the act of converting a mountain into a plain. Zerubbabel is the one who is meant that would accomplish the feat because he was the man who was chosen to lead in the work of reconstruction (Ezr 2:2 Ezr 3:2). Such language as used in Zec 4:8 is used frequently in order to keep the impression before the reader that the whole book is inspired of God. After the work on the temple was started it was hindered (Zec 4:9) and finally stopped by the enemies (Ezr 4:1 Ezr 4:24). But the Lord assured the people that, it would yet be completed which was fulfilled according to Ezr 6:15. The work of rebuilding the temple had a comparatively small beginning (Zec 4:10). It was so much so that some of the older citizens wept when they viewed it and remembered the original temple (Ezr 3:12; Hag 2:3). However, they should not have allowed it to discourage them. They should not have despised (belittled) the small beginning of the work because they had the assurance of the Lord that it would go unto complete restoration of their service. Seven eyes is explained at Zec 3:9.

In the beginning of the reconstruction, some had despised the footers of the second temple because it seemed the end product would be inferior to that of Solomon (Ezr 3:1-2). These shall be won to optimism when they see the governor himself at work with the plummet in his hand. They will recognize in the-plumbing of the work by Zerubbabel the all seeing eyes of Jehovah (Zec 4:10(b)). He whose eyes run to and fro through the whole earth, i.e. who is in constant command of all things everywhere, will also be watching this work.

WHAT THE OLIVE TREES MEANT . . . Zec 4:11-14

The explanation of the two olive trees (Zec 4:3), as well as that of the menorah, begins with a question. This time the question is directed to the angel by Zechariah. The trees stood on either side of the menorah and the prophet did not grasp their significance.

(Zec 4:12-13) Before the angel answers, Zechariah repeats the question this time noting that the two olive trees are pouring oil into the menorah.

A word must be said here in regard to the Spirit of God in this text. One of the objections of the Jews through the ages to the Christian faith has been their inability to accept the so-called doctrine of the trinity, They have the impression that Christians worship three gods. If we are to take our understanding of the Father, Son, Holy Spirit from the traditional creeds of Romanism and Protestantism, the charge certainly seems a valid one. Such creedal statements, however, are not Scripture.

In Zechariah are references to God from the view of three manifestations. These in effect amount not to three gods, but to one God in three relationships to His people. None would question that the frequent references to Jehovah in Zechariah answer to the manifestation of deity commonly called the Father. In Zec 2:10(b), Jehovah speaks. The conclusion of His statement in Zec 2:11 (b) is and thou shalt know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me unto thee. Jehovah presents Himself as both sent and sender! This is precisely the relationship expressed by Isaiah and repeated by Matthew, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call His name, Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

Zerr: Zec 4:11. Zechariah repeats the inquiry that was made in Zec 4:4, but the repetition of the Inquiry is prompted by something more that he sees which will be slated in Zec 4:12. The additional detail the prophet saw was the pair of branches (Zec 4:12) through which the oil was poured into the bowls of the lamps. It indicates the idea of the Lords doing things by various agencies. According to Zec 4:13, the prophet still is unaware of the meaning of the vision. Two anointed ones (Zec 4:14) is rendered “sons of oil” in the margin. All along through the vision we have seen oil used to typify spiritual light. We have likewise observed in more than one instance that the writer would pass from fleshly to spiritual Israel. God has given the world just two organized religions, the Mosaic and the Christian, each of which has furnished light to the people of the earth. Accordingly, each of these religions has had its own law guidance, its own means of furnishing spiritual light for mankind. Since that light has been represented in this vision by olive trees and their fruit, the conclusion is plain that the anointed ones are the Old and the New Testaments.

Questions

A Vision of a Menorah and Olive Trees

1. What is the backdrop against which Zechariahs fifth vision is presented?

2. Describe Zechariahs fifth vision?

3. Describe the menorah used in the tabernacle.

4. Describe the menorah of Zechariahs vision.

5. What is symbolized by the multiple menorah of the vision?

6. The oil contained in the bowl of the menorah symbolized ___________ as the source of Gods light to His people.

7. The human weaknesses of those to whom Zechariah spoke were manifest largely as _________________.

8. Show the appropriateness of this part of Zechariahs message being addressed to Zerubbabel.

9. What was Zerubbabels relationship to Darius?

10. Along with permission to build the temple, Zerubbabel was charged by Darius to ________________.

11. Who are those who have despised small things?

12. What is the meaning of the two olive trees in Zechariahs vision?

13. How does the vision of the Menorah and the olive trees relate to the Jewish objection to the doctrine of the trinity?

14. In the symbolism of this vision, the Spirit is poured into the work through ____________________.

15. The Spirit who directed the rebuilding of the temple by Zerubbabel also directs us today in the building of __________________.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

The vision of the candlestick immediately following sets forth Israel as fulfilling the divine intention. In the divinely appointed ritual of Israel’s worship the candlestick stood in the holy place, creating the only symbol of Israel’s true position as light-bearer amid the darkness.

The two olive trees, as Zechariah described them, referred immediately and locally to Zerubbabel and Joshua, the governor and the priest under whom the Temple had been rebuilt and its worship restored, but ultimately to the offices of king and priest as they would be realized and fulfilled in the person of the Messiah. Here, as always in Scripture, the golden oil symbolized the Spirit of God by whom anointing is possessed for co- operation with God in service, the teaching being that the Spirit would be communicated to Israel through the King and Priest, and thus her light would shine in the darkness.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

Not by Might nor by Power

Zec 4:1-14

Zerubbabel had faltered in the great work of reconstruction and had practically lost heart. Here he is encouraged to renew his efforts and persevere to the top-stone. He might be weak and flexible as a wick but none of his deficiencies could hinder him from finishing his life-work, if only his spirit was kindled with the divine fire and fed by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Chapter 4

The Two Anointed Ones

The striking vision next recorded, being the fifth in the series, is of prime importance to any reverent student of the word of God. Not only does it set forth precious and important truth relative to Israel, as Gods light-bearer in the world, but it is the only instance where the typical meaning of oil is distinctly explained. It gives us therefore an unerring key whereby to unlock many of the treasures of symbolic teaching throughout the Old Testament.

The prophet seems to have fallen into a slumber after the interpretation of the previous vision; for we are told that the angel who had been speaking with him came again, and waked him, as a man is waked out of his sleep, saying, What seest thou? (vers. 1, 2). Zechariah looked, and beheld a sight of great beauty and splendor. A golden lamp-stand, evidently somewhat similar in construction to that which is described in Exo 25:31-37, appeared before his eyes. But in one marked respect it differed from that whose lamps the priest had to carefully fill daily lest they should be extinguished. Here no human hand provided the oil, nor was responsible to maintain the light of testimony. The stand and its lamps were of one piece, and the latter were continually supplied in a most remarkable manner. Upon the top of the central shaft was a golden bowl, or fountain. From this radiated seven pipes, which connected with the seven lamps. On either side of the stand an olive tree was growing, the branches of which were represented as bending over the receiver-fountain, and pouring their oil into it in a continual stream. Thus the light was ever maintained in its beauty and power (vers. 2, 3).

In response to Zechariahs request for enlightenment as to the meaning of this, the angel said, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

Here was no meaningless oracle, such as those of heathen sybils, but a plain declaration that just as the oil pouring into the golden bowl fed the lamps, so the Holy Spirit would confirm and unfailingly furnish Israel to be Jehovahs testimony-bearer in the earth. He who had brought up a remnant from Babylon under Zerubbabel, the prince of Davids line, would infallibly fulfil every promise made through His holy prophets. Human power and might could neither hinder nor help. The Holy Spirit alone could sustain and maintain them as His light in the world. Thus we know what oil typifies. It speaks ever of the Spirit of God, whether as anointer or earnest. In His divine power alone can any testimony be carried on for God at any time. During the present dispensation of Israels scattering, the Church is the light-bearer, even as her Lord was while here upon the earth. By and by, when Israel shall be restored in the saved remnant, she will once more become Gods witness. But whether with the blessed Lord Himself, the Church His Body, or Israel His people, all true testimony is in the energy of the Holy Spirit.

Endued by power divine, who need fear the face of man? Before Zerubbabel and the feeble remnant in the land, Gentile authority might seem like a great mountain, hindering all progress in the special work committed to them. Only unbelief could so count it. Faith would say to the mount of difficulty, Become a plain, and so it should be. No weapon formed against them should prosper, no arm should be strong enough to hinder, till the temple was completed to the glory of Jehovah, and Zerubbabel should bring forth the capstone amid the shoutings of a rejoicing people, crying, Grace, grace unto it? (vers. 4-7).

Even so shall every promise made in the word of God be fulfilled to the letter. In this case he who had begun the house should finish it (see Ezra 3:10-15 and 6:14-18); thus proving that a prophet had been among them. It was a day of weakness, a day of small things; but they should not despise it, for it was the day of Jehovahs energy. The nations of the earth might be utterly indifferent to what was transpiring at the insignificant place where the Lord had set His Name; but there He was, working in mighty power, nevertheless. There the plummet of truth was in the hands of Zerubbabel, and the people wrought according as they found it written. There too the eyes of the Lord rested with complacency, after running to and fro through the whole earth (vers. 9, 10).

In Gods sight it was a great work that was going on in Jerusalem, for it was the carrying out of His own word, with a view to the coming of His Son into the scene.

On one other point Zechariah desired enlightenment. He had been contemplating the two olive trees, wondering what they might signify; so he inquired boldly of the angel, asking for information regarding them. It would seem as though there was slowness of apprehension on his part; for he not only had to put his question twice over, but the angel did not immediately reply, but questioned him, as in verse 5, where it seemed as though spiritual intuition ought to have made all clear, saying, Knowest thou not what these be? Confessing his ignorance, Zechariah is told that, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

To him the two anointed ones could be no other than Zerubbabel, the prince, and Joshua the high priest. So in kingly and priestly power the testimony of God was to be maintained. These were the agencies through which Jehovah would work.

In Rev 11:4 the two witnesses are said to be the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. The reference is clearly to Zechariahs vision; yet there is a marked difference. There we have two candlesticks; here, but one. The reason is plainly this: the two witnesses come on the scene before Israel is established as Gods lamp-stand nationally. With them it is individual testimony. Therefore in place of one seven-branched lamp-stand, setting forth completeness of testimony we have two witnesses described as two lamp-stands. And they are also said to be the two olive trees; for they stand before God as His anointed sons of oil in the day when His name is denied and His word despised. Coming in the spirit and power of Moses and Elijah, they prophesy in the energy of the Spirit till put to death by the Beast and his adherents. Thus, for the moment, all testimony for God will seem to have been blotted out; but the word of the Lord shall not fail, for the seven-branched lamp-stand shall be set up when the Lord descends and delivers His people Israel out of the hands of all who oppress them.

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Zec 4:1-14

The candelabrum and olive trees.

I. By the candelabrum was symbolised the Israelitish community, the nation of the old covenant, the people of theocracy. But Israel was itself a symbol and type; it was the visible manifestation of that invisible spiritual community, the Church of the living God, which embraces the faithful of all ages and places. It is represented as made of the most precious of metals, pure gold, to indicate the worth and excellence of that which God hath chosen for Himself as His special treasure; and it is represented as having seven lamps, to indicate that the Church is a luminous body, having light in itself, and appearing as the luminary from which proceeds light to the world.

II. The light which the Church possesses is not from herself; it is light communicated and sustained by influences from above. Hence in the vision which Zechariah saw the lamps were supplied by oil, not by human ministration, but through channels and pipes from the olive trees, which stood beside and were over the candelabrum. Oil is the proper symbol of the Holy Spirit’s influences. Apart from the Divine Spirit the Church is dark and cold and feeble; but through the visitation of the Spirit she is animated and invigorated, becomes luminous and glorious, and is crowned with success as she labours to erect God’s temple on earth.

III. God sustains His Church by His grace. But this grace comes to men through certain appointed media. This was symbolised in the vision by the fruit-bearing branches of the olive trees, and by the conduits and the pipes through which the oil was conveyed to the lamps. The branches represented the sacerdotal and civil authorities in Israel. These were in the old time the channels through which God conveyed His grace to His Church on earth; and, as they operated through means of subordinate functionaries, the branches were represented in the vision as emptying themselves into the conduits and pipes, by means of which the oil was conveyed to the lamps. When the symbol was again exhibited (Rev 1:12), the great Head of the Church Himself in proper Person was seen in the midst of the seven golden candelabra. Through Him, as the great Priest and King, uniting in Himself the two offices and discharging the functions of both to His Church, “the oil of Divine grace is poured into the candlestick of the Church in infinitely greater abundance than through any of the previous servants of God.”-(Hengstenberg.)

W. Lindsay Alexander, Zechariah’s Visions and Warnings, p. 59; see also Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 96.

References: Zec 4:6.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 149; G. H. Wilkinson, Old Testament Outlines, p. 280; see also Church Sermons by Eminent Clergymen, vol. i., p. 401.

Zec 4:6-7

I. When Zerubbabel prophesied, the foundation of the temple had been laid, and he predicted that the same prince who laid the foundation should also lay the top-stone. The foundation of the Church has been laid; it grows up slowly but surely, a holy temple in the Lord. Our joyful hope is that He who laid the foundation will also finish it.

II. The propagation of the Gospel is not only for but by Christ. The Sower of the seed all through this dispensation is the Son of man; it is He who preaches peace, through the minds and voices of many preachers, in many languages; He publishes the testimony through all the earth, and saves sinners. The construction of the Church is also by Christ from first to last, and the builders from Paul and Apollos downwards are nothing without Him. Christ is always building His people together, healing, reconciling, moulding, blending, compacting them together as living stones that form the one temple of the one Holy Ghost.

III. Mark well what the energy is which surmounts or removes obstacles. Not might, nor power of mortal man. The upbuilding of the Church in the face of all difficulties has been possible, and is possible now, only under the might and power of the Holy Spirit.

D. Fraser, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 161.

Zec 4:7

I. Prophecy in the long reach of its onward flight stoops again and again to many fulfilments. There is the historical fulfilment, and there is the evangelical fulfilment, the spiritual fulfilment, the practical fulfilment, and the final and glorious fulfilment. There was a “headstone brought out with shoutings” when Zerubbabel’s temple was finished, and the old men wept and the young men cried aloud for joy. There was a headstone brought forth with shoutings “when the Lord Jesus Christ,” the firstborn of every creature, the top-stone of God’s creation, was unveiled to human view at Bethelehem. There will be a “headstone brought out with shoutings” when the whole Church stands in its completeness, and its song of victory goes up, while God inhabits the praises of Israel.

II. There are two stones to which Christ is compared in the Bible-the “foundation-stone,” and the “head” or corner-stone. Christ is both. (1) First, He is the beginning of every good thing on which it rests as its basis. “Other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Christ Jesus.” (2) And then afterwards, in due time, He is the “head” or “corner-stone,” into which everything gathers itself up as all its aim and all its object, its glory and its last attainment, and in the sameness of those two stones lies the comfort-the Alpha is the Omega,-in Christ we begin, in Christ we end,-we lay all upon His death, and we bring out all unto His glory. And therefore, because He is the beginning and the ending, the “foundation stone” and “top-stone,” therefore we cry, “Grace, grace unto it.”

III. And what is it we mean when we use that word “grace” in its double emphasis? We mean that it is all free favour, God’s own pure mercy. Whatever good thing we have, it was purchased for us by Christ’s blood. Whatever good thing we do, it was wrought in us by Christ’s Spirit.

J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 8th series, p. 253.

Zec 4:10

Consider the tendency in men to indulge contempt for good things, in the littleness and weakness of their beginnings and early operations.

I. There is much of a disposition to undervalue, “despise,” the small beginnings and slow, early stages of a good work. (1) It comes from not duly apprehending the preciousness of what is good, in any, even the smallest portion of it. (2) In the indulgence of this disposition it is left out of sight how much in many cases was requisite to be previously done to bring the small beginning into existence at all; it did not start into existence of itself. (3) Another thing is, that we are apt to set far too high a price on our own efforts and services. Our self-importance cannot endure that so much of our agency, ours, should be consumed for so small a result. (4) We over-measure our brief span of mortal existence. We want to contract the Almighty’s plan to our own limits of time, and to precipitate the movement, that we may see clearly to the end of it.

II. In the religious and moral department things that as yet are small are to be estimated, not according to their present dimensions, but according to their principle, and according to what they are to become. We are to recognise in them a Divine principle; that God has put in them His will, His power, His Spirit. This includes (1) the progress of education; (2) the progress of Christianity.

III. Pride, sluggishness, and covetousness have all something to do with the temper which leads men to despise small things. But the good cause of God, of Christ, of human improvement, is certain, is destined to advance and triumph. The awful mystery why this triumphant ascendency is so slowly achieved, so long delayed in this world, will, it is reasonable to believe, be one of the subjects for illumination in a higher state of existence, where enlarging faculties will have endless duration for their exercise. It may then be seen that the whole course of the world, from the beginning to the end, was “a day of small things,” as compared with the sequel,-only as a brief introduction to an immense and endless economy.

J. Foster, Lectures; 2nd series, p. 365.

References: Zec 4:10.-Spurgeon, Old Testament Outlines, p. 281; E. White, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxi., p. 187; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 333; Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Ecclesiastes to Malachi, p. 365. Zec 5:1-11.-W. Lindsay Alexander, Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 175. Zech 5-Expositor, 3rd series, vol. iv., p. 119. Zec 6:1-8.-Ibid., vol. v., p. 107.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 4

1. The fifth night vision (Zec 4:1-10)

2. The questions of the prophet answered (Zec 4:11-14)

Zec 4:1-10. There was a rest for the prophet between the fourth and fifth night vision. He had fallen into a deep sleep. He may have been overcome by the grand and important visions, and is now awakened by the angel with the question, What seest thou? The new vision is a very striking one. A golden candlestick appears before the seer. An oil receiver is seen on top, from which the oil flows to the seven lamps of the candlestick through seven pipes. Two olive trees stand alongside of the candlestick and hang their fruit-laden branches over the golden bowl, filling it with oil, which flows through the seven pipes into the seven lamps. The question of the prophet, What are these, my lord? is answered by the angel with this statement, This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might and not by power but by My Spirit, saith the LORD of Hosts. Who art thou, Oh great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Be a plain! He shall bring forth the top stone with shoutings of grace, grace unto it…. The hands of Zerubbabel who have laid the foundation shall also finish it, and they shall rejoice and see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel–even the seven. The eyes of the LORD shall run to and fro through the entire earth.

The Church in the New Testament is typified by a candlestick. The oil is the emblem of the Holy Spirit. But this is not in view in this vision.

We call attention to the fact that the vision is one which speaks of perfection, completion, fullness. The perfect and divine number seven is found three times in the vision, seven lamps, seven pipes and seven eyes. The seven lamps are united to one stem, this is union, and above it, is a golden bowl. The Spirit conquers, and not power or might does it, but His power. The great mountain becomes a plain. The top stone is brought forth and crowns the building which is finished by Zerubbabel. Shoutings, Grace, grace, unto it, are heard, and the seven eyes run to and fro through the whole earth. It is a vision of fullness and accomplishment. The candlestick shines and sheds its glorious light, its pure gold glitters and reflects the light of the seven lamps. The bowl is filled with oil, and the two olive trees give a continual supply. The high mountain removed, the temple finished, joy and victory abound. The candlestick in the vision is exactly like the one in the tabernacle, only the two olive trees are something new. The candlestick in the tabernacle represents Christ, the light of the world, and is likewise a type of the Jewish theocracy. Theocracy, the government of this earth by the immediate direction of God, is once to be established, and when it is, it will be like a bright and glorious candlestick shedding light and dispersing the darkness. We think the Yalkut on Zechariah (a Hebrew commentary), is not so very far out of the way when it says, the golden candlestick is Israel. It seems to us very clear that the vision represents the Jewish theocracy restored, Israel in their glorious inheritance as the light of the world.

Zec 4:11-14. The prophet asks two questions concerning the two olive trees and the branches which gave the oil through the golden pipe. The two olive trees, filled with the supply of the Spirit, are in all probability the two witnesses of Rev 11:1-19. Their testimony is given during the second half of the last seven years of the times of the Gentiles, Daniels seventieth week Dan 9:1-27. It is the time of the great tribulation and these two witnesses stand in close relation with the establishment of the kingdom. See annotations on Revelation.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

angel

that talked

angel (See Scofield “Heb 1:4”).

that talked (See Scofield “Zec 1:8”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

the angel: Zec 1:9, Zec 1:13, Zec 1:19, Zec 2:3, Zec 3:6, Zec 3:7

waked: 1Ki 19:5-7, Jer 31:26, Dan 8:18, Dan 10:8-10, Luk 9:32, Luk 22:45, Luk 22:46

Reciprocal: 1Ki 7:49 – the candlesticks Son 5:2 – sleep Zec 1:14 – the angel

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

A FIFTH VISION follows in chapter 4, which indicated, as we understand it, a further thing needful if the full blessing, revealed to the prophet, is to be securely established; namely, the energy of the Spirit of God. The prophet was shown a golden candlestick supplied with oil, after the fashion of the candlestick that had been in the tabernacle and the temple. On confessing his ignorance as to the meaning of this vision, he was instructed as to its present application. This time the vision concerned not Joshua the religious leader, but Zerubbabel the civil leader of the people, who might be tempted to fall back on purely human things to accomplish what he felt would be right. He is instructed that his resource lay not in ‘might’, or armed force; nor in ‘power’, or authority, derived from men, but in the Spirit of the Lord of hosts. Obstacles, like a great mountain, might rise before him, but all would be levelled and the ‘headstone’ be brought forth with rejoicing, and the cry of, ‘Grace, Grace’.

Verses Zec 4:8-10, show the application of all this to the immediate task before Zerubbabel. Relying not upon human force or power but upon God, he would be enabled to finish the work of rebuilding the house. It was, as compared with the days of Solomon, a day of small things, but not to be despised on account of that. In verse Zec 4:10 the marginal reading is the better. The seven eyes of the Lord, seen in the previous chapter, ‘upon one stone’, shall rejoice, since they run to and fro through the whole earth, and everything is observed by them.

It is plain then that God gave encouragement through the prophet, and in connection with the two leaders of the people. The two things needed were cleansing as seen with Joshua, and spiritual power as shown to Zerubbabel. And in all this there lay an indication of how God will bring in the ultimate blessing at the end of the age.

The prophet now raises a question as to the meaning of the two olive trees that supplied the oil to the golden candlestick; the very oil itself being spoken of as ‘the gold’. The answer was that they represented the two ‘anointed ones’, or ‘sons of oil’, that stand before ‘the Lord of the whole earth’. In Israel the high priest was anointed, and also the king – David for instance, in 1Sa 16:1-23. At that moment Joshua represented the priestly line, and Zerubbabel, the kingly line, though not himself a king. The grace and power of God was to flow through them at that time, in its measure. In full measure it will flow through Christ, when He will sit a Priest upon His kingly throne, as the sixth chapter will tell us. It will then be perfectly clear that all is reached on the basis of grace, and not of law-keeping. Compared with the New Testament, the Old has but little to tell us of the grace of God, but here we have it emphasized. ‘Grace, Grace’, will indeed be the cry when all is established in the Messiah, anointed both as Priest and King.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

Zec 4:1. Strong says the word for looked has both a literal and figurative meaning, which accounts for the way it is used in this place. It means that the attention of Zechariah was aroused as he had been musing like being in a day dream over the profound revelations of the preceding chapter.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

MORE OF THE PROPHETS OWN TIME

THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK (Zechariah 4)

The candlestick was a copy of that in the early tabernacle, but with what difference (Zec 4:2)? From what source was its oil supplied (Zec 4:3)? What did this supply of oil from the trees symbolize (Zec 4:6)? The candlestick itself may represent the temple which the Jews were now essaying to build, or the Jewish nation as a whole which was now sought to be re-established and become a light in the world. The difficulties in the way of accomplishing these things seemed insuperable, if the strength of man only should be considered, but God would interpose, and His Spirit do what human agencies could not do. How is this difficulty and its removal figuratively expressed (Zec 4:7)? How is the figure explained (Zec 4:8-10)? On what point did the prophet desire further light (Zec 4:12)? What reply was made to him (Zec 4:14)? By these two anointed ones is understood Zerubbabel and Joshua, the leaders of Israel at this time on whom, and through whom the Holy Spirit would be poured out for the successful termination of the work.

It is proper to apply this symbol to the church of the present day in its testimony and work; in which case the two anointed ones may represent any who, filled with the Spirit, execute the Lords will in power. At the same time the whole thing applies primarily to Israel, not only in the time of Zechariah, but in the last times when through the blessing of the Spirit, she shall be restored, and become a rejoicing in the earth. It is proper to add that the deeper meaning of Zec 4:14 is probably Christ Himself, The Priest upon His throne, who will supply Israel as He now supplies the church with His Holy Spirit!

THE FLYING ROLL AND THE EPHAH (Zechariah 5)

The two visions in chapter 5 are mysterious and like the four chariots in chapter 6, seem to express the idea of judgment. That the flying roll has that significance would seem plain by a comparison with Eze 2:9-10, and Revelation, chapters 5 and 10, where similar figures have such meaning. We have seen that judgment is coming upon the Gentile nations, and that Israel also is to be purified before she is finally restored, and it may be that to both the present vision applies.

What is now seen (Zec 5:6)? An ephah or measure is an emblem of trade of commerce. What was seen sitting in the ephah? What is the woman said to symbolize (Zec 5:8)? The whole figure then represents wickedness in commerce. What is done with the ephah and where is it carried to? The land of Shinar suggests Babylon again, of whose revival in the latter days mention has been made. Every one knows that commercialism is prominent in Revelation 18 as the climax of ungodliness. Read that chapter in connection with Hab 2:12 and James 5. Babylon is real, and the woman represents the commercial spirit that will reign there at the end.

The spirit of self that prevailed in the Babylon of Genesis 11, will build up and prevail in the Babylon of Revelation 18. The description of the Babylon of Nebuchadnezzars day will fit the one to come. It will be the city of the prince of this world, the seat of the Antichrist. It is noticeable that certain prophecies concerning Babylon in Isaiah and Jeremiah have not yet been fulfilled, while these prophecies are closely identified with those in

Revelation 17, 18. The drift in our day is in the direction of a commercial center in the East.

The ninth and closing vision, Zec 6:1-8, furnishes another spectacle of judgment on the nations and the quieting of the divine Spirit with the result.

CROWNING OF THE HIGH PRIEST (Zechariah 6)

The prophet is now called upon to do something in the nature of an object lesson to symbolize that great future event which will follow the judgments referred to, viz: the manifested reign of Christ over the millennial earth. Who have now come from Babylon on an embassage (Zec 6:10)? Whose guests are they (same verse)? What articles do they seem to have brought as gifts for the temple (Zec 6:11)? What is the prophet to do with some of this silver and gold? What is he to say in connection with this transaction (Zec 6:12-13)? What then shall be done with the crowns, and why (Zec 6:14-15)?

That this transaction is symbolic is plain from two or three points of view. In the first place, the royal crown did not belong to the high priest or any son of Levi, but to the tribe of Judah in the line of David. In the second place, there is the expression Behold the Man whose name is the Branch! To whom does that name belong? Third, we have the declaration, He shall build the temple of the Lord. To whom in the fullest sense can this apply, save Christ? And then, He shall bear the glory, and He shall be a priest upon His throne. Of none other than Christ has this ever been predicted. He only is the priestly King. Compare Psalms 110, and Hebrews 7. What language in Zec 6:15 bears a possible reference to the Gentiles in that day? On what condition is all this to be fulfilled (same verse)?

We pass over particular consideration of the two next chapters, which are in a sense parenthetical, although in accord with the whole book. Men of Babylon sent messengers to Jerusalem to inquire on the subject of ritual or ceremonial fasting. Had their fasting hitherto been acceptable to God and were they to continue it in the new regime? They are shown what a hypocritical thing that service had been hitherto; how it was such formalism and hypocrisy which had brought punishment upon their fathers: how that the fasting Jehovah desired was of a different nature, and finally, that in the blessed time coming feasting will take the place of fasting. These hints will enable the reader to reach a fair understanding of the chapters.

QUESTIONS

1. What may the golden candlestick typify?

2. How might the reference to the two anointed ones be applied?

3. What about the flying roll and ephah?

4. What shows the crowning of the high priest to be symbolical?

5. Give briefly the substance of chapters 7 and 8.

Fuente: James Gray’s Concise Bible Commentary

Zec 4:1-3. And the angel came again, and waked me This seems to indicate, that the prophets attention was very deeply engaged by the foregoing vision; that all the powers of his mind were wholly engrossed by it; so that he had even fallen into a kind of trance, or ecstasy, when he was roused again by the angel, to attend to what follows. And said unto me, What seest thou? Thus the angel still further excites his attention. And I said, Behold a candlestick of gold This represented the church of God, Jewish and Christian, set up for the enlightening of this dark world, by diffusing the light of divine truth. The candle, or lamp, is Gods, the church is but the candlestick; but it is all of gold, signifying the great worth of the church, composed of the excellent of the earth. This golden candlestick had seven lamps, branching out from it by so many sockets, in each of which was a burning and shining light. The Jewish Church was but one; and though the Jews that were dispersed had probably synagogues in other countries, yet they were but as so many lamps belonging to one candlestick; but now, under the gospel, Christ is the centre of unity, and not Jerusalem, or any one place; and, therefore, seven particular churches are represented, not as seven lamps, but as seven several golden candlesticks, Rev 1:20. This candlestick had one bowl, or common receiver, on the top, into which oil was continually dropping; and from it, by seven pipes or conduits, it was conveyed to the seven lamps; so that without any further care, they received oil as fast as they wasted it, and so were kept always burning. And the bowl too was continually supplied, without any care or attendance of man, from two olive-trees, (Zec 4:3,) one on each side of the candlestick, which were so fat and fruitful, that, of their own accord, they poured plenty of oil continually into the bowl. So that nobody needed to attend to this candlestick, to furnish it with oil; it tarried not for man, nor waited for the sons of men: the scope of which is to show, that God easily can, and often doth, accomplish his gracious purposes concerning his church by his own wisdom and power, without any art or labour of man. And though sometimes he makes use of instruments, yet he neither needs them, nor is confined to them, but can do his work without them, and will, rather than it shall remain undone.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Zec 4:1. The angel that talked with me came again. This was Michael the archangel, who had before appeared to the prophet, as mentioned in Zec 1:8-9.

Zec 4:2. A candlestickand seven lamps. The bowl was full of oil; the branches were tubes, as described in Exo 37:17. These were the joyful illuminations of the sanctuary, and spiritually designated the sevenfold operations, or gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit, whose temple is full of light, glory, and grace.

Zec 4:6. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. The prophets preached, and the Lord so stirred up the people that the great mountain of opposition in the carnal jews, who said the time is not yet come to build, and the threats of war without, from the Persian governors, could not oppose the good and glorious work of restoring the temple, and preparing a house for the Lord.In like manner Christ sent out his apostles, without power, to build his spiritual temple, and fill the earth with his glory. Yet, though a great mountain of guilt, of unbelief, of fear, of carnal propensities, of persecuting relatives, and wicked men, may stand in the way of conversion, they shall all be applained by the powerful workings of the Holy Spirit.

Zec 4:14. These are the two anointed ones. The holy oil was poured on the head of the priest, and on the prince. God gave his Spirit to them, with an unction from heaven. Long life also was promised to the prince, even for forty nine years and upwards, to finish the temple. Surely this proves the truth of prophecy, and the care of heaven over the church. The Lords two witnesses, prophesying in sackcloth, symbolize with these two anointed ones. Rev 11:3.

REFLECTIONS.

The preseding chapter was full of consolation to the priest; this is full of comfort to the prince. The vision of the golden candlestick and the two olivetrees implied, that Jerusalem and the temple should be restored by the divine assistance, and by the care of Joshua the highpriest, and of Zerubbabel the governor, who are here called the two olivetrees, and the two sons of oil, or the two anointed of the Lord.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Zec 4:1-7. The Golden Lampstand.Zechariah dreams that he is aroused by the interpreting angel who shows him a golden lampstand. This section has suffered somewhat in transmission. In Zec 4:2 read with LXX . . . behold, a lampstand all of gold, and a bowl upon the top of it, and seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the lamps, etc. Two insertions have been made. The former (Zec 4:6 b Zec 4:10 a), which is a general encouragement to Zerubbabel, is probably due to some scribes blunder; the second (Zec 4:12) appears to be a fragment of a similar allegory by some other writer. Zec 4:10 b ought to follow immediately upon Zec 4:6 a, thus: (Zec 4:6 a) Then he announced and spake unto me saying (Zec 4:10 b), These seven are the eyes of the Lord, etc. The lampstand (not candlestick) must be imagined as an upright standard with a reservoir for oil upon the top, and seven branches supporting the lamps, each of which is connected by a pipe with the reservoir. On each side of this lampstand are two olive-trees, by which the reservoir supplying the lamps is itself fed with oil. In Heb. idiom one word commonly covers both cause and effect; consequently a lamp, which suggests light, suggests also the result of light, i.e. safety, since darkness involved danger from the lawless (Zec 14:6 ff.*, cf. Job 24:13-17). Seven lamps imply an intense light, i.e. a state of things in which there is nothing to fear, such as exists when the two eyes of the Lord are upon His people for good. This state of peace and safety is maintained by Joshua and Zerubbabel, who are compared to the olive-trees which supply the oil for the lamps.

Zec 4:14. sons of oil is an absurdly literal translation. Heb. makes good its deficiency in adjectives in various ways, among them by the use of the word son. Thus son of death means liable to death; son of dawn the star which heralds the dawn; son of fatness (Isa 5:1) means productive of luxuriance; similarly sons of oil means productive of oil. There is no idea here of anointing, for yihar (the word used here), which denotes vegetable oil, is never used of the oil of unction, which probably was originally animal oil, and is always called shemen.

Zec 4:6 b Zec 4:10 a is an address to Zerubbabel apparently belonging to about the same period as Hag 2:2-9 or at any rate the earlier days of the Temple restoration. In Zec 4:6 read mg. Zec 4:7 reminds us of Isa 40:4, but is not necessarily a quotation. The meaning of the stone (Zec 4:7) is doubtful It is scarcely equivalent to the head of the corner (Psa 118:22), for not only would this naturally follow Zec 4:9 a, but bring forth would not naturally be used in connexion with a building stone, and the Heb. (the stone the head) is impossible. It is more likely, therefore, though the text is too much mutilated to be corrected with certainty, that the stone belongs to a diadem which is to be placed on Zerubbabels head (cf. Zec 6:9 ff.). The last clause of Zec 4:7 is fragmentary; with is not expressed in the Heb. The plummet in the incomplete sentence (Zec 4:10 a) is probably a sign of the rebuilding of Jerusalem.

Zec 4:12. A fragment of some parallel allegory, probably a later imitation of Zechariahs. The translation the golden oil is a desperate but hopeless attempt to make sense of a corrupt text.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

The Fifth Vision – The Lampstand

(vv. 1-14)

The next vision requires Zechariah’s being awakened by the angel who spoke with him. Our natural inclination would not discern the truth of a vision like this: we are naturally insensible regarding these things and require an awakening by divine power. The essence of the vision is expressed in verse 6: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts,” and 1Co 2:14 reminds us, “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.” We too need an awakening by a power outside of ourselves if we are to understand the things freely given us by God. It must be by divine revelation.

The angel asks what Zechariah sees, for he wants his fullest attention. Zechariah says, “I have looked.” The vision was of a gold lampstand, reminding us of the lampstand in the tabernacle (Exo 25:31), with a bowl on the top and seven oil lamps which were fed by seven pipes evidently from the bowl. Also, two olive trees were beside it, one on the right and one on the left side. The oil came from those trees.

The lampstand speaks of Christ in whom all the golden glory of God is manifested. It is He who is the Sustainer of all true testimony for God, of which the light speaks. In the tabernacle the lamps were to be lit so “that they give light in front of it” (the lampstand). The light was not simply to light up the room, but for the display of the lampstand itself, just as the light of God is focused upon the Lord Jesus, the Sustainer of God’s testimony.

The interpretation of the two olive trees is found at the end of the chapter, so we will wait until then to consider this.

Zechariah’s interest is stirred by this vision (v. 4), though he has to admit to the angel his ignorance of what it means (v. 5). This brings forth the angel’s message from God, that is of the most vital consequence, not only for Israel, but for mankind in every sphere and in every age. It is the Word of the Lord addressed to Zerubbabel, for he represents the might and power of government. He is told, “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.” We have recently seen the startling collapse of authoritarian rule in various Communist countries. The irritation of the people against such rule must eventually break out in rebellion. How good to know that the great authority and power of the Lord Jesus is perfectly balanced by the grace of His Priesthood! The world’s kings know nothing of this.

Zerubbabel means “melted by Babylon” which pictures the lowly grace of the Lord Jesus in identifying Himself with Israel in feeling the deep sorrow of her humiliation in captivity to Babylon’s tyranny. He who rightly feels the humiliation of Israel’s shame is the One who can deliver her from the bondage of Gentile oppression. Therefore, the question, “Who are you, O great mountain?” (v. 7), draws our attention to the Gentile powers, beginning with Babylon, that have been so great an obstacle to Israel’s blessing. But before Zerubbabel, this mountain would be reduced to a plain – no obstacle whatever. Certainly Zerubbabel is a picture of the Lord Jesus in this case.

More than this, “He shall bring forth the capstone, with shouts of Grace, grace, to it.” The capstone or topstone of the building (the temple) signifies its completion. Just as Christ is the foundation of the building, so also is He the full completion of it. Grace too will be predominantly seen, in contrast to “might” and “power.” Grace will draw forth shouts of rejoicing on the part of the people. This will be especially true in the day of Israel’s restoration, but today believers are privileged to know in advance the reality of the grace of God. This grace is seen in the Lord Jesus as the foundation of the spiritual building, the Church of God, and as “Completer of faith,” the One who brings to a perfect culmination all the counsels of God concerning the Church.

The word of the Lord has further instruction for Zechariah concerning this fifth vision. “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands also shall finish it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you” (v. 9). Though considerable time had elapsed between the laying of the foundation of the temple and the time of this prophecy, the temple was far from finished. Yet God decreed plainly that Zerubbabel would finish it. When the finishing took place, it would be the clearest demonstration that it was “Jehovah of hosts” who had “sent Me to you.” Who is this who was sent? The language is intended to emphasize the typical character of this prophecy as looking forward to the future temple in Jerusalem, which Israel knows will be built by the Messiah in His own time. The One therefore whom Jehovah of hosts has sent is the Messiah of Israel, the Lord Jesus. It will be He who gives instructions for both the laying of the foundation of the temple and the completed edifice. In this present day, this is a picture of the spiritual house, the Church, of whom the Lord Jesus is Himself the foundation, the corner-stone and the topstone. He is the Builder and is personally involved in the erection of the entire building.

At the arrival of the glorious age to come, it will be fully manifest to Israel that it is indeed the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, who has sent the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah. No doubts will remain in the minds of the people, though when He came first in lowly grace, they rejected Him as the Son of God sent by the Father.

Meanwhile, while the marvelous glory of the Millennium is held in abeyance, and we see only great weakness instead of power, much failure instead of victory, the Lord asks a question of deepest importance, “Who has despised the day of small things?” While waiting for the coming day of glory, we ought to rejoice in every small occasion of true spiritual blessing which God graciously gives to encourage genuine faith. In the present day God is seeking to impress on us the truth of the words of the Lord Jesus, “He who is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much” (Luk 16:10). If He does not give us great blessing in our testimony as to the truth of the gospel or to the truth of the Assembly, it may be because we have lacked faithfulness in maintaining the blessing He has given! At any rate, faith does not despise small things, and can patiently wait for the great things that are promised.

“These seven rejoice to see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.” Zerubbabel pictures Christ as the Builder whose building is perfectly square vertically as well as horizontally. The seven eyes refer back to Zec 3:9, the eyes in one stone (Christ), which are the eyes of the Lord that range throughout the whole earth. This compares with Rev 5:6, “the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth,” that is, the seven-fold power of the Spirit of God who takes great delight in drawing attention to Christ as the great Builder of His house. These eyes of perfect discernment are cognizant also of all that transpires throughout the whole earth. In doing so, they find nothing that can remotely compare with the dignity of the person of Christ.

Zechariah’s interest is specially awakened by the two olive trees, one on either side of the lampstand (v. 11), and he questions the angel as to this. But before receiving an answer, he questions further as to the two olive branches beside the two golden pipes which empty the golden oil from themselves. These had not been mentioned in verses 2 and 3, but evidently the branches from the trees connected with two golden pipes brought the oil to the seven lamps. As well as the lampstand and the pipes being of gold, the oil is said to be golden oil. This emphasizes the deity of the Spirit of God, just as the glory of Christ’s deity is emphasized in the golden lampstand.

The angel answers that the trees with their branches are “the two anointed ones who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth” (v. 14). The significance of this is easily understood when we remember that both priests and kings were commonly anointed with oil in Israel, and if we consider Zec 6:13, that Christ will be priest on His throne. In the Old Testament history this could never take place, for priests could come only from the line of Aaron, and kings could not come from that line. But Christ will be both High Priest and King.

The olive trees therefore symbolize the priesthood and royalty of the Lord Jesus. These two precious facts provide oil for the golden lamp of testimony, that is, the power of the Spirit of God is seen in its wonderful characteristics in connection with the Lord Jesus as being God’s chosen King and in His being God’s High Priest. Also, as we have seen, the golden lampstand emphasizes the deity of this same blessed Person as the Sustainer of all testimony for God.

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

1. The vision 4:1-5

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Zechariah’s guiding angel roused the prophet from his visionary slumber. Evidently when the last scene of his vision ended Zechariah remained in a sleep-like condition. Even in an ecstatic state human beings remain dull and obtuse to divine revelation and must receive supernatural enlightenment.

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

THE VISIONS OF ZECHARIAH

Zec 1:7-21; Zec 2:1-13; Zec 3:1-10; Zec 4:1-14; Zec 5:1-11; Zec 6:1-8

THE Visions of Zechariah do not lack those large and simple views of religion which we have just seen to be the charm of his other prophecies. Indeed it is among the Visions that we find the most spiritual of all his utterances: “Not by might, and not by force, but by My Spirit, saith Jehovah of Hosts.” The Visions express the need of the Divine forgiveness, emphasize the reality of sin, as a principle deeper than the civic crimes in which it is manifested, and declare the power of God to banish it from His people. The Visions also contain the remarkable prospect of Jerusalem as the City of Peace, her only wall the Lord Himself. The overthrow of the heathen empires is predicted by the Lords own hand, and from all the Visions there are absent both the turmoil and the glory of war.

We must also be struck by the absence of another element, which is a cause of complexity in the writings of many prophets-the polemic against idolatry. Zechariah nowhere mentions the idols. We have already seen what proof this silence bears for the fact that the community to which he spoke was not that half-heathen remnant of Israel which had remained in the land, but was composed of worshippers of Jehovah who at His word had returned from Babylon. Here we have only to do with the bearing of the fact upon Zechariahs style. That bewildering confusion of the heathen pantheon and its rites, which forms so much of our difficulty in interpreting some of the prophecies of Ezekiel and the closing chapters of the Book of Isaiah, is not to blame for any of the complexity of Zechariahs Visions.

Nor can we attribute the latter to the fact that the Visions are dreams, and therefore bound to be more involved and obscure than the words of Jehovah which came to Zechariah in the open daylight of his peoples public life. In Zec 1:7-8. we have not the narrative of actual dreams, but a series of conscious and artistic allegories-the deliberate translation into a carefully constructed symbolism of the Divine truths with which the prophet was entrusted by his God. Yet this only increases our problem-why a man with such gifts of direct speech, and such clear views of his peoples character and history, should choose to express the latter by an imagery so artificial and involved? In his orations Zechariah is very like the prophets whom we have known before the Exile, thoroughly ethical and intent upon the public conscience of his time. He appreciates what they were, feels himself standing in their succession, and is endowed both with their spirit and their style. But none of them constructs the elaborate allegories which he does, or insists upon the religious symbolism which he enforces as indispensable to the standing of Israel with God. Not only are their visions few and simple, but they look down upon the visionary temper as a rude stage of prophecy and inferior to their own, in which the Word of God is received by personal communion with Himself, and conveyed to His people by straight and plain words. Some of the earlier prophets even condemn all priesthood and ritual; none of them regards these as indispensable to Israels right relations with Jehovah; and none employs those superhuman mediators of the Divine truth by whom Zechariah is instructed in his Visions.

1. THE INFLUENCES WHICH MOULDED THE VISIONS

The explanation of this change that has come over prophecy must be sought for in certain habits which the people formed in exile. During the Exile several causes conspired to develop among Hebrew writers the tempers both of symbolism and apocalypse. The chief of these was their separation from the realities of civic life, with the opportunity their political leisure afforded them of brooding and dreaming. Facts and Divine promises, which had previously to be dealt with by the conscience of the moment, were left to be worked out by the imagination. The exiles were not responsible citizens or statesmen, but dreamers. They were inspired by mighty hopes for the future, and not fettered by the practical necessities of a definite historical situation upon which these hopes had to be immediately realized. They had a far-off horizon to build upon, and they occupied the whole breadth of it. They had a long time to build, and they elaborated the minutest details of their architecture. Consequently their construction of the future of Israel, and their description of the processes by which it was to be reached, became colossal, ornate, and lavishly symbolic. Nor could the exiles fail to receive stimulus for all this from the rich imagery of Babylonian art by which they were surrounded.

Under these influences there were three strong developments in Israel. One was that development of Apocalypse the first beginnings of which we traced in Zephaniah-the representation of Gods providence of the world and of His people, not by the ordinary political and military processes of history, but by awful convulsions and catastrophes, both in nature and in politics, in which God Himself appeared, either alone in sudden glory or by the mediation of heavenly armies. The second-and it was but a part of the first-was the development of a belief in Angels: superhuman beings who had not only a part to play in the apocalyptic wars and revolutions; but, in the growing sense, which characterizes the period, of Gods distance and awfulness were believed to act as His agents in the communication of His Word to men. And, thirdly, there was the development of the Ritual. To some minds this may appear the strangest of all the effects of the Exile. The fall of the Temple, its hierarchy and sacrifices, might be supposed to enforce more spiritual conceptions of God and of His communion with His people. And no doubt it did. The impossibility of the legal sacrifices in exile opened the mind of Israel to the belief that God was satisfied with the sacrifices of the broken heart, and drew near, without mediation, to all who were humble and pure of heart. But no one in Israel therefore understood that these sacrifices were forever abolished. Their interruption was regarded as merely temporary even by the most spiritual of Jewish writers. The Fifty-first Psalm, for instance, which declares that “the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O Lord, Thou wilt not despise,” immediately follows this declaration by the assurance that “when God builds again the walls of Jerusalem,” He will once more take delight in “the legal sacrifices: burnt offering and whole burnt offering, the oblation of bullocks upon Thine altar.” For men of such views the ruin of the Temple was not its abolition with the whole dispensation which it represented, but rather the occasion for its reconstruction upon wider lines and a more detailed system, for the planning of which the nations exile afforded the leisure and the carefulness of art described above. The ancient liturgy, too, was insufficient for the stronger convictions of guilt and need of purgation, which sore punishment had impressed upon the people. Then, scattered among the heathen as they were, they learned to require stricter laws and more drastic ceremonies to restore and preserve their holiness. Their ritual, therefore, had to be expanded and detailed to a degree far beyond what we find in Israels earlier systems of worship. With the fall of the monarchy and the absence of civic life the importance of the priesthood was proportionately enhanced; and the growing sense of Gods aloofness from the world, already alluded to, made the more indispensable human, as well as superhuman, mediators between Himself and His people. Consider these things, and it will be clear why prophecy, which with Amos had begun a war against all ritual, and with Jeremiah had achieved a religion absolutely independent of priesthood and Temple, should reappear after the Exile, insistent upon the building of the Temple, enforcing the need both of the priesthood and sacrifice, and while it proclaimed the Messianic King and the High Priest as the great feeders of the national life and worship, finding no place beside them for the Prophet himself.

The force of these developments of Apocalypse, Angelology, and the Ritual appears both in Ezekiel and in the exilic codification of the ritual which forms so large a part of the Pentateuch. Ezekiel carries Apocalypse far beyond the beginnings started by Zephaniah. He introduces, though not under the name of angels, superhuman mediators between himself and God. The Priestly Code does not mention angels, and has no Apocalypse; but like Ezekiel it develops, to an extraordinary degree, the ritual of Israel. Both its author and Ezekiel base on the older forms, but build as men who are not confined by the lines of an actually existing system. The changes they make, the innovations they introduce, are too numerous to mention here. To illustrate their influence upon Zechariah, it is enough to emphasize the large place they give in the ritual to the processes of propitiation and cleansing from sin, and the increased authority with which they invest the priesthood. In Ezekiel Israel has still a Prince, though he is not called King. He arranges the cultus {Eze 44:1 ff.} and sacrifices are offered for him and the people, {Eze 45:22} but the priests teach and judge the people. {Eze 44:23-24} In the Priestly Code, the priesthood is more rigorously fenced than by Ezekiel from the laity, and more regularly graded. At its head appears a High Priest (as he does not in Ezekiel), and by his side the civil rulers are portrayed in lesser dignity and power. Sacrifices are made, no longer as with Ezekiel for Prince and People, but for Aaron and the congregation; and throughout the narrative of ancient history, into the form of which this Code projects its legislation, the High Priest stands above the captain of the host, even when the latter is Joshua himself. Gods enemies are defeated not so much by the wisdom and valor of the secular powers, as by the miracles of Jehovah Himself, mediated through the priesthood. Ezekiel and the Priestly Code both elaborate the sacrifices of atonement and sanctification beyond all the earlier uses.

2. GENERAL FEATURES OF THE VISIONS

It was beneath these influences that Zechariah grew up, and to them we may trace, not only numerous details of his Visions, but the whole of their involved symbolism. He was himself a priest and the son of a priest, born and bred in the very order to which we owe the codification of the ritual, and the development of those ideas of guilt and uncleanness that led to its expansion and specialization. The Visions in which he deals with these are the Third to the Seventh. As with Haggai there is a High Priest, in advance upon Ezekiel and in agreement with the Priestly Code. As in the latter the High Priest represents the people and carries their guilt before God. He and his colleagues are pledges and portents of the coming Messiah. But the civil power is not yet diminished before the sacerdotal, as in the Priestly Code. We shall find indeed that a remarkable attempt has been made to alter the original text of a prophecy appended to the Visions, {Zec 6:9-15} in order to divert to the High Priest the coronation and Messianic rank there described. But anyone who reads the passage carefully can see for himself that the crown (a single crown, as the verb which it governs proves) which Zechariah was ordered to make was designed for Another than the priest, that the priest was but to stand at this Others right hand, and that there was to be concord between the two of them. This Other can only have been the Messianic King, Zerubbabel, as was already proclaimed by Haggai. {Hag 2:20-23} The altered text is due to a later period, when the High Priest became the civil as well as the religious head of the community. To Zechariah he was still only the right hand of the monarch in government; but, as we have seen, the religious life of the people was already gathered up and concentrated in him. It is the priests, too, who by their perpetual service and holy life bring on the Messianic era. {Zec 3:8} Men come to the Temple to propitiate Jehovah, for which Zechariah uses the anthropomorphic expression “to make smooth” or “placid His face.” No more than this is made of the sacrificial system, which was not in full course when the Visions were announced. But the symbolism of the Fourth Vision is drawn from the furniture of the Temple. It is interesting that the great candelabrum seen by the prophet should be like, not the ten lights of the old Temple of Solomon, but the seven-branched candlestick described in the Priestly Code. In the Sixth and Seventh Visions the strong convictions of guilt and uncleanness, which were engendered in Israel by the Exile, are not removed by the sacrificial means enforced in the Priestly Code, but by symbolic processes in the style of the Visions of Ezekiel.

The Visions in which Zechariah treats of the outer history of the world are the first two and the last, and in these we notice the influence of the Apocalypse developed during the Exile. In Zechariahs day Israel had no stage for their history save the site of Jerusalem and its immediate neighborhood. So long as he keeps to this Zechariah is as practical and matter-of-fact as any of the prophets, but when he has to go beyond it to describe the general overthrow of the heathen, he is unable to project that, as Amos or Isaiah did, in terms of historic battle, and has to call in the apocalyptic. A people such as that poor colony of exiles, with no issue upon history, is forced to take refuge in Apocalypse, and carries with it even those of its prophets whose conscience, like Zechariahs, is most strongly bent upon the practical present. Consequently these three historical Visions are the most vague of the eight. They reveal the whole earth under the care of Jehovah and the patrol of His angels. They definitely predict the overthrow of the heathen empires. But, unlike Amos or Isaiah, the prophet does not see by what political movements this is to be effected. The world “is still quiet and at peace.” The time is hidden in the Divine counsels; the means, though clearly symbolized in “four smiths” who come forward to smite the horns of the heathen, and in a chariot which carries Gods wrath to the North, are obscure. The prophet appears to have intended, not any definite individuals or political movements of the immediate future, but Gods own supernatural forces. In other words, the Smiths and Chariots are not an allegory of history, but powers apocalyptic. The forms of the symbols were derived by Zechariah from different sources. Perhaps that of the “smiths” who destroy the horns in the Second Vision was suggested by “the smiths of destruction” threatened upon Ammon by Ezekiel. In the horsemen of the First Vision and the chariots of the Eighth, Ewald sees a reflection of the couriers and posts which Darius organized throughout the empire; they are more probably, as we shall see, a reflection of the military bands and patrols of the Persians. But from whatever quarter Zechariah derived the exact aspect of these Divine messengers, he found many precedents for them in the native beliefs of Israel. They are, in short, angels incarnate as Hebrew angels always were, and in fashion like men. But this brings up the whole subject of the angels, whom he also sees employed as the mediators of Gods Word to him; and that is large enough to be left to a chapter by itself.

We have now before us all the influences which led Zechariah to the main form and chief features of his Visions.

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary

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