Zechariah
Chapter 4
Fifth: The Candlestick and the Two Olive Trees
The angel who talked with me returned, and shook me, as one does to wake another from sleep.
He asked: “What do you see?” I answered: “I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on top. On the stand are seven lamps, and there are seven pipes to feed them.
There are also two olive trees, one at the right of the bowl and another at the left.”
I asked the angel: “What are these, my lord?”
He replied with a question: “Don’t you know what they are?” I answered: “No, my lord.”
6b This is a word of the Lord for Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit.”
“What are you, O mighty mountains? You will be leveled before Zerubbabel. He will quarry, from you to the last stone which crowns the temple amid shouts of ‘blessing, blessing on it!’”
The word of the Lord then came to me:
“The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands also shall finish it. (Then you will know that the Lord Sabaoth has sent me to you.)
Perhaps the beginning seems a small thing to you, yet you will rejoice on that day to see the crowning stone in the hands of Zerubbabel.”
I asked the angel: “What are these two olive trees to the right and left of the lampstand?”
Before he could reply, I asked again: “What are these two extensions of the olive trees, which are emptying the golden oil through the two golden pipes?”
His reply was a question: “Don’t you know what these are?” I answered: “No, my lord.”
He said: “These are the two anointed with fresh oil, who serve the Lord of the whole earth.”
Commentaries
Eight Visions.
The eight visions in this section are organized in a concentric or chiastic structure. The preceding verses (1:1-6) serve as an introduction, confirming the covenant (1:1-6), and conclude with a reference to the covenant established through the priest Joshua (6:12-15). In these visions, the Lord is presented as a warrior fighting against the kingdoms of the earth.
Fifth: The Candlestick and the Two Olive Trees.
The seven-branched candlestick and the two olive trees on either side represent God’s omnipresence on Earth (seven eyes) and the two anointed witnesses, or literally, “the two sons of oil,” standing on the right and left of the Lord (the candlestick). The mention of the high priest and the “shoot” of the Davidic lineage are linked to two specific people: Joshua, as the high priest who will be restored to the House of the Lord on the one hand (6:11), and Zerubbabel, governor of Judah and rebuilder of the temple, who corresponds to the image of the “shoot” of the royal lineage of David.