Revelation 11:4

ἑστῶτες. Text. Rec[374] reads ἑστῶσαι with אccP 1.

[374] Rec. Textus Receptus as printed by Scrivener.

4. αἱ δύο ἐλαῖαι καὶ αἱ δύο λυχνίαι. As in Zechariah 4. the two olive trees or the two Anointed Ones supply the bowl of one golden candlestick with oil, it may be a question whether the reference is directly to Zechariah or to a tradition which grew from his words: the two candlesticks, cf. Psalms 132:17, are clearly known beforehand like the two olive trees: we know from the “Psalms of Solomon,” Revelation 8:12; Revelation 17:6, that there was a widespread feeling that from the time of Epiphanes there had been no lawful kingdom or lawful priesthood, for the Maccabees had usurped both: this would explain a belief founded on Zechariah that a lawful kingdom and priesthood must be restored before the Kingdom of Christ, as there was a belief founded on Malachi that Christ would not come before Elias had appeared. Hence this verse would be an exact parallel to Matthew 11:14, at once a sanction and a correction to existing belief. In Zechariah apparently the “two Anointed Ones” are Zerubbabel and Jeshua, or rather perhaps the ideal King and Priest, conceived as types of Him Who is both: perhaps these two Witnesses similarly typify Him as King (cf. Deuteronomy 33:5) and Prophet.

ἑστῶτες. The masculine is not surprising after οὗτοι; but the position of the participle is as singular here as that of the verb in Revelation 7:2.