Zechariah 4:1-4

The Fifth Vision. The Golden Candlestick, Zechariah 4:1-14. Roused by the Interpreting Angel from a sleep or stupor, into which he appears to have fallen, Zechariah 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, Zechariah 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, Zechariah 4:3; Zechariah 4:12. At the request of Zechariah, Zechariah 4:4, the Interpreting Angel, with some show of surprise that explanation should be needed, Zechariah 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 (Revelation 1:20), to shine in the world, should be accomplished, not by human resources, but by the Spirit of God, Zechariah 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, Zechariah 4:7 Yet again, by a repeated assurance conveyed to the prophet through the Angel, Zechariah 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, Zechariah 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 (Zechariah 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, Zechariah 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, Zechariah 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, Zechariah 4:12. The answer, again given with some show of surprise at the question, Zechariah 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, Zechariah 4:14.