THE ANGEL CAME AGAIN - The angel (as before Zechariah 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... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I SAID, I HAVE LOOKED AND BEHOLD A CANDLESTICK ALL OF GOLD - The
candlestick is the seven-branched candlestick of the tabernacle Exodus
25:31, but with variations purposely introduced to symbolize the
fuller and more constant supply of the oil, itself the symbol of
God’s Holy Spirit, who:
“Enab... [ Continue Reading ]
Osorius: “Awakened from his state of sleep, even thus the prophet
seemed slowly to understand what was shown him. He asks then of the
instructing angel. The angel, almost amazed, asks if he knowns it not,
and when he plainly declares his ignorance, makes clear the enigma of
the vision.”... [ Continue Reading ]
THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD UNTO ZERUBBABEL - Osorius: “As if he
were to say, the meaning of the vision and scope of what has been
exhibited is, ‘God’s doings have almost cried aloud to Zerubbabel
that all these visions shall come to an end in their time, not
effected by human might nor in fleshly... [ Continue Reading ]
WHO ART THOU, O GREAT MOUNTAIN? BEFORE ZERUBBABEL THOU SHALT BE A
PLAIN - The words have the character of a sacred proverb; “Every one
that exalteth himself shall be abased” Luke 14:11; Luke 18:14.
Isaiah prophesies the victories of the Gospel in the same imagery,
“Every valley shall be exalted and... [ Continue Reading ]
AND THE WORD OF THE LORD - Keil: “This word of the Lord is not
addressed through ‘the interpreting angel,’ but direct from the
Lord, and that through the ‘Angel of the Lord’ . For though in the
first instance the words, “the hands of Zerubbabel etc.,” relate
to the building of the material temple, a... [ Continue Reading ]
The simplest rendering is marked by the accents. “For who hath
despised the day of small things? and (that is, seeing that there have
rejoiced and seen the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, these seven,
the Eyes of the Lord, they are running to and fro in all the earth,”
1:e., since God hath with j... [ Continue Reading ]
AND I ANSWERED AND SAID - The vision, as a whole, had been explained
to him. The prophet asks as to subordinate parts, which seemed perhaps
inconsistent with the whole. If the whole imports that everything
should be done by the Spirit of God, not by human power, what means it
that there are these tw... [ Continue Reading ]
WHAT ARE THE TWO SPIKES OF THE OLIVE? - Comparing the extreme branches
of the olive-tree, laden with their fruit, to the ears of corn, which
“were by or in the hand of the golden pipes, which empty forth the
golden oil from themselves.” Zechariah’s expression, in the hand
of or, if so be, by the han... [ Continue Reading ]
THESE ARE THE TWO SONS OF OIL - Probably not as themselves anointed,
(for another word is used for this. Which stand by the Lord of the
whole earth, as His servants and ministers. The candlestick is almost
authoritatively interpreted for us, by the adoption of the symbol in
the Revelation, where our... [ Continue Reading ]