Zechariah 4:1-6

Zechariah’s Fifth Vision

1 And the angel [who was] talking with me returned, and he wakened me as one who is wakened from his sleep.

2 And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see, and look, {a lampstand all of gold}, and a bowl [was] on its top, and its seven lamps on it, and seven lips on [each of] the lamps that [are] on its top.

3 And [there are] two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left."

4 And I answered and said to the angel [who was] talking to me, "What [are] these, my lord?"

5 And the angel [who was] talking with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these [are]?" And I said, "No, my lord."

6 And he answered and said to me, "This [is] the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by strength and not by power, but [only] by my Spirit,' says Yahweh of hosts.

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Zechariah 4:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO ZECHARIAH 4

In this chapter are contained the vision of a golden candlestick, and of two olive trees by it, and the explanation thereof. The preparation to this vision, which is the awaking of the prophet, as of a man out of sleep, is in Zec 4:1. The vision of the candlestick, and olive trees, is in Zec 4:2,3. The candlestick is described by the matter of it, gold; and by the parts of it, its bowl, lamps, and pipes; and the olive trees by their situation; the explanation of which is at the request of the prophet, he not knowing what they meant, Zec 4:4,5 when it is observed to him, that this represents, under the type of Zerubbabel building the temple, the building of the Gospel church by Christ; and which is done and finished, not by might or power of man, but by the Spirit, notwithstanding all opposition, and contempt of it, to the great joy of many, who observe the grace of God, and his providential care and goodness, in it, Zec 4:6-10 and upon the prophet's inquiring the meaning of the two olive trees, which he was ignorant of, he is told that these are the two anointed ones that stood by the Lord of the whole earth, Zec 4:11-14.

Taken from John Gill's Exposition of the Bible

Footnotes 1

[a]. Literally "a lampstand of gold in its totality"