And I answered and said unto him, What are these two olive-trees on the right of the lamp-stand and on its left?
One detail of Zechariah's vision still holds him: the two olive trees on either side of the golden lampstand. His question about them opens the last exchange of the chapter, and the answer unlocks everything before it.
The prophet asks twice. He asks about the trees, then about the branches and the pipes that drain the oil out of themselves. One writer notes that the angel folds both questions into one reply:
The final answer of the angel gives, as we may see, the key to the whole chapter. The details of the symbol are somewhat difficult to grasp. One of the prophet's questions (v. 12) brings an extra detail into the original vision: there is no mention of the olive branches there... One more thing may be noted before the interpretation. The angel does not answer the prophet's two questions. He clearly treats the olive trees and the olive branches as one and the same, and says, These are the two sons of oil.
The angel's answer treats the branches and the trees as one:
The prophet admits he does not know the answer to his question. So the angel says, "These are the two sons of oil, that stand before the Lord of the whole earth." The two branches have the same character as the two olive trees.
The lampstand is gold. The pipes are gold. The oil is called gold too.
The two olive trees, one on either side of the lampstand (v. 11), especially catch Zechariah's interest... Evidently the branches from the trees, connected with two golden pipes, brought the oil to the seven lamps. The lampstand and the pipes are gold, and the oil too is called golden oil. This emphasizes the deity of the Spirit of God, just as the golden lampstand emphasizes the glory of Christ's deity.
The angel's phrase, "sons of oil," points to the two offices in Israel that anointing marked out.
In Israel the high priest was anointed, and also the king — David, for instance, in 1 Samuel 16. At that moment Joshua represented the priestly line, and Zerubbabel the kingly line, though he was not himself a king. The grace and power of God was to flow through them at that time, in its measure. In full measure it will flow through Christ, when He will sit a Priest upon His kingly throne. The sixth chapter will tell us of this. Then it will be perfectly clear that everything comes on the basis of grace, and not of law-keeping.
The trees are not decoration. They are where the lampstand's supply comes from.
The prophet's question about the olive branches seems to make one thing plain. The olive trees (the sons of oil) were the two sources that fed and sustained the light of the lampstand. What then are these? Zerubbabel was the governor of Judah, Joshua (Zech. 3) was the high priest, and the two combined were therefore a type of Christ as the priest on His throne. So the two olive trees, as another has written, "are the royalty and the priesthood of Christ, which maintain, by power and spiritual grace, the perfect light of divine order among the Jews."
At this point in the book there are two trees, not one:
In chapter 4 the kingship and priesthood — the two olive trees — are still separate. Yet they work together to feed the light of testimony. Finally, in chapter 6, we find the priesthood and the kingship united in one person.
The two men Zechariah could see fell far short of what the vision promised:
The "two sons of oil" will secure all God's thoughts for the blessing of His earthly people — the One who is Anointed Priest and Anointed King. Sadly, in the days of the prophet there was much to discourage. Zerubbabel was the direct heir from David to the throne of Israel, but he was not the anointed king. Joshua was the high priest of Israel, but how miserable was his state as shown in chapter 3. But the day is surely coming when the kingdom and the priesthood will be taken up by Him in whom there is no failure.
- Oil — lampstand, pipes and oil are all gold; the golden oil marks out the deity of the Spirit of God.
- Source — the trees are not ornaments. They are the two springs that feed the light of testimony.
- Anointing — "sons of oil" names Israel's two anointed offices: Joshua the priest, Zerubbabel of David's line.
- Union — here the two stand apart on either side; in chapter 6 priesthood and kingship meet in one Person.
- Fulfilment — neither man of Zechariah's day matched the vision. It waits for the One in whom there is no failure.
And I answered the second time and said unto him, What are the two olive-branches which are beside the two golden tubes that empty the gold out of themselves?
Zechariah is watching a vision of a golden lampstand fed by two olive trees. He has already asked what it means — so why ask a second time, and what are these branches and pipes?
The parts of this picture fit together in an order.
The angel's final answer gives us the key to the whole chapter. One of the prophet's questions (v. 12) brings an extra detail into the original vision. There is no mention of the olive branches there. Putting the whole together, there is first the seven-branched golden lampstand. Then the bowl on top of it, with "seven pipes" connected to each of the seven lamps. Then the olive trees on either side of the bowl. And finally the two olive branches, which have their two golden pipes. By means of these pipes they empty the golden oil out of themselves — presumably, though it is not actually stated, into the bowl on top of the lampstand. One more thing may be noted: the angel does not answer the prophet's two questions separately. He plainly treats the olive trees and the olive branches as one and the same.
The vision also tells us what the oil stands for.
Notice also the term "golden oil." The lampstand is of gold. The oil flows from the olive trees, but it comes through golden pipes, and the oil itself is "golden." The gold, as always, represents what is divine, while the oil is the emblem of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit here because Christ, as Lord of the earth, will bear the testimony in all His divine energy — so the oil is golden, divine oil. When Jesus walked here on earth He lived, acted, and worked in the power of the Holy Spirit. This was the source of His words, acts, and miracles… And Zechariah's vision shows that when He is here in the glory of the kingdom, He will also rule, maintain His rights, and bear testimony for God in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Joshua and Zerubbabel were the two leading men of that day.
The answer was that they represented the two "anointed ones," or "sons of oil," who stand before "the Lord of the whole earth." In Israel the high priest was anointed, and so was the king — David, for instance, in 1 Samuel 16. At that moment Joshua represented the priestly line, and Zerubbabel the kingly line, though he was not himself a king. The grace and power of God was to flow through them at that time, in its measure. In full measure it will flow through Christ, when He will sit as a Priest on His kingly throne.
The two men themselves gave little cause for confidence.
In the days of the prophet there was much to discourage. Zerubbabel was the direct heir of David to the throne of Israel, but he was not the anointed king. Joshua was the high priest of Israel, but how miserable his state was, as pictured in chapter 3. But the day is surely coming. Then He in whom there is no failure will take up both the kingdom and the priesthood. Through Him the light of the glory of God will shine from the holy city, Jerusalem, for the blessing of Israel and the lighting of the world.
The vision came to steady men who were losing heart at the size of the job.
The difficulties of building the second temple seemed like mountains to Zerubbabel and his companions. So Zechariah cheers them with the vision of the two "sons of oil," the olive trees. They support the lampstand and provide an endless supply of the "golden oil" through the "golden pipes." With the vision comes the explanation: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts… Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain." (Zech. 4)
The full supply belongs to Christ, and there is a sign of it before His reign.
As the true Priest and King, He alone will supply, dispense, and keep up the light of the Spirit in Israel, to the glory of Jehovah. Before the kingdom sets this up, we see a pledge of it in the two witnesses of Revelation 11. They come after the saints are taken up to heaven, when God begins to work anew in the Jewish remnant.
- Source. The two olive branches empty the oil out of themselves. The supply starts outside the lamps, in what God gives, not in what the builders can make.
- Substance. The oil is "golden": gold stands for what is divine, and the oil pictures the Holy Spirit, so the supply is God's own power.
- Channel. Golden pipes carry it to the bowl and on to the seven lamps. The lamps receive the power; they never have to make it.
- Bearers. The "sons of oil" are the anointed ones. Joshua stood for the priestly line, Zerubbabel for the kingly line. Both meet without failure in Christ, Priest on His throne.
- Result. Where God supplies the oil, mountains flatten and the light keeps burning. The answer to a discouraging day is not might or power, but His Spirit.