Zechariahchapter 4
14 verses · Zechariah · 520 to 518 BC · The Twelve
So he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD of Hosts.
Introduction
Zechariah, The Twelve, Zechariah Overview.
Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah and a descendant of David, had a temple to finish with little money, no army and hostile neighbours. Zechariah received this vision for him in the same night as the others. It speaks through the lampstand that stood in the holy place and had to be kept burning with oil every day. Listen for the questions the prophet asks twice before he is answered. Listen also for the word spoken to a builder about the first stone and the last, and for what the two olive trees are called.
Context
- Who
- A governor trying to finish a building project with no money and no army
- What
- A vision of a gold lampstand fed with oil from two olive trees, with a word to Zerubbabel that he will finish the temple he began.
- Where
- Jerusalem, at the building site of the second temple.
- When
- The night of 15 February 519 BC; the temple was finished four years later, in 515 BC.
- Why
- To assure the governor that the temple would be completed by the Spirit of the LORD, whatever his own lack of strength.
Historical context
The lampstand is the temple lampstand, the seven-branched menorah that stood in the holy place and had to be tended with oil by the priests every day. Zechariah's version has an addition: a bowl on top and pipes running to the lamps, and two olive trees standing on either side feeding oil straight into it. It never needs a servant with a jar. The supply is plumbed in.
Show the rest of the historical context, 4 more paragraphs
That is the whole message to Zerubbabel: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts." He had neither might nor power. He was a provincial governor under Persian license, with a work crew, hostile neighbors, and a temple to finish.
The next promise is engineering language. The great mountain in front of Zerubbabel becomes a plain, and he brings out the headstone, the finishing stone, with shouting.
Then a line for anyone who has ever worked on something unimpressive: "who hath despised the day of small things?" The plumb line in Zerubbabel's hand is a builder's tool, used to check a wall is vertical. God says the people who sneered will be glad when they see it.
The two olive trees are called "the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth", most naturally the priest and the governor of chapters 3 and 4, the two offices carrying the community.
Significance
This is the chapter that got the temple finished. It reframed a stalled construction job as a lamp that runs on a supply the builders do not have to generate.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
For a community outnumbered and underfunded, "not by might nor by power" was not a slogan about spirituality over practicality. It was a statement about where their actual resources were coming from.
This chapter in Jewish lifeWhat this chapter is in Jewish life and reading.
What is done
The site's own table in src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this lane, printed one use of this chapter. It stands in the Haftarah of Beha'alotcha, the portion of Numbers 8:1 to 12:16, which the table gives as Zechariah 2:14 to 4:7 and marks as read in both rites. The same probe printed no Haftarah use for any other chapter of the book, and no festival reading for it.
The reading ends in this chapter, at the seventh verse, with the great mountain made a plain before Zerubbabel. Under the second verse, the lampstand, the corpus carries Megillah 31a:17, the same locator it carries under the fourteenth verse of chapter 2.
How it is read
Rashi is the one commentator on this chapter whose English the corpus carries. He is quoted from The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, which Sefaria reports as CC-BY, and every quotation is held to fifty words or fewer.
Rashi reads the lampstand as a working picture. The olives beat themselves into the vats (Rashi on Zechariah 4:3:2). The prophet asks what it means that "the olive trees are picked by themselves, and the oil comes into the lamps by itself" (Rashi on Zechariah 4:4:1). The answer is a sign for Zerubbabel. "so will you not build My house with your [own] power or with your [own] strength" (Rashi on Zechariah 4:6:1).
The spirit of the Lord he reads in history. "I will place My spirit upon Darius", who commands the building and pays for it, as Ezra records (Rashi on Zechariah 4:6:2). The great mountain is the governors beyond the river, Tattenai, Shethar Bozenai and their companions, who stopped the work (Rashi on Zechariah 4:7:1).
The day of small things is the founding that seemed nothing beside the first house, and those who despised it will rejoice at the plumb line (Rashi on Zechariah 4:10:1). The two olive trees end the chapter. Rashi reads the two anointed ones as "The horns of the priesthood and the kingdom who are anointed with the anointing oil" (Rashi on Zechariah 4:14:1).
The corpus carries 8 further notes on this chapter without an English text, each marked linked because Sefaria holds no English version of the ref. They stand cited and unquoted here. Ibn Ezra on Zechariah is cited at 4:1:1, 4:4:1, 4:5:1 and 4:8:1. Radak on Zechariah is cited at 4:1:1, 4:5:1 and 4:8:1. Metzudat David on Zechariah is cited at 4:13:1.
What the rabbis say
The corpus carries 40 rabbinic locators on this chapter and the text of none, so each is cited and linked here and none is quoted. The verse numbers are the corpus's own.
At 4:2 it holds Bamidbar Rabbah 13:20, Bamidbar Rabbah 13:8 and Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayechi 32. It also holds Bereshit Rabbati, Parashat Vayishlach 30, Kohelet Rabbah 4:1:1 and Megillah 31a:17 there. It also holds Midrash Aggadah, Exodus 38:21:2, Pesikta DeRav Kahana 27:2 and Pesikta Rabbati 7:1 there. It also holds Pesikta Rabbati 8:1 and Sifrei Devarim 10:2 there. At 4:2 to 3 it holds Shir HaShirim Rabbah 4:7:1.
At 4:3 it holds Midrash Lekach Tov, Deuteronomy 1:9:1, Midrash Tannaim on Deuteronomy 1:9:17 and Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 801:10. At 4:7 it holds Midrash Tanchuma Buber, Toldot 20:2 and Midrash Tanchuma, Toldot 14:1. At 4:9 it holds Midrash Sekhel Tov, Bereshit 49:27:21. At 4:10 it holds Aggadat Bereshit 45:1, Bamidbar Rabbah 15:5 and Bamidbar Rabbah 15:7. It also holds Bamidbar Rabbah 9:8, Bamidbar Rabbah 9:9 and Bereshit Rabbah 87:5 there.
It also holds Eikhah Rabbah 1:50, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 4:14 and Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sotah 9:18 there. It also holds Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 4:21 and Ein Yaakov, Sotah 9:19 there. At 4:14 it holds Avot DeRabbi Natan 34:4, Bamidbar Rabbah 14:13 and Bamidbar Rabbah 18:16. It also holds Eikhah Rabbah 1:51, Ein Yaakov (Glick Edition), Sanhedrin 3:2 and Ein Yaakov, Sanhedrin 3:3 there. It also holds Jerusalem Talmud Maaser Sheni 5:5:9, Midrash Lekach Tov, Leviticus 7:35:1 and Midrash Tanchuma, Korach 12:1 there.
It also holds Sanhedrin 24a:13 and Shemot Rabbah 15:3 there.
What each of them teaches is a saying of the rabbis, and is reported as theirs wherever this site quotes one. The quotations wait on a fetch that carries the text.
Sources: Rashi, Rashi on Zechariah 4:3:2 to 4:14:1, The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg, reported CC-BY; Ibn Ezra, Ibn Ezra on Zechariah 4:1:1, 4:4:1, 4:5:1 and 4:8:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no text it may quote; Radak, Radak on Zechariah 4:1:1, 4:5:1 and 4:8:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no text it may quote; Metzudat David, Metzudat David on Zechariah 4:13:1, cited by ref because the corpus carries no text it may quote; The Sefaria corpus, scripts/data/sources/sefaria/zechariah/4.json, the 40 Talmud and Midrash locators of this chapter; The site's own files, src/lib/hebraic/readings.ts, probed for this lane through haftarahUsesForChapter("zechariah", 4) and festivalReadingForBook("zechariah").
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
A golden lampstand and two olive trees
Zechariah 4:1-3
woke me, as a man is awakened from his sleep: He sees “a solid gold lampstand” with “a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it”, and “two olive trees beside it”. The lampstand recalls the tabernacle's own, while Keil takes the bowl and spouts as a continuous supply fed from the living trees.
Zechariah 4:1
“And the angel that talked with me,.... See Zec 1:9, came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep; into which he fell, after he had had the former vision; see Dan 8:18.”
1 more voice on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
Zechariah 4:1
“It seems, though he was in conference with an angel, and about matters of great and public concern, yet he grew dull and fell asleep, as it should seem, while the angel was yet talking with him. Thus the disciples, when they saw Christ transfigured, were heavy with sleep, Luke ix.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Clarke found three things here that the tabernacle lampstand of Exodus 25:31 lacked: the bowl, the spouts and the olive trees. The oil passes from the trees into the bowl and out to all seven lamps. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown saw Christ in the bowl.
Zechariah 4:2
“A candlestick all of gold - This candlestick is formed in some measure after that of the sanctuary, Exo 25:31, Exo 25:32: but in that of the sanctuary there was no bowl, nor seven pipes, nor seven lamps, nor the two olive trees. The two olive trees were to supply the bowl with oil; the bowl was to communicate the oil to the seven pipes; and the seven pipes were to supply the seven lamps.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 4:2
“The Hebrew implies that it was the fountain of supply of oil to the lamps. Christ at the head ("on the top") of the Church is the true fountain, of whose fulness of the Spirit all we receive grace (Joh 1:16). his seven lamps--united in one stem; so in Ex 25:32.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
two olive trees beside it: Wesley read the two olive trees as the LORD's grace, oil flowing freely from living trees to the lamps. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown saw the Holy Spirit in the trees, the Spirit who filled Jesus at John 3:34. Both readings trace the oil to the LORD.
Zechariah 4:3
“The Holy Spirit in this His twofold power of applying to man the grace of the atonement, and that of sanctification, must in one point of view be meant by the two olive trees which supply the bowl at the top of the candlestick (that is, Messiah at the head of the Church); for it is He who filled Jesus with all the fulness of His unction (Joh 3:34).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 4:3
“Two olive-trees by it - All which is an emblem of the church, made of pure gold; to be a light in the world; to shine as lamps that continually burn, maintained with pure oil, distilled from the olive-trees, not pressed out by man, but continually, abundantly, and freely flowing from God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Zechariah 4:3
“Zechariah shows that the olive shadows forth the law of Moses, speaking thus: "And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said to me, 'What do you see?'”
Methodius of Olympus · written before 311 · Banquet of the Ten Virgins 10:6patristic
ConnectionsRevelation 11:4
Zechariah 4:4-5
I asked the angel who was speaking with me: Zechariah asks the plain question, “What are these, my lord?”, and the angel answers with a question of his own. That question, “Do you not know what they are?”, comes again before the chapter ends. Gill compares the visions of Daniel, which an interpreting angel also opens to the prophet.
Zechariah 4:4
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.”
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 4:4
“The angel lets the prophet know, in general, that this vision was designed to illustrate a word which the Lord had to say to Zerubbabel, to encourage him to go on with the building of the temple. Let him know that he is a worker together with God in it, and that it is a work which God will own and crown.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Barnes quoted Osorius, who pictured the angel almost amazed that the prophet had missed what the lampstand and the olive trees meant. Once the prophet has answered “No, my lord,” the angel opens the vision to him. The same question is asked again at verse 13.
Zechariah 4:5
“Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me,.... Either to upbraid him with his ignorance and stupidity; or rather to quicken his attention, and that of others, to the interpretation of it he was about to give him: Knowest thou not what these be? art thou ignorant of the design of them? or knowest thou not what is meant by them? and I said, No, my lord; he made an ingenuous confession of his ignorance, joined with great respect unto, and veneration of, the angel that conversed with him.”
Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit
Zechariah 4:6-7
The angel's answer gives the sentence: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the LORD”. Against a governor's small means, the mountain is told, “Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain”. He will “bring forth the capstone accompanied by shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”.
Zechariah 4:6
“This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel - This prince was in a trying situation, and he needed especial encouragement from God; and here it is: Not by might, (of thy own), nor by power, (authority from others), but by my Spirit - the providence, authority, power, and energy of the Most High. In this way shall my temple be built; in this way shall my Church be raised and preserved.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
Zechariah 4:6
“This word - Is particularly designed to him, and in an emblem prefigures what a church it is, how precious, how full of light, how maintained by God himself.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
O great mountain?: Barnes heard the word to the great mountain as a sacred proverb, the humbling of the proud that Jesus taught in Luke 14:11. He set it beside Isaiah 40. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read the capstone as Messiah, the one to whom the shouts of grace are raised.
Zechariah 4:7
“Messiah is not only the "Author," but also the Finisher (Heb 12:2). "Grace" is ascribed "unto it," that is, the stone, Messiah. Hence the benediction begins, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ" (2Co 13:14).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Zechariah 4:8-9
Then the word of the LORD came to me: A second word confirms the first: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will complete it”. The finished temple is the prophet's own credential, for then “you will know that the LORD of Hosts has sent me to you”.
Zechariah 4:8
“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’ .”
The same hands that began the work will finish it, so the governor who laid the foundation lives to set the last stone. Henry pictured that finish with loud shouts of grace from the watching crowd. The finished house proves the prophet was sent.
Zechariah 4:9
“Zerubbabel shall himself bring forth the head-stone with shoutings, and loud acclamations of joy, among the spectators. The acclamations are not huzzas, but Grace, grace; that is the burden of the triumphant songs which the church sings. It may be taken, (1.) As magnifying free grace, and giving to that all the glory of what is done.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
who has despised the day of small things?: The question “who has despised the day of small things” meets the scorn of a slow start. The “seven eyes of the LORD, which scan the whole earth” are the seven lamps of verse two named again. Those eyes “will rejoice” at the sight of the work.
Zechariah 4:10
“Who hath despised the day of small things? - The poverty, weakness, and unbefriended state of the Jews. It was said, “What do these feeble Jews?” “Will they build,” etc.? No. But God will build by them, and perfect his building too. And shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel - He is master builder under God, the grand architect.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 4:10
“For who hath despised - In the work of God, the day of small things is not to be despised. God often chuses weak instruments, to bring about mighty things: and tho' the beginnings be small, he can make the latter end greatly to increase.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Zechariah 4:10
“ZECHARIAH was engaged in the building of the Temple. When its foundations were laid, it struck everybody as being a very small edifice compared with the former glorious structure of Solomon. The friends of the enterprise lamented that it should be so small—the foes of it rejoiced and uttered strong expressions of contempt! Both friends and foes doubted whether, even on that small scale, the structure would ever be completed.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 3489: “Encouragement for the Depressed” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
The two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of all the earth
Zechariah 4:11-12
The prophet asks, “What are the two olive trees on the right and left of the lampstand?” He asks about “the two olive branches beside the two gold pipes from which the golden oil pours”. The trees supply the lampstand with no human hand refilling it.
Zechariah 4:11
“Then answered I, and said unto him,.... To the angel that talked with him, Zec 4:1, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick, and upon the left side thereof? in Zec 4:2 they are said to be on each side of the bowl. The mystery of the candlestick being explained to Zechariah by the angel, the prophet desires to know the meaning of the two olive trees that were on the right and left of it, one on one side, and the other on the other side.”
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 4:11
“What are these two olive trees - See on Zec 4:2 (note).”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Zechariah 4:11
“6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the L ORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the L ORD of hosts. 7 Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
the two olive branches: Barnes noted the Hebrew places the olive branches “in the hand” of the pipes, an idiom of living agents, and he read them as persons. Wesley saw grace in the golden oil. In his reading the branches keep pouring out oil and stay full.
Zechariah 4:12
“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 hand of the two pipes, shows that these two were symbols of living agents, for it is nowhere, used except of a living agent, or of that which it personified as such.”
2 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 4:12
“Through the pipes - These were fastened to the bowl, on each side one, with a hole through the sides of the bowl, to let the oil that distilled from those olive-branches run into the bowl. Out of themselves - An emblem of supernatural grace; these branches filled from the true olive-tree, ever empty themselves, and are ever full; so are the gospel-ordinances.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Zechariah 4:12
“When we enquire concerning the grace of God, it must be rather as it is communicated to us by the fruitful boughs of the word and ordinances (for that is one of the things revealed, which belong to us and to our children ) than as it is resident in the good olive where all our springs are, for that is one of the secret things, which belong not to us.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
Zechariah 4:13-14
The angel names the two olive trees: “These are the two anointed ones who are standing beside the Lord of all the earth”. They are Zerubbabel the governor and Joshua the high priest. Revelation 11:4 takes up the same two olive trees and two lampstands for its two witnesses.
Zechariah 4:13
“And he answered me, and said,.... That is, the angel answered to the prophet's questions: Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord; See Gill on Zec 4:5.”
the two anointed ones: Clarke named the two anointed ones as Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor, standing beside the Lord for worship and for civil rule. Wesley read them as Christ and the Holy Spirit. Gill noted that the Hebrew reads “sons of oil.”
Zechariah 4:14
“These are the two anointed ones - Joshua, the high priest; and Zerubbabel the governor. These are anointed - appointed by the Lord; and stand by him, the one to minister in the ecclesiastical, the other in the civil state. Probably we may not be able to comprehend the whole of this hieroglyphical vision; for even the interpreting angel does not choose to answer the questions relative to this, which were put to him by the prophet. See Zec 4:4, Zec 4:11. But though the particulars are hard to be understood; yet the general meaning has, I hope, been given.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
Zechariah 4:14
"These are the two candlesticks standing before the Lord of the earth." These two candlesticks and two olive trees He has to this end spoken of, and admonished you that if, when you have read of them elsewhere, you have not understood, you may understand here. For in Zechariah, one of the twelve prophets, it is thus written: "These are the two olive trees and two candlesticks which stand in the presence of the Lord of the earth; " that is, they are in paradise.
Victorinus of Pettau · written before 304 · Commentary on the Apocalypse of the Blessed Johnpatristic
Zechariah 4:14
“Then said he, These are the two anointed ones,.... Or "sons of oil" (t). Some think the gifts and graces of the Spirit are meant, which come from the God of all grace, remain with Christ, are given freely by him to the sons of God, and are always for the service of the church, and sufficient for it; others, Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Spirit.”
Zechariah 4:14
“The two anointed ones - Christ and the Holy Spirit. The Son was to be sent by the Father, and so was the Holy Ghost. And they stand by him, ready to go.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)evangelical
Keep studying
Studies8
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Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes; Carl Friedrich Keil, The Twelve Minor Prophets; Edward Bouverie Pusey, The Minor Prophets: A Commentary; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets; John Gill; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.