Zechariah 4:12

4:11-14 Zechariah desires to know what are the two olive trees. Zerubbabel and Joshua, this prince and this priest, were endued with the gifts and graces of God's Spirit. They lived at the same time, and both were instruments in the work and service of God. Christ's offices of King and Priest were shadowed forth by them. From the union of these two offices in his person, both God and man, the fullness of grace is received and imparted. They built the temple, the church of God. So does Christ spiritually. Christ is not only the Messiah, the Anointed One himself, but he is the Good Olive to his church; and from his fulness we receive. And the Holy Spirit is the unction or anointing which we have received. From Christ the Olive Tree, by the Spirit the Olive Branch, all the golden oil of grace flows to believers, which keeps their lamps burning. Let us seek, through the intercession and bounty of the Saviour, supplies from that fulness which has hitherto sufficed for all his saints, according to their trials and employments. Let us wait on him in his ordinances, desiring to be sanctified wholly in body, soul, and spirit.

And I answered again, and said unto him,.... Before he could have an answer to the former question, he puts the following, as being of the same import: What be these two olive branches; which grew upon the olive trees, and were nearest to the candlestick, and the pipes that were to the lamps: these, in Zechariah 4:14, are interpreted of the two anointed ones, or sons of oil, and may design the ministers of the word, if, by the "golden oil" after mentioned, is meant the Gospel; even a set of evangelical preachers in Gospel times, in the various periods of the church; Christ's faithful witnesses, who stand on each side of the bowl, and receive out of Christ's fulness gifts and grace to fit them for their work; and on each side of the candlestick, the church, to impart the oil of the Gospel to it.

These may be compared to "olive trees" for their beauty and comeliness in the eyes of saints, to whom they bring the good news of salvation by Christ, Hosea 14:6 and for their greenness and flourishing condition, being filled with the gifts and graces of the Spirit, Psalm 52:8 and for their fruitfulness; for, as the olive tree produces an oil used both for light and food, so they bring the Gospel with them, which is the means of spiritual light, and contains in it refreshing and delightful food, Deuteronomy 8:8 and for their fatness, with which they honour God and men, Judges 9:9 so ministers of the Gospel honour Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, by ascribing the contrivance, obtaining, and application of salvation to each of them; and they honour men, by acquainting them what honour all the saints have through Christ, being made kings and priests by him; and by showing them what honour they shall have hereafter. And they may be compared to "olive branches", with respect to Christ the good olive tree, in whom they are as branches; are bore by him, and subsist in him; receive all they have from him, and do all they do in his strength: and also for their tenderness and weakness in themselves, and for their fruitfulness from him. Which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

I answered; I went on to discourse, which is the signification of the Hebrew phrase here used. Again, Heb. a second time. Said unto him , the angel that talked with the prophet. What be these two olive branches? two principal branches, one in each tree, fuller of berries, higher than the rest, and hanging over the golden pipes. Which through the two golden pipes: these were fastened to the golden bowl, on each side one, with a hole through the sides of the bowl, to let the oil that distilled into them from those olive branches run into the bowl, and out of that bowl it was, through so many golden pipes, conveyed into the seven lamps. Empty; freely, without any violence offered, drop the oil out of themselves, yet so that still they are full of oil for perpetual supply to the lamps. Golden oil, because of its preciousness, or from its colour. Out of themselves: a supernatural work, and, emblem of supernatural grace: these branches, filled from the true olive tree, ever empty themselves, and are ever full; so are the gospel ordinances, filled by Christ, always filling his members, true Christians, and ever full for all believers.

12 . olive branches ] Having seen the vision (1–3), and received a general explanation of it (4–10), Zechariah now desires a further explanation of one particular feature (11–14). What, he asks, are the two olive trees (11)? and then, immediately recasting his question in more exact terms, the two olive branches? The word is allied to, if not identical with, that used for “ears of corn.” It may refer to the pointed shape of the twigs of the olive tree, or to the fact that these branches were studded thick with berries, like the grains in an ear of corn. (Kimchi.) pipes ] Rather tubes, or spouts; the word being different from that translated “pipes,” Zechariah 4:2 . Which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty , &c. R. V.

12. through—literally, "by the hand of," that is, by the agency of. branches—literally, "ears"; so the olive branches are called, because as ears are full of grain, so the olive branches are full of olives. golden oil—literally, "gold," that is, gold-like liquor. out of themselves—Ordinances and ministers are channels of grace, not the grace itself. The supply comes not from a dead reservoir of oil, but through living olive trees (Ps 52:8; Ro 12:1) fed by God.

Verse 12. - The prophet perceives the chief point in the mystic olive trees, so he alters his question the second time, asking, What be these two olive branches? ( shibbolim ); Vulgate, spicae , "ears," as of corn, so called, as Kimchi supposes, because they were full of berries, as the ears are full of grains of corn. Which through the two golden pipes, etc.; rather, which by means of two golden tubes are emptying the golden oil out of themselves. The oil dropped of itself from the fruit-bearing branches into two tubes, spouts, or channels, which conveyed it to the central reservoir. The Revised Version renders, "which are beside the two golden spouts;" like the Vulgate, quae sunt juxta duo rostra aurea. The LXX. has, οἱ κλάδοι οἱ ἐν ταῖς χεροὶ τῶν δύο μυξωτήρων ("beaks," "noses") τῶν χρυσῶν - where "in the hands" or "by the hands" may be a Hebraism for "by means of." The golden oil; Hebrew, the gold. The oil is so called from its colour. The Greek and Latin versions lose this idea altogether, In quibus sunt suffusoria ex auro (Vulgate); "leading to the golden vessels" (Septuagint). 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.