How to experience God’s presence (Zechariah 4)

At one point in my life, I found myself emotionally blackmailed. For anyone on the outside, it may seem an easy thing to get out of such a situation, but for those caught in it, it seems impossible. I was warned by a friend to be careful, but I didn’t listen and was trapped by emotional demands made on me. I saw my life planned out by someone else along lines that made me despair. As I cried out to God, I came across Isaiah 41:10-12 and the verses fairly leapt off the page. It was the first sign of hope in a bleak situation, and I clung to the Lord’s promise and support in the dark days that still followed. I slowly came to grips with the dynamics of emotional blackmail and, by God’s grace, began to take small steps to create distance. Eventually, external circumstances opened the way for me to leave that situation. The Lord held my hand and led me out.

The lampstand

For the exiles, the restoration process and the rebuilding effort must have felt similarly daunting, even impossible. The hurdles before them would have seemed like a great mountain: opposition, the struggle to make ends meet as settlers, the discouragement over the slow progress. Into such a situation, the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, speak. The vision of a menorah, a lampstand, reminds us of the seven-branched candelabra in the tabernacle, both made of pure gold with seven lamps (Exod 25:31-40; Zech 4:2). The menorah in the tabernacle/temple symbolises God’s presence (light is associated with the Lord and the number seven signifies completeness) and the reference to ‘these seven’ in Zech 4:10, which are identified as the eyes of the LORD ranging over the earth, suggests the same idea in Zechariah. The vision then addresses the question of how the community may know and experience the LORD’s presence in their midst.

The Word for Zerubbabel and the olive trees

The initial vision (Zech 4:1-5) and the concluding explanation about the olive trees (Zech 4:11-14) create a sandwich around the two prophecies in the middle (Zech 4:6-7, 8-10), and vision and word mutually throw light on each other. Thus, Zerubbabel will overcome obstacles by God’s Spirit, not human power or military might (vv.6-7) and he will complete the temple building that he started despite the small beginnings because the LORD watches over the project (vv.8-10). Central to the message is God’s presence, which will make all the difference, expressed through His Spirit and mediated by the Word given to the prophet. The final image of the two ‘sons of oil’ (Zech 4:14) puts this idea in visual form. Although most translations render the phrase ‘anointed ones’ (and often have Zerubbabel and Joshua in mind), the Hebrew mashiaḥ (anointed one, Messiah) does not feature here, and while anointed persons receive oil, the image here is of giving oil. Thus, it makes better sense to identify the olive trees with the prophets Haggai and Zechariah,[1] who become the conduit for the oil (God’s Spirit through His Word?) to light the lamp, so the exiles might know God’s presence in their midst (see below for alternative interpretations).

Word and Spirit

If this reading is along the right lines, then the message of this vision is on two levels. On the one hand, the exilic community is encouraged through the Word to Zerubbabel to build and not be discouraged because it is by God’s Spirit that the hurdles will be removed, and the Lord is on their side and watches over them. On the other hand, it also reflects on how the community may experience and know the presence of God in their midst, which is through the prophetic (Spirit-filled) words of Haggai and Zechariah. Thus, God’s Word and His Spirit are key to knowing His presence and are closely intertwined. In some churches today, the emphasis is on God’s Spirit but without God’s Word this becomes an emotional roller-coaster of untrammelled and uninformed enthusiasm. Other churches stress the absolute primacy of God’s Word but without the Spirit it can become a dry exercise reflecting on dead letter. We need God’s Word to understand His Spirit and the Spirit to illumine the Word. May we know God’s presence through the joint work of both.

For interest – Interpreting the lampstand and the olive trees

An alternative reading

The meaning of the menorah and the identity of ‘the sons of oil’ are debated. An alternative reading to the one I adopt above argues that the lampstand cannot be identified with God’s presence because the oil is supplied from an outside source (the olive trees) and God does not depend on anything outside of Himself. The suggested alternative is that the lampstand symbolises the community (there is precedent for this in Rev 1:20) and the two olive trees have traditionally been identified with the key leaders of the postexilic community, Zerubbabel (a Davidic descendant) and Joshua (the high priest). They are the ones who support and keep the light of the community burning. In this understanding, the Spirit’s work is also brought about through the community’s Spirit-appointed leaders who serve the Lord. See e.g. Barry Webb, The Message of Zechariah, BST (Nottingham: IVP, 2003), 92-94.

Evaluating the meaning of the lampstand

It is true that the menorah in the tabernacle/temple and the vision is not identical, the main difference being that the temple one was topped up with oil by the priesthood and had no central bowl to dispense the oil from. However, the similarity is nevertheless evocative and much closer than the lampstands representing the churches in Revelation, which are not described at all. The link between ‘these seven’ and the seven eyes of God (Zech 4:10) also strengthen the connection between the seven-branched lampstand in the vision and God. The argument that the menorah cannot be identified with God’s presence because God does not depend on outside sources for His light is not an issue if one sees the lampstand as a symbol rather than an embodiment of God. Just as the lampstand in the temple is supplied with oil by the priests as a symbol of God’s ongoing presence, so in Zechariah’s vision it is ‘the sons of oil’, in close connection to the Lord, who mediate His presence to the exiles through the Spirit-filled Word.

Who are the olive trees/sons of oil?

Although the community’s two leaders (Zerubbabel and Joshua) seem like the obvious choice for ‘the sons of oil’, they were as much the problem as the rest of the exiles in their sinfulness (Zech 3:3-4) and discouragement. They are only recalled to their sense of duty when the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, encourage them with God’s Word (Ezra 5:1-2) and when God stirs up their heart along with the rest of the community (Hag 1:14). If the text had said ‘anointed ones’, the link to Zerubbabel as a royal descendent and Joshua as high priest would be clearer, since kings and high priests were anointed for their task. However, the Hebrew does not even use the term for ‘anointing oil’ (shemen) in the phrase ‘sons of oil’ but yitzhar, which means fresh or raw oil.

The Spirit and prophecy

What the oil stands for is not spelt out but, given the strong emphasis in the passage on the Spirit, associating the oil with the Spirit makes good sense.[2] Boda also argues that the Spirit is most prominently linked to the prophets rather than to kings or priests in the OT.[3] As he notes, when God takes of the Spirit that was on the great prophet Moses and gives it also to the seventy elders, the evidence of the Spirit on them is manifested in the fact that they prophesy (Num 11:24-30). Likewise, Saul receives the Spirit through an encounter with a band of prophets and prophesies himself (1 Sam 10:6). David’s reception of the Spirit is also linked to a prophet (Samuel), who anoints him (1 Sam 16:13). Although Boda recognises that others also receive the Spirit (craftsmen building the temple – Exod 31:3; 35:31; judges – Judg 3:10; 6:34; the Servant of the Lord – Isa 42:1; 61:1), he argues that prophets are a major channel for the Spirit demonstrated in numerous texts in the OT (2 Kings 2:9, 15, 16; 2 Chron 15:1; Neh 9:30; Ezek 2:2; 11:5; Dan 4:18; Mic 3:8). Significantly, Zechariah 7:12 connects the Spirit, the words of the Lord and the prophets. Finally, Boda also points to Revelation 11:3-4 that identifies the two olive trees with the prophetic witness.[4]

Since the various elements in the vision are not explicitly identified, we cannot be entirely sure that we got them right. Nevertheless, I find the interpretation I outline in the main body of this post more convincing, especially as it creates a more tightly woven whole that connects the prophetic words in the reading with the vision in a way that the two mirror each other.

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[1] The traditional interpretation that the two ‘anointed ones’ are Zerubbabel and Joshua have been challenged by Mark J. Boda, Haggai, Zechariah, NIVAC (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2004), 275.

[2] Anthony R. Petterson, Haggai, Zechariah & Malachi, AOTC 25 (Nottingham: Apollos, 2015), 156.

[3] Boda, Haggai, Zechariah, 281-82.

[4] Ibid., 275.

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