Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Zechariah · About this commentary
Not by Might, Nor by Power
Zechariah 4:1-14
1 The angel who talked with me came again and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. · WEB
A lamp that nobody has to fill is shown to a governor rebuilding a temple, and the sentence at its center explains the picture.
The prophet has to be woken as a man who is wakened out of his sleep, which is the plainest statement anywhere that these visions are not his own production.
What he sees is a gold lampstand with a bowl on top, seven lamps, and pipes running to each of them — and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left. Asked twice what it means, he answers no, my lord both times.
The detail that carries the meaning is the plumbing. A lamp in that world was filled by hand, daily, by someone carrying oil. This one is connected directly to two living trees, so the fuel arrives without anybody fetching it. The vision is of light that does not depend on the labor of the people who need it.
Which is what the interpretation says in words: not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says Yahweh of Armies Zechariah 4:6. The two nouns denied are the two a small province conspicuously lacked, and the sentence is addressed to the man responsible for the building work.
Verse 7 then reduces the obstacle: who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain. And the capstone comes out to shouts of grace, grace — the last word anyone would expect over the completion of a construction project, since a finished building is normally credited to its builder.
Verse 9 gives the practical assurance in two clauses about the same pair of hands: the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it. Beginning and end assigned to one man, which is precisely what a stalled project cannot assume.
Then the question that names the discouragement out loud: who despises the day of small things? Somebody was. And the answer given is a matter of scale rather than encouragement — the seven who rejoice to see a plumb line in his hand are identified as Yahweh's eyes, which run back and forth through the whole earth. The same seven eyes as the stone of the previous vision Zechariah 3:9. What is watching a small building site is what watches everything.
The two olive trees are finally named as the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth — literally two sons of oil. The vision has a priest and a governor in front of it, and the image is taken up again much later Revelation 11:4.
settled What this mark means