Zechariah 4

And the angel who was speaking in me returned, and roused me like a man who is roused from his sleep. LXX: And the angel who was speaking in me returned, and roused me as a man is wont to be roused from his sleep. For where had he gone, that he should return, especially he who was speaking in the prophet, and who could not be apart from him in whom he was speaking? But whenever human frailty is left to its own weakness, we must believe that God, and the help of his angels, departs from us. So the prophet too, stunned with amazement at the great vision, was numb in his whole mind and could not see the clear light of truth; hence he is roused from the past vision to another vision, as though waking from sleep, so that he may see what with closed eyes he did not see. Let us also say it another way. There is a testimony in the Proverbs of Solomon: If you sit down, you will be without fear; but if you sleep, you will sleep sweetly, and you will not fear the terror coming upon you, nor the onslaughts of the ungodly bearing down on you. Whoever sleeps this sleep, and hears said of himself what we read written of Lazarus: If he sleeps, he will be well, will be able to sing with the bride: I sleep, and my heart keeps watch. Let us see, then, for the contemplation of what things the prophet rises as if from sleep.

Now let us discuss what has been written by churchmen in their commentaries. They understand the golden lampstand of purest gold as the Church, which in the holy Scriptures searches out the sense and the mind rather than the words. And that gold is taken to mean the sense is shown by the back and shoulders of the dove in Psalm 67 (68), which are said to shine with the green or the gleam of gold. The lamp they too understand as Christ himself, because he shines in the Church, he who said of himself: No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel, that is, under the measure of the law, but upon a lampstand, that is, the freedom of the Gospel, so that it may give light to all who are in the house. The seven lamps and their pourers they too understand as the graces of the Holy Spirit, through which the Church receives the oil of the mercy of God and of all the virtues. The two olive trees upon the lampstand they too understand as Moses and Elijah, who were talking with the Lord on the mountain and signifying what he was to suffer in Jerusalem. For the whole law and the prophets proclaim the passion of Christ. Others interpret the two olive trees on the right and on the left as the law and the Gospel, so that the Gospel is on the right and the law on the left; of which right and left it is said in the Song of Songs: His left hand is under my head, and his right hand shall embrace me.

And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I have seen, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, and its lamp upon its head; and its seven lamps upon it, seven and seven pourers for the lamps which were upon its head. And two olive trees upon it, one on the right of the lamp, and one on its left. And I answered, and I say to the angel who was speaking in me, saying: What are these, my lord? And the angel who was speaking in me answered, and said to me: Do you not know what these are? And I said: No, my lord. And he answered, and said to me, saying: This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying: Not by an army, nor by strength, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Into a plain! And he shall bring out the chief stone, and shall make equal the grace of its grace. LXX: And he said to me: What do you see? And I said: I have seen, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, and a lamp upon it; and seven lamps upon it, and seven pourers of the lamps which were upon it. And behold, two olive trees upon it, one on the right of the lamp, and one on the left; and I asked, and said to the angel who was speaking in me, saying: What are these, lord? And the angel who was speaking in me answered and said to me: Do you not know what these are? And I said: No, lord. And he answered and said to me, saying: This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying: Not by great might, nor by strength, but by my spirit, says the Lord Almighty. Who are you, O great mountain, before the face of Zerubbabel, that you should set right? And I will bring out the stone of inheritance, the equality of grace, its grace. The angel who roused Zechariah, like a man rising from sleep, asks him what he has seen, so that, when he answers and does not know, and inquires what it is that he sees, and says: What are these, my lord?, we may hear from him: This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by an army, nor by strength, but by my spirit, says the Lord. Let us therefore go through the details one by one and say first what the Hebrews think, by whom we have been taught in the Old Testament; then by these, as by steps, let us climb to the heights of the Church. The lampstand of solid gold they interpret as the law, that is, νόμον. The lamp, that is, the flame shining and gleaming on the top of the lampstand, they take as Christ, who is the head of the law and gives light to the whole world. The seven lamps upon the lampstand they take as the seven graces of the Holy Spirit, of which we spoke above, saying that on one stone there are seven eyes. For no one doubts that the law was written at the dictation of the Holy Spirit. And by the seven pourers, in which is the oil that is sent into the lamps that shine upon the lampstand, they would have it understood that these seven graces come down from heaven to men through the law. And the two olive trees upon the lampstand, on the right side and on the left, between which the lamp shines in the middle, they interpret as the law and prophecy. And when the prophet had told his vision, not knowing what he was seeing, he asks the angel who was speaking in him, that is, his mind enlightened by God. For this is our angel, who, understanding wisely, shows us the will of God, and he says: What are these, my lord? But the angel does not explain the vision to the prophet, as he had been asked by him, but questions in turn the one who questions him: Do you not know what these are? And when he answers, I do not know, he himself also answers: This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, saying: Not by an army, nor by strength; but by my spirit, says the Lord. The word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, then, which spoke not by an army, nor by strength, but by my spirit, is itself the interpretation of the vision: that not by an army nor by a multitude of warriors, but by the spirit of God, the people had been brought back and would be brought back more fully, and the adversaries would be laid waste.

Behold the seven horns of the Lamb, the seven eyes of God -the seven eyes are the seven spirits of the Lamb; seven torches burning before the throne of God seven golden candlesticks, seven young sheep, the seven women in Isaiah, the seven churches in Paul, seven deacons, seven angels, seven trumpets, seven seals to the book, seven periods of seven days with which Pentecost is completed, the seven weeks in Daniel, also the forty-three weeks in Daniel; with Noah, seven of all clean things in the ark; seven revenges of Cain, seven years for a debt to be acquitted, the lamp with seven orifices, seven pillars of wisdom in the house of Solomon.

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?' And I said, 'I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, … and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.' " And after a few words, the prophet, asking what are the olives on the right and the left of the candlestick and what are the two olive boughs in the hands of the two pipes, the angel answered and said, "These are the two sons of fruitfulness which stand by the Lord of the whole earth." [These signify] the two firstborn virtues that are waiting upon God, which, in his dwelling, supply around the wick, through the boughs, the spiritual oil of God, that humanity may have the light of divine knowledge. But the two boughs of the two olives are the law and the prophets, around, as it were, the lot of the inheritance, of which Christ and the Holy Spirit are the authors. We ourselves, meanwhile, [are] not being able to take the whole fruit and the greatness of these plants, before chastity began to rule the world, but only their boughs—namely, the law and the prophets—did we formerly cultivate, and those moderately, often letting them slip. For who was ever able to receive Christ or the Spirit, unless he first purified himself? For the exercise which prepares the soul from childhood for desirable and delectable glory, and carries this grace safely there with ease, and from small toils raises up mighty hopes, is chastity, which gives immortality to our bodies. It becomes all people willingly to prefer in honor and to praise above all things; some, that by its means they may be betrothed to the word, practicing virginity; and others, that by it they may be freed from the curse, "Dust you are, and to dust you will return." This, O Arete, is the discourse on virginity which you required of me, accomplished according to my ability; which I pray, O mistress, although it is mediocre and short, that you will receive with kindness from me who was chosen to speak last.

However, since here in Genesis we read that paradise was planted by God in the East, and there the man whom God formed was placed; we can now find the author of this paradise. For who else could have created paradise but the all-powerful God, who spoke and things came into being, never needing those things which he desired to be generated? Therefore, he himself planted the paradise of which Wisdom says: "Every planting that my Father has not planted will be rooted up" (Matthew 15:13). Good planting of angels, good saints. For saints are called under the fig tree and vine in that future time of peace, in which there is a type of angels (Micah IV, 4).

And what follows: Who are you, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Into a plain!; they understand it as said to the devil, who stood at the right hand of Joshua to oppose him, and lifted himself up against Zerubbabel and the people of the Jews. But he has been turned into a plain and humbled, and he lies under the feet of Israel, because God shall bring out the chief stone, Christ his Son, who was always a help to the people of Israel. And his grace, that is, the grace of the stone, toward those whom he brought back from captivity, shall make equal the grace which he always exercised toward their fathers. This we have found said by the Hebrews.

But most of our writers interpret the mountain as the devil, and the Antichrist, who dares to stand before Zerubbabel, from whom Christ was to be born, and to raise himself up, and to say in the Gospel: All these things have been delivered to me, and I will give them to you, if you will fall down and worship me. And the Lord, laying him low under his feet, and making him humble instead of proud, and cast down, says: Get behind, Satan; for it is written: You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. And they give as an example in the Gospel the lunatic, whom the apostles had not been able to heal; they ask why they could not heal him, and they hear: Amen I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: Pass from here, and it will pass; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind is not cast out except by prayer and fasting. There the mountain is plainly taken to mean the devil. But others, with no small rashness, refer what is plainly said of the devil to Christ, who in the holy Scriptures is quite often called a mountain. Nor is there any need to give examples, of which there is a great abundance. They are led into this error because it is written in the Seventy: Who are you, O great mountain, before the face of Zerubbabel, that you should set right? Namely, that this mountain which is before the face of Zerubbabel, that is, which descends from the stock of Zerubbabel, would himself set the world right, and that what follows is about him: I will bring out the stone of inheritance, of which it is written: It is you who will restore my inheritance to me. And in another place: He chose for us his inheritance, the beauty of Jacob whom he loved. And again: Jacob became the portion of the Lord, Israel the cord of his inheritance. And in Psalm 2: The Lord said to me: You are my Son, today I have begotten you. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for your inheritance. But God shall bring out the chief stone, of which we read: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and: All things were made through him, and without him nothing was made. And what he says: He shall make equal the grace of its grace, signifies this: Of his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace, that is, for the grace of the law, the grace of the Gospel, so that both those who believe from Israel and the people of the heathen may receive an equal grace and a like gift. Hence Gabriel too says to Mary: You have found grace with the Lord. And the apostle Paul writes: For by grace you have been saved; and John the evangelist: The law, he says, was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.

On account of the height of the kingdom he calls Babylon a "mountain" which was "ruined" from idolatry and unjust works, through which it "destroyed" the others. And it also was the city on high because of the river nearby from which some stairs went up to the city, the city being in two parts and lying close to the river on each bank, with the walls also of the city being very high. And it mentioned a "hand," the avenging power, the same power of his which destroyed something made from "rocks" for security and for watch. And due to the fire having "obliterated" its "stones," they were useless, as there was not a stone to be put together for a firm building. And for the analogical meaning, the devil is named a "mountain," as in the book of Zechariah: "Who are you, a great mountain before the face of Zerubbabel?" And concerning the one who has the "deaf and dumb" demon, the Savior said, "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: 'Move away,' and it will move away." Thus the devil is a "mountain" which is "ruined" from his own evil and which "destroys" everyone to the extent they have their mind on what is earthly.

And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: The hands of Zerubbabel have founded this house, and his hands shall finish it, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the small days? And they shall rejoice, and shall see the stone of tin in the hand of Zerubbabel. These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth. LXX: And the word of the Lord came to me, saying: The hands of Zerubbabel have founded this house, and his hands shall complete it. And you shall know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you; for who has despised in the small days? And they shall rejoice, and shall see the stone of tin in the hand of Zerubbabel; these seven are the eyes of the Lord, which look upon all the earth. Much is said both by the Hebrews and by our writers; following most of it and rejecting some, let us set out what we think, keeping the truth of the history, so that from it we may be able to recognize him who is prophesied through the history. The hands of Zerubbabel, the prince of the Jews who returned from Babylon, laid the foundations of the temple; and his hands shall reach to the top of the temple, completing what they had begun, and building up all that had been begun. We read in Ezra that the temple was begun and finished by Zerubbabel. And when, says the prophet Zechariah, you see the roof set by you upon the temple which you are now building, then you will understand that I was sent by the Lord, and that what I have spoken I said at his command: For who has despised the small days?

Many of our writers interpret the hands of Zerubbabel, who founded the house and himself finished it, as Christ. But if we accept this, we shall be compelled to explain who the stone of tin in the hand of Zerubbabel is. For surely another Christ is not to be shown in the hand of Christ? Although some have taken the stone of tin as the body of the Lord, which was soiled by no stains of sins, and is not called lead, but purest tin.

Here 'who' is taken for 'rare', according to that saying: Who, do you think, is the faithful and wise steward? and: Lord, who dwells in your tabernacle, and who shall go up into your holy mountain? Rare, then, is the one who despises the small days of this world and thinks royal power worth nothing. When we see the powerful of the world gleaming with gold, glowing with purple and gems, surrounded by an army, let us say within ourselves: Who, do you think, despises the small days? Hence Jacob too, understanding that the life of men is short: Small, he says, and very evil are the days of my life. Those, then, who have despised the small days — and he refers this to royal power, to admonish Zerubbabel and Joshua and the people building the temple of God, by no means to fear the adversaries who were hindering them, but to listen to the Lord exhorting them — those, from the fact that they despise royal grandeur, shall also rejoice and see the help of the Savior, who is promised from the stock of Zerubbabel, and because of his strength is called a stone, and a stone of tin. For this in the Hebrew is written abdil, because he is the wall and the strength and the might of those who believe. For just as tin defends other metals from fire, and though bronze and iron are by nature very hard, yet if it is without tin it is burned and consumed, so all the strength of angels and of men, if the help of the Savior is not there, is proved weak and frail. Now this stone, that is, this mass, which among the Hebrews is written abdil, that is, of tin, ἐτυμολογεῖται (is etymologized as) ἀποχωρίζων, that is, separating and setting apart, so that, as tin through fire parts metals that are mixed and adulterated, so the Lord, the true assayer and χωνευτὴς (refiner), may set apart the bronze and the lead of the vices from the gold and silver of good works, so that pure gold and silver may remain. In different words this ἀποχωρίζων and separator is described in the Gospel: Whose winnowing fan is in his hand, and he will cleanse his threshing floor, and will separate the chaff from the wheat, he who cries through Jeremiah: What has the chaff to do with the wheat? says the Lord.

As for the seven eyes, which run to and fro through the whole earth and judge all things, we explained above that they are the seven spirits; and that nothing is hidden from the Lord, who is aware of things past and present and to come, and renders to each according to his works, above all when he comes in the person of the one who separates the good and the wicked, and of the refiner.

Wherefore to those seven days the Lord attributed to each a thousand years; for thus went the warning: "In Thine eyes, O Lord, a thousand years are as one day." Therefore in the eyes of the Lord each thousand of years is ordained, for I find that the Lord's eyes are seven. Wherefore, as I have narrated, that true Sabbath will be in the seventh millenary of years, when Christ with His elect shall reign.

Of the two olive trees which were on the right of the lamp and on the left we have read above. And so the prophet, now asking about them, does not deserve to hear, because he does not retain the former things; or else because what was said there more obscurely he desires to hear here more plainly; or at any rate his obstinacy is refuted by the angel's silence, because he insists that he knows greater things; although the Hebrews maintain that he heard nothing when he asked about the olive trees for this reason, that he did not ask well, and did not inquire into the whole of what he ought to have known. In short, afterwards he inquires more fully, adding the ears or branches of the olive trees, about which he had been silent above. For there he said: What are these two olive trees? Here he asks: What are the two ears of the olive trees? Μεταφορικῶς (metaphorically), because the trees are upright in the manner of ears of grain, and as ears are covered with their beards, so these are covered with a kind of palisade of branches and leaves, and rise up on high.

And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand, and on its left? And I answered a second time, and said to him: What are the two ears of the olive trees, which are upon the two golden beaks, in which are the pourers of gold? And he said to me, saying: Do you not know what these are? And I said: No, lord. And he said: These are the two sons of oil, who stand by the Ruler of the whole earth. LXX: And I answered, and said to him: What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand, and on the left? And I asked a second time, and said to him: What are the two branches of the olive trees, which are in the hands of the two golden nostrils, which pour in and draw back the golden pourers. And he said to me: Do you not know what these are? And I said: By no means, lord. And he said to me: These are the two sons of fatness, who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. When the prophet asked what the two olive trees signified, one of which stood on the right of the lampstand, the other on the left, the Lord, or the angel of the Lord, would not answer. The prophet, understanding this, inquires a second time, and said: What are the two ears of the olive trees, or the two branches? He asks about lesser things, since he did not deserve to hear the greater. Now these two branches are in the hand of the two nostrils, or upon the two golden beaks, which in Hebrew are called sinthoroth, in Greek μυξωτῆρες; and these two μυξωτῆρες themselves, upon which are the two ears, or the two branches of the olive trees, are of purest gold. And when the prophet asked also about the two branches, and was asked again by the angel whether he knew what the two branches signified, and he had said: No, lord, the angel of the Lord answered: These are the two sons of oil, as Symmachus would have it, or of στιλπνότητος, as Aquila translated, that is, of splendor; or of πιότητος, that is, of fatness, as the Seventy rendered; or of λαμπρότητος, that is, of brightness, as Theodotion translated, who stand by the Ruler of the whole earth.

Some of our writers interpret the two olive trees as the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the lamp in the middle as God the Father. But I do not know how, without blasphemy, they can take one as on the right and the other as on the left. The branches, too, or ears of the olive trees, they explain as the incarnation of the Savior and the likeness of a dove of the Holy Spirit, because we cannot see the olive trees whole, but a certain part, and, so to speak, the little branches of the incarnation of Christ and of the manifestation of the Holy Spirit have been shown to us. Others understand the two testaments, the Gospel on the right, the law on the left, because in the one there is the spiritual sense, in the other the bodily; and because we can explain neither the whole Gospel nor the whole law: And now we know in part, and we prophesy in part, and we cannot yet understand what is perfect. There are some who interpret the two branches of the olive trees, or the two ears, and the sons of fatness or of splendor, as the priesthood and the law, which afford joy to the whole earth. Others take them as Enoch and Elijah, of whom one pleased God in uncircumcision, the other in circumcision, and was caught up into heaven with his body. For splendor and oil, and fatness and brightness, we read in the Hebrew Isaar, according to what is written in the psalms of the joy and happiness of the saints: They shall be inebriated with the plenty, or with the fatness of your house: for πιότης means fatness rather than plenty. These things we have spoken as best we could, and as far as the powers of our small talent could bear, touching briefly on the various opinions both of the Hebrews and of our writers; if anyone says something better, or rather truer, we too gladly yield to what is better.

"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. Also, in another sense, standing in the presence of the lord of the earth, that is, in the presence of Antichrist. Therefore they must be slain by Antichrist.