Zechariah 4:2

"And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have seen, and, behold, a candlestick all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; and there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof."

This does not conclude Zechariah's description of the vision, because it also included the two olive trees mentioned in the same breath in the next verse. We may consider the bowl and the pipes, whether seven, or seven and seven, or seven times seven, as various versions describe them, due to uncertainties in the text, as more or less inert ingredients of the vision, designed to call attention to the source of energy making the light possible, a source identified in the next verse as the two olive trees.

"A candlestick all of gold ..." Although this candlestick varies in some particulars from that in the ancient tabernacle, it must nevertheless be identified with it; because. "The same word, [~menorath], is used in both cases (Exodus 25:31; 37:17, etc.)."[1]

There is also mention of the golden candlestick of Solomon's temple (1 Kings 7:49), which was looted and taken to Babylon (Jeremiah 52:19). This also should be identified with the candlestick here, the ten branches probably being produced by the elevation and division of the central branch into four arms. Such a supposition, however, is dependent upon understanding the candlestick as being similar to the one in Herod's temple, a replica of which is on the Arch of Titus in Rome. We are not at all discouraged in this opinion by the fact that, "The seven-branched candlestick pictured on Titus' arch in Rome, and still used by the Jews, the menorah, is not known earlier than the first century B.C."[2] That only means, of course, that it is not known by archeologists to have existed prior to the first century B.C. Everything in the Bible points to the fact that God himself gave the design of this candlestick, that it was unique; and the expectation of archeologists to the effect that they ought to be able to dig up replicas of it is The fact that what they have dug up is unlike the menorah is not, after all, a very significant fact. The traditional Jewish impression of what that candlestick was like has more weight than all the diggings of the last century.

Our confidence in seeing the seven branched candlestick and the ten branched candlestick as one is derived partially from the amazing fact that in both there is an amazing representation of the Bible itself. (See a full description of this in my commentary on Hebrews, pp. 181-183.) The use made by the apostle John of this same type of seven branched candlestick (Revelation 1) shows it to be one with what is in view here; and there is no doubt that it was like the replica on Titus' arch.

Aside from all this, what Zechariah saw in this vision, a vision provided by God Himself, would in no sense have been limited by any conformity to the type of lamps in common usage in his day.

As for the meaning of this candlestick: "It symbolizes the Jewish Theocracy, and ultimately the Church."[3] It also undoubtedly symbolizes "the Word of God," as revealed in verse 6. The whole figure is that of the Jewish theocracy holding forth the Word of God for all the world in the pre-Christian centuries. This vision placed the candlestick, not in a sanctuary, but in the world, hence the necessary application to the true Israel of God among the Jews. This also represents the Church, because the first Israel was a type of the second Israel. Moreover, the function of the Church today is the same as God's intended use of the old Israel to spread his truth and that through them and by such means, "All the families of the earth should be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).

Gill also understood the candlestick here to "represent the Word of God to Zerubbabel, and through him, to the people";[4] and we understand this to be in full harmony with the view of Jamieson, above.