Zechariah 4:6

6. When the prophet confesses ignorance the angel proceeds to explain.

This The entire vision. All the features were needed to complete the picture which was to serve as the means of instruction; but the angel attaches here a symbolic meaning only to one feature, the mysterious oil supply; the other features are of secondary importance, though a symbolical meaning is attached also to the two branches (Zechariah 4:12), and perhaps to the lamps (Zechariah 4:10). The message was intended primarily for Zerubbabel, the civil governor. The interpretation is given in a single sentence.

Not by might, nor by power By human strength or military power.

By my spirit As the oil is supplied to the lamps without human efforts, so Zerubbabel will be able, without the ordinary human resources (compare Nehemiah 4:2), but assisted by the divine Spirit, to carry to completion the task which he has undertaken. This is not to be understood as a commendation of inactivity, but as a promise to one whose resources are exhausted, that Jehovah will not permit him to fail in his noble endeavor. For spirit see on Joel 2:28. What was the enterprise that baffled Zerubbabel is not stated, but Zechariah 4:7 shows that the prophet is thinking of the rebuilding of the temple, for which both Haggai and Zechariah pleaded, and to the completion of which the two are said to have contributed much (Ezra 5:2).