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Halfway through Zechariah’s vision sequence, it is natural to wonder if Zechariah’s constant dreaming is out of line with the rest of the prophets. Certainly, Zechariah seems to be in an altered state of consciousness for half the book. God has a long history of speaking to selected followers through dreams and visions.
Since the time of the Exodus, God had provided a series of human mediators to communicate his will to the Jewish people. During the 40 years of wilderness wanderings, God had appointed Moses for the role. God declared Moses to be the humblest man on earth. To Moses, God spoke “face to face—clearly, not in riddles” (Num. 12:8). After the death of Moses came Joshua and then a series of judges who heard the voice of Yahweh, even if they did not see his form.
After King Solomon, very few of Judah’s and Israel’s kings even pretended to seek after God. During this time of unrighteous leadership, God supplied a steady stream of prophets for the people. Some wrote their prophecies down and gave us the prophetic books. God revealed himself to them in visions and spoke to them in dreams (Num. 12:6).
The literary prophets served between 900 and 500 BCE. During the 400 years that prophets ministered in Israel and Judah, not all of them recorded dreams or visions. Haggai, for example, had a very direct message for the postexilic community and no visionary experiences. The books best known for their prophetic visions are Amos, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel. Amos’s visions included swarming locusts, a consuming fire, a basket of fruit, and an almond tree (Amos 7-9). His visions were mostly static. Jeremiah also had static visions, one of a blossoming almond tree and another of a boiling pot tilted toward Judah (Jer. 1:11,13). Ezekiel was a prolific visionary, and his scenes glitter with detail and movement. Among the most famous of his visions are the valley of the dry bones (Ezek. 37), God’s battle chariot flown by winged beings (Ezek. 1), and the divine blueprints of the New Jerusalem (Ezek. 40-48).
Zechariah’s visions were part of a long prophetic tradition and the fulfillment of a promise God had made to the Israelites. However, Zechariah also marked a turning point in prophetic style. His visions were more active than those of his predecessors and had a cast of characters with whom the prophet often interacted. Amos and Jeremiah used their visions to warn the people of the consequences of their rebellion, whereas Zechariah’s message had encouraging implications for the future.
The book of Daniel and the book of Revelation contained even more colorful dreams, elaborate symbols, and evocative interpretations, but Zechariah was the innovator of apocalyptic-style visions. He was carrying on an older tradition while also starting something new.
Zechariah’s visions followed a consistent pattern as he slipped in and out of consciousness. First, the prophet would witness a scene. He often asked an interpreting angel for the meanings of the actors and symbols. Usually, the angel acted as his docent, explaining the significance of what he saw. The vision would end with a hopeful oracle from the prophet. Despite the similarity of the eight scenes, every vision was unique and departed in at least one way from the vision formula. Zechariah inquired about the meaning of the fifth vision but immediately gave an oracle without waiting for an answer. He then asked a new question, and the angel offered the meaning.
Fifth vision
In Zechariah’s fifth vision, the prophet saw a golden lampstand with a bowl on the top. Out of the bowl came seven lamps with seven channels (4:2). The lampstand was similar to the menorahs of the tabernacle and temple, in that it was made of solid gold. Structurally, however, the description of the lampstand did not point to a menorah.
Hebrew scholars differ over the most accurate translation of Zechariah’s lampstand. In the NIV, the bowl of oil is connected to the seven lamps by seven channels, but the Hebrew word musaqot can translate as channel, opening, or lip—depending on the context. For difficult passages, where the Hebrew word can have several meanings, archaeology is often a critical tool to illuminate the text, especially when the Bible describes something found in Israel’s material record.
With Zechariah’s lampstand, musaqot is probably referring to a spout or lip on the rim of the bowl. Archaeologists routinely uncover ceramic versions of lampstands with a pinch along the rim. In antiquity, they placed olive oil inside the bowl and set a wick along the pinch or indentation of the rim to soak the oil and keep a continuous flame. Multiple indentations along the rim allowed for multiple wicks to provide additional light.
Olive trees flanked the golden lampstand and slightly hovered over it (4:3). The trees dripped oil from their olive clusters directly in the bowl. People usually must pick olives and crush them to get the oil; it does not drip directly from the branches. Fanciful illustrations like the lampstand remind the reader that this was a visionary experience full of spiritual symbolism. There is no need to overanalyze the mechanics of the dream’s oil-making.
Zechariah asked his mediating angel for an explanation of what he saw. The angel answered, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain, and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” (4:6-7).
The angelic mediator did not answer Zechariah’s inquiry the first time. He even seemed annoyed that Zechariah did not understand the vision right away. Instead of answering Zechariah’s question, the angel launched into the oracle. The message for Zechariah’s audience was that military strength and political independence were not going to accomplish God’s will. Yahweh, working though those he elected, would rebuild the temple, restore the land, and return the remnant.
What obstacles did Zechariah’s community have to overcome to reduce the mountains to plains? The book of Ezra provides the historical context for Zechariah’s prophecies, making it easier to identify the specific obstacles in Zerubbabel’s way (Ezra 4-5). Ezra recounts how the remnant encountered opposition from the “people of the land” upon their return from exile. The “people of the land” were a mix of Judeans who had never gone into exile, peoples who migrated to Judah over the decades, and the transplants forcefully placed in Israel by the Assyrians.
The reconstruction of the city and temple by the returnees had led to a demand from the “people of the land” to participate in the rebuilding projects. Zerubbabel rejected their request. In response to Zerubbabel’s rejection, the “people of the land” sent letters to Persian officials to get the temple project stopped. The letters claimed that Zerubbabel and his followers were conspiring to revolt against the Persian Empire. After a year of empire-wide uprisings, the Persian King Darius was paranoid and took all whisperings of revolt seriously. As a result, Darius shut down Zerubbabel’s construction plans.
Haggai and Zechariah
According to Ezra, God had sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to minister to the discouraged community (Ezra 5:1). Fueled by the prophetic messages, the people renewed their work on the temple despite the Persian ban. The “people of the land” wrote another letter to the Persian king to sound alarm bells that the returnees were defying the empire’s orders. Eventually, the king rescinded the ban after Persian officials searched the royal archives and located King Cyrus’s original decree permitting the Jewish exiles to rebuild the Jerusalem temple.
Haggai and Zechariah’s prophecies spoke to the troubles of the people, whether they were facing opposition from their enemy neighbors, a depressed economy, a bad crop yield, or the empire’s building bans. The message from Zechariah’s fifth vision was that human strength would not complete the temple. God was sending his spirit to energize Zerubbabel and flatten the mountain of obstacles. Haggai had consoled the people with the same message: “My spirit abides among you; do not fear” (2:5).
Though the angelic mediator did not fully explain the symbolism of the lampstand, it seems the oil was God’s strength, and the lamp represented the community temple builders. Without oil, a lampstand was merely furniture with no function. In the vision, the oil dripped down into the lamp as an endless supply.
Though the temple was incomplete, Zechariah’s vision looked forward to the day when they would lay the last stone. In their rejoicing, they would shout “grace!” giving all the credit to God (4:7).
The fifth vision complemented the fourth vision. Both were unusual in that the characters were historical people, contemporaries of Zechariah. God intended for the prophecies to encourage Joshua and Zerubbabel for the task at hand, but they also were prophetic warnings to any opposition the leaders faced from their own ranks. At the time of Zechariah’s prophecies, elders in the community and priestly groups surely must have questioned the legitimacy of Joshua and Zerubbabel for their respective positions, especially when the temple project faltered.
The books of Haggai and Ezra do not explicitly describe disputes over leadership, but Zechariah’s fourth and fifth visions subtly suggest there may have been some turmoil, and this could have been the reason for these back-to-back visions, which identified Joshua and Zerubbabel as the leaders God had selected for Judah. When the builders had finished the foundation of the temple, some in the crowd cheered and others wept (Ez. 3). Perhaps the elders and older priests who resented the degraded temple also resented the leadership of Zerubbabel and Joshua.
Just as Zechariah’s fourth vision had laid out the divine selection of Joshua as High Priest, the fifth vision endorsed Zerubbabel as the man Yahweh had appointed to restore the temple: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it” (4:9). God equated the undermining of Zerubbabel with the undermining of God’s will. Zerubbabel and Joshua would be validated upon the completion of the temple. This would also vindicate the prophets who endorsed their work. Zechariah declared, “then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you” (4:9).
After the interruption of the oracle, Zechariah returned to his questions for the interpreting angel. His persistence in pursuing the meaning of his visions is admirable. He narrowed his question to the meaning of the oil-producing branches that dripped oil directly into the bowl. The angel answered, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (4:14). “Two anointed ones” is another translation for “two sons of oil.” The popular interpretation is that Zerubbabel and Joshua were the sons of oil. In Judah’s history, priests, kings, and prophets were the only ones ritually anointed with oil as part of their initiation (Ex. 28:41; 1 Sam. 16:3; 2 Sam. 2:4). If the lampstand represented the Second Temple, then Yahweh had selected Joshua and Zerubbabel to provide the leadership needed to finish the task.
All of Zechariah’s visions addressed the insecurities of the people. The prophetic plan to make Jerusalem the center of world order and peace was reinforced by the first vision. In the third vision, Zechariah had promised that Yahweh would be their protection, even without fortifications and despite their beleaguered population. In the fourth vision, the prophet had assured them that the sins of their fathers did not rest on their heads. Zechariah solidified the choice of their leaders in the fifth vision.
Prior to the exile, prophets had warned Israel and Judah of their sins and the impending destruction. Mixed in with those doom messages were glimmers of messianic hope, promises of restoration, and pleas to return to God and walk in his ways. Post-exile, the prophets wielded a positive message. They were called to console, comfort, and reassure. The remnant was far from exemplary, but the prophetic tone had changed.