Zechariah 4:2 - Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

And I said, I have looked and behold a candlestick all of gold - The candlestick is the seven-branched candlestick of the tabernacle Exodus 25:31, but with variations purposely introduced to symbolize the fuller and more constant supply of the oil, itself the symbol of God’s Holy Spirit, who:

“Enables with perpetual light

The dullness of our blinded sight.”

The first variation is “her bowl on the top of the candlestick,” containing the oil; then (as dependent on this) the pipes to derive the oil into each lamp, “seven several pipes to the seven lamps,” that is, seven to each; and the two olive trees on either side of the bowl, whose extreme and fine branches poured through two golden pipes the golden oil into the bowl which supplied the lamp. The multiplied conduits imply the large and perfect supply of oil unceasingly supplied, the seven being symbolic of perfection or of the reconciling of God (symbolized by 3) unto the world (symbolized by 4, its four quarters); the spontaneous flow of the golden oil from the olive trees symbolizes the free gift of God.

Zechariah 4:2

2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowla upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: