The gold lampstand and the two olive trees
“What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’”
8 Then the word of the LORD came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you.
10 “Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.
“(These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range throughout the earth.)”
11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”
12 Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”
13 He replied, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I said.
14 So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”
“‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the LORD Almighty.” In the context, it would not be overwhelming power on the part of the Jews that would establish and build the temple. It would be by God’s power. “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain” (Psalm 127:1).
There was joy, however, in being allowed to participate in the building of God’s house. Zerubbabel would move the capstone into place, and the words of dedication for the building and its purpose would be spoken: “God bless it! God bless it!” Believers in company with mortar and stone echo those same words whenever they dedicate a building to their Lord. “Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.”
God had spoken. The plans for building the temple were underway. Even the dedication loomed promisingly. And it all came about by small things. The Lord delighted (and still does!) in working with small things to accomplish his great things. It was a shepherd boy who toppled the giant Goliath. There was an unstated despising of small things when a disciple said, “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish, but how far will they go among so many?” (John 6:9).
“Who despises the day of small things?” the angel asks. This temptation follows right down through the work of the church. The meek will inherit the earth. The humble and the uneducated will take the message to the learned and the wise. “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation” (Mark 16:15). Jesus said those words to 11 disciples. There number was small, but “God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are” (1 Corinthians 1:27,28).
Regarding the parenthetical remark in the last part of verse 10, see the explanation of chapter 3 verse 9.
The two olive trees are described as the “two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.” These two trees seem to symbolize the priestly and royal offices, as represented by Joshua the priest and Zerubbabel, who was from the royal house of King David.