Exegesis

[javid]

Hi

I need your help for better understandig Biblical texts. I ask my question here

 

[javid]

Zechariah4:11-14 says:

“11Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? 12 And I answered again , and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? 13 And he answered me and said , Knowest thou not what these be? And I said , No, my lord . 14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones , that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

What does these verses want to say to us?

Thank you

 

[Safia]

Zechariah desires to know what are the two olive trees. Zerubbabel and Joshua, this prince and this priest, were endued with the gifts and graces of God’s Spirit. They lived at the same time, and both were instruments in the work and service of God. Christ’s offices of King and Priest were shadowed forth by them. From the union of these two offices in his person, both God and man, the fullness of grace is received and imparted. They built the temple, the church of God. So does Christ spiritually. Christ is not only the Messiah, the Anointed One himself, but he is the Good Olive to his church; and from his fulness we receive. And the Holy Spirit is the unction or anointing which we have received. From Christ the Olive Tree, by the Spirit the Olive Branch, all the golden oil of grace flows to believers, which keeps their lamps burning. Let us seek, through the intercession and bounty of the Saviour, supplies from that fulness which has hitherto sufficed for all his saints, according to their trials and employments. Let us wait on him in his ordinances, desiring to be sanctified wholly in body, soul, and spirit. (source)

Hope that helps.

 

[TimothyH]

Zecharia was a prophet at the time just after the return of the Jews from exile in Babylon and subsequent rebuilding of the temple and city. The first part of the book is an encouagement to all in the effort to rebuild the temple.

As Safia has stated, the two annointed ones were probably Joshua and Zerubbabel. Joshua was the high priest and I thik Zerubbabel was some sort of prince; both were annointed with oil.

I’m not really sure what it says to us in particular but I have posted what I know about Zecharia and the passage.

-Tim-

 

[Barbkw]

In the beginning was the Word , and the Word was with God ,and the Word was God

God the Father is Spirit. Prior to the Son of God being incarnated through His virgin mother, He was Spirit.

In Genesis, God speaks and the Word creates and the Spirit passes over the waters.

God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Trinitarian Monotheism.

The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains our 2,000 year old Creed and the statements it contains about the Trinity:

scborromeo.org/ccc/p1s2c1p2.htm

233 Christians are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: not in their names,55 for there is only one God, the almighty Father, his only Son and the Holy Spirit: the Most Holy Trinity.

234 The mystery of the Most Holy Trinity is the central mystery of Christian faith and life. It is the mystery of God in himself. It is therefore the source of all the other mysteries of faith, the light that enlightens them. It is the most fundamental and essential teaching in the “hierarchy of the truths of faith”.56 The whole history of salvation is identical with the history of the way and the means by which the one true God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, reveals himself to men “and reconciles and unites with himself those who turn away from sin”.57

235 This paragraph expounds briefly (I) how the mystery of the Blessed Trinity was revealed, (II) how the Church has articulated the doctrine of the faith regarding this mystery, and (III) how, by the divine missions of the Son and the Holy Spirit, God the Father fulfills the “plan of his loving goodness” of creation, redemption and sanctification.

236 The Fathers of the Church distinguish between theology (theologia) and economy (oikonomia). “Theology” refers to the mystery of God’s inmost life within the Blessed Trinity and “economy” to all the works by which God reveals himself and communicates his life. Through the oikonomia the theologia is revealed to us; but conversely, the theologia illuminates the whole oikonomia. God’s works reveal who he is in himself; the mystery of his inmost being enlightens our understanding of all his works. So it is, analogously, among human persons. A person discloses himself in his actions, and the better we know a person, the better we understand his actions.

237 The Trinity is a mystery of faith in the strict sense, one of the “mysteries that are hidden in God, which can never be known unless they are revealed by God”.58 To be sure, God has left traces of his Trinitarian being in his work of creation and in his Revelation throughout the Old Testament. But his inmost Being as Holy Trinity is a mystery that is inaccessible to reason alone or even to Israel’s faith before the Incarnation of God’s Son and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

 

[Barbkw]

Woops Javid. Didn’t see your second post.

 

[thistle]

Zechariah4:11-14 says:

“11Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? 12 And I answered again , and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? 13 And he answered me and said , Knowest thou not what these be? And I said , No, my lord . 14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones , that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

What does these verses want to say to us?

Thank you

D-R Bible, Haydock Commentary:

Ver. 12. Branches: the divine and human nature in Christ. (Worthington) — They are the same with the two trees, ver. 11. (Calmet)

Ver. 14. Two sons of oil. That is, the two anointed ones of the Lord; viz., Jesus, the high priest, and Zorobabel, the prince. (Challoner) — The Hebrews have hot many adjectives. Thus they say, the son of perdition, for the lost son. Septuagint, “sons of fatness.” Aquila and Theodotion, “of splendour;” two illustrious personages. (Haydock) — One was head in religious, the other in civil matters. (Calmet) — Both were appointed by God, and co-operated for the welfare of the people, as the church and state ought to act for the common good, and assist each other. (Haydock) — Jesus and Zorobabel were to repair the damage done by the Chaldeans. They were assisted by the seven administering spirits, Hebrews i. 14. (Calmet)