Commentary on Zechariah

Methodius of Olympus (260–311)

Zechariah shows that the olive shadows forth the law of Moses, speaking thus: "And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said to me, 'What do you see?' And I said, 'I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, … and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.' " And after a few words, the prophet, asking what are the olives on the right and the left of the candlestick and what are the two olive boughs in the hands of the two pipes, the angel answered and said, "These are the two sons of fruitfulness which stand by the Lord of the whole earth." [These signify] the two firstborn virtues that are waiting upon God, which, in his dwelling, supply around the wick, through the boughs, the spiritual oil of God, that humanity may have the light of divine knowledge. But the two boughs of the two olives are the law and the prophets, around, as it were, the lot of the inheritance, of which Christ and the Holy Spirit are the authors. We ourselves, meanwhile, [are] not being able to take the whole fruit and the greatness of these plants, before…

See also

• More works by Methodius of Olympus

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