Homilist Zechariah 4:11-14 Then answered I, and said to him, What are these two olive trees on the right side of the candlestick and on the left side thereof?… This is not another vision, but an explanation of the one recorded in the preceding verses. Take the "two anointed ones" as types of model religious teachers. I. THEY HAVE A HIGH ORDER OF LIFE IN THEM. They are represented by the olive branches. Few productions of the vegetable kingdom are of such a high order as those of the olive. Its fatness was proverbial (Judges 7:9); it is an evergreen, and most enduring. In short, it is marked by great beauty, perpetual freshness, and immense utility. It was one of the sources of wealth in Judea, and its failure was the cause of famine. The emblems of a true teacher are not dead timber or some frail vegetable life, but an olive tree. Religious teachers should not only have life, but life of the highest order. They should be full of animal spirits, full of creative genius, full of fertile thought, full of Divine inspiration. II. They COMMUNICATE THE MOST PRECIOUS ELEMENTS OF KNOWLEDGE. They "empty the golden oil out of themselves." It has been observed by modern travellers that the natives of olive countries manifest more attachment to olive oil than to any other article of food, and find nothing adequate to supply its place. Genuine religious teachers feed the lamp of universal knowledge with the most golden elements of truth. They not only give the true theory of morals and worship, but the true theory of moral restoration. What are the true genuine religious teachers doing? They are pouring into the lamps of the world's know ledge the choicest elements of truth. III. THEY LIVE NEAR TO THE GOD OF ALL TRUTH. "Then said he, These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth." They "stand"; a position of dignity, "stand," a position of waiting — waiting to receive infallible instructions, ready to execute the Divine behests. All true religious teachers live consciously near to God. (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then 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? |
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