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Zechariah 4

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1 And the messenger who is speaking with me doth turn back, and stir me up as one who is stirred up out of his sleep,

2 and he saith unto me, `What art thou seeing?' And I say, `I have looked, and lo, a candlestick of gold -- all of it, and its bowl [is] on its top, and its seven lamps [are] upon it, and twice seven pipes [are] to the lights that [are] on its top,

3 and two olive-trees [are] by it, one on the right of the bowl, and one on its left.'

4 And I answer and speak unto the messenger who is speaking with me, saying, `What [are] these, my lord?'

5 And the messenger who is speaking with me answereth and saith unto me, `Hast thou not known what these [are]?' And I say, `No, my lord.'

6 And he answereth and speaketh unto me, saying: `This [is] a word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying: Not by a force, nor by power, But -- by My Spirit, said Jehovah of Hosts.

7 Who [art] thou, O great mountain Before Zerubbabel -- for a plain! And he hath brought forth the top-stone, Cries of Grace, grace -- [are] to it.'

8 And there is a word of Jehovah to me, saying,

9 Hands of Zerubbabel did found this house, And his Hands do finish it, And thou hast known that Jehovah of Hosts Hath sent me unto you.

10 For who trampled on the day of small things, They have rejoiced, And seen the tin weight in the hand of Zerubbabel, These seven [are] the eyes of Jehovah, They are going to and fro in all the land.'

11 And I answer and say unto him, `What [are] these two olive-trees, on the right of the candlestick, and on its left?'

12 And I answer a second time, and say unto him, `What [are] the two branches of the olive trees that, by means of the two golden pipes, are emptying out of themselves the oil?'

13 And he speaketh unto me, saying, `Hast thou not known what these [are]?' And I say, `No, my lord.'

14 And he saith, `These [are] the two sons of the oil, who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.'

   

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Two

  

The number "two" has two different meanings in the Bible. In most cases "two" indicates a joining together or unification. This is easy to see if we consider the conflicts we tend to have between our "hearts" and our "heads" -- between what we want and what we know. Our "hearts" tell us that we want pie with ice cream for dinner; our "heads" tell us we should have grilled chicken and salad. If we can bring those two together and actually want what's good for us, we'll be pretty happy. We're built that way -- with our emotions balanced against our intellect -- because the Lord is built that way. His essence is love itself, or Divine Love, the source of all caring, emotion and energy. It is expressed as Divine Wisdom, which gives form to that love and puts it to work, and is the source of all knowledge and reasoning. In His case the two aspects are always in conjunction, always in harmony. It's easy also to see how that duality is reflected throughout creation: plants and animals, food and drink, silver and gold. Most importantly, it's reflected in the two genders, with women representing love and men representing wisdom. That's the underlying reason why conjunction in marriage is such a holy thing. So when "two" is used in the Bible to indicate some sort of pairing or unity, it means a joining together. In rare cases, however, "two" is used more purely as a number. In these cases it stands for a profane or unholy state that comes before a holy one. This is because "three" represents a state of holiness and completion (Jesus, for instance, rose from the tomb on the third day), and "two" represents the state just before it.