Notes on Zechariah 8

The first half of Zechariah, or First Zechariah, as it might be called, finishes with one big two-chapter-long parallel structure:

A 7:1-2 Some entreat Yhwh (for poor reasons)

B 7:3-6 Rebuke in regards to fasting

C 7:7-8 Ethical commands, incl. not plotting evil in your hearts

D 7:11-14 Yhwh's anger for disobedience

E 8:1-3 Restoration of the city 

F 8:4-6 Joy for the inhabitants

G 8:7-10 Yhwh will save and return and be their God

F` 8:9-10 Formerly fear for the inhabitants

E` 8:11-13 Restoration of the land

D` 8:14-15 Yhwh's disaster when angered turned into doing good

C` 8:16-17 Ethical commands, incl. not plotting evil in your hearts

B` 8:18-19 Fasting turned into feasting

A` 8:20-23 Many entreating Yhwh from all the nations

I think this works okay. It's often more thematic than lexical. But that's okay. The issue is that when you start with the big structure, you miss things you discover when breaking it down further, and other connections appear. We saw that last week with 6b-7, and there are interesting connections within 8 which would be missed if only examining these verses within the larger context.

From the outset, Zechariah 8 feels very different to Zechariah 7. Where Zechariah 7 had only three speech formulas (v4,9,13), Zechariah 8 has sixteen. These help structure the text more clearly than the parallel structure. We might even use the terminology of major and minor breaks here. The first comes at 8:1, "And the word of Yhwh of Armies came, saying," (וַיְהִי דְּבַר־יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת לֵאמֹר), and then repeats, with the addition of "to me" (אֵלַי), in 8:18. 

Then come the minor divisions, "Thus says Yhwh (of Armies)", in v2,3,4,6,7,9,14,19,20,23. There are also four "asides", three "declaration of Yhwh of Armies" (v6,11,17) and one "says Yhwh of Armies (v14b), which I think are more stylistic than structural. 

Putting this all together, as well as some lexical repetition which I will explain as I work through each stanza, I think there are four larger sections, as follows:

I: 8:1-8

1 The word of Yhwh of Armies came, saying

2 Thus says Yhwh of Armies

3 Thus says Yhwh

4 Thus says Yhwh of Armies

6 Thus says Yhwh of Armies - declaration of Yhwh of Armies

7 Thus says Yhwh of Armies

II: 8:9-15

9 Thus says Yhwh of Armies

11 - declaration of Yhwh of Armies

14 For thus says Yhwh of Armies - says Yhwh of Armies

III 8:16-19 

17 - declaration of Yhwh

18 And the word of Yhwh of Armies came to me, saying

19 Thus says Yhwh of Armies

 IV 8:20-23

20 Thus says Yhwh of Armies

23 Thus says Yhwh of Armies

I: 8:1-8

This first stanza presents as a series of five "thus says Yhwh (of Armies)" statements. They describe Yhwh's intent to transform his people and his place by being with them. Each statement is between two and four stichs long, usually in parallel, either chiastic or whatever the opposite of chiastic is (synonymous?). That is, they are either ABBA or ABAB in form. 

The "declaration of Yhwh of Armies" at the end of v6 sets 8:7-8 apart as the culmination of this stanza, with a shout out to the covenant promise to Abraham, often repeated by the major prophets, that "they will be my people and I will be their God". There is also the addition of "in truth and in righteousness", a reminder of this thread in Zechariah of the importance of truth and the banishing of lying and misrepresentation. 

II: 8:9-15

This stanza is tricky in that it has a bracket but also a coda. At first it seems the section should be 8:9-13, bracketed by "strengthen your hands" (תֶּחֱזַקְנָה יְדֵיכֶם) as the first and last phrase. There are also numerous other repetitions, such as a chiasm spanning 8:11-12 (A/A` the remnant of this people, B/B` peace seed/heaven's dew, C/C` the vine gives fruit/the earth gives produce), and then v13 has two parallel pairs of stichs. 

But what confuses this is that before "strengthen your hands" we hear "do not fear!", a phrase which is repeated at the end of v15. It seems then that while 9-13 should be a section, we are supposed to read the two "do not fear" refrains as holding all of these together. 

Unfortunately the NIV botches the past-referring part of v9-10, again rearranging the Hebrew to make it make sense in English but mangling the sense of it. I think it's trying to say that these are the days of the founding of the temple, and v10 alone is the past. The point being, your conditions are pretty great now. Previously you had to do this gratis, but now you're getting paid, so get to it. 

And if they can get to it, then the promise Haggai made a couple of years earlier will be fulfilled, where the time when you worked for nothing will be transformed into your labour bearing much fruit. This is a time, from 14-15, where the past treatment (I determined to do evil, זממתי להרע) will be repealed and I will now do good (להיטיב) for you. 

III 8:16-19 

This section starts off out of nowhere; I think what's going on is there's a hinge around the speech commands in the middle: "- declaration of Yhwh; Now the word of Yhwh of Armies came to me saying, Thus says Yhwh of Armies". And it's bracketed by hate and love. Plotting evil and lying? These things I hate (v17). Truth and peace? Love them! (v19).

These are the ethical commands we saw back in 7:7-8, combined with the fasting/feasting of 7:3-6. There are also two extra fasts added in, which is fun. There was the fifth month fast in 7:3, fifth and seventh in 7:5, and now, in 8:19, a total of four, with a fast in each of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months. The point is every fast is now a feast, as the conditions are reversed. So the question of Bethel-Sarezer was not the wrong question, but evidently done from the wrong motives. Rather than looking for an excuse to cease fasting, the attention should have been on getting the temple done. It sounds a bit like the paneled housing complaint Haggai makes. Stop worrying so much about things you want, ask what Yhwh wants, and focus on that. And as you do that, all you need will be given you.

IV 8:20-23

These final verses remind us of the picture at the beginning of chapter 2, the walls could never be built large enough to encompass all the people who will be coming to be near Yhwh. 8:21-22 contains another abccba chiasm (a/a` entreat, b/b` seek Yhwh, c/c` i will go/they will come), and then at the end the verb "to be strong" returns, although this time in a different stem. חזק in the qatal was about strengthening their hands, but here in the hiphil it's about grasping firmly, in this case to the hem of a Judahite, so that they might be brought to his God.

This is a fascinating picture, as it's explicitly not a picture of the scattered remnant returning, but non-Jews, Gentiles, being irresistibly attracted to the God of the Jews.

And this is the picture with which Zechariah 1-8 concludes. A God who is at work in his scattered remnant to return them and rebuild his house, to cleanse it of wickedness and duplicity, so that his people might be his and he their God, and they and all people might know him and worship him in fulness and in truth. 

Notes on Zechariah 6b and 7

If you've been with me since the beginning, you would not be surprised to discover we yet again have three sections:

6:9-15 The coronation and obedience

7:1-6 A technical question about obedience

7:7-14 What Yhwh has always said is important

I think 6:9-15 is the epilogue to the visions, and it draws together several threads. But it also suggests a later time than the visions due to the message about the branch. The language also changes from 6 to 7, which suggests 7 is a new section, as is commonly and rightly held, due to the new time reference in 7:1 (cf. 1:1; 1:7) and to there being something of a parallel structure across 7-8.

6:9-15 The coronation and obedience

I can find a nice chiasm here without too much effort. It looks a little something like this: 

A the word of Yhwh (6:9)

B the Babylonian quartet (6:10)

C make a crown (6:11)

D the branch will build (6:12)

D' the branch will rule (6:13)

C' the crown shall be (6:14a)

B' the Babylonian quartet (6:14b)

A' the voice of Yhwh your God (6:15)

This chiastic structure relies on keywords, and is relatively consistent.

A: In 6:9 you have the regular speech formula, "the word of Yhwh came to me saying...", while in 6:15 it concludes with "the voice of Yhwh your God". While the introduction signals the type of speech, the conclusion notes that it is hearing and heeding the voice of Yhwh is what will lead to blessing. In the same way as disobedience led to being vomited from the land, obedience will result in the future tied up with the rule of God's branch.

B: In 6:10 and 14 we meet the Babylonian quartet, who are called exiles (הַגּוֹלָה) to suggest that they have more recently returned. The four get six names in total: while Tobiah and Jedaiah are consistent, Heldai becomes Helem, and McComiskey points out that Helem is elsewhere Heled and Heleb. The fourth name is Josiah son of Zephaniah, but in the second mention he is Hen, which could either be a name, but plausibly even a title: "his grace, the son of Zephaniah). I don't know if this is legit but it sounds like a nice workaround. I'm not sure why they seem to be the recipients of the crown, or perhaps those to whom it is dedicated "as a memorial in the temple of Yhwh" (6:14) but perhaps this crown is the temple's finishing touch, so they merit a mention as those who helped the project over the line.

C: The crown is mentioned here as being made of silver and gold, and for the head of Joshua. It is also a word which looks plural (עֲטָרוֹת), so it could be that the silver and gold of Heldai, Tobiah, Jedaiah and Josiah are already in crown form, and are combined together into a single mega-crown (n.b. Jesus has many crowns in Rev. 19:12) for this new high priest/king.

D: The two halves which started me thinking about chiasms are the repetition at the end of v12 and beginning of 13: he will build the temple of Yhwh. I think rather than dittography this is highlighting this parallel structure. In the first half there is a little pun: "branch his name; from under he will branch out". (צֶמַח שְׁמוֹ וּמִתַּחְתָּיו יִצְמָח). "From under" (וּמִתַּחְתָּיו) sounds like he's staging a comeback, although this is not Zerubbabel being rescued (cf. 9:9) but Joshua being crowned as the branch. I thought he was a partner with the branch (3:8) but it appears he will have to go it alone.

What that will look like we are told in D`, which is that apart from finishing the temple building, he will have the dual role of priest and king, sitting and ruling, as well as being priest, all from the same throne. This is a holding pattern, awaiting the next Davidide to put his hand up, but for now "there shall be a counsel of peace between the two" - the two roles, in the one throne. 

7:1-6 A technical question about obedience

The chiastic structure of 6:9-15 gives way to an ABAB structure, where A is the speech formula and B is the speech, in the first instance (v3) a question of the priests and prophets, and in the second (v5-6) the answer. The context is the time reference, which puts us a couple of years after the previous references in the first chapter. 

Apart from a temporal reference, we are also given a topographical one - or are we? 7:2 says (in word order): 

And [subject] sent Beth-El Sar-Ezer and Regem-Melek and his men...

The verb is a 3ms, which leads interpreters suggest the township of Bethel as a whole sent Sar-Ezer and Regem-Melek along with the employees of one of those two fellows. It could also be that the subject and/or object marker have dropped out. The LXX has another suggestion (as I read it), which is understanding 7:2 as a continuation of 7:1, meaning it is Zechariah who is inquiring of Yhwh. While is may work syntactically, it raises more questions than it answers, such as why Zechariah would need to ask what Yhwh says, and why he would send to Bethel? Translations of the LXX baulk at this and read Bethel (Βαιθηλ) as the object. It still has the problem of a 3ms verb. 

My (very) minority is that Bethel-Sarezer together is one name, Bethel being attested as part of a compound name. We would then have these two recent arrivals, with meaningful Babylonian names (Bethel-Sarezer = may the house of El protect the prince; Regem-Melek = the king has spoken), the first sending the second along with his own employees, to ask the question about whether the purpose behind these fast days are finished.

The two descriptions of the lament month (presumably day in the month) use four different words, probably chiastic:

7.3 Should I weep (בכה) in the fifth month and abstain (נזר) as I have done these many years.

7.5 When you fasted (צום) and mourned (ספד) and this for 70 years, did you really fast (צום) for me?

I am suggesting weep//mourn and abstain//fast as chiastic synonyms; I don't think Zechariah's answer using different lexemes is implying anything as there is enough in his answer to rebuke the questioners without needing there to be something funny going on there too. But I don't know enough - it would be fun if there was!

The force of the question as Zechariah interprets it, is that the questioners think they have done enough to warrant the coming of Yhwh's blessing as promised repeatedly so far in the visions. His rebuke shows he understands their penitence as purely performative. And also, perhaps a little like the rebuke of drunkenness around the Lord's Supper in 1 Corinthians 11, the focus has been less on the fasting and more on the fast-breaking, the eating and drinking he highlights in 7:6.

7:7-14 What Yhwh has always said is important

The question in 7:7 I think points forward, as the words in question will be revealed in 7:9. The point here is the past conditions were easy, and Yhwh's instructions clear and not hard to obey, yet your ancestors rejected them, and you know well the results thereof. The message is clear then, especially having begun reading in chapter 6: Yhwh your God is willing to bless you; you need only obey. Don't repeat the sins of your ancestors, don't get sidetracked by technical obedience. 

In this section we have a double speech formula in vv8-9, and a brief one in v13. This reveals an ABCABC structure as follows:

A 7:7 Past conditions (life was easy!)

B 7:8-9a Divine speech formula

C 7:9b-10 Yhwh's word to live righteous lives

A` 7:11-13c Past conditions (people rejected Yhwh!)

B` 7:13d Divine speech formula

C` 7:14 Yhwh's punishment for wicked lives

Briefly, three things which stand out are:

1. The use of קרא with ביד הנביאים הראשׁנים in both A sections.
2. The multiple body parts used to reject the good instructions of Yhwh: backs, ears, hearts.
3. The pairs of instructions in 9-10. Two positive, two negative: Do judge justly, do do compassion and steadfast love. Don't oppress the disadvantaged, don't plan evil in your hearts.

Summary

I think that's about it. It probably makes more sense to read 7-8 as one unit, which I might come back to next week. But as I have somehow planned this series to conclude 6 and read that with 7, it's interesting to make these new connections. I think 8 will make more sense of 7, but there's also lots just in 8 that I want to get to next week.

Notes on Zechariah 5 and 6a

This week I'll finish off the vision section of Zechariah, which began (1:8vv) and now ends with horses patrolling the earth (6:1-8). There are also two visions in chapter 5, one of a flying scroll and the other of a flying basket. I guess you could also say the horses are flying, but that's in a more metaphorical sense. 

5:1-4 Flying Scroll

5:5-11 Flying Basket

6:1-8 Flying Horses

Of course, there are better ways to describe each vision, so:

5:1-4 A flying curse scroll condemns theft and lying

5:5-11 A basket containing wickedness is flown far away

6:1-8 Horses patrolling the earth cause God's spirit to rest

There are things which all three visions share in common, and lexemes is a key one. 

• Coming/going (יצא) is very consistent through these visions. A sense that everything is happening is created. The scroll zooms in, the basket zooms away, and the chariots zoom in and out of the scene. 
• Each vision mentions the whole earth/land (כל הארץ). In the first instance this is Yehud (Judah), because the focus is the cleansing of the land from sin. But it also broadens out to describe the whole world - the Persian empire, and even beyond.
• The first and second visions also discuss houses, the house of the thief and liar, and then the house being built for the woman in the basket. The contrast here is with the house which has been the focus throughout Zechariah up to this point: the temple, or house, of Yhwh. 

I'm still thinking through the connections between the visions as a whole, which are said to be chiastic. For instance, here's one way they could be construed:

1.7–17: The promise of rest centred on Yhwh’s house (horses!)

2.1–4: Judgement on the scattering nations (horns!)

2.5–17: His house in Jerusalem is the place Yhwh will dwell (measuring man!)

3.1–10: Joshua the priest over Yhwh’s House (heavenly court!)

4.1–14: Not by might or by power but by Yhwh’s Spirit (lampstand!)

5.1–4: Curse on the house of the thief/liar (flying scroll!)

5.5–11: A far-away house for wickedness (idol in a basket!)

6.1–8: Yhwh’s Spirit at rest (horses!)

I've massaged the titles a little to make the parallels a little clearer. The first and last are the clearest because of the shared vision (horses!), and the contrast between the second/third and sixth/seventh passages are workable in terms of near (the house/houses) and far (the nations, the idol's home). The middle two are about the two key players (Joshua and Zerubbabel), and maybe there's a thread through the first, fourth, fifth and eighth visions. 

The issue with this approach is the chiasm was uncovered by the image of the visions (horses!), but that's the only time it works. Every other parallel is thematic or a keyword. I guess I want my chiasms (if this is even properly a chiasm - something beyond the verse level is better called a parallel or envelope structure) to present themselves. There's a fair bit of work to get here, and even then it's not too tight. 

For me it makes more sense that these visions, like any dream, are pieced together from sights and sounds and experiences from every day. There are people building walls and temple furniture, there are discussions about Zerubbabel and Joshua, about Babylon and Persia, and the horses and chariots of the empire are zipping around, being the eyes and ears of Darius. Now, it can well be the case that both of these are true. But there is enough to keep them together without insisting on an intentionally designed structure.

5:1-4 A flying curse scroll condemns theft and lying

A similar introductory formula to the other visions has Zechariah seeing unprompted for once. Normally the angel draws his attention to something but the scroll is obvious enough to see, because it is flying, and also because it is massive. It's something like 10m x 5m (20x10 cubits), although it's not clear if this is rolled up or not. It's also not clear if Zechariah can see what's on it, or the angel just knows and tells him.

In any case, the angel is there to help and without the 20 questions of the previous vision tells Zechariah what's happening. It's a flying scroll which is also a curse. It's a מגלה עפה ... האלה (megillah 'aphah ... ha'alah). And it has two specific targets, every thief and everyone who swears ... who swears falsely by my name.

The explanation of what swearing entails is held off by a verse, perhaps for suspense, or there was just no need to explain it. Of course swearing in parallel with theft will be the bad type of swearing, and we find out quickly enough that it is.

The assumption here is that these two targets are breaking two commandments of the Decalogue, the 8th (don't steal) and either the 3rd (don't misuse my name) or the 9th (don't bear false witness). The difficulty with the second one is it takes terms from both the 3rd and 9th commandments. But the solution is I think resolved by referring to Leviticus 19, where the wording is almost identical to Zechariah 5:4. This also importantly places these commandments in the context of life in the land, which is not to be like the nation they have been rescued from nor the nations surrounding them. This is the reasoning behind the sexual ethics in Leviticus 18 and also makes sense of the fruit laws in Leviticus 19. The point then of theft/swearing being targets is that these are laws, which, when broken, would lead to them being yet again vomited out of the land. 

5:5-11 A basket containing wickedness is flown far away

This time it's the angel who is doing the coming and going, and he tells Zechariah to look at what things are coming and going up above. It's another flying object, a basket, evidenced by the command to raise his eyes and look. But although he's looking up, he is also looking in, and sees a woman (אשה) in a basket (איפה) - an ishshah in an ephah. to go with our megillah 'aphah ha'alah from the previous vision.  

Of course, it's not all revealed at once. First he sees the basket, then sees a lead disk rising, and then he sees the woman, only for her to be pushed down by the lead cover. 

So far then we have three measurements, two of which are also eponymous for their object (container/weight). We did have cubits for the scroll, and now we have an ephah, which can also stand for the basket, and on top of this is a kikar, which is the word both for a talent (in this case, of lead) and also the shape it comes in, a round object, in this case a cover for the basket. 

There is a textual issue, despite manuscript evidence, where the woman in the based is called עינם (their eyes?), but is pretty universally read עונם (their iniquity) based on logic as well as the evidence of the versions. There are attempts to make it mean something, such as "appearance", as in the appearance of iniquity, but this still assumes it's iniquity.

More interesting to me is the next description, that she is wickedness. The fun pun here is that רשעה is a near anagram for the goddess אשרה. And this then explains how this woman is able to fit in a basket - she is not alive but an idol. She is from Babylon (the plains of Shinar) and to there she will return. 

How will she get back there? Two other women, with stork wings. And the counter pun is now found with the wings of the stork, the חסידה, which is of course very close to חסד. Wickedness represented by Asherah is removed by the stork-winged women representing faithfulness. 

I'm sort of interested by who these women are; divine messengers are generally not feminine in appearance or description (as far as I can recall) so I want to assume these are angels of some description but we really know nothing else. And of course it's a dream. 

6:1-8 Horses patrolling the earth cause God's spirit to rest

Last off are the horses, but this time they're pulling chariots. Which raises the question of whether they were pulling chariots too back in chapter 1. Maybe that's how the same person could be riding a horse as well as standing among the myrtle trees - he was standing aboard his chariot, so he was both mounted and standing. We also have a different number of horses. There were three colours in chapter 1, now there are four, and possibly different colours, but it also reduces to three colours of horses. Presumably each chariot has horses all of one colour.

Where are they going? North, south, and a third direction. NIV says it's west, as in behind, as in, from an easterly orientation. But it makes more sense to say after the north horses, because that's what it says, but also because west would be into the sea, and also because north is the end point in 6:8 of the chapter. What's with north and south? I think it's because the nations who have been most in their faces are Egypt (south), and Syria, Babylon, Assyria and Persia - because everyone needs to access Yehud from the north, if they aren't going through 1000km of desert.

This doesn't resolve the question of where precisely the spirit ends up in v8. Is it in Damascus, Babylon, or Ecbatana? Or is it just [gestures wildly] somewhere up that way? Perhaps the answer is less where but what. As in, what is the purpose of Yhwh's spirit being at rest in the north? The most consistent answer is with the same meaning as chapter 1, that this is a sign the earth is at rest, and the returnees can now get to work building the temple and being the people of God, in God's place, and under God's rule. 

This has all taken three days to get to the end of, because I keep getting called away. Sleep is calling now, and then I'll preach through it tomorrow. And then, the rest of 6 and chapter 7! Until then. 

Notes on Zechariah 4

Zechariah 4 is a book which is treated by most interpreters like a Mad Magazine fold-up cover. It works really nicely if you extract 6b-10a, reading as a straight-forward (notwithstanding the contexts) conversation between Zechariah and his divine messenger-guide.

The conversation goes as follows:

4:1 Angel wakes up Zechariah
4:2a Angel asks what he sees
4:2b-3 Zechariah describes what he sees
4:4 Zechariah asks the angel what he just saw
4:5a Angel asks if he knows
4:5b Zechariah says no
4:6a,10b Angel explains what he saw
4:11 Zechariah asks more of what he saw with a description
4:12 Zechariah asks what he saw
4:13a Angel asks if he knows
4:13b Zechariah says no
4:14 Angel explains what he saw

Right in the middle are two words from Yhwh focussing on the significance of Zerubbabel, first to Zerubbabel himself (4:6b-7), and then to Zechariah (4:8-10a). Both of these are about Zerubbabel, but for the hearing of the people.

There are then three things to focus on:

1. The first item in the vision - the lamps
2. The second item(s) in the vision - the olive trees
3. The paired oracles about Zerubbabel

Briefly, before dealing with these three, is the question of why this construction. The short answer is it doesn't make a lot of sense. One could argue this embeds the oracle lest it become separated out. But in the centre of chapter 4 it has no place to go: it must be related to the vision which surrounds it. The dissonance of reading v6 and v10 as is means one is forced to reassemble the passage so the answer begun in v6 can be concluded in v10. The flow then continues to the end, but of course, having skipped the centre, one must return and grapple with the oracles but now in light of the understanding of the vision as a whole.

The Lamps
I'm not going to lie. It's very confusing. My best attempt at an explanation is as follows:

1. I don't think it's describing a menorah.
2. Rather, we have a stand, with a bowl on top of the stand, filled with oil, in order to feed the lamps.
3. The seven lamps are arranged around the bowl in the centre.
4. The type of lamp is what I could best describe as a pinch-lamp. It looks like an ashtray, pinched in the corner, but there are seven corners. And in each corner would be a wick.
5. This would then be literally quite brilliant, with seven seven-lipped lamps, containing a total of forty-nine burning wicks.
6. The bowl in the centre has grooves which feed the middle of each pinch-lamp.

It could be that I'm wrong, and that there are seven grooves for each lamp, but I think part of the point is that it's dazzling. 7x7 is much more impressive than 7 lamps each fed by seven grooves.

What's it all about? The lamps seem to stand for Yhwh's reinstated presence in centre of the community, enabling them to shine as lights in the darkness.

The Olive Trees
Either side of the lampstand are two olive trees, which are somehow feeding the bowl. One might ask how this is possible when there's no press; olives do not simply drip with oil. But this is a vision, in whichever level of Inception we might be in at the moment (remember 4:1, Zechariah is awakened into this vision from his dream).

Who are they, to restate Zechariah's question from 4:12? They are the "two sons of the oil", not "sanctified" (otherwise they could be messiahs), but with a similar idea. Perhaps "consecrated" comes closest. And they are standing by (על) the Lord of all the earth. So these two people (whom we know to be Zerubbabel and Joshua) also have a role in the heavenly assembly, which is an astonishing statement. That said, we did see Joshua there in the previous chapter, so the new thing is that the oft-mentioned Zerubbabel will join him.

Both men get a symbol - one olive tree each - but while the previous chapter was Joshua's, this is Zerubbabel's. Which brings us to the centre of the passage.

Oracles about Zerubbabel
Not to labour the point, but this is a weird spot for this oracle. It begins as oracles should ("this is the word of Yhwh to Z"), not as an answer to a question about lamps. And after the first oracle, the formula: "says Yhwh of Armies." So I'm quite certain we're in prophecy land, not angelic answer world.

The oracle breaks down into three parts.

1. To Zerubbabel, rebuking his means: Not by might nor by strength but by my spirit. (4:6b)
2. To the mountain, regarding Zerubbabel: You will be as flat as a footy field (4:7)
3. To the people, about the temple: Zerubbabel started it and Zerubbabel will finish it (4:9-10a)

To work through the points:
1/ Might/Strength vs Spirit
This is a rebuke. The theory George Athas suggests is that Zerubbabel got a whiff of independence. He tried taking it and got found out. The point then is to not. God rescued them by his spirit out of Babylon, not by political or any other agitation. So keep trusting in God do work for you.

2/ Flattened Mountain
The two main possibilities are the Zagros mountains in Persia, their powerbase standing for their power. They will be as if flattened when Yhwh raises up his kingly figure.
The second possibility is describing the rubble on Temple Mount. It's hard to know where to even begin. But never fear, work with Zerubbabel and it will flatten itself out as many enthusiastic hands make light work.

3/ Trust the Process
The fear is that when Zerubbabel was sanctioned, that was the end of the temple. But it won't be. It will indeed be built. And Zerubbabel will be there to do it.
The next bit talks about two things, a "day of small [things]", and the tin stone (v10). The small things here refers to the humble beginnings of the temple build. And the tin stone (not to be confused with the capstone/foundation stone mentioned in v9) is a humble image of Zerubbabel up on the wall making sure it's nice and vertical. This will cause everyone to rejoice! It's a "small thing", but an important thing, and a sign that trusting in Yhwh's means is the right way to achieve his ends.

Summary
Zechariah 4 is confusing because of the awful syntax in the EVV trying to make v10 one coherent sentence. It's not. And once you've separated out the filling from the sandwich bread either side, the way the passage works makes much more sense. The imagery is still weird, but it's all coalescing to one coherent theme, about how Yhwh will work with his chosen leaders through humble means to ensure his glory is known and beheld by all.