The Lampstand

Eze. 37:19 

Say to them, “Thus says the Master YHWH:  

‘Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions; and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, and make them one stick, and they will be one in My hand.’” 

 YHWH told Ezekiel to take two sticks and write on the one ‘For Judah’ and on the other ‘For Joseph’. He then told Ezekiel to join the sticks together in his hand. This would symbolize YHWH bringing together the two kingdoms: Judah and Israel and making them one kingdom again.

Kingdom of Ephraim 

Joseph had two sons. The elder was named Manasseh and the younger was named Ephraim. When the time came for Joseph’s father Israel to bless Manasseh and Ephraim, he gave the greater blessing to Ephraim, although he was the Joseph’s second-born. He prophesied that his descendants would become the “fullness of the nations” (Gen. 48:19). 

Ephraim, whose name means “fruitful” (Gen. 41:52), went on to have ten sons. Within just a couple hundred years, his descendants were numbered as one of the tribes of Israel. Num. 1:32-33. The tribe of Ephraim eventually became so numerous its name became interchangeable with the name Israel. Jer. 31:9; Hos. 6:10; 11:1, 3.  

The tribes of Ephraim/Israel were united with the tribes of Judah (Judah, Benjamin, some of Ephraim, and some of Manasseh—1 Ch. 9:3) during the reigns of David and Solomon. They rejected Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, however, when he refused to listen to the advice of the wise elders. 1 Ki. 12:3-17; 2 Ch. 10:3-17. This was done to fulfill the prophecy by Ahijah the Shilonite (1 Ki. 11:29-35) which was due to Solomon’s rebellion. 

Under their first king, the kingdom of Ephraim/Israel immediately rejected the Levites and priests and installed their own false priests. This action caused the Levites, the priests, and all the faithful Israelites among them to join the kingdom of Judah at Jerusalem. 2 Ch. 11:14-16.  

Unfortunately, this was short-lived (2 Ch. 11:17) and Rehoboam went the way of his father (2 Ch. 11:23) and led the people astray (2 Ch. 12:1). The kingdom of Judah eventually returned to YHWH—on and off—starting with Rehoboam’s grandson Asa.  

The kingdom of Ephraim/Israel, however, never returned to YHWH. 2 Ki. 17:18. It was for this reason they went into the Assyrian exile. 2 Ki. 18:11-12. 

Not My People 

During the days of Jeroboam II, Ephraim’s 13th king (1 Ki. 14:23), Hoshea son of Beeri began prophesying to the people of Ephraim. YHWH told him to take a wife of harlotry to represent Ephraim/Israel’s harlotry to Him. Hos. 1:1-2. After bearing a son to Hoshea, she bore him a daughter. The son was to represent Jezreel ‘s vengeance and the daughter was to represent a temporary end to YHWH’s mercy on Ephraim. Hos. 1:3-7. 

She then bore another son. Concerning this son, YHWH said:

Call his name Lo-Ammi. For you are not My people, and I will not be your Mighty One” (Hos 1:8).

 My People Again 

YHWH then said: 

Yet the number of the children of Israel will be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it will be that in the place where it was said to them, 

‘You are not My people,’  

There it will be said to them, 

‘Sons of the living Mighty One…’” (Hos. 1:9, 10). 

Hoshea supplemented this prophecy by foretelling the reunion of Ephraim and Judah (Hos. 1:11; cf. Eze. 37:19). He then circled back to the daughter and second son of the wife of harlotry. Hos. 2:1; cf. 1:6, 9. Expounding on the analogy of the wife of harlotry (2:2-13; cf. 1:2), Hoshea concluded by stating that YHWH will take her back (2:14-20).  

Hoshea closes this prophecy the same way he opened it: by saying that Ephraim will again be shown mercy, and that they will again be called ‘My people’ (Hos. 2:23). It was this prophecy that the apostle Paul quoted in his letter to the Romans (9:24-25). 

Has [He not] called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? As He says also in Hosea: ‘I will call them My people, who were not My people. And her beloved, who was not beloved.’”  

The way Paul applied this prophecy, the “Gentiles” are Ephraim. They are the ones who were called ‘Lo-Amni’ (not-My people), but now are called ‘Amni’ (my people). 

One Tree 

Paul picks up on this a little later on in his letter to the Romans (11:16-25). He previously quoted Isaiah 10:22:

Though Your people Israel be as the sand of the sea, [only] a remnant of them will return” (Rom. 9:27)  

This parallels Hoshea’s prophecy (Hos. 1:9) that he references two verses earlier (Rom. 9:25), as shown above. The difference in Isaiah’s prophecy is that he mentions a remnant. The apostle speaks of this remnant again in Romans 11:5:

Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant…” 

He relates the remnant to the root of a symbolic tree. Rom. 11:16. He goes on to explain how the Gentiles (to whom he is writing) are branches, as it were, from a wild olive tree that are graphed into this root and tree. Rom. 11:17, 24. He also explains that ‘natural’ branches are broken off from the set-apart people because of unfaithfulness (11:20), that those who are grafted in can also be broken off for the same reason (11:21, 22), and that those who had been broken off can be grafted back in (11:23, 24). 

Paul ends this analogy by saying that part of the people of Judah had been blinded from being able to see YHWH’s Word, until the “fullness of the Gentiles” is complete. Another way of translating “fullness of the Gentiles” is “fullness of the nations” (Rom. 11:25; Gen. 48:19). Once again, Paul quotes a prophecy concerning Ephraim, and attributes it to the Gentiles. 

Ezekiel’s analogy of a “stick” representing Ephraim and a “stick” representing Judah can also be translated a “tree” representing Ephraim and a “tree” representing Judah. 

In other words, Paul’s analogy and Ezekiel’s analogy are the same. Ephraim—that this, the Gentiles, is like a wild olive tree. Judah—that is, Jews, is like a cultivated olive tree. Branches come from both trees and become one tree in YHWH’s hand.  

One In Yeshua

In the first century, there was enmity between Jews and Gentiles. What Paul wanted the Romans, the Galatians, and the Ephesians to understand was that contrary to man-made laws (Act. 10:28; Avodah Zarah 30-36; Rambam, Hilkoth Ma’achaloth Asuroth 17:9-12), YHWH calls both Jews and Gentiles. Rom. 11; Eph. 2:11-19; Gal. 2:11-14. In the Branch, Ephraim does not envy Judah, and Judah does not hate Ephraim. Isa. 11:1, 12-13. Instead, we are both part of the same Tree. 

Zechariah’s Vission

Zec. 4:2

So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps.
Two olive trees are by it, one at the bowl’s right and the other at its left.”

After seeing this vision, the prophet Zechariah asked the angel what this vision meant. On the first layer, the lampstand represented Zerrubabel, who along with Joshua, started the construction of the second Temple. They would both serve as a foreshadowing of Yeshua (Zec. 3:8; 6:12-13). The stone in Zerrubabel’s hand (Zec. 4:7) had the seven “eyes” to represent the seven Spirits of YHWH (4:10; cf. 3:9; Rev. 5:6) sent to find those who would desire to enter into covenant with Him (2 Ch. 16:9).

On the deeper level, the lampstand with seven lamps represents Yeshua—the Light of the world and the Tree of life—to whom belong the seven spirits. Isa. 11:1-2; Rev. 3:1; 4:5. The two olive trees standing beside Yeshua, the Master of the whole earth (Zec. 4:14) represent the two witnesses. 

Rev. 11:4

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the Master of the earth.”

The two witnesses, in turn, represent the life and teaching of Yeshua. Rev. 1:2; Rev. 1:9; Rev. 6:9; Rev. 12:11; Rev. 12:17; Rev. 14:12; Rev. 20:4. They also represent two olive trees (Ephraim and Judah), who in turn, represent the faithful remnant. Rom. 11:5, 16-25; Eze. 37:19; Hos. 1:9; Isa. 10:22. This faithful remnant are the two lampstands (sons of anointing oil), who in turn, represent Yeshua, the One anointed with oil.