The angel asked the prophet what he saw, and Zechariah replied that he saw a golden lampstand with a bowl above it. Lampstands generally, and the lampstands in the tabernacle and temple particularly, held removable lamps ( Exodus 25:31; 1 Kings 7:49). Their purpose was to support these light-bearers. Symbolically a lampstand represents what supports whatever bears light (cf. Matthew 5:16; Revelation 1:20; Revelation 2:5). This seems to be the figure in view in 1 Timothy 3:15 where Paul called the church the pillar and support of the truth. The purpose of the church is to support individual Christians who bear the light of God"s truth in a dark world (cf. Revelation 1:20). Ultimately the light is the Lord Himself ( John 1:8-9; 1 Timothy 3:16). In the case of the present vision the lampstand represents the temple and the Jewish community, which were to hold the light of Israel"s testimony to Yahweh up to the rest of the world. The bowl on top of this lampstand contained oil that constantly replenished the lamps (cf. Zechariah 4:12). [source][source][source]
"Lamp pedestals excavated from Palestine cities were ... cylindrical in shape, hollow, and looked rather like a tree trunk. They were usually made of pottery, and had a hole in the side, into which a spout could have been fixed.... Zechariah"s lampstand (menora) was probably just a cylindrical column, tapered slightly towards the top, on which was a bowl. Innumerable pottery versions of bowl lamps show how the rim was pinched together to form a holder for the wick, the better the light needed the more the places for wicks, seven being the most popular number.... The picture is of seven small bowls, each with a place for seven wicks, arranged round the rim of the main bowl.... What would be unusual would be such a lampstand in gold. With its seven times seven lights it would be both impressive and effective." [1][source]
The Hebrew text has "seven and seven pipes to the lamps." Most conservative commentators understood the number of pipes (spouts) connecting the large upper bowl to the individual lamps below to be distributive, indicating seven each for a total of49 such pipes. This presents the picture of a somewhat "spaghetti-like configuration" [2] "with an excess of plumbing." [3] Nevertheless this interpretation seems to be truest to the text. Another view is that there were two pipes connecting the bowl to each of the lamps for a total of14pipes. The Septuagint simply omitted one of these sevens resulting in one pipe connecting them for a total of seven. The large number of pipes probably stresses the abundant supply of oil from the reservoir to each lamp. [source][source][source]
There were seven lamps, one resting on each of the seven branches of the lampstand, and each lamp had seven spouts (lips). Most such earthenware lamps that archaeologists have found had only one spout for a wick. Here the picture is of a full complement of lamps (seven) that manifested the full complement of light (seven flames from each lamp). [source][source][source]
There were also two olive trees, one standing on either side of the bowl. Human maintenance of the lamps was unnecessary since the oil flowed from the trees to the reservoir to the lamps. This important feature of the vision stresses God"s singular provision of the oil (cf. Zechariah 4:6). [source][source][source]
"The two olive trees represent Joshua and Zerubbabel, whose witness in that day is the prototype of the two witnesses of Revelation 11:3-12. Actually no human being can be the real source of the power that actuates God"s witness. It is only as Joshua , Zerubbabel, or any other human being represents Christ, the true Priest-King, that he fulfills this vision. In their fullest significance the two olive trees speak of Christ, the LORD"s Priest-King (cp. Psalm 110:4)." [4][source]