Who/what are the two witnesses in Revelation 11?

Question

In Revelation 11:3-12, God says he will appoint his two witnesses - "two olive trees", "two lampstands" - as prophets for 1260 days. They end up being overpowered and killed by the beast, seemingly in Jerusalem. The fact that they have the power to shut up the heavens suggests they're somehow connected with the ministry of Elijah and the mention of a turning water into blood and plagues is suggestive of Moses.

Are these witnesses supposed to be actual men? Or are they symbolic of something else? Is there any way from the text to tell?

I'm also curious if there is any OT connection for the fire from their mouths, like the allusions to Elijah and Moses.

Answer 1

Questions on Revelation are extremely difficult to answer because they are so highly based on your view of Revelation, which is too hard to argue for in one post. I don't have the expertise to give a great answer to this question, but I thought I might as well give it a shot since no one else has.

As someone who tends towards a partial preterist position, I would be inclined to say that these were two real men. Who they were, I do not know (though I intend to by Greg Beale's Revelation commentary soon, and perhaps that will shed light on the question).

John Gill held that they represented a faithful few ministers of Christ down through the ages. He notes that the metaphor of the two olive trees is drawn from Zechariah 4:3, where they represent Zerubbabel and Jeshua, two faithful witnesses. This interpretation would likely be favored by many postmillenialists and amillenialists.

Possible Old Testament parallels to the fire going out of their mouths:

• Yahweh's word (i.e. what comes out of his mouth) is like fire.
• God told Jeremiah that his words were like a fire; later, he complained that that was so, and that he couldn't hold it in.

For this reason, Gill holds that the fire is the witnesses' faithful speaking of the Word of God.

Sorry for such a bare-bones answer. I will post more if/when I know more.

Answer 2

There is another interpretation taken in the light of the Biblical Feast calculated with the Hebrew calendar. It is interpreting the revelations as the map of the redemption given by God, knowing these feasts makes an easier interpretation.

By example, the seventh month of the Bible is the time to celebrate the feasts of trumpets. Tradition dictates sounding Shofar or Trumpet, also known as the day of judgment, or the day of the coronation of the king. This day begins on the first day of the month, is the only Biblical festival that begins a first of the month.

Because the biblical calendar is lunar, "the months were set by observation of a new crescent moon". This means that the moon is hidden. In the ancient world, to determine which night is a new month is needed two witnesses, they announced to the Sanhedrin the arrival of the new month, in the seventh month it means to start the Feast of the trumpets. The witnesses are:

These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands that stand before the Lord of the earth (Rev 11:4)

Thus, if you read the book of Revelation, first are two witnesses (Rev 11:3-12) and then the seven trumpets (Rev 11:15). The two witnesses (will prophesy for 1,260 days - Rev 11:3) so I think they are those who announce to repentance for the blowing of the Trumpets, the coming of the Messiah! Thinking about the author of Revelation (the Apostle John), he knew and lived these feasts, and knew about these two witnesess.