Often, it is debated: Who are the two witnesses that are described in Chizayon (Revelation) 11?

Chizayon 11:3

And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth.

The debate usually seeks to determine if this is Eliyahu (Elijah) and Moshe (Moses) as seen at the Transfiguration of Mashiach (Mattithyahu 17; Marcus 9), or someone else, such as Enoch:

B’reshiyth 5:24                                                                       

And Enoch walked with ELOHIYM: and he was not; for ELOHIYM took him.

However, the answer is actually given later in the same passage of Chizayon 11.

Chizayon 11:4

These are the two olive trees, and the two menorahs standing before the ELOHIYM of the earth.

There you have it.  The two witnesses are two olive trees and two menorahs.  A literal interpretation might yield the number four (2+2), however, a careful read tells us that the two witnesses are both two olive trees and two menorahs.  Can we determine what this means?

First, let us answer the question as to who are the two menorahs:

Chizayon 1:12-20

And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And being turned, I saw seven golden menorahs; 13 And in the midst of the seven menorahs one like unto the Son of Adam, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle. 14 His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes were as a flame of fire; 15 And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters. 16 And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shines in his strength. 17 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last: 18 I am he that lives, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen; and have the keys of She’ol and of death. 19 Write the things את eth which you have seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter; 20 The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden menorahs. The seven stars are the angels of the seven called out assemblies: and the seven menorahs which you saw are the seven called out assemblies.

If the menorahs are the called out assemblies in Chizayon 1, then the two menorahs in Chizayon 11 are also called out assemblies.  Although we have that answer as to the menorahs, we don’t have the answer as to which called out assemblies they might be.

However, the two witnesses are also called two olive trees.  There are references within the text that can tell us a thing or two about these witnesses.  Let us begin with Yermiyahu.

Yermiyahu 11:16

YAHUAH called your name, a green olive tree, fair, and of goodly fruit: with the noise of a great tumult he has kindled fire upon it, and the branches of it are broken. 17 For YAHUAH TSEVA’OTH, that planted you, has pronounced evil against you, for the evil of the house of Yisra’el and of the house of Yahudah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.

Here we see that the green olive tree is the whole of Yisra’el – both the house of Yisra’el and the house of Yahudah.  There is more to be said, again in the book of Zakaryahu. 

Zakaryahu 4:1-10

AND the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 2 And said unto me, What do you see? And I said, I have looked, and behold a menorah all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: 3 And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 4 So I answered and spoke to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? 5 Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Know you not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. 6 Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of YAHUAH unto Zerubbavel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my RUACH, says YAHUAH TSEVA’OT. 7 Who are you, O great mountain? before Zerubbavel you shall become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. 8 Moreover the word of YAHUAH came unto me, saying, 9 The hands of Zerubbavel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and you shall know that YAHUAH TSEVA’OT has sent me unto you. 10 For who has despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbavel with those seven; they are the eyes of YAHUAH, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

These seven eyes of YAHUAH I have discussed previously, but notice the similarity to the discussion in Chizayon:

Chizayon 1:20

The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden menorahs. The seven stars are the angels of the seven called out assemblies: and the seven menorahs which you saw are the seven called out assemblies.

Who are these seven stars, the seven eyes, these seven “radiances”?  They are the messengers (malachiym) of the seven called out assemblies.  Let us consider the rest of the passage in Zakaryahu:

Zakaryahu 4:11-14

11 Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the menorah and upon the left side thereof? 12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? 13 And he answered me and said, Know you not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. 14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by ADONAI of the whole earth.       

The phrase “the two anointed ones” does not tell us much more.  However, consider the Hebrew word that appears here that is translated as “anointed”: The word is הַיִּצְהָ֑ר yitshar, meaning oil (as producing light); figuratively anointing: anointed, oil.  The verse reads: these are the two who are oil that gives light and that stand by the ADONAI of the whole earth.

Is there more?  Can we discover more from the text that might reveal the identity of the two witnesses, remembering that secondarily, these are the two called out assemblies? Let us consider what Sha’ul had to say about the issue:

Romaiym 11:16-27

For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. 17 And if some of the branches be broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were graffed in among them, and with them partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; 18 Boast not against the branches. But if you boast, you bear not the root, but the root you. 19 You will say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in. 20 Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: 21 For if ELOHIYM spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not you. 22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of ELOHIYM: on them which fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness: otherwise you also shall be cut off. 23 And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for ELOHIYM is able to graff them in again.

For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree? 25 For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Yisra’el, until the fullness of the other people come in. 26 And so all Yisra’el shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Siy’on the Deliverer, and shall turn away wickedness from Ya`aqov: 27 For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

So, the green olive tree is all Yisra’el, is it not?  And the two witnesses, one to the left and one to the right, are they not the house of Yisra’el and the house of Yahudah?

There shall come out of Siy’on the Deliver, and shall turn away wickedness from Ya’aqov – Ya’aqov, who came to be called Yisra’el, whose twelve sons became the whole of the house of Yisra’el – the northern kingdom called Yisra’el, and the southern kingdom called Yahudah.

Yechezq’el 37:18-28

And when the children of your people shall speak unto you, saying, Will you not show us what you mean by these? 19 Say unto them, Thus says ADONAI YAHUAH; Behold, I will take the stick of Yoceph, which is in the hand of Ephrayim, and the tribes of Yisra’el his fellows, and will put them with him, even with the stick of Yahudah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in mine hand.

20 And the sticks whereon you write shall be in your hand before their eyes. 21 And say unto them, Thus says ADONAI YAHUAH; Behold, I will take the children of Yisra’el from among the heathen, whither they be gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22 And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Yisra’el; and one king shall be king to them all: and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms anymore at all: 23 Neither shall they defile themselves anymore with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions: but I will save them out of all their dwelling places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their ELOHIYM. 24 And David my Servant shall be King over them; and they all shall have one Shepherd: they shall also walk in my judgments, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25 And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Ya`aqov my servant, wherein your fathers have dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, even they, and their children, and their children's children forever: and my Servant David shall be their prince forever. 26 Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them: and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them forevermore. 27 My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their ELOHIYM, and they shall be my people. 28 And the heathen shall know that I YAHUAH do sanctify את eth-Yisra’el, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore.

Who are the two witnesses, then, in Chizayon 11?  Is it not the house of Yisra’el and the house of Yahudah?  Are they not the two called out assemblies?  Yekhezq’el tells us that soon, very soon, they will be one stick – all Yisra’el.  Halleluyah.