Zechariah 3:1

And he showed me Joshua the high priest,.... Who was one that came up out of the captivity, and was principally concerned in building the temple, and had many enemies to obstruct him in it; and who

And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

CHAPTER 3 Under the type of Joshua the high priest receiving clean garments, , and a covenant of promise from God, ,7, Christ, the Branch and Corner-stone, is foretold, . And he; the Lord of hosts, whose servant Zechariah was, and in whose name he spake. Showed me; in vision represented to me, Zechariah. Joshua the high priest; for that office was by hereditary right descended on him, and how mean soever his state was, yet still he was that great officer of the church. Standing; either as accused, and to make his defence; or rather ministering in his office, according to his duty. Before the angel: this angel was Christ, whose minister, or servant, the high priest was, as well as type of him. Satan; that adversary, as we might render the word, either Satan the devil, or some instrument of his stirred up by him, Sanballat, or, &c. Standing at his right hand; either because the accusation was true, or to hold his working hand from its work. To resist him; Joshua.

Zechariah 3:1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.Ver. 1. And he showed me Joshua the high priest] In a vision doubtless; and that for this end, that both the prophet, and by him the people also, might be advertised that they wrestle not against flesh and blood, men like themselves, but against spiritual wickednesses, or wicked spirits, who did act them and agitate them against the Church; ride them and spur them to do mischief; as he did that bloody Farnesius, one of the Pope’ s champions, who, coming with an army into Germany, swore that he would ride his horse up to the spurs in the blood of Protestants, Scito persecutorem tuum ab ascensore daemone pernrgeri (Bern.). It was the devil that stirred up the spirit of Tatnai, Shether-Boznai, Sanballat, &c., to hinder the good work now in hand; like as he did Eckius, Cajetan, Cochlaeus, Catharinus, and many other great scholars (besides the two kings of England and Hungary), to write against the Reformation begun by Luther, and Charles V with all the strength of the empire to withstand and hinder it. But all in vain. Here he bends his accusation chiefly against the chief priest; but, through his sides, he strikes at the welfare of the whole Church. Ministers are the main object of his malice; a special spite he bears to such; singling them out and sifting them to the bran, as he desired to do Peter; stirring up unreasonable and wicked men against them, as he dealt by Paul when he fought with beasts at Ephesus, with breathing devils wherever he came, being in deaths often. When the viper hung upon his hand, Acts 28:3, the devil doubtless thought to have dispatched him, but he was deceived. So he is ever; when he attempts as an accuser of the brethren, he is sure to be non-suited, and his plea to be cast out of the court by our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who appears for us (as he did here for Joshua) to put away sin, Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 9:26, and to take away the iniquities of their most holy things. Standing before the angel of the Lord] i.e. Before Christ, his best friend, and doing his office as a high priest. Such is Satan’ s malice and impudence (saith an interpreter here) to hurt and hinder us most in our best employments; and to accuse the saints even to their best friend, Christ Jesus. He knows well, that as Samson’ s strength lay in his hair, so doth a Christian’ s strength lie in his holy performances: perfumed and presented by Christ. Hence his restlessness in seeking to set a difference, and to breed hate.

III. FOURTH VISION.—JOSHUA BEFORE THE ANGEL OF THE LORD. (1-7) The accusation against Joshua was not that of neglecting the building of the Temple (for the re-building had been resumed five months before), nor was it that he had allowed his sons to marry foreign wives (for that took place some sixty years later), but, rather, as high priest he was the representative of the priestly nation, and so was looked on as laden, not only with his own, but also with the sins of the whole people. Moreover, the priesthood itself had fallen under the severest condemnation. “Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned my holy things” (Ezekiel 22:26).

CHAPTER III While the Jews were rebuilding their temple, their adversaries endeavoured to stop the work, Ezra 5:3-4, c. This vision is therefore calculated to give them the strongest encouragement that God, after plucking them as brands out of the fire (or captivity of Babylon,) would not now give them up, but would continue to prosper and favour them and that notwithstanding the interruptions they should meet with, the work should be finished under the gracious superintendence of Providence; and their high priest, clothed in his pontifical robes, would soon officiate in the holy of holies, 1-7. The subject is then, by an easy transition, applied to a much greater future deliverance and restoration, of which Joshua and his companions, delivered now, are declared to be figures or types; for that the Messiah or Branch, the great high priest typified by Joshua, would be manifested; and, like the principal stone represented in the vision, become the chief corner stone of his Church; that the all-seeing eye of God would constantly guard it; and that by his atonement he would procure for it peace and pardon, 8-10. NOTES ON CHAP. III Verse 1. And he showed me Joshua the high priest] The Angel of the Lord is the Messiah, as we have seen before; Joshua, the high priest, may here represent the whole Jewish people; and Satan, the grand accuser of the brethren. What the subject of dispute was, we perhaps learn from Jude 1:9. Michael and Satan disputed about the body of Moses. This could not refer to the natural body of the Jewish lawgiver, which had been dead about one thousand years; it must therefore refer to that body of laws given to the Jews by Moses, for the breach of which Satan, who was their tempter to disobedience, now comes forward as their accuser; that, exciting the justice of God against them, they may be all brought to perdition. There is a paronomasia here:- Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.] שטן Satan signifies an adversary. לשטנו lesiteno, to be his adversary, or accuser.

Ch. Zechariah 3:1. he shewed me] i.e. Jehovah, from whom all the visions proceeded, Zechariah 1:7; Zechariah 1:20, shewed me. καὶἔδειξέμοικύριος, LXX. Joshua] called in the Book of Ezra Jeshua (Zechariah 2:2; Zechariah 3:2, etc.). His grandfather, Seraiah, was taken captive by Nebuzar-adan after the sacking of the city and burning of the Temple, and was slain by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18-21). Josedech, or Jehozadak, his son, the father of Joshua, was at the same time taken as a prisoner to Babylon (1 Chronicles 6:15), where Joshua probably was born. During the lifetime of Josedech, while the Temple was in ruins and the people in captivity, the High Priesthood was in abeyance. After an interval of about 52 years, Josedech being now dead, the office was revived in the person of his son. Joshua was the first of the third or last series of High Priests, those, namely, who came after the Captivity. He is spoken of with commendation in the Book of Ecclesiasticus (Sir 49:12; comp. 1Es 5:5; 1Es 5:48; 1Es 5:56), and is made a special type of the Great High Priest, both in this chapter and in chapter 6. standing before the angel of the Lord] as before his judge, Deuteronomy 19:17; Joshua 20:6; Romans 14:10; Revelation 20:12. The Angel of the Lord is here, as elsewhere in the Old Testament, He to whom all judgment is committed (John 5:22). See note on Zechariah 1:12. Satan standing at his right hand] The great Adversary (for Satan is here a proper name, as in Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-7) here assumes the character (Revelation 12:10) and occupies the place (Psalms 109:6) of the accuser in the trial. See Appendix, note B. to resist him] Lit. to play-the-adversary against him; to be his adversary, R. V. The verb and the noun (Satan) have the same root. The charge against Joshua has been thought to be a personal one, and reference has been made to Ezra 10:18, to prove that some of his sons had polluted themselves by marrying strange wives. The passage in Ezra however, is at least 60 years later than the vision in Zechariah. It is better to regard the intended accusation as including both personal and official transgressions, his own sins and the sins of the people (Hebrews 5:3; Hebrews 7:27). Sin, the sin of the man and of the order to which he belongs, of the individual and of the nation which he represents, stands in the way of the promised blessing, and must first be put away before that blessing can be enjoyed.

And He - God, (for the office of the attendant angel was to explain, not to show the visions) “showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the Angel of the Lord;” probably to be judged by him ;

1. He showed me — Either Jehovah, who is the author of all prophetic revelation (Zechariah 1:20; Amos 7:1), or the interpreting angel, who acts as the divine agent both in presenting and in