Zechariah 3:8

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest,.... What he was about to say further concerning the bringing forth of the Messiah, the antitype of him, and of all the priests: thou and thy fellows, that sit

Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.

Hear now; hitherto thou hast been entertained with emblems and hieroglyphics, but now, O Joshua, hear what these mean. And thy fellows; the other priests, thy associates in the priestly office, though inferior to thee. That sit before thee; as assessors or coadjutors in a council or assembly; the high priest as president, the other as members of the council sat with him; to let them know what these types mean. They are men wondered at; the worldly, profane, unbelieving, and ignorant sort of Jews wonder at them, and their hopes; at their labour and expenses in attempting to build such a house, with so little helps to raise such a structure out of rubbish. I, God the Father, will bring forth a much more wonderful work. My servant the Branch; Christ, Messiah, the Branch, 11:1 . Hear now; hitherto thou hast been entertained with emblems and hieroglyphics, but now, O Joshua, hear what these mean. My servant the Branch; Christ, Messiah, the Branch, 11:1 .

Zechariah 3:8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they [are] men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.Ver. 8. Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest] Hear a sermon of Christ, the fountain of all this mercy bestowed upon thee, and yet further promised unto thee. Hear for thyself, hear for thy whole society. Thou and thy fellows, thy fellow friends, the rest of the priests, thy fellows in service, though inferior in office (for there was a subordination of priests, both before the temple, Numbers 3:6-10 1 Chronicles 23:4-5, and under the temple, 2 Chronicles 35:8-9), types also of Christ, and partakers of the benefit, 1 Timothy 6:2. For they are men wondered at] Erant omnibus probrosi, saith Calvin, They departed from evil, and thereby made themselves a prey, Isaiah 59:15, they were for signs and for wonders in Israel, Isaiah 8:18, hissed and hooted at, Psalms 71:7, as those that affected to be singular and seraphical. They think it strange, saith St. Peter, to his holy converts, that you run not with them to the same excess of riot, 1 Peter 4:4; speaking evil of you, as if you were no better than madmen, Isaiah 59:15, robbed of your right minds, as the word signifieth. It is a French proverb, He that would have his neighbour’ s dog hanged gives out that he is mad. The primitive persecutors used to put Christians into bears’ and dogs’ skins, or ugly creatures, and then bait them; so graceless persons put the saints of God into ugly conceits, look upon them as strange creatures, and then speak and act against them. In our wretched days, as the Turks count all fools to be saints, so people account all saints to be fools; and the more zealous among them monsters and miscreants. As for Athanasius and Marcellus, who have impiously blasphemed against God, and have lived as wicked miscreants, and are thereupon cast out of the Church, and condemned, we cannot receive them to the honour of episcopacy, said those fourscore bishops in the mock synod of Sardis. And Bede testifieth of the ancient Britons immediately before their destruction by the Saxons, that they were come to that height of wickedness, as to cast reproach upon the professors of religion, as upon the worst of men. Doth not St Paul say as much, 1 Corinthians 4:9, We are made a theatre, or are set upon the stage for a laughing stock unto the world, and to angels, and to men? For behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH] The same that grew out of the root of Jesse, when that goodly family was sunk so low, as from David the king to Joseph the carpenter.

(8) For they—i.e., thou and they. For this change of person, comp. Zephaniah 2:12, which runs literally, “Also ye Cushim slain by my sword (are) they.” Wondered at.—Literally, as in margin, of sign—i.e., men to whom signs are given, and for whom miracles are wrought; or, according to others, persons accustomed to interpret the enigmatical sayings of prophets. LXX., ἄνδρεςτερατοσκόποι. For, behold.—Better, simply, Behold. (Comp. ὅτι of New Testament.) I will bring.—Literally, I (am) bringing, a somewhat indefinite tense, the exact meaning of which can be decided only by the context. (Comp. Haggai 2:6.) Thus in Isaiah 7:14 the context (3:16) shows that what the prophet looked on as a fulfilment could not be far off; in Ezekiel 24:17 this tense is shown by the next verse to be the imminent future; while in Zechariah 12:2 a similar form of construction seems to refer to a distant future. My servant. . . .—Better, my servant Branch, after Ezekiel 34:23 : “my servant David.” Branch.—Hebrew, Tsιmach; occurs in Isaiah 4:2, “Branch of the Lord.” (Comp. the expressions in Isaiah 11:1; Isaiah 53:2.) These passages (especially Isaiah 4:2) Jeremiah had, doubtless, in mind when he uttered the prophecies of Jer 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15, in which he speaks of “A righteous Branch” and a “Branch of Righteousness,” as springing from the house of David, to be a Saviour to deliver Israel from the captivity. (See the whole context in both places, especially Jeremiah 23:7-8, Jeremiah 33:12-14.) From these passages Zechariah adopts “Branch” as the proper name of the Saviour. He may have expected that this promised Saviour would be found in Sheshbatstsar (i.e., Zerubbabel), “the Prince of Judah” (Ezra 1:8), who should build the House (Haggai 2:23; Zechariah 4:9). In Haggai 2:23, Zerubbabel is expressly called “my servant;” but the expression is also a recognised title of the Messiah in the passage of Ezekiel referred to above, and in Isaiah 53:12—“a righteous one—my servant”—and elsewhere. (This last passage is, probably, the foundation of the expression in Acts 4:27, τὸνἅγιονπαῖδάσονἸησοῦν.) A glimpse of Messianic times is here, indeed, revealed to the prophet, but the clearness of his view is obscured by the medium through which he views them. (See Notes on Zechariah 2:10-13; Zechariah 6:11-15.) From “Branch,” LXX., ἀνατολήν, “day-spring;” Syriac, “sunrise,” since Tsemcho in Syriac denotes “shining of the sun.” (Comp. LXX. of Isaiah 4:2, ἐπλάμψειδΘεός.)

Verse 8. O Joshua - thou, and thy fellows] Thy countrymen, who have now returned from your captivity, in a very wonderful manner. אנשי מופת anshey mopheth, figurative men, men whose office and ministration prefigured the Lord Jesus Christ; and therefore it is immediately added, "I will bring forth my servant The BRANCH." Abp. Newcome thinks this means Zerubbabel, so called because he was the grandson of Jehoiakim, or Jeconiah, king of Judah, Matthew 1:12, and heir to the throne of Judah. The Chaldee has, "My servant the Messiah." See Clarke on Isaiah 4:2. I think the word cannot apply to Zerubbabel, except as a type of Christ; in that sense it may be understood of him. See Zechariah 6:11-12.

8. that sit before thee] not, “who are now (seen) sitting,” for Joshua, the High Priest, alone appears in the vision, but “who are accustomed to sit,” as the inferior priests (“thy fellows”) before the High Priest to receive his commands. So “the sons of the prophets” sit before Elisha for instruction, 2 Kings 4:38; 2 Kings 6:1; and “the elders of Israel” in like manner before Ezekiel, Ezekiel 8:1; Ezekiel 14:1. for they are men wondered at] Rather, men of sign, or type: men which are a sign, R. V. “Men who in their persons (and office) shadow forth future events. Ezekiel 12:6; Ezekiel 12:11; Ezekiel 24:24; Ezekiel 24:27.” Gesen. This clause is a quasi-parenthesis. The direct address is interrupted, and a reason, as it were, given for making it: “To Joshua and his fellows I foretell the coming of ‘my servant, Branch,’ because they, the priesthood, in all their office and ministry, as well as in what has just happened to them in the vision in the person of their chief, are types of Him.” my servant] A frequent name of Messiah in Isaiah, e. g. Isaiah 42:1; Isaiah 49:6; Isaiah 52:13; Isaiah 53:11. In Acts 3:13; Acts 3:26; Acts 4:27; Acts 4:30; the R. V. has restored the true rendering of παῖς, “Servant,” not “Son,” or “Child.” This vision is thus more distinctly Messianic than those which preceded it. The Branch] Lit. Branch, or Shoot, or Sprout; the word being used as a proper name without the article. Comp. Zechariah 6:12; Jeremiah 23:5; Jeremiah 33:15. The use by the LXX. of ἀνατολή, “that which rises or springs up,” for Branch in these passages has led to the “Dayspring” (rightly so rendered as the context shews) of Luke 1:78. The early and repeated failures of succeeding High Priests and their fellows to fulfil the conditions and claim the privilege of Zec 3:7, as we learn from the Books of Ezra (Ezra 10:18) and Nehemiah (Nehemiah 13:4-5; Nehemiah 13:28-29), and from the Gospel history, must have made this promise of the “Branch” especially precious to the faithful while they waited for its fulfilment (Luke 2:38).

Thou and thy companions which sit before thee; yea men of marvelous signs are they - o It seems probable that the words addressed to Joshua begin here; else the “men of signs” would be the companions

In Zechariah 3:6-10 is contained the address which the angel of Jehovah makes to Joshua — again not as a private individual but as the representative of the people — concerning his duties and