Zechariah 3

Zechariah 3:1

D. Joshua the High Priest (Chap. 3)Meaning: The priesthood, representative of the nation, cleansed and restored. 3:1-3 Joshua the high priest, clothed in filthy garments, pictures the priesthood as representative of Israel. Satan (Heb. for adversary) accuses Israel of being unfit to carry out its priestly function. God answers Satan that He has plucked the nation as a brand . . . from the fire, i.e., the captivity. 3:4-7 The Angel promises that the nation will be cleansed and invested with rich robes. At Zechariah’s request, a clean turban is placed on Joshua’s head, and he is invested while the Angel of the LORD stands by. If the people are faithful and obedient to the Lord, they will rule God’s house, and have charge of His courts, and have the right of access among those standing there. 3:8, 9 Joshua and his fellow-priests were a wondrous sign (“men wondered at,” that is, men that are for a sign). Unger elaborates: . . . men of prophetic portent, men who in their official position shadow forth coming events. . . . Through Christ, Israel will be redeemed and restored and constituted a high-priestly nation, which Joshua and his associate priests prefigure. In verse 8 Christ is spoken of as “My Servant the BRANCH”; in verse 9 He is referred to under the figure of an engraved stone (cf. Dan_2:34-35). Some have suggested that “the Branch” applies to the First Advent, the stone to the Second. Gaebelein says that the engraved stone with seven eyes on it must also mean the redeemed nation, the foundation of the kingdom, filled with His Spirit, for we read in connection with it, “I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” He speaks of it as “restored Israel as the nucleus of the kingdom of God.” 3:10 The chapter closes with a deservedly famous glimpse of the peaceful nature of pastoral life in the Millennium: “In that day,” says the LORD of hosts, “everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree.”