Zechariah 3
PATUnder the figure of Joshua the high-priest, clothed with new priestly attire, is set forth the glory of Christ, as the corner-stone of the church. ^ tional sins of the Jews, and that I will restore them to a more prosperous condition, I have commanded the angels, my attendants, to clothe thee with new and clean raiment, an emblem of purity, (Rev. xi*. 8.) as well as of joyfulness and prosperity. (See Eccles. ix. 8. Isa. lxi. 10.) The word, rendered in our English, cliange of raiment, the LXX. translate Ilo&‘ipri, a garment down to the foot, meaning the linen ephod, which was the priests’ habit; regarding the sense rather than the literal signification of the word. [chap. IV, Vcr. 10. In that day, saith the Lord.] At that remarkable time, when I will forgive all yonr iniquities, ver. 9. (See the note upon xii. 3.) Ye shall call every man [to] his neighbour tinder the vine and tinder the fig-tree.’] Men shall call or discourse with their neighbours in a friendly and sociable manner, as they arc sitting at easo under the shadow of their vines and fig-trees. A proverbial expression, denoting peace and plenty: compare Micah iv. 4. where the words follow the j)romisc of a universal peace. (See the notes there, and upon Isa. ii. 4.)
Zechariah 3:1
JjLND he shewed me Joshua the higli-priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The angel that talked with me, (ii. 3.) represented to me a new vision: viz. that of Joshua the high-priest standing before the angel of the Lord, or the Logos, mentioned i. 11. He is called the Lord in the following verse. And Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.] i. e\ To be his accuser, as the devil is called, Rev. xii. 10. so here he is represented as aggravating the faults, or infirmities of Joshua, the representative of the whole body of the Jews (see the following words); by this means’ to prevail with God to permit the Jews to be still under the power of their adversaries. So the prince, or tutelar angel, of the kingdom of Persia, is represented as resisting the angel Gabriel, Dan. x. 13. 20. It was the custom in courts of judicature, for the accuser to stand at the right hand of the accused. (See Psal. cix. 6.)
Zechariah 3:2
And the Lord said unto Satan, Tlie Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem. The Logos, or Son of God, said unto Satan, The Lord, even God the Father, rebuke thee, and not suffer thy mischievous imagination against Jerusalem and the temple to prosper: he that hath chosen that place for his especial residence. This text seems parallel with Gen. xix. 24. where it is said, Tlie Lord rained fire from the Lord out of heaven; a text alleged, both by ancient and modern writers, to prove, that a distinction of persons in the blessed Trinity, was a doctrine delivered in the Old Testament, though but imperfectly. The words may be rendered, The Lord hath rebuked tMe, or rejected thy plea* having long ago chosen Jerusalem. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?] Is not this small remnant returned from captivity, miraculously rescued from utter destruction, like a brand plucked out of the fire? And can it be thought that God will’not preserve them? (Compare Amos vi. 11. Jude ver. 23.)
Zechariah 3:3
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. Denoting the sins and pollutions of the people, of whom he wag the representative. (See ver. 2. 4.) The sins particularly taken notice of, might bo their marrying with strangers, contrary to the law: (see Ezra ix. 2.11, 12. Nehem. xiii. 24.) so the Chaldee understands it.
Zechariah 3:4
And he answered, and spake to those that stood before him, &c. To the inferior angels that were inhis retinue. (Compare ver. 5. 7. i.8— 11. and see the note upon Dan. x. 10.) And unto him [i. e. Joshua] he said, J have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee ivith change in token of the profoundest reverence and submission, (see of raiment.] In token of my pardoning the public aud na
Zechariah 3:5
And J said. i. e. I, the Lord, farther said,- or commanded. Let them set a fair mitre upon his head, &c] As the new garments put upon Joshua were such as belonged to the high-priest, and were contrived for glory and beauty, (Exod. xxviii. 2.) so the mitre was the proper ornament for his head, (ibid. xxix. 6.) And the angel of the Lord stood by.] The angel that talked with me (see ver. 6. and ii. 3.) still stood by, or attended, and made that solemn protestation which follows.
Zechariah 3:7
This saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts. If thou wilt take care that the several offices which belong to the service of my temple, be carefully performed by thyself, and the priests and Levites placed under thy command, then thou shalt exercise all that authority and jurisdiction which belongs to the high-priest’s office, in respect of those controversies and questions which are brought before him to determine: (see Lev. x. 10. Deut. xvii. 12. Jer. xviii. 18. Mai. ii. 7.) and thou shalt preside as chief over my house, without any interruption, or molestation. The word mishmar, charge, is often used in the book of Numbers, to denote the several offices and duties of the priests and Levites. And I ivill give thee places to walk among them that stand by.] Or, Stand before me, (see iv. 14.) Hereafter I will give thee a place in heaven among these angels my attendants. The priesthood under the Old Testament, and the evangelical ministry under the New, is compared to the angelical office: (see Mai. ii. 7. Hev. i. 20.) so they that discharge this office well, shall have an eminent degree of glory in heaven, and be made equal to the angels themselves. (See Matt. xix. 28. xxiv. 47. Luke xxii. 29, 30.)
Zechariah 3:8
After the glory he hath sent me unto the nations that spoiled you. After I have given you the promise of restoring Jerusalem to such a glorious state (so the Chaldeo explains it), I, the prophet Zechariah, am sent to execute God’s judgments upon the Chaldeans, who spoiled you of all your wealth and ornaments. For he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye.] God is very sensible of every injury offered to his people: (compare Psal. cv. 15.) it is like hurting the eye, which is the most tender and sensible part of the body. (See Psal. xvii. 8.) And though he made the Babylonians instruments of his vengeance, yet now he will call them to account for exceeding their commission. (See the note upon i. 15.) Hear now, O Joshua the high-priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee.] The angel directs his speech to Joshua and his assessors, or assistants in council, of whom Zerubbabel without question was one. The rabbins call these the heads of the captivity, and the men of the great synagogue; by whom they suppose the Jewish affairs, both ecclesiastical and civil, to have been settled after the captivity, and the canon of the Old Testament to have been completed. The angel bespeaks their attention to what follows, as containing matter of great importance. For they are men wondered at.] The margin reads, Men of wonder. The word niophet signifies not only a wonder, but likewise a sign, or a type. Thus Isaiah’s walking naked and barefoot was for a sign and wonder [or rather, a type or example] to Egypt and Ethiopia; (Isa.xx. 3.) i. e. a sign or emblem that they should be carried away captive without any covering to their nakedness: so the word is used again, Isa. viii. 18. So when Ezekiel was commanded to dig through the wall and carry out his goods in the twilight, xii. 7. he was therein a sign [mophet], ver. 11, 12. to the Jews, and to Zedekiah himself; foreshewing what he and they should, do, when Jerusalem was taken by the Chaldean army. So, likewise, Ezek. xxiv. 24. he is said to be a sign unto them in not mourning for the death of his wife; because according to all that he had done, should they do;* where the same word is used in the origi-. nal. The word is to be understood in this sense in the text before us, which should be translated, They are men intended for signs or tokens, they are typical men, as a learned prelate very properly translates the phrase, in his Defence of Christianity from the ancient Prophecies, chap. 3. sect. 1. 4. To the same sense the Vulgar Latin translates it, Viri portendentes; Men that foreshew something to come. They, with Joshua the high-priest at the head of them, are a figure of the restoration of the church under the government of the Messias.. For, behold, I will bring forth my servant, Tlie Branch.] I will point out, or foretell, the cpming of the Messiah into the world, as a person altogether distinct from Joshua, or any other present among you, and I will make him known to you under the name of the Branch: a title often given to the Messiah in the prophets, as descending from the stock of David: see Isa. iv. 2. Jer. xxiii. 5. and again, in this prophecy, vi. 12. in all which places the word in the original is Tsemach. The Chaldee explains every one of these texts of the Messias; who. is elsewhere called God’s.Servant, in an eminent sense, because he was sanctified and sent into the world upon a message of the highest importance. (See Jsa. xlii. 1. xlix. 3. Hi* 13. liii. 11. Ezek. xxxiv. 23, 24.) The word Tsemach, Branch, the LXX. render here and in most of the parallel texts,‘AvaroAr), the East, or sun-rising; from whence it is applied to Christ, Luke i. 78. and is translated there the dayspiring: thence the name of Oriens was probably given to the supposed king of the Jews, in the Roman writers. (See Tacit. Hist. lib. v. cap. 13.)
Zechariah 3:9
For, behold,! will shake my hand upon [or, over. them, and they shall be a spoil to their servants.] The words are a continuation of God’s message, who proceeds to speak thus to the Jews by Zechariah: I will hold my rod over the Babylonians, (compare Isa. xi. 15. xix. 16.) and I will deliver their city into the hand of the Persians, who were formerly their servants, (sec the note upon lsa. xxii. 6.) who shall become masters of its wealth. This threatening was fulGlled when Darius tookBabylon after a siege of twelve months, beat down its walls, and put three thousand of the principal citizens to death. (See Dr.Prideaux, * under the fifth and sixth years of Darius.)’ And ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me.] These words arc to be understood as spoken by the prophet himself; when this judgment is executed upon the Chaldeans, it will be an undoubted sign and proof of the truth of my mission. (Compare Ezek. xxxiii. 33.): For, behold, the stone ivhich J have laid before Joshua.] I have ordered a principal.stone (see the following note) to be laid before Joshua (in allusion to the present building of the temple, about which his thoughts are employed); denoting the Messias, represented by tho former prophets as a corner-stone, or foundation, elect and precious. (See Psal. cxviii. 22. Isa. xxviii. 16.) Upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts.] As it is usual to adorn the principal stones of a building with carvings and hieroglyphics, such as heads, eyes, and the like; so will I perform in reality what artists do in imagery: viz. I will appoint the seven angels of the highest order to attend upon the Messias, represented by this stone, and to execute his commands all the >vorld over, for the good of his church. (Compare iv. 10. Rev. v. 6.) The one stpne here mentioned is the same with the headstone, iv. 7. and might be better translated here the chief or principal stone: in which sense the word achad is used, Gen. xlviii. 22, as the Chaldee there explains it.. And I will remove the -iniquity of that land in one day.] I will proclaim a free pardon of sins by the publishing of the gospel: (see Jer. xxxi. 34.) or the words may relate to the pardoning the Jews upon their general conversion, (Compare xiii. 1. Jer. 1. 20. Miqah vii. 18, 19.) The following verse favours this exposition, 2F
Zechariah 3:10
Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and will dwell in the midst of thee. HereGod speaks again to his people, and saith he will give them manifest tokens of his presence among them. (See the note upon ver. 5. and compare Lev. xxvi. 12. Ezek. xxxvii. 27.) •’
And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day, and shall be my people. The church shall be enlarged by the accession of the gentiles to it; and shall receive a farther increase, when, upon the conversion of the Jews, the fulness of the gentiles shall be brought into it. This promise relates chiefly to the latter times. (Compare viii. 21—23.) And thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee.] The fulfilling of. these my words, saith the prophet, shall be an undeniable evidence of the truth of my mission. (See ver. 9.)
And the Lord shall inherit Judah, his portion in the holy land. God shall give visible tokens that the land of Judea and its inhabitants are his peculiar people; according to the tenor of that covenant he made with their fathers, Tlie land is his, Lev. xxv. 32. and therefore is called the holy land, as Jerusalem is named the holy city: where the temple shall again be built, a token of his presence: and as the people shall constantly profess themselves his worshippers, so he will afford them gracious instances of his favour and protection. This may perhaps bo more fully verified at the general restoration of that nation.
Be silent, O alljlesh, before the Lord: for he is raised tip out of his holy habitation. Let all men be silent Habak. ii.20.) when God comes down from heaven, (compare Micah i. 3.) or gives visible signs of his appearance to execute judgment upon his adversaries, or to shew mercy unto his servants. Heaven is called the habitation of God’s holiness, Deut. xxvi. 15. Isa. Ixiii. 15.