Zechariahchapter 3
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Speaks with:Jude 1×2Zechariah 6×2Luke 22×11 Peter 5×1Revelation 12×1Amos 4×1
Summary
Chapter summary
A courtroom vision. Joshua the high priest stands before the angel of Jehovah 'and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary'. And the defense is not argument but rebuke: 'Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan… is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?' (Jude 9 echoes the formula.) Joshua stands there in filthy garments, and the order goes out to strip them off: 'I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with rich apparel.' The prophet dares to ask for a clean mitre, and gets it. Then 'my servant the Branch,' a stone with seven eyes, and atonement in a clause: 'I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.'
Context
Prophecy · Zechariah — Zechariah overview
- A. 1–5 Filthy garments taken off Joshua the high priest
- B. 6–7 If you walk in my ways, you will judge my house
- C. 8–10 My servant the BRANCH, and a stone with seven eyes
The outline
A.Filthy garments taken off Joshua the high priestvv. 1 to 5
Read vv. 1 to 5 →B.If you walk in my ways, you will judge my housevv. 6 to 7
Read vv. 6 to 7 →C.My servant the BRANCH, and a stone with seven eyesvv. 8 to 10
Read vv. 8 to 10 →
The world behind this chapter
Zechariah 3The history
Joshua son of Jozadak was the high priest of the returned community, named alongside Zerubbabel in Haggai and Ezra. His grandfather had been the high priest taken away when Jerusalem fell.
That is the problem this vision addresses. The priesthood had gone into exile with everyone else. The temple had been destroyed, the line interrupted, the nation defiled. On what basis could this man stand at an altar and represent Israel to God?
The scene is a legal hearing. Joshua stands before the angel of the LORD, and "Satan" — the word means the accuser, and in this setting it is a courtroom role — stands at his right hand to resist him. The right hand was the accuser's place in a hearing.
The accusation is never answered on its merits, because it does not need to be. The LORD rebukes the accuser and calls Joshua a brand plucked out of the fire — a half-burned stick pulled off the hearth. Then the filthy garments are taken away, iniquity is passed from him, and he is dressed in clean priestly robes and a clean turban.
The chapter closes with two promises: a servant called the BRANCH, and a stone with seven eyes on it, and iniquity removed from the land in one day. "Branch" had already been used by Isaiah and Jeremiah for a coming king from David's line, and it is applied here in a priestly setting.
What it meant to them
The returnees knew exactly why they had been exiled. The accusation against their high priest was, in one sense, accurate — and God does not contest it. He changes the clothes.
That is what allowed worship to restart. Their priest did not stand at the altar on the strength of an unbroken record. He stood there because God had pulled him out of the fire and dressed him Himself.
Sources cited
- John Calvin, Commentaries on the Twelve Minor Prophets
- Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (public domain)
The text of this chapter
This page carries no textual note on Zechariah 3. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →
Connections from this chapter
v. 10 · A parallel passage
'Every man under his vine and under his fig tree' - the shalom-formula of the messianic age (also 1 Kgs 4:25); binds the vine strand to the fig-tree companion motif.
Micah 4:4→And each man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, with no one to frighten him. For the mouth of the LORD of Hosts has spoken.
MT-ASV
This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Notes on the Old Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.