Biblion Bible Commentary
Read the introduction to Zechariah · About this commentary
The Accuser Rebuked
Zechariah 3:1-10
1 He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. · WEB
A high priest is accused in filthy clothes, the charge is never disputed, and every verb of the acquittal is done to him rather than by him.
The scene is a courtroom and the positions are formal. Joshua the high priest stands before Yahweh's angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary — the accuser's place. The Hebrew word behind the name is the ordinary term for an opponent at law, and it is being used as a title.
Verse 3 concedes the case before it is made: Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. The nation's representative before God appears in soiled clothing, and the text does not soften what that means. Whatever the accusation was, it was true.
So the striking thing is that the charge is never answered. It is not disputed, mitigated, or explained. The accuser is simply rebuked, and the ground given is not Joshua's record but God's prior decision: Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you Zechariah 3:2. Then an image of narrow rescue — isn't this a burning stick plucked out of the fire? A brand snatched from a blaze is not a fine object; it is a salvaged one.
Every verb of what follows has Joshua as its object. The garments are taken off him by order. I have caused your iniquity to pass from you. I will clothe you with rich clothing. He speaks no word in his own defense and performs no act of his own cleansing.
One detail is the prophet's own. I said, Let them set a clean turban on his head — the only place in the visions where the watcher interrupts to ask for something, and it is granted. The turban matters because the high priest's carried a gold plate engraved HOLY TO YAHWEH Exodus 28:36, and the book will end by putting those same words on horses' harness Zechariah 14:20.
The conditions in verse 7 come after the reclothing, not before it — if you will walk in my ways... then you also shall judge my house. Standing first, service second; the order cannot be reversed without contradicting the verse.
And verse 8 turns from the man to someone else: I will bring out my servant, the Branch. A single stone with seven eyes is set before him, and the promise is that iniquity will be removed from the land in one day.
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