Chapter Three

1–5. Fourth vision: the vindication of the high priest. 6–10. Promises accompanying the fourth vision.

The general thought of the fourth vision is thus. The blessings promised to the chosen people will undoubtedly be granted to it, but only on the condition that it be cleansed from sins that separate it from God, who cannot dwell among a people defiled by sin. In this vision the prophet is shown the forgiveness of the people’s sins, as a new mercy of God, which must, of course, be earned through one’s own efforts. Only a people cleansed from sin can hope for the promised prosperity and glorification.

Zechariah 3:1. And he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. It is not entirely clear from Zech 3:1 who shows this new vision to the prophet; but in correspondence with Zech 1:20 and with the context one can suppose that the Lord himself does it. So understood the LXX, who add in Zech 3:1 the word κυριος (the same in the Vulgate). — The high priest, head of the priests, in whose hands were the means of cleansing the people’s sins, is presented to the prophet’s view as standing before the Angel of the Lord, as if in the position of an accused. Satan stood at the right side of the high priest, opposing the Lord’s decision to return his mercy to Israel. The high priest Joshua in the vision of Chapter III appears as the representative of the entire people, not as a private individual answering before God for his personal sins (Plat. 665–668). Satan insists, consequently, essentially on the fact that the people cannot have effective intercession before God in the person of the high priest wearing defiled garments (Zech 3:3): as a representative of the priesthood, he could be accused “of not observing the laws of Levitical and priestly purity, the violation of which was at the same time a profaning of theocratic society” (ib. 663).

Zechariah 3:2. And the Lord said to Satan: The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord rebuke you, you who have chosen Jerusalem! Is he not a brand plucked from the fire? The sins of the people of Israel were, it is true, great, but they have suffered sufficient retribution for them in the calamities of captivity; these calamities were so severe that among them Israel almost perished; now he is — like a brand snatched from the fire: further punishment would be pointless cruelty.

Zechariah 3:3. Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments and stood before the Angel, Zechariah 3:4. and he answered and said to those standing before him: Remove from him the filthy garments. And to him he himself said: See, I have taken away your guilt from you and will clothe you in fine garments. The justice of God is satisfied; now is the time for mercy and forgiveness, in token of which, by the command of the Angel of the Lord, the Angels subject to him remove from the high priest the filthy garments in which he stood before the Angel of the Lord, his judge; and to him he himself explains that this removal signifies the forgiveness of sin. Following this, by the command of the Angel of the Lord, the high priest is clothed in fine garments (Venetian: clean). Since the high priest in this case appears as the representative of the entire people, his vindication serves as a symbol of the vindication of all the people.

Zechariah 3:5. And he said: Let them put a clean turban on his head. And they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him in garments; and the Angel of the Lord stood by. Regarding the placing of a clean turban on the head of the high priest in particular, St. Ephrem makes the following remark: “to the priest who served before the coming of captivity it was said: I will remove from you the ornament and the turban (Ezek 21:26), which is on your head; but now the Angel orders, saying: place a turban on the head of the returning priest from captivity clean” (p. 229).

Zechariah 3:8. “Hear now, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues sitting before you, men of portent: behold, I bring my servant, the Branch. Zechariah 3:9. For behold the stone which I set before Joshua; upon this one stone are seven eyes; behold, I will engrave its inscriptions, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the sin of this land in one day. In conclusion, a promise is given that concerns the object of the expectations of all Israel. Joshua and his brother priests are told of the coming of the servant of God, whose name is the Branch. By this name is meant, of course, the Messiah. But scholars of the negative direction attempt to prove that in Zech 3:8 Zerubbabel is called the Branch (and only he); Sellin, for instance, argues: according to Zech 4:9 the founder and builder of the temple is presented as Zerubbabel, and according to Zech 6:13 — the Branch: from this the identity of Zerubbabel and the Branch cannot be questioned (And. 2:77). This interpretation, in which the context is left out of account, cannot be recognized as sound. How, for instance, can the expression of the next verse be reconciled with it: I will remove the sin of this land in one day? It is clear that the removing of the sin of the land stands in direct connection with the inscriptions on the stone, which is called the Branch in the preceding verse, with inscriptions expressing both the dignity and the mission of the Branch. This expression is completely inapplicable to Zerubbabel, but only to the Messiah, of whom he was a foreshadowing and ancestor in the flesh. Here is an impartial interpretation of the relation of Zerubbabel to Christ in the explanation of Zech 4:9 in St. Cyril: “if God speaks of Zerubbabel: the hands of Zerubbabel founded this house, and his hands shall complete it, then, considering it historically, you can refer these words to him, but in the spiritual sense you can understand them of Christ; for he became our foundation and we are all spiritually built for him as a holy temple” (p. 7–8). The combination in one person of royal power and priestly dignity, of which Zech 6:13 speaks, also cannot be referred to Zerubbabel: king and priest again was only the Messiah. (Reinke, ss. 71 and 84).

Zechariah 3:10. In that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite one another under the vine and under the fig tree. After the people’s sins are forgiven, there will come upon them such prosperity as the Jews enjoyed in the peaceful reign of Solomon (1 Sam 4:25).