Albert Barnes Commentary Zechariah 3

And He - God, (for the office of the attendant angel was to explain, not to show the visions) “showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the Angel of the Lord;” probably to be judged by him ; as in the New Testament, “to stand before the Son of Man;” for although “standing before,” whether in relation to man or God,, expresses attendance upon, yet here it appears only as a condition, contemporaneous with that of Satan’s, to accuse him. Although, moreover, the Angel speaks with authority, yet God’s Presence in him is not spoken of so distinctly, that the high priest would be exhibited as standing before him, as in his office before God.

And Satan - Etymologically, the enemy, as, in the New Testament, “your adversary the devil” [1 Peter 5:8], etymologically, the accuser. It is a proper name of the Evil one, yet its original meaning, “the enemy, was not lost. Here, as in Job, his malice is shown in accusation; “the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God, day and night” [Revelation 12:10]. In Job [Job 1:8–11]; [Job 2:3–5], the accusations were calumnious; here, doubtless, true. For he accused Job of what would have been plain apostacy [Job 1:11]; [Job 2:5]; Joshua and Zerubbabel had shared, or given way to, the remissness of the people, as to the rebuilding of the temple and the full restoration of the worship of God [Ezra 3:1–13]; [Ezra 4:0]. For this, Haggai had reproved the people, through them [Haggai 1:1–11]. Satan had then a real charge, on which to implead them.

Since also the whole series of visions relates to the restoration from the captivity, the guilt, for which Satan impleads him with Jerusalem and Jerusalem in him, includes the whole guilt, which had rested upon them, so that for a time God had seemed to have cast “away His people” [Romans 11:1]. Satan “stands at his right hand,” the place of a protector [Psalms 16:8]; [Psalms 109:31]; [Psalms 121:5]; [Psalms 142:4], to show that he had none to save him, and that himself was victorious.

And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee - Jerome: “They explain this as follows: that the Father and the Son are Lord, as we read in Psalms 110:1-7, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou on My right hand. The Lord speaks of another Lord; not that He, the Lord who speaks, cannot rebuke, but that, from the unity of nature, when the Other rebukes, He Himself who speaks rebukes.

For he who seeth the Son, seeth the Father also (John 14:9). It may be that God, by such sayings, also accustomed people, before Christ came, to believe in the Plurality of Persons in the One Godhead.

The rebuke of God must be with power. Thou hast rebuked the nations, Thou hast destroyed the ungodly (Psalms 9:5). Thou hast rebuked the proud, accursed (Psalms 119:21). They perish at the rebuke of Thy Countenance (Psalms 80:16). At Thy rebuke, O God of Jacob, both the chariot and horse are cast into a deep sleep (Psalms 76:6). God shall rebuke him, and he fleeth far off, and shall be chased as the chaff of the mountains before the wind (Isaiah 17:13). He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up (Psalms 106:9). The foundations of the world were discovered at Thy rebuke, O Lord (Psalms 18:15). He rebuked the seed (Malachi 2:3), and it perished; the devourer (Malachi 3:11), and it no longer devoured.

The rebuke then of the blasted spirit involved a withering rejection of himself and his accusations, as when Jesus rebuked the unclean spirit and he departed from his victim (Mark 1:25–26; Mark 9:25; Luke 4:35; Luke 9:42).

The Lord hath chosen Jerusalem - Joshua then is acquitted, not because the accusation of Satan was false, but out of the free love of God for His people and for Joshua in it and as its representative. Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? (Romans 8:33–34).

The high priest, being himself also compassed with infirmity, needed daily to offer up sacrifices first for his own sins, and then for the people’s (Hebrews 5:2–3). As Isaiah said, on the sight of God, I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips (Isaiah 6:5), and, until cleansed by the typical coal, dared not offer himself for the prophetic office, so here Satan, in Joshua, aimed at the whole priestly office, and in it, at Israel’s relation to God.

Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? - Cyril: “As if he should say, Israel confessedly has sinned, and is liable to these charges. Yet it has suffered no slight punishment; it has endured sufferings, and has scarcely been snatched out of them, as a half-burned brand out of the fire. For it had not yet shaken off the dust of the harms from the captivity; only just now and scarcely had it escaped the flame of that most intolerable calamity. Cease then imputing sin to them, on whom God has had mercy.”

Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments - Such, it is expressed, was his habitual condition; he was one so clothed. The “filthy garment,” as defilement generally, is, in Scripture, the symbol of sin. We are all as the unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). He that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem shall be called holy - when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion (Isaiah 4:3–4). There is a generation, pure in its own eyes, and it is not washed from its filthiness (Proverbs 30:12).

The same is expressed by different words, signifying pollution, defilement by sin; Woe unto her that is filthy and polluted (Zephaniah 3:1); The land was defiled with blood (Psalms 106:38); they were defiled with their own works. It is symbolized also by the divers washings (Hebrews 9:10) of the law, representing restored purity; and the use of the word by Psalmists and prophets; Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity (Psalms 51:4); wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before Mine eyes (Isaiah 1:16); O Jerusalem, wash thy heart from wickedness (Jeremiah 4:14). In later times at least, the accused were clothed in black, not in defiled garments.

And He spoke to those who stood before Him—the ministering angels who had waited on the Angel of THE LORD to do His bidding.

See, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee—these are pardoning words, like those of the Lord to David by Nathan: The Lord too hath put away thy sin (2 Samuel 12:13). The promise continues, And clothe thee with change of raiment, that is, garments such as were taken off and reserved for great occasions.

As the filthy garments were not necessarily different from the high priest’s vesture (symbolically defiled through the sins of the people), so these new ones also need be no other than the priestly garments in their purity and freshness. The words imply the condition, not the nature of the vestment.

Cyril explains: "The high priest, having been thus understood to represent the whole people, the filthy garments would be a clear symbol of the wickedness of the people. For, clad as it were with their sins, with the indelible spot of ungodliness, they remained in captivity, subject to retribution, paying the penalty of their unholy deeds. But when God had pity on them, He commanded them to be freed from their defilements and, in a manner, reclothed with justifying grace. He indicates to them the end of their toils. For where remission of sin is, there necessarily follows freedom from the evils brought through sin."

The biblical text further states that a clean mitre should be put upon his head. Cyril comments on this: "This was so that we might understand that the glory of the priesthood always, in a sense, aligns with the condition of the people."

For the boast of the priesthood is the purity of those in their charge. Thus, when the people were in sin, the raiment of the priest also was in a way defiled; so if the people were again approved, pure and bright is the condition of the priesthood, and free its access to God. Thus, the inspired Paul, having ministered the Gospel of Christ to the Gentiles and seeing them advancing in graces, writes, By your boast, brethren, which I have in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 15:31), and, my joy and crown (Philippians 4:1).

And I said, let them set a fair mitre on his head - This seems to have been purposely omitted, in order to leave something, and that, the completion of all, to be done at the intercession of the prophet. The glory and complement of the high priest’s sacrificial attire was the mitre with the holy crown upon it and the plate of pure gold, on which was graven, Holiness to the Lord (Exodus 28:36–38; Exodus 29:6); which was to be upon the high priest’s forehead, that he may bear the iniquity of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow in all their holy gifts; which was always to be upon his forehead, that they may be accepted before the Lord. The renewed gift of this was reserved for the intercession of man co-working with God.

And the angel of the Lord standing by - Seeing that all was done correctly, and, now that the acquittal was complete, standing to give the charge.