Zechariah 3:1

Zechariah 3:1. he shewed me i.e. Jehovah, from whom all the visions proceeded, Zechariah 1:7; Zechariah 1:20, shewed me. καὶ ἔδειξέ μοι κύριος, LXX.

Joshua called in the Book of Ezra Jeshua (Zechariah 2:2; Zechariah 3:2, etc.). His grandfather, Seraiah, was taken captive by Nebuzar-adan after the sacking of the city and burning of the Temple, and was slain by Nebuchadnezzar at Riblah (2 Kings 25:18-21). Josedech, or Jehozadak, his son, the father of Joshua, was at the same time taken as a prisoner to Babylon (1 Chronicles 6:15), where Joshua probably was born. During the lifetime of Josedech, while the Temple was in ruins and the people in captivity, the High Priesthood was in abeyance. After an interval of about 52 years, Josedech being now dead, the office was revived in the person of his son. Joshua was the first of the third or last series of High Priests, those, namely, who came after the Captivity. He is spoken of with commendation in the Book of Ecclesiasticus (Sir 49:12; comp. Esther 5:5; 1Es 5:48; 1Es 5:56), and is made a special type of the Great High Priest, both in this chapter and in chapter 6.

standing before the angel of the Lord as before his judge, Deuteronomy 19:17; Joshua 20:6; Romans 14:10; Revelation 20:12. The Angel of the Lord is here, as elsewhere in the Old Testament, He to whom all judgment is committed (John 5:22). See note on Zechariah 1:12.

Satan standing at his right hand The great Adversary (for Satan is here a proper name, as in Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-7) here assumes the character (Revelation 12:10) and occupies the place (Psalms 109:6) of the accuser in the trial. See Appendix, note B.

to resist him Lit. to play-the-adversary against him; to be his adversary, R. V. The verb and the noun (Satan) have the same root. The charge against Joshua has been thought to be a personal one, and reference has been made to Ezra 10:18, to prove that some of his sons had polluted themselves by marrying strange wives. The passage in Ezra however, is at least 60 years later than the vision in Zechariah. It is better to regard the intended accusation as including both personal and official transgressions, his own sins and the sins of the people (Hebrews 5:3; Hebrews 7:27). Sin, the sin of the man and of the order to which he belongs, of the individual and of the nation which he represents, stands in the way of the promised blessing, and must first be put away before that blessing can be enjoyed.