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Matthew Henry |
Z E C H A R I A H.
CHAP. III.
The vision in the foregoing chapter gave assurances of the
re-establishing of the civil interests of the Jewish nation, the
promises of which terminated in Christ. Now the vision in this chapter
concerns their church-state, and their ecclesiastical interests, and
assures them that they shall be put into a good posture again; and the
promises of this also have an eye to Christ, who is not only our
prince, but the high priest of our profession, of whom Joshua was a
type. Here is,
I. A vision relating to Joshua, as the representative of the church in
his time, representing the disadvantages he laboured under, and the
people in him, with the redress of the grievances of both.
1. He is accused by Satan, but is brought off by Christ,
2. He appears in filthy garments, but has them changed,
3. He is assured of being established in his office if he conduct
himself well,
II. A sermon relating to Christ, who is here called “The branch,” who
should be endued with all perfections for his undertaking, should be
carried triumphantly through it, and by whom we should have pardon and
peace,
| Joshua resisted and Upheld; Joshua Purified from Pollution; Joshua Reinstalled in His Office. | B. C. 520. |
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1 And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the
angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist
him.
2 And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan;
even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not
this a brand plucked out of the fire?
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before
the angel.
4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him,
saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he
said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and
I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
5 And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they
set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments.
And the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,
7 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; If thou wilt walk in my ways,
and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my
house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places
to walk among these that stand by.
There was a Joshua that was a principal agent in the first settling of
Israel in Canaan; here is another of the same name very active in their
second settlement there after the captivity; Jesus is the same name,
and it signifies Saviour; and they were both figures of him that
was to come, our chief captain and our chief priest. The angel that
talked with Zechariah showed him Joshua the high priest; it is
probable that the prophet saw him frequently, that he spoke to him, and
that there was a great intimacy between them; but, in his common views,
he only saw how he appeared before men; if he must know how he stands
before the Lord, it must be shown him in vision; and so it is shown
him. And men are really as they are with God, not as they appear in the
eye of the world. He stood before the angel of the Lord, that
is, before Christ, the Lord of the angels, to whom even the high
priests themselves, of Aaron’s order, were accountable. He stood
before the angel of the Lord to execute his office, to minister to
God under the inspection of the angels. He stood to consult the oracle
on the behalf of Israel, for whom, as high priest, he was agent. Guilt
and corruption are our two great discouragements when we stand before
God. By the guilt of the sins committed by us we have become obnoxious
to the justice of God; by the power of the sin that dwells in us we
have become odious to the holiness of God. All God’s Israel are in
danger upon these two accounts. Joshua was so here, for the law made
men priests that had infirmity,
Heb. vii. 28.
And, as to both, we have relief from Jesus Christ, who is made of God
to us both righteousness and sanctification.
I. Joshua is accused as a criminal, but is justified.
1. A violent opposition is made to him. Satan stands at his right
hand to resist him to be a Satan to him, a law-adversary. He
stands at his right hand, as the prosecutor, or witness, at the right
hand of the prisoner. Note, The devil is the accuser of the brethren,
that accuses them before God day and night,
Rev. xii. 10.
Some think the chief priest was accused for the sin of many of the
inferior priests, in marrying strange wives, which they were much
guilty of after their return out of captivity,
When God is about to reestablish the priesthood Satan objects the sins
that were found among the priests, as rendering them unworthy the
honour designed them. It is by our own folly that we give Satan
advantage against us and furnish him with matter for reproach and
accusation; and if any thing be amiss, especially with the priests,
Satan will be sure to aggravate it and make the worst of it. He
stood to resist him, that is, to oppose the service he was doing
for the public good. He stood at his right hand, the hand of
action, to discourage him, and raise difficulties in his way. Note,
When we stand before God to minister to him, or stand up for God to
serve his interests, we must expect to meet with all the resistance
that Satan’s subtlety and malice can give us. Let us then resist him
that resists us and he shall flee from us.
2. A victorious defence is made for him
(v. 2):
The Lord (that is, the Lord Christ) said unto Satan, The Lord
rebuke thee. Note, It is the happiness of the saints that the Judge
is their friend; the same that they are accused to is their patron and
protector, and an advocate for them, and he will be sure to bring them
off.
(1.) Satan is here checked by one that has authority, that has
conquered him, and many a time silenced him. The accuser of the
brethren, of the ministers and the ministry, is cast out;
his indictments are quashed, and his suggestions against them as well
as his suggestions to them, are shown to be malicious, frivolous, and
vexatious. The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan! The Lord said (that
is, the Lord our Redeemer), The Lord rebuke thee, that is, the
Lord the Creator. The power of God is engaged for the making of the
grace of Christ effectual. “The Lord restrain thy malicious
rage, reject thy malicious charge, and revenge upon thee thy enmity to
a servant of his” Note, those that belong to Christ have him ready to
appear vigorously for them when Satan appears most vehement against
them. He does not parley with him, but stops his mouth immediately with
this sharp reprimand: The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan! This is the
best way of dealing with that furious enemy. Get thee behind me,
Satan.
(2.) Satan is here argued with. He resists the priest, but let him know
that his resistance,
[1.] Will be fruitless; it will be to no purpose to attempt any thing
against Jerusalem, for the Lord has chosen it, and he will abide
by his choice. Whatever is objected against God’s people, God saw it;
he foresaw it when he chose them and yet he chose them, and therefore
that can be no inducement to him now to reject them; he knew the worst
of them when he chose them; and his election shall obtain.
[2.] It is unreasonable; for is not this a brand plucked out of the
fire? Joshua is so, and the priesthood, and the people, whose
representative he is. Christ has not that to say for them for which
they are to be praised, but that for which they are to be pitied. Note,
Christ is ready to make the best of his people, and takes notice of
every thing that is pleadable in excuse of their infirmities, so far is
he from being extreme to mark what they do amiss. They have been lately
in the fire; no wonder that they are black and smoked, and have the
smell of fire upon them, but they are therefore to be excused, not to
be accused. One can expect no other than that those who but the other
day were captives in Babylon should appear very mean and despicable.
They have been lately brought out of great affliction; and is Satan so
barbarous as to desire to have them thrown into affliction again? They
have been wonderfully delivered out of the fire, that God might be
glorified in them; and will he then cast them off and abandon them? No,
he will not quench the smoking flax, the smoking fire-brand; for he
snatched it out of the fire because he intended to make use of it.
Note, Narrow escapes from imminent danger are happy presages and
powerful pleas for more eminent favours. A converted soul is a brand
plucked out of the fire by a miracle of free grace, and therefore
shall not be left to be a prey to Satan.
II. Joshua appears as one polluted, but is purified; for he represents
the Israel of God, who are all as an unclean thing, till they
are washed and sanctified in the name of the Lord Jesus and
by the Spirit of our God. Now observe here,
1. The impurity wherein Joshua appeared
(v. 3):
He was clothed, not only in coarse, but in filthy
garments, such as did very ill become the dignity of his office and
the sanctity of his work. By the law of Moses the garments of the high
priest were to be for glory and for beauty,
Exod. xxviii. 2.
But Joshua’s garments were a shame and reproach to him; yet in them
he stood before the angel of the Lord; he had no clean linen
wherein to minister and to do the duty of his place. Now this
intimates, not only that the priesthood was poor and despised, and
loaded with contempt, but that there was a great deal of iniquity
cleaving to the holy things. The returned Jews were so taken up with
their troubles that they thought they needed not complain of their
sins, and were not aware that those were the great hindrances of the
progress of God’s work among them; because they were free from idolatry
they thought themselves chargeable with no iniquity. But God showed
them there were many things amiss in them, which retarded the advances
of God’s favours towards them. There were spiritual enemies warring
against them, more dangerous than any of the neighbouring nations. The
Chaldee paraphrase says, Joshua had sons who took unto them wives
which were not lawful for the priests to take; and we find it was
so,
And, no doubt, there were other things amiss in the priesthood,
Yet Joshua was permitted to stand before the angel of the Lord.
Though his children did not as they should, yet the covenant of
priesthood was not broken. Note, Christ bears with his people, whose
hearts are upright with him, and admits them into communion with
himself, notwithstanding their manifold infirmities.
2. The provision that was made for his cleansing. Christ gave orders
to the angels that attended him, and were ready to do his pleasure, to
put Joshua into a better state. Joshua presented himself before the
Lord in his filthy garments, as an object of his pity; and Christ
graciously looked upon him with compassion, and not, as justly he might
have done, with indignation. Christ loathed the filthiness of Joshua’s
garments, yet did not put him away, but put them away. Thus God by his
grace does with those whom he chooses to be priests to himself; he
parts between them and their sins, and so prevents their sins parting
between them and their God; he reconciles himself to the sinner, but
not to the sin. Two things are here done for Joshua, representing a
double work of divine grace wrought in and for believers:–
(1.) His filthy garments are taken from him,
v. 4.
The meaning of this is given us in what Christ said, and he said it as
one having authority, Behold, I have caused thy iniquity to pass
from thee. The guilt of it is taken away by pardoning mercy, the
stench and stain of it by peace spoken to the conscience, and the power
of it broken by renewing grace. When God forgives our sins he causes
our iniquity to pass from us, that it may not appear against us, to
condemn us; it passes from us as far as the east is from the
west. When he sanctifies the nature he enables us to put off the
old man, to cast away from us the filthy rags of our corrupt
affections and lusts, as things we will never have any thing more to do
with, will never gird to us or appear in. Thus Christ washes those
from their sins in his own blood whom he makes to our God kings
and priests,
Rev. i. 5, 6.
Either we must be cleansed from the pollutions of sin or we shall,
as polluted, be put from that priesthood,
Ezra ii. 62.
(2.) He is clothed anew, has not only the shame of his filthiness
removed, but the shame of his nakedness covered: I will clothe thee
with change of raiment. Joshua had no clean linen of his own, but
Christ will provide for him, for he will not let a priesthood of his
own instituting be lost, be either contemptible before men or
unacceptable before God. The change of raiment here is rich costly
raiment, such as is worn on high days. Joshua shall appear as lovely
as ever he appeared loathsome. Those that minister in holy things shall
not only cease to do evil, but learn to do well; God will make them
wise, and humble, and diligent, and faithful, and examples of every
thing that is good; and then Joshua is clothed with change of raiment.
Thus those whom Christ makes spiritual priests are clothed with the
spotless robe of his righteousness and appear before God in that, and
with the graces of his Spirit, which are ornaments to them. The
righteousness of saints, both imputed and implanted, is the fine
linen, clean and white, with which the bride, the Lamb’s wife,
is arrayed,
III. Joshua is in danger of being turned out of office; but, instead of
that, he is reinstalled and established in his office. He not only has
his sins pardoned, and is furnished with grace sufficient for himself,
but, as rectus in curia–acquitted in court, he is restored to
his former honours and trusts.
1. The crown of the priesthood is put upon him,
v. 5.
This was done at the special instance and request of the prophet: I
said, “Let them set a fair mitre upon his head, as a badge of
his office. Now that he looks clean, let him also look great; let him
be dressed up in all the garments of the high priest.” Note, When God
designs the restoring or reviving of religion he stirs up his prophets
and people to pray for it, and does it in answer to their prayers.
Zechariah prayed that the angels might be ordered to set the mitre on
Joshua’s head, and they did it immediately, and clothed him with
the priestly garments; for no man took this honour to himself,
but he that was called of God to it. The angel of the Lord
stood by, as having the oversight of the work which the created
angels were employed in. He stood by, as one well pleased with it, and
resolved to stand by the orders he had given for the doing of it and to
continue his presence with that priesthood.
2. The covenant of the priesthood is renewed with him, which is called
God’s covenant of peace,
Num. xxv. 12.
Mr. Pemble calls it the patent of his office, which is here
declared and delivered to him before witnesses,
The angel of the Lord, having taken care to make him fit for his office
(and all that God calls to any office he either finds fit or makes so),
invests him in it. And though he is not made a priest with an
oath (that honour is reserved for him who is a priest after the
order of Melchisedek,
yet, being a type of him, he is inaugurated with a solemn declaration
of the terms upon which he held his office. The angel of the Lord
protested to Joshua that, if he would be sure to do the duty of his
place, he should enjoy the dignity and reward of it. Now see,
(1.) What the conditions are upon which he enters into his office. Let
him know that he is upon his good behaviour; he must walk in God’s
ways, that is, he must live a good life and be holy in all manner
of conversation; he must go before the people in the paths of God’s
commandments, and walk circumspectly. He must also keep God’s
charge, must carefully do all the services of the priesthood, and
must see to it that the inferior priests performed the duties of their
place decently and in order. He must take heed to himself, and
to all the flock,
Acts xx. 28.
Note, Good ministers must be good Christians; yet that is not enough:
they have a trust committed to them, they are charged with it, and they
must keep it with all possible care, that they may give up their
account of it with joy,
(2.) What the privileges are which we may expect, and be assured of, in
the due discharge of his office. His patent runs, Quamdiu se bene
gesserit–During good behaviour. Let him be sure to do his part,
and God will own him.
[1.] “Thou shalt judge my house; thou shalt preside in the
affairs of the temple, and the inferior priests shall be under thy
direction.” Note, The power of the church, and of church rulers, is not
a legislative, but only a judicial power. The high priest might not
make any new laws for God’s house, nor ordain any other rites of
worship than what God had ordained; but he must judge God’s house, that
is, he must see to it that God’s laws and ordinances were punctually
observed, must protect and encourage those that did observe them, and
enquire into and punish the violation of them.
[2.] “Thou shalt also keep my courts; thou shalt have oversight
of what is done in all the courts of the temple, and shalt keep them
pure and in good order for the worship to be performed in them.” Note,
Ministers are God’s stewards, and they are to keep his courts, in
honour of him who is the chief Lord and for the preserving of equity
and good order among his tenants.
[3.] “I will give thee places to walk among those that stand by,
among these angels that are inspectors and assistants in this
instalment.” They shall stand by while Joshua is at work for God, and
shall be as a guard to him, or he shall be highly honoured and
respected as an angel of God,
Gal. iv. 14.
Ministers are called angels,
Rev. i. 20.
Those that walk in God’s ways may be said to walk among the
angels themselves, for they do the will of God as the angels do it
that are in heaven, and are their fellow-servants,
Rev. xix. 10.
Some make it a promise of eternal life, and of a reward of his fidelity
in the future state. Heaven is not only a palace, a place to repose in,
but a paradise, a garden, a place to walk in; and there are walks among
the angels, in society with that holy and glorious company. See
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8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows
that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for,
behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one
stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day.
10 In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every
man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
As the promises made to David often slide insensibly into promises of
the Messiah, whose kingdom David’s was a type of, so the promises here
made to Joshua immediately rise as far upward, and look as far forward,
as to Christ, whose priesthood Joshua’s was now a shadow of, not only
in general, as it kept up the line of Aaron’s priesthood, but
especially as it was the reviving of that happy method of
correspondence between heaven and earth, to which a great interruption
had been given by the iniquity and captivity of Israel. Christ is a
high priest, as Joshua was, for sinners and sufferers, to mediate for
those that have been under guilt and wrath. And it was fit that Joshua
should understand the priesthood of Christ, because all the virtue of
his priesthood, its value and usefulness to the church, depended upon
and was derived from the priesthood of Christ. See,
I. To whom this promise of Christ is directed
(v. 8):
“Hear now, O Joshua! Thou hast heard with pleasure what belongs
to thyself; but, behold, a greater than Joshua is at hand. Hear
now concerning him, thou and the rest of the priests, thy
fellows, who sit before thee, at thy feet, as learners, but whom
thou art to look upon as thy fellows, for all you are brethren;
let the high priest, and all the inferior priests, take notice of this,
for they are men wondered at.” They are set for signs,
for types and figures of Christ’s priesthood. What God now did for
Joshua and his fellows was a happy omen of the coming of the Messiah
promised, and would be so interpreted, with a pleasing wonder, by all
that had understanding of the times. Or they are men wondered at
for their singularity, hooted at as strange sort of people, because
they run not with others to the same excess of riot
(1 Pet. iv. 4),
or for their strange afflictions and surprising deliverance out of
them, as
I am as a wonder unto many. They are men of wonder; they
are a wonder to themselves, are amazed to think how happily their
condition is altered. God’s people and ministers are, upon many
accounts, men wondered at. The high priest and his fellows here (as the
prophet and his children,
are for signs and for wonders. But men’s wonder at them will cease when
the Messiah comes, as the stars are eclipsed by the light of the sun;
for his name shall be called Wonderful.
II. The promise itself, which consists of several parts, all designed
for the comfort and encouragement of Joshua and his friends in that
great good work of building the temple, which they were now engaged in.
An eye to Christ, and a believing dependence upon the promises relating
to him and his kingdom, would carry them through the difficulties they
met with in that and their other services.
1. The Messiah shall come: Behold, I will bring forth my servant the
branch. He has been long hid, but the fulness of time is now at
hand, when he shall be brought forth into the world, brought forth
among his people Israel. God himself undertakes to bring him forth,
and therefore, no doubt, he will own him and stand by him. He is God’s
servant, employed in his work, obedient to his will, and entirely
devoted to his honour and glory. He is the branch; so he was called
The branch of the Lord.
Isa. xi. 1,
A branch out of the roots of Jesse.
Jer. xxiii. 5,
A righteous branch; and
The branch of righteousness. His beginning was small, as a
tender branch, but in time he should become a great tree and fill the
earth,
He is the branch from which all our fruit must be gathered.
2. Many eyes shall be upon him. He is the stone laid before
Joshua, alluding to the foundation or chief corner-stone, of the
temple, which probably was laid, with great solemnity, in the presence
of Joshua. Christ is not only the branch, which is the beginning of a
tree, but the foundation, which is the beginning of a building; and,
when he shall be brought forth, seven eyes shall be upon him.
The eye of his Father was upon him, to take care of him, and protect
him, especially in his sufferings; when he was buried in the grave, as
the foundation-stones are under ground, the eyes of Heaven were still
upon him, buried out of men’s sight, but not out of God’s. The eyes of
all the prophets and Old-Testament saints were upon this one stone;
Abraham rejoiced to see Christ’s day, and he saw it and was
glad. The eyes of all believers are upon him; they look unto him
and are saved, as the eyes of the stung Israelites were upon the brazen
serpent. Some understand this one stone to have the seven eyes
in it as the wheels had in Ezekiel’s vision, and think it denotes that
perfection of wisdom and knowledge which Jesus Christ was endued with,
for the good of his church. His eyes run to and fro through the
earth.
3. God himself will beautify him, and put honour upon him: I will
engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts. This stone
the builders refused, as rough and unsightly; but God undertakes to
smooth and polish it, nay, and to carve it so that it shall be the
head stone of the corner, the most beautiful in all the
building. Christ was God’s workmanship; and abundance of his wisdom
appears in the contrivance of our redemption, which will appear when
the engraving is perfected. This stone is a precious stone,
though laid for a foundation; and the graving of it seems
to allude to the precious stones in the breast-plate of the high
priest, which had the names of the tribes graven upon them, as
the engraving of a signet,
Exod. xxviii. 21, 22.
In that breast-plate there were twelve stones laid before Aaron, and
for aught that appears those were lost; but there shall be one worth
them all laid before Joshua, and that is Christ himself. This precious
stone shall sparkle as if it had seven eyes; there shall appear a
perfection of wisdom and prudence in the oracles that proceed from the
breast-plate of judgment. And God will engrave the engraving
thereof; he will entrust Christ with all his elect, and he shall
appear as their representative, and agent for them, as the high priest
did when he went in before the Lord with the names of all Israel
engraven in the precious stones of his breast-plate. When God gave a
remnant to Christ, to be brought through grace to glory, then he
engraved the graving of this precious stone.
4. By him sin shall be taken away, both the guilt and the dominion of
it: I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. When the
high priest had the names of Israel engraven on the precious stones he
was adorned with he is said to bear the iniquity of the holy
things
but the law made nothing perfect,
Heb. x. 1.
He bore the iniquity of the land, as a type of Christ; but he could not
remove it; the doing of that was reserved for Christ, that blessed
Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world; and he did it
in one day, that day in which he suffered and died; that was
done by the sacrifice offered that day which could not be done by the
sacrifices of ages before, no, not by all the days of atonement which
from Moses to Christ returned every year. This agrees with the angel’s
prediction
(Dan. ix. 24):
He shall finish transgression and make an end of sin. And some
make the engravings wherewith God engraved him to signify the wounds
and stripes which were given to his blessed body, which he underwent
for our transgression, for our iniquity, and by which
we are healed.
5. The effect of all this shall be the sweet enjoyment which all
believers shall have of themselves, and the sweet communion they shall
have with one another
(v. 10):
In that day you shall call every man his neighbour under the vine
and the fig-tree, which yield most pleasant fruit, and whose leaves
also afford a refreshing shade for arbours. When iniquity is taken
away,
(1.) We reap precious benefits and privileges from our justification,
more precious than the products of the vine or the fig-tree,
(2.) We repose in a sweet tranquillity and are quiet from the fear of
evil. What should terrify us when iniquity is taken away, when nothing
can hurt us? We sit down under Christ’s shadow with delight, and by it
are sheltered from the scorching heat of the curse of the law. We live
as Israel in the peaceable reign of Solomon
for he is the prince of peace.
(3.) We ought to invite others to come to partake with us in the
enjoyment of these privileges, to call every man his neighbour
to come and sit with him, for mutual converse, under the vine and
fig-tree, and to share with him in the fruits he is surrounded with.
Gospel-grace, as far as it comes with power, makes men neighbourly; and
those that have the comfort of acquaintance with Christ themselves, and
communion with God through him, will be forward to court others to it.
Let us go unto the house of the Lord.
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