Zechariah 3 King James Version (KJV)
3 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.
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.
Commentary
Encouragement to Joshua (3:1-10)
Zechariah then has a vision in which he sees Satan accuse the high priest Joshua (and therefore the people he represents) of being unclean. Because of their long exile in idolatrous Babylon, they are no longer fit to enter God’s presence. In other words, Satan is hinting that the people are wasting their time building the temple. Since they are unclean, no sacrifices that they offer there will be acceptable to God (3:1; see also v. 3).
God replies that he has not cast off his chosen people. Their time of exile in Babylon has been his punishment on them because of their sin, but now he has saved them. He has snatched them from the hand of their enemies, brought them back to their land and cleansed their sin. Now he is going to set up the temple and its priesthood for them once again (2-5).
Joshua and his fellow priests are warned to be faithful to God in carrying out their duties in the new temple that God will put in their care. Joshua will then be able to enter the presence of God without fear of Satan’s accusations (6-7). The reestablishment of the Israelite priesthood is a further sign to assure the people that their Messiah will come (8. For the significance of the messianic title ‘the Branch’ see commentary on 6:12-13). A specially engraved stone is to be set in the temple as a reminder of what the Messiah will do. He will cleanse the land of sin and bring in a new era of contentment and prosperity (9- 10).