“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”
Zechariah 3:1–10
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.
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.
Dr. Ellis T. Rasmussen wrote:
“Dramatic actions in this vision involving Satan, Joshua the high priest, and others told the prophet of the purification of the priesthood (and through them, the people of the land) for the coming of the Messiah—the ‘Branch.’
“Joshua the high priest, who appears in this vision, was no doubt the same who was involved in Haggai’s first vision about two months earlier [Zech. 3:1; compare Hag. 1:1]. In Zechariah’s vision, Joshua represented the priesthood leading the people newly returned from exile, who were still in their sins—without cleansing and consecration. Satan was taking advantage of the opportunity to ‘accuse’ them as unworthy (Zech. 3:1b–c; Rev. 12:9–12 also shows Satan in the role of ‘accuser’).
“Knowing Satan’s purpose, the angel of the Lord, speaking for the Lord Himself, rebuked Satan before he leveled his charge. The angel excused the ‘filthy garments,’ because Joshua and the people had just been ‘plucked out of the fire’ of Babylon and were worthy to be cleansed of their iniquities (Zech. 3:2–4). The prophet himself entered the drama and urged that a clean cap (Zech. 3:5a) be provided, and so they clothed Joshua with clean garments and put the clean cap upon his head. The angel of the Lord testified (not ‘protested’; Zech. 3:6) that if the priest and the people would walk in the ways of the Lord and keep their covenants, they would win a place among the angels (Zech. 3:7c). To Joshua and those whom he taught as ‘fellows’ that sat before him—who were men of merit—the angel promised that God will bring forth His servant the Branch, the Messiah (Zech. 3:8a).
“The ‘stone,’ which was ‘laid before Joshua’ and had ‘seven eyes’ and divine engraving, could symbolize an instrument prepared to reveal to the high priest what he needed to know to ‘remove the iniquity’ of the land ‘in one day’ [Zech. 3:9; compare Bible Dictionary and Topical Guide, ‘Urim and Thummim’]. Then the ideal era could begin, with every family well provided for and at peace under their own vine and fig tree (Zech. 3:10; Micah 4:4).”
(A Latter-day Saint Commentary on the Old Testament [1993], 682–83.)
