1And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
2And 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?
3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.
4And 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.
5And 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.
6And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua, saying,
7Thus 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.
8Hear 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.
9For 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.
10In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.
📖 Chapter study
Summary
Zechariah sees the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD, accused by Satan, but God purifies him by exchanging his filthy garments for clean ones, and promises to send His servant called 'the Branch.'
Explanation
This vision depicts a heavenly courtroom scene: Joshua, representing the whole people and the priestly system itself, is wearing 'filthy garments,' symbolizing the sin accumulated during the exile, while Satan ('the accuser,' the literal meaning of the name) stands against him. Instead of allowing condemnation, God directly rebukes the accuser and orders the filthy garments to be exchanged for clean ones, a powerful image of forgiveness and unearned restoration. The promise of a future 'Branch' (or sprout), associated with a stone with seven eyes that removes iniquity 'in one day,' is interpreted as a messianic prophecy about Christ, who would bring definitive purification. The application for today: when facing just accusations against our sin, it is God's direct intervention, not our own merit, that clothes us anew and restores us.
Fun facts
- 'Satan' here is used with the definite article in Hebrew ('ha-satan'), literally meaning 'the accuser' or 'the adversary,' a legal function more than necessarily a proper name in this specific Old Testament context.
- The title 'the Branch' (or 'sprout') is also used by Jeremiah (23:5) and Isaiah (11:1) to describe the Messiah as a new shoot that would grow from the seemingly cut-off line of David, an agricultural image of hope after apparent destruction.