Mining the Minors: Zechariah (6)

Zechariah is the penultimate Minor Prophet and the penultimate book of the Old Testament in the order we have it in English, as well as historically. He is also the penultimate prophet in the Hebrew Old Testament, though not the next-to-last book, which is Chronicles.

Given his proximity to the New Testament, we should not be surprised to find Christ so prominent in Zechariah, as we have mentioned. Zechariah’s vision in chapter 3 portrays Messiah in at least four different aspects: (1) as priest, (2) as the angel of the Lord, (3) as the Branch, and (4) as the stone with seven eyes.

Let’s dive in.

I. Eight Visions and Explanations (continued)

4/ Clothing the High Priest

Zechariah 3:1-5 – The Vision

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?’ Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, ‘Remove the filthy garments from him.’ And to him he said, ‘Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.’ And I said, ‘Let them put a clean turban on his head.’ So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.”

Before the Angel of the Lord

Next, Zechariah had a vision of the high priest Joshua, a person he surely knew in real life, standing in a place he could not possibly be, in front of the preincarnate Christ (the angel of the Lord) and “the accuser of our brothers”, as John calls Satan. The words “standing before” suggest Joshua was not merely there to be an object lesson or to make a report, but to minister to the Lord. The moment he did, we would have a problem. The accusation Satan intended to make against the high priest almost surely concerned the condition of his priestly garments, which were filthy with the guilt of generations. This was a legitimate concern. After all, how could a defiled priesthood possibly make atonement for a defiled nation so recently returned from exile among the pagans?

A Defiled Priesthood

Prior to the exile, the prophets uniformly and specifically indicted Judah’s priesthood. Jeremiah cried out, “The priests … did not know me.” The manifestations of the immense moral distance between the pre-exilic priesthood and its holy calling were many: the priests took their direction from false prophets, conspired to have true prophets murdered, shed the blood of the righteous (Jeremiah), profaned the holy things, disregarded the Sabbaths (Ezekiel), committed villainy (Hosea), took bribes (Micah) and polluted the sanctuary (Zephaniah). Such things were common among priests prior to the exile and, while their descendants now offered burnt offerings and freewill offerings on the altar on the temple site on behalf of the returned exiles, they had yet to make atonement for the evils of previous generations of priests. If Satan was about to point out the deplorable historic state of the priestly institution, he was only stealing lines from God.

If that were not enough, the priesthood of Zechariah’s day had its own issues. Records had been lost during the seventy years of exile. There were genealogical gaps that excluded some families with claims to priestly service, and some priests had intermarried with foreigners in violation of the law.

In short, the accuser had plenty of ammunition to work with.

A Brand Plucked from the Fire

But in Zechariah’s vision, Satan never gets a chance to make his case. The Lord rebukes him with the words, “Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?”

When the Lord asks, “Is not this a brand?” he may be speaking of Joshua personally, but more likely he is referring to the current high priest as the representative head of religious life in Judah. The image of the brand comes from the prophet Amos nearly three centuries earlier. He referred to the former northern kingdom as “a brand plucked out of the burning”. The image is of a single burning stick retrieved from the ashes after the fire has gone out. Applied to the Judean priesthood, it is a picture of absolute weakness, just a bare flicker of life. The Lord is telling Satan it is wicked to seek to prosecute a priesthood that has just about destroyed itself already. Isaiah assures us the Lord Jesus never had this sort of harsh spirit. He does not treat even sinners as badly as we deserve. “A faintly burning wick he will not quench,” he says. He blesses the poor in spirit and the downtrodden, while Satan would see them crushed if he were able.

Next, he shows Satan how to treat a brand plucked from the fire.

Pure Vestments and a Clean Turban

First, Joshua has his filthy garments removed. Later, it will become clear he is not the only priest present in the vision. Zechariah will refer to “your friends who sit before you … men who are a sign”. The angel instructs these men who are standing before him to remove the filthy garments as a symbol of the spiritual reality that God has unilaterally taken away the iniquity of the priesthood and forgiven its former evils. The symbols and process in the vision recall the original institution of the priesthood in Leviticus 8, and the ceremony in which Aaron the high priest was dressed in clean garments and a new turban, ready for service. This visionary cleansing of the priesthood is more low-key (and spiritual) than the original event, but it is just as effective in rebutting Satan’s implicit accusation.

The presence of Christ on the scene in the form of the angel of the Lord (“the angel of the Lord was standing by”) is no surprise in this context. Apart from the shed blood of Christ, no sins would ever be completely dealt with. Hebrews reminds us that it was impossible for the annual sacrifices of the Old Testament, including the priestly purification rituals, to perfect those who draw near. Rather, these were only a reminder of sin.

Next, the high priest is clothed with pure vestments and a new turban. All defilement is gone.

Zechariah 3:6-10 – The Explanation

“And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. In that day, declares the Lord of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.’ ”

The Right of Access

The presence of other priests or Levites in the vision in the form of Joshua’s “friends” is probably a safeguard from singling out the high priest as an individual specially gifted or uniquely blessed. He is merely a proxy for the institution. The Lord is symbolically cleansing and preparing the entire priestly house for his service in the person of Joshua. The right of access the Lord is promising to the priesthood is not just for Joshua in his day, but also for those descended from him so long as they walk in the Lord’s ways and keep his charge. These men in the vision are a sign to the nation, a reminder that God will continue to deal with Judah through the priesthood until he has put something better is in place.

My Servant the Branch

The “something better” is a great high priest after the order of Melchizedek, a priest whose sacrifice was once for all, and who lives eternally to make intercession for his people. I don’t want to steal too much from Zechariah 6 before we get there, but Melchizedek was a priest-king, and we will see in chapter 6 that the Branch symbolizes a priest enthroned, looking forward to the rule of the Lord Jesus during the millennium.

The word “branch” is ṣemaḥ, meaning a living sprout or growth. With Judah’s priesthood reduced to a mere brand plucked from the fire, the Branch the Lord would bring in its place was full of life. He would extend his influence into areas previously barred to the priesthood. The branch symbolism comes from Isaiah and Jeremiah. Isaiah calls the Branch “beautiful and glorious” and associates him with the final glorification of Zion. Jeremiah prophesies of a day in which the Lord will raise up for David a righteous Branch who will reign as king and deal wisely, executing justice and righteousness. Again, the context is the millennium.

Zechariah’s contribution is to associate the Branch with the priesthood as well as the throne.

The Stone with Seven Eyes

The original priestly garments of Aaron had two onyx stones as shoulderpieces and twelve precious stones set in rows on a breastplate. Both sets of stones were engraved with the names of the tribes of Israel. They were borne on the high priest’s shoulders and carried next to his heart. (I probably don’t have to beat that symbolism to death.)

Here, the stone is not part of the priestly garments. Rather, it is “set before” Joshua. Like the stones on the high priest’s garments, it too was to be inscribed. God himself would do the engraving. This stone has seven eyes. There may be some wordplay going on there. The Hebrew word translated “eyes” is occasionally translated “face”, so it may mean the precious stone has seven facets that could each bear inscription. Then again, the same symbolism seems to crop up again in chapter 4, this time connected with Zerubbabel as a symbol of the throne of Israel. There, Zerubbabel brings forth the top stone (of the temple). So we have a stone, and a verse later, we read “These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.” So now we have another stone and seven eyes. The seven eyes appear again in Revelation, where the Lamb has seven eyes, “which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth”. There is obviously a connection there.

We do not know what the Lord will engrave on this stone, but it is probably not associated with the tribes of Israel given the odd number of faces or eyes. What we can say is: (1) it is a single stone, unified rather than fragmented, (2) it is associated with both the priesthood and the throne, and (3) it is connected with the person of Christ, and especially his omniscience. Christ on the throne will be the reunification of Israel, but also the unification of the priesthood and the throne. All things are summed up in him.

I can only see the seven-eyed stone, like the Branch, as yet another symbol of Christ.