--- title: "Zechariah 3 - Study King James Bible with commentary critical and explanatory on the whole bible" description: "Read Zechariah 3 with commentary critical and explanatory on the whole bible commentary. 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 u" image: "/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg" url: "https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3" --- [ Read](/kjv/zechariah/3)[ Commentary](/study/zechariah/3)[ Interlinear](/interlinear/zechariah/3) Audio 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. [Zechariah 2](/study/zechariah/2) [Zechariah 4](/study/zechariah/4) ## Commentary To verse 1 **1.** Joshua as high priest ( :-) represents "Jerusalem" ( :-), or the elect people, put on its trial, and "plucked" narrowly "out of the fire." His attitude, "standing before the Lord," is that of a high priest ministering before the altar erected previously to the building of the temple ([Ezra 3:2](/kjv/ezra/3/2); [Ezra 3:3](/kjv/ezra/3/3); [Ezra 3:6](/kjv/ezra/3/6); [Psalms 135:2](/kjv/psalms/135/2)). Yet, in this position, by reason of his own and his people's sins, he is represented as on his and their trial ([Psalms 135:2](/kjv/psalms/135/2)- :). **he showed me**—"He" is *the interpreting angel.* Jerusalem's (Joshua's) "filthy garments" ([Zechariah 3:3](/kjv/zechariah/3/3)) are its sins which had hitherto brought down God's judgments. The "change of raiment" implies its restoration to God's favor. Satan suggested to the Jews that so consciously polluted a priesthood and people could offer no acceptable sacrifice to God, and therefore they might as well desist from the building of the temple. Zechariah encourages them by showing that their demerit does not disqualify them for the work, as they are accepted in the righteousness of another, their great High Priest, the Branch ([Zechariah 3:3](/kjv/zechariah/3/3)- :), a scion of their own royal line of David ([Zechariah 3:3](/kjv/zechariah/3/3)- :). The full accomplishment of Israel's justification and of Satan the accuser's being "rebuked" finally, is yet future ([Revelation 12:10](/kjv/revelation/12/10)). Compare [Revelation 12:10](/kjv/revelation/12/10)- :, wherein "Jerusalem," as here, is shown to be meant primarily, though including the whole Church in general (compare [Job 1:9](/kjv/job/1/9)). **Satan**—the *Hebrew* term meaning "adversary" in a law court: as *devil* is the *Greek* term, meaning *accuser.* Messiah, on the other hand, is "advocate" for His people in the court of heaven's justice ([1 John 2:1](/kjv/1-john/2/1)). **standing at his right hand**—the usual position of a *prosecutor* or *accuser* in court, as the left hand was the position of the defendant ([1 John 2:1](/kjv/1-john/2/1)- :). The "angel of the Lord" took the same position just before another high priest was about to beget the forerunner of Messiah ([Luke 1:11](/kjv/luke/1/11)), who supplants Satan from his place as accuser. Some hence explain [Luke 1:11](/kjv/luke/1/11)- : as referring to this passage: "the body of Moses" being thus *the Jewish Church,* for which Satan contended as his by reason of its sins; just as the "body of Christ" is *the Christian Church.* However, [Judges 1:9](/kjv/judges/1/9) plainly speaks of the literal body of Moses, the resurrection of which at the transfiguration Satan seems to have opposed on the ground of Moses' error at Meribah; the same divine rebuke, "the Lord rebuke thee," checked Satan in contending for judgment against Moses' body, as checked him when demanding judgment against the Jewish Church, to which Moses' body corresponds. ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com","name":"Real Bible Believers","description":"RBB","publisher":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/search?q={search_term_string}","query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3#primaryimage","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/_app/immutable/assets/missing.C7wGMEZ6.jpg","width":672,"height":448,"caption":"Real Bible Believers"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3","name":"Zechariah 3 - Study King James Bible with commentary critical and explanatory on the whole bible","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Zechariah 3 with commentary critical and explanatory on the whole bible commentary. 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 u","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/","name":"Home"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study","name":"Study Bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible","name":"commentary critical and explanatory on the whole bible"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah","name":"Zechariah"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/commentary-critical-and-explanatory-on-the-whole-bible/zechariah/3","name":"3"}}]},{"@type":["Person","Organization"],"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo","inLanguage":"en-US","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","contentUrl":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/android-chrome-512x512.png","width":512,"height":512},"logo":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#personlogo"},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/RBiblebeliever","https://www.facebook.com/RBibleBelievers"]}]} ```