--- title: "Zechariah 3 - Study King James Bible with ellicotts commentary for english readers" description: "Read Zechariah 3 with ellicotts commentary for english readers 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/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/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) **And he.**—Probably, the angel-interpreter. **Joshua.**—The various forms of this name, that of the Saviour of the world, are well worth noticing. The oldest form of the word is that used here, *Y**e**hoshua*‘*,* which was contracted into *Yoshua*‘ (Mishnah, *passim*)*,* also into *Yeshua*’ ([Ezra 2:2](/kjv/ezra/2/2)), and then into *Yeshu.* This last was represented in Greek by Ιηοου*,* and with the nominative ending *s* became Ἰησοῦν*.* In the Talmudim the name takes also the forms *Îsâ* and *Îsî,* and in Arabic ‘*Îsâ*. **Standing before.**—There is a great variety of opinion among commentators with respect to the capacity in which Joshua is represented as standing before the angel of the Lord. Theodoret, among early expositors, and Hengstenberg, among moderns, maintain that Joshua is seen in the sanctuary engaged in the work of his priestly office *before* the angel of the Lord. Against this view may be urged that, however high may be the dignity of the angel of the Lord, it is hardly in accordance with the spirit of the Old Testament to represent the high priest as ministering before him, as if before God. Observe, too, how in [Zechariah 1:12-13](/kjv/zechariah/1/12-13), the personality of the angel of the Lord is distinct from that of the Lord Himself. Ewald imagines that at this time the high priest was actually accused, or was dreading an accusation, at the Persian court, and that a defamation and persecution of this kind may be discerned as underlying this vision. But there is no historical trace of any such *personal* accusation, nor could Joshua be looked upon as the people’s *representative* before the *Persian Court,* since Zerubbabel was their *civil* representative. Koehler regards Joshua as standing before the judgment-seat of the angel, while Satan stands at his right hand ([Psalms 109:6](/kjv/psalms/109/6)) to accuse him. But, while this interpretation is in the main correct, it must be remembered that no formal judicial process is described in the vision, nor is there any mention of a judgment-seat. Wright’s explanation seems to us the best: “The high priest was probably seen in the vision, busied about some part of his priestly duties. While thus engaged, he discovered that he was actually standing as a criminal before the angel, and while the great Adversary accused him, the truth of that accusation was but too clearly seen by the filthy garments with which he then perceived that he was attired.” **Satan.**—Literally, *the adversary,* who is, not Sanballat and his companion (Qimchi), but ὀ διάβολος*, the* adversary of mankind. A belief in a personal devil was current among the Jews from, at any rate, the time of the composition of the Book of Job to Talmudic times. (See [Job 1:2](/kjv/job/1/2); [1 Chronicles 21:1](/kjv/1-chronicles/21/1); Talmud Babli, *Baba Bathra,* 26 b*,* &c.) **At his right hand.**—The position of the adversay, or complainant, as represented in the original passage ([Psalms 109:6](/kjv/psalms/109/6)). ```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/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/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/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/zechariah/3#webpage","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/zechariah/3","name":"Zechariah 3 - Study King James Bible with ellicotts commentary for english readers","isPartOf":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/zechariah/3#primaryimage"},"author":{"@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/#/schema/person/e966585dde703268e7f6ae890ea98509"},"description":"Read Zechariah 3 with ellicotts commentary for english readers 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/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/zechariah/3#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/zechariah/3"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/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/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers","name":"ellicotts commentary for english readers"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/zechariah","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/zechariah","name":"Zechariah"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":5,"item":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/zechariah/3","url":"https://realbiblebelievers.com/study/ellicotts-commentary-for-english-readers/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"]}]} ```