Source: https://meredithkline.com/klines-works/articles-and-essays/the-servant-and-the-sperent-part-2/
Timestamp: 2019-04-24 04:37:45+00:00

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[part 2] Kerux 8:2 (Sep. 1993): 10-34.
A. Reckoning of Righteousness. 1. Removal of Sins: Zechariah 3:3 goes with the preceding verses. It repeats the opening statement that Joshua was standing before the Angel of the Lord (v. 1a), adding the alarming detail that he appeared at that awesome tribunal in filthy garments. By thus indicating what the basis was for Satan’s accusations (v. lb), verse 3 underscores the wonder of God’s elective grace revealed in his rejection of those charges (v. 2). But verse 3 also belongs with what follows, for the clothing imagery it introduces is continued in vv. 4ff. in the symbolic portrayal of the happy consequences of the Angel’s rebuke of the adversary: the removal of Joshua’s offending garb (v. 4) and his reclothing in priestly vestments (v. 5).
The process of Joshua’s justification and reinstatement is patterned after the ceremony prescribed in the Law for the installation of Aaron and his sons as priestly guardians of the tabernacle. (Exodus 28-29 contains the relevant legislation; Exodus 39-40 and Leviticus 8 narrate the event.) Included in the ritual in both cases are the elements of divine choice, cleansing, clothing-crowning, and charism. Moreover, the setting of the two transactions is the same, for Aaron’s consecration took place at the tent of meeting, the earthly projection of the heavenly court. It is then from this distinctly priestly perspective that Zechariah 3 presents the drama of man’s salvation in Christ and interprets humanity’s historical role and eschatological goal.
Concerning the high priesthood it is written: “no man taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron” (Heb. 5:4). The Pentateuchal directives for the order of Levitical priests begin with a declaration of God’s choice of Aaron and his sons to be peculiarly his own and to draw near and minister unto him (Exod. 28:1; 29:44). Similarly in the trial scene in Zechariah 3, the Angel’s favorable verdict, which results in Joshua’s reinstatement as high priest, is traced to God’s choice of Joshua/Jerusalem (v. 2).
In the performance of his office the priest finds himself standing at the place of judgment. For the temple is God’s royal court where he is enthroned between the cherubim. Ministering there the priest comes under the direct scrutiny of the holy Judge of heaven and earth. Freedom from sin is therefore a prime prerequisite of the priestly calling. Such a state of righteousness characterized Adam at his creation, qualifying him for his priestly role at the holy mount in Eden. In his unfallen condition, without sin, he could stand unthreatened before the Glory-Presence and behold the beatific vision in rapturous delight and adoration. In the post-Fall world, priestly vocation requires first of all a restoration of righteousness to the sinner by the removing of the guilty stains which would otherwise prove his fiery undoing when he stood before God’s face.
The regulations for the Levitical priesthood also provided for a continuing ritual of cleansing from sins. In the instructions concerning the brass laver located between the altar and the tent of meeting, it was commanded that whenever Aaron and his sons were to minister at the altar or enter the holy tent they were to resort to the laver to wash their hands and feet, lest they die (Exod. 30:17-21; 40:30-32). Within the schema of the tabernacle’s cosmological symbolism the laver represented the waters of the heavenly sea, which, flowing from the throne of God, are the instrument of divine judgment ordeal (cf. Rev. 15:1).13 They function as a curse, becoming a flood to wipe out life from the earth or a river of fire to consume the beast and the little horn. They also function as a blessing, taking the form of a river of life that makes glad the city of God, watering the trees of life whose leaves are for the healing of the nations in the eternal Eden. At the exodus these judgment waters performed both functions, destroying the Egyptian army but delivering the chosen, priestly nation of Israel. Paul identified these judicial waters of the exodus as a baptism (1 Cor. 10:2), reflecting the fact that baptism symbolizes the undergoing of a judgment ordeal. The waters of baptism are a death passage with forensic significance. Thus, for those who by faith undergo baptismal death in Christ’s baptism-crucifixion, baptism is unto the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; cf. Mark 1:4; Luke 3:3).14 Such was the meaning of the washing of the Levitical priests at the brazen laver. It was a forensic baptism, signifying the judicial clearing of the record, the pardoning of the evil deeds of the hands which must minister at the altar, the forgiving of the evil paths trodden by the feet which must enter the house of God. And the legal ground of the judicial pardon was Christ’s atoning sacrifice in the baptism of his death (Luke 12:50), typified in the sacrifices offered on the altar next to the laver.
There was an alternative ritual of purification in which uncleanness was symbolized by dirty clothing (cf. Isa. 64:6; Rev. 3:4), with laundering as the usual means of purification. When the Israelites were being constituted a holy kingdom of priests at Sinai, they were sanctified for the epiphany on the third day by the washing of their garments (Exod. 19:10, 14). Also, the cleansing of the Levites for their sacred service included the laundering of their clothes (Num. 8:7, 21), as did the ritual of restoration for various specific instances of defilement (cf., e.g., Lev. 11 :25; 14:8, 9; 16:26, 28; Num. 19:7ff.). The plea for cleansing in Psalm 51:2(4) uses a verb (kabas) that normally denotes the washing of clothes rather than the bathing of the body. It is this sartorial alternative that is found in Zechariah 3. The soiled clothing of Joshua serves as the symbolic equivalent of the defiled flesh of Aaron and his sons in the priestly installation ceremony on which the Zechariah 3 transaction is patterned. By the same token, the removal of Joshua’s soiled clothes—a variant of the laundering treatment—is the equivalent of the washing of the body which was the first step in the ceremony prescribed for the consecration of the priests.
Similar to the installation procedures of both Leviticus 8 and Zechariah 3 is Isaiah’s inauguration to prophetic office (Isaiah 6). The setting is the heavenly court (vv. 1, 2) and again the dilemma is that of the unclean human who finds himself in the presence of the holy Lord of glory (vv. 3-5). As in Zechariah 3:4, 5 the cleansing, effected by applying a purificatory stone to the prophet’s unclean mouth, is carried out by an angelic agent (vv. 6, 7a). Once again the cleansing is judicial, explained by the assurance: “Your iniquity is taken away and your sin is atoned for” (v. 7b). And as the priests’ laver cleansing was based on atoning altar-sacrifice, so here the expiatory stone is obtained from the altar, which means that this cleansing too is grounded on sacrificial atonement. In the course of Isaiah’s prophetic ministry he would eventually identify the suffering Servant of the Lord as the one who would accomplish this cleansing sacrifice. Likewise in Zechariah 3 attention is directed to this future messianic priest-sacrifice, the Servant-Branch of whom Joshua was a type (v.8).
The key features we have noted in the episodes involving Aaron and Joshua are met again in the vision of Revelation 7:11-17. Induction into priestly ministry, the heavenly court setting, the symbolism of priestly clothing, and judicial washing accomplished through atoning sacrifice—all these elements come together in the imagery of the redeemed myriads, white-robed, standing before the throne and the Lamb, appointed to serve God in his temple day and night, and identified as those who “washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (v. 14).
Strange detergent, staining blood. But such is the forensic chemistry of the justification of God’s chosen priesthood. Jesus, lamb of God, must pour out his blood in the baptism-judgment of his crucifixion that there might be a baptismal laver filled with blood, a fountain opened where sinners lose all their guilty stains (cf. Zech. 13:1). By this blood the accuser of the brethren is overcome in the court of heaven (Rev. 12:10, 11). “Unto him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and has made us to be a kingdom, priests to his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen” (Rev. 1:5b, 6; cf. 5:9,10). This is the doxological climax of the biblical testimony concerning God’s Servant, the bruised and bleeding but serpent-crushing seed of the woman promised in Eden (Gen. 3:15); the coming Shiloh of Jacob’s blessing on Judah, with whom the prophecy associates a donkey slain to ratify covenants and a mysterious washing of garments in the blood of grapes (Gen. 49:10, 11).
2. Robes of Righteousness: In the cleansing rituals that involve the washing of garments the very act that purges away the dirt produces the clean robes (cf. Rev. 7:14). But in Zechariah 3, where the dirty clothing is removed rather than laundered, a second, separate step is needed to complete the process—an act of reclothing. It is the Angel of the Lord who continues to exercise the sovereign initiative in this further action. Explaining to Joshua the meaning of the removal of his offending garments (v. 4b), he appends the promise that he will reclothe him in new apparel (v. 4c)16 As Zechariah watches the visionary drama unfold and recognizes that the new garments are high priestly vestments, he interjects the prayer that the high priest’s mitre in particular be placed on Joshua’s head (v. 5a).17 A statement that this specific act of crowning took place (v. 5b) is followed by a general summary of the re-investiture (v. 5c) and a concluding observation that the Angel of the Lord stood there (v. 5d).
Since the divestiture and investiture of Joshua are complementary acts, mahalasot, the rare term used for the new clothes, must denote something opposite to the soiled garb it replaces. We know that it is the regalia of the high priest in which Joshua is being robed. This plus the fact that in its only other appearance mahalasot refers to elegant finery (Isa. 3:22) suggest that this term denotes garments of a special ornate character that would be kept in mint condition. As such the mahalasot serve here as an apt antonym to dirty clothing. Significantly, the one specific item singled out the special attention, the head-dress, is described as a “clean” mitre.
The complementary relationship of the divestiture and investiture also provides an index to the precise theological significance of the reclothing. Removal of the unclean clothing symbolized the legal blotting out of sins, the rebuttal of Satan’s accusations, forgiveness, the imputation of the sins of God’s elect to Christ. As the complementary act to that, the reclothing will signify the judicial declaration of their righteousness, justification through the imputation to them of the righteousness of the messianic Servant, the righteousness of his active obedience in fulfillment of the probationary task of vanquishing the serpent. Chosen Joshua’s reclothing was his vindication as the one who was in the right in the sight of the heavenly Judge in the case of Satan against God’s elect. “I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has put on me a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns himself like a priest” (Isa. 61:10; cf. Ps. 45:13,14[14,15]; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 22:11, 12).
Next in the biblical account, following immediately upon the directions for the construction of the tabernacle (Exodus 25-27), are the prescriptions for Aaron’s sacred garments and his investiture (Exodus 28-29; cf. 39:1-13). And when examined these high priestly vestments turn out to be a scaled down, sartorial version of the tabernacle—and thus another replication of the Glory-Archetype.21 Their likeness to the tabernacle can be traced in the aspects of their materials, form, function, and general purpose. Their identity as a replication of the Glory-theophany is most strikingly displayed in the impression of radiance they conveyed, the effect of their flame-colored materials with the gleam of the precious gem-stones and gold. It was indeed the explicit design, stated at the beginning and close of the prescriptions concerning them (Exod. 28:2 and 40), that they were “for glory and beauty” and both of these terms are elsewhere applied to the Glory-theophany (cf. Isa. 4:2; 28:5). By commanding into being the figure of the high priest so adorned, the Lord was, in symbolic idiom, re-creating man in the divine image. The exodus history repeated the creation history in its reproduction of the Glory-Spirit likeness in both the cosmos and humanity.
In the ordination of Aaron the putting on of the holy garments followed as the second step after the washing at the laver (Exod. 40:12, 13; Lev. 8:6-9). Correspondingly in Zechariah 3 the removal of the filthy garb (the equivalent of the laver lustration) is followed by Joshua’s investiture, which must then be understood, like that of Aaron, as a putting on of the image of God.
To be created in the divine image includes, ultimately, three glory components present in the Glory-Spirit-Archetype. One is the ethical glory of purity and truth. That is the component Paul focuses on when he adopts this metaphor of putting on God’s likeness like clothing (Eph. 4:24; Col. 3:10).
Interestingly, in the apostle’s adaptation of the theme, the putting on of the clothing of holiness follows, as in Zechariah 3, a putting off of unfit clothing (Eph. 4:22; Col. 3:9).
A second component of the image of God is dominion comparable to that exercised by God and the Elohim-like angels of the divine council (cf. Ps. 82:1, 6). Agreeably, Joshua’s re-investiture was an appointment to the office of the high priest, which afforded admission into the holy of holies, with a place in God’s court. This is mentioned in the commission given to Joshua: he was to govern God’s courts and to be given access among the angel-attendants of the heavenly King (Zech. 3:7). Of the high priest’s vestments it was the mitre in particular that expressed the royal, governmental aspect of his office. The terms used for this turban are also used for a royal diadem (cf. Isa. 28:5; 62:3; Ezek. 21:26). Special attention is called to the mitre by Zechariah’s request for its inclusion in the reclothing of Joshua (v. 5). And this singling out of the mitre prepares for the climactic role to be played later in the vision by this majestic head-dress, or more specifically by the golden consecration “stone” affixed to its forefront and most distinctly imparting to the mitre the nature of a royal crown (v. 9; cf. Zech. 6:11). Joshua’s re-investiture proclaims that all who are created anew in God’s image are crowned with the dignity of dominion; they live and reign with Christ.
The third component of the Glory likeness is the visible glory of transfiguration, an outward luminosity befitting and bespeaking the lucid purity and integrity within, a physical radiance that manifests the majesty of regal station. This visual glory, not included with the other two elements in the original creation endowment of man, is an eschatological honor. It is the Spirit-wrought glorification the redeemed will experience when they behold Jesus, arrayed with the Glory-Spirit, coming in the clouds of heaven. It was portrayed by the dazzling beauty of Aaron’s holy garments. In the vision of Zechariah 3, Joshua, by being re-invested with the radiant high priestly regalia, is transfigured into the brilliant Glory-likeness of the messianic Angel of the Glory-Presence before whom he stands.
Our introductory comments on Zechariah’s fourth vision noted its root-age in Genesis 3. Another link is the investiture motif. There too we read of human defilement, registered in a sense of shameful nakedness, and of a divine covering of the guilty pair with skin clothing (Gen. 3:21), symbolizing the restoration of the image of God.22 The term for “skin” is part of a three-cornered pun, also involving the term “naked” used for Adam and Eve (Gen. 2:25) and the term “subtle” used for the serpent (Gen. 3:1). By the paronomasia it is suggested that as a result of the Fall the culprits had lost their original likeness to the Glory-Spirit (cf. Gen. 1:26, 27) and had taken on the image of the devil, but by God’s grace were to be renewed in likeness to their Creator. The holiness component of the imago Dei is prominent (cf. Rev. 3:18; 16:15), but the glory of royal-priestly dominion is also present. Priestly office and function had been given to man; he was to be the guardian of God’s sanctuary-garden (Gen. 2:15). This office he had forfeited by the loss of original righteousness so that he had to be expelled from the sanctuary, his priestly task now taken over by the cherubim (Gen. 3:24; cf. Exod. 20:26; 28:42). In this context the act of clothing in the divinely provided garments of skin takes on the nature of a re-investiture with priestly status and dominion.
Clothing made of animal skin had to be procured through sacrificial death; an act of atonement was the judicial basis for the priestly reinstatement and restoration of divine image and righteousness. From the nearby context we also learn that it was the messianic seed of the woman who would undergo the necessary substitutionary, sacrificial suffering (Gen. 3:15). Only at the cost of the bruising of his heel would he trample the head of the serpent. Only by his atoning death for the sins of the rest of the woman’s seed, the Joshua-people of Zechariah 3, does the Servant silence the serpent. Only through this rebuking of Satan by the Messiah is the way opened for Joshua to be re-invested as high priest and to enter once more into the holy courts of the Lord.
Similarly in the allegory of the messianic king and his bride-people in Psalm 45 special attention is given to the bride’s finery (vv. 13, 14[14, 15]), the terms for which are elsewhere in the Old Testament mostly confined to descriptions of the priests’ regalia and the tabernacle. A corresponding emphasis on the apparel of the king (vv.3, 8[4, 9]) suggests that the royal splendor is a paradigmatic glory that is replicated in the bride’s raiment. Reinforcing this is a further parallel: praise of the king’s surpassing beauty (the verb yapah, v. 2; cf. Isa. 33:17) is echoed by a reference to the beauty of the bride (cognate noun, yopi, v. 11; cf. Ezek. 16:13, 14). Since the king is divine (cf. v. 6), this bridal investiture is a metaphor for re-creation in the image of God.
Joshua’s duties are expressed as conditions whose fulfillment would bring high privilege and honor. The transaction was tantamount to a covenant of grant proposal, offering special reward in recognition of faithful services to be rendered. Joshua’s recommissioning took this form because the high priestly order epitomized the Torah-covenant with Israel and therefore, like it, was informed by the works principle. As previously observed,27 the Mosaic Covenant was indeed a covenant of works at the level of Israel’s typological kingdom. In that respect it recapitulated the original covenant of works with Adam. Hence the proposal made to Joshua was also after the pattern of that covenant of creation with its proposal of a grant of heightened blessings to be merited by Adam’s obedient discharge of the stipulated services, particularly the priestly guardianship of God’s sanctuary.
There is disagreement as to how many of the five clauses in Zechariah 3:7 after the messenger formula, “Thus says Yahweh of hosts,” describe the conditional duties. Clearly the first two do so, but the question is whether the next two belong with them in the protasis or with the fifth clause in the apodosis. In other covenantal formulations with similar stipulations a change of person in the subject of the actions marks the transition from obligations imposed or undertaken to benefits promised, or vice versa (cf., e.g., Gen. 17:1-21; Deut. 26:16-19). In Zechariah 3:7 the second person subject continues through the first four clauses (underscored by an emphatic “you” at the beginning of the third clause), changing to the first person only in the fifth clause (cf. Gen. 17:9). On the other hand, evidence for starting the apodosis with the third clause is found in a similar syntactic construction in Psalm 132. This psalm abounds in parallels to Zechariah 3 in theme, terminology, and imagery; in fact the passage in question (v. 12) is, like Zechariah 3:7, part of a divine commitment involving a charge to a theocratic appointee (protasis) and a promise of perpetual tenure (apodosis). And the introductory particle used to introduce the apodosis in Psalm 132:12 also introduces the third and fourth clauses in Zechariah 3:7.
To walk in God’s ways and keep his charge (the duties mentioned in clauses one and two) are at times equivalent to the general requirement of keeping the covenant (cf. Deut. 8:6; 10:12; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16; Mal. 3:14), but they could refer here specifically to the guardian function of the priesthood (cf. Num. 3:7). Judicial governance and guardianship of the temple complex are clearly described in the third and fourth clauses, and even if regarded here as promised honors (i.e., as part of the apodosis) they are still indicative of the functions of the office with which Joshua was being charged. Like Adam’s probation mission in Eden (Gen. 2:15), Joshua’s commissioning set him on guard against the hostile incursion of the evil one into God’s holy house. He must stand against Satan’s challenge at Har-Magedon.
As the reward for fighting the good priestly warfare against the devil, God promised: “I will grant you access among these who stand by” (Zech. 3:7f.). This is the acme of honor even if the royal privileges of the third and fourth clauses are also construed as part of the promised grant. The word translated “access” (derived from halak, “walk”) seems more literally to mean a passageway or entryway (cf. Ezek. 42:4). To be accorded entree among the angelic attendants standing by the Lord is to be admitted into the heavenly court, into the very presence of God and a close, confidential relationship with him. That prerogative was the supreme privilege vouchsafed to prophets. Zechariah was experiencing this exalted privilege as he received the night visions. But on the occasion of his entering the holy of holies the high priest also enjoyed this entree into the presence of the Lord enthroned between the cherubim standing by the ark-throne. Malachi speaks of faithful priests walking (halak) with God (Mal. 2:6; cf. Mic. 6:8; Gen. 5:22; 6:9).
The final fulfillment of the Angel’s promise to Joshua is found in the New Jerusalem, the celestial city constituted a temple by the presence of the Lord God enthroned in the midst of the heavenly hosts (Revelation 21-22). There God tabernacles with his people, who (as we have seen) are portrayed as a bride-priest, the wife of the Lamb, her bridal garments priestly vestments, the ultimate realization of redemptive renewal in the image of the Lord of Glory.28 In a word, the Joshua-priesthood was promised heaven. There God’s holy servants dwell eternally in the secret place of the Most High, under the shadow of the Almighty. There the longing spirit finds rest and says “Amen and amen” to the psalmist’s word of faith, hope and love: “Afterwards you will conduct me into your Council; yea afterwards you will take me up into your Glory. Having you, what else need I in heaven; having you, what more do I desire on earth?” (Ps. 73:24, 25).
Heaven, however, was not to be attained through the Mosaic covenant of works. Israel, like Adam, failed to fulfill the stipulated probationary conditions; the Aaronic priesthood, embodied in Joshua in the days of Zechariah, did not faithfully discharge its commissioned duties. The proposed grant was forfeited and the curse of the covenant was incurred instead. Adam was driven out of Eden’s garden-sanctuary; Israel, with its priesthood, was expelled from its symbolic paradise. Heaven must be won by another, a promised one yet to come, mediator of a new covenant of grace.
B. Prophecy of the Coming Day. 1. Joshua. Sign of the Servant: The covenant of works proposal to Joshua lifts our thoughts above to the Father’s covenantal proposal to send his Son to replace the Aaronic priesthood and to be a second Adam. This Son-Servant would be an obedient Adam, keeping his covenant of works, faithfully performing his priestly charge, and thereby he would merit for himself and those the Father gave him the promised place of acceptance, audience, and access in heaven. And in God’s typological arrangements under the old covenant, Joshua, high priest of Israel, was a sign of that coming Servant of the Lord.
“Hear now, Joshua the high priest—truly you and your colleagues who sit before you are a prophetic sign [literally, men of a sign]—behold, I will bring forth my Servant the Branch” (Zech. 3:8). The announcement proper, marked by “behold,” is that God will send the Servant (v. 8c), while the statement about the symbolic nature of Joshua (v. 8b) is parenthetical. Yet their logical relationship is that the prophetic announcement identifies what Joshua symbolizes: he is a prototypal portent, a type, of the coming messianic Servant.
More specifically, the sign consists of Joshua—the high priest consecrated and commissioned to his office (vv. 4-7)—presiding in a judicial council.29 Whether or not the colleagues are priests, their sitting before him indicates they are under his authority. A passage in the Qumran document, The Manual of Discipline, dealing with protocol in various communal situations, insists on the presence and prerogatives of a priest in these gatherings and describes the others as sitting in his presence (IQS vi, 4-6; cf. 2 Kgs. 4:38; 6:1; Ezek. 8:1). The term “sit” in Zechariah 3:8 is probably used in the sense of sit in judgment (cf. Exod. 18:13, 14; Isa. 28:6; Dan. 7:9, 10; Ps. 122:5; Ruth 4:4). It is the royal-judicial aspect of the high priesthood that is prominent here as it was in the charge to Joshua (v. 7). It is Joshua the priest-king, invested with authority over God’s courts, who is a prophetic type of the coming One.
Corresponding to the dual priest-king office of Joshua is the compound designation of his antitype, “my Servant the Branch” (v. 8), a dual title that identifies him as both priest and king. The mission of the antitypical, messianic priest-king would be set in motion by God: “Behold, I will bring forth” (literally, “cause to come;” cf. Jer. 32:42). This note of God’s sovereign initiation was already sounded in the earliest disclosure concerning the Messiah and his salvation: “The Lord God said unto the serpent . . . I will put enmity” (Gen. 3:14, 15).
The designation “my Servant” summarizes the sublime Isaianic message of the suffering Servant of the Lord. The Zechariah 3:8 announcement, “behold, l bring forth my Servant” recalls the introductory “Behold, my Servant” in Isaiah 42:1 and 52:13. As delineated in Isaiah’s climactic passage (52:13-53:12), the Servant’s ministry is priestly: he presents an offering for sin, he sprinkles many nations, he makes intercession for transgressors. Central to the portrait is his passive obedience unto death during his state of humiliation as he fills the role of priest and sacrifice. But there is a second stage in his history. The reward for his priestly service is highest exaltation; the Servant-priest is crowned with royal glory (52:13; 53:12; cf. 49:7). He is a priest-king.
The name-title, “the Branch” (semah) brings out more distinctly the royal dimension of the Servant title to which it is joined in Zechariah 3:8. For this title encapsulates the teaching of previous prophets concerning Messiah as scion of the stock of king David, son of Jesse. Isaiah used such plant imagery: “A shoot shall come forth from the stump of Jesse and a branch (neser) from his roots will bear fruit” (Isa. 11:1). Again, “the branch (semah) of Yahweh will become beauty [a term applied to a royal crown in Isa. 28:5] and glory for the remnant” (Isa. 4:2). Two similar passages in Jeremiah, each beginning “Behold the days come” and prophesying of the advent of the messianic king of David’s dynasty, call him the Branch (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:14-17). In Jeremiah 33:15 the metaphor is verbal: “I [Yahweh] will cause a shoot of righteousness [i.e., a legitimate royal heir] to shoot forth (samah) unto David” (cf. Zech. 6:12).30 Similarly, Psalm 132:17 (as customarily rendered) presents God’s promise that in fulfillment of his covenant oath to David he will make a horn sprout forth (samah) to him.
Combining the priestly Servant and royal Branch titles was natural enough since they overlap conceptually in various ways. We have observed that Isaiah’s suffering Servant is at last elevated to highest royal honor. Like the Davidic Branch his origins are as a tender plant and root out of dry ground (Isa. 53:2). Messianic “David” is also called “my servant” (Ezek. 34:23; cf. Pss. 78:70; 89:3, 20). Attributed to both Servant and Branch are endowment with the Spirit, wisdom and success, deliverance of those bound in prison and darkness, and the bringing of salvation to Israel and all nations and of judgment and righteousness to the earth (Isa. 42:1-4, 6, 7; 49:6-12; 52:13; 53:11; 61:1-4 and Isa. 11:2-4, 11; Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15, 16). The fact is that the two titles refer to one and the same individual.
The New Testament bears witness that this combination of suffering priest and righteous king seen in Zechariah 3 (and 6:9-15; 9:9-11; 11; and 13:7) and elsewhere in the Old Testament (notably Psalm 110 and Dan. 9:24-27) finds its realization in Jesus the Christ. At his baptism the Father’s voice identified him in a blend of phraseology drawn from God’s inaugural decree to his King-Son in Psalm 2:7 and his word of approbation to his Servant in Isaiah 42:1 (Matt. 3:17; Mark 1:11; Luke 3:22). Jesus himself summarized all that was spoken of him in the law, the prophets, and the psalms in terms of this dual identity and function—the sufferings and the glory that would follow (Luke 24:25-27, 44-47). And Jesus, identifying himself as the majestic Son of Man of Daniel 7 declared repeatedly that the Son of Man must undergo sufferings to ransom the many, as was foretold of the Servant in Isaiah 53. As seen by John in apocalyptic vision (Rev. 5:5, 6), Jesus was both the slain lamb (cf. Isa. 53:7) and the lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David (cf. Gen. 49:8-10).
2. The Stone: Seal of the Spirit: A second “behold” (ki hinneh) at the beginning of Zechariah 3:9 marks part two of the Angel’s prophetic announcement. As in part one, a typological sign of what is predicted in the announcement proper is first introduced, viz., the stone.31 A series of declarations follows concerning the antitype, the true one-for-all event. Insertion of an additional “behold, I” in the midst of this series emphasizes the point that the Lord God is the author of the antitypical fulfillment of the stone’s symbolism.
The relation of the sign-types in the two parts of the Angel’s announcement (v. 8 and vv. 9, 10) reflects the structure of the previous re-investiture ritual with its general symbol of the vestments as a whole but also its particular focus on the head-dress. Thus, in v. 8 the figure of the presiding Joshua harks back to the over-all reclothing in v.4 while the stone in v.9 resumes (as we shall see) the special attention directed to the turban in v.5. This relationship between the earlier and later portions of the vision and, in particular, the fact that the stone belongs to the symbolism of the reclothing is demonstrated by the last clause in v. 9. There the significance of the stone is expounded in terms of a divine removing of iniquity, a clear reference to v. 4 where the symbolism of Joshua’s reclothing is explained in the same way. Once this relationship is recognized, along with the thoroughgoing dependence of the Zechariah 3 investiture procedure on the regulations for the installation of the high priest in Exodus 28 and 29, there should be no difficulty (the great variety of interpretations notwithstanding) in perceiving the identity of the stone.
Pursuing the suggested connection between the stone and the high priestly mitre placed on Joshua, we turn back then to the Exodus account of Aaron’s investiture and discover that the unusual combination of images and ideas that expound the meaning of the stone in Zechariah 3:9 appears there in the legislation concerning the high priestly head-dress (Exod. 28:4, 36-38; 29:6; cf. 29:30, 31; Lev. 8:9).
On the forefront (mul peney) of the mitre was affixed (natan, “give,” Exod. 29:6) a plaque of pure (tahor)32 gold, called a “blossom” (sis) as an ornamental flowering of the mitre. In the ancient Near East kings and gods, and they alone, are depicted wearing tiaras decorated on the front with blossom-shaped phylacteries. In Isaiah 28:1-5 sis is used as a parallel to crown. Isaiah prophesies that the crown of Ephraim will be overthrown but in that day Yahweh of hosts will be a diadem of beauty for the remnant. This same prospect is presented in Psalm 132:18, which foretells the blossoming (verb sis) of the crown of the Messiah whom God makes to branch (verb samah) from David’s line. Such blossoms were carved on the walls and doors of God’s royal house (1 Kgs. 6:18, 29, 32, 35). With its gem-like sis, the mitre was a crown exhibiting the royal character of the high priestly office.
The golden plaque was also called a nezer, “consecration” and “crown” (as a sign of consecration). Its significance as an emblem of sanctification to God’s service was spelled out in the inscription “Holy to Yahweh” which was engraved on it like the engravings of a signet-stone (Exod. 28:36; 39:30). The mitre being placed on Aaron’s head, its frontal diadem would be positioned on his forehead (Exod. 28:38). There it must be whenever he came before God bearing the iniquity (‘awon) of Israel’s holy gifts, so that the Lord’s eyes might fall at once on the holy seal of consecration and accept the priestly ministry.
Unmistakably it is this Exodus legislation concerning the golden plaque on the high priest’s mitre that is the source on which Zechariah 3:9 draws and that provides the identification of the stone. The stone appertains to the high priest; it is something which “I [the Lord] have given before [natan with lipney] Joshua.” This may simply mean it was committed to Joshua’s possession.33 But the choice of words seems to reflect their use in the passages concerning the mitre-diadem, in which case the idea is that the stone was positioned over Joshua’s forehead. There is then a natural connection to the next statement, “upon one stone will be seven eyes”: the eyes of the Lord would look directly upon the stone on the forehead of the high priest standing before him. The identification of the seven eyes (not as seven facets of the stone or seven letters of its inscription or seven springs of water but) as the sevenfold Spirit of God is clear from Zechariah 4:10 and Revelation 5:6. The one chosen stone was the focus of the full sevenfold divine concentration.
“Eyes of the king” was a title for certain officials in Persia and elsewhere whose duty was to be informants. Often they would be accusers, an imperial analogue of Satan. But in their general function of surveillance these royal officials provided a model to depict God’s reconnaissance of the earth conducted through his angelic agents with a view to ordering all things for the good of his people (2 Chr. 16:9; Ezra 5:5; cf. Zech. 4:10; I Kgs 8:29; Ps. 11:4; Jer. 24:6; I Pet. 3:12).34 In Zechariah 3 the seven eyes of the Lord submit to the Angel-Judge a counter-report to that of Satan.35 Satan’s eyes fastened on Joshua’s soiled garments but the seven eyes of Yahweh look on the stone on Joshua’s forehead, the stone that wins acceptance before the throne in heaven.
Other data support our seeing signet-seal imagery in Zechariah 3:9 and at the same time suggest further reasons why the plaque was called a stone. Signet imagery was in vogue; just two months before Zechariah’s night visions God’s word through Haggai likened Zerubbabel to a signet (Hag. 2:23). In Zechariah’s own next vision he pictures Zerubbabel with a plumb stone in his hand (Zech. 4:10), an object whose form (i.e., a stone hanging on a line) matched that of a signet-stone on its cord. (Was the symbolism of the golden plaque polyvalent, portraying the plumb line standard of holiness that prevailed in God’s house37 as well as the signet seal of sanctification and ownership?) In fact, in Zechariah 4:10 the seven eyes of the Lord look upon Zerubbabel’s plumb stone as they do upon Joshua’s stone in Zechariah 3:9, suggesting that the choice of “stone” in Zechariah 3:9 was with a view to calling attention to this parallelism between these two similar objects and thereby highlighting a paired set of priestly and royal typological symbols of the Messiah.
The identity of the stone as the signet-seal on the high priest’s mitre explains Zechariah’s zealous concern that this head-dress be bestowed on Joshua (Zech. 3:5). For it was the Lord’s seal of acceptance (Exod. 28:38). It was a stamping of God’s name (signet impressions being signatures) upon the forehead of his priestly servant, acknowledging him as his own personal possession, sanctified unto him.
In Pauline theology sealing is synonymous with the anointing of the Spirit (2 Cor. 1:21, 22; Eph. 1:13; 4:30; 2 Tim. 2:19). This sealing is a stamp of ownership which reserves believers unto the eschatological redemption (Eph. 1:13, 14).38 Reflecting on this in 2 Timothy 2:19, Paul quotes from Numbers 16:5, where the Aaronic priesthood is identified as belonging to the Lord, accepted as holy into his presence. Read in the light of this sealing with the Spirit, the placing of the signet-seal on Joshua in Zechariah 3:9 fills out the ritual pattern of high priestly installation with the act of anointing, climactic in the ritual of Exodus 28 and 29.39 With this symbol of Spirit-anointing on Joshua’s head, the messianic typology of high priestly investiture is completed. Joshua stands before us as a prismatic sign of the Anointed One, Messiah the Servant-Branch, Christ our priest-king.
The imagery of the sealing of God’s people for priestly service by the stamping of God’s name upon their foreheads reappears in the Book of Revelation (7:3; 14:1; 22:4). The connection between the sealing and the name is established by the fact that the same ones who receive a seal on their foreheads in 7:3 are said to have the name of the Lamb and his Father on their foreheads in 14:1 (cf. 22:4).40 Those so marked by God are his “servants” (7:3; 22:3), “purchased for God” (14:4). The priestly nature of their service is plain—they stand before his throne and see his face (14:3; 22:4).
Within the high priestly investiture symbolism the stone, the name of God sealed on Joshua’s forehead, is the supreme sign of renewal in the glory-image of the Spirit. It is the type par excellence of restoration to royal priesthood with dominion over creation and governance of God’s cosmic courts. By crowning Joshua with this diadem stone the divine Angel was symbolically fashioning Joshua in his own archetypal image—and at the same time was constituting this regal priest a portent-sign of himself in his future manifestation as the Lord’s Anointed, crowned with glory and honor, all things in subjection under his feet, set over the house of God as a Son (cf. Heb. 2:6-9; 3:5, 6).
The diadem nature of the stone-plaque centers attention on the royal dominion aspect of the image of God and thus on God’s inheritance grant to his people of a kingdom of glory, productivity and peace. “In that day, says Yahweh of hosts, you shall invite each one his neighbor under the vine and under the fig-tree” (Zech. 3:10). Blessing sanctions in the old covenant regularly include the outward realm as well as the spiritual sphere.43 So did prophetic promises concerning the consummation phase of the new covenant (cf., e.g., Deut. 30:9; Jer. 32:40, 41).
Zechariah’s picture of the coming day is drawn from the prosperity of Solomon’s days, when “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (1 Kgs. 4:25 [5:5]). Micah had already used the same typical imagery (Mic. 4:4) when prophesying of the kingdom “at the end of the days” (4:1)—the eschatological formula behind Zechariah’s “in that day.” Later in Zechariah’s prophecy we hear repeatedly a reprise on the theme of paradise restored (cf. 8:3-5, 12; 9:17; 10:10; 14:8-11).
Antitypical fulfillment and eschatological finality are keynotes in the announcements of Zechariah 3:8-10. Through the coming One, the messianic Son sent from heaven in the power of the sevenfold Spirit, God would bring to pass all that was symbolized by the typical priesthood of the order of Aaron. A divine engraving would replace the work of the Israelite craftsman of old: “I will engrave its engraving” (v. 9c). By his Spirit-anointed Servant God would accomplish in truth the sanctification of his elect which was expressed by the inscription on the golden plaque, “Holy to Yahweh.” “In one day”44 by the priestly offering of Jesus, God would effect once and for all the removal of the iniquity of that land (v. 9d),45 perfecting forever them that are sanctified (cf. Heb. 7-10; esp. 7:27; 9:12; 10:10). What the “land flowing with milk and honey” prefigured, God would bestow as an antitypical cosmic inheritance on the joint-heirs of Christ (v. 10). In that day, Messiah the Branch, the righteous king, would bring forth justice and security, prosperity and peace, in all the earth.
The mission of the messianic priest-king has a double portrayal in Zechariah 3. It is typified by the figure of Joshua and his diadem-stone, but it is also set forth by the acts of the Angel of the Lord described in verses 1-5. All that the divine Angel is seen doing for Joshua in the vision he would later do as the incarnate Servant-Son. In that day he would in historical fact vanquish the serpent, accuser of the brethren; remove the guilty stains of his people and clothe them in righteousness; seal them with his Spirit, renewing them in the image of God; and restore them as a royal priesthood, heirs of heaven’s glory, blessed with access into the throne-presence of the Lord their God. Behold the Angel of the Lord, the coming One. Behold my Servant, the Branch.
“Arise, O Lord, from your Sabbath-throne, you and the ark of your sovereignty.46 Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, let your consecrated ones shout for joy” (Ps. 132:8, 9).
16. The verb (halbesh) is understood with imperative force (and the object is changed to “him”) on the view (supported by LXX) that v. 4c does not continue the Angel’s explanation to Joshua (v. 4b) but resumes the directives to the angelic attendants (v. 4a).
17. It was noted previously (cf. Kerux 8/1 [May 1993], p. 21) that this intervention by the prophet in the visionary action is one of the features peculiar to the three hinge sections in this book. There is considerable support in the ancient versions for a different textual reading which would make v. 5a a continuation of the Angel’s words in v.4.
20. Cf. ibid., pp.35-42. For a discussion of the tabernacle as a replica of the Glory-temple and the theme of re-creation in the image of God, see also the earlier comments on Zechariah’s first vision in Kerux 5/3 (Dec. 1990), pp. 18-21.
26. The verb ‘amad has at times the meaning of “endure,” “hold firm.” Like the statement about Joshua’s standing before the angel in v. 3, v. 5d is a transition, concluding what precedes but introductory to what follows.
29. Only Joshua is addressed in the summons to attention (v. 8a) and he is the main subject (“you”) of the parenthetical statement. The subject (including the colleagues) is placed before the introductory ki, which in such cases has emphatic force (“truly”). The third plural pronoun at the end does not single out the colleagues, for a third person pronoun can be used to strengthen a previous pronoun of first or second person (cf., e.g., Isa. 43:25; Jer. 49:12; Zeph. 2:12).
31. In v. 9a the stone is the immediate object referred to by hinneh, “behold,” which then also seems to do double duty (reinforced by another hinneh at v. 9c), introducing the announcement proper.
36. Bearer of God’s signet-seal, the high priest was God’s steward-representative with authority to stamp God’s mark of ownership (consecration) on persons and things.
39. This is another parallel between Zechariah’s fourth and fifth visions, for Spirit-anointing is the dominant motif in Zechariah 4.
41. Renewal in God’s image is implicit in Paul’s explanation of sealing as anointing with the Spirit. On the correlation of the biblical concepts of the image of God and Spirit-anointing of messiahship, see Images of the Spirit, p. 70.
43. Of interest for the connection of verses 9 and 10 in Zechariah 3 is the way Deuteronomy 11 attributes the productivity of the land (a blessing associated with covenantal fidelity, vv. 8, 13) to “the eyes of Yahweh your God” being upon it all year long (v. 12).
44. Decisive victory accomplished in a single day was a distinguishing mark of the great king in the ancient Near East. Cf. Douglas Stuart, “The Sovereign’s Day of Conquest,” Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 221 (Feb. 1976), pp. l59-164.
46. Cf. Numbers 10:35, 36. Solomon’s quotation of the psalm (2 Chr. 6:41) is prefaced by a request that the Lord’s eyes be upon his suppliant people (v. 40; cf. Zech. 3:9).

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