Verse 1
This remarkable vision (Zechariah 3:1-10) was shown to the prophet by God Himself; and it is primarily concerned with the status of Israel after the captivity. God had rejected and destroyed, but not totally, the entire nation of the Jews, including both their wicked states: Ephraim and Judah. This near-total destruction of the once-chosen people followed the corruption and apostasy of the whole people from the loving God who had delivered them from Egyptian slavery, with the terminal result that the people had become debauched, merely a new generation of Canaanites, just as wicked and idolatrous as the old Canaanites whom God had driven out to make room for the posterity of Abraham. Their kings were the scandal of ancient history; their priesthood was polluted with sins, even stooping to murder. Anyone familiar with the 9th chapter of Hosea could only be surprised that God waited as long as he did to destroy the corrupt states of Israel (Ephraim) and Judah.
But at the time of Zechariah, a remnant of the people had returned to Judaea under the leadership of Joshua and Zerubbabel; and the future of that remnant unfolds in the vision of this chapter. By God's acceptance of a returning remnant, the Father indicated that the ancient promises to Abraham, Moses and David were still valid. A Saviour who would yet "bless all the families of the earth" (Genesis 12:3) would in time be delivered to the world through that struggling little band that returned from captivity. Why would God do this? Simply because he had promised to do it. Did this rescue and return of the remnant signify that God was then satisfied with the righteousness of his people? No! Did this return mean that the secular Israel was again re-married to Almighty God as his wife and chosen people? No indeed! The new status of Israel would be that of God's servant not his wife, as indicated by Hosea 3. (See extensive comment on this in my commentary on the minor prophets, vol. 2, pp. 57-65.)
The location of this vision should be accurately understood as situated on earth. Scholars have expressed radically different opinions about it, the most erroneous being that of placing it "in heaven." Leupold designated such opinions as "not important";[1] but we view the misunderstanding of a heavenly placement of this vision as extremely important, due to the false deduction flowing out of it to the effect that this passage, along with Job 1:6-12, indicates that, "Satan is a regular attender in the divine presence,"[2] or that Satan is actually still in "heaven!"
It should be understood as certain that the vision here took place, "on earth, and, indeed, in or near Jerusalem."[3] The fact of the participants in the vision "standing before" the angel of the Lord does not contradict this, because "The angel of the Lord is God's earthly representative."[4]
The earth is the place of Satan's activities, that evil being having been cast out of heaven before the Adamic creation appeared (See the notes in my commentary on Revelation, pp. 273-278). A proper understanding of this is absolutely necessary to the proper understanding of Revelation 12; John 12:31; and Luke 10:18.
"And he showed me Joshua the High Priest standing before the angel of Jehovah, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary."
"He showed me ..." This refers to God. The interpreting angel did not introduce visions, his function being that of explaining them.
"Joshua the High Priest ..." That this Joshua held the office of High Priest when Zechariah prophesied is apparent from Haggai 1:1; Ezra 5:2; and from Zechariah 6:11, in which passage he appears again.
"Before the angel of Jehovah ..." Keil's analysis of the persons appearing here appears to be correct:
"He" in Zechariah 3:1 is Jehovah, and not the mediating angel, for his work was to explain the visions to the prophet, and not to introduce them; nor the angel of Jehovah, because he appears in the course of the vision, although in these visions he is sometimes identified with Jehovah, and sometimes distinguished from him.[5]
This prophetic identification of the angel of the Lord with God Himself, yet distinguishing him from the Father, is part of the extensive Old Testament witness to the fact of God's being a compound unity, not an absolute unity. God is one ([~'echad]); the people are one ([~'echad]). These are definite foreshadowings of the truth more explicitly stated in the New Testament. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God!" (John 1:1).
"And Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary ..." Schools of criticism which have attempted to make the doctrine of Satan a very late development have moved to destroy the witness of this verse to the contrary. Mitchell, for example, while candidly admitting that the appearance of "Satan" in this passage as a proper name for the evil one, is actually "a literal transcript of the original," nevertheless asserted that, "The Adversary of this vision is certainly not the malicious person just described (Satan)."[7] Of course, such assertions are without authority and are totally unacceptable.
As for the malicious character of Satan revealed here, it was fully in keeping with every other reference to Satan in the whole Bible. In his appearance as an "adversary" of the people of God (represented by Joshua in the vision), the satanic purpose was to oppose the bringing of a Redeemer into the world, dooming the whole human race to ultimate eternal death in the lake of fire, along with the devil himself. Was this malicious?
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