Zechariah 3:1-10

Fourth Vision: Joshua and Satan

3:1 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.” 5 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 the apparel; and the angel of the LORD was standing by.

6 Then the angel of the LORD assured Joshua, saying 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, 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. 8 Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch. 9 For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. 10 On that day, says the LORD of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree.” (Zechariah 3:1-10, NRSV)

On December 14, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year Two), comments were adapted from an E-mail sent December 16, 2003, for December 17, 2003. Those comments are repeated here with further editing and supplement:

Have you ever felt like “a brand plucked from the burning”? (Perhaps some leaders of the “new Iraq” feel that way, or perhaps they feel like they are still putting out the fire.) In Zechariah’s fourth vision (Zech. 3:1-10), Joshua, the high priest among the Jews who have returned from Babylonian captivity, may be feeling that way. As if the uncertainties of trying to help rebuild and lead a nation in the shadow of a dominating empire (Persia) were not enough, the prophet pictures him as accused in the heavenly court. “Then he [i.e. the angel? 1:12, 14, 18; the man with the measuring line? 2:1] showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan [haśśātān, lit., ‘the Satan,’ ] standing at his right hand to accuse him [l^eś itnô]” (Zech. 3:1). The word “Satan” (lit. “the Satan”) means “the Accuser; Heb. the adversary (NRSV text note a; cf. Job 1:6, 7a, 7b, 8, 9, 12a, 12b; 2:1, 2a, 2b, 3, 4, 6, 7). In this vision, the LORD comes to Joshua’s defense. “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan haśśātān, lit., ‘the Satan,’ ]! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?” (v. 2).

With that, the Satan disappears from the vision report–in fact, from the rest of the Book of Zechariah (and even from “the Twelve,” as the Jews call the collection of twelve “minor” prophets). Gregory Mobley describes “The Satan, ‘the Adversary,’ here [as] a member of the divine entourage who assays the virtue of mortals, a heavenly prosecutor (Job 1-2); only later [as] the arch-opponent of God and author of evil designs (1 Chr. 21:1; 2 Cor. 2:11)” (NOAB, 3^rd ed., on Zech 3:1). “Now Joshua,” we are told, “was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel” (v. 3). But the angel has a remedy, giving orders to replace the “guilt” represented by the “filthy clothes” with “festal apparel” (v. 4). And the prophet continues, “And I said, ‘Let them put a clean turban on his head.’ So they put a clean turban (tsānîf tāhôr) on his head and clothed him with the apparel; and the angel of the LORD was standing by” (v. 5 NRSV). According to Gregory Mobley, this was “traditional priestly garb (Ex. 28:4; Lev. 8:1-9)” (on v. 5). But the New Jewish Publication Society translation (NJPS) has a different translation. “Then he [note c ‘Heb. I’] gave the order. ‘Let a pure diadem be placed on his head.’ And they placed the pure diadem (tsānîf tāhôr) and clothed in [priestly] garments, as the angel of the LORD stood by” (v. 5 NJPS, with the square brackets around ‘priestly’). William L. Holladay translates tsānîf as “turban,” and the related term mitsnefeth (Exod. 28:4) as “headband like a turban” (Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon, corrected ed., 1988, s.v Jyn9c!, tsānîf , and tp@n@c4m9, mitsnefeth). The interpretation of Carol L. Meyers and Eric M. Meyers perhaps unites the two concepts.

Turban here is tsānîf rather than mitsnefeth, the normal word for turban, to which a metal plate (tsits) and/or crown (nēzer) is added according to Exod. 29:6 and Lev. 8:9. Perhaps tsānîf for turban designates a composite headpiece, including the part of it, whether stone or metal, which shines, and which is the symbolic component that relates to the priest’s function, described in verse 9 below, in ridding the land of iniquity. Zechariah’s departure from the terminology of the priestly texts, however, may be intentional and significant. (Haggai, Zechariah 1-8, a new translation with introduction and commentary, Anchor Bible, 25B, 1987, p. 191 on Zech. 3:5)

In this context the word tāhôr, translated “clean turban,” or “pure diadem,” refers to ritual purity for the priest.

In the continuation Joshua is addressed as ruler: “Then the angel of the LORD assured Joshua, saying ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule (tādîn) my house and have charge of my courts’ ” (v. 7a). The verb translated “rule” here (NRSV, NJPS) commonly means to “judge,” that is, “bring justice,” or “pass sentence, execute justice” (Holladay, s.v. NyD, dîn). However Joshua’s function clearly has a priestly dimension, for the angel adds, “and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here” (v. 7b). In this way Joshua will have “access, to the heavenly realm to intercede on the people’s behalf” (Mobley, on v. 7). He will “present Jerusalem’s prayers to heaven” ( R. Lansing Hicks and Walter Brueggemann, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on v. 7).

But the message to Joshua continues with royal, as well as, priestly overtones. “Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch (zemach)” (v. 8). To this we may compare Isaiah 11:1, “A shoot (chōter) shall come out from the stump of Jesse, / and a branch (nētser) shall grow out of his roots,” and Jeremiah 23:5, “The days are surely coming, says the LORD, when I wall raise up for David a righteous Branch (tsemach tsaddîq), and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.” These terms are roughly synonymous, with definitions including “shoot” (cf. Holladay, s.v. rF@Ho chōter, rc@n2 nētser, and Hm1c@ tsemach). But the point of all is that a “branch” or “shoot” from the “stump of Jesse” (Isa. 11:1) would appear as the true Davidic king, or, as we commonly understand it, the Messianic king. Ehud Ben Zvi understands this interpretation.

According to 6:12-13 [not included in the Daily Office Lectionary], the Sprout will build the Temple and assume majesty. Many medieval Jewish commentators (e.g. Rashi, Ibn Ezra) and many modern scholars maintain that the reference to the Branch was meant to be understood as pointing to Zerubbabel (see 4:8, and the reference to his partner in the leadership, the high priest Joshua in 6:11), whose name [i.e., Zerubbabel’s] means ‘the seed of Babylon. (The Jewish Study Bible, 2004, on Zech. 3:8)

But Ben Zvi adds,

Even if there is a lionization of Zerubbabel (see 4:6-7 [in tomorrow’s reading], the book of Zechariah does not explicitly state that he is the expected Sprout. Moreover, it is unlikely that the readership of the book as a whole–as opposed to that of readers of any possible source embedded somehow in the book–would have understood references to a messianic king (cf. Jer.2 23:5-6; 13:15-16) as being actually fulfilled in the person of Zerubbabel or by the time he built the Temple. (Ibid.)

It would appear that the reference to “my servant the Branch” (v. 8) refers here to Zerubbabel, but later (6:11-12), it is Joshua who is crowned and named “Branch.” Cyrus the Persian was followed by weak rulers but Darius I (521–486) asserted his power and quelled revolts across the empire, and in the process, likely crushed any hopes for an immediate restoration of the Davidic dynasty and national sovereignty for Judah. Judah remained subject to Persia in the political realm, but largely autonomous in religious matters. Their leadership would come from priests like Joshua and, later, from scribes like Ezra.

For Joshua in the present context, his role continues to be described as that of a priest. The angel says, “For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day” (v. 9). “The stone,” says Mobley, is “perhaps an element in the priestly garb (whether that in Ex. 28:9-12 or 28:36-38)” (on v. 9). With the guilt removed, and presumably, its judgmental effects, the angel promises a time of blessed peace. “On that day, says the LORD of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree” (v. 10), to which Mobley invites comparison with Micah 4:4, which, after the promise that nations will “beat their swords into plowshares” (Mic. 4:3c), says “they shall all sit under their own vines and under their own fig trees, / and no one shall make them afraid; / for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken” (v. 4).

Revelation 4:1-8

Worship in God’s Throne Room in Heaven (Isa 6.1-3)

4:1 After this I looked, and there in heaven a door stood open! And the first voice, which I had heard speaking to me like a trumpet, said, “Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after this.” 2 At once I was in the spirit, and there in heaven stood a throne, with one seated on the throne! 3 And the one seated there looks like jasper and carnelian, and around the throne is a rainbow that looks like an emerald. 4 Around the throne are twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones are twenty-four elders, dressed in white robes, with golden crowns on their heads. 5 Coming from the throne are flashes of lightning, and rumblings and peals of thunder, and in front of the throne burn seven flaming torches, which are the seven spirits of God; 6 and in front of the throne there is something like a sea of glass, like crystal.

Around the throne, and on each side of the throne, are four living creatures, full of eyes in front and behind: 7 the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle. 8 And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and inside. Day and night without ceasing they sing,

“Holy, holy, holy,

the Lord God the Almighty,

who was and is and is to come.” (Revelation 4:1-8, NRSV)

On October 30, 2007 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 26, Year One), comments were based on comments on Revelation 4:1-8 from December 14, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year Two) and comments on Revelation 4:9-5:5 from December 15, 2005 (Thursday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year Two). There was some comparison with comments of October 25, 2005 (Tuesday in the week of the Sunday closest to October 26, Year One) and of August 27, 2006 (the Sunday closest to August 24, Year Two). Those comments are repeated here:

John's visions of heaven begin with God's throne (Rev. 4:2), pictured with precious gems that describe “the glory of the divine presence” (B.M. Metzger, NOAB, 2^nd ed., on v. 3). God's throne is surrounded by twenty-four elders seated on twenty-four thrones (vv. 4-5). Other aspects of the vision, including “the sea of glass, like crystal” and the four living creatures” (v. 6), remind us of the throne-chariot vision described by Ezekiel. Over the heads of Ezekiel’s “four living creatures (Ezek. 1:5, cf. vv. 5-14, 15, 19, 20, 21, 22, etc.) “there was something like a dome, shining like crystal, spread out above their heads” (v. 22). In Ezekiel’s vision the throne was above this dome (v. 26); in Revelation the “sea of glass, like crystal” is “in front of the throne” (Rev. 4:6), which “suggests the distance between God and his creatures, even in heaven” (Metzger on v. 6). Ezekiel’s four living creatures each have four faces (Ezek. 1:6): “As for the appearance of their faces; the four had the face of a human being, the face of a lion on the right side, the face of an ox on the left side, and the face of an eagle” (v. 10). The four living creatures in Revelation are”full of eyes in front and behind” (Rev. 4:6), and “full of eyes all around and inside” (av. 8), which would suggest more than one face for each, but they are described as “the first living creature like a lion, the second living creature like an ox, the third living creature with a face like a human face, and the fourth living creature like a flying eagle” (v. 7). Later Christian symbolism would identify the human being with Matthew’s Gospel, the lion with Mark’s, the ox with Luke’s and the eagle with John’s. In Revelation their song is, “Holy, holy, holy, / the Lord God the Almighty, / who was and is and is to come” (v. 8). “Holy, holy, holy, The Trisagion, or ‘thrice-holy,’ occurs first in Isa. 6:3 and frequently in Jewish and Christian liturgies” (David E. Aune, HarperCollins Study Bible, rev. ed., 2006, on Rev. 4:8).

As the worship in heaven’s throne room continues. “And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to the one who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall before the one who is seated on the throne and worship the one who lives forever and ever; they cast their crowns before the throne, singing” (vv. 9-10). “You are worthy, our Lord and God,” says the song of the twenty-four elders, “to receive glory and honor and power, / for you created all things, / and by your will the existed and were created” (v. 11). Aune notes that the term “worthy, a term applied to God as the creator, [is] also applied to the Lamb in two hymns (5:9, 12)” (Ibid., on v. 11)

Matthew 24:45-51

The Faithful and Unfaithful Slaves (Lk 12.41-48)

45 “Who then is the faithful and wise slave, whom his master has put in charge of his household, to give the other slaves their allowance of food at the proper time? 46 Blessed is that slave whom his master will find at work when he arrives. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put that one in charge of all his possessions. 48 But if that wicked slave says to himself, 'My master is delayed,' 49 and he begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards, 50 the master of that slave will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour that he does not know. 51 He will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. (Matthew 24:45-51, NRSV)

The following comments are repeated here from December 14, 2005 (Wednesday in the week of the Third Sunday of Advent, Year Two). The reading from Matthew is presented in a table with the parallel passage from Luke in the separate file, Faithful or Unfaithful Slave. For recent comments on Luke’s version of this parable, see the Archive for June 18, 2006 (the Sunday closest to June 15, Year Two).

Jesus concludes the speech on the end of the age with an interpreted parable. The parallel in Luke comes much earlier in the narrative (chap. 12), but apart from Luke’s introduction with a question from Peter (Lk. 12:41), the two versions are often verbatim. The faithful slave attends to his duties in the master's absence, but the unfaithful slave “begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards” (Mt. 24:49; cf. Lk. 12:45, where he “begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk”). The phrase “allowance of food” (Mt. 24:45; Lk. 12:42) represents different Greek words (trophē in Mt. and sitometrion in Lk.; also the infinitive “to give” is aorist, dounai, in Mt., but present tense, didonai, in Lk.). Luke adds “in coming” to Matthew’s “is delayed” (Mt. 24:48; Lk. 12:45). The bad slave “begins to beat his fellow slaves, and eats and drinks with drunkards” in Matthew (Mt. 24:49), but in Luke he “begins to beat the other slaves, men and women, and to eat and drink and get drunk” (Lk. 12:45). In both Gospels this statement is conditional, introduced by “if” (ean). The master who is delayed “will come on a day when he [the wicked slave] does not expect him” (Mt. 24:50; Lk. 12:46). The point is that the Christian believers must be faithful, and ready for the Lord's return at any time, a point to be elaborated by the parables of Matthew, chapter 25. The consequences for the unfaithful slave are graphic. “He [the master] will cut him in pieces and put him with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt. 24:51). “The master . . . will cut him in pieces, and put him with the unfaithful” (Lk. 12:46). After this reference to cutting the bad slave in pieces, Luke’s further references to beatings, “a severe beating” for the “slave who knew what his master wanted, but did not prepare himself or do what was wanted” (Lk. 12:47), and “a light beating” for “the one who did not know and did what deserved a beating” (v. 48), seems out of place, a result, perhaps, of Luke’s collecting various sayings of Jesus. The lesson for us is to live in the expectation of the Lord’s return. (Comments here are adapted and supplemented from an E-mail sent December 16, 2003, for December 17, 2003.)

Ronald D. Worden, Ph.D.

rdworden@hgst.edu

deanworden@comcast.net