Zechariah 3:1

Zechariah 3:1. And he showed me He, that is, the angel, who talked with him, after delivering the message in the preceding chapter, proceeded to another representation; Joshua the high-priest, &c. We find from Haggai, that Joshua the son of Josedech was at this time high-priest. He stands here as representing the whole Jewish people. Standing before the angel of the Lord This angel was Christ, or the Logos, mentioned Zechariah 1:11, and called the Lord in the following verse, whose minister, or servant, the high-priest was, as well as a type of him. And Satan Or the adversary, as the word may be rendered; standing at his right hand to resist him That is, to be his accuser, as he is called Revelation 12:10. “So here he is represented as aggravating the faults of Joshua, the representative of the whole body of the Jews, (see Zechariah 3:2,) by this means to prevail with God to continue the Jews under the power of their adversaries. It was the custom in courts of judicature, for the accuser to stand at the right hand of the accused.” See Lowth, and notes on Job 1:6; and Psalms 109:6. “It appears to me,” says Blayney, “the most probable, that by Satan, or the adversary, is here meant the adversaries of the Jewish nation in a body, or perhaps some leading person among them, Sanballat for instance, who strenuously opposed the rebuilding of the temple, and of course the restoration of the service of the sanctuary, and the re-establishment of Joshua in the exercise of his sacerdotal ministry.”