Zechariah 3:2-5

Zechariah 3:2-5. And the Lord said, &c. The Logos, or Son of God, said unto Satan; The Lord Namely, God the Father; rebuke thee And not suffer thy mischievous imagination against Jerusalem and the temple to prosper. Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem Who hath chosen that place for his especial residence. Christ, as a mediator, rather chooses to rebuke the adversary in his Father’s name than in his own. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire “Is not this small remnant returned from captivity,” represented here by Joshua, “miraculously rescued from utter destruction, like a brand plucked out of the fire? and can it be thought that God will not preserve them?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments Denoting the sins and pollutions of the people, of whom he was the representative. And he spake unto those that stood before him Christ spake to the inferior angels, his servants; Take away the filthy garments from him Remove, or cause them to be removed. These filthy garments those angels removed, but another and superior hand takes away the sins and pollutions signified by that emblem. And he Namely, Christ, the Lamb of God; said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee I have, by my merits and Spirit, removed the guilt, power, and pollution of thine iniquity. And I will clothe thee with change of raiment With other garments, namely, such as are not filthy or polluted, but clean and rich, an emblem of holiness. As the filthy garments denoted the sins of the people, whose representative Joshua was, the taking them away denoted God’s pardoning their public and national transgressions, and his restoring them to his favour and protection. “The Jews used to change their garments under any public calamity; which calamity being over, they expressed the change of their condition, and the greatness of their joy, by clothing themselves in garments adapted to their circumstances:” see Calmet. And I said I, the Lord, further said, or commanded. The LXX. omit these words, prefixing and to the following expression: and the Syriac and Vulgate read, He said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head As the new garments put upon Joshua were such as belonged to the high- priest, and were contrived for glory and beauty, Exodus 28:2, so the mitre was the proper ornament for his head. And the angel of the Lord stood by Namely, Christ, through whose mediation, and at whose command, the above was done.