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Joshua is seen clothed with 'filthy garments' (Zech. 3:3) and the
command is given, 'take away the filthy garments from him', and Joshua is
clothed with 'a change of raiment'. While there must certainly have been a
'change' of raiment, no word answering to the word 'change' is found in the
original, the Revised Version reads, 'I will clothe thee with rich apparel'.
The only other occurrence of the word employed here is Isaiah 3:22, where the
Authorized Version reads, 'the changeable suits of apparel' and the Revised
Version reads, 'the festival robes'.
Joshua was being invested with priestly garments, suitable to his high
office. Many of us have been led in the past to adopt the convenient
alliteration, 'Cleansed, Clothed, Crowned' as covering the teaching of this
passage, but by employing 'alliteration's artful aid' we have veiled an
essential distinction. The Prophet said, when he saw the high priest so far
reinstated, 'Let them set a fair mitre upon his head'. On only two occasions
is the Hebrew word tahor translated 'fair'. In the Authorized Version
elsewhere it is rendered by the words 'clean' (fifty times) and 'pure' (forty
-one times). The mitre is used only of the high priest and where it is
translated in Ezekiel 21:26, 'diadem', it is distinguished from a 'crown'.
Only in the future is kingship and priesthood combined, as in Isaiah 62:3,
where we read of a 'royal diadem'. Israel, however, can only be a 'kingdom
of priests' under the glorious reign of 'The King -Priest'. In Zechariah 6
we have the High Priest crowned and enthroned:
'Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the
head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest ... He shall be a
Priest upon His Throne' (6:11 -13).
This 'crown' is the crown of a king (Psa. 21:1,3). The conclusions
arrived at from the visions given to Zechariah are that in spite of Gentile
oppression and Jewish failure, the restoration of Israel is assured, at the
advent of the King -Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Passing over chapters 7 to 11, we come to the closing prophecy of this
book which constitutes 'The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel' (Zech.
12:1). The subject is two -fold:
(1)
A contrast between Jerusalem at the close of the age, and
Jerusalem when the kingdom is set up.
(2)
A contrast between the first coming with its piercing, its
sorrow, and the second coming when the Lord shall be King.
The space at our disposal will not permit a detailed structure but the
following will set the course for any interested enough to take the matter
further.
Zechariah 12 to 14
A
Jerusalem
a
Cup -- trembling.
12:1 -9.
b People ... gathered against it.
c
Horse smitten ... people smitten.
B
The first
d House of David.
Spirit poured out.
and second coming
e
Me Whom they have pierced.
The Son.
12:10 to 13:9.
d House of David.
Fountain opened.
e
Awake o sword.
The Shepherd.
B
the second
d Day of the Lord. Jerusalem.