And the word of Jehovah came unto me, saying,
The visions are over. Now a new word sends Zechariah to three travellers from Babylon: he is to take their silver and gold and crown the high priest with it. That short opening line of verse 9 carries a picture of the coming priest on the throne.
The phrase that opens this verse does more than start a paragraph. One writer shows how it looks back to the visions and forward to the chapters ahead:
"And the word of the LORD came to me" (v. 9). These words deserve close attention. We have just seen that the end of the book of visions links back to everything before it, and that it crowns it all. But these words from verse 9 also link the book of visions with the two chapters that follow, which belong to the book of the oracles of God. In fact, the expression "the word of the Lord came to me" marks new revelations four more times (Zech. 7:4, 8; 8:1, 18). This clear link between the two books of Zechariah destroys the claim of the so-called "higher criticism," that this prophetic book is really two books by different authors with no connection to each other.
The word comes with an errand attached. It names three men who have arrived from Babylon, and one writer weighs what their journey shows:
We find no other mention of these names, and it seems they had come from Babylon with offerings for the Lord's work in building the temple. They had not taken up the freedom that Cyrus offered by his proclamation, to return to Judah with their fellow Jews. They had not the faith for that, yet they shared the aim of those who had returned.
Commentators differ on how to read these men. One sees people who lacked the faith to come home. Another reads their names and their gift as a picture of real faith:
The meaning of these men's names is striking: Heldai — forbearing; Tobijah — the Lord is good; Jedaiah — the Lord knows. They came to stay in the house of Josiah — the Lord supports — the son of Zephaniah — the Lord hides. Nearly all of them carried the name of the Lord in their own names, and so they were His witnesses… By faith they saw the temple finished before it was finished. They saw the King on His throne, though He had not yet appeared, and they brought Him their gifts.
Their gift also points forward. One writer sees in it a small sample of a far larger giving to come:
There is a very instructive thought here: the men from the exile, named above, were the ones to bring the silver and the gold for making the crowns. The time will come when the whole exiled nation, so long scattered and stripped, yet even while scattered the richest nation on earth, will bring their silver and gold, their glory and their all and lay it at the feet of the King.
The crown went on Joshua the high priest, not on Zerubbabel the builder. That is the point of the sign:
The building of Zerubbabel was precious in Jehovah's eyes, but most of all because it set before His eyes a greater Son of David and a lasting glory, when He sits a priest upon His throne. Zerubbabel was in no sense a priest; Joshua was in no sense a king. The Messiah alone can build the glory, and He will display it to the glory of God here below.
The command must have sounded strange to the men who heard it. Its words came back later, in a place no one expected:
It must have astonished Joshua and the people to hear such a command, for the royal crown did not belong to the high priest but to the descendant of David… Pontius Pilate was fulfilling prophecy when he led Jesus of Nazareth out before that roaring crowd and said, "Behold the man." If the Jews gathered there had known the Scriptures, they would have recognised the phrase. But how did He come out then? He wore a crown of thorns.
The builders on site received a quiet correction along with the encouragement:
Thus was set forth the Coming One, who was to build the temple of the Lord. But were they not engaged in the building of a temple? They were: but they were thus notified that all they were building was provisional and not the final thing.
The crowns had one more job after the ceremony:
The prophet then received orders to store these crowns in the house of the Lord, in the care of certain keepers, as a memorial of all the promised glory and power that will appear in the last days, in the person of the Branch.
- Word — the line that opens verse 9 joins the visions to the chapters that follow. The same formula returns four more times.
- Gift — travellers from Babylon hand over silver and gold for the crown. Their gift pictures a whole nation one day laying its wealth at the King's feet.
- Crown — it goes on the priest, not on Zerubbabel the builder. No one then held both offices; only the Messiah unites them.
- Man — Pilate said "Behold the man" and was fulfilling prophecy; the crown the King wore that day was thorns.
- Memorial — the crowns went into God's house as a reminder of the glory the Branch will bring.
Take [gifts] of them of the captivity, of Heldai, of Tobijah, and of Jedaiah, and come thou the same day, and enter into the house of Josiah the son of Zephaniah, whither they are come from Babylon;
The word of the Lord gives Zechariah a plain errand: go to one house, on one day, and collect the silver and gold of three men who had just come from Babylon. That small errand becomes a picture of Christ as both King and Priest.
These three had stayed behind in Babylon when others went home. Their gifts still came up to Jerusalem:
We find no other reference to these names, and it seems they had come from Babylon with offerings for the Lord's work in building the temple. Cyrus's proclamation gave them freedom to return to Judah with their brothers. They had not taken it up. But though they did not have faith for that, they shared the aim of those who had returned.
Their arrival also said something about the people already in the land:
We don't know why they stayed in Babylon. We see here that they came to Jerusalem to bring their gifts of silver and gold to the house of the Lord. At that time the temple had hardly risen above its foundations. Their deed was a silent judgment on the slackness of the people in rebuilding the temple.
The verse names three visitors, a host, and the host's father. Each name means something:
The meaning of these men's names is remarkable: Heldai — forbearing; Tobijah — the Lord is good; Jedaiah — the Lord knows. They came to lodge in the house of Josiah — the Lord supports — who was the son of Zephaniah — the Lord hides. Nearly all of them bore the name of the Lord and were in this way His witnesses.
Zechariah must turn that silver and gold into crowns. Whose head they land on is the surprise:
The crowns are not set on Zerubbabel the Governor, but on Joshua the High Priest. The next few verses show the reason clearly. Joshua the High Priest, crowned, becomes a picture of the Melchizedek priesthood of Christ in the coming day of glory.
Some call this a ninth vision. It is a command, and it astonished those who heard it:
Some consider this to be the ninth vision of the prophet. It is, however, the word of the Lord that comes to the prophet. There can be no doubt that the command was actually carried out. The three men gave their silver and gold. Crowns made from it went on the head of Joshua the high priest. But the action had a much deeper meaning. It was deeply symbolic. It must have astonished Joshua and the people to hear such a command. The royal crown did not belong to the high priest but to the descendant of David.
Their gifts were an act of trust in what no one could see yet:
Through faith they saw the temple finished before it was finished. They saw the King on His throne when in reality He was not yet revealed, and they brought Him their gifts.
Distance from Jerusalem cost these men nothing with God:
God accepted a few men who came from Babylon just as He had received those in Jerusalem. He did so because they acknowledged the house of the Lord when it did not yet exist in the eyes of men. They saw it with the eye of faith and brought their precious gifts there. Those gifts would serve to crown and glorify the true king. God kept these crowns in His temple as a memorial of their deed… From then on Heldai was called Helem — power — and Josiah would be called Hen — grace! … Those three men who had come from Babylon had little strength, but they had not denied the Lord's name. So the Lord makes them pillars in His temple (see Revelation 3:8, 12).
The record keeps two things — who gave, and who the crowns honour:
The crown would then remain in the temple of the Lord as a memorial to the three men mentioned in verse 10. It would also be a memorial to the grace or kindness of the son of Zephaniah, who welcomed the three exiles from Babylon. The returning exiles are a picture of the remnant of Israel returning in the last days. The crowns show them giving the Lord Jesus the place of supreme authority as both King and High Priest of His people.
- Gift — Three men came from Babylon with silver and gold for a temple barely off the ground.
- Rebuke — Their giving exposed the slackness of those already in the land.
- Crown — Their metal became crowns for a priest, not for the governor — Christ as King and Priest.
- Faith — They saw the finished house and the enthroned King before either was visible. So they gave.
- Memorial — God kept the crowns in His temple and gave the givers new names: power, and grace.
yea, take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set [them] upon the head of Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest;
Zechariah's night of visions ends, and God gives him a public task: crown the high priest with silver and gold brought from Babylon. Crowns belonged to kings, not priests, so the act must point to someone still to come.
The gift came from an unlikely source — men who had stayed behind in Babylon.
We find no other reference to these names, and it seems that they had come from Babylon with offerings for the Lord's work in building the temple. They did not take the liberty that Cyrus's proclamation gave them to return to Judah with their brothers. They had no faith for that. But they shared the purpose of those who had returned.
Their names, and the name of their host, carry a message of their own.
We see here that they came to Jerusalem to bring their gifts of silver and gold to the house of the Lord. At that time the temple had barely risen above its foundations. Their deed was a silent judgment on the slackness of the people in rebuilding the temple. The meaning of the names of these men is remarkable: Heldai — forbearing; Tobijah — the Lord is good; Jedaiah — the Lord knows. They came to lodge in the house of Josiah — the Lord supports — who was the son of Zephaniah — the Lord hides.
Older translations read "crowns" here instead of "a crown". The plural describes the shape of what Zechariah made.
The word "crowns" has the meaning of a double crown, a kind of tiara, like those worn by some Persian princes.
Edward Dennett ties that crowned head to a later scene in Revelation.
Crowned in this way with many crowns (see Revelation 19:12), he stood among his brothers as a picture of Christ in His future glory.
Israel had a governor, and the crown skipped him.
He was to put this crown on the head of Joshua, the high priest, not on Zerubbabel, the governor. This was most unusual! Joshua was of the line of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi. Priests came from this line, but never kings. Israel's king came from the tribe of Judah. But this occasion symbolizes that Christ will be both Priest and King. He is King, being of the tribe of Judah, and Priest, not of the Aaronic line, but of the order of Melchizedek (Hebrews 6:20).
That last name matters: Christ's priesthood does not come from Aaron at all.
Joshua appears earlier in the book too, and that scene is not this one.
In Zechariah 3 Joshua was cleansed, standing for the people. Then came the prediction about the Branch, who would truly be the Lord's Servant. Here, Joshua is crowned, because for the moment he is made into a picture of the Branch, who was to come.
The shock of the command was the point — it made everyone look past the man wearing the crown.
Such a command must have astonished Joshua and the people. The royal crown did not belong to the high priest but to the descendant of David. He must have understood that the whole command had a symbolic bearing. From the Word of the Lord, Joshua hears that he only pictures another person: "Behold, the man whose name is the Branch." This man the Branch will be a priest upon the throne. This, of course, is our Lord Jesus Christ. The name of the high priest Joshua is in itself very meaningful, for it means: God is salvation, Saviour, Jesus.
The men watching were building a modest temple. The crowning told them to look further ahead.
They were working to build a house for the Lord among the ruins of the once beautiful Jerusalem. The Lord tells them to see their work as the promise of a coming day, when Messiah Himself would build the temple. That day would outshine the glory of the past far more than the past outshines the present.
The same act also reached forward to those who would share in that day.
The crowns are put on the head of Joshua only, but later others are brought in to show that there will be those associated with Christ in the day to come. The crowns are theirs because they stand in relation to this crowned priest in the house of Zephaniah, and they represent that kingly priesthood which pictures the one into which we have been brought — "a kingdom, priests to His God" (Revelation 1:6).
- Gift — Exiles still in Babylon sent the silver and gold. Their quiet giving exposed the slackness of those already home.
- Crown — A double crown, not one band. It went to a priest, not the governor, and Israel's kings came only from Judah.
- Person — The strangeness was the signal. Joshua stood in for "the man whose name is the Branch" — a priest upon His throne.
- Sequence — Chapter 3 cleansed Joshua; chapter 6 crowns him. Cleansing comes first, glory after.
- Reach — The crown pointed past their half-built temple to the temple Messiah will build. It pointed past Joshua too, to others who share his royal priesthood.
and speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold a man whose name is [the] Branch; and he shall grow up from his own place, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah
The second temple still stands half-built when Zechariah sets a crown of silver and gold on a priest's head. God tells him to explain the act in one sentence about a coming Man. Two questions follow: who is this Man called the Branch, and which temple will He build?
These words explain an act that broke Israel's rules.
Zechariah is to make crowns of both gold and silver out of the offering — one elaborate crown. He was to put this crown on the head of Joshua, the high priest, not on Zerubbabel, the governor. This was most unusual! Joshua was of the line of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi. Priests came from this line, but never kings. Israel's king came from the tribe of Judah. But this occasion pictures Christ as both Priest and King. He is King, since He comes from the tribe of Judah, and Priest — not from Aaron's line, but of the order of Melchizedek (Heb. 6:20).
Centuries later a Roman governor said the opening words again, with no idea he was quoting Scripture.
Pontius Pilate was fulfilling prophecy when he led Jesus of Nazareth out before that roaring crowd and said, "Behold the man." If the Jews gathered there had known the Scriptures, they would have recognized the phrase. But how did He come out? He wore a crown of thorns on His gentle and loving forehead, and the people stared into the blood-stained face of the Lamb of God, now ready to be laid on the altar and killed. But the call will sound out once more: "Behold the man." Then He will be crowned again — not with the crown of suffering and shame, but with the crowns of glory.
The title appears in several prophets, and each place gives it a different stress.
We saw in Zechariah 3:8 that the Branch is literally "the Sprout," the One who came from the stalk of Jesse, as David did, who is a special picture of Christ as King of Israel. He would grow up from His own place. He would begin in a place of lowly rejection. Then, by the power of God, He would grow up, or rise, into a place of highest honor and dignity. In this verse the emphasis is that He is truly "The Man." Elsewhere the emphasis is on His royalty (Jer. 23:5), on His being Servant (Zech. 3:8), and on His being "Jehovah" (Isa. 4:2). But this chapter takes up both His royalty and His priesthood, and both require that He be a true Man.
These commentators quote an older translation, which has "grow up" where the ESV has "branch out." They differ on what the place means:
Verse 12 says of Him: "He shall grow up from His own place." "His own place" means Jerusalem, the city of His royal origin, for the psalm says: "The LORD records as He registers the peoples, 'This one was born there'" (Ps. 87:6).
The Branch stands out against a long record of men who received a trust and failed.
Everybody else whom God had trusted with any responsibility had failed. Adam, entrusted with dominion over the earth, failed. Noah, entrusted with the power to govern, failed. Moses, entrusted with the leadership of the people of Israel, failed. David, entrusted with the honors of royalty, failed, and his kingdom had to be torn in two. The remnant of Judah, brought back from captivity in Babylon and entrusted with the care of the LORD's interests, failed... Each one of us, entrusted with some small piece of service for the Lord, has failed, but HE — never!
The people hearing this were building a temple themselves.
So the sign pointed to the Coming One, who would build the temple of the LORD. But were they not building a temple themselves? They were. Yet they were now told that all they were building was temporary, not the final house, whose later glory would be greater than its first glory, as Haggai had told them.
One writer sets the coming temple beside the house God is raising now.
The Branch, the Lord Jesus, will build another temple of the LORD at Jerusalem that will last through the Millennium. Today, however, before He builds Israel's temple, He is building a spiritual house, the Church of God. He adds to it every person who turns to Him, as a living stone, and it is growing "into a holy temple in the Lord" (Eph. 2:21). So believers are "being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit" (Eph. 2:22). God dwelling there is the most important feature of the temple.
- One Man crowned. The crown was set on a priest, never a king — a deliberate break in the rules, marking out One who will hold both offices.
- One Man beheld. Pilate said the prophet's opening words over a thorn-crowned Prisoner. The crowd did not know the Scriptures well enough to catch it.
- One Man grown. "The Branch" is the Sprout from Jesse's stalk. Writers read His own place either as a rise out of lowly rejection or as Jerusalem, the city of His royal origin.
- One Man trusted. Adam, Noah, Moses, David, the returned remnant, and we ourselves were all given a trust. All failed. He never will.
- One Man building. The temple those workers raised was temporary. He builds the lasting one, and today He builds believers together as God's dwelling place.
even he shall build the temple of Jehovah; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne; and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.
The verse closes the crowning of Joshua the high priest. It hands the returned exiles a portrait of someone far greater than the man in front of them. Two questions follow. Which temple does He build? And who are the "both" who share the counsel of peace?
The message begins with a sign that cut across Israel's normal order.
He was to put this crown on the head of Joshua, the high priest, not on Zerubbabel, the governor. This was most unusual! Joshua was of the line of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi. Priests came from this line, but never kings. Israel's king came from the tribe of Judah. But this occasion is a symbol: Christ will be both Priest and King.
The people hearing this were already laying stones. The promise told them what their work pointed to.
They were working to build a house for Jehovah among the ruins of the once beautiful Jerusalem. The Lord tells them to look on their work as the promise of a coming time, when Messiah Himself would build the temple. That day would outshine the glory of the past far more than the past outshone the present.
Kelly names which temple is meant.
The theme here is clearly the kingdom, and it takes in the Jews as His people on earth. The temple is clearly the one described in Ezekiel, not the New Testament dwelling of God in the Spirit.
Israel's earlier kings all buckled under the weight of the honour.
God will entrust the authority to rule Israel and the whole world to this faithful Son of Man. That glory and honour will be perfectly safe on His shoulder. He alone of all men will be able to bear this glory. Even David was not able to bear it: he failed badly, as did Solomon and the kings that followed.
The same shoulders bore another load first.
The One who in John 19 bears the cross, is the One who in Zechariah 6 bears the glory. No one but He could bear that cross, and no one but He could ever bear that glory.
The picture is of a priest who sits on a throne. Joshua stood to do his work.
This shows that there will be a throne on which neither Joshua nor Zerubbabel will have a claim. On that throne will sit a Priest; no longer will He stand, like Joshua, to act as mediator and to offer up sacrifices. With Him the priesthood of Aaron will have come to an end. A King will sit, the true Melchizedek, the King of righteousness and King of peace. He will bless the people in the name of God, and God in the name of the people. He is the Mediator between heaven and earth.
Melchizedek was a king who was also a priest.
Commentators differ over the "both." Some take the two as the two offices meeting in one Person.
Among men these two things have so often been in opposition. In Him they will be joined in harmony. How often has the authority of a king clashed with the grace of a priest among sinful men? They will not clash when this prophecy comes true.
Others start from the two parties who needed peace: God and man. Darby asks why such a counsel was needed at all.
Had man not been in rebellion against God, there would have been no need for "the counsel of peace." Adam in paradise did not need it. But man has rebelled... Such was his rebellion, that peace between man and God seemed impossible. But now, wonderful grace! we see that there is not only peace, but a "counsel of peace" — thoughts of God concerning peace, thoughts which Jesus alone could meet.
The throne in view is not the one Christ occupies today.
He is now the rejected King and a priest — the great high priest, certainly. But He is on His Father's throne, not yet on His own. He says this Himself, and marks the difference, in Rev. 3:21.
Yet the peace itself is not held back until then.
There is a "counsel of peace" which belongs to us, an assured peace, peace indeed in the middle of present trouble, but still God's peace... My spirit may be much disturbed, and I may know trial of heart. But I still have a title to perfect peace through it all. It is not only peace with God, but peace about every circumstance, because God is "for us" in it all.
- Crown — The crown went on a priest's head, not a king's. It marked one Person holding both offices Israel kept apart.
- Temple — The house the exiles built was a promise, not the fulfilment. The Branch Himself builds the temple that lasts.
- Glory — David, Solomon and the kings after them all dropped the weight. The One who carried the cross is the only One who can carry the glory.
- Peace — In Him a king's authority and a priest's grace meet without clashing. Peace was needed because man had rebelled.
- Today — He sits on His Father's throne, not yet His own. The throne is still future, but the peace is already ours in every trouble.