Zechariah 3:1 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

And he shewed me Joshua, &c.— We have here the fourth vision. Zechariah relates in this chapter, that he saw the high-priest Joshua or Jesus the son of Josedech, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan accusing him; of which accusation Joshua was acquitted, and was raised to honour; when God tells him that he was going to bring forth the Branch, that is, the Messiah, and that he should be as a stone upon which there were seven eyes or fountains. See the notes on Zechariah 3:9. Joshua the high-priest stands here for the whole Jewish people. The reader is to consider that what is related here passed in vision. Satan is said to stand at the right hand of Joshua, 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 body of the Jews, in order to prevail upon God not to suffer them to proceed in the building of the temple, but to continue them still under the power of their adversaries. It was the custom in the ancient courts of judicature, for the accuser to stand at the right hand of the accused. See Jude 1:9 and Job 1.