And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
Ver. 1. And he showed me Joshua the high priest] In a vision doubtless; and that for this end, that both the prophet, and by him the people also, might be advertised that they wrestle not against flesh and blood, men like themselves, but against spiritual wickednesses, or wicked spirits, who did act them and agitate them against the Church; ride them and spur them to do mischief; as he did that bloody Farnesius, one of the Pope's champions, who, coming with an army into Germany, swore that he would ride his horse up to the spurs in the blood of Protestants, Scito persecutorem tuum ab ascensore daemone pernrgeri (Bern.). It was the devil that stirred up the spirit of Tatnai, Shether-Boznai, Sanballat, &c., to hinder the good work now in hand; like as he did Eckius, Cajetan, Cochlaeus, Catharinus, and many other great scholars (besides the two kings of England and Hungary), to write against the Reformation begun by Luther, and Charles V with all the strength of the empire to withstand and hinder it. But all in vain. Here he bends his accusation chiefly against the chief priest; but, through his sides, he strikes at the welfare of the whole Church. Ministers are the main object of his malice; a special spite he bears to such; singling them out and sifting them to the bran, as he desired to do Peter; stirring up unreasonable and wicked men against them, as he dealt by Paul when he fought with beasts at Ephesus, with breathing devils wherever he came, being in deaths often. When the viper hung upon his hand, Acts 28:3, the devil doubtless thought to have dispatched him, but he was deceived. So he is ever; when he attempts as an accuser of the brethren, he is sure to be non-suited, and his plea to be cast out of the court by our advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, who appears for us (as he did here for Joshua) to put away sin, Hebrews 9:24; Hebrews 9:26, and to take away the iniquities of their most holy things.
Standing before the angel of the Lord] i.e. Before Christ, his best friend, and doing his office as a high priest. Such is Satan's malice and impudence (saith an interpreter here) to hurt and hinder us most in our best employments; and to accuse the saints even to their best friend, Christ Jesus. He knows well, that as Samson's strength lay in his hair, so doth a Christian's strength lie in his holy performances: perfumed and presented by Christ. Hence his restlessness in seeking to set a difference, and to breed hate. Hence also, as the fowls seized upon Abraham's sacrifice, and as the Pythoness interrupted Paul and his company when they were praying and well-doing, Acts 16:16,17, so deals he still by God's best servants and that sometimes so, that if, after duty, they should put that question to their own heart, as God did to Satan, Unde venis? Whence comes thou? it would return Satan's answer, From compassing the earth.
And Satan] That adversary, the devil, as St. Peter calleth him; the accuser of the brethren Revelation 12:9, that trots between heaven and earth as a teaser, and makes a trade of it. Once the name Satan is applied to a holy angel going forth as an adversary to wicked Balaam, Satan spelman, as one calleth him.
Standing at his right hand] Why there? Be cause, say some, the accusation was as true: vehement; and so Satan had the upper hand For Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, Zechariah 3:3, and there was cause enough why his own clothes should abhor him, as Job hath it, Job 9:31; what his particular sin objected to him by Satan was is hard to say. Some will have it to be one thing, some another. It is plain by Ezra 10:18, that some of his sons and allies had taken strange wives, which he might have hindered; but that himself had taken a harlot to wife, as Justin Martyr affirmeth, is no way likely. I should sooner believe, with Theodoret and Sanchez, that the sins here alleged by Satan against Joshua and laid to his charge were, not so much his own personal sins as the sins of the whole people: quodammodo enim totus populus est in sacerdote, et in sacerdote peccat: for the whole people is, after a sort, in the priest.
To resist him] Heb. To Satan yet against him, to do his kind, by frustrating his prayers and intercessions for the people, by laying his and their sins in his dish, and by laying claim to them for his. Carried on still by like hellish hatred of God and his people, he sins that sin against the Holy Ghost every moment: as Pliny speaks of the scorpion, that there is not one minute wherein it doth not put forth the sting. Our comfort is, that, 1. "We have an Advocate with the Father," &c., and "he is the propitiation for our sins," the patron as well as judge of his saints. 2. That as Satan stands at our right hand to molest us in holy duties, so do the holy angels stand there to withstand him, Luke 1:11, whence it was that the curtains of the tabernacle were wrought full of cherubins within and without. 3. That if we resist the devil, steadfast in the faith, and strong in the Lord, he will flee from us, James 4:7. For this old serpent, having his head already bruised and crushed by Christ, cannot so easily thrust in his mortal sting, unless we daily with him; and so lay open ourselves unto him. He shall in vain strike fire if we deny tinder. He may knock at the door, but if we answer him not at the window he cannot get in.