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Zechariah

About this book
Chapter 3

1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord,⁠ with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.⁠ 2 The Lord said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?”⁠ 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood there before the angel. 4 The angel spoke up to those standing all around, “Remove his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you in fine clothing.”⁠ 5 Then I spoke up, “Let a clean turban be put on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood nearby. 6 Then the angel of the Lord exhorted Joshua solemnly: 7 “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies says, ‘If you follow my ways and keep my requirements, you will be able to preside over my temple and attend to my courtyards, and I will allow you to come and go among these others who are standing by you. 8 Listen now, Joshua the high priest, both you and your colleagues who are sitting before you, all of you are a symbol that I am about to introduce my servant, the Branch.⁠ 9 As for the stone I have set before Joshua—on the one stone there are seven eyes. I am about to engrave an inscription on it,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day,’ says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, ‘everyone will invite his friend to fellowship under his vine and under his fig tree.’”⁠

Texts in conversation

Compare Zechariah 3:2 and Jude 1:9

Hebrew Bible · New Testament

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Summary

Jude describes Michael declaring, “May God rebuke you” in his dispute with the devil, echoing Zechariah where the same language is spoken to Satan who is accusing the high priest, showing how this midrash was influenced by prophetic traditions.

Passages

Zechariah 3:2

Hebrew Bible
1 Next I saw Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The Lord said to Satan, “May the Lord rebuke you, Satan! May the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Isn’t this man like a burning stick snatched from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood there before the angel. 4 The angel spoke up to those standing all around, “Remove his filthy clothes.” Then he said to Joshua, “I have freely forgiven your iniquity and will dress you in fine clothing.” 5 Then I spoke up, “Let a clean turban be put on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood nearby.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Zechariah

Jude 1:9

New Testament
7 So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire. 8 Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones. 9 But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” 10 But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend.
60–80 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Jude

References

"... The words were already quoted from Zechariah 3:2 (LXX: Ἐπιτιμήσαι κύριος ἐν σοί διάβολε, “the Lord rebuke you, O devil”) in the Testament of Moses. As Kee has shown, ἐπιτιμᾶν, as a translation frequently has a stronger sense than “reprimand.” These words “carry the connotation of divine conflict with the hostile powers, the outcome of which is the utterance of the powerful word by which the demonic forces are brought under control” (Kee, NTS 14 [1968] 238): hence they are used for God’s eschatological subjugation of his enemies (e.g. 2 Baruch 21:23; Ascension of Isaiah 4:18) and in the accounts of Jesus’ exorcisms (Mark 1:25 etc.). Something of this sense is appropriate in Zech 3:2 and the T. Mos., though there is no eschatological reference and we must remember the context of legal dispute in both cases. Satan’s power over men (over Joshua and his people in Zech 3:2, over the body of Moses in the T. Mos.) rests on his ability to sustain accusations against them. Thus when the angel (reading in Zech 3:2) asks God to “rebuke” Satan, he asks him to dismiss Satan’s accusation and thereby assert his authority over Satan ..."
Richard Bauckham, Word Biblical Commentary: Jude-2 Peter (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 62.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Zechariah 3:2 and Jude 1:9

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