zechariah 3 and 4

Read Zechariah 3 and 4 at Bible Gateway.

Hebrew paragraph divisions

Zec 3:1-4:7 {p} Joshua (Yeshua) the high priest/ My servant the Branch/ the lampstand with two olive trees
Zec 4:8-5:8 {s} Zerubbabel to finish the temple/ two sons of new oil/ vision of the flying scroll + basket

Zec 3:1-10 chiastic structure

1a) Zec 3:1-5, Joshua (Yeshua) the high priest: a brand plucked from the fire;

1a) Zec 3:1-2, Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of YHVH + Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. YHVH said to Satan: YHVH rebuke you, Satan! YHVH who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?
1b) Zec 3:3-4a, Joshua was clothed with filthy garments/ He spoke: Take away the filthy garments from him;
central axis) Zec 3:4b, To him He said: See, I have removed your iniquity from you + I will clothe you with rich robes;
2b) Zec 3:5a, Let them put a clean turban on his head/ they put on a clean turban + clothes;
2a) Zec 3:5b, And the Angel of YHVH stood by;

central axis) Zec 3:6-7, Then the Angel of YHVH admonished Joshua, saying, “Thus says YHVH of hosts: ‘If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command, then you shall also judge My house, and likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk among these who stand here;’”

2a) Zec 3:8-10, Joshua (Yeshua) the high priest: I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH;

1a) Zec 3:8a, Hear, O Joshua, the high priest;
1b) Zec 3:8b, You + your companions who sit before you, for they are a wondrous sign;
central axis) Zec 3:8c, For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH;
2b) Zec 3:9a, The stone I have laid before Joshua has seven eyes upon it/ I will engrave its inscription;
2a) Zec 3:9b-10, I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day/ Everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine + fig tree.

First, the 2A pair. This construction might need help, but this is what I am seeing today. The high priest is the one who removes the iniquity of the land on a single day every year, once per year, in the Day of Atonement sacrifice. Obviously the parallel is that Yeshua (Joshua is the same name, but anglicized) is the high priest who removes the iniquity of the land in one day, on the day He was crucified and offered as the Passover Lamb/ Atonement sacrifice once for all. The 1b pair says that Yeshua’s companions are a wondrous sign. Yeshua’s companions who sat before Him, are His twelve disciples. As to the stone, elsewhere in Scripture seven eyes are mentioned:

I saw in the middle of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the middle of the elders, a Lamb standing, as though it had been slain, having seven horns, and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent out into all the earth. Rev 5:6.

The seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God, or, perhaps a better understanding is the seven facets, ministries, or gifts of the Spirit of God (Rom 12:6-8). The stone is, I believe, referring back to the twelve disciples again. Yeshua said:

I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My assembly, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. Mat 16:18

And Yeshua did build His church on the foundation of the twelve apostles (Rev 21:14).

Interestingly enough, there is a connection between the brand and the Branch as well.

Brand is in Hebrew, H181, aleph + vav + dalet, meaning, a branch of wood pulled out of a fire, used to stir up the fire; a wooden poker. So this brand is a dead branch, used to fuel a fire.

Branch is in Hebrew, H6780, tsadey + mem + chet, a sprout, a growing branch of a tree. This branch is a living branch. And Yeshua, our high priest, in His death became a brand which stirred up a great fire, the fire of the baptism of the Holy Spirit, poured out upon His church. And Yeshua, our high priest, in His resurrection and life became The Branch, the living branch, the life-giving vine, who gives life to His branches producing His fruit (Joh 15:1-2).