Zechariah 6:13

Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; 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.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

MacLaren's Expositions

Zechariah

THE PRIEST OF THE WORLD AND KING OF MEN

Zechariah 6:13.

A handful of feeble exiles had come back from their Captivity. ‘The holy and beautiful house’ where their fathers praised Him was burned with fire. There was no king among them, but they still possessed a representative of the priesthood, the other great office of divine appointment. Their first care was to rear some poor copy of the Temple; and the usual difficulties that attend reconstruction of any sort, and dog every movement that rests upon religious enthusiasm, beset them -strong enemies, and half-hearted friends, and personal jealousies weakening still more their weak forces. In this time of anarchy, of toil at a great task with inadequate resources, of despondency that was rapidly fulfilling its own forebodings, the Prophet, who was the spring of the whole movement, receives a word in season from the Lord. He is bidden to take from some of the returned exiles the tribute-money which they had brought, and having made of it golden and silver crowns-the sign of kingship-to set them on the high priest’s head, thus uniting the sacerdotal and regal offices, which had always been jealously separated in Israel. This singular action is explained, by the words which he is commanded to speak, as being a symbolic prophecy of Him who is ‘the Branch’-the well-known name which older prophets had used for the Messiah-indicating that in Him were the reality which the priesthood shadowed, and the rule which was partly delegated to Israel’s king as well as the power which should rear the true temple of God among men.

It is in accordance with the law of prophetic development from the beginning, that the external circumstances of the nation at the moment should supply the mould into which the promise is run. The earliest of all Messianic predictions embraced only the existence of evil, as represented by the serpent, and the conquest of it by one who was known but as a son of Eve. When the history reaches the patriarchal stage, wherein the family is the predominant conception, the prophecy proportionately advances to the assurance, ‘In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’ When the mission of Moses had made the people familiar with the idea of a man who was the medium of revelation, then a further stage was reached-’a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto me.’ The kingdom of David prepared the way for the prediction of the royal dignity of the Messiah, as the peaceful reign of Solomon for the expectation of one who should bring peace by righteousness. The approach of national disaster and sorrow was reflected in Isaiah’s vision of the suffering Messiah, and that prophet’s announcements of exile had for their counterpoise the proclamation of Him who should bring liberty to the captive. So, here, the kingless band of exiles, painfully striving to rear again the tabernacle which had fallen down, are heartened for their task by the thought of the priest-king of the nation, the builder of an imperishable dwelling-place for God.

To-day we need these truths not less than Zechariah’s contemporaries did. And, thank God! we can believe that, for every modern perplexity, the blessed old words carry the same strength and consolation. If kings seem to have perished from among men, if authorities are dying out, and there are no names of power that can rally the world-yet there is a Sovereign. If old institutions are crumbling, and must still further decay ere the site for a noble structure be cleared, yet He shall build the Temple. If priest be on some lips a name of superstitious folly, and on others a synonym for all that is despised as effete in religion, yet this Priest abideth for ever, the guide and the hope for the history of humanity and for the individual spirit. Let us, then, put ourselves under the Prophet’s guidance, and consider the eternal truths which he preaches to us too.

I. The true hope of the world is a priest.

The idea of priesthood is universal. It has been distorted and abused; it has been made the foundation of spiritual tyranny. The priest has not been the teacher nor the elevator of the people. All over the world he has been the ally of oppression and darkness, he has hindered and cramped social and intellectual progress. And yet, in spite of all this, there the office stands, and wherever men go, by some strange perversity they take with them this idea, and choose from among themselves those who, being endowed with some sort of ceremonial and symbolic purity, shall discharge for their brethren the double office of representing them before God, of representing God to them. That is what the world means, with absolute and entire unanimity, by a priest-one who shall be sacrificer, intercessor, representative; bearer of man’s worship, channel of God’s blessing. How comes it, that, in spite of all the cruelties and lies that have gathered round the office, it lives, indestructible, among the families of men? Why, because it springs from, and corresponds to, real and universal wants in their nature. It is the result of the universal consciousness of sin. Men feel that there is a gulf betwixt them and God. They know themselves to be all foul. True, as their knowledge of God dims and darkens, their conscience hardens and their sense of sin lessens; but, as long as there is any notion of God at all, there will be a parallel and corresponding conviction of moral evil. And so, feeling that, and feeling it, as I believe, not because they are rude and barbarous, but because, though rude and barbarous, they still preserve some trace of their true relation to God, they lay hold upon some of their fellows, and say, ‘Here! be thou for us this thing which we cannot be for ourselves-stand thou there in front of us, and be at once the expression of our knowledge that we dare not come before our gods, and likewise, if it may be, the medium by which their gifts may come on us, unworthy.’

That is a wide-spread and all but universally expressed instinct of human nature. Argue about it as you like, explain it away how you choose, charge the notions of priesthood and sacrifice with exaggeration, immorality, barbarism, if you will-still the thing remains. And I believe for my part that, so far from that want being one which will be left behind, with other rude and savage desires, as men advance in civilisation-it is as real and as permanent as the craving of the understanding for truth, and of the heart for love. When men lose it, it is because they are barbarised, not civilised, into forgetting it. On that rock all systems of religion and eminently all theories of Christianity, that leave out priest and sacrifice, will strike and split. The Gospel for the world must be one which will meet all the facts of man’s condition. Chief among these facts is this necessity of the conscience, as expressed by the forms in which for thousands of years the worship of mankind has been embodied all but everywhere-an altar, and a priest standing by its side.

I need not pause to remind you how this Jewish people, who have at all events taught the world the purest Theism, and led men up to the most spiritual religion, had this same institution of a priesthood for the very centre of its worship. Nor need I dwell at length on the fact that the New Testament gives-in its full adhesion to the same idea. We are told that all these sacerdotal allusions in it are only putting pure spiritual truth in the guise of the existing stage of religious development-the husk, not the kernel. It seems to me much rather that the Old Testament ceremonial-Temple, priesthood, sacrifice-was established for this along with other purposes, to be a shadow of things to come. Christ’s office is not metaphorically illustrated by reference to the Jewish ritual; but the Jewish ritual is the metaphor, and Christ’s office the reality. He is the Priest.

And what is the priest whom men crave?

The first requisite is oneness with those whom he represents. Men have ever felt that one of themselves must fill this office, and have taken from among their brethren their medium of communication with God. And we have a Priest who, ‘in all things, is made like unto His brethren,’ having taken part of their flesh and blood, and being ‘in all points tempted like as we are.’ The next requisite is that these men, who minister at earth’s altars, should, by some lustration, or abstinence, or white robe, or other external sign, be separated from the profane crowd, and possess, at all events, a symbolic purity-expression of the conviction that a priest must be cleaner and closer to God than his fellows. And we have a Priest who is holy, harmless, undefiled, radiant in perfect purity, lustrous with the light of constant union with God.

And again, as in nature and character, so in function, Christ corresponds to the widely expressed wants of men, as shown in their priesthoods. They sought for one who should offer gifts and sacrifices on their behalf, and we have One who is ‘a merciful and faithful High Priest to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.’ They sought for a man who should pass into the awful presence, and plead for them while they stood without, and we lift hopeful eyes of love to the heavens, ‘whither the Forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an High Priest for ever.’ They sought for a man who should be the medium of divine blessings bestowed upon the worshippers, and we know who hath gone within the veil, having ascended up on high, that He might give gifts unto men.

The world needs a priest. Its many attempts to find such show how deep is the sense of need, and what he must be who shall satisfy them. We have the Priest that the world and ourselves require. I believe that modern Englishmen, with the latest results of civilisation colouring their minds and moulding their characters, stand upon the very same level, so far as this matter is concerned, as the veriest savage in African wilds, who has darkened even the fragment of truth which he possesses, till it has become a lie and the parent of lies. You and I, and all our brethren, alike need a brother who shall be holy and close to God, who shall offer sacrifices for us, and bring God to us. For you and me, and all our brethren alike, the good news is true, ‘we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.’ That message quenches the fire on every other altar, and strips the mitre from every other head. It, and it alone, meets fully and for ever that strange craving, which, though it has been productive of so many miseries and so many errors, though it has led to grinding tyranny and dark superstitions, though it has never anywhere found what it longs for, remains deep in the soul, indestructible and hungry, till it is vindicated and enlightened and satisfied by the coming of the true Priest,’ made not after the law of a carnal commandment, but after the power of an endless life.’

II. Our text tells us, secondly, that ‘the priest of the world is the king of men.’ ‘He shall be a Priest upon His throne.’

In Israel these two offices were jealously kept apart, and when one monarch, in a fit of overweening self-importance, tried to unite in his own person the kingly and the priestly functions, ‘the leprosy rose up in his forehead,’ even as he stood with the censer in his hand, and ‘Uzziah the king was a leper unto the day of his death.’ And the history of the world is full of instances, in which the struggles of the temporal and spiritual power have caused calamities only less intolerable than those which flowed from that alliance of priests and kings which has so often made monarchy a grinding tyranny, and religion a mere instrument of statecraft. History being witness, it would seem to be a very doubtful blessing for the world that one man should wield both forms of control without check or limitation, and be at once king and priest. If the words before us refer to any one but to Christ, the prophet had an altogether mistaken notion about what would be good for men, politically and ecclesiastically, and we may be thankful that his dream has never come true. But if they point to the Son of David who has died for us, and declare that because He is Priest, He is therefore King-oh! then they are full of blessed truth concerning the basis and the nature and the purpose of His dominion, which may well make us lift up our heads and rejoice that in the midst of tyranny and anarchy, of sovereignties whose ultimate resort is force, there is another kingdom-the most absolute of despotisms and yet the most perfect democracy, whose law is love, whose subjects are every one the children of a King, the kingdom of that Priest-ruler on whose head is Aaron’s mitre, and more than David’s crown.

He does rule. ‘The kingdom of Christ’ is no unreal fanciful phrase. Take the lowest ground. Who is it that, by the words He spoke, by the deeds He did, by the life He lived, has shaped the whole form of moral and religious thought and life in the civilised world? Is there One among the great of old, the dead yet sceptred sovereigns, who still rule our spirits from their urns, whose living power over thought and heart and deed among the dominant races of the earth is to be compared with His? And beyond that, we believe that, as the result of His mighty work on earth, the dominion of the whole creation is His, and He is King of kings, and Lord of lords, that His will is sovereign and His voice is absolute law, to which all the powers of nature, all the confusions of earth’s politics, all the unruly wills of men, all the pale kingdoms of the dead, and all the glorious companies of the heavens, do bow in real though it be sometimes unconscious and sometimes reluctant obedience.

The foundation of His rule is His sacrifice; or in other words-no truer though a little more modern in their sound-men will do anything for Him who does that for them. Men will yield their whole souls to the warmth and light that stream from the Cross, as the sunflower turns itself to the sun. He that can give an anodyne which is not an opiate, to my conscience-He that can appeal to my heart and will, and say, ‘I have given Myself for thee,’ will never speak in vain to those who accept His gift, when He says, ‘Now give thyself to Me.’

Brethren! it is not the thinker who is the true king of men, as we sometimes hear it proudly said. We need One who will not only show but be the Truth; who will not only point, but open and be, the Way; who will not only communicate thought, but give, because He is, the Life. Not the rabbi’s pulpit, nor the teacher’s desk, still less the gilded chairs of earthly monarchs, least of all the tents of conquerors, are the throne of the true King. He rules from the Cross. The one dominion worth naming, that over men’s inmost spirits, springs from the one sacrifice which alone calms and quickens men’s inmost spirits. ‘Thou art the King of Glory, O Christ,’ for Thou art ‘the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.’

His rule is wielded In gentleness. Priestly dominion has ever been fierce, suspicious, tyrannous. ‘His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.’ But the sway of this merciful and faithful High Priest is full of tenderness. His sceptre is not the warrior’s mace, nor the jewelled rod of gold, but the reed-emblem of the lowliness of His heart, and of authority guided by love. And all His rule is for the blessing of His subjects, and the end of it is that they may be made free by obedience, emancipated in and for service, crowned as kings by submission to the King of kings, consecrated as priests by their reliance on the only Priest over the house of God, whose loving will rests not until it has made all His people like Himself.

Then, dear brethren! amid all the anarchic chaos of this day, when old institutions are crumbling or crashing into decay, when the whole civilised world seems slowly and painfully parting from its old moorings, and like some unwieldy raft, is creaking and straining at its chains as it feels the impulse of the swift current that is bearing it to an unknown sea, when venerable names cease to have power, when old truths are flouted as antiquated, and the new ones seem so long in making their appearance, when a perfect Babel of voices stuns us, and on every side are pretenders to the throne which they fancy vacant, let us joyfully welcome all change, and hopefully anticipate the future. Lifting our eyes from the world, let us fix them on the likeness of a throne above the firmament that is above the cherubs, and rejoice since there we behold ‘the likeness as the appearance of a man upon it.’ ‘Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem; behold, thy King cometh unto thee.’

III. Our text still further reminds us that the Priest-King of men builds among men the Temple of God.

The Prophet and his companions had become familiar in their captivity with the gigantic palaces and temples which Assyrian and Babylonian monarchs had a passion for rearing. They had learned to regard the king as equally magnified by his conquests and by his buildings. Zechariah foretells that the true King shall rear a temple more lasting than Solomon’s, more magnificent than those which towered on their marble-faced platforms over the Chaldean plain.

Christ is Himself the true Temple of God. Whatsoever that shadowed Christ is or gives. In Him dwelt all the fulness of the Godhead. ‘The glory’ which once dwelt between the cherubim, ‘tabernacled among us’ in His flesh. As the place of sacrifice, as the place where men meet God, as the seat of revelation of the divine will, the true tabernacle which the Lord hath pitched is the Manhood of our Lord.

Christ builds the temple. By faith, the individual soul becomes the abode of God, and into our desecrated spirits there comes the King of Glory. ‘Know ye not that ye are the temples of God?’ By faith, the whole body of believing men ‘are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.’

Christ builds this temple because He is the Temple. By His incarnation and work, He makes our communion with God and God’s dwelling in us possible. By His death and sacrifice He draws men to Himself, and blends them in a living unity. By the gift of His Spirit and His life, He hallows their wills, and makes them partakers of His own likeness; so that ‘coming to Him, we also are built up a spiritual house.’

Christ builds the temple, and uses us as His servants in the work. Our prophecy was given to encourage faint-hearted toilers, not to supply an excuse for indolence. Underlying all our poor labours, and blessing them all, is the power of Christ. We may well work diligently who work in the line of His purposes, after the pattern of His labours, in the strength of His power, under the watchfulness of His eye. The little band may be few and feeble; let them not be fearful, for He, the throned Priest, even He, and not they with their inadequate resources, shall build the temple.

Christ builds on through all the ages, and the prophecy of our text is yet unfulfilled. Its fulfilment is the meaning and end of all history. For the present, there has to be much destructive as well as constructive work done. Many a wretched hovel, the abode of sorrow and want, many a den of infamy, many a palace of pride, many a temple of idols, will have to be pulled down yet, and men’s eyes will be blinded by the dust, and their hearts will ache as they look at the ruins. Be it so. The finished structure will obliterate the remembrance of poor buildings that cumbered its site. This Emperor of ours may indeed say, that He found the city of brick and made it marble. Have patience if His work is slow; mourn not if it is destructive; doubt not, though the unfinished walls, and corridors that seem to lead nowhere, and all the confusion of unfinished toils puzzle you, when you try to make out the plan. See to it, my brother, that you lend a hand and help to rear the true temple, which is rising slowly through the ages, at which successive generations toil, and from whose unfinished glories they dying depart, but which shall be completed, because the true Builder ‘ever liveth,’ and is ‘a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.’ Above all, brethren! take heed that you are yourselves builded in that temple. Travellers sometimes find in lonely quarries long abandoned or once worked by a vanished race, great blocks squared and dressed, that seem to have been meant for palace or shrine. But there they lie, neglected and forgotten, and the building for which they were hewn has been reared without them. Beware lest God’s grand temple should be built up without you, and you be left to desolation and decay. Trust your souls to Christ, and He will set you in the spiritual house which the King greater than Solomon is building still.

In one of the mosques of Damascus, which has been a Christian church, and before that was a heathen temple, the portal bears, deep cut in Greek characters, the inscription, ‘Thy kingdom, O Christ, is an everlasting kingdom, and Thy dominion endureth throughout all generations.’ The confident words seem contradicted by the twelve centuries of Mohammedanism on which they have looked down. But though their silent prophecy is unheeded and unheard by the worshippers below, it shall be proved true one day, and the crescent shall wane before the steady light of the Sun of Righteousness. The words are carven deep over the portals of the temple which Christ rears; and though men may not be able to read them, and may not believe them if they do, though for centuries traffickers have defiled its courts, and base-born usurpers have set up their petty thrones, yet the writing stands sure, a dumb witness against the transient lies, a patient prophet of the eternal truth. And when all false faiths, and their priests who have oppressed men and traduced God, have vanished; and when kings that have prostituted their great and godlike office to personal advancement and dynastic ambition are forgotten; and when every shrine reared for obscene and bloody rites, or for superficial and formal worship, has been cast to the ground, then from out of the confusion and desolation shall gleam the temple of God, which is the refuge of men, and on the one throne of the universe shall sit the Eternal Priest-our Brother, Jesus the Christ.

Benson Commentary

Zechariah 6:13. Even he shall build the temple of the Lord — Here we have a sentence omitted by the LXX., Syriac, Arabic, and one MS., and which Archbishop Newcome proposes to expunge, as being only a different reading of the foregoing clause. “But, in arrest of judgment,” says Dr. Blayney, “I would beg leave to plead, that, in my opinion, the clause is not superfluous, but highly emphatic, implying that EVEN HE, the self-same person, who should build the temple of Jehovah, והוא, EVEN HE, should have the honour of governing and presiding in it, as both king and priest, in both capacities advancing the peace and prosperity of his people.” Or, perhaps, the prediction is repeated, chiefly in order to confirm the Jews in the assured expectation of what is promised. And he shall bear the glory — The glory of the priesthood and royalty had been divided between the house of Aaron and that of David: but now, he alone shall bear the glory of both. Glory, in general, is a burden, and this double glory would be a double burden; but not too heavy for him to bear who upholdeth all things. He bore the cross, which was his glory, and he bears the crown, an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory. They shall hang on him all the glory of his Father’s house, &c., Isaiah 22:24. He shall bear such glory that the glory of the latter house shall be greater than that of the former. Thus he shall raise, or lift up (Hebrew, ישׂא) the glory. The glory of Israel hath been thrown down and depressed, but he shall raise it out of the dust. And shall sit and rule upon his throne — He shall have a throne: the government shall be on his shoulders; which denotes both dignity and dominion, exalted honour and extensive power: he hath a name above every name; all power is his in heaven and on earth. And this throne is his: by birth-right; by donation of his Father; by purchase; by conquest: it is his most undoubted right. And its being said that he shall sit and rule upon his throne, signifies at once his royal magnificence, the perpetuity thereof, and the ease with which he shall rule, namely, the world, by his providence, judging and punishing, or sparing and pardoning nations, families, or individuals; or the church, and all the members of it, by his word, especially his laws, his Spirit, and the exercise of discipline. Observe well, reader, Christ, who is ordained to offer sacrifice for us, is authorized to give law to us. He will not save us, unless we be willing he should govern us, Hebrews 5:9. God has prepared him a throne in the heavens, and if we would have any benefit by that, we must prepare him one in our hearts, and be willing and glad that he should sit and rule there, and to him must every thought be brought into subjection. And he shall be a priest upon his throne — With the majesty and power of a king, he has the tenderness and sympathy of a priest, who, being taken from among men, is ordained for men, that he may offer both gifts and sacrifices for men; who can have compassion on the ignorant, &c., Hebrews 5:1-2. In all the acts of his government as a king, he prosecutes his intentions as a priest. Let not those, then, that believe in, and are subject to him, look on his throne, though a throne of glory and of judgment, with terror and amazement. For as there is a rainbow round about the throne, so there is a priest upon the throne. And his office as a priest is no diminution to his dignity as a king. But his dignity as a king gives efficacy to his intercessions and services as a priest. The counsel of peace shall be between them both — Between Jehovah on the one hand, and the man, whose name is the Branch, on the other. That is, the counsel concerning the peace to be made between God and man, by the mediation of the Messiah, shall be, or rather, shall appear to have been, concerted by infinite wisdom, in the covenant of redemption; and that the Father and the Son understood each other perfectly in that matter. So some interpret the words. But it seems more probable that the kingly and priestly offices of Christ are here referred to, and that the meaning is, that the peace made for God’s people shall rest on these two offices; that Christ, by his priestly office, should make peace for them with God, and by his kingly office should deliver them from their spiritual enemies: that by the former he should expiate sin, and by the latter extirpate it; that as a priest he should make, and as a king maintain peace.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

6:9-15 Some Jews from Babylon brought an offering to the house of God. Those who cannot forward a good work by their persons, must, as they are able, forward it by their purses: if some find hands, let others fill them. Crowns are to be made, and put upon the head of Joshua. The sign was used, to make the promise more noticed, that God will, in the fulness of time, raise up a great High Priest, like Joshua, who is but the figure of one that is to come. Christ is not only the Foundation, but the Founder of this temple, by his Spirit and grace. Glory is a burden, but not too heavy for Him to bear who upholds all things. The cross was His glory, and he bore that; so is the crown an exceeding weight of glory, and he bears that. The counsel of peace should be between the priest and the throne, between the priestly and kingly offices of Jesus Christ. The peace and welfare of the gospel church, and of all believers, shall be wrought, though not by two several persons, yet by two several offices meeting in one; Christ, purchasing all peace by his priesthood, maintaining and defending it by his kingdom. The crowns used in this solemnity must be kept in the temple, as evidence of this promise of the Messiah. Let us not think of separating what God has joined in his counsel of peace. We cannot come to God by Christ as our Priest, if we refuse to have him rule over us as our King. We have no real ground to think our peace is made with God, unless we try to keep his commandments.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Ashkelon shall see, and shall fear;

Gaza, and shall tremble exceedingly;

And Ekron, and ashamed is her expectation;

And perished hath a king from Gaza,

And Ashkelon shall not be inhabited.

Zechariah 6:13Even He - Literally, "He Himself." The repetition shows that it is a great thing, which he affirms; "and He," again emphatic, "He," the same who shall build the temple of the Lord, "He shall bear the glory." Great must be the glory, since it is affirmed of Him as of none beside, "He shall bear glory," "He should build the temple of the Lord," as none beside ever built it; He should bear glory, as none beside ever bare it, "the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth" John 1:14. This word glory is almost always used of the special glory of God, and then, although seldom, of the Majesty of those, on whom God confers majesty as His representatives, as Moses, or Joshua Num 27:20, or "the glory of the kingdom" given to Solomon 1 Chronicles 29:25. It is used also of Him, a likeness of whom these vicegerents of God bare, in a Psalm whose language belongs (as Jews too have seen,) to One more than man , although also of glory given by God, either of grace or nature .

So in our Lord's great High Priest's prayer lie says, "Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine ownself with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" John 17:5; and prays, "that they also whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me, where I am; that they may behold My glory which Thou hast given Me" John 17:24. So Paul, applying the words of the eighth Psalm, says of our Lord, "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, crowned with glory and horror" Hebrews 2:9; and the angels and saints round the Throne say, "Worthy is the Lamb which was slain to receive power and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing, and those on earth answer, Blessing and honor and glory and power be unto Him that sitteth upon the Throne and unto the Lamb forever and ever" Revelation 5:12-13. That glory Isaiah saw; in His miracles He "manifested forth His glory" John 12:41, "which resided in Him" John 2:11; in His Transfiguration, the three Apostles "saw His glory" Luke 9:32, shining out from within Him; "into this His glory" (Luke 24:26; add 1 Peter 1:11-12), He told the disciples at Emmaus, the prophets said, that He was to enter, having first suffered what He suffered; in this His glory He is to sit, when He judges. "And He shall sit and rule on His Throne" Matthew 19:28; Luke 9:26. His rule shall be, not passing but abiding, not by human might, but in peaceful majesty, as God says, "Yet have I set My king upon My holy bill of Zion" Psalm 2:6, and again, Sit Thou on My Right Hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool" Psalm 110:1; and the angel said to Mary, "The Lord God shall give unto Him the throne of His father David, and He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there shall be no end" Luke 1:32-33.

And He shall be a priest upon His Throne - He shall be at once king and priest, as it is said, "Thou art a priest forever after the order of Melchizedec." When the Christ should reign, He should not cease to be our Priest. He, having all power given to Him in heaven and earth, reigneth over His Church and His elect by His grace, and over the world by His power, yet ever liveth to make intercession for us. Rup.: "Not dwellings now on what is chiefest, that "by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invincible, whether they be thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things consist" Colossians 1:16-17, how many crowns of glory belong to Him, One and the Same, God and man, Christ Jesus! He then "will bear glory and will sit upon His throne and shall be a priest on His throne."

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

13. bear the glory—that is, wear the insignia of the kingly glory, "the crowns" (Ps 21:5; 102:16; Isa 52:13). He himself shall bear the glory, not thou, Joshua, though thou dost bear the crowns. The Church's dignity is in her head alone, Christ. So Eliakim, type of Messiah, was to have "all the glory of his father's house hung upon him" (Isa 22:24).

sit—implying security and permanence.

priest … throne—(Ge 14:18; Ps 110:4; Heb 5:6, 10; 6:20; 7:1-28).

counsel of peace … between … both—Joshua and Zerubbabel, the religious and civil authorities co-operating in the temple, typify the peace, or harmonious union, between both the kingly and priestly offices. The kingly majesty shall not depress the priestly dignity, nor the priestly dignity the kingly majesty [Jerome]. The peace of the Church, formerly sought for in the mutual "counsels" of the kings and the priests, who had been always distinct, shall be perfectly ensured by the concurrence of the two offices in the one Messiah, who by His mediatorial priesthood purchases it, and by His kingly rule maintains it. Vitringa takes "His throne" to be Jehovah the Father's. Thus it will be, "there shall be … peace between the Branch and Jehovah" [Ludovicus De Dieu]. The other view is better, namely, "Messiah's throne." As Priest He expiates sin; as King, extirpates it. "Counsel of peace," implies that it is the plan of infinite "wisdom," whence Messiah is called "Counsellor" (Isa 9:6; Eph 1:8, 11; Heb 6:17). Peace between the kingly and priestly attributes of Messiah implies the harmonizing of the conflicting claims of God's justice as a King, and His love as a Father and Priest. Hence is produced peace to man (Lu 2:14; Ac 10:36; Eph 2:13-17). It is only by being pardoned through His atonement and ruled by His laws, that we can find "peace." The royal "throne" was always connected with the "temple," as is the case in the Apocalypse (Re 7:15), because Christ is to be a king on His throne and a priest, and because the people, whose "king" the Lord is, cannot approach Him except by a priestly mediation [Roos]. Jesus shall come to effect, by His presence (Isa 11:4; Da 7:17), that which in vain is looked for, in His absence, by other means. He shall exercise His power mediatorially as priest on His throne (Zec 6:13); therefore His reign is for a limited period, which it could not be if it were the final and everlasting state of glory. But being for a special purpose, to reconcile all things in this world, now disordered by sin, and so present it to God the Father that He may again for the first time since the fall come into direct connection with His creatures; therefore it is limited, forming the dispensation in the fulness of times (Eph 1:10), when God shall gather in one all things in Christ, the final end of which shall be, "God all in all" (1Co 15:24-28).

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Even he shall build: the promise is repeated to settle the Jews in the assured expectation of the thing.

The temple of the Lord; your material temple as type, and the spiritual temple as antitype.

He shall bear the glory of both kingly office and priestly, the glory of both those crowns shall abide on him, the only person worthy of it.

He shall sit; which speaks both his royal magnificence and the perpetuity of it.

And rule; though he shall have many attendants and officers, yet he shall rule, give laws, distribute rewards, and punish offenders.

Upon his throne; his by birth, by donation, by purchase, and by conquest, his most undoubtedly by best right.

He shall be a priest; the great High Priest, to offer the great sacrifice to God, to make reconciliation, to intercede for his people: this is that meant by the crowns set on thy head, O Joshua.

The counsel of peace shall be between them both; the peace made for God’s people shall rest upon these two, the kingly and priestly office of Christ: by his priestly office he shall make their peace with God, by his kingly office he shall deliver them from spiritual enemies; by priestly operation he shall expiate our sin, by the power of his kingly office he shall extirpate sin; as Priest he makes, as King maintains, peace; purchase as a Priest, protect as a King.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Even he shall build the temple of the Lord,.... Which is repeated, as Kimchi observes, for confirmation sake:

and he shall bear the glory; that is, of building the temple; and the phrase denotes that the glory of it shall be upon him, shall be hung upon him, as in Isaiah 22:24 and so shall be visible; that it would be weighty and heavy, he having many crowns on his head, put there by all the saints, who everyone of them ascribe glory to him; that it would continue, and not pass away like the glory of this world; and that he, and he alone, should bear it; not Joshua, nor Zerubbabel, nor the ministers of the word, nor members of churches, nor any other, but himself; he, and he alone, shall be exalted:

and shall sit and rule upon his throne; in heaven, having done his work on earth, where he is at ease and rest, and exercises power and authority; he rules over the whole world, and the kings of it in general, and in particular over his saints, by his Spirit, word, and ordinates, feeding, protecting, and defending them:

and he shall be a Prince upon his throne; he is both Priest and King, and exercises both offices at one and the same time, and even now in heaven; having offered himself as a sacrifice on earth, by which he has put away sin for ever, and perfected his people; he is set down upon his throne, as a King crowned with glory and honour; and ever lives as a Priest the throne, to make intercession for them; by appearing in the presence of God for them; by presenting his blood, sacrifice, and righteousness, to his divine Father; by offering up the prayers and praises of his people; by declaring it as his will that such and such blessings be bestowed upon them; and by applying the benefits of his death unto them:

and the counsel of peace shall be between them both; not between Joshua and Zerubbabel, who should agree together, as they did, in the administration of government belonging to their distinct offices; rather between the priestly and kingly offices of Christ; nor the council of peace between the Father and the Son, concerning the salvation of the elect; for that was past in eternity; but better the Gospel of peace, called the whole counsel of God, which, in consequence of Christ being a Priest on his throne, was preached to both Jews and Gentiles; which brought the glad tidings of peace and salvation by Christ to both, and was the means of making peace between them both.

Geneva Study Bible

Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the {q} 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 {r} them both.

(q) Of which Joshua had but a shadow.

(r) The two offices of the kingdom and priesthood, will be joined together in such a way, that they will no longer be separated.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

13. Even he shall build] The repetition of these words from the preceding verse is emphatic, as is the introduction now of the personal pronoun, He. It is as much as to say, you are building a temple of the Lord, but the building of the true temple is reserved for Him.

bear the glory] i.e. the royal majesty, as the word is used Daniel 11:21; 1 Chronicles 29:25; though doubtless there lies behind such glory as is spoken of John 1:14; John 17:5; Hebrews 2:9.

the counsel of peace shall be between them both] This has been explained to mean, that the two offices, the sacerdotal and the regal, being merged in the one person of Him, who “shall be a priest upon His throne,” shall be exercised in perfect harmony, as though a treaty of peace were ratified between them. “The counsel of peace,” however, would seem to mean more than this, and to denote a counsel, or measure, devised by “them both,” of which the fruit would be peace to those whom it contemplated. This counsel, by which peace is procured and bestowed (Ephesians 2:14; John 14:27) is for its execution “between them both,” i.e. between the two offices, or rather between the Holder of them both regarded now as King and now as Priest. The view that “them both” refers to the Eternal Father and Messiah, Jehovah and the Branch, though it has been ably advocated, is scarcely warranted by the context, in which the mention of Jehovah is not sufficiently direct and prominent to sustain such a reference.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 13. - Even he shall build. A forcible repetition of the preceding statement, laying stress on the Person, "He, and no one else, shall build." The clause is omitted by the Septuagint. He shall bear the glory. The word rendered "glory" is used to denote royal honours here, as in 1 Chronicles 29:25; Jeremiah 22:18; Daniel 11:21. Messiah shall have regal majesty. Compare the many passages where the glory of Christ is spoken of; e.g. John 1:14; John 2:11; John 17:5; Luke 9:32; Luke 24:26; Hebrews 2:9; Revelation 5:12, etc. Shall sit and rule upon his throne (comp. Zechariah 9:10). Thus Christ says, "All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth" (Matthew 28:18; see Luke 1:32). And he shall be a Priest upon his throne; Septuagint, Καὶ ἔσται ἱερεὺς ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ, "There shall be a Priest upon his right hand." The Authorized Version is doubtless correct, as the clause is intended to declare that Messiah should, like Melchizedek, combine the offices of Priest and King (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6, 10). The counsel of peace shall be between them both. The two offices or dignities are meant, which are combined in one person. The Messiah, in his two offices of Priest and King, has one common design, to bring peace to his people (Isaiah 9:6; Micah 5:5, where see note). Other interpretations are unsuitable. Thus: There shall be harmony between Joshua and Zerubbabel; but the two are nowhere mentioned together in the paragraph, and, indeed, the statement would be superfluous. There shall be perfect concord between the two offices; but a person is spoken cf. not an abstraction. Others explain the "counsel of peace" to be between Jews and Gentiles, or the returned and the exiled Jews; but neither of these have been named. Pusey takes it to mean, "between the Father and the Son;" but there is nothing in the passage to lead to this. Kuabenhauer expounds it of those who alone are mentioned in the text, Messiah and Joshua, seeing in it an exhortation to the latter to make the type correspond to the Antitype, so that all may see that there is perfect harmony between them. Zechariah 6:13

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

The meaning of this is explained in Zechariah 6:12-15. Zechariah 6:12. "And speak to him, saying, Thus speaketh Jehovah of hosts, saying, Behold a man, His name is Tsemach (Sprout), and from His place will He sprout up, and build the temple of Jehovah. Zechariah 6:13. And He will build the temple of Jehovah, and He will carry loftiness, and will sit and rule upon His throne, and will be a priest upon His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between them both. Zechariah 6:14. And the crown will be to Chelem, and to Tobijah, and to Jedahjah, and the favour of the son of Zephaniah, for a memorial in the temple of Jehovah. Zechariah 6:15. And they that are far off will come and build at the temple of Jehovah; then will ye know that Jehovah of hosts hath sent me to you; and it will come to pass, if ye hearken to the voice of Jehovah your God." Two things are stated in these verses concerning the crown: (1) In Zechariah 6:12 and Zechariah 6:13 the meaning is explained of the setting of the crown upon the head of Joshua the high priest; and (2) in Zechariah 6:14, Zechariah 6:15, an explanation is given of the circumstance, that the crown had been made of silver and gold presented by men of the captivity. The crowning of Joshua the high priest with a royal crown, which did not properly belong to the high priest as such, as his headdress is neither called a crown (‛ătârâh) nor formed part of the insignia of royal dignity and glory, had a typical significance. It pointed to a man who would sit upon his throne as both ruler and priest, that is to say, would combine both royalty and priesthood in his own person and rank. The expression "Speak thou to him" shows that the words of Jehovah are addressed to Joshua, and to him alone (אליו is singular), and therefore that Zerubbabel must not be interpolated into Zechariah 6:11 along with Joshua. The man whom Joshua is to represent or typify, by having a crown placed upon his head, is designated as the Messiah, by the name Tsemach (see at Zechariah 3:8); and this name is explained by the expression מתּחתּיו יצמח. These words must not be taken impersonally, in the sense of "under him will it sprout" (lxx, Luth., Calov., Hitzig, Maurer, and others); for this thought cannot be justified from the usage of the language, to say nothing of its being quite remote from the context, since we have מתּחתּיו, and not תּחתּיו (under him); and moreover, the change of subject in יצמח and וּבנה would be intolerably harsh. In addition to this, according to Jeremiah 33:15, the Messiah is called Tsemach, because Jehovah causes a righteous growth to spring up to David, so that Tsemach is the sprouting one, and not he who makes others or something else to sprout. מתּחתּיו, "from under himself," is equivalent to "from his place" (Exodus 10:23), i.e., from his soil; and is correctly explained by Alting in Hengstenberg thus: "both as to his nation and as to his country, of the house of David, Judah, and Abraham, to whom the promises were made." It also contains an allusion to the fact that He will grow from below upwards, from lowliness to eminence.

This Sprout will build the temple of the Lord. That these words do not refer to the building of the earthly temple of stone and wood, as Ros. and Hitzig with the Rabbins suppose, is so obvious, that even Koehler has given up this view here, and understands the words, as Hengstenberg, Tholuck, and others do, as relating to the spiritual temple, of which the tabernacle and the temples of both Solomon and Zerubbabel were only symbols, the temple which is the church of God itself (Hosea 8:1; 1 Peter 2:5; Hebrews 3:6; and Ephesians 2:21-22). Zechariah not only speaks of this temple here, but also in Zechariah 4:9, as Haggai had done before him, in Haggai 2:6-9, which puts the correctness of our explanation of these passages beyond the reach of doubt. The repetition of this statement in Zechariah 6:13 is not useless, but serves, as the emphatic והוּא before this and the following sentence shows, to bring the work of the Tsemach into connection with the place He will occupy, in other words, to show the glory of the temple to be built. The two clauses are to be linked together thus: "He who will build the temple, the same will carry eminence." There is no "antithesis to the building of the temple by Joshua and Zerubbabel" (Koehler) in והוּא; but this is quite as foreign to the context as another view of the same commentator, viz., that Zechariah 6:13 interrupts the explanation of what the shoot is to be. הוד, eminence, is the true word for regal majesty (cf. Jeremiah 22:18; 1 Chronicles 29:25; Daniel 11:21). In this majesty He will sit upon His throne and rule, also using His regal dignity and power for the good of His people, and will be a Priest upon His throne, i.e., will be at once both Priest and King upon the throne which He assumes. The rendering, "And there will be a priest upon His throne" (Ewald and Hitzig), is precluded by the simple structure of the sentences, and still more by the strangeness of the thought which it expresses; for the calling of a priest in relation to God and the people is not to sit upon a throne, but to stand before Jehovah (cf. Judges 20:28; Deuteronomy 17:12). Even the closing words of this verse, "And a counsel of peace will be between them both," do not compel us to introduce a priest sitting upon the throne into the text by the side of the Tsemach ruling upon His throne. שׁניהם cannot be taken as a neuter in the sense of "between the regal dignity of the Messiah and His priesthood" (Capp., Ros.), and does not even refer to the Tsemach and Jehovah, but to the Mōshēl and Kōhēn, who sit upon the throne, united in one person, in the Tsemach. Between these two there will be ‛ătsath shâlōm. This does not merely mean, "the most perfect harmony will exist" (Hofmann, Umbreit), for that is a matter of course, and does not exhaust the meaning of the words. ‛Atsath shâlōm, counsel of peace, is not merely peaceful, harmonious consultation, but consultation which has peace for its object; and the thought is the following: The Messiah, who unites in Himself royalty and priesthood, will counsel and promote the peace of His people.

This is the typical meaning of the crowning of the high priest Joshua. But another feature is added to this. The crown, which has been placed upon the head of Joshua, to designate him as the type of the Messiah, is to be kept in the temple of the Lord after the performance of this act, as a memorial for those who bring the silver and gold from the exiles in Babel, and לחן בּן־צ, i.e., for the favour or grace of the son of Zephaniah. Chēn is not a proper name, or another name for Josiah, but an appellative in the sense of favour, or a favourable disposition, and refers to the favour which the son of Zephaniah has shown to the emigrants who have come from Babylon, by receiving them hospitably into his house. For a memorial of these men, the crown is to be kept in the temple of Jehovah. The object of this is not merely "to guard it against profanation, and perpetuate the remembrance of the givers" (Kliefoth); but this action has also a symbolical and prophetic meaning, which is given in Zechariah 6:15 in the words, "Strangers will come and build at the temple of the Lord." Those who have come from the far distant Babylon are types of the distant nations who will help to build the temple of the Lord with their possessions and treasures. This symbolical proceeding therefore furnishes a confirmation of the promise in Haggai 2:7, that the Lord will fill His temple with the treasures of all nations. By the realization of what is indicated in this symbolical proceeding, Israel will perceive that the speaker has been sent to them by the Lord of hosts; that is to say, not that Zechariah has spoken by the command of God, but that the Lord has sent the angel of Jehovah. For although in what precedes, only the prophet, and not the angel of Jehovah, has appeared as acting and speaking, we must not change the "sending" into "speaking" here, or take the formula וידעתּם כּי וגו in any other sense here than in Zechariah 2:13, Zechariah 3:2, and Zechariah 4:9. We must therefore assume, that just as the words of the prophet pass imperceptibly into words of Jehovah, so here they pass into the words of the angel of Jehovah, who says concerning himself that Jehovah has sent him. The words conclude with the earnest admonition to the hearers, that they are only to become partakers of the predicted good when they hearken to the voice of their God. The sentence commencing with והיה does not contain any aposiopesis; there is no valid ground for such an assumption as this in the simple announcement, which shows no trace of excitement; but vehâhâh may be connected with the preceding thought, "ye will know," etc., and affirms that they will only discern that the angel of Jehovah has been sent to them when they pay attention to the voice of their God. Now, although the recognition of the sending of the angel of the Lord involves participation in the Messianic salvation, the fact that this recognition is made to depend upon their giving heed to the word of God, by no means implies that the coming of the Messiah, or the participation of the Gentiles in His kingdom, will be bound up with the fidelity of the covenant nation, as Hengstenberg supposes; but the words simply declare that Israel will not come to the knowledge of the Messiah or to His salvation, unless it hearkens to the voice of the Lord. Whoever intentionally closes his eyes, will be unable to see the salvation of God.

The question whether the prophet really carried out the symbolical action enjoined upon him in Zechariah 6:10., externally or not, can neither be answered in the affirmative nor with a decided negative. The statement in Zechariah 6:11, that the prophet who was hardly a goldsmith, was to make the crown, is no more a proof that it was not actually done, than the talmudic notice in Middoth iii., concerning the place where the crown was hung up in the temple, is a proof that it was. For עשׂית in Zechariah 6:11 may also express causing to be made; and the talmudic notice referred to does not affirm that this crown was kept in the temple, but simply states that in the porch of the temple there were beams stretching from one wall to the other, and that golden chains were fastened to them, upon which the priestly candidates climbed up and saw crowns; and the verse before us is then quoted, with the formula שׁנאמר as a confirmation of this.