The Responsibilities and Rewards of Joshua the High Priest according to Zechariah 3:7

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-USASCII text omitted.) The vision and oracle in Zechariah 3, in which the high priest Joshua is both tried and exonerated in a divine tribunal, have often been introduced as evidence for the development of the institution and conception of the high priesthood in the restoration period. Following God's positive verdict regarding Joshua, and the exchange of his soded clothes for priesdy garments, the angel of the Lord admonishes Joshua to follow a series of commands, with a reward promised for his compliance (Zech 3:7). According to various scholars, this charge to Joshua outlines an expanded role for the high priesthood, transferring tasks previously assigned to the prophet or the king to the realm of the priest,1 or roles previously assigned to a class of priests to the high priest alone.2 For these interpreters, this "innovative" oracle serves as evidence of the special status of the priesthood in the early second Temple period. Furthermore, the accepted interpretation of the reward promised to Joshua at the end of v. 7, given for his compliance with the conditions delineated in the beginning of the verse, involves human, and specifically priestly, access to the heavenly realm. Other examples of human beings observing divine scenes in biblical literature, for example, 2 Kgs 22:19-22, Isaiah 6, and Jer 23:18, describe one-time events in which prophets, not priests, witness the Lord in the divine context. Zechariah 3:1-5 itself records Joshua's presence at a divine tribunal, but it too appears to be a one-time event, in which Joshua functions as a passive participant. The conditional promise of v. 7 is generally understood as providing regular access for the priest to the divine realm. This passage is thus supposed to offer an important precursor to the notion of priestly ascent to heaven, a common motif in both Jewish and Christian works in antiquity.3 I would like to suggest, however, that a careful analysis of Zech 3:7, which outlines the responsibilities given to Joshua and the resulting rewards for their fulfillment, reveals a different meaning for this passage, one that undermines the assumptions both of an expanded role for the priesthood in this period and of the precedent of regular priestly access to the divine council. In particular, a number of linguistic and syntactical difficulties in this verse have yet to receive adequate treatment. Verse 7 (MT) reads as follows: This verse is generally translated as follows:4 Thus says the Lord of Hosts (1) If you walk in my paths (2) and if you keep my charge (3) and (if) you judge/administer my house (4) and (if) you look after my courtyards then I will give you access among those standing here. This verse consists of the Lord's conditional promise to the high priest Joshua: if he fulfills (either the two or) the four conditions listed in the protasis, then he will be rewarded with the promise detailed in the apodosis.5 (As will become clear from the interpretation of this verse to be suggested here, I understand it as four stipulations.) Each of the conditions relates to the role of the priest and the proper fulfillment of his obligations. I. The Protasis The first two conditions are general obligations that relate to the observance of the Lord's commandments: 1. ..., "If you walk in my paths." The use of the verbal stem ... with the object ... of YHWH" to describe metaphorically obeying (or disobeying) the Lord is common in biblical literature, in particular in the Deuteronomic and Deuteronomistic writings (Deut 5:30; 8:6; 10:12; 11:22; 19:9; 26:17; 28:9; 30:16; Josh 22:5; Judg 2:22; 1 Kgs 2:3; 3:14; 8:58; 11:33,38; 2 Kgs 21:21-22; Jer 7:23; cf. also Hos 14:10; Ps 81:14).6 2. ... , "and if you keep my charge." Similarly, throughout biblical literature, the verb ... with its cognate accusative in reference to the Lord denotes general observance of the commandments (Gen 26:5; Lev 8:35; 18:30; 22:9; Num 9:19,23; 18:7; Deut 11:1; Josh 22:3 [. …