4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.
(Chapter III - Verse 1 and following) And he showed me Jesus, the great high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord: and Satan was standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan: May the Lord rebuke you, Satan, may the Lord rebuke you who has chosen Jerusalem. Is this not a brand plucked out of the fire? And Jesus was clothed in filthy garments, and he stood before the face of the angel who responded and said to those who stood before him, saying: Take away the filthy garments from him. And he said to him, 'Behold, I have taken away your iniquity, and I will clothe you with rich garments.' And they put a clean turban on his head, and they put clean clothes on him. LXX: And the Lord showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan stood at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!' Is not this man like a brand plucked from the fire? And Jesus was clothed with dirty clothes, and he stood before the face of the angel, and he answered and said to those standing before his face, saying: Take off the dirty clothes from him. And he said to him: Behold, I have wiped away your iniquities from you; and dress him in fine clothing, and put a clean turban on his head, and they put a clean turban on his head, and they surrounded him with garments. Before we come to the understanding of the spiritual intelligence, it must be said strictly and briefly how the Hebrews explained this passage. They want Jesus the great priest, whom the Greeks call ἀρχιερέα and the Latins call pontifex, to be understood as the son of Josedec, who presided over the people with Zorobabel. The adversary (for this is what Satan means) stood at his right hand to oppose him. And he rightly stood at his right hand, not at his left, because the accusation was true, since he himself had taken a foreign wife, as is written in Ezra and in Malachi, who follows this prophet, (1 Esdras 12 and Mal. 2). And the Lord said to Satan, the accuser and adversary, for he is the enemy and avenger, and the accuser of his brothers: Let the Lord rebuke you, Satan: for it is raining from the Lord: and let the Lord rebuke you, who chose Jerusalem. Therefore, since Jerusalem has now been chosen from among all the cities of Judah, with the Lord not imputing to her the sins she has committed, why do you attempt to bury Jesus, who escaped from the captivity of Babylon as if half burnt, like a tower which is commonly called a torch? But what follows, 'Jesus was clothed in dirty clothes,' is interpreted in three ways. Either because of illicit union, or because of the sins of the people, or because of the squalor of captivity. But the angel, before whose face Jesus stood, commanded the other angels on behalf of the Lord to take away from him the dirty clothes of which we have spoken above. When they had fulfilled the command, the same angel spoke again to Jesus: 'Behold, I have taken away your iniquity; these are the dirty clothes, and I have clothed you with new garments.' This refers to the joining of an Israelite wife to you, which the Seventy interpreted as 'ποδήρη,' which we can call a long tunic, because it flows down to the ankles and feet. And what follows: Place a clean headband over his head, because we read in Hebrew Saniph (), which is called by many a headdress, and in this they want the dignity of the priest to be understood, that he, having removed the filth of sins, may have a clean priesthood. This is how the Jews interpret it. But our argument is that the priest is great, to whom it is said: You are a priest forever, according to the order of Melchizedek (Ps. CIX, 4). But since he (the angel) cannot be seen by himself, he is shown to the prophet by the Lord standing before the angel of the Lord, whom they wish to be the angel of great counsel, not because one and another are, or that we should accept two persons in the Son; but that he is shown to be the same and as one, and is said to appear as if in the form of a defiled man and as if an angel, mediating between God and men. However, they attempt to show that he is not Jesus son of Josedech, because it is not appropriate in the present place for him to be called the son of Josedech, who in other places, and where Jesus is truly called the son of Josedech, is always considered under the name of the Father. Therefore, Jesus is seen standing and standing firmly; and Satan stood at his right hand to oppose him. For he was tempted in every way without sin. And in the Gospel, the tempter approaches him, always seeking to oppose him with his right hand and his powers. And that which follows: The Lord rebuke you, Satan, and the Lord rebuke you, who choose Jerusalem, they have said, because the Father and the Son are Lord, and in the 109th psalm we read: The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand. The Lord speaks to another Lord, not because the Lord who speaks cannot rebuke, but because out of the unity of nature, when the other rebukes, he himself who speaks rebukes. For he who sees the Son, sees also the Father (John 14:9); and this is he who chose Jerusalem, the Church which contemplates the peace of the Lord. But the tower taken out of the fire can rightly be understood as one who, while he is in Babylon, is not consumed by the fire of Babylon, nor touched by the flame of this world. Therefore Moses also sees a great vision in the desert, in which the bush was burning, but was not consumed (Exodus 3). This Jesus was clothed in filthy garments; although he had not committed any sin, he was made sin for us, and he himself carries our infirmities, and suffers for us, and we thought of him as being in sorrow, and in wounds, and in anguish. But he was wounded for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:4). And in the Apostle we read: Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, by becoming a curse for us (Galatians 3:13). Here in the twenty-first psalm it says: Far from my salvation are the words of my offenses (Psalm 22:1). And in the sixty-eighth psalm: O God, you know my foolishness, and my sins are not hidden from you (Psalm 69:6). All the garments that are called dirty will be taken away from him when he has washed away our sins, so that because he was clothed in dirty garments, we may hear after baptism: May your garments always be white (Eccl. IX, 8): and the whole Church of believers hears through Isaiah: Wash, be clean (Isa. I, 16). And she is prophesied about in the Song of Songs: Who is this that ascends, white (Cant. III, 6)? But take the incarnation of Him, which is from the earth, and is signified in the feet. Understand the clean robe over His head, understand the splendor of divine majesty, so that he may seem to be adorned as one and the same according to man, and according to God.
[AD 420] Jerome on Zechariah 3:1-5