8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.
Of him he speaks also through the mouth of Ezekiel, saying, “And I will set up one shepherd over them, and my servant David will rule them, and he will be their shepherd. And I the Lord will be their God, and my servant David the prince in the midst of them.” Of course, David the king was already dead, but the true David, the truly humble, the truly meek, the true Son of God, strong of hand, is foretold by this name. He also is pointed out in the book of the prophet Zechariah, God the father saying, “I will bring my servant, the Orient is his name.” Although he wore sin-soiled garments, was not the Sun of justice clothed with the splendor of his divinity?
(Verse 8, 9.) Listen, great priest Jesus, and your friends who dwell before you, for they are men who foresee. Behold, I will bring my servant the East, for behold, the stone which I placed before Jesus, upon it are seven eyes. LXX: Listen, therefore, great priest Jesus, and your neighbors who sit before your face, for they are men who observe wonders, that is, spectators of miracles, for behold, I will bring my servant the East, for the stone which I placed before Jesus, upon it are seven eyes. Our people in this place are being hindered by the Jews, because according to the context and the wording of the discourse, they should understand Jesus the priest as the son of Josedech, rather than the Lord and Savior. For if the discourse is about the Lord, and it is said about Christ: 'Hear, O great Jesus the priest', who is it referring to: 'Behold, I will bring forth my servant the East, who is called by another name, and he has been given before Jesus, and upon this stone there are seven eyes?' On the contrary, our opponents strive to assert that Jesus is the great High Priest, and the East, and the Stone, according to different understandings, are called Christ. But how this can be said of himself is very difficult to explain. Therefore, those who want Jesus to be the son of Josedech, the great High Priest, interpret his friends who dwell or sit before him, and who are men bearing signs, as his disciples and prophets. For prophets are placed as signs of future events. So what is it that Jesus and his friends are compelled to hear: I will bring my servant, the East, and the rest? Above, God had promised (or permitted) Jesus, the great high priest, that if he walked in his ways and kept his commandments, he would judge his house, guard his courts, and give him ministers of angelic dignity. Now he says the same to him and his friends, full felicity and perfect blessedness that will come when the East arrives, of whom it is written: Behold, a man named the East (Zach. VI, 12). And in Malachi: The sun of justice shall arise to you that fear my name, and health in his wings (Mal. IV, 2). And in Numbers: A star shall rise out of Jacob, and a man shall spring up of Israel (Num. XXIV, 17). In the Gospel also we read very clearly about Christ: In whom the Orient from on high hath visited us: To enlighten them that sit in darkness, and in the shadow of death: to direct our feet into the way of peace (Luke I, 78). He himself is called the Rising Sun and the Cornerstone, because he unites both peoples and joins two walls into one house: He is the stumbling stone for unbelievers, of whom it is said in the Psalms: The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone: This is from the Lord. On this stone, there are seven eyes, of which Isaiah speaks: A shoot will come forth from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and reverence for the Lord, and his delight will be in the fear of the Lord. Those who want to understand the great High Priest, and his friends the Lord Savior, and his disciples, interpret them as men of miracles, and predictors, in such a way that they refer to the apostles (or disciples who have seen his mystical signs and have known the future from the present), while in the case of the man blind from birth (John 9), they interpret the restored eyes as referring to the Gentile people, and in the case of the woman with the flowing blood (Matthew 9), they explain that the Church is freed through the works of blood. Now, what follows is understood by lovers of history about Christ, that after Jesus, the son of Josedech, they say that Christ will come. For this is what it means to be before Jesus, that is, in His presence, and to be called a stone for strength and power, by which He will shatter all kingdoms, which we also read about in Daniel, when the stone was cut out of the mountain without hands (Dan. II).
My servant the Orient: Christ, who according to his humanity is the servant of God, is called the Orient from his rising like the sun in the east to enlighten the world.
[AD 397] Ambrose of Milan on Zechariah 3:8