Who is Joshua mentioned in Book of Zechariah?

Answer 1

At Zechariah 3:1-8, the prophet had a vision of Joshua the high priest standing in heaven in filthy clothes next to Satan and before an angel: "And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing on his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan: even the Lord that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed in filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he ed and spoke to those who 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 in change of raiment.' And I said, 'Let them set a fair mitre upon his head.' So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord stood by. And the angel protested unto Joshua, saying, 'Thus said the Lord of hosts: "If thou will walk in my ways and will keep my charge, then thou shall also judge my house and shall also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among those that stand by. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the Branch."'
Joshua was the high priest, who had been found guilty of iniquity, but the Lord needed him and was willing to offer him inducements and honour. The problem with a literal explanation is that if the high priest was guilty of an iniquity such as corruption or challenging the authority of Zorobabel, he would surely have been dealt with quite differently. On the other hand, if Josha was innocent of any iniquity, Zechariah would have risked his life in writing as he did, and the Book of Zechariah would never have been preserved for posterity. Joshua could have been the leader of a rebellious religious cult, which the majority religion wanted to suppress. Or perhaps there had been no high priest of this name - in fact the name Joshua seems to have been long associated with the sun god, so it is possible that this heavenly trial symbolised in The Bible the submission of the sun god, and the iniquity was that he allowed his followers to worship him.
It may, at first, seem preposterous that the Jews worshipped a sun god, but Ezekiel 8:16 says this: 'And he brought me into the inner court of the Lord's house, and behold, at the door of the temple of the Lord, between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east'.