Зехарья 3:1 Комментарий: Rashi & Tze'enah Ure'enah

to accuse him To accuse him because his sons were married to gentile women, as it is written in the Book of Ezra (10:18): “And it was found of the sons of the priests who had taken foreign wives, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, etc.”

“He further showed me Joshua the high priest” [3:1]. He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of God. The angel of death stood at his right hand and he wanted to speak evil about Joshua the high priest. The angel said: God should rebuke you, Satan. Joshua is worthy to be the high priest. He has been separated from the fire.

A similar story is found in the Talmud, [Sanhedrin] in chapter 10. There were two false prophets. One was called Zedekiah and another one was called Ahab. Zedekiah went to the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar and told her false prophecies. He said to her that God had ordered that she should sleep with Ahab the prophet and Ahab said the same thing about Zedekiah that the daughter of Nebuchadnezzar should sleep with Zedekiah. The daughter went to her father and told him the news. Her father said: when they come to you, send them to me. She sent both of them to her father. Nebuchadnezzar, her father, said: why has the Holy One commanded you to do this and not Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah? They responded: Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah are not prophets and we are prophets. Nebuchadnezzar said: I will test you like I have tested Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah. I tested them in the furnace with fire. The false prophets answered that they were three and we are only two. Their merit was greater. The king answered: take another one so that you will also be three and I will throw you into the fire. They chose Joshua the high priest who is mentioned in the haftorah. They said that perhaps we would also be protected from the fire by the merit of the high priest. They were thrown into the fire. The two false prophets were burned and Joshua the high priest only had his clothes singed by the fire. Nebuchadnezzar asked him, I know very well that you are righteous. Why were your clothes singed by the fire, and Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah were not singed by the fire? Joshua answered that they were three and I was alone. He said that Abraham was also alone in the furnace and his clothes were not singed. Joshua responded that the fire was not given permission to burn people in Abraham’s oven. However, here in my case, the fire was given permission to burn Zedekiah and Ahab. That is why the fire came up to my clothes. Further, if there are two pieces of dry wood, then the third log of wood must also be singed, even if it is wet and damp. What sin did Joshua commit? The explanation is that he allowed his children to marry divorcees, which is forbidden.⁴B. Sanhedrin, 93a.