individual believer in Christ, we would remind the reader, first, that we have a picture here of what, and where, we were in our natural condition. It is true, as Keil contends, that " fire is a symbol of punishment, not of sin," but in a very real and terrible sense sin is its own punishment; and apart from "the everlasting burnings" (Isa. xxxiii. 14) which await the impenitent in that place where " the fire is never quenched," wickedness (already in this life) burneth as a fire (Isa. ix. 18). And this, whether we have been conscious of it or not, has been the case with us all. We were in the fire which indwells our nature, and, but for the mercy of God, we should have ultimately been altogether consumed by it.
But, secondly, the figure also reminds us of the love and compassion of our Redeemer, Who, when there was no eye to pity, at the cost of infinite suffering to Himself, plucked us " as brands from the fire," and delivered us, not only from the punishment of sin in the future, but from the power and dominion of sin in the present.
But to proceed with the exposition. As already indicated, " the filthy garments " in which Joshua was clad symbol ised the sin with which the nation as a whole was defiled, and which he, as high priest, represented in his official capacity. This was already clearly perceived by the Church Father whom I have already quoted, who observes: " The high priest having been thus taken to represent the whole people, the filthy garments would be no unclear symbol of the wickedness of the people; for clad, as it were, with their sins, with the ill-effaceable spot of ungodliness, they abode in captivity subject to retribution, paying the penalty of their unholy deeds."[1]
The figure of the filthy garments as emblematic of moral pollution is also carried over into the visions of Zechariah from the former prophets. Thus in the confes sion of the remnant of Israel in Isa. Ixiv. 6 we read: " For we are all become as one that is unclean, and all our righteousnesses are as a polluted garment; and we all do fade
- ↑ Cyril.
