Zechariah 6:9-15
"A crown for Joshua"
In this passage, the Lord speaks to Zechariah. He tells him to gather the gold and silver from three particular individuals: Heldai, Tobijah and Jedaiah. Who they are, i have no clue... and none of my commentaries say, either... what is important, however, is what is done with the gold and silver is. Zechariah then goes to Josiah, son of Zephaniah, makes a crown with the silver and gold and puts it on the head of Joshua, the high priest.
Zechariah then speaks the word of the Lord, saying that he, joshua, is the branch and that he will branch out from that place and build the temple. He will then be clothed in majesty and sit on his throne and he will rule on his throne, while being a priest on the throne. Then, there will be harmony between the two offices.
The crown is then given to Heldai, Tobijah, Jedaiah and Josiah, now called Hen, to be set as a memorial in the temple. and a parting word is given saying that if they obey God, he will bring many to help with the building of the temple.
The point of interest here, however is the part where Joshua is crowned. again, note that Joshua and Jesus come from the same root name. Here we have a priest being crowned king. this priest-king will also re/build the temple and be clothed with majesty. A few chapters ago, Christ is prophesied as the priest-king, so we can assume that the same author is using the same comparison for Christ. Christ also "destroyed the temple and rebuilt it in 3 days" through his sacrifice and resurrection. In addition to this, Christ will reign over all and be clothed in majesty.
Something tells me this is a messianic passage...
on a side tangent: what is a priest-king anyway? A king, as we know rules over his kingdom and a priest is a servant of God whose role was to mediate between God and man. so a priest king, logically does both - managing the physical and spiritual lives of the kingdom. Christ did/does/will do both. He mediates for us by being our way to God - the only way, might I add. He rules over us, physically, not yet, but he will, and spiritually by convicting us of our sins and by teaching us the way that we should grow, as a believer of Christ. This is done through the holy spirit. Note that the fullness of priest-kingness has yet to occur. in fact, no-one knows when it will occur except God (so i can pretty much guarantee it's not going to be whenever in 2012 that the mayan calendar predicts... but it might be the day before... just because...
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