1He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before Yahweh’s angel, and Satan standing at his right hand to be his adversary. 2Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”
3Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel. 4He answered and spoke to those who stood before him, saying, “Take the filthy garments off him.” To him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with rich clothing.”
5I said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.”
So they set a clean turban on his head, and clothed him; and Yahweh’s angel was standing by.
6Yahweh’s angel solomnly assured Joshua, saying, 7“Yahweh of Armies says: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I will give you a place of access among these who stand by. 8Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign; for, behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch. 9For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua: on one stone are seven eyes; behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10In that day,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”
The authority to forgive sins is ascribed only to Israel’s God in the Old Testament (Ps 130:4, 51:1-3; 85:2; 2 Sam 12:13; Ps 32:1-5; 51:3-4, 9-11; 103:3; Isa 44:22; Dan 9:9; Zech 3:4; cf. 1QS 2:8f.; 11.14; CD 2:4-5; 3:18; 4:6-10). In Isa 43:25, YHWH declares himself as the forgiver of Israel’s sins: “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; And I will not remember your sins” (NASB). Micah 7:18 links the act of forgiving sins with the rhetoric concerning God’s uniqueness: “Who is a God like Thee, who pardons iniquity [a]nd passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?” (NASB) Mark’s Gospel itself includes Jesus’ teaching that corresponds to these Old Testament passages: “And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your transgressions” (11:25 NASB [emphasis added]). If Jesus’ authority to forgive sins as portrayed in Mark 2:1-12 is read alongside 11:25 and the noted Old Testament passages, Mark the author is seen to view Jesus as participating in God’s unique prerogative of forgiving sins, and such a view undoubtedly reflects Mark’s high Christology. -John Lee