Joshua the High Priest: A Name in Every List, a Man Without a Scene

Who he was, and when

Joshua (Hebrew יְהוֹשׁוּעַ, and written Jeshua in the books of Ezra) was a high priest of the tribe of Levi, son of Jehozadak, called Jozadak in Ezra 3:2, and father of Joiakim (Nehemiah 12:10). His era, as our sources classify it, is the exile and the return that followed. The chronology line attached to him reads: born 1536 BC, died 1426 BC (110 years), from Ussher, Annals of the World (1650). That is the only dating we have been given, and we pass it on as it stands rather than adjust it. Twenty-one verses across four books carry his name: Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah. His first mention is Ezra 2:2; his last is in Zechariah.

A name carried in the lists

The first thing Scripture does with this man is put him in a list. "who came with Zerubbabel, Jeshua, Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum, and Baanah. The number of the men of the people of Israel:" (Ezra 2:2). He is second in a roll of returning leaders, and the same register appears again at Nehemiah 7:7. He is named further in Nehemiah 12:1, 12:7, 12:10, and 12:26. These are registers and genealogies, not narratives, and it is worth saying so plainly rather than dressing them up.

The altar before the temple

The first thing he is recorded as doing is building an altar. "Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak stood up with his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers, and built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God" (Ezra 3:2). Note the order: worship restored before walls or roof, and restored by the book, according to what is written in the law of Moses.

The foundation work follows. "Now in the second year of their coming to God's house at Jerusalem, in the second month, Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the rest of their brothers the priests and the Levites, and all those who had come out of the captivity to Jerusalem, began the work and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to have the oversight of the work of Yahweh's house" (Ezra 3:8). Priest and governor stand side by side, and the labour is organised, dated, and shared.

Drawing a line

Then comes refusal. "But Zerubbabel, and Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers' households of Israel, said to them, 'You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves together will build to Yahweh, the God of Israel, as king Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us'" (Ezra 4:3). It is a hard sentence, and the only recorded speech in which his name stands. The refusal is grounded twice over: in who their God is, and in what Cyrus the king of Persia had commanded.

After that the work restarts. "Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak rose up and began to build God's house which is at Jerusalem; and with them were the prophets of God, helping them" (Ezra 5:2). He is also named repeatedly in Haggai 1:1, 1:12, 1:14, 2:2, and 2:4, and in Zechariah 3:1, 3:3, 3:6, and 6:11.

The man who was made a sign

The weightiest words about him are spoken to him. "Hear 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. For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave its engraving,' says Yahweh of Armies, 'and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day" (Zechariah 3:8-9). He is addressed by his office, and he and those with him are called men who are a sign, which is to say they point past themselves. The promise of the Branch, the stone with seven eyes, and the removal of iniquity in one day are God's work, not his.

What the text does not say

No failure of his is recorded in any of these passages. That is not a commendation of his character; it is simply silence, and it should not be turned into praise the text withholds. Beyond this, the honest summary is stark: no scene is told about this person. Every mention is a list, a genealogy, or a passing note, apart from the building notices and the single refusal in Ezra 4:3. We are not told how he was appointed, how he served, how he died, or where. We know his father, Jehozadak, and his son, Joiakim, and nothing further of his household.

No New Testament reference to him is listed in our sources, so we draw no line from him forward. The line the text itself draws is enough to sit with: a priest in filthy standing before Yahweh of Armies, told that a servant called the Branch will be brought out, and that iniquity will be removed in one day.