How to prove this algebraic version of the sine law? How to solve the following problem from Hall and Knight's Higher Algebra?

Suppose that
  \begin{align}
a&=zb+yc,\tag{1}\\
b&=xc+za,\tag{2}\\
c&=ya+xb.\tag{3}
\end{align}
  Prove that
  $$\frac{a^2}{1-x^2}=\frac{b^2}{1-y^2}=\frac{c^2}{1-z^2}.\tag{4}$$

(I suppose that $x,y,z$ are real numbers whose moduli are not equal to $1$.)
I discovered this problem from chapter 3 of Prelude to Mathematics by W. W. Sawyer. Sawyer thought that this problem arose from the sine law: let $a,b,c$ be respectively the lengths of the edges opposite to three vertices $A,B,C$ of a triangle. Define $x=\cos A$ and define $y,z$ analogously. Now equalities $(1)-(3)$ simply relate $a,b$ and $c$ to each other by the cosines of the angles and $(4)$ is just a rewrite of the sine law
$$
\frac{a}{\sin A}=\frac{b}{\sin B}=\frac{c}{\sin C}.
$$
However, the algebraic version $(4)$ looks more general. For example, it does not state that $a,b,c$ must be positive or that they must satisfy the triangle inequality.
Sawyer wrote that this isn't a hard problem, but he didn't provide any solution. I can prove $(4)$ using linear algebra. Suppose that $(a,b,c)\ne(0,0,0)$ (otherwise $(4)$ is obvious). Rewrite $(1)-(3)$ in the form of $M\mathbf a=0$:
$$\begin{bmatrix}-1&z&y\\ z&-1&x\\ y&x&-1\end{bmatrix}\begin{bmatrix}a\\ b\\ c\end{bmatrix}=0.$$
Since $x^2,y^2,z^2\ne1$, $M$ has rank $2$ and $D=\operatorname{adj}(M)$ has rank $1$. Hence all columns of $D$ are parallel to $(a,b,c)^T$ and $\frac{d_{11}}{d_{21}}=\frac{d_{12}}{d_{22}}=\frac{a}{b}$. Since $M$ is symmetric, $D$ is symmetric too. Therefore $\frac{1-x^2}{1-y^2}=\frac{d_{11}}{d_{22}}=\frac{d_{11}d_{12}}{d_{21}d_{22}}=\frac{a^2}{b^2}$, i.e. $\frac{a^2}{1-x^2}=\frac{b^2}{1-y^2}$.
As this problem comes from Hall and Knight's book, I think there should be a more elementary solution. Any ideas?

By (1) and (3), $a=ay^2 + bxy +bz.$  Thus, $a(1-y^2)=b(xy+z)$ so that $$a^2(1-y^2)=ab(xy+z).$$
In a similar way, we derive from (2) and (3) that
$$b^2(1-x^2)=ab(xy+z).$$
Thus, the left sides of the two displayed equations are equal, yielding the first equality in (4).  By symmetry, we're done. 
IOW replace $(a,c)$ by $(c,a)$ and $(x,z)$ by $(z,x)$ above.
