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154 Structure and the Book ofZechariah
*?DK and nntf occur together, and only in v. 6, as part of the
prophet's off-putting reply, justifying his sermon before he gives an
answer.
trip, 7.7, 13 (2x), 8.3. The first of these refers to words which the
Lord 'called by the hand of the prophets...' The second and third
refer directly to this, which is not surprising if 7.8-14 is an editorial
addition, as suggested above. 1 The last reference, Jerusalem shall be
called (niphal) 'city of truth', does not seem to connect with the
others. We should plot it but there seems little hope of finding the
usage significant in terms of structure.
T, 7.7, 12; 8.4, 9, 13. For the first two see above. The last two
occur in the phrase 'let your hands be strong' which form an inclusio
for vv. 9-13, one of our obvious self-contained sub-sections.
Zech. 8.4 has the old men sitting with staffs in their hands; it does not
seem likely that a play on words is intended with either of the other
two uses, though it may just be possible. It is better to consider the
phrases 'by the hand of the former prophets' and 'let your hands be
strong' separately. The hiphil of prn is also found in 8.23 (2x); only
14.13 elsewhere in Zechariah.
ptfto. SeeMR above.
D*?0i"V occurs most significantly in the phrase 'mstfi/'HDtfl
DbtfTV "pru, 8.3, 8, which forms an inclusio for the material between
the statement of Yahweh's purpose for Jerusalem (8.1-2, where the
root njp occurs three times, and the statement 'They will be my
people...').
Thus there is a clear parallel between 8.3a and 8a:
I will return to Zion and I will dwell in the midst of
Jerusalem
I will bring them and they will dwell in the midst
of Jerusalem
Otherwise Jerusalem is mentioned because it is a central concern of
the whole chapter. The highest concentration of references is,
naturally, in 8.1-8 (vv. 3 (2x), 4, 8 + 'Zion' vv. 2, 3); it also occurs
in 7.7, 8.15, 22.
1. In other words this is the sort of link we should expect to see made by a
redactor, especially one with a grasp of the whole unit.
2. We recall here the significance attaching to I'm in Zech. 2.5-9 + 10-17.