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3. The Structure of Individual Sections of Zechariah 165
8.10 In those days there was no Di"?ttJ. ..
8.12 But now there will be a sowing of cnhti
8.16 Therefore do the things that the former prophets urged—especially
QBtfn and nnn—things that make for Di'atf
8.19 Joyful feasts are coming so love no« and afrt.
I do not know why it was kept until the end. In any case it seems to
perform a logical function as it is used in our text.
The table also reveals other possibilities for strengthening this conclusion:
the plural 'cities' is found in only 7.7 and 8.20; DDK is more
important than we have allowed for, for it occurs not only in the
phrases where it is linked with oatf, but twice in the central section
8.3-8a + b, and with Dibtf in 8.19. Thus it links together all the important
theological words (including npi^ in 8.8b) that describe
Yahweh's requirements.
DOtd occurs only in 7.11-14 and its matching partner 8.9-13.
However, we must regard these as of possible subsidiary value only.
The result has been based on:
1. Divisions of the text decided on form- and literary-critical
methods, independent of structural concerns.
2. Consideration of all repeating words and phrases, without
regard to how they might fit into an overall pattern.
3. The progression of thought of the whole section.
We may therefore claim that this is a secure result, which agrees in
the main with the scholarly consensus, 1 but attempts to find a coherent
plan in the working of the final redactor. As previously, there is
reason to think that he was someone with literary sensitivity, who
recognized and used inclusios and chiastic structures with clarity and
subtlety.
It remains for us to ask whether he had any further purposes in
arranging chs. 1-8 in this way, and whether he even had a hand in 9-
14. This we shall do in Chapter 4.
1. S. Mittmann ('Die Einheit von Sacharja', in W. Claasen [ed.], Text and
Context [Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1988], pp. 269-82) argues for a different structure
for 8.1-8 as follows: IF (v. 1), A (v. 2), B (a, v. 2; b, vv. 4-6a(3), C (a, v. 6aab;
b, vv. 7-8). He also sees subsidiary patterns within this, e.g. v. 3 = abba: Zion-
Jerusalem-Jerusalem-Zion; vv. 7 and 8 each represent abba. He has not taken
adequate note of the whole context of chs. 7-8, and most of the criticisms I hav
made of their scholars' work in Chapter 1 above also apply to this article.