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174 Structure and the Book ofZechariah
m^in o'o is found at 9.3 and 10.5. The usage is not the same and
neither word occurs elsewhere in Zechariah ('streets' in 8.5 is mam),
although the phrase occurs in Mic. 7.10 and Ps. 18.42 (= 2 Sam.
22.43), 'always as a simile of contempt, ignominious treatment'. l Is
this meant to indicate the beginning and end of a section? Is 9.3 near
enough to the beginning to form an inclusio? The suggestion does not
look plausible, but it is interesting that there is an inclusio in 10.6, 12.
TIN, 9.4, 14, occurs nowhere else in Zechariah. Perhaps this
unlikely word had some significance (which would never have been
noticed once 'Yahweh' was replaced by 'The Lord' in public reading).
D»3 rDm, 9.4; 10.11 (D» is also found in 9.10.##13,15; 10.11; 14.4,
8.##10,14). The two occurrences of this phrase, apart from being
quite distinctive, have several features in common. 'The Lord will
smite/hurl(?) her wealth into the sea (n"?'n D'2 rom)' refers to Tyre,
but would probably also recall the fate of Pharaoh's host in the Red
Sea. It is therefore particularly interesting that in 10.11 we find roni
D*"?a D'3, possibly referring to the 'sea of Egypt' (reading Dn^D for
mx). I lay no weight on this unsupported emendation, but Egypt is
mentioned in 10.10 and later in v. 11 (by name, and also by means of
the expression 'depths of the Nile'). Some correspondence is probably
intended, therefore, between 9.4 and 10.11, particularly since the
meaning of ron is different in each case. 2
In 9.10 we find the idea of the king's dominion from 'sea to sea',
while in 14.8 living waters flow from Jerusalem to the eastern sea and
to the western sea. This statement is immediately followed by the assertion
that 'Yahweh will become king over all the earth'. The thought is
comparable in that the seas are used to express the worldwide extent
of the king's rule. The victory is won and peace/life is established.
The reference in 14.4 seems to be unconnected (no'i nmrn).
1. BDB, p. 376.
2. In 9.4 n'rn D'3 rom is a hiphil of the root ro: (smite) followed by two
nouns, one with 3 and one without. In Num. 11.33 the same situation occurs, but
there the noun with beth is the object: HDD Din mrr> -p. Here the meaning must be:
'And he will smite its wealth in/into/with/by the sea' if the text is correct. The
meaning 'hurl' adopted by RSV and some commentators (e.g. Baldwin) does not find
support elsewhere in the OT. In 10.11 we have two accusatives: 'And he will smite
the sea (+ 3) waves'. The word does occur elsewhere, plus beth before the object
(e.g. Exod. 17.6; 1 Sam. 14.31).