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3. The Structure of Individual Sections of Zechariah 229
1. There is a positive prophecy (v. 16) followed by exception
clauses (vv. 17-19).
2. There is great emphasis upon:
going up to Jerusalem
to worship the King Yahweh Sebaoth, and
to 'feast the feast of booths'
3. There is stem punishment for those who refuse the opportunity
to join with Yahweh's people in worship and feast.
4. Egypt is a representative nation. If she remains hostile as in
the days of Israel's bondage in Egypt then she merits and will
suffer plague (as previously). 1
There is one textual difficulty in v. 18a: Dirba K^I which almost
certainly needs emendation. Various solutions are offered.
1. Delete it as dittography from v. 17b.
2. Delete only Kb with some Hebrew manuscripts, LXX and Syr.
This seems to be the best solution.
3. Understand the phrase to mean 'there will not be (rain) upon
them (either)'. 2 In this case we should expect 'and' with the
verb that follows.
We cannot understand the text to mean that 'if Egypt, however, does
not go up... the plague which the nations will suffer will not come
upon Egypt' since v. 19 associates the nations and Egypt in the
punishment that they will undergo.
Verses 16-19 are not completely separate from the preceding
verses, 12-15. They still deal with the situation of the war against
Jerusalem and Yahweh's victory. Here the reference to plagues both
encloses the rest of the material and links with vv. 16-19. Verses
12-15, recognized as a coherent unit, cause us to look at vv. 1-3 (at
least) which deal with the nations' battle against Jerusalem. Only
vv. 1-2 actually describe Jerusalem's defeat (contrary to Lamarche's
1. Lacocque says that since Egypt was not affected by lack of rain it was
necessary to mention it separately (Amsler et al., Ag£e, Zecharie, Malachi, p. 214).
2. Most commentators follow LXX and Syr. Rudolph thinks that the Targum is
on the right track and so adds: '(so wiirde) "fur sie der Nil nicht steigen'" (Haggai,
pp. 231, 233).