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3. The Structure of Individual Sections of Zechariah 237
2. The clearest, most elaborately structured passages are found in
the sections reckoned to be redactional by the majority of scholars. At
the least, this points to a different kind of literary activity in
describing the visions and in the rest of the presentation. 1
3. The structuring discernible in Zechariah 9-14 seems different
from and less precise than that found in Zechariah 1-8. The small
units specified on form-critical grounds yield very little, and it is
obvious that there are more contacts outside the units than within
them.
4. Negatively, the structures proposed by Lamarche, Lacocque,
Otzen and Hanson do not stand up to critical scrutiny. Yet there are
signs of a unified plan for these parts of the book:
a. There are links between the different parts of Zech. 9.1-
11.3; there is evidence of progression of thought over long
sections achieved in small steps by repeated words.
b. Zech. 11.4-17 + 13.7-9 contains some very obscure
elements, and does not form an obviously recognizable
pattern. Yet its overall movement is clear and logical. We
have yet to discover the reason for the separation of these
two passages.
c. Zech. 12.1-13.6 contains material more akin to chs. 1-8, in
its construction, than anything found previously.
d. Zechariah 14 shows clear progression of thought; some sort
of overall chiastic pattern, and apparently deliberate use of
distinctive and repeated words to indicate structure and
emphasis.
1. It would be interesting to study the difference between work produced by
visionaries who describe and explain (or supplement in some way) their experiences.
When that is done we may have some clearer ground for saying whether Zechariah
could or could not have edited his own dream visions.