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5. Conclusions 303
However, in order to test the theory it was necessary to apply it
rigorously to a self-contained section of the OT. I chose the book of
Zechariah, because it gave scope for examining two well-defined and
established parts to the book, their internal coherence and their
relationship to each other; it has been subjected to a certain amount of
structural investigation previously, especially chs. 9-14,* and it
seemed an interesting project to compare the results already achieved
with my own; it seemed likely that there might actually be some
'planned structures' in Zechariah, for example, the arrangement of the
visions in chs. 1-6; and possibly a more or less elaborate arrangement
of units in 9-14. If nothing could be proved we could at least have the
satisfaction of having interacted with Lamarche, Lacocque and Otzen. 2
In fact we discovered some surprising results. The evidence for editorial
structuring in chs. 1-8 was very strong, in individual small
units, 3 in the rather large unit of chs. 7-8, and in the arrangement of
units in relation to each other. 4 I was not primarily interested in doing
redaction criticism, but had noted certain passages as probably due to
an editor or editors. 5 The careful structuring of the text seemed to
stem from both the original writer and the editorial reworking. I
noted variations in the way that the structuring was done, but did not
theorize about whether this implied more than one hand. 6
In looking at Zechariah 9-14, we again discovered evidence of a
concern for structure. This, however, was noticeably different from
the work done in chs. 1-8. The basic material was more varied; the
structuring was not so precise; connections were made, not simply
between two sections, but between three or more. 7
For example, connections were found between 10.3-5 and 11, and
9.1-8 and 9-10 (and 13). It would be easy, by selective choice of
marker words (some of them quite impressive!), to argue for a
chiastic structure: 8
1. Especially by Lamarche; also Lacocque and Otzen.
2. Seeesp.pp. 167-68,170-72,182-83,191-92,211-12,215-16,220-23,228-32.
3. E.g. Zech. 1.1-6 + 7-17; 2.5-9 + 10-17.
4. E.g. Zech. 1 with 6 and 7-8; Zech. 2.1-9 with 5.1-11 (and 6.1-8).
5. See the summary at the end of Chapter 2.
6. Cf. e.g. Zech. 1.1-6; 2.1-4; 3.1-7, 8-10; 4.1-14.
7. Pp. 192-95.
8. See the table on p. 193.