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104 Structure and the Book of Zechariah
set down this tidy pattern does not, of course, prove that the writer
intended it to be read in this way. However, it may be argued that the
phrases considered are certainly significant for the following reasons.
1. They are whole phrases that do not occur elsewhere, except that
•pna ptf occurs in 8.3, 8 as another significant and apparently
structuring phrase.
2. There are no other repeated words which intervene to distract
from this pattern.
3. rDTQ is repeated twice in vv. 8-9.
4. A plausible suggestion can be made as to how an editor might
have constructed or augmented this section.
13 contains 'm o and "rbti. .. cmn'i.
14 contains '311 'D either from the original author or from an editor with a
nice sense of structure.
14 also contains the promise -pirn TiceJi, which has affinities with the
covenant promise 'I will be their God and they shall be my people'
(cf. 8.3-8).
15a extends the promise to the nations. It may well come from an editor.
15b encloses this promise in two distinctive repeated phrases, which
address Zion rather than the nations just mentioned. They must be
intended as balancing w. 13 and 14, whether they come from a later
editor or not.
However, this is not the whole story, for we note that the two
occurrences of 'and you shall know that Yahweh of hosts has sent me
(to you)' look more like the conclusion of a section than an envelope.
Moreover the imperatives in v. 14a are more at home at the beginning
of a section, and we have comparable imperatives in v. 10.#3
and v. 11.#3.' It seems more likely, therefore, that we should see the
whole passage in this way:
Parti
10 Ho! ho! Flee from the land of the north
For I scattered you as the four winds of heaven
11 Ho! Zion! Escape O dweller with the daughter of Babylon
12 IF
(after glory sent me to the nations who despoiled you
for who touches you touches the apple of his eye)
13 For behold I will. .. they. .. spoil for their servants
1. Cf. Chapter 2 above.
AND YOU SHALL KNOW THAT YAHWEH OF HOSTS SENT ME