130. - Collection Point® | The Total Digital Asset Management System

2. Division of Zechariah 71
peoples and strong nations' (v. 22) will do (vv. 21-22). The chiastic
structure is therefore immediately obvious, 1 although the distance
between the extremities might suggest later additions to the original
chiasmus. This means it might be profitable to suppose an earlier
literary unit: 7.1-3 + 8.18-21 (22?, 23?) and to determine the literary
nature of subsequent treatment.
Most commentators divide ch. 7 into vv. 1-3, narrative, followed
by oracular material: vv. 4-14, 2 or vv. 4-6 + 7-14, 3 or vv. 4-
7 + 8-14. 4 Verses 4-7 are introduced by 'And the word of Yahweh
came to me' as in 8.1, 18, whereas 7.8 reads '. ..to Zechariah'. It is
possible, therefore, that v. 8 is redactional and that v. 9 originally
followed v. 7. If this is so then the division vv. 4-6 + 7-14 is logical.
However, we are also interested in the structure of the text after v. 8
was inserted. In other words we want to know whether the redactor
helped to create or to destroy a planned structure. It is even possible
that he did both. We must therefore consider vv. 4-14 with and
without v. 8.
1. Nevertheless I can only find one example of a commentator past or present
who has apparently noted this. C. Stuhlmueller, in his brief Rebuilding with Hope: A
Commentary on the Books of Haggai and Zechariah (International Theological
Commentary; Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), says: 'The editor formed a carefully
crafted unit of chs. 7-8 and then stitched this finale harmoniously into place. The
question about fasting (7.3-5; 8.18f.) and the role of foreigners (7.If.; 8.22f.)
constitute an envelope around the other material in the final two chapters.' Even the
Meyers', who show considerable concern at times for structure, and compare these
chapters with Hag. 1-2, content themselves with pointing out the similarities
between 8.18-23 and 7.1-6 and the implication that thereby chs. 7-8 are given their
own literary integrity, Haggai, Zechariah, pp. 442-43. Petersen makes no attempt to
introduce chs. 7-8 as a whole, despite the fact that he also notes 8.18-23 as an
answer to 7.3. R.L. Smith says that 'the arrangement of the materials in chaps. 7 and
8 is rough' and that they can best be divided into three broad sections: 7.1-6, the
question about fasting; 7.7-14, reiteration of the words of the former prophets;
8.1-23, a Decalogue of promises, Nahum-Malachi (WBC; Waco, TX: Word Books,
1984), p. 220. A little later he comments that there are superscriptions at vv. 18,
19, 20 and 23 which indicate 'separate collections that have been put together'
(pp. 238-39). Even Beuken, who devotes much space to chs. 7-8 (pp. 15-19,
118-83), does not offer a full explanation of their structure.
2. E.g. Petitjean.
3. E.g. Amsler, Beuken, Meyers, R.L. Smith.
4. E.g. Petersen.