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88 Structure and the Book of Zechariah
The result then is a series of widening circles, with the detail gradually
increasing. The whole is bound together by a large number of
repeated words.
Verse 5 takes up the theme of fathers and prophets with two
rhetorical questions. They are seen to be transient. This prepares for
v. 6, the final word about the effectiveness of God's word spoken
through the prophets. The form is again a rhetorical question and the
prophets and fathers both occur.
Verse 6b may be part of the report that began in v. 4. The opening
suggests that it is more likely to be a report of what happened as a
result of Zechariah's preaching, than that the fathers actually repented.
But it may be that y\ti is not used in the same sense as in v. 4—
hence the Jerusalem Bible's: 'This reduced them to such confusion...'
It is possible, in any case, that 'they' did 'return', but not so completely
that a further appeal would be out of place.
The content of v. 6b exactly sums up what the preaching message
has sought to convey: 'as Yahweh of hosts purposed [DOT, only elsewhere
8.14-15] so he has done'.
The question arises here: 'Does "they returned" refer to "the
fathers" or to Zechariah's hearers?' 1 Rudolph notes that v. 6b is
abrupt in following a historical reference to the fate of 'the fathers'. 2
It does not affect our analysis too much from a literary point of view.
The pattern which emerges, taking virtually all the material into
account is:
1. The older commentaries generally take v. 6b to refer to the response of 'the
fathers', since there is no new subject specified (cf. e.g. Mitchell et al., Haggai,
Zechariah, Malachi and Jonah, p. 113; Marti, Das Dodekapropheton, p. 400). This
is preferred by Petersen (Haggai and Zechariah, p. 134) and others. Petitjean, after
rejecting the argument of Nowack and Sellin, that v. 6b contradicts v. 4,
nevertheless opts for the alternative understanding that this refers to Zechariah's
contemporaries (Les oracles, pp. 47-51); also Mason (Haggai, Zechariah and
Malachi, p. 33) and Meyers' (Haggai, Zechariah, p. 96). Hag. 1.12-14 is a good
parallel for this latter view.
2. He also believes that the rest of Zechariah 1-8 knows nothing of a conversion
on the part of the prophet's hearers. His solution is to emend the text so as to read
two imperatives: 'Return, and say. .. '