ISBN 13: 9780567291721
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In Zech 1:8–11, the prophet recounts his first night-vision, which involves a man riding a red horse amid the myrtle trees, surrounded by other coloured horses. There is much in this vision that is bizarre ...
4.3.1. Horses which “Patrol the Earth”
The function of the horses is explained in vv. 10–11: “Yahweh sent them to patrol the earth earth".
There are two sets of intertexts which have combined to shape this image. First, there is an allusion to Job 1–2. In Zech 1:10–11, the role of the horses is “to patrol in the earth” (ץֶ רָ אָ בּ ךֵ ְלַּ הְ תִ הְ ל ), which parallels the description in Job 1:7 and 2:2 of one who comes from roving “in the earth” (ץֶ רָ אָ בּ”) and from patrolling in it”. The likelihood of a deliberate allusion in Zechariah to Job 1–2 is strengthened by the continuation of this allusion in the final night-vision in Zech 6:7,43 together with further parallels between the roles of the horses/heavenly attendants. In Job, the heavenly attendants come “to present themselves before Yahweh” (הָל־יהוַ ְע בֵ צַּיְ תִ הְ ל, Job 1:6 and 2:1), which parallels the figures in Zech 6:5 who go out “from presenting themselves before the Lord”. This repeated imagery in Zech 1 (and 6) constitutes an unmistakable allusion to Job 1–2.
The second set of intertextual connections relates to the equine imagery, and in particular to horses in Yahweh’s service. There are only three other places outside Zechariah where we see horses used by Yahweh —Hab 3:8; Joel 2:4–545 and Isa 66:15.46 While the data are too sparse to be able to claim that any one of these three is a specific intertext of Zechariah, we may make an important observation about the general intertexts of “Yahweh’s horses.” It should be noted that in all three other instances of this equine imagery the horses are agents of Yahweh in bringing judgment and destruction. This bellicose imagery continues in Zech 6:1–8 (see my analysis below in Chapter 6), which makes it all the more surprising that Yahweh’s horses in Zech 1:7–17 do not have these expected overtones of violence.48 My suggestion is that these overtones have been omitted for rhetorical effect, to create a jarring dissonance.
That is, the general intertextual background of equine imagery creates the expectation that “Yahweh’s horsemen” should be going to go out to trounce the nations, and so their discordant role here contributes to the shock of v. 11 (see below) that the messengers come back with the message that the world is at peace.
... 43. In Zech 6:7 the chariots go out to patrol the earth
... 46. I take it that the imagery in Jer 4:13 refers to the chariots of the destroyer from the north, not Yahweh. It may be however, that the ultimate source for the imagery of the chariots of Yahweh is the deliberate reversal of this imagery of the chariots of the foe from the north.
... 48. Instead of a destructive role, the role of the horse(men) in Zech 1:7–17 is much closer to those in Isa 21:9, who have a “messenger” role. Isa 21:9 describes "riders, horsemen in pairs" who come ot announce the fall of Babylon. However, even given some points of verbal connection between these two passages, there is a jarring dissonance between the messages of the respective horsemen. Whereas Isaiah’s horsemen come back with the message of the fall of Israel’s enemy, Zechariah’s horsemen return to say that the world is at peace.
4.3.2. The Divine Council Scene
It is important to recognize that Yahweh’s horses are a part of a “divine council” (or “heavenly assembly”) scene, one which would seem to derive from other similar scenes in the Hebrew Bible. In particular, 1 Kgs 22:19–22; Isa 6; Ezek 3 and Job 1:6–12; 2:1–7 all share the imagery of creatures around the throne of Yahweh, who are sent out to do his bidding. As Jeremias notes, Zechariah’s usage differs in one important respect, in that, in the first vision, the heavenly assembly has already occurred, and the prophet Zechariah only witnesses its after-effects, and does not see Yahweh or his throne directly (1977: 117–21).
However, we should not read too much significance into the apparent absence of Yahweh from the scene, given the presence of the “angel of Yahweh.” I take it that the “man standing amidst the myrtles” in 1:8 is to be identified with the “angel of Yahweh” in 1:11, as he is likewise “standing amidst the myrtles.”[50] Tollington argues that “the angel of Yahweh” in Zechariah is a revival of an old concept which existed before classical prophetism (1993: 96). In that older tradition there is a blurring between Yahweh and the angel of Yahweh, and this same blurring occurs in Zech 1–8.[51] [I shall comment more on the significance of the angel of Yahweh when I discuss the fourth vision (see Chapter 5 below), though for the present purposes we may safely conclude that this scene in Zech 1 bears a number of similarities to other divine council scenes.]
The other key figure in this scene is the “The angel who was talking to me,” usually described as the “interpreting angel.” I agree with the suggestion of Tollington (1993: 98–99) that Jacob’s dialogue with the “angel of God” in Gen 31:10–13 has influenced Zechariah’s depiction of the angel of Yahweh.53 In addition, I also detect the influence of several passages from Ezekiel in which an intermediary explains a heavenly vision.54 Zechariah 1–8 has combined this “interpreting angel” motif with another strand of tradition—the question-and-answer dialogue. In Jer 1:11–13; 24:3–5 and Amos 7:7–8; 8:1–2 we have examples of a question-and-answer dialogue being used to explain the significance of a vision, a vision that has obvious parallels in Zech 1–8.55 However, there is also an interesting reversal of roles. In the passages in Jeremiah and Amos the question is typically initiated by Yahweh, who asks the prophet “What do you see?” .(In Zech 1–8, the directionality is reversed, in that it is typically the prophet who asks “What are these things?” (הֶ לֵּ ה־אָ מ). I say “typically” because at two points (Zech 4:2 and 5:2) the prophet reverts to the “What do you see?” form, exactly paralleling the usage in Amos and Jeremiah. Again, we are seeing a combination of streams of tradition, a composite metaphor.
50. So also Baldwin 1972: 93, Clark 1982: 213–18; Smith 1984: 189; Meyers and Meyers 1987: 110, 115; Merrill 1994: 103; Delkurt 1999a; Boda 2004: 196. Contra Petersen 1984a: 144–45, who takes the “man standing among the myrtles” to be a different figure to “the messenger of Yahweh.” Contra also Conrad 1999: 64, who identifies the prophet Haggai as the “messenger of the LORD” being referred to in these verses.
51. See, for example, Gen 22:15–16, where the angel of Yahweh speaks as Yahweh. See also Exod 3:2–5; Judg 2:1; 6:11–14, 22–24; 13:21–22; 2 Sam 24:16–17. The blurring of roles also occurs in Zech 1:12, where the angel of Yahweh speaks to Yahweh, and Zech 3:1–2, 5–6, where he speaks as Yahweh.
The Intertexts of Zechariah 1:7–11
In Zech 1:8–11, the prophet recounts his first night-vision, which involves a man riding a red horse amid the myrtle trees, surrounded by other coloured horses. There is much in this vision that is bizarre ...
4.3.1. Horses which “Patrol the Earth”
The function of the horses is explained in vv. 10–11: “Yahweh sent them to patrol the earth earth".
There are two sets of intertexts which have combined to shape this image. First, there is an allusion to Job 1–2. In Zech 1:10–11, the role of the horses is “to patrol in the earth” (ץֶ רָ אָ בּ ךֵ ְלַּ הְ תִ הְ ל ), which parallels the description in Job 1:7 and 2:2 of one who comes from roving “in the earth” (ץֶ רָ אָ בּ”) and from patrolling in it”. The likelihood of a deliberate allusion in Zechariah to Job 1–2 is strengthened by the continuation of this allusion in the final night-vision in Zech 6:7,43 together with further parallels between the roles of the horses/heavenly attendants. In Job, the heavenly attendants come “to present themselves before Yahweh” (הָל־יהוַ ְע בֵ צַּיְ תִ הְ ל, Job 1:6 and 2:1), which parallels the figures in Zech 6:5 who go out “from presenting themselves before the Lord”. This repeated imagery in Zech 1 (and 6) constitutes an unmistakable allusion to Job 1–2.
The second set of intertextual connections relates to the equine imagery, and in particular to horses in Yahweh’s service. There are only three other places outside Zechariah where we see horses used by Yahweh —Hab 3:8; Joel 2:4–545 and Isa 66:15.46 While the data are too sparse to be able to claim that any one of these three is a specific intertext of Zechariah, we may make an important observation about the general intertexts of “Yahweh’s horses.” It should be noted that in all three other instances of this equine imagery the horses are agents of Yahweh in bringing judgment and destruction. This bellicose imagery continues in Zech 6:1–8 (see my analysis below in Chapter 6), which makes it all the more surprising that Yahweh’s horses in Zech 1:7–17 do not have these expected overtones of violence.48 My suggestion is that these overtones have been omitted for rhetorical effect, to create a jarring dissonance.
That is, the general intertextual background of equine imagery creates the expectation that “Yahweh’s horsemen” should be going to go out to trounce the nations, and so their discordant role here contributes to the shock of v. 11 (see below) that the messengers come back with the message that the world is at peace.
... 43. In Zech 6:7 the chariots go out to patrol the earth
... 46. I take it that the imagery in Jer 4:13 refers to the chariots of the destroyer from the north, not Yahweh. It may be however, that the ultimate source for the imagery of the chariots of Yahweh is the deliberate reversal of this imagery of the chariots of the foe from the north.
... 48. Instead of a destructive role, the role of the horse(men) in Zech 1:7–17 is much closer to those in Isa 21:9, who have a “messenger” role. Isa 21:9 describes "riders, horsemen in pairs" who come ot announce the fall of Babylon. However, even given some points of verbal connection between these two passages, there is a jarring dissonance between the messages of the respective horsemen. Whereas Isaiah’s horsemen come back with the message of the fall of Israel’s enemy, Zechariah’s horsemen return to say that the world is at peace.
4.3.2. The Divine Council Scene
It is important to recognize that Yahweh’s horses are a part of a “divine council” (or “heavenly assembly”) scene, one which would seem to derive from other similar scenes in the Hebrew Bible. In particular, 1 Kgs 22:19–22; Isa 6; Ezek 3 and Job 1:6–12; 2:1–7 all share the imagery of creatures around the throne of Yahweh, who are sent out to do his bidding. As Jeremias notes, Zechariah’s usage differs in one important respect, in that, in the first vision, the heavenly assembly has already occurred, and the prophet Zechariah only witnesses its after-effects, and does not see Yahweh or his throne directly (1977: 117–21).
However, we should not read too much significance into the apparent absence of Yahweh from the scene, given the presence of the “angel of Yahweh.” I take it that the “man standing amidst the myrtles” in 1:8 is to be identified with the “angel of Yahweh” in 1:11, as he is likewise “standing amidst the myrtles.”[50] Tollington argues that “the angel of Yahweh” in Zechariah is a revival of an old concept which existed before classical prophetism (1993: 96). In that older tradition there is a blurring between Yahweh and the angel of Yahweh, and this same blurring occurs in Zech 1–8.[51] [I shall comment more on the significance of the angel of Yahweh when I discuss the fourth vision (see Chapter 5 below), though for the present purposes we may safely conclude that this scene in Zech 1 bears a number of similarities to other divine council scenes.]
The other key figure in this scene is the “The angel who was talking to me,” usually described as the “interpreting angel.” I agree with the suggestion of Tollington (1993: 98–99) that Jacob’s dialogue with the “angel of God” in Gen 31:10–13 has influenced Zechariah’s depiction of the angel of Yahweh.53 In addition, I also detect the influence of several passages from Ezekiel in which an intermediary explains a heavenly vision.54 Zechariah 1–8 has combined this “interpreting angel” motif with another strand of tradition—the question-and-answer dialogue. In Jer 1:11–13; 24:3–5 and Amos 7:7–8; 8:1–2 we have examples of a question-and-answer dialogue being used to explain the significance of a vision, a vision that has obvious parallels in Zech 1–8.55 However, there is also an interesting reversal of roles. In the passages in Jeremiah and Amos the question is typically initiated by Yahweh, who asks the prophet “What do you see?” .(In Zech 1–8, the directionality is reversed, in that it is typically the prophet who asks “What are these things?” (הֶ לֵּ ה־אָ מ). I say “typically” because at two points (Zech 4:2 and 5:2) the prophet reverts to the “What do you see?” form, exactly paralleling the usage in Amos and Jeremiah. Again, we are seeing a combination of streams of tradition, a composite metaphor.
50. So also Baldwin 1972: 93, Clark 1982: 213–18; Smith 1984: 189; Meyers and Meyers 1987: 110, 115; Merrill 1994: 103; Delkurt 1999a; Boda 2004: 196. Contra Petersen 1984a: 144–45, who takes the “man standing among the myrtles” to be a different figure to “the messenger of Yahweh.” Contra also Conrad 1999: 64, who identifies the prophet Haggai as the “messenger of the LORD” being referred to in these verses.
51. See, for example, Gen 22:15–16, where the angel of Yahweh speaks as Yahweh. See also Exod 3:2–5; Judg 2:1; 6:11–14, 22–24; 13:21–22; 2 Sam 24:16–17. The blurring of roles also occurs in Zech 1:12, where the angel of Yahweh speaks to Yahweh, and Zech 3:1–2, 5–6, where he speaks as Yahweh.