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Untitled Document
ZECHARIAH: DECODED
The Hidden Prophecies
Reading the Text Backward
The
INTRODUCTION
to Zechariah’s Back Text
I began the process of parsing the text of Zechariah July 1, 2005. I finished my first draft October 18, 2005. A revision of the draft was finished December 31, 2005. I have further refined the text several more times. I continue to be amazed at the reality of the text. The coherence in sentence structure, the variety of the verb conjugations, the continued use of ancient Near East metaphor and the various devices used to present its message (narrative, parable, exposition and similitude) are sure signs of authenticity. But all this aside it is the internal messages that overwhelm the reader. Unlike the Back Text of Daniel in which references to the Messiah are scattered throughout here in Zechariah he is mentioned constantly.
The general voice of the book is narrative. It is divided between the first and third voice, ‘I’ and ‘he’. The Narrator is the GOD of Israel. In some few instances room is given for others to speak. In one place we read ‘the prophecy of the turtledove’, paragraphs 179-181. In another place we read a poem which in the first person plural. It contains a joyous shout and praise from YAH’S hastening ones:
We, His hastening ones, shall go;
we will make noise from the Rampart:
“Sackcloth is at an end!”
And we shall make a noise:
“O the Laws of the High One!”
And we will make a noise from the Ramparts with him
(the steed).
Paragraph 91
Another voice is given to ‘the Mark’ in paragraphs 169-171. This is in the form of a prayer and is instructive to include it here.
The Entreaty of ‘The Mark’
And ‘the Mark’ spoke:
“High is my GOD. He is impatient and shall He multiply sufficiency? Arise you!
The Shatterer is the foe of My Father, the Noble of the Chamber and the Living One of Eminency.
The Shatterer lay siege against my Mother; he pressed but Yah is the Light.
Worthlessness rose up; I shall multiply Sufficiency and the Stallion of Splendour shall wound him.
The foe of the Father is deceitful.
My Bowmen shall attack the foe of the Father and all shall rage even all of my bowen.
The foe of the Father shall destroy the Songs of Praise; they shall perfect sackcloth.
Entreat you Him and hasten Thou (Oh Father) the days of the parched condition,
And we shall put to death the foe of the GOD of Desire.
Hasten Thou the days of Sharpness!
And oh how the GOD of Desire breathes!
Hasten Thou the days of the Corpse!
And the Shatterer, the foe of the GOD of the Mother shall hasten the days of their agitation.”
The structure has embedded in it a literary device we encountered in the Forward Text of Malachi: an Interlocutor. In Malachi chapter one GOD through His messenger asks His protagonists questions and then proceeds to answer them. In chapter two this device is extended for the purpose of discourse. In chapter three both types of questions are presented. The first question, verse 2, asks two leading question in parallelism “But who may abide the day of His coming? and who shall stand when He appears?” The answer is indirect. Some might say they are not answered at all but in verse 7 we are directed to ‘Mine Ordinances’. This is the answer.
A third type of question found in Zechariah is rhetorical in nature. The answer is obvious to the hearer/reader. A fine example is in Isaiah 44.24.
“Thus said יהוה thy Redeemer,
And he who formed thee from the womb;
I יהוה the Maker of everything;
He who spread out the Heavens alone;
He who spread out the Earth: who was with Me?”
The Back Text of Zechariah uses questions almost exclusively to further the narrative. There are 84 questions. There are four categories of questions: a. those with a direct answer (54), b. those with a delayed answer (3), c. those with with indirect, inferred and masked answers (13), and d. rhetorical questions (12). There is a question in paragraph 159 that may fit into c.
Shall he make restoration to empower a species?
There is one point in the text where the questions and answers are so frequent I have titled it ‘Questions and Answers’, paragraphs 222-230.
I have attempted to perceive the structure of the text. In the attempt I may have imposed one upon it. In either case I have divided the text into 23 sections which contain subsections. Altogether I have divided the text into 88 parts. I have drawn each title from something within each part (excepting three sections VII, XXI and XXIII.) An example of this procedure is section I. I have titled it “The Lament of GOD” because it amply describes the central theme of that section.
There are some very powerful themes in the text. These themes are used as titles for some of the subsections.
“The Clean One Died A Reputation Above Desire”
“The Temple is Cut Off”
“The One Suffering For All”
“There Shall Be An Exile…”
“The Return of The Captivity”
“The Chamber of the Statute Totters”
“The Chamber is Revived And Healed”
“The Return: The Plan And Restoration”
“‘The Mark’ Casts Off The Offence For Thee”
“The Return of The Joyous Shout”
“The Poor Resurrected. Praise You The House of Power”
“The Sacrifice of ‘the Mark’”
“The Works of ‘The Mark’: He Wrung Out The Time of Deliverance”
“My Poor One Circumcised The Heart. He Became Intercessor”
“Worthlessness Murdered My Witness”
“The Suffering ‘Mark’”
“A Sheep Was Smitten For My Trembling Ones”
“Humbleness Removes The Foe”
“Redemption”
The last title “Redemption” is based upon a sentence of length that concludes the
text. It best describes in one word what the paragraph conveys. Here is the struggle
between God and the Adversary. Central to the struggle is the ‘turtledove’ who “scatters
the Adversary” because “‘the Mark’ came to swallow him up.” The bird is the symbol of
‘the Mark’. This clean bird is specifically listed in the Torah of Moses as being the right
bird for sacrifice to GOD. This powerful symbol concludes the text of Zechariah BT 244:
“It the turtledove descended to them; it rooted out the wild dog.
“He who discerned shall pluck out of the breast the Debt.”
The ‘turtledove’ as a designated sacrificial bird is written first in Genesis 15.9. It is part of the sacrifice GOD imposed upon Abram. Later it was made a part of the sacrifices imposed upon the Israelites; Leviticus 1.14. A further use of this bird is found in the Psalms. Psalm 74 uses it as a symbol for the people of Israel, (verse 19). While Psalm 74.19 is up for revision by the ancient authorities one possible translation does parallel another aspect of paragraph 244 of Zechariah. The American Standard Bible translates the line “Do not deliver the soul of Thy turtledove to the wild beast…” In paragraph 244 we read that the turtledove “rooted out the wild dog”. Because the Back Text of Zechariah symbolizes ‘the Mark’ as the turtledove the ‘wild dog’ is the symbol of the Adversary. This is a remarkable parallel and link between the Forward and the Back texts. The more one knows about the Forward Text of the TANACH the more one will understand the Back Text.
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