In the last couple posts we’ve talked about how the first eight chapters of Zechariah are referred to as First Zechariah, because they are a  coherent work with a beginning, middle, and end; with consistent imagery, language, means of dating when visions occurred, and other similarities that create the overall impression that it is a unified composition.  Chapters 9-14 are referred to as Second Zechariah, and they are different from First Zechariah in several ways, the first of which is that they do not seem like a unified composition, but rather seem to be several sources that were originally separate works, which were combined with perhaps a layer of editorial work to tie the separate sources together. 

As an example, Zechariah 9 is a poetic work prefaced by the phrase “An Oracle,” which is clearly distinct from the preceding eight chapters, and which tells a relatively self-contained story about how God will humble the nations surrounding Jerusalem, those nations will become purified and religiously observant, God will raise up a king over Jerusalem, destroy its enemies with supernatural might, and usher in a utopian period of bounty. 

Zechariah 10 is also a poetic work, without a preface.  Zechariah 9 ends with a verse describing the beauty and goodness of God, and promising that young people will flourish, and Zechariah 10:1 talks about asking for rain from God in the appropriate season.  The tone of the language almost makes it seem like a continuation of the previous chapter, but its actual words are a non-sequitur to the verses before and after.  The rest of Zechariah 10 is also fairly self-contained: its second and third verses condemn false prophets and bad shepherds and then it proceeds to say that God will strengthen Judah and gather in the faithful who are scattered among the nations, and also bring low empires like Egypt and Assyria.  

That being said, Zechariah 11-13 contain several extended metaphors about bad shepherds, and there are some signs 10:2-3 that the language has been tweaked to provide better continuity with these latter chapters. In the NRSV, vv. 2-3 read:

For the teraphim utter nonsense, and the diviners see lies;

The dreamers tell false dreams, and give empty consolation.

Therefore the people wander like sheep;

They suffer for lack of a shepherd.

My anger is hot against the shepherds, 

And I will punish the leaders;

For the LORD Of hosts cares for his flock, the house of Judah

And I will make them like his proud war-horse.

In particular, “They suffer for lack of a shepherd” seems incongruent with “My anger is hot against the shepherds,” and to me this reads like a later insertion to more closely tie chapter 10 and chapter 11 together.  Along similar lines, Zechariah 11:1-3 is a poetic section that prefaces a long section of prose (and indeed the rest of Second Zechariah is mostly prose after this point). For this poetic section, it is not clear if it is actually the end of Zechariah 10’s poetry, if it is a bridge section added later to tie chapters 10 and 11 together, or if it is a poetic prelude original to chapter 11.  

There are many more examples that create the general impression that Second Zechariah, to a much greater extent the First Zechariah, is stitched together from multiple sources that were not originally part of a unified whole.  In the interests of keeping this post manageable, and because we are going to be looking at Second Zechariah in a lot more detail, I won’t go over every example.  

It’s also valid to ask “Why does it matter that Second Zechariah is composed of multiple sources?” The critical point here is that these multiple sources don’t always seem to have exactly the same point, so where First Zechariah is clearly saying “the reconstruction of the temple will usher in a utopian era whereby many people will become righteous and devoted to God,” Second Zechariah does not have a similarly clear meaning, or at times seems to conflict with itself.  This gives the early Christians who cite or allude to Second Zechariah quite a bit of latitude for interpretation, and starting in the next post we will look at the verses that they have selected.