47 STRIKING SHEPHERD THE which God strikes his elect one 21. The suffering righteous one of Psalm 69, identified with David (v. 1), refers to himself in v. 27 as “the one you have struck”, in the Hebrew text tykhArça hta, in the LXX on sy epatajav. There is textual analogy between © ùߥ Zech 13,7 and Ps 69,27, consisting in the identical word hkn/ pa- tassein and an identical topic, God afflicting his elect one 22, and ¥ this textual analogy may well have legitimated the change of the verbal form in the quotation, from the imperative “strike” to “I will strike”, with God as subject 23. Isa 53,4 may have helped to arrive at this change. Both Psalm 69 and Isaiah 53 were widely interpreted in early Christianity as prophecies of the sufferings and the death of Christ, and were therefore easily used in ex- plaining other OT texts 24. I conclude that the textual form of Zech 13,7 in Mark 14,27 shows in patajw, “I will strike”, a typically Christian trait 25. As ¥ there is no evidence for the use of collections of testimonia by Christians in the period in which Mark composed his gospel, let alone for the use of a running OT text with Christian interpreta- tions 26, it is best to consider the quotation as a Christian ad hoc There is also 2 Sam 6,7: God strikes Uzzah because he reaches out his 21 hand to the ark of God. However, Uzzah cannot be said to belong to God’s elect ones, and he is punished by God on account of what is deemed to be an offence. On textual analogy, see M.J.J. MENKEN, Old Testament Quotations in 22 the Fourth Gospel. Studies in Textual Form (Contributions to Biblical Exege- sis and Theology 15; Kampen 1996) 52-53 (with the lit. mentioned there). For the combination of Zech 13,7 and Ps 69,27 in patristic exegesis, see 23 CASEVITZ et al., Bible d’Alexandrie, 23/10-11, 164, 168. Recently, J. MUDDIMAN, “Zechariah 13:7 and Mark’s Account of the 24 Arrest in Gethsemane”, The Book of Zechariah and its Influence (ed. C. TUC- KETT) (Aldershot 2003) 101-110, has launched the hypothesis that the original context of the quotation from Zech 13,7 was the sword incident of Mark 14,47. In Muddiman’s view, this incident consisted in one of the arresting party, not of the disciples, drawing his sword to hit Jesus but by accident hitting one of his own people; Mark then moved the quotation to its present position, to interpret Jesus’ passion. This hypothesis is ingenious but improbable and unnecessary. In any case, Matthew and Luke (and also John) gave another in- terpretation to the sword incident (see Matt 26,51; Luke 22,49-50; John 18,10). P. PRIGENT, Les Testimonia dans le christianisme primitif. L’épître de 25 Barnabé I-XVI et ses sources (EB; Paris 1961) 164, also sees patajw as an ¥ “ adaptation chrétienne”. Such a LXX text seems to be assumed by K.S. O’BRIEN, The Use of 26