07_Biblica_AN_Rogland_Layout 1 01/04/14 12:05 Pagina 117 Heavenly Chariots and Earthly Rebellion in Zechariah 6 Scholars have long noted several exegetical difficulties presented by Zech 6,5-6 1. For example, despite four different colors of horses being mentioned in vv. 2-3, only three colors are mentioned in v. 6. Likewise, v. 5 leads one to expect that the four points of the compass are in view, cor- responding to the four groups of chariots and horses, yet not all directions are mentioned in v. 6. These are not insuperable difficulties 2, since these “omissions” can plausibly be attributed to the selectivity granted to any author when choosing to focus a reader’s attention upon particular details. A more serious difficulty is presented by the introductory Hb-rva of v. 6, the grammar of which has been felt to be especially problematic 3. Petersen concludes that there is a lacuna at the beginning of the verse 4, but C. Mey- ers and E. Meyers seek to explain the MT of v. 6 as follows: The Hebrew ’šr-bh (‘with [which]’) at the beginning of the verse refers to ‘chariot,’ which is specified before each horse group in verses 2-3 and which is feminine singular. The preposition (b) is the same as in verses 2-3, where b (‘with’) appears before each usage of ‘chariot.’ The verb ‘going out’ (yṣ’ym) is masculine plural and thus refers to the horses and not the chariot; the horses are the subject and the chariot is in an oblique case. The term ’šr-bh should thus be understood distrib- utively: ‘with it (the chariot) the black horses were going out; and the white ones, etc.’ 5 1 See, inter alia, I. WILLI-PLEIN, Haggai, Sacharja, Maleachi (ZBK 24/4; Zürich 2007) 113; H.-G. SCHÖTTLER, Gott inmitten seines Volkes. Die Neu- ordnung des Gottesvolkes nach Sacharja 1–6 (TTS 43; Trier 1987) 142-143. 2 Cf. M. HALLASCHKA, Haggai und Sacharja 1–8. Eine Redaktionsge- schichtliche Untersuchung (BZAW 411; Berlin 2011) 251, n. 569; M. STEAD, The Intertextuality of Zechariah 1–8 (LHBOTS 506; New York – London 2009) 213-214. 3 See, e.g., HALLASCHKA, Haggai und Sacharja 1–8, 250; SCHÖTTLER, Gott inmitten seines Volkes, 143. 4 D. PETERSEN, Haggai and Zechariah 1–8 (OTL; Philadelphia, PA 1984) 263-264. 5 C. MEYERS – E. MEYERS, Haggai, Zechariah 1–8 (AB 25B; Garden City, NY 1987) 324; cf. P. JOÜON – T. MURAOKA, A Grammar of Biblical Hebrew (Rome 22006) § 145 (relative pronoun rva) and § 156 (casus pendens). The resumptive pronominal suffix of Hb is typically understood to refer to the feminine hbkrm from vv. 2-3 (so HALLASCHKA, Haggai und Sacharja 1–8, 250-251) rather than to xwr or #ra, neither of which would make sense. BIBLICA 95.1 (2014) 117-123