07_Biblica_AN_Rogland_Layout 1 01/04/14 12:05 Pagina 118 118 MAX ROGLAND They translate accordingly: “The one with the black horses was going out to the northland; and the white ones went out after them; the dappled ones went out to the southland” 6. Such a rendering represents what is probably the most plausible interpretation of the MT as it currently stands. Nevertheless, regardless of whether or not one emends the MT of vv. 5-6, one still cannot escape a certain sense of letdown with the various proposed readings of the pericope as a whole. Despite all the martial im- agery of this vision as well as its counterpart in 1,7-17, in the end it ap- pears to play very little role in the message of these visions. Chariots and horses are commonly linked with warfare in the Hebrew Bible and create an expectation of battle and armed combat 7, yet as traditionally inter- preted neither 1,7-17 nor 6,1-8 bear obvious traces of military struggle — their initial impression is, much to the reader’s surprise, remarkably non-violent. Stead admits that this is a conspicuous gap in the vision of 1,7-17 and he suggests that militaristic overtones “have been omitted for rhetorical effect, to create a jarring dissonance” 8. As far as 6,1-8 is con- cerned, he attempts to argue for a “bellicose edge to the role of YHWH’s emissaries” by suggesting that the “bronze mountains” of v. 1 are to be associated with the divine warrior motif of Isa 45,2 and Habakkuk 3. This is quite obviously highly speculative, as he himself admits 9. A more straightforward explanation is proposed by Cantrell, who simply suggests a diplomatic function to the horses and chariots of Zechariah 1 and 6 10. On closer examination, however, such explanations are not persuasive. For example, the patrol’s report that “all the earth is at peace” in 1,11, when coupled with the angel of YHWH’s lament in v. 12, implies that the time is ripe for judgment on the earth 11. The subsequent references to the Lord’s “zeal for Jerusalem” (v. 14) and his “great wrath against the nations” (v. 15) further imply forthcoming punishment, rather than peaceful diplomacy. In addition, the concluding statement of Zech 6,8 appears to presuppose the occurrence of some sort of conflict: !wpc #rab yxwr-ta wxynh “they have given my spirit/wrath (LXX: to.n qumo,n mou) rest in the land of the north”. Such contradictory features indicate that the apparent non-military function of the horses and chariots in Zech 1,7-17 and 6,1-8 still requires 6 MEYERS – MEYERS, Haggai, Zechariah 1–8, 316. 7 See especially PETERSEN, Haggai and Zechariah 1–8, 265-268; D. CANTRELL, The Horsemen of Israel. Horses and Chariotry in Monarchic Israel (HACL 1; Winona Lake, IN 2011) 60-86; M. A. LITTAUER – J. H. CROUWEL, “Chariots”, ABD I, 888-892. 8 STEAD, Intertextuality of Zechariah 1–8, 88. 9 STEAD, Intertextuality of Zechariah 1–8, 211-214. 10 CANTRELL, Horsemen of Israel, 58. 11 STEAD, Intertextuality of Zechariah 1–8, 92.