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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [b-hebrew] Zech 6:8
  • Date: Sun, 04 Dec 2005 22:28:55 -0600

Dear Steve,

SM: The context is a hard-to-understand prophecy, a divine puzzle or riddle.
The meanings of each word as defined by the rest of the Tanach, along with
NT & OT explanation, enable us to solve the puzzle. We should not interpret
the passage in such a way that a Hebrew word means something different than
what it means in the rest of the Tanach.

HH: This is an artificial argument. A word can mean what a word can mean, even if it does not have that meaning elsewhere in the Tanach.

I am familiar with the above interpretation. My interpretation is different:
Zechariah 6:1-8 is explained by Revelation 6:1-8. The number and colors of
the horses are the same. The 4th horse is 2 horses in one in both passages.
When the strong horses go out over all the earth, that is the power of Sheol
let loose, the start of the great tribulation, causing Zechariah to scream
in anguish.

HH: That's possible, but I do not see the color of the horses being exactly the same; The fourth horse in Revelation is green, but the fourth one here is dappled or spotted. There is one horse of each color in Revelation but plural horses, probably a chariot of horses, here in Zechariah. So the idea in Revelation could be similar but not identical. The horses in Revelation may appear in chronological order, but the horses in Zechariah may all go at together. I don't understand what you're saying about two horses in one. The sterm "strong ones" at the end of Zech 6:3 may refer to all the horses, and Hades in Rev 6:8 is not said to have his own horse.

HH: Zechariah crying in anguish does not really seem to match the Lord saying that the horses have given His Spirit rest in the land of the north. Rest to His spirit is a good thing. It might not be a prophetic perfect but an accomplished act in Zechariah's time. Zechariah is awfully futuristic, so your interpretation is certainly possible. The function of the fourth set of horses in Zechariah may seem different than that of the fourth horse in Revelation, but perhaps it is not. And Babylon is judged in both books.

SM: I agree with everything you say regarding the speaker. I believe the
speaker in the 2nd 1/2 of verse 7 and verse 8 is God Himself. Thus I do not
accept the common, "He called out to me" because that would mean that God
cried out in anguish to Zechariah. "He summoned me" is also not possible
because the Hiphil z`q summoning is always for an emergency, thus relating
back to the consistent qal meaning.

HH: You may be too restrictive. The verb means summon, and the need here may be for the Lord to tell Zechariah something that He wants him to write down. He did write it down.

HH: I'd be glad to look at the tract, or you could post it to the list (edited or not).

Yours,
Harold Holmyard









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