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  • From: Harold Holmyard <hholmyard3 AT earthlink.net>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] Zech 1:19,21
  • Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2007 05:30:09 -0500

Dear Isaac,

It appears to me that the XARDU (XARCU) of 1 Samuel 13:7 is exactly the same as the TEXERAC of 2 Samuel 5:24.


HH: Well, they're not the same as the spelling is different. This is what HAL (The Hebrew and Aramaic Lexicon of the Old Testament) says about the latter:

II XRC: Arb. hara/isa (with dots under "h" and "s") to covet, aspire, Tigrin. Leslau 22; Akk. hiris libbi (with a crescent [looks like a little smile] under the "h" and a dot under the "s") striving of the heart ? (MAOG 13/2:18; AHw. 341b).
qal: impf.: to do something with enthusiasm, “pay attention!” 2 Sam 5:24.

HH: Now, HAL treats this word as a different word than XRC I, which it lists as "fix, determine." However, the Dictionary of Classical Hebrew (DCH) treats all occurrences of the spelling as the same word, and sees the meaning in 2 Sam 5:24 as "take decisive action."


Who do you think are the 4 XARASHIM, and what is their function in Zechariah's vision?


HH: The four craftsmen are agents capable of cutting off horns:

NIV: Zech. 1:20 Then the LORD showed me four craftsmen.

The KJV translated the word as "carpenters." The related verb is used of crafting tools:

Gen. 4:22 Zillah also had a son, Tubal-Cain, who forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. Tubal-Cain’s sister was Naamah.

HH: The noun describes a gem cutter:

Ex. 28:11 Engrave the names of the sons of Israel on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal. Then mount the stones in gold filigree settings

HH: And a blacksmith:

1Sam. 13:19 Not a blacksmith could be found in the whole land of Israel, because the Philistines had said, “Otherwise the Hebrews will make swords or spears!”

HH: And a carpenter:

2Kings 22:6 the carpenters, the builders and the masons. Also have them purchase timber and dressed stone to repair the temple.

HH: The verb is also used for the action of cutting the ground with a plow:

Is. 28:24 When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually? Does he keep on breaking up and harrowing the soil?

HH: So the word conjures the idea of someone who works with cutting tools, in this case to cut apart the horns. They might cut the horns off animals. The word "horn" could be a synecdoche (a part used to represent the whole) for an attacking animal with a horn, which in turn symbolizes a political power, an attacking nation or coalition of nations. They are described as "horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.” (Zech 1:21). Maybe in the vision all Zechariah saw was the horn itself, but in the Bible a horn symbolizes power, especially attacking power, since animals use their horns to attack.

HH: So here the craftsmen cut the horns off the nations (perhaps to be thought of as animals), depriving them of their attacking power. The craftsmen represent powers capable of sawing off a horn and thus disarming an attacking nation. What the craftsmen represent is not so clear. They could be other nations, like the Medo-Persian armies that defeated the Babylonians and freed the Israelites. On the other hand, they could be angelic powers:

Zech. 2:1 Then I looked up — and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand!
Zech. 2:2 I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”
Zech. 2:3 Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him
Zech. 2:4 and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it.
Zech. 2:5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
Zech. 2:6 “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the LORD.
Zech. 2:7 “Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!”
Zech. 2:8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: “After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you — for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye —
Zech. 2:9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.

HH: Zechariah 2:6 seems to correspond to 1:19 in its use of the idea of scattering Israel:

Zech. 1:19 I asked the angel who was speaking to me, “What are these?” He answered me, “These are the horns that SCATTERED [ZRH] Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.”

Zech. 2:6 “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have SCATTERED [PR$] you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the LORD.

HH: The four horns could represent powers capable of scattering Israel to the four winds, or in every direction.

HH: Zechariah 2:8-9 seem to correspond to the action of the four craftsmen in throwing down the horns (Zech 1:21):

Zech. 1:21 I asked, “What are these coming to do?” He answered, “These are the horns that scattered Judah so that no one could raise his head, but the craftsmen have come to terrify them and throw down these horns of the nations who lifted up their horns against the land of Judah to scatter its people.”

Zech. 2:8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: “After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you — for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye —
Zech. 2:9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.

HH: The angel of the Lord seems to speak these words, "Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me." Since the Lord sends him against the nations that have scattered Israel, the four craftsmen may not represent just human powers but also angelic or supernatural ones. They are whatever forces the Lord uses to destroy the nations attacking the land of Judah.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard




On Apr 16, 2007, at 11:39 PM, Harold Holmyard wrote:
There might be ways of thinking like that if you thought that casting
down meant destroying. The terrifying would precede the destruction. But
Isaac offers the alternative of a comma, which is what the NRSV has. The
NIV for style purposes inserts "and" between the infinitives. I think a
bigger problem is that the Hiphil of XRD means "startle" or "terrify."
Where is the evidence elsewhere for it meaning "rock loose." I can see
how you might guess that from a Qal idea of "tremble," but where is the
evidence? Also I think the horns represent powers, or people, rather
than physical war machines. That is why an idea like "terrify" seems
more suitable.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard
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