[3] Interestingly, the retrospective
statement in v. 2 is, in the final form of the text, a “word” to the prophet
and not to the larger audience. That which the author or editor wants us to
perceive as the oracle to be communicated (vs. 3ff.) is introduced by the
problematic phraseology “Now you should say to them.” Verse 3 is peculiar in
its own right. There are more formulaic words than there are words in the
oracle itself. The oracle comprises only four words in Hebrew, šûbû ’ēlay we’āšûb ’alêkem,
“Return to me so that I may return to you,” whereas the formula surrounding and
even penetrating these words includes ten Hebrew words. The few words of the
message seem to be overwhelmed by the more stereotypic phraseology. To be sure,
some texts (e.g., LXX) omit the introductory and closing formulae. However, the
picture of few words surrounded by “proper” prophetic language is such as to
convince one that the formulae belong at the primary level of the book. These
formulaic expressions serve to authenticate Zechariah’s words in the eyes and
ears of the intended audience.
The oracle itself is framed in the imperative mood. “Return to me!”
Again, this is language also shared by the Deutero-Isaianic collection. Cf.
Isa. 44:22: “Return to me (šûbāh ’ēlay),
because I have redeemed you.” The primary verb, šûb, is, in both Zechariah and Deutero-Isaiah, an ambiguous word.
In Isa. 44:22, we discern language used elsewhere, in Israel’s lament rituals,
i.e., Yahweh should return to Israel and correct a lamentable situation. Just
as Israel could call on Yahweh to return, so too Yahweh could call on Israel to
return to him. Joel 2:12 represents a similar sentiment: “Return to Yahweh,
your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in
steadfast love, and repents of evil.”
In order to return or turn to Yahweh, one must turn from something,
i.e., a fundamental reorientation is required for one to turn to Yahweh.
Further, such reorientation to Yahweh, whether geographic or metaphoric, and it
is probably both in Zechariah with his insistence that people return to Judah
from Babylon, is to be done for a concrete reason, so that Yahweh will return
to Israel. Language requesting Yahweh to return to Israel was no doubt part of
the liturgical language of the exilic and postexilic communities. The oracle
“Return to me so that I might return to you” should therefore be read from the
perspective of communal laments such as Ps. 126:4, “Restore (šûbāh) our fortunes, O Yahweh,” and Ps.
85:5 [4E], “Restore us (šûbênû)
again.”
The response of Zech. 1:3 to such language of collective lament is
that Yahweh’s return to Judah depends upon a return of the people to Yahweh.
Since there is considerable ambiguity in the language of “return,”
return from what or where, the prologue to Zechariah’s cycle continues beyond
the discrete boundaries of this tersely formulated admonition.
The tone of admonition continues in v. 4 with the command “Do not be
like your fathers.” What was formulated in vs. 2–3 as two separate issues:
“Yahweh was angry with your fathers” and “Return to me,” is here integrated
into a single thought. The fathers with whom Yahweh was angry were earlier
admonished to “return.” (David L. Petersen, Haggai and Zechariah
1-8: A Commentary [The Old Testament Library; Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press, 1984], 130-31)
