The first half of Zechariah, or First Zechariah, as it might be called, finishes with one big two-chapter-long parallel structure:
A 7:1-2 Some entreat Yhwh (for poor reasons)
B 7:3-6 Rebuke in regards to fasting
C 7:7-8 Ethical commands, incl. not plotting evil in your hearts
D 7:11-14 Yhwh's anger for disobedience
E 8:1-3 Restoration of the city
F 8:4-6 Joy for the inhabitants
G 8:7-10 Yhwh will save and return and be their God
F` 8:9-10 Formerly fear for the inhabitants
E` 8:11-13 Restoration of the land
D` 8:14-15 Yhwh's disaster when angered turned into doing good
C` 8:16-17 Ethical commands, incl. not plotting evil in your hearts
B` 8:18-19 Fasting turned into feasting
A` 8:20-23 Many entreating Yhwh from all the nations
I think this works okay. It's often more thematic than lexical. But that's okay. The issue is that when you start with the big structure, you miss things you discover when breaking it down further, and other connections appear. We saw that last week with 6b-7, and there are interesting connections within 8 which would be missed if only examining these verses within the larger context.
From the outset, Zechariah 8 feels very different to Zechariah 7. Where Zechariah 7 had only three speech formulas (v4,9,13), Zechariah 8 has sixteen. These help structure the text more clearly than the parallel structure. We might even use the terminology of major and minor breaks here. The first comes at 8:1, "And the word of Yhwh of Armies came, saying," (וַיְהִי דְּבַר־יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת לֵאמֹר), and then repeats, with the addition of "to me" (אֵלַי), in 8:18.
Then come the minor divisions, "Thus says Yhwh (of Armies)", in v2,3,4,6,7,9,14,19,20,23. There are also four "asides", three "declaration of Yhwh of Armies" (v6,11,17) and one "says Yhwh of Armies (v14b), which I think are more stylistic than structural.
Putting this all together, as well as some lexical repetition which I will explain as I work through each stanza, I think there are four larger sections, as follows:
1 The word of Yhwh of Armies came, saying2 Thus says Yhwh of Armies3 Thus says Yhwh4 Thus says Yhwh of Armies6 Thus says Yhwh of Armies - declaration of Yhwh of Armies7 Thus says Yhwh of Armies
II: 8:9-15
9 Thus says Yhwh of Armies11 - declaration of Yhwh of Armies14 For thus says Yhwh of Armies - says Yhwh of Armies
III 8:16-19
17 - declaration of Yhwh18 And the word of Yhwh of Armies came to me, saying
19 Thus says Yhwh of Armies
IV 8:20-23
20 Thus says Yhwh of Armies23 Thus says Yhwh of Armies
This first stanza presents as a series of five "thus says Yhwh (of Armies)" statements. They describe Yhwh's intent to transform his people and his place by being with them. Each statement is between two and four stichs long, usually in parallel, either chiastic or whatever the opposite of chiastic is (synonymous?). That is, they are either ABBA or ABAB in form.
The "declaration of Yhwh of Armies" at the end of v6 sets 8:7-8 apart as the culmination of this stanza, with a shout out to the covenant promise to Abraham, often repeated by the major prophets, that "they will be my people and I will be their God". There is also the addition of "in truth and in righteousness", a reminder of this thread in Zechariah of the importance of truth and the banishing of lying and misrepresentation.
II: 8:9-15
This stanza is tricky in that it has a bracket but also a coda. At first it seems the section should be 8:9-13, bracketed by "strengthen your hands" (תֶּחֱזַקְנָה יְדֵיכֶם) as the first and last phrase. There are also numerous other repetitions, such as a chiasm spanning 8:11-12 (A/A` the remnant of this people, B/B` peace seed/heaven's dew, C/C` the vine gives fruit/the earth gives produce), and then v13 has two parallel pairs of stichs.
But what confuses this is that before "strengthen your hands" we hear "do not fear!", a phrase which is repeated at the end of v15. It seems then that while 9-13 should be a section, we are supposed to read the two "do not fear" refrains as holding all of these together.
Unfortunately the NIV botches the past-referring part of v9-10, again rearranging the Hebrew to make it make sense in English but mangling the sense of it. I think it's trying to say that these are the days of the founding of the temple, and v10 alone is the past. The point being, your conditions are pretty great now. Previously you had to do this gratis, but now you're getting paid, so get to it.
And if they can get to it, then the promise Haggai made a couple of years earlier will be fulfilled, where the time when you worked for nothing will be transformed into your labour bearing much fruit. This is a time, from 14-15, where the past treatment (I determined to do evil, זממתי להרע) will be repealed and I will now do good (להיטיב) for you.
III 8:16-19
This section starts off out of nowhere; I think what's going on is there's a hinge around the speech commands in the middle: "- declaration of Yhwh; Now the word of Yhwh of Armies came to me saying, Thus says Yhwh of Armies". And it's bracketed by hate and love. Plotting evil and lying? These things I hate (v17). Truth and peace? Love them! (v19).
These are the ethical commands we saw back in 7:7-8, combined with the fasting/feasting of 7:3-6. There are also two extra fasts added in, which is fun. There was the fifth month fast in 7:3, fifth and seventh in 7:5, and now, in 8:19, a total of four, with a fast in each of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months. The point is every fast is now a feast, as the conditions are reversed. So the question of Bethel-Sarezer was not the wrong question, but evidently done from the wrong motives. Rather than looking for an excuse to cease fasting, the attention should have been on getting the temple done. It sounds a bit like the paneled housing complaint Haggai makes. Stop worrying so much about things you want, ask what Yhwh wants, and focus on that. And as you do that, all you need will be given you.
IV 8:20-23
These final verses remind us of the picture at the beginning of chapter 2, the walls could never be built large enough to encompass all the people who will be coming to be near Yhwh. 8:21-22 contains another abccba chiasm (a/a` entreat, b/b` seek Yhwh, c/c` i will go/they will come), and then at the end the verb "to be strong" returns, although this time in a different stem. חזק in the qatal was about strengthening their hands, but here in the hiphil it's about grasping firmly, in this case to the hem of a Judahite, so that they might be brought to his God.
This is a fascinating picture, as it's explicitly not a picture of the scattered remnant returning, but non-Jews, Gentiles, being irresistibly attracted to the God of the Jews.
And this is the picture with which Zechariah 1-8 concludes. A God who is at work in his scattered remnant to return them and rebuild his house, to cleanse it of wickedness and duplicity, so that his people might be his and he their God, and they and all people might know him and worship him in fulness and in truth.
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