Through a Glass Darkly: Zechariah’s Unprocessed Visionary Experience

This article proposes a new interpretation of Zechariahs vision report. Zechariahs vision report has the distinct quality of an unprocessed description of a visionary experience without much ideological reflection and it attempts to impose ideological meanings onto a multivalent experience. This statement is suggested primarily by the often confused quality of the account, in combination with its interpretative openness. It is further supported by the existence of later textual additions (e.g. Zech. i 14-17; ii 10-17; iii 8b, 10; iv 6b-10a) which serve to accredit Zechariah's originally pristine report with religious and political significance.