Zacharie 9-14 et le temple de Jérusalem. Observations sur le milieu de production d’un texte prophétique tardif

Abstract

Following the idea developed by O. Plöger and P. D. Hanson, scholars frequently ascribe the production of Zech 9-14 to a group that was detached from the Jerusalem Temple and in conflict with the priestly authorities. It is also often supposed that this group was active at some point during the Persian period. The main evidence cited is that of Zech 11:4-14, which many scholars insist enshrines an anti-Temple perspective. Reassessing the social location of Zech 9-14, this article argues that Zech 11:4-14 can hardly be read as a polemic against the Temple. Rather, this passage is best understood as criticizing the socio-political and administrative changes that took place under Ptolemaic rule, and which affected the economy and administration of the Jerusalem Temple specifically. Moreover, the importance given to the Temple and its rituals in the utopian scenes of Zech 9-14 suggests that the text should be attributed to a group that was associated with the Jerusalem Temple. Zech 9-14 does question in certain respects the way in which the Temple is managed, but this observation does not imply a separation from the Temple. It only indicates that the group that produced Zech 9-14 did not lead the institution, and so, it could adopt a critical stance towards some aspects of the Temple conduct. The group, it is argued, was located between Jerusalem and Judea; it occupied a subordinated position within the Temple, and served there intermittently. This article therefore proposes that late prophetic literature is best explained, overall, in the context of the Jerusalem Temple, which was the central Judean institution during the Persian and early-Hellenistic periods and was all but monolithic. Such a hypothesis provides a much firmer footing for explaining the special authority afforded to this literature within emerging Judaism.