Texts in Conversation
Psalm 83 describes God attacking his enemies with the wind, using a storm as a weapon of judgment, following a common ancient Near Eastern tradition that describes storm deities. Zechariah follows this same tradition, describing how a storm is the sign of divine victory.
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Psalm 83:15
Hebrew Bible
13 O my God, make them like dead thistles, like dead weeds blown away by the wind. 14 Like the fire that burns down the forest, or the flames that consume the mountainsides, 15 chase them with your gale winds and terrify them with your windstorm. 16 Cover their faces with shame, so they might seek you, O Lord. 17 May they be humiliated and continually terrified. May they die in shame.
Date: 6th-3rd Centuries B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Zechariah 9:14
Hebrew Bible
13 I will bend Judah as my bow; I will load the bow with Ephraim, my arrow. I will stir up your sons, Zion, against your sons, Greece, and I will make you, Zion, like a warrior’s sword. 14 Then the Lord will appear above them, and his arrow will shoot forth like lightning; the Sovereign Lord will blow the trumpet and will proceed in the southern storm winds. 15 The Lord of Heaven’s Armies will guard them, and they will prevail and overcome with sling stones. Then they will drink and will become noisy like drunkards, full like the sacrificial basin or like the corners of the altar.
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... Divine responsibility for the four winds is an almost universal history-of-religions concept. Within the Jewish tradition, the opening verses of the book of Jonah offer an example. The Lord sends a wind (the noun is likewise anarthrous) that threatens the ship with Jonah on board ... (The notion of gods or goddesses traveling or appearing on the wind has a rich history-of-religions background. Biblical examples include Ezekiel 1; 2 Kings 2:1; Job 38:1; 40:6; Psalm 83:15; Jeremiah 23:19; Zechariah 9:14 ...) ..."
Rothschild, Clare K.
"Embryology, Plant Biology, and Divine Generation in the Fourth Gospel" in Ahearne-Kroll, Stephen P., et al. (eds.) Women and Gender in Ancient Religions: Interdisciplinary Approaches
(pp. 125-151) Mohr Siebeck, 2010
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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