The Radical Nature of “Return” in Zechariah

Abstract

Scholarship has tended to emphasize a positivistic view of Zechariah—namely, that the text, constructivist in nature, reflects what the prophet viewed as the eventual outcome of his community. In contrast, using Melanie Klein's theory on the “death instinct,” this article is an experimental reading of Zech 1–8 meant to expose questions about Zechariah as a paranoid text produced under fears of social irrelevance, or “death.” The article therefore argues that the concept of return must be reinterpreted accordingly.