102 Iwan M. Whiteley Israel is showing the signs of life, indicating that it will still be the place where God will establish His eschatological kingdom and his people will be able to celebrate the feast of booths (using myrtle trees for shelter46) with the nations (Zech 14:18-19).47 The second indication of an underlying Eden motif is the iterative nature of the horses. Iteration (using a verb in hithpael) occurs at two important points in Genesis; first in Gen 3:8 when God walks around the garden looking for Adam and Eve and second, in Gen 3:24, the sword flashes back and forth to guard the tree of life. In a similar manner, God acts iteratively in Zech 4:10, “…these are the eyes of the Yahweh which range to and fro throughout the earth/land”. In a similar manner, these horsemen “wander to and fro” (%Leht; h. )i across the earth/land. Although the text is initially ambiguous, 1:11 suggests that one of the riders, the leader of the horsemen is the angel of Yahweh.48 This leads to the question of the relationship between Yahweh and His angel. Merrill and Smith say that the angel of Yahweh cannot be Yahweh because they converse with each other in 1:12.49 However, Conrad notes that, “when the angel is present, the Lord is present”50 and Meyers says, “…the angel is indeed a facet of God’s existence, empowered to speak God’s words”51. Consequently, the picture being provided is of (presumably) angels of God wandering to and fro through the earth/land. The image created resembles what God did in the Garden of Eden and what the cherubim were expected to do in defending God’s presence. The general tendency in Zechariah studies is to translate #r,a, as ‘earth’, based upon the fact that the Persians ruled the whole known world and the land of Yehud is just one small section of it. This tendency can be seen in the general way that Zech 4:10 is translated (above). However, Zech 4:10 is referring to Deut 11:12, ‘…a land for which Yahweh your God cares; the eyes of Yahweh your God are always on it…’. In this verse #r,a, refers 46 E. Merrill, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi: An Exegetical Commentary (Chicago 1994) 101. 47 Meyers (C. & E. Meyers, Haggai, Zechariah 1-8: A New Translation with Introduc- tion and Commentary, (New York 1988) 126) argued that the myrtle trees contributed to the ‘utter blackness’ of the situation, and although this would explain the later expression, ‘How long?’, the Isaianic texts provide a more appropriate solution. 48 B. Webb, The Message of Zechariah: Your Kingdom Come (Leicester 2003) 68; M. Unger, Zechariah, (Unger’s Bible Commentary; Grand Rapids 1963) 27; E. Merrill, Haggai, Zechariah, 103; P. Redditt, Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi (London 1995) 52; Meyers, Haggai, Zechariah, 130; E. Conrad, Zechariah (Sheffield 1999) 59. 49 Merrill, Haggai, Zechariah, 103; R. Smith, Micah-Malachi (Dallas 1990) 190. 50 Conrad, Zechariah, 59. 51 Meyers, Haggai, Zechariah, 130; see also S. R. Driver, Minor Prophets: Nahum - Malachi (Edinburgh 1900) 185-6.