The last five extant folios of the Book of the Twelve Minor Prophets in the Aleppo Codex (10th century), which include parts of Zephaniah and Zechariah, and the entire text of Malachi.
This section contains some 'wisdom influence', such as the 'eye' motif (cf. Job 42:5), which 'binds the book together', in verses 1 and 8, as well as many allusions to earlier prophets including Amos, Ezekiel, and Isaiah.[16] There is a geographic movement from north to south as the word of the Lord moves from Syria or Aram (verse 1) to Jerusalem ("my house"; verse 8).[8]
Verse 1
The burden of the word of the Lord in the land of Hadrach,
and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the Lord.
"As a guard" (ESV; KJV: "because of the army"): from Hebrew: מצבה, a hapax legomenon; it can be read as מִצָּבָה (mitsavah), following Masoretic text, from נָצַב, natsav, "take a stand", or מַצֵּבָה (matsevah, "pillar"); bearing 'the idea of the Lord as a protector'.[20]
King of peace (9:9–10)
This section serves as a 'linking passage', the first of several passages (10:1-2; 11:1-3; 11:17; and 13:7-9) which 'bind chapters 9–14 together' with some distinct characteristics: 'compact, metrical, uses opening imperatives and vocatives, and links the material that precedes and follows it'.[16] It describes "the king of peace", drawn partly from 'Jacob's blessing of Judah' (Genesis 49:10–11) and partly from Psalm 72:8.[16]
"Ass" (KJV; NRSV: "donkey") and "colt": point to one animal in the 'style of Hebrew parallelism' (cf. Genesis 49:11; John 12:14–15), indicating 'peaceful intentions', in contrast to "horse" (or "war-horse") in verse 10.[8]
Boda, Mark J. (2016). Harrison, R. K.; Hubbard, Jr, Robert L. (eds.). The Book of Zechariah. New International Commentary on the Old Testament. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. ISBN978-0802823755.