Like Sean Connery I’ve had to learn to never say never again. In the past I said that I would likely never write a commentary. I had a couple reasons for this: I have about 5 original book prospectuses prepared and ready to go and I thought that there were enough good commentaries already and there was no need for me to write another one. Well, I had two conversations at the last SBL meeting that changed my mind.
First, Tremper Longman and I were chatting over coffee and the topic of writing commentaries came up. I shared my opinion and he gave me his reasons why he thought that it was still valuable for people to continue writing commentaries. I found his ideas persuasive and then Dan Block and I were talking over lunch and he asked me to write the Zechariah volume in a new series of which he serves as the general editor, Hearing the Message of Scripture, being published by Zondervan. Dan means a lot to me both personally and professionally so when he asks me something it is kind of like an offer I can’t refuse. In any case, I agreed to write it and I’ve just worked out the details with Zondervan. They want an approximately 400 page volume and even though the series is not intended to be exhaustive this does give me enough room to be thorough. Also, I will provide my own translation and Hebrew, Greek (and I will have to insert some Akkadian) will be extensively discussed. Lastly, here is how Dan described the goal of the series:
The goal of this series is to help readers of Scripture hear the messages of biblical writings by focusing on the rhetorical, literary, and discourse features of the text.
Sounds like a fun project and you’ll probably be seeing a few posts on Zechariah in the days to come.
Excellent! I’m encouraged by this and I look forward to hearing more. What is the intended publication date?
Hi Josh,
My deadline is June 1, 2014 and it won’t be released (in both print and electronic formats) until at least a year after that. So, it’ll be a while.
Congrats! I look forward to reading it when it comes out.
You are a stud. Any estimate on a publication date? I love Zechariah, but I always feel bad for that poor woman in the basket who gets the lid slammed on her head. [emoticon]
Charles,
This is very good news. Congrats! You allude to discussing the Greek text extensively. I assume you mean the OG/LXX? Is this an important part of the philosophy of the commentary?
John
Hi John,
The series focuses upon the Hebrew text but I will also discuss variants among the versions when they are interpretively significant. I don’t know to what extent the other contributors will do this but in my mind it is important to include.
I see. It is a very important step, since BHQ (make sure to use Gelston’s new volume on the 12 prophets!) is based on one Hebrew manuscript. Of course you know all of this. I just find that most commentators are not competent in their use of these sources.
Very nice!
Any chance you can get me to write the Genesis volume?
@Meade, funny thing about the BHQ–when I was writing a paper on Zechariah for an exegesis class with Dr. Gentry when I was an M.Div student Tony Gelston and I corresponded quite a bit about the Hebrew text of Zechariah. I’ll definitely use his volume.
@Anderson, I know that they have assigned other books but I don’t know if Genesis is taken yet. I can check if you like.
Charles,
If it isn’t too much trouble, I’d be curious, either who is doing it (as chair of the SBL unit on Genesis), or if it is available. Put in a good word for me, and shoot me an email (j_anderson at baylor dot edu). Hope you are well!
John, will do. I’ll be out of pocket for a week or so but I’ll email you when I hear something.
Very good news indeed, Charles.
Zechariah is absolutely full of passages of great interest. It will not be hard, I think, for someone with a firm grasp of the ANE world to advance the discussion here and there.
Congrats, Charles. One may wonder if there is really anything new under the sun to say in a commentary. But, I don’t really think that’s the point. I think of commentaries as part of a larger conversation. The more voices involved in the conversation, the better chance at reaching some sort of consensus on some topics, while also raising new and important questions on other topics.
You’re probably already aware of James Palmer’s work on LXX-Zechariah, but just in case…
http://j.mp/fVzu4w
Congrats, Charles.
Awesome news Charles, if I’m still alive when it is published I’ll be sure to include it in my library. BTW…let me know if you need any help with it
I had a pretty good Hebrew teacher myself a few years ago.
Hey congratulations!