PRESENTATION ON THE MINOR PROPHET ZECHARIAH
Introduction:
In this presentation on the book of Zechariah, I propose to elucidate two of the questions explored during the group discussion: why does the word of God divide Christians? This question implicitly refers to one of the major tenets of the presentation - The division of opinion about the authorship and unity of the book of Zechariah among biblical scholars. The second question is: what is the meaning of your name? To tackle these questions, it is assumed that the reflection will demonstrate how the book of Zechariah and other prophetic literature in general have informed my learning.
The division of opinion …show more content…
Why is this cogent role not represented in the book of Zechariah? Was Zechariah truly a prophet? Seemingly ‘the opening verse (Zech.1:1) portrays Zechariah as a prophet’. Of course his prophetic mission and personal life is not highlighted in the book as is the case for other prophets such as Jeremiah, Amos, Hosea, etc. However, the fact that ‘the book does not often rehearse the point that Zechariah explicitly fulfilled his divine mandate as other prophetic writings’ does not nullify his prophetic role. The content of the message is what really matters; the personality of the prophet is immaterial. It may then be deduced that Zechariah in his uniqueness focused on the message God gave him to deliver to his people. Zachariah’s priestly lineage can be traced back to his grandfather Iddo (Zech.1:1). Iddo was one of the priests who returned with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem in 538 BC. (Neh.12:4,16). As a priest, it may be assumed that Zechariah conducted his prophetic mission via sermons/homilies during religious activities; or presumably he does not need to confront kings or rulers in the same way that his contemporaries
Introduction:
In this presentation on the book of Zechariah, I propose to elucidate two of the questions explored during the group discussion: why does the word of God divide Christians? This question implicitly refers to one of the major tenets of the presentation - The division of opinion about the authorship and unity of the book of Zechariah among biblical scholars. The second question is: what is the meaning of your name? To tackle these questions, it is assumed that the reflection will demonstrate how the book of Zechariah and other prophetic literature in general have informed my learning.
The division of opinion …show more content…
Why is this cogent role not represented in the book of Zechariah? Was Zechariah truly a prophet? Seemingly ‘the opening verse (Zech.1:1) portrays Zechariah as a prophet’. Of course his prophetic mission and personal life is not highlighted in the book as is the case for other prophets such as Jeremiah, Amos, Hosea, etc. However, the fact that ‘the book does not often rehearse the point that Zechariah explicitly fulfilled his divine mandate as other prophetic writings’ does not nullify his prophetic role. The content of the message is what really matters; the personality of the prophet is immaterial. It may then be deduced that Zechariah in his uniqueness focused on the message God gave him to deliver to his people. Zachariah’s priestly lineage can be traced back to his grandfather Iddo (Zech.1:1). Iddo was one of the priests who returned with Zerubbabel to Jerusalem in 538 BC. (Neh.12:4,16). As a priest, it may be assumed that Zechariah conducted his prophetic mission via sermons/homilies during religious activities; or presumably he does not need to confront kings or rulers in the same way that his contemporaries